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

         CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, July 8, 1998, Issue #32
               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: Andrew Lewandowski <mailto:kmvb73c@prodigy.com>
Contributor: Alain M. Gaudrault <mailto:alain@gaudrault.net>
Contributor: Brian Meloon <mailto:bmeloon@math.cornell.edu>
Contributor: Adam Wasylyk <mailto:macabre@interlog.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 #32 Contents, 7/8/98
--------------------------
* Editorial
* Loud Letters
* Deadly Dialogues
-- Anathema: Delusions of Silence
-- Cradle of Filth: From Cradle to Grave...
-- Long Winters' Stare: The Endless Winter Inside
-- Opeth: Born Within Sorrow's Mask
-- Pulkas: Taking Pulka to a New Level
-- Slayer: Monarchs to the Kingdom of the Dead
* Album Asylum
-- Anathema - _Alternative 4_
-- Apocalyptica - _Inquisition Symphony_
-- Arch Enemy - _Stigmata_
-- Arckanum - _Kampen_
-- Various - _Blackened III_
-- Children of Bodom - _Something Wild_
-- Children of Naami - _The Veil of Osiris_
-- Dark Funeral - _Vobiscum Satanas_
-- Days of Yore - _The Mad God's Wage_
-- Deeds of Flesh - _Inbreeding the Anthropophagi_
-- Depresy - _A Grand Magnificence_
-- Desecration - _Murder in Mind_
-- Destroyed by Anger - _Destroyed by Anger_
-- Don Caballero - _What Burns Never Returns_
-- Einherjer - _Odin Owns Ye All_
-- Elend - _The Umbersun_
-- Enthral - _The Mirror's Opposite End_
-- Evemaster - _Lacrimae Mundi_
-- Fear Factory - _Obsolete_
-- Haggard - _And Thou Shalt Trust... the Seer_
-- Iced Earth - _Something Wicked This Way Comes_
-- Impaled Nazarene - _Rapture_
-- Krome - _Enough Rage_
-- Long Winters' Stare - _Cold Tale Eternal_
-- Manmade God - _Manmade God_
-- Monster Voodoo Machine - _Direct Reaction Now!_
-- Mornland / Abominator - _Prelude to World Funeral..._
-- Nile - _Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren Ka_
-- Odes of Ecstasy - _Embossed Dream in Four Acts_
-- Old Man's Child - _Ill-Natured Spiritual Invasion_
-- Opeth - _My Arms, Your Hearse_
-- Pulkas - _Greed_
-- Samael - _Exodus_
-- Various - _Sepultural Feast: A Tribute to Sepultura_
-- Silent Stream of Godless Elegy - _Behind the Shadows_
-- Slayer - _Diabolus in Musica_
-- Solus - _Solus_
-- Soulburn - _Feeding on Angels_
-- Various - _Statements of Intent_
-- Stormwitch - _Priest of Evil_
-- Strapping Young Lad - _No Sleep Till Bedtime_
-- Suffocation - _Despise the Sun_
-- Swan Christy - _One With the Swan_
-- Thine - _A Town Like This_
-- Tyrant - _Under the Dark Mystic Sky_
-- Undertakers - _Suffering Within_
-- Vader - _Kingdom_
-- Virgin Steele - _Invictus_
-- Waylander - _Reawakening Pride Once Lost_
* New Noise
-- Demimonde - _The Warrior's Poets_
-- Desolate - _Resurrection Eternal_
-- Fury - _Fury_
-- Intestine - _Gastrointestinal Pathology_
-- Pain Lab - _Inconceivable Aquatic H.I.V. Descrambler_
* Chaotic Concerts
-- Slayed, Once Again: Slayer with Clutch and System of a Down
-- Ozzy and his Fest: Black Sabbath, Pantera, Slayer, Fear Factory,
                      Entombed and Pitchshifter
* What We Have Cranked
* Details

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

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

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

This is the column where we print those lovely  letters  our  readers
decide so graciously to write us. Whether they be positive, negative,
ignorant or just plain spelled  wrong,  you  can  rest  assured  that
they'll be here in their original form. If you'd like to see your own
letter here,  e-mail  it  to  <mailto: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: Sat, 13 Jun 1998
From: Lugburz <lugburz@mail.dma.be>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters

Gegroet CoC'ers,

     First and for all congrats for your ezine. I think it's  a  very
interesting project, receiving  every  month  a  free  ezine  through
email, without moving my lazy ass. Both interviews  and  reviews  are
writting very nice and intelligent. Great work guys.
     I was only chocked by the review of a certain  guy  called  Adam
Wasylyk, about Enthroned's latest masterpiece  "Regie  Sathanas".  As
reviewer myself I know it is a hundred times easier to write negative
things about a CD then positive. But that particular review was  just
pathetic. Except for the sentence "play  better  music",  the  entire
review handles about everything exect the music. What the  fuck  have
the Simpsons to do with music? Anyway, Everybody has his own  opinion
I admit but such opinion much be based on  good  and  true  arguments
otherwise, shut the fuck up. Personally I think this album is fucking
amazing (and not because they're from my home-country). They ARE very
original and they give their Black Metal sound a REAL metal spirit in
the solo's (which lacks most black metal bands).  Anwyay,  enough  of
this crap, I just wanted to point  out  that  I  was  a  dissatisfied
because Enthroned is one of my favourite bands.
     Furthermore much luck to your zine and don't let this annoy  you
in any way, but please Adam, be  objective  and  just  stick  to  the
music, the Simpsons suck nowadays btw.

Jimmy "rC" Goossens,
on behalf of Lugburz
LUGBURZ - BELGIAN BLACK/DEATH SUPPORT SITE
http://bewoner.dma.be/lugburz


Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1998
From: sasanborn@micron.com
Subject: ATTENTION LOUD LETTERS

Hail C.O.C. and readers! Great fucking ezine and it's awesome to  get
it in email format so I can read it while I sit my ass here at  work.
Hell yeah. Anyways, I'm looking for any cool sickos  out  there  that
might be interested in trading tapes. I am into all styles of musick,
but especially  more  brutal  grinding  shit.  I  love  Black  Metal,
Grindcore, Crusty  fucked  up  punk  rock,  as  well  as  industrial,
gothick, psychedelic/acid rock, etc etc.I have a big trade list so if
you want me to send you a copy by email,  write  me  at  the  address
below. Keep up the great work! Cheers, Steve sasanborn@micron.com


Date: Mon, 08 Jun 1998
From: Maarten de Jong <maartenj@lx.student.wau.nl>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters

My greetings to Chronicles of Chaos,

but watch out since this is going to be a lengthy one... :) I'd  like
to dicuss the review in your latest  issue  of  Bal-Sagoth,  done  by
Brian Meloon. No doubt is he able to review albums, but in my opinion
he has failed to see the essence of the great Bal-Sagoth. This review
does not do right to the band's effort. I shall explain.  Nothing  in
the review is mentioned about the concept and lyrics  of  Bal-Sagoth.
Well, yes, one thing. That the titles on "Battle Magic" are less long
than on "Starfire  Burning  Upon  The  Ice-Veiled  Throne  Of  Ultima
Thule". This is certainly not a constructive remark.  The  lyrics  of
Bal-Sagoth are *essential* to fully enjoy the music.  It  is  like  a
fantasy book on CD. The music is based on the lyrics and  the  lyrics
follow the music and different parts can be recognized. Referring  to
the melodies he is either puking or laughing out loud.  Well,  that's
not how it works. I think he is referring to the circus music part at
"Blood Slakes The Sand At The Circus Maximus". Brian, if you had read
the lyrics you would have understood why the first part of  the  song
is indeed so happy. The song is about a  gladiator  captured  by  the
Romans. He is to figure  in  a  show  to  entertain  the  people  and
eventually (probably) to die by the hand of  another  gladiator.  The
Romans are making a huge show of it, they  want  to  be  entertained:
that is the circus part. It is very convincing. At first I was amazed
and distressed,  but  after  reading  the  lyrics  I  understand  the
functionality of it and hold Bal-Sagoth even more in awe. After  that
happy circus part is  finished,  you  hear  the  gladiator  speaking,
denouncing the emperor Nero and the Roman gods, and hailing  his  own
gods. And the circus  part  is  done  with;  the  battle  with  other
gladiators can begin! Carnage for Cernunnos! In all these songs,  the
same unification of lyrics and music can be perceived.  A  creditable
accomplishment, indeed! This song is quite  original  as  well,  I've
never heard a metal band incorporating circus music in their song.  A
metal band, to put this with black metal, either  symphonic  or  not,
would be sheer nonsense (where did you get  that  info  Brian?).  The
band is very melodic indeed and I'd call it "fantasy  metal"  because
that's what it is about: a fantasy experience, translated into music.
They are quite good at it. If fantasy is not  your  cup  of  tea  you
might as well stop and let someone else review  the  album.  I  don't
think that christians would grasp the essence of  Morbid  Angel,  for
that matter. Sword and Sorcery are the keywords here, not Manowar  or
Rambo IV. Ridiculous comparisons. It IS pompous and pretentious,  AND
bombastic, but hey, that's cool. I don't like pretentiouslessness  in
music. About your comparison with "Starfire Burning...": both  albums
are NOT the same. APART from the stupid remark about the  songtitles,
has it occurred to you that Starfire Burning...  is  tuned  in  minor
chords for the greater part, and "Battle Magic" mostly tuned in major
chords? Probably not, else  you  would  have  mentioned  it  in  your
review. This is another great prestation  of  Bal-Sagoth,  since  too
many bands are stuck in their three minor chords playing evil  music,
while Bal-Sagoth explore the  more  unknown  regions  of  tuning  and
tones, and still manage to spawn  forth  a  great,  epic,  sword  and
sorcery metal album. I hail them for that. Just my two cents,  but  I
HAD to mention them...

Greetings... apart from this review, I like your zine... and Brian, I
expect an interview with Bal-Sagoth from you next issue :P

Annatar Gorthaur, Darkfriend Trollsbane a.k.a. Maarten de Jong
ICQ 3836817 e-mail: maartenj@lx.student.wau.nl


Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998
From: Fernando Araujo <faraujo@colnodo.apc.org>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters

Hello Everybody: Many of you have surely heard of Colombia by some of
our "problems" ,widely exposed by International News  Agencies.  This
one has only the objective of keep you updated on the scene  here  in
the capital,Bogota. After being isolated for decades from  the  tours
of Metal Bands ,the two last years have allowed us to see some of the
best groups  ,thanks  to  the  help  of  independent  promoters  like
Backstage & Cinismo Records. HM fans have been  able  to  see  Napalm
Death,Cathedral, Sodom,Testament and  Moonspell.For  next  June  28th
Kreator will be here. A festival called  "Rock  al  Parque"  is  held
every year with free  entrance  for  everybody  and  special  guests.
Hopefully and with the help of all those who are loyal to  the  cause
we will keep this thing alive... Colombia has won the award of  "Most
Violent Country of the world" but for sure it's not because of  those
who need the Metal to be alive ....

Fernando Araujo
faraujo@colnodo.apc.org


Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 09:50:25 -0700
From: Christian Hecimovic <ChristianH@simba.ca>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters

Hey,

I just wanted to say that I'll miss  Steve  Hoeltzel's  writing.  His
review of Astarte in CoC #31 was funny  as  hell,  and  I  completely
agree with his rant. Just the other day, I read an interview with Old
Man's Child, where one member (Jardar) mentioned his hatred  of  Jews
and lumped them in with blacks as  "trash".  Great.  Black  metal  is
associated with so much retarded thinking that it's tough to remain a
fan sometimes. Certain concepts just  aren't  thought  through...they
hate Christianity, and, at least originally, wanted to oust  it  from
Scandinavia, yet many claim to be Satanists, a belief system that  is
meaningless without the existence of Christianity...anyway,  speaking
as an athiest, it all seems lame. I was at Dynamo this year, and that
experience cemented the fact that most black  metal  fans  are  TOTAL
idiots anyway, and about 12 years old as well. Bands like Death  gave
the classiest performances of the  festival;  they  saw  no  need  to
scream "This one's for Satan!" or dumb slogans like "How  about  some
more  PURE  NORWEGIAN  BLACK  METAL??"  (this  last  one  came,  most
ironically, from Dummu, er, I mean Dimmu, Borgir. How about  that...)
Emperor was cool, though.

Keep your standards high.

Chris

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

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

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


                D E L U S I O N S   O F   S I L E N C E
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              CoC chats with Vincent Kavanagh of Anathema
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

     After the crushing emotional doom/death of their 1992  debut  EP
_The Crestfallen_ and first full-length _Serenades_ (1993),  Anathema
moved to a more atmospheric style of doom metal with  the  _Pentecost
III_ EP in 1995. The departure of  vocalist  Darren  White  followed,
with guitarist Vicent Kavanagh performing the vocals from that  point
on. That same year saw the release of _The Silent Enigma_, showing  a
more aggressive, but always very doomy Anathema and the  start  of  a
new era for the band. They returned with the much softer, but perhaps
even more emotional _Eternity_ in 1996, writing yet another  page  in
the history of doom metal, and now return  with  _Alternative  4_  (a
title related to Anathema's view of civilization and its future,  the
three alternatives so far being life underground, life in a dome  and
life on  Mars).  Vincent  phoned  me  one  afternoon  to  talk  about
Anathema; here is what was said.

CoC: My first question concerns your vocals. When Darren  White  left
     the band, you used a kind of vocals on _The Silent Enigma_  that
     were actually harsher than Darren's on _Pentecost III_. Why  did
     that happen?

Vincent Cavanagh: The vocals were never going to get any softer  with
                  Darren; truth is he couldn't  really  sing.  That's
                  part of the reason why we kicked him off the  band,
                  which has already been stated a long time ago,  and
                  we don't really need to go back into that again. At
                  that time, when we kicked him out, we were half way
                  through the recording of an album;  we  had  to  do
                  something straight away, because  we  were  on  the
                  studio -- so I became the singer. We  really  wrote
                  the lyrics there, on the mixing desk, if  you  know
                  what I mean. I  didn't  really  have  a  chance  to
                  prepare anything else, so what I did was  what,  at
                  the time, I felt  suited  the  music.  Since  then,
                  obviously,  I've  done  something  else  with   the
                  vocals, as you can hear. I just decided  to  do  my
                  own thing. On _Eternity_, I sort of discovered that
                  I could actually sing,  so  I've  been  working  on
                  that, working on my own voice.

CoC: What will the cover artwork concept be about on _Alternative 4_?

VC: We will again use the theme of angels. You'll  see  an  angel  --
    which is actually a  picture  of  the  virgin  Mary  --  with  an
    astronaut face, the reflexion of an  astronaut.  It  links  quite
    well with the subject matter of the album.

CoC: Speaking of your new album, I seem to  detect  less  changes  in
     your sound relative to  _Eternity_  than  between  any  of  your
     previous albums. Are you reaching the kind of sound you want  or
     will the future bring great changes?

VC: We will always keep progressing, for sure,  but  _Alternative  4_
    has turned out more the way we wanted it to sound, as opposed  to
    other albums in the past. It's a lot less clotted with various...
    you know, it's a lot more  simple,  less  clotted  with  keyboard
    tracks and guitar tracks, we haven't gotten  silly  with  things,
    and there's a  more  direct  approach  to  the  songwriting.  The
    production itself is a lot  better,  and  the  songs  are  a  lot
    better, and the whole thing is more strikingly  "in  your  face".
    It's a more honest type of music, that's how I like to describe
    it.

CoC: Wasn't _Eternity_ honest enough?

VC: Yes, but it also had too many tracks of various things, and also,
    speaking of how things don't always turn out the way  they  could
    have, we were let down by the drummer on  _Eternity_.  This  time
    none of that shit happened; we made sure everything was right.

CoC: Does the band feel that [the new drummer] Shaun Steels is  doing
     a better job than [the former drummer] John Douglas, then?

VC: Of course, yes. John Douglas was full of ideas, but  he  couldn't
    really bring any of them into action. He was too caught  up  with
    his ecstasy and his dancing, you know what I mean?  He  lost  all
    his enthusiasm; he wasn't really part of the band anymore.

CoC: So you feel the production is better  on  _Alternative  4_  than
     before?

VC: Fucking definitely, yeah. It's the  best  production  we've  ever
    had, and it's also the best production the producer's  ever  done
    in his career as well, so it turned out well by all accounts.

CoC: At some stage, there seemed to be a certain  Anathema  trademark
     in that the third track had  to  be  acoustic  and  have  female
     vocals (happened in the _Crestfallen_ EP, _Serenades_  and  _The
     Silent Enigma_). Why did you do that -- and  why  did  you  stop
     doing it?

VC: Well, nothing says we won't do it in the future. It's  just  that
    we haven't written a song like that specifically  to  go  in  the
    album. We're always writing stuff, we're always  coming  up  with
    all sorts of ideas, and we have got plans  to  do  more  acoustic
    stuff in the future, and to use female vocals  again.  So,  we'll
    see.

CoC: Something that, in my opinion,  did  change  significantly  from
     _Eternity_ to _Alternative 4_ were your lyrics.  On  _Eternity_,
     you were still "wondering if she ever wondered the same..."  Now
     we can read lyrics such as "Come on and twist the  knife  again,
     I'd like to see you fucking try..." What caused this change?

VC: Yeah. Well, all sorts of things. Again, it's these situations and
    everything that has happened to us  in  the  last  18  months  or
    whatever, and it's our way of flushing that shit out,  you  know.
    It's more honest than _Eternity_; from my  own  personal  aspect,
    these lyrics have more to do with myself, like the ones you  just
    mentioned. It's basically just about not  taking  any  shit  from
    people, coming to your senses... you know, getting  some  control
    back in your life.

CoC: Your lyrics have always had a certain link  between  them:  they
     were usually about lack of love and lack of  life.  What  is  it
     exactly that inspires you to write lyrics?

VC: <Thinks for a while> There's not one single thing that I can  say
    that inspires us; we're just honest with our own feelings. In the
    past, we've got to remember this, I've not written many lyrics; I
    can say, on behalf of the writers  of  those  lyrics,  that  it's
    difficult for them to write things that are  fantasy,  you  know,
    they can't write stuff that isn't true. Who knows,  there's  only
    so far you can take one subject, once you've done so many things,
    once you've expressed all these things --  of  course  it's  gone
    then, it's done and there's no need to do it anymore. So I  think
    even in the future you'll probably see  something  that's  a  bit
    more upbeat, but as I said, we are not a fiction band.

CoC: Specifically, I'd like to know what inspired you  to  write  the
     lyrics for "The Beloved", if that's allright with you.

VC: Mainly the feeling of coming to the end of life as  you  see  it,
    with all sorts of regrets about  how  you've  conducted  yourself
    while you were being given the chance -- love-wise, never  really
    letting anyone in when you could have.

CoC: Towards the end of that track, your voice has this great fragile
     sound that really enhances the emotions portrayed in your music.
     I know you have been taking  singing  lessons  recently,  and  I
     think your voice on _Alternative 4_ is much more confident,  but
     it seems to have lost some of  those  fragile  moments,  gaining
     other kinds of expressive power. What  would  you  like  to  say
     about this?

VC: I've got a  lot  more  confident  approach  in  the  way  I  sing
    nowadays. I am constantly learning and I do wish to  express  all
    different sorts and types of emotions in the  future.  I'm  quite
    looking forward to it, actually, because I really think I can  do
    anything. <Laughs> That's the way I feel. As I'm only new to this
    game, I'm sure you're going to see all sorts  of  things  in  the
    future.

CoC: I suppose there is no way you'll ever use a few  harsher  vocals
     here and there in the future?

VC: Maybe, maybe I will. It just depends on the feeling that  we  get
    from the song. Depends on how we feel when we jam it out, and how
    we'll want to play it live, what I'm going to deliver it like. We
    might well do it, I'm not going to say anything concrete.

CoC: You do release a scream that sounds almost  like  part  of  _The
     Silent  Enigma_  or   "Suicide   Veil"   on   "Re-Connect"   [on
     _Alternative 4_]. Is there a story behind that lonesome  cry  of
     yours?

VC: I was in there doing "Re-Connect", and I was just about to put  a
    really quiet vocal down when the  producer  came  and  booted  me
    really hard up the ass, and so I had to scream and that's the way
    it turned out, sorry. <Laughs>

CoC: What's the meaning of those fading  heartbeats  in  the  end  of
     "Inner Silence"?

VC: <Sighs> That song is about something that's very close to me  and
    Danny [Cavanagh, Vinny's brother and Anathema  guitarist],  about
    how we would feel about the impending  and  inevitable  death  of
    someone very, very close to us -- the closest person  to  us,  in
    fact -- and how that would make us feel unless we  did  something
    about it. The heartbeat represents that, the end of a life.

CoC: I believe you used some violin on  "Fragile  Dreams"  and  "Lost
     Control", right? Why did you choose to do this?

VC: As we listened to the song, as it was shaping up,  we  decided  a
    violin would sound beautiful there. So we got a violin  <laughs>,
    and we made sure it would go on it.

CoC: Did you fear you would be compared to My Dying Bride because  of
     that?

VC: We don't fear any of that. We're not  like  My  Dying  Bride.  We
    don't care, we'll do anything; we're not scared of any of that.

CoC: I've read a few reviews of _Eternity_ in which Pink  Floyd  were
    repeatedly mentioned as being a major influence to your sound. Do
    you think there really is a reason for this? Do you like it, does
    it bother you?

VC: No, it doesn't bother me. People have said it,  and  there  is  a
    slight element in some things that  I  can  see;  but  we're  not
    bothered, because we don't take any direct influence from anyone,
    we don't really need to think about that. When we  come  down  to
    write a song, we know exactly what we're doing,  really,  and  we
    don't have to copy anybody else's  ideas,  we  just  do  our  own
    thing. Pink Floyd are one of the most inspirational  bands  ever,
    though.

CoC: What's the story behind the choice of using the song  "Hope"  on
      _Eternity_?

VC: The concept of "Hope". That was the choice, the concept itself of
    the song. Maybe we're not just spirits disappearing, maybe  there
    is some sort of light at the end of the  tunnel  as  far  as  our
    spirits are concerned. Perhaps things will  be  better  one  day,
    perhaps when we're dead; you know, all of these types  of  things
    you think about.

CoC: Why did you choose to have "Hope" as  _Eternity_'s  video  clip?
     It's a somewhat strange choice, I think,  since  it's  not  very
     much like the rest of the album, is it?

VC: No, it isn't... Well, mainly, we chose it because  the  reactions
    from various sections of the media when _Eternity_  was  released
    were very centered around "Hope", and it seemed to  be  the  most
    popular choice at the time.

CoC: Have you decided which song from _Alternative 4_  will  be  used
     for a new video clip?

VC: We haven't, at the moment. We're still looking for  ideas;  we'll
    see how it goes. Of course it's very expensive to do videos,  and
    if we were to do a video again in the future, we wouldn't like to
    use a director -- at least I wouldn't. I feel I can do  a  better
    job than all the people in the past  if  I  was  given  the  same
    budget. It should all be part of the  same  vision.  What  you're
    seeing, visually, should be a direct interpretation of the song's
    story; it's one complete vision.  Unless  you  do  that,  for  me
    videos are just boring. That's the way I see videos,  that's  the
    way I feel they should be. Some bands  are  really  good  at  it,
    bands like Tool, who can actually  fucking  really  do  a  video.
    <Laughs> It's expensive, and if there's any call for it we'll  do
    one, but if there's no call for it...

CoC: What have you been listening to lately?

VC: Lately I've been listening to all sorts of things. I've just been
    listening to S.O.D. this morning. <Laughs>  Other  than  that,  I
    listen to all sorts of  things  from  bluesy  stuff,  Masters  of
    Reality, Monster  Magnet,  Black  Sabbath...  a  big  mixture  of
    stuff... classical music...

CoC: Anathema still is a doom metal band, right?

VC: Yeah, we're still doom metal. But  we  do  all  sorts  of  music;
    there's a vast scope of material on this album and all  sorts  of
    different types of music.

CoC: A couple  of  questions  about  Michelle  Richfield,  Dominion's
     vocalist. She sang on _Eternity_, but not on _Alternative 4_;
     why?

VC: Nope. Because there was no need for her to sing  on  any  of  the
    tracks we wrote for _Alternative 4_. No female vocal  parts  were
    necessary for the songs, they were better without it, so  we  did
    it that way.

CoC: What about your  cover  of  "Better  Off  Dead",  with  Michelle
     providing some remarkably emotional  vocals?  What's  the  story
     behind it?

VC: Yeah, she did. We chose it because of the  lyrics,  specifically.
    Me  and  Duncan  had  recorded  the  other  two  songs  for   the
    compilation [_Peaceville X_, reviewed in CoC #31] in such a short
    time that the Peaceville boss [Hammy,  interviewed  in  CoC  #31]
    told us we still had plenty of time in the studio, so we could do
    another song. We said OK and chose  to  do  that  song.  We  also
    didn't have a drummer at the time, that's why you won't find  any
    drums in any of the songs, so we decided to fuck up a  punk  song
    and do something with it. <Laughs>

CoC: Yeah, I mean, I don't listen to punk, but I was rather surprised
     when I heard that you would be covering a Bad Religion song, and
     then it turns out to be a nice, doomy piano/vocals-only song...

VC: Well, there you go. That's  perfect;  that's  just  the  kind  of
    reaction we wanted. <Laughs>

CoC: And the other two tracks ended up being Pink Floyd covers...

VC: Yeah. Not so much because it was Pink Floyd; it had  more  to  do
    with the type of songs they were. We didn't have a drummer, as  I
    said; we wanted a  couple  of  songs  to  start  and  finish  the
    compilation with, and Peaceville said we could do this.  We  knew
    that these two songs conceptually and even musically  fitted  the
    bill perfectly, so we said allright, let's do it this way,  let's
    do these two songs. And we did them so quick, as I said, we  were
    able to do another song, which was great.

CoC: So you're pleased with your contribution to the  _Peaceville  X_
     compilation, then?

VC: Yes, definitely. Well pleased and proud of it.

CoC: What about touring?...

VC: <Enthusiastically interrupting me> Hopefully there's  a  festival
    coming up in Portugal in which we can play  in  sometime  in  the
    Summer, but we still have to sort  that  out,  the  managing  and
    booking companies still have to sort  it  out.  [At  present,  it
    seems that Anathema won't be coming to  Portugal  in  the  Summer
    after all, unfortunately. -- Pedro]

CoC: That would be excellent indeed...

VC: It'd be great. We haven't been over to Portugal for a  few  years
    now, and the last time we went over there it was great, it was  a
    fucking riot... <laughs>

CoC: Any idea where in Portugal that festival is?

VC: I don't know, at the moment; I think it's in Lisbon, but I  don't
    know.

CoC: We also have one in Porto, too...

VC: It could be the one in Porto... I'm not sure. I've  heard  people
    are really, really crazy in Porto, moreso than Lisbon.

CoC: <Laughs> Well, I am in Porto...

VC: You are? <Laughs> Well, you seem very calm...

CoC: <Laughing again> [I proceed to mention  the  fine  concert  room
     that is the Hard Club in Gaia, just across the river from  Porto
     and tell him about the recent Morbid Angel concert  held  there,
     reviewed in CoC #31.]

VC: We'll try our best to get over there, and the truth is  we  might
    even be touring with a well known Portuguese band, Moonspell.  At
    the moment, I shouldn't really be saying it, because  it's  still
    in the early stages of planning,  it's  all  just  ideas  at  the
    moment, but we're trying to get it sorted out; maybe sometime  in
    September or October. I should imagine  that  if  we  do  end  up
    playing with Moonspell that we will play Portugal, so I'm looking
    forward to that. Should be a top show, one of the best  tours  of
    the year. For now, we have  our  first  gig  of  _Alternative  4_
    coming up on June the 19th in a festival in Italy, so we're going
    to start rehearsing very soon for that. We're also going to party
    at the Dynamo festival, and do a little bit of work there too.

CoC: Do you think there's any chance of a European  Peaceville  tour,
     with My Dying Bride and all?

VC: Hmmm, maybe, maybe not. We'll see what happens. Generally, a  lot
    of the bands on Peaceville are busy at different times, so it's a
    bit of a trip to organize.

CoC: So what are your ideal touring plans? What would you like to do?

VC: We'd like to play with bands that are far bigger  than  us,  with
    big crowds and all, like Black Sabbath, something like  that.  Or
    even, if we were just doing  an  European  tour,  something  like
    Monster Magnet would be great for me... it'd  be  mindblowing  to
    play with them every night. I want to travel everywhere, all over
    the fucking world, see everything.

CoC: What special advice would you give to someone who's listening to
     _Alternative 4_?

VC: Close your eyes... <sighs>  and  just  listen  to  it...  loud...
    without any distraction... that's the only manual you'll need for
    this album, the only instructions.

CoC: Well, those were my questions. I'd  just  like  to  finish  this
     interview by asking you what thoughts would you like  to  remain
     on the listener's mind after listening to _Alternative 4_?

VC: "I'll dance with angels  to  celebrate  the  holocaust,  and  far
    beyond my far gone pride is knowing that we'll soon be gone..."

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            F R O M   C R A D L E   T O   G R A V E . . .
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC interviews Cradle of Filth's Dani
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     Cradle Of Filth's lead singer Dani Filth lives  in  a  world  so
vividly adorned by death, bloodlust, chaos,  eroticism  and  darkened
tales of vampirism that at times he is taken a back by how far off he
is from reality and the ways of the outside world.  His  visions  and
views of society have gone out the window as the character  which  he
has assumed the role of has become  him.  His  world  is  adorned  by
gothic elements and meshed between catalystic screams  of  aggression
and the thunderous wallop  of  black  metal  speed  and  crafty  song
writing.
     But with all of these elements shaping his character, the bottom
line is quite simple: he is a man with a mission. A mission to spread
the hellfire tongue of his band in a way that no other band  does  --
or is capable of doing.  Cradle  of  Filth  is  about  ingenuity  and
passion  overrun  with  mysticism  and  an  undenying  love  of   the
underworld. Hatred and aggression fuels the work of Cradle  of  Filth
and that is why many fans worldwide have become devoted followers  of
the band.
     The band's latest horrific tale, _Cruelty and the Beast_, evokes
images and ideals based  around  the  life  and  perverse  crimes  of
Countess Elizabeth Bathory. The noblewoman who lived in the Hungarian
hills is believed to have killed more than 600 young women for  their
blood, as it acted out as a  'fountain  of  youth'  for  her.  Dubbed
Countess Dracula, it seems so appropriate that her legend helps spark
inspiration into this somewhat conceptual outing  by  these  devilish
Brit lads.
     Says Dani, "We had loads and loads of pressure to deal with when
we went into the studio to make this record. It was mainly  from  the
record company and our management. We were doing a lot  leading  into
this work and the band knew we  had  to  take  it  easy  making  this
record. At one point while making this record we postponed our studio
time, because they had this crazy notion that we could  go  into  the
studio two months prior to when we went in to start this  record.  We
were like, 'Fuck off!' Not only is it the writing element and  making
the record that is the hard part, it's also difficult with situations
like this. Things like doing press and other stuff adds  to  it  all.
This is a lot of work for us. I mean, we are busy people. We also run
our merchandise company for Cradle Of Filth and that takes up  a  lot
of time."
     Over the last few years  since  their  inception  in  1991,  the
success of the band -- rounded  out  by  guitarists  Gian  Pyres  and
Stuart Anstis, new keyboardist Lecter, bassist Robin  Eaglestone  and
drummer Nicholas Barker -- has skyrocketed. Through numerous releases
(_The Principle of Evil Made Flesh_ (Cacophonous, 1994), _Vempire  --
Dark Faerytales in Phallustein_ (Cacophonous, 1996) and _Dusk...  and
Her Embrace_ (Fierce /  Music  For  Nations,  1997)),  the  band  has
managed to escape the pitfalls of backlash  and  press  hounding  and
built a strong fan base and a creative musical direction. There is no
band out there like them.
     "It just  seems  like  things  are  going  by  so  fast  for  us
sometimes. Straight after the last record we  toured  and  did  press
trips and festival gigs and all of these other things in  support  of
the record. It was grueling. Promo shots, traveling around and  doing
research for the record. Writing. It was a lot of things  to  do  and
handle in between records.  I  had  no  real  down  time.  I  am  not
complaining right now -- though I was this time last November."
     He adds, "There is so much going on for us.  At  some  instances
now it seems like it is running away from us and that all  goes  back
to the British side of our record company. That is the  main  hub  or
control center for what Cradle of Filth does. They expect some really
silly things from us and I tell them that. As a band we speak out and
are not afraid to say what we feel. I say what I want to  say  and  I
personally think that we do get a lot of coverage over in Europe  but
I think they could push things a little further.  Not  in  interviews
but maybe in investments. They only go to a certain degree  and  they
have no vision for anything else when it's staring them right in  the
face. I know I'm being a bit vague about things, but I can't  go  too
much into detail. It just bugs me. As for what we want to do with the
band, we have a clear idea of that and this whole  imagery  thing  is
there for us. Actually, it ain't imagery anymore, this is more  of  a
lifestyle for us, and we are all comfortable with that.  So  in  all,
things are shaping up and going real  well  for  us,  minus  the  few
grievances I have with people and wishing them to fuck right off."
     As Dani had mentioned, his  way  of  living  and  lifestyle  has
become a very integral part of who he is. This is not a stage act. He
lives in the world that many people take to be  just  a  stage  show.
"I'm very much into this whole lifestyle. I've  become  more  serious
about this and my way of  life  and  that  is  'cause  of  having  to
understand the business side of this. One thing about being  in  this
industry and knowing its secrets is that I can't go to many  concerts
anymore 'cause I know what goes  on  with  shows  and  the  headaches
involved. As well as listening to music of the same  genre;  most  of
the magic is gone and I can't reclaim that 'cause  I  know  how  it's
done."
     With guidelines in tow for the record, the history and  research
done into the life of Elizabeth Bathory, the band went to work on the
record. Dani explains his satisfaction with the  end  result.  "I  am
very pleased the way this record turned out. I am really proud of it.
I was happy with the involvement of Ingrid Pitt on  the  record  [the
Hammer Film actress appears on "Bathory Aria,  Part  III:  Eyes  That
Witnessed Madness"] and that was great 'cause we  really  fought  for
her to be on this record. I like the way the songs all turned out. We
did do a remix of the "Bathory Aria" song 'cause I wasn't happy  with
it originally and wanted to perfect it. That song was like my baby. I
love that song because it successfully captures all the  themes  that
Cradle of Filth are known for. I am totally happy with  the  artwork,
too. That turned out fabulous. We can't wait to  start  work  on  the
next record. We are due for another release  this  year  and  we  are
pushing the label to do one. That is one of the  things  that  really
annoys me about this label, as they won't listen to what we  want  to
do sometimes. This new record we are currently working on is going to
have remixes, cover songs and even a hardcore  techno  version  of  a
song. But we have to see how it turns out."
     What cover songs? "As it stands we are doing  "Hallowed  Be  Thy
Name" (Iron Maiden), which we have already recorded. "Kill the Power"
by Manowar is another one, and some other choices. We are also  going
to put on a  demo  from  one  of  our  early  demos,  _Total  Fucking
Darkness_, which fans are excited about and have  been  asking  about
it."
     Any ideas where new Cradle Of Filth will be headed in  sound  or
concept? "To tell you the truth, I don't really think we have thought
much about that," says Dani. "What matters for us right now  is  this
record. It has just come out and we are all excited and buzzing  with
new ideas. We just came off a month long tour in Europe  and  we  are
itching to get writing again."
     And while Cradle Of  Filth  are  gearing  up  for  more  writing
sessions, Dani acknowledges that it is a lengthy process to capture a
certain feel and vibe within one's music. He,  like  many  musicians,
had to leap over many obstacles to get to a final product. It's  part
of being in this business. "It happens a lot with what we are  doing.
I write a lot of songs that just don't work out or fit  what  we  are
doing. Of the guitarists in the band, Stuart and I have a term for  a
certain song we wrote called "The Yellow Song". It's given that title
'cause it doesn't really fit into what Cradle of Filth  is  about.  I
mean, it has some great riffs, but it's all cheery of sorts, not dark
at all. It's a bit too jolly.  As  for  stuff  that  gets  lost  with
recordings? Not much gets left behind  and  [is]  not  [put]  out  on
records. We always try to find space for our material. We  work  hard
at writing material. But having this band as a six-piece,  it's  hard
to agree on stuff sometimes, y'know?"
     Does Dani believe Cradle of Filth are an original  band  or  one
based on multiple influences? He states, "Cradle of Filth does  offer
a particular sound and style to its fans, but we too  are  influenced
by many things. I am not [in] too [good a position to] really comment
on whether we are original or not. Bands always seem to borrow from a
certain genre or epoch. I am influenced by many 19th Century writers,
goth stuff, keyboards, 80s German speed metal and  some  black  metal
influences. I think our music is pretty original. We are  not  really
trying to set ourselves apart, but I do think we offer to our fans  a
very multifaceted style  of  music.  We  also  use  a  lot  of  great
photography, try to have a good slant on solid song writing  and  aim
to have a good production to bring out  a  cool  atmosphere  for  the
band. Atmosphere is what we have  always  been  about.  In  the  end,
Cradle of Filth is a collaboration of  many  things  that  work  well
together."
     One thing that always seems to find shelter within the folds  of
Cradle of Filth is controversy. Dani acknowledges it, but  shrugs  at
the notion that it in any way deters them from doing  what  they  do.
"It's very hard to stand back and self analyze what is going on. It's
extremely hard. I would say there is a small minority of  people  who
claim we are selling out 'cause we have a side of  enjoyment  outside
the serious side of music. We do quite stupid things.  Like  drinking
contests with Dog Eat Dog for magazines. If somebody offers  you  the
chance to do that and pays for beer, then why  would  you  turn  that
down? By doing this, it shows that you  have  a  different  side.  We
aren't afraid of who we are. We use our real names.  That's  why  you
don't see us using  stupid  made  up  names  like  Lord  Goatfuck  or
something like that. There have always been people who are jealous or
disagree with what you are doing and you just have to remain focused.
I mean, if I was to stand back and look back at  all  the  things  we
have done, I would see the stupid nature of it all. But  I  don't.  I
stay focused."
     "We love what we do and that's all  that  matters,"  says  Dani.
"And to tell you the truth, we don't give two fucks about what people
think outside of the fan base.  Of  course  the  fans  are  the  most
important thing to us  and  that's  what  keeps  the  band  going.  I
couldn't care less about all the others out there."

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          T H E   E N D L E S S   W I N T E R   I N S I D E
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
         CoC interviews Clint Listing of Long Winters' Stare
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

     While the  American  doom  scene  may  not  be  exactly  crowded
nowadays, once in a while an  interesting  debut  happens  --  that's
precisely the case with Long Winters' Stare, who have  just  released
their _Cold Tale Eternal_ EP on Pantheon Records.  Currently  looking
for a path that will lead the band to a better future, vocalist Clint
Listing answered my questions. Without any  further  delay,  here  is
what he had to say.

CoC: Please tell us about the early days of your band.

Clint Listing: This lineup has no  real  early  days  --  we've  been
               together for only 8 or 9 months. The lineup  consisted
               of  Greg  (synth/midi,  guitar,  contrabass),   myself
               (vocals and guitar) and Jason (drums),  who  has  left
               the band after the recording of the MCD [_Cold Tale
               Eternal_].

CoC: You seem to have taken a turn  towards  more  gothic  influences
     since your early days as Manthing. Why did this happen?

CL: As Manthing we were more into the sludge/doom  thing,  you  know,
    Crowbar, Eyehategod, Grief, etc., but we started  to  really  get
    into My Dying Bride, Anathema, Mindrot and that style  of  things
    because of a friend of mine that works at a  local  record  store
    who played this stuff because she thought we'd like it.  At  this
    point we asked Greg to join during a session he was recording for
    us and he said yes! The rest is doom history... <laughs>

CoC: Your band's new name, Long Winters' Stare, is quite interesting.
     What personal meaning does it have for you?

CL: We wanted something dark,  depressing  and  full  of  reflection,
    because our songs were starting to become  very  much  about  the
    emotions of the blacker side of life. The  true  meaning  of  the
    name is 15th century English -- it means "Endless Winter".

CoC: What bands would you mention as your main musical influences?

CL: Currently, the music  that  fills  our  creative  vibe  would  be
    Emperor, Theatre of Tragedy, In the Woods and Dimmu  Borgir.  But
    the bands that made us what we are would be 80s power and  thrash
    metal like Judas Priest, Metallica, Mercyful Fate and  prog  rock
    like Queensryche, Yes, Rush, etc.

CoC: And what inspires you in every day life to work in a doom band?

CL: The pure sadness of living in a country like America, where metal
    music has been totally  forgotten.  The  understanding  that  the
    world has become so politically correct that no  one  fights  for
    what they believe in anyway. It fills my very soul with hate!

CoC: What do you think of the doom scene over there in the  USA?  And
     what about the thriving European doom scene?

CL: In the American doom scene, there is Solitude Aeturnus,  Morgion,
    Novembers Doom and ourselves. The European doom  scene  has  been
    ungodly for 30 years. We're working on moving over to Europe this
    summer for good, so hopefully, if all works well, we'll  be  part
    of that scene. Europe is the place to be for any real metal band.

CoC: What is your opinion about the recent melodic doom bands showing
     up in Europe, many of which mainly using female vocals?

CL: I like some of it -- In the Woods, Theatre of Tragedy and  a  new
    band called Apostasy from Norway do it very well. You need to mix
    the darkness with the melody, or else what's the point?  However,
    I think some bands just do it to sell CDs and you can hear it.

CoC: One of the distinctive characteristics  in  your  sound  is  the
     frequent use of a contrabass. How, and why, did you choose  this
     instrument?

CL: Well, Greg is the master of the  contrabass.  It's  basically  an
    upright bass played with a  bow,  like  a  cello.  We  love  epic
    symphonic stuff and strings are a must for that, so  we  knew  we
    needed a deep and piercing sound.  Greg  knew  how  to  play  the
    contrabass and the rest is here for the world to hear.

CoC: Your band doesn't have a bass player, yet your sound  definitely
     has plenty of bass -- enough for the lack of a bass player to go
     unnoticed. How did you do that?

CL: Well, I play drop tuned to C and  I  use  guitar  and  bass  amps
    together specially eq'd. So there is bass, just  not  by  a  bass
    player (which I was for seven years). We're just not in need of a
    bassist. I think this gives us a unique edge.

CoC: I heard you might be signing a deal  with  Misanthropy  Records.
     What's the current situation?

CL: I'm sorry to say that we won't be working  with  Misanthropy.  We
    have moved into a more symphonic black/doom style Misanthropy are
    not fond of, but we will have a split  CD  with  Ningizzia  (from
    France/Sweden) due out on Pantheon Records in November 1998.

CoC: So how likely is it that you will to travel  to  Europe  in  the
     future for some live shows?

CL: The Misanthropy deal is out, but we have several other offers  in
    Europe so it looks good. Maybe we will be touring there  sometime
    in 1999.

CoC: Which bands would you like to play with over here?

CL: That's easy: In the Woods, Dimmu Borgir,  Emperor,  Opeth  or  In
    Flames. We're very much into the more  progressive  side  of  the
    doom and black metal world. These are the bands we dream to  tour
    with.

CoC: How have thing been going concertwise in the USA?

CL: Turn outs for metal shows in  the  USA  are  poor.  Ancient  just
    played here in New York City  to  50  people.  Most  think  Korn,
    Marilyn Manson or Deftones  are  metal  here.  Only  Pantera  and
    Machine Head style bands do well here and it's a damn shame.

CoC: In your opinion, what is the most important feature  in  a  Long
     Winters' Stare concert?

CL: The music. It's all about the music, nothing more!

CoC: What changes can we expect in your music in  the  split  CD  you
     mentioned, relative to your EP?

CL: Longer, grander much darker and epic music. We're  mixing  black,
    doom and progressive metal together and finally  making  our  own
    sound. The EP _Cold Tale Eternal_ [reviewed  in  this  issue]  on
    Pantheon Records is a great beginning. We're very  proud  of  it,
    but it's just that -- a beginning.

CoC: What are your hopes for the future of Long Winters' Stare?

CL: To make the best and most true music we know how to and never let
    trends or people tell us to do otherwise.

CoC: Feel free to write a final message here...

CL: Thank you for taking the time to do this interview and check  out
    _Cold  Tale  Eternal_  on  Pantheon  Records.  Thanks  to   Anish
    [Pantheon Records] for believing in us.

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          B O R N   W I T H I N   S O R R O W ' S   M A S K
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC interviews Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

     With so many Swedish metal bands being accused  of  souding  too
similar to each other nowadays, there is one that  certainly  escapes
such problems: Opeth. Their  ten  or  more  minute  long  songs  that
feature no  choruses  or  predictable  structures  (rather  than  the
occasional use of acoustic guitars, perhaps)  have  certainly  earned
them that privilege throughout the years. Of course,  having  such  a
vocalist/guitarist as Mikael Akerfeldt and the  instrumental  quality
Opeth always had turns them into a truly outstanding band. After  two
superb albums (_Orchid_ and _Morningrise_), Opeth are back  with  _My
Arms, Your Hearse_ (reviewed in this issue). Therefore,  I  proceeded
to interview Akerfeldt himself through e-mail in order  to  find  out
more about the great band that is Opeth and their new album.

CoC: There are two things that, I  believe,  immediately  make  Opeth
     stand out from all the other bands of its kind. One,  vulgar  as
     it may be to mention it, is undoubtedly the sheer length of your
     songs, which can end up being highly rewarding for the listener.
     Why do you choose to make such long songs?

Mikael Akerfeldt: We really like those epic tracks ourselves,  and  I
                  guess that's the  main  reason  why  we  have  long
                  songs.  We  don't   actually   write   long   songs
                  intentionally; they just "turn  out"  that  way.  I
                  reckon  we  have  a  pretty  different  songwriting
                  style: we can't quit until we feel that  the  track
                  is completely finished.

CoC: _My Arms, Your Hearse_ presents shorter songs  than  your  first
     two efforts, yet they all merge into each other and try to sound
     continuous. Did you want to make the album sound like one  large
     piece? The relationship between the continuity of the lyrics  (a
     story instead of separate song lyrics) and  that  of  the  songs
     (linked to each other) was not just a coincidence, was it?

MA: No. It was written as a concept, and that was an idea I had  been
    thinking about for a long time! I feel it made the  final  result
    be more in one piece, more complete if you  will.  As  it  was  a
    concept, I needed more titles  to  be  able  to  tell  the  story
    completely, and that's why the songs ended up a bit shorter  this
    time around.

CoC: Speaking of the lyrics  on  _Your  Arms,  My  Hearse_,  which  I
     enjoyed very much, would you like to shed some more light on the
     story behind them? What tale are you telling with these lyrics?

MA: It's basically a ghost story written  out  of  pure  fiction.  It
    reaches throughout one earthly year. Starts up in Spring, ends in
    Winter, as you have probably already noticed. This  was  just  to
    make it somewhat timebased. As usual,  I  have  chosen  to  write
    about death, as it is one of those subjects you can  write  about
    that can only be based on what you personally think.  Nobody  can
    tell you that you're wrong, you know? It's basically about  dying
    but trying to cling to people and subjects  left  on  earth,  and
    even trying to bring them with you to death. A plain ghost story,
    I'd say.

CoC: The other extraordinary thing of the two I  mentioned  above  is
     your voice -- it really is  remarkable.  I'm  not  just  talking
     about Opeth, but also your participation in one Katatonia  album
     and one EP and also in Edge of Sanity's _Crimson_. What inspires
     you to perform such vocals?

MA: Dunno! I just love screaming my guts out, and I've been doing  it
    for ten years now, so I guess I've  become  better.  I  caught  a
    really bad cold the day before the  recording  sessions  for  _My
    Arms, Your Hearse_, and it affected my normal voice --  but  only
    to the better, I think. But I can scream even though I am totally
    ill... no problem, I never lose my voice!

CoC: The length of some  of  your,  shall  I  say,  screams  is  also
     remarkable. Do you just have a huge pair of lungs or do you  use
     some sort of effects to achieve those long screams?

MA: I don't use any effects apart from the  usual  reverbs/delays  at
    times, but the screams you speak of are not fake, if that's  what
    you're aiming at.

CoC:  Fortunately,  the  rest  of  Opeth's  music  doesn't  fail   to
     complement your vocals. How do your songwriting methods work?

MA: I usually come up with the riffs, arrangements and so on,  but  I
    usually write together with Peter  [Lindgren,  guitarist],  as  I
    feel it's important for a band to let  everybody  say  what  they
    think, and Peter's  my  right  hand  in  Opeth,  so...!  We  just
    basically hang around at his place banging our  acoustic  guitars
    until something comes out!

CoC: Has everything worked out allright with the two new band members
     [drummer Martin Lopez and bassist Martin Mendez]?

MA: Yes, I am satisfied with them, although  we  have  to  work  more
    together. The drummer has done only one album  and  a  couple  of
    gigs, and the bassist has only done three gigs or  so.  They  are
    good musicians, but I have to work on them a  bit  to  make  them
    become perfect!

CoC: One of the bands you thank in _Orchid_ is Katatonia, a band  you
     have worked with. How was it like to work with Blackheim and the
     other Katatonia members?

MA: They're my best friends, and I really like their music! But  they
    are so lazy to work  with...  They  just  hang  around,  drinking
    coffee and tokin' on cigarettes. I've done some vocals  for  them
    and played a couple of shows. On _Discouraged Ones_  I  ended  up
    doing vocal lines for them, as they had virtually  nothing  ready
    when they were supposed to start recording the vox!  I  ended  up
    being a co-producer, which was a different role.  I  worked  with
    them at Sunlight studios for a week or so, and it was cool!

CoC: And how was it like to work with Dan Swano on _Crimson_?

MA: Again, he's a very good friend of mine, so I could not refuse!  I
    really like(d) Edge of Sanity [Swano left the band a  few  months
    ago -- Pedro] and everything Dan has done. He's basically a great
    guy and an incredible musician.

CoC: Swano produced both _Orchid_ and _Morningrise_, and  I  know  he
     enjoys your music a lot. How  important  was  his  role  in  the
     development of Opeth?

MA: He did more for us than we knew at the time.  He  became  Opeth's
    fifth member during the recordings. He made  many  of  the  basic
    decisions.

CoC: _My Arms, Your Hearse_, however, was  recorded  in  the  Fredman
     studios, now that Swano's Unisound  is  closed.  How  would  you
     compare the results?

MA: I'll put it like this: both are  absolutely  great  studios;  the
    first two albums [_Orchid_ and  _Morningrise_]  could  only  have
    been recorded at  Unisound,  while  the  third  [_My  Arms,  Your
    Hearse_]  could  only  have  been  recorded  at  Fredman!  _MAYH_
    demanded a heavier and fatter sound, and  therefore  Fredman  was
    the perfect choice for us. I am very satisfied with the results!

CoC: What bands would you name as having influenced Opeth's sound?

MA: There's too many to mention! Basically all good music  influences
    us... Black Sabbath, Camel, Morbid Angel are somewhat mentors to
    me.

CoC: Were you personally influenced by a specific  vocalist  in  what
     concerns your usual raspy Opeth voice?

MA: David Vincent [Morbid Angel], Chuck Schuldiner [Death],  Quorthon
    [Bathory] and Christofer Johnsson [Therion] all made a big impact
    on me when their best works came  out,  but  they  didn't  really
    affect my way of screaming.

CoC: What did you  try  to  achieve  with  _My  Arms,  Your  Hearse_,
     relative to your previous albums?

MA: The only thing that makes us  satisfied  after  recording  a  new
    album is to feel that it's better or at least equal to the  last.
    There's not much to achieve in the world  of  death  metal  apart
    from more recognition and more fans. I don't know, we don't  kiss
    anybody's  butt,  and  we  play  mainly  for  ourselves.  We  are
    fortunate that some people are on the same wavelength as we are.

CoC: What changes  will  there  be  in  the  future,  concerning  the
     direction of Opeth's music and your vocals?

MA: I can't say now. All the new material I've  written  so  far  has
    come out very mellow and calm. I don't know what it means!

CoC: There's a third thing that, if not entirely unique, is at  least
     unusual in Opeth: none of the  original  front  covers  of  your
     three albums so far had the Opeth logo nor the album title. Why?

MA: We started this on _Orchid_ because it simply didn't look good to
    have the logo there, on the cover. Afterwards, we decided to keep
    that as one of the "special" Opeth things!

CoC: What are your touring plans?

MA: I don't know right now. PHD are working  to  arrange  a  European
    tour for us, but nothing's complete at this stage.

CoC: Is there any final message you'd like to send to our readers?

MA: Yes, check out the new album! I hope to see you on tour!

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        T A K I N G   P U L K A   T O   A   N E W   L E V E L
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                   CoC interviews England's Pulkas
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     While many metal fans may not have heard much of  British  noise
quartet Pulkas or their hard-hitting debut _Greed_, I'm betting  that
by the end of the year this band will be well-known and have  a  huge
following to boot. And YES, they are that good!
     Pulkas -- comprised of singer Luke Lloyd, bassist Jules McBride,
drummer Rob Lewis and guitarist Martin Bourne -- are one of the  many
new Earache Record signees that seem to have rejuvenated the  label's
cause of delivering solid, groundbreaking releases. Within  the  past
few months, the label has released the  powerful  Morbid  Angel  opus
_Formulas Fatal to the Flesh_ and a good slew of their  new  releases
(i.e., The Haunted, Iron Monkey, Napalm Death live  bootleg,  etc...)
and seem to have been able to build up their roster with some new and
reliable meat for metal fans to chew on. The pickings are  good  this
year at Earache.
     "It was a real  fast-paced  learning  experience  for  us  while
making this record," begins bassist Jules over the phone from Earache
office in New York City. "We had only twenty days to record it and we
did. We went in, heads down, and cranked it out. It  was  all  pretty
hectic for us to be able to finish it all up and stuff and now that I
have time to actually sit back and reflect,  I'm  proud  of  the  end
result."
     _Greed_ is a triumphant dose of heavy grooves, powerful melodies
and sheer intensity brought forth by  guitar  riffs  from  Hell.  The
music here, most  notably  "Rubber  Room",  "Loaded"  and  "Control",
detonates on impact with vivid and  passionate  realms  of  intensity
being shot through our system. McBride agrees. "It's so funny how the
old argument of  bands  sounding  nothing  like  their  record  live.
Recording and keeping a live feel of  your  music  is  very  hard  to
capture in the studio. Many things factor into a live feel of a  band
and that is hard to bring to a record. It could be the  vibe  of  the
gig, the audience or the poor sound system we have to deal  with.  We
are much heavier live."
     "Going into the record I had a certain mind set that  we  wanted
to have. I am not too much into this one-dimensional albums with this
ongoing riff. What I like  about  _Greed_  is  that  there  are  many
different songs here. All of the songs have their  own  identity  and
when I hear  back  the  record  time  and  time  again  I'm  glad  we
approached it this way, 'cause if not I'd have been  bored  with  the
music. And if I'm bored, so are the people hearing our music."
     The first time I had heard Pulkas was  the  demo  track  on  the
Earache  sampler  _Earplugged  2_  and  the  track  "Hippy  Fascist".
Listening to that track now, on the record, it's obvious how the band
has strengthened their sound and style. "It's funny that you actually
liked that version of the song, 'cause the band really didn't like it
at all. We basically just had that to give to the label at  the  time
and I was hoping we'd have something else, but that was  it.  At  the
time of that recording we were working with someone who really didn't
know how to get the experimental sound we were  aiming  for.  And  it
shows. With Colin [Richardson, of Machine Head fame]  producing  with
us, he knew how to make our music sound good  and  be  able  to  work
different bits here and there into the music. What you hear on record
isn't far from what we had played in the studio  with  Colin  guiding
us. This is pretty straightforward music for us."
     On the band's love of studio work, he injects, "I hear  all  the
stories about band's hating the studio and just wanting to get in and
out and then go on tour. We like both the studio  and  touring.  Both
things have to be done in order to get the ball rolling. When you are
in the studio, you're making a record and  focusing  on  putting  out
quality music. Working the music hard to get good results. Touring is
the other aspect of it all. It's a  one-take  approach  to  get  your
ideas out to the audience and  make  them  understand  what  you  are
about."
     One thing that has Jules in a little bit of an uproar  currently
during this press junket is the notion of the band being labeled as a
Tool/Deftones kind of band. He just doesn't see it. "I don't know how
to take that in. If people are saying that we are as  good  as  those
bands and put them on their level of  experience,  that  is  a  great
thing. But sounding like them? I dunno. The thing  is  when  you  are
totally unknown people have to compare you to  somebody.  That's  the
thing. There is no real point to write a review if  you  can't  state
who the band is similar to -- am I right? But now that  we  have  the
album out I'm  hoping  people  are  hearing  that  we  have  our  own
identity. After so many times of people  saying  that  we  are  being
compared to such and such bands and  even  with  the  record  company
including data like that in our bio, we are getting a  bit  tired  of
it. We'd rather have people go out and buy the record and decide  for
themselves what we sound like rather than have a preconceived  notion
put into their head."
     "This whole industry thing is all new to us and all,"  he  says.
"I mean, we are at a stage where things are starting to  happen,  but
nothing too out of control. Now that we have the record out  and  the
support from the label, talking to many people about the  record,  we
don't have to do much of the talking. We let the music work  for  us.
And people are digging it. We have been waiting around here and there
for everything to happen, but as they say,  'Timing  is  everything.'
I'd like things to go a bit faster for us, in terms  of  touring  and
stuff."
     He concludes, "People keep saying to us that it's going to  take
off for us and stuff. Well, I am waiting  and  not  jumping  too  far
ahead of the whole thing. I don't want my bum shoved up my ass.  I'll
wait to see how things pan out for us and let the record take control
of things. I think this is an honest record  and  we  are  an  honest
band. We've never been too much into hyping stuff or pushing  it  too
much. We let the music do the talking."

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M O N A R C H S   T O   T H E   K I N G D O M   O F   T H E   D E A D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                Chronicles of Chaos interviews Slayer
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     The name Slayer, amongst metal fans, is a sacred name. The  band
epitomized metal music in the 80s. They set the trends for what metal
music was. Speed. Aggression. Anger. It was the devil's music  pushed
onward by harrowing guitar riffs and screams of anguish.  Slayer  was
metal. And nowadays every one who *is* a metal fan  owns  either  one
(or both) of their 80s classic LPs _Reign In  Blood_  and  _South  Of
Heaven_. Many bands out there place Slayer  as  one  of  their  major
musical influences.
     The 90s has been a growing time for the band.  Slayer  --  along
with the likes of Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax -- were one of  the
four bands that carried metal into the 90s. Bands that had done their
share of arduous labor in the 80s by carrying  the  metal  torch  and
heading into the 21st Century with riffs flailing and fists  pumping.
The other three acts have kind of veered off course  of  their  metal
roots lately, many of them opting for a slick, commercial  feel.  Had
Slayer 'sold out', their  career  would  have  been  over.  But  they
didn't. Their efforts in the 90s -- _Seasons in  the  Abyss_  (1990),
_Divine Intervention_ (1994) and _Undisputed Attitude_ (1996) --  saw
the band modernizing their sound to some  degree,  but  still  laying
claim to their roots. It was still metal and still oh-so Slayer.
     This year brings forth  a  very  cool  and  grooving  Slayer  LP
entitled _Diabolus in Musica_. The record, while a bit  crunchier  in
its riffs and a definite home to bombastic grooves, still  fuels  the
fire of anguish and capping the adrenaline rush we metal heads crave.
Slayer have managed to grow as a band but still stay honest and  true
to their roots. Many are finding this to be one of the  year's  best,
by one of the best. What's the scoop on  the  new  Slayer?  Guitarist
Jeff Hanneman sat down with CoC to discuss the new  LP  and  Slayer's
long career as one of metal's favorite bands.
     "I think the key element to what we are doing is that  we  still
enjoy what we are doing. We still get excited about the  material  we
create," says Hanneman. "We enjoy this still.  Many  of  those  other
bands (Metallica/Megadeth) may not be into this  as  much.  They  may
have changed their styles 'cause they were bored with this music.  As
long as we still dig this and get goose bumps, why change?"
     Seeing that Hanneman (who is joined in Slayer by  bassist/singer
Tom Araya, other guitarist Kerry King and drummer Paul Bostaph) wrote
most of the material on _Diabolus in Musica_ and  a  lot  of  classic
Slayer, the question of staying fresh pops up.  "I  think  we  always
have something to write about. While many bands would  get  bored  or
uninspired to write, we always seem to have something to  work  with.
We still get angry and it comes out in the music. People always  seem
to ask me about the music of Slayer over the years and  how  we  have
stayed charged and angry and I say to them, 'Don't you get angry over
things still?', I do. We are  just  very  good  [at]  bringing  those
emotions into the music." The career of Slayer, while starting off as
a cult-like band to follow, grew into a big deal come 1990's _Seasons
in the Abyss._ This was the record  that  broke  the  band  into  the
mainstream and made it known that they were the band to  follow.  Had
the band experienced much change going from a  band  on  the  cutting
edge of metal with a loyal fan base to a huge success story for metal
music? "For me it was important for us to do what we were doing,"  he
says. "Nothing really changed for us. Just the audience grew  or  the
overall acceptance of the band grew, but we were still doing what  we
were doing and enjoying it. Obviously it  hasn't  affected  us  much.
It's not like we said, 'Okay, so now we have a big audience and if we
change our style it'll grow bigger.' We don't care on  audience  size
at shows or whatever. As long as we can play what we  want  it's  all
okay by us." He comments, "The biggest lesson that we have learned in
this business is don't do what someone tells you to do if  they  have
no idea what is going on. We have faced a  lot  of  these  situations
over the years. One of them was  when  we  were  recording  _Show  No
Mercy_  [1984]:  the  producer  wanted   Lombardo   [Dave   Lombardo,
ex-drummer] to play the drums without cymbals 'cause  they  made  too
much noise and he wasn't sure if he could siphon out the  noise.  But
we did that and it came out fine, but you can tell, at least  when  I
hear it, that that's the way we did it. It's little things like  that
we have learned, which is to not let people lead you  on.  Do  things
the way you want to do them. People try to lead you  astray  for  the
most part and you gotta watch out."
     On the new record's writing style / sound, Hanneman  says,  "The
biggest difference between this record  and  the  last  one  (_Divine
Intervention_) was that I wrote a lot of this one. With _DI_ I was in
a rut and couldn't come up with riffs I like. Before I knew it  Kerry
had most of the album done. So now with this record I really  started
working hard from the beginning. I was thinking, 'What do I  want  to
hear on this record? What sounds?' The major thing in the 90s for me,
as a songwriter, was getting past the rut I had with the last  record
and continue on with my writing for Slayer with this one how I wanted
to see it come out."
     He adds, "This record is definitely a Slayer record. This is the
way Slayer has always been and grown. We take what we are into at the
time and bring it into the music, but still stay true to  our  roots.
If this record sounds modern, it's 'cause we are  into  modern  music
and that shows."
     "I practically wrote most of this record  all  at  once,"  notes
Hanneman. "I have an 8-track and drum machine at home and basically I
wrote a song and moved onto the next one. It was great  writing  this
record, 'cause every time I would write a song, I'd try to  make  the
next song different. I wanted a different approach. I wanted to  keep
things moving. The one thing I like about this record  is  that  it's
moody. By the time you get to the end of it, it reads  like  a  book.
Some of the beats I have brought into the music were  brought  in  on
purpose and that keeps the music fresh, yet  still  having  the  same
riffs and attitude. I really like the beats and ideas I brought  into
_DiM_ When you're writing material, either on the road or  alone,  it
takes time. I spend time alone doing this. I try to draw myself  away
from the scene before I write stuff. I always have to  reinvent  what
we are doing as a band to make it a different  record.  I  eventually
get back into it again and do the writing."
     Slayer  has  always  been  about  loud  music,   strong   ideas,
aggression and images. But they are also human. However, many  people
see them as sickos and wackos, fueling the youth with  corrupt  ideas
and distorted takes on society. Hanneman acknowledges  the  views  of
Slayer as  current-themed  topics,  real-life  unfolding  within  the
barrage of riffs and Tom Araya's screams. He knows, like  many  other
bands, Slayer has been targeted by many. "I think most  people,  when
they listen to music, can't separate the music from  the  individual.
We write about death and war all of the time, but we don't go  around
living it. We don't kill anybody," says  Hanneman.  "I  think  people
can't see the guys in Slayer just sitting down at  home  or  watching
hockey. We do a lot of that."
     As for the future of Slayer, Hanneman reveals, "We  have  talked
amongst each other over the last little while and have  come  to  the
conclusion that we do want to get  another  record  out  as  soon  as
possible. The only thing in my mind is that  I  don't  want  to  rush
things. I don't want to end up with an album that I ain't happy with.
We are definitely not going to wait four years for the next one."
     The interview ends with the question, 'Why do you  think  people
keep coming back to Slayer?' His response: "I  think  kids  are  just
happy with us. They  keep  telling  us  at  some  in-store  autograph
sessions we have been doing that we didn't sell  out  or  forget  the
fans. I would have to say that the kids feel we are loyal to them.  I
personally think we are loyal to ourselves and doing what we want  to
do and [have] stuck to it. And I think the kids can  sense  that  and
respect us and the music more."

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


Anathema - _Alternative 4_  (Peaceville, June 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (9 out of 10)

Every Anathema album so far had  been  somewhat  unpredictable.  This
applies to the changes from _Serenades_ to the  _Pentecost  III_  EP,
from this one to _The Silent Enigma_, and, even though not  as  much,
from _TSE_ to _Eternity_. _Alternative 4_, however, is just about the
kind of album I was expecting from Anathema these days, and  it's  no
disappointment:  still  doom  metal   and   still   very   emotional.
_Alternative 4_ isn't  instrumentally  heavy,  and  that's  hardly  a
surprise; it's about as heavy as  _Eternity_,  but  often  presenting
less instrumentation and some more piano, acoustic guitars and even a
little bit of  violin.  Tracks  such  as  "Shroud  of  False",  "Lost
Control", "Inner Silence" and "Regret" are  good  examples,  and  are
also perhaps the best ones on the album. The rest is very  good  too,
though, with the exception of "Feel" (especially its chorus) and  the
very misplaced upbeat drum loop on "Empty". The  new  drummer,  Shaun
Steels (who formerly played for Solstice), performs very well. Traces
of the kind of barely contained anger that  thrives  on  _The  Silent
Enigma_ can be found on "Re-connect", and the whole album  does  seem
less romantic than _Eternity_. Vincent  Cavanagh's  vocals  are  more
confident than before, and show clear improvements, while the  lyrics
are, again, quite good, and the production is better than  before.  A
very solid album by Anathema, which I personally like about  as  much
as _Eternity_; anyone who likes that album  will  most  likely  enjoy
this new one too.


Apocalyptica - _Inquisition Symphony_  (Polygram, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (9 out of 10)

Undoubtedly the most  famous  Finnish  cello  quartet  ever  to  play
versions of Metallica songs, Apocalyptica are back. Beneath the great
skull-shaped cello on the front cover lies one of the  most  original
albums I've ever heard, despite being made mostly of song covers. The
three Apocalyptica original songs are perhaps the main novelty -- all
very good, combining very metallic riffs with melodies ("Harmageddon"
and "M.B." being the best). In the versions department, there's  more
than Metallica to be found. Faith No More's  "From  Out  of  Nowhere"
sounds quite good (I don't know the original), Pantera's "Domination"
is,  rather  expectably,   somewhat   annoying,   while   Sepultura's
"Refuse/Resist" is surprising, to say the least. Now we  get  to  the
best ones, which, together with "Harmageddon" and "M.B.",  stand  out
from the rest.  The  other  Sepultura  song  covered  happens  to  be
"Inquisition Symphony", easily one of the best songs  Sepultura  ever
wrote. Then  there's  Metallica's  "For  Whom  the  Bell  Tolls"  and
"Nothing Else Matters", both great. Finally, they  just  happened  to
pick my two favorite Metallica songs, "Fade to Black" and "One".  Try
to imagine sadder, doomier versions of both, with  everything  played
just right by those cellos. Excellent. In fact,  the  playing  is  so
good throughout the album that it sometimes  gets  nigh  unbelievable
that Apocalyptica only use their cellos -- every cover is remarkable.
This really has to be heard to be believed, especially their  version
of "Fade to Black".


Arch Enemy - _Stigmata_  (Century Media, May 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8.5 out of 10)

Arch  Enemy  have  made  an  interesting,  and  slightly  unexpected,
progression from their _Black Earth_ debut of two years  ago.  Opener
"Beast of Man" kicks in with searing riffing  and  thundering  double
bass, which creates the false impression that the new  material  will
be  far  more  like  the  _Heartwork_   era   Carcass   sound   which
characterised much of _Black Earth_. Arch Enemy have, in  fact,  gone
the opposite way -- in  terms  of  heaviness,  not  quality  --,  and
produced an album which utilises far more melody, especially  in  its
choruses, than _BE_ did. This may sound like  a  "wimp  out"  by  the
band, but that would be seeing the matter very narrowly.  Arch  Enemy
have not drawn their "melody" from pop or even folk; in fact,  nearly
everything that characterises the difference between  _Stigmata_  and
_Black Earth_ can be summed up in three words: classic  heavy  metal.
Arch Enemy have gone  back  to  the  classics  like  Iron  Maiden  or
Helloween and successfully injected much  of  what  made  traditional
metal classic into the body of their primarily 90s death metal sound.
The results are -very- successful  and  this  mixing  is  what  makes
_Stigmata_ a great album. Arch Enemy introduce blinding solos of epic
length straight after belting out  viciously  bassy  riffs  and  deep
powerful vocals: a beautiful contrast. On  songs  such  as  "Let  the
Killing Begin", Arch Enemy allow  harsh  simple  riffs  and  pounding
drums to give way suddenly to twin guitar melodic scale  progressions
and then effortlessly flow back into hard riffing or great soloing --
or whatever they choose. What is more pleasing  is  that  Arch  Enemy
don't seem to be worried about what they're putting into  a  song  as
long as it sounds good: they're doing just fine there. Admittedly,  a
few riffs or songs do overstay their welcome, but this  is  rare  and
overall _Stigmata_ is a great album and one of  the  best  directions
Arch Enemy could have chosen to follow after their  critical  success
with _Black Earth_.


Arckanum - _Kampen_  (Necropolis, May 1998)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (2 out of 10)

When I come across someone who hates  black  metal,  I  wonder  which
bands the individual came across that would  cause  such  an  extreme
sentiment towards this particular sub-genre of metal. Arckanum  could
very well be forming deep seeded hatred for black metal in people all
around the world as I write this. All I hear  on  _Kampen_  is  badly
written/recorded music, with vocals equally as bad. Also thrown  into
the mix are various nature sounds (like birds chirping, for example),
a total gimmick so you can tell Arckanum apart from the other  clowns
who play similar shit. The biggest kick to the balls for me  was  the
70+ minutes I had to endure while reviewing this. Arckanum's debut CD
_Fran Marder_ showed some promise, so I'm forced to ask myself  "what
happened?" And I'm sure that later it'll be pointed out  to  me  that
Arckanum play "true" black metal. The only thing "true" about this is
that people will go out and  buy  this,  no  matter  how  many  times
they've been warned. Yes indeed, sad but true.


Various - _Blackened III_  (Blackened / Metal Blade, 1998)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (6 out of 10)

Blackened are a pretty bad label, but they have two things going  for
them: Hecate Enthroned (sure, they rip off Cradle of  Filth,  but  in
the end they play better music) and this mediocre  comp.  This  third
installment of a 2-CD black metal  compilation  series  features  the
best artists of black metal from  around  the  world  --  bands  like
Emperor,  Mayhem,  Enslaved,  Dimmu  Borgir,  Limbonic  Art  and  Thy
Serpent. A track is taken from each  band's  prior  album,  so  don't
expect any unreleased goodies. If '98 is your year to discover  black
metal, you  should  check  this  out.  For  those  already  into  the
beautiful  atmospheres  or  blasphemous  hellfire  that  black  metal
represents, there's absolutely no reason to own this.  Which  of  the
above are you?


Children of Bodom - _Something Wild_  (Spinefarm, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (8 out of 10)

Like Ebony Tears, Children of Bodom start with the  Gothenburg  sound
and add some outside influences. In this case, the  dominant  outside
influence is neo-classical/symphonic metal. Valid comparisons to make
include Bal Sagoth [see CoC #31], Angra,  Helloween,  Malmsteen,  and
even Nocturnus. There is plenty of classical (baroque)  influence  in
both the guitar work and  the  keyboards.  The  music  is  much  more
technical than most others in the In Flames camp, and  the  interplay
between the guitars and the keyboards is  impressive,  recalling  the
glory days of Nocturnus. The guitar work is  very  well  done,  if  a
little derivative. The keyboards are also very good, showing  a  good
range of tones and styles.  They  are  featured  prominently  in  the
music: a background instrument no doubt, but still very important  in
the overall scheme of  things.  Other  than  the  lame  hardcore-like
vocals in the third track, this is a solid,  impressive  effort,  and
should appeal to those who like neo-classical or symphonic metal  and
are tired of the stagnant idiom known as the Gothenburg sound.


Children of Naami - _The Veil of Osiris_  (Velvet Music, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (7 out of 10)

This is a one-man black metal outfit,  the  one  man  being  Vindsval
(Blut Aus Nord, The  Eye).  It  is  self-described  as  "black  metal
experimental", and it does fit that bill, even though it isn't overly
experimental. The  music  is  mostly  thrashy  black  metal,  with  a
processed/industrial feel. A good description might be "a black metal
version of Overflash". It is competently played, but there  are  some
sections which could be a little tighter. Their sound  features  some
new touches: processed vocals, some interesting guitar parts, etc. It
isn't necessarily anything that you haven't  heard  before,  but  the
presentation and vision are unique. The music is pretty  melodic  and
keyboard-driven in places, and it tends to be  a  little  repetitive.
There are four songs, clocking  in  at  a  little  over  22  minutes.
Overall, this is a decent offering: standard  fare,  but  competently
played, and with enough new touches to stand apart from the crowd.

Contact: mailto:velvet.music@wanadoo.fr


Dark Funeral - _Vobiscum Satanas_  (No Fashion Records, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Lurking  inside  this  gorgeous  dark  digipak  are  35  minutes   of
unrelenting  black  metal  from  Sweden.  The  rather  beautiful  and
atmospheric digipak pictures are pretty much all that's beautiful and
atmospheric in this album, though, for the music is always  downright
aggressive. But one thing is for sure: much of the enjoyment this  CD
provides comes from the fact  that  it  was  recorded  in  the  Abyss
studios with Peter Tagtgren. Some may not  like  his  work,  but  the
sound on _Vobiscum Satanas_ is simply amazing -- it's the best I have
ever heard on a black metal album so far, as simple as  that.  Clean,
yes, in a way,  but  also  extremely  full,  sharp  as  a  blade  and
brilliantly balanced.  And  Dark  Funeral  don't  waste  it,  either:
ferocious yet often catchy riffs, a slight Swedish  scent  prevailing
sometimes, blazing drumming and extreme vocal performance.  The  pace
is almost always remarkably fast, the exceptions being few and  brief
-- there is hardly ever  a  chance  to  breathe.  However,  the  song
structures could definitely have  been  -much-  better.  You'll  find
medium-sized, conventionally-structured songs, whereas with some more
thought put into songwriting this might  have  been  something  else.
Despite  the  quality  of  tracks  like  "Ravenna  Strigoi   Mortii",
"Enriched by Evil" and "Evil Prevail", every track seems  to  have  a
couple of really good, relatively short sequences, but not much else.
As a result, the album tends to become tiresome after a few  listens,
not only due to its structural simplicity but also to  some,  perhaps
excessive, similarities between a few of the songs. Still, even  with
lyrics such as "I am the very essence of evil!!!! Evil!!!" (no  joke,
quoted character by character), this album does shred.


Days of Yore - _The Mad God's Wage_  (Thunder, 1997)
by: Alvin Wee  (8 out of 10)

Few words could describe my amazement when the package arrived in the
mail.  Even  now,  the  beautiful  packaging  leaves  me  breathless.
Breaking new ground in package design the way  digipaks  did  in  the
early 90s, Canadian power metal quintet  Days  of  Yore  have  spared
little in creating their debut box of sorcery. Looking  more  like  a
high-budget  computer  game  than  a  music  CD,  their  debut   opus
materialises in the form of a large, glossy box fronted by  beautiful
artwork, and -- guess what -- a synopsis  behind!  Removing  the  lid
reveals a large, thick  booklet  (think  Burzum's  _Filosofem_,  only
nicer), containing not only painstakingly crafted artwork, but also a
full 6000 words of fantasy swashbuckling adventure. As  a  matter  of
fact, the entire album is written like  a  fantasy  novel,  albeit  a
somewhat unimaginative one. Well, so much for the packaging, it's the
music that really counts, and after such a  whetting,  appetites  are
bound to run high --  not  to  mention  expectations.  It's  hard  to
suppress the urge to  smile  with  pleasure  when  presented  with  a
symphonic intro like that... and when Malmsteen-esque  guitars  start
to assault your ears, you feel a classic  in  the  making.  That  is,
until you realise that the "theatrical vocal approach" isn't entirely
a can of worms you'd like to open. While musically promising,  entire
vocal  lines  are  ruined  by  tone-deaf  shrieking  and   completely
unnecessary melodramatics. Things aren't as bad as they seem  though,
with the Giguere brothers proving a formidable pair of  axe-wielders,
offering  ample  recompense  in  the  form  of  blazing   leads   and
throat-ripping riffing worthy of any  Malmsteen  album.  Taking  cues
from the usual horde of German power-metallers, much of the  material
is engaging and sufficiently varied to complement  the  ever-changing
storyline. As a concept album, it wouldn't be fair to avoid  anything
less than full marks; from a purely musical  viewpoint,  things  look
rather promising too, with outstanding tracks like  "Clash  At  Dawn"
proving that DoY are worth something  beyond  that  pretty  cardboard
box. On the whole, I'd consider this a pretty excellent album, and by
no means should any die-hard  power  metal  fan  miss  it.  For  less
enthusiastic voyagers, giving this a miss would be a better idea,  at
least till the band finds a better throat. Then again, with packaging
like that...

Contact: http://minfo.net/daysofyore


Deeds of Flesh - _Inbreeding the Anthropophagi_  (Repulse, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (8 out of 10)

This is very intense American death metal. My initial reaction to  it
was  that  it  was  good,   but   boring.   It   suffers   from   the
too-much-of-the-same syndrome, and seems very monotonous. After a few
listens, I started to understand the complexity of the songs, and  my
opinion of it improved. It still scores very low in the  memorability
department: after many listens, there are still  only  a  handful  of
memorable riffs. However, in every other  department,  the  album  is
excellent. The production is clean, precise, and brutal. The music is
constantly changing, but the riffs are similar. The complexity  is  a
result of the rapid-fire switching of riffs that  they  employ.  Even
when the riffs themselves aren't  that  interesting,  the  fact  that
they're constantly changing  helps  alleviate  this  difficulty.  The
playing on all counts is very good, with  especially  good  drumming.
This guy keeps up with the constant changes, and changes his patterns
frequently. He's the main reason why the  songs  avoid  becoming  one
monotonous blur. This is excellent American  death  metal,  but  will
require some effort to enjoy.

Contact: mailto:repulse@arsys.es
         http://www.csnauta.es/repulse


Depresy - _A Grand Magnificence_  (Shindy / Immortal Souls, Jan 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

This is the first album from a Slovakian band ever to make its way to
my CD player, and it turns out to be quite a good  debut.  Though  it
may be a fact that they seem very  inspired  by  Hypocrisy  and  some
other Swedish metal bands, Depresy simply sound good and have made  a
pleasant, honest and varied  death  metal  album.  Plenty  of  catchy
riffs, well done fast sections, good vocals,  and  some  doomy  parts
thrown in as well ensure a rather interesting debut.  This  album  is
composed of three new tracks, featuring some of the best material  on
the album, plus a cover  of  Hypocrisy's  "Reincarnation"  from  _The
Fourth  Dimension_  (no  surprise,  really)  and  re-recorded   older
material, for a total of over  50  minutes.  There  are  some  weaker
sections here and there in the older material, but Depresy  keep  the
average quality high enough and  also  have  some  pretty  remarkable
moments.


Desecration - _Murder in Mind_  (Copro, May 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (4 out of 10)

Repeated listens to this alliteratively titled album suggested to  me
that Desecration need to fix three major problems  if  they  want  to
produce anything above average. The first couple  consists  of  their
production and playing. In this respect they're not doing too bad  --
in fact, when they play the groove-oriented  mid-paced  parts,  their
kickdrum  sound  and  guitar  crunch  does  them  proud,  but   their
blast-snare sections  are  messily  executed  and  tinnily  produced.
However, this just requires a bit of practice and the twiddling of  a
few knobs: not a problem. Where the  band  need  to  have  a  serious
rethink is in their overall approach to songwriting. _Murder in Mind_
is simply not an original or outstanding album in any way  whatsoever
in this respect. The band's most prominent  'influences'  (i.e.,  who
they seem to rip-off most riffs from) seem to consist  of  Malevolent
Creation and Cannibal Corpse. The  techniques  originally  associated
with these bands, which have now become so cliched,  are  mercilessly
reeled off during _Murder in Mind_'s 32 minutes. The band even  throw
in  some  samples  relating  to  sick  events,   but   this   vaguely
Carcass-esque technique does  not  serve  to  raise  the  profile  of
_Murder in Mind_ more than a few inches above the cesspool of generic
rubbish which countless bands dive into every day. With such releases
as _Despise the Sun_, _Formulas Fatal to the Flesh_ and _Exterminate_
already with us and new albums  from  Cryptopsy  and  Gorguts,  among
others, still on the way, _Murder in Mind_ is an even less  appealing
way to expend hard earned, or otherwise, capital.


Destroyed by Anger - _Destroyed by Anger_  (Vulture, January 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out of 10)

Well, this was a surprise, and a nice one at that.  My  prejudgements
on the basis of the rather sorry cover (depicting a world  surrounded
by nasty headlines, I think)  were  completely  wrong.  Destroyed  by
Anger are  not  average,  run  of  the  mill  or  any  of  the  other
associations which we-hate-the-system imagery and lyrical content  so
often bring with them or which the violent power  groove  base  which
their music has also  tends  to  move  towards.  Destroyed  by  Anger
cross-breed Stuck Mojo with Obituary, graft  on  some  classic  Death
solos and rip the vocal chords from Karl Buechner, Phil  Anselmo  and
Rey Oropeza to forge a new creation  fashioned  in  solid  metal  and
blistering hardcore. My description may have made the band sound like
a mere amalgamation of influences, but they  are  not  --  these  are
merely good comparisons. Destroyed by Anger base their  sound  around
heavy, simple riffs and classic hardcore drumbeats but, although they
do this perfectly well, it is  when  they  slow  down,  use  acoustic
passages and proclaimative vocals (along with some nice solos at both
tempos) that they really prove their worth. Although  the  production
wears a little thin at points, _Destroyed by Anger_ is a solid debut,
and worth checking out for the harccore and metal fan alike.


Don Caballero - _What Burns Never Returns_  (Touch 'n' Go, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (7 out of 10)

When I reviewed Don Caballero's second CD,  _Don  Caballero  2_  [CoC
#11], I'd never heard of  the  (inappropriately  named)  genre  "math
rock". The genre's name is supposed to connote a detached,  technical
approach to rock'n'roll, usually garbed in the cloaks of  alternative
stylings. Since writing that review,  _DC2_  has  become  one  of  my
favorite  albums,  both  for  its  use  of   "tedious   technicality"
(technicality that isn't the least bit flashy, relying  instead  upon
similar but  frequently  changing  riffs),  and  for  the  incredibly
overplayed drumming. This album is similar  to  their  previous  one,
though it resembles only the lightest and least intense  parts.  Gone
is the intensity of the shorter tracks of _DC2_, and what's left is a
more laid-back, alternative-sounding style. They make  effective  use
of polymetric layering in their compositions, with  the  two  guitars
and  the  bass  and  drums  each  playing  riffs  in  different  time
signatures. Some of the riffs are repetitive or standard, but the way
they are organized makes them  interesting.  There  are  some  places
where the album really drags, though. The production is  raw,  giving
this a "live" feel. The most disappointing aspect of this release  is
that the  drumming  has  been  simplified.  It  is  still  moderately
complex, and it fits the mood of the album, but it's not as dense  as
it was. This isn't the direction I was hoping that they'd go, but  it
is still a unique and interesting album.


Einherjer - _Odin Owns Ye All_  (Century Media, May 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (6 out of 10)

Not having heard Einherjer's _Dragons of the North_  album,  I  can't
comment on the musical progression they have,  or  haven't,  made  on
_Odin Owns Ye All_ -- but I can inform those interested, and not very
well informed, that a new singer  and  bassist  have  been  recruited
after three members departed. My enjoyment of the music displayed  on
_OOYA_ is not consistent and this is its biggest let down.  The  band
like big, reverbed drums and chunky riffs; they also utilise  leading
keyboards and  clean,  pronounced  vocals.  On  first  song  "Out  of
Ginnungagap", I like the way these elements come  together;  but  one
track later, on "Clash of the Elder", these same elements combine  to
produce a song which simply annoys me. The band reach  their  musical
peak with "Remember Tokk", which strikes just the  right  balance  of
folk melodies, keyboard atmospherics and  rock  groove.  In  general,
however, _OOYA_ is patchy. One major hole is the chorus vocals, which
usually follow melodic progressions using a selection of notes  which
really don't excite me. The last  thing  Einherjer,  or  their  press
release, puzzle me with is their obsession with being Viking.  I  see
nothing wrong with this, but I do see inconsistencies in how  it  has
been put into practice on _OOYA_. The  band  have  both  their  album
title and all their lyrics in  English,  and  for  a  band  who  call
themselves "Viking metal", dress in vaguely Viking clothes and  chose
for their lyrical content Viking legends,  I  would  expect  them  to
present their material in old Norse. This isn't an important  factor,
though, and  for  those  who  go  in  for  mid-paced  power  riffing,
sung/chanted vocals and big reverbed drums, Einherjer will  certainly
adequately fulfill their expectations.


Elend - _The Umbersun_  (Music For Nations, May 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (9 out of 10)

The first time I listened to _The Umbersun_, I was alone, in  a  very
dimly lit large room, in the middle of the night, and in -especially-
low spirits. I listened to it  loud,  with  headphones.  Under  these
conditions, I can assure you that _The Umbersun_ is quite an  amazing
experience, to say the least. And even if the conditions are  relaxed
to a situation more likely to happen, plenty can still be drawn  from
listening to _The Umbersun_. As I descended into my chamber after  66
minutes of _The Umbersun_, not a single nice melodic piece seemed  to
remain in my ears -- rather the echoes of  the  thundrous,  rapturous
symphonies of the first half of Elend's darkest work to date and  the
sullen desolation of the second (not that  it  doesn't  have  melody,
though). "Au Trefonds  des  Tenebres",  this  final  chapter  of  the
"Officium Tenebrarum" trilogy, is much more chaotic and less  melodic
than  _Les  Tenebres  du   Dehors_   throughout   its   first   half,
approximately (especially the first, fourth  and  sixth  tracks).  It
then tends to become softer and more melodic as the end draws nearer,
with more tranquil (yet always sombre) parts akin  to  those  of  its
predecessors. (If you're confused, reading my review of _Les Tenebres
du Dehors_ in CoC #19 might help.) Overall, _The  Umbersun_  is  even
darker  than  Elend's  previous  works,   mainly   because   of   the
orchestration changes. The  addition  of  a  -large-  choir  is  also
noticeable, even though the vocal approach is still similar  to  _Les
Tenebres du Dehors_. As I went to sleep, the words that  remained  in
my mind were those whispered after all the  music  was  silent:  "Ils
m'entourent, les gemissements de la Mort." ("They  surround  me,  the
wailings of Death.")


Enthral - _The Mirror's Opposite End_  (Hot Records, June 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (6 out of 10)

Within a few listens, it becomes evident that Enthral's music  is  as
eloquent,  powerful  and  majestic  as  Emperor's  and  as  dark  and
sadistically eerie as Dimmu Borgir's -- just check  out  numbers  "In
Passion Swept" and "Salvation Mother". Good for them to  attain  that
momentum, but in the long run what they are really doing  is  playing
all the right cliche sounds/styles to make  this  sound  as  good  as
those two aforementioned outfits. Enthral's music,  as  expected,  is
chock-full of  witch-like  chants,  softened  choir-like  vocals  and
atmospheric  keyboard,  with  black  metal  rummaging  painting   the
backdrop to this musical canvas. With the drumming and rhythm section
of the band's material offering the most diversity and uniqueness,  I
found myself losing grasp of Enthral's style after a listen  or  two.
As mentioned, it's all cliche styles that we have grown accustomed to
with forerunners like Emperor, Dimmu Borgir and Hecate Enthroned, who
do it much better. Regardless, Enthral  are  an  interesting  outfit,
albeit one that lucked out for the most part and didn't come up  with
enough of their own ideas to make them truly unique.

Contact: Hot Records, Pb 8805 Youngstorget, 0028 Oslo, Norway
         http://home.sol.no/~sontum/enthral


Evemaster - _Lacrimae Mundi_  (KTOK Records, July 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Having read this album's title, _Lacrimae Mundi_, I expected to  find
some sort of doom metal. (I think the title can  be  translated  into
"world of tears", or something similar.) Instead, this turned out  to
be a good piece of melodic  blackened  metal  with  keyboards  and  a
strong Swedish influence (even though Evemaster are Finnish).  Still,
there's quite  a  few  doomy  melodies  in  several  songs,  and  the
anguished black vocals contribute for such  an  atmosphere  as  well;
plus, the last track, "Equinox Nocturne", is indeed black/doom  (even
though it also includes some clean vocals) --  and  very  good,  too.
Nevertheless, doom is by no means the dominating style here  --  most
of the music is fast  and  based  upon  catchy  riffs  and  melodies,
reminding me a bit of Ablaze My Sorrow's _If  Emotions  Still  Burn_.
The first three tracks are remarkably good, and the rest of the album
doesn't let down as it leads to the doomy final  track  I  mentioned,
which closes the album very well.  Evemaster's  style  isn't  exactly
very original, but  that's  something  common  enough  to  go  nearly
unnoticed these days, and _Lacrimae Mundi_ is quite a good album.

Contact: mailto:jarno_taskula@hotmail.com
         http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/7015/


Fear Factory - _Obsolete_  (Roadrunner/Attic, July 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (5 out of 10)

Man, I was waiting and waiting for this record to surface,  and,  now
that I have it, I can honestly say that I have been let down. I never
thought I'd say this about one of my  favorite  bands,  but  I  think
they've lost their edge. Honestly. Where is the aggression? Where  is
the innovativeness of the Fear Factory sound? Where are Burton's deep
growls? Oh my! While there are a few winning factors about _Obsolete_
(title track, "Shock" and "Hi-Tech Hate"), the rest of it is full  of
the filtered and rehashed Fear Factory vocal styles and guitar  riffs
that we have become accustomed to over the last few releases. And  to
boot, the band has opted to  use  more  melody  within  the  numbers,
rather than sparingly use both growls and melody  as  they  had  done
with their brilliant last effort,  1994's  _Demanufacture_.  The  one
aspect of the LP that may have die-hard fans turning away  is  Burton
C. Bell's solo singing accompanied by  a  string  ensemble  of  album
ender "Timelessness". Again, oh my! I honestly can say, after several
listens of this record, that I see where  the  band  wanted  to  take
their music, but it's quite apparent their ideas didn't mesh too well
in the end product. It's a sad day for a music fan when one  of  your
fave bands has become human just like yourself.

Contact: http://www.fearfactory.com


Haggard - _And Thou Shalt Trust... the Seer_  (Serenades, 1997)
by: Alvin Wee  (9.5 out of 10)

It has to be something special, when  the  advertisement  looks  more
Beethoven than Bathory. Haggard is a 15-headed  family  hailing  from
Munich, Germany, with more than half of the members schooled  in  the
classical tradition. So, lovers of violins, violas and  violoncellos,
listen up: here's  one  kick-ass  slab  of  unpretentious  "classical
metal", owing more to early My Dying Bride than the shallow  "gothic"
kitsch floating aimlessly around today. It's pretty hard to  classify
this wondrous mix of elements, as Haggard sucessfully fuse traits  of
doom, goth, pure classical, death  and  folk  into  an  awe-inspiring
cauldron  of  musical  sorcery.  Imagine  classical  interludes  more
authentic  than  Therion,  sweet  soprano  crooning  and  doom-filled
passages of melodic death/doom, throw in a couple of latin chants and
folk-tunes and you have probably the year's  best  avant-garde  work.
Unlike the multitude of synth-based bands which  rely  on  electronic
means to create a symphonic effect, Haggard uses  actual  instruments
like the harp, oboe, flute and clarinet, not  to  mention  the  usual
string instruments,  to  create  an  extremely  intimate  atmosphere,
avoiding the artificiality that usally accompanies  the  over-use  of
keyboards. There's more to music than instruments, and Haggard  prove
themselves  worthy  lyrically  too.  Delivered   in   a   myriad   of
satisfyingly deep growls, clear singing and chants, the lyrics  focus
mainly on biblical and historical concepts like the  crucifixion  and
witch-burnings. In fact, the different  "chapters"  weave  a  loosely
connected tale of the Inquisition and the events that accompanied it.
As if the well-penned English phrases weren't enough  to  impress,  I
was enraptured by  the  exquisite  German  poetry  that  adorns  most
tracks. Sung in perfect rhythm and tune, the effect is stunning to  a
German-speaker, creating a most memorable  aural  spectacle.  Volumes
might  be  written  about  Haggard's  music,  but  only  hearing   is
believing, and any self-respecting lover of music  should  check  out
one of the most amazing new acts today. The  next  album  should,  if
nothing goes wrong, easily obtain a perfect score.


Iced Earth - _Something Wicked This Way Comes_
by: Paul Schwarz  (4 out of 10)  (Century Media, June 1998)

_Something Wicked This Way Comes_ is the first full length from  Iced
Earth I have had the 'pleasure' of listening  to.  It's  their  sixth
album, and  I  can't  really  see  myself  hunting  down  their  back
catalogue as a result. _SWTWC_ provides its listener with  just  over
an hour's worth of nostalgic power metal anthems, half-cocked thrashy
numbers and repetitive rock ballads. Not only is this not really  the
kind of thing I go in for, but _SWTWC_ does not throw in  enough  new
twists and turns to keep me interested for 30 minutes, let alone over
an hour, nor does it provide one with a selection  of  truly  classic
metal songs to digest and bathe in the glory of. Riffs are simple and
repetitive, vocals are (though performed by an ably talented  singer)
irritatingly crooning and lacking in genuine angst. The music is ably
performed, but the songs are uninteresting and  treading  a  path  so
well trodden it's below sea level.  What  much  of  _SWTWC_  actually
reminds me of  is  a  collection  of  tracks  from  80s  movies  like
"Transformers", "Action Force", or "Nightmare on Elm Street". You 80s
kids remember, when there was a fight or the credits  would  roll  at
the end, you'd hear those real simple drum beats, real simple  guitar
riffs, some indulgent solo over the top, then a  eunuch  would  begin
singing lyrics like: "Life's a bitch, life's a whore,  nothing  less,
nothing more" (Iced Earth, "My Own Saviour"). Some of  this  material
even takes its cue from classic Annihilator, but if I  was  going  to
listen to 80s metal of this  sort  I'd  slam  on  the  aforementioned
Canadians or  a  band  who  were  there  and  who  have  always  been
unashamedly  metal,  Manowar.  Even  Manowar  or  Annihilator's  most
embarrassing moments have some better  qualities  than  Iced  Earth's
best efforts. If something "wicked", in its modern meaning, this  way
comes, it sure isn't this album -- this is  something  tried,  tested
and tired.


Impaled Nazarene - _Rapture_  (Osmose, May 1998)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (5 out of 10)

Impaled Nazarene's last effort, _Latex Cult_, didn't sit well with me
until I played it enough times for it to properly sink in. The  album
previous  to  it,  _Suomi  Finland  Perkele_,  showcased  some  great
melodies with thrashy aggression, but with the direction that  _Latex
Cult_ ventured into, it appeared that the band wanted  to  throw  out
the melodic side of the band  and  go  for  a  punkish,  over-the-top
sound. _Rapture_ is in much the same vein as _Latex Cult_ -- in fact,
some of the tracks on _Rapture_ sound either like re-written or  just
re-treaded songs off  the  previous  album.  The  drumming  at  times
stagnates due to the same beats being used time and time again,  thus
creating a same-ness effect throughout many of  the  songs.  The  bad
outweighs the good, but the standout tracks include the catchy "Angel
Rectums to Bleed", the rampage of "Goatvomit and  Gasmasks"  and  the
last track "Phallus Maleficarum". Buy at your own risk.


Krome - _Enough Rage_  (Chronium Records, June 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (5 out of 10)

And again we are seeing a trend starting to  emerge  from  the  metal
scene. Everyone is starting to do this aggressive groove metal  mixed
with intricate song structures. It sounds  so  bland  and  ridiculous
with its repetitive snazzy stop'n'start riffs and the tranquil vocals
spersed over harsh riffs. Throw in the melodious segues of the vocals
and the tip-tap of the drumming and it's taken on  the  shape  of  an
awful sounding beast. This doesn't  suck,  it's  just  so  'standard'
sounding. Nothing really innovative or ear catching that  would  make
me want to really get into this. I'm  sure  this  band  aimed  to  do
something different with _Enough Rage_, but in the end it all  sounds
the same. Think Pantera with a serious hangover and just  jamming  at
half-speed. Got it? Good.

Contact: Chromium Records, P.O. Box 41159-0159, Chicago, IL USA 60641
         mailto:RockRoll66@aol.com
         http://www.atmnet.com/~riddler/alchemy/krom/


Long Winters' Stare - _Cold Tale Eternal_  (Pantheon, March 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Doom metal accompanied by a cello has been an interesting thought for
me ever since My Dying Bride started using a  violin  more  often  in
their music, and the contrabass (you may think of it as a cello) used
by Long Winters' Stare does give them a significant amount  of  extra
quality. Mixing some more  American-style  doom  with  European  doom
influences, the contrabass and a somewhat peculiar use of  keyboards,
LWS manage to sound a bit different from other doom bands. One of the
characteristics  of  their  sound  that  seems  very  reminiscent  of
American doom is the vocal style, more screamed  than  grunted.  This
approach doesn't work too well sometimes (though it does  really  fit
the excellent start of "Sigh"),  and  a  more  constant,  low-pitched
approach, like that of the last two tracks, might have been better. A
couple  of  very  good  instrumental  tracks  featuring   contrabass,
acoustic guitars and piano are also quite welcome. The major downside
of this 20 minute long EP is essencially  the  fact  that  all  seven
songs are very short (usually under the three minute mark,  with  two
four minute long exceptions), and  the  song  structures  are  a  bit
repetitive. Still, this is certainly a solid debut, especially thanks
to the contrabass.

Contact: http://www.njrocks.com/lws/
         http://www.pantheonrecords.com


Manmade God - _Manmade God_  (Independent, June 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (6 out of 10)

While this 5-song outing radiates a solid groove  throughout,  I'm  a
little annoyed by mid-mark  with  its  monotonous  vocal  drones  and
similar riffs over and over. The sound of Manmade  God  can  best  be
compared to Tool meshing with a heavy Black Sabbath/Soundgarden-esque
guitar sound. And while I did have problems with the sameness of this
record, songs like "Scarred by Lust" and "Rip Me Out" keep  things  a
little fresh. Vocalist Mike Green has a pretty dark and  eerie  vocal
style that would be enhanced ten fold if some uniqueness  and  a  bit
more experience of styling was put into this music.

Contact: Manmade God, 25125 Santa Clara St. #291 Hayward,
         CA 94544, USA


Monster Voodoo Machine - _Direct Reaction Now!_
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)  (Doctor Dream / A&M, June 1998)

Revved up and ready to conquer the world, the  latest  offering  from
resurrected Toronto faves Monster Voodoo Machine  (after  calling  it
quits a year ago) is a ball-busting concoction of harrowing riffs and
forcibly-tight vocals/harmonies. While still sounding  very  MVM-ish,
the new material does away with the keyboards/samples/loops and makes
use of the band's  hardcore-esque  stylings  to  their  utmost.  This
records runs on strong stamina as it caters to the  band's  need  for
heavy grooves, coated with powerful vocals and  a  deadlock  attitude
fixated on just rocking the hardest. Hardcore-edge mixed with  garage
rock/noisecore sounds would best describe the current  sound  of  the
band. It plays out a real luscious feel on  the  record,  a  slightly
slick feel that goes hand in hand with the band's vivacious overtones
of a hard worked and defined raw edge. Songs like "Gimme A Riot",  "I
Have Seen The Rise" and "Dragon Style" sound wicked and  easily  urge
people to give this baby multiple listens. You know  what  they  say:
'You can never keep a good band down.'

Contact: Doctor Dream Records, 817 W. Collins, Orange CA 92867
         http://www.golden.net/~molotov/mvm/mvmhq.htm


Mornland / Abominator - _Prelude to World Funeral..._
by: Paul Schwarz  (Path to Enlightenment, September 1997)
Mornland (6 out of 10), Abominator (1 out of 10)

What exactly makes this a "Prelude to World Funeral" and what exactly
is it that constitutes it is a mystery to me -- but if it is meant to
imply something haunting, scary or immensely  brutal,  then  I  think
someone put the wrong CD in my box. Mornland are by far the  best  of
these two bands. Their music  is,  roughly  speaking,  a  mixture  of
Burzum and early At the  Gates,  although  they  are  in  no  way  as
original, brilliant or haunting  as  either  of  these  two  artists.
Mornland do have some good ideas floating about here; they  use  some
good acoustic passages and play their melodic black/death nicely, but
not to the point of standing out. Abominator, on the other hand, seem
to want to be Immortal / Bathory /  Darkthrone  and  fail  miserably.
Their music is virtually inaudible behind a, I believe  purposefully,
messy production. Their songs are unoriginal and  their  song  titles
are once again straight rip-offs, mostly of Immortal.  Their  lyrics,
which they don't print because they  are  "profane"  (the  excuse  of
every band who want to appear far more "evil"  and  outstanding  than
they actually are -- although you could write to them...), seem to be
stereotypical and bad. Abominator should realise that  not  only  are
there a million bands as  shit  as  them  but  also  that  there  are
hundreds who are infinitely better than they will ever be.


Nile - _Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren Ka_
by: Paul Schwarz  (9.5 out of 10)  (Relapse, June 1998)

This is undoubtedly one of the most brutal and  uncompromising  death
metal releases I have ever heard. It is also much more  than  just  a
brutal  and  uncompromising  death  metal  release  (which  Pyrexia's
_System of the Animal_ wasn't -- it should have got an 8 instead of a
9 out of 10 from me as a result). Although beginning with  the  aural
evisceration of "Smashing the Antiu"  and  following  suit  with  the
similarly monstrous "Barra Edinazzu", _ATCONK_ has so  much  more  to
offer than simply sheer brutality. The third 'intro'  track  captures
the  sounds  of  Egypt   first   hand   with   traditional   sounding
instrumentation. Along with utilising this a  few  more  times,  Nile
also incorporate Egyptian musical patterns into their distorted death
metal playing. The other thing which came to astound  me  about  this
release was its ability to mix fast and slow, as well  as  mysterious
and  brutal.  Although  the  first  few  tracks  involve  speed   and
technicality which would make most  bands,  except  maybe  Cryptopsy,
wince, "Stones of Sorrow" tackles a totally different  angle,  erring
between mid-paced and slow progressions and a very pronounced gradual
lead part which finishes off the song excellently.  As  if  all  this
wasn't enough, "Die Rache Krieg Lied der Assyriche" provides us  with
a tribal infused chant to invoke the gods which is so  well  executed
it doesn't amuse, as so many of  these  "invocations"  tend  to,  but
astounds. In just 33 minutes, Nile satisfy on so  many  levels.  They
produce some of the most extreme and  brilliantly  constructed  death
metal around and mix it with the atmosphere of  Egyptian  music,  the
emotion of adrenaline fuelled  screams  of  aggression,  the  calming
tones of the acoustic guitar and the disturbing atmosphere of  tribal
chanting. In a year that wasn't looking so good for death metal, Nile
would be like a blinding light in total dark; as it is, they are  one
of the most radiant and compelling of a number of beacons floating on
top  of  a  sea  of  mediocrity.  If  you  miss  this,  you  have  my
condolences; but don't say I didn't warn you.


Odes of Ecstasy - _Embossed Dream in Four Acts_  (The End, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (7 out of 10)

Odes of Ecstasy can be most easily compared with bands  like  Theatre
of Tragedy. I would also draw comparisons  to  Katatonia  and  Septic
Flesh. Their style is melodic, but not overly so, and features female
vocals very prominently. As the title  implies,  this  is  a  concept
album, featuring four acts (real songs), plus an intro and an  outro,
and lasting slightly more than 30 minutes. The playing and production
are decent, although I'm not too fond of the guitar  tone,  which  is
often  a  little  weak.  The  music  tends  to  be  orchestrated  and
keyboard-heavy quite often, but it retains a guitar-driven,  metallic
base most of the time. The music is a mix  of  straightforward  metal
and classically influenced  symphonic  music.  The  vocals  alternate
between death growls and female  operatic  vocals,  with  some  other
types thrown in at  times.  It  sounds  like  there  are  two  female
vocalists to me, and one of them is by far the weakest  part  of  the
album. She sounds like a trained opera  singer,  right  down  to  the
extremely wide vibrato that she uses. While this is  appropriate  for
opera, it just doesn't work in a metal context. She has an  excellent
voice, and a few parts where she sings are  excellent  (such  as  the
two-minute mark of "Garden of  Temptation"),  but  some  others  just
don't work. Other than that, this is competent,  melodic  doom/death.
It's a good offering, and shows potential for better  things  in  the
future.

Contact: mailto:shrider@compulink.gr
         http://www.theendrecords.com/


Old Man's Child - _Ill-Natured Spiritual Invasion_
by: Paul Schwarz  (7 out of 10)  (Century Media, May 1998)

It feels like only yesterday I was writing my review for  _The  Pagan
Prosperity_, Old Man's Child's last album, and  it  -was-  only  just
over six months ago that their last full length saw the light of day.
What _Ill-Natured Spiritual Invasion_ does not sound like however, is
that it has been rushed -- on the contrary, it sounds more calculated
and better thought  out  than  its  predecessor.  OMC  have  taken  a
different approach to the music  this  time  around  as  well:  their
sound, backed up  by  the  pounding  drum  work  of  the  justifiably
worshipped Gene Hoglan (guesting), now bears much greater resemblance
to Dimmu Borgir et al, and there are good and bad points to  be  made
about this change. The band  certainly  sound  better:  their  guitar
lines gallop and classic speed-metal is evidently an influence; their
keyboards augment the sound far better  than  they  did  before;  the
screeched vocals blend nicely in the resulting mix; and the  drumming
is intense in writing as well as performance. The let  down  is  that
some of the Dimmu Borgir-isms become a bit  too  frequent  and,  more
worryingly, a bit too close to the originals.  Overall,  it  isn't  a
_Reign in Blood_ for the band or the black metal world, but it  is  a
solid, heavy, enjoyable and well played slab of late 90s black metal.
If that's what you need,  then  you'll  need  _Ill-Natured  Spiritual
Invasion_.


Opeth - _My Arms, Your Hearse_  (Candlelight Records, May 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (10 out of 10)

Looking at the remarkable bleakness of the cover for the first  time,
I knew this album had everything it needed to be great.  And  it  is.
Once again, no band logo, not even an album title on the front cover,
just a bleak picture, even moreso than those of  the  previous  Opeth
albums. (Candlelight(?) did place an ugly  sticker  on  the  outside,
though.) What's next, then?  The  lyrics.  Awesome.  Displayed  as  a
single  block  of  text  upon  the  booklet's  center  pages,  Mikael
Akerfeldt has offered us a story, rather than a set of separate  song
lyrics, and it is indeed appropriate for  the  music  and  the  album
title. (All song titles are embedded in the story.) This is the  kind
of lyrics that actually strengthen the music;  and  with  Akerfeldt's
usual vocal performances... Anyway, my CD player tells me  the  album
is "just" 52:36 long, which is  rather  disappointing  for  an  Opeth
album. The songs are about eight to nine minutes long, a couple  even
around six, not counting the instrumentals (but Opeth still don't use
any choruses, fortunately). However, as you might tell by the lyrics'
structure, this can almost be regarded as one 48 minute  song:  every
song does merge into the next (the only silence between songs happens
before "Epilogue"), often through fade-outs. And so the album starts:
ambient sounds of rain, then a sombre  piano,  followed  by  a  short
crescendo... and  Opeth  tear  into  the  powerful  start  of  "April
Ethereal". Shortly after, Mikael does not disappoint and screams  his
way into yet another superb vocal performance, the growled/clean  vox
balance not having suffered any significant changes. There  are  less
acoustic sections than on _Morningrise_, and the album is  overall  a
bit less melodic than its predecessors. Being recorded at the Fredman
studios may have influenced this, but the fact is that the  music  is
heavier and more powerful than before -- "Demon of  the  Fall"  being
the best example of that. Also, not a  surprise  considering  what  I
wrote so far, the atmosphere on _My Arms, Your Hearse_  is  very  sad
and doomy. Though some parts of the drum sound are  somewhat  awkward
at times (new drummer and bass player, by the way), the  instrumental
performance is as great as one would expect, and  Akerfeldt's  vocals
are again amazing. Top quality  sections  just  flow  throughout  the
album, making it truly -excellent-.  _My  Arms,  Your  Hearse_  is  a
indeed a brilliant proof that Swedish metal isn't entirely stagnant.


Pulkas - _Greed_  (Earache / St. Clair, May 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)

Having had this record for a few months before actually writing about
it, I had easily spun it dozens of times before actually sitting down
to write this review. Each listen  wrapped  me  into  the  sound  and
emotions blaring from this album. It really was unnerving  at  times.
This British quartet has managed to capture a  vibe  of  metal  music
that seems too hard to find nowadays. Solid metal music  that  speaks
the ways that metal should be going, as well adding  in  elements  of
modern metal like Tool and Deftones. _Greed_ easily escalates to pure
adrenaline rush from track one, "Loaded", onward, as we are  overcome
by the band's thick riffs, heavy-ass grooves and maniacal vocals that
help to keep things tough as Pulkas kicks into  tracks  like  "Rubber
Room", "Hippy Fascist" and "Rebirth". No doubt these guys  are  gonna
wreak some havoc at home and  hopefully  in  North  America.  A  good
choice by Earache to sign them as one of their newer acts to push  in
the years to come.


Samael - _Exodus_  (Century Media, May 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out of 10)

From what I can tell, not being Samael's No.1 fan, this MCD gives you
three listed newly recorded Samael  tracks  and  one  unlisted  bonus
track, two of the tracks from _Ceremony of  Opposites_  reworked  and
another reworked song called "From Malkuth to Kether". _Exodus_  also
clocks in at nearly half an hour and the net result is that this  MCD
is good value for money; but, I hear you ask, is it any  good?  Well,
quite frankly, yes it is. The reworked tracks,  "Son  of  Earth"  and
"Ceremony of Opposites", both sound refreshingly different from their
originals, with the band giving the production a  more  rounded  feel
and adding or subtracting various elements.  These  changes  are  all
blended in well, as opposed to being  pasted,  and  even  the  techno
beats in "Son of Earth" don't sound like  they've  been  unthinkingly
dumped. All the three new listed tracks are  similar  to  the  band's
typical compositions and are good; blending death metal power chords,
keyboards and a varied array of vocals, as  is  Samael's  trade.  The
final  reworking  "From  Malkuth  to  Kether"  incorporates  thumping
techno-influenced drumming, brief  guitar  chords  and  squeals,  and
black  metal  vocals  to  produce  something  vaguely  original   and
surprisingly listenable; although not one for the purists. The  bonus
track is  an  inconsequential  but  enjoyable  instrumental  'outro'.
Quality of music and value for money make this a  good  purchase  for
fans and those who have never heard the band, as it gives you a taste
of the band's core sound and their flair for experimentation.


Various - _Sepultural Feast: A Tribute to Sepultura_
by: Adam Wasylyk  (8 out of 10)  (Black Sun, June 1998)

Finally I receive a tribute album that's worth purchasing. The Celtic
Frost tribute held very little worth listening  to,  while  the  Iron
Maiden tribute didn't do anything for me (both coincidentally put out
by Dwell). _Sepultural Feast_ contains a  wide  assortment  of  bands
covering some of Sepultura's greatest material while  injecting  each
own's sound and style. Starting off in a serious way  is  Sacramentum
with their storming cover of "The Curse / Antichrist".  The  momentum
falters in places throughout the album, but  there  are  many  worthy
moments, such as  Dimension  Zero's  "Troops  of  Doom",  Defleshed's
"Beneath  the   Remains",   Impious'   "Inner   Self",   Exhumation's
"Territory" and Slavestate's "Roots Bloody Roots". What was also good
to see was that every Sepultura album was represented on the tribute,
from _Morbid Visions_ to the bands' most recent LP _Roots_. Finally a
tribute album that the band being paid tribute to won't retch over.


Silent Stream of Godless Elegy - _Behind the Shadows_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)  (M.A.B. Records / Redblack, 1998)

Now here's an album that turned out to be a bit different from what I
expected, but nonetheless very interesting. I  had  heard  that  this
Czech band played doom/death and used both a violin and  a  cello  in
their music -- hence my interest. As it turns out, a few  tracks  are
indeed doomy, but the album is often  a  mid-paced  form  of  folkish
metal -- and quite good at it, too. The cello and violin really shine
through, together with plenty of catchy riffs and choruses. Check out
"Wizard" and "Garden", the first couple of tracks, and also  some  of
"The Last Place"; "Old Women's Dance" could also be an  example,  but
its rather terrible chorus ruins it. There are also  a  few  folkish,
mostly instrumental tracks,  sometimes  featuring  very  nice  female
vocals, which start showing up on the seventh track and turn  out  to
be quite important during the second half of the album. Some  doomier
material appears in a darker version of "Old  Women's  Dance"  (track
6), "Ghost" and "Shadow", among several other passages. Two Dead  Can
Dance and one The Byrds covers are also to be found. The  male  vocal
performance isn't great, however; it ranges from low death grunts  to
clean vocals (with several stages between the two), but  the  cleaner
vox are nothing special and the vocalist  really  has  a  rough  time
trying to speak English. Still, his voice isn't terrible  either  and
this is a very enjoyable record.

Contact: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/4955/ssge.html
Contact: http://www.mabrec.cz


Slayer - _Diabolus in Musica_  (American/Columbia, June 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)

The art of metal is a lost form. Everything is evolving and no one is
sticking to their roots. Hasn't it been like that for  the  last  few
years? What happened to the "Big Four" of metal music  --  Metallica,
Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer? Well, sad to  say  that  Metallica  and
Megadeth  have  gone  commercial  and  Anthrax  is  currently  having
problems adding variety to their sound with their latest effort  _Vol
8: The Threat Is Real_. And then there is Slayer.  Despite  the  many
ways in which metal music has changed over  the  last  little  while,
Slayer has pretty much stayed focused with what they have done. While
the band's last punk cover LP _Undisputed Attitude_  was  not  to  my
liking and I was not into _Divine Intervention_ much, this new record
just rules. I'm serious, people.  This  is  a  hardworking,  powerful
assault by Slayer. This is a brutally honest record that captures the
band at their best with its rough vocals, sinister riffs and  a  real
solid groove helping  keep  this  beast  tamed  for  the  most  part.
_Diabolus in Musica_ dips a bit into  the  aggro-rock  feel  to  some
degree, but amply showcases the band's classic sound and style. Araya
has never seemed so verbally abusive and  the  dual  attack  of  Jeff
Hanneman and Kerry King's chugging guitar and Paul Bostaph's drilling
drum work will knock some sense into you. The coolest track has to be
"Death's Head", as it slices through a  killer  groove  with  Araya's
trademark raspy growls. *ALL* of this record is good. And contrary to
popular belief, not all of metal's ex-heavyweights are  selling  out.
Slayer shoves all that bullshit down the  throats  of  non-believers.
One of the year's best, by one of the best.

Contact: http://www.diabolus.net


Solus - _Solus_  (Skinmask Productions, June 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

If there was something that the band's debut  disc  _Slave  of  Mind_
needed, it was a fuller, richer sound. Everything  else  tore  at  ya
with some sinister results; it just lacked something, and finally the
band has captured the missing piece. That one  ingredient  makes  its
way into the band's latest 3-song (in between relaxing and recording)
effort that truly brings the band's strengths to the forefront. Laced
with ultra-heavy growls, a monstrous rhythm section and guitar  licks
to die for, Solus' 3-song EP showcases a band on the move and in fine
form. I'm digging the powerful opener "Quilt of Shame" and the varied
vocal styles of the epic-esque "Magadan" big time. The EP  ends  with
the blistering onslaught calling itself  "Tainted  Slowly",  a  track
that really runs up the momentum of the band to tiptop shape.  Strong
grooves and full growls echo  and  shatter  things  in  its  wake.  A
Toronto band that is truly doing some dynamic work and looking rather
strong for the future if this keeps up.


Soulburn - _Feeding on Angels_  (Century Media, June 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (5 out of 10)

Well, if the press release hadn't emphasized the fact  that  Soulburn
was 2/3 Asphyx, I would have expected  the  kind  of  boring  cliched
music  that  the  cover,  name  and  title  suggested  and  the  disc
demonstrated. As it was, I was interested to see what the Asphyx guys
were doing and had some expectations. From beginning to end, however,
I can find absolutely nothing outstanding about this album.  I  don't
even like the production. The attempt seems to have  been  (and  this
was hinted at by the PRs decision to include a list of classic  death
metal influences) to create that hard, razor edged sound  that  gives
classic early thrashers like _Morbid Tales_ and  _Pleasure  to  Kill_
their charm. However, _Feeding On Angels_'s production, in attempt to
recreate that sound, seems to have taken a wrong turn and  ultimately
resulted in weak drums, scratching guitars,  monotone  vocals  and  a
rather thin atmosphere. As I hinted at, Soulburn write some extremely
simple, though long and rather tedious, mid-paced death metal,  a  la
Celtic Frost, tunes which blend into  each  other  and  produce  only
short parts which are seriously worth the time. I do  make  it  sound
worse than it is. Had _FOA_ been  released  at  the  time  its  songs
reflect and it would have been just  one  more  average  album  in  a
burgeoning and confusing scene. Now we have the  reflection  to  reap
many of the best crops at leisure, we know what  is  good,  we  don't
need a new band reminding us of all the rip-off mediocrity  that  was
around. Usurper get away with a lot of retro-isms because they do  it
brilliantly and throw in enough techniques and twists that are new to
create a sound which reflects changes since the early  80s;  Soulburn
are just digging up old corpses which should have been left to rot.


Various - _Statements of Intent_  (Wicked World, June 1998)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (7 out of 10)

An offshoot of Earache Records, Wicked World is a new sub-label  that
will cater to the more extreme forms of metal (the reason why Earache
doesn't straight out sign the bands rather than  sign  them  to  this
subsidiary is beyond me). The first release is a  compilation  called
_Statements  of  Intent_  that  holds  a  variety  of   bands,   from
traditional black to death/black and other related  genres.  Some  of
the bands featured are The Haunted, In  Flames,  Arch  Enemy,  Opeth,
Katatonia, Emperor, Dimmu Borgir and Dark Tranquillity. Much like the
_Blackened III_ compilation, you get a good assortment of bands  from
a good variety of sub-genres. Worth picking up if  you  can  find  it
cheap.


Stormwitch - _Priest of Evil_  (B.O. Records, 1998)
by: Alvin Wee  (8.5 out of 10)

I wouldn't  be  too  surprised  if  Hammerfall's  recent  sucess  had
anything to do with this re-release of 80s cult-metallers Stormwitch.
Apart from sounding less contemporary than their modern counterparts,
Stormwitch is everything Hammerfall is  and  more;  vinyl  fetishists
will rejoice at the satisfyingly grainy sound reproduced on the older
tracks. Anyone who's heard Hammerfall's rendition of "Ravenlord"  has
already heard Stormwitch: what's on offer here is simply 15 tracks of
metal anthems with the usual cheesy high-pitched "German"-vocals that
power metal fans can't seem to get enough  of.  One  point  to  note,
though, apart from the operatic choruses and the occasional  screams,
is that Stormwitch isn't ever as  metal  as,  say,  Running  Wild  or
Manowar are, or were in the early eighties.  In  fact,  some  of  the
songs resemble more metal-edged hard rock, or a more diabolical  form
of NWOBHM, (a metalised Incubus, perhaps).  Still,  few  other  bands
(with the exception of Mercyful Fate / King Diamond) can match up  to
the sheer darkness of the title  track.  Boasting  a  riff  of  utter
darkness  and  vocals  to  match,  Stormwitch  manage  to  create  an
atmosphere as diabolical as the best of today's black  metal  without
sacrificing melody or being as directly abrasive. There's little else
to be said about this release; either  you  have  no  idea  who  King
Diamond is and have lost interest by now anyway, or you're a faithful
fan of Attack, Running Wild and Iron Maiden  and  will  already  have
rushed out to grab this godsend.


Strapping Young Lad - _No Sleep Till Bedtime_
by: Adrian Bromley  (9.5 out of 10)  (Century Media, June 1998)

Those of you who get all hyped up with SYL should  know  what  you're
getting with this live effort the band recorded  during  a  week-long
tour in Australia. It fucking rules! Madman Devin Townsend has helped
capture a solid live recording showcasing the  many  facets  of  this
band. Live material from the sophomore effort _City_ ("Oh My  Fucking
God", "SYL" and "Velvet  Kevorkian")  sounds  blistering,  especially
Townsend's vocals and Gene Hoglan's  drumming.  New  unreleased  live
song "Far Beyond Metal" kicks ass as do the two  new  studio  efforts
"Japan" and "Centipede". One great quality about this record is  that
it captures the live audience perfectly -- sounds like it was  a  zoo
'down under.' I only wish I had been there. This rocks!

Contact: http://home.bc.rogers.wave.ca/hdrecord/


Suffocation - _Despise the Sun_  (Vulture, January 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

The kings of brutality return -- and what a beast they  have  brought
with them. _Despise the Sun_ is the most vicious collection of  music
Suffocation  have  released  since  the  legendary  _Effigy  of   the
Forgotten_ and easily qualifies as one of  this  year's  most  brutal
releases. Admittedly it is only an EPs worth of material  whose  five
tracks fly by in a mere 17 minutes, but you can rest assured that  no
second is wasted with anything but material of the  highest  quality,
brutality and technicality. In the four new songs,  Suffocation  fans
will note, probably with surprise, that no  solos  appear;  this,  in
some respects, adds to their relentlessness, but it would be a  shame
if the band has decided  to  leave  them  out  of  the  new  material
altogether -- the masterfully re-recorded  "Catatonia",  from  _Human
Waste_, demonstrates what folly this would be.  Although  Suffocation
have changed little in style or quality, the line-up  has  seen  some
alteration with the recruitment of  ex-Malevolent  Creation  skinsman
Dave Culross. Dave seems to  have  brought  some  of  the  additional
intensity and additional freshness which _DtS_  oozes,  though  drums
have never been a low point with Suffocation.  Although  hopefully  a
mere taste of things to  come,  _DtS_  is  hugely  satisfying  and  a
testament to the longevity of one of  death  metal's  best  and  most
influential acts.

Contact: Vulture, PO Box 730, Coram, New York, 11727, USA
         mailto:VultureEnt@aol.com


Swan Christy - _One With the Swan_  (Black Lotus Records, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (6 out of 10)

Symphonic metal is what Swan Christy aimed to create with  _One  With
the Swan_ (or at least so it says in their  biography);  however,  it
turns out that it isn't very symphonic,  and  there  certainly  isn't
much metal to be found here either. They did use  violin  and  piano,
but that's not necessarily enough to give  the  album  a  "symphonic"
feeling. Still, the violin and piano melodies are usually quite good,
and happen to be what's better on most of the album.  The  very  soft
male vocals are skilled enough, but not very remarkable; you'll  most
likely hardly ever notice the drumming; and both the guitar sound and
playing are rather poor (some similarities with Angizia come to  mind
here). So what is it that adds  up  to  that  average  rating?  Well,
Natalie Rassoulis (whom you may know for her work with Septic  Flesh)
provides her excellent vocals during approximately ten  minutes,  and
the rest of the album has plenty of the nice violin/piano melodies  I
mentioned, which is pretty much all that remains after _OWtS_ is over.


Thine - _A Town Like This_  (Peaceville, July 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Sure, I've reviewed some albums that weren't easy to describe in  the
past, but I can't remember one that defied  description  as  much  as
Thine's debut full-length does. Shall I try? Occasional slight  scent
of Arcturus' _La Masquerade Infernale_ (no reason why I mentioned  it
first, though),  some  Nick  Cave  here  and  there  (I  guess  their
_Peaceville X_ cover wasn't just a  coincidence),  some  doomy  metal
bits, -plenty- of non-metal influences almost everywhere... and  that
only starts to describe it. Overall, Thine don't  sound  specifically
like anything I know. Most tracks are seven to  eight  minutes  long,
featuring  mostly  unpredictable  structures,  with  some   old-style
rocking sections  (start  of  "Miss  Grey",  "Sonic  Showmen"),  some
strange interludes (end of "This Town", middle of  "My  Song",  "Here
Tonight") and even a combination of both (start of "Pianomen").  Most
of the weirdness the band has inserted does ruin the  atmosphere,  in
my opinion, but with such  tracks  as  "Re-animate  the  Masque"  and
especially "Feathers & Roses", and the high average  quality  of  all
these longer songs, there is  plenty  of  quality  material  here  --
especially due to the excellent  instrumental  performance.  All  put
together, and despite a few interludes that don't suit  my  taste  at
all, Thine have produced a very interesting  and  certainly  original
debut.


Tyrant - _Under the Dark Mystic Sky_  (Pulverised Records)
by: Alvin Wee  (10 out of 10)

And just when we thought Obtained Enslavement could afford to rest on
their laurels with _Witchcraft_,  Singaporean  label  Pulverised  has
once again dropped  jaws  with  their  latest  signing  and  bonafide
Japanese sensation Tyrant. Not to be  confused  with  the  80s  metal
legends, this Oriental quartet deceptively oozes retro-thrash spirit;
dishing up instead a most hauntingly beautiful form  of  black  metal
art. It's futile to try to describe _UtDMS_ without making  it  sound
like the next Covenant album,  but  that's  what  it  is,  and  more.
Stripped of the sickly sweet keyboard passages, Covenant and Co.  end
up a boring, disoriented mess; Tyrant,  on  the  other  hand,  remain
musically solid, combining  highly  melodic  black-metal  leads  with
almost thrashy, hard-hitting riffs. Beneath the swathes of symphonics
lies a blazing, ferocious black metal  heaviness  that  the  luscious
melodies  only  add  depth  to.  Each   song   flows   smoothly   and
effortlessly, with no hint of awkward riff or misplaced beat  marring
the stellar musicianship. Sweet-faced female keyboardist Ayumi boldly
spits in the faces of would-be  BM-misogynists  with  "Ghost  Waltz",
boasting some of the most memorable  melodies  on  the  album.  Which
brings us to the most excellent lead guitar work adorning each track,
of a standard most generic bands can only dream of attaining. All  in
all, I'm still not very content with black metal's current direction,
but with new acts like Obtained Enslavement and Tyrant  churning  out
impeccable material like this,  there's  nothing  this  hack  has  to
complain about. I dunno  if  you  can  get  this  easily  outside  of
Singapore (I can't even find another  copy  here  in  Singapore),  as
Pulverised doesn't get very good coverage despite the number of  good
acts in their stables, but do try sending about $18 to their  contact
below.

Contact: Pulverised Records, P.O. Box 109, Yishun Central,
         S(917604), Singapore
         mailto:ashes@pacific.net.sg


Undertakers - _Suffering Within_  (Cryptic Soul, August 1997)
by: Paul Schwarz  (6 out of 10)

Undertakers have some good ideas and  music  rattling  around  inside
_Suffering Within_; the album's greatest defect is that its  slightly
tinny drum production and a definite hissy background to the  guitars
make the band sound rather unprofessional --  a  fact  which  is  not
borne out either by their ability, which is pretty decent,  or  their
songwriting, which is certainly coming along. Most of this album  can
still be classed under the heading "run-of-the-mill death metal", but
two tracks stand out and provide definite hope  for  the  quality  of
future recordings. The first you will encounter is the  third  track,
"Human Decline". Much of this  track  is  taken  up  with  adequately
played riffs and blast beats, but a two chord riff and  its  backing,
which come in a couple of times after the main chorus, give the  song
an excellent groove. I don't mean the kind of  Coal  Chamber  /  Limp
Bizkit we-can't-really-play-so-we'll-"groove" sort, I mean a  serious
headbangin', rockin' groove!, which I think the band  could  try  and
incorporate more to produce some truly cool music, as  long  as  they
don't loose the brutality. The other aspect  appears  on  last  track
"Seed", which is a strange sort of  tribal/electro  drum  experiment.
This track's methods are isolated here, but I feel meshing them  with
the rest of the bands music would  further  improve  the  quality  of
future recordings. A  solid  debut  and  quite  a  bit  that  can  be
developed on.

Contact: mailto:engiann@tin.it


Vader - _Kingdom_  (Metal Mind, March 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8.5 out of 10)

Unfortunately this taste of things to come, which should be  arriving
in 1999 sometime, has at present only seen  an  official  release  in
Poland.  However,  it's  currently  available  through   the   band's
management and I know Nuclear Blast Germany also  stock  it.  But  is
_Kingdom_ worth the trouble? Well, it sure was for  me.  It  contains
two totally new  songs,  a  re-recording  of  "Breath  of  Centuries"
(excellent), an outake from the _Black to the Blind_  sessions  which
appeared on its Japanese copies, and two atmospheric dance  mixes  of
songs from _BttB_. Not to hold you in dreaded suspense,  the  remixes
are actually very well done,  and,  although  I  do  not  go  in  for
deconstruction myself, if I was listening to this sort of  stuff  I'd
listen to these as soon as any atmospheric  dance,  though  it  isn't
really a part of Vader to me. "Anamnesis", from the _BttB_  sessions,
is very similar to the other tracks on that album, although  it  does
have a particularly insane piece of drum chaos just before  the  song
kicks in which is worth checking out.  If  "Creatures  of  Light  and
Darkness" and "Kingdom" are indicators of  where  Vader  are  headed,
then I predict that a repeat of any of their previous works is not on
the cards. These new  songs,  though  short  (only  just  over  three
minutes a piece), are much less frantic and speed-oriented  than  the
songs from _BttB_. They utilize pummelling mid-paced riffs, backed up
by fierce drums and Peter's distinctive  vocals  and  some  excellent
quiet/loud dynamics, while not opting for slow/fast ones  --  all  in
all, two very cool Vader songs. _Kingdom_ is a reassuring reminder of
Vader's talents and a definite reason to salivate in anticipation  of
a new full length.


Virgin Steele - _Invictus_  (Modern Music / Noise, 1998)
by: Alvin Wee  (10 out of 10)

Whenever a legendary band like Running Wild or Manowar unveils a  new
album, there's bound to be  a  certain  electricity  surrounding  it.
Canadian legends Virgin Steele are no exception. With  a  history  of
classic albums behind them, frontman Daniel Defeis has led  his  band
of warriors through traditional hard-rock albums like _Noble  Savage_
and magnificent epics like the _Marriage_ saga,  while  at  the  same
time contributing with his  fathomless  talent  to  cult  underground
legends like Exorcist and Piledriver. This time around,  conceptually
linked with the _Marriage_ series, _Invictus_  shows  the  aggressive
side of Virgin Steele, offering  up  a  lethal  mix  of  Manowar  and
Running Wild, laced with vicious, almost screaming vocals. Present as
always are the Manowar-esque epic tracks like  "Mind,  Body,  Spirit"
and "Through  Blood  and  Fire",  replete  with  Eric  Adams-inspired
shrieks. It might be sacrilege to say this, but I'm strongly  tempted
to compare any of these tracks to Manowar's finest work.  One  listen
to "Defiance", a stunning mix of  Running  Wild  verses  and  Manowar
choruses, and you'll see what I mean. I'm not trying  to  put  Virgin
Steele down as merely excellent clones; on the  contrary,  what  sets
them apart from bands like Gothic Knights or  Sacred  Steel  are  the
unique riffs and bold structural experimentation, immortalised in the
10-minute opus "Veni, Vedi, Vici". Flowing  seamlessly  from  angelic
mourning to rollicking prog-rock to out-and-out metal and back,  this
epic, and most of the sixteen tracks on  the  album,  never  fail  to
sound inspired, varied and  dynamic.  Boasting  qualities  above  and
beyond  most  bands  of  the   genre,   like   their   irreproachable
musicianship, a knack for appropriate experimentation and  a  general
triumph in the glory days of heavy metal, there's no reason  why,  if
Manowar are hailed as the "Kings of Metal", Virgin Steele  would  not
deserve their own crowns.


Waylander - _Reawakening Pride Once Lost_  (Century Media, May 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (7 out of 10)

Waylander are  an  Irish  band  blending  Irish  folk  and  blackened
death/thrash metal. Being pretty competent  at  playing  both  styles
separately,  as  they  do  on  "Gaelic  Dawn"  and   "Emain   Macha",
respectively, they also do a decent job  of  combining  them  --  see
"Victory Feast". This is not to say the album is supremely  original,
although the use of a tin whistle is refreshingly  untrendy,  if  not
too far from a  flute  or  similar  instrument.  It  is  not  in  the
originality stakes that Waylander will succeed; it  is  the  skillful
way they have written, recorded and produced this set of  songs  that
gives them a little of that crucial edge, not their compositions. One
positive point is that all the elements combine well and none of  the
subtleties appear to have been drowned out. The band have also  given
their set of traditional rock instruments  a  good  production,  with
great big chunky guitars, thumping drums and  bass  line  and  decent
vocals. Lyrically, the band, like many others (see  Einherjer),  have
chosen their heritage as inspiration, but what is funny about this is
it allows me to, in my case  favourably,  compare  them  to  Manowar.
Their tales of battles, heroes and kings are not  dissimilar  to  the
true "Kings of  Metal",  and  although  Waylander's  music  resembles
Manowar as obviously as  rock  resembles  folk  (read  between  these
lines), I challenge any Manowar fan to  deny  that  the  way  "Hero's
Lament" opens is similar to "Hail and Kill". A solid debut and a band
worth keeping a third eye on.

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


Demimonde - _The Warrior's Poets_  (7-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (***--)

Demimonde's doomy form of atmospheric metal (featuring several styles
of male vocals, nice female vox and keyboards)  certainly  is  varied
enough, with its  melodic/atmospheric  sections  (including  acoustic
guitars), death-like parts and faster sections.  Having  some  pretty
good artwork and a very remarkable total length of over  40  minutes,
things seem quite promising. As it turns out, Demimonde have  done  a
good job, but the main problem clearly is  that  quality  isn't  very
constant throughout the songs -- the band often shows  some  lack  of
experience. I did like several parts of  this  tape,  especially  the
faster sections with female vocals  on  my  favorite  song,  "Queen's
Pilgrimage", but, considering all that's being done  today,  most  of
the material here doesn't quite  stand  out  from  the  'crowd'.  The
production is far  from  perfect  and  doesn't  help,  but  it's  not
disastrous either; the same can be said about most of the clean  male
vocals. It's a fact that this recording is about  twice  as  long  as
most demo tapes, but, all put together, and  even  though  there  are
several good ideas and quality sections in this recording, it doesn't
stand out from the average very frequently.  Still  quite  worthy  of
being checked out, though.

Contact: Pavel Pavlik, Habova 10, 155 00, Praha 5, Czech Republic
         Voice: +042 02 651 72 46
         Fax: +042 02 651 53 82
         http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/9267/
         mailto:mcermak@mbox.fsv.cuni.cz


Desolate - _Resurrection Eternal_  (5-track demo)
by: Paul Schwarz  (***--)

Desolate's music can be summed up relatively well by the term  gothic
rock. However, Desolate are not one of the terrible bands sitting  at
the bottom of the very  deep  and  festering  barrel  that  so  often
characterises this genre (at least in my view). The most frequent and
relevant reference point I can find for the  music  on  _Resurrection
Eternal_ is Amorphis' _Elegy_ album. I am sure that's put some of you
off, but I personally really like _Elegy_ for what  it  is.  Although
_Resurrection Eternal_ is not in the same league in terms of quality,
their mixing of rich power chords, rock drumming and clean vocals  is
coming along. If this isn't all they've got, then Desolate could  get
somewhere with this formula.

Contact: Desolate, c/o G. Jones, 8 Burnmoor Veiw,
         Ingleton, Carnforth, Lancs, LA6 3BT, England


Fury - _Fury_  (8-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley  (***--)

With enough rage and momentum, Australia's Fury lash out  with  slick
guitar work and a totally damaging presence on this  8-track  outing.
In the vein of Pantera and running a fine  line  between  thrash  and
death metal, Fury conjures up some  pretty  solid  and  well-executed
numbers  that  package  together  quite  a  healthy  combo  of  metal
material. It's very melodic, but heavy at  the  same  time.  Vocalist
Mike O'Neil commands the  troops  with  his  hardy  vocal  style  and
guitarists Rick Boon and Darren McLennan do some serious damage  with
their guitars. Solid playing on their part. Listening to numbers like
"Forever" and "Final Scream", I'm also hearing some  early  Metallica
influence as well, and that ain't a bad thing. Let's face it  --  old
Metallica rules, right? Anyway, strong  and  vigorous  for  the  most
part, Fury deliver the goods and leave  you  wanting  another  listen
most of the time.

Contact: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/9070/home.html


Intestine - _Gastrointestinal Pathology_  (4-track demo)
by: Paul Schwarz  (****-)

Well, this is a first for me: a demo on CD. In terms of presentation,
naming and titling of songs, Intestine (in fact the work of  one  man
on all instruments and vocals) are  nowhere  in  the  originality  or
brilliance stakes. Musically, however, this is  an  incredible  demo.
Production, always an important factor, is very good and  brings  out
the churning guitars and thumping drums excellently. In  fact,  every
duty except the vocals  are  more  than  just  proficiently  handled.
Intestine gets "that extra push over  the  cliff"  from  the  groovy,
repeated and almost catchy  riffs  that  are  interspersed  into  the
heavily early-Carcass /  Napalm  Death  influenced  majority  of  the
music. For demo quality music, Intestine is extremely impressive and,
although not ripping apart established musical norms, manages to very
cleverly contort them. If  more  dynamic  and  powerful  vocals  were
thrown into the mix, I think Intestine could be well on  its  way  to
being something of a contender even against the more experienced  and
established of the pure-death/grind bands.

Contact: Ian de Grussa, PO Box 772, Esperance WA, Australia, 6450


Pain Lab - _Inconceivable Aquatic H.I.V. Descrambler_ (5-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley  (***--)

Once again I am witness to the noise-infested barrage that  Pain  Lab
calls music. Powerful  onslaughts  of  musical  mayhem  that'll  make
anyone's  ears  bleed  till  dawn.  Much  like  their  10-track  demo
_Magenetic Chaos of Parallel Psychosis_ [reviewed in CoC  #27],  this
Wyoming duo do their damnedest to wreak havoc from within you stereo.
And it works this time out. Much heavier and easily  more  versatile,
the newer sounds of Pain Lab, while still reminiscent of Merzbow  and
Blunt Force Trauma, are striving forward amongst their own calls  for
ingenuity and uniqueness. This isn't  for  everyone,  but  for  those
wishing to drive your neighbors batty for a while,  this  is  a  good
choice. Loudest noise band from the mid-West? I think  so.  The  demo
urges you to "PLAY FUCKING LOUD!" Do so accordingly.

Contact: Joel Rosenberg/Matt Lee 862 N. 10th, Laramie, WY USA 82072
         mailto:kabal@uwyo.edu

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



                 S L A Y E D ,   O N C E   A G A I N
                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
               Slayer with Clutch and System of a Down
       At The Warehouse in Toronto, Ontario on June 11th, 1998
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     While this date on the three week tour of North America was part
of a warm up tour for Slayer before they headed  over  to  Europe  to
play part of the European installment of Ozzfest [see Paul  Schwarz's
live review from the UK], you'd have never known it by the  hype  and
the anticipation of the many metal heads waiting to see  the  veteran
thrash/speed metal quartet in action.
     A stuffed and sweaty Warehouse was  packed  for  the  return  of
Slayer in support of their brilliant and latest  offering:  _Diabolus
in Musica_. It was quite evident from the start of the  set,  opening
with "Hell Awaits", that this was going to  be  a  80-minute  set  of
classic Slayer, peppered with some newer material off of _DiM_.
     Vocalist/bassist Tom Araya screamed  with  power  and  intensity
through opener "Hell Awaits", leading his band's aggressive charge as
the mosh pit lit up like a firecracker. Fans surfed and  charged  the
stage screaming along at the top of their lungs with  fists  pumping.
The band skidded though other classics like "War Ensemble",  "Die  by
the Sword", "Reign in Blood" and my personal fave  "Dead  Skin  Mask"
off of the _Seasons in the Abyss_ LP.
     Though the sound was muffled at times and the guitars  tuned  in
and out 'cause of bad acoustics and the cavernous Warehouse,  overall
it was a solid, sweaty set by Slayer. They opted to just play two new
numbers off _Diabolus in Musica_ (the cool "Death's Head" and  "Stain
of Mind"), saving the rest of the new material for a much larger tour
in the fall. In pretty good form that night, despite the  venue,  was
the axework of Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. These guys  are  two  of
the best in this business and they love  flaunting  it.  They  helped
forge the metal genre with classic work and  it  still  stands  up  a
decade later.
     Opening the show was Maryland's  odd  rock  quartet  Clutch  and
California hip hop / rock / hardcore ensemble System of a Down. While
I missed all of but one song by  System  of  a  Down,  I  wasn't  too
impressed, easily classifying them in the same genre as Powerman 5000
and Limp Bizkit. Next up was the always exciting Clutch, on  tour  in
support of  their  latest  weirdo  concoction  called  _The  Elephant
Riders_.
     Clutch warmed up the ground and gained  their  support  for  the
most part of their 40-minute set, swaying the crowd with new  numbers
like "The Elephant Riders" and "The Soapmakers" and kicking into  the
popular Clutch fave "A Shogun Named Marcus". I've seen this band open
for numerous other acts (Sepultura and Marilyn Manson to name a  few)
and they always add something special to a  show.  They  may  not  be
liked by everybody, but they've got some killer grooves. There is  no
denying that.
     So Slayer slayed this evening. Big suprise, eh? They are one  of
the only big veteran metal acts that can still deliver the goods  and
enjoy doing it. They live for metal and it shows. I'm just hoping  to
be able to get to see the next leg of this North American tour, which
supposedly has Fear Factory as the opening act. I'm already there.

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

                  O Z Z Y   A N D   H I S   F E S T
                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             Black Sabbath, Pantera, Slayer, Fear Factory,
                      Entombed and Pitchshifter
             at the National Bowl, Milton Keynes, England
                       Saturday, June 20, 1998
                           by: Paul Schwarz

     The Ozzfest sees the return of a metal festival to the UK  after
the demise last year of Donnington. Following a  similar  pattern  to
last year's US Ozzfests, we get a whole loada newer metal bands, then
Ozzy's own band and Black Sabbath themselves to  round  it  all  off.
Pitchshifter were first on today. They played a pleasing set composed
most substantially of material from their new  _www.pitchshifter.com_
album. Although I hear this band sound best inside, their  sound  was
good, the band performed their songs well  and  was  also  physically
active and enjoyable to watch.
     After their "Imperial March" intro had finished, Entombed kicked
off their set with "Eyemaster". They proceeded to play  a  set  drawn
mostly from their  last  two  albums.  This  would  have  been  good,
although Entombed aren't exactly suited to the outside  anymore  than
Pitchshifter; however, the astounding occurrence  was  that  Entombed
chose to play "Crawl", from _Clandestine_ (their best album  and  one
that sees little  live  play),  and  so  a  good  set  was  instantly
converted to a great  experience.  Let's  hope  they  band  carry  on
drawing from _Clandestine_ for the live shows (I want to hear  "Chaos
Breed" live!).
     Fear Factory opened up on the main stage and I was surprised  to
be quite impressed with their set. Not only did they play a nice  set
of songs with a great live  sound  but  somehow  they  seem  to  have
recaptured the rage they had when I  saw  them  three  years  ago  at
London's Astoria, something more recent shows  seemed  to  be  sorely
lacking. Personally, I am not a big fan of the new FF  songs  I  have
heard. "Edgecrusher", which was played today, and others seem to me a
little simplistic and repetitive. However, new  songs  and  impending
album aside, Fear Factory played  a  cool  set  and  made  overplayed
tracks like "Self-Bias Resistor" and "Demanufacture" sound as good as
they did first time out: catch 'em while they're still angry.
     Slayer opened up with "South  of  Heaven"  and  proceeded,  with
their killer set, to demolish all competition for the title  of  best
live act of the day. Despite being given the criminally short time of
40 minutes and being the second band on the main  stage,  Slayer  got
through many of their most classic songs  including  "War  Ensemble",
"Mandatory Suicide" and "Angel of Death". They played only one track,
"Death's Head", from the new _Diabolus in Musica_ album, which was  a
pity since a number of those songs  would  have  sounded  great  live
("Bitter Peace", anyone?). As  if  a  set  of  classic  songs,  great
playing, crisp sound and amazing energy wasn't all we needed for this
to truly rock, Slayer also played  thier  amazing  "Raining  Blood  /
Altar of Sacrifice / Jesus Saves" 'trilogy'. The best band of the day
and still one of the greatest live bands in the world today.
     Pantera returned to the UK, after nearly four years of  neglect,
to grace the Ozzfest bill. This performance had the potential  to  be
truly classic, but, although Pantera were very good,  I  expected  so
much more from them. Using "Good Friends and a Bottle  of  Pills"  as
their intro only seemed to waste time and get on my  nerves  (I  hate
that song), and choosing to open  with  "Walk",  one  of  their  most
overplayed songs, meant that the set was off to a  bad  start.  Their
set was not what I would have chosen, but it was good, with  some  of
their best material getting a look in. However, great songs like "Use
My Third Arm", "Mouth for War", "Domination" and "The Great  Southern
Trendkill", among others, were sorely neglected. I cannot  deny  that
Pantera were good, in fact they were very good, but I expect  Pantera
to be excellent -- and this they were not today.
     After Ozzy's own band finished up, Black Sabbath  took  a  short
break before coming on with "War Pigs", which worked as perfectly  as
an opener as it did at Birmingham  in  December  last  year.  Sabbath
actually played nearly all the same songs today as they did that day,
but who cares when those songs  are  as  timeless  as  "Fairies  Wear
Boots", "Into the Void", "Spiral Architect", etc.  With  Sabbath,  no
song was a dissapointment in itself, as they have way more  than  two
hours worth of amazing songs. It is a  pity,  however,  that  Sabbath
once again didn't include "After Forever" in their set and that  only
two songs from _Sabbath  Bloody  Sabbath_  got  an  airing.  However,
Sabbath are great to see live and sound nearly as good  as  I'm  sure
they did 20 or 30 years ago. Ozzy can no longer reach all  the  notes
he used to on "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" but this is a minor  complaint
and one that cannot bring down a great set by the virtual founders of
metal itself; I think we should just be glad to have  them  back  and
playing live.

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

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

Gino's Top 5

1. Absu - _The Sun of Tiphareth_
2. Monster Magnet - _Powertrip_
3. Pitchshifter - _www.pitchshifter.com_
4. Carcass - _Reek of Putrefaction_
5. Front Line Assembly - _Comatose_

Adrian's Top 5

1. Slayer - _Diabolus In Musica_
2. Vision Of Disorder - _Imprint_
3. Pulkas - _Greed_
4. His Hero Is Gone - _Monuments Of Thieves_
5. The Wellwater Conspiracy - _Declaration Of Conformity_

Andrew's Top 5

1. Xenakis - _Electronic Music_
2. Morton Feldman - _Rothko Chapel / Why Patterns_
3. Schoenberg - _The Piano Music_
4. Merzbow & John Watermann - _Tokyo / Brisbane Interlace_
5. Ligeti - _Grand Macabre_

Brian's Top 5

1. Deeds of Flesh - _Inbreeding the Anthropophagi_
2. Old Man's Child - _Ill-Natured Spiritual Invasion_
3. Children of Bodom - _Something Wild_
4. A Canorous Quintet - _The Only Pure Hate_
5. Arch Enemy - _Stigmata_

Adam's Top 5

1. Cemetary - _Sundown_
2. Benumb - _Soul of the Martyr_
3. Entombed - _To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth!_
4. Dayglo Abortions - _Feed Us a Fetus_
5. Various - _Sepultural Feast: A Tribute to Sepultura_

Pedro's Top 5

1. Opeth - _My Arms, Your Hearse_
2. Dawn - _Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)_
3. Anathema - _Alternative 4_
4. Elend - _The Umbersun_
5. Dark Funeral - _Vobiscum Satanas_

Paul's Top 5

1. Dawn - _Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)_
2. Suffocation - _Despise the Sun_
3. Slayer - _Diabolus in Musica_
4. Kreator - _Pleasure to Kill_
5. Tool - _Opiate_

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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
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End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #32

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.

