      ___  _   _  ____  _____  _  _  ____  ___  __    ____  ___
     / __)( )_( )(  _ \(  _  )( \( )(_  _)/ __)(  )  ( ___)/ __)
    ( (__  ) _ (  )   / )(_)(  )  (  _)(_( (__  )(__  )__) \__ \
     \___)(_) (_)(_)\_)(_____)(_)\_)(____)\___)(____)(____)(___/
                             _____  ____
                            (  _  )( ___)
                             )(_)(  )__)
                            (_____)(__)
                    ___  _   _    __    _____  ___
                   / __)( )_( )  /__\  (  _  )/ __)
                  ( (__  ) _ (  /(__)\  )(_)( \__ \
                   \___)(_) (_)(__)(__)(_____)(___/

       CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, May 19, 1999, Issue #39
               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@fe.up.pt>
Contributor/Asst. Copy Editor: Paul Schwarz <mailto:saul@cwcom.net>
Assistant Copy Editor: John Weathers <mailto:anguish@mindspring.com>
Contributor: Alain M. Gaudrault <mailto:alain@gaudrault.net>
Contributor: Brian Meloon <mailto:bmeloon@math.cornell.edu>
Contributor: Adam Wasylyk <mailto:macabre@interlog.com>
Contributor: Aaron McKay <mailto:aaronm@trxinc.com>
Contributor: David Rocher <mailto:el_rojo@dial.oleane.com>
Contributor: Gabriel Sanchez <mailto:mwnoise@yahoo.com>
Contributor: Alex Cantwell <mailto:cvantwell@juno.com>

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

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

Issue #39 Contents, 5/19/99
---------------------------
* Editorial
* Loud Letters
* Deadly Dialogues
-- In the Woods...: ... Of Delightful Melancholy
-- Immortal: We Worship Winter
-- Amorphis: Living Up to Their Name
-- Primordial: Dark Songs of Erenn
-- Ashes You Leave: Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust
-- Bethlehem: From Here to the Unholy Land
-- Epoch of Unlight: Of Epoch Proportions
-- Witchery: Celebrating Metal's Past
* Independent Interrogations
-- Dichotic: It Ain't All About Fishin'
-- Infestation: Infesting for the Future
-- Odeum: The Swedish Invasion Continues
-- Soriben: Spanish Doom Is Growing
* Album Asylum
-- Allegiance - _Vrede_
-- Amorphis - _Tuonela_
-- Antestor - _The Return of the Black Death_
-- Arkh'aam - _The Blue Beyond the Black_
-- Ashes - _And the Angels Wept_
-- Ashes You Leave - _Desperate Existence_
-- Burial - _Mourning the Millennium_
-- Burzum - _Hlidskjalf_
-- Various - _Chords of the Grave_
-- Carpathian Forest - _Black Shining Leather_
-- Clawfinger - _Clawfinger_
-- Crest of Darkness - _The Ogress_
-- Diabolique - _The Black Flower_
-- Discern - _Revive and Rebuke_
-- Emperor - _IX Equilibrium_
-- Em Sinfonia - _In Mournings Symphony_
-- Various - _Extreme America 3_
-- Various - _Freak Animal Zine #11 CD_
-- Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects - _Sol Niger Within Version
                                           3.33_
-- Garden of Shadows - _Heart of the Corona_
-- Gordian Knot - _Gordian Knot_
-- Government Alpha - _Q_
-- Horde of Worms- _Horde of Worms_
-- Hypocrisy - _Hypocrisy Destroys Wacken_
-- Hypocrite - _Into the Halls of the Blind_
-- Immortal - _At the Heart of Winter_
-- Immortal Souls - _Divine Wintertime_
-- Imperial Domain - _In the Ashes of the Fallen_
-- Jesus Martyr - _Sudamerican Porno_
-- Krisiun - _Apocalyptic Revelation_
-- Long Winters' Stare - _Before the Dawn, So Go the Shadows of
                          Humanity_
-- Lungbrush - _Old School New School_
-- Manowar - _Hell on Stage Live_
-- Morgion - _Solinari_
-- Motorhead - _Everything Louder Than Everyone Else_
-- MSBR / Die Lebensmittelvergiftung - _Collaboration_
-- MSBR / K2 / Magmax - _Split_
-- Napalm Death - _Words From the Exit Wound_
-- Narnia - _Long Live the King_
-- New Eden - _Obscure Master Plan_
-- Nightwish - _Oceanborn_
-- Odium - _The Sad Realm of the Stars_
-- Paramaecium - _A Time to Mourn_
-- Rotting Christ - _Sleep With Angels_
-- Sculpture - _Spiritual Matrix_
-- Sick of it All - _Call to Arms_
-- Sins of Omission - _The Creation_
-- Steel Prophet - _Dark Hallucinations_
-- Various - _Straight to Hell -- A Tribute to Slayer_
-- Taetre - _Out of Emotional Disorder_
-- Various - _To Live Is Ever to Be in Danger_
-- Turmoil - _The Process of_
-- Ulcerate Fester - _Souled Out_
-- Welter - _The Elder Land_
-- Various - _Where We Go, Others Can Only Follow..._
* New Noise
-- Butchery - _The Coming Plague_
-- Downthroat - _I've Got My Mother's Eyes_
-- Enforsaken - _Promo 1999_
-- Odeum - _The Pleiadean Diaries_
-- Soriben - _Ancestros de Insania_
-- Thanatos - _Melegnia_
-- Thought Masticator - _Deception_
-- @@@@# - _Evolving Strains_
-- Meth - _Abstract Mental Chaos_
-- Sheen - _Sheen_
* Chaotic Concerts
-- The Darkest Night of the Year: Dimmu Borgir, Dark Funeral and more
-- Deutsche Disappointment: Entombed and Skinlab in Frankfurt
-- Nile's No Show, Not Nice: Fear Factory and System of a Down
-- Honey, Please Don't Read This Review: Propain and friends in Hanau
* What We Have Cranked
* Details

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

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

                          by: Gino Filicetti


     Greetings loyal readers. I would like to  take  this  moment  to
apologize for our apparent lack of punctuality. This  issue  is  MORE
than a little overdue as I'm sure you're all aware of.
     As you can tell, this issue is  bigger  than  usual,  containing
more than two months worth of reviews and stories. In fact, it is our
second biggest issue of all time, so put that in your bong, and smoke
it! :-)
     You can expect us to be on time for quite a few months to  come;
now that I'm enjoying my summer break, I'll have a lot more free time
to dedicate to CoC.
     Enjoy this issue, and we'll see you all again really  soon  with
Chronicles of Chaos #40.

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

                 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: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 18:28:57 +0300
From: "Boitsov Eugene" <ewgenij@cityline.ru>

Dear CoC;

Though I greatly admire your magazine for excellent coverage of metal
scene, I would like to object on one  particular  point.  The  albums
should be reviewed by someone with a more open mind  (or  I'd  rather
say proclivity) to certain styles.

For example, you did not leave a stone unturned criticizing  Master's
Faith is in Season and Ritual Carnage's Highest Law.  Let  me  assure
you that I've heard nothing better in this particular vein, and  same
can be said about many  others  who  love  such  kind  of  aggressive
straitforward thrashy death metal, and  who  would  not  be  able  to
support  5  minutes  of  cacophonous  freaks  like  Dying  Fetus   or
slow-crawlers like Illdisposed.

Great Ciceron once aptly put it: "De gustibus et de coloribus non est
disputandum" (Dispute about tastes and colors  can  put  us  in  deep
shit).

Yours truly,

Eugene Boitsov, Russia, Moscow


Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999
From: NGUTIE25@aol.com
Subject: great zine!!!

You have a great zine  hear!!!  its  great  to  see  interviews  with
marduk,satyricon,(etc.) I wanted  to  ask  if  someone  could  please
review apollyon's new mcd called diaboli gratia?  its  on  full  moon
productions. ive searched all -over the internet for a review  but  i
cant find one. its a dannish black metal band. ive  heard  one  track
off of a compilation cd and it was excellent!!  even  though  it  had
piano and female vocals, it is a very brutal and raw black metal song
with great growling vocals!! but before i buy it i wanted to know how
the rest sounds(ive been burned by too many shitty cds  with  one  or
two good songs) and how many songs are on it (since its  an  mcd  and
all).i really appreciate it. keep up the great work!!!!!!!

p.s. has the been a review of blood  storm?  its  an  american  black
death metal band, thats another i heard is good and should definitley
review.

[Blood Storm's _The Atlantean Wardragon_ was reviewed in CoC  #25  by
Adam Wasylyk. -- Pedro]


Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1999
From: Steve Cox <stevecox@bitscorp.dxfc.com>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters

I'm writing mainly in reply to 'Black soul' who wrote in about  Black
Metal and the Trendy people following it.

First of all. I don't like Black Metal. I  like  Heavy  Metal,  Bands
like  Pantera,  Entombed,  Slayer  Machine  Head,  Older   Metallica,
Megadeth are my cup of tea but so are bands like Life Of Agony System
of a Down, One Minute Silence and a few other  bands  like  this  who
suddenly became trendy a few years ago.

But the main band I want to talk about is Pantera.

I got into Pantera in 1992 after  hearing  Walk  on  the  radio,  and
noticed that a lot of people got into pantera then as well. So  in  a
way I suppose I walked right into a Trend.  I  followed  Pantera  and
still do even though they've gone from being Trendy  (Vulgar  Display
of Power) to just another metal band  (Far  Beyond  Driven)  To  Drug
Fueled whiners (Great Southern Trendkill) and so on.

I've always liked them and stayed true to my calling.

You say you were into Death Metal but then went into Black Metal when
things got to commercial. Why  do  you  think  that  suddenly  you're
seeing everyone wearing COF tops and liking Black Metal.  Looks  like
you walked right into a Trend as well.

It's a bit shit isn't it? But, Like you, I despise people  who  don't
do anything but follow the latest trend. All of the little Korn  fans
that suddenly liked Pantera when Korn said they were cool an now  are
into COF because someone said they were cool. All the little  Marilyn
Manson fans who suddenly liked Rob Zombie because he  sounded  a  bit
like MM and they seemed to like each other.

However people like this feed our bands, they  go  out  and  buy  the
shirts, the CD's the mags with  them  on  the  cover  and  they're  a
necessary evil. As much as we hate them they are  keeping  our  music
alive. So try to be a little more tolerant okay!

Personally I am quite happy to see Pantera sell  a  20,000  arena,  I
know they haven't sold out, they're just doing a  job  and  doing  it
well. Commercial success doesn't mean you have to  hate  someone.  If
Pantera, Slayer and other talented bands continue  to  respect  their
fans and don't act like arseholes then I say let them  make  all  the
money they can.

Even though I don't like them I hope cradle of Filth sell 100,000,000
records and reach the top of all the Charts in the world, then we can
spread a message that we can't be discounted and deserve respect from
everyone else.

Like what you like and be respectful, teach  the  young,  don't  burn
them. Peace.


Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1999
From: Bill Cosby  <jupiterianvibe@hotmail.com>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters

It's rather ridiculous how people rag on  Cradle  Of  Filth  for  not
being 'black' enough  or  extreme  enough  and  whatnot.  Forget  the
labels. I don't believe they're black metal anyway, and that's  fine.
I think they blow all black metal bands to  pieces.  Who  cares  what
style they are? If it's good, I listen  to  it.  If  you  don't,  why
bother saying OTHER people shouldn't, or  start  namecalling  "You're
not a TRUE black metal fan if you listen to Cradle Of Filth!". That's
about the same as saying someone's not a true metalhead if they  wear
Levi's 501 brand of jeans. But if  you're  not  obsessed  with  brand
names and can judge them based on the music,  that's  fine.  I  don't
care if you don't like  them.  Just  don't  go  around  labelling  or
telling people what they should and shouldn't listen to.


Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1999
From: Josh Tasker <linenoise@rocketmail.com>
Subject: Satyricon interview (CoC #38)

Just to clarify, Satyr  was  talking  about  "Apoptygma  Berzerk"  (a
Norwegian one-man  industrial  act)  when  he  said:  "...we're  even
bringing in this guy who plays in [couldn't quite hear what he  said,
it sounded like "Uperting My Berserk" -- Paul], who played in a black
metal band called Mock, which was a crappy band,  but  this  guy  has
turned into becoming interested only  in  industrial  and  electronic
music..."

The guy's name is Stephan Groth (aka Grothesk).

--Josh

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                                      |___/


        . . . O F   D E L I G H T F U L   M E L A N C H O L Y
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             CoC talks to Jan Svithjod of In the Woods...
                           by: Pedro Azevedo

     Looking back upon the band's three full-length albums, one thing
is common to them all: each of them stayed in my CD player for a  lot
longer than the average during the first few months of ownership.  It
happened with the hugely  atmospheric  doom/black  of  their  classic
debut _HEart of the Ages_, happened again with the  marvellous  piece
of emotional, melancholic metal that is _Omnio_  [CoC  #25]  and  yet
again with the atmospheric and strange, yet full  of  subtleties  and
secrets, latest release, _Strange in Stereo_ [CoC #37]. None of these
contains music made for the casual  listener;  rather,  they  contain
music that can reward the persistent one, for ItW are a band that has
always shown very strong personality with each release. Vocalist  Jan
"Ovl" Svithjod called me from Norway one wintry night for  nearly  an
hour of conversation that resulted in the interview that  follows  --
time that was very well spent for me, I might add. Read on;  if  good
emotional music interests you, this interview  and  the  band's  work
should be very worthy of your time as well.

CoC: How are things in Norway?

Jan  Svithjod:  At  the  moment,  very  calm,  not  too  many  things
              happening. You know, usually during the Winter  season,
              apart from the holidays, Norway's usually dead.  People
              go to work and people get back from work, fill up their
              stomachs and watch television -- the usual crap  things
              to do. I don't even have a television,  so  I  have  to
              figure out something else to do, like talk to you,  for
              instance. <laughs>  You  know,  try  to  come  up  with
              something constructive.

CoC: The black metal elements in your first album are quite  obvious,
     also in some of your vocals, your  shrieks,  which  were  really
     extreme and have since then changed a lot. Besides  the  obvious
     technical matters, how would you say the  emotions  you  try  to
     express through your voice have changed with time?  There  seems
     to be a lot less  anger  and  anguish  in  your  voice  now,  it
     suggests a different attitude.

JS: When we started out, especially when we did our  first  demo,  we
    were very much into Bathory, especially _Blood  Fire  Death_  and
    the _Hammerheart_ album, and that had a lot to do with our  sound
    in the first place, but I think it was even on the  demo  that  I
    got really tired of doing those kind of screechy vocals,  because
    at the time there were so many  bands  doing  the  same  kind  of
    things, so I thought we had to come up with something  different.
    When  we  were  recording  the  vocals  for  the   first   album,
    personally, I wanted to do about 80 to 90% of clean  vocals,  and
    then a bit of the screechy kind with effects and stuff,  but  the
    other guys thought that the music was written  50%  for  screechy
    vocals, so let's just do it on this album and we can  change  for
    the next one. That was just what we did on that first one. As the
    lyrics changed quite a lot from the first album to  _Omnio_,  the
    vocals and the music changed a lot -- the vocals had to go in the
    same direction, I thought. Concerning the lyrics, they had to  be
    expressed in a totally different way from what  we  were  dealing
    with in the debut album. I think we managed  to  still  keep  the
    balance of the very heavy parts and the very slow parts,  but  we
    did the vocals in another way. For the slow  parts,  we  had  low
    kind of melodious vocals and on the heavier parts we did  heavier
    vocals, which are also present on some parts of the new album.  I
    just  wanted  to  try  and  come  up  with  something   different
    vocal-wise and just see what comes out  of  it  and  do  it  more
    personally somehow, make it sound like something  individual  and
    not really just a copy of anything else.

CoC: What do you feel when you listen to your first  album  nowadays,
     considering it is such an emotional and atmospheric  record  and
     also so different from what you are doing now?

JS: I always have  the  idea  that  every  step  you  take  to  reach
    something is as important as any step you take, so  I  think  the
    first album was very important in order to become what  we  sound
    like these days. For a debut album, I think it's  a  very  strong
    debut in the first place, and I think it has  something  --  even
    though it has a lot of the black metal elements in it --, I think
    it offers something completely different. I don't  think  I  have
    listened to it since the _Omnio_ days or something, but I'm  very
    proud of the album and I think I can speak for the other guys [in
    the band] as well. We don't try to  deny  something  we've  done,
    because it's like a diary of what we were back then  and  it  was
    like five years ago that the  album  was  released;  things  have
    changed, but we're still very proud of it.

CoC: Why are there two capital letters in "HEart" in the album  title
     _HEart of the Ages_? What are the ideas behind that?

JS: Well, I  never  heard  that  question  before.  <laughs>  It  was
    supposed to be our kind of humble gratitude to nature and it's  a
    very kind of "man versus nature" album lyrically  that  one,  and
    also musically in many ways. The first two capital  letters  mean
    that you can read the title as "Heart of the Ages" or "Art of the
    Ages", so  it's  just  to  split  the  word  into  two  different
    expressions, to pay salute to our environment; it was somehow the
    tricky way of doing it.

CoC: Then came _Omnio_, which brought plenty of musical changes,  and
     seems to me a concept album. What was the concept behind it,  if
     there was one?

JS: We  didn't  work  on  it  as  a  concept  album,  especially  not
    lyrically, but we worked the whole album together musically as  a
    concept. _Omnio_ was the  first  album  we  did  as  an  entirety
    somehow, we composed and rehearsed the songs in the same kind  of
    tracklisting that's present on the  album,  that  was  the  first
    album we made as an entirety instead of just a set of  individual
    songs. Lyrically, we didn't try to come up with  a  concept,  but
    looking back at it now, there seems to be a very red thread going
    through the whole thing in a way. I think it's very introspective
    in a way, deals a lot with philosophical questions and a  lot  of
    things that are written between the lines, so there's  a  lot  of
    questioning on that album, questioning why  things  are  the  way
    they are, trying to understand the bottom of yourself. The  first
    song was very much based upon an experience of going out at night
    and looking at the stars. A lot of people walk around  on  planet
    Earth with their noses high up in the sky and I  think  the  only
    way to pull them down again from doing that is to push  them  out
    on a starry night and see how big it all is and reduce the person
    to nothing almost. A lot of this questioning was present on  that
    one.

CoC: There's some quite interesting artwork in  that  booklet;  I  am
     especially interested in the illustration chosen for "I Am  Your
     Flesh". Can you tell me more about it?

JS: "I Am Your Flesh" is probably the most personal lyric that I ever
    sung, but actually I didn't write it myself. It was a  friend  of
    mine who did it, and it's very straightforward, very naked,  very
    honest. When I saw the lyrics, I really knew his situation, which
    was very heavy, and I just burst into tears, because  it  was  so
    heavy and so personal, and it's a very  heavy  thing  to  do,  to
    deliver yourself, in a way, like that. And  we  were  in  contact
    with this Finnish guy called Juha Vourma  and  he  sent  us  some
    samples of work he had done. In between all these  paintings,  we
    found the one which is printed together with the  lyric.  When  I
    saw the painting, I thought  "this  is  it,  this  is  the  lyric
    materialized". I think it speaks for itself. So we paid  the  guy
    what he charged for that painting and we put it in  the  booklet.
    It's also on the front cover of the LP, actually. I think we only
    made 1000 copies of it or something, and I reckon that  like  90%
    of them went to Greece, as they  usually  do...  they're  totally
    violent freaks down there! <laughs>

CoC: What is your "omnio", what is your "everything"?

JS: I don't know, it's probably just the feeling of belonging  to  an
    entirety. There are so many things happening... if you make  your
    idea about the world through the media, especially, there are  so
    many loose threads... an "omnio" is probably just to tie  up  the
    loose threads and feel like  belonging  to  an  entirety,  within
    yourself but also among the people you relate to, trying to  find
    a deeper form of understanding between people, I guess.

CoC: Despite leaving behind the black influences, _Omnio_ was still a
     very  emotionally  intense  album,  not  to  mention   musically
     remarkable. _Strange in Stereo_,  while  more  experimental,  is
     also quite emotional. Will you ever make an album just  for  the
     music, leaving behind the kind of emotional  contents  that  you
     have always used so far? Will the  "delightful  melancholy"  you
     spoke of in the very start of your first album's booklet  always
     be a part of your music?

JS: I think that as long as In the Woods... exist, we'll always carry
    that kind of tension and atmosphere within the sound, because the
    lyrics and everything that has to do with us as  private  persons
    is very... I mean, sometimes when we go  to  rehearse,  we  don't
    even rehearse, it's like two or three hours of therapy.  <laughs>
    Because people are usually very unstable mentally, in  a  way.  I
    think from the beginning we said we were going  to  do  something
    very honest, and if people like it, it's a bonus; if they  don't,
    they don't have to buy  the  album.  As  long  as  we  carry  our
    releases under the name of In the Woods..., it  just  has  to  be
    emotional in a way, it can't be done in another way, because that
    wouldn't be honest at all.

CoC:  _Strange  in  Stereo_  is,  again,  very  different  from   its
     predecessor. One of the main differences is  that  it  seems  to
     lack, for the most part, the feeling of continuity that  was  so
     strong in _Omnio_. Why did that happen?

JS: When we did _Omnio_, we thought of making a very epic album, with
    very long but still strong compositions, and we tried to tie them
    together as well as possible. Now we've made an album  with  this
    musical entirety somehow, with very long songs, we  thought  it's
    time to move on and do something  different.  So  we  started  to
    write new songs and this time, maybe even more  than  we  did  on
    _Omnio_, we tried to come up with an entirety, but it took a  lot
    of hard work, because when we rehearsed the base of the song,  we
    felt there was a lack of something in there. So we tried to throw
    out the keyboards and put all the effects parts  in  the  guitars
    instead of using the usual keys and stuff. So I  think  there  is
    somehow a bit stronger entirety on _Strange in Stereo_,  but  all
    the spice that has been added on top takes a lot of time to  dive
    into and go through it to see the bottom line and the base of the
    music. Even though musically it has a lot of differences in it, I
    still think there's a very heavy red thread running  through  it,
    emotionally at least, even though musically it might sound a  bit
    far out in places. But it was the sort of album we had to do, and
    we couldn't do the second part of _Omnio_ in a  way.  This  time,
    like we didn't  do  with  _Omnio_,  we  tried  to  come  up  with
    different sounds for each song  and  make  them  sound  a  little
    different, so there's a lot of variation and variation is a  very
    heavy codeword for the band in  general.  So  there's  a  lot  of
    variation, but there's  still  a  sort  of  base  tension  that's
    running through the whole album in a way.

CoC: Could you tell me more about the  lyrics  from  "Vanish  in  the
     Absence of Virtue"?

JS: It has a lot to do with a moral question. If you look  around  --
    and like I was mentioning previously, especially in the media --,
    you see a lot of greed and... have you seen the movie "Seven"?

CoC: Yes... one of my favorite movies, actually.

JS: OK, that's probably the best way  to  describe  all  these  dirty
    deeds. It has a lot to do with how people  respond  to  different
    situations and why they try to do it. It probably has to do, from
    the writer's point of view, with feeling very foreign in  today's
    modern world, because you feel there's a lack of  common  energy,
    people only think about themselves  --  not  everybody  does,  of
    course, but especially when it comes to capitalism you  have  the
    really big companies that build factories in the third world just
    to increase their own profit. Like the title indicates, you  just
    feel like digging a hole in the ground  and  just  fall  into  it
    somehow.

CoC: You were talking  about  the  media...  World  War  III  may  be
     starting today as we speak, so...

JS: Yeah, I heard there's a lot of  heavy  things  going  on  in  the
    Balcans...

CoC: Something more for the media to keep people busy with?

JS: Yes, in many ways, like it happened with the Gulf war. There's  a
    lot of manipulation, I think, especially from NATO  and  the  US,
    maybe even Great Britain also. The sort of world picture  we  get
    from the media is pretty much... how can I put it?...

CoC: Distorted?

JS: Yeah, I think it's very much distorted in many  ways.  A  lot  of
    journalists only try to get the big story, that's the big honour,
    and I don't think it's very objective. A lot of the news  becomes
    very subjective, and  that  distorts  people's  views  of  what's
    happening around them.

CoC: That made me think about misanthropy for some reason,  which  in
     turn reminds me of asking what ItW are going to  do  as  far  as
     record labels are concerned  now  that  Misanthropy  Records  is
     closing down [this Summer].

JS: If we manage to sell like we did with _Omnio_, which I doubt that
    we'll accomplish, I think we'll have just enough money to go into
    a studio and record  the  next  album  and  just  pay  everything
    ourselves. I think we're going to do  that,  and  not  record  an
    album under the influence from a label this time,  and  just  see
    what comes out of it. When we  have  everything  finished,  we'll
    just try to see if there's  any  interest  from  labels,  and  if
    there's no interest at all we're probably just going  to  release
    it ourselves through the Internet or something, I don't know.

CoC: Well, I suppose there'll be interest...

JS: Yeah, but we're not really worrying about  not  having  a  record
    deal or anything, we'll just concentrate on the music  and  we'll
    take care of the label deals afterwards.

CoC: Did you ever worry about producing a successor to such a  highly
     acclaimed album as _Omnio_ while making _Strange in Stereo_?

JS: No, not at all, because  it  was  like  a  paradox  when  we  did
    _Omnio_. If we're talking like as close as possible  to  a  trend
    thing that's been going on, in the present, I think maybe  _HEart
    of the Ages_ is the closest you get in ItW terms, and  a  lot  of
    people accused us of going commercial and all  when  we  released
    _Omnio_, when we knew upfront that if we were lucky maybe it  was
    going to sell like half what _HotA_ did, at  actually  that  came
    through as well -- I think _HotA_ sold twice as much  as  _Omnio_
    did, actually. <laughs> [Out of curiosity,  I  asked  Misanthropy
    Records about this and they confirmed it.  --  Pedro]  But  still
    we're being accused of going commercial and being musical  whores
    and all. But as I mentioned, we never  started  this  project  to
    become rock stars or anything, we said we were  going  to  do  it
    honest and if people and  critics  like  it  then  that's  really
    great, but if they don't, they don't have to deal with  it,  they
    have their own choice. So we don't really feel  the  pressure  of
    anything, the only pressure we have is that the new album has  to
    sound better than the previous one,  and  if  we  can  accomplish
    that, then the world is still turning... <laughs>

CoC: Your female vocalist [Synne Diana] had a very important role  in
     _Omnio_, but she actually doesn't seem to participate  in  _SiS_
     so much. Why?

JS: When we did _Omnio_, she was studying  different  courses  to  be
    able to get into university, and on this new album she started to
    do pre-university courses, which took a lot  more  time,  so  she
    didn't really have the option to work that much  with  the  band,
    she was just participating mostly in the studio and a few of  the
    rehearsals. She didn't have  much  time.  That's  just  something
    we'll deal with for each release, we'll see how much  time  she's
    got and how much we can get out of it.

CoC: Since _SiS_ is definitely not an easy album to  get  into,  what
     would you recommend to potential listeners to help them enjoy it
     better?

JS: One of our guitarists, Chris, comes out with 70  to  80%  of  the
    base music, and  usually  when  he  presents  the  songs  to  me,
    recorded on a tape, just some guitar ideas and  stuff,  the  best
    way for me to grasp his works is just to lay  down  on  a  couch,
    close my eyes and almost fall asleep. There's a twilight zone  in
    between there and if you like balancing on  the  verge  of  being
    awake and falling asleep, that's usually when the music  hits  me
    right through, it's like an arrow flying through your whole  body
    somehow. I especially did  that  with  some  new  songs  that  he
    presented for the  new  album  and  it  was  a  totally  far  out
    experience -- it didn't have anything to  do  with  any  sort  of
    intoxication of any form, we were both totally clean, and it  was
    just a totally weird experience. I tried that with _SiS_ as well,
    when we did some rehearsal tapes and stuff. That might be somehow
    a gateway to the music, and then after  that  you  can  find  the
    depth of it.

CoC: What path would you consider most likely that you'll take in the
     future: a return to some harshness and  greater  contrast;  even
     greater experimentation towards more  atmospheric  music;  or  a
     greater development of the style  found  on  "Cell"  or  perhaps
     "Vanish in the Absence of Virtue", a more melodic path?

JS: From what I've heard of what we've been working on so far for the
    next album, I think it's the most sad ItW album to this day. It's
    very hard to say only from a few guitar ideas, but I  think  they
    are very strong and if I manage to develop the vocals -- and  the
    same goes for Synne as well, for the  female  vocals  --,  if  we
    manage to develop in the same way that the guitar works have been
    developing so far, I think sound-wise we might go  back  more  to
    the very gentle, easy sound of _Omnio_, but the music will be one
    of the most sad things we've done so far.

CoC: That'd be great for me, since my favorite style is doom metal...

JS: Yeah, and that's the weird thing with it as  well,  because  it's
    not really fast, but it's not really doom. It's hard to  put  the
    right words to it, but it's definitely very  much  ItW  and  very
    emotional.

CoC: About live shows -- any chance you'll be coming down south soon?

JS: We've done one European tour so far, and also we've been down  in
    Germany for a few gigs at the time -- I don't think we've  played
    live since a couple of years now, it's  been  a  long  time,  but
    we've tried to focus on the albums as well. There's also a lot of
    problems involving the members, it's very  hard  to  go  on  tour
    because some people have a hard time in handling a lot of  people
    and also, which is a very  important  thing,  we  always  end  up
    losing a lot of money every time we do this. I feel that  somehow
    ItW might fall in between two chairs, because on one of the sides
    we're still being very much linked to the black metal scene,  and
    on the other the music is slow and laid back,  so  it's  kind  of
    hard to hit the right kind of audience  and  to  pull  a  lot  of
    people out of their chairs to go to an ItW gig. When we  did  the
    European tour we lost a lot, like four or five thousand pounds, I
    think, so it's pretty heavy. The other guys are going to work  on
    the new album, I'm going to travel for a few months, actually, so
    I think not this year, but  maybe  next  year  if  the  situation
    allows it, we'll probably try to  do  something.  It's  been  two
    albums since we've done any gigs, and it's about time to try  out
    some of the songs in a live situation.  The  guys  are  generally
    getting better now and they become more keen to try and  see  how
    what sounds like in a live situation.

CoC: I know you have played live with Katatonia in the  past,  which,
     in my opinion, is a combination with huge potential.  Will  that
     ever happen again in the future, perhaps with better conditions?

JS: I don't know, I haven't really followed on what's been  going  on
    in the underground for the past years, because I  was  very  much
    into it previously, selling demos and all, and I really didn't do
    anything else but work and go back home  and  write  letters  and
    stuff. I did that for a few years and I got really  tired  of  it
    after a while. I'm not really too much into what's been going on,
    but I believe that there's people around that always have a  good
    advice for any kind of band that we would be able to  tour  with.
    We would really like to do a double bill kind of thing, in  which
    you play first one night and last the other night.

CoC: What made you choose such a band name as In  the  Woods...?  And
     why the three little dots that always appear in In the Woods...?

JS: Yeah, that's a good question. <laughs> For  a  start,  we  didn't
    want the typical metal name, because we  knew  that  if  we  were
    going to do something honest, we were probably going to change  a
    little bit after a while, so we needed an "open" name that  would
    work with different kinds of projects under  it.  I  don't  think
    it's a typical masculine heavy metal kind of thing, and it's also
    some kind of a metaphor for trying  to  see  the  world  and  the
    environment from a different perspective. The world is going more
    and more into urban forms and this is like  the  total  opposite,
    you still have some of the conservative things about it. It's not
    that you are  afraid  of  any  kind  of  technical  evolution  or
    whatever, but I like to see it as a metaphor of  ourselves  still
    operating on the side of things, and kind of watching  the  whole
    thing from an objective point  of  view.  The  three  dots,  it's
    something that just had to be there, somehow, it's something that
    never really ends, it just keeps on going and going and  going...
    it just had to be that way.

CoC: There is something in your debut album which can  be  translated
     as: "I am not afraid to die, but I am afraid not to live.  Am  I
     alive?" This sentence suggests the idea of a  clear  distinction
     between living and just surviving, just existing. What are  your
     thoughts on this?

JS: I was together with a girl at the time, and she was dealing  with
    a lot of... she thought she was becoming adult  too  soon,  in  a
    way, and she didn't really want it that way, because she  thought
    things became a bit  too  serious  around  her.  She  sent  me  a
    postcard, I think, or something, with  that  sentence,  or  those
    sentences, on it, together with "yes/no"  checkboxes.  The  first
    philosophical question should be whether it is  worth  living  or
    not, and I thought it was done in a very  naked  way,  but  still
    very... how can I put it, it's very hard to find the right words.
    I think she saw the bottom line, you  know,  and  I  was  totally
    "wow, this just has to be on the album".

CoC: Are -you- alive?

JS: I reckon I am. But it delivers a lot of complications, because if
    you want to stay alive all the time, it demands that  you  always
    try to bring everything that you do a step further every day, and
    sometimes it might be very hard. I know I'm not alone on this,  I
    know there's so  many  people  dealing  with  the  same  kind  of
    thoughts. You don't really try to let things go by, you  have  to
    live everything totally, 100%, to feel alive, and  you  might  be
    dealing with a lot of complications and it might give you  a  lot
    of very hard times. But I think in the end it's very  much  worth
    it, because you get the chance to see the bottom of yourself, and
    only when you see the bottom and the dark on the  bottom,  that's
    the only way to see the real kind of light, in a way. I think you
    need utter darkness to feel the utmost form of joy, definitely.

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

                  W E   W O R S H I P   W I N T E R
                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                 CoC interviews Abbath from Immortal
                           by: Paul Schwarz

     If you have not yet experienced the music of Immortal, then  you
have not yet discovered some of the finest black metal the  Norwegian
scene  has  ever  brought  forth.  The  band's  second  album   _Pure
Holocaust_ is a black metal classic; grim, cold, harsh,  fast,  black
as pitch  and  uniquely  Immortal.  _Battles  in  the  North_,  which
followed _PH_, is faster and more brutal but likewise  excellent;  it
includes what is probably the  band's  best  known  song,  "Blashyrkh
(Mighty Ravendark)". Immortal's last album, _Blizzard Beasts_, wasn't
bad but didn't really capture as dark  and  black  an  atmosphere  as
their previous releases, even though it was possibly yet more  brutal
than _BitN_. However, it didn't signal a decline as is  evidenced  by
the  band's  latest  output,  _At  the  Heart  of  Winter_.   _AtHoW_
encapsulates everything that is  brilliant  about  Immortal's  unique
form of black metal, while also bringing quite a  lot  of  new  ideas
into the previous musical structures. However, one  very  significant
change, external to the sound of  the  album,  is  the  departure  of
Demonaz Doom Occulta from the line-up. Abbath and  Demonaz  had  been
the essential core of Immortal  until  recently  (drummer  Horgh  who
joined on _BB_ is now a permanent contributing member of  the  band),
but tendinitis invalided Demonaz out of the band for good --  he  had
already missed tours for treatment but later found out that he  would
never be able to play guitar,  at  least  at  the  speed  he  did  in
Immortal, again. A cold end for Demonaz, but certainly  not  the  end
for Immortal, as Abbath explains.

CoC: How did the departure of Demonaz affect the songwriting for  _At
     the Heart of Winter_?

Abbath: Well, I have always made most of  the  music,  so  it  didn't
        actually have any big effect, you know. I  have  always  made
        most of the arrangements and we have put  them  together,  we
        have made the -structure- together. But this time he was  not
        around when I made  the  music  and,  you  know,  it  was  no
        problem, it didn't have any effect  actually.  He  wrote  the
        lyrics and he was really inspired by my music, so he  offered
        to write the lyrics and I had a bunch  of  proposals  to  the
        lyrics, inspirations for the lyrics, but he's the expert so I
        gave him all the credit for it.

CoC: What are the lyrical themes in particular,  are  they  different
     from those covered on previous albums?

A: It is still the Frostdemon realm concept, beyond the depths of the
   plains of the North, it's still the Blashyrkh  concept,  which  is
   the heart of winter in our vision, it is a total fantasy  concept.
   For us the concept has no limits, it is  a  very  awesome  concept
   which we are really proud of; we still write  about  this  concept
   because we don't think it has any limits to what we can  put  into
   it.

CoC: It is something you've made very much your own as a band.

A: Yeah, it is our fantasy, it is our work, fantasy work. It is  like
   our Mordor [for those unfortunate enough not  to  know,  the  land
   ruled by Sauron, the Dark Lord, in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The  Lord  of
   the Rings" -- Paul], if you know what I mean.

CoC: Yeah, I know what you mean. Will Demonaz be continuing  to  work
     with the band in any way?

A: Umm, he will probably be working with me when it comes  to  lyrics
   in the future; I will do more myself, I am  getting  more  trained
   now, I am getting better in English, to form sentences in the form
   of verses. I am getting more into that now and I have  an  English
   friend called Simon Doncaster which I am going to  work  a  little
   bit with, and he has also worked with Demonaz in the  past.  So  I
   think I am going to do most of the work, the basic  work,  myself,
   and to get it perfect I will work with  Demonaz  and  with  Simon.
   Demonaz is working more with management stuff for us  now,  fixing
   dates for gigs and stuff, and doing more stuff  so  we  can  focus
   more on the artistic side of the band. He's still around,  he  was
   forced to leave because of his injuries, but  we  are  still  very
   close and Immortal still means a lot to him. He loves to be around
   and we love to have him around, and he's also with us on the tours
   making sure the money comes to our hand and stuff like that.  He's
   very good at these kind of things on the business end.

CoC: With this  new  album,  what  would  you  say  are  the  biggest
     differences between it and your other albums? I think  what  I'd
     say generally is that it concentrates a  little  less  on  speed
     than _Blizzard Beasts_ and _Battles in the North_ did.

A: We have focused to be more open this time and more diverse, and it
   is very important for us to develop our style, at the same time to
   make our music more listenable and our style more open so that new
   people, and our old fans as well, can  get  into  our  style  more
   easily, and have a better understanding of what we do.  We  didn't
   want to be so one track minded and we didn't want to rush so  much
   into it this time, we want to slow it down and make our music more
   atmospheric and more catchy.

CoC: I found also there  was  more  music,  there  were  much  longer
     periods without vocals.

A: Yeah, that's just how it turned out to be, you know. I  think  the
   music does most of the talking on this album and for us it is very
   important to develop. I think the intensity and the atmosphere  is
   more important than the blasts themselves and I think that's  more
   the right Immortal atmosphere, to still have blasts, but we  don't
   want that to be the main stuff in our music. We want  to  be  more
   diverse and more open, we want to give our listeners a bigger view
   of our music.

CoC: It's like on the song "At the Heart of Winter",  you  have  that
     whole two minute keyboard intro which shows a  very  atmospheric
     approach.

A: Yeah, for me that intro... when I was making  that  intro  it  was
   like watching the plains of the North, you know, the Winter plains
   gave me an inspiration  of  the  beauty  of  the  plains  and  the
   atmosphere and the beauty of a  Winter  landscape,  and  when  the
   music starts it's like you go beyond. That's what I  felt  when  I
   made the song,  when  the  drums  come  in  and  the  guitars  and
   everything come in we go beyond  that  picture,  we  go  into  the
   depths of the North and it's like the beauty turns into  a  brutal
   realm of demons. I love the contrast,  I  love  to  have  lots  of
   contrasts in our music. I love to compare the beauty and the  evil
   and brutality to each other, I want to include all those kinds  of
   differences and contrasts into our  musical  concept,  so  really,
   with this album, I really wanted to create the right atmosphere in
   all kinds of ways.

CoC: So, in a sense, part of it  was  a  plan,  to  do  things  in  a
     slightly different fashion to attain a goal that  you've  always
     been trying to get to?

A: Yeah, yeah, it was like when I started to write this album I  went
   more back to the old roots, and the old atmosphere, and  the  old,
   what shall I say, inspirations which I had earlier  on  and  based
   more  the  songwriting  on  that.  And  I  found  that  way   more
   interesting to have more diverse and a bigger, larger concept.  So
   I found it a lot more interesting and inspiring to  work  on  that
   basis.

CoC: As opposed to _BB_, where you were more influenced by _Altars of
     Madness_.

A: Yeah, it's like _BB_ was a bit more one track minded, I think.  We
   were a bit confused when we were  making  that  album.  We  didn't
   actually know what kind of direction we wanted to go. Actually, we
   lost a lot of the old, basic influences we had. Also, you know,  a
   lot of people who support that album say that it  reminds  them  a
   bit of Morbid Angel, and I've got to admit that.  We  have  always
   been fans of Morbid Angel, but I think it was wrong  for  Immortal
   to take that kind of direction with our music. So the song on that
   album which  has  the  right  Immortal  atmosphere  is  definitely
   "Mountains of Might" [not similar to _AoM_]. But I  really  regret
   that we didn't make the concept of that album [better],  I  really
   hoped that we didn't bite off more than we could  chew,  which  we
   did with that album. That was not the right direction for Immortal
   to go, but anyway it's great, most of the songs are great, but  we
   should have realized when we were in the  studio  that  we  should
   have waited and worked more on the songs, but it was too late;  we
   should have done a demo first. And also, when I made _AtHoW_ I was
   working  more  with  studio  machines  when  I  was   making   the
   arrangements, so it was a lot easier to get the  right  impression
   of what I was doing and also with that done it was easier to  make
   the riffs, it was easier to get a good sound to them. It was like,
   you know, with _BB_ we were only thinking "fast, brutal",  and  we
   went on a wrong track, actually. It was a turning point for us.

CoC: I think that happens to some  bands  sometimes,  they  make  one
     album that they look back on and disagree with having  made  and
     make, as a result, a better album.

A: Yeah, I think we pushed that kind of  thing  to  the  limits  with
   _BitN_ and we should have turned at that point and  not  continued
   that kind of thing. But you know, it doesn't matter now  actually,
   were not interested in going back and changing anything,  we  want
   everything  to  be  the  way  it  is.  But,  you  know,  the  most
   interesting thing about _BB_ is the sound, we were fuckin'  around
   so much in the studio and nothing worked out the  way  we  wanted.
   And we were finished, we just wanted to be finished, and  we  were
   tired of working in the studio with that album and we wanted  just
   to stop and release it, and didn't realize that the sound on  most
   of the songs was so fucked up. But, you know, I don't regret,  you
   just have to carry on and I feel we are back on  the  right  track
   now, and that is the most important. The most important is to take
   the best side of our style and carry on and base  the  development
   on the right influences.

CoC: Talking about sound, what  most  influenced  you  to  move  from
     Grieghallen and record in Abyss instead with Peter Tagtgren?

A: With _BB_ we actually recorded in  another  studio  called  Sigma,
   only the first three albums  were  recorded  in  Grieghallen.  The
   problems in Bergen is we needed the right --  a  big  producer,  a
   person who had a really good understanding of our music  and,  you
   know, these people in Bergen are very good technicians,  but  they
   were not into our music and did not have anything to give us.  And
   we were not skilled enough ourselves at that  point  to  find  the
   right sound. And so we had an offer from Osmose to use Peter  from
   Abyss and we heard a lot of good stuff about him and  the  rumours
   were true, for sure. He had a really good understanding, a lot  of
   patience, and also this time we recorded all the songs beforehand,
   in the rehearsal room, with a four track  studio  machine.  So  we
   could present the songs to Peter before  we  started  out.  So,  I
   discussed with him what kind of sound I wanted and  he  found  the
   sound right away, you know, very fast, and he really knew what way
   I wanted to go with the sound. It was a real pleasure working with
   him and we worked very fast,  you  know,  we  had  all  the  songs
   rehearsed and everything was ready before we went down  there.  We
   booked the studio for one month and we were finished in less  than
   twenty days, so it was great.

CoC: Do you feel that black metal is a style that allows  you  to  be
     totally creative, or do you think there are restrictions on what
     you can do and still be black metal?

A: What do you mean?

CoC: In terms of making music  which  you  feel  to  be  an  accurate
     representation of black metal, do you think you can play  around
     with a lot of different things, a lot of  different  influences,
     or do you think there is a certain, kind of, way of playing  you
     have to stick to?

A: We don't follow any rules; there's no limit for us,  actually.  We
   do what we feel is right for our style, we don't think  we  should
   do it like -this- or like -that-, we follow our intuition. But  of
   course, you know, for me it is very  important  to  have  an  "old
   time" feeling, that we have a lot of roots in our music and for us
   it's important that we don't turn hype. I don't  feel  it's  right
   for Immortal to have synthesizers leading our music, you know,  we
   have synthesizers on the album in some of the arrangements but  it
   is important that the main instrument which leads  the  atmosphere
   is the guitar. With some arrangements  we  have  put  synthesizers
   behind the guitars to lift some of  the  riffs  and  some  of  the
   atmosphere in some of the riffs. For us it is important  to  be  a
   bit old fashioned, but at the same time develop  and  make  a  new
   thing, at the same time be totally Immortal, at the same time  fit
   into this day and age with our music. That's all we  think,  other
   people, other bands they are into more hyped... I think some bands
   really forgot the real root in metal and I think more bands should
   have had more. There's a lot of new people coming into the  scene,
   there's a new generation coming up and I personally  think  it  is
   important that these people also get into the old time [sound] and
   the roots. That's my opinion, you know, that's what I think.

CoC: That's similar to what Satyr from Satyricon said  when  I  asked
     him a similar question. He said that he didn't  see  that  there
     were limits but he did feel that he'd rather  have  black  metal
     bands listen to and get inspiration  from  Darkthrone  than  get
     inspiration  from  Cradle  of  Filth.  In  terms  of  just  what
     different people like out of it, I think, myself included, a lot
     of people like  the  older  influences  like  Celtic  Frost  and
     Bathory as opposed to the female vocals and the gothic sound.

A: I think it is very important to develop the metal in  general,  it
   is very important that the music doesn't  stagnate.  At  the  same
   time I think it is very important that the bands realize that it's
   very important to develop -and- keep the old metal influences. And
   not going back and being exactly [like] all those old bands  were,
   but be creative and create new  stuff  based  on  these  old  time
   influences. I think that has a great deal of importance.

CoC: Why did you decide to change your logo?

A: Well, I wanted this to be a new era of  Immortal,  we  wanted  the
   four previous albums to be exceptional and also, when it comes  to
   the cover, it was only me and Horgh who  did  this  album  and  we
   didn't want to present the band on the cover as a duo,  we  wanted
   _BitN_ to be exceptional when it comes to that. Also, it is a  big
   change: we have a painting, a  very  professional  painting  which
   really tells the whole concept and adds the  right  atmosphere  to
   our music and there was the concept. It's like  the  Blashyrkh  we
   see in our vision and we love to present this kind  of  vision  in
   that kind of way with _AtHoW_. We had an offer from Osmose to  use
   a professional painter and I thought, "yeah". I  sent  a  proposal
   and I thought it would be pretty good,  and  I  was  just  amazed.
   Also, I wanted a more pronounced logo this time, and a logo  which
   was more readable. I think the name is  more  important  than  the
   logo itself. When people see the cover, I want people to  see  who
   it is right away. And Herve from Osmose, he got a person to design
   a new logo and I thought it was great, some people do like it  and
   some don't. The most important  is  that  I  wanted  it  that  way
   myself. I think some people, and some old time fans  of  Immortal,
   are a bit disappointed right now, but I think they will accept  it
   more in the future. We still use the old logo,  it's  on  the  CD,
   it's just not on the front and we don't have it as the main  logo.
   I think the old logo is cool art but it is more important  for  me
   now that we... it is like a new era and it is very important to me
   that the name is very clear to everyone. Anyway, it is just a logo
   and I think the music and the cover itself and all that concept is
   still Immortal, it still sounds  Immortal,  we  still  have  -our-
   style, it's still Immortal concept, that's what's most  important,
   of course. Also, at the same time, everyone can see what  kind  of
   band it is, what we're called.

CoC: Any final word?

A: I just hope that  people  understand,  especially  the  old  fans,
   really understand our new era, our change and our development, and
   I hope that the old timers can still  stick  to  us  and  have  an
   understanding of what we do, and the new people as well, you know.
   To me, I think we are doing the right thing and I hope that people
   around have the same understanding of what we do, and that  people
   understand that we are still  totally  Immortal,  but  in  a  more
   professional way. I hope that  people  don't  feel  that  we  have
   "wimped out" or anything like that, since _BB_ was so brutal.  The
   intensity is still there, the brutality is still there; it's  more
   back to the basic Immortal and more melancholy.

CoC: I think, for me, in all the right ways it's a much darker album,
     to me it taps better what I like, what is  "heavy"  about  black
     metal. _BB_ is much like a death metal album [and  note  that  I
     -love- death metal and its feeling, but,  to  clarify,  I  don't
     feel _BB_ captures a great death metal feeling  --  Paul],  this
     album captures much more of the black metal spirit.

A: Yeah, the new album has a lot more atmosphere, it's  deeper,  more
   cryptic, but at the same time it is more open and I  think  that's
   the total right thing when it comes to Immortal.

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            L I V I N G   U P   T O   T H E I R   N A M E
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                       CoC interviews Amorphis
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     Heaven and Hell. Two distant places  within  our  universe  that
continue to fascinate those of us on planet Earth.  Two  locals  that
cry out for understanding and interpretation. Two places in our  mind
set that have been explored  and  evaluated  throughout  time  within
metal music. Places, in one aspect, where  demons  lurk  and  another
realm where angels soar. Finnish metal minions  Amorphis  have  leapt
into the analytical world of sky palaces and the grim underworld with
their latest _Tuonela_. Quite the fascinated overview, if there  ever
was one.
     "Tuonela is quite an interesting word, I think,  and  a  fitting
name for the album title", notes guitarist / creative mastermind  Esa
Holopainen about the album title of their latest effort. "Tuonela  is
somewhat of an underworld of sorts, a place between Heaven  and  Hell
where a lot of the older Finnish people believed is where  your  soul
goes when you die." "_Tuonela_ was chosen as the album title  because
we thought it gave quite a good description of  what  the  album  was
about. It reflects and describes the music  that  we  did  perfectly.
It's a good assortment of two distinct worlds rolled into  one.  It's
significant to the progressive angle of _Tuonela_."
     "Our change has come  with  natural  progression.  We're  pretty
happy with the fresh sound of  the  recording  and  the  material  on
_Tuonela_", says Holopainen on the new LP. "It's better produced  for
the most part, too. We, as a band, wanted to make sure that this time
around we were able to bring  about  certain  changes  to  the  band.
Changes that seemed to showcase where  we  were  progressing  to.  We
achieved that here."
     Along with his friends and cohorts --  vocalist  Pasi  Koskinen,
guitarist Tomi Koivusaari, bassist Olli-Pekka  Laine,  drummer  Pekka
Kasari and session  keyboardist  Santeri  Kaltio  --,  Holopainen  is
pleased  with  the  band's  transformation  since  their  1992  debut
full-length disc _The Karelian Isthmus_ and on through  such  classic
releases as  _Tales  From  the  Thousand  Lakes_  (1994)  and  1997's
groundbreaking _Elegy_. He's happy with Amorphis'  state  of  musical
diversity in 1999 and hopes their fans  will  like  it  as  well.  "I
believe most of the fans will enjoy what we did here. People who have
become fans of the band have come to expect changes within our  music
from album to album. It's what we are all about. All  of  our  albums
are different and that's what we want."
     "When people first heard Amorphis, they were  enchanted  by  the
variety of what we  were  doing.  Leading  up  to  the  last  record,
_Elegy_, people understood that over the years this was going  to  be
brought through an  experimental  phase  as  we  went  along.  People
shouldn't be surprised with _Tuonela_, rather impressed that we  have
brought more variety to Amorphis. It's an exciting way  to  hear  the
band."
     _Tuonela_ was a lengthy  album  to  assemble.  The  band  toured
consistently with _Elegy_ and, as Holopainen explains, long recording
sessions is something Amorphis tries to avoid. "It took a  while  for
us to get off the road and into the studio. It was  unfortunate  that
it took a while to get things going, but you know what? Once  we  got
the road travelling out of our system we were able to get the writing
underway. No need to really lull over ideas.  It  all  came  together
rapidly and that was a good sign.  It  took  about  half  a  year  to
assemble the music, but once we got through that  process,  _Tuonela_
came together quite nicely."
     "When we go into record, we wipe the slate clean and start  from
scratch. Sure our past efforts are a guideline for us as to  what  we
have achieved as a band, but for the most part we keep it in focus as
the creative process goes. If we do go back  and  hear  older  stuff,
it's not to copy those styles or sounds, but more so for some form of
analysing of what we did previously and how we could have done things
differently."
     A  lot  of  different  instruments  were  used   on   _Tuonela_,
everything from saxophone, sitar and even a flute. At  any  time  did
Holopainen think using those varied musical instruments would disrupt
the varied style of Amorphis? Or did it enhance it? "A famous Finnish
folk artist [Sakari Kukko] played the flute on the record and it  was
such a great experience for us, as we have been big fans of his  work
for years. Pasi [Koskinen; singer] met him in a  bar  and  introduced
him to the band. Who cares what people think about us  introducing  a
flute into Amorphis' sound. It was an honour for him to play with us.
That's all that matters."
     On newer bands, he comments: "I think there are a lot  of  bands
out there nowadays that are really into making their music stand out.
It's great to see that, but then there are all of  these  bands  that
are picking up on trends and bringing  nothing  to  the  music  scene
except more of the same  band  styles.  Those  bands  don't  survive.
Amorphis has always believed in being unique. Bands need to focus  on
that."
     Since early  1991,  Amorphis  has  been  a  playing  ground  for
Holopainen. It's been a worthwhile experience for him to explore  his
musical creativity. His love for music runs deep. "This  all  started
out as a fun thing to do. Y'know? Get in a band with friends and play
songs. It was fun. We were very lucky as a band,  because  it  didn't
take long to get signed. We've been in a very lucky position for  the
last few years with tours taking us outside our homeland  of  Finland
to play shows. It's gotten  our  name  out  and  helped  us  to  sell
records."
     "Regardless of playing shows and  selling  records,  it's  still
about the making of the music", says Holopainen with a sincere  tone.
"We want to be happy with what we do. Of course there are times  when
you are mad doing this and it seems like there is no point continuing
on because you are lagged behind by label politics or just  recording
the material. Sometimes you just want to get away  from  it  all  and
rest in your house with your wife and child. Y'know what I mean? This
industry takes away a lot and is quite demanding, but it  also  gives
back quite a lot."
     So, in closing I ask, is this their best record? "Of course,  it
has to be", says Holopainen quickly. "I mean, if _Elegy_ was our best
record, then why even release _Tuonela_, right? You  always  have  to
think that the current record you  have  finished  up  is  the  best,
because that is your current musical  creation.  It  symbolizes  just
where you stand. Who wants to put out a record that isn't as good  as
the last one? Not us. We always try to outdo ourselves and I think we
did that here with _Tuonela_."

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                D A R K   S O N G S   O F   E R E N N
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        CoC interviews Alan Averill Nemtheanga of Primordial
                           by: Pedro Azevedo

     _A Journey's End_ [CoC #33]  still  is  definitely  one  of  the
albums that I find most remarkable in my collection as far as musical
personality goes. Primordial's latest full-length effort is  unlikely
to seize the listener upon first spin, but it can grow -immensely- on
any fan of doomy music if it is given the chance. By  mixing  complex
songs full of marvellous details that reveal themselves with repeated
listens and three shorter songs that really inject variety  into  the
album, Primordial have created one of those  albums  in  which  every
song clearly seems to be there for a specific  reason  and  not  just
because they had some spare riffs they could use for  another  track.
The following is an in-depth  snail-mail  interview  with  the  Irish
band's charismatic vocalist Alan Averill Nemtheanga.

CoC: Many bands out there just want  to  put  together  some  musical
     ideas, a band name and cover art that will capture the potential
     buyers'  attention,  and  release  albums.  _A  Journey's  End_,
     however, seems to have been made in a  different  way.  I  think
     there must have been a lot of thought and care put into  lyrics,
     cover art and, of course, music in order to  make  it  all  work
     together. What was the process that led to this final  unity  of
     music, lyrics and artwork?

Alan A. Nemtheanga: You  are  right  pretty  much.  A  lot  of  time,
                    thought, arguing and deliberation goes  into  the
                    songwriting. We are pretty slow  songwriters  and
                    this is really due to our  attitude  towards  the
                    songs. We never let anything  we  aren't  totally
                    happy with into the songs. There are albums worth
                    of discarded riffs out there! We try and approach
                    the  songs  as  a  whole  particular  feeling  or
                    atmosphere rather than  simply  riffs  juxtaposed
                    together. As for the lyrics, I simply write  when
                    I feel the need or the urge to write  and  I  try
                    and place the lyric or words most fitting to  the
                    music's atmosphere in rehearsal and gradually  it
                    all  comes  together.  Things  like  artwork  are
                    really my department, so to  speak;  generally  I
                    either  have  too  many  ideas  or  we   are   so
                    concentrated on the music that after recording we
                    are left with very little visual compliments. The
                    process that leads  to  all  this  is  unwavering
                    commitment to never compromise our music and  our
                    vision, irrespective of trends or scene  changes.
                    We play whatever the fuck we want... exclusively.

CoC: Please tell  me  more  about  the  album  cover.  What  does  it
     represent within the album's concept and how did you find it? It
     seems to have a certain antique look  to  it,  or  else  it  has
     probably been made to look that way, and seems to fit the lyrics
     and music in a way.

AAN: Strange you should mention this. Actually, originally we  had  a
     different cover and we had all settled upon it, but  Misanthropy
     [Records] hated it and put pressure on us to change it... and my
     biggest regret with _A Journey's End_ is  that  I  listened  [to
     them] and changed it. The original cover was more suited to  the
     lyrics. The cover you see is a very quick job by master  Stephen
     O'Malley and, while not being  exactly  as  I  wanted,  it  does
     reflect the sombre, natural and earthy feel to the music. It's a
     photo from the turn of the century, even though it doesn't  look
     like it. Some people call it "The Brown Album"! The logo  should
     be in gold and be much bigger, which is also very annoying.  The
     vinyl version [on Hammerheart Records] will  have  the  original
     cover.

CoC: There has been, in my opinion, quite a progression in your music
     since the _Imrama_ days, even though it was a good debut  album.
     How would you describe that progress?

AAN: There was a long gap between albums and  it's  natural  that  we
     would evolve as individuals and musicians. I am still very proud
     of _Imrama_ and it was good for its time and  the  circumstances
     under which it was conceived, but it has its flaws! As musicians
     we have come to understand music theory and structure and have a
     greater understanding of what it takes  to  write  a  Primordial
     song. As people we have also evolved, how we look at  the  world
     and how we relate to each other as  individuals  has  grown  and
     evolved. Our  songs  now  are  more  mature  and  coherent  than
     before... with a greater compliment of light and shade. We  have
     come to understand that the violent parts shall sound even  more
     so when placed with sombre and  melancholic  movements.  We  are
     always evolving.

CoC: I was quite glad to still find some harsher vox on _A  Journey's
     End_, which in my opinion work very well with the clean  vocals,
     which have also improved. Will you keep using them in the future?

AAN: Like I said,  light  and  shade!  I  try  and  utilize  as  many
     different vocal styles as possible, I try and  enhance  whatever
     atmosphere  that  particular  song  may  have.  There  are  many
     different vocal styles on _A Journey's End_ and in the future  I
     will  do  anything  and  everything  that  adds  to  the  music.
     Primordial  will  always  also  have  harsh  vocals...  that  is
     something I will never leave behind. Our roots are black  metal,
     and there will always be something of that in the music. Like  I
     said, whatever suits the music the best...

CoC: Your clean vocals on _A Journey's End_ are often among the  most
     emotional I've ever heard. What overall feelings and experiences
     do you try to portray through your vocals? Where  do  they  come
     from, what is it that generally inspires you?

AAN: Thank you. Basically, the lyrics are a very personal  thing  and
     this "personal" quality is something that very  much  goes  into
     the singing. Basically I try and put every part of me, to put my
     soul into the songs. That is what  you  are  hearing.  I'm  just
     trying to  enhance  the  atmosphere  in  the  most  fitting  way
     possible. Whatever the lyrics may be about is what I  am  trying
     to get across. The passion and conviction. To  properly  explain
     my inspirations is a  long  and  very  detailed  text...  and  I
     wouldn't want to bore you! What you are generally hearing is the
     way it  is.  I  do  get  inspiration  from  other  singers,  I'm
     -totally- in awe of Eric Adams [Manowar], David  DeFeis  [Virgin
     Steele],  Johan  Langqvist  [first  Candlemass  album],  Messiah
     Marcolin [Candlemass], Ronnie James Dio, etc, etc...

CoC: What's the story behind the remarkable "The Dark Song" of Erenn?
     And who, or what, is Erenn?

AAN: Erenn is Ireland... in old  Irish  (language).  The  lyrics  are
     simply an invocation of our country by 13th century heathen poet
     Amergin Glungel.  The  words  are  mighty...  dark,  tragic  and
     evocative, we had to put it to music. It says more about Ireland
     than I could ever... it is the perfect invocation of Erenn. Dark
     and tragic. I don't think you're going to hear a track like this
     on any metal album, really!

CoC: I find "Autumn's Ablaze" a very beautiful,  emotional  track  --
     your vocals and lyrics and also the music. Can you tell me  more
     about it?

AAN: It's difficult to dissect songs or to take them out of  context.
     "Autumn's Ablaze" uses the imagery of the passing of the seasons
     to convey a feeling of immense loss. It reaches the  depths  the
     soul can go in resignation and realizing that  some  things  you
     may never have... to simply dream them  is  the  only  key.  The
     feeling of being alone and  questioning  your  worth,  and  your
     place in the world. However, it is not a negative or pessimistic
     song... it respects  the  beauty  in  the  unattainable...  from
     everything to a woman, a place, a time, an emotion. It does  not
     have an answer,  but  it  never  really  poses  a  question?!...
     Falling from grace is a beautiful thing to behold!

CoC:  The  title  track's  lyrics  seem  to   be   related   to   the
     political/religious situation in Ireland. What are your thoughts
     on this and on that whole situation?

AAN: Not really, I never really thought of it in that way until after
     the song  was  done;  it  seemed  somewhat  poignant.  A  slight
     reflection on our troubles. Again, this song deals with  loss...
     seeing a people lose touch with  their  natural  surroundings...
     wondering aloud is this  what  so  many  died  for...  for  this
     society. An honourless society. But  it  is  not  an  aggressive
     lyric. More a malign deep seated  remorse  at  a  people  losing
     their fire! In a  way,  it  is  similar  to  what  Ihsahn  [from
     Emperor] is saying in "The Loss and Curse  of  Reverence",  only
     not as bitter or aggressive. It is saying there are  lessons  to
     be learnt... but no  one  pays  attention...  and  I  am  not  a
     teacher. Let them be the architects of their own demise...

CoC: You use many Irish elements in your music, which certainly helps
     to make you quite a unique band. Besides  the  fact  that  those
     elements do strengthen your music, how important is it  for  you
     that people will recognise you as being an Irish band?

AAN: To be recognised as being Irish is a very  important  thing  for
     us; whether we  like  it  or  sometimes  not,  we  are  seen  as
     ambassadors or standard bearers for our country, being the  most
     well-known band from Ireland. We are  of  course  proud  of  our
     culture and heritage and of course living here does  affect  our
     music. We do have an Irish feel, but we don't like to be blatant
     and obvious about it... we  are  subtle.  We  like  to  confound
     people's expectations that we should be recycling  Celtic  myths
     and ripping off traditional music. We forge our own sound. Being
     Irish will always affect us and be a part  of  us,  and  we  are
     comfortable and proud of that fact.

CoC: "Solitary Mourner" is a very unique, very emotional track  which
     can really reach deep inside the listener. What were  the  ideas
     behind it?

AAN: I guess it is a little strange, I didn't really think  about  it
     at the time, but looking back "Solitary  Mourner"  is  a  rather
     public exorcism, and an uncomfortable listen  for  many  people.
     The title "Solitary Mourner" is slightly lifted from  a  Leonard
     Cohen track called "Queen Victoria". The track itself  has  more
     than a little nod in the direction of Leonard, as he is a little
     bit of an idol of mine. I think that enough of me has gone  into
     that song that I don't need to explain it,  really.  Let's  just
     say  it's  a  paean  to  loss,  self  loathing,  dejection   and
     depression. In case you can't hear it!... [Highly  unlikely.  --
     Pedro] A suicide anthem for all the kids, huh?!

CoC: "Bitter Harvest" is indeed a rather bitter song, I'd  say.  Your
     vocals are more aggressive  there  than  anywhere  else  on  the
     album, moreso than on "Graven Idol" where you also  use  harsher
     vox; they are especially harsh towards  the  end  of  the  song,
     where you practically scream out the last few words. That song's
     lyrics are also particularly intense, too. What made you  choose
     to finish your participation on the album like that? What do you
     want to express with it?

AAN: The bitter tone of the lyrics lent itself to be screamed, and we
     will never leave those vocals behind. It wasn't on purpose,  but
     it was good to bring the album to a close with something  really
     aggressive and violent and then let the listener come down  with
     "An Aistear Deirneach". "Bitter Harvest" is just  my  vitriolic,
     bitter and violent scathing attack on the grey mass of  society.
     At the grey ugliness. It is inspired by a book  called  "Journey
     to the End of the Night"  by  Celine  (Louis  Ferdinand,  French
     author) and it is a grim and depressing, yet compelling, littany
     of human failure,  compromise,  misery  and  dejection.  "Bitter
     Harvest" is an  open  expression  of  contempt  and  misanthropy
     towards "them". Never let the bastards grind ya down.

CoC: Overall, I feel that every song on _A Journey's End_ has  a  lot
     of personality, the songs all have their own identity.  Did  you
     specifically want to make sure this would happen?

AAN: Definitely, each song has its own feel, Primoridal is definitely
     a band that you can put tunes to the names of the songs in  your
     head. They are all memorable and distinct. We put a lot of  work
     into the songs to make  them  so.  That  sense  of  identity  is
     perhaps our strongest point... no  two  songs  are  really  that
     similar.

CoC: I know you have left Misanthropy; for some reason, I  felt  your
     band, for several reasons, sort of fitted well with that  label,
     or at least with it's name.  What  happened?  What's  the  story
     behind your signing for Hammerheart?

AAN: Well, Misanthropy is folding... finished. It's  being  sold.  [I
     didn't know that at the time I wrote the  questions,  obviously,
     but indeed, unfortunately, Misanthropy have confirmed that  they
     shall cease their activities this Summer. -- Pedro] So,  really,
     we had no choice. Besides which, things were not going very well
     and the  label  had  painted  itself  into  this  "avant  garde"
     leftfield label... that critics love  but  doesn't  sell...  and
     doesn't get tour support. It is better for Primordial to be on a
     more metal label as we are a live band... we want  to  tour  and
     get out there, not only remain obscure and a  musical  elitist's
     choice. We want to get out there, play festivals,  let  as  many
     people hear us as  possible.  We  want  to  see  the  whites  of
     people's eyes down the front, my friend. As metal was  intended.
     Well, with Hammerheart, we know Guido for years and he's a  good
     friend... and an '80s child also! We'll be OK there...  however,
     no label is perfect, to say the least.

CoC: A new EP is supposed to come out on Hammerheart  now.  What  can
     you tell us about it as far as the changes in your style and the
     contents (new material, something else) of the EP are concerned?
     Is there a release date yet?

AAN: There will be two new tracks and two reworkings  of  old  songs.
     Overall, it's more uptempo, heavier, more direct and  it  has  a
     greater emphasis on light and shade, i.e., when it kicks ass  it
     does just that and when it's grim or melancholic it's just that.
     People, I think, expected us to go off in a sort of folk  tinged
     Led Zeppelin avant garde direction, but if anything this is more
     metal than ever... but  still  very  Primordial.  I'm  confident
     about it... it's very focused and together. Another new journey!
     It should be out in late May: _The Burning Season_.

CoC: What is the situation concerning your next full-length album?

AAN: We hope to do it in the Autumn and for it to be out at  the  end
     of 1999! It promises to be an epic work. More mighty and rousing
     than  before.  We'll  see,  time  shall  tell.  It  will  be  on
     Hammerheart Records.

CoC: In which ways do you think Primordial's music  will  develop  in
     the future? Where do you think your sound is headed?

AAN: As I've  just  said,  the  music  will  take  each  one  of  our
     characteristics and work on it  further,  i.e.,  the  light  and
     shade of the music will be more extreme. A lot of diversity  and
     experimentation,  yet  also  more  straightforward  heavy  metal
     sensibilities.  More  epic   and   barbaric,   yet   also   more
     melancholic... and darker again!

CoC: What are your plans regarding concerts and perhaps touring?

AAN: We want to!... I've been in the band  for  eight  years,  Ciaran
     [Mac Uilmm, guitarist] and Paul  [Mac  Gawlaigh,  bassist]  have
     been playing for eleven years! We have paid our dues... we  want
     to get to Europe and play. Hammerheart will hopefully sort  this
     out. It has to happen this year. We are hungry for this.

CoC: Based solely on each band's characteristics, I think  Primordial
     and Anathema playing  live  together  would  be  an  outstanding
     combination. What do you think about that? Any  chance  it  will
     ever happen (if it hasn't yet)?

AAN: Actually, we've played with Anathema twice here in Ireland. That
     would probably work pretty well. I think we  could  really  tour
     with anyone, except for brutal death metal bands  or  something.
     Rotting Christ, My Dying Bride, Moonspell, Katatonia... whoever.
     Anything, really!... Well,  apart  from  Gorgoroth  or  Internal
     Bleeding or something.

CoC: Feel free to add anything left untold which you  would  like  to
     make known...

AAN: Thanks for your time and your effort. We appreciate it.  I  wish
     you your will. Watch out for the new MCD and hopefully we'll see
     you down the front in Portugal or  wherever  you  happen  to  be
     reading this. Until then. Hail and kill...

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       A S H E S   T O   A S H E S ,   D U S T   T O   D U S T
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
           CoC interviews Gordan Cencic of Ashes You Leave
                           by: Pedro Azevedo

     Amidst the current flood of bands allegedly playing  doom  metal
with lead female vocals, only a few  have  a  doom  component  strong
enough to justify that label. Ashes You Leave are one of  those.  Not
hiding behind the "gothic" doom metal with female vocals  label  that
has become so fashionable lately  (undeniably  with  some  occasional
fine results as well), Ashes You Leave have released  a  very  worthy
follow-up to their doomy debut _The Passage Back to Life_ all the way
from Croatia, and it turns out to be  one  of  the  best  doom  metal
albums I have heard in a while: _Desperate  Existence_  [reviewed  in
this issue]. Drummer Gordan Cencic answered my e-mail questionnaire.

CoC: Most  people  (myself  included)  know  very  little  about  the
     Croatian metal scene. I personally only  know  Castrum,  besides
     Ashes You Leave, of course (and I must say I  prefer  Ashes  You
     Leave by far). Would you like to tell  us  more  about  Croatian
     metal?

Gordan Cencic: The metal scene in Croatia  is  very  poor,  and  it's
               fading away more and more every  day,  because  simply
               the bigger media are constantly trying to destroy  the
               "Metal world". Small individuals are destroyed as soon
               as they show themselves a bit. Here rules the  politic
               that says that all that is "metal" is bad.  But  still
               there are a couple bands and fanzines that  are  alone
               against everybody. Hail to them! Ashes You  Leave  is,
               together with Castrum, the only band that has, in  the
               last twelve years, succeeded to break abroad,  and  we
               are also the only doom metal band in Croatia.  Besides
               us, there is still a small number of metal bands,  but
               their activity is very hard to hear.

CoC: You have been producing some very doomy music; what everyday (or
     other) influences cause this?

GC: Doom metal is, for us, a way of living and creating, and  because
    of the fact that it was created  by  the  gathering  of  not  too
    optimistic people, it was the most appropriate musical style  for
    us. Besides religion, which is one of  the  greatest  sources  of
    inspiration for us, our creativity is "helped" by  this  decadent
    world around us.

CoC: What about musical influences? I can find some clear  doom/death
     influences in your music, but it remains a  bit  different  from
     the usual; I can say the same about the female vocals.

GC: If we are speaking about influences in the music of AYL, then  we
    can freely talk about My Dying Bride, Cathedral and  Pink  Floyd,
    but in our future work we will try to remove any other influences
    from our music. Regarding the female voice, I can only  say  that
    we didn't want a standard female gothic voice,  a  girl  sounding
    like a seven year old; we wanted a strong female voice.

CoC: In my opinion, you are also a lot doomier than  most  bands  who
     use lead female vocals. Do you agree? Why does this happen?

GC: I'm not 100% sure that we sound a lot  more  "doomy"  than  other
    bands who are using a female leading voice,  but  there  must  be
    some truth in your claim; I think that mainly it's due to Dunja's
    voice and the honest expression of  all  band  members  while  we
    create music, contrarily to some other doom bands, who think that
    this music is simply  a  good  trend  and  end  up  growing  into
    complete boredom and slight comedy.

CoC: What's happened in the band, musically, between the releases  of
     _The Passage Back to Life_ and _Desperate Existence_?

GC: In time, we started  to  experiment  more  and  more  with  other
    musical  styles,  so  that  we  could  express   ourselves   more
    completely. Besides that, we  have  also  grown  as  persons  and
    musicians.

CoC: Why did you choose the title _Desperate Existence_ for your  new
     album?

GC: The album _Desperate Existence_ is composed of almost  hysterical
    depression. The band was in that kind of  state  because  of  all
    kinds of problems created by some  ex-members,  and  during  that
    period of time the chances that our second label Arctic Serenades
    would fall apart were getting  bigger  and  bigger.  This  really
    happened, and then we didn't even think Morbid Records  would  be
    interested in AYL. In fact, you can say that we were really in  a
    state of complete despair.

CoC: What exactly is depicted on the front cover of your new album?

GC: Regarding the cover page of the new album, it represents a fallen
    angel  who  changes  from  a  sacral  shape  into  damned   shape
    (desperate existence). It's symbolised with a  shadow  stretching
    from a normal cross that's in a gothic window, which mutates from
    the sight of the fallen angel, in the form of an inverted  cross,
    which the angel is entering.

CoC: The fourth  track  on  _Desperate  Existence_,  "Et  Vidi  Solem
     Evanere", and also the last one are  quite  different  from  the
     rest of the album; I personally like  "Et  Vidi  Solem  Evanere"
     very much. What were the ideas behind these  tracks?  What  were
     you trying to achieve with them?

GC: Like on the first album, there are  songs  which  we  thought  we
    would present much better in a classical way, or in  another  way
    without using guitars and drums. It is  simply  our  choice,  and
    besides that I think that an album is more interesting with  some
    more variety.

CoC: Now that you have a new album out, what do you think your  music
     will evolve into next? What changes do you see as most likely to
     happen in your music soon?

GC: Like I mentioned before, AYL is still developing, and  let's  say
    that it will continue to use a lot of elements of Croatian  folk,
    and let's say that the new material will have a  bit  more  of  a
    gentle  sound.  It  will  all  be  placed  in  an  atmosphere  of
    melancholy and depression, so we will still be  playing  our  own
    style.

CoC: What are your plans for the near future? Do you  see  yourselves
     leaving Morbid Records and signing for a larger label?

GC: Our near future plans are tied with putting out our third  album,
    but there is still a lot of work to do,  and  also  eventually  a
    Summer tour. Regarding Morbid Records, we are still  planning  to
    stay with them, because they are really highly professional,  and
    besides they represent a big second family for us.

CoC: Are there any words you  would  like  to  add  to  conclude  the
     interview?

GC: Don't ever give up, because only the brave are winning, and  keep
    the doom flame burning!!

Contact: Gordan Cencic, Franje Candeka 23b, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia

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       F R O M   H E R E   T O   T H E   U N H O L Y   L A N D
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              CoC interviews Jurgen Bartsch of Bethlehem
                           by: Aaron McKay

     In the not  too  distant  past,  I  spun  Bethlehem's  new  MCD,
_Reflektionen auf's Sterben_ [see CoC #38], and found myself  reeling
on the floor from its severity. After an elongated recovery period, I
possessed enough presence of mind to dial the number for  Bethlehem's
label, Red Stream, get them on the phone, and set up this  interview.
Damn fine move, too, even if I do say so my  damn  self,  thank  you;
otherwise I would not be able to share some of bassist/founder Jurgen
Bartsch's  insight  with  you,  the  devoted  CoC  reader.  I  highly
encourage you to pour over the e-mail  exchange  between  myself  and
Jurgen keeping in mind the periodical translation  predicaments  that
arise when your interviewee is as German as the eccentric music  that
he creates. Enjoy!

CoC: Before we get into  some  of  the  complexities  of  Bethlehem's
     music, can you relate a little bit about the band's history  for
     the Chronicles of Chaos readers, maybe to include  Klaus  Matton
     and Marco Kehren's departures from Bethlehem, please?

Jurgen Bartsch: Bethlehem was  formed  late  summer  1991  by  Jurgen
                Batsch (bass) and Klaus Matton (guitar). A first demo
                was done in  September  1992,  another  one  followed
                March 1992 and was re-released  as  a  7"  _Thy  Pale
                Dominion_ in August  1993  by  Nightmare  Records  (a
                skinhead label) in our hometown [re-released  by  Red
                Stream in 1995]. [At the] end  of  1993  we  got  our
                first record deal with Adipocere Records from France,
                which resulted in the  _Dark  Metal_  CD,  which  was
                released in August 1994. After the  debut  album,  we
                changed record companies again, [this] time  to  work
                with the masters of pure horror and sickness, Mr. Red
                Stream. This  partnership  resulted  in  _Dictius  te
                Necare_ (1996), _SUiZiD_ (1998) and the _Reflektionen
                auf's Sterben_ MCD (1998). Bethlehem is  destined  by
                lotsa member changes, because Klaus and  me  [always]
                want to sound different from album to  album.  That's
                the reason why Marco  Kohnn  just  did  the  _SUiZiD_
                album with us, although he never got [to be]  a  main
                member. He just did the vox thing for the last  album
                because we just needed some more help. He  was  never
                planned as a full member, although he can  [be]  seen
                in the photos in the CD booklet. This just shows what
                friendship means to us, because Marco still is one of
                our very best friends ever. Probably he will add some
                vox lines on the next album too. [I] must think about
                that. Just Cathrin stays as full  member  and  mainly
                will sing the next album again [the] way she  did  on
                _SUiZiD_, although nearly everybody thought  her  vox
                were sung by Marco Kehren. <laughs> Marco [is] now on
                his fourth full album with Deinonychus. This time [I]
                play the bass. The album will be recorded  in  August
                1999 by Marco, myself and probably the new/old Cradle
                of Filth drummer.

CoC: Tell me about "Wolfsstunde" ("The Wolf  Hour").  What  possessed
     Bethlehem to rework this particular song from the  _Dark  Metal_
     album? And how, in light of these new versions of  "Vargtimmen",
     does the band look upon the original song?

JB: The original song  is  quite  okay,  but  we  like  new  versions
    [better]. They're just better played, arranged  and,  of  course,
    recorded. Doing covers of [our] own albums has a  long  tradition
    in Bethlehem and started with "Verschleierte  Irreligiositat"  on
    the _Dictius te Necare_ album. This song is a _Dark Metal_  cover
    song of  "Veiled  Irreligion".  Damn,  we  liked  the  idea  [of]
    covering ourselves instead of other bands,  although  we  did  an
    Iron Maiden cover of "Where Eagles Dare" [_Piece of  Mind_].  But
    this song was originally done for an  Iron  Maiden  tribute,  but
    never was used for this. It can now be heard on  the  Red  Stream
    compilation  CD  under  the  German  title  "Tiermutter",   which
    [translates] in English to mean "Animal Mother".  Basically  this
    song [was] more [of] a Bethlehem song than an  Iron  Maiden  one,
    because we don't like just copying  the  original  version.  This
    would bore us to death and still is another reason  why  we  hate
    doing covers of other metal, or whatever,  band.  No,  we  go  on
    copying ourselves because  this  means  pure  fun,  sickness  and
    horror. <laughs>

CoC: As far as you know, was there a cry from Bethlehem fans for more
     of a return, if you will,  to  Bethlehem's  pioneering  primeval
     material found on _Dark Metal_?

JB: No! Definitely not. T'day, folks more are interested in  the  new
    stuff, I guess, although _Dark Metal_ sold thousands of copies in
    Europe (and still sells).

CoC: Why did the band opt to place "Vargtimmen", in different  forms,
     in two distinctive ways on the MCD _Reflektionen auf's  Sterben_
     ("Reflections on Dying")?

JB: I dunno. Maybe this time we fell too much in love  with  our  own
    covers and wanted to have it [on the release] twice. One  version
    destined by keys and vox; the other by loud guitars.

CoC: What exactly is taking place with regard to  the  discussion  on
     the final track, six, on  _Reflektionen  auf's  Sterben_?  Whose
     music or what song can be heard in  the  background  toward  the
     beginning of the track?

JB: The "Tiermutter" [Iron Maiden] cover can be heard in the back  of
    this "soap opera". The "discussion" is  about  drugs.  Some  lame
    junky came [into] my flat and asked me and Reiner Tiedemann  (the
    band's roadie) for some hard stuff, though he knows  that  Reiner
    just deals with soft stuff. I got pissed about this  asshole  and
    tried to beat him up. I'm successful while Reiner tries  to  save
    my interior decorations. Reiner and me just wanted to record some
    guitar/bass stuff  before  [the  junky  came  in]  and  therefore
    everything on this [track] was recorded on an  8-track  recorder.
    We decided to put this on the record to show everybody how  crazy
    and dull livin' in our hometown can be when  every  damn  bastard
    comes [in] your house asking for some  stupid  drugs  and  stuff.
    It's the hood, man, and [even] today lotsa folks just come in  my
    house without ringing the  doorbell;  sometimes  cops,  sometimes
    [heroin] junkies. It sucks livin' here.

CoC: I personally found the instrumental track, "Angst  atmet  Mord",
     and "You Must Play With Yourself" (or "Du Sollst dich Toten") to
     positively be a couple of the  most  powerfully  crafted  pieces
     that I have ever heard from ANY band. "Angst atmet Mord"  has  a
     strain of skilfully laid soulful  black  metal  riffing  pumping
     through the course of the song, contrasted by  the  next  track,
     "You Must Play With Yourself", creating a torturous hopelessness
     within both music and lyrics of that song. How is  it  that  the
     band can be so completely diverse, yet hold everything  together
     from song to song?

JB: Thank you very much, bro. We feel honoured by your words. Thanks.
    Well, yeah, I dunno again. See, we can't control our songwriting,
    because it just comes out of us; from  our  heart  and  soul  and
    sometimes our balls as well. We never  practised  a  lot  for  an
    album, e.g., _SUiZiD_  and  _Reflektionen  auf's  Sterben_  [both
    were] composed in a [couple of] weeks. We used every  idea  which
    came [to] Klaus' and my mind and that basically was it. We always
    think people will hate that diverse trash which means nothing but
    fightin' boredom to us. We [take] long breaks during a year; just
    hanging around, killing the next hippie we see.  If  we  get  too
    bored killing hippies, we join the re-room  and  "write"  another
    stupid Bethlehem album, which basically is the whole story.

CoC: What is it like to be on the movie "Gummo" soundtrack with  some
     other very impressive groups like Absu, Bathory, and Burzum?

JB: This is nuthin' but K-I-L-L-E-R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CoC: How did Bethlehem  come  to  pick  "Schuld  uns'res  knocherigen
     Faltpferd" and "Verschleierte Irreligiositat" for "Gummo"?

JB: It depends on Spider from Brooklyn who once asked us  whether  we
    would be interested in doin' a song for the "Gummo" movie. We, of
    course, agreed, and therefore she built up the contact  with  New
    Line Productions. NLP sent us a contract and some good money  and
    we started to record a song called  "Schuld  uns'res  knoch'rigen
    Faltpferd's" (the song was written wrong on the  soundtrack  CD).
    Unfortunately this can't be translated into your  language.  This
    song was one of the two last songs we recorded  with  Landfermann
    in the Burnt Gus music studio. Klaus had the idea for  that  song
    and it was done in a day and a half. Personally, it's one of  the
    best Bethlehem songs ever,  because  it  has  ultra  sick  German
    lyrics and fantastically combines different styles and directions
    from fast black metal to soft commercial atmospheres.  [I]  guess
    NLP liked that song most, because it [can] be heard [at] the  end
    of the movie instead of just the few seconds  [during  the  movie
    that] every other band and [their] songs [get]. [NPL] also bought
    "Verschleierte Irreligiositat" from the _Dictius te Necare_ album
    and used some notes [from that song] for the movie, too.

CoC: Winding down, are there any plans to  tour  the  United  States?
     What does touring in general look  like  for  Bethlehem  in  the
     coming months?

JB: There are no plans to tour the States, because there's  no  money
    in goin' overseas. We're really poor, and this is the truth,  and
    no promotion... We haven't got money to buy new clothes,  CDs  or
    whatever. We just have some money to  fuckin'  exist!  Definitely
    -no chance- of goin' overseas! Definitely not!  Although  we,  of
    course, would all worship the idea [of] playing live in the  USA,
    one day. In the coming months there will be no touring in Germany
    because Klaus and me want  to  start  searching  [for]  new  band
    members for another full [length] album on Red Stream sometime in
    1999  or  2000.  As  I  said  before,  [I]  must  concentrate  on
    Deinonychus, as well as on another band that I am going  to  form
    with some dudes. This new band will have nothing to do with metal
    in general, but more with kind of commercial mixtures of  techno,
    club-house, drum and bass, trance and thrashy guitars,  bass  and
    extreme vox in the German language again.  Therefore...  no  time
    for playing live at the moment.

CoC: I want to congratulate you and Bethlehem for being a  powerfully
     superior band in an ever increasingly crowded genre.  Thank  you
     VERY much for your time  and  agreeing  to  do  this  interview.
     Please end with anything you would  like  to  relay  on  to  the
     Chronicles of Chaos readers.

JB: Thanks again, man, for your gigantic words and HAILS  to  all  US
    metalheads [Don't forget us Canadians! -- Gino]. Thank you  very,
    very much for your grateful support and help in the  last  years.
    YOU ALL RULE!!! We luv ya -- Gepriesen sei der Untergang.

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               O F   E P O C H   P R O P O R T I O N S
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
           CoC chats with Tino LoSicco of Epoch of Unlight
                           by: Aaron McKay

     If Gorgoroth's _Destroyer_ is hardcore black metal,  then  Epoch
of  Unlight's  _What  Will  Be   Has   Been_   is   searing   genuine
quintessential black metal. I looked forward for quite some time  for
the opportunity to exchange words via e-mail with  EoU's  (incredibly
intelligent) drummer,  Tino  LoSicco.  When  listening  to  Epoch  of
Unlight, I personally find their music to be  fantastically  strained
across a vast chasm by an unimaginably complicated dual vocal thrust,
as well as an intelligible instrument differentiation. I  asked  Tino
about these intriguing aspects of the band, in addition to some other
points that I hope you find interesting. So, plant your ass in a seat
and take a look below at what Mr. LoSicco had to say.

CoC:  I  understand  that  you  lost  your  second  guitarist,  Randy
     Robertson, recently. What happened and how, if in any way,  will
     this affect EoU?

Tino LoSicco: Let's see. We actually lost both Randy and our  bassist
              Pierce. After the recording of the full-length album in
              July, Pierce and Randy quit the band. Basically  Pierce
              quit because he got married recently and his wife had a
              kid. He couldn't handle both  the  responsibilities  of
              playing in band and raising  a  family.  His  departure
              came as no surprise to us because of waning interest he
              had  shown  in  previous  months.   His   brother   Joe
              (identical twin, actually) has  now  taken  his  place.
              Randy had actually informed us that he wanted to  leave
              the band earlier in the Summer, but that he would  stay
              until  a  replacement   had   been   found   for   him.
              (Unfortunately, the replacement that we found wound  up
              quitting due to lack  of  time  and  effort  as  well.)
              Randy's departure from the band  was  due  to  personal
              reasons in his life which were  affecting  his  playing
              and devotion to the music. So at this  point  the  band
              consists of Jason Smith (guitar and vocals), Joe  Totty
              (bass),  and  myself  (drums).  We  are  still   taking
              auditions for Randy's spot. It's just  a  slow  process
              due to the lack of musicians  available  in  the  area.
              (And of course absolutely  NO  one  wants  to  come  to
              Memphis.) Timing couldn't have been worse also, because
              we've had so many  shows  coming  to  town  that  we've
              gotten to open for. We've been stuck doing the shows as
              a three-piece with Jason now handling all of the vocals
              as well as guitars.

CoC: I have been curious about how  the  band  came  to  utilize  the
     two-pronged attack with regard to the vocals --  one  definitely
     black/death in style and the other almost -serpentine- in sound.
     Who is who and how did EoU come to  uncover  this  complementary
     dual-vocal assault?

TL: The lower vocals were performed by Jason and  the  higher  vocals
    were done by Randy. It was  something  that  developed  from  the
    lyrics I was writing and the need to inject different  points  of
    view  and  personalities  into  the  body  of  the  stories.   It
    contributed more to the live shows as well.

CoC: What I absolutely -love- about EoU is the fact that every member
     in the group's instrument can  -clearly-  be  heard.  As  is  so
     pervasive in the black/dark/death metal arena, members and their
     playing ability tend to get lost in the havoc of the music  that
     defines the band. This is -not- so with EoU. How do  you  manage
     that?

TL: Thanks. Clarity and precision are actually two of the  things  we
    stress in our rehearsals. It just doesn't make sense to  put  the
    effort into creating a piece of music  and  then  having  it  not
    appreciated because of poor or sloppy musicianship. In the studio
    we take our time to bring each part out. (That's why [there] were
    only three songs on one of the older MCDs... studio expenses.)  I
    totally agree with you that many  of  the  bands  in  this  scene
    suffer from indiscernible productions and lack of  clarity.  It's
    unfortunate, because I would probably enjoy listening to more  of
    them otherwise.

CoC: Does the band emphasize one aspect, music or  vocals,  over  the
     other, or is it more of a unified front effort on  the  part  of
     all the members?

TL: The music always comes first. I  don't  believe  in  writing  the
    lyrics until the song is complete. The  lyrics  seem  to  have  a
    better flow rather than fitting a bunch of text to  music.  I  do
    try to outline the stories first... but  it  is  a  -very-  rough
    outline and still depends on the song structure.

CoC: Regarding _Black & Crimson Glory_, how  in  the  world  did  you
     record, mix -and- master the MCD in four days? Simply necessity?
     Monetary?

TL: Both. Necessity in that it was during the school semester for me.
    Monetary because we recorded at one the best studios in the city.
    We were tired of the poor production we had gotten  in  the  past
    and all the wasted effort on our part for  trying  to  bring  our
    individual instruments out. Previously used studios  just  didn't
    have all the equipment that we needed access to.  And,  actually,
    the CD was done in three days... the engineer needed  a  day  off
    before mixing to give his ears a rest.

CoC: _What Will Be Has Been_ is, in some small regard, a  kind  of  a
     compilation of EoU's earlier material with particular regard  to
     the last track from _Within the Night_, as well as all the songs
     from _Black & Crimson Glory_ with some new songs, right?

TL: It wasn't meant so much as  a  compilation.  It  was  just  as  I
    mentioned before we felt  the  early  releases  were  lacking  in
    production and that more appreciation for those 4 songs could  be
    gotten if we re-recorded them. We still  close  every  show  with
    Immortal Crucify (and its the oldest song we play live).  Another
    factor in re-recording those songs was that we only released  500
    copies of each MCD. We thought that this would give  more  people
    access to the early material that might not have heard it before.

CoC: Is the song "Crimson Might (and Glory)" on  _What  Will  Be  has
     Been_ a kind of continuation of an  idea  started  on  _Black  &
     Crimson Glory_?

TL: Both tie into the Brian  Lumley  Mythos  of  whom  I  draw  great
    inspiration from. (In case you  are  unfamiliar  with  his  work,
    Brian  Lumley  is  an  English   horror/science   fiction/fantasy
    author).  _Black  &  Crimson  Glory_  represented   more   of   a
    personification of one of the characters in the lyrics.  "Crimson
    Might (and Glory)" describes an event in the  life  of  the  same
    protagonist.

CoC: How did the early forms of EoU,  like  Enraptured  and  Requiem,
     affect how the band is and  how  it  sounds  today?  I  think  I
     remember reading that there was a major change in writing  style
     from Requiem to EoU. True?

TL: Enraptured was more of a traditional US death/grind band. It  was
    a  starting  point  for  us.  Both  the  writing  and  our  early
    musicianship were still -very- much in their  infancies.  Requiem
    was more of an attempt to improve  ourselves  in  both  of  these
    areas. With the small line-up  change,  ideas  became  easier  to
    share and we pushed ourselves a little more to stand out. Requiem
    is essentially what EoU sprang from. The name change was  due  to
    the existence of about 20 other Requiems at the time.  The  major
    change you mention was probably the change in vocal stylings, not
    to mention the introduction of a slightly more "melodic" sound.

CoC: Where did the band come up with its current name?

TL: Jason and I came  up  with  it  one  night  after  receiving  the
    hundredth flier for another band named Requiem. The name  of  the
    band was  derived  from  the  individual  meaning  of  the  words
    involved. Epoch literally is taken as "the beginning of a new and
    important period in the history of anything".  Unlight  describes
    the darkness or blackness that has always existed around man  and
    his  kind.  When  combined,  the  two  convey  the  ideology   or
    motivations behind the band's existence.

CoC: It has been my experience that The End Records is  arguably  one
     of the best labels out there currently. A  good  case  could  be
     made that you are the label's "strongest" band. What is it like,
     being on The End?

TL: Andreas and Sergey have been very good to us. Andreas seems to be
    working hard on promoting the  label.  We've  even  had  some  of
    Florida's elite death metal bands come through here and even they
    have mentioned The End Records. Andreas was very receptive to our
    input as to album artwork and even contracted out the  incredible
    work on the cover. Also, both are very easy to talk to. It's more
    like discussing music than business with them.

CoC: Okay  --  "Silver  Mistress"  is  phenomenal,  as  is  "Immortal
     Crucify" and "Conflagration of Hate", but what I am  overwhelmed
     by is "Ad Infinitum". The song is so impossibly complex. I  have
     yet to see a group do what EoU has done with incorporating works
     from Shakespeare, Anne Rice, and John Milton in their  music  --
     like on this song. What does "Ad Infinitum" mean to you?

TL: "Ad Infinitum" quite literally is Latin for "infinity" and  again
    is an analogy for one of the recurring motifs in  the  lyrics  as
    well as a tie in to the band name and belief itself. The song  is
    a result of trying to spend too much  time  writing  one  song...
    taking a break from that song... and suddenly having a completely
    different idea for a new song.  I  believe  "Ad  Infinitum"  came
    together faster than any of the other songs on the album.

CoC: Let's talk for a minute about the album cover of _What  Will  Be
     Has Been_. I understand that it was done by an illustrator  from
     Dreamworks SKG.

TL: Yes. I believe his name is Jose' Luis de  Juan.  It  was  a  cool
    arrangement. I sent him my ideas for the  artwork  and  he  would
    send sketches back to us before finally painting the full  scene.
    I like the way the packaging allows for the entire picture to  be
    seen without distorting it.

CoC: On the album, I noticed that the track listing on  the  back  of
     the release is not exactly the order that the songs are in.  Was
     this a last minute change of mind as to song order?

TL: No. This is a layout error on the part of the label. The list  on
    the back of the CD was sent to them months before we recorded  as
    just a list of the songs we were planning to  record.  The  order
    that the lyrics are in is actually the correct order.

CoC: What groups do you find yourself listening to these days and who
     would you choose to hit the road with if the decision  was  left
     solely to you?

TL: Well, being the huge Gene Hoglan fan that I am, I listen  to  any
    project he touches. I've already worn out  my  copy  of  the  new
    Death album as well as Bal-Sagoth's _Battle Magic_ and  the  Iron
    Maiden remasters. I'm a big thrash guy, too. I'm much more likely
    to pop in  Overkill's  _Under  the  Influence_  or  Dark  Angel's
    _Darkness Descends_ before listening to any  death  metal.  There
    are way too many other bands to list, but I'm  always  trying  to
    get ahold of something new -- anything where the band is  pushing
    themselves to create something new or create memorable music.  In
    that respect, I guess you could say I'm a fan of  the  Gothenburg
    sound just for its mastery of melody. I think as far  as  touring
    goes, we would be open [to] touring with almost any band  playing
    -heavy-, aggressive music.

CoC: The band is tentatively scheduled, as it was previously, for the
     Milwaukee Metalfest this year, correct?

TL: Yes. We are set to play the Rave stage some time after  seven  in
    the evening. It should be a step up from the 5:30  time  slot  we
    had in the past. The Fest is to be the last stop on  a  two  week
    tour we are planning for the Summer with Mental Home.

CoC: Thank you -immensely- for this interview.  Please  allow  me  to
     thank you from some associated  with  Chronicles  of  Chaos,  as
     well, for EoU's music. A FANTASTIC effort!  You  have  the  last
     word...

TL: Thanks for the support of the band. Currently we are writing  new
    material for the next album, which will probably be released some
    time early next year. As I mentioned previously, EoU  is  playing
    Milwaukee and will play the Michigan  fest  if  it  happens  this
    year. For any more info on the band I can be reached by email at:
    tlosicco@cc.memphis.edu   or   through   our   web    site    at:
    www.people.memphis.edu/~tlosicco/EOU.htm YFLHD!

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           C E L E B R A T I N G   M E T A L ' S   P A S T
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                       CoC interviews Witchery
                          by Adrian Bromley

     Accept, W.A.S.P., Judas Priest and  the  mighty  Black  Sabbath.
Fuck yeah! Classic pioneering metal bands for us all to digest.  It's
only right for us to pay homage to these bands. Witchery  does.  Just
what am I talking about, you say? Well, let's just say  Witchery  has
done it again.
     Hot on the heels of their  successful  debut  disc  _Restless  &
Dead_,  the  black  metal  charged,   thrash/speed   metal   enhanced
supergroup disc out some of metal's finest classic with a rip roarin'
finesse that only Witchery could call  their  own.  The  MCD  calling
itself _Witchburner_, showcases such covers as Accept's  "Fast  as  a
Shark", W.A.S.P.'s "I Wanna Be Somebody", Judas Priest's  "Riding  on
the Wind" and Black Sabbath's "Neon Knights" --  plus  three  all-new
compositions.
     Guitarist Jensen fills Chronicles of Chaos in on goods about the
MCD and upcoming Witchery material. "We have been  listening  to  the
new material that we have just finished up today and it's quite good.
The MCD was a lot thrashier than the first record and the new record,
titled _Dead, Hot & Ready_, is very heavy metal oriented. It's faster
than _Restless & Dead_ and that just goes  to  show  that  we  aren't
slowing down either. We've picked up the pace."
     Continues Jensen, "This year we want to put out four albums  and
we are going to achieve that. We have stuff ready to go. I think it's
great to be able to do this and have the drive  to  put  out  a  good
amount of material within a year. For me, personally. I hate it  when
it takes bands two or three years to have a follow-up record. I mean,
fuck that! If you like to play, write a song. Get the fuck away  from
the Nintendo and write  something.  Basically,  if  you  have  ideas,
record them and put them out. We do."
     So how did Witchery go about choosing these specific  songs  for
the release? There must have been  hundreds  of  classic  songs  that
could have been covered. Right, Jensen? "We  always  had  focused  on
these songs, seeing that we had practised them a  lot  in  rehearsals
and there was another one that didn't make the cut. It  was  "Screams
From the Grave" by Avator. We felt it didn't go along with  the  rest
of the choices, and plus we wanted to have a very  '80s  heavy  metal
vibe going."
     "We sat down as a group and  discussed  what  was  going  to  be
covered", explains Jensen. ""Fast as a Shark" was going in no  matter
what. There was no discussion over that one. We all totally agreed it
needed to be covered. It's such a fucking great song.  There  was  no
real fighting or heated  discussions  over  what  songs  were  to  be
covered, though concerning the Black Sabbath cover  there  were  some
ideas going around. I chose the Black Sabbath song  and  while  there
was no arguing, I had to really present my  case  on  why  we  should
cover it. It had to be covered. "Neon Knights" has Ronnie  James  Dio
singing on it. He has the best voice in metal."
     "It turned out cool that we did the song", says Jensen. "I mean,
everyone who covers a Black Sabbath song always covers  a  song  that
Ozzy Osbourne sings on. I got into Black Sabbath with the _Live Evil_
album and the first track is "Neon Knights". It only seemed right  to
cover that song."
     How does Jensen feel about bands covering  songs?  "I  think  it
shows great respect when bands cover other bands, but  what  I  don't
like is when they cover songs just to get a boost out of covering it.
That is something I don't like. We covered  these  songs  because  we
felt that these songs were being overlooked by the  metal  collective
of today. Everyone was more into Dimmu Borgir and these  fans  hadn't
heard the _Restless and Wild_ or _Screaming  for  Vengeance_  albums.
These are great albums to  discover  and  people  need  to  know  the
history of metal. That is why we did this. It wasn't to get a  bigger
career move from covering  these  classics.  We  fuckin'  love  these
songs. They still kick ass."
     Will there be another MCD of covers? "Never say never. Maybe not
four covers again, but maybe one or two here and there. Who knows? By
covering these four songs as close to the  original  as  possible,  I
think next time out we might change things around.  For  example,  we
might do "So Tired" by Ozzy Osbourne and add like a double-bass  drum
or something like that. Just soup up the songs so they can be a full,
hard-on Witchery song. We want to just rock  out  and  play  them  as
Witchery should."

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         I T   A I N ' T   A L L   A B O U T   F I S H I N '
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                  CoC Interrogates Canada's Dichotic
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     Finally,  after  sometime  of  regrouping  and  pulling   myself
together after a severe kicking from Halifax, Nova Scotia's  Dichotic
and their disc _Collapse Into Despair_ [CoC #37], I managed  to  snag
an e-mail interview with two of its members: singer Raland Kinley and
drummer Neil Grandy.
     Words cannot describe the vengeful  anger  and  adrenaline  that
sparks life into the powerful hybrid of death/grind  metal  found  on
_Collapse Into Despair_. To tear a quote from my review in CoC #37, I
stated: "[...] Slamming down a driving  force  equal  to  that  of  a
tornado, Dichotic lash out at the listener with  fierce  death  metal
anguish, rallying behind killer riffing and a vocal style that  could
peel paint off a wall." A word of advice to all metal fans out  there
craving good, solid metal. Look no further, Dichotic is  here.  These
guys deserve to be in the pages of CoC. They rule.
     So, sit back and read what the guys from one  of  Canada's  best
unsigned bands had to say about new material, metal music of the '90s
and the scene out East. Enjoy.

CoC: For a young, relatively unknown band, how hard is it to get your
     material out there to the public? How do you get noticed?

Neil Grandy: Well, the band [the quintet is rounded out by guitarists
             Jeff  Calder  and  Richard   Guy   and   bassist   Scott
             Armstrong], as it is now, has been around for about  two
             years. We really  started  about  eight  years  ago.  We
             didn't do much the first six years, except  piss  people
             off (bad shows, some bad songs). Over  time  we  changed
             the name and the members and started to write better
             songs.

Raland Kinley: It's difficult to get people to notice our music.  The
               Internet is a great vehicle for distribution, but what
               we'd really like is some exposure in one of the larger
               print zines, like Metal Maniacs or Terrorizer, and the
               opportunity to play some bigger shows. We've sent  out
               a lot of promos to zines big and  small,  printed  and
               online.  So  far,  the   reaction   has   been   good.
               Unfortunately, we live in Halifax, and the scene  here
               is small and immature. So we pretty much get the  same
               people coming to see us at  every  show.  Death  metal
               just isn't that big here. Basically, we connect to the
               underground  scene  through  the  Internet.  It  costs
               almost nothing to set up and maintain a  website,  and
               anyone from anywhere in the world can hear our stuff.

CoC: Major influences? How do you incorporate them into  your  music?
     New material on the horizon?

RK: Vocally, I am influenced by Frank Mullen, Lord  Worm  and  Barney
    Greenway. I think I can sound a bit like all of these guys at one
    time or another. Musically, I listen to death metal,  traditional
    metal, prog-metal, prog-rock, ambient stuff and  some  electronic
    stuff. I really only reference the death metal vocalists  for  my
    vocals. Lord Worm inspired me to try  creating  different  sounds
    with my voice. He was truly the master of extreme vocals.

NG: Influences... well, I hate to say it now,  but  Lars.  I  started
    playing because of _...  And  Justice  For  All_.  Then  I  heard
    Suffocation and Morbid Angel  and  drumming  as  I  knew  it  was
    changed. It really wasn't until  I  heard  _Human_  in  '91  that
    everything really changed; I wanted to start playing like that. A
    few years ago I heard Cryptopsy and that kind of changed the  way
    I try to play, again. I still try to play  the  fast  stuff,  but
    keep in mind the riff and think: "there doesn't have to be  grind
    behind every riff." Terry Bozzio is by far  my  favorite  drummer
    and I try use some of his fills in our songs, but what I get from
    his videos and solos doesn't quite work in our stuff. But there's
    no harm in trying.

RK: New material is in the works  for  our  next  CD  called  _Lowest
    Common Denominator_. The newer material  could  be  described  as
    stupidly hectic death/grind.

NG: The new music is a lot faster than our last CD. The songs contain
    more riffs, but are generally  shorter  than  on  _Collapse  Into
    Despair_. We're just writing riffs and songs.  We  don't  try  to
    write a fast song, so whatever you hear is just what we felt like
    doing. Who knows what the next one will sound like.

CoC: Is it hard being a Canadian metal act? Some acts say  it  is  --
     are you experiencing that?

RK: I don't think the "being Canadian" thing  hinders  us  too  much.
    It's -where- you live in Canada that can hurt. Living in  Halifax
    makes it difficult to  play  a  show  in  the  larger  cities  --
    Montreal, for example.

CoC: Metal music seems to be coming back to a degree. Are  you  happy
     with the bands playing metal nowadays? If not, what changes  are
     needed to make things fresh in today's scene?

RK: Metal does seem to be coming back a bit these days, but  I  can't
    say that there are a lot of new bands I'm listening to. A lot  of
    the veteran bands have become better. For instance, Cryptopsy  is
    really pushing metal to its most extreme limits. Emperor is doing
    some cool stuff too, and Meshuggah is amazing. However, there are
    too many horrible Korn/Pantera wannabe bands out there right now.
    I find the Korn/Pantera styles of music to be extremely boring to
    begin with, so all of their imitators are even more  intolerable.
    Today, metal needs more bands doing something original.

NG: Just don't bounce when you play. I hate that.

CoC: What other local metal acts are worthy of note in your  neck  of
     the woods?

RK:  There  are  only  four  others,  so  I'll  mention   them   all:
    Cephalectomy, Wohedness, Burning Moon and Terratomb. There's  the
    entire Halifax metal scene.

CoC: In terms of playing material and recording, what is the  writing
     process like for Dichotic?

RK: I write most of the lyrics and figure out my vocal parts. As  for
    the music, one of the other guys usually has a pretty  good  idea
    of how a song's going to go before it's "auditioned" for the rest
    of the band. Everyone starts throwing things in,  and  eventually
    it's a "song".

NG: Writing songs is basically us sitting around listening  to  riffs
    and then deciding which one of them will go next. It is very rare
    for someone to come in and say they have a whole song  done.  But
    it does happen. Scott [bass] is usually  the  one  with  complete
    songs. We'll listen to it and then learn it.

CoC: Do you think most younger bands get neglected unless they have a
     particular sound or schtick?

RK: This can happen easily and I'm sure it does, but even if a  young
    band is not playing stuff that is  100%  original,  if  they  can
    execute their material with a lot of poise  and  authority,  they
    will get noticed by fans of metal. Being 100% original  in  metal
    probably isn't possible. Otherwise, your band  probably  wouldn't
    be identifiable as metal. Getting noticed depends a  lot  on  who
    you know and  where  you  live.  Having  talent  can  help,  too.
    Gimmicks only go so far, it's really about music.

CoC: Is this a full-time gig for you, or do you still concentrate  on
     job and/or school? Are you pursuing this to become a full-time
     job?

RK: Dichotic is not a full-time thing at all. We all go to school  or
    have day jobs. We get paid nothing for shows around here, and  we
    certainly  don't  recover  the  investment  we   put   into   our
    recordings, so  it's  necessary  that  we  do  other  things.  If
    Dichotic could be a full-time job, I would do  it,  but  I  think
    that the chance of this happening is remote. On the  other  hand,
    keeping it as an expensive "hobby" keeps it pure, in a way. We're
    doing this because of the music, not for any financial reason. If
    money ever became an influence on the music, well, that'd be  the
    end of it.

CoC: Any label interest yet?

RK: Not really. We're hoping our next CD and  playing  a  few  larger
    shows in Quebec might create some more label interest,  but  it's
    not  something  we're  really  concerned  with.   Relapse   liked
    _Collapse Into Despair_ enough to list the CD in their mail order
    catalog, but nobody is knocking down our door to sign us. They're
    too afraid. <laughs>

CoC: What do you get out of the music of Dichotic? Feelings? Emotions?

RK: For me, playing in Dichotic is a once in a lifetime  opportunity.
    I just love playing live and being  able  to  go  insane  for  40
    minutes onstage and have people appreciate it. It's a  rush.  Few
    people ever get to produce a CD to call their own or perform  for
    an audience. At the end of  the  day,  I'll  be  able  to  say  I
    accomplished both of these things and I had a lot of fun doing it.

NG: I don't really get anything  from  playing  Dichotic's  music.  I
    mean, I started out playing one way and this is where it went.  I
    didn't try to play like this, so doing "this" is part  of  how  I
    play. As far as feelings and emotions go, I mainly get pissed off
    when I play bad. But the music doesn't make me feel a certain way.

CoC: For how long will you do this until you give up? Will  you  ever
     stop playing/singing music?

RK: Dichotic will continue as  long  as  we  all  live  close  enough
    together that we can rehearse and write new music.  If  our  more
    sane careers carry any one of us elsewhere, Dichotic will come to
    an end. Unfortunately, there aren't  enough  other  musicians  in
    Halifax with either  the  talent,  interest  or  stubbornness  to
    replace a member of Dichotic, should one of us leave. There is no
    timeline for when something like this might  happen,  but  it  is
    inevitable. I don't know of any other bands in Halifax looking to
    play in this genre in the future, so for me, Dichotic is probably
    going to be my only gig.

NG: I think I'll always be playing drums, but who knows what style.

CoC: Any last words, gripes, etc...?

RK: If you are interested in Dichotic, check out our official website
    or the Discorporate Music website. Thanks to Adrian and  CoC  for
    the interview.

Contact: Dichotic, 2476 Robie Street, #8 Halifax, NS B3K 4N1, Canada
         Phone: (902) 423-6828
         mailto:dichotic@hotmail.com
         WWW: http://is2.dal.ca/~rfguy/dichotic
         WWW: http://home.istar.ca/~discm

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           I N F E S T I N G   F O R   T H E   F U T U R E
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
           CoC talks to David Hirshheimer from Infestation
                           by: Paul Schwarz

     Since the bones of Carcass (one of the best  death  metal  bands
ever to exist) were ground into dust three years ago, there  has  not
been a band who have made me feel that the UK  still  has  a  serious
player in the death metal arena -- that was, until a few months  ago.
Infestation are the best death metal band from the UK  I  have  heard
who are currently  in  existence.  The  band's  _Curse  of  Creation_
demo/EP [CoC #36] impressed me greatly and I was prompted to seek out
this interview with drummer David Hirshheimer. Here are the spoils of
our little conversation about where Infestation have spent their past
and where their future may lie, along with plenty  about  the  band's
invigorating present...

CoC: Could you give a brief history of the band and tell us  how  you
     got together originally?

David Hirshheimer: I used to play in a band called Hangnail, who  are
                   now semi-famous. That was about three  years  ago.
                   Jamie [Evans, guitar] was a really good friend  of
                   mine, he used  to  play  in  a  band  called  Mind
                   Disorder, and our two bands used to play together.
                   So eventually we thought, "Well, we both like  the
                   same style of music -- death metal  --,  so  let's
                   just form a band". So we left our bands and formed
                   a band which was to become Infestation. We came up
                   with a  few  good  songs,  thought  we  needed  to
                   expand.  We  started  advertising,  which   didn't
                   really work,  and  [then]  we  met  up  with  Dave
                   [Samuel,  vocals]  and  Joe  [Giuseppe  Cutispoto,
                   guitar], who were  in  a  band  called  Domination
                   together, [at] a Cannibal Corpse gig in  1996.  So
                   we met up, they came 'round to my house  to  watch
                   me and Jamie play what we had  got  together,  and
                   they liked  it,  and  that's  it,  basically.  And
                   fifteen songs later or whatever we're going quite
                   strongly.

CoC: Before _Curse of Creation_, had you done any other demos?

DH: No. So we were really lucky we got the lucky break with  the  EP.
    The engineer we knew just said: "I work in  the  studio  and  the
    guy's gone away, come along and we shall see  what  we  can  do."
    Amazingly enough we done it in... well, it was a day, but it  was
    actually six hours we had to do it in.

CoC: That's pretty spontaneous.

DH: It was very rushed and if I'd had more time I would have spent  a
    long time recording, but because we were on a time limit, I  just
    had to say "all right, that's good enough".

CoC: So you were relatively pleased with it. How well do you think it
     represents the band's sound?

DH: Well, I have to admit I don't know what our live sound  is  like,
    but from what I'm told, because we've got triggers on the kit and
    the guitars are so distorted, the overall sound out of the  front
    of any PA is meant to be a crystal clear, perfect sound.  I  find
    it hard to believe because I can't hear [it]. But people are just
    saying: "You don't need the bass player, because you've  got  the
    low-end of the kick-drums and  you've  got  the  low-end  of  the
    distortion and it  just  comes  out  in  a  perfect  spectrum  of
    frequency." So we just don't feel we need it. When we formed  the
    band, I was like, "We've got to have a full  set-up  here,  we've
    got to have the bass and everything in it", and when  we  started
    playing together it was very much like, "I'm not sure about this,
    I don't really want a bass player now". The amount of people  who
    come up and say "You must have a  bass  player",  but  why?  Then
    there were people saying "You don't need one", so everyone's  got
    mixed feelings.

CoC: So [getting a bass player] is certainly not a primary concern.

DH: I don't think it is, but there's obviously people in the industry
    who'd like to see us with one. I think also [though], it is a way
    of making the band look slightly different, unique in a way,  you
    know, each band's got their own sort of way of doing things: some
    use make-up, some use extreme styles of music, we just don't  use
    a bass player. And, for us, we feel  it  works.  If  some  people
    don't agree, fine, you know.

CoC: I think it varies from band to band.

DH: Yeah, sure, you can listen to certain styles of  music  --  death
    metal is one of them styles where if you stick too  much  low-end
    in you might take away some of the clarity of what's supposed  to
    be going on.  Like  the  definition  of  the  drums  between  the
    guitars, because the drums and guitars are  very  close  in  this
    music, they play a very important  part  together.  In  classical
    metal, as I call it, you need a lot  of  difference  between  the
    drums and the melodic parts of the guitar  where  the  bass  will
    step in and help out.

CoC: I'd say it also varies from death  metal  band  to  death  metal
     band: it is probably more important to Cynic or Sadus than it is
     to Deicide.

DH: Yeah, I mean with Deicide, to be honest, we went to see  them  on
    Sunday [see CoC #38 for review] and you don't notice he's  really
    playing. He's  just  playing  what  the  guitar's  playing.  With
    Cannibal Corpse, I'd admit it's a different  matter,  that  bloke
    knows how to play and he plays along with the music, not  to  the
    music, you know.

CoC: Alex Webster is a pretty impressive bass player.

DH: He is a very good bass player, but he's not  just  impressive  in
    that he can play the bass, but that he actually contributes a lot
    to the music, he doesn't just follow what the guitars are  doing,
    the guitars are off on another  planet  and  he's  sticking  very
    close with what the drums are doing and the  vocal  patterns  and
    stuff.

CoC: What are the plans for recording any kind  of  full-length,  and
     what is the situation with material apart from _CoC_?

DH: Well the situation with material is -- I think we have  about  15
    to 18 songs, but we wouldn't obviously  use  all  of  them  in  a
    recording situation, we might use 10 to 12. We keep the  quality:
    the fast ones, the slow ones,  the  ones  that  have  really  got
    feeling and emotion put into  them.  Basically,  if  we  can  all
    afford to, we might just go whack out another  recording,  but  I
    don't know if I can see the point in that. I'd  rather  wait  and
    get the final responses out of what we've just created with  this
    EP, because it seems to  be  doing  well,  we've  picked  up  the
    interview in Terrorizer, we've got on radio with it, we've got in
    the Garage [London venue -- Paul] with it... it has brought a lot
    of things, this EP. It has done a lot  of  business  for  us,  so
    maybe [that] will spark up high interests of business.

CoC: So at the moment you are hoping or looking to find  a  label  to
     release a full length or to re-release the EP?

DH: Well, it would be nice to have a label to let us  know  and  say,
    "We'd like to record with you". That would be nice, that would be
    the dream future of this band.

CoC: Which label would you have in mind if you  were  thinking  of  a
     label [to sign to]?

DH: It's a difficult thing to say in this country, I'm not  amazingly
    cued up about how the industry works, especially over here. I can
    see that certain labels pick certain styles of music, and  so  on
    and so forth. Here I can see that Music for Nations  would  be  a
    good one because I know they're a  big  label  in  this  country.
    Century Media pick a few things out  of  this  country.  I  don't
    know, the ideal  one  would  maybe  probably  be  something  like
    Roadrunner or something, something that has got  a  lot  of  good
    death metal on, and we just have to pray for something like that,
    I suppose.

CoC: What has inspired you or influenced you to  play  this  kind  of
     music?

DH: Well, in the beginning we were very much into  Deicide,  Cannibal
    Corpse,  Morbid  Angel,  and  Malevolent   Creation   especially.
    Listening to their _Retribution_ album,  we  were  like  "Fuckin'
    'ell, this is really good, we'd like to  be  able  to  play  like
    this" [I laugh -- Paul]. We were tryin' to nick ideas  and  steal
    parts from there and make it into our own. But that was then, and
    yeah, it reflects a bit on our music now, but when we play,  when
    we rehearse and  when  we  create  new  material  now,  it  is  a
    completely different thing. Someone comes out  with  a  riff  and
    it's like, "This fits our style". It's not like, "OK, that sounds
    like a Deicide riff, oh that sounds like Slayer".  No,  it's  not
    like that, it's like, "That sounds like what we're doing".

CoC: OK. Deicide concentrate a lot on  the  power  and  brutality  of
     death metal, whereas Cynic, and  bits  of  Cryptopsy  and  other
     bands, concentrate more on technicality  and  virtuosity.  Which
     aspect of death metal [from the above] do you think  Infestation
     embody more?

DH: Where do we fit into that? Yeah,  you're  right  in  saying  that
    Cryptopsy and the bands like Death and  Cynic;  they  -are-  very
    technical and they know  how  to  do  that  sort  of  stuff.  And
    Deicide, they've got slight technical parts in their  music,  but
    their music is like a constant, flowing music, there's not a  lot
    of breaking up, there's not a lot of time changes; I mean,  there
    probably is, but you really have to sort of listen and  pick  'em
    out.

CoC: Mostly on _Legion_.

DH: Yeah, _Legion_ was a very technical album,  I  mean,  for  me  to
    listen to that and think about drums it's like  "My  God,  what's
    the boy on!" [I laugh, he chuckles -- Paul]. Yeah,  but  relating
    that to what we're doing, we listen to a wide range of the  death
    metal [genre]. We like the Deicide sort of  stuff,  we  like  the
    Cryptopsy  stuff  because  the  Cryptopsy,   even   though   it's
    technical, it's got some real nice feelings  in  it,  very  nice,
    like, "Wow, the emotion that's coming out of that... fuck!"

CoC: Agreed.

DH: And we tried to pinch a bit of everything. We tried  to  pinch  a
    bit of technical, even though we're not masters at it, and we try
    and pinch a bit of the Deicide... the running feel that they have
    and try and just mix it up and see how it works.

CoC: So could you see the band, in a couple of  years,  using  guitar
     synths and going for creating more atmosphere?

DH: I don't know about that. Atmosphere is a very tricky situation in
    the death metal business without using a keyboard and  no-one  in
    the band is a real big fan of keyboards.

CoC: So no Nocturnus wannabes then. [I laugh]

DH: No, can't really say that. We're just more like  drums,  guitars,
    vocals and... well bass you know about. <laughs> So, we just  try
    and create the best atmosphere we can with the tools we're using.

CoC: And it works very well.

DH: Yeah, it's coming along, you know. We got some really cool  ideas
    about how to structure songs and stuff, sort of muck it about and
    see what fits; there's no real planning in our  music  it's  just
    what comes from our heart and what comes from our head  and  what
    relates through to our hands and feet or whatever we're using  to
    play the instruments.

CoC: What's your position or plans as far as touring goes?

DH: Touring is a very tricky sort of thing [where] we're concerned. I
    mean, everyone would love to do it, but you have to be  dedicated
    to the band 100% and everyone has to try and earn a living,  keep
    a job, keep a house and pay rent. So, for all four of us to  just
    say "Right, okay, we've got a tour to do, just  drop  everything,
    jump in a van" -- I mean no-one's  got  enough  money  to  do  it
    anyway, but if we could we would.

CoC: What do you think of England's attitude to metal?

DH: Poor. I mean, I  don't  know  many  other  countries,  I  haven't
    actually been to a lot of  countries  and  seen  what  the  metal
    situation is like, but I just know,  from  magazines  and  people
    telling me, that it's a lot better than here. And you know,  I've
    seen it when Slayer have been totally mobbed, I've  been  to  the
    Astoria to see Obituary and it's good to see that, and you  don't
    see it now, that's the sad thing about it. We were all hoping  to
    see Deicide at -the- Astoria, [the Astoria  in  London  is  split
    between the LA2, downstairs, about 500,  and  the  LA,  upstairs,
    about 1500 -- Paul], but we were really shocked to  see  that  it
    was the LA2; we wanted to see them play a big venue for once.

CoC: The UK sometimes seems to be bad at supporting scenes which  are
     growing, but it really varies. With death  metal  in  the  early
     '90s and late '80s, this country produced a lot  of  good  death
     metal and grindcore bands  [and  John  Peel,  Radio  1  DJ,  did
     sessions with such bands as Napalm Death, Carcass, Extreme Noise
     Terror and Bolt Thrower], but now it has kind of dried up. Apart
     from yourselves and a few others there aren't that many UK bands
     still doing this sort of music.

DH: That's the thing, we're always on the lookout to see  what  other
    bands there are out there, in this country, playing this  similar
    style of music and,  to  be  totally  honest  with  you,  in  the
    underground scene I have only seen  about,  maybe,  four  at  the
    most, but that's only in London. I can't speak for  the  rest  of
    the country because I haven't had a chance to get 'round  to  see
    it. On the big scale, the bands who are signed,  I  can  probably
    name them on one hand. But that's the sadness of it, and it is  a
    pity.

CoC: Do you have a final message for the readers?

DH: Basically, just keep your ears  open,  keep  it  heavy,  keep  it
    nasty, keep it brutal, forget all that fuckin' popular  shit  and
    just... enjoy. It's about enjoyment, that's what I think.

[Since conducting this interview, David has left Infestation to  join
Cradle of Filth as their new  permanent  drummer;  I  can't  say  I'm
surprised he accepted such an offer, but for me, personally, I  would
rather he had stayed with Infestation. I hope that the band choose to
continue without him and that finding a replacement does not  in  any
way cripple the progression of their career from here onwards. I wish
them all the best and hope David is happy with his move. -- Paul]

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    T H E   S W E D I S H   I N V A S I O N   C O N T I N U E S
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              CoC interviews Chrille Ludvigsson of Odeum
                           by: Pedro Azevedo

     Odeum are one of Sweden's many new bands that  emerge  seemingly
every  day  to  continue  this  Swedish  metal  invasion  that   has,
fortunately for the listeners, been going on for the past few  years.
After releasing their _Factor of Tantrum_ demo [CoC #30], Odium  have
changed their name to Odeum, released two more tracks under the title
_The Pleiadean Diaries_ [reviewed in this  issue]  and  prepare  more
songs for a very  likely  full-length  release  apparently  bound  to
happen in the future. Read about them now; you may  well  hear  about
them in the future, if the band keeps progressing like they have been
so far.

CoC: Since you're still a young  and  unknown  band,  how  would  you
     describe your style to our readers?

Chrille Ludvigsson: Well, I know it is a cliche, but  the  Gothenburg
                    scene has inspired us quite  a  bit;  I  guess  I
                    don't  have  to  mention  any  bands...  We  have
                    actually just recorded two new songs and they are
                    a little more eclectic in  the  sense  that  both
                    myself and our new guitarist have contributed  to
                    the songwriting. Our lead guitarist Henrik  wrote
                    all the earlier material.

CoC: Sweden has produced many talented death metal bands in the  past
     few years. How do you fit in  such  a  competitive  environment?
     Does that worry you?

CL: Absolutely not! I mean, we are not  playing  music  in  order  to
    compete against other bands. In fact, bands here in  Sweden  tend
    to be very supportive to each other and we have made good friends
    in some bands. As you said, the environment is  competitive,  but
    the bands themselves neither think nor worry about it. Not in  my
    opinion, anyway.

CoC: Which bands would you name as being  most  influential  to  your
     music, and which ones are your favorites?

CL: Well... In Flames, Dark Tranquillity and At the Gates  have  been
    great influences, but personally I am a bit tired of  the  overly
    "happy" melodies that a few of these bands use; the riffs I write
    tend to be a bit more melancholic and grim. I  listen  a  lot  to
    Dimmu Borgir, Diabolical Masquerade, Opeth,  Borknagar,  Embraced
    and other bands in that style. So I guess our music is a blend of
    these different styles. Our new guitarist writes a lot of classic
    heavy/power metal riffs, so that's another aspect  that  will  be
    incorporated into the music in the future. Keyboards are  another
    thing that we have begun to experiment with in the  studio  to  a
    greater extent than before; I  am  actually  going  down  to  the
    studio right now and will work with  some  piano  lines  for  the
    newest songs.

CoC: Are there any lesser known Swedish bands you would recommend  as
     having a lot of potential (besides Odeum, of course)?

CL: Lesser  known,  ey?  Hmm,  we  are  good  friends  with  a  great
    heavy/death band called  Mortum;  their  debut  was  released  on
    Invasion Records a few months ago and it kicks ass!  Dead  Silent
    Slumber is also very good; it is some kind of one-man project and
    the music is incredible! Blazing Skies are also worth mentioning.

CoC: You have changed your band name from Odium  to  Odeum  recently;
     why? Was that because of Nocturnal Art Productions' band Odium?

CL: Partly; we discovered, after we had taken the  name,  that  there
    were about three or four different bands and zines called  Odium,
    so a change was just a matter of time. Odeum  is  a  better  name
    anyway, and we are quite happy with it.

CoC: What else has gone on in the band since the _Factor of  Tantrum_
     demo?

CL: We have been looking for a second guitarist and, as  I  mentioned
    before, he has been found in the form of Bjorn Lundberg,  who  is
    an old friend of ours. We shared a rehearsal room  with  his  old
    band and when they split up he joined us.  Other  than  that,  we
    have just been rehearsing, writing new songs and  developing  our
    sound.

CoC: What's the next step after these two new songs,  released  under
     the title _The Pleiadean Diaries_? Do you have a label  contract
     in sight yet?

CL: As I said earlier, we have just recorded two  new  songs  and  we
    will send them and _The Pleiadean Diaries_  to  suitable  labels.
    There have been interested parties but none who could give us any
    financial support whatsoever, and we basically  don't  feel  like
    paying the studio cost for an album ourselves.

CoC: What do you aim to achieve with your band in  the  future?  What
     are your main objectives?

CL: A contract is of course our main objective at this point; we have
    the material to make a killer album. There is nothing signed yet,
    though. We're waiting for a reasonably established label,  rather
    than signing for the first cellar-based label that comes our way.
    Our music deserves it! Otherwise we wouldn't  be  interviewed  in
    the biggest on-line metal mag now, would we? <laughs>

CoC: Any concluding remarks?

CL: Thanks a lot for the interview and be sure to hammer out more  of
    those great chronicles, man!! Visit  our  website,  people!  High
    quality MPEG3 files are available!

Contact: mailto:odium666@hotmail.com
         WWW: http://home8.swipnet.se/~w-81012

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           S P A N I S H   D O O M   I S   G R O W I N G
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
           CoC interviews Manuel Ponce de Leon of Soriben
                           by: Pedro Azevedo

     Spain has never really been known for exporting a lot of quality
metal bands, and they certainly have never been known for their  doom
metal, even if names such as Golgotha and Poetry may  come  to  mind.
But there is one young doom metal band that has  been  very  steadily
growing during the past few years: Soriben. Their promo CD _Ancestros
de Insania_ [reviewed in this issue] shows just how much  this  young
band has grown and how much of a promise for the  future  of  Spanish
doom metal they are becoming. If the band is able to keep up the work
rate without losing direction, if they are able to keep growing  like
they have been so far, they may very well have quite  an  interesting
future ahead of them -- this led to the  following  e-mail  interview
with bassist Manuel Ponce de Leon.

CoC: Please tell our readers about Soriben's musical objectives.

Manuel Ponce de Leon: Since we started up the band,  we  have  always
                      had two things in mind concerning our music: we
                      wanted it to be dark and we  wanted  it  to  be
                      metal. While we were growing  as  a  band,  our
                      sound went through  several  different  stages,
                      from death metal to more doom-like  stuff.  Now
                      we are on the same track, but trying  to  merge
                      all our  influences  in  a  more  rational  and
                      experimental manner, because  that's  the  only
                      way to create something  unique  and  original.
                      But don't get me wrong, I'm not  talking  about
                      samples and techno stuff! We've always  been  a
                      metal band and we always will be, that's for
                      sure!

CoC: What are your main musical influences,  which  bands  would  you
     name as being most important in the process  that  lead  to  the
     music now played by Soriben?

MPdL: Mercyful Fate, King Diamond and Morbid  Angel  were  the  bands
      that pushed us  into  forming  Soriben.  We've  always  admired
      Mercyful Fate's and King Diamond's ability to create those dark
      atmospheres, as well as the diabolical strength  and  intensity
      of Trey Azagthoth's  band.  We  wanted  to  transmit  the  same
      feelings with our music that their albums  transmitted  to  us,
      not by copying them, but by doing it in a personal  way.  Other
      bands that we all like, since we are  into  metal,  are  Death,
      Deicide, Candlemass, Hypocrisy, Iron Maiden, as well as several
      classical composers -- we also like the darkness of  some  Bach
      pieces, for example, and that's something  we  always  like  to
      work with. We've learned things from all  of  those  bands  and
      many others, and we've used them in our own way.

CoC: You were all still quite young when you  formed  Soriben  a  few
     years ago; how  do  you  think  that  has  affected  the  band's
     progress?

MPdL: Yeah, that's true. Soriben began as one  of  those  non-serious
      teen bands, when we were only fifteen  or  sixteen  years  old.
      Since then, we have had very few line-up changes. Musically, we
      all have grown up [playing] in the same band and we  are  quite
      comfortable playing together -- that's the positive aspect.  On
      the other hand, it was very difficult in those days -- hell, it
      still is! -- to push with the band onwards, considering our age
      and the few means we had -- crappy equipment and lack  of  both
      money and experience. But thanks to the support of many people,
      things are a bit easier  now.  Through  these  years  we  spent
      together, we realized that the only thing  that  matters  in  a
      band is perseverance. We are not in a hurry to become  a  "big"
      band, we just want to write songs and do the best we can.

CoC: How satisfied are you with your promo CD _Ancestros de Insania_?

MPdL: Very satisfied. The songs featured in the promo  CD  have  many
      hours of work behind them, and this time the production is very
      good. The studio work was also very hard, note that it was just
      the second time for us in a recording  studio  and  we  had  to
      repeat some things hundreds of times! So we are very  proud  of
      the promo CD. Anyway, only the people's response can make  this
      work really worthwhile. We are anxious to release it, so people
      can give us a chance!

CoC: Now that you have a promo CD ready, what  are  your  plans?  Any
     label deals being studied yet?

MPdL: Yes. _Ancestros de Insania_ is a self-financed promo CD; it was
      recorded to be released as an MCD through any label that  might
      be interested. Now we are studying a deal from  Canadian  label
      Frowz Productions. They want to release it as an MCD,  just  as
      we wanted  to,  and  they  also  offered  good  conditions.  If
      everything works out as expected, we will sign  with  them  for
      the release of _Ancestros de Insania_, although they  had  some
      problems in getting the contract sheet to us -- but we all know
      the horror stories of the postal  services.  Anyway,  nothing's
      confirmed yet. We also had some deals from other small  labels,
      and from other not-so-small labels like  Shiver  Records  (they
      wanted to release it as a split demo through a division label),
      but the deal that we feel  fits  our  intentions  the  best  is
      Frowz's one. It is a new label that is betting very  strong  on
      many new bands and that's perfect for us.

CoC: What's the metal scene like in Spain nowadays for a  young  band
     like yourselves?

MPdL: The underground scene in Spain is getting a lot better. I  have
      to admit that it wasn't that way a few years ago, but  I  guess
      better times are coming; we have many new and killer bands  and
      labels constantly developing. There's also a  growing  interest
      in the scene; I know it because now we  have  a  bunch  of  new
      zines and mags, something that seemed impossible not long  ago.
      Our scene was never well-known outside our frontiers, but  this
      is going to change very soon -- if it's not changing  now!  --,
      as we have very good bands here. I always say that this is  the
      country where the guitar was born!

CoC: What are your main goals as a band now? What would you  like  to
     see happening in the band in the near future?

MPdL: Nowadays, our main goal is to keep on working and improving our
      songwriting, in order to have enough stuff ready for a possible
      album in a year or so. Paco Villena [founder member]  left  the
      band, so we also have to work a  lot  with  our  new  guitarist
      Jorge James. As far as the  second  part  of  the  question  is
      concerned... well, I suppose that I would like our MCD to  have
      good acceptance by both press and public; this  way,  the  name
      Soriben would be a  bit  more  well-known  around  there.  That
      doesn't depend on us exclusively, it also depends on some other
      factors like promotion and even luck, so we will have  to  wait
      and see what the future has in store for us. One thing that you
      can be sure of is that we are going to keep  on  working  as  a
      band to continue developing our style.

CoC: What about long term plans? What do you intend to  achieve  with
     Soriben?

MPdL: It's very difficult to say what can happen with  Soriben  in  a
      long term period. We don't have long term plans, we  just  mark
      small goals depending on what our needs  are  in  each  moment.
      Regarding what we intend to achieve, right now we just want  to
      improve as a band and make our music, record it and release  it
      if that's possible. No doubt about it, if things go well for us
      in the future, we will follow more ambitious goals, that's  for
      sure!!

CoC: Would you like to add any closing comments to this interview?

MPdL: Of course I would! First of all, I would like to thank CoC  and
      especially you, Pedro, for the interview and  the  support  you
      gave us so far. Sincere thanks from all the band.  Thanks  also
      to everyone reading this interview! Remember that you can check
      out our website and download MPEG3 files from our promo  CD  to
      get an idea of what  our  music  is  about  until  our  MCD  is
      released -- give us a chance!! Thanks again for everything  and
      keep on supporting the underground! Metal rules!

Contact: mailto:soriben@geocities.com
         WWW: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/1048

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            /  /_\  \ /  ___<   |  ||  | |  |  \/     \
           /    |    \\___ \ \___  ||  |_|  |  /  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!


Allegiance - _Vrede_  (No Fashion Records, March 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Having been recorded at the  Abyss  Studio,  _Vrede_  was  more  than
likely to at least sound good. As it turns out, it sounds a lot  like
Enslaved's brilliant _Blodhemn_, which  was  recorded  at  that  same
studio -- not only is the musical style quite similar, the production
itself strongly brings _Blodhemn_ to mind. How bad can that be? Well,
on one hand, Allegiance won't certainly  be  getting  any  marks  for
originality. But on the other hand, there is some quality black metal
with a certain (somewhat subdued) Viking scent here. While Allegiance
never  reach  the  brilliance  of  Enslaved's  masterpiece,   _Vrede_
("wrath") is a very effective album in  terms  of  brutality,  speed,
skill and musical interest --  not  to  mention  the  production,  of
course, which  helps  a  lot.  Ultimately,  it  all  depends  on  the
listener: simply put,  assuming  you  enjoyed  the  latest  Enslaved,
you're very likely to also enjoy _Vrede_ (even if it is by  no  means
as great as Enslaved's excellent album), unless the  idea  of  owning
two albums that sound quite similar is a major problem for you.


Amorphis - _Tuonela_  (Nuclear Blast, March 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

It's somewhat interesting, and perhaps in  a  way  even  funny,  that
"Tuonela" is supposed to mean "Hades, the underground", like Amorphis
care to explain in the booklet, because _Tuonela_  is  again  softer,
musically and atmospherically, than its predecessor. Needless to say,
long gone are the days of _The Karelian Isthmus_ and _Tales From  the
Thousand Lakes_. The differences  relative  to  their  finest  album,
_Elegy_, may not be as shocking upon first listen as they  were  when
_Elegy_ came out and was compared to _Tales From the Thousand Lakes_,
but the overall feel is again lighter than  before.  (For  those  who
care: there's only one track left that features growls, and it's  not
Koivusaari who performs them anymore.) Nevertheless, even for  myself
-- and I generally cannot stand music that sounds anywhere near happy
--, _Tuonela_ is still quite an enjoyable album. Why? Mainly  because
Amorphis are excellent musicians, so practically every song has  some
remarkably smart melodies that will remain in your head all day  long
after just a few listens. Unfortunately, only the title track  and  a
few other passages are anywhere near what can be called doom and  the
atmosphere is generally far from dark -- this doesn't  have  as  many
emotional moments as the superb  _Elegy_  does,  but  Amorphis  still
don't make -happy- music either. It's all quite light,  but  it  just
flows very well and the music is very good practically throughout the
album, as one would expect from Amorphis. A final note (since EverEve
are a Nuclear Blast band and so are Amorphis),  and  unfortunately  a
very sad one:  EverEve's  vocalist  Tom  Sedotschenko  has  committed
suicide. Sad news indeed.


Antestor - _The Return of the Black Death_  (Cacophonous, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell  (9.5 out of 10)

After a little confusion regarding the availability of this  disc,  I
obtained it at long last. I slowly grew to appreciate  the  sound  of
Norway's Antestor when I first heard their tracks  on  the  _Northern
Lights_ compilation, in which they incorporated a combination of slow
and plodding rhythms, droning  keyboard  passages,  and  black  metal
stylings.  With  1997's  _Martyrium_,  which  was  never   officially
released (although I have had the privilege of  hearing  it)  due  to
legal hassles with then label Morphine  Records,  Antestor,  for  the
most part, took  a  headlong  plunge  into  black  metal,  but  still
retained the ominous keyboards and doomy riffs. _The  Return  of  the
Black Death_ finds the band in their finest form yet,  combining  all
of the above elements with a  new  ferociousness,  and  with  crystal
clear clarity. This album reminds me of why I was attracted to  black
metal in the first place, as it is rich with all of the elements that
make up the genre, which is also why I chose to give it such  a  high
rating -- as black metal albums go, this  one  is  all-inclusive  and
all-encompassing. _TRotBD_ gives me a cold feeling, much like Ulver's
_The Madrigal of Night_ and Enslaved's _Blodhemn_  did.  My  favorite
track is "Kilden -- Lik En Endelos Elv", which has a lot of speed and
is played with chords very high up on the guitar  neck,  then  sweeps
into an atmospheric ether, and back  again  into  the  speedy  parts.
"Kongsblod" is a close second, as it features an awesome "war  metal"
riff and ends with the guitars somehow sounding like bagpipes! "Sorg"
and "Ancient Prophecy" are the slowest, doomiest tracks,  giving  the
keyboards a lead role, while "Gamlelandet" and "The Bridge of  Death"
are built upon speed. After many listens, I still cannot  contain  my
zeal for this release. Even with all of the fury  and  speed  of  the
totally ripping black metal parts, the keyboards are  very  prominent
in several songs; so much so that it would be safe to say that if you
do not like keyboards in your metal, you will not like  Antestor.  It
is interesting, I think, that they never do  quite  get  up  to  full
speed -- there are no blast  beats  at  all,  but  among  the  sombre
atmospheres that run throughout, those  one-two  beats  seem  awfully
fast. Point taken and mission accomplished, guys. I would  definitely
recommend this  release  to  fans  of  Enslaved,  Astarte,  and  even
Skepticism.

Contact: Cacophonous Records, 231 Portobello Road
         London W11 1LT, England
         mailto:ssander@c2i.net


Arkh'aam - _The Blue Beyond the Black_  (<Independent>, April 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

This French duo have quite a good project on their hands.  The  music
is rich in complexity and vividness. And  the  ideas  streaming  from
this release? Too many too count, but  oh  how  they  compliment  one
another. From slow guitar strumming and head busting drum pounding to
hyper active banshee wails and aggressive overtones -- not to mention
flute playing --, Arkh'aam play out a masterful array of  songs  that
wind together so passionately. Within three acts --  The  Involution,
The Summoning and The Evolution --, the  band  showcases  a  constant
love affair for all things dark and it comes to the surface  time  in
and time out. It's the true vindication of masterful  musicians  that
makes this release glow so  brightly  when  in  reality  shrouded  in
darkness. A perfect tale told by guys with talent.

Contact: Residence des Cotlais, 19 Avenue de la Bouvardiere,
         35 650 Le Rheu, France


Ashes - _And the Angels Wept_  (Necropolis Records, 1998)
by: Nuno Almeida <mailto:messiah@pulhas.org>  (8 out of 10)

Ashes are Swedish and this is their first EP, after  the  release  of
their debut _Death Has Made its Call_.  Contrarily  to  its  somewhat
boring old-school black/death metal sound (in their own words),  _And
the Angels Wept_ is much faster and  shows  a  much  more  aggressive
sound, partly due to the addition of a new drummer, Mikael  Wassholm,
replacing Timo Hagstrom. The EP contains six songs and lasts for just
over 20 minutes. Jonas Magnusson's vocals are  very  good,  following
the black metal tradition. The music is fast-paced  black/death,  but
very melodic, in the Swedish tradition. It still holds the old-school
feeling, and reminds me a lot of Dissection, although  Ashes  have  a
far less epic  feeling.  They  even  have  a  track  called  "Son  of
Mourning", but it's not related to the original Dissection  song.  On
the last track, "To the Bone", the old-school  feeling  becomes  much
more evident. Overall, _And the Angels Wept_ is a good  release  that
has left me anxious to hear their next full-length album, which  will
hopefully be out later this year. One final note regarding the band's
promotional photos: looking at them, I would have said that they were
on some kind of techno project, with their short hair, sunglasses and
any-color-but-black t-shirts.
(Also reviewed in Ancient Ceremonies #3 -- http://come.to/ac_zine/)


Ashes You Leave - _Desperate Existence_  (Morbid Records, March 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Here's a band that  really  plays  doom  metal  with  female  vocals,
contrarily to so many "soft" doom bands in the genre nowadays.  Dunja
Radetic's vocals and flute  and  Marta  Batinic's  violin  definitely
contribute to the  doom  atmosphere.  Dunja's  vocals  are  not  only
excellent but also  often  quite  different  from  the  norm  --  she
experiments a lot with her voice and sings very emotionally. Not many
male vocals (either grunted  or  screamed)  are  used  in  _Desperate
Existence_,  but  they  are  effective.  And  then   there   is   the
instrumental side: while Ashes You Leave can use some  keyboards  and
violins here and there and even some flute  melodies,  these  musical
flourishes do not detract from  the  doom  atmosphere  of  _Desperate
Existence_. Only the guitar sound tends to be somewhat weak (although
the guitar work itself is good), and overall the production  is  just
average, which is a shame (and one of the main reasons why the rating
isn't higher). The  songs  are  generally  very  well  put  together,
interesting sections successively  flowing  throughout  most  of  the
album --  notice  the  almost  Elend-like  "Et  Vidi  Solem  Evanere"
interlude and especially the superb title  track.  Quality  isn't  so
constantly high after the fourth track,  unfortunately,  even  though
there still are plenty of very  interesting  passages  to  be  heard.
Although Ashes You Leave come from such an unusual place for metal as
Croatia, they can  sure  beat  a  lot  of  their  much  better  known
competition as far as -doom- metal with female vocals is concerned.


Burial - _Mourning the Millennium_  (<Independent>, April 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (4 out of 10)

See, if the music on this record was a bit better than  what  we  got
here, then I would have given this LP by Burial a better mark. But  I
won't. The music, going along quite  nicely  with  the  mediocre  (if
that) vocals, is a rather poor affair when you break down the  sounds
the band is working with. Death growls and overused  song  structures
help shape this five-song outing into a pretty much generic  sounding
effort. No real ideas are carried out here, rather focusing  on  fast
as fuck drum beats and such sinister vocal arrangements. I'm  feeling
left in the cold here, guys -- this gets boring after a while and I'm
hopefully the last one to tell you that.

Contact: P.O. Box 2216 Westfield, MA USA 01086-2216
         mailto:burial666@aol.com
         WWW: http://www.angelfire.com/ma/BURIAL


Burzum - _Hlidskjalf_  (Misanthropy Records, April 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (5 out of 10)

And so Varg Vikernes strikes back  from  Trondheim  prison  with  the
second chapter  of  the  trilogy  that  started  with  1997's  _Daudi
Baldrs_. Skipping all political issues and concentrating on the music
offered on _Hlidskjalf_, I was reasonably interested by its first two
tracks. Although rather repetitive, their structures evolving slowly,
both are good examples of what this keyboard-only Burzum can achieve,
even if neither of them is very dark or depressive -- nothing on this
album really is. Indeed, there is nothing on _Hlidskjalf_ that  comes
close to matching "Illa Tidandi" from _Daudi Baldrs_, the only  track
I found really interesting so far in Burzum's keyboard era.  Needless
to say, there is nothing here to be compared to albums such as  _Hvis
Lyset  Tar  Oss_  or  anything  of  that  ilk;   this   is   strictly
keyboard-only ambient music with folk influences. Totalling less than
34  minutes,  after  the  first  couple  of  reasonably  good  tracks
_Hlidskjalf_ tends to  become  uninteresting  and  occasionally  even
downright annoying, a  couple  of  times  not  far  from  becoming  a
lullaby. _Hlidskjalf_ occasionally shows that it could  have  been  a
better album than _Daudi Baldrs_, namely on those first  two  tracks,
but it ends up failing afterwards and  turning  into  a  rather  dull
album.


Carpathian Forest - _Black Shining Leather_ (Avantgarde, August 1998)
by: Nuno Almeida  (10 out of 10)

It's about time! After three years of seemingly endless wait, here it
is! The follow-up to their excellent debut MCD _Through Chasm,  Caves
and Titan Woods_. This classic cult  Norwegian  band  almost  doesn't
need introduction. Having started in  1992  and  released  two  demos
(1992's _Bloodlust & Perversion_ and 1993's _Journey Through the Cold
Moors of Svarttjern_), they signed for Avantgarde  and  released  the
previously mentioned MCD in 1995. After the re-release  on  CD  early
last year of their legendary first demo plus some other goodies  from
the band's early  years,  _Black  Shining  Leather_  is  now  finally
released. Was it worth the wait? It sure was!  J.  Nordavind  and  R.
Nattefrost, helped by Lazare of Solefald on drums, managed to  create
a cold, primitive and  raw,  Hellhammer  /  Celtic  Frost  influenced
display of Norwegian black metal.  The  material  on  the  album  was
composed throughout the last four years, which explains the fact that
the musical style changes frequently between songs, alternating  fast
and raw songs with more melancholic, slow to mid-paced  ones.  Vocals
are the usual black metal rasp,  changing  to  whispers  on  "Pierced
Genitalia", a very eerie, dark ambient song, and  the  last  one,  "A
Forest" -- this one being a  cover  of  The  Cure's  classic.  Though
apparently not related to the rest of the tracks, this cover fits the
rest of the album well, with its gothic feeling, whispered vocals and
cool, almost mechanical drums. Keys are used in  a  simple  yet  very
effective way, helping to create truly eerie, dark and cold  melodies
throughout the album.  Overall,  a  great  release,  and  one  of  my
favorites of  1998.
(Also reviewed in Ancient Ceremonies #3 -- http://come.to/ac_zine/)


Various - _Chords of the Grave_  (Cross Rhythms, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell  (8.5 out of 10)

This comp serves a great purpose, in that it puts to  CD  demos  that
were previously available on  cassette  only  from  these  great  and
almost  unknown  bands,  which  include  Obliteration,  Evisceration,
Disencunbrance, Oblation,  and  Flesh  Walker.  Each  song  has  been
remastered, so this stuff sounds as good as it's ever going  to  get.
The Obliteration tracks are from their 1997  demo  _Dying  Age_,  and
they are comprised of Suffocation-style raging death metal. This band
is now known as Death List, but  many  agree  that  the  Obliteration
material is superior to what they did as Death List on _Severed_ [CoC
#34]. Pummeling double bass, psycho leads,  and  catchy  rhythms  are
some of the things that made this band great. Evisceration are  next,
and I must admit that I had no clue  about  them  before  getting  my
hands on this. The three tracks on this comp are the style of  brutal
death metal that was popular in the early '90s. I'm not bagging  them
for it, believe me, I still like that style very  much,  but  I  must
admit that these songs sound just a bit dated.  Fans  of  the  genre,
take note that Evisceration plays this style very  convincingly.  The
third band is the "one hit wonder" band  Disencumbrance.  Their  demo
_The Betrayal_ was mighty indeed, and then they were no more.  In  my
mind, they were able to combine the speed and abandon of  grind  with
the technical accuracy and  song  structures  that  make  good  death
metal, and do it better than any other band I have  heard.  I  am  so
glad to have these three songs on CD because  I  have  worn  out  two
copies of the tape! I would not hesitate to recommend the purchase of
the whole CD for these tracks alone to anyone who  enjoys  sustaining
physical damage and impairment from ultra-downtuned death  metal.  It
is absolutely top notch material. Oblation follow with four songs  of
well played -- you guessed it -- death metal.  These  songs  are  all
quite good, mixing good musicianship (especially  the  guitar  leads)
with heavy and creative death metal song  structures.  Oblation  even
went so far as to make a video for the song "Dead Unborn", so it's  a
wonder why they never released a  full  length  of  any  kind.  Flesh
Walker, with whom I was not familiar, conclude  this  comp  with  one
song of very raw death metal. I would highly recommend _Chords of the
Grave_ to any fan of death metal and  to  anyone  into  perusing  the
underground for talented or obscure bands, but  especially  to  those
who have or want the hopelessly out of print demos from which all  of
the material is taken.

Contact: Cross Rhythms Music, 11408 Audelia Rd #4786,
         Dallas, TX 75243 USA
         mailto:g-card@ix.netcom.com
         WWW: http://www.crossrhythmsmusic.com


Clawfinger - _Clawfinger_  (The Music Cartel, April 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8.5 out of 10)

I was totally not expecting to get into Clawfinger as much as I have.
I am left wondering just where did the band go right this  time  out.
Having heard their stuff in the past, I can honestly say  I  was  not
really intrigued by the bands meshing of rap/metal  and  electronics.
It was interesting, but nothing newer  or  ear-catching  as  to  what
other acts were doing. But something clicked here and  I  took  note.
This was cool-ass stuff. Besides the  sometimes  goofy  rapping  that
vocalist Zak Tell emits from time to  time,  most  of  the  time  his
rapping and the momentum of  Clawfinger  work  into  a  nice  groove.
Choice cuts: Opener "Two Sides", "Biggest & the Best" and  "Not  Even
You". With Clawfinger I've learned to keep an interest  with  a  band
before writing them off. Glad I did, 'cause this is easily one of  my
surprise albums of the year.


Crest of Darkness - _The Ogress_  (Listenable Records, April 1999)
by: David Rocher  (9 out of 10)

The  apocalyptic,  shape-shifting  soundtrack  to  the  life  of  the
murderous Belle Gunnes unfolds  here  in  nine  chapters  that  truly
succeed in unveiling a corner of a madly bloodthirsty  deity's  mind.
Rapid, chaotic black metal riffing instantly merges  into  overlaying
curtains of synthetics, haunted by the  chilling  chants  of  Kristin
Fjellseth, in deep contrast with Ingar Amelien's  grating  rasps,  to
suddenly explode in violent, strident  thrashing  tones  and  rhythms
that are frequently accompanied by distorted, un-melodic, clear vocal
lines, not dissimilar to Kraftwerk's. Lyrical and melodic vocals  are
in fact used very parsimoniously, and are sung with great  talent  by
Kamelot's Roy Khan. Keeping track of the  ogress'  mind  is  no  easy
task, as her moods wander from brooding, awake feelings of remorse to
the most insane, bloodthirsty rage -- the expression of her tormented
soul is these violent, eerie songs, which unceasingly writhe and turn
from atmospheric, anguished, multi-layered  experimental  soundtracks
to pummelling, devastatingly  heavy  metallic  sections  tinged  with
industrial sounds; as  peaks  of  anguish  are  reached,  these  form
searing black metal cavalcades that succeed in capturing  a  kind  of
eerie grandeur fused with the coldly  calculated  fury  delivered  by
other  un-symphonic  Norwegian  black  metal  perpetrators.  A  whole
lifetime of schizophrenic, inaccessible blackness, graced with  huge,
ample sound, is what this excellent album has on  offer  --  dare  to
venture and meet it!


Diabolique - _The Black Flower_  (Black Sun, March 1999)
by: David Rocher  (8 out of 10)

It seems Kristian Wahlin's band unfortunately never  will  get  metal
audiences to grant them the recognition they so clearly deserve,  and
_The Black Flower_ will  only  help  make  this  reality  clearer  --
however, it may open a whole lot of gothic ears to  their  laid-back,
quiet, and somewhat more accessible sound. Quite a  contrast  to  the
powerful intonations of _Wedding the Grotesque_,  _TBF_'s  tones  are
distant, almost unclear at times, and perfectly fit in with  the  way
in  which  the  band  have   replaced   their   restrained   metallic
aggressiveness with very  delicate  keyboard  or  undistorted  guitar
melodies, that are carried by  Kristian  Wahlin's  deep,  silk-smooth
vocals, and emphasised by many convincing effects. This new  approach
to their music graces Diabolique's sound  with  a  distant,  tranquil
feel, that is however rather disquieting at times. No brash  displays
of excessive technicality interfere with _The  Black  Flower_'s  calm
atmospheres;  Diabolique's  new  orientation  defines  itself  as   a
brooding, undisclosing, mysterious, almost shy expression,  which  is
definitely as classy as some  bands'  new  musical  directions  sound
vulgar and revealing. The Diabolique quartet seem to have found their
path, a path which should prove to be far more  determined  than  the
slightly hesitant, yet excellent,  metallic  arias  of  _Wedding  the
Grotesque_ or _The Diabolique_.


Discern - _Revive and Rebuke_  (<Independent>, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell  (8 out of 10)

This CD kicks you right square in the arse immediately after the play
button is pushed. To my  amazement,  this  frighteningly  good  death
metal is played single-handedly by one Bill Fraser, who once  upon  a
time played drums for  Oblation.  He  has  done  an  astounding  job,
because _Revive and Rebuke_ in no way, at all at all at  all,  sounds
like a one-man project. Every note and drum hit fits  perfectly  into
place, and like I said before, will totally kick the listener in  the
pants. The CD is an eight song affair  of  very  aggressive  American
death metal, with the exception of an acoustic instrumental, and  the
main riff from Kiss' "She" as an outro. I will not compare this  with
any other bands, so as not to give you any pre-conceived ideas  about
Discern. Instead, I will make a safe, broad statement;  if  you  like
fast death metal with loads of double bass and  deep  vocals  barking
out fast paced lyrics, (you know, all  the  things  that  make  great
death metal), then by all means make a point of tracking this down. I
really hope to hear more from this guy in the future.

Contact: Discern, 11408 Audelia Rd #4778, Dallas, TX 75243 USA
         mailto:discern@flash.net


Emperor - _IX Equilibrium_  (Candlelight, March 1999)
by: David Rocher  (7 out of 10)

The fourth moon of 1999 would have had the  mighty  Emperor  crowned,
had he continued to exist in the dark symphonic shrouds of  _Emperor_
or _In the Nightside Eclipse_, a shroud through which somewhat vulgar
light had already begun to shine with the excellent but distressingly
revealing _Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk_. Sadly though, the  Emperor
has turned his back to the tangible obscurity which  reigned  on  his
first full-length, _ItNE_, in favour of a "heavier" approach; a  form
of rather frantic black metal, which is in fact clearly  tinged  with
the loud, hysterical tones of death metal, and in fact does the  once
majestic  Norwegians  much  prejudice:  complex   yet   unintriguing,
emphatic yet unattractive... The heavy, clear and  sharp  sound  they
have now opted for indeed perfectly highlights all instruments,  thus
depriving _IX Equilibrium_ of any obscurity  it  may  have  retained;
their tentatively "powerful" sound  is  however  merely  decent  when
compared to  the  crushing  force  developed  by  Peter  Tagtgren  on
Immortal's latest barbaric onslaught, _At the Heart  of  Winter_.  In
addition to this, and even though Emperor have, as on _Anthems to the
Welkin  at  Dusk_,  taken  great  pains  to  take  very   resourceful
arrangements to a new peak, and do indeed demonstrate very honourable
technical play, most of the guitar lines played on  _IX  Equilibrium_
are dramatically  uninspiring,  and  even  often  literally  reek  of
deja-vu, as on the title "An Elegy of Icaros", which  disappointingly
sounds like a  mildly  blackened  variation  on  themes  from  Morbid
Angel's _Domination_, or the track "The  Source  of  Icon  E",  which
features Ihsahn in a laughably feeble vocal  attempt  to  equal  King
Diamond. Quite honestly, _IX Equilibrium_ isn't a  -bad-  album,  far
from that -- as a matter of a fact, I might  even  have  given  it  a
disinterested but favourable  welcome,  had  it  been  an  unexpected
assault from  a  lesser-known  formation  --,  but  it  is  certainly
Emperor's most predictable, and therefore unconvincing, work to date,
and sadly demonstrates  that  the  band  have  opted  for  a  musical
orientation for which I do have trouble forgiving them, who  spawned,
anno 1995, one of the most enthralling opuses ever to sear the  black
metal scene.


Em Sinfonia - _In Mournings Symphony_  (Martyr Music, April 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)

To call this great would be an  understatement.  How  about  amazing?
Stunning? Unbelievable? The list could go on, and it  probably  would
for another ten or more adjectives, but the bottom line here is  that
Em Sinfonia have stumbled upon something  great  here.  Fans  of  The
Gathering, My Dying Bride and Moonspell take note, there is a new kid
in town and you better keep your chops up or you could be  dethroned.
With masterful precision and some of the best melding  of  doom/gloom
sounds, strong guitar riffs,  violins,  spoken  word  and  choir-like
chantings in the past few years, Em Sinfonia glides its way into  our
hearts and minds with tales of  love,  darkness  and  life.  Powerful
expressionism  streams  from  this  four-song  release,  basking   in
brilliant production (thanks to guitarist/producer Brian Griffin) and
showing off the talent of this well-rounded group of musicians (eight
in all). While all four songs are superb, the power  and  passion  of
what the band is capable of is showcased strongly  within  the  title
track. A prime example of musical creativity in top form. Get a  copy
of this before all your friends have it. You don't  want  to  be  the
loser of the bunch now, do you? Didn't think so. Find it.

Contact: Em Sinfonia c/o Brian Griffin 12564 W. Dorothy St.,
         Beach Park, IL, 60087 USA
         mailto:EmSinfonia@aol.com
         WWW: http://members.aol.com/synfonia1/emsinfonia.html


Various - _Extreme America 3_  (Knot Music, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (6.5 out of 10)

Before I start this review, let me shout this one out to all  of  you
doing noise compilations on vinyl: always, always, ALWAYS  make  sure
to separate the tracks. This whole "blend all tracks into each other"
stuff just doesn't float my boat. There are only six artists on  here
so I will try to touch on them a bit here  (maybe).  The  compilation
opens up with 00 Species, whose track is really way too short for  me
to get into (this is a trend on this release, by the way) and the mix
is turned down way too low. Normally I'd cream my  jeans  over  them,
but this time I'm just left going "eh?". Walled  Lake's  track  isn't
noise, so I will be a dick and just say  it  sucks.  Flutter's  piece
suffers from the same syndrome that 00 Species did in that it is  way
too short. Just as it is  winding  down,  I'm  actually  getting  all
pumped up for ten more minutes of it. The  second  side  of  this  is
total throw away with Lockweld and Better DisEase doing their best to
bore the hell out of me. Audible XXY make a nice attempt  at  holding
my interest but find themselves the  victims  of  too  little  space.
Perhaps just a three way split with  Audible  XXY,  Flutter,  and  00
Species would be a better idea next time. Yes?  No?  Maybe  so?  Grab
this one if you find it in a record store cheap, but otherwise  focus
more on finding full length releases from the three  artists  I  just
mentioned. All the other stuff on this 7" is just a waste  of  4  1/2
minutes.

Contact: Knot Music, PO Box 501, South Haven, MI 49090-0501, USA


Various - _Freak Animal Zine #11 CD_  (Freak Animal, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (7.5 out of 10)

I'll just start this by stating the zine this CD comes from is decent
but, overall, you can use it  to  line  your  bird  cage  with  after
reading some of the interviews, because it's the CD that  makes  this
whole deal worthwhile. It would seem that just about every aspect  of
the noise scene is represented on this nice compilation disc,  as  it
features artists as varied as Japanese noise legend Merzbow to  those
new American punks of  noise  Flutter  and  of  course  everyone  and
everything in between. While there is  defiantly  some  crummy  power
electronics / my-act-is-more-evil-and-dark-than-yours shit artists on
here (COUGH DEATHPILE... DIE DIE DIE  YOU  FUCKING  SHITTY  ACT!  AND
OTHER BANDS WHO USE DEATH IN THEIR  NAME!),  there's  a  plethora  of
skilled artists like Stimbox or the man who really steals the show on
this disc, Kazumoto Endo. The other stand  out  track  on  this  disc
comes from R.H.Y. YAU, whose "I Have Hurt You Today  --  I'll  Do  It
Again" really augments his very different approach to the whole noise
concept and serves as a nice addition (if not somewhat off  beat)  to
this compilation to round it out. Like with any compilation, you  are
going to get some bad (COUGH DEATH SQUAD... YOU SUCK TOO!), but there
is more than enough good to make purchasing this zine for the CD well
worth it. Highly recommended by yours truly (isn't that enough?).

Contact: Freak Animal, PO Box 21, 15141 Lahti, Finland
         mailto:fanimal@hotmail.com


Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects - _Sol Niger Within Ver. 3.33_
by: Adrian Bromley (7.5 out of 10) (Relapse / St. Clair, April 1999)

Finding enough time to pry  away  from  his  duties  with  powerhouse
outfit Meshuggah, Thordendal and his new armada of cohorts  (a  whole
slew of sick puppies, I tell  ya!)  really  do  some  serious  mental
damage with _Sol Niger Within Version 3.33_. This release,  a  fucked
up one at that, is all over the map.  It's  just,  like,  out  there.
Metal riffs a plenty fill up this release as the group  of  musicians
take charge and make this one ride you'll never forget.  Too  complex
to get into, yet easily  palpable  by  those  craving  eclectic  song
structures (well, as eclectic as they'll get) and  off-kiltered  song
writing. Interesting, to say the least. Where do musicians get  ideas
like this? I'm stumped, but still loving this.


Garden of Shadows - _Heart of the Corona_
by: Nuno Almeida  (8 out of 10)  (X-Rated Records, October 1998)

Very interesting debut from this North American band. _Heart  of  the
Corona_ was originally released as a demo in the Spring of 1997,  but
due to the recent signing of a contract  with  X-Rated  Records,  the
band decided to re-release it as an MCD with re-mastered sound and an
extra track, "Shards of the Here". Garden  of  Shadows  play  a  very
melodic, atmospheric, melancholic kind of  mid  to  fast-paced  death
metal.  The  use  of  keyboards  helps  the  overall  emotional   and
melancholic atmosphere of the album, although they get quite  pompous
and symphonic at times. Guitars  are  very,  very  melodic,  and  are
easily the main feature of their music. There are also some  acoustic
guitar parts, usually used as  intro/outro  on  some  songs.  As  for
vocals, Chad is a growler, so you know what  to  expect;  still,  his
vocals fit the music quite nicely. Guitarist  Mary  helps  with  some
very nice ethereal vocals on "Apollonian Realm", which is, along with
the title track, the best song of the album. A good opening act  from
Garden of Shadows, which in my opinion is  worth  checking  out.  One
more thing: although this album is sold  as  an  MCD,  it's  actually
almost 40 minutes long.
(Also reviewed in Ancient Ceremonies #3 -- http://come.to/ac_zine/)

Contact: X-Rated Records, c/o Mathias Kietzmann, P.O. Box 1-2023,
         Cuernavaca, Mor., C.P. 62001, Mexico
         mailto:x_rated_records@yahoo.com
         Garden of Shadows, c/o Brian R., 14712 Botany Way,
         Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USA
         mailto:bmissant@aol.com


Gordian Knot - _Gordian Knot_  (Sensory/The Laser's Edge, March 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

When I heard that Cynic members Sean Malone and Sean Reinert (bass  /
chapman stick and drums respectively) were collaborating on a project
again, it is needless to say that I was intrigued and excited by what
the result might yield. When I further found out  that  the  project,
masterminded by Malone, would  not  only  be  instrumental  but  also
feature guitar/stick contributions from  members  of  Dream  Theater,
Watchtower and  King  Crimson,  my  anticipation  and  interest  were
further heightened.  I  myself  am  pleased  with  the  results  this
collaborative project have yielded. Atmosphere building is a  concern
and is achieved  in  some  tracks  by  the  use  of  well-manipulated
keyboards, while at other times the interplay of guitars,  drums  and
bass is all that is needed to carry the listener from  one  plain  of
exquisite musical beauty to the next. There is a considerable  amount
of experimentation, though less of a dynamic range (in terms of going
from harsh to gentle) than was present with  Cynic,  especially  with
somewhat syncopated time signatures and technical, often  beautifully
melodic,  guitar  leads  and  overlapping   acoustic   and   electric
structures. One experimental aspect of the album is  the  part  which
also lets it down slightly for me. This is the use, on  "Redemption's
Way" and "Srikara Tal", of a drum  machine  producing  a  continuous,
unabrasive tribal rhythm behind the interplay  of  guitar  and  bass,
though Reinhert adds additional drum fills to  the  latter.  This  is
different, but I find the machine-like feel it captures doesn't  mesh
well with the playing and, as the tracks progress,  that  one  rhythm
can really get to bore and slightly irritate me.  These  tracks  are,
however, minor let downs on  an  album  which  contains  diverse  and
moving tracks like "Code/Anticode", "Reflections", "Singularity"  and
the track which harks back  most  to  Cynic,  "Rivers  Dancing".  The
quality, not only of playing  but  also  of  writing,  is  excellent.
Though it is evident that all the contributors to this project are of
a standard technically that many can only  dream  of,  none  of  this
sounds "wanky": there is  no  self-indulgence  at  the  sacrifice  of
musical quality. _Gordian Knot_ is a  revealing  and  moving  musical
journey and one which I think anyone with a critical appreciation  of
music should allow themselves the pleasure of experiencing.


Government Alpha - _Q_  (Spite, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (8 out of 10)

For some reason, I am in a really strange mood when it comes to noise
lately, so perhaps my reviews are going to be loaded to the brim with
bias and unevenness abound.  Either  way,  I'll  just  make  a  quick
comment here... THIS TAPE FUCKING RULES. Man, am I hyper or what? But
then again, this is noise that one can get  hyper  to  as  it  is  46
minutes of absolutely beautiful harsh electronic madness from one  of
the best artists to come out of  Japan's  new  brew  melting  pot  of
noise. The high end stuff is ear piercing and the low end stuff  just
rumbles your guts until you almost want to throw up (but in that good
kind of way). How can you go wrong with  a  recording  that  actually
forces your stereo unit to let loose sounds that  contort  and  alter
your physical being? In a day and age when the noise field  is  being
filled to the brim with piece of shit power  electronic  artists  all
trying to "out dark" the other by using 25 minutes of  lame,  boring,
monotonic sounds, it is refreshing to get your ass  truly  kicked  by
something that  actually  required  a  bit  of  THOUGHT  and,  uhm...
ORIGINALITY, and, oh yeah, SKILL (you got that, all you lame  fucking
noise artists out there?). EVERYONE IN THE  POWER  ELECTRONICS  SCENE
MUST DIE! OK, enough of this... I'm sure this off base  is  going  to
leak into my other reviews this issue.  Anyhow,  buy  the  damn  tape
because it's Government Alpha... it's harsh noise that whips the hell
out of anything Merzbow has put out in three years...  and  what  the
hell else do you have to spend $5 on? Thanks.

Contact: Spite, PO Box 51653, Kalamazoo, MI 49005-1653, USA
         mailto:mononanie@aol.com


Horde of Worms - _Horde of Worms_  (<Independent>, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell  (6.5 out of 10)

Horde of Worms apparently call themselves Canadian Blast  Metal,  and
play music that is only somewhat entertaining or  creative.  As  with
Kekal, the addition of a real drummer would  launch  them  into  near
greatness. The riffs and the  "vokills"  are  definitely  lethal  and
create good  songs.  However,  that  stupid  drum  machine  is  quite
annoying and distracting. The "snare" sounds quite ridiculous and all
the sounds in general are almost pathetic, especially  during  breaks
in the music where these "drums" become the featured instrument for a
short time. Something else that qualifies as being  pathetic  is  the
lead guitar sound, which is no doubt due to the fuzzy, tinny sound of
a Boss distortion pedal, and perhaps the self-production. Despite all
this, there are many enjoyable songs, and  the  potential  to  really
shine on their next release is definitely lurking around somewhere.

Contact: Horde of Worms, 1 Anglesly Blvd., Suite B,
         Islington, ON, Canada, M9A 3B2
         mailto:wormy_2@hotmail.com


Hypocrisy - _Hypocrisy Destroys Wacken_
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)  (Nuclear Blast / PHD, April 1999)

Admit it. You thought it was over after  the  brilliant  _The  Fourth
Dimension_. I did. I was sure the band was packing it in. But to much
of our relief, the band re-grouped and started  writing  again.  This
live album, recorded at last Summer's Wacken Open  Air  festival,  is
the true testimony of how good this  band  is.  Just  listen  to  the
tightness of the band and the killer live sound. Such professionalism
rarely gets captured live. This is supreme, my friends.  And  with  a
fuckin'  blistering  new  record  out  this  month  (the  self-titled
release), it seems as though Peter T. and Co. have hit us up  with  a
double dose of goodies to gnaw on. Let's  hope  the  band  (it  looks
pretty good, my friend) has attained a second wind and  keep  putting
out good material as we head into  the  millennium.  Hypocrisy  slays
with  classic  live  renditions  of  "Roswell   47",   "Pleasure   of
Molestation" and "Osculum Obscenum", to name a few. Too good to  pass
up, people. Go get it.


Hypocrite - _Into the Halls of the Blind_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)  (No Fashion Records, March 1999)

No, Hypocrite do -not- really sound like Hypocrisy, even though  they
are also a Swedish death metal band. This is more  mid-paced  melodic
death metal and, even if not entirely dissimilar to  Hypocrisy,  once
you consider the crowd that now constitutes the Swedish  death  metal
scene, there's not much more than the band  name  to  remind  you  of
Hypocrisy in particular. Hypocrite are one of  those  very  competent
Swedish  bands  that  don't  really  stand  out   from   the   crowd;
nevertheless, would the whole album have been as good as its three or
four best songs, the rating would have been a bit higher. As  it  is,
several tracks are just average Swedish death  metal  and  the  whole
album is the usual mix of really nice moments and passages that  just
keep you waiting for the next really nice moment and not  much  else.
Produced by Dismember's Fred Estby, _Into the  Halls  of  the  Blind_
turns out to have a less than stellar production -- sounds to me like
it could have been stronger, especially the vocals. All put together,
it's one of those Swedish death metal albums  that  are  unlikely  to
disappoint any fans of the genre, without being anything  outstanding
overall either.


Immortal - _At the Heart of Winter_  (Osmose, February 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

I don't know about you, but after  less  than  ten  listens  I  found
Immortal's last album, _Blizzard Beasts_, was a little  uninteresting
and most definitely  a  step  down  in  quality  from  the  excellent
_Battles in the North_ or the classic _Pure Holocaust_. I thought  at
the time that the band might have hit a  creative  rut  and  wondered
whether they would again grace my ears with music which would impress
and move me as much as their earlier releases did. I  shouldn't  have
worried. Despite losing his Doom  Occulta  "brother"  to  tendinitis,
Abbath has forged on  with  drummer  Horgh  and  they  have  made  an
Immortal album which not only cements the bands reputation as one  of
black metal's finest, but also shows  that  they  can  develop  their
style without losing their essence. This album abandons the  path  of
speed which Immortal have been  travelling  at  increasing  rates  on
since _Pure Holocaust_ and opts on the  whole  for  a  slightly  more
relaxed pace. There are still blasts and speed, believe me,  but  the
band are utilizing it where they were before coming close to  relying
on it. _AtHoW_ is also more music-focused; there are more  riffs  and
they are given more time and space to breathe from the vocals as well
as being  astoundingly  well-pronounced  by  Peter  Tagtgren's  slick
production. The album has a  dark  feel  and  captures,  through  the
combination of riffs, drums, vocals and sparingly used  keyboards,  a
chilling atmosphere which fits  their  lyrical  concept  and  fantasy
themes effortlessly. The symbiosis is successful: the album takes the
enraptured listener into the "Heart  of  Winter",  into  a  world  of
Immortal's own creation.


Immortal Souls - _Divine Wintertime_
Mordecai -_Through the Woods, Towards the Dawn_
by: Alex Cantwell  (8 out of 10)  (Little Rose, 1999)

Both Immortal Souls and Mordecai were featured on the glorious  _From
Kaamos to Midnight Sun -- Finnish Metal Compilation_ [CoC  #36],  and
with the release of this split EP, we get  to  peer  into  these  two
band's worlds with a little more depth. Hopefully  full-lengths  from
each band are soon to follow. Immortal Souls continue to improve upon
their Iron Maiden-influenced black/death  metal.  Some  of  the  song
structures and sounds even remind me Sentenced's _Frozen_  at  times.
Man, can a review of a Finnish band  be  written  without  mentioning
Sentenced? Maybe I'll try harder next time.  Anyway,  Immortal  Souls
are a quality band who utilize a variety of melodic guitar work  with
aggressive vocals, memorable songs and creativity. However, they have
apparently dropped the doom influence that was very strong  on  their
demo _Reflections of Doom_ [CoC #34]. On  the  other  hand,  Mordecai
draw  upon  some  darker  influences  to  create  their  sombre,  yet
aggressive, style of black metal. Totally new to the scene,  I  would
say that only good things can come from  this  band.  I  really  know
nothing about them, but  that  doesn't  matter  because  their  music
speaks for itself -- as it should be. Like the above  band,  Mordecai
also have a keen sense for utilizing catchy melodies,  and  they  use
clean vocals on two of the songs to great  effect.  Within  the  four
songs contained here, they seem to spend equal time between hammering
away and playing mid-tempo  stuff.  In  summary,  this  is  not  demo
quality music -- this is the real deal, and Little  Rose  is  finding
some amazing Finnish talent, so I would think  that  they  are  worth
your interest and support.

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


Imperial Domain - _In the Ashes of the Fallen_
by: Adrian Bromley  (6.5 out of 10)  (Pulverised Records, April 1999)

There is just something about the music of Imperial Domain that I  am
getting a bad vibe from. I can't place my finger on it, I  just  know
it's  there.  Overall,  the  death  metal  sounds  of  the  band  are
collectively paired with some serious guitar  work  and  a  deafening
rhythm section (think close to In Flames,  though  not  as  complex).
While the vocals go from death growls to sinister snarls of  anxiety,
Imperial Domain keep their head above water, managing to stray from a
generic sound. The key to this band's  secret  is  their  ability  to
sound pissed off and fighting each song like there  is  no  tomorrow.
That's when it works. When the band tries to stay too much along  the
line of solid song writing, that's when it falters. This sextet has a
lot of potential, they just need to  work  out  kinks.  The  need  to
loosen up a bit and go rabid with the material. The guitar work needs
no touch-ups, just clean up the rest, guys.


Jesus Martyr - _Sudamerican Porno_  (Repulse Records, April 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9.5 out of 10)

If there was any record out there that could split  open  your  skull
with one foul  swoop,  then  the  debut  of  this  powerful  (I  MEAN
POWERFUL)  Argentinian  quintet  Jesus  Martyr  is  it.  Meshing  the
maniacal mayhem of industrial music, the raw attitude of moshcore and
the reckless speed of thrash metal, Jesus Martyr lay it  all  on  the
line and deliver a solid, powerful mix of goodies to crank loud.  Run
for cover as these fuckers  mean  business.  Get  trampled  by  "Next
Biological Crisis" or the full-throttle aggression of "Carnivore". If
you've got the guts and the stomach to take in such  brutality,  then
find this. You'll be thanking me.

Contact: Jesus Martyr, c/o Santiago Bertes 365,
         1424 Buenos Aires, Argentina
         mailto:jesusmartyr@hotmail.com


Krisiun - _Apocalyptic Revelation_  (GUN, October 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

This record only just grabbed the 9 out of 10 you see  above.  It  is
good, damn good, but it is also  ever  so  slightly  close  to  being
lacking in sufficient originality for a 9.  Basically,  Krisiun  kick
ass with ridiculous speed,  thundering  drums,  ripping  guitars  and
tortured vocals, but they also kick ass in a style which  belies  the
influence of Kreator particularly strongly. They are far  from  retro
and if there were anyone I would choose  to  properly  carry  on  the
legacy records like _Pleasure to Kill_ and _Extreme Aggression_  left
it would most probably be Krisiun, but still the band could  sound  a
little fresher. Minor gripes aside, though, _Apocalyptic Revelation_,
like their _Black Force Domain_ debut, seems unlikely  to  disappoint
any readers who crave brutal, speed driven  death/thrash  madness  of
which Krisiun are of the highest order. Their  technical  ability  is
utterly phenomenal and the leads, drum breaks and beats  which  issue
forth from _AR_ almost literally riddle  the  mind  with  bullets  of
aural energy, such is their  fury.  Outplaying  Krisiun  would  be  a
challenge; seeing them live might be dangerous, but I'm sure it would
be quite an experience.

Contact: C.X. Postal 13444, 01059-970 SP, Brazil


Long Winters' Stare - _Before the Dawn, So Go the Shadows of
                       Humanity_  (Dragon Flight, April 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

This debut full-length from  LWS,  follow-up  to  1998's  _Cold  Tale
Eternal_ MCD [CoC #32], is one of those albums in which you can  hear
that it's essentially the same band as before who's playing, but also
that a lot has happened since their previous release. One of the main
differences concerns the keyboard work: there's plenty of piano to be
heard, which tends to be used in a  different  way  from  most  other
bands, and coincidentally often to my taste. The contrabass that made
their debut EP that bit special doesn't have such an  important  role
anymore,  though,  which   was   somewhat   disappointing   for   me;
nevertheless, the improved use of keyboards almost compensates  that.
The vocals are a lot more varied, less predictable and overall better
than before as well. The songs are a lot longer than before, although
a few of them are a bit too long and begin to grow repetitive towards
the end. LWS have grown musically, and have produced  an  album  that
doesn't really sound like any other band in particular. The music  is
generally slow,  with  an  unusual  guitar/drum  sound  and  rhythmic
section, plus the varied vocals and those keyboards that also tend to
deviate from the norm in a positive way. Although I  think  that  LWS
can still achieve a more consistent album than this one,  _BtDSGtSoH_
is nevertheless quite an enjoyable doom  metal  album  that  contains
many  interesting  and  often  out  of  the  ordinary  sequences   --
definitely worth checking out.

Contact: Dragon Flight Recordings, 788 Reservoir Ave., Suite 294,
         Cranston, RI 02910 USA
         mailto:dragonflightrec@yahoo.com
         WWW: http://listen.to/dragonflight


Lungbrush - _Old School New School_  (Pavement/St. Clair, April 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (2 out of 10)

Did Pantera change their name? Did they?  Why  was  I  not  informed?
Oh... wait a second. This is Lungbrush. I swore it was Pantera, or  a
second rate one at that. If your  cup  of  tea  is  aggressive  heavy
metal, heavy riffs and a  Phil  Anselmo  wannabe  fronting  it,  then
Lungbrush is for you. If not, stick with Pantera's _Vulgar Display of
Power_ or _Far Beyond Driven_.


Manowar - _Hell on Stage Live_  (Nuclear Blast, February 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9.5 out of 10)

This is real metal. There is nothing false about  Manowar,  they  are
the real deal and in this mere human's  opinion  the  greatest  heavy
metal band ever to have been in existence. This is the band's  second
live album and contains a totally different selection of  songs  than
the last _Hell on Wheels_ did. It also features, for the most part, a
different "side" of Manowar. _HoS_ contains many of the  band's  most
classic, -epic- songs. Thus, the  incredible  power  and  emotion  of
brilliant live renditions of "Dark Avenger", "March for Revenge"  and
"Bridge of Death" are among the wonders available within  _HoS_.  The
second disc brings forth "Heart of Steel" and "Master of the Wind" in
electric live form along with the storming force and might of  "Blood
of the Kings", "Outlaw" and "The Power". Also among the 16 tracks  on
offer  are  two  of  Joey's  bass  solo  pieces,  his  two  classical
conversions: "William's Tale" and "Sting  of  the  Bumblebee".  These
sound great, though -I- would also love to hear him do  "Thunderpick"
live. Of course there are songs I would still like to hear live which
aren't featured on either live album,  but  this  is  simply  because
Manowar have written so many brilliant songs, not because  they  have
chosen tracklistings for either album badly. Basically, if  you  want
to hear the power which Manowar has live, if you want  to  have  that
power, that energy, at your fingertips, to invigorate  you  when  you
need or want it, you need _Hell on Stage_, and I am among you.


Morgion - _Solinari_  (Relapse/St. Clair, April 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7.5 out of 10)

There has  always  been  something  fascinating  about  the  work  of
California doom act Morgion. The band's debut outing _Among  Majestic
Ruin_ was heralded by metal fans  as  an  exquisite  piece  of  work.
Beautiful tapestries of metal woven into a fine piece of work. Gritty
vocals accompanying some of the most  masterful  --  not  to  mention
heavy -- guitar tones in the last  little  while  was  what  made  up
_Among Majestic Ruin_. With  their  follow-up  _Solinari_,  the  band
continues on creating some lengthy bits of material,  cheered  onward
by the sullen ways of the band's guitar tones  and  the  well-crafted
song writing. Just feel the sincerity in the harsh vocals  of  Jeremy
Peto, or the  aggressive  nature  of  Rhett  Davis'  drumming  style.
Stunning. For the most part, the band has  once  again  captured  the
magic, though as a whole this is not a true  masterpiece.  With  some
dips and turns of the band's vocal styles, mixed up with some out  of
character song structure ideas, the band  loses  some  initiative  in
their form of attack. Rather than stick to what they do  right,  they
seemed to have ventured out a bit. Experimentation is all a must  for
music, but sometimes loosening what you have sets you  adrift.  Still
one of the most promising releases (and bands) out there right now.


Motorhead - _Everything Louder Than Everyone Else_
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out of 10)  (BMG/CMC, March 1999)

This double-CD, two hour, 25 track live album comprises a single show
the band played in Hamburg, Germany, in May 1998. It is faithful  and
powerful and, though you have to swap discs, recreates the feel of  a
concert well, because it has the continuity of being recorded on  one
single night. I think if you saw  Motorhead  on  this  tour  and  you
wanted a "souvenir", _ELTEE_ could be a good choice of  trinket,  but
for the rest of us it is a question of whether you want  a  Motorhead
live album and whether you want  -this-  Motorhead  live  album.  The
advantage of this live album is that you get material  spanning  most
of  the  band's  career,  from  Clarke/Taylor   era   classics   like
"Overkill", "Bomber", "Orgasmatron" and, of course, "Ace of  Spades",
to later notables like "Killed by Death", "I'm So Bad, Baby  I  Don't
Care", and "Born to Raise Hell". This is  an  advantage  if  you  are
interested in later Motorhead material and  may  be  the  only  thing
which makes this worth getting if you already  have  _No  Sleep  'Til
Hammersmith_, the bands number  one  charting  live  classic.  Nearly
every song is well performed, capturing the live power the  band  are
famous for, and the setlist is  one  I  have  enjoyed  listening  to.
Overall, I find it hard to know whether to recommend this; it is cool
and gives you the chance to hear Motorhead  rocking  like  only  they
can, but then again it is a live  album  and  I  wonder  whether  you
wouldn't be just as happy rocking out to the studio albums of  theirs
that you already have and saving yourself X amount of  cash.  If  you
don't own any Motorhead albums and want a selection to begin with,  I
would recommend _ELTEE_ to you as a good place to  start;  my  Slayer
initiation was with _Decade of Aggression_ and this  is  a  similarly
representative sample to begin with. I would point out though that if
you are only  interested  in  the  band's  classic  line-up  and  the
material that was produced by it, you'd be better  off  with  _NSTH_,
and you get the selfsame three individuals cranking out the tunes too.


MSBR / Die Lebensmittelvergiftung - _Collaboration_
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (8.5 out of 10)  (Flenix Records, 1999)

Well, this isn't harsh noise, but you know  what?  IT'S  BETTER  THAN
POWER ELECTRONICS! (Yes, the theme continues...) If you  are  a  wise
human being and decide to purchase this fine slab of vinyl, what  you
will have is a rather odd, but at the same time highly  entertaining,
release from Japanese deity of noise Koji Tano (MSBR)  and  a  fellow
Japanoise  artist  who  I  am  at  this  time  unfamiliar  with,  Die
Lebensmittelvergiftung. This is a bit off beat for  MSBR,  as  it  is
less of a drawn out harsh tonal work as much as it is a more abrasive
ambient piece, though with a shitload more innovation on  the  sounds
and editing than just about any ambient you will find out there these
days. The first side is pure MSBR with  supplied  sounds  by  DL  and
really isn't that much of a stretch for a lot of what you  hear  from
MSBR these days, only a tad bit lighter. The second side  is  a  very
strange remixing of sounds which resembles nothing of what I am  used
to from MSBR. The sounds are there, but the style is all wrong (well,
not wrong, just  different).  Perhaps  this  is  the  style  that  DL
incorporates on their solo works (I  wouldn't  know,  unfortunately),
but either way you won't get any complaints out of  me,  as  I  found
myself knocking the needle back on my  turn  table  to  experience  a
number of moments in this composition which I found as nothing  short
of magical in a way that only a surrealistic poet dropping acid could
explain. In other words, it has something so  much  noise  and  power
electronics is lacking and that is... INNOVATION! Got that?  So  this
is where I give you readers the choice... you can  either  drop  your
time with some repetitious slop that seems to infest the lovely noise
scene today or you can check out something that is time  tested  good
like MSBR and this newbie he tag teams with.  It's  your  choice,  of
course... I'm just giving you my goddamn opinion to guide you.

Contact: Flenix Records, 1-108 Anjoji Matsuyama,
         Ehime 791-8006, Japan
         mailto:mail@msbr.com


MSBR / K2 / Magmax - _Split_  (MSBR, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (8 out of 10)

I believe this is the first time I have ever  reviewed  a  three  way
split and I must confess I am not entirely sure how to  approach  it.
In the beginning of it all is a live track  from  a  veteran  of  the
Japanoise scene (and an artist who is  continually  growing  on  me),
MSBR. This live piece is less along MSBR's  harsh  side  and  instead
makes moves towards a more atmospheric feel. Despite expecting a more
"in your face" type of sound, I can find  little  to  gripe  about  a
sound that is as dynamic as that of MSBR. K2  supply  two  tracks  of
their own during this three way dance. It's  what  you  would  expect
from K2: crashing metallic sounds, whirlwind  pulsations  of  subdued
electronic madness, and more quick changes  to  the  noise  than  one
could possibly hope to keep track of. Though I  would  never  put  K2
into the realm of being the harshest noise artist in the field today,
his tracks came off as quite the shock following the more  laid  back
approach that MSBR chose to take. The fun little  three  way  finally
comes to a close with Koji Tano  of  MSBR's  other  project,  Magmax.
Until this album, I had not the pleasure of  hearing  Magmax  and  if
this one track is any indication of the work Koji is producing  under
this name, then I am  hooked.  Much  of  the  sound  revolves  around
projecting the more dark psychedelic aspects of MSBR, but interlacing
it with a variety of moans, screams, and cries supplied by  (I  would
assume) Koji himself. Though this type of style can  sometimes  creep
into the realms of cheesy, I have heard it work  wonders  for  groups
such as Bastard Noise and Magmax seems to  have  captured  that  same
energy. Even if the other outpourings of Magmax are not  along  these
lines, this one track was enough, in my view,  to  put  this  release
over the top from being simply good to great. A  worthy  addition  to
any noise fan's collection, in my view, and also a very good  way  to
sample three of Japan's more worthy noise projects.

Contact: MSBR, 2-2-12-101 Hanegi, Setagaya, Tokyo 156-0042, Japan
         mailto:mail@msbr.com


Napalm Death - _Words From the Exit Wound_  (Earache, April 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

It only seems right for the band that helped begin (or at  least  lay
the groundwork) for all of this genre moulding metal to have a  solid
release as this century comes to a close. Had this been a bummer of a
record, I think I would have given up on Napalm Death. But  my  metal
friends, _Words From the Exit Wound_ is quite the piece of  work,  so
there is no need to panic.  Much  in  the  vein  of  the  brilliantly
crushing last effort (1997's _Inside the Torn Apart_),  Napalm  Death
has once again upheaved their sound to much  stronger  and  precision
oriented  numbers,  relying  heavily  on  slight  melodies  and  pure
punishing rhythms. Singer Barney Greenway's vocals are  in  top  form
too, lashing out a vindictive tongue of musical mayhem with each  and
every breathe. It's stunning  to  see  that  through  all  the  metal
meldings and style changes that have shaped  metal  over  the  years,
Napalm Death still adhere to their principle song  writing  structure
and stay sounding like Napalm Death. Can  you  imagine  Napalm  Death
showcasing black metal or gothic rock tendencies? Eek! While  not  as
potent as _Inside the Torn Apart_, Napalm Death serve  up  plenty  of
action here (i.e., "Next of Kin to Chaos,"  "Ulterior  Exterior"  and
"Clutching at Barbs"). I saw them live a month or so  back  and  they
ruled. The new stuff carried off well live.


Narnia - _Long Live the King_  (Nuclear Blast, March 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (2 out of 10)

Well, what can I say? I'll start with pointing  out  that  this  band
have only plundered from C.S. Lewis' selection of classic  children's
books for their name, cover (which is bastardised) and a  song  title
or maybe two. This is not _Themes from  C.S.  Lewis  "The  Lion,  the
Witch and the Wardrobe"_. This is probably good in  that  the  Narnia
stories, much as they are involving and well-written, are not  really
appropriate material for heavy metal lyrics. I don't want to restrict
anyone  here,  but  I  don't  think  anyone  could  pull   that   off
convincingly.  No,  instead  we  are  treated  to  endless  Christian
preaching, worshipping and thanking. Sorry to sound  prejudiced,  but
my atheism is not the  reason  for  my  ridicule.  These  lyrics  are
downright crappy, predictable, typical "everything's great  'cause  I
found God" garbage. A sample: "Oh my lord, from heaven above, give me
strength to carry  on,  Lord  give  me  shelter,  every  night  every
morning, Lord give me shelter,  all  through  the  pain".  The  music
consists of melodic rock/metal with  very  "German"  sounding  vocals
(HammerFall doing pop) and plenty of cheesy backing keyboards.  There
are some decent riffs and guitar runs, but quite  honestly  the  only
reason I can think of for these guys to be signed  to  Nuclear  Blast
would be Markus Staiger trying to make up with God  over  giving  the
world so many (excellent) Satanic bands. This is false metal,  I  say
death to it, and I'm pretty sure certain other Nuclear Blast  signees
would agree with me.


New Eden - _Obscure Master Plan_  (Nuclear Blast, 1999)
by: Alex Cantwell  (7 out of 10)

I don't care for this a great deal, although I would  encourage  fans
of their debut album _Through the Make Believe_ and  also  any  Elegy
fans out there to at least give it a spin. I have given it about  all
the spins I'm going to give it, and I was not  satisfied,  especially
since it was their first for Nuclear Blast. What were they  thinking?
Some of the vocal melodies are way off, but seemingly  intentionally.
Why? Sometimes the vocals are just plain annoying. Worse yet, some of
the guitar melodies don't jive with what is going on in the song. Did
they forget how to write the killer melodies that were  displayed  on
_TtMB_? Just because you can play with great technical skill  doesn't
necessarily mean that you can write good songs. I think that they are
trying to be a bit abstract with their songsmithing now, but sadly it
just does not sound good. When they get going, get into a groove, and
start letting the leads fly, then they put out some great music,  and
there are many songs that provide saving graces for this album.  Also
the lyrics are intelligent and are definitely an asset, but  _Obscure
Master Plan_ falls short because of (over) "creativity".


Nightwish - _Oceanborn_  (Spinefarm, December 1998)
by: David Rocher  (10 out of 10)

Unless this year effectively -does- see  the  troops  of  Muspellheim
washing over earthly shores, I don't really see what could reasonably
hold this fantastic act back  from  attaining  the  same  recognition
level as a referential band like Therion. Hailing from Finland,  this
harmonious quintet, fronted by the enrapturing vocalist Tarja, play a
fine, melodic brand of metal, that  revels  in  dimensions  somewhere
between Children  of  Bodom,  Stratovarius  and  Therion's  excellent
latest works. Nightwish's music structures  and  general  tone  sound
rather  progressive,  yet  their  music  is   almost   systematically
constructed around a fairly heavy rhythmic section, which is  clearly
strengthened by the crunchy, Tico-Tico kind of  powerful  sound  that
_Oceanborn_ boasts. All musicians display a wide  span  of  technique
and imagination in their songwriting, and  excellent  keyboard  lines
admirably complete the melodic, technical guitar work; drummer  Jukka
is extensively active too, yet clever enough to  never  get  vulgarly
technical or spectacular, and his rather bouncy playing gives  tracks
such as "Stargazers" (-not- the  Rainbow  classic)  or  "The  Pharaoh
Sails to Orion" a very  dynamic,  spectacular  streak.  The  almighty
crowning parts  of  this  album,  though,  are  undoubtedly  vocalist
Tarja's enthralling, majestic and very varied chants;  rarely  has  a
female singer  graced  metal  with  a  voice  this  deep,  warm,  and
emotional. With this competition  of  extraordinary  imagination  and
very  skilful  musicianship,  _Oceanborn_  rises  miles   above   the
blandness most releases boasting  female  vocals  cannot  avoid,  and
indeed oozes with the essence of a truly magical album, whose  beauty
is often so searing it will  have  you  lost  for  words,  and  whose
furiously communicative energy is nothing less than a  near-religious
commandment to wreck  your  neck.  All  chapters  of  this  opus  are
beautiful -- captivating, even --, powerful and unbelievably  catchy;
Metal in fact seldom gets much better  than  this,  and  I  can  only
regret not having discovered these fantastic Finns earlier.  Truly  a
revelation, that has set me on the  tracks  of  Nightwish's  previous
opus, _Angels Fall First_.


Odium - _The Sad Realm of the Stars_
by: Nuno Almeida  (9 out of 10)  (Nocturnal Art, August 1998)

Listening to this debut album from Odium, I can't help  but  thinking
"boy, Mr. Samoth sure knows what he's doing with  his  label."  Odium
are another great Norwegian  band  releasing  an  album  through  the
Emperor guitarist's own label, Nocturnal Art Productions.  The  cover
art is very similar to Limbonic Art's -- which is no surprise,  since
it was also done by Morpheus. The cover displays a warrior sitting on
his throne, as he sadly gazes at the vast, endless universe.  A  very
melancholic scene. And it perfectly  describes  Odium's  music.  Pure
darkness, hate, coldness and sorrow. The music is  typical  Norwegian
black metal, always very fast and extreme, the keyboard being used in
a very effective way. I even dare  to  name  it  the  most  important
feature in their music, since its role in creating the sometimes  sad
and melancholic, other times majestic and epic melodies is more  than
important -- it builds landscapes of cold melancholy and  sorrow  and
makes a nice contrast with the fuzzy guitar, the very fast and  tight
drumming (courtesy of Eek from the Norwegian doom metal band Funeral)
and especially  with  Secthdamon's  agonizing  screams.  Great  vocal
performance. Just check the title track and the last  two  tracks  of
the album, "The Brightness of the Weeping Kingdom"  and  "Riding  the
Starwinds", to see what I mean. Emperor's _In the Nightside  Eclipse_
comes to mind when listening to _The Sad Realm  of  the  Stars_.  The
overall cold and dark feeling is very similar, although Odium do have
their own style. A very, very good release. Hell, I'm tempted to give
it a perfect rating! One final note: the album was recorded in  1996,
but was only released almost two years later, due  to  problems  with
their previous label, the French  Velvet  Music.
(Also reviewed in Ancient Ceremonies #3 -- http://come.to/ac_zine/)


Paramaecium - _A Time to Mourn_ (<Independent>, 1999)
by: Alex Cantwell  (7 out of 10)

It is truly "a time to mourn" when I am forced to give a  Paramaecium
release anything less than a 10, but that time  has  now  come.  With
this, their fourth release, we find  bassist/vocalist/founder  Andrew
Tompkins still flying the Paramaecium flag of doom, but for the first
time without the astounding  drumming  talents  of  Jayson  Sherlock.
However, Ian Arkley (Ashen Mortality, ex-Seventh Angel) on guitar  is
a welcome addition to the fold. Although there are violins and flutes
on some songs,  there  is  something  missing  from  this  album,  as
compared to previous releases,  and  I  think  the  word  for  it  is
"grandiosity". _Within  the  Ancient  Forest_  and  _Exhumed  of  the
Earth_, were huge, important doom epics. _ATtM_ falls a bit short  in
this area. "Betrayed Again" and "Even the Walls" are sadly just plain
boring -- they are just too slow, and pointlessly so,  dragging  butt
for seven minutes or so. The first track "A Moment" and  the  album's
closer "Unceasing" tread familiar  territory,  igniting  memories  of
Paramaecium albums past, playing doomed out death metal in the  style
that only they can do. I was also disappointed by the absence of  the
wonderful Rosemary Sutton, who has contributed greatly in the way  of
vocals on past releases, especially since I had read some months back
that she would indeed be on this album. Tracy Bourne does a good  job
with the female parts on _ATtM_, but it's just not  quite  the  same.
Hopefully, Andrew and Ian will form a real and true line-up  for  the
next release, so that it may be more of a band  effort,  though  they
must be  commended  for  writing  and  performing  another  memorable
chapter of the great  Paramaecium  saga.  I  would  not  hesitate  to
recommend this to any fan of doom, but  I  would  recommend  previous
albums over this one to the uninitiated.

Contact: Paramaecium, PO Box 46, Forest Hill, 3131, Australia
         mailto:andrew@paramaecium.com
         WWW: http://www.paramaecium.com


Rotting Christ - _Sleep With Angels_  (Century Media, April 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

I was pleasantly surprised by the work found on _Sleep With  Angels_,
having been a fan of the band  for  sometime,  breathing  a  sigh  of
relief as the band still wallows in the darkened, black metal  realms
of uncertainty, but still soothing for bringing into their songs some
interesting concoctions. While their early stuff (i.e.,  _Passage  to
Arcturo_ in 1991 and 1993's _Non  Serviam_)  was  groundbreaking  and
allowed them to become the front  runners  in  the  rather  combative
black metal scene, there was always  something  really  tranquil  and
mystical about the work of this Greek band. While frontman Sakis  has
lengthened himself a bit from the bands early  roots,  moving  slowly
towards some melody and consistent rhythms, it's his  stunning  vocal
style and matching of the music to it that  is  the  true  bread  and
butter of this release. Not in a long  time  has  a  record  been  so
flavourful in song structure, allowing such a brilliant atmosphere to
stem forth from the recording. Choice cuts: "After Dark I Feel", "You
My Flesh" and "Thine Is the Kingdom". Fans will love this, I suspect,
and I'm assuming many new legions of metal fans might latch onto such
a superb release.


Sculpture - _Spiritual Matrix_  (Lowroof, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell  (7.5 out of 10)

First off, this is not the Sculpture from Portugal or wherever; these
guys are from The Netherlands. This Sculpture play an angry style  of
late '80s thrash. Their ten compositions on  _Spiritual  Matrix_  are
admittedly a bit simplistic, but powerful nonetheless.  Could  it  be
that they are just playing the music  that  they  enjoy,  instead  of
playing what everyone claims is "relevant"? I  believe  that  is  the
case here, because these songs are played with conviction, and a  lot
of it. I can't justify slamming a band for playing thrash, unless  of
course it is of poor quality, because I still listen to quite  a  bit
of it myself, 1999 or not. That said, on to  the  music.  Sculpture's
two guitarists employ very skilful riffing, and have a good handle on
harmonies and counter melodies,  complementing  each  other  and  the
songs a great deal. All the songs  contain  great  guitar  solos  and
actually all of the band should be commended  for  good  performances
all around.

Contact: Lowroof Records, Debora Bakelaan 162,
         1962 XT Heemskerk, The Netherlands
         mailto:lowroof@knoware.nl


Sick of it All - _Call to Arms_  (Fat Wreck Chords, February 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

Sick of it All present us with another 30 odd minute slab of New York
hardcore, and once again it is of the highest quality. Though  little
has changed in the band's style since _Scratch  the  Surface_,  there
have been a few minor fine tunings. The band capitalize a bit more on
the leanings of punk (especially of the  "oi"  variety)  and  make  a
little more effort to mix  melody  into  their  already  considerably
catchy hardcore anthems. Overall, though, there  will  definitely  be
people who will shun this release for  the  lack  of  development  it
displays. This would be a mistake in my view. It is  not  originality
which draws me to _Call to Arms_, it is sheer listenability.  The  30
odd minutes of  hardcore  (with  a  humorous  acoustic  dirge  called
"Greazy Weazy" included at the end) are  catchy,  infectious,  varied
and so well written that I find it hard to find  a  moment  where  it
bores me or I don't feel it is worth continuing to listen to. What is
great as well is that I find this album  lyrically  satisfying,  with
the sentiment and delivery being equally favored by  myself.  Overall
SoiA have fulfilled their purpose, in my opinion: to give us  another
selection of great hardcore tracks. Maybe they could do more and push
the boundaries of hardcore, but I'm perfectly content with what _CtA_
already has to offer.

Contact: PO Box 193690, San Francisco, CA 94119-3690, USA


Sins of Omission - _The Creation_  (Black Sun, 1999)
by: David Rocher  (9.5 out of 10)

With a skin-bashing department  very  efficiently  filled  by  Dennis
Ekdahl of Raise Hell, this Swedish act  have  actually  succeeded  in
offering a rather new expression of death metal,  and  display  great
talent and knowledge in  fusing  the  sounds  of  the  now  notorious
"Gothenburg  death  metal"  style  with  more  intricate,  heavy  and
thrashing sounds, that would in  fact  remind  me  of  an  aggressive
mutation of twin guitar  assaults  a  la  Judas  Priest  merged  with
faster, more aggressive measures of  extremist  contemporary  musical
dirges. The very melodic guitar play  from  Tony  Kocmut  and  Martin
Persson always remains heavy enough  to  grace  _The  Creation_  with
power and catchiness that the names At the Gates or Dark Tranquillity
are not unfamiliar  with;  needless  to  say,  Dennis  Ekdahl's  very
talented pounding  rhythms  are  murderously  energetic,  and  varied
enough to  always  perfectly  create  a  flawless  backbone  for  the
syncopated, almost rivalling axe attacks. Demonstrating much  energy,
creativity and a taste for sharply controlled chaos,  _The  Creation_
hulls  metal  that  can  musically  trickle  through  a   euphonious,
mid-paced melody, before brutally swelling  into  a  raging,  violent
death metal surge, which in turn carries the song through to a bouncy
speed metal-like section, or may as well  merely  let  it  fade  into
another laid back twin guitar part.  The  swift  strings  are  always
fantastically imaginative and inspired, and the frequently  diverging
guitar lines often collide, to great effect, with the massively heavy
bass and drums. Clear vocal lines (duelling, of course) are used very
sparingly, and thus avoid  becoming  a  mere  reflex  movement  whose
facility increasingly many bands now succumb to. Considering the fact
that the Sins had no vocalist at the time of  the  Fredman  recording
sessions, Tony Kocmut did a very convincing job at this post;  better
news still, with the adjunction to their formation of rabid  screamer
Marten Hanssen, of the late A Canorous Quintet,  Sins  of  Omission's
music is most  likely  going  to  be  granted  an  extra  serving  of
aggressiveness -- which it by no means lacks! These heavy, thrashing,
melodic deathsters are certainly destined to become  a  force  to  be
reckoned with, and many bands hoping to  play  in  their  league  are
going to have a hard time keeping their musical standards this high.


Steel Prophet - _Dark Hallucinations_  (Nuclear Blast, March 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (6 out of 10)

As this album begins, the first thing that struck me about it was its
impressively heavy production. The kickdrums are pounding and in fact
the whole drum kit punches comfortably through the  music  throughout
the album. The guitars are close to being as powerful but lag  behind
the drums a little. With these weapons of mass destruction  at  their
disposal, Steel Prophet deliver _Dark Hallucinations_, an album which
draws  heavily  from  the  melodic  speed/thrash  sounds   of   early
Annihilator and, of necessity, has  many  of  its  roots  planted  in
classic Judas Priest.  The  result  is  far  from  bad  in  terms  of
technical proficiency or even songwriting.  However,  the  vocalist's
style does not appeal to me or seem to  fit  the  music  brilliantly.
When you take into account the fact that the lyrical concepts do  not
grab me (they seem to consist of a five  song  "concept"  piece  with
significant influence from Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451"  and  some
rather pedestrian stuff dealing with alien encounter themes) and that
the music is not spectacularly original, you have a record  I  really
can't see myself putting on again. Fans of Iced Earth's  last  record
may enjoy this, though, I feel.


Various - _Straight to Hell -- A Tribute to Slayer_
by: Aaron McKay  (7 out of 10)  (Deadline Music, 1999)

Rather nice to have Hypocrisy, Brutal  Truth  (RIP),  and  Dissection
plowing through some of Slayer's best material in  tribute  to  these
colossal kings of metal. Thirteen bands,  appropriately  enough,  tip
their collective hats to Slayer's musical prowess covering some of my
favorites like "Chemical Warfare" and "Necrophobic". If you've  heard
tribute albums before, then this one will not present  any  surprises
to you. Every band reverently moulds  Slayer  tunes  with  their  own
particular style as a metalsmith bangs out  creation  after  creation
with hammer and anvil. A choice few additions on _Straight  to  Hell_
are certainly worth special mention. The Electric Hellfire  Club  and
Jungle Rot pounding out "South of Heaven"  and  "Fight  Till  Death",
respectively,  are  simply  spectacular.  Chapter  7's   version   of
"Mandatory Suicide" is dead-on balls accurate  and  simply  flawless,
but what really completely knocked me for a loop was  a  band  called
Naked Lunch reworking "Blood Red". An  exercise  in  metal  precision
seasoned with a light, highly groovy techno feel that would  be  well
utilized in a horror flick like,  say,  "Evil  Dead".  If  you  fancy
yourself a Slayer junkie, you cannot go wrong  with  this  effort.  I
might even say that _StH_ has enough pull to draw in a slightly  more
diverse crowd centering around Slayer's proven grandeur.


Taetre - _Out of Emotional Disorder_  (Diehard, April 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8.5 out of 10)

It is very unusual for me to feel that a press release actually sells
an album short in my view. In fact, I really can't remember a  single
time a press release didn't go OTT  on  praising  an  album,  however
monumentous or utterly rubbish that album turned out  to  be,  in  my
opinion. So here is the  exception,  and  Taetre's  second  album  is
exceptional in more than just the way  its  content  relates  to  its
press release. Though I will admit the core of their sound  is  still
that of brutal melodic Gothenburg death metal, Taetre have  evidently
tried to do more with this album than simply to rewrite their  debut.
One of the things I felt _The Art_ was lacking in was  variation  and
this led to it becoming tedious before its 41 minutes  was  finished.
_Out of Emotional Disorder_ may only be 37 minutes by comparison, but
the fact still stands that  it  holds  my  attention  for  its  whole
duration. Taetre have, quite simply, written better, tighter and more
dynamic songs. They utilize acoustic and keyboard backed sections for
the purpose of creating a dynamic, and they do  it  well,  almost  as
well as their countrymen At the Gates  (RIP)  or  Dark  Tranquillity.
Taetre retain their brutality throughout this release, even in  their
interesting and effective cover of  The  Rolling  Stones'  "Paint  it
Black", though they  still  lack  the  kind  of  dark,  encapsulating
atmosphere which dethroned emperors Dissection were  masters  of  and
Dawn have exhumed from the crypts of eternity for  the  present.  But
Taetre -are- doing well: Andy LaRocque's production  works  well  for
them and in  just  a  year  they  have  developed  their  songwriting
immensely without sacrificing their integrity; that's more  than  can
be said for many a band.


Various - _To Live Is Ever to Be in Danger_  (Red Stream, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay  (8.5 out of 10)

If for no other reason than  Bethlehem's  "Tiermutter",  Iron  Maiden
cover, [see the  Bethlehem  interview  in  this  issue]  is  on  this
compilation, I would own this, if I were you. It  would  seem  to  me
that the Red Stream bands, Bethlehem and Necrophagia, are raising the
bar so fuckin' high with recent efforts that concern  quite  possibly
is warranted that some of my favorite groups, currently, might not be
able to close in the distance these bands are creating. An unreleased
track, "Rising", from France's blackened  Himinbjorg  is  prominently
put forth here, as  is  "Pouring"  from  the  Skepticism  1995  demo.
Ranging in convolution from pounding mood laced  tracks  like  Wejdas
self-titled  song  to  the  almost  Mortiis-esque  Nightmare  Lodge's
"Mankind Sanctuary" to the sounds of death emanating from  Obliveon's
"The Scrutinizer", this compilation is just what the  doctor  ordered
for even the most benign and mundane among the musically apathic  out
there. Also, allow me to give a shout out about the fact  that  there
is an unreleased Necrophagia 1998 piece present  here  too,  entitled
"It Lives in the Woods". If exposure to new shit is a cup of tea  you
might like to drink from, Red Stream  just  finished  brewing  a  pot
called _To Live Is Ever to Be in Danger_ and read -those- tea leaves,
boys and girls!

Contact: Red Stream, P.O. Box 342, Camp Hill, PA 17001-0342, USA
         WWW: http://www.rstream.com


Turmoil - _The Process of_  (Century Media / St. Clair, April 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9.5 out of 10)

This I was not expecting. This floored me and I'm  still  picking  my
teeth off the floor. In totally ULTRA heavy  fashion,  the  ferocious
assault of Turmoil breaks down all walls that you may have and shoves
their totally metallic-tinged  hardcore  numbers  down  your  throat.
Having been an average fan of the band since their earlier EP release
_Who Says Time Heals All Wounds_, this record has turned  me  into  a
true believer. These guys are for real, easily surpassing  a  lot  of
the heavyweights within the hardcore/metal scene with this blistering
collection of goodies. From opener "Playing Dead" to "The Locust" and
the shit-kickin' "Staring Back", Turmoil know the  right  buttons  to
push to get the juices flowing. Anyone steals this copy from  me  and
they die! I'm serious...


Ulcerate Fester - _Souled Out_  (<Independent>, 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (5 out of 10)

Having started as a death/grind band ten years ago,  Ulcerate  Fester
have certainly changed a lot since then  --  most  likely  since  the
current vocalist, Michel de Groot, joined the band. From  death/grind
they changed to the mid-paced groovy form  of  metal  that  they  now
play. I cannot tell which style is best for them, since I never heard
any of their past efforts, but _Souled Out_  shows  a  band  that  is
technically competent and experienced but still lacks the ability  to
create songs that can captivate the listener. The vocals  don't  help
matters much,  but  the  songs  are  just  as  excessively  safe  and
unchallenging as they  are  competently  performed;  there's  nothing
extreme going on here and the songs are neither really  annoying  nor
really capable of capturing the listener's attention -- they're  just
there.

Contact: Michel de Groot, Rozenstraat 31, 7601 AL Almelo, Netherlands
         (Price: $15)
         mailto:legrand@solcon.nl
         WWW: http://home.wxs.nl/~ulcerate/


Welter - _The Elder Land_  (Berzerker Records, 1998)
by: Nuno Almeida  (8 out of 10)

Welter is a Dutch one-man band. In  this  rather  long  (45  minutes)
debut, labelled as an MCD, Herr Krieger played  all  the  instruments
and created what can be called a Viking/heathen metal album,  clearly
influenced by the likes of Falkenbach, Bathory, Burzum and especially
Northern folk. The album consists of an interesting mix of  old,  raw
black  metal  and  folkish  kind  of  songs.  After  a  short  intro,
consisting  of  folk  chants,  comes  the  epic  "Ingvian  Pride",  a
nationalist song sang in English. It's pretty good, with clean,  sad,
folkish vocals by Herr Krieger. Then comes "Friesche Viking",  a  raw
black metal track. This is a cover of an obscure  Dutch  black  metal
band called Black Art. After a rather amusing intro called  "The  Law
of the North", with Herr Krieger singing things like "We'll step upon
your little toes / The law of the North / If  we  want,  we'll  break
your nose / The law of the North", comes the best track of the album,
in my opinion. "Vitgedroogd Bloed", a Burzum-like song, with two very
good and grim guitar riffs that are  alternatively  repeated.  Vocals
are the usual black metal rasp. Half the songs  were  recorded  on  a
professional studio in the USA and the other half on  Herr  Krieger's
own studio in the Netherlands. So, from track five until the end, the
sound quality is a bit lower, as the  sound  becomes  thinner.  Track
five is another raw black metal song, in the vein  of  Bathory,  with
the usual black snarl. After that comes "Bij de  Sabelking",  another
folkish track, but this time combining both clean and rasped  vocals.
As in "Ingvian Pride", the guitar is fuzzy and  raw.  After  a  short
instrumental outro that reminds me a lot  of  Mortiis  comes  another
cover: Absurd's "Mourning Soul". The  use  of  clean  vocals  doesn't
quite work on this speed metal track.  If  you're  into  Falkenbach's
type of music, my advice is to give Welter a chance.
(Also reviewed in Ancient Ceremonies #3 -- http://come.to/ac_zine/)


Various - _Where We Go, Others Can Only Follow..._
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)  (No Fashion Records, 1999)

Having released albums such as Katatonia's _Dance of December Souls_,
Dissection's _The Somberlain_  and  also  both  Dark  Funeral  and  A
Canorous Quintet albums, plus about a couple dozen others, No Fashion
Records have been responsible for the release of some  great  Swedish
metal over the past  few  years.  Exclusively  dedicated  to  Swedish
metal, this compilation presents 75 minutes filled  by  the  work  of
fifteen of No Fashion's bands. Only two of these bands have two songs
in the  compilation,  namely  Dark  Funeral  (not  surprisingly)  and
Noctes, which makes it hard to understand why it is that  A  Canorous
Quintet's  excellent  debut  _Silence  of  the  World  Beyond_  isn't
represented in this compilation. Dark Funeral present a cover of King
Diamond's "The Trial", taken from their upcoming MCD _Teach  Children
to Worship Satan_,  together  with  their  "Thy  Legions  Come"  from
_Vobiscum Satanas_, while Noctes add a somewhat  disappointing  track
from their new album _Vexilla Regis Prodeunt  Inferni_  to  the  more
interesting  "In  Silence",  taken  from  their   debut   _Pandemonic
Requiem_. This  low-priced  compilation  features  some  of  Sweden's
finest bands,  such  as  Dark  Funeral,  Ophthalamia  and  the  sadly
deceased A Canorous Quintet, while most other bands keep the  quality
level quite high. There's not much variety, since it's all  based  on
either Swedish black, death or  a  combination  of  the  two,  except
mainly for Insania's power metal (which is hardly a  change  for  the
better). However, I don't consider that  bad  at  all  --  quite  the
contrary --, since whoever is going to buy this compilation should be
interested in Swedish metal anyway. In that case, there's  plenty  of
interesting music here and this can very well be a worthy purchase in
case it really is sold at a low price, like it's supposed to be,  and
the buyer isn't familiar with most of the featured bands, which  are:
Decameron,  Noctes,  Allegiance,   Ablaze   My   Sorrow,   Hypocrite,
Vinterland, Insania, Lobotomy, Vermin, Dark Funeral,  Ophthalamia,  A
Canorous Quintet, Moaning, Mork Gryning and Lord Belial.

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


Butchery - _The Coming Plague_  (1-track promo)
by: Paul Schwarz  (*****)

This was quite a surprise. Judging by the meat and  potatoes  name  I
was expecting meat and potatoes American death  metal  --  how  wrong
one's assumptions can be. Butchery are one of the more  talented  and
original death metal demo bands I have encountered in the last twelve
months. From their intro, taken, I think, from "The Devil's Advocate"
and thus expertly delivered by Al Pacino, comes blasting a  selection
of twisted riffs, tortured vocals and manic percussion which  reminds
instantly, though favorably, of Gorguts circa  _Erosion  of  Sanity_.
The band are not a clone, however, and in any  case  the  quality  of
their production and skill with which they play is  of  such  a  high
standard at such a preliminary stage that I think it would be  injust
not to award them full marks. I await further material from this band
with bated breath.

Contact: Butchery, PO Box 20, Holtsville NY 11742, USA
         mailto:xbutcheryx@aol.com


Downthroat - _I've Got My Mother's Eyes_  (6-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (****-)

In order to fully understand this demo tape's  title,  _I've  Got  My
Mother's Eyes_, one must look at what's above it on the front  cover:
the black and white picture of a badly beaten young girl  whose  eyes
are both -very- swelled and black. Yes, this is  brutal  death/grind,
like it or not. The horror movie samples in  the  beginning  of  both
sides of the tape are far from  innovative,  but  they  certainly  do
their job in setting a certain atmosphere. However, the band  doesn't
hesitate in doing some instrumental and sample-based  jokes:  cartoon
samples in the middle of one of the songs? And  "he's  a  jolly  good
fellow..."? Anyway, it's a good thing that the rest is good enough to
prevent  these  things  from  becoming  too  much  of  a  problem  --
Downthroat play their death/grind at speeds ranging from very slow to
very fast quite well. Even though the production is  very  acceptable
for a demo tape, the growled vocals sound somewhat muffled,  although
they are supposed to be very impressive live, while the more screamed
vox reminded me of Intestine Baalism. Overall, despite  the  annoying
passages  described  above,  Downthroat  have  made   a   very   good
death/grind demo.

Contact: Downthroat, Apartado 1157, 3780 Anadia, Portugal


Enforsaken - _Promo 1999_  (2-track demo)
by: Nuno Almeida  (***--)

Nice debut work from this North American duo.  Mostly  influenced  by
the  Swedish  death  metal  scene  (bands  such  as  early  Entombed,
Dismember, Dark Tranquillity and In  Flames),  Enforsaken  manage  to
display good potential in this two song promo tape. The  first  song,
"Into the Everblack", starts fast, evolves  into  a  mid-paced  death
metal song with a dominant guitar riff,  then  gets  fast  again  and
repeats the fast-slow combinations until the end.  The  second  song,
"Standing in the Shadow of  Suicide",  is  better,  with  an  overall
"Gothenburg feel". Despite the lack of originality, it's still a nice
song, with a very good solo near the end. Steve  Stell's  vocals  are
OK, following the Swedish style. The sound quality could  be  better,
but it's acceptable since this is a demo.
(Also reviewed in Ancient Ceremonies #3 -- http://come.to/ac_zine/)

Contact: Enforsaken, 400 Manda Lane 302, Wheeling Il. 60090, USA


Odeum - _The Pleiadean Diaries_  (2-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (****-)

Listening to these two new songs from Odeum for the first time,  just
about five seconds into the first track I was already nodding my head
to  its  opening  riff,  which  reminded  me  somewhat  of  some   of
Dismember's  more  fast-paced  songs  on  _Death  Metal_  (like   the
brilliant "Misanthropic", for example,  even  though  of  course  not
-that- good). Odeum, formerly known as Odium (I assume  they  changed
their name because of  Nocturnal  Art  Productions'  Odium,  but  I'm
guessing), again prove with these two  new  songs  that  they  are  a
skilled Swedish death metal band. In fact, the two new songs flew  by
so quickly the first time I listened to them that I  actually  turned
to side B, found their previous demo _Factor of  Tantrum_  [CoC  #30]
recorded there and ended up listening to it as well, which  I  hadn't
ever since I reviewed it several months ago (not  because  it  wasn't
worth it, though). The reason why both demos were there is that these
two new songs come as a bonus with the purchase of the original  demo
for $5 (or maybe it's the old demo that comes  with  the  new  songs,
whatever). This may not be anything groundbreaking  or  breathtaking,
but it's definitely some quite enjoyable Swedish death metal. I  hope
that the next time Chrille sends  me  new  Odeum  material  it'll  be
recorded on CD and have professional production and a label releasing
it, for while Odeum may not be one of the  very  best  Swedish  bands
around (the competition is huge anyway), they're  certainly  not  any
worse than a lot of what's being released, either.

Contact: Chrille Ludvigsson, Vattugatan 15b,
         28131 Hassleholm, Sweden
         mailto:odium666@hotmail.com
         WWW: http://home8.swipnet.se/~w-81012


Soriben - _Ancestros de Insania_  (5-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (*****)

Comparing this 30 minute long demo CD with their  demo  tape  from  a
couple of years ago, it's easy to perceive that Soriben have  come  a
long  way  already  and  their  skills  have  improved  considerably.
Although still quite a young band, Soriben have now been together for
quite  a  while,  and  it  shows.  _Ancestros  de  Insania_  is  very
competently written, played and produced as far as demos go and shows
a melodic  sort  of  doom  metal  that  often  has  a  lot  going  on
instrumentally,  and  Soriben  certainly  manage  to   play   tightly
throughout. The clean vocals, however, both  male  and  female,  need
work -- it's actually a good thing that the female vocals  appear  so
seldom.  The  death  vox  are  more  competently  performed,  though.
Throughout the demo, Soriben's compositions unfold to reveal  a  band
that can already achieve some remarkable moments  and  simultaneously
keep things interesting enough the rest  of  the  time,  guitars  and
keyboard successively taking the spotlight.  Soriben  still  need  to
work very hard if they are to release a  competitive  full-length  in
the future, but as  far  as  demos  go,  _Ancestros  de  Insania_  is
certainly one of the best I've listened to in quite a long while.

Contact: Soriben, P.O. Box 7260, 41005 Sevilla, Spain
         mailto:soriben@geocities.com
         WWW: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/1048


Thanatos - _Melegnia_  (6-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (****-)

Some bands' musical outputs  just  defy  description,  and  I  remain
unable to find a suitable label for _Melegnia_. One might say that  a
groovy  death  metal  backbone  is  often  present,  or   that   they
occasionally sound just a  bit  like  Blackstar  or  a  couple  other
groovier bands, or that they insert some atmospheric passages...  and
yet it's still hard to make sense. Whether this is a good thing or  a
bad thing strongly depends on the listener, however, because this  is
very unusual music. With a strong production thrusting  their  music,
Thanatos can achieve interesting moments just as  well  as  they  can
leave you wondering what was going  through  their  minds  when  they
thought that section would fit the song. How often will the former or
the latter occur depends mostly on  the  listener,  because  most  of
these situations are a lot less than clear-cut throughout  this  demo
CD. As far as I'm concerned, this is worthy of attention for some  of
its ideas and for several instrumental passages, which are all helped
by the very competent production and the CD release (they need better
artwork, though), but for my taste, I find a few sections  less  than
appropriate. Overall, this is at least a band that seems  to  have  a
positive attitude as far as originality is concerned while they still
simultaneously manage  to  achieve  plenty  of  interesting  moments;
definitely not for everyone's taste, though.

Contact: Thanatos, a/c Guilhermino Martins, Rua dos Combatentes,
         5030 Santa Marta de Penaguiao
         mailto:thanatosband@hotmail.com
         WWW: http://www.angelfire.com/pq/thanatosband


Thought Masticator - _Deception_
@@@@# - _Evolving Strains_
Meth - _Abstract Mental Chaos_
Sheen - _Sheen_  (Scratch Bladder Productions, March/April 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7.5, 8, 7, 9 out of 10)

I still can't believe all of the stuff I get sent from Bill Sannwald.
It's amazing that this guy has such  creativity  flowing  within  his
veins. Featured last issue, Bill Sannwald has once again gone off and
assembled a wide array of eccentric goodies to give listen  to.  With
such a slew of new ideas seeing the light of day, one  might  wonder:
Are they good? Is it all repetitive? The answer:  no.  What  Sannwald
does, and I tried to explain this in my story with him,  is  that  he
has the unique ability to make music out of anything. His works  have
always been lopsided, meaning his creative patterns are never  really
forced or follow the same style all the way throughout.  If  he  were
driving down the street for example, he'd be swerving  from  side  to
side. Is it worth the ride in the Sannwald mobile? Oh yes.  From  the
translucent and hypnotic patterns of  the  always  versatile  Thought
Masticator with its up and down,  start  'n'  stop  ways  of  musical
endeavours to the rockin', doubly-weird assemblage of ideas with  the
odd @@@@#. @@@@# is quite a good project in my books for Sannwald, as
it allows him to venture  out  certain  ideas  that  he  has  yet  to
capture. The ultra brutal black/Viking metal ways  of  Meth  is  very
professional, with some cool-ass darkened riffs and vocals that would
peel paint off walls. Sinister stuff. Beware of the Hordes  of  Meth!
Finally Sheen. Yes, as you might have guessed, reckless actor Charlie
Sheen is the showpiece of respect here as Sannwald and Co.  dish  out
some meaty hooks of metal in respect to one of Hollywood's  notorious
bad boys. This is so dirty in metal filth, that this music could have
easily done some time with Heidi Fleiss' women as  Sheen  did.  Yeah,
baby! While I liked Sheen the best out  of  all  of  Sannwald's  demo
tapes, due to its complex  and  totally  out  their  rally  of  ideas
(though @@@@# kicked ass too), it's a total given for many interested
to contact him and scope out his literally  hundreds  of  ideas.  I'm
still hooked on this guy. Keep 'em coming, Bill!

Contact: 3538 Paseo Salomoner, La Mesa, California 91941, USA
         mailto:Keirka777@hotmail.com

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


      T H E   D A R K E S T   N I G H T   O F   T H E   Y E A R
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        Dimmu Borgir, Dark Funeral, Dodheimsgard and Evenfall
                   at the Hard Club, Gaia, Portugal
                            April 11, 1999
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

     Four black metal bands in one concert  is  something  more  than
unusual here in Portugal, so I was really  looking  forward  to  this
show, especially considering the excellent  sound  quality  that  the
Hard Club usually provides -- which was, again, the case.  The  first
couple of bands, Evenfall and Dodheimsgard, were unknown to me. Their
performances totalled about 25 minutes each,  but  that's  about  all
they really had in common. While Evenfall were reasonably  consistent
but very unoriginal,  Dodheimsgard  were  very  original  but  lacked
consistency. Evenfall played some polished,  mostly  mid-paced  black
metal, something like a slower version of Cradle of Filth. They  were
competent live, but they really lacked originality --  I  even  think
I've heard at  least  one  of  the  keyboard  melodies  in  a  Hecate
Enthroned song before. They did, nevertheless, succeed  to  entertain
reasonably well, since their performance tended to improve  as  songs
went by, but overall were hardly interesting.
     Dodheimsgard, on the contrary, were  anything  but  predictable,
both   visually   and   musically.   Very   unusual    black    metal
experimentation, apparently drawing influences from Darkthrone.  They
had some great, and also quite original, moments,  especially  during
the new  songs,  which  include  some  keyboard  work.  None  of  the
electronics that are supposed to be present in their new  full-length
were used live, though. The  older  songs,  which  show  a  different
style,  weren't  so  good   and   a   significant   part   of   their
experimentation wasn't very successful. Some of the  audience  wasn't
very happy with them, but I did enjoy watching them and they did play
a reasonably innovative and occasionally quite interesting show.
     Considering the (once again) excellent sound quality, I was more
than looking forward to Dark Funeral, but their 45  minute  long  set
wasn't entirely satisfactory. It was brutal -- very  brutal  --,  but
what made them better than the average on CD was their ability to add
guitar  melodies  to  their  remarkable  harshness,   especially   on
_Vobiscum Satanas_, and those melodies were generally forsaken  live.
It was still a good performance, very brutal  and  rhythmically  well
done, and the  audience  reacted  quite  well.  They  played  a  good
selection of songs from  both  full-length  albums,  plus  "Open  the
Gates" from their debut MCD and a fine cover of Slayer's  "Dead  Skin
Mask". It could have been an outstanding performance, had  they  been
more careful with their guitar playing, but it was  still  definitely
worth it.
     Finally, over an hour  and  fifteen  minutes  of  Dimmu  Borgir.
Similarly to what happened with their somewhat surprisingly excellent
new album, _Spiritual Black Dimensions_, their live  performance  was
far better than I expected after having watched  live  recordings  of
theirs a couple of times on TV. As  a  matter  of  fact,  their  live
performance was absolutely excellent. The  sound  was  simultaneously
thunderous and very clear. New drummer Nicholas Barker (ex-Cradle  of
Filth, who are supposed to  have  Was  now)  delivered  a  remarkably
powerful and tight performance, even moreso than when I saw him  with
Cradle of Filth.  Guitars  and  bass  did  a  great  job,  while  the
excellent and very clear keyboard background provided a melodic  base
for the other band members to shred upon. In fact, the keyboards were
so well handled that it sometimes seemed almost too good for  a  live
situation. The vocalist did seem to be using a lot of effects on  his
voice,  though.  In  the  meanwhile,  tour  bassist  (and  full  time
Borknagar vocalist) Simen Hestnaes also  performed  his  clean  vocal
parts from _Spiritual Black Dimensions_ very well -- a highly  worthy
addition to their line-up, even if only for this tour. In addition to
the great sound, the  playing  was  surprisingly  detailed,  and  yet
aggressive and sometimes tremendously fast. -Very- impressive.  I  am
sure  that  most  of  those  who  slag  Dimmu  Borgir  for  being   a
"mainstream" black metal band would have been blown away --  I'm  not
their number one fan either, but these guys just do  have  a  lot  of
quality, and not  only  is  their  new  album  great  as  their  live
performance at the Hard Club was simply  outstanding,  -much-  better
than I expected, even if  made  far  easier  by  the  superior  sound
quality. They played almost all of _Spiritual Black  Dimensions_,  if
not -all- of it (the live version of "Reptile" was especially great),
plus  an  impressive  medley  of  songs   from   _Enthrone   Darkness
Triumphant_, the full versions of "Mourning Palace" and  "In  Death's
Embrace" from that same  album  and  the  classic  title  track  from
_Stormblast_. An amazing performance.

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            D E U T S C H E   D I S A P P O I N T M E N T
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                  Entombed, Skinlab and Kill II This
     at the Batschkapp in Frankfurt, Germany, February 25, 1999
                          by: Matthias Noll

     This February seems to be a bad time  for  tours.  Like  at  the
Pro-Pain gig only a disappointing amount of people showed  up.  Maybe
250 in the Batschkapp, which is well suited for 600 or more. Quite  a
frustrating sight even if the disappointing new Entombed album  might
be a valid explanation. The  place  was  nearly  empty  when  British
metallers Kill II This entered the stage and turned  out  to  be  the
crappiest band I've seen on stage since Einherjer last year. I  can't
help but wonder why a band with such uninspired and boring songs ever
got a record deal. Riffing and choruses you have a  heard  a  million
times before, a singer who is unable to sing in tune as  well  as  to
sound heavy and aggressive -- what a bore. Kill II This  might  be  a
bit better on record, but to  use  Kreator's  words:  "no  reason  to
exist".
     Things improved dramatically with Skinlab. I only  knew  one  of
the songs off their debut album and always considered  them  as  some
lame Machine Head clones, but this turned out to be completely wrong.
On stage the band acted like lunatics, wielded their  guitars  as  if
they were intending to split each  other's  skull  open  and  visibly
enjoyed  themselves  and  their  music.  A  damn  good  band  with  a
breathtaking drummer. For a review of their new album, which hits the
nail right in the head, please see CoC #38.
     Entombed then stormed the stage and a hammer  called  "To  Ride,
Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth" hit the fans right in  the  face,
directly followed by "Demon" from _Wolverine Blues_. I was more  than
relieved by now, because their vicious  downtuned  guitar  sound  was
back again and not gone as on  _Same  Difference_.  Nicke  Anderson's
departure seems to have been the  death  blow  for  Entombed  in  the
songwriting department; in the  live  situation,  their  new  drummer
proved to be a blessing. While I always had the impression that Nicke
was more stumbling through the songs than giving the band a  reliable
backbone, I have to say that I've  never  seen  this  band  so  tight
before. The definite highlights of the set  were  the  fucking  heavy
"Damn Deal Done", "Hollowman", "Night of the  Vampire"  (!),  "Crawl"
(!!), and the awesome "Out of Hand". To play  only  three  new  songs
definitely was the right  decision  for  Entombed.  "Addiction  King"
sounded allright, but the other two sucked. The  crowd  continued  to
rage and bang heads throughout  the  whole  set,  which  reached  its
climax with the last song, "Left Hand Path", especially  during  this
song's chilling, doomy ending. I thought Entombed had bitten the dust
with the release of _Same Difference_. They proved me wrong  and  are
definitely still a force to be reckoned with. Let's see what the next
album will bring, but don't miss them on tour.

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

           N I L E ' S   N O   S H O W ,   N O T   N I C E
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             Fear Factory, System of a Down and Static X
         at the Embassy in London, Ontario on April 1st 1999
                           by: Adam Wasylyk

     The immediate disappointment of the show was that Nile  wouldn't
be opening things up. Many in the crowd were  visibly  upset  as  the
news spread through the attendees, including our own Alain Gaudrault.
     So instead of being able to witness  one  of  America's  hottest
death metal  acts,  I  had  to  suffer  through  mass  quantities  of
industrial drivel. Where's the Trenchcoat Mafia when I need them??
     Static X put on  a  good  set  of  mediocre  industrial,  hardly
rousing any of those in the crowd. 'Nuff said.
     System of a Down are apparently quite the thing as of late  with
the industrial crowd, landing  some  prominent  tours  including  the
recent Ozzfest. Some of the  crowd  were  really  into  it,  but  the
majority of those here for Fear Factory couldn't care less.
     Fear Factory eventually took the stage, and would go on to  kick
the ass of everyone in the packed  Embassy,  including  yours  truly.
They would  play  a  wide  variety  of  tracks,  including  "Martyr",
"Scapegoat",  "Demanufacture",  "Replica",  "New   Breed",   "Shock",
"Edgecrusher", the title track off their new album,  "Obsolete",  and
the song that's featured on their newest video, "Resurrection".  What
also made this show have  all  the  more  impact  was  not  only  the
exclusion of any _Remanufacture_ material, but the inclusion  of  the
godly "Scumgrief (Deep Dub Trauma Mix)" track found on FF's _Fear  Is
the Mindkiller_ EP. Amazing!
     And I was thought Morbid Angel were  the  best  live  band  I've
seen! Fear Factory's set tonight held a level of intensity that  I've
never experienced before. Never has my voice been this hoarse before,
it was a "best of" Fear Factory right before my very eyes! This  band
could very well be the best metal band touring right now.
     If you haven't seen this band live, all I have is one  question:
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!?"

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

                "HONEY, PLEASE DON'T READ THIS REVIEW"
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Pro-Pain, Temple of the Absurd, Die Allergie and Run Devil Run
      at the Schweinehalle in Hanau, Germany, February 21, 1999
                          by: Matthias Noll

     After Pro-Pain  supported  the  controversial  but  top  selling
Boehse Onkelz on their last German tour, I expected a  big  crowd  at
the Schweinehalle. I'm still wondering why only 150 people turned up,
but those that didn't come definitely  made  the  wrong  choice.  Run
Devil Run, featuring some ex-Spudmonsters members, started  the  show
in good style -- their old school hardcore sounded very energetic and
convincing. Probably a rather average band on record, they  surprised
me on stage and were quite entertaining.  While  I  don't  think  Run
Devil Run will ever make it big, they might  be  able  to  attract  a
loyal following in the hardcore crowd.
     Die Allergie, a five piece with  one  guitar  and  a  keyboarder
hailing from Germany, were up next. Their music sometimes reminded me
of Fear Factory and was based on heavy industrial style riffing.  The
German lyrics sounded quite  cliche  sometimes  and  the  singer  was
definitely the weakest part of the band. No  voice  for  singing,  no
throat for an interesting aggressive  style.  Still,  their  set  was
enjoyable due to the good sound. They have  a  new  album  out  which
probably isn't that interesting for anyone overseas.  If  someone  is
familiar with the German band Schweisser and enjoys their style,  Die
Allergie should be worth checking out.
     The next band, Temple of the Absurd, featured a female vocalist,
Sabina Claasen, ex-Holy Moses. Sabina's style  isn't  much  different
from her Holy Moses days: death metal grunts, sounding like an  angry
dog, and you would never guess it's a woman. Nowadays she  also  does
some raspy parts which sound like a black metal  parody  plus  spoken
parts in German which sounded completely cheesy.  The  music  doesn't
really fit into the existing categories, being dark, heavy, not  very
technical and mostly midtempo. I hate that  monicker  but  you  could
call them "death 'n' roll". The band played tight and  professionally
but never really managed to step out of the  "heard  it  all  before"
category.
     Now it was time for Pro-Pain. Some funky '70s  disco  intro  was
slowly drowned with an orgy of guitar feedback before the band headed
straight into "Stand Tall". My mouth dropped open, unable to  believe
that what I heard was true. AAAArghhhhh, I screamed as  the  wall  of
sound just blew me away. So crystal clear and ultra  heavy,  I'm  not
kidding when I tell you that I was afraid I would lose  my  feelings.
Every guitar chord was fired at the audience like a bullet. This  was
my personal dream of what metal should sound like  coming  true.  But
let me step back and try to analyze it: the reason  why  Pro-Pain  is
such a fantastic live band  is  definitely  a  combination  of  their
perfect live sound (wonder where they find  such  capable  engineers)
and their simple but effective song material. Pro-Pain with a bad  or
even average live sound would be a mediocre experience. But a  superb
"all men  play  on  ten"  sound  catapults  this  band  into  another
dimension of heaviness. Eight out of the ten times I saw them so far,
they achieved exactly this, even in an  open  air  environment  where
most others simply sucked sound-wise. But  let's  continue  with  the
gig: The band did not stop for a second  after  the  first  song  and
mercilessly played "On Parade" and "Act  of  God"  immediately  after
each other. With a set lasting for one hour  and  ten  minutes,  they
easily reached the impressive net playing time of 65 minutes.  That's
what I  call  value  for  money.  The  new  members  just  fitted  in
perfectly. Guitarist Eric Klinger contributed  a  lot  to  the  stage
action, jumping around like a punching  ball,  and  the  new  drummer
played solid like  a  rock.  And  what  a  setlist:  "Foul  Taste  of
Freedom", "Iraqnophobia" and "Pound for Pound", "Make Love Not  War",
"Crush", "Don't Kill Yourself to Live", etc.. I was close  to  hoping
they would play a bad song because my neck muscles just weren't  able
to endure more headbanging. Even if by now I might sound as if I have
completely abandoned any objective point of view, I have to tell  you
Pro-Pain live is better than good sex. Let's all hope  my  girlfriend
will never read this.

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

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

Gino's Top 5

1. Life of Agony - _River Runs Red_
2. Limp Bizkit - _Three Dollar Bill_
3. Monster Magnet - _25.....tab_
4. Hypocrisy - _Hypocrisy Destroys Wacken_
5. Type O Negative - _Bloody Kisses_

Adrian's Top 5

1. Skinlab - _Disembody: The New Flesh_
2. Pissing Razors - _Cast Down the Plague_
3. Roadsaw - _Nationwide_
4. Sick of it All - _Call to Arms_
5. The Gathering - _Mandylion_

Brian's Top 5

1. Aghora -  _1998 demo_
2. Nomicon / Sarnath - _<split>_
3. Glacial Fear - _Atlasphere: The Burning Circle_
4. Tears of Euphony - _Tears of Euphony_
5. Fleurety - _Min Tid Skal Komme_

Alain's Top 5

1. Morgion - _Solinari_
2. Enslaved - _Blodhemn_
3. Opeth - _My Arms, Your Hearse_
4. Grip Inc. - _Solidify_
5. Incantation - _Onward to Golgotha_

Adam's Top 5

1. Emperor - _IX Equilibrium_
2. Anathema - _Serenades_ + extra tracks
3. Fear Factory - _Obsolete_
4. Moment Maniacs - _Two Fuckin' Pieces_
5. Type O Negative - everything!

Pedro's Top 5

1. Enslaved - _Blodhemn_
2. Dimmu Borgir - _Spiritual Black Dimensions_
3. Emperor - _IX Equilibrium_
4. Ashes You Leave - _Desperate Existence_
5. Amorphis - _Tuonela_

Paul's Top 5

1. Meshuggah - _Destroy Erase Improve_
2. The Chasm - _Deathcult For Eternity_
3. Gordian Knot - _Gordian Knot_
4. Autopsy - _Fiend For Blood_
5. Monstrosity - _Millenium_

Aaron's Top 5

1. Desire - _Infinity_ (thanks, Pedro!)
2. Bethlehem - _Reflektionen auf's Sterben_
3. Pro-Pain  - _Act of God_
4. Horrified - _Animal_
5. Nokturnal Mortum - _To the Gates of Blasphemous Fire_

David's Top 5

1. Nightwish - _Oceanborn_
2. Sins of Omission - _The Creation_
3. Immortal - _At the Heart of Winter_
4. Cradle of Filth - _The Principle of Evil Made Flesh_
5. Morgion - _Solinari_

Alex's Top 5

1. Immortal Souls / Mordecai - _Split EP_
2. Pink Floyd - _Ummagumma_
3. Sculpture -_Spiritual Matrix_
4. Led Zeppelin -_The BBC Sessions
5. Gorgoroth -_Destroyer_ (Thanks Aaron!!)

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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 #39

All contents copyright 1999 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.

