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


                    Fourth Anniversary Mega-Issue
                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, August 12, 1999, Issue #42
               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:alex@netmdc.com>
Contributor: Matthias Noll <mailto:matthias.noll@updatemarketing.de>

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

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

Issue #42 Contents, 8/12/99
---------------------------
* Editorial
* Loud Letters
* Deadly Dialogues
-- Suicidal Tendencies: Of Skateboards, Suicide and Pepsi
-- Tiamat: Within the Sun's Own Shadow
-- Borknagar: Bullshitting With Borknagar
-- Jesus Martyr: Sex, Drugs and... Porno?
-- Children of Bodom: The Chil'un Must Rise
-- God Dethroned: Eden Must Burn
* Album Asylum
-- Various - _A Tribute to Hell: Satanic Rites_
-- Akercocke - _Rape of the Bastard Nazarene_
-- The Atomic Bitchwax - _The Atomic Bitchwax_
-- Black Funeral - _Moon of Characith_
-- Cirith Gorgor - _Onward to the Spectral Defile_
-- Darkane - _Rusted Angel_
-- Deviate - _State of Grace_
-- Dismal Euphony - _All Little Devils_
-- Dominance - _Anthems of Ancient Splendour_
-- earthtone9 - _Off Kilter Enhancement_
-- Ebony Tears - _A Handful of Nothing_
-- Various - _ECW Extreme Music_
-- Empyrium - _Where at Night the Wood Grouse Plays_
-- Entombed - _Monkey Puss (Live in London)_
-- Extol - _Mesmerized_
-- Fantomas - _Fantomas_
-- Fornever - _We Whom Are..._
-- Goddess of Desire - _Symbol of Triumph_
-- Godgory - _Resurrection_
-- Katatonia - _Tonight's Decision_
-- Lacrimosa - _Elodia_
-- Various - _Lobot Manual_
-- Lunar Aurora - _Of Stargates and Bloodstained Celestial Spheres_
-- Machine Head - _The Burning Red_
-- Marduk - _Panzer Division Marduk_
-- Merciless - _The Awakening_
-- Mlehst - _The Difficulty of Crossing a Field_
-- Mortician - _Chainsaw Dismemberment_
-- MO*TE - _Stash_
-- Nagelfar - _Srontgorrth_
-- Various - _Needlepoint_
-- Novembers Doom - _Of Sculptured Ivy and Stone Flowers_
-- Obscenity - _Demo-Niac_
-- On Thorns I Lay - _Crystal Tears_
-- Satyricon - _Intermezzo II_
-- Sephiroth - _Cathedron_
-- Skepticism - _aes_
-- Soilwork - _Chainheart Machine_
-- Suicidal Tendencies - _Freedumb_
-- Summoning - _Stronghold_
-- Tormentula - _Submit Your Unworthy Soul_
-- Undertakers - _Live in Brutality_
-- Unholy - _Gracefallen_
-- Unusual Sickness - _Sounds of a Shattered Soul_
-- Valse Triste - _Turha Ruokkia Ruumiita_
-- Viking Crown - _Unorthodox Steps of Ritual_
-- War - _We Are War_
-- Various - _White: Nightmares in the End_
* New Noise
-- Exhumator - _Condescentions From the Dark Side_
-- Forcefed - _Special Places_
-- In Grey - _Seasons Change_
* Chaotic Concerts
-- Milwaukee Metalfest XIII
   -- Milwaukee, Here I Come Again, by: Adam Wasylyk
   -- Paul Peruses Wisconsin's Finest, by: Paul Schwarz
   -- Assorted Assertions, by: Adrian Bromley & Alain Gaudrault
-- Canada: No Church-Burners Allowed! Emperor in Canada
-- U.S. of A.: Church-Burners Are People Too: Emperor in the USA
-- Facing the Breton Storm Season: Nile, Cryptopsy and Co. in France
-- Pigs Feet and All Things Yummy: Nile, Cryptopsy and Co. in Germany
-- Take Your Stein, and Ramm It! Rammstein and Soulfly in Canada
-- Let Your Soul Fly Away: Rammstein and Soulfly in the USA
-- White Trash Convention: Ozzfest '99
-- Bruce Is Back: Iron Maiden in Toronto
-- Averse Conditions Inhibit the Endless Usurp of Filth
-- Did You Ever Know That You're My Hero? His Hero Is Gone in Toronto
* Writer's Wrath
-- MTV: Music Television or Money Television?
* What We Have Cranked
* Details

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

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

                          by: Gino Filicetti


     Look who's back... your long silent editor has returned to say a
word or two about life, love and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  Well,
maybe not today, since all of our thoughts,  all  of  our  hopes  and
dreams, and yes, all of our heart and soul should  be  pondering  the
fact that Chronicles of Chaos, the most magnificent  e-zine  ever  to
walk the face of the Internet, is celebrating its fourth birthday.
     Alright, time to turn off  the  cheese-O-matic  and  deflate  my
over-inflated ego and be serious once again.
     Today marks four years of Chronicles of  Chaos.  Four  years  of
hard work and lots of unrewarded toil, for a gang of misantropes  who
chose to associate themselves with this  publication.  They  are  the
ones who see to it, that the best possible  writing  is  output  each
month in a consistent fashion. But is not writing for CoC a reward in
and of itself? Personally, I must say  yes,  even  though  I  haven't
written an article in over two years,  being  a  part  of  CoC  isn't
something I would soon trade in. Perhaps the  best  part  of  CoC  is
working with a fine group of people who are a blast not only to  chat
to via email, but to drink heavily with as well. This is to  all  the
people who've contributed to Chronicles of Chaos over the  past  four
years, without you, I'd be no where in a hurry.
     And what of you, loyal reader. Out of our  original  lot  of  80
subscribers, I'm more than curious to know how many  are  still  with
us. And even if you weren't here since the beginning, oh so long ago,
I want to thank each and every 1700 of you for sticking with us,  and
showing the rest of the internet that quality is  what  survives  and
flourishes, not flashy web sites with a shite-load of graphics.
     I think I've gushed enough for another year entirely, but I just
wanted to set down on electrons  that  which  I've  known  since  the
beginning: that  without  the  many  great  people  who've  read  and
contributed to CoC in the past, I would be nowhere right about now.
     Cheers to everyone, the next fours years should be a blast.

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

                 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: Thu, 08 Jul 1999
From: "S.R. Prozak" <prozak@anus.com>
Subject: Re: Chronicles of Chaos #41 (1/3)

howdy,

i'm writing in  response  to  gutterboy's  comments  requesting  more
reviews for "christian metal". let me ask: why? and then  present  my
points.

1) earth, a bluesy band, changed to be black sabbath to  reflect  the
band's belief in the occult; its nihilistic power chord riffs were to
many an indicator of total breakdown of social order.

2) metal bands  from  the  heavy  metal  to  current  day  have  been
fascinated by any combination of the  following:  ancient  mythology,
battle, technology, magic, drugs, hate, war, death.

3) some bands, such as black sabbath,  led  zeppelin,  morbid  angel,
slayer,  venom,  hellhammer  and  all  of  black  metal,  are  either
explicitly  satanic  or   use   satanic   metaphor   to   express   a
_post-christian_ existence.

4) death metal is composed  of  elements  of  both  heavy  metal  and
hardcore, one of which is romanticist  and  the  other  of  which  is
ideological/political, each as its  own  "subculture,"  or  dissident
group within social expansion.

5) our world is in deep doo-doo. briefly: we're  destroying  most  of
our natural  forest  land,  destroying  temperature  and  atmospheric
purity regulators at the same time we commit erosion  and  runoff  to
slaughter our streams. the level  of  industrial  pollutants  in  the
world is at an all-time high, as our  industry  with  no  regard  for
human life pays workers minimal amounts to create  worthless  plastic
products and dump the toxic waste generated somewhere obscure. we die
of cancers as our corporate owners laugh.

metal was founded in 1969, at the height of  the  cold  war,  to  get
beyond conventional thinking. a different way was needed -  different
from the normal moralistic, prudish, commercially-driven value system
that became the hallmark of the western nations  to  combat  "godless
communism." at a time when everything  was  falling  apart,  we  were
doing everything "right" according  to  conventional  Judeo-Christian
dogma - which failed - hence we have metal.

as usual, however, the Christians are waging a propaganda war against
us with "metal" bands that emulate non-religious bands, churn  out  a
similar product, and  then  claim  it's  art.  it's  not.  it's  pure
propaganda. no self-respecting metal magazine should honor in any way
"Christian metal," as that is adding insult to  injury  by  not  only
tolerating their brainwashing, but encouraging others to do it!

i've debated gutterboy on these points before, and  he  has  conceded
every time by withdrawing from logical debate. more attention paid to
this issue in the metal community  would  point  out  how  ludicrous,
paradoxical and  dishonest  "christian  metal"  is  and  why  serious
metalheads avoid its disease.

respectfully,
s.r. prozak

        Immortal Death Metal

http://www.anus.com/metal/ - reviews
http://www.kcuf.org/       - metal radio
http://www.evilmusic.com/  - mail order
      JOIN US... WE ARE THE FUTURE



Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999
From: Todd Crawford <lacrisus@hotmail.com>
To: Pedro Azevedo <ei94048@fe.up.pt>
Subject: help, music is dying

     I get COC 'zine emailed to me. I notice that  you  do  the  doom
reviews.  My  favorite  bands/albums  are  MyDyingBride,   Anathema's
"Serenades," Disembowelment, Acid Bath, Katatonia, Septic Flesh,  The
Cure's "Disintegration," and other individual songs,  Lycia,  Ordeal,
and Hades. The rest of the music world has failed to compare to these
bands according to  my  taste.  There  are  a  few  others  that  are
worthwhile, but I am desperately seeking something  new.  I've  heard
some of the bands from Austria already. I'd like to  find  some  more
music like Lycia and Ordeal; something that sounds like a  soundtrack
to "Bladerunner," or a Shadowrun film (that  has  not  been  made  of
course). I am looking into Current 93 and Endura now, but I know that
I do not generally enjoy any of the Cold Meat Industries projects.  I
don't know what other specifications to give you. I  am  looking  for
something  progressive,  but  not  too  fast  or  upbeat.   Something
involving a mixture of non-American metal, ambient,  jazz  and  maybe
folk. If you have any recommendations, please respond. You  may  post
this in COC 'zine's next issue.

                                                  Tod C.



Date: 9 Jul 1999
From: David Guerreiro <vio_man@mail.pt>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters

Hail to all living souls.

In the COC #40, Adrian Bromley gave  a  9  to  the  latest  Hypocrisy
album. I strongly disagree. This is the best Hypocrisy's  album  ever
made, and I haven't seen any bad aspects, so why  rating  this  album
with a 9??? Peter Tagtgren is a musical genius, the best musician  of
the 90's and a talented guitar player. Every thing he does is art. We
can't afford to loose this man. A 10 was  the  minimum  score  to  be
given. If you like Hypocrisy  don't  forget  to  visit  my  page  at:
http://welcome.to/hypocrisy



Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1999 06:51:38 +0530
From: Sunil <sdpant@htp.com.np>
Subject: Attention Loud letters

This is a good magazine and  I've  been  into  this  from  it's  very
beginning, but I have not been able to get any information  regarding
a band called 'RIGOR MORTIS'. Not just  CoC  but  I  have  not  found
anything about this band  in  any  other  magazine.  Considering  its
technicality and the musical  complexity,  it  is  one  of  the  most
underrated bands in the history of Extreme Metal.  Their  self-titled
album is what I call 'the height of technical Brutality'  because  no
other band can be so technical and yet retain its  extreme  brutality
at the same time.I've never heard anything like this. If any  of  you
out there knows anything about RIGOR MORTIS please let me know.

Sunil
<sdpant@htp.com.np>

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

         A R C H   E N E M Y   O F   D I C T A P H O N E S ?
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                           by: Paul Schwarz

     Some of you may recall that in my interview  with  Arch  Enemy's
Mike Amott last month,  I  commented  many  times  on  my  dictaphone
cutting out, to the point  where  our  esteemed  Pied  (Lead)  Piping
Editor commented that I needed a new one. I will now explain what was
actually "going wrong" with my dictaphone.
     I have a function on my dictaphone called VAS  (Voice  Activated
System); it is on a switch with "pause" and "off" also being options.
For the duration of my Arch Enemy interview  the  VAS  function  was,
unbeknownst to me, on and thus the dictaphone would happily  stay  on
while Mike was speaking, since his voice comes through the phone at a
decent volume, but when I  spoke,  or  occasionally  when  Mike  went
quiet, the thing would shut itself off. I kept banging my  dictaphone
on my desk to "get it started", which seemed to work.  Of  course  it
was because of the noise it made, not that I was  "fixing"  it  as  I
thought at the time. The story is amusing if you picture it, but also
a lesson to aspiring interviewers out there: beware of VAS,  you  can
lose interviews to it if you accidentally turn it on.

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

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

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


  O F   S K A T E B O A R D S ,   S U I C I D E   A N D   P E P S I
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
           CoC chats with Mike Muir of Suicidal Tendencies
                           by: Paul Schwarz

     By 1982 the band "Suicidal Tendencies" had begun  to  make  some
impact on the lives of hardcore, punk  and  metal  followers  in  Los
Angeles' Venice Beach area, the same band had  also  topped  Flipside
magazine's end-of-year polls, winning in  the  categories  of  "worst
band" and "biggest assholes". They went on to produce 1983's hardcore
classic, _Suicidal Tendencies_, but  were  plagued  throughout  their
career by the perception of them which is summed up by the results of
that Flipside magazine poll. This was due in part  to  the  outspoken
honesty of frontman Mike Muir (which had a tendency  to  piss  people
off), the rumours claiming the band were "thugs" associated with some
kind of Venice Beach street gang (which led the LAPD to prevent  them
from playing in many venues in the LA area),  the  group's  sarcastic
and humorous image (which led them  to  be  thought  of  as  somewhat
goofy) and the subsequent attitude which certain areas of  the  press
took to them (that they were a joke). Still,  the  band  built  up  a
considerable and rabid following and produced some  brilliant  albums
in addition to the aforementioned  self-titled  debut  before  things
came to an end with 1994's _Suicidal for Life_.
     In the Spring/Summer of 1997 news filtered through  to  me  that
Suicidal were back together, and -damn- did I get a buzz out of that.
Finally, it would be possible for  me,  one  who  had  only  recently
pledged his allegiance, to see the band live! I waited and waited and
very little news actually reached me of what, if  anything,  Suicidal
were doing with their time and reunion.  Being  the  cynic  I  am,  I
figured this was a half-assed reunion deal and that  the  band  would
disappear into oblivion in an unspectacular  second  break-up  before
they made it to the UK or I made it to a place they might be  playing
(a la 1997's Exodus reunion which ended early this  year).  Well,  it
just shows how wrong you can be. Suicidal are currently set  to  play
England's Reading Festival in August and are also setting up a London
date for some time in September. They have also, out of the  blue  as
far as I'm concerned, released a new album,  which  takes  the  title
_Freedumb_.  However,  I  was  still  skeptical,   but   after   this
conversation with the manic Mr. Muir, I was more than restored in  my
confidence that the band are back, and back with a vengeance.

CoC: How would you describe the new record, _Freedumb_, for  longtime
     Suicidal Tendencies fans who've followed you guys for years, who
     are pretty happy about this new comeback record?

Mike Muir: Basically, what we're doing is quite a different  approach
           than what most people are. Like in America we  don't  have
           any ads for the record, and we're taking the  approach  of
           kinda the way we started off. Fortunately  here  we're  on
           the Warped Tour, which means we get to play in front of  a
           lot of people, and a lot of the people that we're  playing
           in front of -- I'd say the vast majority -- never heard of
           Suicidal Tendencies because  they're  sixteen  years  old,
           they're fourteen  years  old  and  five  years  ago  [when
           Suicidal split], they were nine years old.  Basically,  we
           have the approach that if we can't win people over by them
           hearing the music, then we shouldn't be a band and  rather
           than doing a bunch of advertising before the record  comes
           and have people going "Oh, Suicidal's back, I'd better  go
           buy the record", there's going to be a lot of people  that
           even come  to  these  shows  that  are  like,  "I've  seen
           Suicidal, I saw you seven years ago"  and  after  we  play
           they're like "Fuck!", and they go out and buy  the  record
           and they're going to be playing it for their  friends  and
           go, "Have you got the new Suicidal  record?"  and  they'll
           say "What, they've got a new record?!",  "Yeah,  check  it
           out!". So they actually hear the music rather than  buying
           it from what happened in the  past.  So  we've  felt  it's
           actually the  best  situation  that  we've  had  that.  In
           comparison, in different places we  had  to  do  different
           things. Like in Japan, it's the only place we're  actually
           on a major and it's been our best selling record by far --
           and we've always done really well  in  Japan.  We  have  a
           belief that it's a fucking great record, the reaction that
           we've got has been incredible from the  people  that  have
           gotten it and the reaction is the type that we want: a lot
           of people that hopefully won't like it  are  the  kind  of
           people we don't want to like it and people that we want to
           like it fucking love it and Suicidal; the only  way  we're
           going to be effective as a band is not how many records we
           sell but how many people that actually hear the record are
           fucking screamin' "Suicidal", and that's what's  going  on
           right now, so we feel really good.

CoC: You were saying you felt that people who went to your live  show
     would be convinced enough to buy the record and really enjoy it.
     So obviously you think it  will  not  only  appeal  to  the  old
     Suicidal Tendencies fans, because it's you guys, but it'll  also
     appeal to fans of metal or hardcore who are around today. Do you
     think it'll impress them because it's maybe  going  beyond  what
     other records of this type are doing these  days?  [This  was  a
     suggestion and not a reflection of my opinion of  _Freedumb_  at
     the time. -- Paul]

MM: I think it goes back to where we started. There's a lot of people
    that won't like it, and they won't like it for the wrong reasons,
    and the people who will like it will like it because they'll hear
    it and they'll go "Fuck", and compare it with what  else  is  out
    there and they'll think it's better than what's out there. That's
    what we like to do and that's the number one  reason  why  people
    used to like Suicidal -- because of the music, you know? And  the
    reason why they didn't like  it  is  because  "Oh,  that  fuckin'
    singer's an asshole", "I don't like the way they look",  "They're
    not this..." or "They don't follow the rules", or  that  kind  of
    thing -- or they didn't hear the music. So we take it  that  way:
    the people that love us is because of the music and what we stand
    for and so I think that's far more important. Over the years,  in
    the past, we've been exposed as so many different things,  a  lot
    of which we I don't think we actually should have been,  and  now
    we're very comfortable going about the way that we are now, which
    I think is going to be far more effective. And  I  don't  believe
    everybody should hear Suicidal, and  I  don't  believe  everybody
    should like Suicidal, and I think this is the type of  record  to
    re-establish us the way we want to be established.

CoC: Would you say that you were unhappy at all with the way Suicidal
     Tendencies ended up before you guys reformed, the _Suicidal  for
     Life_ album, the end of the band? Were you unhappy with that  as
     a final album, or were you unhappy with the fact the band didn't
     continue?

MM: Well, with _Suicidal for Life_ I knew it was going to be the last
    record I did, that's why it had "shit" or "fuck" in the title  of
    every song on the first side of  the  record:  basically  it  was
    because I didn't want to do a commercial record and go on and  it
    made it pretty obvious, you know. Lookin' back, anybody who can't
    figure that -out-, is not too -bright- [I have the  feeling  this
    was directed at me. -- Paul]. So, basically, fortunately there is
    a lot of changes that were made. I didn't  think  we'd  get  back
    together, but the situation as is now  is  a  situation  I  never
    thought would be possible. I'm having a damn good time, you know.
    We did the Warped Tour in Australia and that  was  the  most  fun
    I've ever had in the band, it was the best tour the  band's  ever
    had and it was the most fun I've ever had in my life. Now, if you
    can say that about your last tour, you're doin' somethin'  right,
    you know. I think this tour is the same situation: I'm havin'  an
    incredible time, I know why I'm here and it's great, you know.  I
    couldn't say that before, I could say  before,  "Oh,  the  tour's
    doing a lot for the band", but it wasn't doing anything for me or
    it wasn't doing anything in the sense of what I thought should be
    accomplished. I think right now everybody's -proud- of  being  in
    the band and they're also -happy- to be  in  the  band  and  feel
    lucky to be in band, and that's the best thing in the world.

CoC: With your label, you've come back after quite a while and you're
     on Nuclear Blast, certainly in Europe I believe, which seemed to
     me like an unusual label, simply because Nuclear Blast began  as
     a death metal label and that's the way  I've  known  it.  I  was
     wondering why you chose them and I was also wondering  what  you
     thought of the  interesting  fact  that  other  old  bands  like
     yourselves, who've come back, have signed to  Nuclear  Blast  --
     well, SoD have come back, and  Manowar  are  signed  to  Nuclear
     Blast.

MM: Well, first of all we didn't sign to the label, there's no  label
    that we signed to, the only label we signed to, like I  said,  is
    in Japan -- we're on EMI. The whole thing is, we weren't going to
    sign to any label, we're not going to be on  any  label  but  our
    own. Basically the  deal  is  they're  distributing  the  record,
    they're buying the records from us and  stuff  and  basically  to
    make a long story short: in America, that's  where  we  have  the
    most control, we know exactly what we want to  do,  other  places
    you can't, we're not there, we can't follow it up  as  much.  And
    basically with them [Nuclear Blast] it's because there's one  guy
    who's fuckin' hounded us for two years and to be quite  honest  I
    never would be on a label like that, there's not  one  record  on
    that label I would listen to, I fuckin' hate heavy metal, I  hate
    whatever that other stuff is they call.

CoC: Death metal? Black metal? Which metal? <I laugh>

MM: Whatever it is, all I gotta say is we've got a song called "Hippy
    Killer" and everybody should hear  it.  So,  basically,  I'm  not
    afraid to go in front  of  the  enemy,  you  know  what  I  mean.
    <laughs> Fuck it, you know. <Laughing as he begins>  I  told  the
    guy and all those dudes [at  Nuclear  Blast],  "There  ain't  one
    record..." -- they gave us a bunch of records and  we  threw  'em
    all out the window. It was like we were driving down the freeway,
    we put it on, heard it, threw it out, try the next one, throw  it
    out <I laugh very loud>, so we said as  far  as  we're  concerned
    everything on there is garbage and people get  beat  up  if  they
    listen to that stuff where we're from. <I laugh again>  So,  they
    know, they know we think it sucks.

CoC: OK. I was wondering, then,  since  you  were  saying  about  the
     running of your own label, etc., I noticed you have  a  site  on
     the Internet which is full of information, etc..  Are  you  guys
     aiming to go the way of the many bands who aim  to  reach  total
     independence from a label via the Internet: to put out music, as
     much as possible, on the Internet, and put out  records  because
     there are still people who aren't on it. Is that an ideal  thing
     for you, to be able to just control it all in that way?

MM: Well, as far as the Internet goes, specifically -- I've been kind
    of following it for a while because of, well,  some  people  told
    me, at Sony, they go, "Well, in two years this is  going  to  be,
    you'll see what's going to happen". That was five years ago and I
    think a lot of people grossly  mis-state  what  the  Internet  is
    going to be, I think it is very important  in  the  sense  of  my
    nephew's and niece's all learn on computers and stuff, that  type
    of situation. And especially for areas which  in  the  past,  you
    know, Third World countries, etc. -- they have access to  it  and
    stuff and it's a way for people to get  information.  As  far  as
    actually being a vehicle for selling  stuff,  every  year  people
    make predictions about what's going to happen next year and  they
    never come out right. I think it's going to take  quite  a  while
    before people are actually, effectively selling on the  Internet.
    If you're a small group, you can do good because  no-one's  going
    to want to buy your records anyhow, no-one knows who you are, but
    as far as being on a mass scale, being effective, there's  a  lot
    of big  groups  that've  tried  that  where  they've  said  "This
    record's only going to be on the Internet", and they  don't  sell
    any records. So I think the Internet is more effective as far  as
    disseminating information and stuff, and there's a lot of people,
    in that case, who say, "I've just got a computer, and I just  put
    "Suicidal Tendencies" in there and "boom!", I found your website,
    you know, and I didn't even know you guys got back together". So,
    it gets a lot of information out and it's an  important  vehicle,
    but I don't think it's an end-all.

CoC: The actual reformation itself happened two years ago. I  haven't
     obviously been following you  that  carefully,  I  guess,  since
     then. How much have you  done  since  then,  because  I  haven't
     noticed a lot done  on  you  guys  in  the  press,  and  why  in
     particular has it taken quite a while to get a record together?

MM: Basically, one of the things that we didn't want to do was to put
    a record out and say "We're back together, we're putting a record
    out and we're touring", you know. I  think  that's  the  approach
    most people deal, and that's a definite lack  of  sincerity,  you
    know, it's more of the job type thing. What we did is --  there's
    a lot of places we haven't been able to tour  to  or  we've  been
    there once and we went to a lot of  places  like  South  America,
    etc., and basically we've been touring around so people  can  see
    what we're doing before the actual record comes out, so  that  we
    know we can get back a solid base the way that we wanted to be. I
    felt that was important before the record came out so that we had
    a  certain  amount  of  people  that  kind  of  understood   what
    Suicidal's about so they could lead the way  to  the  new  people
    that get in there. We found that very important going back,  like
    when we toured with Queensryche in America, that was a  situation
    where they were the most played band in America on the radio  and
    on MTV and there were a lot of  places  that  we'd  never  played
    before that we played with them and you'd walk in the hallway and
    after you played they'd go "aaahhh": they'd be running after  you
    and stuff, but the places we played with Queensryche  which  we'd
    played many times before -- like in  the  major  cities  --,  you
    know, someone would see, they'd come up, they'd  say  "Hey  Mike,
    what's up, how ya doin'" and you'd talk, and everybody else who'd
    see, they would be like "Hey, how're you doin'", you know. So  it
    was an atmosphere which was much more conductive to what we think
    is good. So I think that's very important,  that  you  have  that
    base, and the same thing carries over on this  tour  [The  Warped
    Tour], there's always a certain  element  there,  that  are  very
    familiar with Suicidal, and they go off and people see it, and so
    you can see the difference  between  when,  quote  unquote,  "the
    other punk bands" play and they're skippin' around. I don't  know
    what the fuck they're skippin' for 'cause I ain't  skipped  since
    kindergarten. <I laugh> And then when  Suicidal  plays,  it  goes
    off, and then you see the people scramblin' to get the  fuck  out
    of there, you know, and I think there's a lot  of  symbolism  for
    that with Suicidal: a lot of people don't belong, and if you play
    on skippin', and you feel like this is going to be  the  same  as
    the next band, you're fuckin' mistaken, and you're going to  find
    out real quick. That's what we call as "the instantaneous baptism
    and celebration of Suicidal". So when we start, it goes off,  and
    I think people realise right away, Suicidal is not  just  another
    band, and I think that's an  important  lesson  everybody  should
    learn.

CoC: So from that I draw that  the  new  "punk"  movement,  the  very
     short-lived punk movement, is not to your liking?

MM: No, I really don't think it is punk and I think -that- is a great
    opportunity for us. I mean, when  we  started  everyone  said  we
    weren't punk, so we don't really give a fuck, but I'll  tell  you
    what: the unfortunate thing is that there are a lot of people who
    use that word and think it is synonymous  with  cool.  You  know,
    [say] <puts on whiny voice> "I like -punk-" [and you're]  fucking
    cool, aren't you? And it's like they can name every fuckin' goofy
    band that never should have been a band as far as I'm  concerned,
    you know. <I laugh heartily again> So for us, if it's a situation
    and we already find this <whiny voice again> "Oh well,  Suicidal,
    they're "bad"", yeah, OK, we're "bad" but you  fuckin'  suck,  so
    FUCK YOU! That's what we say.

CoC: About the UK, you guys are heading back here for Reading [yearly
     alternative rock festival held over three days the last week  in
     August in Reading, England --  Paul]  and  you're  lining  up  a
     London date for September. How long is it since  you  guys  last
     played here?

MM: A long, long, long time. Some people would probably say not  long
    enough, but... <laughs>

CoC: Well, I wouldn't be one of those, but  how  do  you  feel  about
     coming back to the UK and what do you think about  your  fanbase
     here and music here in general?

MM: Well, I'll be honest, you know -- which  has  always  got  me  in
    trouble --, I've never understood, when we went there a couple of
    times, why we went there. The way I was brought up, my dad  said,
    "You don't do anything just to do it, there should be a reason to
    why you do things", and those are the few times where I  kind  of
    felt that there  was  really  no  reason  for  us  to  go  there,
    especially in comparison to what was going on. Let me say,  every
    other country, every record we did would sell more and more,  and
    England would sell less and less. And then  on  the  other  side,
    just with press, I remember  the  first  time  I  did  press,  in
    England. I had to have some  of  my  English  translated  for  me
    because I don't know what the hell they said that I said, because
    they're havin' me using English expressions,  [I'm]  like,  "What
    does that mean?!" and they go "You said it" and I go,  "I  didn't
    say it, I don't even know what  it  means!".  <I  laugh  heartily
    again> So it was an interesting experience, I went, "Man,  people
    do things different over here".

CoC: That sounds like an experiment in lazy journalism to me.

MM: Yeah, yeah, and stuff. So I just kind of like tripped out. I  go,
    "You know, I piss people off enough, and that's just what I  say,
    you don't have to twist it around so I don't even understand what
    I'm saying", but I look at it this way: it's  been  a  long  time
    and, you know, we should go there, there's a lot of  people  that
    are English that you'd see in Europe that would have to go a long
    way to see you in France or whatever. Basically, I don't think we
    have much of a following there at all, and I  think  in  a  sense
    that's good because now we can try to actually start all over and
    see if it  makes  sense  to  go  back,  and  I  think  that's  an
    obligation that we owe all the  people  that  have  supported  us
    'cause they've gotten the short end of the stick in comparison to
    other places and so I think that  there's  definitely  a  lot  of
    people that I owe it to, to  support  the  band  in  a  non-ideal
    situation. I think also being on the Reading thing,  it  gives  a
    great chance for a lot of people to see us and  I  think  they're
    going to realise that this is a far different band than the  band
    that they never heard that they thought they knew what it was.

CoC: Sounds like you've had the force of  pre-judgement  put  against
     you a couple of times.

MM: Oh, we did. I mean, going back, and a lot of times you  shouldn't
    have it, but I remember: each record, different stories. One  was
    a guy who wrote us a letter saying he was playing one of the  new
    Suicidal records, I can't remember which one it was, and  he  was
    like [to his friends], "Check it out, I got this new band",  blah
    blah blah, and they're like, "Oh fuckin' yeah, that's great". And
    afterwards he goes, "That's Suicidal". He said everybody  dropped
    their heads and goes, [puts on depressed deep voice]  "oh".  They
    were all bummed, you know. So, it's kind of like that  situation,
    but I think it's been so long and nobody really knows who we  are
    now, so it's a good place to start over, you  know.  Ideally  all
    you want to do is be in a situation where  people  are  going  to
    judge you for your music. If they don't like it, they don't  like
    it, I don't expect anyone to sit there and go "I don't like  this
    but I'll buy the record". So on an even basis I  think  it's  all
    good and I know, like I said, in Australia the  majority  of  the
    people were like twelve or thirteen years old, they  didn't  know
    who the fuck we were, and it went off big time. And I think  that
    on a pure musical sense, if we don't have what appeals to,  like,
    English people, we shouldn't be there and we shouldn't  go  back,
    and that's a real simple thing, you know.

CoC: I have no idea where you guys  are  billed  at  Reading  at  the
     moment, I have no idea what kind of following you guys have, but
     I'll be there cheering you guys on...

MM: <laughs> I think the whole thing is, like we say,  it's  not  who
    goes to see you, it's who goes home talking about you.

CoC: Agreed.

MM: And I think that's where we've been real effective and we can  be
    real effective. I think that is kind of the situation where, in a
    way, we're kind of the underdogs. A lot of people don't know  who
    we are, they go expecting to see certain bands, and they have  to
    kill their time, so it's like, "Fuck,  there's  a  band  playing,
    I'll go check it out 'till my band comes on". And I think  a  lot
    of times they find out their band was not the band  they  thought
    it was anymore. <I laugh> So that's one of the great  things,  it
    enables us to sneak up on people, whereas before I think that one
    of the things that turned a lot of people  off  on  us  was  that
    there was always the people that liked Suicidal  --  they  didn't
    like 'em, they loved 'em, "Suicidal! Suicidal!".  And  so  people
    kind of felt like they didn't belong because  they  weren't  into
    the band, they didn't know who the band was, and they'd just  see
    all these people going crazy. So they felt alienated and in  this
    kind of environment there's not really that fanatical part. In LA
    or places  like  that  there  still  is,  but  there  isn't  that
    fanatical element [at a festival like Reading] so everybody  gets
    to see it on their own basis and I think  that  really  helps  us
    out. And to be honest, I'd be disappointed if it didn't  go  over
    really well, you know, 'cause I'd like to be able  to  come  back
    and, ironically, a lot of the people we always worked  with,  the
    producers and people at the label, were English. And no one  ever
    understood, they always said, "You know what? Your  going  to  be
    huge in England", you know. They always said, "I don't understand
    how you sell so many records here, there and there and you  don't
    sell records in England", so ironically it's kind of funny. A lot
    of people say it's my fault, but... <laughs>

CoC: England is a funny country and people  [in  general]  are  funny
     about people who are honest, that's just life sometimes.

[From here Mike and I had to part ways because of  time  constraints,
and thus the interview ended. -- Paul]

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

        W I T H I N   T H E   S U N ' S   O W N   S H A D O W
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC interrogates Tiamat's Johan Edlund
                           by: David Rocher

     With their very brutal indeed first effort _Sumerian Cry_ (1991)
set aside, Tiamat have devoted their now  ten  year  long  career  to
fusing the grinding  low-case  harshness  of  death  metal  with  the
ethereal tones of occult, atmospheric music; and it is probably  this
songwriting ideal which has constantly marked  their  albums  with  a
certain  form  of  touching  fragility,  as  if  Tiamat's  music  was
constantly only just in maintaining its balance on the sharp edge  of
the wall between two musical genres.  As  they  disclosed,  in  1997,
their rather unpleasantly surprising _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_  [CoC
#21], Tiamat certainly lost a vast part of their  following,  as  the
heart-touching  melancholy  of  tracks  like  "A  Caress  of   Stars"
(_Clouds_)  or  _Gaia"  (_Wildhoney_)  receded  before  more   dreamy
electronic sounds which many earlier fans failed to  comprehend;  for
this reason, the release of their 1999 vintage  _Skeleton  Skeletron_
was as  eagerly  awaited  as  it  was  almost  feared.  Revelling  in
atmospheric  cold-wave  and  gothic  tones,  Johan  Edlund's   latest
collection  of  material  is  yet  another  surprise   for   Tiamat's
following, and definitely not what  one  could  have  expected  as  a
sequel to _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_, though I admit it  has,  in  my
eyes, actually failed to equal the beauty of Tiamat's  former  works.
Regardless of my personal appreciation of Tiamat's new musical style,
the  opportunity  to  drift  through  a  whole  decade   of   violent
atmospherics with soft-spoken mastermind Johan  Edlund  --  the  only
original member of Tiamat remaining in the band --  was  an  offer  I
could  not  sanely  have  turned  down;  and  thus  spake  this  very
introspective musician...

CoC: I kind of lost track of Tiamat after the release  of  _A  Deeper
     Kind of Slumber_, so could you tell me what's gone on since  the
     release of this album?

Johan Edlund: The album was released in April '97 and we played a lot
              of festivals here in Europe  that  year,  almost  every
              weekend for the whole Summer, then we made  a  headline
              tour in the fall, which began at the end  of  September
              and continued until mid-November. Then we took  a  year
              off, basically  --  we  did  nothing  last  year,  just
              relaxed, tried to work on  new  songs,  and  we  didn't
              really work hard until maybe November last  year,  when
              we started to work on the new album.

CoC: I guess _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_ was  perceived  as  a  pretty
     surprising change in Tiamat's style, which also happened to come
     in after a long period  of  silence,  so  how  was  this  change
     accepted by the fans?

JE: It was very different, actually, some people really liked it, and
    some people were pretty shocked or maybe even  pissed  off  about
    it. But I think it tends to get harder for us not to change,  and
    I guess some people don't know what to expect from us,  which  is
    something cool -- if you think you know us and you know  what  to
    expect, you will probably be disappointed, because we will  prove
    you wrong!

CoC: So you wouldn't really want to release albums  in  the  ways  of
     Bolt Thrower?

JE: We can't, really, we don't know how to do [that] --  sometimes  I
    wish I could recreate the sound from an album we have done, but I
    actually don't know how to do that, so...  So  much  is  changing
    around you, and you develop as a musician, so I don't think  it's
    really possible.

CoC: I perceived Tiamat's evolution as  being  equally  important  as
     Samael's, for instance -- what do you think of the way they have
     moved on to their very atmospheric, electronic sound?

JE: I think it was really the best way. It sounds very natural.  I've
    known Samael for a very long time, we toured with  them  for  the
    first time back in 1991, and I used  to  trade  demos  and  stuff
    really long ago, so I've been following  them  even  before  they
    were signed to Century Media, and I think  the  steps  they  took
    were always very cool.

CoC: Compared to _A Deeper Kind  of  Slumber_,  _Skeleton  Skeletron_
     sounds a lot more gothic -- how did you change to this  kind  of
     music?

JE: It's not really that I've been  listening  to  a  lot  of  gothic
    music, it's more that I really try to work at writing good songs,
    and songs you could almost play on an acoustic guitar and sing at
    a barbecue. The last album was a big experiment in sounds, we had
    a lot of new toys back then that we wanted to experiment with  --
    programs, keyboards and stuff --, it was all very  exciting.  But
    this time we did not feel the urge to do that, and I  thought  it
    would be more challenging to try to write very strong songs;  and
    then, it just happened to turn out to sound maybe more like  some
    English bands from the middle of the eighties than Pink Floyd  --
    Joy Division, Sisters of Mercy, of course...

CoC: And about your new line-up -- Lars Skold  played  the  drums  on
     _Wildhoney_ and _A Deeper Kind of  Slumber_,  and  I'm  familiar
     with the name Anders Iwers, but I  can't  remember  his  musical
     history...

JE: He used to play guitar in Cemetary, and he was actually in Tiamat
    during a tour back in 1991, as a session member, so both  members
    have a very long history with us.

CoC: When you tour now, what kind of audiences attend  your  concerts
     now that your music has evolved the way it has?

JE: We haven't played live with this album so far, so that's going to
    be interesting to see. It's working pretty  well  in  the  gothic
    scene,  gothic  DJ's  are  sending  in  reports  that  they  play
    "Brighter Than the Sun" every day, it seems to work  pretty  well
    there, and I hope we can keep the old audiences as well.  It  has
    always changed, actually, it was strange to see when we toured on
    _Wildhoney_ and _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_,  the  audiences  were
    always pretty mixed, actually. And I think  that's  pretty  cool,
    anyway.

CoC: _Wildhoney_ seemed to be a concept  which  was  oriented  around
     nature -- can you tell me more about this?

JE: We'd just had a big discussion with some ex-members --  actually,
    we almost split the band  before  _Wildhoney_;  there  were  five
    guys, and me and the bass  player  decided  to  continue,  as  we
    didn't share the same opinions about how we should  continue.  So
    me and the bass player decided to do something which would really
    be a lot closer to what we personally listened to at that time --
    Pink Floyd and a lot of bands from the '70s, like King Crimson...
    And the problem was we were not experienced enough,  or  talented
    enough, to recreate the sound  of  Pink  Floyd  or  so...  So  we
    started to do something interesting, I think, because we were  in
    a way a death metal band that wanted to sound  like  Pink  Floyd,
    and we did not really manage it, but we  ended  up  somewhere  in
    between. That made  a  very  original  album,  that  is  actually
    probably even better than blue-printing  one  of  your  favourite
    bands. It's a bit of a happy failure, because  you  struggle  for
    something -- I mean, I don't consider myself as a  very  talented
    musician, I don't have it from birth; if I have to come  up  with
    something that sounds good in the end, I have to struggle a  lot,
    I really have to fight for it, and  that's  what  I  meant  about
    "recreating a sound". When you're gifted, you  always  know  what
    you are doing -- well, I'm not always aware of what I'm doing,  I
    just work and work until something comes out, that  sounds  cool,
    and I don't really know where it's going to end!

CoC: So you're not in complete control of your songwriting, then...

JE: No -- it's very uncontrolled, actually! <laughs> I enjoy that!

CoC: You said you couldn't decide to recreate  the  atmosphere  of  a
     particular album -- when you  look  back  upon  previous  Tiamat
     releases, what album would you like to be able to recreate?

JE: <hesitates> I don't know, actually... Maybe I was wrong. Maybe  I
    would not like to do it, I would just like to know  -how-  to  do
    it, but I don't think  I  would,  anyway.  But  I  was  proud  of
    _Wildhoney_, that album had something special.  Being  objective,
    five years later, there are a lot of things that could have  been
    changed, but it's useless, because the album worked in  the  end,
    it's a cool album -- and if something was  objectively  not  very
    good, I could live with that.

CoC: Many Tiamat fans say that _Clouds_ is your best album to date --
     how do you feel about that one?

JE: It's really a bit of a sad album,  because  that's  when  we  had
    those problems with the old line-up. To me, our albums  are  more
    like memories, I'm a little nostalgic about the memories  of  the
    past. I don't really think so much about how the albums  actually
    sound, because I don't listen to them very often, but when I talk
    about an album like _Wildhoney_ or even _Sumerian  Cry_,  then  I
    get very bright memories, because we had  a  good  time.  When  I
    think about _Clouds_, actually, that was the hardest time we  had
    in the band, with the most arguments, it was also  when  business
    really started to enter the  picture,  with  money  problems  and
    stuff... I'm a little bit sorry to say it, but to me, _Clouds_ is
    a bit of a problematic album, but not for the sound or the  songs
    -- we still play songs from it --,  but  the  making  of  it  was
    pretty hard.

CoC: I guess the Satanic lyrics on _Clouds_ and  earlier  works  seem
     quite far by now, so how do you feel your beliefs  have  evolved
     to this day?

JE: If I would say something very positive about  _Clouds_,  I  think
    that I wrote some of my best lyrics at that time. If I  now  read
    the lyrics to "A Caress of Stars" or the title song, I  sometimes
    wish I could write that again, so I  guess  that  means  I  still
    completely stand behind what I wrote at the time.

CoC: Does this mean  that  on  _Skeleton  Skeletron_,  the  cover  of
     "Sympathy For the Devil" is to be understood in the  sense  that
     you still have "sympathy" for your earlier material?

JE: It has a lot to do with the title, actually; I think it's such  a
    killer title, and I think that I was also a little bit annoyed in
    the past that people thought we had left our beliefs on _A Deeper
    Kind of Slumber_. And therefore, I was working on a  song  of  my
    own, for which I wanted to steal just the title,  and  I  thought
    that maybe we should just cover that song, because it's  a  great
    one. Although Mick Jagger's lyrics are pretty ironic, for  us,  I
    think that the title is a message to tell our audience that we're
    still pretty much the band that they used to know years ago.

CoC: I don't have the lyrics to _Skeleton Skeletron_, so what do  the
     lyrics on this album deal with, mainly?

JE: They're more about life, actually, not so  much  about  death  or
    dreamworlds -- especially on  the  last  tour,  where  I've  been
    trying to build up some kind of dreamworld --, and this  is  more
    of a way of dealing with more  down-to-earth  things.  It's  been
    influenced by what we have seen during the ten years of  being  a
    touring rock band, dealing with the things you've  gone  through,
    like drug problems... _Wildhoney_  was  maybe  a  drug-influenced
    album, and now I can look back on times like that and write about
    it from an objective point  of  view.  Therefore,  I  think  it's
    something positive -- although the topics are pretty gloomy, in a
    way, it's still positive, because you look in from  the  outside,
    and are now out of it.

CoC: Concerning the lyrics on _Wildhoney_, I'm still  rather  puzzled
     by the lyrics to the song "The AR" -- they're very  cryptic  and
     strange lyrics.

JE: The AR is the original pentagram  from  the  Sumerian  tradition.
    It's the five-pointed star, where one point is  heading  upwards,
    like a symbol of man, you know, like the Da Vinci sign? So it was
    pretty much about that symbol -- I was very much into symbols  at
    that time, and how very strong they could be for people.

CoC: Was the fact that you mentioned the  aryan  race  in  this  song
     related to the strength of symbols developed by the third Reich,
     I mean the way in which they literally defied their army and the
     war?

JE: Not at all, actually. Of course, I've been  asked  this  question
    before, I knew I would be asked this before I decided to use  the
    lyrics. The thing is that the AR was the original pentagram,  and
    it was also short for the sign of the aryan race. The symbol  was
    called like this by the people who lived some 5000 years  ago  in
    the place now called  Iraq.  I  didn't  want  to  censor  myself,
    because I knew that this could be  understood  wrongly,  now,  in
    this century, but I thought "that's not what I'm  writing  about,
    so even if people get it wrong, I'd better explain it  and  stand
    for it". I didn't want to change it, and now,  I'm  stealing  the
    chance to explain this to your readers.

CoC: Okay! Tiamat  have  now  been  going  for  a  whole  decade,  as
     _Sumerian Cry_ was released back in 1990, so  how  do  you  feel
     about the way the metal scene has evolved in the '90s?

JE: I don't know, actually, I'm not very well informed nowadays,  I'm
    very focused on working with my songs, and I don't feel connected
    to a scene, I must say. I don't read magazines too often --  it's
    not that I'm not interested, but I just happen to do other things
    most of the time. Last year we didn't tour,  and  we  started  to
    have longer breaks in between the records, so  we  had  time  off
    from the band, in which I do  completely  different  things,  you
    know, like watching football, enjoying life a  little  bit...  On
    the other hand, I meet quite a lot of bands here, I meet  Century
    Media bands that are managed by the same  manager  as  ourselves,
    and these few last days I've been out drinking with Lacuna  Coil,
    which I think is a really good Italian band,  and  later  tonight
    Nevermore are going to  come  here  and  we'll  probably  go  out
    bowling, so I meet them all. But you know, we bowl  --  we  don't
    talk metal music too much! <laughs>

CoC: When you look at your music and state of mind now,  how  do  you
     feel when you reconsider the really brutal times  of  Treblinka?
     [Tiamat's original name, under which the  1987  demo  _Crawl  in
     Vomit_ and 1989 _Severe Abominations_ 7" EP  were  released.  --
     David]

JE: It seems very far. It was a good time. Of course we  were  naive,
    but we were young as well, so you're allowed  to  be  naive  when
    you're that age! <laughs>

CoC: Tiamat is the Sumerian equivalent of Satan,  who  was  slain  by
     Marduk -- do you feel this name still fits the band?

JE: It does, because  for  me  it  symbolised  the  darker  parts  of
    yourself, and it's something I always tried  to  get  out  in  my
    songs. It's not easy, it's sides of you that  are  hard  to  deal
    with, and writing lyrics is like a therapy,  you  know?  And  you
    see, therefore, it fits!

CoC: What can we expect from Tiamat in the future?

JE: I hope this album does well so we can  go  on  an  European  tour
    pretty soon after its release... apart from that, I really  don't
    know! <laughs>

CoC: Last words?

JE: You're in France, right?  The  distribution's  starting  to  work
    well, and I look forward to France,  actually,  because  we  were
    never that big there, and I hope  we  can  change  it  with  that
    record, as there are a lot of plans for us now -- I hope  they're
    good! Enjoy the Summer, and see you on tour!

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        B U L L S H I T T I N G   W I T H   B O R K N A G A R
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                       CoC interviews Borknagar
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     Sure Borknagar's third release _The Archaic Course_ has been out
for a long time now, but its  powerful  array  of  melody  and  harsh
realms of blackened metal, doused in hard  rock  sensibility,  surely
still ignites the passion within all those who still have it in their
CD player. To say  the  least,  _TAC_  is  a  brilliant  album  (much
stronger than their 1996 _Borknagar_ debut for Malicious  Records  or
their 1997 Century Media debut _The Olden Domain_)  that  helps  keep
the ways of metal strong and mighty. Borknagar is about  passion  and
the unveiling of emotions one song at a time.
     By phone from Century Media offices in Santa Monica,  California
comes the call from guitarist Oystein G.  Brun,  founding  member  of
Borknagar and prime innovator  in  helping  mould  the  band  through
various line-up changes and studio  sessions.  He's  been  with  this
one-time side project, now full-scale band, from the get-go  and  has
aimed at making Borknagar a well-known name within the metal world.
     At the end of the band's much anticipated U.S. tour with Emperor
and Witchery, Brun is excited, to say the  least,  at  the  last  few
weeks of his metal life. He has a lot to talk about. "It was a  great
time for us on the road, playing all those places we had  never  been
before", quips Brun about the tour. "We had  some  so-so  shows,  but
then we had some great shows. We have great memories from many
shows."
     When asked about  the  band's  material  live  and  how  it  has
shape-shifted over the past few months and on tour, Brun says: "We've
been gradually getting the sound going as the band goes along. I mean
we've really worked this material hard. It's great to be able to work
on songs and bring them from a studio into the live environment.  The
music for us has changed a bit 'cause two members quit  a  while  ago
and we have two new members, Nick Barker [ex-CoF] on drums and  Simen
[also of Dimmu Borgir] sings and plays bass, so you can obviously see
where they bring in their own character to our material. It's been an
interesting moulding of material for us over the last little  while."
He adds: "We cut out a lot of the acoustics and other stuff from  our
live set and focused on just keeping it  simplistic  and  being  true
metal. It's a great time for us on stage."
     One thing that truly stands out from Borknagar -- at least  with
this release -- is their unique way of  working  the  ways  of  metal
music.  The  band's  strengthened  grasp  of  eccentricness  and  raw
pairings of heavy metal thunder makes Borknagar come off as something
out of the ordinary. While some write them off as too odd, those  who
follow this band will tell you that's the key to what they do.
     "Like you said", he states, "it's always  been  about  us  doing
something that is unique sounding. Our music flows in many  ways  and
some bands can handle that and some can't. We're  one  of  the  lucky
ones, I guess?... We added  a  fresh  feel  to  the  music  scene,  I
believe. Many people have told us that before and  I'm  beginning  to
see that a bit. It's always easy to follow what people are doing, but
trying to keep focused on what you want to do can be an obstacle."
     He continues, "Passion has always been something I have  related
Borknagar's music to. This is my input, but I think our feelings come
out loud and clear and I think people who really get into this music,
it's hard to put it aside. I think our music has some value to it."
     And Brun knows  the  importance  of  coming  overseas  to  play,
realising that the pulse of much of the metal fans and music industry
lies in North America. "I've always wanted to come over to the United
States and take in the culture and just have a good time.  It  seemed
like the right thing to come over and play with the band.  I've  been
working hard and pushing Century Media for a long time to  make  this
happen and when it did we were all excited to be able  to  come  over
and play the shows and be part of the Emperor shows."
     Any sightseeing? "Oh yeah... we had to do that  stuff  while  in
the States. I'm having a blast. While in New York we  went  all  over
the city and saw the World Trade Center. We had a chance to go  visit
Niagara Falls and also while here in Hollywood we checked out all the
sites and many bars. Jens [other guitarist] and I even rented  a  car
and drove down from San  Francisco  along  the  great  Pacific  Ocean
coastline. It was a great drive and to see  the  ocean  --  that  was
great!"
     With the record being out for so long,  Brun  acknowledges  that
the band is currently working on material.  "We  are  already  toying
with many ideas. How far off is it  from  what  people  know  --  who
knows? It's surely coming  together  well.  I  mean  progression  has
always been an important factor for  me  when  it  comes  to  writing
material for this band. It's a key factor.  We  have  50  minutes  of
material already and we plan on heading to the studio in  the  coming
months. It's different in many ways from what we  have  done  before,
but it also keeps the elements  and  vitality  of  Borknagar's  sound
within the material. There has been a definite  transition  with  our
material from the first album to the second one up to  this  one  and
I'm glad to  have  that,  though  in  saying  that,  the  essence  of
Borknagar is present on all the releases."
    He finishes: "I think the fourth album  will  definitely  aim  at
being more harsh and raw, with much more  screaming  vocals  than  we
have used before. We need to experiment a bit more with ideas but  it
all seems to be working out quite nicely. I think people will be into
this as they have been with our past work."

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

           S E X ,   D R U G S   A N D . . .   P O R N O ?
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                     CoC interviews Jesus Martyr
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     Just one listen, my friends, and you'll be hooked. Hmmm...  more
like crushed. To the faint of heart, if you can't handle an abundance
of sex and powerfully-charged metal chaos, then  stay  clear  of  the
debut  disc  _Sudamerican  Porno_  from  Argentina  powerhouse  Jesus
Martyr. Bible thumpers, you've been warned.
     This  sexually  obsessed,  powerfully  intact  industrial  metal
machine band -- consisting  of  singer  Santiago,  guitarist  Martin,
drummer Guillermo, bassist Bruno and keyboardist Hugo -- has  managed
to snag a deal with Repulse Records and spread their leper-like  ways
of painfully sadistic metal numbers  to  the  metal  legions  of  the
world. It's a tough regime to ignite, but Jesus Martyr has the  goods
to do so.
     One of the  main  spokesmen  of  Jesus  Martyr's  intentions  is
guitarist Martin. He discusses the abundance of sexual,  pornographic
ideas and themes spread throughout the  recording.  "Our  lyrics  are
mainly inspired by the ways of philosophy and religion",  he  starts.
"I studied philosophy as a career and everything I read  and  learned
influences me to come up with such material, or at least  to  try  to
get the ideas into the main source of what we do."
     He adds about the pornography element, saying:  "We  didn't  use
porno in its contemporary sense throughout the record. Maybe in  some
areas, but to note, the word "pornography" in Greek  means  something
like "to write on bitches" and our album is no more than a  chronicle
about the  South  American  bitches,  like  media,  institutionalised
religion and political parties, for example. All of them are  looking
for a bit of power and money, just like  bitches.  Like  I  mentioned
before, we have many topics in our lyrics; sex is an  important  part
of it, but this album is very personal and introspective,  everything
has a different meaning when it comes to the lyrics I write."
     What's the band's take on today's society and censorship? Martin
starts: "I hate everything that has to do  with  having  your  rights
taken away, and to express yourself is one of  them.  Argentina  (and
Latin America in general) has a long history of situations like  that
arising, military governments did what they fucking wanted  with  the
rights of the people, they didn't even respect some people's right to
live. You wouldn't believe the history we have to deal with from 1945
to 1982. Argentina's  society  suffered  a  lot  and  now  it  is  in
transition into  something  better;  so  nowadays  things  are  quite
different, but democracy in this part of the world is as  fragile  as
crystal. In two months we are voting for a new president and all  the
candidates are shitty!! Argentina is a  wonderful  country,  but  the
political parties here  are  nothing  but  clowns.  Our  society  has
unfortunately  lost  all  its  combative  spirit  with  the  terrible
economical situation and the unemployment that is oppressing  us  and
taking our strength. We'll see what happens..."
     Initially starting out as Martyr in  1994  and  over  the  years
demoing new material (with elements of hardcore, death, punk and  the
like moulding into their current sound)  and  adding  a  keyboardist,
things are looking much better for the band now as they start to work
more with Repulse. It's looking pretty good currently.
     "We did everything you can imaginable to get the name out in the
beginning", tells Martin. "But we were  really  stupid,  as  we  just
looked for labels in Argentina and all those  idiots  (that  now  are
distributing our CD!!) didn't want to release it at  all,  saying  it
was "too uncommercial" and nonsense like "it is in English, it  won't
work". Fortunately, Repulse came into the picture for us, but it  was
totally by chance. The fact is that we gave a tape with  eight  songs
from our _Sudamerican Porno_ to a guy who had a label  in  Chile,  he
showed it to Repulse and then they offered us a contract. We took our
time in getting back to them and luckily when we  replied  they  were
still interested in our CD and it all worked. They are doing  a  good
job. We have another album coming again through Repulse next year."
     While most foreign bands seem to do extremely  well  in  Central
and South America, very few bands south of the United  States  (other
than Sepultura, Angra and maybe Overdose)  get  proper  exposure  and
make something for themselves. It's a hard scene  in  South  America.
Martin explains.
     "The musical situation in South America in general is not really
bad. Brazil has an incredible scene. On the other hand, in  Argentina
heavy music is exactly the same as anything  else,  it's  in  crisis,
about to collapse. The scene is really big and we have lots of bands,
but the economical situation is really destroying every chance to  do
something and music is no exception. Fortunately, we are being  lucky
and our CD is selling okay. We're happy and are now gaining a lot  of
fan support which is stemming from good press. I think we  are  in  a
good situation right now and it should be that way 'cause we worked a
lot to achieve this. I'm glad it all has turned out 'cause this  time
last year we were on  the  verge  of  splitting  up.  Things  weren't
working. It's all turned around for the better and  we  can  only  be
happy with the exposure and respect that Jesus Martyr is getting from
metal fans worldwide."

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             T H E   C H I L ' U N   M U S T   R I S E !
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                   CoC interviews Children of Bodom
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     "We didn't know shit about anything when we recorded  our  first
record _Something Wild_", starts guitarist/vocalist Alexi "Wildchild"
Laiho over the phone from Finland. "It was all just thrown  together.
The writing, the recording and everything else that came  along  with
it. We weren't even expecting to sell 1000 copies of the record.  But
something clicked and people picked up on it. We were onto
something."
     About the writing process for the debut  disc,  Laiho  says,  "I
came up with a lot of ideas for what we were going to do. But when we
went into the studio we were pretty fast to hammer out the ideas.  It
came together very rapidly. We didn't really take our time. We didn't
care too much to hang around in the studio, 'cause we would have lost
that feeling of intensity, not to mention spending too much on studio
time."
     The band -- which also includes guitarist Ale Kuoppala,  drummer
Jaska Raatikainen, bassist Henkka Blacksmith Seppala and  keyboardist
Janne Wirman --  have  recently  put  out  their  second  full-length
through Nuclear Blast America called _Hatebreeder_, a continuation of
where they left off with their debut disc, a  record  chock  full  of
black metal-tinged operatic assaults, coated with heavy  duty  guitar
solos, haunting keyboards and well-textured sub sections.
     So what was the mentality  going  into  _Hatebreeder_?  Pressure
from the label? Pressure to compete with the  success  of  the  debut
disc? Laiho states: "There could have been a lot  of  pressure  going
into this record, but I had to block out all of  that  to  make  this
record. I had to focus on music that suited what  we  wanted  to  do,
rather than what people expected. I'm happy with the final result. We
have gotten a lot of experience since _Something Wild_ came out  with
all the touring we have done and just living and  surviving  in  this
music business. I think we have improved as musicians and I  for  one
have improved as a songwriter and that's good to see."
     On the topic of song writing and studio work, he says,  "Writing
material takes time for me. I go through phases to write material.  I
will usually be able to write for two months, and then my  mind  will
be blank for writing for the next three. It gets stressful  when  you
are trying to work on material and nothing  is  coming  to  you.  The
studio is a great place to be. It's where a lot of things change  for
bands when they are recording. A lot of  ideas  shape  shift  in  the
studio. When we go into the studio I  make  sure  that  we  have  the
general idea and we work on it from that point on. Sometimes it takes
just the smallest idea to help fuel some creativity and alter a  song
or chorus. I always record everything I come up with in  the  studio.
Who knows where I can use it down the road."
     One reason why Children of Bodom seem to stand out from the rest
of the pack is their intensity and the band's unique blend  of  metal
both old and new. Laiho  agrees.  "We  have  a  lot  of  black  metal
tendencies, but most of the stuff we play has  a  lot  of  old  metal
influences. It's heavy metal with black  metal  tendencies.  We  have
classical metal influences, too. Our music is an amalgamation of many
musical styles."
     "We're not afraid to venture out and  play  music  with  massive
guitar solos and melodic harmonies. We're not afraid  to  do  any  of
that, but the key thing that needs to be done is  to  do  it  with  a
definite feel for it. Don't just add it into your sound for the  hell
of it or 'cause it's  the  flavour  of  the  month.  Growing  up  and
learning guitar, I was heavily into the works of Yngwie Malmsteen and
Steve Vai. That was a reason why  I  focused  on  doing  cool  guitar
soloing on both records. I keep our music pretty  straightforward.  I
don't want to hear a certain band and want to sound like that. I want
to do what comes natural and  keep  it  simple.  I  think  it's  more
interesting if songs have very technical parts. I get off on that."
     "It's funny to watch all of these bands out there try to jump on
a certain sound and try to play it sincerely", says Laiho.  "You  can
see right through them most of the time. I  mean,  take  for  example
HammerFall  [another  Nuclear  Blast  band  --  Adrian].  They   play
'80s-styled heavy metal, you know, hero metal. It's cool and  all  to
be doing that, I mean, we have our own share of  '80s  influence  too
running through Children of Bodom, but after they  came  out  all  of
these other metal bands either came out of the woodwork and  starting
playing that style of metal or bands added that sound  to  what  they
were already doing. It's stupid."
     He finishes, "Musicians should always play music for the love of
it. If it all comes down to how  much  money  you  can  make  with  a
certain type of music and that appeals to you,  then  I  suggest  you
leave this business. We don't need  that  kind  of  band.  There  are
already enough bands competing out there. I want my band to  make  it
in this business and I don't want any  uninspired  or  rip-off  bands
keeping me from getting there."

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

                     E D E N   M U S T   B U R N
                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                     CoC interviews God Dethroned
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     It's not really a crusade. It's more like an attitude.  God  and
religion needs to be cast to the wayside  and  God  Dethroned  singer
Henri Sattler wouldn't have it any other way.
     "There are a lot of reasons why we write so many lyrics  against
Jesus and religion", starts Sattler from  his  home  in  Holland.  "I
think religion is just an opinion and not a law. The Bible  has  been
written for people to use as a guide to lead a normal life,  but  the
church used the Bible to enforce  these  laws  that  it  states  onto
people, telling them what they can  or  cannot  do.  I  think  that's
wrong. So in my lyrics I take passages from the Bible and try to make
them more down to earth. I try to spruce them  up  a  bit,  add  some
chaoticness to the story lines and really go against the stories that
people emphasise as wholesome ones. That's what we're all about"
     "I love this style of music", confides  Sattler.  "I  can't  get
enough of it. When I wake up in the morning the first thing I  do  is
put on music. Black metal. Speed metal. Grindcore. It's  no  problem.
This is my life and that helps me continue on what we do  as  a  band
(rounded out by other blasphemers Jens, Roel and Beef). I don't  need
to copy other music. I just get inspired to write all of the time.  I
pick up a guitar and write. It's an easy process. In order to do this
and be an honest musician, you just need to  be  yourself  and  write
from what you believe in and not what others  tell  you  to  do.  God
Dethroned listens to no one but themselves. It's always been  a  rule
for us."
     About the  new  LP  and  the  last  record  (1997's  _The  Grand
Grimoire_), he comments, "I think we pretty much continued  on  where
we left off. I think we made a good album with  _Bloody  Blasphemy_",
says Sattler. "We didn't know what  kind  of  reaction  we  would  be
getting, but so far it's been very good. It's pretty  much  the  same
type of record: brutal and fast. We will always be playing music like
this and there will be no, I mean NO, way of compromising and slowing
things down. God Dethroned is about being  fast  and  brutal.  People
expect that from us and so do we."
     And what of today's metal scene? Sattler's thoughts? "There  are
a lot of good bands out there, but there are a lot of other bands out
there that play a certain type of music 'cause it's  popular.  A  few
years from now, all those bands will be gone and only the good  bands
are going to be left. When you compose your own songs and do your own
thing, it takes a while to become a popular band. You have to  really
work to gain a fan base and sell records. That's what  God  Dethroned
is. We don't copy anyone and no one is like God Dethroned."
     As one would expect, a name like God Dethroned  (much  like  the
name Rotting Christ) is bound  to  anger  many  people  as  the  band
releases material and tours. What kind of flack or negative attention
has the  band  received  throughout  the  years?  "It's  always  been
steady", laughs Sattler. "People can't get enough of us or our  name.
Christian organisations always try to shut down  our  shows,  but  we
live in a liberal country, so we can say what we want. They  try  and
it never works. We are always in the papers over here 'cause we are a
popular band and there is always someone trying to hurt  or  say  bad
stuff about what we do. We don't care.  We  get  exposure.  One  time
these organisations even approached the Minister of Justice over here
and requested that she forbid our concert. It never happened."
     He ends, "People can say all they want about what  we  do.  It's
their say and that's fine. But we too have a  right  to  go  out  and
promote our views about religion and what have  you.  Our  music  and
lyrics say it all. We don't mess around. We tell it like  it  is  and
fans of God Dethroned like that. That's good enough for us."

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                   _____  .__ ___.
                  /  _  \ |  |\_ |__  __ __  _____
                 /  /_\  \|  | | __ \|  |  \/     \
                /    |    \  |_| \_\ \  |  /  Y Y  \
                \____|__  /____/___  /____/|__|_|  /
                        \/         \/            \/
              _____                 .__
             /  _  \   _________.__.|  |  __ __  _____
            /  /_\  \ /  ___<   |  ||  | |  |  \/     \
           /    |    \\___ \ \___  ||  |_|  |  /  Y Y  \
           \____|__  /____  >/ ____||____/____/|__|_|  /
                   \/     \/ \/                      \/

Scoring:  10 out of 10 -- A masterpiece indeed
           9 out of 10 -- Highly recommended
           7 out of 10 -- Has some redeeming qualities
           5 out of 10 -- You are treading in dangerous waters
           3 out of 10 -- Nothing here worth looking into
           0 out of 10 -- An atrocious album, avoid at all costs!


Various - _A Tribute to Hell: Satanic Rites_  (Full Moon Productions)
by: Aaron McKay  (3 out 10)

Having purchased this dual disc compilation at a favourite  haunt  of
mine in Florida, I had very high hopes for it.  It  is  widely  known
among most of my friends,  to  a  large  degree,  that  I  appreciate
Acheron's music very much. -Not- his  theories,  but  definitely  his
music. Hell, Richard Christy of Death's _The Sound  of  Perseverance_
fame played with Acheron! Not getting off on a tangent, but  I  think
that is one of the deepest unifying characteristics of the  genre  we
all enjoy -- the music is the tie that binds, regardless of  personal
philosophy or religious ideology. That said, Acheron is  a  favourite
of mine. So, when I picked up _A  Tribute  to  Hell_  and  saw  "Evil
Dead", speaking of Death, by Acheron listed as disc two's track 16, I
thought "SHIT YEA!" Choosing to cover probably the  most  influential
metal band, Death, from _Scream Bloody Gore_,  I  thought  to  myself
that I couldn't go wrong with this. To say I miscalculated is putting
things mildly. Don't get me wrong, the three points I -did- give this
compilation comes almost solely from Acheron's cover of "Evil  Dead".
The other .5, maybe a full point, comes from the  fact  there  is  an
impressive number  of  groups  here  exhibited  for  the  fans.  Some
notables are unreleased tracks, according  to  FMP's  homepage,  from
Mayhem, Naglfar, Ever Dark, Apollyon, Sacramentum and Burning  Inside
(also with Richard Christy on  drums  and  keyboards).  The  list  of
awkward, heavy-handed tracks is much more elaborate, if  not  longer:
Mysticum's "Eriaminell", Ash's "The Descent",  Mastiphal's  "Summoned
Howling" and Melechesh's "Desert Pentagram". Most  of  the  remaining
tracks, 32 in all, range from adequate to slightly above average, but
no true stand-outs other than  the  aforementioned  few.  The  insert
booklet is eye-pleasing, but not too informative. Also, do you  think
it would have killed Full Moon Productions to state -anywhere- a date
when this fucker was made, recorded, or otherwise dreamed-up?!  Damn!
All things being equal, don't waste your time,  energy  or  money  on
this unless you feel an overwhelming compulsion to have these  tracks
that, apparently, are not released elsewhere.


Akercocke - _Rape of the Bastard Nazarene_
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)  (Goat of Mendes, May 1999)

Though the eight  second  introductional  proclamation  and  slightly
lacking (particularly where the drum sound is  concerned)  production
should give this record a little less than the nine out of ten I have
bestowed upon it,  the  potential  for  brilliance  which  the  music
contained on _RotBN_ possesses gives me license, I believe, to "break
the rules" in order to  more  likely  draw  your  attention  to  this
different and uncommonly good black/death-type metal band. Akercocke,
at the core, are violent and ripping death metal  which  draws  black
metal comparisons via the kinds of atmospheres the riffs  create  and
the passing similarities one can detect to  Cradle  of  Filth's  _The
Principle of Evil Made Flesh_ (which, though primarily regarded as  a
black metal record, is certainly strongly  death  metal  influenced).
Furthermore, Akercocke do not merely blast it out with the best, they
also incorporate searing noise/industrial  elements  into  songs  and
interludes and thus succeed in adding  a  fresh  dimension  to  their
extreme  metal  base.  The  aforementioned  "blasting"  is  also  not
Akercocke's only way of expressing themselves using only their  basic
instruments. Though the majority of the album is fast and  sung  with
pronounced "unclean" vocals, "Marguerite & Gretchen" is a  creepingly
slow, bass guitar dirge  led  experiment,  utilising  vaguely  choral
sounding melodic vocals, which certainly breaks with  the  traditions
of the other influences Akercocke display.  The  lyrical  themes  are
Satanic, but (unlike many a  "Satan!"-screaming  release)  also  show
evidence of having had both thought and time put into their  writing.
Akercocke have produced a dark,  distinctive  and  somewhat  original
record; they have been  let  down  slightly  by  production  as  many
unsigned bands are, but their talent and potential shine through  and
make _RotBN_ the best release from an unsigned band I have heard this
year.

Contact: Akercocke, 97 Victoria Rd., London, N22 4XG, England
         http://www.dialspace.dial.pipex.com/georgesabellicus
         mailto:akercocke@hotmail.com


The Atomic Bitchwax - _The Atomic Bitchwax_  (MIA Records, July 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8.5 out of 10)

If there was one band out there that really got me going  from  first
note these last few weeks, it has to be the music of Atomic Bitchwax.
Based on highly volatile rock grooves meshed  with  stoner  rock-like
deliverance and really "out there" ideals,  Atomic  Bitchwax  is  the
saviour for all those fans out there wanting something  new  to  take
in. Well... spread for "Big Daddy", baby, 'cause the lovin' of  music
on this nine-song release is so rich it'll leave  you  craving  more.
With guitarist Ed Mundell of Monster Magnet,  ex-Godspeed/Daisycutter
bassist Chris Kosnick and ex-Slaprocket drummer Keith Ackerman  along
for  the  ride,  you  couldn't  choose  better  co-pilots.  Far  more
instrumental than some might think, Atomic Bitchwax rock solid  every
way they can on their debut disc.


Black Funeral - _Moon of Characith_
by: Alex Cantwell  (1 out of 10)  (Full Moon Productions, June 1999)

This was seriously disappointing. I was a happy man when this arrived
in the mail, because the  cover  looked  menacing  and  I  knew  from
previous listens that the music of Black Funeral was  uncompromising,
raw black metal. Well, _Moon of Characith_ is nothing like that. Gone
the way of Ulver and Dodheimsgard, only far more incriminating, Black
Funeral is now on some kind of ambient/techno/noise trip that can  be
described in one word -- dumb. The whole CD is a sort  of  minimalist
keyboard kind of thing,  with  some  gay  beats  thrown  in  for  bad
measure. I am not anti-ambient at all, and if this was good  ambient,
I would complain only a little bit --  but  this  is  just  sad.  The
killtaker is the female vocals, which are nothing  but  strategically
placed moans and groans. Black Funeral  (or  Michael  Ford,  but  now
includes Shanna LeJeune as well) has in the span of a few short years
gone from "vampyric" black metal,  which  was  dumb  in  concept  but
produced some good music, to this Mortiis wannabe stuff.  How's  that
for artistic integrity and longevity?

Contact: Full Moon Productions, 2039 Roxburgh Court
         Lakeland, FL 33813, USA
         mailto:fmp@fmp666.com


Cirith Gorgor - _Onward to the Spectral Defile_
by: Paul Schwarz  (6.5 out of 10)  (Osmose, May 1999)

Cirith Gorgor pound out some  violent  and  intense  black  metal  at
speeds which are above the average, and score browny points  for  the
intensity and sheer violence they display with  this  approach.  This
assault is underpinned with a competent use of  melody  which  traces
the passages of the hard riffs  underneath  the  blasting  (and  also
frequently and creatively breaking) drums. Unfortunately, the  vocals
are painfully faceless and compound _OttSD_'s core problem:  lack  of
variation. _OttSD_ doesn't vary enough over the  course  of  its  ten
tracks to keep me interested for its forty two  minute  duration.  If
brutality is your thing, though, you could certainly do worse.


Darkane - _Rusted Angel_  (WAR Music, June 1999)
by: David Rocher  (10 out of 10)

Despite the mild letdown that Carnal Forge's _Who's Gonna Burn_  [CoC
#36] embodied, WAR Music releases on the whole prove to be damn  good
news; and Wez Wenedikter's songwriter extraordinaire breeding  ground
has indeed once again provided the  goods  above  all  hopes.  Fusing
technical Swedish death metal tones with  the  violence  and  unbound
aggressiveness of late eighties' Bay Area thrash, Darkane's first and
essential  effort  is  a  ruthless  slab  of   extreme   metal   that
successfully recaptures (and doesn't merely  rehash)  the  power  and
industrial inhumanity of Meshuggah, the frantic  violence  of  Razor,
the raucous  low-case  heaviness  of  Carcass  and  the  jaw-dropping
duelling lead guitar virtuosity of Arch Enemy, all this sealed within
the fathoms of Darkane's own brilliant songwriting style.  While  the
string section lead by axemen Christofer Malmstrom and  Klas  Ideberg
and bassist Jorgen Lofberg never ceases to  develop  fantastic  ideas
and technicality oozing with utter heaviness, ex-Armageddon  skinsman
Peter Wildoer -- arguably  one  of  the  finest  and  most  technical
extreme metal drummers out there --  provides  the  backbone  to  the
constant breaks and  syncopated  rhythmic  parts  with  his  complex,
pounding drumming and  sparkling  cymbal  play;  Darkane's  fantastic
vocalist Lawrence Mackrory demonstrates with what ease and  precision
he shifts from angered thrash vocals, akin to Razor's Bob Reid's,  to
high-pitched grating black metal screams, to  thick,  phlegm-churning
death metal roars. With a good production, _Rusted Angel_ would  have
been a great album, but Darkane have chosen to ignore the usual Abyss
and Fredman studios, and recorded this offering in Upssala's Dug  Out
studios, with the mighty production genius Daniel Bergstrand  at  the
mix... This results in a production which  is  absolutely  -stellar-,
loud, crunchy, clear, thick, powerful  and  perfectly  balanced,  and
which makes _Rusted Angel_ the definitely  cardinal  release  it  is.
Sweden's new extreme masters Darkane are technical,  violent,  varied
and catchy way beyond what words can describe --  I've  seldom  heard
metal get better than this, and I don't  recall  many  first  efforts
having instantly burnt me to a crisp the way _Rusted Angel_ has done.
Above all doubt, one of 1999's, and probably  this  decade's,  finest
death metal releases. Buy or die.


Deviate - _State of Grace_  (I Scream Records, June 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7.5 out of 10)

It's quite easy to see why this popular Belgium hardcore/metal outfit
has been going strong 'n' heavy since their inception in 1991.  Their
production  value  alone  says   "experienced",   and   the   overall
deliverance of the band is monstrous. Much like the works of  veteran
hardcore acts like Earth Crisis,  Hatebreed  and  Integrity,  Deviate
always seem to be able to muster up enough spark and solid rhythms to
keep the record tight and in control. While the record does sway from
time to time with generic sounding hardcore "-isms", it's  the  power
hitter songs like "Dawn of Mankind" and "Empty World" that clear away
from that, that hit ya hard 'n' heavy each time out. On a whole,  the
disc rocks, just a few ideas that seem to lack attention in the  song
writing process. Go mosh!

Contact: http://www.iscreamrecords.com


Dismal Euphony - _All Little Devils_  (Nuclear Blast, May 1999)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (8.5 out of 10)

This album was a total shocker to me. Not having cared much for their
prior  releases,  _All  Little  Devils_  contains  a  definite  sound
departure; less bombastic and more concentrated  on  catchy  choruses
and smoother riffs. Gone are the traditional, raw black metal days in
favour of a more  polished  product.  This  exudes  total  class.  My
admiration for the band revolves around the female vocals, which  are
actually quite good (considering the many so called female  "singers"
in other black metal bands I've had the displeasure of hearing),  the
new vocalist (whose name I'm unaware of) gives the  album  a  certain
amount of charm. Once tracks like "Rage of Fire", "Victory",  "Psycho
Path" and the title track enter your ears, they won't leave your head
any time soon. For once, a band  that  diversifies  their  sound  and
succeeds.


Dominance - _Anthems of Ancient Splendour_  (Scarlet, 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Despite what the album title might lead the potential buyer to think,
this isn't much of an "epic" album as far as the usual preconceptions
about the usage of great keyboards and various classical  instruments
are concerned. In fact, despite the very  reasonable  keyboard  intro
and outro, there's nothing especially epic about _Anthems of  Ancient
Splendour_, as this is basically guitar-driven blackened death  metal
-- not that guitar-driven music can't be epic, of  course,  but  this
particular album is relatively normal.  Title-induced  misconceptions
notwithstanding, this Italian band plays  very  competent  and  quite
dynamic and varied blackened death metal and reaches some  especially
good moments during "Immemorial Iced Lake" and "Engraved", thanks  to
effective rhythms and riffs in the former  and  guitar  work  in  the
latter,  together  with  a  competent   vocal   delivery.   Dominance
occasionally remind me of The  Elysian  Fields'  excellent  _We,  the
Enlightened_ in the way they use some slight influences of black  and
Swedish metal in their basic  death  metal  sound,  even  though  the
similarities don't go far (The Elysian Fields opt for a  doomier  and
more classically influenced style, which is generally  not  the  case
here). Though I don't know what happened with the  production  during
the second half of the track "Anthem of Ancient Splendour", the  band
sounds very  determined  throughout  _AoAS_  and  have  succeeded  in
creating a good album overall.


earthtone9 - _Off Kilter Enhancement_  (Copro Records/PHD, July 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9.5 out of 10)

In a day and age where metal music has been run through the ringer so
many times and nothing seems fresh or innovative anymore,  it's  nice
to see bands like Nottingham, England's earthtone9 surface  into  the
picture. I raved about the last record _lo-def(inition) discord_ [CoC
#35], and I'm gonna rave about this one too. These guys fuckin' rule.
There is no question in my mind that this band has got to be  one  of
the most eccentric and hard sounding ones out there. With  shades  of
Coalesce, VoD and Cave-In bringing up the hardcore front,  the  waves
of adrenaline that earthtone9 disperse to the listener are  no  doubt
inspired by such versatile acts as Neurosis and Tool, but they manage
to add their own flavour and groove  to  the  mix.  The  result?  One
happening cocktail mix, my dear metal friend. It's an incredible ride
to take upon yourself with each listen, as the  music  of  earthtone9
really seems to radiate an ethereal vibe at times, allowing you,  the
listener, to cautiously sit back and take in  the  music  content  of
this band, taking into account  their  breathtaking  deliverance  and
tight musicianship. Get hooked on tracks like "I Naugal Eye" and  the
stunning work on "Simon Says"  and  "Grind  and  Click".  I  know,  I
know... I'm babbling on about this band, but this stuff is the  shit.
This comes highly recommended and easily in my top ten of 1999.


Ebony Tears - _A Handful of Nothing_  (Black Sun Records, June 1999)
by: David Rocher  (8 out of 10)

The possibility, back in 1998, that there would be no sequel to Ebony
Tears' rather unequal 1997 debut _Tortura Insomniae_ [CoC #30]  (this
being due to the fact that members Johnny Wranning and Conny  Jonsson
wanted to concentrate on their power/thrash project Dog  Faced  Gods)
wasn't really something I was  losing  any  sleep  over.  Admittedly,
_Tortura Insomniae_ did feature a few  cool,  enticing  tracks  (that
were mainly catchy thanks to the adjunction of nice  violin  playing)
but the  album  was  generally  let  down  by  an  excessively  weird
production, perfectible songwriting and  Johnny  Wranning's  annoying
vocal style, that unceasingly shifted from death to black  and  back,
and then suddenly mutated into brutal raucous tones -- all  this  for
no apparent reason, right in the middle of a phrase. With _A  Handful
of  Nothing_  however,  Ebony  Tears  have  placed  the  emphasis  on
aggressiveness and efficiency, and basically recorded a second  album
that, in my eyes, has the enjoyable, spicy taste of a "no more mister
nice guy" kind of declaration. Conny Jonsson's guitar work now  bears
the stigma of thrash-influenced death metal riffage a la  Gothenburg,
Johnny Wranning has put and end to his iffy experimenting with  vocal
styles to concentrate on a rasping, aggressive form of  singing,  and
the violin, which I can only guess was finally perceived by the  band
as being a misplaced element in their music, now only appears on  one
single track (the  short,  distorted  instrumental  piece  "Erised").
Solidly welded onto the thick skeleton of the powerful and fast  drum
playing (syncopated double  bass  drumming  galore!),  the  bass  and
guitars are now given all  necessary  leeway  to  develop  alone  the
catchiness  and  appeal  that  the   violin   offered   on   _Tortura
Insomniae_... and it works like it never did before!  _A  Handful  of
Nothing_ has turned out to be a catchy, energetic and  violent  album
that never loses its firm double grip on power and melody  and  shows
-vast- improvement on Ebony Tears' earlier songs. Not only will  fans
of their first output definitely recognise the  band  with  this  new
effort of theirs, but _A Handful of Nothing_ is also  quite  able  to
appeal to metalheads who had failed to be keeled over  by  the  cool,
but nonetheless rather "tepid" music played by Ebony Tears so far.


Various - _ECW Extreme Music_  (Earache, July 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (3 out of 10)

This is a compilation of extreme music  tracks  chosen  to  musically
represent  Extreme  Championship  Wrestling.  Harry  Slash  and   the
Slashtones' "This Is Extreme" provides an intro, and a boring one, of
sorts to this comp. It is followed by a remix of White  Zombie's  "El
Phantasmo and the Chicken Run Blast-O-Rama" which is nearly the  same
as the original, and, additionally, tedious  in  the  extreme  (sic).
This record contains a virtual plethora of covers, and I will  tackle
these collectively and  comparatively  now.  Kilgore,  Motorhead  and
Anthrax all, in my opinion, chose very poorly the covers they were to
contribute. "Walk" by Pantera and "Enter Sandman" and "Phantom  Lord"
by Metallica are their respective  contributions  and,  in  my  view,
there is a lot wrong with the mere principle  of  these  bands  doing
their chosen covers. In Kilgore's case, no-one should be  covering  a
seven year old  tune  by  a  huge-selling  band,  and  you  certainly
shouldn't be covering what is probably their most popular  song.  The
cover adds nothing to the original -- which is hardly  a  classic  in
itself, it just happens to be a song a lot of people  can  get  into.
Motorhead should not be  covering  Metallica  in  my  view,  and  I'd
certainly say that, again, the most overplayed and popular song  from
the band's most successful record is hardly a good choice.  Anthrax's
error is not as much the  choice  as  the  execution.  I  would  have
thought the point of covering a really old, cool and heavy  Metallica
track would be to show up the band's current commercial direction  by
churning out a ripping version of the track; instead, Anthrax play  a
competent cover but add nothing in vitriol, heaviness or depth to the
original, even though I imagine they have access to  way  more  money
and time than Metallica had to do _Kill 'Em All_. The final insult is
John Bush's  vocals,  however,  which  fit  so  badly  it  is  almost
embarrassing to listen to. What's interesting  is  that  I  think  if
Anthrax and Motorhead had swapped  Metallica  songs,  we  would  have
ended up  with  a  much  more  satisfactory  pair  of  covers.  Bruce
Dickinson turns in The Scorpions' "The Zoo", which is not a  track  I
am familiar with. It is  a  bit  tedious  but  seems  decently  done.
Megadeth's "Trust (ECW mix)" is not dance-beat infused but seems only
to be an extended  instrumental:  it's  boring.  Tres  Diablos  is  a
Pantera offshoot band which I think features all members except  Phil
Anselmo. Some upfront,  Primus-esque  bass  work  makes  it  somewhat
interesting, but overall it is somewhat simplistic and uninteresting,
and has sections  where  the  band  simply  fall  back  onto  Pantera
trademark riffs, rather shamefully. Monster Magnet's  "Kick  Out  the
Jams"  (from  the  promo-only  _Space  Lord_  EP)  is  energetic  and
worthwhile: probably worth checking  out  if  you're  a  big  Monster
Magnet fan. The remaining bands are  Earache's  own.  Morbid  Angel's
godly "Prayer of Hatred" (from my  favourite  record  of  last  year,
_Formulas Fatal to the Flesh_) is included  and  Cathedral  and  Iron
Monkey also turn in tracks. The Cathedral track is  from  their  most
recent _Caravan Beyond Redemption_ disc and is much better than I had
expected out of the band since losing track of them after the tedious
_Supernatural Birth Machine_ and patchy _Carnival  Bizzarre_  albums.
The Iron Monkey track is  cool  and  extreme  doom-type  stuff  which
reminds me of Sleep's recent _Jerusalem_  disc.  Overall,  a  lot  of
unnecessary  and  boring  covers  and  remixes  mean   that   nothing
unreleased from here is worth picking it up for, while its value as a
sampler is limited due to the small number of  quality  album  tracks
included.


Empyrium - _Where at Night the Wood Grouse Plays_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)  (Prophecy Productions, June 1999)

This entirely acoustic release by Empyrium is not a  very  surprising
move for them considering the acoustic components of _Songs of  Moors
& Misty Fields_ [CoC #30], but I expected something  more  consistent
overall and also better as far as the second half  of  the  album  is
concerned. Perhaps I expected too much because of the  excellence  of
_SoM&MF_, but still the opening  title  track  was  quite  promising.
Simple acoustic guitars, a flute melody, then a deep  male  choir  in
the background with normal Empyrium clean vox on top and some  simple
percussion towards the end. Very atmospheric and pleasant. The second
track, "Dying Brokenhearted", is also  quite  good;  similar  to  the
first, minus the percussion and featuring only  some  whispered  vox,
and overall very based upon acoustic guitar work, like  most  of  the
album. The next track, "The Shepherd and the Maiden Ghost",  features
more sombre spoken vocals and some cello, which could have been  used
much more frequently and  effectively,  in  my  opinion.  The  fourth
track, "The Sad Song of the Wind", is indeed a sad song, again  based
on acoustic guitar and sombre  vocals,  plus  some  more  flute.  The
spoken vocals work quite well, whereas the results  achieved  by  the
chants vary considerably. From this point onward, however, things are
never again as interesting as before. The acoustic guitar  starts  to
become somewhat repetitive and nothing  very  interesting  is  added,
culminating in the rather strange eighth track of this 32 minute long
release, "Many Moons Ago..." -- a  very  medieval/folk-sounding  song
that seems rather out of place here. The atmosphere  created  by  the
first few tracks is partially lost by now and _WaNtWGP_ ends  with  a
new version of "When Shadows  Grow  Longer",  originally  from  their
previous album, with  a  lot  of  chanting  and  an  acoustic  guitar
background; nothing very remarkable when compared  to  the  original.
Though not excessively similar, _WaNtWGP_ isn't far from some of what
Ulver did with their  own  acoustic  album.  Ulver's  _Kveldssanger_,
however, is overall superior, thanks mainly  to  the  fact  that  the
album doesn't start to rapidly lose interest or atmosphere after  its
midpoint, as  is  the  case  with  Empyrium's.  Overall,  I  expected
something sadder and more sorrowful (the first  four  tracks  do  get
quite close to that) and also more stirring -- in the end, those were
the main elements that Empyrium achieved to make _SoM&MF_  so  great,
and I expected the band to somehow re-create them in a different  way
with acoustic instrumentation better than they did in the second half
of the album. Still, the first half, though not entirely as brilliant
as I expected,  is  nevertheless  very  good  and  the  second  isn't
anything terrible at all, just average; it's just that,  coming  from
Empyrium, I feel that _WaNtWGP_ could have been better.


Entombed - _Monkey Puss (Live in London)_  (Earache, June 1999)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (6.5 out of 10)

You would think that a live Entombed album recorded during  the  Gods
of Grind tour would be a good album. You'd  think  that,  right?  How
disappointing it was to give _Monkey Puss_ a few spins and never feel
the energy or satisfaction an Entombed gig always  brings  (evidenced
by their mind-blowing performance  in  Toronto  on  their  _To  Shoot
Straight..._ tour). Despite covering some great  material  ("Stranger
Aeons", "Sinners Bleed", "Evilyn", "Left Hand Path"),  they  actually
came off sounding tired and uninspired. Who would have thought?  Also
the recording of the gig can be faulted, you can  actually  hear  the
quality improve and go down within a single  track.  To  be  brutally
honest for a moment, Earache should stop trying  to  make  money  off
bands that aren't on Earache anymore (e.g. Carcass) and look  to  the
(bleak?) future rather than trying to recapture past  glories.  Guys,
as opposed to releasing best-ofs or live albums, why not go  out  and
sign a new and fresh metal band!?! Now there's an idea.


Extol - _Mesmerized_  (Endtime, June 1999)
by: Alex Cantwell  (7.5 out of 10)

To accompany Extol's brilliant 1998 debut _Burial_  [CoC  #34]  comes
_Mesmerized_. It features one  totally  new  song  ("Enthralled"),  a
newly recorded version of "Prodigal Son" from the _Embraced_ demo,  a
previously unreleased song from the  _Burial_  sessions  ("Storms  of
Disillusions"), industrial remixes of "Burial" and "Renhetens Elv" by
Sanctum, and an ambient remix of "Work of Art" by Raison d'Etre.  The
cover art is once again done by Kristian Wahlin, and is very  similar
in design to the _Burial_ cover, but with a different  painting.  The
CD is a  cool  digipak  and,  like  _Burial_,  falls  under  the  art
direction of the brilliant Samuel Durling. The new song is  a  killer
-- very technical, with many different parts. If this is a clue  into
the future sound of Extol, current fans will not be  disappointed  at
all, because "Enthralled" is sleek and razor sharp.  The  immediately
recognisable difference in the newly recorded  version  of  "Prodigal
Son" is that it is downtuned from where it once  was,  so  it  sounds
much different. Disappointingly, the intro is not done with  acoustic
guitar like the demo version. The biggest  change,  though,  is  that
they have created two entirely new parts in the middle of  the  song.
"Storms of  Disillusions"  features  guitarist  Ole  Borud  on  clean
vocals, but they are distorted through the whole song, which adds  an
interesting atmosphere. This track also has a guitar solo  in  it  --
something that they  haven't  attempted  since  their  very  earliest
recordings.  Although  I  think  Cold  Meat  Industry's  Sanctum  has
interesting music, I don't care much at  all  for  these  "industrial
remixes" that they did here. Only a few riffs or vocal lines from the
original songs ever surface in these  musical  dissections,  and  the
final product seems patchy at best. The "Work of Art" remix by Raison
d'Etre (also on Cold Meat) is actually  really  cool  because  it  is
basically just one ambient droning sound for the  whole  duration  of
the track, but as is stated inside, uses only original sounds,  so  I
guess that they didn't use any of the parts from  the  original,  and
you sure can't hear any. While these industrial remixes are  somewhat
interesting, they take up half the CD -- valuable  space  that  could
have been used for more original Extol music, which is why  I  didn't
rate this CD higher. Nevertheless, this is essential  for  the  Extol
fan and very recommended for other interested parties as well.

Contact: Endtime Productions, PO Box 17142,
         SE-402 61 Gothenburg, Sweden
         mailto:endtime@durling.com


Fantomas - _Fantomas_  (Ipecac Records, June 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8.5 out of 10)

If singer Mike Patton (ex-Faith No More) isn't committed to an insane
asylum after authorities hear this LP, I don't know what'll happen to
him. He's off his rocker! He's flipped his lid!  Comprised  of  equal
shares of insanity, mayhem and brilliance, one can't  go  wrong  with
sampling the  work  of  Fantomas.  Don't  be  afraid,  kids.  With  a
supergroup of henchmen helping out in the wings -- ex-Slayer  /  Grip
Inc. drummer Dave Lombardo and King Buzzo and co.  from  The  Melvins
--, this lil' puppy really socks it to ya. Put this on, sit back  and
listen to the madness unfold. You'll never get the  image  of  Patton
running around the studio screaming incoherently out of your head. In
short, nothing sounds at all right  here,  but  inexplicably  it  all
works out in the end.

Contact: Ipecac Records  P.O. Box 1197 Alameda, CA. USA 94501


Fornever - _We Whom Are..._  (<Independent>, 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

Omaha, Nebraska quintet Fornever have two things going for them right
off the bat: 1) Brian Griffin (Broken Hope / En  Sinfonia)  producing
and 2) an interesting array of material that spawns  many  genres  of
metal  music  (from  death  metal  chants  to  doom/gloom  riffs  and
choruses). That said and done, prepare yourself to journey  into  the
solidly played five-song outing from these heavy hitters. Get ruffled
up by the intensity of such songs as "Divine Immortal"  and  "Purify"
and drawn into the stirring closer "The Garden of Never".  While  not
perfect throughout, for the most part the styles represented here are
in good hands. It's good to see a band step above the normal realm of
metal music every once in a while, especially  a  relatively  unknown
band like Fornever. Solid work from a band that obviously worked hard
to get where they are. No doubt they will have a future.

Contact: http://www.fornever.com
         mailto:fornever1@hotmail.com


Goddess of Desire - _Symbol of Triumph_  (Metal Blade, 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (5 out of 10)

Sounding like a mix between the sinister stylings of death metal  and
older Slayer (circa _South  of  Heaven_)  /  Megadeth  (circa  _Peace
Sells..._), the music here  just  seems  to  roll  forward,  no  real
variety thrown in. Sure it's brash and rockin',  willing  to  give  a
wallop to the head every so often, but had this record had  songs  as
bitchin' as the women adorning the CD inlay, then maybe it would have
been more of a "Triumph".


Godgory - _Resurrection_  (Nuclear Blast, April 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (5 out of 10)

_Resurrection_ is a disjointed, though well produced,  album  created
by more-than-competent musicians. The opening title track begins with
a gothic-sounding keyboard atmosphere,  which  is  then  interspersed
with big crunchy bar chord strums and pounding drum hits. The  vocals
which soon enter are growled, though these do vary to being spoken or
clean, but not  tunefully  so.  Strangely,  this  doom-like  song  is
followed by the 100% Gothenburg death metal sounding "Crimson  Snow".
Though _Resurrection_ continues with songs more in the  vein  of  the
first from here on, there is still variation. Current-Hypocrisy-esque
riffs  emanate  from  a  few  songs  while  gothic  atmospheres   and
symphonically catchy choruses are a fixture in most of the  remaining
tracks. The end result lacks  identity,  but  my  problem  with  this
release is that none of the music is anything to get  excited  about.
Closing _Resurrection_ with a cover  of  Accept's  "Princess  of  the
Dawn" was definitely a bad move, however. The end and beginning of an
album are quite significant things in my view and to  have  the  last
memory of your album in someone's  mind  being  someone  else's  song
seems like a bad thing to me. Godgory have poured salt in this  wound
by choosing an album closing song to cover and by doing a cover which
is pretty unexciting, though  its  attempt  to  combine  the  crunchy
guitars and gothic tendencies of  Godgory's  music  into  the  Accept
original is  partially  successful  and  certainly  daring.  Overall,
though, this is little more than an average album.


Katatonia - _Tonight's Decision_  (Peaceville, September 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

If I knew every Katatonia album except their 1998 effort _Discouraged
Ones_, I would have been seriously surprised,  or  even  baffled,  by
_Tonight's   Decision_.   However,   considering   its    predecessor
_Discouraged Ones_, Katatonia's first album for Peaceville becomes  a
bit more of an expectable output, though that will most likely not be
very clear during  the  first  few  listens.  With  guest  Dan  Swano
somewhat unremarkably replacing Jonas Renske on  drums,  the  biggest
changes, or at least the  most  immediately  apparent  ones,  concern
Renske's  vocals:  still  clean  vox  only,  but   different.   These
differences are quite hard to describe,  as  his  vocals  are  rather
varied throughout the album, but they're basically more  "sung"  than
before; often less sombre, softer,  apparently  not  as  doomy.  With
time, though, a lot of it ends up sounding  quite  doomy  after  all;
nevertheless, some of Renske's vocal delivery failed to  convince  me
this time, some of his experiments didn't turn out so well and a  few
tracks suffer from that. As indicated by the once  again  superb  and
meaningful artwork, the album still carries an overall atmosphere  of
doom in its own way, differently but effectively, though perhaps  not
quite as much as before. But as I listened  to  _Tonight's  Decision_
again and again, I gradually  overcame  most  of  the  impression  of
strangeness and awkwardness I  initially  had.  A  few  of  the  song
structures are somewhat more complex than before, though the album is
overall still mostly simple structure-wise. Several  tracks  tend  to
successively reveal themselves more worthy than  initially  suspected
with each listen, but there are  still  enough  less  than  brilliant
choruses, passages and vocal arrangements here  to  keep  the  rating
down to an 8 out of 10, as quality varies a lot within  most  tracks,
from  brilliant  to  somewhat  unremarkable  and  misplaced-sounding.
Instrumentally, Katatonia's current direction is hard to pinpoint, as
it varies considerably from track to track: "Right Into  the  Bliss",
for example, sounds quite like _Discouraged Ones_-era  Katatonia;  "A
Darkness Coming" reminded me of present day Anathema; and  a  lot  of
the album reminded me of nothing  in  particular,  not  even  earlier
Katatonia. Not to say that this  is  all  completely  different,  nor
clearly  less  metallic  than  before  --  typical  Katatonia  guitar
elements still pervade a lot of the record --, but this -is-  overall
considerably different from _Discouraged Ones_ and after being  given
a generous enough chance it can prove itself a very good album.  It's
just that Katatonia have done better than "very good"  several  times
in the past, and that's only occasionally the case here.


Lacrimosa - _Elodia_  (Hall of Sermon, 1999)
by: Alex Cantwell  (6 out of 10)

This is interesting, as it features  the  London  Symphony  Orchestra
throughout its entirety, and  was  apparently  composed  entirely  by
members of the band. Of the eight tracks on _Elodia_, there  are  two
kinds of songs: those where the orchestra performs the vast  majority
of the music and  those  blending  Lacrimosa's  metal/rock  with  the
orchestra, sometimes to astounding results. All of the lyrics are  in
German, and the male and female vocalists both have powerful  voices.
They don't sound so good, though, especially  the  male  vocals,  but
they certainly are powerful. The music is enjoyable, sometimes giving
way to huge, lavish orchestral  parts,  and  other  times  crushingly
heavy. Another interesting thing is the fact that I had  never  heard
this band previous to receiving this in the mail, and it  seems  that
it would  be  quite  an  undertaking  to  hire  the  London  Symphony
Orchestra. Is Lacrimosa huge in Europe or  something?  How  could  an
underground band afford something  like  this?  Well,  I  don't  have
answers to those questions, but I can say that this is powerful music
in its own right, and I would enjoy  hearing  a  similar  undertaking
from any metal band who thinks they could pull it off.

Contact: mailto:hallofsermon@compuserve.com


Various - _Lobot Manual_  (Lobot Music, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (6 out of 10)

Hey look, a noise compilation... with  no  liner  notes.  Fuck  Lobot
Music then. When I open up a compilation, I want to see  liner  notes
with artist addresses, thank yous, and a  bit  of  background  (hell,
I'll settle for 2 out of 3), not "Lobot Manual - For more information
write to:". When I  purchase  the  fucking  CD  I  want  the  fucking
information in my hands while I listen to (what I hope  to  be)  good
noise. Oh well... where is ranting going to  get  me?  At  least  the
noise is going to be good... right? <sigh> This compilation is a fine
example of what happens when you put together the hoi polloi  generic
garbage noise/power electronics artists and have  absolutely  no  big
time names with uhm... let's see... TALENT to carry  the  lot.  After
running down the list of artists, I came to the conclusion that I had
pretty much no idea who just about any of these  people  were,  where
they were from, or what sort of style they mingled with.  Instead,  I
found myself bouncing from track  to  track  holding  my  breath  and
hoping that it wasn't going to be even cruddier than the one  I  just
finished with. There are some artists who take  steps  in  the  right
direction towards making this  mildly  enjoyable,  such  as  Dyslexis
Coup's opening track and one followed a few tracks later by Dysthemia
Scars. Flutter shoots out with a piece which hits just around average
for them, though I found myself highly amused by the use of R2-D2  as
a source sound. The rest of the compilation (as mentioned  above)  is
throw away, though even the cruddiest bands have  a  few  seconds  of
interesting noise here and there. I hear the  profits  for  this  are
going to Food Not Bombs and the guys who made it are real nice...  oh
well. Buy it for that, or move on, I say.

Contact: Lobot Music, 808 F St. #309, Davis, CA 95616, USA


Lunar Aurora - _Of Stargates and Bloodstained Celestial Spheres_
by: David Rocher  (7 out of 10)  (Kettenhund Records, May 1999)

Already Lunar Aurora's  fourth  full-length  effort,  _OSaBCS_  is  a
hateful offering of epic, very symphonic and warlike black metal that
testifies to this German band's growing identity; indeed, despite the
fact they never lacked musical qualities, Lunar Aurora had so far not
always succeeded in being personal enough for them  to  really  stand
out among the plethoric black metal  tide.  This  new  album  should,
however, open all eyes to these black metallers' sincerity, as  their
violent blend of bellicose rage and eerie melody continues to refine,
even after the metal scene has seemingly turned its back on this  now
rather breathless blackened metal genre. With a suitably  murky,  yet
interesting and appealing production, the music contained on _OSaBCS_
is intricate and very varied, as serene atmospheric passages brutally
transform  into  epic  extremist  assaults,  carried  by  spectacular
drumming and tight guitar playing; Lunar  Aurora's  main  quality  is
that they don't merely rely on overwhelming facile keyboard  melodies
to turn lame guitar riffs into supposedly  appealing  and  accessible
tracks the way Mystic Circle do. No, Lunar Aurora  actually  consider
synthetics as the very flesh of their songs, on the same level as the
strings, drums or vocals, and in fact retain a considerable level  of
violence and harshness throughout the whole of _OSaBCS_. Even  though
symphonic black metal has been worn down to its weakest expression by
countless bands making excessive  use  of  single-fingered  synthetic
wannabe virtuosity,  Lunar  Aurora  have  proved,  in  my  eyes,  how
faithful they are to this genre and its origins, a faith which  truly
haloes their art with a most occult and baleful light.


Machine Head - _The Burning Red_  (Roadrunner, July 1999)
by: Jody Webb  (9 out of 10)

In the past, I respected Machine Head  because  I  thought  they  had
their own sound, which I am finding to be an increasingly rare  thing
the more CDs I hear. But I never liked the music enough to be a  fan.
Now  that  _The  Burning  Red_  has  seared  my  stereo,  things  are
different! Rob Flynn has delivered what I consider to be  the  finest
Machine Head album to date. While demonstrating the wisdom  to  avoid
the staleness trap, Flynn simultaneously shows  his  deep  talent  by
writing songs that are different -and- good. What it  means  is  that
Machine Head has mostly moved on from  the  simple,  crushing  tracks
like "Ten Ton Hammer" to craftier cuts such as "Nothing Left".  Fans,
do not be distressed!  The  songs  remain  thick  and  muscular,  and
continue to feature that  signature  high  pitched  scream  from  the
guitar pickups. In fact,  the  band  achieves  a  supreme  crunch  on
"Exhale the Vile". The only negative comment I have here concerns the
notable influence from Korn on two of the songs. Did the  new  guitar
player, Ahrue Luster, bring some baggage with him? Fortunately, it is
a well done Korn sound, but whoever was responsible should check that
baggage at the door next time. Finally, I never thought this  before,
but Rob Flynn has a great voice. Actually, he has a couple  of  great
voices. I didn't know he could  sing.  I  didn't  know  he  could  do
throaty death metal. I sure didn't know he could rap.  And  I  didn't
know he could force his lungs to the point of failure, which  happens
on "The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears", at the end of which Flynn gasps
"I'm gonna pass out..." before a collapsing sound  is  heard  in  the
studio. _The Burning Red_ is balanced and good, through and  through.
My only question is, what is this fascination with burning things?


Marduk - _Panzer Division Marduk_  (Osmose Productions, May 1999)
by: David Rocher  (9 out of 10)

Allegedly and undoubtedly Marduk's most violent opus to date, _Panzer
Division Marduk_ definitely has the devastating  heaviness  to  match
its uncompromising pretences! In a mere  half  hour  of  devastating,
insane lightspeed  brutality,  Marduk  have  succeeded  --  and  with
slightly more finesse at that than the blatantly unsubtle  cover  art
suggests -- in spawning an album so massively  aggressive  it  almost
makes Immortal's ruthless masterpiece  _Pure  Holocaust_  sound  like
atmospheric black metal... The  elements  that  concretely  make  the
monstrously hostile deity _Panzer Division Marduk_  sound  that  much
more aggressive than the Swedes' two latest efforts,  namely  _Heaven
Shall Burn..._ and _Nightwing_, is that the powerful  rhythm  section
lead by Fredrik Andersson and B. War does indeed  move  with  greater
velocity than  it  developed  on  _Heaven  Shall  Burn..._,  but  the
greatest impression of speed is undoubtedly due to Morgan Hakansson's
faster and more aggressive guitar lines, and the way in which  Legion
once again screams his baleful, unearthly  grating  vocals  over  the
strings' saturated sound.  Marduk's  appointed  guru  producer  Peter
Tagtgren has once again graced this maelstrom of  aggression  with  a
very fitting sound that rings loud,  sharp  and  powerful,  and  that
greatly  enhances  the  thick  aura  of  malevolence  and   brutality
emanating from _Panzer Division Marduk_.  After  worrying  many  fans
with their rather mitigated 1997 album _Nightwing_, Marduk have  this
time again demonstrated that they are still, and  beyond  all  doubt,
the "fist in the face of God" Legion has claimed they are --  _Panzer
Division Marduk_ is an outrageously warlike and totally unsubtle slab
of pure hate, and an  intense  and  very  murderous  new  chapter  in
Marduk's blasphemous career. As Immortal so justly phrased it,  "only
the music of the truly dedicated will survive", and Marduk have  once
again clearly shown, if there ever was a need for  this,  that  their
charred, evil mark will  undoubtedly  remain  seared  deep  into  the
poseur black metal scene's hide.


Merciless - _The Awakening_  (Osmose, May 1999 / 1990 reissue)
by: Paul Schwarz  (7.5 out of 10)

The praise I have heard bestowed upon this  slab  of  violent  thrash
probably led me to expect too much out of it. I  expected  a  vaguely
original and crushingly crisply  written  late-eighties  death/thrash
assault, but what  I  got  was  a  somewhat  painfully  Kreator-esque
collection of fast  thrash  songs  which,  though  well-written,  are
nothing special. Riffs, rhythms and vocals remind one  instantly  and
strongly of Kreator while the  pessimism  of  lyrical  passages  like
"Don't wait for tomorrow / 'cause there is none" indicate clearly the
period this was made in. To be fair, _The Awakening_, though far from
being essential or classic, is a pretty fast, heavy and  well-written
late-eighties thrash record with decent lyrics,  and  worth  checking
out if you're looking for something to keep your _Extreme Aggression_
and _Beneath the Remains_ discs company.


Mlehst - _The Difficulty of Crossing a Field_
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (7 out of 10)  (Bandaged Hands Produce, 1999)

_The Difficulty of Crossing a Field_ is another in a long line in the
latest noise trend of using CD-R as a means  of  releasing  material.
While I don't mind the format at all (in fact,  the  quality  of  the
recording is much better than that of previous analog methods), I  am
starting to get in a bit of a tiff over the lack  of  originality  in
the packaging; most notably the sleeves for the jewel case. There  is
no information about the recordings, the artists,  where  to  contact
them, etc.. Just a dot matrix printed graphic with  some  cheap  font
logos. I know it is my duty here to inform you about the contents  on
the disc and not the package, and I do apologise, but... well... damn
it's annoying! Anyhow, as for the noise  itself...  standard  Mlehst.
There's plenty of atmospheric style noise  with  a  heavy  minimalist
overtone to the whole deal. If one is popping this in and expecting a
harsh lesson in spontaneity and chaos,  you  bought  the  wrong  damn
disc. If a more laid back and surreal experience raises your Bismark,
then by all means take a ride on the Mlehst express  (though  I  must
confess it moves more like a turtle with polio  than  a  rip  roaring
steam engine). In all honesty this type of deal isn't my cup of  tea,
so I hope I did not ruin anybody's day by not fingering my  own  anus
over it. It's perfectly acceptable for what it is. Final word.


Mortician - _Chainsaw Dismemberment_  (Relapse, July 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (0 out of 10)

Boring, uninventive,  unnecessary.  Three  words  which  have  always
applied to Mortician, and which fit _CD_ like  a  glove.  That  said,
this is the closest  to  enjoyable  slab  of  Mortician  I  have  yet
listened to. If you are as  yet  uninitiated  to  the  "delights"  of
Mortician, my advice would be to stay that way. However, if you  want
to know what you're letting yourself in  for  should  you  decide  to
indulge in the dubious pleasure of listening to _CD_,  here  is  what
will await  you.  Mortician  produce  death  metal  of  a  distinctly
fuzzed-out,  dirge-like   quality.   The   structures   mimic   early
grindcore/death bands like  Carcass  and,  though  mostly  conducting
themselves at lightning speeds (attained  with  the  aid  of  a  drum
machine), Mortician also ear-mark  the  likes  of  Celtic  Frost  and
Autopsy as influences by virtue of occasionally  slowing  their  pace
and attaining a more sludge-based sound. They constantly  intersperse
various obscure and classic horror movie samples into their albums to
serve as intros of  sorts  for  songs.  For  the  record,  the  above
mentioned bands to whom I compare Mortician, are themselves  bands  I
respect and like very much, so  explanation  is  needed  as  to  why,
though sounding  somewhat  like  them,  I  think  Mortician  suck  so
supremely. Mortician's riffs are boring, almost  beyond  belief;  the
epitome of bad grindcore death. They lack any creativity when  placed
in a late-nineties context, and do absolutely nothing but bore  seven
shades of shit out of me.  They  don't  invigorate,  convey  emotion;
anything. The structures for songs which they  employ  are  similarly
unexciting, there is nothing creative or endearing, and I  feel  only
the most primitive of  minds  could  have  failed  to  come  up  with
structures of the complexity Mortician utilise. The drum  programming
is atrociously boring and lacking in creativity  (there's  that  word
again), no impressive  breaks  or  rolls,  nothing  to  excite,  just
percussive 4/4 smashes, occasional standard rhythm playing, and blast
beats all  the  rest  of  the  way.  Will  Rhamer  tops  it  all  off
marvellously by barfing and grunting his way (like a  man  committing
illegal acts of buggery with a wild animal, who is not  sure  whether
his actions sicken or excite  him)  through  this  48  minute  (minus
samples) trip through a death metal dumpyard of reused  riffs,  tired
old lyrical themes and the out of date, decaying idea that  brutality
is all that a death metal album needs to be good. A number of  people
have proclaimed that Mortician are "cult" when I express  my  extreme
dislike for them; being "cult" is no excuse for being crap. _Chainsaw
Dismemberment_ richly deserves a 0 out of 10. It sets out to  achieve
very little in a time when death metal has come so far I  would  have
thought we'd be in a position to demand more than just brutality  out
of it, and doesn't even succeed in  its  one  stated  aim:  to  prove
Mortician are the most brutal band on the planet. They are not.  They
instead embody the kind of pig-headed  idiocy  that  holds  music  in
general, and styles like death metal especially, back.  If  you  want
brutality of a similarly short and sweet variety, I suggest you check
out Assuck's _Misery Index_ or Nasum's _Inhale/Exhale_, just  two  of
the hundreds of records more brutal  and  just  plain  -better-  than
anything the primeval intelligence of Mortician could  ever  come  up
with.


MO*TE - _Stash_  (Solipism, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (6.5 out of 10)

Before I begin this review, let me just say that MO*TE entertains me.
In fact, I have yet to hear a MO*TE release that does not fulfil this
task. However, what MO*TE has yet to do is intrigue and challenge me.
Unfortunately, this  release  proves  to  be  no  different.  _Stash_
appears to be another in the long line of noise  which  Fumiyuki  has
sleep walked through and paid little to no attention to  any  use  of
innovative recording techniques, source sounds or effects. The  noise
contained on the disc proves to be  solid  as  always  and  certainly
leaves no room for  any  complaints;  however,  I  cannot  shake  the
feeling that there should be something more to all of this  than  the
harsh, albeit simplistic, mix of dark tonal works and  various  walls
of crunching feedback. As I stated in the beginning...  entertaining,
but hardly intriguing enough to make me shit my pants over. So  where
does this place _Stash_ in the great hierarchy of  noise  recordings?
Who knows... but certainly no place more  lofty  than  anything  else
that has been put out by MO*TE in the last couple of years. Much like
Merzbow's _Tauro Machine_, this is a release only die hard  fans  may
want to take a look at if  they  have  a  few  extra  dollars  laying
around, but I suggest the casual fan move  on  as  there  are  better
things being put out in the same vein and style as MO*TE's work.

Contact: Solipism, 26 S. Main #277, Concord, NH 03301, USA


Nagelfar - _Srontgorrth_  (Kettenhund Records, May 1999)
by: David Rocher  (8 out of 10)

Nagelfar's  1998  debut,  _Hunengrab  im  Herbst_  [CoC   #29],   had
introduced this German three-piece (not to  be  mistaken  with  proud
Swedish Dissection heirs Naglfar, who are signed to WAR Music)  as  a
sincere, unpretentious band who had closely studied the art of  black
metal referrers  such  as  Bathory  or  Darkthrone,  and  had  neatly
integrated  these  sources  of  inspiration  in  their  own  personal
songwriting.  Once  again  carefully  balanced  between  cold-blooded
Norwegian harshness and atmospheric grandeur, _Srontgorrth_  contains
five long tracks, among which are two  finely  reworked  versions  of
excerpts from Nagelfar's demos and one from their first  full-length.
However, fans should  not  be  disheartened  by  this  fact,  as  the
rewritten and replayed tracks have been treated  with  great  respect
and conviction, and this new recording truly  grants  them  a  second
life, with new and stronger arrangements, improved playing  technique
and a few great new  ideas  in  the  domains  of  melodies  and  song
structures. The two entirely new tracks are what you could  logically
expect from Nagelfar, with  the  track  "Kapitel  Vier,  der  Winter:
Trummer" being an innovative experiment in electronics for the  band.
As a definite non-fan of technoid interludes in metal albums, I  must
admit that this track, however, plays very  pleasantly  and  contains
some very enthralling atmospheres which  violent  metal  tones  can't
necessarily claim to invoke. Producer Andy  Classen  has  once  again
crafted a fine sound for this release, that is definitely no  typical
black metal production -- aggressive, grating guitar  lines  evolving
over a clear and intelligible rhythmic background,  with  an  optimal
dose of keyboards and vocals. Nagelfar's second full-length  is  once
again a humble, yet excellent black metal release,  that  should  not
fail to appeal to open-minded black metal addicts  who  care  to  see
intelligence fuse harmoniously with extreme songwriting.


Various - _Needlepoint_  (Varicocele Records, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (7.5 out of 10)

_Needlepoint_  proves  to  be  another  in  a  long  line  of   noise
compilations which features tracks of sheer brilliance that make  you
want to stand up and shout to the world, "I'm a noise  fan,  and  I'm
damn proud of it!" while delivering others that send  you  on  a  mad
dash to hit the fast-forward button. In the  case  of  _Needlepoint_,
however, they have wisely divided up  their  compilation.  The  first
side features the sultans of swat themselves  with  artists  such  as
Kazumoto Endo, Stimbox and Skin Crime topping off the list, while the
second dives straight down (way down... keep going... hit the bottom?
There you go...) into the realm of ambient-esque, atmospheric  noise.
So basically one is left knowing that side 1 equates  out  to  "Good,
Great, Wonderful!" and side 2 is sitting somewhere between "Turn This
Shit Off" and "Johnny Fetch My Gun". Some may state that  atmospheric
noise has its place and I tend to agree it does have its place...  in
the dumpster out back. When one is treated  to  such  masterful  work
such as that of a Kazumoto Endo or Skin Crime (who I should note  win
extra Brownie Points (tm) for titling their track "Mountain Dew Is My
Life's Blood"), it is hard  to  stomach  the  works  of  artists  who
revolve their entire overly drawn out tracks around just a handful of
sounds. While the compilation certainly  doesn't  feature  the  worst
atmospheric styled noise I have ever heard, even  the  well  executed
style falls short in long run. It is  by  the  good  graces  of  some
divine force that the first half of this compilation delivers on such
a high level that those artists who are collected  together  for  the
second half are easily laid to the wayside and forgotten  about.  The
compilation as a whole is well worth purchasing for  the  first  side
alone, which leaves an entire back side to be used for  dubbing  your
friend's Sugar Ray CD or getting a nice static  infested  version  of
Pearl Jam's rip-off of "Last Kiss" from your local Top 40 station. In
that sense, I suppose it's not all that bad after all.

Contact: Varicocele Records, 503 E St., Davis, CA 95616, USA
         mailto:varicocele@yahoo.com


Novembers Doom - _Of Sculptured Ivy and Stone Flowers_
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)  (Martyr Music, July 1999)

With the walls of My Dying Bride crumbling at an alarming rate (a new
member leaves every month -- what gives?), solid gothic-laced / death
metal / doom ensemble Novembers  Doom  picks  up  the  slack  of  its
notable idol and so eloquently carries the torch with conviction  and
passion. Beneath the powerful pounds of doom sonic overcharges  rests
a shining hope of collective ideals and  brilliance.  Novembers  Doom
captures  a  world  of  doom  that  has  yet  to  be  explored.  It's
groundbreaking and versatile at the same  time.  Take  to  heart  the
state of metal music, and forget  all  as  the  music  of  this  band
captivates your mind and  soul.  Piece  by  piece,  Novembers  Doom's
architecture helps create a perfect foundation for the band  to  work
from. Much stronger than their  debut  mCD,  the  self-released  _For
Every Leaf  That  Falls_,  this  release  is  a  wonderful  array  of
musicianship that helps etch their work into a wholesome format. Once
again, I bow to Novembers Doom.


Obscenity - _Demo-Niac_  (Morbid Records, May 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (7 out of 10)

I doubt that the two Obscenity demos (_Amputated Souls_ and  _Age  of
Brutality_) which make up this release are, as Morbid Records  claim,
"the most demand rarity's in the Death Metal scene"  (direct  quote),
but for their time (1991 and 1993 respectively, I believe)  they  are
not too shabby. The first, _Amputated Souls_, begins  with  the  same
sample of singing used, bizarrely enough, at the beginning of hip-hop
group The Fugees' hit 1997 track "Ready or Not" (which  I'm  told  is
from Enya) -- this does make it a  little  confusing  at  first,  but
mostly  what  this  intro  does  is  illustrate  (through  its  full,
pronounced sound) how  tinny  the  sound  of  _Amputated  Souls_  is.
Musically, it is somewhat derivative, even for the time, and  overall
offers little but nostalgia for Obscenity fans to get excited  about.
_Age of Brutality_ is much better. I really  like  the  pulsing  drum
sound achieved on this release and though the songs are,  again,  not
light years, or even a hair's breadth, quite honestly,  in  front  of
the death metal fore-front of the time, there  are  still  some  good
leads, well performed brutal vocals, and insane, powerful  drums,  to
kick you in the ass. Definitely one for fans of Obscenity,  and  also
worthy of investigation if you are particularly nostalgic about  your
death metal.


On Thorns I Lay - _Crystal Tears_  (Holy Records, June 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)

Neither of the two albums I heard from this band before  the  release
of _Crystal Tears_ impressed me enough to  make  me  want  to  become
familiar with them, but in both cases On Thorns I Lay  seemed  to  be
searching for something special, a sound and style of their own; they
just  didn't  seem  to  be  having  much  success  --  at  least  not
apparently. Still, their new album's title track opener made me think
that On Thorns I Lay might have found  something  really  interesting
this time; but while this doesn't sound too much like any other  band
in particular, it's  not  extraordinarily  innovative,  either.  They
currently play a very soft sort of metal with male and female vocals,
and it is their use of a violin that is mainly  responsible  for  the
album's  best  moments,  especially  the  excellent  title  track   I
mentioned before. The problem when  you  have  such  a  fine  opener,
however, is that the rest of the album doesn't quite  sound  so  good
anymore, and that is clearly the case with _Crystal Tears_. Some more
interesting passages do appear, but never again is a similar level of
quality reached. The music is at times somewhat doomy, but always  in
a  very  soft  way,  with   mellow   guitars,   keyboards   and   the
aforementioned violin. The quality of the male vox varies a lot,  and
so does that of the music itself, as tracks like "Enigma"  and  other
miscellaneous passages sound quite poor compared to the  title  track
or "All Is Silent" -- clearly  the  album's  best  couple  of  songs.
Still, most of the album is  at  least  average,  and  then  it  also
contains those two especially good songs.


Satyricon - _Intermezzo II_  (Nuclear Blast, May 1999)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (8 out of 10)

The first recording for their new label  Nuclear  Blast,  _Intermezzo
II_ is a good indicator of the  future  musical  path  of  Satyricon,
which is a slightly more advanced sound in comparison to  their  last
LP _Nemesis Divina_. The lone  new  track,  "A  Moment  of  Clarity",
boasts a more mature songwriting approach, utilising speed with  some
seriously moody parts. The cover of Sarcophago's "Irni"  is  probably
one of the fastest Norwegian black metal songs I've heard in a while.
It's one of those tracks that by merely thinking about  it  gets  you
excited.  Simply  awe-inspiring.  Also  a  re-recording  of  "Nemesis
Divina" can be found, along with an ambient track  created  with  the
help of Thorns' S.W. Krupp, which if listened to too many  times  can
warp the mind. Clocking in at around 20 minutes, if you  can  find  a
good price for it I highly suggest picking this up.


Sephiroth - _Cathedron_  (Cold Meat Industry, June 1999)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (8 out of 10)

Sephiroth exemplify the best qualities of a Cold Meat Industry  band.
Boasting an ambience sound with chilling  and  unforgettable  musical
passages, this is the sort of musical experience  you  never  forget.
What's great about this music is you can turn the lights off and  let
the music take you to places, from the highest peaks to  the  darkest
recesses of the soul. I'm not the biggest  fan  of  this  genre,  but
Sephiroth have encouraged me to give more of this  type  of  music  a
try. Not for the close-minded metalhead, but for the  individual  who
desires to travel without leaving the room.


Skepticism - _aes_  (Red Stream, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay  (8 out of 10)

What a nice evenflow feel this mCD by Skepticism has running  through
it, like a predator on the prowl at  dusk.  Self-titled  "emotionally
artistic funeral doom", Skepticism has  more  to  offer,  I  believe.
Unabridged, unqualified passages  absorb  the  listener  concurrently
through the nearly 28 minute, one-track composition. Resonant cymbals
splash with timely washes  of  despondency.  Guitar  usage  is  at  a
minimum,  serving  to  intensify  the  feeling  of   the   distraught
progression of the passage. I was first exposed to Skepticism on  Red
Stream's _To Live Is to Ever Be in Danger_  compilation.  The  chosen
track for that release was "Pouring" from  the  _Aeothe  Kaear_  1995
demo. While both are beautifully crafted pieces, the _aes_ mCD  track
is more mature and directed. "Pouring" has a sound more equitable  to
death funeral doom,  specifically  due  to  the  gravel-style  vocals
present and a forging tempo, where _aes_ tries to stake a claim to  a
babbling brook through a dank forest feel. Skepticism is a band to be
embraced. I intend now to wait patiently for their  next  full-length
release.


Soilwork - _Chainheart Machine_  (Listenable Records, September 1999)
by: David Rocher  (9 out of 10)

Soilwork's 1998 debut, _Steelbath Suicide_ -- a fine taste indeed  of
these Swedes' technical, melodic and thrashing death  metal  --,  had
succeeded in whetting many a metalhead's appetite up,  owing  to  the
large helping of energetic, addictive metal it offered. And  now,  as
Soilwork are poised  to  unleash  their  second  effort,  _Chainheart
Machine_, be prepared to be more than merely  satiated!  Ten  seconds
into an industrial, grating techno beat, the title track  "Chainheart
Machine" kicks in with crushing rhythmic heaviness, midway between At
the Gates' glorious masterpiece _Slaughter of the Soul_ and  Carcass'
referential milestone _Heartwork_, before  exploding  into  breakneck
blastbeat velocity,  that  then  instantly  recedes  before  rumbling
double  bass  antics,  loaded  with  catchy,  energetic  and  melodic
riffing, seared with  Speed  Strid's  furious,  foaming-at-the  mouth
vocal delivery. As the nine tracks of  _Chainheart  Machine_  unfold,
from the raging speed of the title track to the  mid-paced  heaviness
of the hymn "Spirits of the Future Sun", through to the light-footed,
melodic string-picking riffs of "Millionflame",  lightspeed  virtuoso
guitar leads tinged with an almighty '70s aura furiously  give  chase
to intricate twin axe  attacks,  uncompromisingly  demonstrating  how
increasingly mature and personal Soilwork's own style is  growing  --
more than just another flock of sheep in the once  again  organically
expanding death  metal  landscapes,  these  deathsters  have  grafted
something special to the now trademark Gothenburg sound and shaped it
according to their own will and sound... and judging  from  the  ease
with which Soilwork  first  asserted  their  style  with  their  1998
vintage, and have now succeeded, anno 1999, in giving  their  musical
scope far greater breadth, their readily  disclosed  potential  seems
yet far from having reached its peak...


Stimbox _Caveat Emptor_  (Solipism, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (8.5 out of 10)

"Let the buyer beware..." a wise piece of  advice  handed  down  from
antiquity but one that only half applies in  the  case  of  Stimbox's
second CD release. One must beware of any Stimbox output in the sense
of what it could do to one's stereo system, sense of hearing,  and/or
social life if played too loudly, but at the same time one can always
rest assured that any big heaping dose of Stimbox noise is not to  be
loathed but embraced in a most loving  manner.  Stimbox's  Napoleonic
approach to his noise  has  always  intrigued  me  for  a  number  of
reasons. There are no attempts made at being distant with  the  sound
or using guerrilla tactics to sneak in sound bites  here  and  there;
leaving the listener's mind as quickly as they came. Instead, Stimbox
masses together his noise in one beautiful formation, bows  his  head
down, and charges strait in  with  no  second  thought.  There  is  a
Romantic beauty to this free spirited attitude of how  to  deliver  a
package as sensually accosting as Stimbox in the form that  he  does.
There may very well indeed be great care and planing behind this full
forced assault, but the ranking strategist never lets out any of  his
secrets. Instead he watches from his mount, distanced far  away  from
the scene of battle, and smiles as his mustered army of madness takes
the day once again.  Formulaic?  Perhaps...  but  still  marvellously
effective.

Contact: Solipsism, 26 S. Main #277, Concord, NH 03301, USA
         mailto:stimbox@idiom.com



Suicidal Tendencies - _Freedumb_  (Suicidal/Radiation, May/July 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8.5 out of 10)

This was a difficult record to put pen to paper on and judge,  but  I
have finally managed it, and I think I have got  it  right.  What  ST
have essentially done with _Freedumb_ is regressed back to the  roots
of their self-titled debut and beyond to  an  even  more  basic  punk
formula. _ST_ may have been a raw and primal hardcore punk album, but
it had melodic twinges and metallic elements which, for me at  least,
enhanced its impact immensely, creating a  tumultuous,  rolling  snow
ball of  angst,  black  humour,  sharp  social  commentary  and  pure
unbridled rage which was also ridiculously and  infectiously  catchy.
_Freedumb_ certainly has  rage  and  also  dynamics,  and  definitely
retains the outspoken, opinionated lyricism which ST have  long  been
noted for. Songs like the title track opener, "Ain't Gonna Take  It",
"Scream Out" and the proclamatory  "Hippie  Killers",  among  others,
embody the spirit of true US  hardcore  and  punk,  resurrecting  the
sometimes criminally forgotten spirit of such bands as  Minor  Threat
and The Misfits. The less all-out tracks like  "Naked",  which  often
employ a stronger dynamic and also brief flirtations with more  alien
musical styles, such as the one with ska on "Half Way  Up  My  Head",
also work  most  of  the  time  and  overall  _Freedumb_  is  a  very
listenable and enjoyable album. But,  and  you  knew  there  was  one
coming didn't you?, there is something missing  from  _Freedumb_.  It
falls short of being as great a record as _ST_,  _How  Will  I  Laugh
Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today_ or  other  ST  classics,  and
also of being as great a record as I feel  this  classic  band  could
have made in 1999. The trademarks  of  intricate  bass  work,  raging
guitars and Muir's impressive vocal tirades are  all  in  place  with
maybe only the supremely catchy vocal melodies and solos of oldies of
the ilk of "I Want More" or "Suicidal Failure" missing.  However,  it
is mostly the overall feel of _Freedumb_ which doesn't  quite  attain
the heights the band have previously reached. No songs here can match
a cut on _ST_ and win hands down, which to be fair is something  that
can be said about many hardcore or  punk  albums  made  in  the  last
fifteen years, but even putting this somewhat harsh comparison to one
side and taking the style and songs of _Freedumb_ for what they  are,
the record as a whole lacks the seamless cohesion and endearing  flow
ST have previously achieved, especially with  their  debut.  This  is
still one of the best hardcore punk albums the '90s has brought forth
and it is a good record in its own right, but out of a new ST record?
Me, I want more.


Suicidal Tendencies - _Freedumb_  (Suicidal Records, May 1999)
by: Jody Webb  (7 out of 10)

The sole  original  cyco  Mike  Muir  has  concocted  a  high  octane
combustion of punk and thrash that jolted me from the first spin.  By
the time they blasted out the last note of the  fifth  track,  I  was
hailing this as the comeback of  the  year.  Somebody  located  their
songwriting ability and breathed new life into it with punk! There is
not a trace of the generic metal or gratuitous funk bass churned  out
on the mediocre _The Art of Rebellion_. Indeed in true punk form only
a handful of songs reach past the three minute mark and as I write  I
find myself wondering if there is even a guitar solo  on  _Freedumb_.
On the other hand, the flip side to punk is the risk of  degeneration
into sameness, and unfortunately Muir was unable to  keep  it  fresh.
After a few songs this album begins to go in  one  ear  and  out  the
other. Suicidal has returned to the energy and aggression captured on
_Suicidal Tendencies_,  but  the  music  here  lacks  depth  and  the
forgettable lyrics never approach the irreverent, off the top of  the
head classics found on that first masterpiece.  Some  of  this  kicks
major butt, though, and I would be lying if I  told  you  that  great
songs like "Freedumb" or "Cyco Vision" were not my  anthems  for  the
summer.


Summoning - _Stronghold_  (Napalm Records, June 1999)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (9.5 out of 10)

Combining black metal influences with an ambient backdrop,  Summoning
have created something truly special here. Never the  ones  to  sound
predictable or similar to  their  contemporaries,  Summoning  proudly
walk down their own path of musical genius. This type of music  can't
be faked, the emotions and  atmospheres  that  Summoning  create  are
unparalleled on any release thus far this year. Soaked in  keyboards,
_Stronghold_ is one of the better albums I've heard to fully  utilise
them. At times majestic and at others chilling, an entire spectrum of
emotions are explored in the full hour of music here. A sure  top  10
entry of 1999 in my books, Summoning's new piece  of  work  won't  go
unnoticed in the black metal / ambient scene. This  can't  come  more
recommended.


Tormentula - _Submit Your Unworthy Soul_
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)  (Speakeasy Records, July 1999)

For those of you out there looking for  beautifully  sculpted  songs,
songs that speak as if angels had crafted them, allowing you to  take
rest and take in the sounds, then go look elsewhere,  assholes.  Fuck
that pansy shit. Ravenous female trio Tormentula play the raunchiest,
most sadistic doom-laden sounds to hit the circuit in some time.  The
massive screech fest spawned from these vixens, called  _Submit  Your
Unworthy Soul_, is a slapfest to  society's  morals.  Fuck  everyone.
Hail Satan, have a brewskie and kick it out like you're a  gun-toting
nut job on a mission to kill. Mama warned us about women like  these,
boys. Bring it on Tormentula!

Contact: http://www.speakeasyrecords.com


Undertakers - _Live in Brutality_  (Nocturnal Music, May 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (6 out of 10)

Live albums are generally put out as contract fulfillers, cash-ins or
alternatives to best-ofs. It's a fact, let's face it. This is not  to
say I don't enjoy them sometimes, because I  do,  sometimes.  A  live
album from the underground, though, is a dubious prospect. Are  there
really enough fans of a band as small as Undertakers to warrant a  CD
containing five live originals, one SoD cover and two remastered demo
tracks with a total running time of twenty eight minutes?  [According
to sales figures of this, there are, since I am informed that it  has
shifted 500 copies in two weeks -- Paul.] The live sound on  this  is
surprisingly good, the material is mostly new and as yet unheard, the
SoD cover is well performed and the demo tracks  have  been  given  a
professional sound, but if I were scoring solely value for money, you
could knock four to five marks off my rating.

Contact: Via B. Longo 211, 80147 Napoli, Italy
         http://members.tripod.com/nocturnalmusic
         mailto:nocturna@tin.it


Unholy - _Gracefallen_  (Avantgarde Records, May 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (9 out of 10)

Unholy have changed. The painfully slow, often  repetitive,  dirgeful
music that they usually played before isn't quite as much so nowadays
and the band has even incorporated a substantially greater amount  of
female vocals and keyboards than those found on _Rapture_  [CoC  #31]
(vocalist/keyboardist Veera Muhli is now a full-time  member  of  the
band). But if you're thinking that Unholy now play in the same league
as The Gathering, you're very wrong. Unholy have  changed,  but  only
for the better, and this doesn't include a  reduction  in  doom.  The
female vocals  are  as  simultaneously  soothing  and  sombre  as  on
_Rapture_'s "For the Unknown One", which is what a lot of  the  music
on  _Gracefallen_  sounds  closest  to,  while  the  keyboards   only
contribute further to  the  depressive  metallic  atmospheres  Unholy
create.  As  I  mentioned  above,  this  isn't  as  extremely   slow,
repetitive or dirgeful as before, though those adjectives  are  still
valid for _Gracefallen_; but this -is- deeply doomy  and  remarkably,
relentlessly crushing, thanks to the hugely heavy guitars  and  death
vox that are also part of this painting of desolation. Just listen to
"... Of Tragedy", "Daybreak" or the skull-pounding "When Truth  Turns
Its Head", for example -- I am nigh unable to  pick  highlights  from
_Gracefallen_'s first six songs, they all deserved to  be  mentioned.
This is remarkably powerful music and truly superb doom metal. Unholy
have basically succeeded in picking the best elements from _Rapture_,
improved them and mixed them with new, -adequate- elements (something
that many bands miserably fail at), reaching a much  more  consistent
result than before with more going on in  the  music  throughout  the
album's nearly 63 minutes as  well.  -This-  is  a  fine  example  of
"progression", a word nowadays spoken and/or  written  so  frequently
whenever a band changes for the less extreme (which is definitely not
the case here), often almost regardless of the actual quality of  the
result. _Gracefallen_ is the best doom metal album to reach  my  ears
since Evoken's outstanding  _Embrace  the  Emptiness_  and  the  main
reason why I'm not giving it a 10 out of 10 is that the  album  tends
to lose a lot of its grip during the last three of its nine tracks --
mainly "Haoma", but "Seeker"  and  "Athene  Noctua",  although  good,
aren't quite as great as the rest, either. "Athene  Noctua"  provides
an adequate, though somewhat  excessively  repetitive,  end  for  the
album. Still,  this  is  definitely  one  of  those  albums  that  is
excellent despite simultaneously being quite different from the norm,
which ultimately makes it even better.


Unusual Sickness - _Sounds of a Shattered Soul_
by: Adrian Bromley  (5 out of 10)  (Nuclear Blast / PHD, April 1999)

A little uneasy at times, Unusual Sickness kicks out the jams  as  we
have heard so many times before. With  a  sound  reminiscent  of  old
school Slayer/Metallica mixed with the modern Bay Area thrash  sounds
of Machine Head / Skinlab (though lesser in  influence),  it  doesn't
take long for the band to sound familiar. Oh, the joy! At many  times
throughout this Mexican trio's record did  I  think  I  was  actually
listening to a Slayer disc. Sounds flattering, I guess,  but  also  a
real knock on their own material, eh?  I  don't  know...  I  am  just
thinkin' it's great and all to show respect to  metal  pioneers,  but
striving to work someone else's material seems a little wrong and  no
doubt boring. Good for a few licks here and there,  Unusual  Sickness
takes on a more "usual"  metal  sound  as  the  record  finishes  up.
Despite the less than spectacular review, I must say  some  of  those
guitar riffs smoke more than President Bill Clinton's cigar.

Contact: Unusual Sickness, Nicolas San Juan 1340,
         Col. Del Valle C.P., 03100, Mexico, D.F.
         mailto:usickness@hotmail.com


Valse Triste - _Turha Ruokkia Ruumiita_  (Solardisk, July 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (5 out of 10)

Looking at the album cover and seeing  a  band  name  such  as  Valse
Triste, I expected to find some sort of  doom  metal  here.  However,
_Turha  Ruokkia  Ruumiita_  turned  out  to  be  Scandinavian   (more
specifically Finnish) punk/crust containing 21 tracks that last for a
total of 28 minutes, so I was just -slightly- misled by  the  album's
appearance. Not being familiar with this specific genre (nor with any
kind of punk in general, for that matter), I still  enjoyed  some  of
the material here, which is a good  sign,  but  quality  varied  very
significantly from track to track -- and that spans from the  musical
quality itself to production. The Finnish language  doesn't  seem  to
work too well here, at least compared to the Norwegian  I'm  used  to
from black metal, though most of  the  vocal  delivery  doesn't  help
much. Despite some good passages, the music didn't do  much  for  me,
even though I was willing to give the album a fair chance, regardless
of the fact that it belonged to a different genre than those I choose
for my everyday listening pleasure -- as long as  it  contained  some
well crafted sonic violence. However, being used to more  captivating
and also more extreme music as far as  aggression  is  concerned  (in
which that aggression is  also  far  more  focused  and  much  better
applied to the music itself), the rest of the elements here  are  all
far from able to stand out by themselves. Fans of the  genre  may  be
interested, considering some of the material here, but  this  doesn't
have much to offer to anyone seriously into extreme  metal  except  a
different attitude towards  music,  which  _Turha  Ruokkia  Ruumiita_
didn't help me personally feel more  attracted  towards  than  I  was
before.

Contact: Solardisk, Box 50, 90251 Oulu, Finland


Viking Crown - _Unorthodox Steps of Ritual_  (Baphomet Records, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay  (10 out of 10)

This should be short and sweet, kiddies! I  couldn't  have  been  any
more impressed with this -killer- release if "Anton Crowley",  Viking
Crown's sole member and co-member in Necrophagia,  came  over  to  my
place and laid down this sensationally  brilliant  effort  before  my
very eyes. Originally recorded in 1994 under the efficient  executive
production of Killjoy, also of Necrophagia, "Anton" was -so- ahead of
the black metal curve for U.S. bands that it confuses reality.  Songs
like "Satan Ruler of Earth", "The Judas Goat" and "Invocation Towards
the Conjuration of Black Souls" should give  you  some  idea  of  the
direction of Viking Crown's sound. It's all here, boys and  girls  --
black metal blastbeats, warped and twisted vocal  screeches  tempered
with  low-end  esophagus  work,  and  tireless,   unyielding   guitar
conflagrations. If you don't like this -- you should stop reading  my
shit! ALL HAIL VIKING CROWN!

Contact: Baphomet Records, P.O. Box 282, Wellsville, OH 43968 USA


War - _We Are War_  (Necropolis Records, May 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (3 out of 10)

Well, all I can say is "Thank God I don't have to listen to this ever
again".  Though  not  religious,  I  feel  that  God  needs   to   be
figuratively thanked for the fact that when this review  is  finished
_We Are War_ will not again be spun by me (except maybe to  laugh  at
it briefly with colleagues and friends), since Satan  seems  to  have
had some hand in forging  "The  ultimate  anti-Christian,  anti-human
musical statement". What that above quoted press sentence is supposed
to entail I don't quite know, but judging by the  music  which  spews
forth  from  _We  Are  War_'s  bullet-adorned   CD,   "The   ultimate
anti-Christian,  anti-human   musical   statement"   is   a   boring,
derivative, solely-brutal black metal record on which songs fade  out
like  they're  taken  off  rehearsal  tapes  and  certain   misguided
Scandinavians decide attempting to cover Sodom's "Bombenhagel"  is  a
worthwhile way to take up time. The three out of ten you see above is
only there because "We Are War" and "Kill  God"  are  actually  quite
decent songs; however, were these removed from _We Are War_, not only
would you be left with a mere twenty minutes  of  original  material,
you'd also notice my score drop by  at  least  two  points.  War  are
summed up very well by the titles of their own albums if you  replace
the word "war" with "boredom" and "boring" on _Total War_ [the band's
first release, CoC #29] and _We Are War_,  respectively.  [Thanks  to
Count Gnat for help with that last sentence. -- Paul]


Various - _White: Nightmares in the End_  (The End Records, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay  (9 out of 10)

What a great forum, once again, for The End Records  here  with  this
nine-song release.  The  previous  compilation  came  into  being  in
February '98 (if memory serves me correctly), so now we welcome  this
as the new testament to The End -- _White: Nightmares  in  the  End_.
Four tracks, counting the  newcomers,  Love  History,  harbinger  the
tomorrow for the label; in other words, material  not  yet  available
taken from upcoming releases. The Greek Odes of  Ecstasy's  "Abstract
Thoughts", taken from their soon to be released sophomore  CD,  start
off this musical conglomeration. It has a less metallic bend  to  its
texture. More harmonious and not as guitar slanted and even  kind  of
doomy. I like this new path the band has ventured down. Next  on  the
listing for the CD is Sculptured with their song  "Snow  Covers  All"
from an album unfamiliar to me, _Apollo  Ends_.  Remembering  back  a
way, I seem to recall listing Sculptured's _The Spear of the Lily  Is
Aureoled_ as one of my top 10 albums of last year. "Snow Covers  All"
did not disappoint me a single bit! Another advance listening from  a
forthcoming effort is delivered by Mental Home. "Stained" is a  "mix"
off the as of yet unreleased _Against the Sun_. Not  getting  to  see
Mental Home at the Milwaukee Metalfest, due to Visa troubles,  was  a
-huge- let-down, but this song makes certain  strides  to  curb  that
frustration. EXCELLENT! As I  patiently  await  Love  History's  full
length effort, "The Gleam of  Midnight  Sky  /  Smell  of  Tears"  is
pacifying for all of their 11-plus minute track. Truly a most welcome
addition to The End's line-up, more or less in the vein of Sculptured
or Scholomance, but having an identity unto themselves, I assure you.
Powerful! Agalloch next commands  the  listener's  attention.  Please
read Brian Meloon's excellent  review  of  this  group  in  CoC  #41.
Superior song here -- very superior! Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra, also
reviewed in issue #41,  has  a  great  excerpt  of  the  intimidating
blackened track "The Key to the Gates of Apocalypses". This "clip" of
the song, if asked, I -also- would  have  chosen  to  place  on  this
compilation. It more than  demonstrates  MVD's  musical  wingspan  of
diversity. Naturally, The End could not  have  placed  -all-  of  the
band's 72 minute track on _White_! As an aside, I understand that MVD
went into the studio and recorded the entire album  straight  through
in three hours. Now that  is  my  idea  of  knowing  what  you  want!
Missouri's Scholomance, track  seven,  provides  the  most  eclectic,
progressive form of death metal on this  compilation.  Warmly  placed
sound clips together with Scholomance's unique style, which  is  very
impressive indeed. Epoch of Unlight's "Conflagration  of  Hate"  from
_What Will Be Has Been_ (interview  in  CoC  #39)  is  still  one  my
personal favourite tracks off their stunning release. They absolutely
-slayed- as a three-piece unit at the Milwaukee  Metalfest!  Awesome!
The last song on _White_ is  Nokturnal  Mortum's  "Perun's  Celestial
Silver" from their coming effort _Nechrist_. Actually  utilising  the
"extra" instruments, not  the  typical  guitar/drum/bass  work,  even
thought all these are present in -finely- crafted form,  but  instead
speaking more to the woodwind instrument heard at the beginning  adds
volumes to this track. I anticipate the rest of  _Nechrist_  will  be
this masterful and brutalizing. Seek out  this  compilation,  people.
New stuff, new bands, but the same effort on The  End's  part  --  to
"find the best metal music from around the world  and  work  hard  on
spreading it everywhere". Mission accomplished, gentlemen!

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


Exhumator - _Condescentions From the Dark Side_  (3-track demo)
by: Nuno Almeida <messiah@pulhas.org>  (****-)

This band has quite a history. Formed in 1989 in Minsk, Belarus (then
still a USSR republic), they managed to release three albums. Because
of their very poor distribution, Exhumator crumbled to  pieces,  with
various  members  leaving  the  band.  In  1994,  they  recorded  the
_Sacrificial Bleeding_ demo,  but  before  they  had  the  chance  to
release it, their vocalist Vadim Akimov died. They released the  demo
anyway in 1995 but didn't print the lyrics  to  the  title  track;  I
suppose in consideration to Vadim. I have this demo and although  the
music is good, brutal death metal that can be  compared  to  Cannibal
Corpse and Deicide, the sound quality is very bad.  That  ruined  the
power and strength that the music might have had.  Later  that  year,
the band decided to move to Belgium, where they recorded  this  three
track demo last year. The style is basically the same, with a  little
more growled vocals. The production,  however,  is  better.  On  this
demo, they also recorded the track "Sacrificial  Bleeding".  Although
I'm not really a big fan of brutal death, I liked the demos and  hope
the band gets up on their feet again now  that  they  are  in  a  new
country.

Contact: Alexander Bourei, Rue Seutin, 43, 1030 Bruxelles, Belgium
         http://www.chez.com/helleven/exhumator/
(Also reviewed in Ancient Ceremonies #3 -- http://come.to/ac-zine/)


Forcefed - _Special Places_  (8-track demo)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (***--)

Wearing their musical influences on their sleeve, it's  obvious  that
bands like Slayer  had  a  huge  impact  on  the  sound  of  Canada's
Forcefed. Meshing elements of  death,  speed  and  thrash  metal,  at
points Forcefed sound like an amalgamation of influences, rather than
an unique entity onto itself.  However,  what  we  hear  on  _Special
Places_ can't simply be written off. Able to write a cool tune,  more
than half of the eight (!) tracks on this demo are quite good,  which
contain the odd sound byte and even a  live  track.  Ex-Brutal  Truth
bass grinder Dan Lilker apparently had a hand in  the  production  of
this demo, and I'd be lying if I said his work was any better than on
the thousands of demos presently circulating around  the  scene.  The
sound is a bit underproduced, but it never deters the attention  from
the music which is key. I  rarely  review  demos,  but  I  felt  that
Forcefed are really onto something and I wanted to tell  it  like  it
is. I definitely look forward to hearing future releases by the band.

Contact: Forcefed, Box 5115, Pembroke, ON, K8A 6W4, Canada
         mailto:forcefed@mailcity.com


In Grey - _Seasons Change_  (4-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (****-)

Though Sweden is easily one of the most productive countries nowadays
as far as metal is concerned, gothic metal has  never  been  a  genre
Sweden has been renowned for. In  Grey  are  one  of  the  bands  who
struggle against that situation, and they have been  doing  that  for
quite a while now -- since 1992, _Seasons Change_ already being their
fourth studio recording and possibly their last independent  release.
Not that there is anything mindblowing about it, it's just  that  the
band already  shows  signs  of  enough  professionalism  and  musical
quality to justify a label  deal.  Though  not  innovative,  _Seasons
Change_ still provides an entertaining listen;  some  of  the  second
track, "In Heaven", brings to mind Anathema's latest works, and those
specific sections are quite well done. This isn't to say  that  there
aren't some bland riffs or rather average passages here, but In  Grey
usually manage to come up with something that  will  carry  the  song
onward quite well most of the time, usually a more melancholic guitar
or keyboard passage or a more atmospheric part. All the band  members
play very competently throughout the demo (not that the music is ever
very  complex  anyway)  and  the  clean  vocals  are  generally  good
(especially the spoken parts). Complete with a nice  cover  and  with
the  CD-R  recording  providing  some  help  for  the   very   decent
production, _Seasons Change_ is a good demo from a  band  that  seems
quite serious about their music and has its  share  of  talent.  They
still need to focus it better to make a  more  consistent  record  --
mainly improve the more metallic side of the guitar work and  keep  a
stronger feeling throughout the whole record instead of  throwing  in
more "rocking" tracks such as "Like This", which isn't a bad track in
itself --, but _Seasons Change_ is nevertheless quite  enjoyable  and
unusually well performed for a demo.

Contact: Dennis Liljedahl, Uttinivagen 3, 129 38 Hagersten, Sweden
         mailto:dgcreative@swipnet.se
         http://listen.to/ingrey

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



      M I L W A U K E E ,   H E R E   I   C O M E   A G A I N !
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC covers the Milaukee Metalfest XIII
         at the Milwaukee Auditorium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
              Friday and Saturday July 30th & 31st, 1999
                           by: Adam Wasylyk

     Thinking about the 13th instalment of  North  America's  premier
metal festival leaves a bittersweet taste in my mouth. Not that those
in attendance (at least 4000+,  including  CoC  scribes  Adrian  "The
Energizer" Bromley, Paul Schwarz, Alain Gaudrault  and  Aaron  McKay)
necessarily had a bad time, as many of the  160+  bands  demonstrated
that metal couldn't be further from "dead". But what lingers  in  the
mind is how much better it could have been.
     Early drop outs (Morbid Angel, Manowar, Machine Head)  and  last
minute  ones  (mostly  Scandinavian  black  metal  in  the  form   of
Satyricon, Marduk, Mactatus and Mental Home) gave a lot of metal fans
something to feel shitty about.  But  many  bands  promised  to  play
showed up and proceeded to kick some major ass. Including mine.
     Originally scheduled to take place at the Wisconsin  State  Fair
Park, this plan was eventually dropped due to  bureaucratic  bullshit
and a last minute venue had to be found. No better place  could  have
been found than the Milwaukee Auditorium, air conditioned with plenty
of space for four stages and a large vending area. This may have been
a blessing in disguise, as Milwaukee's temperature on day one of  the
festival was over 100 degrees Celsius, which would have  made  for  a
day in Hell  (however  appropriate  that  may  sound).  [100  degrees
Celsius, eh Adam? I guess you guys had no trouble  boiling  water  in
that mosh pit! -- Gino]
     Day one featured a varied array of acts, catering to a number of
metallic tastes. The gang arrived at approximately 4pm,  well  rested
and ready for some great metal.
     The first band I saw worthy of mention was Chicago's Ember.  Not
what I remembered them to sound (and look) like, I  was  thrown  back
for a moment as I came to the realisation that this was the same band
that sounded like Enslaved (in my ears, anyway) at last year's  Fest.
Boasting a smorgasbord of influences, it was  metal  all  right,  but
difficult to nail down exactly what kind. The vocalist ranted like  a
madman, while the drumming kept things moving and tight. Cool stuff.
     Fellow Canadians Kitty took to the Bruce Hall (the  main  stage)
to a curious bunch of onlookers, most likely more interested  in  the
band being comprised of four hot chicks rather than what they sounded
like. "Do you wanna hear some cunt metal?", the blonde  in  the  band
yelled at the audience. "Hell yeah!" Meshing metal  with  alternative
rock/punk influences, surprisingly it  sounded  pleasant  and  eerily
pleasing. "Do you think I'm a whore?", one of the  brunettes  in  the
band yelled at the audience. "Hell yeah!" Surprisingly,  they  had  a
larger crowd than some of the upcoming acts, although  it's  doubtful
that it was because of their musical integrity.
     The Relapse stage would prove to be the place to be for a  large
part of Friday. The first band to pique my curiosity  was  Bongzilla,
the band not two feet away from a bong  or  a  copy  of  High  Times.
Playing their brand of sludgy  metal  with  vocals  from  Hell,  they
played a variety of tracks from their new  album  _Stash_  which  the
crowd on hand lapped up merrily.
     Next up were Dillinger Escape Plan, who  have  created  quite  a
name for themselves as a live band. Going nuts as soon as  the  first
chord was stuck, these guys never  let  up  from  beginning  to  end.
Playing hardcore sped up a thousand times, the  start/stops  and  off
time signatures really messed with my head. Disorienting, to say  the
least.
     Today Is the Day never fail to disappoint, and Milwaukee #13 was
no exception. Steve Austin must be troubled; I've seen no  front  man
for a band this pissed off and agitated.  Taking  the  mic  into  his
mouth to accentuate his screams, Austin's performance would prove  to
be the highlight of their set. Fucked up noise metal. Gotta love it.
     Another fellow Canadian band Solus ended  up  following  Soilent
Green, but  unfortunately  didn't  retain  much  of  their  audience.
Playing to a mostly empty Relapse stage, it didn't stop the band from
playing an energetic set of metal with death influences. Having heard
some talk about wanting to catch their set, I was  surprised  by  the
lack of people on hand. But with three other stages  playing  at  the
same time, it was bound to hurt many bands in attendance.
     After checking out one song of The Gathering, it was time to see
why Brazil's Krisiun have such a cult following. Hearing but one song
showed  me  why  this  band  are  so  popular  in  the  death   metal
underground. The Morbid Angel-isms combined with a  go-for-the-throat
attitude made the band's half  an  hour  set  both  exhilarating  and
exhausting. Occasionally bland because of too much speed where better
control of tempo would have been more favourable, overall Krisiun won
the packed Kilbourn Hall over in spades and will hopefully come  back
to these parts soon.
     Norway's Twin Obscenity made my worst of the Fest  list,  simply
because they seem unable to write a song that one can remember  after
it's over. Containing a keyboardist who  was  nice  to  look  at  but
looked totally out  of  place,  the  band  seemed  uncomfortable  and
couldn't excite the half capacity room, many of whom I  followed  out
the door. Wish they stayed home, to be totally frank.
     Time  conflicts  soon  became  too  painful  to  bear,  as  both
Oakland's Neurosis and Sweden's In Flames were scheduled to  play  at
the same time. But due to a delay on the Kilborne Hall stage,  I  was
able to check out half of each band. Neurosis, with  their  brand  of
hardcore/noise/metal accompanied with movie screen backdrop depicting
downcast and incomprehensible images almost made me  unable  to  tear
myself away to check out the Scandinavian act. In  Flames  put  on  a
good show, but not knowing some of their material may  have  hampered
my potential enjoyment. Highlighted  by  "Episode  666"  and  playing
tracks from their new album _Colony_, I was glad to have  gotten  the
opportunity to see them, knowing they most likely won't be  back  for
some time.
     The Misfits, who I surprisingly enjoyed (contrarily  to  many  I
would later  speak  to),  closed  out  the  night.  Being  completely
unfamiliar with their material (apart from the tracks Metallica  have
covered in the past) and having heard their fans sing along with  the
band made me wish I wasn't so. Oh well, ho hum.
     Mass quantities of beer would be consumed on  this  night,  with
our own Paul Schwarz having a bit too much and paying for it the next
morning. Rookies!
     Day two wouldn't  start  for  us  until  3pm,  missing  as  many
pay-to-play bands as possible. Unfortunately, I was to miss  Markham,
Canada's Rotting, who I later heard played a powerful set  of  brutal
death metal to a near-packed Kilborne Hall.
     Victory's Shutdown followed on the Bruce Hall stage  where  they
played a 20 minute set of speed/thrash metal -- for some reason,  the
band like to label themselves "hardcore". I can honestly say I didn't
hear ONE OUNCE of hardcore, just dated metal  music.  Sure  they  may
look hardcore, but they don't play it. Whatever.
     Back to the Relapse stage, which contained more great  bands  to
check out. California's Benumb kicked  some  major  ass,  playing  30
second to one minute blasts of pure aggression. Effortlessly  meshing
hardcore with grindcore elements, it's music that the  hardcore  kids
can appreciate  and  the  metalheads  can  get  into.  Vocalist  Pete
Ponitkoff's face was beat read by track two, and ready to explode  by
the set's end. Fucking intense the whole way through.
     Sweden's Nasum proved that grindcore is an international way  of
total brutalization. Featuring drums on full blast with a bassist who
was unable to stand still for even one second, they played  a  number
of tracks (that I could discern, anyway) from  their  _Inhale/Exhale_
debut on Relapse. Not  playing  the  full  half  hour  as  originally
scheduled, they did however make an impression on the audience,  that
of an auditory representation of a charging bull. Intense, to say the
least.
     Atrocity played a cover of Tears For Fears' "Shout". 'Nuff said.
     A death metal phenom if there ever was one, Nile had no  problem
proving to the Milwaukee audience why they're one of the more intense
live acts around. Playing  a  number  of  tracks  from  their  highly
acclaimed _Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka_ (climaxing with  "The
Howling of the Jinn"), the drumming was spectacular  while  all  four
members contributed vocally to the malicious onslaught.  One  of  the
best bands to play the Fest, hands down.
     Holland's Sinister sounded (to me, anyway) to be the fastest  of
the 160+ bands on hand, with guitaring  that's  really  something  to
behold. The beer was starting to kick in, so song titles  started  to
become a blur, but Sinister's tight musicianship and good sound could
never be forgotten.
     Quebec's Gorguts showed 'em Yankees how death  metal  is  really
played, despite being a member short. Playing without  Steve  Hurdle,
it did have an effect on their  sound  as  the  technical  brilliance
exhibited on _Obscura_ didn't shine through as when I last  saw  them
as a complete band. Not deterred, they played a good half hour  to  a
sizeable crowd who showed their appreciation appropriately.
     Closing out the show was Greece's Rotting Christ, who were  only
able to play about four songs until the promoters  pulled  the  plug.
Playing mostly new stuff with one track  being  an  older  one,  they
travelled too far to play such a short set. Almost  a  disappointment
to see them for such a small amount of time, I've never been a fan of
RC but I've recently culled my releases  by  the  band  to  give  'em
another listen. Who knows, perhaps they'll get another chance to play
America. I just hope it's sooner rather than later.
     And just like that, the festival was over.  However,  this  year
wasn't just about the bands. It was also  cool  to  get  to  talk  to
people about metal, this coming from someone who's from a town  where
death metal is only  starting  to  get  the  attention  it  deserves.
Accompanied with some great pot and lots of beer (excluding  American
beer, which could generously be called "piss water"), it  truly  made
it a year to remember.
     Incidentally, the talk recently has centred around  Holland  for
Dynamo 2000 for the CoC crew. We'll keep you updated.

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

    P A U L   P E R U S E S   W I S C O N S I N ' S   F I N E S T
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC covers the Milaukee Metalfest XIII
         at the Milwaukee Auditorium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
              Friday and Saturday July 30th & 31st, 1999
                           by: Paul Schwarz

Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~
     This year's  Milaukee  Metalfest  went  through  so  many  "last
minute" (as in last month) problems that it was looking at one  point
not simply that it would be one big anticlimactic disappointment, but
that it would not happen at all. The first  line-up  casualties  this
year  were  the  headliners,  with  Manowar  and  Machine  Head  both
cancelling mere weeks before  the  Fest  was  to  go  ahead.  Rumours
suggest that Machine Head pulled out due to the "extreme" line-up  of
the Metalfest ("Didn't want to play with too many death metal  bands"
was the way it was put to me) and Manowar wanted more money than  was
offered. Another possible explanation, however, is that Jack  Koshick
(Metalfest organiser) put these bands on the bill before  a  contract
with them was signed and thus the bands may never have been  set  for
Metalfest in the first place. In  any  case,  the  fact  stands  that
high-profile headliners were not what Metalfest ended  up  with  this
year and thus Neurosis / The Misfits and Cradle  of  Filth  were  the
more low-key lynch-pins for the two days of music and  metal  madness
that the 5000 or so attendees were treated  to.  This  year  a  venue
shift was also planned. The idea was  to  take  MMF  outside  to  the
Milwaukee State Fair Park, but when legal wrangles forced  Koshick  &
Co. to fight a court battle over the right to hold it at this  venue,
a court case which was lost,  the  decision  was  made  to  move  the
festival back indoors, though not to the Eagles Ballroom where recent
Metalfests have taken place, but instead to the Milwaukee Auditorium,
a large, air-conditioned complex which housed all  four  stages  with
ease. To be honest, the oppressive and ludicrously humid weather made
this new location a godsend; I  think  if  MMF  XIII  had  been  held
outside it would  have  been  a  painful  and  very  unenjoyably  hot
experience. With a venue in place it was time for a few more bands to
pull  out,  with  Satyricon,  Marduk,  Morbid  Angel,  Nevermore  and
Solitude Aeturnus all cancelling, some mere days before the event was
to go ahead. All this taken into account,  then,  it  was  with  some
trepidation and much pessimism that I made the trip down to Milwaukee
for the second year running.
     Heading down with colleagues and generally respected  metalheads
is always fun, and in traditional fashion the festivities  began  the
day before the festival itself, with beer being consumed, jokes being
cracked and great dialogues being had, long after Thursday night  had
faded into oblivion and the early hours of Friday  morning  had  come
upon us. Thus, sickness and  headache  greeted  me  on  Friday  as  I
prepared for a day of excruciating volumes and sweaty rooms, but this
did not manage to stain the two days of music, which, at points, were
almost revelatory.
     The four  stages  this  year's  Fest  played  host  to  were  an
Arena-style stage, Bruce Hall, two medium  sized  rooms  adjacent  to
each other, Kilbourn Hall and Juineau Hall, and  an  upstairs  seated
and furnished conference room,  Plankington  Hall,  which  was  where
Relapse  had  their  sponsored  stage.  Moving  between   these   was
relatively  unhindering  and  even  the   climb   to   the   upstairs
Relapse-sponsored stage was no hassle. Though the  three  apart  from
Bruce Hall got a bit hot once a large number of people  were  crammed
into them, in general the  air  conditioning  made  things  at  least
bearable, certainly a comparison to previous Metalfests.

But hey, enough of my yappin'... let's buggie!


Friday 30th July
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     After walking around the venue to check out the layout,  various
rooms, stages and tables full of merchandise, the first  band  who  I
actually took time to watch were ...And Here I Lie. They had a  doomy
feel to their music, most  commonly  chugging  along  and  sprinkling
melodic runs sparingly into the dirge-like mix, and reminded  vaguely
of the style  of  _The  Fourth  Dimension_-era  Hypocrisy.  Vesperian
Sorrow took Bruce Hall's dauntingly large stage next and  were  quite
the  unusual  combination  of  factors.  Would  you  believe  in  the
existence a black/death metal band  with  keyboard  backings  and  an
European feel who come from Texas and dress  like  a  hardcore  band,
with Texas leaning like chequered shirts thrown in for good  measure,
who are signed  to  the  Dutch  death  metal  label  Displeased?  You
wouldn't, would you? Well, Vesperian Sorrow are just that and, to  be
fair, they were also actually pretty  decent  despite  their  unusual
image.
     First on my list  of  bands  I  -intended-  to  check  out  were
Chicago's Ember, who seem not only to have taken a slightly different
musical path of late with their _Concession_ EP but also seem to have
had an image change for good measure. A  few  supporters  I  know  of
walked out of Kilbourn Hall right after they walked in  because  they
assumed that Ember weren't Ember. However, the  few  songs  I  caught
sounded good and, despite emphasising the more punk leanings the band
have recently taken on (especially with their cover of  The  Misfit's
"Earth AD"), showed that they still have the power to kick  some  ass
in the live arena. From The Depths followed Ember  and  impressed  me
mildly, showcasing a good range  of  dynamics  and  utilising  melody
well. Their highly appraising demo reviews in previous issues of this
magazine were not  overzealous,  judging  by  tonight's  performance,
though I did leave briefly to get an opinion on  the  band  currently
whining their way through a set  on  the  Bruce  Hall  stage,  London
Ontario's Kittie. This band  are  to  me  a  female,  punk/riot  girl
version of the Death  Kids,  with  attention-grabbing  stage  antics,
novelty status and painfully  average  music  in  abundance:  I  left
quickly in mild disgust.
     By this point in the day stages were  already  running  late,  a
problem which would persist and become increasingly more agitated  as
the festival progressed, and so I arrived at the Relapse stage a  bit
before Bongzilla hit it and during the last  few  minutes  of  Fall's
set. Fall seemed to be a death-tinged grindcore band who had achieved
a good sound and had the confidence to play competently and look good
on stage, and thus were worthwhile, though a  long  way  short  of  a
stand-out.
     Bongzilla's  sound  filled  the  air  and  created  a  similarly
encapsulating feel to Burn the Priest last year. However,  like  Burn
the Priest, I found their music (which is  of  the  stoner/Eyehategod
variety) to be similarly uninteresting after prolonged listening. The
same syndrome of heading for one band, finding  they  were  late  and
thus catching another occurred when I came across  Centurion  on  the
Kilbourn Hall stage. Their take on  _Harmony  Corruption_-era  Napalm
Death / Massacre's  _From  Beyond_  was  unastounding,  though  still
suitably powerful, but Epoch of Unlight, who I had come to see,  were
a lot more worthy of my time. Having  only  heard  rumours  of  their
talents and no  actual  music,  I  was  pleasantly  surprised  to  be
impressed by Epoch of Unlight. They play a technical mix of  American
death and European melodic death and possess  more  than  a  hint  of
black. The singer's vocals are thankfully far beyond inconsequential,
as can sometimes be the case when a technical melee is on the  cards,
and in any case the band's technical prowess and  occasional  use  of
breakdowns was a pleasure to watch. Epoch are certainly a band I will
be making an effort to hear more of in the future.
     Today Is the Day kicked my ass for a man. Once  again  (this  is
the third time I have witnessed them and also the third time  I  have
gotten a severe ass-kicking) they totally slayed  live.  Their  sound
was utterly raw though  devastatingly  clear,  shoving  the  sporadic
guitar work and insane drumming right in  the  audience's  collective
face. Steve Austin was once again a  visual,  musical  and  emotional
focal point with his intense motions, mike swallowing  and  generally
anguished presence enhancing the feeling of anger, disgust  and  fury
which the spastic tones of Today Is the Day inevitably convey to  the
listener. Once again a highlight of the Metalfest and  certainly  the
best band to play on Friday. Unfortunately, stage conflicts  meant  I
could only catch a song and a half of Solus' set, but  what  I  heard
sounded as proficient and deadly as their past live  appearances  and
their recently unleashed _Universal Bloodshed_ album.
     Krisiun were  my  reason  for  leaving  Solus.  These  Brazilian
deathsters have a lot of thrash, a lot of  technical  prowess  and  a
recipe for musical insanity in place on their records which led me to
expect a live performance would be almost unbearably intense. I was a
little let down.  Though  playing  powerfully  and  well  reproducing
tracks from both _Black Force Domain_ and  _Apocalyptic  Revelation_,
Krisiun  lacked  a  fine-tuned  clarity,  especially  in  the   vocal
department, which meant that much as their  impact  was  intense  and
violent, it did not draw the listener into their  violent  soundscape
like their albums  have  that  wonderful  ability  to.  Granted,  the
spiralling solo-work of the single guitarist was captivating and  the
drum work was, especially in parts,  astoundingly  complex,  but  the
performance was not the extra one up on their albums I had  hoped  it
would be.
     Neurosis'  performance  on  the  main  stage,  Bruce  Hall,  was
similarly disappointing. Though projectors were present  and  a  good
sound was in their possession, Neurosis were  not  the  life-changing
spectacle live which I had been told so  many  times  they  are  (and
unfortunately they didn't play my personal favourite  track,  "Locust
Star", either). At points I was drawn into their set enough to really
live and breath the experience in the way I had been  told  would  be
the case, but they were not enrapturing enough to stop my  mind  from
constantly wandering and pulling  me  back  to  the  rather  ordinary
reality of just watching a band perform  their  material.  I  watched
Neurosis' set, I enjoyed it, but I did not live it, and  that  was  a
shame.
     Watching all of Neurosis led me  to  miss  the  majority  of  In
Flames, who I am told were pretty astounding this evening. I was  not
convinced by the selection  of  _Colony_  tracks  and  old  favourite
"Behind Space" which I heard, and though I will admit In Flames  were
good, I found their stage presence a little lacking.
     The night came to a mushy halt with The  Misfits.  Though  their
spikes, muscular physiques and unusual make-up and hairdos  made  for
an imposing stage presence, which was backed up  by  their  energetic
jumps and runs around the stage and an  impressively  crunchy  sound,
they became somewhat tedious after fifteen or twenty minutes on stage
and  played  an  overabundance  of  recent   or   soon-to-be-released
material, somewhat neglecting  older  classics.  They  also  spent  a
ridiculous thirty minutes sound-checking, which  was  irritating,  to
say  the  least.  Overall,  The  Misfits  weren't  that  much  of   a
disappointment since I hadn't expected a great deal  from  them,  but
they were a disappointing end to the first day of music at  Metalfest
XIII, and were certainly no substitute for Manowar.


Saturday 31st July
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Today began at 17:00 for me with Lividity's  appearance  on  the
Kilbourn Hall stage. For the record, bands  today  started  at  11:00
(yesterday it was 16:00) so we missed quite a considerable  chunk  of
music, though nothing we -knew- was going to be any good  apart  from
Toronto's own Rotting, who we meant to see but arrived  late  for  --
sorry, guys. Lividity I had gone to check out solely  because  I  had
been told their stage comments  relating  to  female  genitalia  were
funny in their brash, offensive tone. I wasn't let down.  Though  the
proceeding music was always -very- unexciting American  death  metal,
proclamations like "This song is -Pussy Lover-!"  or  "This  song  is
about getting fucked in the ass", chantings of "Show your pussy" from
band to audience and comments on  how  the  band  hope  the  audience
enjoys their new album capped off with "Ladies, we hope you blow your
guys to this" kept me entertained,  to  say  the  least.  That  final
comment resulted in an immediate middle finger salute from one female
member of the audience, which is  pretty  much  how  I  felt  towards
Lividity by the end of their set, with regards to both  their  music,
their comments  and  the  novelty  of  them  that  they  seem  to  be
exploiting for commercial gain.
     Next up on this same stage were New  York's  Withered  Earth,  a
band I am not only familiar with but also one whose  music  I  enjoy.
Their set was good, with a decent sound backing the band up and  good
performances turned in by all, though the drummer should be mentioned
specially for his subtly excellent cymbal work. The band  captured  a
good groove live and pulled off their  various  breakdowns  and  song
dynamics  seemingly  with  ease.  I   will   admit   their   somewhat
hardcore-like appearance  threw  me  off  somewhat,  judging  by  the
distinct death metal sound  they  have,  but  it  certainly  made  no
difference to their impressive performance tonight.
     Next up were Pessimist, a band who  certainly  -do-  wear  their
death metal stylings very much on their sleeve, or  rather  in  their
leather trousers, bullet belts and toned physiques. However, the band
are more than just an imposing  physical  presence;  their  technical
brand of brutal death  is  also  an  imposing  musical  force  to  be
reckoned with and they certainly impressed me more than  expected  in
their short 20 minute appearance.
     Late running stages again led me to catch bands I  had  intended
not to bother with, and  I  would  have  been  happy  to  do  without
Exhumed, who were still grinding at  the  Relapse  stage  when  Nasum
should have been on. Exhumed are bearable but painfully  generic  and
derivative and not that exciting to watch live. Nasum  were  quite  a
contrast. Though also a grindcore band, their songs  are  far  better
written, their anger is more affectingly obvious and  their  attitude
seems more professional. Though they had a few sound  problems  which
cut into their set and not every moment captivated me, their  overall
effect was devastating, especially when they played "The Masked Face"
and its follow on.
     I was only able to catch one song and a half of Dying Fetus (who
were almost as viciously devastating as usual,  even  in  that  short
time) despite leaving Nasum early to catch them, as  a  late  running
Kilbourn Hall but on-time Bruce Hall meant that Usurper were starting
only five minutes, instead of  half  and  hour,  after  Dying  Fetus.
Usurper were no kind of compensation for missing even  three  minutes
of Dying Fetus, let alone over  half  their  set.  The  singer's  Tom
Warrior-isms can become  almost  embarrassing  at  times,  while  his
attempts to invigorate the crowd in-between songs  had  him  sounding
like a monkey. Additionally, the band played neither "Necrocult  Part
1" or "Dead of Winter", which are surely some of  their  best  songs,
and the other members were not  even  close  to  stunning  enough  to
offset the singer's inadequacies. Disappointing  and  close  to  just
plain bad.
     One thing I was going to make sure of today was that I  saw  The
Chasm, and this led me to go into Juineau Hall (for  the  first  time
this weekend!) early and thus catch some of  Lorde  of  All  Desires'
set. They seem to be decent, keyboard backed melodic  death,  with  a
gothic tinge, and though unexciting were far from offensive. However,
I had come to see The Chasm, and my waiting was not  without  reward.
Beginning with the vicious one-two of "Revenge Rises" /  "Drowned  in
the Mournful Blood", The Chasm slayed and were one of the best  bands
of the weekend. Though some of the melodic, and especially  acoustic,
intricacies of the music showcased on  their  latest  _Deathcult  For
Eternity: The Triumph_ album didn't come out live, their Slayer-esque
stage appearance and similar live impact made them a deadly force  to
be reckoned with.
     I missed two songs of Atrocity (who I was quite hyped up to see)
to watch all of The Chasm, but to be honest that was  definitely  the
right decision: Atrocity were a big disappointment. The two  songs  I
missed were '80s covers; Atrocity played two more before I  left  and
another one as I was leaving. The old material they played was poorly
chosen in addition to the fact there wasn't enough of  it,  with  the
title tracks of _Blut_ and _Wilenskraft_ getting an airing along with
"Necropolis" from _Hallucinations_ (which they played nearly two full
times due to  sound  problems  which  cut  off  their  first,  nearly
completed, attempt to play the song). Atrocity were just that  today:
an atrocity, and, to paraphrase one of their covers, sets like  these
are the things -I- can do without. Fortunately, changes in set  times
did mean that I didn't have to miss the beginning of Nile because  of
spending time watching Atrocity  and  thus  I  saw  South  Carolina's
Egyptianally innovative death metal gods perform for the  third  time
this year. Playing without samples, Nile began with  "Barra  Edinazu"
and followed up with "The Black Hand of Set",  "The  Howling  of  the
Jinn" and "Pestilence and Iniquity" before  I  looked  at  my  watch,
realised Immolation were  about  to  play,  and  somehow  managed  to
extract myself from Nile's enrapturing aura.  Nile  were  astounding,
with a truly inhuman presence imbuing them and making  their  set  an
experience far above simply watching a band play their music live.
     Despite Nile's  near-godly  presence,  I  in  no  way  regretted
leaving them to see Immolation. As some of you may  already  realise,
Immolation are a personal favourite of mine and they have  also  just
released what will  surely  remain  as  one  of  1999's  death  metal
triumphs: _Failures For Gods_. From beginning to end their set was as
violent as it was moving; Immolation  injected  me  with  the  primal
energy of pure enjoyment as they raged through "Once  Ordained",  "No
Jesus, No Beast", "Under the Supreme", "Unsaved" (cut a little  short
by sound problems), "Into Everlasting Fire", "Dawn of Possession" and
the ultimate closer (which also closes _FFG_), "The  Devil  I  Know".
Immolation were most certainly the band of the Metalfest for me  this
year; I bow down before them  and  shake  with  the  anticipation  of
seeing them live in London, England early in September.
     After being flattened by Immolation, I waited a while  to  check
out Cradle of Filth, tonight's headliners. After a long and drawn out
classical, organ tinged intro, the band hit the stage with  a  rather
mushy sound and I quickly became bored and headed to the other stages
to see what else was on offer. Upon finding nothing  of  interest  at
that point, I went back to the main stage  a  while  later  to  catch
Cradle finishing "Dusk and Her Embrace", then playing new track "From
the Cradle to Enslave" and then beginning "The Twisted Nails of Fate"
before I again got bored and headed off to the Relapse stage  to  see
Gorguts.
     Of course, they were in a wholly different class. Though  second
guitarist Steve was absent, Lemay and  his  two  remaining  compadres
managed to very convincingly pull off a captivating set. Many  tracks
from their warped and  brilliant  _Obscura_  were  aired  along  with
"Stiff and Cold" from _Considered  Dead_,  and  though  they  weren't
destroyed by Steve's absence,  there  were  times  in  the  _Obscura_
material where one felt that something was certainly missing. All  in
all, a great set but one which could have been better.
     The last band I caught this year were Rotting Christ,  who  took
the Kilbourn Hall stage nearly an hour  later  than  scheduled.  This
being the Greeks' first time ever in the US, it was  gratifying  that
their presence was as strong and energetic as when I saw them support
Deicide in London back in February. However, the band  were  cut  off
after less than twenty minutes because the festival had a curfew time
which  had  been  reached.  With  police  around  the  building,  the
organisers obviously didn't want to risk problems, and thus,  despite
crowd and band  protestation,  Rotting  Christ  were  unceremoniously
removed from the stage. This was the ultimate end result  of  a  very
late running stage. I think time and thought should  be  expended  to
avoid similar problems in the future.


Conclusion
~~~~~~~~~~
     This year Metalfest was an overall success. The  second  day  in
particular presented enough great bands and stunning performances  to
offset the disappointment of so many cancellations, even of  bands  I
was dying to see. The jury is still out for me  as  to  whether  four
stages is a good thing. To be honest, I only went to  three  most  of
the time and even these provided and had  the  potential  for  enough
clashes to really get on my nerves, so I imagine four stages all with
bands I  was  interested  in  would  have  been  near  to  impossibly
irritating. The late running of the stages, especially Kilbourn Hall,
should be fixed just to make it possible to know when you can  see  a
band and to prevent what happened to Rotting Christ happening  again.
I know it seems like quite a demand, but giving each band their  time
and absolutely no more would be the best solution, otherwise  there's
often one who pays for the delay in the end, and thus the  fans  also
pay.
     Additionally, I would like to say thank you to  Relapse  Records
for providing food and drink for some of us in a nice  secluded  room
and of course for once again bringing so many of their bands, some of
whom were among the best at the festival, to Milwaukee this year.
     To close, here are some funny things  which  happened  or  which
were heard at Metalfest, apart from those things, such as  Lividity's
stage comments, which have already been mentioned.

1. A rather dishevelled-looking person sitting in a corner holding  a
sign saying "Will put out for food and shelter".
2. One person screaming "Kill -all- the Christians!" after leaving  a
band in Kilbourn Hall.
3. Will Rahmer of Mortician, who decided that one woman idly stepping
on a flyer needed to be stopped, and thus went and kicked her on  the
foot to get her to move off the flyer saying "Excuse me, can you move
your foot, please?". She moved it.

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

                A S S O R T E D   A S S E R T I O N S
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC covers the Milaukee Metalfest XIII
         at the Milwaukee Auditorium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
              Friday and Saturday July 30th & 31st, 1999
                 by: Adrian Bromley & Alain Gaudrault


ADRIAN'S ASSUMPTIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Well... it could have been a disaster, a  really  big  one,  but
thankfully it wasn't. I am glad to say that the group of us who  made
our way  to  this  year's  Metalfest  (which  included  CoC-ers  Adam
Wasylyk, Alain Gaudrault, Paul Schwarz and Aaron McKay) made the best
of the time there.
     With many headliners cancelling in the weeks/days leading up  to
the festival (Satyricon, Machine  Head,  Manowar,  Marduk)  and  with
promoter Jack Koshick in a complete frenzy trying to fight action  by
many to ban the festival from the original festival area of Wisconsin
State Fair Grounds, who knew if this was going to happen.
     But it did and even though the festival had moved  back  indoors
(to  the  bitchin'  Milwaukee  Auditorium  complex)  and  bands   had
cancelled, all those who made the trek from the  North  were  pleased
with the end results.
     This was the third time I have gone to this festival, four times
if you count the inaugural March Metal Meltdown in  New  Jersey  last
March, and I must say I had the most fun this time. It  rocked!  Here
is a quick summary of the good and bad points of Metalfest XIII:

THUMBS UP
~~~~~~~~~
Bands: Today Is the Day, In Flames, The Gathering,  Bongzilla,  Nile,
       Benumb, Lorde of All Desire, Gorguts, Immolation

- The *nice guys* in Cephalic Carnage
- Doing the "W" at Thursday night's drinking fest
- Those funny Chris Bruni-isms
- Perkins (good wholesome American food)
- No last minute cancellations during festival
- Meeting friends and colleagues and just hanging out
- Meeting CoC-er Aaron McKay (could you be any taller?!)

THUMBS DOWN
~~~~~~~~~~~
Bands: Mortician, Internal Bleeding, Earth Crisis, Atrocity

- Fuckin' long ride home
- The border stop (GRR!!)
- The 100+ degree heat
- Mediocre service at Perkins at 2am
- Not much leg room in mini-van (11 hours plus is a long time, kids!)
- Having to deal with housekeeping at 10am
- Having to hear Adam Wasylyk whine about my snoring all the time


ALAIN'S ASSESSMENT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THUMBS UP
~~~~~~~~~
Dying Fetus
   -- truly the highlight; kicked... my... ass...
Neurosis
   -- a THC-lover's visual and aural delight, a feast for the senses
Soilent Green
   -- can't stop gushing about these guys
Nile
   -- even without much of their effects
Today Is the Day
   -- new drummer astounds, Austin as fucked as ever
Sinister
   -- tight, crushing, and luckily, great sound
Gorguts
   -- despite Hurdle's absence; Lemay's fret-work is sheer beauty
Immolation
   -- even with iffy sound
Morgion
   -- new material a bit weak, but great set
Summon
Indecision
The Chasm
Lord of all Desires
Solus
   -- keep an eye out for these guys, tres death/speed cool
Cephalic Carnage
   -- for providing much-needed weed!
Milwaukee Auditorium
   -- far better than The Eagles Ballroom
Guy heard shrieking "Kill all the Christians!!!" while walking about
Guy with "Will put out for food and shelter" sign


THUMBS DOWN
~~~~~~~~~~~
No-shows by Man-O-War, Marduk, Satyricon, Incantation and Morbid
Angel
The Misfits
   -- Michael Graves *cannot* sing
Mortician
   -- for consistently putting out Moron Metal
Flotsam & Jetsam
   -- mediocre set, pointless Sabbath cover wasting time
Cephalic Carnage
   -- for not being as good as their weed
Spotty sound (what else is new?)
Scheduling skews (ditto)
Food vendors (for being rip-off artists)
Cheapskates with "spare change for beer" signs

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

 C A N A D A :   N O   C H U R C H - B U R N E R S   A L L O W E D !
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
       Emperor, Witchery, Borknagar, Peccatum and Divine Empire
        at the Reverb in Toronto, Ontario, on July 14th, 1999
                           by: Adam Wasylyk

     This was probably the highest anticipated underground metal show
of the year thus far, as 300+ (a record of some sort here in Toronto)
came out to see some of Scandinavia's highest praised metal  artists.
Even the mighty Gino made an  appearance,  complete  with  both  shit
kickers and decked out in full corpse paint! Now I know his  soul  is
purely black...
     First off were the Floridian death metal unit Divine Empire, who
everyone knows contains ex-members  of  Malevolent  Creation.  Having
seen them a couple of times before,  they  did  what  they  do  best;
playing aggressive death metal that rises  above  the  many  mediocre
bands in the scene. The track "Silent Carnage" was the highlight  and
a definite trademark of the band, combining  deadly  riffs  and  some
supreme blast beats. The crowd acknowledged their strength, as Divine
Empire received a good response considering they were  playing  to  a
mostly black metal crowd.
     What quickly became apparent was  how  soon  Peccatum  took  the
stage, something like 15 minutes! Why can't  every  concert  be  like
this? Waiting 30 minutes between sets sucks; this show was a monument
to how smoothly a show can go, and I'm sure  it  contributed  to  the
enjoyment of many in attendance.
     Peccatum were the wild  card  on  the  bill  --  while  not  the
prototype of the black  metal  sound,  the  band  contains  Emperor's
Ihsahn, his wife Ihriel and her brother Lord  PZ.  Combining  several
elements such as black, death, classical and even opera, the foursome
(accompanied with another male vocalist) were backed by drum  machine
(which sounded great)  and  programmed  keyboards  as  both  man  and
machine blended effortlessly into an extraordinary sight  to  behold.
Ihriel's vocals right on par with those on their CD _Strangling  From
Within_ and Ihsahn's flawless  guitar  playing  really  made  for  an
exciting listen. Highlighted by the track "The Change", I could  tell
that many in attendance didn't  understand  what  exactly  they  were
hearing. I admit that Peccatum may sound idiosyncratic on  the  first
listen, but if given the chance to grow on you, they'll  never  leave
an arms length of your CD player.
     Borknagar followed quickly behind, backed by  new  drummer  Nick
(ex-Cradle of Filth). I'm not entirely familiar with their  material,
but listening to their material live moved me to  spin  their  albums
once again. Combining their core sound of black metal with some retro
and classic metal influences,  it's  cool  to  hear  something  truly
different coming out of Norway. Not bad, although about half an  hour
is about the right length of time to check out this band for.
     Next up were Witchery, who many were here just to  see.  Playing
both old material and new stuff from their upcoming  _Dead,  Hot  and
Ready_ album, the crowd reacted strongly to their black metal / retro
sound. Not bad, but I couldn't help but think that  these  guys  were
merely an obstacle between me and Emperor. Ho hum.
     Emperor would  not  disappoint  on  this  night.  Having  played
Milwaukee with no keyboards, tonight I would get  to  experience  the
entire Emperor sound. Starting off with "Curse You All Men!", Emperor
would go on to prove that they couldn't  be  denied  on  this  night.
Despite the absence of Samoth, who because of his criminal record was
denied passage into Canada, Ihsahn was up to the challenge and worked
double-duty to make sure their guitar sound would be just as  deadly.
And they succeeded. Songs to follow were "I Am  the  Black  Wizards",
"The Loss and Curse of Reverence", "Thus Spake the  Nightspirit"  and
the godly  "Night  of  the  Graveless  Souls"  with  great  keyboards
courtesy of touring member Charmand Grimloch (Tartaros).  Spectacular
as far as both sound and choice of material, Emperor's near hour long
set won't soon be forgotten.
     A mind-blowing night of European black metal, this show will  go
down in record books as one of Toronto's best shows in memory. I  was
glad to be a witness to it.

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             U.S. OF A.: CHURCH-BURNERS ARE PEOPLE TOO
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
       Emperor, Witchery, Borknagar, Peccatum and Divine Empire
            at Ground Zero in Spartanburg, South Carolina
                         On July 20th, 1999
                          by: John Weathers

     Last Tuesday, I drove two and half hours to  see  a  band  whose
music I have admired since I first heard them back in 1996.  And  the
mighty Emperor did not disappoint  me  live!  But  I  jump  ahead  of
myself...
     Emperor and Borknagar are currently on a small "Kings of Terror"
tour through some parts of North America.  They  inexplicably  passed
over my city of Atlanta, GA and instead descended  upon  the  smaller
town of Spartanburg, SC. On the day of the concert, I took a half-day
at work and drove to Greenville, South Carolina, where I met up  with
a friend of mine before proceeding to Ground Zero, which is seemingly
located in the middle of nowhere in Spartanburg.  Ground  Zero  isn't
exactly a nice joint, but it is fairly roomy on  the  inside  and  is
about the size of an average full-fledged dance club. There is a long
bar on the ground level and a second bar  below  in  a  lower  lounge
level where couches, pool tables and a TV reside.
     When my friend and I arrived, a small  crowd  of  thirty  or  so
people stood outside  the  entrance.  My  friend,  being  dressed  in
business casual attire, felt distinctly out of place among the  other
concert goers who were decked out in various metal t-shirts,  leather
and consistently  black  articles  of  clothing.  I,  at  least,  was
somewhat dressed for the occasion in my all black slacks and t-shirt.
I was glad that I didn't wear my "Cruelty and the Beast" t-shirt,  as
there were far too many Cradle of Filth t-shirts in  the  crowd.  The
average age seemed somewhere around 19 to 20, though  some  folks  my
age (22) and older were present and more arrived later.
     We arrived at 7:20pm and the show  was  scheduled  to  begin  at
around 8pm. Unfortunately, this estimate was far from accurate.  They
didn't even open the door until around 8:45. In  the  mean  time,  we
could hear Ihriel and Lord PZ from Peccatum practising  their  vocals
to Ihsahn's guitar work. It was then that it actually sunk in that  I
was finally going to see one of my favourite bands playing live.  Now
don't get me wrong -- I love Peccatum --, but it was kind of  strange
to be standing outside and waiting to get inside a metal concert  and
to hear Ihriel's opera style vocals as though we had gathered  for  a
performance at the Metropolitan Opera House.  After  waiting  in  the
accursed humidity for over an hour, the club finally opened its doors
and the group of 100 or so metal fans entered Ground Zero.
     At around 9pm, Divine Empire took the stage and the  until  then
rather spread out crowd closed in more tightly around the stage,  but
at this point the crowd still wasn't  very  thick.  Apparently,  this
Florida based death metal group consists  of  ex-Malevolent  Creation
members. As my tastes lean more  towards  Swedish  death  metal  than
towards old school death metal, I cannot say that I am familiar  with
either band. They struck me as decent if not outstanding examples  of
the genre. I did note that  I  rather  enjoyed  their  usage  of  two
vocalists in alternation and sometimes in unison -- one with a really
deep guttural death vocal and another with a slightly higher and more
hiss-like vocal. The contrast worked nicely and reminded me  somewhat
of the pair of death  vocal  styles  on  Orphanage's  track  "At  the
Mountains of Madness" from their sophomore album _By Time Alone_. The
band managed to stir up a small mosh pit, but for the most  part  the
crowd did not get too worked up for this band. Then again,  when  the
vocalist barked at the crowd to make  some  noise,  he  was  kind  of
intimidating because even his natural voice sounds  ridiculously  low
and guttural, leading one to feel almost obligated to salute the band
in kind, which for  some  people,  such  as  myself,  is  simply  not
possible.
     Peccatum were next, and I was excited to see this  family  group
in  a  live  performance,  as  I  greatly  enjoyed  their  debut   CD
_Strangling From Within_. While I pushed towards  the  front  of  the
stage, I noted that the crowd, having  dispersed  between  sets,  had
returned in greater numbers for this Norwegian trio.  The  fact  that
Ihsahn is the  main  composer  in  the  group  certainly  helps  stir
interest, I am sure. As the first notes of  the  harpsichord  stirred
along side the spoken introduction  of  "Where  Do  I  Then  Belong",
Ihriel, Lord PZ, Ihsahn and a session guitarist entered the stage  to
much vocal delight from the crowd. Ihsahn was dressed in an "Icon  E"
Emperor t-shirt and is still bald as  an  eagle.  After  the  initial
sighting of Ihsahn, my attention then focused on the beautiful Ihriel
and her brother  Lord  PZ.  Ihriel  was  dressed  dramatically  in  a
witch-like robe and cape. Lord PZ entered the stage bare-chested  and
sporting  corpse-paint.  The  siblings  entered  the  stage  carrying
matching candles, which they set upon either side  of  the  stage  in
antique-looking candleholders. Throughout  the  performance,  brother
and sister made grand gestures and put on what can only be  described
as a very dramatic show. All instrumentation other than  the  guitars
came from recordings, but I  suppose  it  would  be  rather  hard  to
reproduce the more orchestral sounds of Peccatum in a  live  setting.
Lord PZ and Ihriel were imminently serious during  the  entire  show,
but they did on a few occasions rally the crowd  behind  the  "horns"
salute. The sound was not the best that I have heard, and  on  a  few
occasions the speakers seemed to peak when Ihriel's  voice  resounded
with particular volume, resulting in an unfortunate  marring  of  her
spectacular vocal delivery. Otherwise,  the  performance  was  rather
good, and the crowd seemed rather caught up in Peccatum's  particular
brand of witchery -- with the exception of one idiot  who  exclaimed:
"Have your bitch take her top off!".  I  felt  like  strangling  this
moron. This act is an excellent band from whom I expect great  things
in the future.
     The Swedish band Witchery played next. Having never  before
     heard
the band, I didn't know what to expect, but seeing as  the  show  had
been good so far, I didn't dread hearing this band perform.  Being  a
Slayer and thrash fan,  I  was  pleasantly  surprised  to  find  that
Witchery perform an energetic form of thrash metal with Swedish death
metal style  vocals.  The  crowd  also  reacted  positively,  and  an
energetic  mosh  pit  ensued  with  my  friend  and  I   as   willing
participants for a good portion  of  Witchery's  show.  They  were  a
decent thrash band with a lot of energy. The pseudo-Satanism of their
lyrics and act came off very  cheesy,  though,  especially  when  the
vocalist asked if there were  any  priests  in  the  room  before  he
introduced a song whose title escapes my memory's grasp. All in all a
nice little show, but not impressive enough to send  me  out  to  the
store any time soon.
     At this point, I went downstairs to  get  a  drink  and,  to  my
surprise, I discovered Ihsahn hanging at the  bar  with  a  few  fans
around him in small chat. Later, I saw Samoth and Trym hanging  by  a
pool table. Ihsahn seemed friendly enough and more approachable  than
I had imagined, but I didn't really know what I wanted to say to  the
man and decided against stating the obvious -- that I was an  Emperor
fan, etc.. In my hesitation, I lost my opportunity, for  Ihsahn  soon
rejoined Samoth and Trym near a pool table, and then  Borknagar  took
the stage upstairs.
     Before this concert, I knew little of Borknagar other than  that
they were a Norwegian black metal "super group" not  unlike  Arcturus
and that Ulver's Garm had once been their  vocalist.  Since  Arcturus
and Ulver are two of my favourite bands, I was definitely  interested
in hearing a related band. They entered  the  stage  to  an  acoustic
introduction and then ripped into epic black metal that was beautiful
and soaring. The vocalist employed  both  grim  vocals  and  powerful
clean vocals of a deeply masculine but beautiful nature.  The  entire
performance oozed class and a sense of the grand. Musically, the band
reminds me of a cross between Ulver's more acoustic side with a  band
like Enslaved. I was definitely impressed. So much so that  I  bought
their album _The Olden Domain_ a few days later. The  crowd  response
was very good, but the energy was  a  different  kind  than  for  the
previous band, which is perfectly natural as this kind of music is on
a different plane from Witchery's thrash, which is at  most  fun  and
aggressive. I noticed that Karl Sanders (one of  the  guitarists  for
Greenville's death metal band Nile) was one of the spectators  and  I
heard him comment that this was the best band of the night so far.  I
couldn't agree more readily.
     After Borknagar, there was a short break as everyone  geared  up
for the main act of the night. I made sure to be right  next  to  the
stage. At approximately 1am, the crowd gave enthusiastic  shouts  and
hails as Ihsahn, Samoth, Trym, Charmand Grimloch  and  Tyr  took  the
stage. They were all dressed pretty  normally,  with  Samoth  wearing
camouflaged trousers. Ihsahn was still in an "Icon E"  t-shirt.  They
don't need any corpse-paint or leather attire to  command  attention.
The emperors are a no-nonsense band with  little  crowd  interaction,
and that is perfectly fine because in return they delivered  a  solid
and totally shattering performance. Also, their occasional  nods  and
salutes to the crowd seemed genuine instead of mere  showmanship.  It
was a delight to witness Samoth and Ihsahn attack  the  guitars  with
such speed and mastery. I found myself watching their  fingers  glide
deftly across the strings and frets, which is something I never do at
a concert. Trym executed his lightning drumming  with  the  precision
that I love on both his Enslaved  and  Emperor  albums.  The  session
bassist Tyr was the one band member who would  work  the  stage  from
various angles, moving from one side of the stage to the  other.  The
keyboards were wonderful as is the case  on  the  albums,  but  their
sound didn't seem nearly prominent enough at  the  beginning  of  the
show. The rest of the band's sound was so solid that I didn't  really
notice this until they finally kicked in  with  full  force  on  "The
Majesty of the Night Sky".  The  only  other  sound  problem  that  I
noticed was on one  occasion  when  the  band  was  performing  "With
Strength I Burn". During the quiet interlude where Ihsahn speaks over
some epic horn sounds, the recording failed, at  which  point  Ihsahn
shrugged and exclaimed "Fuck it!";  the  band  then  continued  in  a
professional manner without missing  a  beat.  Overall,  this  was  a
stunning show with Emperor reigning supreme over any other band  that
I have seen live. If  Emperor  comes  anywhere  near  your  town,  do
yourself a favour and make haste to an excellent  concert!  Emperor's
set list was (almost, if not entirely,  in  order):  "Curse  You  All
Men!", "Decrystallizing Reason", "Thus Spake the Nightspirit", "I  am
the Black Wizards", "With Strength I Burn", "Sworn",  "Night  of  the
Graveless Souls", "Ye Entrancemperium", "The Source of  Icon  E"  and
"Inno a Satana", plus "The Majesty of the Nightsky" and "The Loss and
Curse of Reverence" as an encore.

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

     F A C I N G   T H E   B R E T O N   S T O R M   S E A S O N
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Six Feet Under, Mayhem, Vader, Enslaved, Cryptopsy, Nile,
                        Thyrfing and Darkseid
           at the Antipode, Rennes, France on June 16, 1999
                           by: David Rocher

     Oblivious to the pouring rain and the rather annoying news  that
co-headliners Six Feet Under would not be turning this evening as was
scheduled, some 500 metalheads, among which Paul Schwarz and  myself,
had gathered this evening to witness  this  crushing  metal  line-up,
which would also allegedly see the legendary Mayhem setting  foot  on
French shores for the first time.
     Things started up pretty well, since Darkseid's  appearance  had
been mercifully cancelled; I  don't  think  anyone  really  missed  a
helping of their lame poseur deathrash that night...
     I only saw little of  Thyrfing's  set,  but  they  sounded  like
little  more  than  another  synth-driven  blackened  metal   outfit.
Surprisingly enough, though, considering  the  imagery  developed  on
their two albums, Thyrfing live were definitely as un-Viking as  they
could be, with their singer appearing clad in jeans and  a  Metallica
t-shirt. In the 25 minutes they were granted, Thyrfing did succeed in
making their music sound a lot more interesting live than it does  on
their albums _Thyrfing_ and _Valdr Galga_, but definitely  failed  to
convince me they were a band the  now  hopelessly  saturated  extreme
metal scene couldn't live on without.
     Unsurprisingly,  everything  heated  up  considerably   as   the
ultra-brutal Nile took the stage over and lashed out in sheer fury at
rather startled audiences with their half-hour  long  track  listing,
essentially covering material from their latest output  _Amongst  the
Catacombs of Nephren-Ka_, and one track off their first  album.  Nile
proved to be very convincing  on  stage,  but  their  set  was  sadly
hampered by the constant flow of egotistical  show-off  stage  divers
continuously climbing up on stage and then standing there for  almost
a whole minute at times, trying  to  act  evil  and  aggressive,  but
mostly succeeding  in  looking  downright  childish  and  unfailingly
knocking the mike off its stand. Despite this distinctly  infuriating
feature, Nile seemed very satisfied by the welcome they were granted,
and flawlessly interpreted war hymns such  as  "The  Howling  of  the
Jinn", "Pestilence and Iniquity" and the crushing "Ramses Bringer  of
War", all of  which  received  a  very  positive  response  from  the
attending metal masses.
     Canada's own sonic shredders Cryptopsy then invested the  stage,
and proceeded, throughout their 45-minute set, to meticulously  crush
the audience with energetic renditions of tracks from  all  three  of
their albums; their ultra brutal technicality proved to be  perfectly
played in live conditions, with their massive vocalist  Mike  DiSalvo
storming around the stage like an angered bear in cage.  Mike  proved
to be an excellent replacement to Lord Worm, so  impressive  was  his
growling  or  aggressively  yelled  vocal  delivery  on  the   tracks
"Benedictine Convulsions", "Leechmistress" and the godly  "Slit  Your
Guts". Judging from Jon  Levasseur's  and  Eric  Langlois'  satisfied
comments, spoken in perfect French (with their great, thick trademark
Quebec accent) to the sweating legions attending the gig, Cryptopsy's
first visit to the old continent would be an experience  to  remember
for all. With the support provided by a  label  finally  doing  their
immense competence  and  rapidly  growing  recognition  justice,  the
Canadian six-piece is going to be a band to keep more than  just  one
eye on.
     After a fifteen-minute break, it  was  Norway's  mighty  Vikings
Enslaved's turn to appear for the  first  time  in  Rennes,  as  they
played a selection of material  extensively  covering  the  whole  of
their influential career, from the  _Hordane's  Land_  split-CD  with
Emperor to their latest offering, _Blodhemn_, with many excerpts from
their acclaimed masterpiece _Eld_. Sceptical as I am when it comes to
live black metal acts -- I have, after all, been  "lucky"  enough  to
witness Mystic Circle on  stage  --,  I  was  nonetheless  definitely
impressed by the sheer  -metallic-  conviction  and  technical  skill
Enslaved demonstrated that night. Former Gehenna skinsman Dirge Rep's
drumming was absolutely flawless, performed  at  insane  speeds,  and
created solid rhythmic foundations which the guitarists Bjornson  and
Kronheim could easily lay their distinctly thrashing guitar lines on.
Additionally to their excellent scenic appearance,  I  must  speak  a
word  of  thanks  to  bassist  and  vocalist  Grutle  Kjellson,   who
mercilessly booted the faces of two stagedivers as they attempted  to
climb up on stage, thus repelling them back down into  the  pit,  and
discouraging any eventual followers from acting likewise. All  hails,
Grutle, thanks to whom the 500 people attending Enslaved's set  could
actually enjoy the great show without goofs climbing up all over  the
place and ruining the goods.
     Definitely the band I was most anxious to be confronted to  that
night, Vader then began their soundcheck, which alone did not fail to
gather some 300  silent  fans,  who  watched  them  warm  up  with  a
near-religious degree of silent respect. The  lights  went  out,  the
intro sample started playing,  and  Vader  then  were  free  to  nail
everyone to the back of the  room,  as  the  whole  of  the  Antipode
succumbed to an irrepressible urge  to  headbang.  Covering  material
from their classic _The  Ultimate  Incantation_  right  up  to  their
questionable  full-price  mCD  _Kingdom_,  not   forgetting   classic
skullcrushers such as "Carnal" and "Sothis" from  their  awesome  _De
Profundis_, the Polish technical death  metal  masters'  playing  was
razor-sharp as  always,  and  frontman  Peter's  impressive  charisma
contributed to make their show distinctly  enthralling,  despite  the
aforementioned egotistical vermin succeeding in knocking the mike off
the stand at such crucial moments as the  beginning  of  the  awesome
song "Sothis". Regardless of this, Vader  were  simply  majestic,  as
always. Due to personal problems, drummer Doc  had  not  made  it  to
Rennes on this tour, and had been efficiently replaced by Yattering's
skinsman; if he  did  not,  that  night,  succeed  in  equalling  the
startling velocity of  Doc's  blast  beats,  his  drumming  technique
proved to be just as energetic and devastating. Vader were, as far as
I am concerned, the best act that evening; so majestic,  in  fact,  I
have trouble in grasping why the hell Six Feet Under  could  possibly
be preferred to them when it comes to the headlining role.
     However, with Six  Feet  Under's  set  unfortunately  cancelled,
black metal legends Mayhem now appeared on stage, and only  succeeded
that night in showing what a mistake the organiser  Heic  Noenum  Pax
had made when  a)  merely  inviting  them  and  b)  giving  them  the
headliner role, which was simply shameful. I was certainly not  alone
to rapidly realise that the only valid musical element to  remain  in
Mayhem undoubtedly is their drum god  Hellhammer,  and  according  to
this general assumption, Mayhem's sound balance had in  fact  clearly
been woven around his fantastic skin-pounding;  the  drum  sound  was
however so loud that Blasphemer's  guitars  and  Necrobutcher's  bass
playing could scarcely be heard. Turning up in a state  of  desperate
inebriation, Maniac was also despairingly funny, as  he  dropped  his
mike into the public for various fans to grunt into, or as  he  threw
water bottles into the overheated audience, succeeding,  on  a  first
throw, in soaking the lyric sheets he had placed all on stage at  his
feet, and on a second throw, achieving to unplug a whole rack of  the
lighting system, giving his partners on strings  the  opportunity  to
grope around in  the  dark  for  the  rest  of  Mayhem's  appearance.
Maniac's vocal performance was also a rather despairing feature,  and
the whole of the show provided by Mayhem that night was sadly nothing
the late Euronymous would have been very pleased about.
     With this rather humorous ending to the show, all  in  all,  and
despite the infuriating repeated interventions of 1% of the  audience
that night, it was unanimously  decided,  as  a  pair  of  catatonic,
deafened and vocally strained CoC journalists returned  home  to  the
comfort of a large slab of pizza and a beer or  ten,  that  this  '99
edition of the Summer Clash gig had turned out to be  an  evening  to
remember.

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

    P I G ' S   F E E T   A N D   A L L   T H I N G S   Y U M M Y
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Six Feet Under, Vader, Enslaved, Cryptopsy, Nile and Thyrfing
           at Schweinhalle, Hanau, Germany on June 17, 1999
                          by: Matthias Noll

     Once again I travelled to this hallowed venue, where not so  far
ago I got blessed with the insight that metal is actually better than
sex. This time I went to see the heaviest package to tour German soil
at least in 1999, if not in the '90s. Many concerns occupied my  mind
previous to the gig and I was trying to be mentally prepared for some
major disappointment. From my point of view, especially a death metal
show with such extreme competitors as in  tonight's  line-up  is  the
ultimate quality test. Nowadays there  are  so  many  capable  studio
producers and  engineers  around  that  the  record  itself  is  less
representative of  a  band's  real  capabilities  than  ever.  Is  it
possible to reproduce both the technical and the  "stomach"  part  of
the music? And, dear readership, it's confession time again. I  might
have arrived as an infidel, but left as a true believer.  A  believer
in the greatness of Nile and  Cryptopsy,  who  can  both  repeat  the
technical wizardry and  even  top  the  brutality  of  their  records
easily. Something I didn't even dare to hope previous to  that  show.
But let's focus on the events now.
     There were six bands on the bill and Thyrfing began very  early.
I missed most of their set -- only catched the last two songs. That's
not enough to really judge the band and I won't comment on them here.
After a couple of minutes it was already time for Nile.
     Beginning with a short  intro,  unsurprisingly  Egyptian  style,
they unleashed "Barra Edinazzu" upon the crowd  and  simply  blew  me
away from start to finish. Ultra  wicked  and  technical  riffing  in
conjunction with their slower and doomier parts worked perfectly well
in the live situation. A crystal clear sound was  the  icing  on  the
cake. Attention never focused on a single member of the band  because
both guitarists and the bass player  delivered  their  share  of  the
unearthly growls. Nile's performance was  breathtakingly  brutal  and
precise and they ended their 30 minute set with "Smashing the
Antiou".
     The merciless onslaught continued with Cryptopsy. Unfortunately,
I did not own  their  first  two  records  at  this  point  in  time.
Considering the complexity of their material, which normally needs  a
couple of spins to really sink into your mind,  it  was  amazing  how
effective even the unfamiliar songs were. Singer Mike DiSalvo  roamed
the stage like an angry pitbull, more hardcore in his appearance than
death metal. This might have caused  some  criticism  from  the  more
conservative section of death metal fans, but fits their unique style
perfectly. The guitar work was  flawless  and  both  guitarists  were
churning out their technical yet brutal to  the  max  material  while
still banging their heads like madmen. The rhythm section was equally
amazing and man-machine Flo Mounier precisely propelled them  through
the set. It was really a delight to witness how tightly they executed
songs like my personal highlights "Cold Hate, Warm Blood" and  "White
Worms" from _Whisper Supremacy_. Like Nile, Cryptopsy  did  not  play
for more than 30 minutes, but these 30 minutes were  so  intense  and
insane that other bands wouldn't be able to achieve this in  a  three
hour set. I think it's very safe to say that  with  these  two  bands
I've seen the future of death metal and I think it's  a  very  bright
future. Both showed a very down to earth attitude and hung out at the
merchandising booth, talking to the fans and each other for the whole
rest of the evening. I had  a  short  conversation  with  Cryptopsy's
bassman Eric, who told me that the band will  soon  stop  touring  to
focus on the songwriting process for the next album, for  which  only
one song has been written so far.
     Next  on  stage  were  Enslaved.  Unfortunately  for  them,  the
audience was a pure death metal crowd and only a few people  gathered
in front of the stage. I do believe the most important thing  is  the
music, but like with the other "Viking metal" bands I've seen so far,
I did have a serious problem taking this Viking thing seriously  when
looking at their stage outfit. The two guitarists Ivar and Roy looked
like a couple of skinheads, complete with camouflage  trousers,  army
boots and bad tattoos. Grutle Kjellson at  least  wore  some  "Viking
clothes"  while  Dirge  Rep  pretty  much  looked  like  the  average
metaller. They started with the  _Blodhemn_  intro,  followed  by  "I
Lenker til Ragnarok". Other  _Blodhemn_  material  did  sound  rather
uninspired and dull this night, whereas older stuff, especially  from
_Eld_, sounded far more  aggressive  and  convincing.  Playing  after
Cryptopsy and/or Nile is no fun at  all  for  any  extreme  band.  In
comparison to the technical wizardry of these two  bands,  especially
Enslaved's axemen appeared as if they had gotten their first  guitars
for Christmas 1998. It was drummer Dirge Rep who saved the Vikings in
the competition. Dirge is no match for Flo Mounier or  Pete  Hammoura
when comparing technique, but he can go impressively fast while still
playing really powerful and tight. There was  no  increase  in  crowd
participation or interest until the end of the set and no one  wanted
an encore. In summary I have  to  say  that  Enslaved  had  the  most
unfortunate slot in this billing, but also  didn't  manage  to  prove
themselves and do not deserve a better rating than average.
     Vader  came  fifth  and  they  somehow  reminded  me  of   early
Sepultura. I think it's fair to say that  there  are  slight  musical
similarities between Vader's  material  and  the  death/thrash  style
Sepultura had on _Schizophrenia_ to _Arise_, but that's not all and I
felt a similar vibe in how the band came across. A certain  sense  of
professionalism which does not compromise the close relationship with
the audience and also a high level of enjoyment of their music. Vader
received the best crowd reaction so far and played a  cool  set  with
lots of highlights: "Carnal", my  favourite  Vader  tune,  "Kingdom",
"Creatures of Light  and  Darkness",  etc.,  etc..  Looking  at  this
material, their technical abilities and their  sympathetic  attitude,
Vader could be much bigger than they are and I'm wondering a bit what
has hindered them to reach a far higher status than what they already
have achieved in the underground. If you find  their  records  to  be
more on the average side, then I highly recommend checking  them  out
on stage -- this band rules!
     Germans like their death metal simple.  That's  about  the  only
explanation I have for the success of Six Feet Under,  especially  in
Germany. Sure, this band is professional and  their  slow  to  medium
paced crunchers are a headbanger's delight. On the other hand, I have
the impression that no riff is worn out enough  for  SFU  to  make  a
whole song (or two) out of it. The lyrics are also way too cliche for
my taste: yelling along to "Kill motherfucker, die, die!" is probably
cooler for a 14 year old than for me. The performance was  quite  OK,
even if the  group  acted  a  bit  static.  They  played  tight,  but
considering the rather simple nature of their material that  was  not
too difficult to accomplish. Looking at Chris Barnes' outfit -- baggy
pants with chain, skater shirt and dreadlocks --, I was wondering  if
he's attempting to become the Jonathan Davis of death metal, but  his
vocals sounded good and aggressive. I left halfway through their  set
because I increasingly felt too bored to  stay  longer.  With  a  few
exceptions, the rest of the audience loved the  band  and  the  whole
place was headbanging like crazy when I headed to the door.  I  would
have stayed until the end had there not been six bands. Despite  this
criticism, overall it was a superb package and a fantastic show!

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

      T A K E   Y O U R   S T E I N ,   A N D   R A M M   I T !
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                 Rammstein, Soulfly and Skunk Anansie
         at The Docks in Toronto, Ontario, on June 8th 1999
                           by: Adam Wasylyk

     I just  recently  came  upon  Rammstein's  latest  disk,  1997's
_Sehnsucht_, and became completely enthralled  by  their  meshing  of
industrial and metal music. Gaining a reputation from its  live  show
from the "Family Values" tour (Korn, Limp Bizkit)  and  coupled  with
the quality of music they've created, I knew I had  to  be  there  to
witness them in person. It would be a show I'd never forget.
     Openers Skunk Anansie and Soulfly could be referred  cruelly  to
as  "momentary  distractions  from  complete  boredom",  as  most  in
attendance couldn't care less who was playing  on  this  night  other
than the German headliner. Both bands,  however,  did  turn  in  good
sets, although unmemorable compared to what was to come.
     What's great about Rammstein in concert is that it's a spectacle
to behold. Not only do you get to hear some great music (staying true
to their recorded material) but the pyrotechnics and  band  theatrics
keep things lively and energetic.
     With around 1500 in attendance, the band started off with "Spiel
Mit Mir". As all six members rose from  the  pit  (hell?)  below  the
stage, singer Till Lindemann appeared last by  emerging  through  the
bass drum with a Borg-like laser eye-piece in place. What  a  way  to
start off  a  show!  Lots  of  fire  and  explosions  were  scattered
throughout  the  hour-and-a-half  set,  with  tracks   like   "Tier",
"Bestrafe Mich", the title track and a couple of older tracks that  I
assume were off the band's prior album. Of  course  a  Rammstein  set
wouldn't be complete without the fan favourite "Du Haust",  which  is
currently getting a lot of radio play. And as  seen  on  the  "Family
Values" tour video, Rammstein re-enacted their performance during the
song "Buck Dich", which involved the singer taking out  a  prosthetic
penis (which was connected to a water pump) and stroking it  until  a
stream with the power of a fire house came out, all  while  aimed  at
the ass of a willing gimp. Classic!
     There's a couple of  points  worthy  of  note  revolving  around
Rammstein  during  their  Toronto  show.  The  first  point  concerns
keyboardist Flake Lorenz. I must comment that he is the worst  dancer
I've ever seen. Doing what resembled a shimmy, he  would  run  around
the stage in a maniacal sort of way for  reasons  unknown  (it  ain't
dancing!). What most in attendance will never forget is during one of
their songs Lorenz threw a inflatable rubber dingy onto the crowd and
had them carry him from the stage  to  the  back  of  the  venue  and
finally back to the stage again. However, what he didn't plan on  was
a barricade on the way back to the  stage,  resulting  in  the  crowd
loosing their grip on the dingy and him falling about eight  feet  to
the floor. He must have been feeling it for the rest of the night, as
I was close enough to feel the thud. Ouch!
     Secondly, the band have  been  accused  of  being  racist.  It's
unknown as to whether it's true, but why would  a  supposedly  racist
band allow a black female fronted band (Skunk  Anansie)  and  a  band
from Brazil (Soulfly) to open up for them? With this in  mind,  while
at least 400 kids sang along with Rammstein  in  German,  I  couldn't
help but feel I was in attendance at a Nazi youth pep  rally.  Eerie,
to say the least.
     Ending off the night with "Engel", it capped off a terrific  set
that serves as the best live show I've seen thus far  this  year.  If
Rammstein visit near your parts, don't hesitate to go check 'em  out,
especially  those  who  like  their  industrial   music   heavy   and
uncompromising. You'll thank me later.

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             L E T   Y O U R   S O U L   F L Y   A W A Y
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                        Rammstein with Soulfly
        at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York
                           on June 4, 1999
                            by: Jody Webb

     It is a breezy evening in the Manhattan locality and  the  night
is right for a showcase of international metal with Brazilian rockers
Soulfly  and  German  pyromaniacs  Rammstein.  I  stroll   into   the
Hammerstein around 8:30pm and  the  hall  is  already  brimming  with
almost three thousand people as more arrive by the minute. The  crowd
seems to be mostly clean-cut "new metal"  fans  in  their  teens  and
early twenties, but a fair number of goths and well dressed  European
types pepper the audience.
     Anticipation charges the air and I heave in a  giant  breath  of
the stuff. Soon a tribal chant drones through the  PA  as  the  crowd
cheers and presses forward, creating a  crunch  against  the  barrier
between the stage and the people. The house  lights  fall  and  stage
lights rise, revealing big Marshall stacks over which  the  Brazilian
national flag is draped. Soulfly emerges and another  roar  from  the
fans reverberates around the Hammerstein. Singer Max Cavalera  counts
off the time in Portuguese and the band rips into "Eye For  an  Eye",
transforming the concert hall into  a  combat  zone  of  moshers  and
kickboxing maniacs. Soulfly drops bomb after bomb from  their  recent
debut album, scoring a direct hit with the crowd. As a veteran of the
metal scene, even I was impressed with  the  sustained  violence  the
band could inspire. Also in the arsenal were two covers of  Sepultura
songs as well as a tribal number, during which  it  surprised  me  to
hear the crowd chanting along in Portuguese! Near the end of the  set
roadies hefted out drums for each person  in  the  band  and  Soulfly
pounded out a  percussion  jam  that  had  feet  stomping  and  heads
bobbing. The set, as best as I can remember: "Eye For  an  Eye",  "No
Hope   =   No   Fear",   "Spit"   (Sepultura),   "Bleed",    "Tribe",
"Refuse/Resist"  (Sepultura),   "Quilombo",   "Fire",   "Umbabarauma"
(tribal), percussion jam and "No".
     Between bands the audience swells to nearly  four  thousand  and
the atmosphere relaxes as people  take  a  breather.  A  few  of  the
crazier Soulfly fans leave and are replaced by more  civil  Rammstein
fans. Spooky electronic music wafts out of the PA while  people  mill
around. Finally the house lights dim and the roar of the crowd  fills
the Hammerstein again. A flame bursts to life, igniting a  long  fuse
running up the left side of the stage curtain. The flame reaches  the
top, setting off a booming explosion, and the curtain  plummets.  The
Rammstein stage stands before us, a collection  of  industrial  pipes
and metal, occupying the entire vertical and horizontal space on  the
stage. One by one the members appear, some seeming to emerge from the
stage itself, and when the entire band is  standing  there,  clad  in
futuristic garb, the keyboard player strikes  the  opening  notes  of
"Spiel Mit Mir". The Rammstein experience begins with flames,  lasers
and gimmicks galore. In concert, their simple rhythms and lyrics work
well, sending the crowd into regular episodes  of  pogo  jumping  and
German lyrics mangling. The music is backed, of course, with the most
awesome show this side of Rob Zombie, and I took on a close encounter
when body surfing over the barrier.  I  do  not  have  the  space  to
describe the entire spectacle, and doing so would ruin the surprises.
Therefore, I will just conclude by commanding you to go out  and  see
Rammstein! The set, as best as  I  can  remember:  "Spiel  Mit  Mir",
"Tier", "Sehnsucht", "Bestrafe Mich",  "Klavier",  "Buck  Dich",  "Du
Hast", "Engel" and an extended version of Rammstein as encore.

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

             W H I T E   T R A S H   C O N V E N T I O N
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                 CoC covers the *Omnipotent* Ozzfest
          at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey
                         on June 8 & 10, 1999
                            by: Jody Webb

     Today is a scorcher in Jersey, ninety degrees and not a cloud in
sight. After a  brief  pat  down  by  security  I  saunter  into  the
amphitheatre grounds and evaluate my surroundings. At a  capacity  of
thirteen thousand people, PNC Bank Arts Center is  a  smallish  place
considering the tour, which usually plays venues in the  twenty  five
thousand  range.  On  the  other  hand,  the  promoter   booked   two
back-to-back shows at the Arts Center. Why just make a lot  of  money
when you can make a SHITLOAD of a lot of money, right? Around 11:30am
the music began.
     Pushmonkey opened the day on the side stage. Badly out of  place
but trying hard to impress, they churned through a half hour  set  of
wimp rock. In between episodes of whining about  the  lack  of  crowd
activity, the singer queried us as to whether or not we had  "fucked"
yet today. A heckler shot back with the classic "I fucked your mom!".
Now that was entertaining.
     Fifteen minutes later Flashpoint took the side stage. Apparently
this band has not even released a debut album yet, but whoa, that did
not stop them from boring hell out of me  with  their  badly  written
metalcore. It boggles my mind, with all the amazing  metal  bands  in
our country, that some promoter persuaded the Ozzfest  organisers  to
book this act. Not even a cameo  appearance  by  Evan  Seinfeld  from
Biohazard was able to save this set. Next.
     Another fifteen minutes pass  and  the  sounds  of  (hed)pe  are
pumping through the side stage PA. In the eyes of the crowd,  (hed)pe
was the first real band to play. These boys have been tooling  around
the New York area for about three years now, playing small clubs  and
gaining a fan base. Although they ride on the Korn  bandwagon,  (hed)
incorporates more funk as well as a DJ to create diversity  in  their
bag of songs, something that Korn lacks. Not bad, but  something  you
can safely skip if you already own a Limp Bizkit CD.
     Immediately following (hed)pe, the main stage  kicked  off  with
the slightly industrial intro music for  Drain  STH.  Then  the  band
strides out, revealing themselves to be four Swedish beauties with  a
thing for black fashions. Drain is playing in support of their  newly
released second album called _Enter My Mind_, but even as a  seasoned
metal listener I cannot distinguish the new material from the old. It
is all mid-paced, thick and boring. Drain is good  for  about  a  two
minute eye hump and then I'm just relaxing in my  amphitheatre  seat,
waiting for them to finish.
     Sometime about a half hour later Drain wraps up and I jog to the
side stage to catch Slipknot. There is a bit of hype surrounding this
outfit and, after witnessing their set, I'd say they almost  live  up
to  it.  I  noticed  nine  freaks  wearing  matching  jumpsuits   and
individual masks, dancing about the stage, wrangling a twisted  sound
of their instruments. Envision Insane Clown Posse  meeting  Gwar  and
you get the idea. Of course they could  afford  to  lose  about  five
guys, but then where would they be with only  one  drummer?  Oh  yea,
Slipknot is sporting three drummers, two of which have drums made out
of empty beer kegs situated on hydraulics which raise  the  drums  up
and down, making for some neat eye  candy.  All  in  all,  a  welcome
exercise in silliness to balance all the "my favourite  band  is  the
baddest shit in the world" attitudes circulating the area.
     I swiftly returned to the amphitheatre for System of a  Down,  a
four-piece badly in need of ritalin but also owing a  great  deal  of
their excellent material to their hyperactive tendencies. The band is
of Armenian descent and incorporates a touch of folk and polka  music
into the metal which they do so well, but the chief  contribution  of
their ancestry comes in  the  form  of  their  lyrics  and  political
stance. Fortunately, the singer kept his ranting down  to  one  brief
episode today, imploring us only to realise that in any other country
we could look to the sky and see  bombs  dropping  from  planes.  Uh,
right. Nevertheless, I got in the first headbanging  of  the  day  to
rocking numbers such as "Suite-Pee" and "Know".
     Back to the side stage for one of my  recent  favourites,  Puya,
who hail from the island of Puerto Rico. Earlier in the day I had met
and chatted with  friend  and  Puya  drummer  Eduardo  Paniague,  who
anticipated a good crowd. He was not let down, and  the  'Rican  fans
were out in force, waving the country's national flag the second  the
band appeared. These boys crank out a sound that is not for everyone,
but I find their hybrid of metal and salsa music to be an  infectious
combination, and it is not even an issue that everything is  sung  in
Spanish. They could have been tighter, but Puya still rocked.
     No rush to get back to the main stage as Godsmack was  lined  up
next. Sloppy,  fourth  generation  Seattle  grunge  is  how  I  would
describe  them.  Due  to  the  rock  radio  airplay  of  their   song
"Whatever", I could see they  had  a  few  tame  fans,  and  granted,
Godsmack is not the kind of band  that  incites  a  riot  like,  say,
Slayer. But these chumps should have signed on  to  Lollapalooza.  Oh
wait, that tour has been dead for two or three  years.  In  the  end,
Godsmack was average, and I caught some rest  in  the  shade  of  the
amphitheatre.
     Finally Godcrap wrapped up their  set  of  sonic  sludge  and  a
tingle of excitement shimmied through  me.  Static-X  was  primed  to
explode on the side stage. Singer/guitarist Wayne Static  stepped  to
the  microphone  and  wailed  a  greeting  to  the   crowd   in   his
indescribable voice. With that the group banged through a  half  hour
of self-described "trance rock", with pounding 4/4  rhythms,  cutting
guitars  reinforced  with  electronic  sub  bass  and  sound  samples
injected into the music a la Prodigy. Thanks to spins from K-Rock and
WSOU, the band enjoyed a decent audience and mosh pit.
     Taking my time after a solid thumping  at  the  hands  of  Wayne
Static and company, I walked back to the amphitheatre as  Primus  was
starting their second song. I am not a fan and would  have  preferred
that Primus be bumped from the tour in lieu of a metal band, but they
did bring  the  mysterious  Buckethead  with  them,  who  made  their
appearance worthwhile. While Primus bass slapped through hits such as
"Jerry Was a Race Car  Driver"  and  "My  Name  Is  Mud",  Buckethead
demonstrated his monster guitar skills and breakdancing talents, even
wielding numchucks at one point in smooth display of kung-fu prowess.
Don't miss Buckethead's antics!
     Apartment 26 took the side stage and failed to pique my interest
after an already interest-free Primus set, but what should  I  expect
from a band that does not even have an album  yet?  Like  Flashpoint,
this rookie band had no business at Ozzfest, but  unlike  Flashpoint,
they did not need some promoter to sweet talk them onto the  bill  --
their singer is the son of none other than Geezer Butler, bass player
for Black Sabbath. In college they lectured me about  ethics  in  the
workplace, but I guess nepotism is rampant in the music business, eh?
Skip this band.
     After four cuts I had enough Apartment 26 and  resumed  my  seat
under the amphitheatre, prepared for the first major act of the  day.
Most of the tailgaters had moved on from the  parking  lot  and  were
inside the grounds by now, and the place was close to  capacity.  The
noise from the side stage died,  a  quiet  lull  of  about  a  minute
occurred, then a banner was raised as cheers  resounded  through  the
cavernous acoustics in the amphitheatre. Slayer was  about  to  play.
The crowd rose from their seats as Tom Araya screamed the rally call.
"Angel of  Death!".  Chaos  descended  on  the  area.  People  rushed
security in a mad dash and I joined in the first wave  of  attackers,
advancing my position all the way to the  fourth  row  centre  aisle!
Though not a big Slayer fan, it was quite a thrill to  rush  security
and catch the legendary band up close as five  thousand  people  went
nuts. Still, I can honestly say I have had my fill of sweaty fat guys
who mosh in the aisle against seats bolted to ground. Squish! The set
included "Angel of Death",  "Bitter  Peace",  "Death's  Head",  "Post
Mortem", "Dead Skin Mask", "War Ensemble" and "Seasons in the Abyss".
     Following the last blasting note from Slayer there was an exodus
to the side stage as thousands hurried to catch Fear Factory.  Though
normally they would have taken a spot on the main  stage,  the  group
was headlining the second stage because they were asked  to  fill  in
for Judas Priest, who were originally slated  to  headline  the  side
stage but cancelled a month earlier. Torrents of people  flowed  into
the packed area, and Fear Factory hesitated as the crowd  swelled  to
several thousand before knocking out  the  instant  classic  "Shock",
followed by more skull crushers such  as  "Self  Bias  Resistor"  and
"Edgecrusher", which caused the biggest pit of the  day.  Fists  were
pumping and bodies were surfing. I was in heaven. Fear Factory was on
top of their game and I thought they were the most dynamite group  of
the day, until much to my disdain and to the evident disdain of  some
fans in the crowd, Fear Factory turned into Queer Factory and  played
that  goddamned  fucking  "Cars"  song.   Fortunately,   they   saved
themselves with a spectacular  performance  of  "Replica"  to  finish
their set, but for Christ's sake... The set was "Shock",  "Self  Bias
Resistor",  "Edgecrusher",  "Demanufacture",  "Scapegoat",  "Martyr",
"Cars" (Gary Numan), "Replica".
     Many spectators were fairly spent by this time due to  the  heat
and the last two bands. Deftones had begun on the main stage but  the
crowd seemed a bit indifferent in comparison to the madness that  had
just occurred. I was puzzled by their appearing  later  than  Slayer,
and they did appear weak in comparison. Stephen Carpenter pushed  his
gang through their most powerful songs  and  put  together  a  decent
showing, but I've seen Deftones do better. Perhaps they do  not  play
well in a big venue, but something was flat about the band this  day.
At least they played a new song from  the  forthcoming  album  _White
Pony_.
     The side stage was done, so after Deftones finished there was  a
welcome twenty minute break in the noise while roadies set up for Rob
Zombie. I had seen the Zombie spectacle in October and knew a  visual
extravaganza was in store. I decided I did not want to rush  security
for this set because I was tired after Fear Factory, so I sat content
in my seat, looking around at  all  the  wonderful  freaks  assembled
tonight. At long last the sun began to fade behind the horizon.
     And the Zombie spectacle was upon us!  Lights,  flames,  dancing
girls and a giant flashing marquee with the  signature  6-6-6  blazed
before the capacity crowd as people jumped up from their  seats.  Rob
Zombie's minions took the stage all zombified  in  grey  leather  and
make up, creating a fabulous vision of hell.  Red  and  green  flames
rose  from  the  stage  floor  while   the   band   charged   through
monsterpieces like "Superbeast" and "Living Dead Girl". Zombie segued
through the songs with his charismatic wit. "Welcome to Lilith  Fair,
we've got quite a line-up of lesbian folk music for you  tonight.  We
will not disappoint!". The crowd laughs. "Do any of  you  remember  a
band called White Zombie?" The crowd met him with thunderous  cheers.
"Where the hell were you when I  needed  you?",  he  chuckled  before
breaking into "Thunderkiss '65". The Rob Zombie  quartet  ended  with
the foot stomping "Dragula" before a tremendous applause. This is one
show to check out. The set was  "Superbeast",  "Supercharger  Heaven"
(White Zombie), "Meet the Creeper", "More Human  Than  Human"  (White
Zombie), "Demonoid Phenomenon", "What Lurks on Channel  X?",  "Living
Dead Girl", "Thunderkiss '65" (White Zombie) and finally "Dragula" as
encore.
     Damn, I am getting tired of writing this review! Are  you  tired
of reading yet? Tour headliners Black Sabbath pummelled as usual with
a bone crunching heaviness, but I am getting pissed at them for  only
playing from their first three albums. Why don't they  tap  into  the
genius on "Volume 4", "Sabbath  Bloody  Sabbath"  or  "Sabotage"?  Ah
well. "After Forever" was a welcome surprise as was my  bumping  into
Evan Seinfeld during the song, where we exchanged some small talk. At
least I sneaked past security again and got within  range  of  Ozzy's
throwing arm. I was a prime target for buckets of water. Row four  is
a great place to be. The usual:  "War  Pigs",  bass  solo,  "N.I.B.",
"Hand of Doom", "After Forever", "Fairies Wear  Boots",  "Sweatleaf",
"Into the Void", "Orchid", "Lord of  This  World",  "Black  Sabbath",
"Dirty Women", "Iron  Man"  and  "Children  of  the  Grave";  encore:
"Supernaut" / "Paranoid" medley.

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

                      B R U C E   I S   B A C K
                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
            Iron Maiden at Massey Hall in Toronto, Ontario
                           on July 20, 1999
                           by: Alex Ristic

     Several questions surrounded Iron Maiden's "It's Not  a  Reunion
Tour", including how they would fare with three guitar players  live,
and Maiden would try  to  answer  as  they  played  a  seventeen-song
hit-packed set.
     The nearly sold-out  confines  of  the  2100  seat  Massey  Hall
provided a cosy, if not cramped, setting for Maiden, with rabid  fans
howling the  band's  name  during  the  introduction,  a  promotional
display of their  latest  outlet  _Ed  Hunter_,  a  video  game  with
similarities to "Doom" and Eddie as  the  main  character.  The  tour
Maiden came to town with was in support of the game, as well  as  the
twenty greatest hits of  Iron  Maiden,  as  voted  by  the  fans  via
Internet.
     Running from the get-go with opener "Aces High", Bruce Dickinson
and company had their afterburners going  full  bore,  careening  and
posing onstage while backdrops of Eddie,  depicting  him  in  several
different settings, hanged ominously in the background.
     In all, eleven of Iron Maiden's studio albums  were  represented
(yes, including _X-Factor_ and _Virtual XI_), except for  _No  Prayer
For the Dying_. Other tunes from their  classic  _Powerslave_  record
included the title track and "2 Minutes to Midnight", superb choices,
yet other magnificent opuses, like _Somewhere in Time_ and  _Fear  of
the Dark_, were sorely underrepresented with only one song from  each
("Wasted Years" and "Fear of the Dark", respectively).
     As for three guitar players, well, they'll have to come back and
hit Toronto again, as sadly Adrian Smith had to  cancel  out  because
his father passed away, so it was a five-piece as usual. In fact,  it
was the exact line-up of the band when Dickinson left six years  ago,
with founder/bassist Steve  Harris,  founder/guitarist  Dave  Murray,
guitarist Jannick Gers and drummer Nicko McBrain  waving  the  Maiden
flag.
     Highlights of the night included "Wrathchild" and two songs from
the Blaze Bailey era, namely "Man on the Edge"  and  "The  Clansman".
For the latter, Dickinson provided a humorous intro with  a  poke  at
our American cousins and how some reportedly perceived the  song  was
about the Ku Klux Klan, as opposed to its true point of  inspiration,
being William Wallace and the independent Scottish movement.
     Both songs were at the tender mercies of the Air Raid Siren  and
how he would approach them from his point of view. Dickinson did  not
disappoint, lending a little more power to the vocals than Bailey did
and using his antics to get the crowd to sing along. Surprisingly,  a
fair number knew the words, remarkable because many of  the  faithful
fans have avoided the last two records because  of  the  band's  most
prominent singer's absence.
     For the encore, the audience feasted on a troika of  songs  from
the bands most  well  known  release,  _The  Number  of  the  Beast_.
"Hallowed Be thy Name", "Run to the Hills" and the  title  track  had
the audience pumping their devil horns in the air as they head banged
along.
     In the final analysis, it appears Maiden haven't  suffered  from
the re-shuffling of the line-up, playing a loud and enjoyable show as
always. This show wasn't as spectacular as their _Somewhere in  Time_
and _Seventh Son of a Seventh Son_ days, but solid  and  entertaining
nonetheless.

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

         AVERSE CONDITIONS INHIBIT THE ENDLESS USURP OF FILTH
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
         Cradle of Filth, Usurper, Endless and Averse Sefira
         at the Reverb in Toronto, Canada on August 4th 1999
                           by: Adam Wasylyk

     Honestly, I could care less about Cradle of Filth. I missed them
in Milwaukee for Sinister and Gorguts, and I would do it again  in  a
heart beat. I was skeptical on getting the opportunity  to  see  them
close to home, but with CoC legend Steve Hoeltzel visiting  the  cold
tundra that is Canada, how could I refuse?
     We arrived just in time to  check  out  Rochester,  NY's  Averse
Sefira. Playing a  pretty  cool  set  of  Gorgoroth-influenced  black
metal, these guys know how to write a catchy  melody  and  repeat  it
with another and another. Decked out in evil corpse paint,  my  image
of the band was hurt by the jock-like drummer with, gasp,  no  corpse
paint. Blasphemy! But he can drum up a storm, so I  can  forgive  him
partially. A great way to start off the set.
     Toronto's Endless followed, but unfortunately proved to live  up
to their name. Recently signed to Pavement Records, the  Entombed-ish
death metal trio riled up few and frustrated many. Not much  else  to
say, other than it'll take a great performance next time  to  win  me
over.
     Chicago's Usurper stormed the stage in full metal gear, ready to
kick serious ass. The  only  problem  was  they  didn't  do  so.  The
vocalist just doesn't do enough for me to  keep  things  interesting.
Granted the music is good, but why not shriek  and  scream  here  and
there? I'm just not into the Tom G.  Warrior-like  vocals.  Bearable,
but just.
     Cradle of Filth were actually not that  bad.  Tracks  like  "The
Principle of Evil Made Flesh" and "Malice Through the Looking  Glass"
lent themselves nicely to a live set, the band were reasonably  tight
and the sound was good most of the time. A lot of their material went
over my head, but standout tracks made their set worth checking  out.
What can I say, call me "untrue" if you must.
     If there was ever a show worth missing, it was this one.  Cradle
are past their heyday, Usurper are sub par, and Toronto  didn't  have
much of a say musically on this night. Who would  have  thought  that
hanging around Steve would have saved the day? Hail to the True one!

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

                DID YOU EVER KNOW THAT YOU'RE MY HERO?
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             His Hero Is Gone (amongst unmemorable bands)
         at the Big Bop in Toronto, Canada on August 6th 1999
                           by: Adam Wasylyk

     Having  spread  beer-fuelled  mayhem  with  CoCks  Gino,  Alain,
Adrian, myself and former scribe Steve Hoeltzel before the  show,  it
was time to check out some serious hardcore/grind action in the  form
of Tennessee's His Hero Is Gone!
     Playing a tight set of material ranging from disks like _Fifteen
Counts of Arson_ and _Monuments to Thieves_, HHIG  are  one  of  many
bands that the underground has yet to expose to the masses that truly
deserves to be recognised.  Raging,  aggressive,  cut-throat,  heavy,
pounding... what more do you want? Taking the energy of hardcore  and
fusing it with the furiousness of grindcore, HHIG  were  undisputedly
one of the best bands to  play  in  Toronto  this  year,  nestled  in
between Germany's Rammstein and California's Fear Factory.
     Starting off with my favourite track  (how  uncommon  is  that?)
"Professional Mindfuckers" found on _Fifteen Counts of  Arson_,  they
played just over a half hour, never letting up. At  night's  end,  it
became clear that HHIG may be put  on  the  "CoC  Recommended  List",
right beside Pan-Thy-Monium and Absu. If you get the chance to  check
them out, please do so. I await your e-mail thanking me.

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

  @@@  @@@  @@@ @@@@@@@  @@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@   @@  @@@@@@
  @@!  @@!  @@! @@!  @@@ @@!   @@!   @@!      @@!  @@@ !@  !@@
  @!!  !!@  @!@ @!@!!@!  !!@   @!!   @!!!:!   @!@!!@!       !@@!!
   !:  !!:  !!  !!: :!!  !!:   !!:   !!:      !!: :!!          !:!
    ::.:  :::    :   : : :      :    : :: :::  :   : :     ::.: :

          @@@  @@@  @@@ @@@@@@@   @@@@@@  @@@@@@@ @@@  @@@
          @@!  @@!  @@! @@!  @@@ @@!  @@@   @@!   @@!  @@@
          @!!  !!@  @!@ @!@!!@!  @!@!@!@!   @!!   @!@!@!@!
           !:  !!:  !!  !!: :!!  !!:  !!!   !!:   !!:  !!!
            ::.:  :::    :   : :  :   : :    :     :   : :

Here is where things get ugly. Writer's Wrath  gives  our  writers  a
chance to voice their own opinions about certain hot  topics  in  the
scene  today.  Check  out  this  column  for  the  most  obscene  and
controversial ramblings this side of the National Enquirer.


             MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION OR MONEY TELEVISION ?
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                           by: Paul Schwarz

     Try to  picture  this:  I  am  sitting  in  a  room  by  myself,
surrounded by books to read,  CDs  to  listen  to,  an  interview  to
transcribe, a pot to make tea, and a TV. Tonight I  opted  to  forget
sense, forget past experience and past disappointments, and  turn  to
the TV for my night's amusement. Big mistake.
     I am in Germany. I do not speak German. However, it  is  not  my
lack of linguistic ability nor the awful selection of TV this country
has to offer which was the problem tonight. No, tonight I decided  to
give MTV a chance. OK, you can call me stupid if you  want,  you  can
say I was asking for it, but -damn-, I'm  still  going  to  complain,
because  God  dammit  I  shouldn't  be  proved  -so-  right   in   my
never-ending cynicism.
     Monday at 0030-0230 MTV Germany transmit  "Superock".  Described
in the TV guide simply as "heavy music" and, as you  can  see,  quite
devoid of the word "metal" or "extreme",  this  nonetheless  was  the
program in Europe which came to replace "Headbanger's Ball" (the long
running and sometimes off the commercial, beaten  track,  metal  show
which had graced MTV's screens since the '80s), and it  certainly  is
at an unsociable enough hour of  the  night  (and  on  an  unsociable
enough day) that you could reasonably expect it to play  a  selection
of music outside of the seriously  narrow,  commercial,  arse-licking
spectrum which MTV operates during all other hours of the day. That's
what I'd hope, though as I already discussed expectations  and  hopes
like these seem to be  misplaced  when  discussing  organisations  as
uninterested in exposing  music  for  its  artistic  (as  opposed  to
commercial) sake as MTV seems to be.
     I was not surprised, and thus not overly distraught,  that  Korn
began proceedings -- HBB would often feature the more popular of  the
bands to begin with and to keep the rating end of things up, and much
as I don't like this, it is one of the evils of the mass market which
TV operates in, which I accept as a reality. What followed,  however,
was more like a roll call of "what sells in  the  States  where  more
than two of the band members play a real  instrument".  Limp  Bizkit,
Coal Chamber, Soulfly, Sugar Ray, Ice Cube feat. Korn and some that I
liked too, like System of a Down and The Deftones (though neither  of
these bands are among my favourites). That was the level of  what  we
got; the only three tracks I  would  consider  substantially  "metal"
which were played were Pantera's "Drag the Waters" (three years old),
Dickinson's "Killing Floor" (the one track I thought  it  ruled  that
they played) and Rollin's "The End of Something" (a borderline case).
     But this article is not a Writer's  Wrath  about  the  fact  MTV
don't share my taste in music, it is about the fact that MTV  are  so
profit oriented they don't even have the balls (and fuck,  it  really
doesn't take much balls) to put on  a  fringe  program  dedicated  to
bringing heavier  music  to  people,  music  which  would  never  get
mainstream MTV rotation because it is not popular enough.
     The disappointment and downheartedness I feel is  heightened  by
my location: I am in Germany. Isn't this supposed to be a  haven  for
metal and extreme music,  a  place  where  Dimmu  Borgir  find  chart
success and Manowar debut at number #19 with their latest live album?
Where the same classic '80s band do huge, sold-out  tours  and  where
HammerFall are gaining similar ground? I am  not  trying  to  suggest
that these are myths -- these are facts.  However,  even  in  such  a
haven for metal, where it actually -$ells-, MTV deem it  unworthy  of
any play.
     So, I guess the question going through some of your  heads  must
be "so what?,  what  -should-  we  expect  out  of  a  profit  making
organisation like MTV, who cares if they don't play our music  --  we
like it, we listen to it, simple as that". This is true, but,  though
I fully realise I don't live in a perfect world, I always look toward
improving this imperfect one, and  this  means  not  lying  down  and
cynically proclaiming that everyone is going to knock  you  down  and
tread all over you anyway, but instead standing tall  and  trying  to
get through to people and remind them that there is  more  out  there
than most of them will ever be exposed to. You obviously like extreme
music, since you read CoC, but I am  sure  that,  for  most  of  you,
finding your way into the scene was not as automatic a thing as going
to school (as one of Metallica's shirts  so  suggested,  though  with
their current direction it seems more likely), and even once you  had
started, how long  did  it  take  before  you  got  into  the  really
"different" stuff? For myself, I started with Guns 'n' Roses in 1993,
Metallica and Pantera in 1994, Carcass in 1995,  Entombed,  Satyricon
and Immortal in 1996, Morbid Angel as late as 1997; it took  me  ages
to get to hear, and often  even  hear  about,  the  more  underground
bands, and I even had a few friends who were into it and  a  somewhat
healthy cash flow to depend upon. I am sure there are many people out
there who would know they'd found "their" music if they heard certain
death, black, thrash, hardcore, traditional heavy  metal,  industrial
or whatever style of albums. Much as I love our scene,  the  mystical
and almost occult way in which most find passage into  it,  the  lone
metal warriors who expose us to our first this or that, there must be
people out there who would be happier being part of it but never have
the chance to gain access.
     My point is that the purpose of Music TeleVision  should  be  to
expose people to as much music as possible, to give  people  as  much
knowledge of music as possible. I don't just mean metal, I mean jazz,
classical, whatever -- people should not be fed a limited diet of all
the songs they know and are on the radio. Why play  a  band  who  are
selling well, even more than when they weren't? To make money is  the
only answer I can find to this question; it certainly  isn't  because
you want to broaden people's minds.
     I think MTV should do more than simply reflect the popularity of
the select few bands and artists who dominate  the  charts,  even  in
their mainstream play, but in the least I think MTV  should  take  it
upon themselves to construct "fringe" programs to  give  people  with
specific but more unusual different musical tastes a chance  to  hear
stuff from their style they might not have picked up on, and see  the
videos associated with the bands they like. "Headbanger's  Ball"  was
never perfect, but at  least  it  made  some  effort;  "Superock"  is
nothing more than a reflection  of  the  most  popular  guitar-based,
mildly aggravated bands  of  the  moment  and  really  nothing  more.
Especially in a country like Germany, I think someone at  MTV  should
have the balls to put something different and interesting together to
give more people a chance to hear music they might never have  had  a
chance to hear before.

MTV: Forget about money for once and start doing something for
people.

     CoC readers, I urge you to write to MTV and people like them  to
get them to put on a metal show. Make yourselves heard: you  may  not
want to see metal videos, you may not have MTV and you may  not  want
to stay up 'till whatever ungodly hour to see such a program, but  if
by MTV putting on such a program a couple more people who would  have
never, or might never,  have  discovered  metal,  do,  that  makes  a
difference, that's worth it, don't you think?

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

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

Gino's Top 5

1. Today Is The Day - _In The Eyes of God_
2. Translucia - _Translucia_
3. Kelly's Mix Tape
4. The Atomic Bitchwax - _The Atomic Bitchwax_
5. Autechre - _Tri Repetae++_

Adrian's Top 5

1. earthtone9 - _Off Kilter Enhancement_
2. Machine Head - _The Burning Red_
3. Today Is the Day - _In the Eyes of God_
4. Turmoil - _Anchor_
5. Puya - _Fundamental_

Brian's Top 5

1. Cryptopsy - _None So Vile_
2. Coroner - _Punishment for Decadence_
3. Capharnaum - _Plague of Spirits_
4. Epoch of Unlight - _Black & Crimson Glory_
5. Nevermore - _Dreaming Neon Black_

Alain's Top 5

1. Horde of Worms - _Horde of Worms_
2. Solus - _Universal Bloodshed_
3. Ministry - _Dark Side of the Spoon_
4. Dimmu Borgir - _Spiritual Black Dimensions_
5. Zimmer's Hole - _Bound by Fire_

Adam's Top 5

1. Summoning - _Stronghold_
2. Dismal Euphony - _All Little Devils_
3. Manes - _Under Ein Blodraut Maane_
4. Sephiroth - _Cathedron_
5. Brutal Truth - _Need to Control_

Pedro's Top 5

1. Dark Tranquillity - _Projector_
2. Hypocrisy - _Hypocrisy_
3. Unholy - _Gracefallen_
4. Katatonia - _Tonight's Decision_
5. Skepticism - _Lead and Aether_

Paul's Top 5

1. Testament - _The Legacy_
2. Testament - _The Gathering_
3. Nile - _Festivals of Atonement_
4. Akercocke - _Rape of the Bastard Nazarene_
5. Deceased - _Luck of the Corpse_

Aaron's Top 5

1. Hypocrisy - _Hypocrisy_
2. Laaz Rockit - _Annihilation Principle_
3. Bruce Dickinson - _Accident of Birth_
4. Acheron - _Anti-god, Anti-christ_
5. Compilation by Lowell Smith

David's Top 5

1. Darkane - _Rusted Angel_
2. Iron Maiden - _Somewhere in Time_
3. Sins of Omission - _The Creation_
4. Death - _Symbolic_
5. Sepultura - _Beneath the Remains_

Gabriel's Top 5

1. Amorphis - _Tuonela_
2. Doom - _The Peel Sessions (Re-Release)_
3. Stimbox - _Caveat Emptor_
4. Various - _Sound Park Movie Soundtrack_
5. Various - _Needlepoint_

Alex's Top 5

1. Extol - _Mesmerized_
2. Emperor - _IX Equilibrium_
3. Believer - _Dimensions_
4. Various - _Blackend 3_
5. Centinex - _Reborn Through Flames_ (Thanks, Adrian)

Matthias' Top 5

1. Nevermore - _Dreaming Neon Black_
2. Dismember - _Death Metal_
3. Marduk - _Panzer Division Marduk_
4. Demolition Hammer - _Tortured Existence_
5. Placebo - _Without You I'm Nothing_

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


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             Fax: (416) 693-5240   Voice: (416) 693-9517
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DESCRIPTION
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chronicles of Chaos is a monthly magazine electronically  distributed
worldwide via the Internet. Chronicles of Chaos focuses on all  forms
of chaotic music including black, death and doom metal, dark/ambient,
industrial and electronic/noise as well as  classic  and  progressive
metal. Each issue will feature a plethora of  album  reviews  from  a
wide range  of  bands,  as  well  as  interviews  with  some  of  the
underground's best acts. Also included in each issue are demo reviews
and indie band interviews.

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

AUTOMATIC FILESERVER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All back issues and various other CoC related files are available for
automatic retrieval through our e-mail fileserver. All you have to do
is  send  a  message  to  us  at   <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>.   The
'Subject:' field of your message must read: "send file X"  where  'X'
is the name of the requested file (do not include the  quotes).  Back
issues are named 'coc-n', where  'n'  is  the  issue  number.  For  a
description of all files available through this  fileserver,  request
'list'. Remember to use lowercase letters for all file names.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #42

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.

