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

                     Third Anniversary Mega-Issue
                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
       CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, September 1, 1998, Issue #33
               http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html

Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>
Coordinator: Adrian Bromley <mailto:energizr@interlog.com>
Contributor/Copy Editor: Pedro Azevedo <mailto:ei94048@tom.fe.up.pt>
Assistant Editor: John Weathers <mailto:grief@bellsouth.net>
Contributor: Alain M. Gaudrault <mailto:alain@gaudrault.net>
Contributor: Brian Meloon <mailto:bmeloon@math.cornell.edu>
Contributor: Adam Wasylyk <mailto:macabre@interlog.com>
Contributor: Paul Schwarz <mailto:saul@mcmail.com>
Mailing List provided by: The University of Colorado at Boulder

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

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

Issue #33 Contents, 9/1/98
--------------------------
* Editorial
* Loud Letters
* Deadly Dialogues
-- Anthrax: Still a Threat
-- Arch Enemy: Unearthing the Demons Within
-- Crowbar: From Behind the Black Horizon
-- Dirty Deeds: Doing Dirt Cheap
-- Evemaster: Finnish Fire
-- Falkenbach: The Vikings' True Voice
-- Iced Earth: Glaciers Are Us
-- Sculpture: A Sculpture of Sorrow
-- Therion: Eloquent Emotions
-- Unholy: Tears From the Thousand Lakes
* Album Asylum
-- A Canorous Quintet - _The Only Pure Hate_
-- Abigail - _Sonnets_
-- Admortem - _Ad Extremum Supplicium_
-- Aeternus - _... And So the Night Became_
-- Alastis - _Revenge_
-- Altar - _Provoke_
-- Am I Blood - _Agitation_
-- ... And Oceans - _The Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts_
-- Angel Corpse - _Exterminate_
-- Aube - _Pages From the Book_
-- Behemoth - _Pandemonic Incantations_
-- Benediction - _Grind Bastard_
-- Beseech - _... From a Bleeding Heart_
-- Various - _Bestial Sampler: 1997-1998_
-- Calamus - _The Road Trax_
-- Various - _Call on the Dark II_
-- Callendish Circle - _Escape_
-- Cannibal Corpse - _Gallery of Suicide_
-- Charon - _Sorrowburn_
-- Christ Agony - _Trilogy_
-- Cranium - _Speed Metal Slaughter_
-- Crimson Moon - _To Embrace the Vampyric Blood_
-- Crowbar - _Odd Fellows Rest_
-- Cynical Smile - _Stupas_
-- Dawnbringer - _Unbleed_
-- Death - _The Sound of Perseverance_
-- Desekrator - _Metal For Demons_
-- Dies Irae - _Gargoyles_
-- Explorer - _ColdBlackUgly_
-- Various - _Fiesta Comes Alive!_
-- Gnosis - _Tribal Metal_
-- Gorgoroth - _Destroyer (About How to Philosophize With a Hammer)_
-- Gorguts - _Obscura_
-- Grand Belial's Key - _Mocking the Philanthropist_
-- Grimegod - _The Darkside (Pain in Another Dimension)_
-- Hateplow - _Everybody Dies_
-- Various - _High Radiation 4_
-- In Battle - _The Rage of the Northmen_
-- Incantation - _Diabolical Conquest_
-- Infernal Majesty - _Unholier Than Thou_
-- Kazumoto Endo / Incapacitants - <split>
-- Krabathor - _Orthodox_
-- Let Me Dream - _Medley Rain_
-- Lost Souls - _Fracture_
-- Masonna - _Frequency LSD_
-- Metalucifer - _Heavy Metal Drill_
-- Napalm Death - _Bootlegged in Japan_
-- Nifelheim - _Devil's Force_
-- Nunslaughter / Dekapitator - _Blood on Steel_ (Split 7")
-- Ophthalamia - _A Long Journey_
-- Pain Jerk - _Greater Curvature_
-- Primordial - _A Journey's End_
-- Rotten Sound - _Under Pressure_
-- Ruination - _Visionary Breed_
-- Sadus - _Elements of Anger_
-- Sentenced - _Frozen_
-- Sepultura - _Against_
-- Seventh Avenue - _Southgate_
-- Shellyz Raven - _Recrucify_
-- :Slogun: - _The Pleasures of Death_
-- Various - _Statements of Intent_
-- The Ancients Rebirth - _Damnated Hell's Arrival_
-- The Bloodcult - _Night's Plutonian Shore_
-- Voivod - _Kronik_
-- Vondur - _The Galactic Rock n' Roll Empire_
-- Warhorse - _Warhorse_
-- Within Temptation - _The Dance_
* New Noise
-- Cumdeo - _My Angel_
-- Funeral God - _Demo 1_
-- Hate Eternal - <untitled>
-- Hirilorn - _A Hymn to the Ancient Souls_
-- Iron Rainbow - _Never Settle for Less Than Metal_
-- Oberon - <untitled>
-- Raggedy Aneurysm - _Milk_
-- Suicide Culture - _Suicide Culture_
-- Tendonitis - <untitled>
-- Thornspawn - _Consecration of Evil Flesh_
* Chaotic Concerts
-- The Twelfth Hour Has Struck! The Milwaukee Metalfest XII
-- True Brutality Under Extreme Conditions: Brutal Truth in Toronto
-- Megalomaniacal Monsters: Monster Magnet plays Toronto
-- Milwaukee, Eat Your Heart Out: The London International Deathfest
-- A Meeting of Deities: Morbid Angel with Blood of Christ
-- Mad Max Lives: Soulfly with Cold
-- CD Release Bonanza: Bughouse, Lifebleed, Inertia, and Lethargy
-- Portuguese Radiation: _High Radiation 4_ Release Party
* What We Have Cranked
* Details

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

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

                          by: Gino Filicetti

     After long last, our third anniversary issue is  now  upon  you,
constant reader. As you've noticed, it's  quite  a  hefty  beast;  do
yourself a favour and don't try tackling it all in one seating. ;-)
     It saddens me to report that yet another one of our writers  has
parted ways with  CoC.  The  great  Andrew  Lewandowski  (not  to  be
confused with Lewinski) has called it quits.  Andrew  has  cited  the
lack of a vibrant and innovative scene to  be  his  main  reason  for
leaving. No matter what, we all wish him all the best in  his  future
endeavors.
     In this issue you will find the debut of a few  new  writers  to
the CoC fold. First we have Gabriel Sanchez from  Grand  Rapids,  who
will be mainly covering the ever underrated noise scene as well as  a
few dabblings from elsewhere. We  also  have  Aaron  McKay,  who  has
joined us from the evilest state known to man, Iowa. Some of you  may
recognize Iowa as  being  the  (former)  home  of  the  great  Steven
Hoeltzel. Another newcomer is Ryan Kriste from South Africa, who some
of you may recognize from his own zine: The  Crusader.  And  finally,
we've got Matthias Noll, straight from good ol' Deutschland, who will
be doing concert reviews for  us, now and again
     As  you  know,  we  had  to  delay  this   issue   for   reasons
uncontrollable to us, but I'm glad that so many of you wrote to  tell
me not to sweat it. CoC #33 is our largest issue EVER. Over  260k  of
metallic mayhem for all of you to ponder. That's almost 40k more than
our last anniversary issue. So,  now  here's  your  reward  for  your
patience. Ladies and gentlemen... Chronicles of Chaos #33.

NOTE: We'd like to apologize for an error that appeared  in  CoC  #32
and make a correction at this time. Apparently we misspelled the name
of one of the bands we reviewed. Namely "Children  of  Naami"  should
have been "Children of Maani". Our apologies to  Children  of  Maani,
please excuse our grievous error.

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

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

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

This is the column where we print those lovely  letters  our  readers
decide so graciously to write us. Whether they be positive, negative,
ignorant or just plain spelled  wrong,  you  can  rest  assured  that
they'll be here in their original form. If you'd like to see your own
letter here,  e-mail  it  to  <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>  and  enter
'Attention Loud Letters' in the subject field. Hopefully all  letters
received will be featured in upcoming issues of Chronicles of Chaos.


Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1998
From: Alex <WOLLENA@wwg3.uovs.ac.za>
Subject: Chronicles Of Chaos & other tidbits

Hail from South Africa

Let me start by congratulating you on an excellent e-zine. I  try  to
get hold of every issue, but since I don't have internet at  my  home
yet, this is sometimes quite  difficult.  It's  definately  worth  it
though, because I enjoy all  the  interviews,  articles  and  reviews
tremendously.

I would just take this oppurtunity to say as well that SAMAEL is  the
greatest band in the history of mankind. I have been following  their
progression since Ceremony of Opposites up to their latest EP  Exodus
and they just keep getting better and better.  And  all  those  Black
Metal purists that say Samael sold out, can fuck off!  They  are  the
musical gods of our time!!


Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998
From: "Ryan Kriste" <lunatic@smartnet.co.za>
Subject: ATT: Loud Letter's

Hail CoC

Thanks for a very informative 'zine. It's always interesting  for  me
to recieve!

My grudge is not with CoC but with Cradle of Filth. I have been a fan
since the release of "Principles...", and  have  really  enjoyed  the
music, despite all the bad press they have recieved.  Dani's  remarks
about a new album later this year were  very  interesting,  a  Maiden
cover (Fuck yes), a Manowar cover (Hail the Gods), a hardcore  techno
track (???????). I have just lost mountains of respect for C.o.F,  is
there any one out there, except for  me,  that  believes  that  C.o.F
should be burnt at the stake for a blasphemous  idea  like  that?  If
they go through with it then they are truly Heretics.

Why do METAL bands feel they should do techno songs, didn't  most  of
us start listening to Metal to escape that sort of shit? If you share
in these beliefs write to me so I can tell you more  about  my  'zine
"The Crusader".

METAL IS LIFE

RYAN
<Lunatic>


Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998
From: Matthew Jonathan Harper <llorenth@mindspring.com>
Subject: Correction for the latest issue of Chronicles of Chaos

Hi, just a very small remark. The reviewer  for  Virgin  Steele  said
that the band was from Canada. This isn't true at all. The  band  are
from New York, from the exact same area that Manowar are from. Thanks
for such a cool 'zine! Now and Forever, lmjh NP: Fredrik  Thordendal,
_Sol Niger Within_...WILD STUFF!


Date: 27 Jul 1998
From: garm@oracle.net
Subject: attention loud letters

Hails to all ye readers of COC. I'd just like to discuss a few things
here...I've been a reader of COC for over a year now but this is  the
first time I've actually been provoked enough to write  a  letter.  I
was going to start this with a rant about one of my favourite  bands,
Bal Sagoth, in response to Brian's review in  issue  31...but  I  see
maarten De Jong already did a very stellar job of covering  that,  so
I'll just say that it's gratifying that at least a few  other  people
understand the grand vision  of  Bal  Sagoth.  I  normally  dig  your
reviews quite a bit Brian, and thanks to  you  I've  discovered  some
really great shit like SPastic Ink (gods) and  Symphony  X...but  one
has to look a little deeper when trying to do a review of Bal Sagoth.

another thing that I just have to discuss is  this  whole  "trueness"
thing that some people seem to find so important. Now, before any  of
you more elite than me jump to the wrong conclusions, I do enjoy much
of the rawer and more vitriolic/less acc3essible black metal  a  lot,
and in a way I do see where these people  who  complain  about  black
metal becoming diluted and trendy are coming from. But my view on the
situation is this. As far as I'm concerned,  these  more  well  known
acts such as Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, COvenant etc do more good
then harm, simply for the reason that upon  discovering  such  bands,
people will, so long as they are introduced to it, be able to  relate
easily to the "truer" forms of black m etal. As someone  who  enjoysa
both styles, and many other genres of metal and other music  besides,
I know that one has to start somewhere. I too listened to  a  lot  of
Megadeth, Pantera and Korn a scant three or so years ago, and had  no
idea this thing called black metal so much as existed. Does the  fact
that I, and many others, were not born into the scene make us posers?
WHen mainstream media is saturated with so-called  metal  bands  that
are a poor excuse for interesting and creative music  in  any  genre,
and when we live in a country such as Canada where the music scene is
full of shit and it's damn hard to  get  into  extreme  music  simply
because it's hard to find people  who  are  interested  in  it,  it's
inevitable that most people are  going  to  start  getting  into  the
heavier forms of music by listening to the more well known acts.  One
doesn't listen to Immortal one day when the heaviest thing  they  own
is SOundgarden and say "oh, that's really cool, I think I'm going  to
listen to black metal from now on". And  lest  you  think  that  such
bands are harming the black metal scene, we of all people should know
that just because bands like COF exist, there is no  reason  why  the
underground shouldn't  flourish.  I  mean,  a  couple  of  years  ago
everyone was crying that death metal was dying out...and listening to
stuff by bands like Amorphis, newer Carcass etc, one  might  tend  to
agree with that  assessment...but  the  fact  that  there  have  been
stellar new releases from bands like Nile and  Suffocation,  and  the
new Cryptopsy should grace our gore-craving ears fairly soon,  proves
that death metal in its most  aggressive  form  is  still  very  much
alive. So why the bloody hell can't the same be true for black metal?
I don't think the next Immortal album is going to bow to trends,  and
if bands like Tulus or  Arkanum  continue  to  produce  seething  and
thoroughly black piees of work, then there is still lots of hope  for
the "true" black metal scene. SO everyone  should  stop  complaining,
and if they want to proliferate their favourite underground movement,
then start a band or something.

FFinally, I have to say that Steve and  Drew's  presence  in  COC  is
going to be sorely missed by me for one...they both reviewed the kind
of stuff that I enjoy most, and although I  didn't  agree  with  what
they had to say much of the time they were both prety open minded and
had a pretty healthy objective perspective on  the  music  they  were
reviewing. Ah well...Your zine still rules, I don't think  there  are
too many printed zines that are this inclusive and well put together,
so you have my utmost congratulations and grattitude. May thy  swords
be  slaked  with  he  blood  of  thine  enemies,  and  may  thy  dark
ensorcelled legacy continue through the unfolding  years.  Long  live
the barbarian metal kings..or something...later.

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

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

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


                     S T I L L   A   T H R E A T
                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                        CoC interviews Anthrax
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     You'd think that after all that Anthrax has been through in  the
last few years (label switch,  loss  of  original  members,  constant
touring in a non-metal industry), the legendary  thrashers  from  New
York would have thrown in the towel by now. Y'know? Called it  quits.
Well, let me tell you something, my fine metal friends,  Anthrax  are
not quitters. And contrary to popular belief, the band has never gone
away.
     The 90s have seen some of the best Anthrax material surface with
LPs like 1993's brilliant _Sound of White Noise_ and _Stomp  442_  in
1995, both managing to  hold  up  against  classic  'Thrax  LPs  like
_Spreading the Disease_ (1986) and _State of  Euphoria_  (1988).  Now
the band returns with their eighth LP titled _Vol 8:  The  Threat  Is
Real_. Oh yeah, the boys are back in town. "It has been a  hard  road
for us the past few years with  all  the  problems,"  starts  drummer
Charlie Benante over the phone from a tour stop in Quebec. "But we've
continued on. Things are going good with Ignition Records.  They  are
doing a good job pushing the record for us. They are really promoting
the record a lot. The thing about labels -- all  labels  --  is  that
it's gonna be great sometimes,  bad  another  time,  and  okay  other
times. You have to roll with all of those situations. That's just how
it is. This business is a fucked up place to be and you  have  to  be
able to roll with all of these changes. Changing from label to  label
is a pain in the ass, going  from  Island  to  Elektra  to  here  was
something we had to deal with. We were  with  Island  Records  for  a
while and then hooked up with Elektra for two records. The problem we
had with Elektra was that at the end of it we were lost.  We  were  a
small fish in a big pond. With Ignition, we are a big fish in a small
pond. Things are looking good for us." Benante -- along  with  fellow
thrashers John Bush (vocals), Scott Ian (guitar)  and  bassist  Frank
Bello -- have been at this for years and, as the years go  on,  their
love of what Anthrax is about is  all  that  matters.  One  important
ingredient to the success of the band during this decade has been the
inclusion of singer John Bush. Bush, who was in  Armoured  Saint  and
joined the band in 1993 (after original singer Joey  Belladonna  left
the band), has been an integral part to bringing out new ideas and  a
cool sound to the band. Benante agrees. "I think it's because of  him
[John Bush] that the band is still together, to be honest  with  you.
When you are making music and it's happening, that is  such  a  great
feeling. I hate to use this expression, it sounds so cliche,  but  it
just seems so magical, the way things work with us now. It sounds  so
good for us right now. We all get along so well right now.  Prior  to
John being in the band, we were getting on each other's  nerves.  The
thing about us was when we needed to be Anthrax, we  did.  But  there
were problems with Joey [Belladonna], but that's all under the bridge
now. We actually saw Joey in Utica, New York early this year  and  he
came up on stage and sang "Indians" with us. It was great to see  him
and talk a lot. I was glad it happened. But we move on as  this  band
and keep things focused."
     "_Vol 8_ is a great record from start to finish. There is not  a
weak part on this whole record. It's a great  record,"  says  Benante
enthusiastically of the  new  record.  "The  thing  that  makes  this
special is that we reinvented ourselves with this record.  There  are
songs on this record that would have never been on any of  our  other
records. There are many songs here that make me so happy when I  hear
them because they are things that we wanted to really try  with  this
band."
     And the  changes  that  Benante  talked  about  within  the  new
material? "A few years ago we were probably  too  scared  to  take  a
chance with anything. We did take chances back in the day and we took
some shit for it, but we stood by it. We  stood  by  it  and  did  it
'cause we wanted to. We didn't want to be like every other  band  and
sound like Metallica. Maybe it hurt us, but we  kept  doing  our  own
thing."
     "I know exactly what we wanted to create here and  I  hear  that
with these songs and the feedback from this record has made  me  very
happy," he continues. "The material here works so  well,  and  to  be
honest with you, if these songs weren't here, I would have not wanted
anything to do with this LP. These songs make the LP. I am so sick of
all the music out there right now. We want our record heard all  over
the place and for people to say that this is the music that they have
been missing out on. I know people know the name Anthrax and go,  "Oh
yeah, Anthrax. I know their sound." But do they? We have altered  our
sound and brought so much into it over the last few  years  that  our
music has taken on a whole new vibe and when people hear it they  get
into it. People need to hear this LP and turn around and take  notice
of what we are doing." He adds, "Word of mouth has spread about  this
record. There is a good street vibe going on and that makes me happy."
     When asked about bands jumping on trends,  Benante  "jumps"  in:
"Oh, you know that is happening so bad right now. So many  bands  out
there are copying others and it makes me sick. There seems to  be  no
real initiative to have originality anymore. It makes me sick. I  say
this now, and I'll say this at the end of everyday:  It's  all  about
the song. And right now, all people care about is how they look. It's
not like that. It's all about music and it should always be that way."

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

       U N E A R T H I N G   T H E   D E M O N S   W I T H I N
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                      CoC talks with Arch Enemy
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     It would only seem fitting to call guitar axeman  Mike  Amott  a
"workaholic". He is. After all, this is  the  man  who  in  the  last
decade or so has been part of some of the influential  metal  of  our
time. His work with Carnage is legendary. His  days  in  Carcass  are
still hard to live up to for most metal musicians. And his continuous
work with his two outfits (the  stoner,  doom/gloom-filled  Spiritual
Beggars and the blistering assault of Arch Enemy) seems  to  slap  on
the tag of "busiest musician in metal music."
     But  he  loves  his  work  and  Arch  Enemy's  latest   offering
_Stigmata_ (their debut  for  Century  Media)  is  testament  to  his
dedication  and  hard  work.  As  they  say,  dedication   leads   to
perfection. Amott knows this all too well.
     "With our first album [_Black Earth_], it was a great lot of fun
arranging it and putting it together, but we never really spent  much
time working on it," begins Amott about the  difference  between  the
first LP and their latest. "We had done only four rehearsals for that
LP. I basically had all of it ready to go and told everyone  what  to
do, and it came out the way it did. I'm still proud of  that  record,
but _Stigmata_ is all-around a much more professional effort  with  a
lot going for it. The arrangements and guitar work are more  advanced
and the production is much better, as I had more money  to  put  into
the recording. This is really just the next step up for us. This is a
natural progression."
     The band -- rounded  out  by  brother  Christopher  on  guitars,
vocalist John Liiva and drummer Daniel Erlandsson -- has had a  knack
for  being  able  to  meld  together  melodic  rhythms  and  powerful
dual-guitar harmonies with such ease, leaving us the listener crushed
beneath the weight of such strict, well-executed song styles. Is  the
music easy to piece together in the studio? "I think the big part  of
being in the studio is working on ideas and stuff. You can  have  all
of the material planned going into the studio  but  it  never  really
seems to work out as much as you want. No matter what you  do  you'll
always wind up in a situation  where  during  the  recording  process
something will not work and you'll have to improvise. And that is the
fun of being in the studio. But for us, over the last few  years,  it
has become rather easy to do the recording  thing,  'cause  the  more
experience you have, the more you know what's going on. When I did my
first record, I didn't know certain things on working a guitar in the
studio. I always left it up to the engineer or producer  to  do  that
but now I know how to mike up to the cabinet and get the guitar tones
I want."
     "Knowing how to do things, when we went into the  studio  to  do
_Stigmata_ [produced by  Fredrik  Nordstrom,  of  At  The  Gates  and
HammerFall fame -- Adrian], I really wanted  clarity  for  the  whole
LP," explains Amott. "I wanted to be able to understand  every  word,
every guitar solo note and hear the tone of the LP. I wanted to  have
this both raw and intense, but as you know this is hard to accomplish
with this type of music. It's so down-tuned and heavy that things get
muddy and mixed together. It's hard to keep things  focused  and  get
what you want. I aimed for clarity, but still trying to  capture  the
brutality of Arch Enemy." As  mentioned  above,  Amott's  double-duty
with Spiritual Beggars and Arch Enemy keeps him  quite  busy  at  the
moment. Tours, press days  and  working  on  new  material  has  this
axe-slinger running ragged  for  the  most  part,  but,  like  anyone
holding down two jobs, you get by. "I have managed to do this  pretty
well for the most part, but maybe not too good as this year I lost my
life in a marriage split and that was due to the amount of work I was
doing with my music. So in some ways I have managed  successfully  to
do this two band thing and other ways I haven't."
     He adds, "Musically, in my head, I have managed to keep  it  all
together. I don't have any other job. I have  been  able  to  make  a
pretty decent living doing this for the 90s and  that  is  fantastic.
And I have been lucky to be able to do this having a small  fan  base
around the world that keeps me in mind and keeps me  going."  It  has
been a long transition of styles and sounds for Amott over the years,
but he has managed to keep things heavy and still radiate  a  stellar
guitar sound that  feeds  on  aggression  and  powerful  elements  of
passion. His love for this style of music is easily  visible  --  and
heard. "I have so much hate in me that I gotta get it out," expresses
Amott about playing this type of music. "It is  a  great  release  of
energy to do this.  When  I  play  in  Spiritual  Beggars,  it  is  a
different kind of energy that I am releasing, but still somewhat  the
same as with Arch Enemy. I have always been into this kind  of  music
since growing up. I grew up on the 80s thrash/speed metal styles like
Metallica, Slayer and Kreator. It has always been  in  my  blood  and
been an important part of me over the years as a musician. I guess my
love for 70s style rock  [influential  to  the  sounds  of  Spiritual
Beggars -- Adrian] came later."
     On the whole song writing aspect, he notes, "I am  very  intense
when I write songs. I lock myself away and write and write and write.
It all comes in bursts for me, though. I'll  write  two  and  a  half
songs in one day and then go for a whole month with no new  ideas.  I
really can't pick out how I actually  write  my  songs.  Sometimes  I
don't even think it's me writing. It's hard to describe it, but  when
I sit back and hear what I have  done,  hearing  the  songs  inspired
heavily by my thoughts and ideas, I can't figure out how I managed to
do them and/or come up with such arrangements. It boggles me. I never
had any classical training with guitar work.  I  was  self-taught  at
playing the guitar."
     He finishes, "It's kind of strange to hear all that I have  done
and take it all in, but I'm proud I have been able  to  create  music
and be happy with what I have done for the most part. I am not  happy
with some material, but it's the good stuff you create that keeps you
inspired to keep going. I'm still going, ain't I?"

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      F R O M   B E H I N D   T H E   B L A C K   H O R I Z O N
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC chats with Crowbar's Todd Strange
                           by: Paul Schwarz

Crowbar. A name synonymous with music which is as mind-numbingly slow
and heavy as it is good. Crowbar's previous albums, especially  their
most recent, 1996's _Broken Glass_, have concentrated on churning out
sludgecore which, though always excellent, has stuck to  riffs  which
are primarily percussive and  vocals  which  are  low  and  guttural.
That's changed quite considerably  with  Crowbar's  latest  offering:
_Odd Fellows Rest_. The title takes its name from  a  cemetery  where
people are buried above ground because of New  Orleans',  the  band's
home town, proximity to sea level. This album has seen  Crowbar  take
their music to new levels of  brilliance  by  incorporating  tons  of
atmosphere and a huge amount of melody, especially in Todd  Strange's
vocals. This album also sees them with a new label.  Abandoning  the,
according to the band, very inadequate Pavement Music for the greener
pastures of Mayhem/Fierce, combined with the  quality  and  increased
accessibility of _Odd Fellows Rest_, could give the  band  the  break
they need to hit the next level of success, which this band  has  for
so long deserved. However, Crowbar aren't  in  this  for  the  money;
they're in it for the music, and if their integrity helped make  _Odd
Fellows Rest_ as good as it is,  then  we  should  be  thankful  they
aren't greedy. Here's what bassist Todd Strange had to say about _Odd
Fellows Rest_ and all things "Down", too.

CoC: How did the writing process change when  you  were  making  _Odd
     Fellows Rest_? Did it change?

Todd Strange: Yeah, I think it has gotten a little bit  more  melodic
              even before [we started this record]. More or  less,  I
              just think the new stuff is more from our hearts,  more
              of a reflection of what we all listen to.

CoC: I'd say there is a more melodic approach on songs like  "Planets
     Collide", "December's Spawn" or the  end  of  "Scattered  Pieces
     Lay". Do you think that has been a  gradual  thing,  or  do  you
     think it has been a sudden step with this record?

TS: I think it has all been a progression, you know. It has  all  led
    up to this. It is just one of those things. It was just  time  to
    do something else, something different, but still trying to  keep
    the same Crowbar edge and all that.

CoC: 'Cause you've still got the heavy tracks on there.

TS: Oh yeah. But you notice  Kirk's  doin'  mostly  singing  on  this
    album; we've gone  away  from  all  the  real  angry,  aggressive
    shouting vocals.

CoC: Do you think having  Sammy  [Pierre-Duet]  from  Acid  Bath  has
     changed the album's songs, or do you think Crowbar were changing
     anyway?

TS: Honestly, the album was written; we wrote one  song  with  Sammy,
    which was "Beyond the Black Horizon", but most of everything else
    was written before he even got in the band. Pretty much,  though,
    having Sammy in the band has given us a whole new breath of fresh
    air towards what we wanna do. Now we've got somebody  who  was  a
    fan of the  band  for  ever  and  to  have  him  in  there...  he
    understands what we're trying to do, what the whole  approach  to
    Crowbar is and all that.

CoC: So you think the live arena has changed a bit, then?

TS: Oh yeah, for sure.

CoC: How about the lyrics?  Has  Kirk  changed  his  writing  of  the
     lyrics? The direct style still seems to be there.

TS: Honestly, Kirk writes all the lyrics and it's more or  less  just
    things that have happened to  him.  It's  just  real  stuff  that
    people can relate to; at all times, everyone gets depressed  over
    some chick or something and goes out and gets totally loaded  and
    then regrets it the next two or three days because they're sick.

CoC: So you think that the depression  is  the  inspiration  for  the
     music and the lyrics...

TS: Our music definitely leans towards the  more  negative  sides  of
    life. It's kinda what a lot of people hush up; they  think  "hey,
    I'm too much of a man to feel that way." But everybody feels  it,
    whether you can come out and say it or you can't. It just happens
    Kirk can say it.

CoC: I've always felt  Crowbar  is  very  direct.  Some  black  metal
     albums, for example, have pages of lyrics  for  a  single  song.
     Crowbar songs have ten or six lines.

TS: It is much more music oriented.

CoC: You've recently done the Metalfest and a tour?

TS: This is the third show of the tour with  Eyehategod  and  Soilent
    Green. A kinda New Orleans tour.

CoC: How's it going?

TS: Good.

CoC: How much of the new stuff are you playing live?

TS: About four or five songs a night. We've got six  albums  now  and
    one hour, so it's kinda hard to play everything everyone wants to
    hear.

CoC: Would you say you wrote more accessible songs for  this  record?
     'Cause if I was going to play someone any  Crowbar  record,  I'd
     play them this one.

TS: Well, that's good.

CoC:  Because  of  the  melodic  approach  and  especially   "Planets
     Collide". It's easier to get into.

TS: It's one of those songs which kinda sticks  in  your  head  after
    it's finished playing. Which is good, AC/DC has been doing it for
    years. [Laughs]

CoC: What are your further touring plans?

TS: We're out on this tour for another four weeks. Then home for nine
    days, then another tour: fourteen shows in fourteen days.

CoC: Are you intending to go to Europe this time?

TS: We hope to. We're gonna try to do it end of  November,  beginning
    of December, about five weeks in that time frame.

CoC: Headlining or as support?

TS: We'd love to play with a bigger band, because at this point,  the
    more people we can play to, the better off it is. We  might  tour
    with Iron Monkey.

CoC: Do you think this might be the album that will break  you  to  a
     wider audience?

TS: Sure, I hope so. I mean, after ten years...

CoC: It's been a long time since _Obedience Through Suffering_.

TS: That's a question you always get, I mean, you do  an  album,  you
    work it, you tour it, and if it doesn't catch on, then it is time
    to do another album.

CoC: I was surprised _Broken Glass_ didn't get you further...

TS: Well, in the States we were with a crummy record company  at  the
    time and it kinda hurt  us.  That  happened  with  the  last  few
    albums. But with Mayhem/Fierce we've finally got  people  working
    their asses off for us, which is important.

CoC: Are you still collaborating with Phil and  Pepper  on  the  Down
     project?

TS: Yeah, they started working on some new stuff right before we left
    'cause Phillip is gonna be home,  I  think,  until  '99.  They'll
    start working on some new stuff for touring or whatever.

CoC: Is it likely to be another full record?

TS: Oh yeah, that's the intention. [Laughs]

CoC: With writing the music for Crowbar, is it a  band  or  a  single
     person's effort?

TS: No, all the music is written in the practice room with  everybody
    there. Nobody comes in and says "hey, I got a song." We write  as
    we go. It usually takes us a week to write  a  song.  Then  we'll
    play it for a while and make changes to it or whatever.

CoC: Do you think the band is going towards a more melodic  angle  in
     the future?

TS: As long as we can stay  true  to  ourselves,  wake  up  and  look
    ourselves in the mirror. Believe me,  we  wouldn't  just  do  one
    thing to give us popularity. After ten years, I think  we'd  have
    done it by now. It's weird, because  everybody  in  the  industry
    knows who Crowbar is, now we just have to get the people who  buy
    the records to know who Crowbar is.

CoC: I think people, your fans, always thought it would be  like  how
     Pantera suddenly became popular...

TS: ... And Pantera were playing in clubs for ten years  before  they
    even got a record  deal  here  in  the  States.  Hopefully  it'll
    happen. It's one of those things I've learned over the  years,  I
    can't count on it. I play music 'cause I enjoy it and  if  I  get
    popular and make a lot of money doing it, then so be it; and if I
    don't, at least I can say I made a good effort.

CoC: Do you think the new album appeals to the old fans too?

TS: I definitely think it appeals to a wider audience. I had some guy
    come up to me at the Metalfest and say "the new album  is  great,
    y'all changed it just enough to keep it interesting."  I  thought
    that was one of the coolest compliments I got off the album.

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                   D O I N G   D I R T   C H E A P
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                      CoC interviews Dirty Deeds
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     It's always a treat to get special  attention  as  a  new  band.
Dirty Deeds are being pampered right now  and  they  love  it.  Dirty
Deeds, the first signee to Iron Maiden bassist  Steve  Harris'  label
Beast Records (formed with  Sanctuary  Music  boss  and  Iron  Maiden
manager Rod Smallwood), are getting first class treatment  and,  most
importantly, support with their debut disc for Beast Records,  called
_Danger of Infection_. The album, a full-throttle love affair of  80s
metal  music  (a  la  Maiden,  Judas   Priest,   Helloween),   though
interspersed with heavy riffs and  melodic  choruses,  appears  as  a
welcome addition to the metal styles of today. It may sound like  old
style metal, but delivers a very present day punch.
     The band -- Peter Franklin (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Tony
Newton (bass), Barry Fitzgibbon (lead guitar) and drummer Dave Cavill
-- have just toured the shores for the first time as part of the Iron
Maiden / Dio tour this summer (which was canceled due to band  member
health problems in Iron Maiden), but are expecting a return visit  in
the near future.
     "It was a great time we  had  over  there,"  says  bassist  Tony
Newton from his home in England. "Everywhere we went it was to  great
crowd responses and stuff like that. We had a  blast.  We  were  very
hesitant about coming over and playing, seeing that it was the  first
time we had ever been to North America, but in the end it was  great.
The first show in Chicago on this tour was awesome. It's always a bit
nervous to play with many bands and open for  someone  who  may  have
fans that don't know your music. In America, we got such a buzz to be
on such a great bill, and, to top it off,  the  responses  were  good
too. It was a great high for us.  We  were  having  fun  and  it  was
unfortunate that the tour was called short."
     So in the crunch and grind of the hard rock /  metal  community,
where does Newton see Dirty Deeds fitting in? "I've never called us a
metal band. More of a hard rock band. Being called "metal" sounds  so
80s to me. The thing about Dirty  Deeds  is  that  we  are  a  guitar
oriented band. We love guitar riffs and how  they  shape  our  music.
Most bands nowadays are going for that tuned-down guitar sound,  with
very little melody to the vocals. I mean, don't get me wrong, I  love
Pantera and other heavy bands like that, I just wish  they  had  more
melody in the vocals. I think that's what we  do.  Heavy  riffs  with
melody. Makes for a good mixture, I think."
     About the recording process of their debut  disc,  Newton  says,
"It was a great experience for us to be working  in  the  studio  and
making this record. We worked hard to make the music.  But  we  don't
really have a plan. We just create the music as it  comes  out.  I've
done lots of  interviews  for  this  LP  and  people  are  under  the
assumption that Dirty Deeds has some form of a master plan for making
metal music come back around again. They think we  have  surfaced  at
the right time. We've been  playing  this  music  for  years  and  we
haven't changed our preference in hard rock for anyone. This is  just
what we create. We know the stuff we like and if it doesn't fit  into
what we are doing, it doesn't get written at all."
     Any thoughts on how the record writing process could  have  been
changed? Anything Newton would have changed? "Yeah... a  few  things.
When we started working on the record, we wanted to work  with  mixer
Nigel Green, but he  was  busy  doing  the  new  Iron  Maiden  record
(_Virtual XI_). So we had to wait for the time to  work  with  Green.
That was ten months in waiting and he finally worked with us  and  we
finished up the LP. It was great to work with him but the time  frame
doing this record was too long. This LP was two years in the  making.
I would change that if we could go back and do  this  again.  It  was
worth the wait to work with Green again, but the wait... never again."
     Luck has been on the side of  Dirty  Deeds.  The  story  on  how
Deeds' bassist Newton hooked up with Iron Maiden's  Harris  is  quite
interesting. "It's a funny story. We  both  love  soccer  and  I  was
playing in this soccer league and discovered that Steve did  too.  We
also had other things in common -- I played bass and we both  enjoyed
tennis. We spoke about all of this and he came and  checked  out  our
band a couple of times and liked us. He gave us some help, telling us
that our material was good, just needed a  bit  more  work.  Then  he
offered a small tour part on the X-Factor tour of Europe in 1996.  We
did that and the reactions were great. We got off the tour  and  went
into the studio to record and we started  to  sort  things  out  from
there. At that time, Beast Records was just an idea and he  was  just
concerned on helping us get a deal. Then  he  decided  he  wanted  to
create a label and felt the time was right. It was luck for  both  of
us. And it has worked out since then for both parties."
     "I am in this just for the fun of it," states  Newton.  "Sure  I
wanna be successful, but that success is measured by me being able to
have a comfortable living from doing this. I just want to be able  to
continue  doing  this  and  making  music.  I'm  not  into  being   a
millionaire or making money. If I was, I'd have been coming  up  with
music that was big and trendy right now.  We're  doing  what  we  are
doing and as long as we can keep doing that, then I'll  be  happy.  I
just want to enjoy the music I'm playing  and  be  able  to  maintain
doing it for years to come." He finishes, "I have been playing guitar
since I was twelve years old and always wanted to be a rock star  and
play guitar. And now,  when  I  am  on  stage  playing  in  front  of
thousands of people, it all comes back to me. This is all I have ever
wanted to do. Hopefully this will be here for me for  a  long  while.
That's all I want out of this, as I said before. This is it  for  me.
Nothing more."

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                        F I N N I S H   F I R E
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
               CoC interviews Jarno Taskula of Evemaster
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

There may be quite a flood of Swedish (or  Swedish-sounding)  melodic
metal right now, but Evemaster, from Finland, are rather unique in  a
way. The main reason for that is that there is essentially  only  one
person writing and playing all the music: Tomi Mykkanen,  accompanied
by Jarno Taskula on vocals. Their promising  debut  _Lacrimae  Mundi_
[reviewed in CoC #32] is out now on KTOK Records. The following is my
interview with Evemaster vocalist Jarno Taskula.

CoC: Can you tell us some of the recent story  behind  Evemaster  and
     what led to your signing by KTOK Records?

Jarno Taskula: We just got our CD _Lacrimae Mundi_  out  and  we  are
               awaiting reactions from the underground  people  right
               now.  As  far  as  we  are  now,  we  are   positively
               surprised. We sent our demo _In Thine Majesty_ to many
               labels and got some interesting answers from  some  of
               them. KTOK Records went a bit deeper than the  others,
               so that is why we are where we are right now.

CoC: How do you manage to make your music work being just a two-piece
     band? I mean, it mustn't be easy for a band to work having  only
     two members.

JT: You are right, and the fact is that Tomi Mykkanen  does  all  the
    music from beginning to end by himself, and the same goes for the
    lyrics. I am only  the  vocalist,  but  of  course  I  give  some
    feedback to Tomi Mykkanen about the music, lyrics and  especially
    arrangements that he makes. Although it's sometimes very hard and
    time consuming to create a song, it gives Tomi  100%  freedom  to
    make the music he believes in without  any  interfering  comments
    from other composers in the band (which would happen if we had  a
    full line-up).

CoC: Your album _Lacrimae Mundi_ mixes some  styles,  namely,  in  my
     opinion, some Swedish melodic death/black and some doom here and
     there. Do you agree?

JT: Yes, _Lacrimae Mundi_ mixes some different  styles  and  that  is
    what Evemaster's music is all about. We  create  metal  that  has
    intriguing emotional melodies, but still has  a  very  aggressive
    touch and dark feeling in it,  both  music-wise  and  lyric-wise.
    That's why we call it dark metal. In my opinion we didn't use any
    pure doom elements in _Lacrimae  Mundi_.  I  know  that  "Equinox
    Nocturne" is a slower song and that's where  you  got  that  doom
    thing, right? Although it's slower, it is not  as  oppressive  as
    doom metal usually is.

[Indeed, it was mainly "Equinox  Nocturne"  that  made  me  ask  this
question; however, I did detect a  few  other  melodies  that  seemed
somewhat doomy to me. On a side  note,  doomy  sequences  occur  more
frequently in Swedish-like metal than most people seem to notice  (At
the Gates, Opeth and Dawn being  three  good  examples,  and  all  of
superb quality). -- Pedro]

CoC: Yes, that final track, "Equinox Nocturne", seems  to  me  pretty
     much black/doom metal, though not very  extreme  doom-wise.  How
     did that track came up? It's quite different from  the  rest  of
     the album, in my opinion.

JT: Yes, it is. We had a discussion about a slower  song,  when  Tomi
    started to write new songs for _Lacrimae Mundi_, and we ended  up
    agreeing that it would be a really good idea to create one slower
    and longer song as a final track -- since all the other songs are
    by one way or another faster, the slower final  track  will  make
    the whole album more interesting. And although  the  final  track
    "Equinox  Nocturne"  is  much  slower  (during  the  first  eight
    minutes) than the other songs, it still has the same dark feeling
    and touch as the others; it is the  darkest  song  we  have  ever
    made. When the song turns to the end sequence, it gets faster and
    faster and in the end it is almost as fast as some of  our  other
    songs, so it also has its aggressive side in the end.

CoC: What bands were your main influences?

JT: Musically, Tomi's influences are all the  great  metal  bands  he
    listens to. Yeah, that's a very standard answer, but Tomi doesn't
    want to create music in a way that Evemaster  would  sound  like,
    for example, Cradle of Filth or Old Man's Child or  whatever.  He
    picks up some influences here and there and adds a  big  pile  of
    his own ideas to create the music of Evemaster. The same goes for
    the lyrics. Actually, for our new release, Tomi  is  planning  to
    write lyrics for a concept album. Of course we first have to find
    out what our next release's format will be... MCD or  CD?  So  we
    will see... In the beginning, my main influence  was  Mille  from
    Kreator and he still is, but  I  have  also  tried  to  add  more
    emotion to the vocals to make them sound like -my- vocals.

CoC: Do you have a live line-up? Have you been playing any live shows?

JT: Well, we can't play live since we are only a two-piece  band  and
    we haven't found a stable line-up yet. We  just  got  a  positive
    answer from a local drummer  for  our  next  release,  but  there
    aren't any plans concerning tours.

CoC: How's the  metal  scene  been  going  lately  in  Finland?  More
     specifically, how does it feel being  so  near  Norwegian  black
     metal and Swedish  melodic  black/death,  two  thriving  styles,
     whereas there's no specific metal style associated with  Finland
     (not that there aren't some really  good  Finnish  metal  bands,
     though)?

JT: I don't mind that  Finland  doesn't  have  any  specific  notable
    style, because, in my opinion, most  of  the  Finnish  bands  are
    aiming at originality with their music and not following  the  so
    called trend style. As I said, this doesn't stand for all of  the
    Finnish bands. Yes, you are right. There are a lot of good  bands
    in Finland, but they differ quite a lot from  each  other  and  I
    think that's very good.

CoC: Any plans of signing for a bigger label now, like your neighbors
     Children of Bodom, who are on Spinefarm Records and had an album
     released by Nuclear Blast?

JT: It would be good to get signed by a bigger label, but it  doesn't
    have to be as big as Nuclear Blast. We just want to have  a  good
    budget for our next release, so that we don't have  to  hurry  at
    all in the studio and we can do all the stuff we would like to do
    there. Of course it would be great to get a good deal from a  big
    label and sell more CDs, but if we just get a good studio budget,
    it will sell quite well anyway,  because  the  album  will  sound
    better. Of course the amount of  album  advertisement  the  label
    will do means a lot, but the most  important  thing  is  that  it
    should sound great!

CoC: What are you planning to  do  after  the  release  of  _Lacrimae
     Mundi_?

JT: Tomi will  concentrate  on  writing  the  new  material  for  the
    forthcoming promo tape and I will try to help the  label  promote
    the CD as much as possible by sending promos  to  zines,  radios,
    etc. and doing interviews. Of course Tomi will do some  promotion
    as well, but we think that it is better that he has as much  time
    to write new material as possible.

CoC: Any idea of what will change in your sound from now on?

JT: Our sound will change at least a bit, because we are going to use
    a session drummer in our forthcoming releases. Musically I am not
    sure, because it's Tomi who makes the music, but our  music  will
    still have its main elements: melody, aggression and  emotion.  I
    will try to use some different vocal styles now and then  instead
    of screaming all the time. I like to scream, so  that's  not  the
    point, but it's good to use varied vocals in some parts  to  make
    the music more interesting and original.

CoC: Would you like to add a final message to this interview?

JT: Visit our homepage, read the  reviews  of  _Lacrimae  Mundi_  and
    listen to samples; then, if you liked what you just heard,  order
    the CD as soon as possible. Thanks a lot for the interview!

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

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            T H E   V I K I N G S '   T R U E   V O I C E
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                        CoC talks to Falkenbach
                           by: Adam Wasylyk

     A blend of black metal and Viking rock, Falkenbach play the sort
of music that breathes life into a genre polluted with  wannabes  and
copycats. Mesmerizing keyboards, black metal snarls, driving  guitars
and rock beats, while Vikings serve as  the  imagery  and  ideologies
behind it all. Having recorded their debut _... En  Their  Medh  Riki
Fara..._ for No Colours, the band signed to Napalm Records in Austria
and released _... Magni Blandinn ok Megintiri..._, one of the  better
records of 1997, with hopefully many more albums to come.
     Sole creator and  musician  Vratyas  Vakyas  wrote  back  to  my
queries on his band and what he's up to presently.
     "The whole thing began in '89, I think, when I decided to record
my first songs and lyrics" began Vakyas on how Falkenbach got started
and whether the Viking imagery was  the  initial  inspiration.  "Back
then, I searched for a new kind of sacrifice for the Goddesses & Gods
besides blood, life, etc. I also wanted to give something direct from
my heart and soul, a donation made of art, emotion and  yearning.  So
you could say not the Viking  period  itself  inspired  me,  but  the
Goddesses & Gods who ruled that age on Midgaard, and  who  will  rule
forever!"
     Getting into detail about Falkenbach's  prior  releases,  Vakyas
said "All in all, I've done seven tapes so far,  all  in  a  strictly
limited edition, furthermore a tape called _Promo '95_ and the  debut
CD _... En Their Medh Riki Fara..._.  The  earlier  stuff  is  mainly
folkloristic music with percussion, acoustic guitar and clean vocals,
but during the years also  drums,  distorted  guitars  and  keyboards
became more and more important. Every recording differs  a  bit  from
its predecessors due to the fact that more instruments were added  to
the songs, and my musical skills grew a bit, too."
     As to what happened with No  Colours  and  his  leap  to  Napalm
Records, Vakyas explained "No Colours did a good job for  Falkenbach,
but this step simply had to be done, as I don't want  any  stagnation
with Falkenbach ever! Napalm offered a deal about one year after  the
debut album was released  and  after  some  changes  in  the  offered
contract I signed to Napalm." Vakyas also went on to explain his role
in Falkenbach, which could be called a one-man project but it  wasn't
necessarily designed to be that. "Since the very first days, I'm  the
only musician involved in Falkenbach, and not even session  musicians
were used for the recordings. Maybe this will change  for  the  third
CD, as I'm looking for a session drummer and  flutist,  too.  By  the
way, it's not that I don't want any people to be involved, but  as  a
matter of fact it's quite hard to find musicians who're both  skilled
in playing their instruments and good characters, who fit  100%  into
the concept of Falkenbach. Trust me, it's hard to find worthy people!"
     On my first few listens to _... Magni Blandinn ok  Megintiri..._
I made the comparison to some of Bathory's Viking-era material  along
with his last (and brilliant) effort _Blood on Ice_.  I  thought  the
feelings captured by both _Blood on Ice_ and _... Magni  Blandinn  ok
Megintiri..._ had some parallels, both dealing with Viking themes  at
a rock beat pace. As to whether there are any similarities to Bathory
or if he's taken them as an influence, Vakyas states "In my  opinion,
there are not too many similarities between Bathory  and  Falkenbach,
not music nor lyric wise. I used to play this kind of music from  the
very beginning, so I can't say  any  bands  or  musicians  influenced
Falkenbach anyway. The only band I know playing a bit  similar  music
[to us] is Vargas."
     I also ask what the lyrics deal with, despite  the  overwhelming
chance that it has something to do with Vikings. "Most of the  lyrics
are about Asatru, the religion of Germanic and north-European tribes,
and Vartan, a mixture between science, art and philosophy,  which  is
based on Asatru. Viking themes are the way to describe them,  as  the
lyrics of  Falkenbach  are  usually  written  with  metaphors.  Every
character, every symbol used has a deeper meaning, so mental power is
needed to understand those lyrics and the message  they  convey,  but
superficially will only lead to misunderstandings."
     After asking about newly written material,  Vakyas  affirms  "At
the moment around 20 minutes of new material does exist, but it's not
recorded yet. None should expect any "stylebreak",  but,  as  always,
the new songs are one step further in the right direction. I can  say
the new material contains clean vocals, flutes, powerful guitars  and
drums, acoustic guitars, ancient percussion, etc., but  most  of  the
arrangements are much improved! I can promise this new  release  will
be far better than both of its predecessors! It's a fact that my main
intention isn't to be  successful,  or  to  be  popular,  but  to  be
relevant!"
     What does Vakyas see black metal evolving into in  the  upcoming
years and into the  next  century?  "Countless  new  bands,  and  99%
worthless crap will enter the market. We'll  have  to  wait  and  see
who's still left after the next five or six years, then  we  can  say
who's true and who's not."

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                    G L A C I E R S   A R E   U S
                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                      CoC interviews Iced Earth
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     Florida metallers Iced Earth are in route for global domination.
Or so they hope. The band's latest offering, _Something  Wicked  This
Way Comes_ (a follow-up to 1996's brilliant _The Dark  Saga_),  is  a
brilliant  testimony  to  the  ways  that  metal  should  be  played:
passionate and oh so heavy. Draped within pure metal geniusness,  the
latest offering from Iced Earth digs deep into  the  soul  of  metal,
lashing out with truly dynamic sounds and a real stellar  production.
Is this their best work to date? Many  with  say  it  is.  Guitarist/
lyricist/mastermind Jon Schaffer is one of them.
     "This record has a lot of diversity on it," he starts. "When  we
made _The Dark Saga_, and seeing that it was  a  concept  record,  we
aimed to follow the love story that grew out of  the  whole  Spawn  /
Dark Saga thing. There were slow songs  and  powerful  choruses  that
chimed with melody. But many of our fans who still liked  the  record
thought we were lacking a heavy sound. Fast songs  were  lacking.  We
listened to the fans and tried to bring a good array of diversity  to
this record. There  is  this  whole  rainbow  of  sounds  here.  Matt
[Barlow, singer] did a superb job singing on this record.  It  flowed
very well. I am very happy with the results."
     He continues, "I am very proud of what we did here with this new
LP. We approached this record the way we approached all of our  other
records. We just record what comes  out.  The  basic  thing  for  the
record was that we were going to make a concept record on a  story  I
wrote. I had written some material after  _The  Dark  Saga_  sessions
["Watching Over Me" and "Stand Alone" -- Adrian], and that was  about
a year and a half ago, and then we decided that they were cool  tunes
that stood on their own and not with the story. So what  we  did  was
include the first ten songs that stand alone  by  themselves  on  the
record and then have the three-song trilogy at the end of the record.
The idea was to give the listener a  sort  of  prelude  to  the  next
record, stemming from the three-song trilogy on this LP. The next  LP
will be a full-concept record based on that story, Something Wicked."
     "At first, while making this record I was  having  a  hard  time
making music," acknowledges Schaffer. "All of the stress was  getting
to me and I really couldn't concentrate too much on what I was doing.
Then I got things in control and went back to the  old  way  of  just
letting things flow and it all worked out in the end."
     The role of Iced Earth -- whose current lineup is rounded out by
Randy Shawver (guitars), Brent  Smedley  (drums)  and  bassist  Jimmy
McDonough -- has been well-documented in metal  music  through  their
various early releases (_Iced Earth_, _Burnt  Offerings_,  _Night  of
the Stormrider_), but it wasn't until singer Matt  Barlow  took  over
that the band sort of got a kick in the ass  and  some  well-deserved
recognition. Things were clicking,  the  sound  was  great  and  they
weren't just a run-of-the-mill metal outfit slaving through the waves
of the metal industry. They had hit a hard and definite bullseye with
_The Dark Saga_. Metal fans took note. "We had put a lot of hard work
into this band from day one and it shows. But  I  dunno...  I  am  so
dedicated to this band. I have  never,  ever  felt  like  giving  up.
Well... there was a bit of time during the _Night of the  Stormrider_
sessions that everything was all fucked  up  and  stressful,  but  we
carried on. We struggled and the success of _The  Dark  Saga_  was  a
great feeling for us. Now things are starting to go our way and  it's
exciting. We come over to Europe and play to all these rabid fans for
two hours and it kind of erases all the bullshit that comes with this
industry."
     "Things are surely starting to roll for us a  bit  better  now,"
states Schaffer. "_The Dark Saga_ helped get us out in North America,
thanks to the marketing from our label. In the early days  it  wasn't
much like that. The label really worked hard to get the name out  and
it paid off."
     Through the years of trudging through the industry to make  ends
meet, how does Schaffer feel he has managed to keep Iced Earth intact
with their metal roots? "I've never been tempted to do anything other
than play metal," says Schaffer with sincerity in his voice. "I  only
do things I wanna do and doing stuff outside of metal music has never
been an issue. I don't want to play this noisy shit  of  the  90s.  I
wanna play metal music. If metal music gets popular again like it  is
in Europe, that's gonna be great. If it doesn't happen and metal goes
away or no one cares, we are still going to be doing  this.  This  is
what we are about. Being a metal band. Another thing is that I  don't
really listen to many other bands, so I don't get influence to change
my style or bring ideas into Iced Earth that are not metal.  I  don't
listen to music much 'cause I am in the business. It's as if I was  a
carpenter who works all day and then goes home and has to work on his
house. I don't wanna do that. When I drive around in my car I  listen
to the shit I grew up with, none of  this  current  music  trends.  I
don't wanna be influenced by things I don't like."
     On the topic of their dedicated fan  base,  Schaffer  says,  "We
have been lucky to have a good fan base with this band. And with  the
success of _The Dark Saga_, we gained many more  new  fans.  That  is
expected with every record -- if not, you are going backwards, right?
We definitely have reached a bigger  audience  and  that  comes  with
touring and making LPs. We have been lucky  to  have  dedicated  fans
over the years who have stuck with us, kind of  forming  a  cult-like
following of sorts for Iced Earth. It's very dedicated  and  we  stay
true to them and our music fully."
     As many would expect from being a musician, sacrifices are  made
all of the time. Schaffer has made  many  to  keep  the  metal  torch
within Iced Earth flickering. "I have sacrificed everything  for  the
band. From the early days of leaving home at the age of 16 and eating
mayonnaise sandwiches and living on the streets to  putting  my  band
before my family and my friends, I have made a number  of  sacrifices
to make this band the number one priority in my life. There  is  just
this intensity within me, a burning ambition, that makes me  want  to
do this. I can't divert from it. I am completely driven to make  this
happen and I'll do whatever it takes."
     "There is a lot of creativity coming from me for Iced  Earth.  I
don't really see an end in sight," Schaffer states. "If  you  ask  me
five or ten years from now, it may be  a  different  story.  I  can't
predict the future. I know right now all of us feel the intensity  of
what is happening and the chemistry  of  the  band  is  killer.  It's
working out great. As for what I have done, I have never seen  myself
as a great musician. I never wanted to become a superstar musician or
guitar hero guy. I don't even like being called a rock star. I  am  a
songwriter and composer. That's what I do. The whole drive behind the
band from day one is to write songs. I dunno why. It's just the way I
have always been. And I'll keep doing this 'till I run  out  of  song
ideas. Could be a while though."

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                A   S C U L P T U R E   O F   S O R R O W
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC interviews Pedro Daniel of Sculpture
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

While some Portuguese bands gain success abroad nowadays, some others
remain unknown while playing much more extreme (not to  mention  much
more interesting) forms of metal. And, as far as doom  is  concerned,
Portugal is fortunate to have two quality bands such as Desire  (whom
I hope won't keep us waiting for a new full-length for too long)  and
Sculpture (whom, in turn, I hope will be able  to  record  a  quality
debut  full-length  for  next  year).  My   e-mail   interview   with
Sculpture's bass player Pedro Daniel touches that subject, as well as
what the band has been about so far and their debut MCD _Like a  Dead
Flower_ [CoC #30].

CoC: Please tell us about  Sculpture's  early  days.  What  was  your
     objective when you formed the band?

Pedro Daniel: The birth of Sculpture goes way  back  to  early  1993,
              when our  vocalist  Carlos  D'Agua  was  still  heading
              Evisceration (a powerful grindcore band). At that time,
              few were the Portuguese bands playing or recording  the
              sort of sound known as doom, and Carlos was  feeling  a
              strong urge to initiate a project within that area  for
              quite some time. He was a  bit  tired  of  the  primal,
              extreme and violent sound of the grindcore  genre;  all
              those deep, personal and intimate feelings you now hear
              in Sculpture began to fill his heart and his mind. From
              that point to the beginning of the project  itself  was
              just a matter of gathering the right people.  Our  main
              objective when we started was to write as much material
              as we could  and  get  in  the  studio  to  record  it.
              Unfortunately, things around us never  got  that  easy.
              Our first label shut its doors while we were  recording
              the  first   version   of   _Like   a   Dead   Flower_.
              Conceptually, it's all about wounded, obscure feelings,
              and the particular way we see  life,  its  sadness  and
              somehow its happiness.

CoC: Where did the name Sculpture come from? What does it mean to you?

PD: Carlos came up with the name Sculpture after we  discovered  that
    our previous designation was already taken. Personally,  I  don't
    know the reason why he chose that name, but its meaning  is  very
    clear to us. The facts of life that make us all wonder are  quite
    simple, but yet they have always existed and always will exist. A
    sculpture is much like those facts of life. It  made  those  long
    departed wonder and is yet to be admired by  those  to  come.  We
    don't call ourselves Sculpture as if we want  to  be  admired  as
    one, but because we admire things like sculptures.  Eternal  like
    the stone from which it is made...

CoC: Listening to _Like a Dead Flower_, it's  impossible  for  me  to
     avoid thinking of early Anathema (namely _Serenades_), which  is
     a good thing, considering the quality of  your  MCD.  I  suppose
     Anathema must have been a major influence to you. What are  your
     views on this subject?

PD: Anathema was surely very important for us when we began to write,
    but it wasn't our objective to copy what  they  were  doing.  The
    resemblance between  Anathema  and  Sculpture  depends  on  one's
    opinion. Some say that there  are  similarities,  some  disagree.
    Influences  came  unconsciously;  we  don't  pick  this  or  that
    particular idea from this or that band. There are some names that
    compelled us to play this sort of music, but we didn't  make  any
    attempts to imitate them. Doom settles its basis in  very  simple
    and specific concepts and ambiance, and it's very  easy  to  find
    similarities [between doom bands]. We are truly honest in what we
    do, and we don't have pretensions of being  too  original  or  so
    because we don't write about original feelings -- they are as old
    as the human race. We just want people to find  some  meaning  in
    our music, to cry if they want to, to laugh, to hate or to love.

CoC: Does the name of your song "Autumn Serenades" have  anything  to
     do with the title of Anathema's debut  full-length  _Serenades_?
     Is it just a coincidence or did you want  to  express  something
     with this?

PD: When the lyrics for "Autumn Serenades"  were  written,  Sculpture
    only existed in Carlos' mind, and it goes back to  1992.  It  was
    probably a coincidence. [_Serenades_ was  released  in  1993.  --
    Pedro] For as much as we consider Anathema  important,  we  would
    never title a song the same way on purpose.

CoC: What is it in life that makes you want to play doom metal?

PD: I think people should feel peace about their  inner  selves.  The
    balance between light and darkness is very important to someone's
    mind and spirit. If you try to erase or ignore darkness from your
    personality you will lose a fundamental  piece  of  yourself  and
    become a hypocrite. We feel compelled to play and write doom as a
    tribute to those darkest feelings.

CoC: I feel the production on the MCD was very good, achieving a very
     strong sound. Are you happy with it?

PD: Yes, we are quite pleased with the result, considering the scarce
    time and budget available. Our main goal was to achieve the  best
    results within those limitations.

CoC: And what about the music there contained? What would you  change
     now if you could (if anything)?

PD: Structurally, I don't think there would be any changes. Perhaps a
    re-recording of this or that song, but the songs themselves would
    never change. They were composed  in  a  particular  way  because
    there was a reason for them to be like that.

CoC: I heard you had some line-up problems lately. Would you like  to
     tell us more about that?

PD: Well, the problems emerged right after the recording of  _Like  a
    Dead Flower_, when Carlos had to abandon the band due to personal
    matters. Later, he rejoined Sculpture, but he still could not get
    along with us. We just hope that he solves all his misfortunes so
    we can gather the line-up at 100%.

CoC: What are your plans for a forthcoming album?  Do  you  have  any
     dates set yet?

PD: What you heard in _Like a Dead Flower_ was a  footstep  for  what
    Sculpture is doing right now. I won't say more about it, sorry...
    We'll be in studio this November, but the release date is still a
    bit blurred; sometime during the forthcoming year of 1999.

CoC: How do you feel about all the Portuguese  bands  who  are  being
     more or less successful abroad, like Moonspell, Heavenwood,  and
     now In Solitude, Inhuman, etc. (who may be in the near  future),
     playing easily listenable, soft metal?

PD: I deeply respect what they are managing to  achieve  and  I  wish
    them  all  the  luck,  but  if  my  opinion  matters,  I  am  not
    sympathetic with the path they chose along these few years.  When
    a band assumes a certain musical style, it should remain faithful
    to it. In some of the cases you mentioned above, I don't consider
    them an evolution, but a regression. Beginning  with  a  powerful
    and majestic sound and progressively making it softer and keen to
    massification is exactly the opposite of the purpose of art as  a
    way to express the self.

CoC: And then there are other bands, like yourselves and Desire,  who
     don't have the kind of success those other bands have, since the
     music you play isn't exactly of a very commercial nature. Do you
     intend to change your music so that this situation  will  change
     accordingly and you receive more attention,  or  will  you  keep
     playing -doom-  metal  (considering  the  kind  of  musical  and
     emotional characteristics it implies)?

PD: For me, music is not my only activity and I do not depend  on  it
    to live. But I don't blame anyone who  needs  to  make  something
    more commercial to earn money. The  problem  is  to  assume  that
    position after you started with a belief that is not in  any  way
    mercenary, and when you look at yourself, you  are  a  victim  of
    trends and fashions that rule the scene you're part of. Sculpture
    will be playing doom for as long as it  can,  but  of  course  we
    won't be stagnating or something like that. The world  around  us
    shapes us, even if we don't  want  it  to,  and  things  will  be
    naturally, progressively  changing;  but  I'd  rather  just  stop
    playing and keep my honesty than  have  a  label  or  the  public
    telling me how I should do things.

CoC: What about live shows? What are your current plans?

PD: The line-up problems (and others) are the reason why we didn't do
    live shows yet. But before we get back in the studio,  we  should
    be doing a couple of dates around the country so we can loosen up
    a bit before we get in all that natural stress that comes up when
    you're recording, and also to sharpen the appetite and  curiosity
    of the audience for the forthcoming album.

CoC: What is your greatest wish for the future of Sculpture?

PD: Every band dreams of  having  full  conditions  to  work  without
    problems such as time and money limitations. That  usually  comes
    with a major deal with a big label, but I guess  that's  not  our
    primary focus. We just wish to touch people in their  deepest  as
    much as we can.

Contact: mailto:Sculpture_doom@hotmail.com
         WWW: www.artmusic-pt.com/sculpture/

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                  E L O Q U E N T   E M O T I O N S
                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                        CoC interviews Therion
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     There is no denying that the power and strength  within  Therion
mastermind Christofer Johnsson's music is an extraordinary feat. It's
unbelievable how one man can make metal  music  so  majestic  and  so
grand,  yet  easily  accessible  to  the  metal  buying  public   and
beautifully draped with luscious melodies. His work is his craft. His
craft is stunning.
     While  Therion  (rounded  out  by  guitarist   Tommy   Eriksson,
additional guitarists Waldemar Sorychta and Siggi Bemm, drummer  Wolf
Simons and bassist Ian Kazda) has managed to pry themselves away from
their death metal  beginnings  (i.e.,  _Of  Darkness_,  _Symphony  of
Masses_ and _Lepaca Kliffoth_) over the years, the band  has  emerged
from the transition  with  powerful  music  that  speaks  volumes  of
creativity and renders the listener  weak  at  the  knees.  Therion's
_Theli_ record set the stage for the band (though  _Lepaca  Kliffoth_
did  showcase  some  innovative  ideas)  with  its  massive  use   of
symphonies, choirs  and  sheer  brilliance  masking  the  music  with
attractive melodies. _Theli_ was and is one of the most  breathtaking
LPs to emerge this decade.
     Following the release of the band's cover/soundtrack mish-mashed
LP titled _A' Arab Zaraq Lucid Dreaming_, the  band  returns  to  the
metal scene with the hotly anticipated outing called  _Vovin_.  While
much more subdued and sombre than past efforts,  Johnsson's  delicate
ways of mixing sounds and ideas shines like the sun. His  work  tells
plenty.
     "I definitely think this is a big change for Therion  since  the
_Theli_ record a few years back," begins Johnsson. "Of course we will
never be able to do such a massive change to the music as we did with
_Theli_. I basically  stopped  singing  and  created  huge  classical
arrangements and choirs singing.  If  we  were  to  do  another  such
drastic change for Therion, we'd have to stop playing  and  introduce
hip-hop into the Therion sound."
     "We want every album by us to be different. We  want  people  to
get a lot out of what we do. It's important to  have  changes  within
our music. It's very important to myself to see us changing over each
LP. On  _Vovin_  there  are  more  guitars  and  more  mid-tempo  and
melancholic  ideas.  _Theli_  had  a  lot  of  soft  guitars  in  the
background. Here they are more up front. There is more attention  for
me to focus here with all the guitars and ideas coming together."
     "I love this LP and how I worked the  choirs  on  _Vovin_.  With
_Theli_ I used the choirs to kind of  take  the  place  of  rock  and
guitar harmonies within a song. They were  used  to  help  guide  the
song. With this LP I used the choirs very conservatively and  in  the
vein of  an  opera  performance.  I  used  the  material  and  choirs
effectively to sound like a real opera working within  the  music  of
Therion. As for the future, who knows, but at this point in time  the
use of choirs seems very effective for Therion's work."
     He adds, "I can honestly say this now, I was very  worried  with
the direction of the band when _Theli_ came out.  I  thought  it  was
going to flop. I thought that was going to be the last record that we
ever made. When I was making _Theli_ I was happy to have a big budget
and be able to make a powerful LP  that  could  have  been  our  last
recording. I thought it was going to sell nothing, which  had  always
been the case 'cause people thought of us always  as  being  a  weird
band, and it was the weirdest effort so far. I had to go out and sell
the record even though I had my doubts. I was worried, but beyond  my
wildest dreams, the album took off and people really got into what we
had done. I was pleased."
     Does he miss the early death metal days  of  Therion?  He  says,
"This is where we should be. I liked what we did before and  I  don't
regret anything we did musically, but I have grown  as  a  songwriter
and now I am working with many different styles of music. We did  try
to play some of the older stuff live to satisfy old fans.  We  always
try to play some old stuff, in respect to what we have  done  in  the
past. But as things go on, it just seems  that  Therion  are  getting
further and further away from what we did in  the  past.  And  that's
fine by me. I enjoy being creative with our music."
     Getting more in depth about his  songwriting  process,  Johnsson
says, "Basically, with the way I work, everything I write and work on
in the studio goes on the record. If it's left over, we hold onto it.
The music doesn't go onto the next record either. We  find  something
special to do. There are some songs from _Vovin_ left over  and  that
may one day make it onto an EP. Who knows? The songs  that  were  cut
just didn't work into the feel of what we were doing  with  _Vovin_."
While _Vovin_ is getting some pretty rave reviews, many  critics  and
fans seemed to have been under the impression that _Vovin_ was  going
to act as "Theli Part II". What's Johnsson's take on the work  within
_Vovin_? "I think this is some of our best work. If  I  wasn't  happy
with it, I wouldn't put it out on record. I have this way of thought:
'If it ain't better than the previous  record,  I  ain't  putting  it
out.' There are so many bands out there that put  out  a  record  and
reach the peak of their career and then go  downhill  from  there.  I
don't want that. Even if our sales in records slip, I am still  going
to be proud with what we put out 'cause that is what keeps me  going:
good music. We have been around for eleven years with Therion and  if
we want another eleven years, then we have to think this way and make
great records. If I don't think it is better than  the  last  record,
how can I expect someone else to think it is better?"
     So what does make up a record worth putting  out  in  Johnsson's
mind? "I want the production to be far better than the LP  before.  I
want the playing to be better than before and I want the  songwriting
to be different. I want to offer something new. Sure we  used  choirs
on this LP as we did with the  last  one,  but  we  used  them  in  a
different way. It's all about using what you have and making the best
of it. Variety is key."
     The thing that has always seemed to stand out from the music  of
Therion is the band's utter compassion and care  for  what  they  do.
Each note and harmony  is  executed  with  a  sincere  and  heartfelt
direction. Therion is quite frankly a band that presents itself  with
as much respect as it does delivering its music. Honesty  runs  deep.
"We are one of those bands that care deeply for what we do. There are
many other bands out there that feel the same as we do.  For  example
Amorphis, they don't give a shit. They  play  what  they  like.  Many
bands nowadays make music with the  thought  of,  "What  will  people
think if we play music like this?" And then they  change.  Myself,  I
always seem to concentrate on making music stand  firm  with  my  own
ideas. Nothing ever affects what I do. When I hear back final results
I wonder how things could have been changed, but I  don't  fuss  over
it. I'm just glad to have been able to create such work."
     The ending topic turns to his past  work  with  _A'  Arab  Zaraq
Lucid Dreaming_ and the soundtrack/soundscape stuff he worked on  for
that release. Johnsson was pleased with what he did, but  feels  that
his work in that style/genre is not much to his liking. Would  he  do
such a bizarre project again? "I won't do  anything  like  that  ever
again," states Johnsson. "It was great to be able to do that,  I  was
offered a nice price to work on the soundtrack, but it just wasn't my
thing. I always wanted to work on a soundtrack, but discovered it was
something I wasn't really into. It was  a  great  experience,  but  I
wasn't really paid enough money for the time I had  been  working  on
it. The thing about doing this is that it puts a strain on what I  am
doing with Therion, 'cause I have to devote time to other projects. I
won't do anything else like this unless it's  worth  it  and  doesn't
take away too much of my time with the band.  My  band  is  all  that
matters to me. Always has, always will."

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

       T E A R S   F R O M   T H E   T H O U S A N D   L A K E S
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                 CoC interviews Ismo Toivonen of Unholy
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

Some bands don't conform to trends, and Unholy's _Rapture_ [CoC #31],
the follow-up to _The Second Ring of Power_,  is  a  proof  that  the
Finnish Unholy are (or, at least, have been  so  far)  one  of  those
bands. My e-mail interview with guitarist/keyboardist  Ismo  Toivonen
ended up being delayed for reasons that every band usually  considers
very welcome: they were in the studio recording the successor of  the
very depressive _Rapture_. With Veera Muhli, who performed some  nice
vocals for them in the past, as  a  permanent  member  now,  the  new
Unholy album may very well be a fine piece of  doom  metal;  however,
things may not be so  linear,  considering  Ismo  Toivonen's  answers
below.

CoC: _Rapture_ becomes rather hard to describe as a whole, as it goes
     from dirgeful doom to mid-paced doom/death, to doom with  female
     vocals. How would you describe the music contained in _Rapture_?

Ismo Toivonen: It's just Unholy music. I think there is  no  need  to
               describe it in any other way. People  always  want  to
               use those terms like doom, death and  black  metal.  I
               don't want to use those words. When someone listens to
               _Rapture_, he or she will notice that it's not so easy
               to describe in those normal terms, so I think the only
               right word is just Unholy.

CoC: How do you explain the considerable differences between  several
     of its tracks?

IT: It's refreshing to make different kinds of songs, because if  you
    do the same kind of stuff for ten years you start  sounding  like
    the same -- every song sounds like the same. And we  have  always
    tried to change musically and try some different  things  because
    it makes the whole thing more interesting. And when I think about
    our forthcoming album, it's once again something  different  from
    what you used to know. You know, the  most  important  thing  has
    always been -feeling-, and that's still the  same,  even  if  the
    music changes a little bit in every album.

CoC: What is your songwriting method? The reason why I  ask  this  is
     because your song structures are (fortunately) far from normal.

IT: What is normal? [Four minute long chorus-based songs.  --  Pedro]
    Well, OK, I think we have a normal way of writing songs. We  have
    two main ways: one is just writing riffs and finally putting them
    together. The other one is more interesting, in  my  opinion.  We
    just start playing together, improvising, and maybe we  can  find
    one or two good riffs. Then we start playing them and making  all
    kinds of modifications, and finally we have some good riffs ready
    that fit together better than those that  have  been  written  in
    that "old method". This new way has became more and more  common.
    I don't remember how many songs in _Rapture_  were  written  like
    that, but in our next album over half the songs were written like
    that. But of course there are more ways to make songs and we  use
    everything between those two ways.  Every  song  is  a  different
    case, so I cannot give any  specific  formula  of  how  we  write
    songs. I can tell you one more way: sometimes we  just  have  one
    riff that myself or Pasi [Aijo, bassist/vocalist/guitarist] wrote
    earlier. We start playing it and making new parts for  that  song
    by improvising.

CoC: Is there a logical sequence in the tracks? I mean, is there  any
     special reason why you placed "For the Unknown One" and its nice
     female  vocals  just  before  a  much  more  barren  track  like
     "Wunderwerck"?

IT: There is a logical sequence, but that's not the sequence  in  the
    album. The "artistic" sequence of  songs  can  be  found  in  our
    website, in the lyrics page. [According to  which,  the  sequence
    would be: 6, 5, 3, 7, 1, 4, 2, 8. -- Pedro] The lyrics form  some
    kind of a story or something like that,  but  it's  not  easy  to
    understand.  Therefore,  we  didn't  put  those  songs  in   that
    sequence, because most people  wouldn't  be  able  to  understand
    this. (You know, you  are  probably  the  first  person  who  has
    mentioned it.) So, we just made a sequence that was musically the
    best possible. Why is "For the Unknown One"  the  third  song?  I
    don't know, maybe because the third song in _The Second  Ring  of
    Power_ had female vocals too. Hah!

CoC: What's the story behind Veera Muhli's participation in "For  the
     Unknown One"?

IT: I don't know exactly what you want to know.  I  didn't  know  her
    before, but Pasi knew that she is a good singer. So we asked  her
    to come and sing in our album. She agreed and made  melodies  for
    that song. And we are  really  satisfied  with  it.  So  she's  a
    permanent member now and will sing in about half the songs in our
    next album.

CoC: "Wunderwerck", being about 15 minutes long and having that large
     acoustic section, is a good example of something  that  is  seen
     throughout the album: you never really bothered about  how  long
     it would be, did you?

IT: No, we make songs and we don't think about how long  they  should
    be. When the song is ready and  contains  everything  it  has  to
    contain in our opinion, we just check, and "oh, it's 15  minutes,
    OK". If you start making songs with thoughts like  "is  this  too
    long or short?", you are going in a very wrong direction. And the
    album could have been even longer,  but  we  left  one  song  out
    because it didn't work the best possible way and we noticed  that
    too late, when all songs had already been mixed. But it has  some
    changes now  and  it  will  be  in  our  next  album,  which,  if
    everything goes well, should be an even longer  album.  About  70
    minutes. But we are not worried about it.

CoC: How did the strange "Unzeitgeist" appear?

IT: As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  wrote  that  song  when  Unholy  was
    inoperative. I played it to Jan [Kuhanen, drummer] and he said it
    was a good song. When we re-formed again after  that  break,  Jan
    still remembered that song, so we took it to Unholy.  Same  story
    for "Wretched". I made it, during our break, with  my  sequencer,
    and when we joined back together we just re-arranged it.

CoC: What inspired you to write such doomy compositions?

IT: Nature itself. Everything around us. Being Finnish,  I  think.  I
    don't know one or two reasons because there are millions of them.
    It's the same kind of question as "why do you want to live?".

CoC: Do you feel like you're part of the doom metal scene?

IT: No. I don't like that word because it's far  from  us,  I  think.
    Sometimes I say that we are playing doom metal, but  that's  only
    because it is closer to our music  than,  for  example,  punk  or
    classical music. But it's not our music, I think. And I  will  be
    quite surprised if someone calls our music "doom" after our  next
    album... Get ready to find a new word...

CoC: Is there any doom band you relate to in some way?

IT: Not exactly, but when I read Skepticism's lyrics I  noticed  that
    they have quite similar thoughts to ours and that  was  great  to
    know. Their music is different (simpler, slower), but  they  have
    the same kind of  basic  feeling  in  their  music  that  we  do.
    Greetings to them!

CoC: How do you feel about the other Avantgarde bands?

IT: I haven't heard much of them, but there are a few promising bands
    who will be something one day. At least that's  what  I  hope.  I
    must say I like Katatonia, even though I have  only  heard  their
    old material and one song  from  their  new  album  [_Discouraged
    Ones_]. They know how to do things in a very simple way,  and  it
    still works.

CoC: What about the future? What are your plans for Unholy?

IT: We have no plans yet, because right now we  are  just  trying  to
    finish our next album -- which should be out by the  end  of  the
    year, but I think it'll only be out in January or February  1999.
    But when the album is finished, we are  going  to  do  some  gigs
    during the Winter, and after releasing a new  album  we'll  start
    doing more gigs. Right now, we are looking for a  booking  agent,
    because it's really too hard to organize tours in other countries
    by ourselves.

CoC: Is there anything else you would like to tell our readers?

IT: Wait for our next album... You will love it, or hate it. I love
    it!

Contact: mailto:i.toivonen@mail.wwnet.fi
         WWW: wwnet.fi/UNHOLY/

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


A Canorous Quintet - _The Only Pure Hate_  (No Fashion, April 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

This is one of those bands that surely won't be seen  as  innovators,
but who do know what they're doing and are very good at it.  ACQ  had
made a fine debut album, and managed to create a follow-up of perhaps
equal quality. The main changes may be explained by the  new  studio:
while their more melodic debut _Silence  of  the  World  Beyond_  was
recorded in Peter Tagtgren's Abyss studio, _The Only Pure Hate_  came
out of the Sunlight studio. As a result, their sound is  harsher  and
not as sharp and melodic as before, the result at times  bringing  to
mind a mix between their debut and some of the characteristics of  At
the Gates' ripping _Slaughter of the Soul_. As  in  _Silence  of  the
World Beyond_, ACQ are remarkably good at keeping the minimum quality
level quite high throughout the album, ensuring that every track  has
something good to offer. Just like before, they  do  achieve  several
memorable moments of Swedish melodic death  metal.  Not  much  of  an
original album, but one that, like ACQ's debut, shouldn't  be  missed
by anyone who likes good Swedish metal.


Abigail - _Sonnets_  (Bestial, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (8 out of 10)

Not to be confused with the Japanese band  of  the  same  name,  this
Abigail plays gothic, gloomy doom/death, and they do it  well.  Their
sound reminds me of early Septic Flesh and Katatonia  ("Love  of  the
Swan" from the WAR compilation). It has some gothic  influences,  but
not as much as on _The Ophidian Wheel_. The playing is generally very
good, but the guitar solos seem to be a weak point. The music shows a
good range of tempos and textures; there's enough variation  to  keep
the music interesting, even though it's slow. The vocals  are  mostly
death grunts, but they use some clean vocals also. Keyboards are used
frequently, but they aren't  overused  --  they're  mainly  used  for
accompaniment. The  production  is  a  little  disappointing,  as  it
appears to have been mastered too  loud  --  there  is  a  noticeable
distortion in the music. It isn't  really  noticeable  in  the  heavy
parts, but takes away from the clean parts a lot.  Overall,  this  is
quite an impressive album, and I hope to hear more from these guys.


Admortem - _Ad Extremum Supplicium_  (Noise Solution, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (8 out of 10)

This is the first release from Noise Solution Records, which is a new
division of Velvet Music international (Mundanus Imperium, Wallachia,
Children of Maani, et al.).  Admortem  are  a  French  band  who  mix
straightforward death metal with a quirky death metal somewhat in the
vein of Lethargy [US; CoC  #4  and  #14],  Dissonance  (Slovakia)  or
Atheist. Their music isn't as technical, but it's impressive,  and  a
good blend of the two styles. They also remind me of Death  (_Human_,
_Individual Thought Patterns_) in some of their guitar solos and  the
fretless bass work. The playing is solid and competent,  and  handles
the material well, though there are a few places  which  could  be  a
little tighter. The production is adequate: it's not brutally  heavy,
but it is clean and solid. It certainly  fits  the  music,  which  at
times is too quirky and noodly to be heavy. The songs  are  typically
short (8 songs, filling out 25 minutes), and don't have a predictable
structure. They also show a good mix of tempos,  and  feature  a  few
melodic parts as well. The guitar solos are good: they fit the  music
and they're not overused. The guitarists do a good  job  of  changing
their soloing styles for each song. The  band  should  have  finished
recording a new album by the time you read this, so we should have  a
new offering from them soon. They have the potential to be excellent.

Contact: mailto:velvet@wanadoo.fr


Aeternus - _... And So the Night Became_  (Hammerheart Records, 1998)
by: Aaron McKay  (9 out of 10)

One could get lost in this release! -So- much  happening.  -So-  much
going on. Every note and masterful passage is something that  has  to
be absorbed. To immerse oneself in _... And So the Night  Became_  is
to fully enjoy the musical fabric woven around you.  I  have  yet  to
recover from the initial baptism upon spinning Norway's Aeternus  for
the first time. I can only  hope  that  I  can  maintain  my  passion
through numerous times experiencing the  disc,  which,  no  doubt,  I
*can*. Notice that I said "experiencing", because I believe that  you
cannot simply hear _...AStNB_. It infects you at a basic level. Truly
befitting, severe  vocals  accompany  the  dark,  brutal,  yet  often
enchanting, melody. Creations manifest themselves in the songs, vocal
and otherwise, that take on a vehemence all their own. Eight original
pieces welcome you for a stunning sixty-three  minutes,  thirteen  of
which are devoured by the opening opus, "There Is No  Wine  Like  the
Bloods Crimson". Throw on Aeternus, prepare, smoke  'em  if  you  got
'em, and relish in the crushed blackness of _...  And  So  the  Night
Became_.


Alastis - _Revenge_  (Century Media, July 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (4 out of 10)

Well, the chances of my review of this  record  being  positive  were
pretty low even before I received  it.  Why?  Because  one  of  these
tracks was aired on London's XFM Rock Show and  I  spent  the  entire
song racking my brains to remember which Samael song it was.  Imagine
how I felt when I found out it wasn't my memory that was failing  me.
Unsurprisingly, the full length album also diverges little  from  the
musical path which  Alastis'  more  popular  fellow  countrymen  have
paved. Chugging riffs give way to brief keyboard interludes  and  are
occasionally interspersed with bass  and  drums  passages.  I  really
didn't hear much on _Revenge_  that  hasn't  been  done  on  Samael's
_Ceremony of Opposites_ let alone in  their  entire,  and  extensive,
back catalogue. If you are  truly  obsessed  with  the  _CoO_  Samael
sound, then this album may interest you. For myself, I  don't  really
find much originality here and I  don't  need  more  than  one  _CoO_
either.


Altar - _Provoke_  (Displeased, August 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (6 out of 10)

Like a bat out of hell, the death n' growl onslaught  of  Altar  hits
fast and hard. In other words, it "provokes" from the get  go.  Sharp
riffs whip this sucker into shape, slapping together  some  ferocious
amounts of metal anguish  and  frustration  during  numerous  tracks,
rarely slowing this sucker down. Like a softened  Napalm  Death,  the
music of Altar fluctuates sincerely on _Provoke_, allowing  the  band
to capture an angle and approach with each and every song. There  are
also some great melodies  here  keeping  things  intact.  Those  good
points aside, it  becomes  apparent  that  there  really  isn't  much
groundbreaking here after we filter through the good qualities.  Some
of the songwriting deserves a round of applause, and those detonating
drum blasts deserve praise, but Altar can only  keep  it  interesting
for sometime before it becomes pretty  much  standard.  Choice  cuts:
"W.E.B." and "Wasted World."


Am I Blood - _Agitation_  (Nuclear Blast, August 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (6 out of 10)

This album attempts to combine  the  more  aggressive  thrashings  of
Metallica (and at points their penchant for acoustic interludes)  and
mid-paced riffing in a style similar to Sentenced's with the kinds of
catchy, and often melodic, choruses which have brought  both  of  the
aforementioned a great deal of success. As with many of the  bands  I
have reviewed in these "pages" (and many I have not),  however,  they
do not, in doing so, create music which is in  any  way  outstanding.
The most diverse and impressive display of what talents  Am  I  Blood
have  is  unfortunately  showcased  in  the   album's   first   track
"Negative". This is unfortunate because it  inevitably  leads  to  an
album the next 40 minutes  of  which  are  disappointing.  "Negative"
itself is not a "classic", but it is good and  indicates  that  Am  I
Blood have the potential to  produce  substantially  more  consistent
works than _Agitation_. Me, I am not into their style as a whole.  It
doesn't    have    Metallica's    (_Master    of    Puppets_     era)
vicious-yet-crafted thrash songwriting or Sentenced's  perfect  blend
of melodic catchiness and rock 'n' roll. It doesn't have what I want,
it's as simple as that.


... And Oceans - _The Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)  (Season of Mist, 1998)

Although the band name and album title don't  give  many  clues,  one
might guess that whatever the style found in  _TDGoT_,  it  would  be
very likely to have a strong atmospheric component. As  a  matter  of
fact, however, the album isn't very atmospheric; this is  mid-to-fast
paced black metal with  plenty  of  keyboards,  sometimes  resembling
Dimmu Borgir's _Enthrone Darkness Triumphant_, but  without  much  of
the doom that is one of _EDT_'s main qualities. The keyboard melodies
tend to be simple and easy to follow, and, if not much else, at least
usually  effective.  The  production  is  clean  and  well   balanced
(somewhat similar to Legenda's _Autumnal_ in some ways,  both  having
been recorded in the Tico-Tico studio,  in  Finland),  and  the  band
performs competently throughout the album. The major problem here  is
a certain lack of outstanding moments (since their sound, by  itself,
isn't innovative); most of the album is very enjoyable and well done,
but not exactly mindblowing. The result is therefore an album that is
unlikely to be a clear disappointment for  someone  who  enjoys,  for
example, Dimmu Borgir, but equally unlikely to become  that  person's
favorite album.


Angel Corpse - _Exterminate_  (Osmose, April 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

Well, it just goes to show that trusting first impressions can easily
be a mistake. When I first played _Exterminate_'s 40 minutes  through
my stereo, I thought the reports of this  album's  quality  had  been
grossly exaggerated. What I thought of _Exterminate_ after  my  first
listen was that it was rather average. However, I persisted. On about
my sixth spin, I  was  rewarded  for  my  persistence.  It  was  like
suddenly my speakers had been fixed or my ears unblocked: I  suddenly
realized that _Exterminate_ rules! Though _Exterminate_ is not one of
the year's most innovative death metal albums, it has  power,  energy
and riffing to rival even the most formidable of contenders.  Imagine
"Altars of Madness 2", but without the imitating genericism that this
tag suggests. This has the pure energy and vicious death  metal  kick
which makes albums like _AoM_, _Left Hand Path_ and  _Necroticism  --
Descanting the Insalubrious_ so amazing. This is one searing piece of
death metal brutality. Pete Helmkamp's vocals  and  bass  leave  deep
scars, the twin guitar attack  of  Gene  Palubicki  and  Bill  Taylor
further burn the body beyond recognition and John Longstreth's  drums
clinch the deal by  eradicating  any  flesh  still  left.  These  war
analogies do not only come  from  my  twisted  mind  and  the  wholly
violent quality of the music: Helmkamp's lyrics also focus on war and
violence and fit the battle-hungry music to a "t". Listening  to  the
chorus of "Into  the  Storm  of  Steel"  ("Exterminate  --  feed  the
battlefield hunger, With Honor that is loyalty unto death"), you  can
hear and experience the power which the two combined can  produce.  I
really can't see any fan of brilliant, powerful death metal resisting
the temptation to indulge in serious neck snapping  activities  as  a
result  of  listening  to  _Exterminate_.  Though  _Exterminate_  has
highlights ("Into the Storm of Steel", "That Which Lies Upon",  "Sons
of Vengeance"),  you  don't  sit  there  waiting  for  a  good  song.
_Exterminate_ is a 40 minute hymn to war,  death  and  brutally  fast
death metal. Prepare yourself for the slaughter.


Aube - _Pages From the Book_  (E+J Recordings, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (7 out of 10)

When there is a month in the year without an Aube release, I  predict
it is a sure-fire sign the world is coming to an  end.  Despite  this
recording being several months old,  unlike  much  of  Aube's  recent
output, it holds a special place in my heart  as  one  of  the  truly
masterful and unique  pieces  Akifumi  Nakajima  has  produced  since
Alien8's 1997 release Cardiac Strain. Instead of choosing  the  usual
use of metallic objects for his source sound,  Akifumi  Nakajima  has
truly gone out on a limb to entice new listeners  and  possibly  make
others very angry. And what, you may ask, could do  just  that?  Why,
none other than that glorious motel mantle piece placed there by some
guy named Gideon, known quite well as The Bible. For whatever reason,
Aube has decided to throw aside all convention and add  an  aesthetic
touch to his noise by using this once revered, now made chic to scoff
book which is the foundation for the world encompassing  theology  of
Christianity. Akifumi could have just as easily used a phone book  to
produce the sounds heard on this recording; however,  the  "Biblical"
touch serves to raise a lot more eye brows than a directory  of  last
names and how to contact them.  Despite  claims  made  by  the  label
stating otherwise, each of the four lengthy tracks are tied  together
by a distinct ripping sound which, if you are to  believe  the  liner
notes, were produced by The Bible. The label maintains (and this  may
very well be true) that they were made by rubbing the pages together,
however this proves worlds  less  interesting  than  a  new-fashioned
Bible ripping in order to produce a noise composition.  Whatever  the
actual sound may be, it  does  remain  a  constant  in  every  track,
surrounded only by subtle rumbles and surrealistic  whirls  of  sound
used to augment the "ripping". At certain points, the "ripping" sound
becomes the main focus, with multiple "rips" churning in and  out  of
the speaker channels, while at others they seem to blend in  and  out
of the rest of the disorderly sounds found on the disc. In  the  end,
one may be inclined to wonder if this disc is worth it more for  what
the source sound is than the actual noise produced. And, in the  end,
I am forced to admit that, while the tracks easily stand up with  the
best of Aube's work, at least half of the  interest  comes  from  the
source sound used. Perhaps this  is  not  the  most  logical  way  to
purchase a noise album or bill it; however, it is likely to sell many
more a copy than something as drab as a phone book or a tin can for a
source sound. If anything, this release can be  used  to  argue  that
(love it or hate it), The Bible (or just the name) still  holds  some
power and, if anything, Akifumi and E+J Recordings should be credited
with having enough sense to utilize it.

Contact: E+J Recordings, PO Box 230316, Grand Rapids, MI, 49523, USA


Behemoth - _Pandemonic Incantations_  (Connected, 1997)
by: Aaron McKay  (7.5 out of 10)

Maybe it is the fact  that  I  just  listened  (many  times)  to  the
overwhelming Gardenian release _Two Feet Stand_, but I  have  to  say
that, to me, this newest  Behemoth  effort  ingrains  thoughts  of  a
rawer, very blackened  _TFS_.  From  the  well-orchestrated  opening,
"Diableria", to the backmasked hidden track located appropriately  at
track 66, _PI_ is potent through and through. Highlights of the  disc
come midway through the release, namely "In Thy  Pandemaeternum"  and
"The Past Is Like a Funeral." Even  though  _PI_  is  never  dull  or
contrived as some mediocre black metal potentially can be, the  afore
mentioned song  in  particular  exist,  seemingly,  to  enthrall  the
listener. Three souls comprise the  membership  of  Behemoth:  Nergal
(guitar  and  vocals),  Mefisto  (bass)  and   Inferno   (drums   and
percussion). With  such  a  slim  rank  and  file  compared  to  say,
Gorgoroth, Behemoth suffers little in the fullness  of  their  sound.
The quality of the packaging and sound is beyond  reproach.  I  would
not hesitate to  say  this  forty-six  minute  effort  by  the  great
Behemoth is a purchase one could certainly be convinced into making.


Benediction - _Grind Bastard_  (Nuclear Blast, July 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (6 out of 10)

I'll be honest: I haven't been a big fan of the band since  1993  and
the ultra-heavy and  cool  sounds  that  were  emanating  from  their
_Transcend the Rubicon_ LP. Five years and numerous  releases  later,
Benediction still seem to be caught in a rut. The music, pretty  much
standard (not too exciting) death metal, has never really  reached  a
peak of interest for many fans, and for that the  band  has  suffered
numerous bad reviews and lack of interest in them. The newest LP from
the Birmingham, England  quintet,  _Grind  Bastard_,  sees  the  band
turning things up a notch. Note: only  a  notch.  More  detailed  and
hard-hitting than 1995's _The Dreams You Dread_, _Grind  Bastard_  is
quite a refreshing take on the sound  and  evolution  of  Benediction
since their early days when  Napalm  Death's  Barney  Greenway  still
fronted the band. The music seems a bit livelier  here  on  _GB_  and
singer Dave  Ingram  has  allowed  his  voice  to  wander  away  from
repetition and sample out various singing  styles.  On  numbers  like
opener "Deadfall", "Agonised" and the title track,  Benediction  seem
to be on a groove; it's just the somewhat mediocre other efforts here
that bring down the high. Mixed about this LP, and I am still shaking
my head to the poor covers: Judas Priest's "Electric Eye" and Twisted
Sister's  "Destroyer".  Actually,  I  shouldn't  laugh.  Death  cover
Priest's  "Painkiller"  on  their  forthcoming  LP  _The   Sound   of
Perseverance_ and I thought it was bad. Now I think  it  kicks.  Even
though this ain't a masterpiece, _GB_ is the best  Benediction  album
in years.


Beseech - _... From a Bleeding Heart_  (Metal Blade, August 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

Woah! I wasn't expecting this. I was thoroughly pleased with  what  I
heard with Beseech on the first listen. Passionate  sculptured  works
of art that dabble in a  very  gothic/dark  overtone  are  everywhere
here.  This  is  so  wicked.  In  order  to  sum  up  the   excellent
arrangements found on the LP, think Type O Negative meshed  with  The
Gathering and My Dying Bride. Hard to imagine, but Beseech do a  good
time combining qualities of those three aforementioned bands  into  a
solid work of art. This is very caressful darkened music  that  calls
out for lit candles and the blackness of the night. Sounds so  cheesy
and cliche -- maybe it is?! --, but Beseech have certainly pushed all
the right buttons and created  cool  metal  music  with  stamina  and
uniqueness. Make room for Beseech.


Various - _Bestial Sampler: 1997-1998_  (Bestial, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (7 out of 10)

This sampler contains a song from each of Bestial's  eleven  releases
so far. It contains  a  song  each  from  Dies  Irae,  Grimegod,  and
Abigail, all of whom are also reviewed this  issue.  The  compilation
showcases a variety of styles, which are  different  enough  to  make
this an enjoyable listen. Each of the bands is  competent  musically,
but the production is a little weak for a lot of them. Negora  Bunget
start the tape off, with a  sound  reminiscent  of  Satyricon's  _The
Shadowthrone_, but more rhythmically advanced  and  less  repetitive.
Keyboards are used sparingly, but effectively, and the music is quite
good. Makrothomia is a death metal band  (dubbed  "progressive  death
metal") with black metal production.  I  don't  find  much  about  it
that's "progressive", but it is a novel mixture of  black  and  death
metal. Deimos play industrial death metal. They're good, but it's not
really anything you haven't heard before. All the elements that  they
use (keys,  samples,  guitars,  etc.)  are  standard.  Interitus  Dei
finishes off the first side, and they're very impressive.  They  play
atmospheric doom/black metal. The music varies  between  guitar-based
and keyboard-based, keeping a nice contrast between the  two  styles.
God starts off the  second  side,  and  they're  melodic/gothic/doomy
black metal. They're good, but the various components of their  style
aren't terribly original. Archaos are up next,  and  they  play  very
mellow gothic/ambient  music,  in  the  vein  of  Mortiis,  but  more
complex. Gothic are up next, and  they  play  melodic,  guitar-driven
doom. They're competent, but not really exceptional. The  vocals  are
growled and clean, and the production is very good. Agathodaimon (now
on Nuclear Blast) also appear, and although not an  official  Bestial
band, they contribute one (long) song.  They're  melodic  black/death
metal, but not  really  any  better  than  the  other  bands  on  the
compilation. All in all, this is a worthy  compilation,  with  enough
diversity to remain interesting, and a good variety of classy  bands,
the best being Abigail and Interitus Dei. I was  quite  impressed  by
this label's output.

Contact: Bestial Records, Str. Caras 12, 1900 Timisoara, Romania
         mailto:bestialr@banat.ro


Calamus - _The Road Trax_  (<Independent>, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (5 out of 10)

Although the Kyuss-influenced wave that has been growing lately  does
not particularly interest me, this German band does show  some  skill
on this MCD -- enough to  keep  me  listening,  as  both  songs  flow
reasonably well. As far as originality goes, things could  be  worse;
although the instrumental side brings nothing really  new  and  isn't
anything special, the vocals are somewhat different from the usual in
this genre. The major problem with this MCD is that it only  has  two
tracks, totaling less than nine minutes,  as  the  band  didn't  have
studio time to record any more. As a result, this seems to be more of
a demo pressed on CD and played by an  already  somewhat  experienced
band than an actual commercial release. The  production  is  average,
and Calamus perform well enough; could be a  band  to  watch  in  the
future, for those interested in this genre.

Contact: mailto:ut2f@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de
         WWW: www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~ut2f/c/calamus.htm


Various - _Call on the Dark II_  (Nuclear Blast, July 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

The second installment of this dark and gothic-based  compilation  is
quite good. Actually, it's as good, if not better than the first one,
and the reason that _Call on the Dark II_ shines brighter (or is that
darker?) than  its  predecessor  is  due  to  its  ample  variety  of
material. Strong  unreleased  material  from  Therion  ("Black  Sun")
London After Midnight ("The Bondage Song") and album closer "Die With
You" by Christian Death help adorn this LP with  flavor  and  with  a
definite dark edge. The material here,  mostly  soft  creepy  numbers
(aided by keyboards, ambiance, etc.), show off  the  talent  of  many
acts, some unknown to myself. While those latter mentioned songs were
my faves, other suppliers of material here include Lacrimosa, Type  O
Negative, The Gathering and Autumn. Fans of gothic metal  take  note,
as you have one more LP to light a candle to and call  on  the  dark.
Hit the lights and enjoy.


Callendish Circle - _Escape_  (Polar Bear, March 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (7 out of 10)

This is quite a decent EP from a band I have never heard of --  I  am
assuming this is one of their first releases. With that  in  mind,  I
must say I was quite impressed. _Escape_ reminds me of Mexico's Agony
Lords and of the best parts of _The Karellian Isthmus_ era  Amorphis.
They combine atmosphere and keyboards with some death metal and  folk
tinged riffs and round it off with decent  growled  vocals.  However,
the synth ridden second track really  adds  nothing  to  the  record.
Though not astounding in their originality, Callendish Circle display
a fair amount of skill and plenty of potential for development  which
they can exploit.


Cannibal Corpse - _Gallery of Suicide_  (Metal Blade, May 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (6 out of 10)

It is possible that if this were the debut of a fledgling death metal
band I had no background on I would have given it more than a  6  out
of 10. So am I being unfair to Cannibal Corpse?  I  don't  think  so.
This is the band's sixth album and the change of vocalist,  and  more
recently guitarist, have, according to the  band,  only  strengthened
their musical vision. For a band with a reputation and  history  such
as Cannibal Corpse's I expect better than _Gallery  of  Suicide_;  it
really is  that  simple.  With  production  handled  by  Jim  Morris,
Cannibal Corpse obtain a pretty good sound, although I don't notice a
marked  difference  from  the  Scott  Burns  produced   _Vile_,   but
personally I feel the drum sound could have been more  powerful.  The
album  is  not  seamlessly  uninteresting  in  that  there   are   14
well-defined songs, including an  instrumental,  but  the  riffs  are
simply not exciting or new and don't really  pack  a  great  deal  of
punch. The album is perfectly listenable, but  once  this  review  is
done I can't see it ever passing through my CD  machine  for  my  own
pleasure. The lyrics are what we have come to  expect  from  Cannibal
Corpse: songs about killing, songs about dismemberment.  The  lyrical
content is nothing new and the style is not compelling either.  There
are two places where this album is almost surprisingly good, however.
About two minutes into "Blood Drenched Execution" an out of tune, off
time piano part accompanies the guitars  and  creates  a  feeling  of
chaos which surpasses anything else on this album. The  instrumental,
"From Skin to Liquid", has a dark atmosphere,  created  through  well
thought-out guitar work, which gives it  a  quality  exceeding  other
compositions  on  _GoS_.  Overall,  though,  I  don't  find  anything
outstanding on _GoS_. Cannibal Corpse would be hard pressed to find a
worse year to release an album this lacking  in  true  brilliance  or
innovation. This year so far, and remember we have five months  left,
has  yielded  so  many  great  death  metal  albums  it   is   almost
overwhelming.  Cannibal  Corpse  do  not  look   good   against   the
competition from either the  old  and  established  or  the  new  and
inexperienced. Well, now the review is finished...


Charon - _Sorrowburn_  (Diehard, August 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (6 out of 10)

With a clear and powerful production backing up _Sorrowburn_,  Charon
are saved from the nightmare every band has when they  unleash  their
debut: being misrepresented on disc by bad production. Once the  band
are in the full swing  of  "Wortex"  they  instantly  bring  to  mind
_Draconian Times_ era Paradise Lost and as the album  progresses  the
band also gives a nod towards goth giants Type O  Negative.  Although
these comparisons seem pretty favorable, they are also rather typical
and worryingly so for Charon. Charon are a talented band and some  of
their songs, especially the aforementioned "Wortex", did make a  good
impression on me. They are also a band  who,  by  riding  on  current
trends, whether intentionally or coincidentally, have  the  potential
for imminent commercial success in mainland  Europe.  This  would  be
good for getting the band exposure, but might limit  their  longevity
after this particular trend loses  popularity,  probably  giving  way
under the weight of the current surge of  interest  in  power  metal.
Cast all the politics and prospecting aside and look at  _Sorrowburn_
in the cold light of day and you have a  decent  debut  drawing  from
classic metal enough to let you know the band were into  it,  casting
veiled shadows from their death metal past and ultimately producing a
perfectly listenable, but in no way boundary-breaking or  astounding,
album. If you didn't want Paradise Lost to take that last step to pop
stardom on _One Second_, Charon have the kind  of  metal  tunes  they
should have penned waiting for you on _Sorrowburn_, sitting alongside
some more original tunes of their own which aren't quite as good.


Christ Agony - _Trilogy_  (Pagan, May 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (7 out of 10)

Christ Agony are a band whose underground respect I have  never  been
able to understand. Though I have  never  heard  their  _Unholyunion_
debut, my experience of their _Daemoonseth (Act II)_  and  _Moonlight
(Act III)_ has never provided  me  with  sufficient  proof  of  their
worth, and I found _Darkside_ an awful and uninventive  venture  into
the realms of industrial-tinged metal. What always seemed to let  the
band down was their inability  to  know  when  to  stop.  Songs  with
sufficient riffs to sustain a 3 minute song ran for  10  minutes.  At
last, it seems, Christ Agony have taken  mercy  on  their  listeners.
_Trilogy_'s seven tracks fill less than half  of  this  CD's  length,
with the bonus of their second four track demo providing  27  of  the
CD's 52 minute total running time. In the  25  minutes  Christ  Agony
produce the most concise and listenable work of their career:  tracks
like  "Hellspawn"  and  "Eternal  Darkness",  displaying  the  guitar
riffing and drum style they have practiced for  so  long  along  with
Cezar's distinct vocals. All are mid-paced, the drums utilizing a few
different parts of the kit and the guitars a few chords and  lots  of
palm-muting along with some skillful acoustic accompaniment. Add some
keyboards, as is their trade, and, on "Dying Star", some dance  beats
which actually sound cool. Overall, Christ Agony have not written  an
album which changes their trademark sound, but what  they  have  done
with it is made it less indulgent and, as  a  whole,  made  an  album
which is possible to see through without having a lot of patience and
a lot interest in their music. The band's apparent usage  of  a  drum
machine does seem to make the music a little too regimented  and  I'd
suggest they recruit a real drummer for the future. What  some  might
say is that Christ Agony's greatest  problem  is  that  their  record
company have some calculation problems, as they seem  to  think  that
this 52 minute CD provides "over an hour" of Christ Agony's music.  I
just hope they don't persist in these mathematical difficulties  when
it comes to paying their artists. This is definitely the best -album-
Christ Agony have produced thus far in my experience.


Cranium - _Speed Metal Slaughter_  (Necropolis Records, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (5 out of 10)

The  album  title  _Speed  Metal  Slaughter_  does  capture  most  of
Cranium's intentions,  as  this  is  indeed  all  about  speed  metal
revivalism -- but with a major lack of seriousness, mainly thanks  to
their attempts at humor. Vocalist Frederik Soderberg tries  to  bring
back the 80s' high-pitched speed metal vocals style, and  the  result
is -very- annoying. Hard to believe that this is  the  same  Frederik
Soderberg who plays guitar for the excellent Dawn, another Necropolis
band. The adequate instrumental performance turns out to be the  best
side of the album, although originality and noticeably  good  moments
are equally scarce throughout its 32 minutes; but with  these  vocals
on top, the rest of the band would really have to excel in  order  to
make this a good album, whereas they just do their job. The fact that
the vocals are most likely close to what the band intended  does  not
necessarily make them better in my view. Apart from  that,  and  even
though there is nothing anywhere near groundbreaking in _Speed  Metal
Slaughter_, it will still probably  be  attractive  for  those  speed
metal fans who happen to find the vocals enjoyable.


Crimson Moon - _To Embrace the Vampyric Blood_  (Abyss Productions)
by: Aaron McKay  (5 out of 10)

I suppose there are two schools of thought on music to the  listener:
one dictates that you innovate your chosen genre  (Sabbath  comes  to
mind), the other dictates that you enter an established genre and  be
a helmsman in your own right (Hypocrisy). Crimson Moon is  definitely
following the path of the latter -- and  struggling.  I  -wanted-  to
like this disc a lot more than I did. Damn,  near  a  dozen  times  I
kicked back with a cup o' joe and threw in _TEtVB_. Over and again  I
came back to the same notion that  this  release  is  reminiscent  of
early Ancient. In no way is this a bad thing or disparaging to either
group -- as a matter of fact, Aphazel lends his talent on tack seven,
"The Eye of the Draconis", but Crimson Moon has a feel, intentionally
or otherwise, tainted with  _Trolltaar_-ian  overtones.  Once  again,
imitation is the highest form  of  flattery,  and  Ancient  has  been
flattered too many times to count. Two individuals  comprise  Crimson
Moon: Vampir  Scorpios  filling  the  bass  and  vocals  duties,  and
Nocturnal  Overlord  picking  up  the  guitar,   synths,   and   drum
programming. Vampir's voice is a unique blend of a warmer  Themgoroth
from Black Funeral and a somewhat restrained Hedlund  on  The  Abyss'
_Summon the Beast_. Excellent company to be in, I might add.  On  the
whole, with open disregard  for  Crimson  Moon's  music  mimicry  and
verbose satanic diatribe that begins _TEtVB_, the effort is not  bad.
Like I stated, I -want- to like this more than I do, so,  suffice  it
to say, I will expect my next Crimson Moon purchase  --  and  I  will
purchase it -- to exceed even their own expectations.


Crowbar - _Odd Fellows Rest_  (Mayhem/Fierce, July 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

So, a new album from what, to my mind, is New Orleans' finest musical
export. Crowbar have not yet attained the success that I always  felt
records with the strength of _Crowbar_ and _Broken Glass_ would,  and
should, have brought them. _Odd Fellows Rest_ could  now  justifiably
take them to that next level. I don't mean to imply that Crowbar have
"sold out" or even unwittingly made their  sound  substantially  more
accessible; it is just that _Odd Fellows Rest_ is 1) very  good,  and
2) more atmospheric, diverse and melodic than their previous efforts.
Both things open the band to a wider audience. Though tracks such  as
"... And Suffer as One" or "It's  All  in  the  Gravity"  retain  the
heavily Sabbath-influenced, downtuned form of heaviness that  Crowbar
have perfected and become noted for. Tracks such as these are now far
from all that Crowbar are about. Crowbar have moved into new and more
diverse territory with songs such as "Planets  Collide",  "December's
Spawn" and specific sections of songs such as "Scattered Pieces Lay",
that mixes their previous style with more melodic vocals  and  almost
catchy riffs, which in turn augment the music's greatness and produce
a truly remarkable album. Kirk Windstein's insightful lyrics  are  as
beautifully depressive and brilliant as ever, with such  sublime  and
subtle metaphorical passages as "You've been baptized in  a  lake  of
tears, crucified yourself with your own fears"  occurring  frequently
throughout the album's 54 minute running time. It is  interesting  to
note also that this is Crowbar's fifth full length, for, if we are to
continue the minor Sabbath comparison,  it  was  on  Sabbath's  fifth
release, _Sabbath Bloody Sabbath_, that they truly outdid themselves,
at least in my opinion; and if we look  even  deeper,  much  of  that
album's brilliance revolved around the increased  use  of  melody  it
contained. Jumping  25  years  ahead  to  the  present,  what  is  so
gratifying is that, although to the narrow minded  Crowbar  may  have
"wimped out", they have in fact done quite the opposite. Part of _Odd
Fellows Rest_'s charm is that  its  melody  and  creepy,  atmospheric
riffs and bass lines create  a  sound  which  is  heavy  in  a  quite
different, and in some ways more extreme, manner.


Cynical Smile - _Stupas_  (Org, March 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out of 10)

It is always pleasing when the talents you notice in a band when they
are starting out are realized on their debut  full  length.  This  is
certainly the case with Cynical Smile's debut record _Stupas_. Though
less raw and marginally slower than their 1996 two track promo  tape,
_Stupas_ accurately reproduces much of  the  energy  and  songwriting
ability which attracted me to this band when I first saw them perform
live back in July 1996. A  rich  guitar  sound  and  a  tight  rhythm
section provide the  backbone  of  Cynical  Smile's  powerful  sound.
Though not a million miles away from the standard crossover fare, the
riffs and vocal passages are infectious and excellent  at  getting  a
groove going. What it really comes down to is that the music  Cynical
Smile produce is custom built for a live arena and that is where this
material really comes to life. Songs like "Gunga Ding" and "Live  4",
though bonafide crowd movers, are only good,  as  opposed  to  great,
from CD and cannot match their live intensity. This is the case  with
most hardcore, in my view, and is certainly not a problem  unique  to
Cynical Smile. I recommend this as a companion to  the  more  intense
live experience of these very  decent  mid-paced  rap-metal/crossover
tunes.


Dawnbringer - _Unbleed_  (Twilight Records, 1997)
by: Ryan Kriste  (8 out of 10)

The reviewer's nightmare: music that defies  description.  Originally
intended as being a return to the classic  metal  sound,  this  album
features just about every metal sub-genre I can think of. The overall
sound is one of black metal styled vocals over classic  metal  music.
Prolific use of acoustic guitars, even for some of the  solos,  which
give a very  bluesy  feel  (acoustic  minor-pentatonics  with  string
bending tend to do that). Then suddenly  the  music  changes  totally
with track eight into a total tribute to Omen. "Untold" is  a  medley
of songs that appear on Omen's _Battle Cry_ LP. "To  Circadia"  seems
highly gothic with its keyboards and almost spoken vocals,  but  once
again the music is pure metal, with its NWOBHM style chorus.  One  of
the most highly original albums I have ever  reviewed,  not  an  easy
listening album, but one that you'll find yourself  returning  to  on
many occasions. Check out the cover painting by Chris Cooper!!!!

Contact: Dawnbringer, c/o Twilight Records, P.O.Box 416
         Devault, PA 19432, USA


Death - _The Sound of Perseverance_  (Nuclear Blast, September 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

I can't say this is Death's best album, because I haven't yet  picked
up their first  three  releases.  However,  I  don't  care  what  the
worshippers of _Human_ say, this is my favorite Death  album  of  the
last four. Roughly speaking, it combines some  of  the  slower,  more
calculated riffing of _Symbolic_ with, in places, the technical speed
of _Individual Thought Patterns_ and also contains a liberal dose  of
_Human_ quality writing for good  measure.  However,  it  is  a  very
individual creation  and  excels  in  all  the  right  places.  Great
thrashings, technical solos, memorable choruses and clear vocals  are
the order of the day. Though  very  well  done,  I  don't  think  the
closing "Painkiller" cover is a great way to end the album, but it is
a small weakness. Chuck has also chosen to play around,  once  again,
with  some  almost  syncopated,  technical  and,  in  places,   jazzy
sections. The beginning of first track "Scavenger of Human Sorrow" is
an example of such a section and one could easily cite other parts of
this song or others. Death don't, as they did to an extent on  _ITP_,
make their music too technical, as the slow, simple chorus of "Spirit
Crusher" beautifully emphasizes, but at the same  time  they  do  not
abandon fast technical playing, as you could  argue  _Symbolic_  did.
_The Sound of Perseverance_ is nearly an hour long  with  only  eight
songs and a cover, but, oddly enough, the length does  not  make  the
album  dragging,  though  it   does   make   the   songs   far   more
multi-dimensional than, for example, the new Cannibal  Corpse.  Death
never were, and never tried to be, the most brutal of the death metal
crowd, but _TSOP_ reinforces and newly legitimizes  their  reputation
as one of the finest.


Desekrator - _Metal for Demons_  (Hammerheart, August 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)

Here are the Top Five Reasons Why You Should Have This Record:

1. Good retro/thrash/metal.
2. Pure chaos reigns from start to finish.
3. Satan, sex and loud music are high on the band's agenda.
4. No rules. No trends.
5. Any band that plays V-neck guitars in the 90s rules.

Note: The band  is  comprised  of  ex-members  from  Gorgoroth,  Dark
Funeral and Enslaved. Also, the liner notes read: "Your soul  belongs
to Satan if you've been desektrated  by  Desekrator."  What  are  you
waiting for, pumpkin head? Go get  some  clean  underwear,  get  your
bullet belt and give Beelzebub a call. This rules beyond belief.


Dies Irae - _Gargoyles_  (Bestial, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (7 out of 10)

This is standard black metal. It's predictable, somewhat  repetitive,
and it shows the "usual" diversity: folky parts,  clean  parts,  etc.
The riffs have a distinct thrash element to them at times. Other than
that, there isn't a lot that's really different from the rest of  the
hordes out there, but it does have its moments. Some of the songs are
rather average, and some are quite good. The playing is competent all
around, but not outstanding. The  production  is  unfortunately  very
weak: the guitars are very fuzzy, and the drums (especially the  bass
drum) suffer from the  "cardboard  box"  syndrome.  This  is  a  good
effort, but it falls a little short in the originality and creativity
departments.


Explorer - _ColdBlackUgly_  (CyberSlam Records, August 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (2 out of 10)

Those of you that enjoy a little bit of a Motley Crue sound with your
metal  music  pick  this  up.  If  not,  avoid   like   the   plague,
motherfuckers. Sorry to be so blunt, but this stinks. <YAWN>.

Contact: Explorer, P.O. Box 495 Scotch Plains, NJ, 07076, USA
         Voice: (908) 233-0975


Various - _Fiesta Comes Alive!_  (Slap-A-Ham, April 1998)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (8 out of 10)

Lately I've taken a turn against compilations.  It  seems  as  though
when a band is chosen -- Mayhem, for example --, it's  always  either
the track "Freezing Moon" or "Pagan Fears". Every time. _Fiesta Comes
Alive!_ not only offers me music by a genre I'm  presently  exploring
and  getting  into,  but   it's   all   live!   There's   an   annual
powerviolence/grindcore show sponsored by  the  Slap-A-Ham  label  in
California, and this CD is the culmination of some of the finer bands
that have taken part during the last five years of the  event.  Bands
such as Excruciating Terror, Discordance Axis,  Phobia,  Enemy  Soil,
Man Is the Bastard, His Hero Is Gone, Spazz,  Benumb  and  Capitalist
Casualties rock out; live, raw and in your face! Damn fine shit. I'll
certainly be investigating some of these bands and seeking out  their
wares. One of the better compilations to come my way. Those into  the
early Napalm Death type of grind should seek this out immediately.

Contact: Slap-A-Ham, P.O. Box 420843,
         San Francisco, CA, 94142-0843, USA


Gnosis - _Tribal Metal_  (<Independent>, August 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (5 out of 10)

A bizarre sounding metal record at that, Gnosis play metal music with
a real feel of in-depth cultural sounds and sharp contrast  of  ideas
marked by powerful riffs and rough, but clear, vocals. This five-song
outing explores a melodic, yet aggressive, display of metal  wielding
that showcases sincere shades of progressive metal as well. The ideas
and musicianship are there for the most part, it's just the  mediocre
vocals supporting the music are the ideas here that lack  some  push.
And the production is rather weak, too. I dunno, it's good  here  for
the most part, but it seems  as  though  the  whole  idea  of  mixing
culture and metal (i.e., _Roots_ by Sepultura)  has  influenced  this
band to strive to do something unique. It works for the most part, as
the soft interludes are nice, but in the end there is no real longing
to hear this over and over. Adequate.

Contact: Pahkneetah Management
         Voice: (718) 628-9779


Gorgoroth - _Destroyer (Or About How to Philosophize With a Hammer)_
by: Aaron McKay  (9 out of 10)  (Nuclear Blast 1998)

To be honest, I feel moderately inferior to jugde something as  great
as this release by Gorgoroth. _Destroyer_ completely knocked me on my
ass! Powerful is sorely understating the effort. Crushing is  nowhere
near the mark. Searing is inadequate. All-encompassing is as close to
summarizing _Destroyer_ as I could hope to  come.  I  am  finding  it
somewhat difficult to communicate my passion for this release.  Seven
tracks comprise _Destroyer_,  beginning  with  "Destroyer",  totaling
thirty-seven minutes. I, quite frankly, thought that my CD player was
malfunctioning due to the terror that ensued with the  first  moments
of the title track. Pure concentrated ferocity! From there, the  disc
builds steadily in ardor until its highlights coming to a well placed
finality. "Blodoffer", track six, stears one's thoughts and  emotions
down a  jagged  path  of  mortified  hopelessness  and  unadulterated
passion, sounding much like  a  battle  raging  while  an  underwater
cannon attack demolishes the hull of a great battleship -- hence  the
destroyer motif is championed. On rare occasions  invoking  My  Dying
Bride images amidst the harsh  backdrop  that  Gorgoroth's  Norwegian
black metal paints. Wonderfully hypnotic and certainly  addictive  as
any drug ever could be. I can tell you  this,  _Destroyer_  will  see
much more than occasional spin in McKay's JVC disc player. As someone
once said, "It is easier to philosophize with  a  hammer."  Gorgoroth
proves that beyond any doubt. Here's to  the  mighty  Gorgoroth.  Buy
this!


Gorguts - _Obscura_  (Olympic/Mercury, July 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9.5 out of 10)

Apart from being one of the longest death metal albums ever recorded,
at just over 60 minutes, _Obscura_ is also one of the finest. Gorguts
have done something which has become increasingly more  difficult  as
the years have gone by: they  have  produced  a  strikingly  original
album. How did they achieve such a feat? Well, judging by the  music,
artwork and lyrics of _Obscura_, it has something to do with residing
in a world not entirely  earthly.  But  without  speculating  on  the
current or recent past mental states or experiences of the  musicians
involved in it, what can still fairly be said about _Obscura_ is that
it is abstract and discordant to a point where  I  almost  feel  like
narrowmindedly labeling the music which ensues as the  product  of  a
sincerely twisted mind. The discordance of  the  guitar  riffs  which
decorate _Obscura_'s tapestry  are  the  core  of  the  madness;  add
strange, almost off  time,  drumming,  astoundingly  individual  bass
lines and Luc Lemay's tortured vocals, and you have  a  sound  which,
when  represented  perfectly  by   Pierre   Remillard's   (Cryptopsy,
Obliveon) production, has the power to take its  listeners  to  other
worlds of astounding beauty, dark mystery and intense  complexity.  I
find it very difficult to describe  what  Gorguts  have  captured  or
compare it to anything else I have heard. I listen to and love a huge
volume of death metal, it is my favorite musical  style  at  present,
but I still find few albums which are even comparable  to  _Obscura_.
Whether there will be as many clones of Gorguts new found take on the
style as there was of others' innovations in the past will remain  to
be seen. What is certainly the case, however, is that Gorguts are due
credit for the original musical path they have chosen  to  follow.  I
commend them for it and, after one listen to _Obscura_, I  think  you
will too.


Grand Belial's Key - _Mocking the Philanthropist_
by: Ryan Kriste  (9 out of 10)  (Wood Nymph Records, 1998)

I suppose I should call this black  metal,  but  I  actually  have  a
better name for it: heavy metal. The black metal  vocals  are  there,
occasionally death growls come in, but if you look past  it  all  and
just listen to the music, all you will hear is metal;  brutal  metal,
but still  metal.  The  keyboards  featured  accentuate  and  do  not
overpower the guitars, a trick a lot more bands could learn from. The
CD's packaging is of very high quality, with a  twelve  page  booklet
including band pictures (no corpse paint), with tray print and really
well done cover art. Each track has something special  that  sets  it
apart from the others, be it the solo or  the  rhythm  of  the  song.
Speed varies considerably from song to  song,  going  from  slow  and
doomy to hyperfast mosh parts.  Check  out  "Savouring  the  Virgin's
Pessary" for one of the best riffs since "Angel of Death". If you are
into any extreme metal and/or black metal, you must have this.

Contact: Wood Nymph Records, Langebeekstraat 28, 3210 Linden, Belgium


Grimegod - _The Darkside (Pain in Another Dimension)_ (Bestial, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (7 out of 10)

This is a remix album of Grimegod's  best  material.  It's  generally
doomy, atmospheric black metal, but it has  some  elements  of  other
styles as well  (the  intro  to  "Dreamside  Scream",  which  in  the
original  version  was  the  middle  section,  is  notable  for   its
"progressive" and neo-classical  touches).  The  music  is  generally
good, but it isn't consistent: some parts are a little drawn out  and
boring. The keyboard parts are  varied  and  interesting,  showing  a
variety of tones and textures. The band doesn't have a  drummer,  but
the drum programming is very  good:  it's  interesting,  and  doesn't
sound like a drum machine most of the time. The production is good; a
little light on  the  guitar  tone,  but  average  for  black  metal.
Certainly the weakest link for this band is the singer,  whose  clean
parts are way too flat to be ignored. The  rest  of  the  playing  is
great, but the singing ruins parts of it.  Overall,  these  guys  are
good, and they appear to have potential, but they need some  work  to
flesh out their ideas and get consistently good output.


Hateplow - _Everybody Dies_  (Pavement, March 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out of 10)

This is a side project of sorts for Phil Fasciana and Rob  Barret  of
Malevolent Creation, among others. However, this  is  not  some  lame
music thrown together  without  skill  and  marketed  solely  on  the
standing of the people involved in it. Hateplow is  certainly  not  a
million miles  away  from  Malevolent  Creation,  however,  and  will
certainly appeal to fans of the band. What is different is,  to  some
extent, down to the lyrical content as well as the music.  The  music
is a similar mix of the crunch and precision of death and the punk of
grind to that the mighty  Terrorizer  purveyed.  The  sound  of  this
classic band is especially noticeable on such tracks as  "Challenged"
and "Prison Bitch", while "Stalker", among  others,  leans  far  more
towards the kind of death metal Malevolent Creation typically create.
Lyrically, the band concentrate on sick  and  unpleasant  aspects  of
life such as crack addiction and mental illness. They state, however,
in the album's credits, that "These songs  are  real  stories.  Names
have been changed to protect the guilty. In no way  are  we  fascist,
racist or hatemongers." Their reasons for including  this  disclaimer
may relate to past experiences  Malevolent  Creation  have  had  with
their lyrics being misconstrued. The band includes a cover of Cream's
"Sunshine of Your Love" rendered in  their  grindcore  style,  which,
though it provides some amusement, does not fit with the tone of  the
album and is rightly noted as a bonus  track.  All  in  all,  a  very
vicious collection of songs both musically and  lyrically,  and  most
likely to appeal to fans of Malevolent Creation and Terrorizer.


Various - _High Radiation 4_  (Independent Records, July 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (6 out of 10)

The fourth edition of this Portuguese compilation (watch the  concert
review in this issue featuring  four  of  these  bands)  is  quite  a
miscellaneous one: from unsigned bands to others who already  have  a
full-length album out, from  Portuguese  bands  to  others  from  far
countries (whenever a band's origin isn't mentioned in this review is
because they're Portuguese). Starting with the best bands,  Lacrima's
new song is bereft of some of the death  metal  influences  found  in
their enjoyable first demo, _Tears From the Inside_, except  for  the
death growls that still mix with the quality female  vocals,  but  is
still a good song from a band with a future.  The  Slovakian  Lunatic
Gods sound quite doomy, although not necessarily slow, with  a  sound
of their own and plenty of variations and originality that  keep  the
song interesting. Dead Meat  mix  grindcore,  death,  female  vocals,
medieval influences, keyboards, major speed variations, some  strange
rhythms and  completely  unpredictable  sequences  --  probably  even
stranger than the third Pan-Thy-Monium album. Still needs  work,  but
sounds interesting and original. Ciborium, who now have an album out,
present some technical, atmospheric death metal of  very  interesting
quality. Buried Alive show their powerful and technical  thrash,  but
the song is short. On the average side of things are Morbid Death and
In Solitude, more experienced bands who play two kinds of  reasonably
well done, but not very remarkable, melodic  metal.  From  there  on,
Without Faith (from Greece), Bellwitch and Disarrey  (USA)  are  just
average, The Royal Blood sound better than on their demo  [CoC  #30],
but worse than in their live performance [reviewed  in  this  issue],
whereas Imortalis, Eternal Cry (Spain), Tomb Gods, Vortex and Violent
Hate (Brazil) are all below average, with Cisma (Brazil) winning  the
title of most uninteresting band of the compilation.  Nothing  really
outstanding to be found in this compilation, just a few bands who  do
have quality and some who seem to have something interesting to offer
in the future, while most lack originality  and  many  also  quality.
Just some final words about several band  names:  stuff  like  Morbid
Death, Without Faith, Lunatic Gods, Violent Hate and  several  others
isn't exactly brilliant and is unlikely to help the bands.

Contact: mailto:ind.rec@esoterica.pt


In Battle - _The Rage of the Northmen_  (Napalm Records, July 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (9 out of 10)

The  especially  noteworthy  first  couple  of  tracks  introduce  In
Battle's second album of blazing war-inspired  black  metal,  and  no
track ever drops the pace until it's all over.  Before  listening  to
_The Rage of the Northmen_, I was aware of  In  Battle's  reputation,
but had never listened to their debut (which I will  now  undoubtedly
seek); _TRotN_ turned out to be just about as fast and  brutal  as  I
expected, but also much catchier than I  anticipated.  This  somewhat
unexpected catchiness does take the album  to  far  greater  heights,
together with the often incredibly fast (yet  precise)  drumming  and
vicious vocals. Every song just overflows with energy  and  the  band
(which has been reduced to a duo) shows remarkable skill at  enormous
speed. The production is neither too clean nor harmful to  the  sound
quality, achieving a kind of sound that seems very adequate  for  the
music. A -very- intense album.


Incantation - _Diabolical Conquest_  (Relapse, July 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

I purchased and began listening to Incantation's two previous albums,
the original mix of the second, to  prepare  myself  for  _Diabolical
Conquest_. What I was to realize was that nothing could fully prepare
me for the brutal death metal assault which  _Diabolical  Conquest_'s
eight tracks and 45 minutes bring. The blasting of opener  "Impending
Diabolical Conquest" immediately alerts the  listener  to  the  first
important change _DC_  brings  for  Incantation:  an  improvement  in
production. The clarity of all instruments, even  the  low,  guttural
vocals, has been increased near tenfold and bestows even  more  power
to Incantation's ever vicious assault. What one further learns as the
album proceeds on its road to hell  is  that  Incantation  have  also
pushed themselves to write the best songs with the best playing they,
even with their high standards, have ever done.  Though  the  overall
quality of the death metal on offer is superb, the  segments  certain
songs include, such as the stop/start section in  "Ethereal  Misery",
give the album a yet sharper knife edge with which to slice into  the
carcass of musical brilliance upon which  the  band  have  chosen  to
feed. Though the last sixteen minute track "Unto Infinite  Twighlight
/ Majesty of Infernal Damnation" may seem long, it is not  ponderous,
and I also excuse the similarity of its first riff to that on Sodom's
"Obsessed by Cruelty", as it provides a final crushing  testament  to
_Diabolical Conquest_'s unshaking quality. Incantation's finest  hour
is upon us and, even in such a good year for the style,  their  album
ranks as one of this year's best death metal albums.


Infernal Majesty - _Unholier Than Thou_  (Hypnotic, July 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (3 out of 10)

It is eleven years since the band dubbed "Canada's Slayer"  unleashed
their now classic, in the underground, album _None Shall Defy_, and I
feel that if we were to look for a similar label  to  place  on  them
today, it would be "Canada's Death". The similarity of _Unholier Than
Thou_ to Mr. Schuldiner and his various mobs' creations is such  that
this would not be wholly unfair either. The  comparisons  can  become
embarrassing, for example if one checks out the beginning  of  second
track "The Hunted": the opening lyrical passages and  the  timing  in
which they are delivered is disturbingly similar to Schuldiner's  own
vocal style and the kind of lyrics he pens. But what  did  we  expect
Infernal Majesty to do? If we expected _None Shall Defy Mk.II_,  then
we certainly don't have it, but I must question whether that is  what
anyone did  want  or  expect.  To  many  that  album  is  classic;  I
personally find it good but not astounding. To follow such a  revered
debut eleven years later is more than hard and is highly unlikely  to
produce a similar disc. Think of how much Slayer or, dare I  say  it,
Metallica changed in eleven years. If this was a debut, it  would  be
marked down as a Death clone and justifiably so. It  suffers  from  a
lack of variation between songs and the fact that it is so derivative
of Death. However, it is an  enjoyable  37  minutes  which  are  well
produced  and  technically  proficient.  If  you  want   what   could
effectively be seen as "the lost Death  record",  then  you  have  it
here. Problem is, Death have got a new record which  is  better  than
_UTT_ and this is not a CD which I feel will capture the  imagination
of fans of the original Infernal Majesty sound. I have to ask,  then:
who will buy this record and why?


Kazumoto Endo / Incapacitants - <split>  (Gentle Giant Records, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (8.5 out of 10)

Before starting this review, it should be noted that I am not  a  big
fan of 7" vinyl noise releases; however, I chose to make this  one  a
prime exception  from  the  rule  due  to  the  powerful  and  highly
entertaining quality of the noise found on  it.  Despite  the  rather
short length of both artists' tracks, they still  manage  to  deliver
enough high quality noise that makes this a very  worthy  investment.
Kazumoto Endo's track contribution (hilariously entitled "Most of  My
Problems Are Solved by an Afternoon Snooze") is a  cut  up  swirl  of
sound and loops which ranks up as one of the best tracks Endo has put
out thus far. Starting off with a few sporadic bursts of sound  which
are mat with a wall of silence, the track  eventually  moves  into  a
mighty collage of electronic madness with the  trademark  Endo  loops
creeping their way into the mix.  Closer  to  half  way  through  the
track, the unpredictable walls of silence are once again tossed up to
allow the listener to catch his/her breath before once  again  diving
back into the chaotic  mixture.  On  the  other  side,  Incapacitants
wasted absolutely no time in just ripping out a massive aural assault
that touches on every tonal level imaginable. As it goes  with  their
brand of  noise,  the  sounds  remained  unrelenting  with  new  ones
layering in and out of the chaotic mix with absolutely  no  rhyme  or
reason. No matter how many times one listens to this track, there  is
always a new pattern in the chaos to be found,  and,  quite  frankly,
that is what  makes  Incapacitants  and  especially  this  track  the
highlight of the split. No silence, no  patterns,  no  loops...  just
pure fucking noise that is as unfeeling  as  the  electronics  it  is
produced from. This is easily one of the best  noise  splits  I  have
heard with neither artist having to carry the other, as both  deliver
in top form with their equally harsh but distinctive compositions.

Contact: Gentle Giant Records, PO Box 50013, Kalamazoo, MI 49005, USA
         mailto:gengiant@aol.com


Krabathor - _Orthodox_  (Morbid, March 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8.5 out of 10)

Now this -is- pleasing. I have been trying to  pick  up  a  Krabathor
album for a while, having heard many a rumour of the quality of their
music. On first listen I was very pleased with _Orthodox_,  and  that
opinion didn't change too much upon repeated spins of the disk. First
and foremost, Krabathor have a damn fine sound. Raw  but  clear,  the
guitars bite and the drums smash with precision and force. The vocals
are also well performed and come out well in the  mix.  Krabathor  do
owe quite a bit to Malevolent Creation and others  of  their  classic
kind, but they play out in style without sounding generic  and  don't
fall into the "where have I heard that riff?" trap. The opening title
track is a particularly vicious assault and one of the best tracks on
the album, not least for its  catchy-yet-intensely-brutal  chorus:  a
rare thing in death metal. Though much of their music consists of the
traditional mix of low tuned riffs, mean kick drums and precise blast
beats, Krabathor also often manipulate a groove the quality of  which
is not  seen  every  day  in  death  metal.  It  is  this  infectious
"death-groove" which Krabathor use to pull themselves above the level
of the merely ordinary. What helps them is their lyrics. This is  not
a band who sit down to write standard death metal lyrics. Krabathor's
lyrics come from their hearts and address issues which are  close  to
the same. Whatever your political opinions, Krabathor make  no  bones
about  giving  you  theirs.  A  great  example  is  "To  Red   Ones":
"Communist, community of red Hitlers / Get out  of  my  way!  /  Your
chance is lost, you are less than dust  /  You're  living  corpses  /
That's my revenge, don't ask for human rights / We don't need you!  /
You wished us hell, that's what I wish you  /  Twice".  Despite  some
failings in their English, which is not surprising for  a  band  from
the Czech Republic, Krabathor convey their feelings about real issues
very effectively. It also helps that I agree  with  a  lot  of  their
complaints. All in all, a great fourth album for a band whose talents
have so often gone unnoticed on an international level; I  hope  that
this changes that, 'cause it certainly deserves to.


Let Me Dream - _Medley Rain_  (Succubus Records, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (6 out of 10)

Long gone are the days of this Finnish band's 1995  debut  album  _My
Dear Succubus_ for Adipocere Records. Now, Let Me Dream return with a
new MCD and a label of their own. They describe these new songs as  a
combination of gothic, dark pop and metal; fortunately, however,  the
obnoxious three-letter word in that recipe  isn't  too  prominent  in
their music, as this is  essentially  gothic  metal  with  plenty  of
keyboards and rather weak  guitars.  The  vocals  are  semi-operatic,
reminding me of a mix  of  Moonspell's  vocalist  Fernando  Ribeiro's
clean vox in _Wolfheart_ with the  kind  of  vocals  more  frequently
found in gothic rock. These vocals take time  to  get  used  to,  but
aren't bad. Although some  blackened  vocals  are  also  occasionally
used, more variety (perhaps some female vox) would have been welcome.
The  music  is  reasonably  well  composed  and  executed,  but   not
especially captivating; it lacks either more metallic qualities or  a
more emotional (perhaps more depressive)  atmosphere,  anything  that
would make the MCD become more captivating for the  listener.  As  it
is, _Medley Rain_ is a reasonably good MCD, although not every choice
for their sound was the best possible this time.

Contact: mailto:wolfborn@freenet.hut.fi
         WWW: www.mygale.org/11/gore/LMD.html


Lost Souls - _Fracture_  (Nuclear Blast, July 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (3 out of 10)

It's amazing that it has been so long since Machine Head's  _Burn  My
Eyes_ took the metal world by storm (that  was  in  1994,  if  you've
forgotten already) and still the band's sound and style influence the
ways of many bands out there. The riffs. The  vocals.  The  attitude.
It's all there and circulating through the sounds of many newer metal
acts out there nowadays. The latest culprit, Lost  Souls.  For  sure,
this is a total rip-off of Machine Head in terms of guitar sound.  As
for the other aspects,  the  vocals  are  more  death-ish  than  what
Machine Head singer Rob Flynn has been  accustomed  to  providing  us
with, but still this is total Machine Head -- start  to  finish.  The
only saving grace of this LP is the ultra-cool rip n' roar feel of "2
Pieces" and "Downfall". Other than that, it's all been done before. I
know I've said that before, and you know what? I'll  keep  saying  it
again and again if bands keep  rehashing  and/or  ripping  off  other
bands.


Masonna - _Frequency LSD_  (Alien8 Recordings, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (9 out of 10)

The cult icon  of  Japanoise  once  again  makes  another  proverbial
anti-statement with his uniquely harsh blend  of  screams,  feedback,
and  constantly  changing  blasts,  rumbles  and   blips   of   sonic
destruction. As always, this release is very much comparable  to  his
lengthy back catalog of material; however, Maso does  manage  to  get
across the point that he is far more than a  "one  trick  pony".  The
main attraction of this release to new and  old  fans  alike  is  the
rather unskilled, though highly interesting (and  somewhat  comical),
use of 60's psychadelia in the warped textures of sound laid  out  in
each track. Despite not being very noticeable at  the  start  of  the
album, with each successive track the influence becomes stronger  and
stronger until  the  final  fourteenth  track  almost  sounds  unlike
everything that one would come to expect  from  Masonna.  Instead  of
being treated to a barrage  of  uncontrolled,  harsh,  and  maddening
noise, we are treated to lengthy explorations into the joys of warped
synthesizer repetition and digitally altered radio  frequency  loops.
After all is said and done, one is easily left  with  the  impression
that Maso has abandoned  his  glorious  "roots"  and  has  taken  the
proverbial next step in his noise sound. Whether this is the case  or
not remains to be seen. However, it is undeniable that the alteration
and inclusion of entirely new sounds for the artist is  a  successful
venture. Slowly but surely, Maso seems to have been able to calm down
and "trip out" his sound so well during the album, it almost  becomes
unnoticeable until the later tracks. With any luck,  Maso  will  take
these two distinct styles he has incorporated so beautifully on  this
disc and further expand on them in the  not-so-distant  future.  This
is, thus far in the year, the best  noise  release  put  out  by  any
artist and, after just one listen, it's not hard to hear why.

Contact: Alien8 Recordings, P.O. Box 666, Station R
         Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H2S 3L1
         mailto:alien8@alien8recordings.com


Metalucifer - _Heavy Metal Drill_  (Iron Pegasus, December 1997)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8.5 out of 10)

Classic heavy metal. Metalucifer are testament both to its brilliance
and its timelessness. Although not  original  by  any  standard,  the
quality of the music which this Japanses trio, which features current
and former members of Sabbat, pen is of such compelling quality  that
any similarities to classic, pioneering bands such  as  Iron  Maiden,
Manowar or Helloween are instantly  forgiven.  Anyway,  _Heavy  Metal
Drill_ is better than anything produced by the aforementioned in  the
last ten years. It's at least 666 times  better  than  Iron  Maiden's
latest effort, _Virtual XI_, beats Helloween's  decent  _Better  Than
Raw_  and  tops  both  of  Manowar's  patchy  efforts  since   1988's
incredible _Kings of Metal_ easily. With song titles  and  lyrics  as
firmly focused on pure metal as the riffs and drums  are,  the  first
three songs all start wih "Heavy Metal..." and the seventh is  simply
entitled "Headbanging", this becomes a 50  minute  journey  into  the
melodic, distortion filled world of classic heavy metal -- and what a
journey it is. Solos are what axemen's dreams and egos are  made  out
of, vocals are as infectious as they are balls out, and quite  simply
every feature of a great, classic, heavy metal album is present.  The
band even sucessfully  toy  with  keyboards  on  their  "Metalucifer"
instrumental track. When the old boys can no longer match themselves,
it is up to others to remind them of the greatness  of  heavy  metal.
This is better than HammerFall too, by  the  way.  All  this  from  a
Japanese band. Who would have thought  it?  "The  next  album  _Heavy
Metal Chainsaw_ is planned to attack  you  with  spell  somewhere  in
1999", say the band in their booklet. You have been forewarned.

Contact: Iron Pegasus, Costa Stoios, Brunnenstr. 6, 54538
         Kinderbeuern-Hetzhof, Germany
         Fax: +49 6532 5243


Napalm Death - _Bootlegged in Japan_ (Earache / St. Clair, June 1998)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (8 out of 10)

I am one who holds the opinion that Napalm  Death  have  deteriorated
into a weak excuse for a death metal band. I'm certainly not  against
musical progression -- in fact, I'm into bands like My  Dying  Bride,
Amorphis, Morgoth and Katatonia, who all sound quite  different  from
when they first started. In my eyes, Napalm have progressed much  too
far and I'm sure they will one day leave most of their  fans  behind.
_Bootlegged in Japan_ features over  an  hour  of  music,  performing
material from the early days to their present record at the time this
bootleg was recorded, _Diatribes_. I  was  very  happy,  to  say  the
least, that a good amount of old material was included -- tracks such
as "Lucid Fairytale", "Control", "The Kill" and "Scum". Also  mid-era
Napalm was present, including  "Mass  Appeal  Madness",  "Suffer  the
Children", "Unchallenged Hate" and one of my personal  faves,  "Seige
of Power". "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" serves as the  lone  cover,  and  it
tops off a great (both material and sound wise) bootleg,  despite  my
personal view  that  Barney  Greenway  can't  sing  well  in  a  live
environment. Napalm Death fans (both old and new) should pick this up.


Nifelheim - _Devil's Force_  (Necropolis Records, 1997)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (6 out of 10)

Looking at all the evil imagery Nifelheim seem to have tried so  hard
to put together through  band  photos,  ridiculous  front  cover  and
utterly unimaginative song titles, I expected _Devil's Force_  to  be
quite a brutal  album,  even  though  probably  not  very  technical.
However, the rather simplistic  thrashy  retro-sounding  black  metal
Nifelheim play throughout this half-hour long album failed to impress
me as far as brutality is concerned. It may be fast,  aggressive  and
not exactly the most melodic metal album ever made, but the brutality
level is still far from the standards set by many bands  by  now  and
fails  to  entirely  compensate  the  technical  simplicity.  Another
problem is that the more quality Norwegian black metal you know,  the
worse Nifelheim's attempts at producing "evil  music"  sound.  Still,
and although there is hardly anything new to be found in this  album,
Nifelheim are reasonably good at what they do and _Devil's Force_  is
an acceptable average album.


Nunslaughter / Dekapitator - _Blood On Steel_ (Split 7")
by: Ryan Kriste  (9 out of 10)  (<Independent>, 1997)

Triumphing old school death/thrash played by those  who  were  there.
Nunslaughter deliver three insane tracks of  true  old  school  death
metal. I think the worst thing about finding  out  about  bands  like
this now is that you want to kick yourself for not getting into  them
earlier -- Nunslaughter have been doing it since 1987.  This  is  the
way I like my death: brutal, evil, fast and you can  still  hear  the
lyrics. Sounds a lot like Acheron. Very short songs for death  metal,
but the message shines through in the five  minutes.  "Bring  Me  the
Head  of  God".  All  I  hear  when  I  listen  to   Dekapitator   is
"Destruction" (the band as well as the  feeling).  Straight,  vicious
old school thrash -- I love thrash, again I love thrash. Six  minutes
of power, in the finest tradition. Hail!!!!  Comes  in  a  very  cool
glow-in-the-dark vinyl; it really works.

Contact: Nunslaughter, 132 Old Village Ln.,
         Bethel Park, PA 15102, USA


Ophthalamia - _A Long Journey_  (Necropolis Records, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Re-recordings are always a risky enterprise for any band: they may go
unnoticed  by  those  who  didn't  know  the  album  before  and  may
disappoint fans who did own the original version and, since it's  the
one they know better, still find it superior. And what my  experience
tells me is that the original versions -are- indeed  better  most  of
the times. That's not the case here, however. Ophthalamia have  taken
their 1994 debut _A Journey in Darkness_ and gave it a very different
treatment. The production is completely different (for  the  better),
and the band's execution is significantly better as well. Most of the
keyboards have been suppressed, which isn't as terrible as  it  might
sound at first, and some structural changes have occurred. Still, the
opening track "A Cry From the Halls of Blood / Empire of Lost Dreams"
and "Enter the Darkest  Thoughts  of  the  Chosen  /  Agony's  Silent
Paradise" (which is now the sixth track) are as brilliant as ever. An
extra song has been included, as well as  a  Venom  cover,  which  is
rather out of place in this  album,  especially  after  it  has  been
closed by "I Summon Thee, oh Father / Death Embrace Me". The  overall
result, with all the instrumental  and  production  improvements,  is
superior to the original and, despite Ophthalamia's annoying tendency
to insert more 'rocking' sections very  harmful  to  the  atmosphere,
most of the album is quality mid-paced black/doom.


Pain Jerk - _Greater Curvature_  (Spite, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (8 out of 10)

Anyone who  denies  Kohei  Gomi  a  position  right  alongside  other
"worshipped" noise artists such as Masami Akita, Maso Yamazaki or the
ever loved Joe Roemer is only denying a truth which  becomes  clearer
with every new output by Pain Jerk. _Greater Curvature_ finds  itself
divided into four parts, encompassing some 45 minutes  of  time  well
spent listening to this magnificent noise creation. As always, Gomi's
amazing editing and stereophonic effects techniques are put to  great
use with layers of harsh sound finding themselves augmented by spacey
blips and bleeps which  come  pouring  in  and  out  of  the  speaker
channels. The entire feel of this release seems to  be  less  of  one
large sonic attack on its listeners than a venture  into  mixing  and
editing (which could be said for many a Pain Jerk release). While the
noise remains consistently loud  and  often  takes  a  turn  for  the
punishing at points, it also remains very  hypnotizing.  Unlike  some
noise releases that tend to drone on endlessly, Pain Jerk  keeps  the
sounds fresh, sporadic, and always mixing in order to add a level  of
depth and interest rarely found  in  many  newer  artists,  who  seem
content to turn on their pedals and let them run with little  thought
or innovation being given to their sound. With every listen, I  still
find myself attempting to pin down all of the sounds that Gomi  seems
to have knitted together so well in  this  excellent  noise  venture.
With the ever growing audience of Pain Jerk fans out there  mixed  in
with the especially skillful quality  of  the  noise  found  here,  I
expect this limited edition of 50 releases will soon be gone, so make
a point to act fast on it. To those  unfamiliar  with  Pain  Jerk  or
noise in general, this is a more than ample place to begin building a
hefty collection of both, as this  easily  rivals  almost  everything
being put out by almost everyone in the noise scene today.

Contact: Spite, P.O. Box 56153, Kalamazoo, MI 49005-1653, USA
         mailto:monoanie@aol.com


Primordial - _A Journey's End_  (Misanthropy Records, June 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (9 out of 10)

Something that annoys me in many albums out there is that either  the
music or the lyrics have little to do with the artwork, or lyrics and
music don't match, or when they do the  whole  concept  is  far  from
original and interesting. Fortunately,  there  are  still  plenty  of
albums that don't fall in any of those traps, and _A  Journey's  End_
is one of those. As the artwork and interesting lyrics  suggest,  the
music is doomy and doesn't really try to be catchy --  in  fact,  the
album took a while to grow on me. _A Journey's End_ doesn't sound too
much like anything else, but it  could  be  compared  to  a  somewhat
blackened Darren-less Anathema mixed with a lot of  Primordial's  own
work. This is essentially an evolution  from  their  previous  album,
_Imrama_, showing vast improvement in  some  areas.  There  are  less
blackened vocals, but Averill's clean voice has  improved  enough  to
avoid turning this change into a problem;  the  song  structures  and
atmosphere changed significantly as well. The album is formed by four
long doomy tracks (over eight minutes each) and  three  shorter  ones
that differ from everything else on  _A  Journey's  End_:  the  great
acoustic "Dark Song", the sombre spoken "Solitary  Mourner"  and  the
finishing instrumental "On Aistear Deirneach". It may be Primordial's
Irish origins that make them sound different, but this  is  far  from
being folk-influenced music, despite the frequent use  of  acoustics;
what it does have is a certain uniqueness in  some  ways.  Definitely
not a vulgar album.


Rotten Sound - _Under Pressure_  (Repulse, March 1998)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (7.5 out of 10)

I've never hid the fact that I don't like much of what  Repulse  puts
out. I mean,  when  a  lot  of  the  bands  sound  like  second  rate
Suffocation, there's only so much  one  person  can  stand.  However,
Repulse have released  some  talented  artists  --  namely  Golgotha,
Intestine Baalism and just  recently  its  first  black  metal  band,
Ouija.  You  can  add  Rotten  Sound   to   that   list,   as   their
hardcore/grind/ crustcore is quite  enjoyable  to  listen  to.  These
Finnish lads deliver the goods with 22 tracks of  tight  musicianship
and uncompromised aggression. Those who love the  insanity  displayed
on fine recordings such as  Napalm  Death's  _Scum_  or  Terrorizer's
_World Downfall_  will  certainly  find  a  lot  to  like  on  _Under
Pressure_.


Ruination - _Visionary Breed_  (Goldtrack Records, June 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (6 out of 10)

Although Ruination were once a doom/death band, neither style has any
practical weight on their current melodic atmospheric metal that even
reminded me of the somewhat standardized style some Portuguese  bands
have been choosing lately.  This  Lithuanian  band  has  its  moments
during  _Visionary  Breed_,  though;  they   also   have   acceptable
musicianship, and the sound is good enough (recorded at  the  Abyss),
although the vocals should have been better. The problem  with  their
medium sized songs is that they lack something the band may have had,
to some extent, when they were  still  playing  doom/death  (I  don't
know, though, since this is the first material of  theirs  I've  ever
heard): globally, _Visionary Breed_ is neither especially heavy  (far
from that), emotional, doomy,  nor  even  especially  melodic  --  or
rather, especially remarkable by its melodies. What remains is a well
performed but average work that tends  to  conform  to  the  reigning
normality more than it should.


Sadus - _Elements of Anger_  (Mascot, November 1997)
by: Paul Schwarz  (7 out of 10)

Sadus have, throughout their career, been a band who have remained on
the fringes of the thrash/death metal genre. They have never attained
the success or widespread critical acclaim of some  of  their  peers.
Will _Elements of Anger_, the first Sadus album  in  more  than  five
years, change all this? Well, in fact, a more appropriate question is
actually "-has- _Elements of Anger_ changed all  this?",  since  this
album's European release was back in November last year. I think  you
know the answer. It is "no". Whether it deserved to is  what  I  will
assess, though my  answer  will  be  rather  longer  than  one  word.
_Elements of Anger_ is grounded on a Scott  Burns  production  which,
whatever your view of his talents, ought to give the  record  a  full
and bassy sound. Surprisingly enough, this is not the sound _Elements
of Anger_ has at all. Instead, the sound is similar to  Sadus'  other
releases, with flat sounding drums, crunchy, rather than rich, guitar
tones and a good, clean bass sound topped off  by  raspy  vocals.  As
songwriting goes, Sadus have altered the formula set down on previous
releases to some extent by including instrumental work which attempts
to create atmosphere and has some success in doing so.  Combine  this
with their traditional vicious  and  speedy  thrash  attack  and  you
certainly have an album which contains variation.  Steve  DiGiorgio's
bass work is complex and inventive and increases the album's  overall
ability to impress. However, Darren Travis' raspy vocals  lack  power
or ability to flow seamlessly with the  music.  What  this  means  is
that, although Sadus produce a decent, listenable album, they fail to
produce anything that is truly outstanding. Ultimately, I  would  say
that _Elements of Anger_ is a good place to start  the  ball  rolling
again, but it is not the album  that  will  push  them  further  than
previous releases have, and it doesn't deserve to.


Sentenced - _Frozen_  (Century Media, July 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

In only four days _Frozen_ spun through twelve times in my CD player.
This is not usual for me. It is worth explaining, or trying  to,  why
this particular piece of plastic -was-  spun  so  many  times  in  my
stereo in such a short space of  time.  The  answer:  I  was  hooked.
_Frozen_, you see, is one of those albums which  I  can  happily  say
satisfies on far more than one level.  Sentenced  have  committed  48
minutes of music to tape which are  addictive  like  hard  drugs  and
lyrically as suicidal as an addiction to hard drugs. Before exploring
_Frozen_'s musical tapestry further, a short look at where  Sentenced
are in their musical career. This is Sentenced's  fifth  full  length
and follows 1996's successful _Down_ album, which saw the replacement
of long-time vocalist Taneli Jarva with Ville Laihaila,  whose  vocal
talents also grace _Frozen_. The melodic approach  which  set  _Down_
apart from older albums such as _North From Here_  is  continued  and
adapted on _Frozen_. Apart  from  enjoying  the  music  in  this  new
direction of itself, what I enjoy so much about _Frozen_ specifically
is its flow. Each track fits with the tracks around it and  into  its
place in the album as a whole. Each new  track  is  another  step  on
Sentenced's way to musical Valhalla. Sentenced don't  quite  make  it
there this time, otherwise you would see a perfect rating at the  top
of this review, but they come damn close. This  flow  does  not  stop
_Frozen_ from having highly individual songs.  Part  of  the  album's
quality  is  the  fact  that  all  nine  full   songs   (with   three
"instrumentals") can stand alone so perfectly  while  also  composing
such a highly structured album. Songs like "Farewell" or "Let Go (The
Last Chapter)" are not ponderous or irrelevant when considered out of
their position in _Frozen_'s  entirety.  Then  again,  the  way  that
"Farewell"  slides  in  from  the  majestic  climax  of  "Kaamos"  is
brilliant and provides  the  perfect  introduction-of-sorts  for  the
song. _Frozen_  also  sees  Sentenced  very  effectively  mixing  the
keyboards/orchestration part of their sounds with the classic guitars
/ bass / vocals / drums arrangements. This means that while the album
still "rocks", it contains sweeping melody and  tons  of  atmosphere.
"For the Love I Bear" perfectly demonstrates the value  of  combining
these elements  effectively.  It  makes  use  of  the  keyboards  and
atmospheres in its verse to great effect. It also has a  very  catchy
chorus full of guitar  hooks  and  memorable  vocal  lines.  However,
Sentenced also build the song to a  crescendo  with  drums  and  palm
muted guitars, at which point Ville burps and a ripping,  heavy  rock
solo ensues. _Frozen_ is a crafted album with much to  explore  in  a
recorded format. It also contains very well written songs which  will
sound great when the band plays  them  live  without  the  additional
orchestration, as they do. For my money, this is the  best  album  of
its kind which is likely to see the light of day  this  year  and  we
should be thankful for it.


Sepultura - _Against_  (Roadrunner/Attic, October 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)

I don't  know  what  you  metalheads  were  expecting  with  the  new
Sepultura, seeing that Max Cavalera was out  and  Derrick  Green  was
taking over vocal duties. I  was  only  hoping  that  the  return  of
Sepultura would be unforgettable. I now have a copy of _Against_  and
let's just say my ass has been kicked hard.  This  is  totally  heavy
shit and easily surpasses what Max did  (no  offense)  with  Soulfly.
It's heavier, more aggressive and easily one of the best releases  of
1998. Does the band let down any of their fans? A big NO! New  singer
Green (ex- Outface / Overfiend  /  Alpha  Jerk)  does  a  superb  job
keeping things fast and furious. Elements of hardcore  are  the  most
noticeable new changes within the music, yet a welcome change to what
Sepultura are doing, keeping the momentum going  on  _Against_.  From
hardcore-styled opener and title track "Against", Sepultura's  groove
hits the pedal to the metal, crushing all in its path  with  powerful
concoctions of ferocity with numbers  like  "Choke",  the  blistering
"Boycott",  "Rumors"  and  the  Jason  Newsted  (of  Metallica  fame)
collaborated piece "Hatred Aside".  There  is  no  downside  to  this
record, as it all grooves with an intense sound and style  that  fans
have been craving from Sepultura since _Chaos  A.D._.  Though  1996's
_Roots_ was a truly triumphant record with the use  of  the  Xavantes
tribe and the cultural bonding of music and rhythm, _Against_ sheds a
huge spotlight on what Sepultura has always been about:  variety  and
passion. The new LP focuses  on  and  showcases  the  real  power  of
Sepultura, managing to reinvent themselves once again with  this  LP,
but still stay  so  close  to  Sepultura's  trademark  sound.  People
thought they were a dead horse with Max's  departure,  but  Sepultura
regrouped and threw all that negative press and uncertainty  out  the
fucking window. This kills and every metal  fan  should  witness  the
resurrection of Sepultura in 1998. All you  other  fuckers,  get  the
hell out of the way.


Seventh Avenue - _Southgate_  (Treasure Hunt Records, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (4 out of 10)

It's not  that  _Southgate_  is  musically  bad  --  the  vocals  are
reasonably competent and so is most of  the  instrumental  execution.
But it brings no innovation  whatsoever  and  its  traditional  heavy
metal songs tend to go by without leaving much behind -- they  depend
too much upon their choruses, which, in turn, are often too long  and
poor, drowning some good instrumental passages that  the  album  does
have. Plus, I found the album's general atmosphere  poor,  especially
in mellow tracks like "Father", "Heart in Your Hand"  and  "Goodbye".
However, Seventh  Avenue's  biggest  problem  may  be  that  all  the
revivalism that seems to be going on in some areas of  Europe  lately
(mainly in their own home country, Germany) will end up  making  them
face far superior competition within their own genre (not to  mention
darker and more extreme genres outside the aforementioned  revivalism
wave). As a result of all this, and  despite  showing  a  salvageable
instrumental side, Seventh Avenue just don't manage to make the album
stand above its own lack of originality.


Shellyz Raven - _Recrucify_  (<Independent>, August 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

When we got this in the mail and I got my stash  of  review  material
from Gino, I was wonderin' what this band would sound like. I had  my
thoughts of what this band would be like, but after the first listen,
my early impressions of them went right out the window.  I  had  been
expecting a dark, oh-so typical gothic rock / metal  band  trying  to
come across as Moonspell or something like that, only indie sounding.
Much to my surprise, Shellyz Raven  is  an  interesting  dark,  doomy
progressive outfit that shines with sincere  musical  adeptness,  yet
still flaunts its independent sound. In other words, good  music  and
adequate enough production to keep it sounding good. This  disc  only
has six songs, but the material here is substantial  enough  to  keep
the listener interested. Singer Seayia has a very heartwarming  vocal
style and the work of the band to comfort and work with her vocals is
truly talented. The intense use of keyboards also adds strong  flavor
to the music of Shellyz Raven. Most impressive is track  two,  called
"Mortifir". Awesome tune. So, fans of The Gathering, Lacuna Coil  and
even The Dreamside, you might want to contact this band.  Good  music
here.

Contact: Oystein Kristoffer Paulsen, Haugenesveien 11,
         4870 Fevik, Norway
         mailto:macros@online.no
         WWW: www.ravenz.home.ml.org


:Slogun: - _The Pleasures of Death_  (Death Factory, July 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (5 out of 10)

Imagine, if you will, a world in  which  your  TV  set  was  on  full
volume,  stuck  on  the  "static"  channel,  and  some   weirdo   was
communicating through your TV set with  distorted  vocals.  Sometimes
laughing, sometimes chanting gibberish.  Sometimes  he's  even  using
voice effects to make his voice stop n' start and seem  so  haunting.
Now repeat this for eight songs, clocking in at almost 60 minutes  of
pure noise. Pretty scary shit, eh? Think of this as Poltergeist noise
music. It's fucked and creepy to boot. But it's also  one-dimensional
and boring for the most part. Only for  those  that  -TRULY-  worship
noise music.


Various - _Statements of Intent_  (Wicked World, July 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

As samplers go, this is about the best one I have  ever  encountered.
As has been Earache's tendency with  past  samplers,  _Statements  of
Intent_  contains  mostly  unreleased  or  EP-released  material   by
excellent bands within the extreme metal genre. Just pick up  a  copy
and check out the bands featured. Established bands  like  Katatonia,
In Flames and Emperor sit comfortably alongside newer bands  such  as
Gardenian and The Haunted, and among the  rest  are  some  of  Wicked
World's new signings. These bands, Gandalf and  The  Elysian  Fields,
are not by any means the newest of the bands here, but  it  is  worth
pointing out they do not stick out in  the  quality  of  their  music
either. Both bands sound good and it  seems  that  Wicked  World  are
choosing well in their new signings. Let's hope they  can  renew  the
reputation of the Earache camp for signing quality  death/black/grind
bands. There are plenty of tracks here which are from  EPs  that  are
hard to find and many excellent bands are sampled. Overall, this is a
sampler of excellent value and quality.


The Ancients Rebirth - _Damnated Hell's Arrival_  (Necropolis, 1997)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)

While this may not be close to  the  best  of  Swedish  black  metal,
_Damnated Hell's  Arrival_  is  still  a  good  MCD  with  plenty  of
aggression and good technical skills. Plus,  it's  30  minutes  long,
which is more than the usual for an MCD. The black metal  found  here
contains a certain thrash influence with good results; this follow-up
to TAR's 1996 debut full-length _Drain the Portal in Blood_  is  thus
harsher and less melodic than  what  most  Swedish  bands  have  been
producing, adding more of a black/thrash feel while trying to  retain
some of the technicality of those other Swedish acts. The result  can
get quite good at times, but isn't much above  average  most  of  the
time. Still, as an MCD, it contains enough quality  to  deserve  some
attention.


The Bloodcult - _Night's Plutonian Shore_  (Unisound Records, 1997)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (6 out of 10)

On one hand, _Night's Plutonian Shore_ is nothing special  musically;
but on the other hand, most of  it  has  such  a  sombre,  oppressive
atmosphere that it does become a somewhat interesting album. After  a
rather tedious intro made of something similar to a church organ, one
can hear some drum rhythms and keyboard melodies more  akin  to  goth
than anything else. The guitar sound is very low, almost nonexistent,
and the vocals are deep and gloomy. Despite  its  start,  this  track
already hints at the more depressive side of  the  album.  The  third
track confirms it: a  slow,  sad  song  made  of  mostly  atmospheric
synths,  similar  vocals  to  those  of  the  previous  track,   some
unobtrusive percussion and hardly any guitars. The  fourth  song,  on
the contrary, starts with some needless  atmosphere-ruining  rhythms,
but improves as the keyboards appear with the spoken  female  vocals,
which in turn mix with the male vox.  After  a  poor  short  keyboard
instrumental comes a track that  is  atrociously  misplaced  in  this
album. Keyboards, guitars and percussion have very little  in  common
with the rest of the songs, and nothing in common  with  the  album's
best sequences. Forgetting about this one, the last track is no  less
than eighteen minutes long, and therefore the most important song  of
this 45  minute  long  album.  Showing  some  violin  sounds  in  the
beginning, it then becomes a  surprising  piece  of  slow  doom  with
keyboards, still very gloomy vocals  and  plenty  more  of  that  sad
violin sound. Later, piano and female vocals enter the composition as
well. Overall, if you  forget  about  the  sixth  track,  this  is  a
reasonably worthy album as far as depressive gothic  atmospheres  are
concerned (especially the third track and  some  parts  of  the  last
one), although stained by several wrong choices. An album  that  most
will probably hate and only a few will find interesting.


Voivod - _Kronik_  (Hypnotic, August 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

Remixed Voivod? I was -very- apprehensive about this release, and  so
I should be. Voivod was always about being  one  step  ahead  of  the
metal genre community, always a  bit  out  there  and  exploring  the
realms of metal, but this was Voivod  fused  with  electronic  music.
Remixed versions of some of their heavy and  most  memorable  numbers
are found here ("Nanoman" and "Forlorn"), not to  mention  previously
unreleased numbers ("Vortex"  and  "Erosion")  and  a  slew  of  live
version numbers (such  as  "Astronomy  Domine"  and  "Nuclear  War").
Voivod continues on in the trend of many metal acts who have  decided
to go along and remix their  records/material  (i.e.,  Fear  Factory,
Avulsed, Pantera, etc.) and done it reasonably well. The Fear Factory
_Remanufacture_ LP sounded great and so do the three  numbers  Voivod
worked on. As for the unreleased material here,  it's  still  heavily
experimental  and  definitely  Voivod  sounding.  Fans  will  not  be
disappointed. And the live material from Germany? Stunning. This band
is both a strong studio and live act, thrilling fans for more than  a
decade and still going strong. If this LP had been more  of  a  remix
record rather than a remix / unreleased / live effort, I  would  have
more concern with what they did. But enough said -- this  compilation
of material from Voivod rules. It has enough  variety  to  keep  fans
happy.


Vondur - _The Galactic Rock n' Roll Empire_  (Necropolis, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (2 out of 10)

Don't be fooled by the Ophthalamian links to Vondur: this MCD is much
more the kind of thing a band would do for  a  few  laughs  during  a
rehearsal than something likely to end up on CD.  In  fact,  I  found
almost no seriousness whatsoever here.  The  mediocrity  of  Vondur's
instrumental side, including their use of a drum  machine  (sometimes
at  very  high  speeds),  is  only  comparable  to  that   of   their
songwriting.  The  Motley  Crue  and  Judas  Priest  covers  and  the
(somewhat funny) Elvis Presley song mutilation add practicaly nothing
to the poor original tracks.  Trying  to  destroy  standards  doesn't
necessarily lead to interesting results.


Warhorse - _Warhorse_  (Burden of Being Records, August 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

It's incredible, with the amount of stuff that we receive -- most  of
the independent stuff being somewhat bland or repetitive --, that  we
are able to savage some great material from the heaps of  stuff.  But
you do find gems, and Warhorse is one of them. Much  like  the  other
great indie release that I reviewed in  this  issue,  Shellyz  Raven,
Massachusetts natives Warhorse are a truly powerful and  heavy  band.
Labeling themselves as "psychedelic-doom-crust"  (a  pretty  accurate
take on their sound), Warhorse deliver the goods from  the  start  on
this five-song CD. From opener "I See" to closer "The End  of",  this
East Coast trio (led by singer/guitarist Krista Van Guilder) lay  the
riffs on ultra-thick and create patterns of  melodic  heaviness  with
each song. Think  Kyuss  with  a  female  singer  and  add  doom  and
psychedelic sounds for good measure. Krista Van  Guilder  has  got  a
really captivating voice, taking on a strained  sound  for  the  most
part as she lets loose with  those  deadly,  sludge-like  riffs.  The
music, for the most part, doesn't really turn into a frenzied assault
of fuzz and sludge; it maintains a rather  sedated  sound  throughout
this five-song release. Cool pot smokin', kick back kind of music for
us to take in. This'll make a good addition next to  your  Kyuss  and
Monster Magnet CDs.

Contact: Warhorse, P.O. Box 673 Worcester, MA 01602, USA
         mailto:warhorse@aol.com
         WWW: members.aol.com/warhorse66


Within Temptation - _The Dance_  (DSFA Records, June 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Sounding very much like a mix of Theatre  of  Tragedy  and  Orphanage
(minus the strange rhythms) will make a band sound very attractive to
some and totally uninteresting to others, who may claim that they are
unoriginal. However, although comparisons may be made to a few  other
bands, Within Temptation's sound is different enough  from  the  rest
(the closest being  perhaps  Tristania).  But,  regardless  of  their
originality or lack thereof, Within Temptation are very good at  what
they do. That was clear in their 1997 debut _Enter_ (which I'd rate 9
out of 10), and the three new songs presented in this new EP are  all
quite similar to the material found in their  debut:  symphonic  doom
metal with female vocals and death growls.  Sharon  den  Adel,  their
headbanging female vocalist, owns a delightful voice (as  well  as  a
radiant smile), and the rest of the band perform very well,  too.  Of
the new songs, "The Other Half  (of  Me)"  is  faster  than  anything
they've done before, and also very catchy.  The  rest  follows  their
usual symphonic doom closely. There are  also  a  couple  of  remixes
here, both enjoyable, though nothing  special  nor  better  than  the
originals (not a surprise).  The  soft  nine  minute  long  remix  of
"Candles" plus "Pearls of Light" is  an  interesting  idea,  but  the
passage from one to the other doesn't work well,  in  my  opinion.  A
CD-ROM track also includes some pictures and info one would expect to
find in their homepage, plus an MPEG3 file with  the  nice  classical
version of "Restless" first released in their debut EP. Therefore, if
you can play MPEG3 files, you'll get a 33 minute long EP --  not  bad
at all, but more than half of it are remixes, even  though  they  are
all very acceptable. It was a strange choice to  include  a  song  in
MPEG3 format, though. Within Temptation confirm that they are one  of
the leading bands of their genre, and I'll certainly be  waiting  for
their next full-length album.

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

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

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


Cumdeo - _My Angel_  (4-track demo)
by: Paul Schwarz  (*****)

Wow!, what a demo. This really caught me off guard. I am a cynic  for
thinking this way, but I expected a doom/death demo from Russia to be
boring, unimaginative and about as feisty as roadkill. Let's just say
I was wrong. _My Angel_ plunders the elements of doom and death which
made the styles noted and loved  and  uses  them,  along  with  other
brilliantly  executed  touches,  to  produce  a  varied  and   highly
listenable demo. _My Angel_ is a musical journey beginning  with  the
calm stillness of acoustic guitar followed  by  the  introduction  of
skillfully layered keyboards. Then the band bring in  a  _The  Fourth
Dimension_ style Hypocrisy riff  of  gut  wrenching  and  bludgeoning
mid-paced heaviness and from there on  in  it  seems  they  can't  go
wrong. Although only two of these tracks have vocals, the feeling  of
the demo is not of two songs filled out to four by instrumentals  but
one 20 minute  work  carefully  carved  into  sections  by  beautiful
instrumentation. For any demo band, the quality of this demo would be
astounding; but from Russia, a place not usually noted for this  sort
of thing, Cumdeo are an even bigger, and as a result  more  pleasant,
surprise. If this band can write a  full  length  and  maintain  this
quality,  then  Cumdeo  could   justifiably   become   one   of   the
underground's big names in the years to come.

Contact: Alexander Ivanov, Komsomolskaya Str.11,
         Smolensk, 214033, Russia


Funeral God - _Demo 1_  (3-track demo)
by: Ryan Kriste  (****-)

I suppose my obvious biases towards this release  make  me  unfit  to
review it, but I love it so much I feel compelled to. Pretoria's  own
Funeral God bring forth their first brutal offering to the tables  of
metal. And what a  feast  it  is.  Nothing  original  here,  but  the
classics are usually the most appetizing. Track one, "Blessed by  the
Devil", showcases a strong German speed influence ala "old"  Kreator,
as evidenced by the  picking  style,  although  at  a  slightly  less
frantic pace. Track two, "Insomnia", is a slow death number with  one
of the most instantly infectious grooves I've ever heard -- screw the
nineties' bands. Track three, "Abomination", with  its  thrash  riffs
and acoustic parts (played on electric), belies softer influences  as
well. If you want to wear your influences (death,  black,  speed  and
thrash -metal-) on your sleeve, do it as well as Funeral God.


Hate Eternal - <untitled>  (3-track demo)
by: Aaron McKay  (****-)

Blistering! If I ever utter the word again, it will be in  praise  of
Hate Eternal. Being a simple Joe, like I am, this  constitutes  death
metal boiled down to its finest, most descriptive, three syllables --
blistering! Fits like a damn straight jacket, so I can't help but use
the word. Hate Eternal isn't the first, but second, brainchild / solo
project of the NON-genre challenged guitar wizard,  Erik  Rutan  (the
first one being  the  ethereal  majesty  that  is  Alas).  Many  will
remember Erik from his days with the incomparable Morbid  Angel.  The
beginning track, and the only  one  I  know  for  gospel,  is  dubbed
"Messiah of Rage". The tune was written with technical  expertise  by
Alex Webster of Cannibal Corpse, who also more bellies-up to the bass
duties on the demo as well. Taking  into  consideration  Mr.  Rutan's
other  musical  obligations,  Hate  Eternal  is  truly  an  ambitious
undertaking, but this taster truly begs  for  better  financing.  How
about an Alas / Hate Eternal split? Someone throw  some  money  their
direction -- soon!

Contact: Alas / Hate Eternal, P.O. Box 21922,
         Tampa, Florida 33622-1922, USA


Hirilorn - _A Hymn to the Ancient Souls_  (5-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (****-)

By adding a certain personal touch to standard black metal,  Hirilorn
have managed to create a rather  interesting  demo  tape.  They  have
essentially used more guitar leads than usual in black metal, and did
it quite well, too: plenty of good melodic guitar leads  emerge  from
within their relatively harsh mid-to-fast paced black metal sound. It
may not seem obvious at all, but it works -- and I  strongly  dislike
pointless, vain guitar solos. What happens is just that  these  leads
merge well with the rest of the music. The rest of the  band  members
do their job too, and there are plenty of changes in the music during
the 30 minutes of this demo, though they do tend to sometimes  repeat
some melodies a bit too much. Still, this doesn't happen  too  often,
so the demo doesn't  suffer  much  from  that.  I  also  listened  to
"Through the Moonless Night", a song taken from their upcoming  album
_Legend  of  Evil  and  Eternal  Death_,   which   shows   expectable
improvements  while  essentially  retaining  most   of   the   demo's
characteristics -- it's therefore likely to be an interesting  album,
if they can keep the quality at least as high as in this song.

Contact: Olivier Borzeix, 23 Rue du Capitaine Bes,
         86000 Poitiers, France
         mailto:hirilorn.sinn@wanadoo.fr
         (Demo tape prices: 6$ Europe, 7$ elsewhere.)


Iron Rainbow - _Never Settle for Less Than Metal_  (3-track demo)
by: Ryan Kriste  (****-)

It's 1983 and I've just received a very cool demo from Iron  Rainbow.
Straight metal, culled from the likes of the  last  remaining  NWOBHM
bands. Lyrics warning against evil -- or is it promoting  evil?  It's
so subtle (for metal) that you just don't know.  The  types  of  riff
that will undoubtedly be used by  Manowar  on  their  upcoming  album
_Hail  to  England_,  most  probably  on  the  track  "Army  of   the
Immortals". OK, so it's not 1983, but so what?  If  something  works,
don't fix it! This is the way metal was supposed to sound!  The  tape
title got me thinking (scary thing) -- WHY do I try to find something
good in an album that obviously was not made by a metalhead? If  it's
crap, it's crap; end of story. Iron Rainbow  are  not  crap,  end  of
story. If you are a metalhead, you will feel the power emanating from
Iron Rainbow's sixteen minute, three track tape.

Contact: Bad Posture, P.O.Box 932, Middle Island, NY 11953, USA


Oberon - <untitled>  (3-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (***--)

This Norwegian duo does seem to have plenty of  ideas,  but,  in  the
end, this demo also has some important flaws. I suppose this band has
nothing to do with another band called Oberon, who already have a  CD
out. I seem to recall that this other band is much more  atmospheric,
although currently I do  not  have  access  to  any  of  their  work.
Regardless of that, this Oberon  plays  folk-influenced  black  metal
and, as I mentioned, do present some interesting  ideas.  Using  both
blackened and clean vocals (needing more work), as well as plenty  of
synth, their sound is varied... for a 13 minute long demo,  that  is.
The other main problem seems  to  have  been  caused  by  the  studio
conditions they had (or didn't have) to record  this  demo.  Being  a
two-piece metal band should demand more studio work than the usual; I
don't think they had such conditions, and  it  shows  in  the  music.
Nevertheless, they try to get their  musical  ideas  across,  and  do
manage to create some good moments, mostly in  the  first  couple  of
tracks; shame about the production. This demo is  also  available  on
CD, even though I received it on tape, but most of  the  problems  in
their sound don't seem to come from there. I'd like to hear more from
this band, but with suitable  studio  conditions  and  more  time  to
perfect things.

Contact: Oyvind Sundstrom, Damstien 15, N-2200 Kongsvinger, Norway
         mailto:eriks@east.no


Raggedy Aneurysm - _Milk_  (7-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley  (***--)

This  is  really  well  done  weird  shit.  With  song  titles   like
"Hatemouth", "Ext. #666" or "My God Can Kill  Your  God",  you  might
wonder where this 7-song demo is going, right? Me too. And I'm  still
wondering. With a definite sound/style reminiscent of Tool /  Marilyn
Manson /  Psychotica  (samples,  distorted  vocals,  weird  ambiance,
etc.), Raggedy Aneurysm do the job here and do it very well. This  is
freak music for the underground, so come on in and enjoy. Not sure if
this is up to par with what most CoC readers  would  scope  out,  but
those that do will enjoy the  fucked-up  barrage  of  material  here.
Interesting, to say the least.

Contact: Marquee Management Inc., 274 Madison Ave. Suite 300,
         New York, NY, 10016, USA


Suicide Culture - _Suicide Culture_  (3-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley  (***--)

After a couple of listens, this three-song demo really grows on  you.
Strong grooves and hard-hitting  vocals  line  the  work  of  Suicide
Culture, a Slayer-influenced band coated with a very modern  feel  to
what they do. The thing that stands out  most  from  this  outing  by
Suicide Culture -- other than the impressive guitar work --  are  the
vocals: ample and heavy, they suit the music  so  well  with  a  real
flare  of  clarity  and  powerful  expression  and  guide  the  heavy
overtones of what the band plays. I'd like to  hear  more  from  this
band, as most three-song demos really lack  any  real  expression  of
what  bands  can  do  on  a  grander  scale.  Standout  track   here:
"Mothercursedearth."

Contact: Suicide Culture, 3847 24th Ave., Seattle, WA 98199, USA
         Voice: (206) 286-7861


Tendonitis - <untitled>  (13-track demo)
by: Aaron McKay  (***--)

A good friend of mine gave me a copy of this demo  at  the  Milwaukee
Metal Fest this year. After more than just a few spins  in  the  disc
player, I'm really glad he did. Tendonitis  describes  themselves  as
"grindpukedeathfastheavyfasterheaviergrindingbrutalpoundingabusiveins
trumentalgrindcorebeef". I think that  covers  all  the  damn  bases,
gentlemen. The key to this  whole  potpourri  hodgepodge  is  intense
instrumental musicianship.  No  vocals  to  attract  one's  attention
elsewhere from the bludgeoning that one subjects themselves  to  when
whipping out Tendonitis for a listen. Excellent form  and  execution.
Clear separation among the three members of this Canadian powerhouse.
The bass, on occasion, pounds through as to  completely  envelop  the
meticulous guitar playing and savage drumming that  moves  Tendonitis
in aggressive circles. Thirteen tracks  hovering  at  about  the  two
minute mark, making easy to swallow caplets  of  hostility  for  just
under twenty-six minutes. Never boring  or  uninteresting,  but  this
demo doesn't exactly warrant unlimited listens back to  back  either.
However, once a day would be enough to satisfy a metal fix  for  more
than a couple hours.  Another  notable  point  of  curiosity  is  the
numbering of the songs listed on  the  disc:  song  one  is  entitled
"Fifteen", song two  is  called  "Fourteen",  song  three  is  dubbed
"Twosix", and  so  on.  Just  another  example  of  the  intrigue  of
Tendonitis.

Contact: Tendonitis, P.O. Box 91735,
         West Vancouver BC, V7V 4S1, Canada


Thornspawn - _Consecration of Evil Flesh_  (6 track demo)
by: Paul Schwarz  (**---)

OK, let's not beat about the bush.  This  is  just  about  all  you'd
expect from the title and band name. Black metal in the vein of  such
artists as Marduk and Dark Funeral. Mostly  fast  black  metal  riffs
accompanied by continuous blast beats. However, this is actually very
well produced, especially for a demo band. It contains the usual fare
of offensive blasphemous lyrics ("Licking  the  Virgin  Mary's  Cunt"
being a notable song title with accompanying offensive lyricism)  and
corpsepainted participants with ridiculous pseudonyms ("Swornghoul --
Infernal Archgoat of Blood War"). Though the songwriting is far  from
innovative, there  are  worse  bands  in  the  underground  and  less
inventive ones. Thornspawn are brutal and at present  this  is  their
most impressive asset.

Contact: Blackthorn, 1001 Boiling Brook, S.A. Tx 78245, USA

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



       T H E   T W E L F T H   H O U R   H A S   S T R U C K !
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
               CoC Attends The Milwaukee Metalfest XII
    at the Eagles Ballroom, Milwaukee, WI, July 24th and 25th 1998
          by: Paul Schwarz, Adam Wasylyk and Adrian Bromley


Paul's Proclamation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Two days of metal mayhem have now passed. But man,  was  it  fun
while it lasted. Here's my angle on what those two days, and numerous
bands, brought. This year's Metalfest boasted three stages which more
or less worked out, except for the  fact  that  the  Rave  stage  was
increasingly late on both days, making running around  to  check  who
was presently on a bonafide necessity.

Friday:
~~~~~~~
     Friday began at 4 p.m., and, after checking out, and  purchasing
at, the excellent CD mart downstairs, the first  band  I  caught  was
Deaf American signees Burn the Priest. This  was  a  searing  assault
which I can vaguely describe as a mixture of grinding death metal and
sludgecore. It was cool sound  to  behold  but  not  a  captivatingly
varied set of material. Next I saw Ember hit the Rave stage at around
5:40. Their set was well executed and their  music  damn  cool  black
metal with quite a bit of Celtic Frost and very  little  Immortal.  I
got their demo as a result, so there's proof I  was  impressed,  and,
judging by the crowd at the end of the set, I wasn't the only one.  I
caught the last half of The Chasm's set  and  their  impressive  live
prescence coupled with their skillfully constructed death/doom  songs
impressed me. I would suggest checking their second album  out,  it's
on Oz productions. Completing this  double  bill  of  classy  Mexican
bands was Cenotaph, whose Gothenburg tinged _Epic Rites_ album I  own
and love. Starting with that album's crushing opener "Crying  Frost",
Cenotaph totally decimated their audience  with  classy  musicianship
and excellent songs. Their set drew from both _Epic Rites_ and  their
_Riding Across Black Oceans_ debut. Cenotaph proved to be one of  the
Metalfest's highlights for me. Back to the Rave bar for Today Is  the
Day and an incredible live performance.  Although  my  experience  of
their recorded material is scant, to say the least, TItD's  live  set
is not at all dependent on the listener  having  heard  them  before.
While the drummer and keyboardist perform perfectly well live, it  is
TItD's vocalist/guitarist who is the visual focal point for the  live
show. Moving as erratically and captivatingly as a rabid  animal  and
frequently swallowing the  microphone  to  create  interesting  vocal
touches, he was mesmerizing. Couple his performance with  the  band's
killer sound and you have one of the best performances of this year's
Metalfest.
     Impaled Nazarene made their North American  debut  on  the  Rave
stage and I was there to  see  it.  Though  in  all  honesty  Impaled
Nazarene are not a band I am too familiar with, I  still  feel  their
sound and live presence could have been more imposing. After  hearing
"1999: Karmageddon Warrior's", I left the late running Rave stage for
my first trip to the Ballroom and my first live  experience  ever  of
Suffocation. Despite being short, at only five  songs  (25  minutes),
Suffocation's set was 110 percent of crushing  and  brilliant  brutal
death metal. Playing three of the four new songs  from  _Despise  the
Sun_, the awesome "Funeral Inception" acting as their opener,  "Liege
of Inveracity" and "Pierced From Within", Suffocation chose well  for
the time allotted to them. The sound was good and did  both  old  and
new material justice. The major  down  note  was  that  Frank  Mullin
confirmed rumours that the band were in turmoil, saying  "this  might
be the last time you see  Suffocation  live."  Though  he  seemed  to
regret saying it as much as the audience regretted hearing it, we can
only hope that things work out. To lose Suffocation  now,  when  they
have just blasted back with some of their best material, would be bad
enough, but now that I have witnessed them live I  can  add  that  we
would also lose one of brutal death's best live performers. Crushing,
in both senses.
     As I make it back to the Rave  stage  to  await  Angel  Corpse's
arrival, I am met with cows' heads on spikes. That is definitely  not
Angel Corpse's stage set up. I find out, to  my  dismay,  that  Angel
Corpse will not be playing due to a van  breakdown.  So  I  wait  for
Mayhem. After some time, and  a  short  intro,  the  new  Mayhem  (as
opposed to the true Mayhem) take the stage. Though receiving  a  big,
universal thumbs up from other attending CoC staff,  I  was  not  too
excited by Mayhem's set. Maybe this is because I was disappointed  at
Angel Corpse's non-appearance, but one way or the other, despite  the
decent sound and  Hellhammer's  truly  phenomenal  drum  performance,
Mayhem's near 40 minute set did not leave a deep  impression  on  me.
Cannibal Corpse were also canceled (Angel  Corpse's  drummer  was  on
their bus). Immolation (who had to mix their new album -- I  hope  it
is a good one) met the same fate.
     Though rather disheartened by these cancellations, I headed back
to the Ballroom for Death's performance. Due to the total slamming of
Death's performance at Dynamo by Terrorizer ("If we had wanted to see
Fates  Warning,  we  would  have  gone  yesterday"),  I   went   with
trepidation and arrived just as the first song  finished.  Despite  a
set which included some of _Symbolic_'s best  moments  and  "Lack  of
Comprehension", my favourite Death song, I was not wholly pleased  by
Death's performance. Though they seemed to be playing  okay,  Chuck's
vocals were inaudible and lacked any power. Whether this was the  mix
or his voice will remain to be seen in future live shows. The overall
sound mix, with that death metal  curse  of  a  totally  over-cranked
snare drum, made the performance very unsatisfying.  I  would  expect
Death to be able to get a mix good enough to do  themselves  justice,
since Suffocation managed it, and so I am undecided  whether  it  was
Death or "the PA" that let me down tonight. All that I know  is  that
it was definitely one of them. Irritated as I  was,  I  left  shortly
before Death finished up and caught the end of Usurper's  set.  Their
armoured appearance and viciously raw sound immediately told me  that
I should have stayed for their set and waited to see Death  on  their
next tour. I heard they played "Necrocult (The Metal War)" and kicked
myself for missing it. I decided, despite my  dislike  of  their  new
album _Something Wicked This Way Comes_, to check out Iced Earth, who
hit the Rave bar shortly before midnight. Despite looking very  metal
and having a chunky sound, I wasn't captivated enough to risk missing
a second of Mercyful Fate, and so I proceeded to hit the Ballroom for
the last time that evening.
     After waiting in anticipation for a short time, Mercyful  Fate's
intro began. This ran for a minute or two before the band burst  onto
the stage and began "The Oath". Their  sound  was  nicely  mixed  and
brought out the melodic subtleties  of  both  Hank  Sherman's  guitar
passages and King Diamond's impressive vocals. It also gave  a  great
big crunch to the drums and low power chords. It  thus  captured  the
whole of the "Mercyful Fate Sound". Classics from 1984's _Don't Break
the Oath_ such as "Desecration of Souls" and "Come  to  the  Sabbath"
were aired, although only a few songs from _Melissa_ got  a  look  in
(though this did include the record's epic  title  track).  Strangely
enough, Mercyful Fate chose to compose around half their set of songs
from more recent albums such as _In the  Shadows_  and  the  recently
released _Dead Again_. Though I thought the band  would  opt  to  air
more of the material which is considered truly classic, the audience,
including myself, did not hold Fate's decision against them and  Fate
were as good as forced back on for not one, but  two,  encores.  King
Diamond seemed surprised and also very happy  at  the  response  they
received and thanked and praised his audience  to  a  similar  degree
that their cheers and reaction praised him and Mercyful Fate.  Though
the Ballroom  was  emptier  for  Fate  than  it  had  been  even  for
Suffocation, what the crowd lacked in numbers they easily made up for
in persistence and devotion to their idols.  A  classic  band  and  a
great show to end Friday night with.

Saturday:
~~~~~~~~~
     Before relating Saturday's musical treats I want to  devote  two
lines to mentioning the fact that some good but unknown bands  (e.g.,
Jaww) got useless 20 minute sets at times such as 11:50  a.m..  Since
virtually no one arrives the second day  to  a  non-camping  festival
this early, I suggest the organizers avoid giving any bands  sets  at
these sorts of times in the  future,  especially  if  they  are  only
appearing on a pay-to-play basis.
     We arrived at just before 3:00 pm. Luckily for us, Solus started
late (at 3:00 pm), so  we  saw  all  of  their  set.  Having  already
witnessed their searing live assault in Toronto, I was anticipating a
good performance. I was not disappointed. Once again, Solus delivered
the goods, and I think left many of the audience as total converts to
their cause. If the quality of Solus' songs on their new album is  as
consistent as it is on their three song EP, then I  suggest  watching
out for it. Played live, these songs sound as  good  as  they  do  on
disc, and live you are also treated to lead singer Will's  manic  and
energetic stage antics, which today included a dive from stage into a
virtually unmoving crowd, a quick solo mosh and a  speedy  return  to
the stage to finish the song. Excellent musicianship  and  more  than
just comparable showmanship. Next on the Rave stage, we were  treated
to Darkmoon. Though amply performed and written death/black was  what
I heard, I was not interested enough to  persist  'till  the  end  of
their set.
     After a look downstairs, I came back to catch the end  of  Death
of Millions' 20 minutes. Though I laughed at the singer's habit  clad
appearance, it was  at  least  a  vaguely  original  piece  of  stage
apparel. What impressed more than their unoriginal  death  metal  was
their last song. Introduced by the singer as  "everyone  should  know
this one", I assumed he was addressing his home  crowd  and  that  we
were to be treated to a  local  live  favorite.  Instead,  as  I  was
informed later (not being a fan), the band played  a  Twisted  Sister
cover which, I must admit, though not maintaining the vocal style  of
the original, was surprisingly good.  Catching  a  few  of  the  last
minutes of Travail, I found them quite good, certainly better than  I
expected for a name unknown to me. Their blend of death and  hardcore
sounded cool, though not astounding. I wouldn't  mind  checking  them
out on record sometime.
     At around 5:30, I wandered into the Rave stage room expecting to
catch a few minutes of the Death Kids  (who  were  supposed  to  have
Grimoire  Girl  #9  "dancing"  for  them),  and  instead  caught  the
beginning of their set. The  Rave  was  actually  surprisingly  full,
considering the quality of this band's actual music. I personally put
the large numbers, and in fact the band's billing (above Solus?) down
to: good promotion, the appearance of a  half  naked  woman  and  the
novelty of the drummer and guitarist/vocalist's ages. After a song or
two of waiting to see the "dancer",  I  was  bored  with  the  simple
heavily Deicide-influenced dirge and was off to the downstairs again.
When  I  returned,  she  was  in  full  swing.  Though  amusing,  her
appearance exemplifies what is wrong with the Death  Kids:  they  are
cheap attention grabbers who intend to stay in the spotlight as  long
as they can hog it. They should -all- grow up. I was going  to  check
out Mortician, but the Rave bar was full to the rafters, so I decided
against it. Instead, I bided my  time  outside  until  The  Dillinger
Escape Plan took the stage. Despite  some  technical  problems  which
held them up, TDEP were not disappointing. TDEP fit the profile of  a
few too many of Relapse's signings at present in being  mindnumbingly
extreme and very much influenced by grindcore and bits  of  hardcore.
Despite fitting a profile which is beginning to lose its  impact  due
to oversaturation, TDEP were impressive and enjoyable, though  I  was
not hungry for any more after their 30  minute  set.  Benumb's  music
seemed better crafted but too similar to TDEP to give them the impact
they needed. Although I would have liked to see all their set, I  had
to leave for Crowbar and it must be  said  I  could  have  been  more
unhappy to go.
     Crowbar are a band I have not seen live in over two years. Their
cancellation of last year's planned UK tour  due  to  illness  was  a
disappointment to me and so I was consequently expecting a lot out of
their Metalfest performance. I was evidently expecting more than  the
sound system or set length could deliver. Although the band seemed to
be playing pretty well, the sound system was not giving us  the  best
impression of this. Add to this the fact  that  Crowbar  didn't  play
"All I Had I Gave" or "Existence Is Punishment" and  that  they  were
playing in the oversized Ballroom and you have a  disappointing  set.
The high point came right at the end. Crowbar  played  "The  Dawn  of
Megiddo" to  compensate  for  Celtic  Frost's  non-appearance  (early
rumours said they would reform  for  the  Metalfest).  Using  Soilent
Green's vocalist,  Crowbar  pulled  this  off  with  more  than  just
credibility. It was great to hear that Frost song live; it is a  pity
it overshadowed the rest of the  band's  set  of  original  material.
Considering the crush for Mortician, and the fact that I saw them  in
Toronto, I opted out of seeing Brutal Truth but hit the Rave bar  for
Pyrexia's set. Pyrexia were pretty good.  Although  they  will  never
surpass their big brothers Suffocation, Pyrexia's New York  death  is
damn brutal and in parts pretty damn good. The  band  were  so  tight
while playing songs such as "Hatred, Anger, Disgust", "Confrontation"
and "System of the Animal" that I don't think  even  the  most  picky
could  complain  about  their  playing.  Vocalist  Keith  DeVito  was
especially brutal and vicious in his delivery. If  Pyrexia  have  one
problem, it is that their material is not the most compelling of  the
NY brutal death crowd, but all the same their set was good and served
as a nice warm-up for Cryptopsy who were due to appear  on  the  Rave
stage soon after.
     I caught the end of (who I found out was) Fall on the Rave stage
and realized this meant I would have to wait for  Cryptopsy.  Instead
of watching Gorgasm, I  decided  that  I  would  have  another  scout
around. Just as Cryptopsy were taking the stage (the Rave  stage  now
being 45 minutes late), other CoC-ers returned from seeing  Meshuggah
on the Ballroom stage. They said it was good; I regretted missing it.
Still, Cryptopsy were here. Beginning  with  "Phobophile",  the  band
showcased an  average  sound  but  incredible  musicianship.  It  was
evident that whatever the sound system was giving us, Cryptopsy  were
playing  it  all.  While  the  set   comprised   classics   such   as
"Defenstration", "Crown of Horns" and "Slit Your Guts" along with new
track "White Worms", the sound  didn't  do  the  intensely  technical
material favours, and so, while Cryptopsy were good, they were not as
phenomenal as I had hoped and as they apparently have been. I await a
full tour. The end of Six Feet Under in the  Ballroom  had  a  better
sound than most bands that day had achieved, but  I  wouldn't  really
call their set anything to write home about. Not being familiar  with
new material or favorable to their old didn't help.
     If yesterday's most anticipated band was "Norweigan black  metal
legends" Mayhem, then today's was  "Norweigen  black  metal  legends"
Emperor. However, whereas many felt that yesterday Mayhem lived up to
that  reputation,  I  think  few  would  deny  that  Emperor  were  a
disappointment  however  you  look  at  it.  Firstly,  they  had   no
keyboards. Why? Because the  rig  couldn't  handle  it.  This  was  a
problem which succeeded in bringing any set Emperor could  have  done
down because of the centrality of keyboards in their sound. The sound
was overall, as was the  Ballroom's  tendency,  also  disappointingly
tinny.  Combine  this  with  the  fact  that  Emperor  did  not  play
outstandingly enough to allow us to overlook these problems  and  you
have a set which would be disappointing from most good bands. From  a
band this legendary, making their debut in North America, it was more
than just disappointing: it was disheartening. Gorguts, as  we  found
out when the lineup sheets were issued yesterday, were  canceled  for
reasons unknown to me. I hope the reasons were good.
     The Ballroom's  next  attraction  was  German  thrashers  Sodom.
Strangely enough, this legendary thrash band are making  their  debut
in North America tonight. Despite  the  fact  that  Sodom  have  been
around  about  twice  the  time  Emperor  have,  their  set  was  not
disappointing. Though the Sodom sound could have been a bit  crisper,
it still captured their simple, all-out thrash attack very adequately
and gave them the tools they needed to seriously impress. Sodom  were
not  disappointing,  despite  slight  imperfections,  because   their
attraction  -is-  their  expertise  in  producing  and  cranking  out
excellent raw-power thrash tunes. A raw sound doesn't hurt them  like
it hurts an atmospheric and technical  band  such  as  Emperor.  When
Sodom  cranked  out  classics  like  "Blasphemer",  "Ausgebombt"  and
"Outbreak  of  Evil",  their   live   prescence,   musicianship   and
songwriting abilities came together  to  form  one  huge  unstoppable
monster. The pity is that their set, even with encore, still  clocked
in at under an hour. But there was still Destruction left...
     Destruction sucked. There is no denying this fact; they  sucked.
There was apparently one original member present and, whoever he was,
he sure wasn't the vocalist. The guy sounded nothing like Schmier and
his style sucked. They played later Destruction  material  mostly  --
that sucked. They played a wholly  new  song  --  that  sucked.  They
played nothing from _Infernal Overkill_ -- that sucked.  They  played
about two songs from their truly old material; they played them badly
and even though the audience cheered for an encore, obviously  hoping
for something old, they refused to come back on  --  that  sucked.  I
really can't see how Metalfest could have come to a worse conclusion.
Why couldn't Sodom have played twice as  long  and  Destruction  have
canceled?


Adam's Assessment
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Good:
~~~~~~~~~
     Most bands scheduled to play -actually- played. The  quality  of
bands has improved year after year, and 1998 was no  exception.  This
year (thankfully) held more grindcore or grindcore-related bands like
Benumb, Brutal Truth, Soilent Green and Flesh  Parade,  so  hopefully
this trend will continue in years to come. Norwegian black metal made
its presence felt, via Mayhem (climaxing with  "Freezing  Moon")  and
Emperor  (culminating  with  "I  am  the  Black  Wizards").  Sweden's
Meshuggah  ending  their  set  with  "Transfixion".  Powerful   North
American death metal bands like Cryptopsy  and  Dying  Fetus  totally
crushed; I  look  forward  to  seeing  them  again  soon.  Last,  but
certainly not least;  hanging  in  the  hotel  room  while  drinkin',
smokin' and talking metal!

The Bad:
~~~~~~~~
     Emperor played without a keyboardist -and- for only  25  minutes
-- what a fucking rip-off! Mayhem had the cow heads on stage, but why
no self-mutilation by the vocalist? Dawn canceled  for  some  reason.
Angel Corpse were unable to play because of a broken  tour  bus,  but
luckily played Toronto without  problems  a  couple  of  days  later.
Impaled Nazarene (guys, don't drink  yourself  stupid  -before-  your
play). Vocalist Frank Mullen announced that Suffocation are  breaking
up, a true loss for death metal.

The Plain Ugly:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     The bad sound -- when will this be  fixed  or  compensated  for?
Mercyful Fate (what the fuck was that!!??!!). A third stage was added
this year, meaning I was able to miss even more bands than  in  prior
years. Three dollar pizza that tasted like shit. Border guards  still
suck. Individuals that will remain nameless who  bump  your  shoulder
during a particular band's set and ask, "What do you think??".


Adrian's Addendum
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Plus Points (+'s):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Meshuggah, Today Is the Day,  Cryptopsy,  The  Dillinger  Escape
Plan, Iced Earth playing  in  a  small  club,  Denny's,  interviewing
Death, good pot, Ember, buying lotsa CDs, purchasing mega  bottle  of
Gin, nice comfortable ride in min-van.

Negative Points (-'s):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Punched in  chest  (thanks  Insaniak!),  Nick  Cave  worshipping
(thanks Chris!), strip club "Features" stories (thanks again Chris!),
border staff, Gorguts not showing up to play, long drive home, didn't
eat at Bob Evans' restaurant, Gino wasn't there.


Alain's Brief MMF Briefing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thumbs up (in order):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today Is the Day (mind altering; Col. Austin, I salute you!).
Suffocation (hugest pit of the show! Their last?).
Soilent Green (love these guys, flawless set).
Death (sound blew, but Chuck's still got it).
Meshuggah (intense, fairly tight; band seemed elated).
Mayhem (no bloodshed, though good presence).
Sodom (kicked my ass, they still rock).
Shango (NY mobster metal is cool).
Emperor (musicianship high; Black Wizard alone...).

Thumbs down (in order):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Destruction (headliners? without Schmier? ridiculous!).
Emperor (no keys, unconvincing presence, no keys... no keys!).
Immolation (for not showing, major disappointment).
Gorguts (for not showing).
Angel Corpse (ditto).
Dominion (for not being the euro-Dominion, as anticipated).
Paradox (for not being the euro-Paradox, as hoped).
Impaled Nazarene (for not living up to expectations).
Six Feet Under (for being a yawn while waiting for Emperor).

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

               TRUE BRUTALITY UNDER EXTREME CONDITIONS
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             Brutal Truth, Kataklysm, Solus and The Swarm
          at the El Mocambo, Toronto, Ontario, July 20, 1998
                           by: Paul Schwarz

     At last my time came to experience Brutal Truth live -- and what
an experience it was --, but before I go into that any further, a run
down of the other bands who  accompanied  the  masters  of  grind.  I
caught  about  half  of  local  band   The   Swarm.   They   were   a
hardcore/grind/ death crossover similar in sound to Neurosis but less
prolonged and atmospheric and with a more traditional song structured
approach leaning  toward  hardcore.  They  sounded  pretty  good  and
possessed a particularly vitriolic live prescence. All members played
well and were good to watch on stage, but, as  is  the  fashion,  and
often the very nature, with such vitriolic live  groups,  the  singer
was very much the focus. He rambled between  songs  and  during  them
went vocally ballistic and physically manic  --  at  one  point  even
running off  the  stage  and  into  the  crowd.  If  the  band  could
concentrate this much rage and violence onto disc they could be going
somewhere in the future.
     Solus came on next. Having  checked  out  their  new  EP,  which
follows on in style from where their impressive _Slave of Mind_ debut
left off, I can  say  that  on  disc  Solus  are  moving  to  greener
pastures. They reproduce their new and old material well live and are
dealt a decent hand with the sound to help them along.  If  the  band
seem to lack anything this evening it is crowd  movement,  which  was
lacking in The Swarm's set also; maybe it is the Monday  night  crowd
or maybe it is the fact that no-one in the band  but  Will  seems  to
move a muscle which is not used to play their  instrument.  Whichever
it is, a little of Solus' impact is lost through the sound and  music
being the only vicious thing on display. I can't  wait  for  the  new
album, though.
     Kataklysm are back in town with a new album and a  new  vocalist
to showcase. Not having heard the band  either  live  or  on  record,
apart from owning their first 7", I can't really tell  you  how  they
reproduced their material, but I can say that I was impressed by both
their musicianship and stage prescence. The  band  sounded  cool  and
some of their new material, though markedly simpler than some of  the
older compositions, came out well live. The band weren't  captivating
in the sense that their set didn't fly by, but they were a good  band
to see all the same.
     So now it is time, time for the Brutal Truth. You'd think,  with
as much anticipation as I am displaying even  in  this  review,  that
Brutal Truth would have trouble living up to  my  high  expectations.
Well, actually, I bet you were only thinking  that  if  you've  never
seen this band live. Sufficed to say Brutal  Truth  totally  blew  me
away. Brutal Truth played a varied set  which  included  many  tracks
from the  monumental  new  album  _Sounds  of  the  Animal  Kingdom_,
alongside such classic as "Godplayer"  from  _Need  to  Control_  and
"Birth of Ignorance", among others, from their legendary  debut.  The
songs didn't matter, however, as much as the  feeling.  Brutal  Truth
capture the raw, living essence of grindcore and everything  that  is
good about it. Songs like "Fisting" have the hyper rhythms along with
the groove and innovation which  makes  Brutal  Truth  the  justified
kings of grind today. The participants in this  whirlwind  of  genius
should be well known to any lover of extreme music and well loved for
their performances on disc and performances like this  live,  despite
being held up for eight hours at Canadian customs and  braving  heavy
traffic on the road from Montreal without drugs.  An  astounding  and
virtually unstoppable live performance. Do not  headline  above  this
band: it is (Kill Trend) suicide.

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

            M E G A L O M A N I A C A L   M O N S T E R S
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             Monster Magnet in Concert at The Opera House
                 July 17th, 1998 in Toronto, Ontario
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     This had the making of a great show. I was a longtime fan of the
band, our CoC writer Paul Schwarz had just flown in from England  for
a few months stay in Toronto (plus trekking  to  Milwaukee  Metalfest
with us) and Monster Magnet had a wicked new  LP  called  _Powertrip_
just out. What more could a concert goer want going into  a  show,  I
ask  you?  Despite  some  mediocre  opening  acts,  New  Jersey  acid
dropping, pot smokin' noisemongers Monster Magnet took the stage  and
for the next 75 minutes fans were treated to a blistering assault  of
hypnotizing guitar riffs and powerful expressions of chaotic frenzy.
     Singer/guitarist/mastermind  Dave  Wyndorf  was  in  fine   form
tonight for this sold-out show,  pouncing  around  on  stage,  guitar
strapped to his back, leading the anxious crowd through chorus  after
chorus of Monster Magnet material. The fans loved it. The good  thing
about this show was that, unlike past Magnet shows, the band  had  an
extra guitar player on stage this time, allowing Wyndorf to work  the
crowd. Was great to see him losing it on stage  as  the  band  played
such classics as "Spine of God" and "Twin Earth" and good to see such
new numbers as "Tractor", "Temple of Your Dreams"  and  first  single
"Space Lord" sounding really good and raw. Even numbers  off  of  the
popular _Dopes to Infinity_ LP (i.e.,  "Negasonic  Teenage  Warhead")
sounded strong and un-slick.  The  only  thing  that  really,  really
sucked about the show was the size of the crowd. This was too packed,
and as some know of the Opera House in  Toronto,  it  has  bad  sight
lines if you don't get a good spot early on. Other than that, Monster
Magnet ruled as was anticipated. This was the fifth time I have  seen
Monster Magnet, second time headlining, and I am so pleased that  the
band has done well for themselves  over  the  last  few  years,  just
proving my point that good bands who stick it out for the  long  haul
always get rewarded in the end. Short live review here, eh? Yeah. But
the show rocked. Need I say more? Fans of the band, go see them  live
this tour. You won't be disappointed.

Note: Rumor has it, this could be a tour this Fall: Fear Factory  and
      Monster Magnet with Nashville Pussy and Rob Zombie.

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

      M I L W A U K E E ,   E A T   Y O U R   H E A R T   O U T
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
           CoC Attends the London International Death Fest
     at The Embassy in London, Ontario on Tuesday July 28, 1998
  With Withered Earth, Necronomicon, Deeds of Flesh and Dying Fetus
                           by: Adam Wasylyk

     Ah, London Ontario.  A  place  that  Toronto  metal  fans  could
venture into to see extreme metal that  their  city  couldn't  offer.
However, those days are now over since Toronto's metal  scene  is  as
strong or perhaps moreso than London's. But  London  still  has  some
great shows, one of them being the annual  London  Death  Fest.  With
some cunning words and many false assurances, a ride there  and  back
was secured. Onward, ho!
     Three hours later, we arrive as the first band are just starting
their set. New York's Withered  Earth  boast  a  death  metal  sound,
sounding tight albeit predictable. But damn if  I  can  remember  one
tune or memorable moment. The crowd response was almost nil, as there
was hardly a crowd to speak of. Most would arrive later  to  see  the
bigger acts on the bill.
     Montreal's Necronomicon proves that Quebec  is  still  producing
some of the best metal bands in North  America.  Labeling  themselves
"occult metal", it's an apt description, as it  fuses  together  some
clever guitaring and interesting  song  arrangements.  Yes,  this  is
death metal, but it's a lot more than just that. Thumbs up go to  the
drummer for his psychotic drumming, but  what's  up  with  that  drum
stick twirling? Yikes! Also, the guitaring deserves an extra  mention
on two  fronts.  The  Morbid  Angel-isms  and  technical  flair  were
appreciated, but a second live guitarist is sorely needed to fill  in
some of the holes in Necronomicon's live sound. Necronomicon  already
have a strong foundation; should they successfully build on it,  then
they'll receive the recognition they deserve.
     Readers of CoC may know Summertime  Daisies  from  either  their
appearance at last years' Milwaukee Metal Fest or from their coverage
in prior issues (mostly in the form of live  reviews).  London  death
metal fans really came out to support the lone  London  band  on  the
bill, and they showed their appreciation  accordingly.  To  tell  the
truth, I've really given up on this band, as I thought Summertime did
some great work on their first demo but have failed to live up to the
potential they've demonstrated. The more the band played on the  more
interesting the Blue Jay game on a TV behind the bar became.
     Deeds of Flesh played next to a noticeably smaller crowd as many
of the Summertime supporters scattered or gathered at  the  bar  near
the back of the venue. I'll admit they were  both  technical  and  at
times brutal, but so what? No memorability whatsoever. Playing  songs
off each of their  CDs  on  Repulse  Records  (_Trading  Pieces_  and
_Inbreeding The Anthropophagi_), neither I nor most of the crowd  got
into their sound. Time to check to see what's happening with the Blue
Jays...
     Closing out the night were the headliners Dying Fetus,  who  not
only demonstrated how to  play  both  brutal  and  -memorable-  death
metal, but were tight as a ten-year-old to boot. Not only were tracks
like "Blunt Force Trauma", "Skull Fucked", "Raped On The  Altar"  and
the mighty "Nocturnal Crucifixion" played from  the  bands'  infamous
_Putrification Through Violence_ CD, but also a few new  tracks  from
_Killing Adrenaline_ (just released on Morbid Records)  were  played,
such as the title track and "Kill Your Mother / Rape Your Dog" (gotta
love that title!). This is a live  band  that  must  be  seen  to  be
believed.
     Incidentally, the Blue Jays won. Happiness is me.

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               A   M E E T I N G   O F   D E I T I E S
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                   Blood of Christ and Morbid Angel
        at the El Mocambo in Toronto, Canada, on July 3, 1998
                           by: Adam Wasylyk

     This show could have spelled doom from the very start.
     Most of the crowd found out inside the venue that both Vader and
Incantation were stopped at  the  Canadian  border  and  wouldn't  be
playing. The crowd booed when the announcement was made by one of the
earlier bands on the bill (whose name escapes me), and rightfully so,
since both bands have not only recorded a lot of  great  material  in
the past, but are also formidable live acts.
     It would take some great music to make up for the  loss  of  the
aforementioned bands,  and  the  final  two  acts  were  up  for  the
challenge.
     London's Blood of Christ were totally amazing, to say the least.
A death/black quartet formerly on Pulverizer Records (who I hear  has
gone belly-up), the band put on an energetic set consisting mostly of
material off the bands' debut CD _...  A  Dream  to  Remember_.  Most
worthy of note was the drumming, which held two levels of  intensity;
blast beat and hyperblast (ala Kataklysm or Cryptopsy). I  tells  ya,
when Blood of  Christ  find  a  suitable  label,  they'll  become  as
noteworthy as the aforementioned Canadian bands in  the  death  metal
scene.
     Morbid Angel's set was without prejudice  the  -best-  set  I've
ever seen a band play in my life. Even better than when the band last
came to Toronto with Grip Inc. a few years ago. New  vocalist/bassist
Steve Tucker fit perfectly into the live situation,  doing  both  new
and old material almost flawlessly. Trey Azagthoth was  a  wonder  to
watch, his guitar wizardry a sight to behold.  Pete  Sandoval  did  a
great job behind the drum kit, hitting peak speed  during  the  first
blast beat in "Day of Suffering". Morbid Angel played a set list that
touched on every album except _Domination_ (which wasn't  surprising,
since Azagthoth had told me himself he didn't care for  that  album),
playing older songs like "Lord of All Fevers and Plague",  "Rapture",
"Blood on My Hands" and "World of Shit (The Promised Land)". The bulk
of live material came from MA's newest opus _Formulas  Fatal  to  the
Flesh_ -- tracks like  "Heaving  Earth",  "Prayer  of  Hatred",  "Bil
Ur-Sag", "Nothing Is  Not",  "Covenant  of  Death",  "Hellspawn:  The
Rebirth" and "Invocation of the Continual One".  "Chapel  of  Ghouls"
ended it off, which in my opinion is one  of  the  best  death  metal
songs ever written. What a spectacle to behold; it truly was the most
exciting hour of live music I have yet to experience.
     An unforgettable show, Morbid Angel (with the help of  Blood  of
Christ) made this show one for the books, a momentous  occasion  that
should go down as Toronto's best metal show of the year.

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                      M A D   M A X   L I V E S
                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                          Soulfly with Cold
         at Batschkapp in Frankfurt, Germany on June 2, 1998
                          by: Matthias Noll

     These days I don't look forward going to shows that feature more
than two bands. Of course "value for money" has its  appeal,  but  it
seems  that  it's  more  often  "quantity  for  money",  which  is  a
completely different thing. Fortunately, at least for me and some  of
my friends who share my opinion, Limp Bizkits, who were announced  as
one of the bands in  tonight's  package,  jumped  off  the  tour  for
unknown reasons. No offense toward LB fans intended here.
     At 2100, Cold entered the stage and played for about 50 minutes.
The band was unknown to me and their dark melancholic  style,  in  my
opinion, left a lot to  be  desired.  Reminding  me  sometimes  of  a
lightweight version of Tool mixed with bits  and  pieces  of  Killing
Joke, their song material sounded rather samey and, due to a lack  of
good and crunching riffs, failed to rock most of  the  time.  On  the
other hand, the melancholy and  emotion  in  their  songs  failed  to
impress, as there were no real climaxes but a constant  whining  feel
that made me start to yawn halfway through the set. The crowd reacted
in a friendly manner, applauding after  each  song,  but  in  general
stayed rather calm.
     A long break followed, during which the audience grew  more  and
more impatient. Members of the crew appeared on stage over  and  over
again to check one more time if the towels were in  the  right  place
and other important stuff. As the crowd grew more  impatient  by  the
minute, a lot of yelling and cursing took  place  until  finally  the
lights went down and tonight's headliner took  the  stage.  Soulfly's
opener "Eye for an Eye" blasted through the PA. The guitar sound  hit
the audience as if made  of  concrete,  the  tribal  style  drums,  a
monstrous bass, Max's growling vocals, everything received the  right
attention in the mix, blending into a crunching wall  of  sound  that
made the crowd bang and jump like crazy from the  front  row  to  the
back of the venue. Guitarist Logan Mader, with a new  hairstyle  that
made his head look like some kind of exotic vegetable, jumped up  and
down, his guitar providing Soulfly with an  improved  metallic  edge.
More songs from the Soulfly debut followed with  the  excitement  and
energy from both band and audience constantly keeping its high level.
As expected, some Sepultura goodies were offered during the  show:  a
medley of "Beneath the Remains" and "Dead Embryonic Cells". Later  in
the set, "Roots", "Spit" and "Straight Hate" brought back memories of
Brazil's finest band. While the  downtuned  guitar  sound  failed  to
provide the lightning fast "Beneath the Remains" with  enough  power,
the newer Sepultura stuff sounded absolutely killer. Too bad the band
played none of the Nailbomb covers I had expected. The Gloria and Max
vs. Sepultura bullshit that fuels the daily  soap  opera  on  several
Soulfly and Sepultura websites luckily didn't play a role that  night
and Mr. Cavalera never mentioned  the  split  and  its  circumstances
throughout the set. With the constant  banging,  slamming  and  stage
diving that took place in the Batschkapp (an old  bomb  shelter  from
WW2, by the way) the place reached temperatures that  came  close  to
being unbearable. Therefore, Max was constantly showering  the  front
rows and himself with water. After about 55 minutes, the show reached
a climax with "No" and right after that was already over. Having paid
quite some bucks for the ticket, I should have left disappointed, but
the quality of the Soulfly show was truly compensating for  that.  If
this band manages to keep  a  high  quality  level  with  its  future
releases, I'll come back to see them anyplace anytime. Let's wait  to
hear what Sepultura have to offer  with  _Against_.  Hopefully  we'll
experience two fantastic bands emerging from the split.

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                 C D   R E L E A S E   B O N A N Z A
                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             Bughouse, Lifebleed, Inertia, and Lethargy
        at the Water Street Music Hall in Rochester, New York
                        Friday, July 24, 1998
                           by: Brian Meloon

     If you were stuck in upstate New York on the first  day  of  the
Milwaukee Metalfest, with no way to traverse the  thousand  miles  to
Milwaukee, what would you have done? Well, you could've gone to  this
show. It was a CD release party for Inertia and  Lifebleed,  both  of
whom were releasing their debut albums.  I  was  previously  familiar
with the first three bands from their songs on the  Watchmen  studios
compilation  [see  CoC  #27],  but  for  two  of  them,  those  first
impressions were misleading.
     The doors opened at 9, and Bughouse went on at 9:30. They played
for  more  than  half  an   hour.   Their   music   is   a   mix   of
alternative/modern rock (Pearl Jam, et al) and heavy hardcore. It was
diverse -- and that's good --, but  it  didn't  seem  to  quite  make
sense. Their performance was enthusiastic, but the crowd didn't  seem
to really get it either.
     Lifebleed was up next, and played for about an hour. They are  a
straightforward hardcore band, with a twist here and there, but  much
more straightforward than I was expecting. They played with a lot  of
energy, and were entertaining. Despite  their  youthful  appearances,
their music was very well played, and pretty mature.  The  crowd  was
rather subdued, but came alive in a few sections. Mostly  people  sat
around watching, though.
     Inertia came on next, and they also played for  about  an  hour.
The first half of their  set  was  excellent,  but  the  second  half
dragged on too long. They play technical death metal, along the lines
of Deeds of Flesh: very rhythmically based, with little or no melody.
The playing was very tight  and  aggressive,  but  the  songs  didn't
really have enough diversity to keep from sounding the same  after  a
while. After peaking at around 150, the crowd started to thin towards
the end of their set, as I'm sure some people got as bored with  them
as I did. A number of people were escorted out as well, as a  handful
of fights broke out about three-quarters of  the  way  through  their
set. Other than that incident, the crowd really didn't react much  to
them, as their music is too technical  to  really  get  into.  I  was
suitably impressed by their performance, but could've done for a  few
less songs.
     Lethargy went on a little after 1:00. They played six songs: one
from _It's Hard to Write With a Little Hand_ [CoC #14], one from  the
Watchmen studios compilation [CoC #27], and four new songs.  The  new
songs were less noodly and more hardcore than their  older  songs,  a
fact which seemed to encourage the fans who stuck  around  until  the
end. The playing was precise as always,  but  their  performance  was
less than  enthusiastic.  Unfortunately,  their  sound  wasn't  mixed
right: the bass and snare drums were way too high, drowning  out  the
other drums and the guitars and bass. In addition, one of the guitars
cut out during the last song, and the band kind  of  fell  apart  and
stopped playing. And so the show ended.  Most  people  in  the  crowd
seemed confused as to why they would play only six songs, and give it
such a lackluster effort.
     In any case, it was a successful outing for the two bands  whose
CDs were released that evening: Lifebleed and Inertia.  Both  put  on
impressive shows, and should be around for some time.  On  the  other
hand, the future for Lethargy seems less sure.

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

               P O R T U G U E S E   R A D I A T I O N
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        Buried Alive, Lacrima, The Royal Blood and Imortalis
                   at the Hard Club, Gaia, Portugal
                            July 25, 1998
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

     Those who organized this concert aimed at  promoting  the  _High
Radiation 4_ compilation [reviewed in this issue], as all four  bands
who played in this release party are featured there. The  bands,  all
from northern  Portugal,  obviously  aimed  at  promoting  themselves
through their performance. However, things could  have  been  better,
considering the problems most bands suffered.
     The first band to play in front of a rather cold audience,  most
of which preferred  to  watch  the  concert  from  the  balcony,  was
Imortalis, who presented some very standard thrash. They started very
nervous and never really managed to impress me; the  fact  that  they
were playing without their lead guitarist probably didn't help  much.
Still, the three band members who did make it to the stage did  their
job for 25 minutes, but didn't exactly leave me in awe.
     Neither did The Royal Blood [whose demo tape I reviewed  in  CoC
#30]  with  their  35  minute  long   performance,   although   their
performance was more interesting  than  Imortalis'.  The  good  sound
quality provided for all the bands benefited them the  most  relative
to  their  recorded  material  (considering   their   mediocre   demo
_Incantation of the Queen_ as well as their compilation track).  With
this much improved sound, The Royal Blood proved to  be  a  competent
band, although very unoriginal (too similar to Cradle  of  Filth).  A
poorly staged "vampyric"  scene  opened  a  performance  that  showed
plenty of improvement since their demo (the drumming was quite  good,
for example). As a result, The Royal Blood did  leave  a  far  better
impression than that caused by their _Incantation of the Queen_ demo.
     I was looking forward to the third band,  Lacrima,  whose  first
demo tape _Tears From the Inside_ sounded very promising; they have a
new demo coming out now, and, not surprisingly,  they  seem  to  have
left some of their melodic doom/death with  male  and  female  vocals
behind in exchange for more gothic-oriented parts (judging by the new
material they played live, since I haven't listened to their new demo
yet), but that might  only  be  true  for  some  of  the  new  songs.
Nevertheless, disappointment was immediate as soon  as  they  entered
the stage, because their female vocalist couldn't be there, for  some
reason. Imagine, say,  a  Theatre  of  Tragedy  concert  without  Liv
Kristine... that's similar to the situation here, minus the keyboards
(Lacrima don't use any). Their 30 minutes ended up being  more  of  a
mid-paced melodic death metal show, with some doom here and there and
not much brutality as far as death metal is concerned.  Opening  with
the fine "Show Me the Way" from their first demo (a song that's  very
good with  female  vocals),  Lacrima  still  managed  to  produce  an
interesting show, which the deep  growls  and  good  drumming  helped
improve.
     By now, most people were  probably  wondering  which  member  of
Buried Alive would miss the show, but they all actually made it. More
thrash, but better than Imortalis. Their set was much longer than any
other (about 45 minutes), but they had technical problems with one of
the guitars during the show. Good instrumentally,  very  powerful  at
times and just plain unremarkable  some  other  times,  Buried  Alive
tried their best to get the crowd moving, as there wasn't even a mosh
pit by then; a dozen loyal followers responded to the  call.  Indeed,
most people were in  there  just  because  the  tickets  weren't  too
expensive for a four band concert and the price included a free _High
Radiation 4_ CD. A rather flawed and not  very  interesting  concert,
but it's not like good foreign bands come here every  day  (or  every
month, for that matter) anyway.

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

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

Gino's Top 5

1. Absu - _Sun of Tiphareth_
2. Monster Magnet - _Powertrip_
3. Pitch Shifter - _Desensitized_
4. Biohazard - _Urban Discipline_
5. Beastie Boys - _Hello Nasty_

Adrian's Top 5

1. Vision of Disorder - _Imprint_
2. Sepultura - _Against_
3. Korn - _Follow the Leader_
4. Transport League - _Superevil_
5. Pulkas - _Greed_

Brian's Top 5

1. Death - _The Sound of Perseverance_
2. Various - _A Call to Irons: A Tribute to Iron Maiden_
3. Morgul - _Parody of the Mass_
4. Siebenburgen - _Grimjaur_
5. Abigor - _Supreme Immortal Art_

Alain's Top 5

1. Gorguts - _Obscura_
2. Nile - _Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka_
3. Genitorturers - _Sin City_
4. Cryptopsy - _Blasphemy Made Flesh_
5. Aldo Nova - _Subject_

Adam's Top 5

1. My Dying Bride - _Like Gods of the Sun_
2. Osculum Infame - _Dor-Nu-Fauglith_
3. Type O Negative - first two records
4. Dark Throne - _Transilvanian Hunger_
5. Nile - _Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka_

Pedro's Top 5

1. Opeth - _My Arms, Your Hearse_
2. Primordial - _A Journey's End_
3. At the Gates - _The Red in the Sky Is Ours_
4. At the Gates - _Terminal Spirit Disease_
5. Aeternus - _... And So the Night Became_

Paul's Top 5

1. Vision of Disorder - _Imprint_
2. Manowar - _Into Glory Ride_
3. Sepultura - _Against_
4. Malevolent Creation - _Retribution_
5. Hellhammer - _Apocalyptic Raids_

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


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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
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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'
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End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #33

All contents copyright 1998 by individual creators of included work.
All opinions expressed herein are those of the individuals expressing
them, and do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone else.

