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


        CHRONICLES OF CHAOS E-Zine, March 16, 1997, Issue #18

Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>
Coordinator: Adrian Bromley <mailto:energizr@interlog.com>
Assistant Editor: Alain M. Gaudrault <mailto:alain@mks.com>
Contributor: Brian Meloon <mailto:bmeloon@math.cornell.edu>
Contributor: Steve Hoeltzel <mailto:hoeltzel@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu>
Contributor: Adam Wasylyk <mailto:macabre@interlog.com>
Contributor: Drew Schinzel <mailto:drew@magpage.com>
Contributor: Andrew Lewandowski <mailto:kmvb73c@prodigy.com>
Contributor: Pedro Azevedo <mailto:leic97@tom.fe.up.pt>
Mailing List provided by: The University of Colorado at Boulder

--> Interested in being reviewed? Send us your demo and bio to:
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                         CHRONICLES OF CHAOS
                           57 Lexfield Ave
                            Downsview Ont.
                           M3M-1M6, Canada
             Fax: (416) 693-5240   Voice: (416) 693-9517
                     e-mail: ginof@interlog.com
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

DESCRIPTION
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chronicles of Chaos is a monthly magazine electronically  distributed
worldwide via the Internet. Chronicles of Chaos focuses on all  forms
of brutal music; from thrash to death to black metal, we have it all.
Each issue will feature interviews with your favorite bands,  written
from the perspective of a true fan.  Each  issue  will  also  include
record reviews and previews, concert reviews and tour dates, as  well
as various happenings in the  metal  scene  worldwide.  If  you'd  be
interested   in   writing   for   CoC,   drop   us    a    line    at
mailto:ginof@interlog.com. Concert reviews  are  especially  welcome,
but please bear in mind that we cannot  accept  every  submission  we
receive."

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

WORLD WIDE WEB SITE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We are currently  in  the  process  of  constructing  a  website  for
Chronicles of Chaos. You can  check  it  out  by  pointing  your  web
browser to http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html. If you  have  any
comments    or    suggestions,    please    e-mail    Brian    Meloon
<mailto:bmeloon@math.cornell.edu>.

FTP ARCHIVE
~~~~~~~~~~~
All of our back issues and various other Chronicles of Chaos  related
files are stored in the e-zine archive at ftp.etext.org.  Connect  to
this  site  using  your   favorite   FTP   program   and   chdir   to
/pub/Zines/ChroniclesOfChaos. For a description of each file  in  the
archive, check out the README file. You  can  also  reach  this  site
through     a     web     browser     by     pointing     it      at:
ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/ChroniclesOfChaos.

AUTOMATIC FILESERVER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All back issues and various other CoC related files are available for
automatic retrieval through our e-mail fileserver. All you have to do
is  send  a  message  to  us  at   <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>.   The
'Subject:' field of your message must read: "send file X"  where  'X'
is the name of the requested file. Back  issues  are  named  'coc-n',
where 'n' is the  issue  number.  For  a  description  of  all  files
available through this fileserver, request 'list'.  Remember  to  use
lowercase letters for all file names. If you experience any  problems
or are having difficulty, feel free to e-mail us  the  usual  way  at
<mailto:ginof@interlog.com>.

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

Issue #18 Contents, 3/16/97
---------------------------
* Editorial
* Loud Letters
* Ferocious Features
-- Sinister: Across The Styx And Back
* Chaotic Chat Sessions
-- Summoning: Messages From Mordor
-- Dio: On The Mend
-- The Mourning of Mork Gryning
-- Acid Bath: Neutralizing The Bass
-- Nightstick: Fucked Up And Loving It
* Independent Interrogations
-- Quo Vadis: Fuck the Status Quo
* Record Revelations
-- Absu - _The Third Storm of Cythraul_ 
-- AC - _I Like It When You Die_
-- Agathocles - _Thanks for Your Hostility_  
-- Angizia - _Die Kemenanten Sharlachroter Lichter_
-- The Blood Divine - _Awaken_  
-- Borknagar - _Borknagar_  
-- Carcass - _Wake Up and Smell the Carcass_  
-- Coal Chamber - _Coal Chamber_  
-- Various Artists - _Wintergrief_  
-- The Darksend - _Unsunned_  
-- Dominion - _Interface_  
-- Eternal Oath - _So Silent_ MCD
-- Godkiller - _The Rebirth of the Middle Ages_
-- The Great Kat - _Guitar Goddess_
-- Grimoire - _A Requiem for the Light_
-- Hammerfall - _Glory to the Brave_
-- Hefeystos - _Vilce Sjen_  
-- I'M'L - _Instigating The Mean And Loud_  
-- Limbonic Art - _Moon in the Scorpio_
-- Lordes Werre - _Canticles of Armageddon_ 
-- Lux Occulta - _Forever Alone. Immortal._ 
-- Machine Head - _The More Things Change..._
-- Mental Destruction - _Straw_ 
-- Merzbow - _Age Of 369/Chant 2_ Double CD
-- Necromantia - _Ancient Pride_  
-- Necrophobic - _Darkside_  
-- Num Skull - _When Suffering Comes_  
-- Penitent - _The Beauty of Pain_  
-- Various Artists - _A Tribute to Judas Priest_  
-- Purity - _Built_
-- Quorthon - _When Our Day Is Through_ 
-- Regard Extreme - _Resurgence_  
-- Rocking Dildos - _On Speed_  
-- Signs Ov Chaos - _Frankenscience (Urban Cyberpunk)_
-- Six Feet Under - _Alive and Dead_ EP
-- Solhverv - _Tagernes Artusinde_  
-- Sonipath - _Heavy Hooks_  
-- Stillsuit - _At The Speed Of Light_  
-- Summertime Daisies - _The Clarity of Impurity_  
-- Quo Vadis - _Forever..._
-- Xysma - _Lotto_ 
* New Noise
-- Carrion - _Flesh Piles On The Floor
-- Chaotic Order - _Chaotic Order_  
-- Inner Misery - _Sea_  
-- Odes Of Ecstasy - _Atheistic Emotions_  
* Chaotic Concerts
-- Cannabis Corpse And Friends: Cannibal Corpse in Buffalo
-- The Factory Never Quits: Fear Factory in Australia
* What We Have Cranked
* The Final Word

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

                          E D I T O R I A L
                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                          by: Gino Filicetti

     Hello everyone, as promised, here is the next installment of the
Chronicles of Chaos legacy! Issue #18 and no less for all  our  loyal
readers. And thus continues the legend of CoC, established  over  1.5
years ago. Alright, alright, I'll cut the melodrama, but hey, we  all
need to feel important at one point or another! :)
     On February 19, 1997, the two founding members  of  CoC,  Adrian
and yours truly went on another 'excursion' into the United States of
America. This time, our mission was the reconnaissance of the  Brutal
Truth/Cannibal Corpse show in Buffalo, NY. I must say, Buffalo was  a
depressing city, but the show definitely brought up my hopes for  the
scene. Incredibly, 500+ turned out for  the  show,  probably  because
Buffalo IS Cannibal Corpse's hometown. But it was  a  great  concert.
Brutal Truth stole the show and all I can say is that they SMOKE!  It
was also good to finally meet a longtime e-mail  pal,  BT's  drummer,
Rich Hoak. (Sorry I had to jet, Rich. You understand, right?)
     Our Loud Letters section this month is pretty sparse.  Only  one
letter to print. I hope this isn't going to become a  trend.  Let  me
remind everyone, that Loud Letters aren't ONLY for the praise or  put
down of the mag,  like  any  "Letters  to  the  Editor"  section,  we
encourage you to speak your mind, give your opinion on any  topic  of
concern or correct any fuck ups we may have made.  It  is  a  section
that is for, of, and by the reader.
     We got some early word on this year's Metalfest. So far,  things
are looking MIGHTY good for the show. Good enough that  us  Canadians
will have to make another 'excursion' to go check  it  out.  I'm  not
going to say which bands I heard are  playing,  because  it  probably
won't be true by the time you read this.
     Well, that's all I got to say, enjoy this issue and I'll see you
all next time.

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

                 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: Wed, 29 Jan 1997
From: Hafiz Mawji <an320@torfree.net>
Subject: Loud Letters

I have been reading CoC since issue 3. I think the effort put  in  by
Gino, Adrian, Alain and other contributors is phenomenal. I myself am
very happy that this magazine was started locally here in Toronto and
best of all is available for FREE to anyone  interested.  Although  I
was not familiar with a lot of the bands in CoC 16. I was anxious  to
read the Classic Carnage section.

I am also looking for reliable people to trade tapes with and to  add
to my growing collection.

This is a list of all the groups I am looking for rare, limited,  FM,
live, demo and practice recordings of (with excellent sound):

AC/DC, Accept,  Annihilator,  Anthrax,  Black  Sabbath  Pre1987/1992,
Cathedral, Celtic Frost, Destruction, Dio,  Dream  Theater,  Exciter,
Exodus, Fear Factory, Forbidden, Iced  Earth,  Iron  Maiden  Pre1990,
Jimi Hendrix, King Diamond, Led Zeppelin,  Megadeth,  Mercyful  Fate,
Metallica Pre1987, NWOBHM Groups,  Ozzy  Osbourne  Pre1987,  Pantera,
Quiet Riot w/Randy Rhoads, Raven, Rush Pre1990, S.O.D., Sacred Reich,
Sacrifice, Joe Satriani, Sepultura, Slayer, Testament, Trouble, Steve
Vai, Venom.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
    ___________                        .__
    \_   _____/__________  ____   ____ |__| ____  __ __  ______
     |    __)/ __ \_  __ \/  _ \_/ ___\|  |/  _ \|  |  \/  ___/
     |     \\  ___/|  | \(  <_> )  \___|  (  <_> )  |  /\___ \
     \___  / \___  >__|   \____/ \___  >__|\____/|____//____  >
         \/      \/                  \/                     \/
      ___________            __
      \_   _____/___ _____ _/  |_ __ _________   ____   ______
       |    __)/ __ \\__  \\   __\  |  \_  __ \_/ __ \ /  ___/
       |     \\  ___/ / __ \|  | |  |  /|  | \/\  ___/ \___ \
       \___  / \___  >____  /__| |____/ |__|    \___  >____  >
           \/      \/     \/                        \/     \/

The meat of the matter lies here. Read on for the juiciest morsels on
bands ranging from the reknowned to the obscure. No fat, no  gristle,
just blood-soaked slabs served hot and ready. Dig in, readers.


           A C R O S S   T H E   S T Y X   A N D   B A C K
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                  An Interview with Mike of Sinister
                          by: Steve Hoeltzel

     This band should require no introduction, having proudly carried
the flag for European death metal throughout a decade that  has  seen
scores of lesser death metal bands on the continent either stagnating
or wimping out. Not Sinister. Their 1992 debut _Cross the  Styx_  set
the standard early on for excellence  in  death  metal:  imaginative,
brutal, jagged, technically adept. Follow-up  _Diabolical  Summoning_
(1993) injected a good, strong dose  of  blasting  grind  into  their
sound,  and  remains  an  unique  and   under-appreciated   slab   of
tightly-disciplined sonic mayhem. And then there's 1995's _Hate_.  If
you ask me, it's the pinnacle of the death metal genre  so  far,  the
prime synthesis of songwriting prowess and  pulverizing  power.  Last
year saw the European release of the four-track EP _Bastard  Saints_,
whose two new tracks continue in the crushing tradition of _Hate_ and
precede re-recorded versions of a  pair  of  songs  from  _Cross  the
Styx_. The EP should  be  available  in  North  America  through  the
American branch of Nuclear Blast by the time you read this,  and  the
band hopes to do a North American tour this summer, possibly as  part
of a package of Nuclear Blast artists. 
     Since  _Bastard  Saints_  seems   to   represent   a   kind   of
coming-full-circle for the band, I asked vocalist Mike  what  led  to
the decision to redo "Cross the Styx"  and  "Epoch  of  Denial"  from
their first CD.  "Actually,  two  reasons,"  he  explains.  "At  this
moment, we've got a new line-up. We've got a new bass player, Michel,
and [guitarist] Bart was not on _Cross the Styx_ either, so  we  just
wanted to show people how we play the songs. It's even more  intense,
better played, faster, with some parts a little bit  slower,  so  the
songs have a little bit more feeling. So this would give the idea  of
how we play them live."
     In fact, Michel has played bass for the band  since  immediately
after the recording of _Hate_, and he toured with the band in support
of that record. Now that there's a complete, solid line-up,  has  any
more new material been recorded? "No,  nothing  recorded  yet,"  Mike
reports. "We're working hard on the  new  material,  but  we've  been
doing other stuff, playing, et cetera. We want to have the best songs
we can make, so it takes a little  bit  longer  than  usual.  It's  a
little harder now to write very good material, because  _Hate_  is  a
very good album. People like _Bastard Saints_  as  well,  and  people
expect us to have the same quality. That's what we want as  well,  so
there's a little pressure, and it's a little bit harder to write  the
songs." Still, there's been plenty of writing going  on,  Mike  tells
me. "We've got a lot of  parts  written,  and  one  song  is  totally
finished. It's probably the most brutal Sinister song ever. The title
is not settled yet. 'Satan's Disciple' is what I'm calling  it  right
now, but I haven't finished the lyrics."
     Given that Sinister is a band  whose  albums  are  never  carbon
copies of previous releases, I asked Mike whether  the  new  material
would continue in the same brutal vein. (This is an idiotic  question
to ask the vocalist of such a titanic band,  I  know.  But  for  some
reason, I asked it.) "Definitely!" Mike states with enthusiasm.  "The
same aggression. Sinister stands for something brutal and aggressive,
and we want to keep it that way. Even  if  we're  going  to  sound  a
little bit different - like _Bastard Saints_, for example, is totally
different from _Cross the Styx_ - still, it's the Sinister sound. And
that's what we want to keep for the new album as well."
     Clearly, these guys have no intention of going  soft.  I  always
wonder, though, how death metal vocalist are able to keep belting  it
out in the trademark  style.  I  mean,  you  would  think  that  that
approach would just kill your throat, and I've always suspected  that
that's why so many bands feature brutal vocals on an  album  or  two,
then shift to a cleaner style. According to Mike, though, that's  not
an issue for Sinister. "No, not with me. I sing in the good way. Some
guys sing out of their throats, and if you're going to  sing  out  of
your throat, then yeah. They have problems on tour, stuff like  that.
I've never actually had problems on tour. I can sing that  way  every
day and have no problems. I know some guys who  have  pain  in  their
throat from the way they're singing. But I have no problem, because I
sing a little bit out of my stomach. That's the good way."
     That's cool to know, since the band will be doing  weekly  dates
in Holland for the next little while and, as I mentioned above,  they
hope to make the trek to North America before the year is out. I  ask
who they might like to come over with, and Mike replies  that  "We're
working on it. We've thought about all kinds of ideas. We might  make
it a Nuclear Blast package." The band seems to be  quite  happy  with
the newly re-formed Nuclear Blast America. "Yeah, Dustin is  doing  a
great job for us," Mike says. "It's really cool."
     Is the band excited to get back on the  road?  "Oh  yeah!"  Mike
exclaims. "We love it - that's what music is all about, playing live.
That's what we want to do, to be on the road as much as possible.  We
get sick if some show gets canceled or a tour gets  canceled.  That's
the biggest disappointment you can get."
     As long as we're talking about like  and  dislikes,  I'm  really
curious to know what Mike thinks of the recent explosion of  interest
in black metal - especially since Sinister are a European band who've
carried the banner for death metal  since  well  before  black  metal
became so huge. "I like some black metal stuff, but most of the bands
I like have a little bit of the death metal sound," he tells  me.  "I
like Marduk, Angel Corpse, things like that, but they've got a little
bit of death metal sound. They're not 100 percent  black  metal:  the
guitar sound is not that high, and you've only got the  high  vocals,
warpaint, and stuff like that. To me, those bands are pretty cool."
     Of course, quite a few death metal bands these days seem to have
stories about harassment from hardcore black metal purists - annoying
letters, people flinging dead cats around, that sort of  thing.  Does
Sinister have any such tales to tell?  "No,"  Mike  says.  "Actually,
we've got a big black metal following here in Europe. When  we  do  a
show, there are so many black metal guys, it's unbelievable. And they
say, 'Yeah, we only like black metal, but the only death  metal  band
we like is Sinister. So that's cool, and we hope we're gonna keep  it
that way. I like some of the black metal stuff. Not all, because... a
lot of those guys are just starting out playing guitar for  a  couple
weeks or a couple months, and then they start writing music.  So  for
me, it doesn't sound like anything. But now, there are more and  more
better black metal bands. So it's pretty cool, and as I  said,  we've
got a big black metal following."
     That is cool,  and  its  good  to  know  that  the  scene  isn't
necessarily as narrow-minded and self-contained as one  might  think,
given the way in which it's often portrayed. As I indicated to  Mike,
I think that the black metal explosion has been a great thing for the
scene. Yeah, there's been plenty of bullshit and  hype,  but  at  the
same time, it's unleashed some creative energies  that  just  weren't
getting tapped by bands in the death metal scene. Mike's thoughts  on
all this?
     "It's true. There were so many death metal bands at  that  time,
and a lot of them getting slower and softer. They'd all want to sound
like Death, and Death was getting  softer  as  well.  The  media  was
making a big thing out of it,  and  saying  that  death  metal  died.
Everybody was searching for something more extreme. That's  why  only
bands who kept their own style -  like  us,  Morbid  Angel,  Deicide,
Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation - those bands survived. A lot  of  other
bands who changed their style - nobody cared  about  them  any  more.
People searched for something new, and the  most  extreme  thing  was
black metal, at the time. Even though the music, for a lot  of  these
bands, totally sucked, they didn't  care,  because  it  was  extreme,
they've got the warpaint and stuff like that;  the  image  was  cool.
That's what a lot of people were searching for."
     What about all the ideology, though? A lot of black metal  bands
talk a very hard line about Satanism, and more to the point, a lot of
them have nothing but unkind words for Anton Lavey. Sinister, on  the
other hand, is a band which has never shied away from Satanic imagery
either - but who, I would suspect,  have  a  lot  more  sympathy  for
Lavey's atheistic, individualistic style of Satanism. I ask Mike what
he thinks about all that.
     "Well, I can say one thing," he replies. "Most of the  guys  who
are saying shit like that are just, like, 15 years old. And if you're
15 years old, what do you know about life? What  do  you  know  about
Satanism? I know a lot about that stuff - not a lot, maybe, but  I've
read many books about it, and I can say I know a bunch of that stuff.
But even if I was totally into the demon stuff, I  could  never  tell
myself that there was a Satan, for two reasons. I think that  if  you
are a Satanist, you should know  stuff  like  that  with  90  percent
certainty. And nobody  could  know  it  with  90  percent  certainty,
because then you'd have to read so many books and  stuff  like  that,
that you should probably be 40 years old or something like that  even
if you spent your whole life being into Satanism. As well, I use  the
word 'Satan' in  the  lyrics,  but  for  me,  Satan  is  made  up  by
Christians. So, if you believe in Satan, you have to believe in  God.
And I don't believe in God, so I don't believe in Satan. I believe in
some other stuff; I believe in evil, but not in Satan and God."
     But then what's the point of all the Satanic imagery and  lyrics
that Sinister make use of? "I use it as anti-Christian  stuff,"  Mike
explains. "Actually, I'm anti-religion as well. I think everybody can
have his own religion, but he should not preach it to somebody  else.
That's why my lyrics are against Christianity in the first place,  as
well as against religion. People are calling themselves  'Satanists,'
but for me, if you're a Satanist, then you have to keep the stuff  to
yourself, or among the people who have the same beliefs.  Do  not  go
and give it big hype, because that's not what Satanism is all  about.
Keep it to yourself. Otherwise,  you're  like  a  Jehovah's  witness,
walking door-to-door and preaching. That's stupid."

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
         _______             __  _       _______        __
        / ___/ /  ___ ____  / /_(_)___  / ___/ /  ___ _/ /_
       / /__/ _ \/ _ `/ _ \/ __/ / __/ / /__/ _ \/ _ `/ __/
       \___/_//_/\_,_/\___/\__/_/\__/  \___/_//_/\_,_/\__/
                   ____            _
                  / __/__ ___ ___ (_)__  ___  ___
                 _\ \/ -_|_-<(_-</ / _ \/ _ \(_-<
                /___/\__/___/___/_/\___/_//_/___/


This is the column where CoC sits down to have a  face  to  face,  no
holds barred conversation with  your  favorite  bands,  and  get  the
inside scoop into what's happening in their lives.


               M E S S A G E S   F R O M   M O R D O R
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
            An Interview with Silenius Gregor of Summoning
                          by: Steve Hoeltzel

A two-man project based in  Austria,  Summoning  masterfully  combine
elements of black metal with layered, epic synthesizers and  haunting
medieval   atmospheres,   creating   beautifully   crafted,    highly
imaginative music that sounds like  nothing  else  around.  The  band
emerged in 1995 with _Lugburz_, an  exercise  in  raw,  Abigor-styled
black metal  featuring  some  interestingly different  and  enjoyable
songs. Follow-up _Minas Morgul_, also released in 1995,  announced  a
departure from straight black metal  in  favor  of  bold  atmospheric
experimentation which retains a definite blackened feel. Tracks  like
"Ungolianth", "Dagor Bragollach", and "The Legend of the Master Ring"
are wonderfully weird, evocative sonic constructions that push  black
metal into new creative dimensions and make for  highly  interesting,
enjoyable listening. The same goes for the band's third  full-length,
_Dol Guldur_, released near the end of 1996. This  album  tones  down
the  weirdness  just  a  bit,  while  deepening   the   emphasis   on
craftsmanship  -  constantly,  carefully  weaving  multiple   musical
strands into spellbinding braids of sound. Silenius Gregor, a  member
of Abigor and the counterpart of Protector in Summoning, recently put
pen to paper to answer some questions about the band.

CoC: As a long-time fan of _The Lord of the Rings_, I have been  glad
     to see the influence which Tolkien's profound imagination has on
     many in the black metal  scene.  Why  is  Tolkien  such  a  huge
     influence for Summoning?

Silenius Gregor: The thing that makes the works of Tolkien special is
                 his incredible imagination of a world with all those
                 detailed cultures, landscapes,  and  languages.  His
                 history of Middle Earth, his tales and  stories  are
                 timeless and unique.  This  act  of  creation  of  a
                 mind-world is absolutely unique and  far  above  the
                 average kind of thinking. When I was about 15 or 16,
                 I got in contact with his literature for  the  first
                 time. At first, I didn't want to read _The  Lord  of
                 the Rings_, because a friend  of  mine  had  already
                 told me the complete story, but then  I  gave  it  a
                 try. In  that  time,  I  often  walked  through  the
                 countryside where I lived, and sometimes I took  one
                 of his books with me, reading it while sitting under
                 a tree and letting the wind blow  through  my  hair.
                 For sure, that was an astonishing  feeling,  because
                 it's something totally different, to read a book like
                 _The Lord of the Rings_ within  the  twilight  of  a
                 forest, rather than at home in your bed.

CoC: Will you continue to base your lyrics and imagery  on  Tolkien's
     Middle Earth? Or perhaps one day use your music to fashion  your
     own imaginary world?

SG: We will end the  Tolkien  concept  after  releasing  the  mini-CD
    _Nightshade Forests_. This CD will probably be released in two or
    three  months.  Afterwards,  we  probably  will  make  a  musical
    translation of the Germanic hero opus "Das  Nibelungenlied",  but
    nothing is sure yet. What is sure is that we won't build  up  our
    own imaginary world. Our strength is making music, nothing else.

CoC: How do you see the band progressing musically?

SG: Well, first of all I must say that I hate the word "progressive."
    Most bands think that they are progressive by putting fifteen  or
    more riffs into a song and changing the rhythm all the  time,  or
    playing solos that hurt the ears.  Summoning  is  definitely  not
    progressive, nor do we have any plans to change  our  style  with
    the next release. The music that softly floats into the mind of a
    listener with atmosphere and emotion and  this  special  sort  of
    ancient touch - that's all.

CoC: Is a new release yet planned? If so, what can you tell us about 
     it?

SG: We have made one new song that will appear on  the  mini-CD.  The
    other three songs will be from the  _Dol  Guldur_  sessions.  All
    four songs are much more melancholic than on _Dol  Guldur_,  with
    more easily impressing melody lines,  and  less  in  the  way  of
    meditation as on _Dol Guldur_. Afterwards, we will take  a  break
    and think over how Summoning will continue. The rest of the year,
    I will concentrate on my ritual project, Mirkwood.

CoC: Besides Tolkien, what are the biggest influences on your  sound?
     (Musical or otherwise.)

SG: Well, I get musical influences by listening to  other  music,  of
    course, especially dark wave and ritual stuff. This kind of music
    is good for meditation, and meditation always gives  us  strength
    of motivation and  creativity.  Another  inspiration  is  reading
    books. Mostly I prefer the fantasy genre,  but  lately  not  many
    books have impressed me that  much.  The  last  really  good  and
    original book I've read was _The Worm Oroboros_. Even Tolkien was
    a fan of that book. Finally, I find strength and  inspiration  in
    wandering through the  countryside.  Unfortunately,  I  have  too
    little time now for doing so.

CoC: What do you listen to when you're not making music? (I believe I
     read somewhere that one of you is a fellow fan of Ildjarn.)

SG: As I said, I only listen to dark wave and  ritual  stuff  at  the
    moment, like the releases from Cold Meat Industry, or things like
    that. Of course, I still listen to black  metal  music,  although
    the latest releases in this genre are, all in  all,  boring.  The
    latest essential release, for  sure,  was  Limbonic  Art.  Within
    twenty releases there is just one or two good  enough  to  enjoy.
    About Ildjarn: if you hear the music of Ildjarn in  an  objective
    way, it's without doubt pure shit. But I like this shit. I'll die
    for it! [Exactly! -- Steve]

CoC: Please name three or four albums from the past year or so  which
     you would consider essential.

SG: (1) Sopor Aeturnus - _Todeswunsch_, (2) Loreena McKennit  -  _The
    Mask and the Mirror_, (3)  Ildjarn/Niddhogg  -  _Svartfrad_,  (4)
    Shinjuku Thief - The  Witchhammer,  (5)  Shinjuku  Thief  -  _The
    Witchhunter_, (6) Raison d'etre - _Within the Depth  of  Sorrow_,
    (7) Deutsch Nepal - _Benevolence_, (8) Loreena  McKennit  -  _The
    Visit_.

CoC: What does black metal represent to you? Must true black metal be
     overtly Satanic? Must it always involve playing extremely  fast?
     (I would say no to both questions, but I am curious  to  see  if
     you agree.)

SG: Well, I'm unable to give or present you a definition between true
    or false.  These  terms  have  different  meanings  to  different
    persons, and meanwhile I'm tired of discussing  again  and  again
    the combination of black metal and  the  individual  life  codex.
    Everything depends upon one's personality. But to make it  easier
    for you, I'll give you a short example. When you wake up  in  the
    morning and realize that the morning sun is hurting your eyes and
    heavily playing with your nerves, you know you are on  the  right
    way. Now it's time to find and build up yourself.

CoC: Your  music  has  undergone  incredible  development  since  the
     _Lugburz_ days. Do you still consider Summoning to  be  a  black
     metal band? Or do you think that you have evolved  into  a  band
     that no longer fits into that category?

SG: After everything, I still see Summoning as a black metal band. If
    people can't  go  along  with  that,  they  should  create  their
    individual definition and be happy with that.

CoC: In your opinion, what are the best and the  worst  things  about
     the underground metal scene today?

SG: The good thing about the present underground is that  many  young
    bands are flexible enough to make  new  musical  experiments  and
    create their own style. The bad thing is  that  many  more  bands
    have absolutely no idea what they are doing, and just  clone  and
    copy and copy and clone and...

CoC: Please tell us about the animated video. Which song is  it  for?
     Who did the animation? What kind of  story  line  is  there  (if
     any)? Also, how can I get a copy?!

SG: The video  clip  is  made  in  England  for  the  song  "Marching
    Homewards". As we, the band, didn't take part in  this  video,  I
    can't tell you  what  it  is  like.  After  all,  there  will  be
    impressions of Tolkien's world like Orcs,  the  Dark  Tower,  and
    things like that. But as I haven't  seen  anything  yet,  I'm  as
    curious as everyone else who likes this kind of stuff.  I  really
    hope that I won't be  too  disappointed.  But  all  in  all,  I'm
    optimistic, at least I hope so.

CoC: If you could be born again  during  any  past  period  of  human
     history, what period would you choose, and why?

SG: Most of the black metal kiddies of today would immediately answer
    that they would like to live in the Middle Ages -  but  how  long
    would they survive with no pump gun at hand? After  all,  we  are
    used to surviving in the present reality. That's the way  it  is,
    and if it's too unbearable, we flee into our underworlds.  That's
    our destiny.

CoC: In the end, how would you like Summoning to be remembered?

SG: I think people who liked our music will know how to remember it.

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

                        O N   T H E   M E N D
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                  An Interview with Ronnie James Dio
                        by: Alain M. Gaudrault

     Ronnie James Dio is a man dedicated to  music.  From  his  first
recordings back in 1962 with Ronnie Dio  and  the  Prophets,  to  his
latest Dio release, _Angry Machines_, the man's career  has  had  its
share of ups and downs. The eighties were a period of  great  success
through his stint with Black Sabbath and subsequent solo  career.  Of
course, the nineties have had  a  profound  negative  effect  on  the
pervasiveness of metal in North America, but Dio moves  on,  unphased
by critics, dedicated to making music.
     I spoke to Ronnie about a variety of things, often about  topics
in which I myself was interested. This, after all, was a teenage hero
of mine, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity  to  ask  him  things
that perhaps aren't necessarily interesting  to  the  masses.  You'll
find some information regarding the new album and  tour  and  all  as
well, so if you're at all curious about what's going on  in  the  Dio
camp, read on.

CoC: How's your health? I hear you caught a flu or cold just recently.

Ronnie James Dio: I'm quite a bit on the mend. I got through it  okay
                  but when we got back, we got back home from Germany
                  on xmas eve day. A few days later we  had  to  take
                  Vinny  [Appice],  our  drummer,  to  the  hospital,
                  'cause he got pneumonia. So, Vinny's been a  little
                  bit ill, he's out of the hospital now.  It's  meant
                  that we've had to push back our tour. We were gonna
                  start on the 12th of January, now  we  can't  start
                  until the 6th of February because  Vinny's  got  to
                  recover a bit more from it. Again, I'm not  as  bad
                  as him but we're finally getting over it. I'm still
                  a bit stuffed up. It seems like this flu is leaving
                  so many people almost dead on the side of the road,
                  and it's really killing me. It just won't seem to 
                  go away.


CoC: In fact, that leads  me  right  to  the  first  question,  which
     relates to touring plans. What are they?

RJD: As I say, we can't start until the 6th of February. I'm not sure
     which gigs that's going to encompass, but what we will do, being
     that we have to go to Europe again on the 17th of February, when
     we finish there we should probably be in the beginning of  March
     or so. We'll be coming back to America  and  we'll  do  all  the
     shows that we couldn't do on this end of it. We'll just lose the
     time frame, but we'll certainly be there to play the shows.

CoC: Any Canadian tour dates?

RJD: I think so far  there's  a  Toronto  date  [April  22nd  at  RPM
     Warehouse - Alain], and I know that there's been  some  talk  of
     doing a whole bunch of gigs in western Canada as well.

CoC: What made the Dio & Ritchie  Blackmore's  Rainbow  co-headlining
     tour plans collapse?

RJD: It was purely a matter of Ritchie  not  wanting  to  tour  until
     after he did another album. He had toured in  Europe  for  quite
     awhile, I guess, with [his previous] album and he did  a  little
     bit of touring in America, I think, I'm not sure where.  It  was
     almost in the works. Ritchie had agreed to do it, I'd agreed  to
     do it, not that it was that kind of agreement where we hate each
     other so we both had to say that it was okay, but someone has to
     say "yeah that sounds like a good idea,  to  tour,"  so  we  had
     decided to do it and then Ritchie changed his  mind  because  it
     was pretty close to the holidays and  he  didn't  want  to  tour
     until after his next project and wanted to stay  home  with  his
     family. It was going to be in the works  but  it  was  just  bad
     timing.

CoC:  It  seems  you've  regained  production  duties   with   _Angry
     Machines_. Why did you use a producer other  than  yourself  for
     your previous album, _Strange Highways_?

RJD: I think that whenever you're getting to the point where it seems
     as though you don't know what a record company's asking of  you,
     what's happening with  the  music  that  you're  making,  you're
     confused 'cause you're not  making  the  right  music.  Whatever
     happens, I think you always go for some kind of a change, and  I
     know that the record company also said it'd be good for  me  not
     to do this one and get someone else, someone outside to  do  it.
     So for all those reasons I said okay, it's not a  problem.  I've
     got no ego on that, let  someone  else  have  a  go  at  it  and
     hopefully  they'll  do  a  good  job.  The  difference  is  that
     production is not just getting the sound onto tape. The  guy  we
     used, Mike Fraser, who's just an absolutely incredible  engineer
     and a great  person,  I  loved  working  with  him  and  he  was
     brilliant, but all the material was produced by the time it  was
     given to Mike, just as all the new material was produced by  the
     time it came time for me to  do  the  final  production  in  the
     studio. We record everything we do, we maneuver it, we  work  it
     until it's exactly what we want, and then we're ready to  record
     it, so there's really no need  for  production.  There  were  no
     suggestions like "let's do this in this part of  the  song"  and
     "let's try that" and "let's do this" and "let's make this  sound
     that way." It wasn't like that. It was like, this is  what  they
     do and away they go. That's really the way it is for people that
     have been doing this for such a long time, you get  really  good
     at doing it and you don't need to be told how to do it. Just  as
     with all the other albums, producing this one was just  as  easy
     for me as it was for Mike, I'm sure. The only difference is that
     I can change things around pretty rapidly, and we did on [_Angry
     Machines_]. There were some things I  didn't  like,  maybe  some
     tempos that were wrong that we slowed down  just  by  using  the
     tape to slow it down, some parts that weren't right that we  cut
     out and edited a lot of this and a lot of that. As far  as  that
     kind of producing goes, that's what you have to do, and the last
     album we did (_Strange Highways_), whatever edits  we  made,  we
     made them as a band,  so  it  wasn't  really  produced,  it  was
     engineered very well, but not produced. The reason for doing  it
     was maybe being unsure of ourselves and having a record  company
     saying let somebody else try.

CoC: Given the changed rock scene of  today,  what  with  bands  like
     Soundgarden, Ministry,  Type  O  Negative,  and  Marilyn  Manson
     garnering widespread support, where  do  you  see  your  music's
     place in the hard rock of the late 90s?

RJD: I think that's what we're doing now, I think we're carving  that
     out for ourselves right now. I think that from the  last  album,
     its material, anyway, not so much its sound, which I felt was  a
     bit faded, but there were some great  songs  on  it  with  great
     attitudes. "Jesus, Mary & the Holy  Ghost"  was  a  great  song,
     "Evilution", great songs from that album, and  some  other  good
     pieces as well, and [_Angry Machines_] taking  us  more  into  a
     little bit more progressive musical attitude. We're not  writing
     music that was considered to be dinosaur music before, it's  not
     about magic and wizards and witches and whatnot, although  there
     are places to write that kind of music as  well,  and  times  to
     write it, too. But I think that we're creating a  new  path  for
     ourselves in this music so  that  we  can  compete  with  what's
     happening musically.  We're  not  pretending  that  we're  young
     people making music for young  people.  We're  not,  we've  been
     there, we've done this, and we've done that,  but  that  doesn't
     mean we're still not good at what we do and we  still  can't  be
     relatable to people, 'cause after all,  young  or  old,  they're
     still people. As I say, we're carving our own  little  place,  I
     think, within the musical community.  We're  much  more  like  a
     Soundgarden now, I think, than like Dio was [in the past].

CoC: Seeing as there is no title track, where does the  title  _Angry
     Machines_ come from, and how  does  it  relate  to  the  album's
     content?

RJD: The title is in one of the songs. We  didn't  want  one  of  the
     songs as the title of the album, we've  done  that  every  time,
     every album we've ever done. We wanted to have something just  a
     little bit different for ourselves, so it didn't really point at
     one of the songs, but the whole concept  of  it  is  that  we're
     trying to be a little more  evolutionary,  more  progressive  in
     what we're doing and one of the pieces of  subject  matter  that
     crops up occasionally is the fact  that  we're  getting  so  far
     ahead of  ourselves,  or  *are*  we  getting  so  far  ahead  of
     ourselves with computers and machinery of that manner, will they
     eventually take over our lives, will God  be  a  computer,  will
     your wife be a computer,  will  whatever  be  a  computer,  will
     humans then no longer be necessary? Computers will create  their
     own world. Very interesting thoughts, you know, that  have  been
     had by science fiction writers.  The  title  and  that  idea  of
     machines taking over the world seemed  to  be  apropos  for  the
     times we're living in. It's a more realistic attitude.

CoC: The song whose lyrics have me  most  puzzled  is  "Big  Sister".
     Would you mind sharing your inspiration for this track?

RJD: This track is  kind  of  slanted  in  the  direction  of  George
     Orwell's "1984" novel in that there was  Big  Brother  watching.
     Big Brother took over everything, privacy  was  gone  and  there
     were certain rules to be followed and they were  pretty  strict,
     etc, etc. It just seems to me that women in this day and age are
     becoming very, very powerful, as they should  be,  they've  been
     slaves long enough. But I think that the wiles  that  they  use,
     the way that they go about getting what they're  getting,  there
     needs to be  a  "male  warning"  up  there  someplace  that  Big
     Sister's coming for ya, Big Sister's  gonna  change  you,  she's
     gonna take everything. Like in the lyrics it says "there will be
     changes, no more giving  it  all  for  free."  That's  from  the
     woman's perspective. There are gonna be changes,  from  now  on,
     whether it be sex or comfort or cooking or  whatnot,  we're  not
     giving it away for free anymore. And  that  just  permeates  the
     whole attitude of the song. It's like, "look out for Big Sister,
     here she comes." It's pointed in the women's direction.

CoC: Are you satisfied with how the album and tour have  been  faring
     thus far?

RJD: I am satisfied, yes. Let me put it this way. I'm  certainly  not
     dissatisfied. But for me, everything is a building process.  You
     can take three or four steps backward, you  just  have  to  make
     sure you regain them and take some more forward. For me, this is
     our way of saying "this is what  we  are,  this  is  what  we've
     become, this is what we want to become, we're  comfortable  with
     playing with each other." Live, the band is just a machine, just
     a great band live, great to be in front of it, great to be  part
     of it, the audiences have been wonderful, very accepting people.
     We don't have to go out and  blow  our  brains  out  to  try  to
     capture someone. Things are  going  well,  I  couldn't  be  more
     pleased.

CoC: Despite a less than amicable past with  Tony  Iommi,  would  you
     consider appearing on his solo album if asked, or  participating
     in any project which involved Iommi?

RJD: Yeah, sure, I have no problem with  Tony.  He's  always  been  a
     friend and I'm sure  that  if  we  saw  each  other  right  now,
     tomorrow, it would be the same "hug and how-ya-doin'" it  always
     has been. Tony's a good  person,  he's  not  a  very  vindictive
     person at all. If the  opportunity  were  right,  I'd  certainly
     consider something like that.

CoC: No hard feelings about the whole Costa Mesa incident?

RJD: Not on my end, there aren't. I've had contact with  Geezer  and,
     through other people, "hello" to Tony and Tony "hello"  back  to
     me. It's not a problem, we're grown up people. We shouldn't have
     to deal with stupid things that we've done before.  We  made  an
     album (_Dehumanizer_), I thought  we  were  gonna  make  ten  or
     eleven of them, and  go  away  gracefully  all  being  in  Black
     Sabbath, but that didn't happen.  For  whatever  reasons,  there
     were reasons  that  I  believed  in,  there  were  reasons  they
     believed in, so be it, but I think  any  band  that's  going  to
     announce that they were going to reform with the ex-lead  singer
     and the drummer during the two shows that were supposed to  have
     the band as the opening act is going a little bit over the line.
     I think it proved right down the line that "Why  should  I  have
     done those shows?" I didn't want to be a part of putting  people
     in seats for Ozzy so that they could  announce  that  they  were
     gonna reform and that'd be the end for  us.  I  was  right,  but
     that's not the point. The  point  is  that  we  don't  have  any
     problems with it. If I could do something with Tony, if it  were
     the right thing to do, I'd consider it.

CoC: Often pondered, yet so elusive is your year of birth.

RJD: Well, I was born in '49, and I never told anybody anything other
     than that. The thing is that I started so young, I think, that I
     probably flow through a lot of people who are the same age as  I
     am, and have done more than they have, but  it's  never  been  a
     problem for me. You are what you are, you get to be  as  old  as
     you get to be. It really doesn't matter, but that's me.

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

       T H E   M O U R N I N G   O F   M O R K   G R Y N I N G
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                          by: Drew Schinzel

     With only one release thus far, 1996's masterpiece _Tusen Ar Har
Gatt_, Sweden's Mork Gryning may  be  young,  but  the  twosome  have
already established themselves as one of the top bands in the melodic
black metal genre. Mixing a dark and brutal  atmosphere  with  clean,
skillfully played melodies, overlapping with acoustic interludes  and
raging vocals, _TAHG_ was one of my favorite albums of that year, and
with their label No Fashion Records set to unleash the  second  album
upon the public in early Spring,  hopefully  Mork  Gryning  will  not
disappoint.
     Peter, aka Draakh Kimera, recently sat down  to  respond  to  my
questions, and although he didn't elaborate  too  much,  the  answers
were interesting.

CoC: What have you been up to since the recording of the latest  full
     length?

Draakh Kimera: Been busy with our other bands...

CoC: Are you happy with the outcome?

DK: Yes.

CoC: With only two members for the  recording  of  the  last  LP  and
     therefore no touring, what did you do in  the  off-time  between
     albums?

DK: We have been writing new songs for our new album that we recently
    recorded in studio Sunlight. It will be  released  some  time  in
    spring I hope.

CoC: I've read that the new songs will be much  more  aggressive  and
     darker than on the debut. Does this mean it's not as melodic? Or
     are all the trademarks still present?

DK: It's  not  darker  but  more  aggressive  with  a  lot  of  metal
    influences. But the melodic riffs are still there.

CoC: Were you happy with Dan Swano's production job on the first LP?

DK: Of course. He knew his job and he was really easy to  work  with.
    Unfortunately, he has quit that job.

CoC: Did Mork Gryning find it difficult playing all  the  instruments
     with only two people?

DK: No. It's almost easier!

CoC: In an interview with Dusk  Magazine  of  Sweden,  you  said  you
     wouldn't buy a demo by a group that recorded at Sunlight Studio,
     because everything sounds the same; but No  Fashion  has  stated
     that you recently "[spent] 14 days in Studio Sunlight" to record
     your new album. Is there an explanation for this?

DK: I'm just glad you question that. Anyway, it wasn't -we- who  said
    [that]. It was Jonas [aka Goth Gorgon] who said that, not  me.  I
    like Sunlight as a studio. I suppose Jonas does too, but much  of
    the bands that have been to Sunlight haven't  had  any  ideas  of
    sound so the result has been a "standard Sunlight sound." If  you
    know what sound you want you can go to any studio you want.

CoC: Jonas Berndt also said in the Dusk interview, "I don't  live  on
     this planet." Any comment?

DK: I kicked him in the ass to outer space.

CoC: Could you tell me who the new members of the band are,  and  how
     you got together with them?

DK: New members? We played one and the last  gig  here  in  Stockholm
    with three session musicians and they are  not  members  in  Mork
    Gryning. No Fashion listens too much to rumors as many others do.
    It's a pity because 90% of the rumors are wrong.

CoC: When will your first live show/tour  be,  and  with  what  other
     bands?

DK: WE WILL NOT TOUR AND PLAY GIGS! (... but we could do a gig in USA
    if the label pays!!!)

CoC: Do you or any of the band members do anything  besides  play  in
     Mork Gryning?

DK: We have other bands, too. For me, Mork Gryning  will  be  just  a
    side project after the release of the second  album  or  maybe  I
    will quit.

CoC: Did either you or Jonas have any formal instrumental training?

DK: No, we are musical  geniuses.  Ha,  ha,  just  kidding.  We  have
    learned ourselves. Jonas is studying music at the moment.

CoC: Mork Gryning don't seem to be very well respected by many in the
     underground scene. Why do you think this is so?

DK: I don't care. People listen too much to rumors. If you  like  our
    music, fine. If you don't like it, fine. It's a pity  when  bands
    talk shit about other bands. Talk  shit  about  Christian  belief
    instead or something.

CoC: How old are the members in Mork Gryning? (This question  is  not
     implying anything. I've just heard some small rumors about  your
     young age, and am trying to prove/disprove them.)

DK: I am 22 years old. The discussion about age is insignificant. The
    important thing is the musical knowledge. There is too many bands
    with no knowledge at all that sounds crap and untight.

CoC: Are all your lyrics in English for the new LP? If  so,  why  not
     only about half, like last time?

DK: Yes, it's only in English. We just felt so. I don't  know.  Maybe
    it sounds more powerful with lyrics in English.

CoC: How do you think you compare to other  bands,  like  Dissection?
     Your sound is pretty similar.

DK: Do you really think so? I don't think so. But  it's  nice  to  be
    compared with a good band like Dissection which  is  one  of  few
    good black metal bands. Only Sweden delivers high  quality  death
    and black metal.

CoC: Who were your main musical influences?

DK:  I  like  Blind  Guardian,  early  King  Diamond,  Iron   Maiden,
    Helloween, and Dream Theater.

CoC: Anything special planned for Mork Gryning's future?

DK: No. Maybe I will quit or stay as a session musician or  maybe  it
    will be an even darker dawn...

CoC: How long does Mork Gryning intend to stay around? Is  there  any
     "goal" with the band?

DK: Unleash the fucking beast!!! The goal is  to  see  the  Christian
    race devastated.

CoC: Hmm, that looks like all my questions for now. Thanks a lot  for
     taking the time  to  respond  to  this.  End  the  interview  in
     whatever way you want.

DK: Thanks for the interview. Buy the new album that I think will  be
    titled _Soldiers of the Magic Aeon_. Buy the old one if you don't
    have it yet. ARMAGEDDON HAS COME TO PASS... FINALLY!

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

              N E U T R A L I Z I N G   T H E   B A S S 
              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                       CoC interviews Acid Bath
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     Louisiana rock/metallers Acid Bath have always felt strong about
the images, the sounds and the music they play  and  create.  No  one
dictates what they are to create or how they are to play. This is  to
their advantage. Soundwise the band is reminiscent of fellow Southern
rockers Corrosion of Conformity, though the music is mixed with  more
sinister visions/lyrics and death-ish growls. Another thing that  the
band has had go in their favor is the controversy  surrounding  their
album releases.
     Controversy has followed the band  since  their  Rotten  Records
debut release in 1994. Their  debut  album,  _When  the  Kite  String
Pops_, sported cover artwork by serial killer  John  Wayne  Gacy  and
their latest LP, _Paegan Terrorism Tactics_, has artwork by Dr.  Jack
Kevorkian. Even an EP of edited radio songs from  their  debut  album
featured sketches and  writing  from  the  "Night  Stalker",  Richard
Ramirez.
     Chronicles of Chaos caught up with  guitarist  Mike  Sanchez  by
e-mail/fax to discuss the latest offering by Acid Bath. The  band  is
rounded out by singer Dax Riggs, other guitarist  Sammy  Pierce  Duet
and drummer Jimmy Kyle. Bass player Audie Pitre was killed in January
of this year by a drunk driver and the band has not yet at press time
dictated if there is a replacement or revealed any future  plans  for
Acid Bath.

CoC: Musically where do you think the band has taken  the  Acid  Bath
     sound with _Paegan Terrorism Tactics_?  How  much  different  is
     this record from the first one?

Mike Sanchez: It has taken us from the close, mysterious, dark  Bayou
              life to the open oceans of freedom and darkness that 
              lies below.

CoC: The first LP has John Wayne Gacy artwork. The EP has Richard 
     Ramirez artwork. Now _PTT_ uses the cover artwork  of  Dr.  Jack
     Kevorkian (titled For He Is Raised) - why  his  work?  Why  were
     those three artists singled out as covers?

MS: The madness, chaos and romance of Ramirez and Gacy was a tasteful
    ingredient to throw into our American Pie made with Ziare's worst
    diose. Dr. Jack Kevorkian featured on _PTT_  is  part  of  what's
    going on inside. There are those who praise him for  giving  them
    their freedom. Then there  are  those  who  are  on  the  outside
    wanting your freedom to control. The artwork itself is how things
    are viewed. As a kid, faster was fun,  out  of  school,  lots  of
    candy, family and God. Everybody digs out their puppet Jesus  and
    pretends that they know just what's going on around  them.  While
    watching how cute the little girls and boys are  when  they  bend
    over to get the egg we hatched for them. 

CoC: Do you think the band  makes  more  press  for  the  music  they
     play/live show or the  cover  artwork?  Any  problems  you  have
     experienced with artwork?

MS: Acid Bath has the type of music that sucks you deeper and  deeper
    into its juices the more you listen. Narrow-minded people may say
    that they're just trying to be too cool. The  artwork  gets  good
    and bad attention. But once you open a  couple  of  closed  doors
    you'll soon discover there's a lot  more  to  this  package  than
    artwork and  sounds.  Acid  Bath  is  the  largest  band  on  the
    underground. Very little promotion has limited any real  problems
    with the artwork.

CoC: Do you feel music nowadays has gone against the ways of  writing
     about sex, drugs, and rock & roll, and centered more on  reality
     and life? Where does the music of Acid Bath get inspired?
 
MS: Inspired by sex, drugs, sex, religion, death,  and  sex.  We  all
    know reality, but who really gives a rat's ass about it?

CoC:  How  would  you  describe  the  music  that  Acid  Bath  plays?
     Musically, I think the band incorporates many ideas and  sounds,
     thus breaking away from any pigeonhole of music styles.

MS: Our music sounds exactly like five people from the  Bayou  should
    sound. Five different directions that  just  so  happen  to  come
    together. Listening to Blondie, David Bowie, Moody Blue, Dead Can
    Dance, Black Sabbath, Devo, and Thrill Kill Cult influences  that
    make a big pile of chaos that seems to work.

CoC: How has the band molded over the years? Does it come easier  for
     you now to play and write music or just as hard now?

MS: It's harder than ever to get together as a group. We all live  in
    little swamp towns about three hours apart.

CoC: Seeing that Chronicles of Chaos is an online-only  magazine  and
     there seems to be a huge  abundance  of  nudity  and  sex,  even
     violence, scattered throughout the net for anyone to  see,  what
     is your take on censorship on the net? On music?

MS: I can care less about the violence. But we need sex and nudity or
    we'll have to go back to animal  instincts  and  take  it  as  we
    please.

CoC: What does the title _Paegan Terrorism Tactics_ mean?

MS: The title represents a summary of the album. I believe our having
    nothing to do with everything.

CoC: Commercialism plays a key role in music nowadays. How  have  you
     avoided the "bite" of commercialism with your music and what you 
     do?

MS: Our music is  commercial  in  an  extreme  sense.  We  need  more
    airplay. To the kids out there  listening  to  NIN,  Korn,  Tool,
    Black Sabbath, Ministry, and The Deftones, if you  haven't  heard
    Acid Bath then you're still in for a beating. 

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

            F U C K E D   U P   A N D   L O V I N G   I T
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                      CoC Chat's with Nightstick
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     No one ever said music had to follow any format. Did they?  Well
if they did then Weymouth, Massachusetts trio Nightstick didn't  want
to give into any kind of rules or regulations. The band  -  comprised
of singer/bass Alex Smith,  drummer  Robert  Williams  and  guitarist
Cotie Cowgill - have just released  their  debut  album  for  Relapse
entitled _Blotter_. The sounds of the band's  debut  encompasses  all
forms  of  music:  intense  screams,  death   metal   growls,   jazz,
psychedelic rock and noise/feedback/samples. The ideas and visions of
the band are as warped as the material on the debut.
     Recently Chronicles of Chaos talked with drummer Robert Williams
over the phone from his home about the album, Padoinka The Clown (the
band's stage performer) and anything else that might have come up. It
was a wild and extraordinary conversation to say the least.

CoC: When you went into the studio to record _Blotter_ was there  any
     idea  to  develop  or  did  the  music  just  come  out  through
     experimentation?

Robert Williams: A bit of both. I had a firm concept of the  type  of
                 sound that I wanted to explore. Very heavy  and  low
                 sounding material. I wanted to bring  out  what  was
                 inside of me. We  have  many  sections  of  complete
                 improvisation in many of our songs. I  felt  that  I
                 was confined to traditional hard-core drumbeats when
                 I was playing in my old band Siege and I  wanted  to
                 expand  and  explore  and  I  found  a   couple   of
                 degenerates from my hometown that  were  willing  to
                 experiment. So to answer the question I would say we
                 had a firm concept of what we wanted to explore  and
                 record and sounds we wanted to produce  and  at  the
                 same time I had all these ideas I  had  in  the  can
                 that I wanted to get on tape.  Once  I  conceive  an
                 idea it haunts me until I am able to  bring  it  out
                 and put it on tape. The challenge is to bring it out
                 as accurately as possible.

CoC: Has it been difficult to create music for you?

RW: I seem to get complete ideas just  walking  down  the  street  or
    riding on the bus. I keep them inside of me until we are able  to
    create the ideas I have. I guess I am gifted to have  this  focus
    of inspiration and to have people who are willing to work with me
    on these ideas and for these people  to  believe  in  what  I  am
    doing. The band members are  an  integral  of  my  song  process.
    Coming up with material has never been a problem for me. I have a
    wealth of ideas. It has been a long process  to  bring  _Blotter_
    out from inside of me.  I  wanted  to  treat  every  song  as  an
    individual atmosphere, so I mixed it a second time but it  was  a
    labor of love. It is sometimes a long  difficult  haul  from  the
    insemination of an idea to having that idea in print but worth it
    in the end when you have created a musical piece.

CoC: As your music is created on the ideas of what  you  want  to  do
     rather than doing what people say, society is  mostly  following
     or going where they are told. Society and even music trends  are
     told where to go. But there are  bands  like  Anal  Cunt,  Sonic
     Youth and  even  yourselves  not  listening  to  that  confirmed
     outlook on music. How do you view society's  take  on  how  they
     want you to be and what you are trying to create?

RW: I think it really fucked how society is trying to stuff us into a
    mold as young people. To measure up to  their  expectations,  the
    expectations of a square conservative older generation. It wasn't
    too long ago that they would be putting a gun in our hand in  the
    spirit of fake patriotism that led to a slaughter of thousands of
    young people like us that were drafted. When you first asked that
    question that was the first thing that popped into my  mind.  The
    draft... and how sick it was and that it wasn't that long ago. It
    was in my  lifetime.  When  someone  from  the  older  generation
    inflicts their expectations or their fucked up rules on  a  young
    person I think that is criminal and sick and when that same thing
    applies to musical expression, having to stuff  yourself  into  a
    preconceived mold musically, is not  what  making  music  is  all
    about.  Regardless  of  what  the  art  form  is  whether  it  be
    sculpting, dance or Rock n' Roll.  You  should  let  your  'freak
    flag' fly and let it go.  Conventional  expectations  led  record
    companies to produce shit like Winger and Nelson.  The  time  has
    not been  kind  to  these  traditional  kind  of  groups.  It  is
    positively criminal when a record company in music, or  a  square
    adult in life, try to impose rules on a young person or musician.
    That is fucked.

CoC: Speaking of the creation of experimentation of  music,  what  is
     your take  on  drinking,  drugs  and  hallucinogens  usage  when
     creating music? How does that work into your lifestyle  or  into
     the ideas that you create within your experimentation and music?

RW: I think a person should be free to do whatever drug they want  to
    do. After years of playing on the scene I have seen things  where
    someone would be drunk and trashing the hall and  the  next  time
    you can't book a show. I think if you do your drugs and  are  not
    ruining the scene or hurting anyone else then should be  free  to
    do any drug you want to. I admire a lot of  the  writers  of  the
    Beat Generation. Some people call people like  William  Burroughs
    the 'grandfather' to the hippies. He discovered and showed us new
    ways of living and sexuality and  experimentation  of  drugs  and
    that philosophy of that 60s  generation  is  what  I  had  always
    admired and come to live by right now. For a kid to get  harassed
    by a cop for a joint is really fucking sick and it  is  happening
    all over the United States. Humiliation always has to be  a  part
    of it with a pig (cop). They'll take your weed, dump  it  on  the
    ground an tell you, 'Get out of here,' if you are lucky.  If  you
    are not you will,  like  most  of  us  have  done,  take  a  ride
    downtown. For what? A quarter ounce of weed? It is  a  nonviolent
    crime and it is sick how harassment and humiliation is a part  of
    how the pigs always come down on you when they are busting you. 

CoC: So have you experienced any forms of harassment?

RW: Sure. When you are on the road and touring you  learn  that  when
    you go by the Roy Rogers restaurant with  long-haired  people  in
    the band and you see a pig  State  cruiser  parked  outside,  you
    learn not to  go  in.  We  have  had  a  lot  of  experiences.  I
    experienced this a lot when I was a teenager for being  too  loud
    or refusing to turn down to the  amps.  Every  young  person  out
    there reading this will know what I am talking  about.  It  is  a
    attitude that they are trying to stifle. It is an lifestyle  that
    the pigs recognize and try to jump on and squash it.

CoC: I have learned through your bio that there is a clown (Padoinka)
     who participates in the live show of the band? What's  the  deal
     with the clown?

RW: The clown is dancer who does improvisational movement during some
    of the longer psychedelic instrumental songs in the set. He lends
    visual action and appeal to our live show. I can liken him to the
    guy who was in Frankie Goes To  Hollywood  -  the  guy  with  the
    mustache and leather clothes. He doesn't do anything except  move
    and rouses the band and crowd up. He is a spiritual leader  or  a
    mascot that is a full-time member of the group. Basically he does
    interpretive dances to the music of our live show. About  how  we
    got Chris Joyce (Padoinka) to join the band, he had just  started
    to dance at a show of ours one time and we liked it and asked him
    to join the group. 

CoC: From what I have heard on _Blotter_  and  how  I  would  see  it
     delivered live, I  think  the  music  and  band  would  be  more
     aggressive live? Am I right or wrong?

RW: I think the disc captures a raw live feel to what we are doing. I
    can't see that brutal side live that people say we  have  but  am
    happy people say that about our shows. Our goal in the studio was
    to capture the abrasive quality and the volume and energy of  our
    live show on this disc. I feel that this is an excellent slice of
    our energy live and we have conveyed that properly. 

CoC: Do you think people perceive the band as being 'weird'?

RW: Hmm... well. We have all been friends for  years.  Admittedly  we
    are all eccentric in our own ways, but  to  join  the  group  you
    don't have to be crazy and beat your brain with liquor and drugs.
    That's not it. We add our own elements into the music we  create.
    I think we are an exciting band to see live  and  I  hope  people
    take the initiative to come out and see us live. I think  we  are
    bringing out honestly inside of us. Love it or leave it, this  is
    the way we are offstage.

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

       ::::::|       :|                       :|            :|
         ::|  :::\ :':| :~~/ :::\ :~~/ :::\ :':| :~~/ :::\ :::|
       ::::::|:|:| :::| :::, :::/ :::, :|:| :::| :::, :|:|  :|
                             :|       
 ::::::|      :|                                 :|  ++
   ::|  :::\ :::| :~~/ :::| :::| ,::\ .::\ /::| :::| :| ,::\ :::\ <::<
 ::::::|:|:|  :|  :::, :|   :|   `::/ `::| \::|  :|  :| `::/ :|:| >::>
                                     ,.:/

Here is where CoC gets the inside story on up-and-coming bands. Check
out this column for a variety of fresh, brutal groups.  Should you be
an aspiring band on your way to super-stardom,  send us your demo and
bio; our address is included in the zine's header.


                F U C K   T H E   S T A T U S   Q U O 
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC Interrogates Montreal's Quo Vadis
                           by: Adam Wasylyk

     From the powerful Quebec underground emerge what will  become  a
strong contender in the  international  death  metal  community.  Quo
Vadis, after several positive reviews for their self-titled demo have
recently released an  independent  CD  titled  _Forever..._.  The  CD
demonstrates Quo Vadis' strength at playing music that  is  at  times
fast but at other times  melodic  and  emotional.  Guitarist/vocalist
Bart Frydrychowicz took the time to answer all of my questions  about
the band, the music scene in Quebec among other interesting topics.
     One of the first questions that came to mind was what the band's
name meant, so it would be one of the first questions I would ask. It
was indeed Latin and meant  "'Where  are  you  going?".  He  went  on
explaining how the name really suited the band. "The  name  suits  us
perfectly as we really have no pre-defined musical direction. We  try
to capture our feelings and transcribe them into music  and  our  new
album reflects that philosophy perfectly. You never know where you'll
end up in life - bitter, sad, angry, or calm or serene...  we'll  see
where all this takes us".
     I then turned our  conversation  towards  their  previous  work,
their self-titled demo which helped them get the band's name  out  in
Montreal and also around the world. Bart  explained  that  they  were
still in the process of focusing their sound.  "We  recorded  a  demo
which was released as an EP on cassette last year. The  reaction  was
very positive. We were still searching for direction  at  that  time,
experimenting with keyboards and femme vox. The music  is  much  more
focused now as we have found our sound". Comparing it  to  their  new
album Bart continues, "_Forever..._ is much more aggressive then  the
EP was, it's much more melodic and intricate. That may sound  like  a
contradiction but that is the case. I think we had  more  to  say  as
musicians this time in the studio as well. Our objective was to  keep
the aggression and not to loose our edge. I think  we  captured  that
quite well, at the same time setting free  our  artistic  side.  It's
pretty weird. You have to listen to both (the EP and  CD)  to  really
understand.
     With Quo Vadis from the ever-growing Montreal scene, I asked him
on his thoughts on coming from that  scene  and  it's  place  in  the
overall Canadian metal scene. "Actually the Montreal scene is  geared
more towards "brutal" stuff", he begins.  "Suffocation  can  get  900
people here for example. Bands that we'd like to play with,  like  At
The Gates, In Flames or Dark Tranquillity don't come to  Canada.  The
scene in general is very  united  in  promoting  Montreal,  and  it's
working. We have more metal shows by international acts here then any
other city in Canada and there seems to be little  backstabbing  etc.
with the exception of two black metal bands that  were  spawned  from
the same original outfit and are now  enlocked  in  a  firm  grip  of
hatred. Maybe we'll have our own murder and church burnings here.  As
for our shows we should be hooking up with  Monstrosity/Vader  for  a
few shows [which awaits confirmation on behalf of Lee  from  Conquest
Music] and Suffocation will be doing a show on  March  1st,  that  is
already confirmed, I think. We'll  be  quite  busy  in  the  upcoming
weeks".
     Concerning lyrics Bart has a hard time describing them, but they
definitely aren't the silly gore-type. "Everything on  the  album  is
based on reality. It's either our perspective  on  the  world  or  an
introspective look at ourselves. The topics on  the  album  are  what
we're all about, the music and lyrics say it all.  Really  it's  very
difficult to answer this question as many of the things  can  not  be
put into words, the poetry on the album expresses  the  answer  quite
closely". "There are always little details one would want to change",
Bart begins talking about the production of _Forever..._,  which  was
produced  by  Pierre  Remillard  (Obliveon,  Cryptopsy).  "But  we're
extremely happy with this album and it's production. We asked  Pierre
Remillard who is the local sound guru and that certainly  payed  off.
That is not to say that the recording process was  easy  and  without
stress, we took about 3 weeks for recording. I'd like  to  work  with
Pierre again for our future effort.
     With only one listen to _Forever..._, one  will  hear  not  only
technical musical ability but also a lot of emotion and soul. I asked
Bart how exactly important it was  to  have  emotion  in  Quo  Vadis'
music. "Music without emotion has no meaning to  us.  Music  has  the
ability to transcend language and words. It is a  perfect  medium  to
convey emotion. In my mind the two  are  inseparable.  Music  without
emotion is uninspired and misses it's purpose. I also find vocals  to
be very expressive and an integral part of any  song.  I  suppose  my
fascination with voice is what keeps me listening to choirs  all  the
time".
     Bart also informed me that labels  have  expressed  interest  in
signing the band. So you may soon be hearing  from  one  of  Canada's
finest and latest metal exports!!


Demo _Quo Vadis_ -- $6 US
Independent CD _Forever..._ -- $12 US

Contact: QUO VADIS, c/o VomiT Productions
         P.O. Box 44, NDG, Montreal, Que., H4A-3P4, Canada
         mailto:quovadis@axess.com
         WWW: http://alcor.concordia.ca/~b_frydr/index.html

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                 ______                           __
                |   __ \.-----.----.-----.----.--|  |
                |      <|  -__|  __|  _  |   _|  _  |
                |___|__||_____|____|_____|__| |_____|
   ______                     __         __   __
  |   __ \.-----.--.--.-----.|  |.---.-.|  |_|__|.-----.-----.-----.
  |      <|  -__|  |  |  -__||  ||  _  ||   _|  ||  _  |     |__ --|
  |___|__||_____|\___/|_____||__||___._||____|__||_____|__|__|_____|

This is where we rant, rave, and rip apart albums. Check this  column
every month for the scoop on the latest in heavy hand-outs.

Scoring:  10 out of 10 -- If there was ever a perfect CD, this is it!
           8 out of 10 -- A great piece of metallic mayhem
           6 out of 10 -- Not too bad of an album
           4 out of 10 -- You are treading in dangerous waters
           2 out of 10 -- If you like this, you are fucked!
           0 out of 10 -- My shit can put out better music than this!


Absu - _The Third Storm of Cythraul_  (Osmose Prod., January 1997)
by: Steve Hoeltzel  (9 out of 10)

This is just excellent: hyper-energetic weirdness all  the  way.  The
third  full-length  from  these  eclectic  Texan  mystics,   it's   a
high-voltage meltdown of elements of black metal, thrash, and  death,
with totally wacked vocals to boot. _The Sun of Tiphareth  II_,  it's
not! The  band  plows  through  nine  tracks  in  under  38  minutes,
abandoning the epic style of _The Sun..._ in favor  of  concentrated,
uncomplicated bursts of energy which  are  craftily  constructed  and
compelling as  hell.  I  defy  any  crowd  not  to  go  nuts  to  the
fire-spitting anthem "Swords and Leather"  or  the  charging  "Winter
Zephyr", both of which exemplify a lot of  what  makes  this  such  a
great album. It's utterly direct, driving, irresistibly  catchy,  and
seething with vigor. (A couple of songs do invoke the  more  complex,
varied style exhibited on the last album, but each clocks in at about
four minutes, max) A re-recorded version of  the  7-inch  track  "And
Shineth Unto the  Cold  Cometh"  gets  the  album  started.  Talented
drumming with tons of  great  fills  propels  the  attack,  grounding
catchy, speedy riffs which transcend simple categories  like  "death"
and "thrash" yet remain jagged and sharp. Tempos are  fast,  for  the
most part, but never so fast that the pulsing momentum washes out  in
a blur of monotonous speed, and there are some  great  time  changes.
Cooler still, the quick, dexterous vocal phrasings  are  loaded  with
hooks, and  really  pull  you  into  the  songs  as  the  lyrics  are
speed-chanted atop the slithering riffs  and  driving  percussion.  I
suppose Proscriptor's gremlin-ish vocals are an acquired taste, but I
think they're cool. They're different from the standard  black  metal
rasping, and they feed the engaging, over-the-top  weirdness  of  the
band's overall sound. (Shaftiel also contributes his deeper vocals to
a couple of tracks.) Be warned, though: the production leaves  a  lot
to be desired, as  the  mix  puts  drums  and  vocals  up  front  and
noticeably muffles the guitars. Still, that doesn't detract  from  my
enjoyment of this one at all. Almost gave it a ten, and I get into it
more with every listen. Killer, killer release.


AC - _I Like It When You Die_  (Earache, February 1997)
by: Brian Meloon  (4 out of 10)

AC return with yet another CD, this time  featuring  52  songs  which
fill up just over 42 minutes.  Unfortunately,  this  isn't  quite  as
varied as _40 More Reasons To Hate Us_ (see CoC #10),  and  therefore
not as good. In fact, very few of the songs stand out  at  all;  most
are the kind of short  punk/grind  songs  with  dumb/silly/homophobic
(and unintelligible) lyrics we've come to expect  from  AC,  and  are
virtually indistinguishable  from  each  other.  The  few  highlights
include Seth's brilliant vocal stylings in "Just the Two Of  Us"  and
"I'm in AC", the cover of "Hungry Hungry Hippos", the use of Chopin's
"Funeral March" in "Jack  Kevorkian  is  Cool",  and  the  absolutely
brilliant  "311  Sucks"  (which  rips  off  "Down",  and  reflects  a
sentiment I couldn't agree with more). Other than those choice songs,
there's not much on here that you haven't heard before. This  is  (of
course) essential for AC fans, but if you already own an  AC  record,
you can probably do without it. 


Agathocles - _Thanks for Your Hostility_  (Morbid, February 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley  (3 out of 10)

European grindcore pursuers Agathocles' fourth album, _Thanks for the
Hostility_, is a  bludgeoning  onslaught  of  noise  and  mayhem  all
packaged into one album of twenty-seven tracks. That doesn't mean  it
is worth a listen either. Problems  arise  quite  rapidly  with  this
collection of material,  with  an  abundance  of  groans  and  moans,
sarcastic band's lyrics  and  a  sloppy  direction  (not  to  mention
recording)  of  material.  Lacking  any  kind  of  formula  or   even
initiative to get any kind  of  momentum  going,  Agathocles'  latest
noisefest turns into a pile of garbage three songs  in.  I'm  staying
clear of this one.


Angizia - _Die Kemenanten Sharlachroter Lichter_
by: Steve Hoeltzel  (5 out of 10)  (Napalm Records, February 1997)

I can definitely see why Napalm saw potential  in  Angizia  and  gave
them a deal, and I hate to give a low rating to a group with so  much
creative ambition, but I just can't get much real  enjoyment  out  of
this release, interesting though it may be. The  band's  goal  is  to
combine  black  metal  and  classical  influences,  much   like   the
pioneering Dismal Euphony (also on Napalm, and  an  excellent  band).
But while that group put out one of my favorite albums of last  year,
Angizia falls a bit flat. Whereas D.E. create dreamy, memorable songs
driven by sweeping, icy melodies, Angizia have crafted what they call
a "Metal Musical Theatrical Play" dominated by  piano  and  organized
around multiple vocal performances. There  are  four  vocalists:  two
females, one of whom does some soprano singing; and two males, one of
whom sings tenor, one of whom performs  in  a  screechy  black  metal
style. The problem is, none of these vocalists is quite expert enough
to really carry this style of music. (The grim vocals, in particular,
just don't fit in well at all.)  My  main  dislike,  though,  is  the
band's way of handling melody. Unlike the drifting, ethereal melodies
favored by Dismal Euphony, the melodies here  are  often  sing-songey
and cloying. When they start singing  soprano-and-black-metal  duets,
or little tenor soliloquies, right in step with these  melodies,  the
result often sounds  somewhat  childish.  Lastly,  the  guitars  seem
merely tacked onto the music. They are definitely  never  central  to
the sound; in fact, they're barely audible. Certainly, there are some
enjoyable passages on this CD, but on the whole I can't  unreservedly
recommend it. Still, it -is- intriguing stuff, and I'll be interested
to hear future efforts from the band.


The Blood Divine - _Awaken_  (Peaceville, 1996)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (10 out of 10)

The Blood Divine are the result of joining  Darren  White  (Anathema,
vocals), the Ryan brothers (Cradle of Filth, guitars and  keys),  the
other CoF guitarist PJ  Allender,  drummer  Was  from  Extreme  Noise
Terror, and bassist Steve Maloney. This band is therefore the  fusion
of Cradle of Filth, slower and without the  black  metal  influences,
and Anathema, since Darren's vocals always were a  big  part  of  the
superb early  Anathema  sound.  Vincent  Cavanagh  (current  Anathema
vocalist) said they "kicked out" Darren because his voice was getting
worse all the time. The Blood Divine proves Cavanagh was wrong, since
Darren's vocals are amongst the best I've  ever  heard  -  emotional,
powerful, awesome. The keyboards remind me a lot of Cradle of  Filth,
of course - it's clear that it's the same guy behind  the  keyboards,
and he performs as brilliantly as one  would  expect.  And  then  the
guitar work, which is just as excellent as the  rest  of  the  album,
combined with the remarkable, powerful drumming  and  the  good  bass
work. It's really hard to point out tracks here,  since  they're  all
great. I really can't name my favourite track. TBD manage to  include
lots of doomy melodies and feelings from Anathema,  as  well  as  the
kind of keyboard effects and atmospheres that can be found in any CoF
album. But TBD add an intense power of their own to all this, raising
it all to a different level. It's very clear that they have their own
sound, at the very least just as good as the bands they come from. In
fact, I liked this much, much better than Anathema's latest.  Just  a
final word for Ruth,  who  seems  to  have  moved  with  Darren  from
Anathema: her vocals on two of the softest tracks are truly great, as
she has one of the sweetest voices  I  ever  heard.  I  believe  more
influence of hers in the future will be a very good  thing  for  TBD.
Overall, this is possibly my favourite 1996 album.


Borknagar - _Borknagar_  (Malicious Records, 1996)
by: Steve Hoeltzel  (7 out of 10)

This band includes some real black  metal  big  shots:  there's  Ivar
Bjornson of Enslaved;  Infernus  of  Gorgoroth;  Garm  of  Ulver  and
Arcturus, Oystein Brun of Molested, and someone named "Grim", whom  I
probably should be able to place, but can't. (Sorry, Grim)  With  the
exception of two instrumental tracks by Bjornson, all of the music is
written by Brun. It's a very impassioned, identifiably northern style
featuring all the frenzy of  Norse  black  metal,  but  none  of  the
shallow fixation upon being  "unholy."  (These  guys  are  into  "the
glorious past.") The guitar is high-pitched and expansive, very  much
like Bjornson's sound on _Frost_. Garm handles the vocals,  generally
sticking to his harshest tones, but occasionally singing clearly, and
often employing his trademark "Ahhh,  AHHHHHH,  Ahhh"  one-man  choir
technique. (Some people get all misty-eyed when he does this, I  know
- but it's turned into something of  a  cliche,  I  think,  and  it's
over-used on this release.  Ahhh,  AHHHHHH,  AAHHHHHHHHHH!!)  There's
some very speedy, precise drumming, too. The blazing rhythms,  shrill
guitars, and abrasive vocals often  congeal  into  quite  a  powerful
sound - propulsive  and  angry,  yet  dense  and  organic.  The  song
structures are pretty standard, but there are some  nice  breaks  and
shifts in mood and rhythm to punctuate all the aggression. (Check out
"Svartskogs Gilde" in particular.) Still, out of ten  tracks  on  the
CD, only five of them are proper songs. The remaining  five  are  all
instrumentals   (not   counting   the   occasional   "AHHHHH,   Ahhh,
AHHHHHHHH"), some  of  which  are  enjoyable,  some  of  which  don't
accomplish much. So: there's some quite solid material here, but  not
an entire album's worth, and definitely nothing that measures  up  to
the quality of the various members' full-time bands. Not bad, though,
for sure.


Carcass - _Wake Up and Smell the Carcass_  (Earache, December 1996)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (6 out of 10)

This being only the second video to be reviewed for  CoC  (the  first
was Slayer's _Live Intrusion_), it's also my  first  review  of  this
kind so hopefully I will have covered all the angles. With the  video
cover having an autopsy pic of former American  president  JFK,  this
video contains five music  videos  ("Heartwork",  "Corporeal  Jigsore
Quandry", "Keep on Rotting in the Free  World",  "Incarnated  Solvent
Abuse" and "No Love Lost") and two live concerts. There's not much to
say about the videos but the concert footage should be commented  on.
The shows were recorded in the years 1992 and 1989 and you  can  tell
which is which by the recording quality. The first concert, the  Gods
of Grind Tour 1992,  features  songs  like  "Reek  of  Putrefaction",
"Pedigree Butchery", "Exhume to Consume" and "Tools  of  the  Trade".
The live footage for the music video "Corporeal Jigsore Quandry"  was
taken from this concert, so if  you've  seen  that  video  then  that
should give you some idea as to the film quality.  For  this  concert
the overall film quality isn't bad but in a few places  it  does  get
rough. The second  concert,  the  Grindcrusher  Tour  1989  pales  in
comparison to the first in both sound and film quality.  What  bugged
me about this show was the inactivity, or lack of stage presence. The
guitarists just stood and played while the drummer was behind a  huge
Carcass banner so you could barely see him  most  of  the  show.  The
guitar sound was also too low. So the last show was  both  boring  to
hear AND watch. To wrap this review up, it would have  been  nice  to
see some interview footage or maybe hear  the  band  members  talking
about the break-up. To tell  the  truth,  this  video  is  completely
unnecessary and it appears as if Earache are trying  to  cash  in  on
Carcass's  demise.  Fans  of  Carcass  may  want  to  complete  their
collection with this, but most everyone else should save their $$.


Coal Chamber - _Coal Chamber_  (Roadrunner/Attic, February 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley  (5 out of 10)

Los  Angeles  quartet  Coal  Chamber's  self-titled  debut  album  is
everything that a die-hard Korn or even Deftones'  fan  would  crave.
It's heavily-coated with an intense rhythm section, overflowing  with
hard-hitting riffs and draped with maniacal vocals throughout.  Sound
familiar? While comparisons are very similar to the other two popular
California outfits, the thing that sets Coal  Chamber  apart  is  the
band's feel for melody and  groove.  While  Korn  and  Deftones  rely
moreso  on  a  maniacal  charge  of  sorts  with   their   burst   of
adrenaline-laced screams,  Coal  Chamber  displays  some  control  of
material and that saves this project. Other than that  I'm  having  a
hard time telling these bands apart.


Various Artists - _Wintergrief_  (Nahitfol Productions, January 1997)
by: Jo Romst  (8 out of 10)

The main reason why I ordered this tape was  that  it  featured  many
bands I have heard about for a long time but  never  really  had  the
chance to listen to (like Nightfall or VOD). Yup, unless  you're  one
of these guys who buys every single underground metal release, you'll
discover many cool bands here! The orientation of the tape is towards
the more atmospheric and melodic side of the black/doom/death genres.
Black metal freaks will rejoice in  blasphemy  with  Agatus,  Zemial,
Invocation, Elysian Fields, and  an  unreleased  song  by  Varathron;
doom/death followers will drown even deeper in sorrow  with  Yearning
(debut CD out on Holy Records), Septic Flesh (no words needed for the
gods!), VOD, Garbage Breed (chilean band a la My Dying Bride), Groms,
COD (finnish band with  a  forthcoming  release  on  Wild  Rags)  and
Absence of Dawn; the more technical and progressive side of the scene
is represented by Acid Death, Kalisia (incredible French band!), Aeon
(Nocturnus lives!), and Manic. For those who'd want even more,  there
are a couple of quite surprising tunes: Carnival in Coal offer  us  a
song filled with sheer brutality and hate but featuring a banjo break
(!!!), Stille Volke is  a  folk/pagan  band  with  lyrics  in  French
(they're signed on Holy), The Renaissance Dance play dark/electro/pop
and Moozzhead - the tape's outro is pure fucking noise! A funny thing
is that almost half of the bands are Greek, so I guess that  the  guy
who issued _Wintergrief_ must be Greek, too. This release is  perfect
for people who would like to discover some very good bands  from  the
dark side of the current underground metal scene. More  info  can  be
found at: http://www.cs.univ-paris8.fr/~nahitfol/garden/


The Darksend - _Unsunned_  (Head Not Found, 1997)
by: Drew Schinzel  (8 out of 10)

Before receiving _Unsunned_, I'd  never  heard,  nor  heard  of,  The
Darksend at all, so I didn't really  know  what  to  expect.  Luckily
though, I was pleasantly surprised. Their  style  is  mostly  Swedish
melodic black metal, in the vein of Dawn and Marduk (okay, so  Marduk
aren't that melodic), with a lot of  melodic  death  metal  influence
from the likes of Dark Tranquillity and  others  of  their  ilk.  Not
being able to  rely  on  originality,  The  Darksend  instead  create
extremely fast, melodic compositions, broken up by  slower  mid-paced
reprieves, and punctuated with a few thrashy solos. The vocals aren't
too bad, similar in style to Dawn, but a little more whiny  sounding,
unfortunately. The production is good enough, though maybe  a  little
thicker than  others  (relatively  speaking,  this  is  no  Mortician
production job), but it gets the job done with no major problems. The
most important part of _Unsunned_, like most albums of its type,  are
the guitar melodies, and there  are  few  disappointments  here.  You
won't find anything comparable in quality to the best  from  D.T.  or
Dawn, but they certainly suffice, and comprise most of the highlights
of the album. There's not too much else to  say  about  The  Darksend
that you couldn't have read in any other review of its genre,  except
that it's just as good as any of the others.


Dominion - _Interface_  (Peaceville, 1996)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10) 

Yet another recent Peaceville release, in this case a debut, Dominion
present a somewhat renewed version of thrash metal with various other
influences, together with both male and female vocals. In  fact,  and
that might be what will bring Dominion notice, Michelle  is  actually
the lead vocalist, with various sorts of backing  male  vocals.  They
have a consistent sound and use a very clear bass, while managing  to
have a very fair amount of interesting, even  original,  arrangements
and riffs, although their quality isn't  constant.  The  tracks  that
really stand out are "Silhouettes" and  "Weaving  Fear",  but  almost
every track has something good about it. Track  four  features  guest
vocals  from  Aaron  (My  Dying  Bride)  and  Michelle's  good  vocal
abilities are explored in the very soft final  track.  Dominion  show
some good potential, though they still lack something to really  make
them stand out. Not a masterpiece, but a very pleasant  album  and  a
good debut.


Eternal Oath - _So Silent_ MCD  (1997)
by: Drew Schinzel  (7 out of 10)

Eternal Oath take a unique approach  to  Swedish  melodic  death:  by
taking elements from both brutal death metal and melodic  death,  the
occasional  synth  backing,  and   some   more   "mainstream   metal"
characteristics, they form an eclectic mix which is easily  separated
into its best and worst parts, and which can't really be aligned with
acts such as Dark Tranquillity or In Flames. The six songs  alternate
between heavy, brutal sections, and epic, mid-paced, sometimes rather
symphonic, melodic parts, and it is the latter that definitely shines
through the most. It's a shame Eternal Oath didn't  concentrate  more
on what they do best: creating melodic, memorable guitar  lines  with
great (guttural) vocals. Instead, they overshadow  them  with  heavy,
brutal, double-bass laden sections and weak, mid-paced sections  with
decent synth and distinctly non-death metal riffs.  The  heavy  parts
aren't even of the high-speed, frantic variety.  Instead,  they  just
plod along, seemingly waiting for a good  melody  to  pop  up,  which
inevitably does happen. The first and  last  songs,  "The  Dawn"  and
"Dream of Rising", respectively, are without question the  best,  but
the majority of the others  are  merely  average,  and  are  evidence
enough as to why Eternal Oath can probably best be summed up  in  one
word: inconsistent.


Godkiller - _The Rebirth of the Middle Ages_
by: Steve Hoeltzel  (8 out of 10)  (Wounded Love Records, 1996)

I don't know why the guy behind  this  one-man  black  metal  project
settles for the fairly modest  nickname  "Duke  Satanael",  when  the
overall package of this 20-minute CD easily earns him the title "King
Cliche". Picture of a castle on the front. "Duke Satanael" posing  on
the back, covered with makeup, holding a big  sword  and  glaring  at
song titles like "The Never-Ending Reign of the  Black  Knights".  On
the inside, a flatulent speech about just how  evil  "Duke  Satanael"
is, inverted crosses, more wonderful sword poses, and  so  on.  Bored
yet? I mean, how many times has the -exact- thing already been  done?
(The answer: so many times that none  of  this  stuff  has  any  real
impact anymore.) Still, the -music- the Duke  creates  proves  to  be
quite enjoyable stuff: good, unpretentious black  metal  which  flows
nicely, features some  great  riffs,  and  has  a  reasonably  dense,
well-balanced sound. The riffs are definitely  what  makes  Godkiller
stand out: instead  of  endlessly  repeating  the  same  ultra-simple
combination of notes over an unchanging beat, the Duke takes a  basic
black metal riff and  then  craftily  bends  it  around,  putting  it
through variations that  greatly  increase  the  music's  appeal.  In
addition, keyboards are used almost perfectly: just prominent  enough
to provide cool harmonics, but never fancy  and  never  more  than  a
backup for the riff. Cool keyboard-and-drum breaks also make for some
nice dynamics, laying down hard rhythms and harmonic lines which  the
guitars leap onto and take off. Vocals are  in  the  screechy  Burzum
style, though perhaps a bit smoother and  definitely  less  annoying.
Percussion sounds solid, if maybe a bit basic. So, despite my  gripes
about the image, I quite enjoy the music - it's a  very  solid  entry
into the genre, even if not a particularly innovative one.


The Great Kat - _Guitar Goddess_  (1997)
by: Brian Meloon  (6 out of 10)

The Great Kat's latest offering is a 4 song  EP,  clocking  in  at  a
whopping 8 minutes.  It  features  two  classical  covers  (Rossini's
"Barber   of   Seville"   and   Sarasate's   "Gypsy   Violin   Waltz:
Zigeunerweisen"), and two original songs ("Feast  of  the  Dead"  and
"Dominatrix"). The style is essentially  the  same  as  her  previous
offerings:  fast,  short,   thrashy   songs   with   lots   of   fast
neoclassically inspired guitar work, and screamed and growled vocals.
As with her previous release (_Digital Beethoven on Cyberspeed_  (see
CoC #6)), she seems to be trying to be taken more seriously,  as  the
music (and packaging)  avoids  a  lot  of  the  cheesy  imagery  from
_Beethoven on Speed_. She's even  incorporated  some  new  influences
(such as the congas at the intro and outro of "Feast of  the  Dead").
By far my favorite part of  the  CD  is  her  version  of  Sarasate's
"Zigeunerweisen",  in  which  she  elaborates  on  the  guitar/violin
interaction that she  has  played  around  with  in  the  past  (e.g.
"Paganini's Caprice  #9"  from  _DBOC_).  The  dueling  guitar/violin
approach works well, and offers  a  novel  sound.  Hopefully,  she'll
continue to explore this fertile territory with her future  releases.
The production isn't great; it's rawer than  her  previous  offerings
and sounds a little distorted as well  (probably  due  to  a  smaller
recording budget). Overall, this  is  a  nice  release  for  fans  of
neoclassical guitar spank-off, but it's way too short.


Grimoire - _A Requiem for the Light_  (Euphonious, November 1996)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (8 out of 10)

Grimoire are another black metal band on the  Euphonious  label  that
isn't from Norway or Sweden (along with Solhverv, see review in  this
issue). From the unlikely country of Israel hail Grimoire with  their
take on black metal, which is done very well and exceeds some of  the
genre's counterparts. Mixing traditional black metal with  their  own
ideas (distorted vocals, piano/keyboard passages and sound  effects),
the well-written lyrics deal with  varied  topics  from  vampires  to
warriors. And yes,  in  the  lyrics  the  words  "fog",  "moonlight",
"mountains" and "woods" appear, after all I did say they were a black
metal band!! Songs like "At Dark", "Nevuath  Ha'Tom"  and  "Vampires"
show that Grimoire do have talent at  playing  black  metal  .  I  do
expect that this would be hard to find  this  at  your  local  record
store, so here's the label's address:

Contact: GRIMOIRE, c/o Euphonious Records
         Sankt Jorgens Alle 7 O.G 1 TH., DK-1615 Kobenhavn V, DENMARK
         mailto:vow@pip.dknet.dk
         WWW: http://www.vow.dk/euphonio/euphonio.htm


Hammerfall - _Glory to the Brave_
by: Drew Schinzel  (10 out of 10)  (Vic Records, April 1997)

Wow, I wasn't expecting this at all. A brand new side-project of  two
In Flames members and  a  couple  of  Crystal  Age  members,  and  in
addition to having featured Mikael Stanne and Nilkas Sundin from Dark
Tranquillity before the recording  of  the  album,  I  was  expecting
"just" another Swedish melodic death release,  but  this  is  nothing
like that style at all. This is more of a "typical" speed metal band,
and in fact not very original at all, but  this  is  just  absolutely
killer stuff, and its unoriginality really doesn't  harm  its  appeal
much at all. Replete with clean, moderately high-pitched vocals (much
like Helloween, Gamma Ray,  and  others  of  their  ilk),  relatively
simple, driving riffs, lyrics about gleaming steel  swords,  fighting
alongside one's brothers in the night (all in the name of  glory,  of
course), and those ultra-cheesy choruses where the whole band  sings,
Hammerfall is -not- to be mistaken for an extension of In Flames, and
only sounds even remotely like them in a couple of riffs  where  some
influence is evident. Another thing you won't see  on  an  In  Flames
album:  a  simulated  live  setting  with  crowd  noise!   You   know
something's amiss when the song breaks to a slow part  and  you  hear
cheers and whistles coming  out  of  the  speakers  from  a  supposed
concert for a band who have never released an album. Ok, so  some  of
this album is a bit on the cheesy side, but  who  cares,  I  get  the
chills when listening to _Glory to the Brave_; some of  the  material
present is so truly inspiring, it makes me shiver just thinking about
it (how's that for cheese, eh?). If you couldn't already tell,  I  am
utterly blown away by _GttB_, and recommend it to -everyone-.


Hefeystos - _Vilce Sjen_  (Wounded Love Records, 1997)
by: Drew Schinzel  (8 out of 10)

Another in the growing ranks of mid-paced,  heavily  folk-influenced,
keyboard-laden black metal, Hefeystos have one  separation  from  the
rest. Despite the trite picture of the band in the forest with  axes,
and the obvious Norwegian trademarks,  Hefeystos  are  actually  from
Poland. Of course, that doesn't mean they can't play  this  style  of
music well; actually, on the  contrary,  _Vilce  Sjen_  is  a  decent
release, succeeding in its goal of being  majestic  and  atmospheric,
but there's still room for improvement in a couple of  areas.  First,
and most easily fixed, is the length of the album. _VS_  is  only  11
minutes, with a paltry two songs. I know this is a first release, but
two songs? Granted, they're both good efforts, but still.  Second  is
the musicianship. The compositions  here  are  extremely  simplistic.
This doesn't detract -that- much from the experience,  but  a  little
skillful playing can go a long way, for sure. _VS_ is not without its
good points, however. The vocals, a  rather-high  pitched,  extremely
throaty  shrieking,  are  decent  enough,  and  the   Satyricon-esque
groaning is certainly cool. The majestic, emotional sounding keys are
a highlight, too. Hefeystos have produced a fine first effort, though
it's too bad it's over so fast. Still, though, at a reduced price  at
most distros ($7 or $8), give it a try.


I'M'L - _Instigating The Mean And Loud_  (DeRock Records, Fall 1996)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

Surfacing from one of the only 'metal' hot spots in Canada, the  city
of Montreal, comes I'M'L, a powerhouse quartet who  live  and  breath
the somewhat long forgotten style of metal i.e. Slayer,  Anthrax  and
Kiss. Listen to the band's debut album,  _Instigating  The  Mean  And
Loud_, and you will hear hard-driven melodic numbers, the  crunch  of
ferocious riffs and slamming of the  drums  -  all  played  with  the
utmost enthusiasm and passion. As if drawn from their influences, the
band's music style ranges from Slayer-like numbers to the  stomp  and
groove stylings of Anthrax, with  lead  screamer  Dan  sounding  very
similar to Anthrax's singer John Bush most  of  the  time.  I  really
liked the way this album's eleven tracks seem to work off each  other
and their specific love and feel for old school metal.  Also  evident
is the fact that the band never tries to play music that is different
from what they desire to play. In other words: straight forward metal
with no need to experiment. The album's loudness, well-crafted  songs
and honesty are some of the more positive selling points  of  _ItMaL_
and I suggest anyone who likes those selling points to search out and
find this record.


Limbonic Art - _Moon in the Scorpio_
by: Drew Schinzel (9 out of 10)  (Nocturnal Art Productions, 1997)

Limbonic Who? Another shock, this  time  in  the  form  of  extremely
atmospheric Norwegian black metal, courtesy of Limbonic Art's  debut,
_Moon in the Scorpio_. Although the image is extremely contrived  and
trite (does anyone really want to see another  two  guys  with  scary
names; Daemon and Morfeus... ooooo... ahhhh, posing around a fire  in
corpsepaint?), Limbonic  Art's  music  is  phenomenal.  Shedding  the
traditional guitar with backing keyboard approach,  they  instead  do
the opposite: the keyboards lay out the haunting melodies, while  the
guitars just kind of buzz around in the background. And what haunting
melodies they are. Listening to the first track, "Beneath the  Burial
Surface", I just about couldn't believe my ears when the bell started
its ominous chime  and  the  synth  broke  out  in  a  heart-stopping
arrangement. It  only  gets  better  from  there,  with  the  awesome
recorded thunderstorm and whispered vocals, again accompanied by  the
bell. Of course, there's more than just one song on _MitS_, but  they
all follow in the footsteps of the first; specifically, they are  all
captivating.   Cosmic   sounding   keyboards,    brutal    percussion
(programmed, though you can hardly  tell),  scathing  vocals,  and  a
dark, morbid atmopshere round out the  sonic  assault.  Having  seven
songs and a duration of 60 minutes, _MitS_ is not short  on  content,
either. Limbonic Art have come up with perhaps the best  black  metal
album of the year, thus far.


Lordes Werre - _Canticles of Armageddon_  (RIP Music, 1996)
by: Drew Schinzel  (2 out of 10)

I gave Lordes Werre a chance.  Really,  I  did.  But,  after  further
review, I don't like _Canticles of Armageddon_ at all. Its  style  of
death with thrash  influence,  horrible  screamed  vocals,  extremely
unoriginal image (an army of skeletons on the cover,  oh  wow!),  and
bullshit posing just doesn't do anything for me. Apparently,  members
Galan Dracos and Avernus have been too  busy  worshipping  Satan  and
spreading the darkness, because they certainly didn't  come  up  with
anything  original,  or  even  remotely  good,  for  their  MCD.  The
simplistic, annoying guitars are just plain bad, and everything  else
follows suit. Avoid this.

Lux Occulta - _Forever Alone. Immortal._  (Pagan Records, 1996)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (9 out of 10) 

First thing that caught my attention was the brilliant cover  layout:
the band's name ("lux" meaning light), the album title, and  the  way
the picture itself fit the rest. And, as a matter of  fact,  so  does
the music... fit the rest, I mean. If I had to  describe  this  album
(er, actually, I do have to describe it) I'd precisely use  the  name
Lux Occulta and the title _Forver Alone. Immortal._.  Throughout  the
55 minutes of this very well-produced  album,  Lux  Occulta  show  an
impressive array of creativity, songwriting skills, and musicianship.
All this mixed with the interesting look I  already  mentioned  makes
one hell of an album. Lux Occulta are  essentially  a  melodic  black
metal band, showing some classical music influences and often using a
very doomy  atmosphere  (hence  the  appropriate  title).  About  the
classical influences, well, this six-piece  band  knows  how  to  use
their keyboards for diversity, and they sometimes include an acoustic
guitar, a flute (which is once used during a fast black metal part  -
which are always melodic and well played - besides some  other  flute
solos) and a cello (which performs particularly well in the excellent
third  track).  These  instruments,  as  well  as  all  the  keyboard
orchestral effects, blend in extremely well, giving an  overall  feel
that, again, fits the title. But  what  would  this  be  without  the
talent? Besides being great musicians in what concerns playing (tight
guitars  and  bass,  technical  and  powerful  drumming,  well   used
keyboards), they also come up  with  constantly  remarkable  melodies
(the classical influences I mentioned being important here) that team
up with the good black metal and doom parts to create a great  album.
I must mention the third track, the one with lots of cello, which  is
great, as well as the last one (the sixth),  which  is  probably  the
doomiest: the vocals in that  track  are  like  a  combination  of  a
regular black metal voice  with  Aaron's  (My  Dying  Bride)  weeping
voice, and the song is the very essence of the album's title (there I
go again). So this was undoubtedly the album which surprised  me  the
most in 1996, and one I won't hesitate in recommending to  any  metal
fan. "The awakening has begun..."


Machine Head - _The More Things Change..._  (Roadrunner, March 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

When San Francisco Bay-area thrash metal quartet Machine Head stormed
into the music industry three years ago with their powerfully-charged
debut disc _Burn My Eyes_ they demolished everything in sight  thanks
in part to an onslaught of heavy guitar riffs, thunderous wallops  of
intensity and singer/guitarist Robb Flynn's anger-filled lyrics. That
record had everything. Fans loved  them,  critics  loved  them,  they
toured extensively worldwide and to many Machine Head was the musical
force that helped preserve the somewhat fading metal community -  and
they did. Now album number two, _The More Things Change..._,  finally
surfaces after being plagued by studio problems (the album had to  be
re-recorded), extensive writing sessions and  the  loss  of  original
drummer Chris Kontos. The results? A somewhat different Machine  Head
in my books. While the album is as intense as _Burn My Eyes_  in  the
screams and guitar-driven numbers department, as seen on first single
"Ten Ton Hammer," "Struck A Nerve" or "Bay of Pigs," _The More Things
Change..._ lacks a real pressure point, something their  debut  album
was chock full of. Don't get me wrong, I like this record  -  lots  -
but I feel that the  band  wasn't  able  to  carry  the  success  and
momentum they saw out on the road into the studio. I'm happy with the
results, I just wished I had my  teeth  knocked  out  this  time  out
rather than slapped around a few times.


Mental Destruction - _Straw_ (Cold Meat Industries, 1996)
by: Andrew Lewandowski  (7 out of 10)

Following a directional shift towards sedate dark  ambient,  CMI  has
almost completely neglected the sub-genre of post-industrial European
noise manifested in classic releases by the  likes  of  In  Slaughter
Natives and Lille Roger. Here to revive this dying breed  is  one  of
CMI's oldest bands, Mental Destruction. _Straw_ showcases all of  the
pounding, scraping, clanking, and screaming that  once  typified  the
Cold Meat sound. This is far from all-out noise; the  instrumentation
possesses a discernible rhythm. While  metals  provide  a  formidable
base for each song, MD layers a  few  enthralling  synthesizer  notes
into the mix. Once combined with surprisingly effective  lyrics,  the
music posses quite a  despondent  feel,  although  this  is  slightly
tarnished by a belief in Christianity, blatantly  manifested  in  the
lyrical passages to almost every track. While this  factor  alone  is
not  enough  to  give  me  a  disappointed  impression,   plenty   of
disappointment can be found in the soulless production. First of all,
any lyrical despair is negated by the ludicrous  vocalizations.  They
come across as  a  vomited  hybrid  between  Count  Grishnach  and  a
distorted Phil Anselmo, during one of the latter's typically impotent
attempts at sounding "bad  ass."  Even  more  irksome  is  the  dull,
resonating thud produced by most  of  the  instruments.  Despite  the
diversity of sounds manipulated by MD, the tonal similarities  result
in a repetitive feel. On the plus side, they have created one of  the
more hallucinogenic CD cases that I have ever laid my eyes upon.


Merzbow - _Age Of 369/Chant 2_ Double CD  (Extreme Rec., Winter 1996)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

Masami Akita  (a.k.a  Merzbow;  one  of  the  many  projects  he  has
collaborated on) is probably one of the  most  popular  noise/ambient
aficionados within the music industry. Merzbow's latest double-CD  is
not really a compilation or anything like that, rather a reissuing of
the record _Age Of 369/Chant 2_ that found it's way into  the  market
more than ten years ago. The year of 1985 to be exact.  This  reissue
of Merzbow's efforts not only display's some of the most bizarre  and
intricate collection of noise/ambient experimentation's over the last
decade or so, but also proves that Akita was way ahead  of  his  time
with  his  creations.  The  creativity  and  intensity  is  extremely
mind-blowing. Every second of this record lends a  delicate  feel  of
emotion to us that strains at every pore of our  psyche.  It  creates
images and visions within the music and leaves us drained at the  end
of every listen. While some may steer clear of this release as it  is
quite intense and noise-filled, the  die-hard  fans  of  extreme  and
powerfully executed noise bands will worship this (as many have  done
since the band's conception). Proving once again, as he may have done
years ago, that music needs not to come out and dictate  a  story  or
speak through lyrics, as this record reveals  that  it  can  be  told
through music and I think Merzbow achieved this quite effectively. An
abomination of noise for noise lovers worldwide. Note: a cool Merzbow
page to check out: <http://www.hut.fi/~omertalo/Merzbow.html>


Necromantia - _Ancient Pride_  (Osmose Prod., January 1997)
by: Steve Hoeltzel  (6 out of 10)

It seems a bit odd that a tinny-sounding drum machine is featured  on
this mini-CD, since the EP is being marketed as some sort of  tribute
to down-home, ancient European ways. In fact, I was a bit startled by
the overall character of this whole release, which feels like a  real
step backwards from 1995's excellent _Scarlet Evil, Witching  Black_.
Gone are the innovations and occult atmospheres that made that  album
so interesting. In their place, we get a  flute,  lots  of  mid-paced
riffing on shrill-sounding strings, plus a bunch of extremely  uncool
symbolism and rhetoric about "the European  consciousness."  European
consciousness, my ass. Anyway,  the  four  songs  are  quite  simple,
straightforward affairs, containing very few fast parts, fairly basic
structures, and mostly mid-paced riffing. What black metal feel these
guys did have once is now pretty much gone, and the eight-string bass
sounds considerably less crusty this time around. Not that  all  that
is necessarily so bad - it's just that I don't find any  of  the  new
songs to be particularly engaging, with the minor exception of  "Each
Dawn I Die". This one has a certain pounding catchiness  to  it,  and
-almost- recaptures the nocturnal feel of older material. In fact, it
reminds me of some of the latest from Thou Art Lord, but it's neither
as energetic nor as enjoyable. This release is certainly not bad, and
the material is well-played (respects to Divad  for  some  nice  lead
guitar), but I just don't think the music measures up to  the  band's
past efforts in terms of originality or power.


Necrophobic - _Darkside_  (Black Mark, February 1997)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (4 out of 10)

On _Darkside_ it appears that Necrophobic got the $$  in  their  eyes
and jumped onto the black metal bandwagon. Giving hints  to  this  on
their last EP _Spawned by Evil_, it featured bad black  metal  vocals
which  carried  onto  this  LP.  It  speaks   volumes   about   their
bandwagon-hop when in the first line of the first song,  "Black  Moon
Rising" they use the word "forest". And to  be  frank,  I'm  sick  of
seeing song  titles  like  "Nailing  the  Holy  One"  and  "Christian
Slaughter". I thought Deicide did that sort of thing  to  death??  As
for the music, there wasn't anything here that I found  memorable  or
worth hearing again. Hell, you know you have a bad CD when  you  like
the  cover  art  more  than  the  music.  Also  thrown  in  are  some
pretentious keyboard/piano instrumentals which I  guess  makes  their
black metal transformation "complete". I admit I've never been a  fan
of Necrophobic, and _Darkside_ will keep it that way!


Num Skull - _When Suffering Comes_  (Defiled Records, 1996)
by: Steve Hoeltzel  (7 out of 10)

Although their spelled-wrong-on-purpose band  name  keeps  making  me
think of hair metal wussies Ruff Cutt,  these  guys  have  absolutely
nothing to do with wussy-hood. Nope,  this  is  brutal  death,  North
American-style - the kind of thing that  would  make  Ruff  Cutt  wet
their spandex pants; and if you're big on this particular style, then
you're almost certain to like it. It's superbly heavy, with a bit  of
early Suffocation feel to the sound,  plus  some  crushing  mid-tempo
grooves and rhythm guitars that occasionally remind me of  Malevolent
Creation's uber-powerful _Retribution_. What I especially like  about
the album is the genuine old-school vibe it's got going:  these  guys
are much  more  interested  in  morbid  heaviness  and  unpretentious
structures than in needlessly technical riffing  and  constant  tempo
changes. Not that it's monotonous,  though.  There  are  some  great,
barbaric dynamics on tracks like "As the Dead Pile High,"  "The  Gift
of Hate," and opener "Eyes of a Madman."  Another  cool  touch:  they
close with a cover of Venom's "Buried Alive," a song which definitely
benefits from an injection of death metal heaviness.  The  production
is solid, and so are all the performances. Why didn't  I  give  it  a
higher score? Well, at 33 minutes for nine tracks,  the  compositions
are all fairly short, and some songs don't really seem to go anywhere
in the course of their brief durations. More to the  point:  although
definitely enjoyable, Num Skull are lacking in any real  distinctness
that might set them apart from their peers. But hell yeah, they  know
what they're doing, and this is undeniably very heavy.


Penitent - _The Beauty of Pain_  (Draenor Productions, 1997)
by: Steve Hoeltzel  (7 out of 10)

Draenor Productions is a new division  of  Austria's  Napalm  Records
(home of superb bands like Abigor, Summoning, Setherial,  and  Dismal
Euphony). Based on this first release, I'm guessing that Draenor will
specialize in the Dark Ambient and ritual music  that  has  attracted
quite a bit of interest from metal musicians  and  fans  these  days.
Penitent, you see, are a former Cold Meat Industry act who specialize
in  morose,  atmospheric  keyboard  pieces  built   up   around   icy
recitations of somber poetry. Asbjorn Log handles  the  music,  while
Karsten Hamre performs the "Mad Poetry Declamations." My respects  to
Asbjorn, because much of the music on this CD is quite  spellbinding.
It's fairly minimalist, often just a single, echoing piano  with  (or
without) a quiet synth background and thundering tympanic percussion.
Opener "Autumn is  the  Beauty  of  Pain"  begins  with  this  simple
framework, gradually adding accents and emotion  to  what  becomes  a
galloping anthem, vigorous and sad.  There's  some  grimly  beautiful
music on  this  release,  displaying  genuine  compositional  talent.
However, the poetry component is not quite so enjoyable, because  the
delivery is rather unimaginative. The lyrics are simply recited in  a
deadpan, accented voice. In a  way,  this  works  to  accentuate  the
music's somber mood, but it can  also  sound  a  bit  corny,  and  it
definitely would have been cool to try out some effects,  instead  of
just flatly talking into the mike. Still, I enjoy this, and  some  of
the musical passages are just splendid. Is it  metal?  Of  course  it
isn't. The point is, it's music intended to capture and  create  many
of the same atmospheres and emotions that bands who do play metal are
also trying to evoke. (Especially doom metal, in this case.)


Various Artists - _A Tribute to Judas Priest_  (Century Media, 1997)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault  (4 out of 10)

My main reason for hanging onto this is almost entirely for Kreator's
rendition of "Grinder",  and  Chuck  Billy's  vocals  in  Testament's
version of "Rapid Fire". The rest is mostly mediocre to poor in terms
of quality and creativity, which is a disappointment coming from such
names as Helloween, Fates in Hell, Nevermore, and Mercyful Fate.  The
most insipid thing about this release is that  there  are  two  bands
covering "The Ripper". Mercyful Fate does a  lacklustre  job  of  it,
King Diamond sounding out of place and silly.  Iced  Earth  wins  the
competition on vocals alone, although even the music is  superior  to
MF's. Essentially, this is a waste of time and money, unless you're a
major fan of either Judas Priest, or one of the  featured  bands.  In
fact, the accompanying bio  sheet  with  words  from  selected  bands
appearing on the disc was far more  interesting  that  the  listening
itself.


Purity - _Built_  (Black Mark, January 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

Power-metal band Purity (a four-piece from Finland) have worked  hard
since their inception in 1991 to perfect their sound and style.  They
have finally been able to do that with their debut album, _Built_,  a
wonderful assortment of song styles that showcase many of the  styles
they have tinkered with over the last few years. Several  attributes,
such as brutal growls, strong melodies and a definite  groove,  stick
out the mostly on this  record.  While  some  may  hear  or  pick  up
comparisons to Prong or Machine Head within the band's music, they'll
definitely be able to see that the band successfully manages to weave
their influences and own ideas into one pattern, and break away  from
such stereotype sounds. I like  what  this  band  has  been  able  to
accomplish with _Built_, relying more on creating within  a  familiar
boundary or idea but still sounding fresh each  time  out.  Standouts
include: "Enter/Exit," "Pique" and "In Disguise."


Quorthon - _When Our Day Is Through_ (Black Mark, February 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley (6 out of 10)

I must applause Bathory frontman Quorthon for  continuing  onward  in
his quest to create other  forms  of  music  other  than  the  brutal
carnage he brought forth with  the  numerous  Bathory  releases.  The
follow-up to 1995's _Album_ is the 4-song collection called _When Our
Day Is Through_, an assortment of material far from the  savagery  of
Bathory rather closely similar to Smashing  Pumpkins  and  any  other
mainstream alt/rock act. The material has  it  all:  Top  40  sounds,
bittersweet melodies and memorable hooks. This  ain't  bad,  kind  of
cheesy at times, but the main thing to keep in mind is that  Quorthon
is dead serious about what he is doing outside of Bathory and  within
his musical endeavors. Case in point: this is the  'warm-up'  to  the
twenty-three song, double-cd collection of alternative ditties called
_Purity of Essence_ that Quorthon will be unleashing sometime in May.
You've been warned.


Regard Extreme - _Resurgence_  (Perspectives, 1996)
by: Andrew Lewandowski  (10 out of 10)

Every once  in  a  great  while,  an  album  will  come  along  which
completely allude a verbal definition; in fact,  placing  words  upon
such a release can only serve to pervert its power.  _Resurgence_  is
one  of   those   albums.   Symbols   such   as   "melancholic"   and
"transcendental" are ejaculated, yet  nothing  can  do  anything  but
limit the objective strength and subjective effect of this recording.
If seen superficially, this is created in a rather conventional mold;
orchestral ambient  generated  by  synthesizer.  Yet  Regard  Extreme
create music that is far too lush and multi-faceted to  be  correctly
limited to the ambient genre, nor do they come close to  degenerating
into an obviously "Casio" band (see much of Mortiis' work). Only  the
choral passages are evidently  inorganic,  for  the  human  voice  is
impossible to faithfully replicate via machine. The emotional  impact
and suffocating ambience result in an effect intrinsic  in  only  the
best of ambient music, as the dichotomy separating listener and music
is annihilated; the m sic truly melts into the skin of the  listener,
assimilating itself with one's persona. Thus, as I've discovered over
the past month, _Resurgence_ is the perfect album for those  solitary
winter nights in which the ambivalence of emotion runs thick.


Rocking Dildos - _On Speed_  (Kron-H, January 1997)
by: Steve Hoeltzel  (7 out of 10)

Eighteen tracks, thirty-three minutes - and you WILL  want  to  crank
this up when the first song kicks in. Anyway, I sure did. These  four
goofs call their band a "motherfucker punk  rock  explosion,"  and  I
doubt I can improve upon that assessment, except  maybe  by  pointing
out that they pack some definite metallic power,  too.  I  mean,  how
many mere punk bands do you know who sound  surprisingly  similar  to
Impaled Nazarene? These guys do, especially in their thick, bombastic
guitar  sound;  harsh,  rasping  vocals;  and  full-on,   high-octane
approach. Of course, the RD's play  less  ferocious,  more  "rocking"
material, but _On Speed_ is still an  extremely  high-energy  affair.
You'll probably get a few laughs out of it, too, thanks  to  all  the
purposefully  idiotic  songs  like  "Pregnant  Women  Must  Die"  and
"Erection of the Century". The songs are short, driving, and  usually
feature just one or two  basic,  punk-styled,  metal-tuned  riffs  in
simple verse-chorus-verse structures. Did I  mention  that  all  four
guys in the band are named Frank? Hats off to  Frank,  Frank,  Frank,
and Frank; and cheers to Osmose/Kron-H for giving some exposure to  a
band who's bucking the current trends  and  doing  their  own  pretty
potent thing.


Signs Ov Chaos - _Frankenscience (Urban Cyberpunk)_
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)  (Earache Records, January 1997)

Sole creator Michael Wells takes us on a dark and in-depth journey of
society and  life.  Upon  each  listen,  the  almost  soundtrack-like
feeling of _Frankenscience_ brings us into a world in  which  we  are
forced to experience what Wells wants us to experience - no questions
asked. It is an experience  that  dabbles  with  hate,  understanding
ourselves and the complexity and intricateness of life. What we leave
with is  a  more  accurate  feel  of  the  molding  world  of  Wells'
ambient/noise project. While the bio says the album primarily focuses
on celebrating and dealing with both  the  good  and  bad  ideals  of
"cyber culture," the album works further as it also manages to create
an image of quite possibly the evolution of  ambient/noise  projects.
Assembled from multiple styles of musical ideas,  samples  and  noise
_Frankenscience_,  much  like  the  Frankenstein  monster   in   Mary
Shelley's novel, is a creation that manages to feed off  and  survive
on all the parts of what makes it one. If this  album  had  been  one
straight forward ambient/noise project then it would have been  quite
boring. Not the case here, as Wells has  thought  out  his  work  and
makes this an interesting and enjoyable record each listen.


Six Feet Under - _Alive and Dead_ EP  (Metal Blade, November 1996)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (2 out of 10)

Critics had good reason to dump on  Six  Feet  Under's  first  record
_Haunted_ as, excluding a couple of tracks, it sucked shit. With this
EP it's the same thing. "Insect" and "Drowning" are SFU's new tracks,
and are to my surprise actually remotely interesting  to  listen  to.
Still maintaining a slow pace, each song has  a  riff  that  you  can
actually remember after the song is done. What would an EP be without
a cover track? On this it's "Grinder" by Judas Priest. The last  four
songs were recorded live, average recording but boring  as  hell.  If
you didn't like anything on _Haunted_ then you certainly  won't  want
to hear them live!!! The only good tracks will be on  their  upcoming
record so there's absolutely no need to buy this.


Solhverv - _Tagernes Artusinde_  (Euphonious, November 1996)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (7 out of 10)

Fans of black metal are familiar with  the  many  popular  (and  some
not-so-talented) bands from Norway and Sweden. Well, here's one  from
Denmark that deserves  your  attention.  Solhverv  (formerly  "Fallen
Angel" and "Helhejm") have based their black metal  on  Danish  tales
and myths of ancient warfare, runic stones, sacrifices to  gods,  etc
etc etc. Don't count on  this  to  be  fascinating  reading  material
unless you can read Danish, so you'll have to take their word for it.
Focusing on the music, at times it's played  at  a  supersonic  speed
while at other times slowing down to inject some keyboard  melody  or
menacing screams. The tracks are lengthy but there is quality to  the
music being played. The vocals have an echo on them  and  aren't  the
shrilly/screechy variety that can be found in other bands. It's  hard
to come up with a comparison, Enslaved came into my mind but Solhverv
definitely don't emulate  them.  Keyboards  are  rare,  instead  they
successfully rely on their guitars to set the mood. Black metal  fans
I'm sure will like what they hear on _Tagernes Artusinde_. With  this
only their debut album, Solhverv have a bright future ahead of them.

Contact: SOLHVERV, c/o Euphonious Records
         Sankt Jorgens Alle 7 O.G 1 TH., DK-1615 Kobenhavn V, DENMARK
         mailto:vow@pip.dknet.dk
         WWW: http://www.vow.dk/euphonio/euphonio.htm


Sonipath - _Heavy Hooks_  (Flatten'Em Records, January 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

There  is  just  something  really  intriguing  about  the  music  of
Sonipath. I mean the music here is not as  deafening  or  violent  as
Slayer or as intricate playing as Carcass, but the sheer  ability  of
the band  to  mold  funk,  metal  and  aggressive  rock  deserves  an
applause. One thing the listener will  pick  up  right  away  is  the
band's very raw feel to  the  material,  nothing  sugar-coated,  just
assembled as it was recorded and that does help  create  a  character
about the music. The seven-song outing covers topics ranging from the
internet ("WWW.") to media coverage  "Newswoman")  and  illegal  bars
("Club Seal"), with singer D.J. Moran keeping the flow of  the  music
going onto each song. Another thing I liked was  that  the  band,  to
some extent, makes the music seem simplistic at times when in reality
it is not. Great musicians and songwriters  make  up  this  New  York
five-piece and the more you hear this you really pick  that  up.  For
those that want to taste a bit of what heavily  charged  and  diverse
material should sound like, then check out Sonipath.

Contact: SONIPATH, c/o Flatten'Em Records 
         247 Maple Avenue Studio 2A, Rockville Centre, NY, 11570
         Voice: (516) 764-7237
         mailto:dmoran1@vaxc.hofstra.edu OR mailto:sonipath13@aol.com


Stillsuit - _At The Speed Of Light_  (TVT Records, January 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley  (6 out of 10)

For those that really dig the intensity of such  hard-edged  acts  as
Quicksand, Helmet or Only Living Witness I will recommend  Stillsuit.
_At The Speed Of Light_ fulfills all the requirements  of  a  melodic
hardcore band that has the knack for writing not only strong  numbers
but memorable ones too. The album radiates a very raw feel to  it  as
numbers like "Bicycle For Two" or "Will To Die" seem to really  bring
out an realistic feel of dominance and strength within the  material.
It just hits ya  real  hard  in  the  gut.  While  many  might  place
Stillsuit in the same category/sound of  NYC  greats  Quicksand,  the
band does manage to add their own identity to the music too.  Another
thing that I enjoyed about Stillsuit's debut  album  is  the  harshly
delivered vocals of singer Julian, a characteristic that really seams
to help guide the direction of where the band is taking  it's  music.
Loud n' heavy music that'll surely not be overlooked.

Summertime Daisies - _The Clarity of Impurity_  (Independent, 1996)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault  (6 out of 10)

Bassist Barry Topley indicated to me that the new material  was  more
mature, more complex, and made allusions to a  direction  not  unlike
(gods!) Cryptopsy. I was anxiously awaiting more of their music after
having heard their _Gathering of  Vermin_  demo  and  attended  their
shows. Their  memorable,  high  intensity  death/grind  showed  great
promise, so I was elated when Barry handed me a complimentary copy of
their independently  released  full-length  album,  _The  Clarity  of
Impurity_. I gave it numerous listens, and while it has its  moments,
on the whole, I don't agree with  the  band  when  they  say  they've
matured and progressed. In fact, I  sense  a  certain  regression,  a
simpler approach which leaves the songs sounding too samey. Mind you,
it's well executed and has its moments, but it always seems  slightly
listless, not as convincing as their previous  material.  While  some
soul searching may well be in order, what's clear is that  they  need
to inject the songwriting with sharper  attacks,  and  more  original
riffs. I can't slam it entirely, because it -is-  a  solid  recording
with some interesting twists,  and  some  damn  find  heavy  grinding
music. What's more, they tacked on  the  _Gathering  of  the  Vermin_
tracks at the end CD to make it just under a half hour of  Summertime
grind.

Contact: SUMMERTIME DAISIES, 417 Richmond Street North, Box 158
         London, Ontario, N6A 3E8, Canada 

Quo Vadis - _Forever..._  (Independent, 1996) 
by: Alain M. Gaudrault  (8 out of 10)

This is a band worthy of label attention, nay, worthy  of  attention,
period. Hailing from the mighty Montreal, Quo Vadis are  starting  to
make a name for themselves, and rightly so  given  the  high  quality
output from this 4-piece act. Delivering a blend of styles influenced
by Dissection, both older and  newer  Carcass,  and  some  latter-day
Death, Quo Vadis are succeeding at writing memorable songs as opposed
to strings of riffs, a daunting task in extreme genres, but  possible
given the creativity and musical  talent  underlying  the  band.  The
vocals often are reminiscent of _Necroticism..._-era Carcass in their
use of varying textures and intensity, although the  lower,  guttural
vocals could use more  work  to  give  them  more  definition.  Yanic
Bercier should be commended on his drumming,  which  is  an  absolute
flurry of rolls and fills, fluid, and machine-like, although the band
nevertheless manages to lose sync occasionally. The twin  guitars  of
Bart Frydrychowicz and Arie Itman hit the mark virtually every  time,
playing off each other, complementing each  other  in  their  melodic
attacks, their exchange of single-note lines and blistering  rhythms.
Remy Beauchamp's bass work is barely audible, yet unpredictable  when
heard. QV even manages to weave in  unique  violin  passages  in  and
around the songs, creating just the right effect at the  right  time,
serving to accentuate the power behind the music instead  of  washing
it out. Fans of quality death who don't mind melody and the odd black
metal structure will jism all over this. My biggest  beefs  were  the
interspersed (albeit short) spoken word bits which I  thought  simply
didn't work, mostly because they  seemed  poorly  delivered,  out  of
place, and, well, a bit pretentious; the other  complaint  (and  this
cost them a whole point) is the  shouting-style  vocal  with  appears
only on "Inner Capsule",  a  fine  song  otherwise,  but  practically
unlistenable for me because of the poor excuse for  a  hardcore  yell
that is used in this track. Production-wise, the guitars need  to  be
louder in the mix, but  that's  likely  just  a  personal  bias,  and
therefore of secondary interest. On the bright side, the  lyrics  are
an interesting blend of violent images and  emotional  introspection,
not all of the same caliber, but strong and an interesting  read.  Be
sure to check out their home page for merchandise info.

Contact: QUO VADIS, c/o VomiT Productions, P.O. Box 44, Station NDG
         Montreal, Quebec, H4A 3P4, Canada  
         WWW: http://alcor.concordia.ca/~b_frydr
         mailto:quovadis@axess.com


Xysma - _Lotto_  (Relapse, February 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

A lot of people are really diggin' this record. I  am  one  of  them.
Fueled with more of a gritty Rock  n'  Roll  feel  to  the  material,
moreso than working hard to display any kind of take on metal  music,
the Finnish five-piece's debut album _Lotto_ for Relapse  Records  is
truly worth getting your hands onto. Full  of  swing,  groove  and  a
slight touch of absurdness and quirkiness, _Lotto_ rolls through  the
album's ten songs with a  truly  no  holds-barred  attitude.  Like  a
fully-charged  bar  band  wanting  to   scare   the   establishment's
clientele, the momentum and deliverance of singer  Joanitor's  vocals
are rough and running ragged on each song. Add in a  tight  band  and
memorable melodies and you got  something  worth  cranking  off  your
speaker. The music is a combination of influences from everyone  from
Sonic Youth to Motorhead to The Misfits to The Cult and Black Sabbath
and there is no denying that all those band's weighed heavily in  the
sounds the band have managed to create within _Lotto_.  Some  of  you
may be scratching your head at the whole concept or ideas that  Xysma
are trying to gel together but believe me it works. If there  is  any
hype to come along with this band in the near future, believe it. 

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

Your best source of information on the newest of  the  new,  and  the
deepest of the underground, New Noise is the place to read about  all
the coolest shit you never thought existed! And if you have  a  band,
don't forget to send us your demo with  a  bio  if  you  want  to  be
reviewed; our address is included in the zine's header.

Scoring:   ***** -- I see a record deal in the future
            **** -- Great piece of work
             *** -- Good effort
              ** -- A major overhaul is in order
               * -- A career change is advisable


Carrion - _Flesh Piles On The Floor  (3-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley (***--)

I was warned by the band's guitarist Ryan Mining on IRC #metal  about
the poor production of his Toledo,  Ohio  quintet's  three-song  demo
when he was getting ready to send off the demo tape  to  us  here  at
CoC. He wasn't kidding. Buried deeply beneath a  muffled  barrage  of
noise comes the music of Carrion: brutal, sick and extremely  violent
at times. While the music doesn't really stand out as  groundbreaking
material in the world of death metal, the intensity of  the  band  is
still shines through and helps keep us  interested  with  the  music.
Sounding a lot like a mixing of the sounds of Brutal Truth, Mortician
and Cannibal Corpse is where Carrion's music  takes  it's  shape  and
sound from. But again, due to  the  production  of  the  record,  the
band's music hardly sculpts any real definition to their own identity
within their music - hard to sift  through  muffled  noise  don't  ya
know? Whatever the case may be (most importantly the poor  production
once more) the three selections on this  demo  tape  are  salvageable
(and listenable) and do show that the band is  trying  hard  to  make
original, brutal death metal the way they want it to be. 

Contact: CARRION, 2523 Berdan Ave, Toledo, Ohio, 43613-4805, USA
         Voice: (419) 474-1088 
         mailto:rmining@bgnet.bgsu.edu


Chaotic Order - _Chaotic Order_  (4-track demo)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault  (***--)

I'm caught between two opposing opinions regarding this demo. On  the
one hand, the musicianship is strong, as  are  vocals  for  the  most
part, the production crisp and  punchy,  the  music  reasonably  well
composed. This and the fact that vocalist James Rivera  was  formerly
in Helstar are pluses, and  this  demo  merits  some  accolades,  but
unfortunately, I find it quite  derivative  of  a  variety  of  other
styles and in many cases, bands in particular.  It's  not  just  that
Chaotic Order borrows from groups such as Alice in  Chains,  Pantera,
and even Black Sabbath, but too often, signature sounds  or  passages
seem lifted straight off the  proverbial  page.  The  type  of  metal
played  is  generally  mid-paced  speed-derived  riffs,  choppy   and
chugging. Oddly, they try to inject some heavier moods with  the  odd
growled vocal burst, minor death influences, and even some occasional
double bass drumming. Of course, all of this  is  punctuated  by  the
mixture  of  deathish  grunts  and  growls   with   occasional   Phil
Anselmo-style posturing and loads of Layne Staley-esque harmonies. Of
course, eighties heavy metal is also an integral part of  the  sound,
which gives the music further predictability. A good listen, though.

Tracks: Lying Awake, Buy a Gun, Meaning, Side by Side

Contact: CHAOTIC ORDER, 460 East Washington #18,
         Escondido, CA, 92025, USA
         Voice: 619-743-7166
         http://www.atmnet.net/~riddler/alchemy/chaotic_order/
         mailto:tpmdrs@aol.com


Inner Misery - _Sea_  (3-track demo)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault  (****-)

While their previous demo, _Perpetual Sadness_, (reviewed in CoC  #8)
left me flat, I found myself enjoying the rough  mix  copy  of  _Sea_
given to me  by  Don  Clark,  the  band's  guitarist/vocalist.  While
they're still playing speed-influenced death metal, the songs on this
tape seemed to lodge themselves easily into  my  head,  the  chugging
riffs and sludge-laden melodies blasting away in lashing  waves.  Far
more   creativity   and   originality   went   into    these    three
no-frills-all-meat songs. Time changes abound, and different textures
of sound are used to create a simple, yet  powerful  assault,  neatly
wrapped in tight delivery. Vocals are blunt  death  grunts,  and  the
sound as a whole is minimal, which works effectively for Inner Misery
somehow. This  minimal  production  is  probably  what  permits  each
instrument to come through so well in the mix, which  is  a  blessing
given the interplay between them, particularly in  "Dreaming  of  the
Dead". Death metal purists who like raw, lean songs with heavy  speed
influences would do worse than to check out Inner Misery.

Tracks: Sea, Sucking Chest Wound, Dreaming of the Dead

Contact: INNER MISERY, 381 1/2 George Street
         Sarnia, Ontario, N7T 4P6, Canada  
         Voice: 519-336-8466
         mailto:clunetb@ebtech.net


Odes Of Ecstasy - _Atheistic Emotions_  (5-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley (**---)

Let me just get this off my chest  right  off  the  bat  okay?  Black
Sabbath's classic song "Paranoid" should not be sung as a duet,  with
two singers taking turns with one providing death metal growls  while
the other singer (whom happens  to  be  female)  providing  soft  and
eloquent gospel-like vocals. It just doesn't work  -  sorry.  Anyway,
the rest of Greece's Odes Of Ecstasy does not bother me as much,  but
still there are a few problems with this demo. One up  front  is  the
fact that the music and vocals don't seem to pair  off  too  well.  I
don't like the switch from death growls to soft vocals  too  much  as
both vocals seem to be recorded and added to distant from each  other
within the mix. Nothing exciting happening there.  It  may  work  for
bands like In Flames and Amorphis but here we  are  lost  within  the
transition. Too bad too as  the  female  vocals  (done  by  Christina
Maniati) work fine on several numbers (minus the cover song) and  the
strength and power of the growls work fine at times too. Personally I
like what OoE are doing musically  with  the  use  of  keyboards  and
dramatic ideas helping shape the  band's  symphonic  and  atmospheric
death metal, but it is just a shame that  this  record,  their  first
demo is a hit and miss.

Contact: ODES OF ECSTASY, c/o D. Bikos
         Patriarhou Fotieu B'19, Ano Nea Smirni
         171 24 Athens, Greece
         mailto:shrider@compulink.gr

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


Here is where Chronicles of Chaos gives you the lowdown on the latest
shows coming your way. Check out Chaotic Concerts every month for the
scoop on the bands brutalizing the masses  with  their  own  form  of
terror.


        C A N N A B I S   C O R P S E   A N D   F R I E N D S 
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
           Cannibal Corpse/Brutal Truth/Immolation/Oppresor
            At the Showplace Theatre in Buffalo, New York
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     I was actually quite excited to see this show, having seen  most
of the bands (minus  Oppressor)  back  in  NYC  at  Deathstock  3  in
November with Adam Wasylyk (CoC writer). This show it  was  time  for
both  founding  members  of  CoC  (Gino  and  myself)  to  cross  the
US/Canadian border (a 2-hr trek) to the get a  heavy  dose  of  metal
imbedded into our heads. Mission accomplished.
     Show openers Oppressor (from Chicago) started off with  quite  a
lackluster set, playing some older  material  from  their  _As  Blood
Flows_ (1991) days, but managed to liven things up when the more more
solidified newer material (off their latest  Lp  _Agony_)  was  mixed
into the set.  A  lot  heavier  and  more  brutal  than  their  older
material, the newer stuff seemed to add the "kick" that was needed to
keep the band's momentum  going.  Songs  like  "Passage"  and  "I  Am
Darkness" went over well with the hundreds of fans who arrived early.
     Second up was New York faves Immolation. The  band's  sound  was
muffled from the beginning and that didn't change much throughout the
bands 45-minutes set. This was  a  problem.  While  the  band  has  a
definite ability to mix both raw and emotionally  charged  grinds  of
death metal into their sound, it is the craftsmanship of  the  band's
playing that helps keep the band afloat on record and  something  the
band is capable of doing live and that helped  somewhat  to  preserve
the set and keep it from going to  some  awful  level  of  sound  and
deliverance. Let's just say they were much better in New York City.
     Next came Brutal Truth's 50-minute set, definitely the highlight
of the night. Charged and eager to rip hard and fast at the  fans  in
Buffalo, the New York grindcore/death four-piece lashed out furiously
playing material  from  their  classic  Lp's  _Need  To  Control_  or
_Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses_ and a  good  assortment
of selections off their latest Ep _Kill Trend Suicide_. The  band  is
just soooo awesome live: whether it be Rich Hoak's thunderous wallops
on the drums, Dan Lilker's massive bass grooves or singer Kevin Sharp
intense live performance. This band rules live. The thing that  makes
BT such a great live act is that no matter how intense or spastic the
material seems to gear towards there always  seems  to  be  a  hidden
groove in their somewhere. 
     Closing this rather impressive collection of metal bands was the
infamous (and quite popular)  Cannibal  Corpse.  Led  by  new  singer
"Corpsegrinder" (ex-Monstrosity) the band stormed with  ease  through
material off of their latest Metal Blade release _Vile_. While  I  am
not a big fan of CC, the band did play well.  It  sounded  heavy,  it
sounded raw and most importantly it sounded real  smooth  -  no  real
problems transfering the material off LP to  a  live  situation.  The
band also pleased fans with a few choice selections from the _Tomb Of
The Mutilated_ and _Butchered At Birth_ days. For a little more  than
an hour the band led fans through savage assaults  of  some  vicious,
ear-bleeding numbers. My only problem with Cannibal Corpse - no  real
stage presence. Besides focusing primarily  on  their  'Hair-twirling
101' classes, the band has a rather dull live performance, other than
"Corpsegrinder" posing like a WWF wrestler every  once  in  a  while.
Nothing big but something the band may want to work on.
     Was it worth the trip to Buffalo from Toronto, Canada? Sure  was
due to the fact that both Gino and I got to see a good metal  show  -
something very rare in Toronto - we also finally got  to  see  Brutal
Truth live (I saw bit of them at Deathstock 3; Gino  has  never  seen
them before) and we got to meet up and chat for a while with longtime
CoC reader and e-mail pen pal Rich Hoak, Brutal Truth's drummer. That
ruled. 

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

            T H E   F A C T O R Y   N E V E R   Q U I T S 
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Fear Factory Live In Australia at the Big Day Out Festival
              by: Ian "Raz" Moyle <imoyle@vision.net.au>

     Melbourne, Australia... The Big Day Out music festival. I  don't
know how many people have heard of this festival outside Oz so I will
explain. 
     The Big Day Out is a 12-hour festival of live bands,  consisting
of both international  and  local  acts.  It's  tour  travels  around
Australia over a month going to all the capital cities of each  state
except Tasmania (the little island down the bottom of Australia where
I come from) - it does go to New Zealand for one concert as well. 
     Well the bill in '97 included: Soundgarden, Prodigy, Spiderbait,
Offspring, Superjesus, Beasts Of  Bourdon,  Insurge,  Snout,  Frenzal
Rhomb, Powderfinger, and shit loads more. But I was  there  for  Fear
Factory! This was a massive show, with a crowd  of  500,000  or  more
having fun in over 40 degree (Celsius) heat cooking us.
     I had the pleasure the day before to meet Fear Factory (FF) at a
store signing. Burton C. Bell (singer) was glamorously showing of his
new leg tattoo which matched his arm tattoo. I got  into  a  hype  12
hours before the concert and so I had to  do  the  alcohol  thing  to
settle down. :)
     But enough of all that, what  was  the  concert  you  say?  Well
bloody excellent. FF were scheduled to play at 3pm (Soundgarden  were
the only band to play at night) and the crowd knew  it.  There  where
two stages set up beside each other so one band could  set  up  while
the other was playing. Superjesus were playing  on  the  other  stage
while FF set up. At the end of each song  a  resounding  "FUCK  OFF!"
echoed from all the thousands of FF fans telling Superjesus where  to
go big time. When FF came out on stage it  was  one  of  the  biggest
crowds of the day cheering. They opened with "Demanufacture" and also
played "Martyr," "Self Bias Resistor,"  "Scapegoat,"  "Zero  Signal,"
"Scumgrief," "Dog Day Sunrise" and "Self Immolation." The band closed
with "Replica."
      All in all a great concert. Pity, seeing that this is  supposed
to be the last Big Day Out festival, but, oh well, Cradle of Filth is
coming soon I hear, and you just can't keep a metal head down.

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

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

Gino's Top 5

1. KMFDM - _Xtort_
2. Pitch Shifter - _Desensitized_
3. Nine Inch Nails - _Pretty Hate Machine_
4. Amorphis - _Tales From The Thousand Lakes_
5. Fear Factory - _Fear Is The Mindkiller_

Adrian's Top 5

1. Trial of the Bow - _Rite of Passage_
2. AC - _I Like It When You Die_
3. Xysma - _Lotto_     
4. Handsome - _Handsome_     
5. Strapping Young Lad - _City_

Brian's Top 5

1. Arcturus - _Aspera Hiems Symfonia_
2. Novembre - _Wish I Could Dream It Again_
3. Unleashed Power - _Quintet of Spheres_
4. Manitou - _Entrance_
5. Gehenna - _First Spell_

Alain's Top 5

1. Korpse - _Revirgin_
2. Inner Misery - _Sea_ <demo>
3. Cryptopsy - _None So Vile_
4. Dio - _Strange Highways_
5. At the Gates - _Slaughter of the Soul_

Steve's Top 5

1. Absu - _The Third Storm of Cythraul_
2. Limbonic Art - _Moon in the Scorpio_
3. Sumoning - _Dol Guldur_
4. Helheim - _Jormundgand_
5. Autechre - _tri repetae ++_

Adam's Top 5

1. Pain - _Pain_
2. Sinister - _Bastard Saints_ EP
3. Arcturus - _Aspera Hiems Symfonia_
4. Angel Corpse - _Hammer of Gods_
5. AC - _I Like It When You Die_

Drew's Top 5

1. Hammerfall - _Glory to the Brave_
2. Megadeth - _Rust In Peace_
3. Limbonic Art - _Moon In the Scorpio_
4. Edge of Sanity - _Purgatory Afterglow_
5. In Flames - _The Jester Race_

Andrew's Top 5

1. Regard Extreme - _Resurgence_
2. Voivod - _Killing Technology_
3. Scorn - _Vae Solis_
4. Brutal Truth - _Need to Control_
5. Brighter Death Now - _Innerwar_

Pedro's Top 5

1. My Dying Bride - _Turn Loose the Swans_
2. Anathema - _Serenades_
3. Katatonia - _Dance of December Souls_
4. The Blood Divine - _Awaken_
5. Lux Occulta - _Forever Alone. Immortal._

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

                     T H E   F I N A L   W O R D
                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another issue has come and gone, thanks go to you, loyal readers, for 
making it this far once again. All I can say  is:  "YOU  RULE!"  Take
care all, ciao.  -- Gino Filicetti

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #18

All contents copyright 1997 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.

