        ___  _                   _       _                 ___
       |  _>| |_  _ _  ___ ._ _ <_> ___ | | ___  ___  ___ | | '
       | <__| . || '_>/ . \| ' || |/ | '| |/ ._><_-< / . \| |-
       `___/|_|_||_|  \___/|_|_||_|\_|_.|_|\___./__/ \___/|_|

                        ___  _
                       |  _>| |_  ___  ___  ___
                       | <__| . |<_> |/ . \<_-<
                       `___/|_|_|<___|\___//__/


       CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, November 19, 1998, Issue #35
               http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html

Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>
Coordinator: Adrian Bromley <mailto:energizr@interlog.com>
Contributor/Copy Editor: Pedro Azevedo <mailto:ei94048@tom.fe.up.pt>
Assistant Copy Editor: John Weathers <mailto:grief@bellsouth.net>
Contributor: Andrew Lewandowski <mailto:kmvb73c@prodigy.com>
Contributor: Alain M. Gaudrault <mailto:alain@gaudrault.net>
Contributor: Brian Meloon <mailto:bmeloon@math.cornell.edu>
Contributor: Adam Wasylyk <mailto:macabre@interlog.com>
Contributor: Paul Schwarz <mailto:saul@mcmail.com>
Mailing List provided by: The University of Colorado at Boulder

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

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

Issue #35 Contents, 11/19/98
----------------------------
* Loud Letters
* Deadly Dialogues
-- My Dying Bride: The Bride No Longer Wears Black
-- Malevolent Creation: Malevolent Mass Murdering Maniacs
-- In Ruins: Repairing the Ruins
-- Jag Panzer: Mastering Their Metal
* Album Asylum
-- 00 Species - _Anatomy of a Robot_
-- Absu - _In the Eyes of Ioldanach_
-- Avenger - _Shadows of the Damned_
-- Bastard Noise - _If it Be Not True_
-- Benighted Leams - _Astral Tenebrion_
-- Blood Axis - _Blot: Sacrifice in Sweden_
-- Bob Marinelli / Flutter - _Fun & Games_
-- Centinex - _Reborn Through Flames_
-- Ciborium - _Colossal Crags_
-- Crackdown - _Rise Up_
-- Dementia - _Answer_
-- Deranged - _High on Blood_
-- The Dillinger Escape Plan - _Under the Running Board_
-- Dimmu Borgir - _Godless Savage Garden_
-- Earthtone9 - _lo-def(inition) discord_
-- The Elysian Fields - _We... the Enlightened_
-- Enslaved - _Blodhemn_
-- Enthroned - _Gothic Disturbance '98_
-- God - _From the Moldavian Ecclesiastic Throne_
-- Gooseflesh - _Welcome to Suffer Age_
-- Gothic - _Touch of Eternity_
-- Gothic Sex - _Laments_
-- Grief of Emerald - _Nightspawn_
-- Various - _GRRRR!!: Extreme Music From Vancouver_
-- Hexecution - _Beyond All Evil_
-- In tha Umbra - _Descend Supreme Sunset_
-- Infamy - _The Blood Shall Flow_
-- Interitus Dei - _Lonely White Idols_
-- Iron Monkey - _Our Problem_
-- Legenda - _Eclipse_
-- Lucid - _Lucid_
-- Makrothumia - _The Rit of Individuation_
-- Malevolent Creation - _The Fine Art of Murder_
-- Mundanus Imperium - _The Spectral Spheres Coronation_
-- My Dying Bride - _34.788%... Complete_
-- Naglfar - _Diabolical_
-- Nasum - _Inhale/Exhale_
-- Night in Gales - _Thunderbeast_
-- Nothingface - _A Guide to Everyday Atrocity_
-- Odhinn - _From a Splendorous Battle_
-- Queens of the Stone Age - _Queens of the Stone Age_
-- Radakka - _Requiem for the Innocent_
-- Raise Hell - _Holy Target_
-- Resurrecturis - _Nocturnal_
-- Sad Legend - _Sad Legend_
-- Savior Servant - _Savior Servant_
-- Suppression w/ Facialmess - _Collaboration_
-- Thy Serpent - _Christcrusher_
-- Training for Utopia / Zao - <Split EP>
-- Twin Obscenity - _For Blood, Honour and Soil_
-- Vanilla Ice  - _Hard to Swallow_
-- Zimmer's Hole - _Bound by Fire_
* Chaotic Concerts
-- Enchanting Draconian Melodies: Moonspell, Therion and Darkside
* What We Have Cranked
* Details

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

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

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

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


Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 01:45:51 EDT
From: Trendend2@aol.com
Subject: Your Death Across America Review

Hey, I haven't ever had a problem w/ your mag...until now. First off,
I saw the Death Across America tour, and  I  thought  Oppressor  blew
them Cryptopsy off the stage. But, the main point I  wanted  to  make
was the Oppressor now has 3 albums out, just like your Cryptopsy...so
before you  go  knocking  a  much  better  than  mediocre  band  like
Oppressor, get your facts straight man!!! Later..

chris


Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998
From: Napoleon Buonaparte <darkest_flower@hotmail.com>
Subject: "Attention Loud Letters"

Hail!

If you guys there from Coc were only from Croatia you would give alot
of hehe to Castrum and not 8 of 10. I wish that there  was  some  law
against  copying  mellodies  of  another  groups  and  old   national
mellodies here in Croatia... I think that I have  made  myself  quite
clear. That`s all.

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

Correction
~~~~~~~~~~
Last month, if you recall, I reviewed a band  "called"  Lycanthropic.
They are -actually- called Lycanthrope; sorry  for  that  unfortunate
mistake, guys. I had also misplaced their contact address,  which  is
as follows:

Contact: P.O. Box 085531, Racine, WI, 53408, USA
         WWW: come.to/lycanthrope
         mailto:mc42@rocketmail.com

My sincerest apologies go to the band for any ground  they  may  have
lost due to my error. It  was  unprofessional  and  should  not  have
happened. Sorry.

     -- Paul Schwarz

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

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

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


     T H E   B R I D E   N O   L O N G E R   W E A R S   B L A C K
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
           CoC chats with Aaron Stainthorpe of My Dying Bride
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

     In the past, the bride could have been described by  words  such
as Mary Shelley's: "She was dressed in mourning; and her countenance,
always engaging, was rendered, by  the  solemnity  of  her  feelings,
exquisitely beautiful." However,  the  bride  has  now  forsaken  her
antique black dress of delicate lace and sensual shape  by  far  less
engaging modern everyday  clothing.  She  appears  to  no  longer  be
dressed in mourning, nor do her feelings seem solemn; her beauty  can
only be seen occasionally and does not seem unique in the way it used
to be.
     Leaving these metaphors behind, you may wish to read  my  review
of My Dying Bride's new album  _34.788%...  Complete_  in  this  same
issue before you indulge in my phone interview  with  the  very  nice
person that vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe seemed to be. You will find in
this review my reasons for writing this last paragraph and  also  for
the title of this interview: indeed, it is as if the bride no  longer
wears black, and only time will tell if  she  ever  will  again.  The
title of the interview could also be explained by simply  looking  at
the new album's colorful artwork, though. Nevertheless, regardless of
my feelings about the new album, everything My Dying Bride did in the
past, especially up to _The Angel and  the  Dark  River_,  guarantees
that this rather huge interview would always have to focus more on My
Dying Bride itself than on this new  album  and  line-up  changes  in
particular.

CoC: First, I'd like to know what you aimed to  become,  as  a  band,
     about six or seven years ago, in your early  days  as  My  Dying
     Bride, while playing that peculiar style of doom/death metal  in
     _Symphonaire Infernus et Spera  Empyrium_  and  _As  the  Flower
     Withers_.

Aaron Stainthorpe: Nothing, really.  We  didn't  have  any  goals  or
                   dreams, we just formed like any other band and  we
                   thought "wouldn't it be cool to do a  demo  tape",
                   and then we did one, and then we thought "wouldn't
                   it be cool to do a record",  and  we  did  one  as
                   well. It just seemed everything we  thought  would
                   be cool was  coming  true!  We  were  really  very
                   lucky, but we never dreamed that we'd ever  go  on
                   tour in foreign countries  or  sell  thousands  of
                   records worldwide, we never dreamt about that.  So
                   I guess because we never  thought  it  would  ever
                   happen, that's one of the reasons why we've  never
                   been accused of being  arrogant  rock  starts.  We
                   still hope the next album does well, but we're not
                   that bothered if it doesn't  do  very  well.  It's
                   like a hobby for us. We enjoy doing  it,  but  our
                   lives don't depend on the band. We don't  take  it
                   -that- seriously; we  do  love  being  in  it,  of
                   course, and if the band would split  up  we  would
                   all be very unhappy, but we  thought,  "we'll  get
                   together, write some interesting music and see how
                   it goes"...  that's  been  the  way  we've  always
                   thought. When we finish  an  album,  we  think  it
                   sounds good, we like  what  we've  created,  let's
                   just see if other people like it.

CoC: With _Turn Loose the Swans_, the band introduced a much  greater
     element of dark romanticism to their doomy music;  what  was  it
     that made you choose that path?

AS: I'm not really sure; we knew that when Celtic  Frost  disappeared
    and turned into a glam rock band, we  knew  there  was  a  market
    there for this sort of over-the-top avant-garde band, someone who
    were doing something a bit weird and unusual. Paradise Lost  were
    doing similar-ish kind of things, but I don't think they had this
    more romantic edge. We definitely worked for that gothic  appeal,
    and I'm not really sure why. It was just an interesting theme. Of
    course with the violin being there as well,  that  always  had  a
    very romantic, very sombre feel to it. So we were always going to
    sound like that, really.

CoC: Many say that _Turn Loose the Swans_ is the best My Dying  Bride
     album ever [it still is my favorite], and most of those who  say
     it agree that your mix of death vox and  clean  parts,  together
     with the especially emotional, bleak and desperate  instrumental
     side, was what made it so special. What do you think about  that
     praise of your mixing of death and clean vox  and  why  did  you
     never repeat it?

AS: I wanted to try something like that, with the  clear  vocals  and
    the death metal vocals. It was just an experiment that I  enjoyed
    doing, because I can't play an instrument, so I need to vary  the
    vocals a bit to try and make them more interesting. That was just
    our second album, so we were still a  very  young  band,  and  we
    didn't really know what the  future  held  in  store,  we  didn't
    really think about it. We weren't really concerned  how  well  we
    were doing. It was quite an experimental album; a lot  of  people
    could have hated it, we didn't really know, we just played  music
    we liked to listen to and hoped we would do OK. A lot  of  people
    say that was one of our best albums, I think because of the  time
    it came out -- there was very little like that in the scene,  and
    people like unusual things, people like very  interesting  bands.
    Again, it's quite  similar  to  Celtic  Frost,  who  were  a  bit
    over-the-top, with some  operatic  parts,  big  heavy  keyboards,
    massive  chords,  everything.   Celtic   Frost   and   Candlemass
    disappeared, these  were  some  of  our  biggest  influences.  We
    basically took some of their ideas and re-mixed them into our own
    ideas and we just came out with the My Dying Bride  sound,  which
    was great for that time, that particular era in 1993. People just
    weren't used to that, because  at  that  point  death  metal  was
    probably at its height; you had bands like Death and even Slayer,
    I think they were much  bigger  back  then  than  they  are  now.
    Everybody was in a death metal band and we were doing this really
    weird shit. I think it blew some people away, they really thought
    it was fantastic, really unusual, really original. But the reason
    why I haven't done that again [the clean/death  vox  combination]
    is because we don't like to  repeat  ourselves  too  many  times,
    we're always trying to find new ideas, trying to be  a  bit  more
    original, trying to keep fans interested all the  time.  I  don't
    want to keep doing albums over  and  over  again.  With  the  due
    respect, we could record an album that sounded like  _Turn  Loose
    the Swans_ tomorrow, but we don't want to because we've done that
    now; we want to move on and obviously some fans are going to  say
    "that was their best moment, now they're not so good",  but  they
    will say that about every band. We're no different; we're  trying
    our best. That was a different era, this is a new  era  we're  in
    now, that's the way it goes for every band.

CoC: With _The Angel and the Dark River_  came  a  more  experimental
     version of My Dying Bride, but still a very sorrowful one;  back
     then, you played  some  excellent  concerts  (such  as  the  one
     featured in the _For Darkest Eyes_ video), and it may very  well
     be that the blend of songs from _TLtS_ and _TAatDR_ portrayed My
     Dying Bride's finest years. What is your opinion on  that?  What
     are your memories of those times?

AS: Very good memories; we've hardly had any bad shows, we've  always
    enjoyed ourselves, most of the time. Even back then, when we only
    had three albums out, it was very difficult to pick  which  songs
    to play, because obviously some of the songs were very  long.  We
    already played for over an hour and a half and only nine songs...
    It was very difficult to pick which songs from  which  albums  to
    do, and it's getting even more difficult now, because now we have
    five albums out. But when we do sit down and we  pick  the  songs
    that we're going to do for a new gig, there's obviously going  to
    be at least one from the first album [_As the  Flower  Withers_],
    there'll be a couple from _Turn Loose the Swans_, a  couple  from
    _The Angel and the Dark River_, a couple from _Like Gods  of  the
    Sun_, and obviously most of the new album. But most bands, again,
    have to do that; we could do an entire set  of  _Turn  Loose  the
    Swans_ and _The Angel and the Dark River_ stuff, but  that's  not
    what we're doing now, we're moving on. I know  people  like  that
    stuff very much, but they have to respect the fact that we're not
    going to repeat ourselves, we don't want to  do  the  same  sound
    over and over again; we must move on.

CoC: You mentioned still playing a song  from  your  first  album  in
     future gigs; do you mean you'll  keep  finishing  your  concerts
     with "The Forever People" like before?

AS: Yeah, we always do that one. But we  were  thinking  about  doing
    "The Return of the Beautiful" again...

CoC: That's a very long song...

AS: Yeah. Well, we thought about dragging it out of  the  early  '90s
    and giving it a bit of late '90s feel, but we never got 'round to
    that. We may do it on this next tour, but it's an old song,  it'd
    take a lot of practice, but there is no reason why  we  can't  do
    old songs again. We will do the older songs,  but  like  I  said,
    it's very difficult to pick  which  ones.  Even  if  you  have  a
    setlist of old songs, you always get  people  screaming  for  one
    song that's not on your setlist...  <laughs>  That's  always  the
    case, and afterwards people say "Oh, why didn't  you  play  "Vast
    Choirs"", or  something,  because  we've  played  so  many  other
    ones... <laughs>

CoC: _Like Gods of the Sun_ then brought renewed  heaviness  to  your
     sound, but lost a bit of the doom. Was that  your  purpose  when
     you released it?

AS: Yeah, that's actually possibly the only album we planned, because
    normally we just write stuff and we put it on  record;  we  don't
    really know what the sound, what the finished product is going to
    be like. For _LGotS_, we knew that so many bands were leaving the
    guitars very low, you almost couldn't hear any guitars at all, in
    some  supposedly  heavy  metal  people's  records,  it  was  just
    keyboards, bass and vocals, and we thought it was  wrong  --  why
    did they bother getting a guitar player if you can't hear him? So
    we made a decision to make sure _LGotS_ was a very  heavy  album,
    so we had to have low and ultra-heavy guitar chords,  down-tuned,
    and we mixed it so the guitars would be right in  your  face.  We
    purposely made that album less  experimental  in  favor  of  pure
    heaviness.

CoC: What's your favorite MDB album? Please name only one, instead of
     using a generic "every album is special" answer...

AS: We loved all the albums when we did them, at the time,  but  when
    you look back now... I mean, we're proud of the ones we've  done.
    Some of the songs, we hear them and say "oh, we could have  mixed
    that better", but my favorite album is _The Angel  and  the  Dark
    River_. It's a very  interesting  album;  there's  all  sorts  of
    things going on. I love "The Cry of Mankind", the  way  it  kicks
    off the album... it just goes on and on and on... it's one of  my
    favorite songs to perform live as well, so that was a  good  time
    for My Dying Bride. It's still a good  time  for  us  now,  we're
    still enjoying ourselves, but it was at that point, when  we  did
    that tour -- we got on the Iron Maiden tour as well at that time,
    and we thought it was absolutely fantastic, being on a  tour  bus
    following Iron Maiden around Europe... that was a good time for
    us.

CoC: Looking back upon your albums, you are satisfied with them, then?

AS: Yeah. Well, I always look back at the  albums  and  say  that  we
    could have done something this or that way,  but  when  I  listen
    back I listen  especially  to  the  vocals,  obviously,  and  I'm
    becoming more confident now, so when I listen  back  I  sometimes
    think it's terrible, I could have done that much better now. This
    is one of the reasons why we thought of doing "The Return of  the
    Beautiful" again.

CoC: With clean vocals?

AS: I was thinking about mixing death and clean vocals, because there
    are some lines which would  sound  great  with  the  new  vocals,
    because they are much more emotional and they needed to  be  sung
    in a proper voice -- because there's only one emotion when you're
    screaming out death  vocals,  and  that's  anger.  [I  personally
    disagree, though. -- Pedro] Even when you're  trying  to  sing  a
    nice sweet line, if you're doing it in death  metal  style,  it's
    just anger all the time. So it'd be nice to do an  old  song  now
    that I'm confident enough to sing the lines how they are supposed
    to sound. But overall, I'm quite  happy  with  the  things  we've
    done. There's always the production, we would have  always  liked
    to have done the production better. But we are pretty much  happy
    with the songs themselves.

CoC: Present day now. What are your personal favorite bands and  what
     does MDB generally listen to?

AS: God, we listen to so much weird  shit  now,  it's  crazy...  it's
    difficult to keep up to date with what's happening with the metal
    scene at the moment, because the metal market is so wide now... I
    like straightforward metal, like Iron Maiden,  AC/DC,  Motorhead,
    and then you've got what we do, sort of morbid doom  goth  metal.
    Then you've got black metal, industrial metal... it's such a huge
    area, it's almost impossible to keep up with who's doing what and
    what the latest trend is, so we really  try  to  avoid  that.  We
    don't want to see what's trendy, in case we're tempted to  try  a
    little bit. So we try to avoid the metal scene, because to  relax
    we don't want to listen to similar stuff to what we  play,  we'll
    listen to something completely different. Depeche Mode are  still
    my favorite band, they have been for a number  of  years  now.  I
    also like The Swans, who unfortunately split up,  Nick  Cave  and
    the Bad Seeds, who have been getting better and better, I  think.
    Calvin  [one  of  the  guitar  players]  loves  a  lot  of   that
    hip-hop/house stuff, Prodigy... he's obviously crazy. <laughs>  I
    think Andy [the other guitar player] is still a big fan  of  what
    one might call solid metal stuff, he still likes a couple of Kiss
    songs,  he's  still  a  big  Slayer  fan,   he's   still   pretty
    straightforward metal. I have no idea what  Bill  [Law,  the  new
    drummer] listens to, he's only been in the band for a few months;
    I think he tries to keep up with the scene, but there's  so  many
    magazines featuring so many different bands now that it's  almost
    impossible to keep up with who's doing what.

CoC: In spite of that, I'd  like  to  know  your  opinion  about  the
     current doom metal scene. Which bands do you know, which ones do
     you like, which ones don't you like?

AS: Well, I'm not going to start saying that I  don't  like  this  or
    that band, obviously...  I'm  a  bit  too  diplomatic  for  that.
    <laughs> I don't know, call me sad if you like, but I still  like
    old stuff like Sodom. Now I think  it's  either  black  metal  --
    Emperor are good -- or... I don't really follow the doom part too
    much, because, like I say, around  the  _Turn  Loose  the  Swans_
    time, or _The Angel and the Dark River_,  a  whole  load  of  new
    bands developed playing similar stuff [to those albums], a lot of
    bands ended up getting violins and female vocals.  So  we  didn't
    want to listen to stuff that sounded similar to MDB, we  want  to
    listen to something that doesn't sound like My  Dying  Bride.  We
    lost most of our links with the doom scene altogether, I have  no
    idea  who's  doing  what  these  days,  and  I'm  not  all   that
    interested. I know bands like Moonspell, Tiamat and  Therion  are
    doing very well, but I couldn't tell you any of their records.

CoC: What's the meaning of your new albums' title?

AS: We always picked album titles that we thought  were  interesting,
    and I think this is one of our  more  interesting  album  titles.
    Basically, the number 34.788% is supposed to represent the amount
    of time mankind has spent on Earth so far, so we still  have  66%
    or something, sixty whatever percent, left to live.  Calvin,  the
    guitar player, had a dream one night, and this number was  always
    in his head in this dream. He dreamt that mankind had  lived  for
    34.788% of their time on Earth. It's complete  fiction,  a  dream
    that Calvin had; he dreamt that mankind was spiraling  towards  a
    technological armageddon. He thought our lives were speeding  up,
    accelerating all the time because of computers -- what  will  the
    world look like a hundred years from now? Then  Calvin  had  this
    weird premonition that it would look like either  "Blade  Runner"
    or there would be total armageddon, and it would just be  mankind
    living in caves again. He seems to think that when everything  is
    run by computers, some terrorist group will  release  some  major
    virus that will wipe out all the machines, and  because  we  have
    been depending on computers for such a long time, we  would  then
    be left in complete darkness. Anyway, it was a crazy  apocalyptic
    dream, but it was quite interesting, so we thought we'd use  that
    number that stuck in his head as the album title.

CoC: How would you define your new album,  musically  speaking?  What
     did you aim to achieve with it?

AS: We didn't aim to achieve anything; like I said before,  the  only
    album we wanted to achieve anything with was _Like  Gods  of  the
    Sun_. We wanted that to be a really heavy, straightforward album.
    With this one, we created one  song  at  a  time,  with  no  real
    thought of how it's going to sound. The guitarists will  come  up
    with a couple of riffs, then we'll put some drums to it,  I  will
    have absolutely no idea what vocals I'm going to do...  sometimes
    the lyrics will come first, sometimes the  music  comes  first...
    it's almost like a total jamming session, and at the  end  of  it
    there's an album. We're only now beginning to get a feel for  the
    album, because when you create each song from every single  note,
    it's difficult to get a fan's point  of  view,  because  we  know
    exactly every single note that's going on  in  the  song.  So  we
    analyse and criticize our songs, we don't listen to them, whereas
    fans just put it on and enjoy it. We can't put our music  on  and
    enjoy it, because we've created it. It's too difficult, we  can't
    really enjoy it that much. I still can't get a feel for what  the
    album is all about. On the last few albums, you get a whole feel;
    I can picture in my head what the album should be like,  but  for
    this new album I can't picture where we were  going.  But  that's
    also quite nice, because it means it isn't a typical rock  album,
    it's so diverse you can't actually focus on  it.  The  influences
    are coming so thick and fast, it's so blurred you can't focus  on
    what the band are trying to do. I like that point of view.

CoC: What is the main emotion that you'd like the  listener  to  feel
     with your new album?

AS:  Varied,  again,  because  we  tried  to  make  each  song  sound
    individual this time. People would tell us, on past albums,  that
    they would put the album on and it would fell  like  one  massive
    song, one giant doom metal track, and we wanted  to  change  that
    for this  album,  so  we  made  sure  that  we  mixed  each  song
    completely differently and never had the same  settings  for  two
    songs. We wanted the songs to stand up on their own and we didn't
    want people to say that the album sounded like  one  whole  song.
    When I wrote the lyrics, I didn't want them all to be exactly the
    same, I wanted them to be a bit more interesting. The lyrics  are
    definitely a lot more straightforward on this album;  I've  tried
    to get rid of a lot  of  the  poetry.  Again,  this  is  just  an
    experiment -- I'm not saying I got  rid  of  all  the  old  stuff
    forever, this is an experiment that may fail and may succeed, I'm
    just going to wait and see. I quite enjoyed doing this style, but
    I wasn't 100% happy, so I could almost guarantee the  lyrics  for
    the next album will be completely different. I had no  idea  what
    the album was going to sound like, I'm still finding it difficult
    to tell you what the album actually sounds like now.

CoC: In my opinion, there's much less sadness and  doom  in  the  new
     album than in anything MDB  have  done  before,  especially  the
     older material...

AS: But we certainly tried to experiment a bit  more,  because  we're
    becoming more confident and more brave, we don't mind  stretching
    the boundaries of acceptable rock music  anymore,  you  know.  We
    want to push and to stretch people's imaginations. And  you  also
    have to remember that there's no violin on this album; the violin
    was always a very sombre, melancholic sound. When you  take  that
    important element away, the doom feel is gone.

CoC: But there are plenty of bands out there who  don't  use  violins
     and can still play some very depressive doom...

AS: Yeah, that's true, but we've always had the violin, so it's going
    to make a bit of a difference.

CoC: What was it that made you play  such  doomy  music  before  that
     doesn't seem to be inside of you anymore, at least not so  much?
     Because even _As the Flower Withers_,  which  didn't  have  much
     violin, was very depressive, and this new one isn't. What was it
     that changed in your life in the meanwhile?

AS: Not much, I think... to be honest, it's very difficult to  say...
    I think it's got more to do  with  experimenting.  I  think  that
    because of the long gap between the last album and  this  one  --
    and we were criticized on the last album for  not  experimenting,
    our fans expected more unusual things...  I  mean,  we  generally
    don't listen to our fans <laughs>, we like to write the  kind  of
    music we want to hear, we don't care what other people  think  --
    but we did take on board the criticisms of the last album. People
    loved it for its  heaviness,  but  it  just  wasn't  experimental
    enough, people expected more. So  we  thought,  for  this  album,
    "we're feeling confident, our  fans  want  it,  let's  experiment
    more".  I  don't  know  why,  but  the   experimentation   wasn't
    doom-oriented. In the past, I think subconsciously we always felt
    we had to write doom music -- and we  enjoyed  doing  it,  but  I
    think in the back of our minds we always thought "yeah,  this  is
    doom, it's got to be doomy,  the  doomier  the  better,  everyone
    loves melancholic stuff", but now we're starting to  really  open
    up and starting to think that we can still  do  doom,  but  in  a
    different style. Even "Heroin Chic" is a very bizarre song for  a
    heavy metal band to do, but it's not a happy song; it's  still  a
    very bleak, very desolate sounding song;  it's  not  melancholic,
    but it's desperately angry, it's a sad black song.

CoC: I don't personally think so, not for me... what  was  the  basic
     idea behind that song?

AS: We liked it; we thought we would do one song which  would  really
    shock, we wanted to do one song that everyone would talk about --
    not necessarily because it was good, or even bad, but because  it
    would be interesting. When we first came up with the concept,  we
    thought: "Can we do this? Everybody will crucify us..."  Then  we
    thought: "That's exactly why we should do it, then!" <laughs>  We
    don't need the money, you know, we don't care; we thought:  "What
    the hell, nobody will be expecting it, it will shock everyone  --
    old fans, new fans, the record label, the magazines, everyone. So
    let's do it." And we did it, and  we  really  enjoyed  doing  it;
    we've even rehearsed to the point where we will play it live.  Oh
    yeah -- whether our fans like it or not! <laughs>

CoC: Well, but when you pay to go to a concert, you'd expect the band
     to play what the fans want to hear...

AS: We always try to promise our fans  that  what  you  hear  on  the
    record is what you get live. Sometimes it's very difficult to  do
    that, so we've had to use tapes in the past. But we  try  to  get
    most of what you get on the record live.

CoC: How does that song relate -- although  I  guess  it's  not  even
     supposed to relate, anyway -- to the essence of the dark,  doomy
     band that My Dying Bride have always been before? Did  you  ever
     think of MDB as a dark, sombre entity?

AS: That's a good question, it's  difficult  to  answer...  We  don't
    really have any pre-conceptions about what My Dying Bride is  all
    about. We enjoy being in the band, but it doesn't rule our lives;
    we don't hang on every single note we play, we don't  read  every
    review of the album, and if  they're  bad  we  don't  get  really
    depressed... The band, to us, it's fun, you know, it's  a  hobby,
    we enjoy it and other people enjoy it, and  that  makes  us  feel
    good. Of course we're not keen on getting bad reviews...  But  at
    the end of the day, we'll just  look  and  say  "Well,  we  liked
    it..." <laughs> Who cares what all those people  think...  So  we
    don't have any pre-conceptions of what the band is all about, and
    that allows us to introduce such extremities  as  "Heroin  Chic",
    because we don't think "oh, it's gonna shatter the whole  image",
    we just think that we can experiment, because we always have; our
    fans know from time to time My Dying Bride can get a bit  out  of
    control, and I think some of them expect that. They wouldn't have
    expected the exact style of "Heroin Chic", but surely expected  a
    couple of bizarre things on this album, and they're going to  get
    them.

CoC: I heard you say once that you made up the lyrics for one of  the
     new tracks as you went along. Did that happen in "Heroin  Chic"?
     Are you happy with them, from a My Dying Bride  point  of  view,
     considering how different from the usual they turned out to be?

AS: Well, it wasn't "Heroin Chic", actually, it was  "The  Stance  of
    Evander Sinque". Originally, I wanted to do a song about a  crazy
    person (the music was already written), and so I  wanted  to  act
    the part of the insane person.  I  wanted  to  put  a  couple  of
    microphones in the recording room, get really  really  drunk  and
    just scream and shout about  mad  stuff,  just  totally  complete
    shit, for ten minutes, and  then  we  could  pick  out  the  more
    interesting parts... <laughs>  It's  actually  a  very  difficult
    thing to do, because obviously I'm  not  insane,  and  it's  very
    difficult to act insane -- I  thought  it  would  be  very  easy,
    especially if I was drunk, but we tried to do it  for  hours  and
    hours and in the end we gave up, because it sounded like  someone
    pretending to be insane, and we could never  get  it  right;  I'm
    just not a good enough actor. So, at the end of the day,  I  said
    "fuck it, I'll write some proper lyrics for it, and then  I  will
    just moan and scream and shout", like a  50-50  deal,  so  that's
    what I did. So half the noise on "The Stance of  Evander  Sinque"
    is just me acting crazy.

CoC: Do you have some kind of an European tour planned yet?

AS: Not yet, but we're not going out this year, because we feel there
    are too many bands at this time of the  year  going  out  on  the
    road. October, November and  early  December,  everyone  in  this
    genre of music is on the road at the same time, and it gets  very
    congested. We've done it in the past, we've toured at  this  time
    in the past, and we would  follow  Cradle  of  Filth,  Moonspell,
    Therion, Paradise Lost, Type O Negative... We  would  follow  all
    these bands and they would follow us, and you would see the  same
    posters in every venue... We have a couple of summer festivals we
    might be doing; we might be doing Dynamo and the  Graspop.  So  I
    think we will start the tour around February or March next  year,
    when hopefully everyone else will be sick of touring. <laughs>

CoC: What are your feelings on the departure of  your  drummer,  Rick
     Myah, and his replacement with Bill Law [formerly  in  Dominion,
     who have broken up]?

AS: Bill's been great. Rick left basically due to illness. Every tour
    we did, Rick was always very ill and we had to cancel many  shows
    in the past towards the end of tours, because Rick just  couldn't
    take it. Touring basically was killing him. We were on tour  with
    Dio in America last year, and it was a long tour, and  he  didn't
    even get out of bed, he was very ill. He would drum some  nights,
    and he would come off stage and he would be totally wasted,  he'd
    be white, and he couldn't move, and he'd  be  shivering  all  the
    time, and he couldn't sleep... It was really worrying, so when we
    came home for a break, we went to see the doctor, and the  doctor
    said he couldn't do anything else but rest  for  two  months.  We
    were due to fly back out, in fact to Alaska,  to  do  the  second
    part of the Dio tour, and we had to cancel it, unfortunately. And
    Rick basically said: "Look, the touring is killing me; I have  to
    stop." So we all sat down and discussed it,  and  Rick  basically
    said: "I want to leave, I can't do this; if I stay in the band, I
    cannot tour, and I don't want to hold  you  back."  So  we  said:
    "Well alright, if you're gonna go, you're gonna go..." But it was
    a difficult decision, because he had been in the band  since  the
    first day. So when Rick left, we were desperately looking  for  a
    new drummer, but we didn't actually get one until this year, when
    Bill, who used to be in a band called Dominion, who split up...

CoC: Is he going to be a permanent  member  now  that  Dominion  have
     split up?

AS: Yeah, he's in the band now. We knew Bill was around,  because  we
    were good friends with Dominion. We saw Bill in the studio and we
    thought he was really cool, and we asked him  if  he  could  help
    out. We asked the other guys in Dominion if it was OK,  and  they
    said it was cool. And  then  Dominion  split  up,  and  Bill  was
    already rehearsing with us, so we asked him if he wanted to  join
    us and he said yes. He's filled with so many interesting ideas...
    he's a fountain of... not wisdom, but  great  interesting  ideas,
    because he's obviously new  to  the  My  Dying  Bride  camp,  and
    although we do try to come up  with  interesting  original  ideas
    ourselves, when an outsider comes in, his ideas seem so much more
    interesting, because we're not used to the way  he  talks,  we're
    not used to the way he thinks. He's great.

CoC: When Martin Powell [keyboard and violin player]  left  MDB,  the
     official reason was that he intended to go on with  his  musical
     education and wouldn't have  time  to  be  in  a  band  anymore.
     However, I heard that he just joined  Anathema,  which  suggests
     musical differences between him and MDB. What was the real story?

AS: Well, he is not -in- Anathema. We've seen the press, and all  the
    press is wrong, actually. No one's going to believe me, but I was
    with  Dave  Pybus,  who  now  plays  in  Anathema  [new  bassist,
    replacing Duncan Patterson]; he's a very  good  friend  of  mine,
    lives just around the corner from my house, and after they played
    a couple of shows in Turkey [with Martin], I went  to  see  Dave,
    because he actually runs the My Dying Bride fan club as  well.  I
    asked how did Martin cope, and he said it was alright, he  didn't
    like some of it, he loved some more of it. And I asked if he  had
    joined the band now, and he said "no,  it's  complete  bullshit";
    Anathema don't want Martin to join, and apparently Martin doesn't
    want to join them. They are going  to  use  him  for  their  next
    studio album, and they're using him for  the  live  performances,
    but they don't want him to join, and apparently he  doesn't  want
    to join. We were obviously surprised when we saw it on the press,
    that Martin had joined Anathema...

CoC: But if he's going to play with them live  and  record  an  album
     with them, then he'll be practically joining the band, at  least
     temporarily...

AS: I guess so, but it's entirely up to him. He actually told  us  as
    well, he told us ages ago that he wanted to leave after the  next
    album, because he thought his time with  My  Dying  Bride  should
    soon be up, since he's been doing basically the  same  thing  for
    the last six or seven years, the sombre violin. He wants  to  try
    something a bit more interesting, and he might see that  Anathema
    are doing more interesting songs than us, so he wants to go  over
    and help them out; he doesn't say  he  wants  to  join  them,  he
    thinks joining might be too much of a commitment. I believe  he's
    back in university, trying to do a college degree, but maybe  the
    temptation to get out on the road is a bit too much sometimes.

CoC: Anathema  were  a  bit  of  your  "brother  band"  back  in  the
     _Serenades_, _As the Flower Withers_,  _Turn  Loose  the  Swans_
     era. How do you relate to Anathema? How do you view their career?

AS: We don't like Anathema, we never have...

CoC: The music or the people in the band?

AS: The people, we think they're all idiot. I can say this to you now
    with confidence, because they know. <laughs> Because we've had so
    many fights with them that it's absolutely crazy.  People  think,
    because we're on the same label and we played a similar style  of
    music once, that we must be great fans, but we're  not  --  we've
    always hated each others' guts. <laughs> Don't get  me  wrong,  I
    think Danny [Cavanagh] is fantastic, I could easily  go  out  and
    have a few beers with Danny, and it would be great; he's a really
    intelligent guy. But for some reason, when all  of  Anathema  are
    together and all of  My  Dying  Bride  are  together,  it's  just
    constant fighting and everybody hates each others' fucking guts...

CoC: Why?

AS:  It's  just  chemistry,  you  can't  expect  to  get  along  with
    everybody. We get along with a lot of people, but we  just  don't
    get along with them. I don't know why, it's  just  one  of  those
    things, there's no chemistry there. But they know it, we read the
    interviews that they've done and they say we're  a  bunch  of  [I
    honestly have no idea  what  Aaron  said  here,  totally  unknown
    expression to me -- Pedro] and they hate our  guts,  and  we  say
    exactly the same thing. <laughs> It's a  love-hate  relationship,
    and we just hate them more than we love them. <laughs>

CoC: Anyway, you and Anathema have always seemed to have some sort of
     lifetime contract with Peaceville. I mean, I don't think  anyone
     pictures you signing for another label. Do you think such a move
     might ever happen with MDB?

AS: Yeah, I think so, I don't see why not. It's difficult to  predict
    what's going to happen in the future,  but  as  I  mentioned,  we
    don't live on every single review  of  My  Dying  Bride.  If  the
    albums stop selling and the record label says:  "Look,  we  can't
    afford to keep you anymore, nobody's buying  the  records..."  If
    they dropped us,  we'd  be  very  disappointed,  but  we'd  still
    continue and we'd be fairly confident to  get  another  deal.  It
    would depress us for a couple of months, but I'm sure we'd  fight
    back.

CoC: So you don't see the other possibility, of you wanting  to  move
     to a bigger label instead of being dropped?

AS: I don't think that would ever happen. Even now, Music for Nations
    and Peaceville ask us to try a more radio-friendly song,  and  we
    just laugh in their face, because My Dying  Bride  do  not  write
    anything for anyone else, we just write our own shit. And  if  we
    moved to a bigger label, they  would  definitely  say  "you  must
    write radio-friendly songs, at least two three minute songs  with
    a nice hip chorus", and we would just laugh and walk  off.  So  I
    think there's absolutely no way we would  move  on  to  a  bigger
    label, but we could easily move to a smaller one.

CoC: What do you think My Dying Bride will be playing or  doing  five
     years from now? Any chance of a really sad doom album coming out
     in the meantime?

AS: I don't know,  it's  really  difficult  to  say,  we  don't  plan
    anything like that. I  would  love  to  do  a  real  over-the-top
    miserable album, but it's difficult. All of us in the band  still
    love the real heavy guitar sound, and sometimes it's just nice to
    speed the tempo up a bit and make it sound a bit like _Master  of
    Puppets_, kind of heavy riffing guitar, we love all that stuff. I
    know the rest of the band very  well,  and  they  say  it's  very
    difficult to play heavy  guitar  very  slowly,  because  it's  so
    tempting to just carry on and thrash out some tunes... So it's  a
    difficult  thing  to  do,  but  I  would  love  to  do  a  really
    over-the-top album, maybe a vampire-style album... I mean, Cradle
    of Filth are doing all that shit now already, so even if  we  did
    it everyone would just  say  we  were  just  copying  Cradle,  so
    there's no chance we could do that now. But I think we may become
    even more experimental, we could be one of these crazy bands  who
    just disappear up their own experimental anus... <laughs> Because
    we do everything so  self-centered,  so  selfish,  we  listen  to
    nothing and do it all ourselves, we could  end  up  writing  such
    bizarre shit that only we like it... <laughs> But it's impossible
    to tell what the future holds for us.

CoC: Any last words to end this interview?

AS: Well, not really... I've got a bit of a cold at the moment, so my
    nose is all blocked up... Well, I wanted to say: don't be  afraid
    of the new album. I know that because of the album title and  the
    artwork a lot of older fans will think we have turned  into  some
    techno piece of shit, but we haven't; it's still My Dying Bride.

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

  M A L E V O L E N T   M A S S   M U R D E R I N G   M A N I A C S
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
          CoC interviews Malevolent Creation's Phil Fasciana
                           by: Paul Schwarz

     It has been a long time coming, but at last  the  best  part  of
Malevolent Creation's "classic" line-up has rejoined to bestow on the
world another mighty amalgamation of brutal  death  metal  music  and
sick, violent lyrics. This new monster goes by the name of _The  Fine
Art of Murder_ and is the first to feature  original  vocalist  Brett
Hoffmann since 1993's _Stillborn_. Rob Barret, now thankfully out  of
Cannibal Corpse (who feebly claim he was not good enough, bullshit!),
is also welcomed back after six years.  With  longtime  bassist,  and
some time vocalist, Jason Blachowitcz out of the band,  Gordon  Simms
was drafted in for bass duties. The drums are handled by Dave Culross
(who played on 1995's _Eternal_) and, of course, Phil Fasciana is, as
ever, leading the charge into battle. It's not that _In  Cold  Blood_
(last year's release by the band) was disappointing, far  from  that,
but this new album still stands out as being better,  and  is  surely
their finest record since 1992's _Retribution_ -- if not their finest
overall. Phil Fasciana, always happy to answer a few questions  about
the band in which he has been the only constant member, is  certainly
happy to be working with such professionals once again.
     One thing that has been in the air since it was  announced  that
Brett and Rob were back was a return to the sound  of  _Retribution_.
"Well, me and Rob were putting  together  another  album  with  Brett
[and] people say "aha, _Retribution_". We like that album a lot,  but
we didn't necessarily -intend- to make [the  new  album]  sound  like
that." However, he concedes, "some of the  songs,  their  structures,
two guitars playing different things at the same time, are similar to
that sound and style, and Brett's singing again, of course."
     But rumors aside, the most significant thing about _The Fine Art
of Murder_ is not its similarities to the band's previous  work,  but
its differences. One of those differences is in the album's producer:
this time it's Brian Griffin (Broken Hope). Why Brian? "I heard  some
other shit he did before; I wasn't too into the Broken Hope CDs, he'd
done Hateplow's CD and we were really happy with that." But it's more
than his skills: "We had some problems with other guys [with whom] it
wasn't a very comfortable situation. Working  with  Brian  is  really
easy, 'cause he's a musician, he's easy to get  along  with,  he's  a
guitar player, he's pretty cool and he's affordable."
     Another difference is that a few of these new songs are  slower,
longer and more melodic. "When we listened to how long [some of them]
were, we went "Holy shit! We've fucking got some  Iron  Maiden  songs
here!" Some songs came out quite long, but not  like  they've  got  a
million parts --  there's  maybe  four  or  five  parts."  Though  he
carefully adds: "A lot of the album has a lot of  our  normal  three,
three and a half minute stuff." However,  even  these  tunes  contain
differences, as Phil explains: "There's a lot of guitar harmony stuff
that we should have done on songs in the past that could  have  given
them more depth."
     I guess the question now is why did Malevolent Creation need  to
add something new into the mix? "Well, we've put out a lot of albums,
and you can't constantly repeat yourself. There are  other  parts  of
metal you can explore without becoming "wimpy".  There's  nothing  on
_The Fine Art of Murder_ that is -pop- or -rock 'n' roll-. Everything
there falls into a heavy metal format." But  the  reasons  go  beyond
Phil's will to change. "Me and Rob play together really well; we grew
up together. When the two of us get  together,  we're  like  two  old
style heavy metal guys that grew up  playing  this  stuff.  Now  it's
cool, because we never really sat down and  worked  out  some  guitar
harmony parts and tried other things to sound different [before].  It
brings a different sound to the record." He  continues:  "Rob  always
has good ideas. I show him something, he'll show  me  something  he's
going to do over that, it's  fucking  cool  --  I  would  have  never
thought of something like that --; or he shows me something and  vice
versa. There's no ego conflict or anything. We just have fun."
     And it isn't just Rob and Phil  who  are  having  fun  on  their
guitars. The title is "a little bit of both" sarcasm and seriousness.
Phil expands: "Brett's lyrics  were  always  based  around  realistic
death, not fantasy shit. Having him back in, [we] have  some  fucking
intelligent lyrics again. That shit comes to  Brett  naturally.  He's
obsessed with war, watches  the  news  fuckin'  all  day  long.  He's
obsessed with really bad things. I  think  the  real  world  is  more
horrifying than anything you could make up; the best stories are  the
real ones. We're not talking about comic book heroes."
     This album provided the reunited _Retribution_  members  with  a
common goal. "We said: "That's it, we gotta just put out the  fucking
most murderous thing we can." <laughs> We [decided] every song had to
be completely all out murder. That's the way we  got  fired  up.  The
lyrics are fuckin' amazing." So is it  back  to  the  old  days?  Not
quite. "There are less lyrics. I remember [Brett] used to throw out a
whole song in one line. But that was his style. We didn't  know  what
the hell we were doing. <laughs> Now he's  put  it  into  a  catchier
thing and repeats parts over and over, it's a little  bit  easier  to
remember."
     Staying on the subject of lyrics, I quiz  Phil  about  _Eternal_
and one particular song, "They Breed", with which the band had a  few
problems. "The song was basically about scum. It didn't really  point
a finger at any certain race, but at the end of the song it said  the
word it said, "you fucking nigger"." To  many,  this  made  the  band
racist, but Phil explains the context: "In  reality,  [now]  "nigger"
just means a fuckin'  slacker."  But  the  word's  appearance  wasn't
planned, at least not by Phil. "It was such a  violent  fuckin'  song
and Jason was supposed to say ["you fucking gave us"],  but  we  were
doing the vocal tracks and he just did it and it just sounded so much
more convincing." Convincing, but maybe not  helpful:  "We  did  have
some problems with it and as soon as that happened  I  said  to  him:
"That's it for any kind of shit like that." I think a lot  of  people
took it the wrong way." Phil makes sure to explicitly  state:  "We're
not racist."
     Whatever Phil may have said at the time, these problems were not
to go away, and things came to a head last year while the band was on
tour in Germany. "Jason was wearing a  KKK  shirt  [on  stage]."  The
result? "People started  freaking  out,  throwing  shit  at  him  and
flipping him off. I told him [before the show] that if  he  wore  the
shirt I'd fuckin' kill him, and when I left the  venue,  man,  people
were throwing bottles at me, we had  all  our  merchandise  returned,
people were calling us "Nazis" and "scum",  they  wanted  to  fuckin'
kick our ass!" As you might imagine, Phil didn't  take  this  kindly;
the result... "When I got onto the bus and he  was  fuckin'  laughing
about it, I fuckin' beat the living shit  out  of  him."  This  would
explain Jason's absence from Malevolent Creation. "When we got  home,
he quit. He couldn't live with the fact that  I  did  that  to  him."
Continuing on the subject of his former bandmate, Phil says: "The kid
is fuckin' unstable, he does a lot of stupid things and says a lot of
stupid things that in turn made me look like a fuckin' idiot, so  the
only way to resolve it was for me to punch his head in. And it worked
and I haven't talked to him since. <laughs>"
     So the old was out and problems had  left  the  band  for  good.
Well, not quite, actually; Dave Culross' inclusion  in  this  album's
recording line-up, though heartily welcomed, was not planned  --  the
reason? Read on. "It was really weird. We had a drummer down here and
he's really good and fast. The one problem was [when we recorded  the
album] the really fast double-bass parts were kinda screwy." And when
they got to the mixing studio, "[...] they put triggers on the  kicks
where you can hear 'em crystal clear, they were -fucked  up-."  There
was only one solution apart from ditching the record  altogether  for
Malevolent Creation: "We knew that Dave had just quit Suffocation and
was in New York. We told him: "We'll get you out here, we'll  fuckin'
show you all the songs..."." And they were lucky. "He said: "You  got
me at a good time, I don't have to work, my girlfriend's out of  town
-- let's do it"." For those of you who've heard the man in action,  I
am sure the decision needs no explanation; but for the rest  of  you,
Phil elaborates: "He's a total professional. Rob never  got  to  play
with Dave, and he was always the best, I never had  a  problem  [with
him]." So did Dave make the grade? Stupid question; he seems to  have
gone above and beyond  for  this  one.  "In  three  days  he  learned
thirteen songs, recorded them, and he was out of there on the  fourth
morning. It's unbelievable." Dave is pretty happy  with  it  too,  it
seems. "He fuckin' loves the album. When he heard the whole thing, he
was like, "I can't even believe I played on this,  it's  great"."  So
will this be sufficient encouragement to get the master onto the tour
too? "We really want him to do it and it is up to him now to  see  if
he's available to do it. If not, we have a couple of  guys  we  could
use to tour but, I mean, I think we'll be able to coax Dave into it."
     This album is Malevolent Creation's sixth in eight  years.  Does
Phil regret anything they've done and does he listen to his own  past
works? "To be honest with you, I don't listen to any of them anymore,
I don't have the urge."  There's  a  pretty  good  reason  for  this,
though: "I listen to them so much before we go to record them that by
the time we record them and get it done -- and I listen to  it  about
50 times after we finish the album, you know -- I burn myself out  on
it." Of course nearly every band has a personal low;  for  Malevolent
Creation it will always be... "_Stillborn_, 'cause that  was  a  time
when the entire band was fuckin' it. It was totally falling apart.  I
think just me and the other guitar player John Ruben  knew  what  was
going on. Jason was a mess, Brett was a complete mess, his  life  was
all fucked up and he wasn't sounding too hot, and  our  drummer  Alex
[Marquez] was just getting worse at the time.  On  top  of  that,  we
recorded with people that were just complete  idiots  and  everything
about the album was just fucking shitty." So mistakes were made,  but
Phil does have plans to somewhat right some wrongs: "We were thinking
of re-recording some of those songs with the  line-up  we  have  now.
Played a little bit faster and  a  little  more  aggressively,  those
songs would probably sound pretty cool. We might throw some on an  EP
or something."
     Regardless  of  their  extensive  back   catalogue,   Malevolent
Creation have been an influence to many a new band appearing  on  the
scene over the last couple of years, but what  originally  influenced
Phil? "My influences are British metal, of course  --  Judas  Priest,
Iron Maiden. Then Mercyful Fate. Then you  get  into  Slayer,  German
metal -- Destruction. Stuff like that I was always into. That's  what
always started us off, to me." To the extent  where  Phil  feels  "It
seemed like when we did the first few albums we  didn't  really  have
"Our Sound"." Phil's not going to start copying those he  influenced,
either: "I still look for influences in the older metal,  as  opposed
to new death metal stuff. So much has  been  done  already.  I  can't
really see somebody who can blow  everybody  away  with  death  metal
[influences]. So that's why I have to bring older parts of metal into
it." As Phil points out, "You can play  a  melodic  guitar  riff  and
throw a blast beat underneath it, and it could sound fuckin'  killer!
Influence-wise, I'd have to say older metal,  of  course,  a  lot  of
two-guitar bands."
     Malevolent Creation, like so many other death metal bands,  have
suffered at the hands of labels. They were signed to  Roadrunner  and
dropped when the label decided they'd only retain death  metal  bands
with the commercial potential of Sepultura. Pavement,  their  current
label, have gotten bad rap from some bands  (Crowbar,  for  example).
Where do Malevolent stand  with  regards  to  labels?  "I  would  say
Pavement seems to have been promoting us a lot better lately, we have
a good deal over in Europe now,  on  System  Shock  in  Germany."  As
regards the past, "With Roadrunner we always used to get some royalty
cheques and stuff." As regards the present, "We have yet to make shit
money from Pavement, which is something our lawyers are looking  into
now. We're not getting paid fucking what we should be  getting  paid,
put it that way." The band are also at a crossroads  now:  "This  was
our last  album  with  Pavement  and,  unless  something  drastically
changes, I don't see us staying with them.  It's  more  likely  we'll
sign a deal with System Shock." System Shock is a  division  of  Koch
International and house Vader, among  others.  "Those  people  really
push their records. When I was over there I couldn't believe how much
advertising they had done for Hateplow and Malevolent. The  guy  from
the label even put together the new album for us.  I  hung  out  with
them for a week and did interviews and they were fucking great."
     With a year as musically good for death metal as this, one would
expect more people to sit up and take notice all over the  place.  "I
know that metal is always good in Europe. I  just  wish  more  people
would see it like that over here." And, in true  '80s  fashion,  Phil
takes the line that "Metal will never die, there's always people  out
there like me who need to hear it. We'll always listen to it."
     I guess the other thing we'll want them to be listening to  more
specifically is _The Fine Art of Murder_. I have drooled on about it,
but let's hear Phil's view. "If anyone was familiar with  us  in  the
earlier days, it is like _Retribution_,  but  taken  to  the  fuckin'
extreme. We just hope that people enjoy it  as  much  as  we  enjoyed
putting it together." He adds gleefully: "It's a 56 minute assault of
metal." And if that isn't enough to make you go get it, I don't  know
what is.

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

                R E P A I R I N G   T H E   R U I N S
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                       CoC interviews In Ruins
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     Few albums this year have impressed me as much as  the  stunning
debut _Four Seasons  of  Grey_  from  Philadelphia  black/doom/gothic
metal trio In Ruins. While I gave it a modest (7 out of 10) review in
Chronicles of Chaos #34, the more I listened to it the more I enjoyed
what the band was doing with their music. It has totally grown on  me
over the past few weeks -- a definite highlight for 1998 and for sure
one of the best releases Metal Blade has put out in some time.
     In my review I stated: "[...] In Ruins manage to also break away
from a stereotypical (and sometimes boring) metal mood and break out,
capturing  a  very  solid  metal  sound,  placing  high  interest  in
flamboyant guitar riffs and a heart-pounding groove", and  also  that
fans will appreciate the "hard work and sweat"  that  "has  been  put
into this LP". When talking to lead singer / guitarist / lyricist  J.
Michael, it isn't hard to see that statement ringing so true. Michael
is a real workaholic, determined to work his  band  to  the  best  of
their ability while also nurturing the band's sound  and  making  his
music seem so effortless. It's mastery of metal, I tell  you,  folks,
influenced highly by the ways of '80s  metal  bands  like  Venom  and
Celtic Frost, but heavily doom-laden and  inspired  somewhat  by  the
darkened ways of black metal tendencies. In Ruins  offers  a  bit  of
everything.
     "I like what we are doing because no one  out  there  is  really
doing what we are," he starts. "Not to say that we are doing anything
unique, there just seems to be something different with us. A bit  of
doom and black metal ideas mixed up with gothic sounds.  We're  proud
of what we have done here and people are letting us know that."
     So true. Lately, the band (rounded  out  by  bassist  Jason  and
drummer Sean James) has developed a buzz and people are talking about
them. Michael's reaction to the  sudden  interest  with  their  debut
disc? "I am glad it's working that way. I wanted  to  make  a  record
that was cool in all ways possible. I wanted it to be very  intricate
and elaborate, but not shoving guitar techniques down your throat.  I
didn't want to have songs lose the listener."
     _Four Seasons of Grey_ truly showcases a band willing to explore
multiple styles, yet harnessing them so  tightly  together  that  the
overall package prospers from such ideas  being  pushed  forth.  This
record truly stands out from the rest over the last year  or  so.  He
agrees as well. "Yeah. We want it like that. We put  a  lot  of  work
into the structure of the record and all the songs  that  went  along
with it. That seems to be  the  main  characteristic  of  this  debut
record: structure. This is, after all, our debut disc, and we  wanted
it to work. I didn't want people listening to our music  and  walking
away not remembering a song. So we made sure some  of  our  work  had
melody and was memorable. It paid off in the end, I think. This  band
took a long time to evolve. A lot of the music  here  is  from  1994,
when we were the same band, just playing different  metal  music.  It
was pretty much the same,  but  over  the  years  our  music  writing
techniques have shifted and finally fallen into place with this disc.
I'm happy with the way things turned out. I have modest  expectations
of where I want the band to go. I  just  want  to  be  able  to  make
another record."
     He adds: "It took four and a half months to record  this  album.
There were weeks when I would go into the studio for just two hours a
day and just do bits and pieces. That is just wasted studio time,  if
you ask me. I do have my own studio here where I  do  a  lot  of  the
groundwork for the record's material. Layering of  guitars  and  drum
tracks and doing keyboard work. Next time I want to make sure we  get
the recordings done fast."
     And new material ideas? "I don't think it will be very far  from
what we have done here. Like I said, the ideas of what we want to  do
as a band are here, it's just a matter of getting all of it to  work.
We just have to get things focused. We need  to  just  work  out  the
glitches in the ideas we have and bring them into worthy material for
the effort."
     Seeing that In Ruins are relative newcomers to the metal  scene,
what kind of work ethics has the band focused on to get somewhere  in
this business? "I think for any band out there coming out right  now,
you really need to have a unique quality to what you are  doing,"  he
explains. "We need bands like that out here right now.  A  few  years
back all of these bands were copying one  another  and  it  hurt  the
metal music scene. It made the scene stagnant. It's hard for a kid to
part with money for albums when all of the bands out there sound  the
same."
     The topic shifts to the album title  and  the  band  name.  "The
album title  represents  somewhat  of  a  metaphor  for  darkness.  I
wouldn't call us a depressing band. We just wanted to have a darkened
element to what we do. As for the album cover [which depicts  an  old
castle alongside a lake  during  night  fall],  I  did  that  on  the
computer. It was a photo of a castle I had taken and I  just  created
the island and lake around it. And about the name of the  band?  That
was just something that came about. We actually changed the  name  of
the band when we were in the studio.  We  used  to  be  called  Black
Thorns, but there were like six or seven  other  bands  called  Black
Thorns out there. So we changed it. As for In Ruins, it  was  a  hard
choice. Just try and sit down and come up with a  name  for  a  metal
band nowadays. Everything cool is taken already. I actually have this
cool photography book by Simon Marsen, who did some  cool  Cradle  of
Filth photography work. The  book  is  called  "In  Ruins"  and  that
probably somehow subconsciously influenced me. I had a list  of  band
names, that one just stood out."
     "Also," he adds, "I wanted a cool,  majestic  sounding  name.  I
didn't want to have a name that would  paint  us  into  a  corner.  I
didn't want a name like Rotting Christ, whom I like, but you've  kind
of gotten yourself into a corner with a name like that."
     Interesting to note, In Ruins have  never  played  live  before.
Michael is eager to get out and play.  "We've  done  all  the  studio
stuff and jammed a lot, we just never got out and played before  with
this band. We all used to be in other bands and played out, just  not
with In Ruins. We had to add two extra guys to help out with the band
and we may decide to sequence the keyboards. Who  knows?  I  am  just
bored with studio stuff and writing. I want to go out  and  play.  We
had the opportunity to do so while in the studio, but it just  didn't
seem right. There is really no black metal  scene  here,  so  playing
shows is kind of hard. You'd be lucky to draw 30 to 40 people to your
show. We'll get out and play and hopefully soon get onto  an  opening
slot with a band. I'd love to play  with  Mercyful  Fate.  That  just
seems right and would be fucking cool."

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

              M A S T E R I N G   T H E I R   M E T A L
              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                      CoC interviews Jag Panzer
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     Jag Panzer are lucky. Very lucky. While the band has been around
for fifteen years, they could have easily written off  their  careers
back in 1993 when their promising but ill-received effort  _Dissident
Alliance_ failed to ignite metal fans.
     The band kept on demo-ing material through the  next  few  years
and eventually got the interest of Century Media, who signed them up.
In  1997,  they  released  the  crushing  and  hypnotic  _The  Fourth
Judgment_ to rave reviews and just a mere  eleven  months  later  the
band serves up another heaping dose of progressively-charged metal in
the form of _The Age of Mastery_. Powerful? Yes. Revamped,  regrouped
and in control, Jag Panzer is on the prowl again.
     "Man... it has been a busy  last  few  months  for  us,"  starts
guitarist Mark Briody over the phone from his  home  state  Colorado.
"Making records. Touring. Interviews. It's all been good."
     But it hasn't always been this  good,  especially  a  few  years
back. Right? "Yeah. It was a total surprise for us to get  back  into
the groove with the record [_The Fourth  Judgment_]  and  signing  to
Century Media. We had to start from square one again,  but  that  was
fine with us. We started gaining fans again and  things  just  seemed
right to make this an important thing in our lives once again. I  was
surprised on the whole effect that  this  record  had.  I  was  quite
pleased."
     "Having such a strong release and  support,  that  carried  over
into the making of _The Age of Mastery_. We were gung-ho about  doing
another record. I thought that, by doing a record  so  rapidly  after
the success of _The Fourth Judgment_, that there would be a  backlash
to us, but it was actually the opposite. We did really  well  out  of
the starting gate in Europe. Making  records  so  back  to  back  was
something new to us, as people had known us to be a band to make  and
put out records several years apart. This record has done really well
for us and that is great. Both records have done well when they  came
out. This record has done a bit better than the last one in response,
though I could care less about which gets more recognition, as I like
both equally."
     And the reasoning for a new record in just eleven months? Was it
rushed? "I don't think so at all. It seemed like the  right  time  to
follow up the success of _The Fourth Judgment_. Had  we  not  been  a
band that had been playing together for so long, it might have turned
up bad. But it didn't. We felt  very  comfortable  doing  the  record
quickly -- not to say I would want to do another record every  eleven
months, but it's a learning experience and a fun one at that."
     "Doing this record was such a blast for us. Before we went  into
the studio, we all talked about doing whatever the hell we wanted  on
this record. Everyone was going to do whatever they wanted to do  and
add it to the record," quips Briody. "If Harry wanted to  scream  his
head off on any other song, that'd be cool. Our drummer wanted to  do
a fast double-bass tone. We went ahead and did so.  We  improvised  a
lot on this record and it ended up with a strong, fun vibe."
     About the success in the last few years, he states: "We are just
starting to see how good of a band we really are. While on  tour,  we
were totally in sync with one another. We worked well, better than we
have over the last few years. We all had this amazing  attitude  from
the get-go and knowing just how much fun it was to be in a band. That
really transcended into this record." He adds: "Things  have  changed
for the band over the years in terms of our musical preferences,  but
our general focus has been all along the same  lines  for  each  band
member. We know what we want to do. It's all very simple, because  we
all get along so well."
     The  band  --  guitarist   Chris   Broderick,   drummer   Rikard
Stjernquist, bassist  John  Tetley  and  singer  Harry  "The  Tyrant"
Conklin  --  have  no  qualms  about  being  perceived  as   an   old
school-style band (i.e., veterans), but live large in the notion that
they are as good as any other  band  out  there  nowadays.  "I  can't
really see us being an old band. Our stuff is new and fresh. It's not
stagnant. Our music is very pleasant and in charge. We're  not  doing
the whole "retro-revival" thing. We're playing music the way  we  see
fit to do so."
     "Our music has a lot of elements in it,"  explains  Briody.  "We
have elements of progressive metal, speed and  a  bit  of  that  '80s
sound happening. It's great to be able to do that and make  it  sound
so good. So many bands out there nowadays try to incorporate a  style
into their music and sometimes it seems contrived. If they do it  for
artistic reasons, it's OK because they want a part of it, but if they
do it to just fit in, then I have a  problem  with  it.  We've  never
tried to tail coat any other style or sound. We're always about doing
our own thing and dabbling into other areas if we seem fit to do so."
     After so many years, how does the band stay focused to do  this?
"Playing music together comes so naturally for us. Even though we had
years of not having a record deal, or no fan mail coming  in,  or  no
singer [Conklin had left the band], we still jammed a couple of times
a week. We did this regardless of not seeing  much  success.  It  was
about just hanging out and playing guitar and jamming for us all.  It
was just fun. I still do have fun. I wanted to do this ever since  we
had our first band in high school and  were  able  to  play  "God  of
Thunder" by Kiss the whole way through. That was when I knew this was
our calling -- to be a full-time band."
     One thing that runs deep for Briody is fan contact. His love for
talking to fans  is  a  big  deal  for  him.  It's  all  about  being
accessible to your fans, he notes. "I love  doing  press  and  having
fans read about us. It's a good way for them to know what we are  all
about. I also do a lot of  correspondence  with  our  fans  over  the
Internet. It's great to be able to talk to them  and  answer  all  of
their questions. I like going on news groups and chat channels  under
the moniker of Jag Panzer and just talking to fans  about  our  music
and metal music in general. It's a great way  of  exposure  for  your
band and to just be able to see and hear how people feel about  music
in general."

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

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


00 Species - _Anatomy of a Robot_  (Dementia Records, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (7 out of 10)

This  is  the  second  main  noise  output  from  this  Grand  Rapids
hardcore/crust band and it shows quite a level of overall improvement
in sound and composition. This time around,  00  Species  chooses  to
focus less on just using delay effects and  various  "spacey"  sounds
and work more towards the layering of different noise to produce some
very dark and, at times, harsh noise. While most of the early  tracks
on the first side of this tape show a lot  of  the  progression,  the
second side is more typical of the earlier 00 Species work. While not
particularly bad, they lack  the  progressive  mixture  of  different
sounds and the harsher atmosphere the earlier pieces created.  For  a
relatively new noise act, these guys are showing an incredible amount
of self improvement, and with some more  steady  releases  displaying
the type of work found on the early tracks, 00 Species  could  easily
begin  to  rival  the  works  being  put  out  by  the  more  "known"
Americanoise artists out there. This is definitely worth checking out
if you are a fan of the Bastard Noise / dark ambient  type  sound  or
want some easy ways to get into the  genre  with  some  darker,  less
harsh works first.

Contact: Dementia Records, 104 Diamond SE #1
         Grand Rapids, MI, 49503


Absu - _In the Eyes of Ioldanach_  (Osmose, September 1998)
by: Adam Wasylyk  (7 out of 10)

Those Texan blasphemers are back! A four song EP,  _In  the  Eyes  of
Ioldanach_ features new material that  boasts  a  slightly  different
sound  production-wise,  but   musically   it's   traditional   Absu:
thrash/retro influenced blackened occult metal! A  couple  of  tracks
are re-recordings, one being "Never Blow out the Eastern  Candle",  a
track that was exclusive to the _World  Domination_  compilation  put
out by Osmose a couple of years ago. To be honest, this  re-recording
plain sucks, it's a lame take on an otherwise great  track.  If  they
wanted to put this track on _ItEoI_, it should have been the original
track untouched and not this. _ItEoI_ is by  no  means  an  essential
purchase, but if you're a big fan then  this  should  tide  you  over
until they release the next full length, which  will  hopefully  come
out early next year.


Avenger - _Shadows of the Damned_  (Bestial / Breath of Night, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell  (6 out of 10)

Since I have not yet heard Krabathor,  this  Avenger  release  is  my
first exposure to metal from the Czech Republic. The vocals are in  a
black metal style,  but  the  music  is  very  heavy,  chunky  stuff,
although with really cool melody lines throughout;  very  reminiscent
of _The Karelian Isthmus_ era  Amorphis  and  aggressive  like  early
Grave, with the exception of the opener "Preludium", which is a  NYHC
romp. Good production (especially for a 16  track  recording)  and  a
killer guitar tone add to the  depth  of  the  music,  which  is  all
performed by two guys: Honza Kapak (drums,  bass,  vocals)  and  Petr
Mecak (guitar). Although it is a  cassette-only  release,  the  inlay
design is very pro looking and the cover is a  painting  by  Albrecht
Altdorfer from 1528 (not that you care,  it  just  looks  cool).  The
words are all in the Czech  language,  but  unfortunately  there  are
English  translations  printed  as  well,  which  totally  ruins  the
mystique and reveals the blasphemous content and juvenile  nature  of
the lyrics, therefore lowering the rating from what the  music  alone
deserves.


Bastard Noise - _If it Be Not True_  (Vermiform Records, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (6.5 out of 10)

What began as a very promising full blown  venture  into  noise  with
their split release with Merzbow has now degenerated into a  hit/miss
collection of ambient-esque experimentation tracks. This  massive  90
minute double CD release from Bastard Noise seems to show off less of
the group's ability to produce some very  creative  minimalist  noise
but their inability to distinguish between  such  work  and  absolute
repetitive slop. The easy highlights of this disc come in the form of
the band reprising their  "screaming  over  noise"  bits  which  they
produced so well with the _Our Earth's Blood_ series. The  expression
of Bastard Noise's  dark  message  through  this  means  impacts  the
meaning  clearer  by  forming  images  of  blackened  chaos  in   the
listener's mind with the noise, before dropping their battle  axe  of
truth between one's ears. While these tracks work very  well  on  the
disc, they seem to come few and far between the collection of  sloppy
tonal works. The main downfall of the group is the over dependency on
delay pedal effects to produce the sound. While  such  use  of  delay
effects helps add an extra "flavor" to a track,  they  tend  to  grow
repetitive and overbearing if used as  the  driving  force  behind  a
composition. At times Bastard Noise attempts to  loop  in  new  sound
mixtures, but only then do some of these compositions rise beyond the
level of "overproduced slop" to "average". The band would  have  done
itself a favor to cut this release back to only  one  disc  and  drop
many of the shorter, less enterprising pieces in favor of more in the
areas they seem strongest in (i.e., "screaming  over  noise").  While
this isn't a total washout, with the positive aspects  of  this  disc
being extremely good, it is  the  abundance  of  sub-mediocre  pieces
which serve to bog this down to a purchase only die hard  fans  ought
to make.

Contact: Vermiform Records, P.O. Box 603050
         Providence, RI, 02906, USA


Benighted Leams - _Astral Tenebrion_  (Supernal Music, June 1998)
by: David Rocher  (0.5 out of 10)

Whoah Fallen One, hail the mighty return of the  new  flamebearer  of
black metal intellectualism -- or to be  quite  sincere,  behold  Mr.
Bean go black metal! Albeit beginning with a  nice-ish  eerie  intro,
_Astral  Tenebrion_  rapidly  degenerates  into  one  of   the   most
outrageously laughable "black metal" fiascos I have ever witnessed --
along with the works of Darkness Enshroud, Judas Iscariot and  a  few
others, of course... Lame riffing (or rather, electrified  strumming)
is monotonously hammered home by a  binary  beatbox  battering  which
even succeeds, so poor is the sound, in  blocking  out  most  of  the
strings. Add to this tonedeaf metallic  mess  the  hilarious  deadpan
"operatic" vocals (reminiscent of the  inarticulate  sounds  one  may
gurgle whilst undergoing  a  tooth  extraction...),  and  the  feeble
"wannabe futuristic" approach to black  metal  this  one-man  project
tries to cook up, and you have one of this  decade's  greatest  metal
crashes, compared to which Arckanum's latest opus  is  a  display  of
genuine virtuosity.


Blood Axis - _Blot: Sacrifice in Sweden_
by: Adrian Bromley  (6 out of 10)  (Cold Meat Industry, Sep. 1998)

As haunting and as interesting as this record may  seem,  it  becomes
quite bland and forgetful after  numerous  listens.  Noise/soundtrack
themed music is the main focus here, with  Blood  Axis  chilling  its
attack with somber, soft-spoken numbers and then  raising  them  with
some intriguing, yet overused, sounds and noises. It's  okay,  but  I
don't think it matches other works from  some  of  Cold  Meat's  cool
roster, like Puissance and Ordo Equilibrio. As I've said hundreds  of
times before, fans of the band may dig  this,  but  non-fans  may  be
bored after a listen or two. I'm a little in-between.


Bob Marinelli / Flutter - _Fun & Games_
by: Gabriel Sanchez (8.5 out of 10) (Distorted Vision Records, 1998)

With noise, just like most genres, it isn't always the "big boys" who
are producing the best material these days. Two  relative  "unknowns"
of the noise scene, Bob Marinelli and the rookie  group  of  Flutter,
come together for an amazing split release that not  only  stands  on
the level of so many of the genre's top names,  but  puts  others  to
shame at the same time. Marinelli's noise assault is in  a  state  of
constant motion as the sounds enter and leave the  mix  before  one's
brain can even get an entire lock on just what it is listening to. If
there was ever a composition that exemplifies the complete and  total
lack of barriers, patterns, and reasoning  in  noise,  this  is  most
certainly it. On the flip  side,  Flutter  work  hard  to  match  Bob
Marinelli's level of pointless chaos with their  digitally  contorted
harsh noise collage. Using everything from sound loops  to  pop/dance
song snips, Flutter's sound remains as harsh and energetic  as  ever.
Once again, there is no way for one to even lock a pattern  onto  the
brutality as it is constantly flying from patterns  of  high  pitched
beeping to sub-woofer blowing rumblings. The bottom line is that this
release demonstrates  the  purity  of  noise:  no  communication,  no
patterns,  no  boundaries.   Just   plain   and   simple   electronic
ejaculations of sound that shatter the ear drums but soothe the soul,
all at the same time.

Contact: Distorted Vision Records, 300 West Fourth St.
         Mt. Carmel, PA  17851, USA
         mailto:tgbob@sunlink.net


Centinex - _Reborn Through Flames_  (Repulse, July 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (7 out of 10)

As you may recall, I reviewed _Reflections_ [CoC #26] and  felt  that
Centinex's main problems were lack of looseness (due to the use of  a
drum machine, as I found out later) and a somewhat unoriginal musical
formula. Well, Centinex are still using a drum machine and they still
sound the same; however, this time  'round,  their  songwriting,  and
even drum programming, has improved  immensely.  The  band  is  still
sticking to their "we  are  being  true  to  old-Swedish-death-metal"
excuse for not sounding even vaguely different from the  status  quo,
but originality, or even creativity, are not what I am awarding  them
marks for. The  simple  fact  is  that  _Reborn  Through  Flames_  is
listenable, heavy and well constructed. Their leads still  ring  true
and some of their melodic segues and occasionally main riffs are also
cool. If they could rid themselves of the flat, predictable sound the
drum machine, I would guarantee a great improvement. Why have I given
them a 7 out of 10 again, you ask? For two reasons: 1)  not  changing
their sound at all and almost  re-using  riffs  (e.g.  "The  Arch  of
Serenity"); 2) including a -terrible- cover of Kreator's  "Under  the
Guillotine" in the middle of the album (programmable  CD  players  or
fast reactions recommended to avoid this abomination).  One  thing  I
like about this band is that they always have a  dark  atmosphere;  I
just wish they could harness  it  better.  The  problem  isn't  their
playing or production -- Tomas Skogsberg has done a sterling,  though
generic, production job. It's the band's attitude. Either they  can't
think of anything else to do or they can't make the leap of faith  to
do something more interesting and original, or at least  not  do  the
same thing as last time.


Ciborium - _Colossal Crags_  (Independent Records, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Having found Ciborium one of the most  promising  bands  featured  in
Independent  Recs'  _High  Radiation  4_  compilation  [CoC  #33],  I
approached  this  Portuguese  band's  debut  _Colossal  Crags_   with
interest. As it turns out, most of the material here is about as good
as their _HR4_ track, and occasionally better. The  style  brings  no
surprise after knowing the compilation song: atmospheric death metal,
technical enough, mostly  fast  and  with  plenty  of  pace  changes.
Keyboards are fundamental  here,  and  manage  to  remain  sober  and
efficient most of the time.  Together  with  the  pace  changes,  the
dynamic nature of the music and the  catchiness  of  some  sequences,
they keep the listener interested. The  strong  death  vox  suit  the
sound quite well, as the keyboards tend to often  dominate  the  mix.
The drums could sound a bit better, by the way; same for some of  the
guitar parts, but this varies a lot. Nevertheless, the overall  sound
is very acceptable and the music is very listenable and enjoyable. Be
warned, however, that this album is only 30 minutes long;  my  rating
is therefore based upon the assumption that it will not  be  sold  at
full price, which fortunately appears to be the case.

Contact: mailto:ind.rec@esoterica.pt


Crackdown - _Rise Up_  (Diehard, October 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (6 out of 10)

"Never", the first track on _Rise Up_, is one of the  best  Biohazard
songs written  since  the  release  of  1992's  fan  favorite  _Urban
Discipline_. A pity, then, that it was written by and appears  on  an
album by Crackdown. However, since Evan Seinfeld  sings  lead  vocals
(yes, lead vocals) on this  and  two  other  tracks  on  this  eleven
(including bonus) track album, the similarity is less surprising  and
more acceptable, at  least  with  regard  to  the  vocals.  Crackdown
thankfully do not try to mimic  Evan's  vocal  style  throughout  the
course of the rest of the album and instead  opt  for  the  partially
screamed style of My Own Victim or B.F! Musically, My Own Vicitm  and
Biohazard's respective styles are the ones most liberally  referenced
on _Rise Up_, with a small nod to Bloodlet's style  on  "Knife".  Not
much is new, although a well executed build-up of a repeated  melodic
vocal lines provides a brief break from the hardcore  norm.  So,  for
your money you get 38 minutes of mostly derivative but well  produced
and played hardcore.  However,  an  added  bonus  must  be  the  last
official track, "Make a Change". Against a background of  thick  (but
soft) bass, hip-hop compatible drumming and  occasional  jazz-derived
guitar fills, it once more features Evan Seinfeld, but this  time  he
blesses us with his attempts to  rap.  Through  his  usual  infantile
rhyming (e.g. "In your city or your town, these are the motherfuckers
called Crackdown"), Evan tells the story  of  how  he  and  Crackdown
"hooked up". I can just see Evan bopping, gesturing and rapping  this
out: that image provides comedy worth an extra review point. As  with
all hardcore, live is where it matters and  if  the  band  can  play,
these songs will come out good -- as good as My Own Victim's  do  for
example. However, if you're looking for  hardcore's  new  innovators,
you won't find them in Crackdown.


Dementia - _Answer_  (Kaly Productions, October 1998)
by: David Rocher  (8.5 out of 10)

Dementias' previous album, _In Core of the Dark Ages_, despite  being
plagued with feeble sound, was a reasonably convincing  demonstration
of the fine brand of atmospheric death  metal  this  talented  French
six-piece have to offer; their  new  CD,  _Answer_,  picks  up  where
_ICotDA_ left off, greatly adding depth, variety and technicality  to
Dementia's  already  praiseworthy  style.  An   amazing   amount   of
creativity literally oozes from this band, as  their  music  switches
from melodic speeding blast-beat sequences  to  rushing  axe  attacks
underlined  by  thunderous  double-bass  antics  and  calm   passages
somewhat reminiscent of Pink Floyd -- all this  clearly  showing  the
potential  that  lies  within  these  versatile  musicians.  Firstly,
_Answer_ is technically impressive, offering beautiful guitar  leads,
an impressive display of skin-bashing, and great rhythmic riffing  --
for which the jaw-dropping version of "The Flight of the  Bumblebee",
converted into an incredible high speed riff, stands as  an  example.
Secondly, this album  has  more  depth  to  it  than  many  so-called
"atmospheric" bands can ever hope to create; the fine use of inspired
keyboard-driven orchestrations brings a  touch  of  aether  to  sharp
walls of raging electrified strings, thus  creating  Dementia's  very
personal blend of violent metal, that lies somewhere between  Carcass
at _Heartwork_ times, Coroner in  their  _Mental  Vortex_  years  and
present-day fine death metal  combos  such  as  Dark  Tranquillity...
nothing less!


Deranged - _High on Blood_  (Regain Records, September 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

Holy fucking  ball  busters  Batman!  Deranged  are  surely  high  on
something. This is one of the most ball-crushing records to  land  on
my disc player  in  some  time.  While  not  totally  groundbreaking,
Deranged have the knack for kicking out goods with true velocity  and
aggression. Take note of songs like "(eroti)kill", "With the  Silence
Came Horror" and my fave "Razor Divine". _High  on  Blood_?  I  think
not. This album shreds and I think the  title  should  be  more  like
_High on Speed-Aggression-Anger-Hatred_. Give it a whirl if you  feel
up to it. Almost as crushing as The Haunted's debut -- almost.


The Dillinger Escape Plan - _Under the Running Board_
by: Alex Cantwell  (7 out of 10)  (Relapse, 1998)

A short CD gets a short review. In all of its eight minutes of glory,
The Dillinger Escape Plan mauls the listener into mere pulp,  bruised
and charred. This is grindcore with hardcore influences taken to  the
extreme, and played at a totally out of control pace. Three songs  of
total chaos: breaking glass, blast beats, growls, yells, sirens,  and
circus music leads. I couldn't imagine a full-length.


Dimmu Borgir - _Godless Savage Garden_  (Nuclear Blast, July 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (5 out of 10)

Dimmu Borgir found huge success, including a  German  chart  placing,
with  last  year's  _Enthrone  Darkness  Triumphant_,  so  seeing   a
thrown-together cash-in compilation appear around the same time  this
year to  keep  up  interest  until  January,  when  _Spiritual  Black
Dimensions_ is released, is not altogether surprising. For your money
you get 41 minutes of music. About 12  of  them  cover  the  two  new
tracks, which, though not of lower quality than the majority  of  the
material on _EDT_, are  also  not  standouts,  but  instead  standard
keyboard-augmented, thrashing-guitar-black-metal tracks, as is  Dimmu
Borgir's current trade. I hope the new record is more different  from
_EDT_ than these tracks suggest. Now it gets ugly. "Raabjorn  Speiler
Draugheimens Skodde" is one of two old re-recorded tracks; it's  damn
good, but it appeared on the digipack edition of _EDT_. It  might  be
"rare", but strike one track / five minutes for  those  who  own  the
digipack, such  as  myself.  Additionally,  re-recordings  should  be
-bonus- tracks, not part of any album or compilation. An Accept cover
is next, of "Metal Heart" from their piss-poor, samey  album  of  the
same name. It is a proficient and enriching cover: they actually make
melodic German metal sound vaguely  evil  --  well  fancy  that!  And
uglier. Three live tracks, two from _EDT_ and "Stormblast", close off
_GSG_. If you're into having three odd live  tracks,  and  if  you're
ever going to get the occasion to listen to them, then these are well
produced and surprisingly bring out all the elements  of  the  band's
sound (I can't tell if  it  is  overdubbed):  soft  keyboards,  harsh
vocals and razor sharp drums and  guitars.  They  also  contain  some
amusingly schlock style comments from Shaggrath. However, ultimately,
I can't see this getting more than a few  cursory  listens  and  then
being quickly abandoned in the wake of a new album,  because  of  its
cobbled together nature.


Earthtone9 - _lo-def(inition) discord_
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)  (Copro Records, September 1998)

Managing to mix the aggression of a hardcore/metal act (such as Earth
Crisis, Coalesce or Vision of Disorder) and the ultra cool  vibes  of
bands like Tool or Acid Bath is no easy task, but the quintet calling
themselves Earthtone9 have done so -- and  quite  well,  may  I  add.
Strong bass lines, some nifty guitar work and searing vocals  package
a smooth romp into the wonderful world of aggressive metal here.  You
see, as similar sounding to the above mentioned bands as they may be,
Earthtone9 manage to add their own flavor to the fold -- a wicked mix
of eccentric vocal styles and some out of this world  grooves.  I  am
really starting to appreciate  more  and  more  bands  that  set  the
musical style they play on the edge, balancing between common musical
directions  and  then  occasionally  dabbling  into  some   uncharted
territory. Tool are a good example of that  and  that's  the  primary
reason why they are high up on both Gino's and my own fave band list.
Not a bad moment on this record from what I can hear. Caring to  open
up a bit more to the music you digest? Then get this.

Contact: Copro Records, P.O. Box 4429, Henley on Thames
         Oxon, RG9 1GH, UK


The Elysian Fields - _We... the Enlightened_
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out of 10)  (Wicked World, October 1998)

With _Formulas Fatal to the Flesh_, _Our Problem_ and  _The  Haunted_
already polluting the extreme music community's collective  ears  and
promising new material from Earache's old favorites Napalm Death  and
Cathedral on the way, it appears that the label is not declining into
a mediocre, alterna-metal one as many of us feared it was.  With  the
recent formation of Wicked World, an offshoot which some feel needn't
exist, Earache have tried to tackle head-on the task of  adding  some
of today's quality black metal talent to their  roster.  The  Elysian
Fields prove that Earache  are  up  to  this  challenge.  _We...  the
Enlightened_, The Elysian Fields' second album, presents a band  with
a considerable grasp of their  style  and  the  balls  and  skill  to
produce a good black metal album.  _WtE_  is  ample  proof  of  this.
Though the boundaries of black metal have to  be  stretched  like  so
much elastic to include a band such as  The  Elysian  Fields,  it  is
still appropriate to describe their style. What is  best  about  this
band is their desire to diversify their sound and  their  ability  to
pull it off. They  utilize  a  huge  range  of  orchestral  and  folk
instruments, presumably from samplers,  in  each  song.  Blending  in
parts of electronic  music  with  some  intense  percussion  sections
(check out "Until the Night Cries Rise in  Your  Heart")  is  just  a
portion of the band's appeal that I find particularly endearing.  Add
the fact that the production of _WtE_ is superb and you have a rather
impressive album on your hands. If there's  a  problem,  it  is  that
however well-produced, well-executed and  well-meant  the  music  the
band produce is, not all of it is to my own personal taste.


Enslaved - _Blodhemn_  (Osmose, October 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

For  followers  of  complex,  high-quality  black  metal,  _Blodhemn_
(meaning "Vengeance in Blood"), Enslaved's fourth album, must rank as
one of the most anticipated of the year. As one of the few bands  who
are  clever  enough  to  successfully  challenge  Emperor,   Enslaved
impressed many with last year's _Eld_, the long awaited follow-up  to
their classic _Frost_. Whereas _Eld_ witnessed the  band  become  yet
more  epic  (embracing  the  Viking  metal  stylings   of   Bathory's
_Hammerheart_ to some extent) with an increase in the use of  melodic
vocals and  atmospheric  keyboards,  _Blodhemn_  instead  swings  the
stylistic pendulum in the opposite direction. Consisting of  only  38
minutes, delivered over nine tracks, Enslaved  have  shortened  their
song lengths  hugely  from  _Eld_'s  sprawling  epics,  and  produced
faster, harder and more vitriolic tunes in a more "traditional" black
metal style. Though this originally struck me as  an  unwelcome  step
back, I persisted in my listening of  the  album  and  found,  to  my
relief,  that  Enslaved  still  have  a  musical  goal  which  is  as
interesting as ever. Though the album's primary focus  is  tight  and
insanely fast rhythms, laid down by the hugely talented Dirge Rep and
coated with biting guitars to match, Enslaved have not abandoned  the
many elements which made _Eld_  so  brilliant.  The  Tolkien-inspired
intro illustrates that the band have not lost any of their ability to
manipulate keyboard atmospherics, whereas the songs, though on  first
listen seemingly only bludgeoning, have a similar and intricate array
of different vocal lines, guitar melodies, finely  constructed  solos
and just solid, well-written core riffs. To put  it  in  a  nutshell,
Enslaved have brutalized their sound and  made  their  delivery  more
concise. While there are still a million and  one  things  you  won't
find on an album by the  Morticians  of  black  metal  (Marduk,  Dark
Funeral), there is every bit as much impact and fury. This  is  quite
an achievement by Enslaved -- in fact, I don't think I have heard  an
album which mixes brutality and atmosphere  as  well  as  this  since
Emperor's _Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk_ and, though I think it  has
nothing to do with their switching to the Tagtgren/Abyss  production,
this has a more  powerful  sound  than  Emperor's  excellent,  though
somewhat overrated, second album.


Enthroned - _Gothic Disturbance '98_  (Independent, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (9 out of 10)

Although there have been some rumors of a re-formation  of  Florida's
Nocturnus (mostly from unreliable sources), until  they  actually  do
get back together, these guys are as close as you'll  get.  Enthroned
(from northern CA, USA  --  not  to  be  confused  with  the  Belgian
Enthroned) recently got a new singer / bass player and decided it was
a good opportunity to re-record the songs from  _Gothic  Disturbance_
[CoC #21] along with some older songs and put them on  CD.  This  was
definitely a wise move, as this recording fixes some of the  problems
with their previous release.  In  particular,  the  playing  is  much
tighter and the production is better. However, the guitar solos still
have a trace of the "I'm playing as fast as I can" syndrome, and  the
guitar tones in the solos sometimes seem out  of  place.  Other  than
that, the production and playing are excellent. The guitar  and  bass
work is technical and tight, and the keyboards  are  especially  well
done: knowing when to play along with the  guitars  and  when  to  do
their own  thing.  All  of  the  songs  feature  a  technical  sci-fi
death/thrash style very similar to the one  pioneered  by  Nocturnus.
The complexity of the  music,  the  way  the  guitar  lines  are  put
together, and the interplay between the keyboards  and  the  guitars,
all are reminiscent of Nocturnus.  Enthroned  seem  to  be  a  little
thrashier (i.e., more like _The Key_) and  slightly  less  technical,
but their music is still much more  complex  than  most  death  metal
bands. This is a must-own for fans  of  Nocturnus  and  all  fans  of
technical or sci-fi death metal.

Contact: ENTRONED, 2231 Nobili Ave., Santa Clara, CA, 95051, USA
         mailto:blast7@aol.com
         mailto:tenebre@davis.com
         WWW: www.mother.com/~tenebre/enthroned.htm


God - _From the Moldavian Ecclesiastic Throne_  (Bestial, 1997)
by: Brian Meloon  (8 out of 10)

God hail from Romania and play  melodic  doom,  along  the  lines  of
Tiamat and Paradise Lost, but  I  find  them  more  interesting  than
either of those two bands. Although their music is slow-to-mid paced,
it changes regularly enough to avoid the plodding monotony trap  that
doom bands can fall into. Their base style is melodic doom, with some
sections that resemble Viking metal. The  contrast  between  the  two
styles is interesting, and not really as jarring as you might  think;
they make it sound like a pretty natural  fit.  The  vocals  help  to
smooth out the contrast, as they are either grunted, rasped  or  sung
in the "goofy" style that is common in Viking metal.  Each  of  these
styles is  used  throughout  the  disc,  helping  to  unify  it.  The
keyboards are used to good  effect,  typically  acting  as  an  equal
partner to the guitars.  God's  lineup  includes  a  full-time  viola
player, who really adds to  the  atmosphere  the  band  creates.  The
playing is very good,  and  the  production  is  top-notch.  Overall,
they're very impressive for the style that they  play:  it's  nothing
that hasn't been done before, but the arrangement and development are
first-class.  If  nothing  else,  it's  high  quality  material,  and
deserving attention from fans of melodic doom.


Gooseflesh - _Welcome to Suffer Age_  (Goldtrack, September 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (6 out of 10)

This MCD's first track sounds so much like a  mix  of  Sepultura  and
Machine Head that the replacement of most of these  influences  by  a
rather Kyuss-like sound in the second track can be  quite  surprising
when you listen to _Welcome  to  Suffer  Age_  for  the  first  time.
Gooseflesh then continue to assume various identities, more  or  less
obviously, throughout the three remaining tracks. The point when  the
whole mixture becomes their "own" sound -- like almost every band  as
original as Gooseflesh like to say after naming their already obvious
influences -- is very subjective. But I never really  demand  immense
originality anyway, unless we're talking about something like a clear
rip-off. So this Swedish band still gets an average score  for  their
mostly very  unoriginal,  for  my  taste  rather  uninteresting,  but
nevertheless competent and well produced effort.

Contact: Goldtrack Records, PO Box 37062, 28080 Madrid, Spain
         mailto:goldtrack@arrakis.es
         WWW: www.arrakis.es/~goldtrack


Gothic - _Touch of Eternity_  (Bestial, 1997)
by: Brian Meloon  (6 out of 10)

Although their name is Gothic, these guys don't play goth; they  play
semi-melodic  doom.  I  can't  say  that  I  find  their  style  very
interesting, my main complaint  being  that  it's  just  not  dynamic
enough. The clean vocals are one of the  main  weaknesses:  he's  way
flat at times, and doesn't have enough range. As a result, the  vocal
lines tend to be very monotonous, which coupled with the  slow-moving
music makes it very monotonous. They also use shouted/grunted vocals,
which are much more effective. The production  could  be  better,  as
it's muddy, adding to the music's monotonous sound.  The  playing  is
good: while the music isn't very technically demanding,  they  handle
it competently. The guitar solos (especially Emil's) are  very  good:
they are tasteful and appropriate, even adding some  flash  here  and
there. Most of the music  is  very  slow,  with  only  a  handful  of
mid-paced sections. I think that a few more fast sections could  have
helped to give the songs a better sense of purpose.  Most  of  it  is
also very simple, and while some of these sections are effective  and
memorable, they tend to repeat them too much. It's almost as if these
guys aren't really sure if they want to  be  heavy  or  melodic,  and
ended up not quite getting enough of either. Overall,  this  isn't  a
bad release; I just don't find it very satisfying.


Gothic Sex - _Laments_  (Repulse Records, September 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

Shades of Type O Negative and Moonspell come to mind within the first
few moments of _Laments_, though it  slowly  becomes  a  much  bolder
sounding record. Interesting sound passages and vocal styles  coupled
with dark ambient playing really bring a  well-defined  character  to
Gothic Sex.  It's  erotic  and  all-out  dark  in  truly  interesting
fashion. My favorite aspect of the record  seems  to  fall  into  the
realm of the guitar work. While not the best guitar work I have  ever
heard, the imagination and creativity of the guitar playing seems  to
add a strengthened finesse to the resulting product --  in  "Laments"
and "Alone in the Dark", for example. Dark passages  of  emotion  and
uncertainty run deep here as _Laments_ caters to the dark side of the
human psyche. An interesting record that'll have metal  fans  wanting
to dig deeper into their already darkened hole.


Grief of Emerald - _Nightspawn_  (Listenable, October 1998)
by: David Rocher  (9 out of 10)

As the overwhelming black metal tide finally ebbs away, all it leaves
in its wake is a small number of quality, sincere bands, and  a  vast
cohort of wannabe-evil cretins, who rely more on satanic imagery than
on music itself to boost their sales and ego --  do  this  while  you
can, nerds, for the time is nigh... Take a look at a  band  photo  of
Grief of Emerald, and you will quickly notice the absence of inverted
crosses, blood, corpsepaint,  naked  women,  evil  goldfish,  satanic
cheesecake or anything like that.  Simply,  this  quintet  deliver  a
style of music that can effortlessly be identified as  Swedish  black
metal, but have somehow succeeded in gracing  a  now  worn-out  style
with their very unique touch. They faithfully  capture  the  intense,
evil, unhealthy guitar feel of  Morbid  Angel  on  their  masterpiece
_Domination_, blend it with atmospheric, dynamic,  nearly  aggressive
keyboards that sometimes yield the power and majesty of Emperor's _In
the Nightside Eclipse_, and at other times produce the insane,  eerie
and unnerving  feel  you  find  on  Tartaros'  _The  Grand  Psychotic
Castle_. As to the roaring, dark black metal vocals,  these  burn  an
extra scar in this blackened picture, and the masterful collision  of
all these elements fuses  into  a  hateful,  baleful,  bombastic  and
technical black metal assault,  graced  with  a  potent  death  metal
touch, whose unearthly, grandiloquent force is definitely enthralling.


Various - _GRRRR!!: Extreme Music From Vancouver_
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)  (Hevy Devy Records, Sep. 1998)

Finally a killer compilation surfaces with nothing but Canuck  talent
on it. Finally. Not since Ed Balog's _Utopian Vision  Music  Vol.  1_
surfaced has there been such a good array of metal  /  extreme  music
bands from Canada to crank up and listen to. Amazing shit here.  From
the label started by  Strapping  Young  Lad  weirdo/mastermind  Devin
Townsend comes the vicious and extreme music assault  of  bands  from
Canada's West Coast -- music  ranging  from  high-powered  industrial
charge to noise-infested rock outfits and hardcore-based bands.  This
baby has it all. Aside from  the  killer  SYL  tracks  here  ("Oh  My
Fucking God" and the unreleased "Centipede" -- though it can be found
on the live SYL LP _No Sleep  Till  Bedtime_),  there  is  a  lot  of
interesting ditties to go around.  The  best  of  the  unreleased  or
unknown bands has to be the  ultra-heavy  Subversion.  I  still  have
their demo and it's even more powerful now. They are Canada's  Brutal
Truth, if you  ask  me.  Other  notable  numbers  include  the  weird
offering from Punchdrunk called "Tug the Tapeworm", the  scary  noise
ensemble  of  "Krickets"  by  August  Frost  and  Cystem's   "Divided
Process". I'm very proud to see  HDR  put  this  out.  I  await  more
unsigned talent to be showcased in future HDR compilations.

Contact: Hevy Devy Records, P.O. Box 44116
         Burnaby, B.C., V5A-4Y2, Canada


Hexecution - _Beyond All Evil_  (Copro Records, September 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (4 out of 10)

Sounding like a really mediocre death metal outfit who only jam  once
a month, Hexecution are the epidemy of what  most  young  metal  acts
sound like when they start up. No real  direction,  just  some  heavy
guitar work, drums and  growling  vocals.  Sounds  like  second  rate
Benediction at times, and that's not much of a compliment. It's  only
a three song EP, but I'm hoping the band revamps their take on  metal
music and aim to have their own  sound  (or  an  interesting  one  at
that!) next time they surface in Chronicles of Chaos.

Contact: Copro Records, P.O. Box 4429, Henley on Thames
         Oxon, RG9 1GH, UK


In tha Umbra - _Descend Supreme Sunset_  (Art Music, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)

In spite of the relatively high  number  of  struggling  young  black
metal bands that have recently popped up all over Portugal, very  few
of them have made it as far as the release of a full length.  In  tha
Umbra are one of these and, although somewhat flawed in  some  areas,
this 50 minute long debut of theirs is quite acceptable.  The  guitar
work in this mid-paced black metal release reminds me of early Cradle
of Filth -- a clear influence for the band, at least considering some
of the lyrics and  nice  (although  unoriginal)  layout.  The  music,
however, doesn't carry much of those gothic influences. But  back  to
the guitar work: even though it's nothing brilliant technically, it's
usually quite effective; the problem is that the album  suffers  from
poor production, especially as far as the guitar sound is  concerned.
It may be that the band themselves have opted for this  rawer  sound,
but it's their loss: the raw effect wasn't  very  well  achieved  and
ended up  harming  the  guitar  work  more  than  creating  a  better
atmosphere, at least in my opinion.  Keyboards  should  perhaps  have
been a more frequently used solution in this album; the keyboards  in
"Like  Ravens  'Neath  Nightskies",  for  example,   make   all   the
difference, reminding me of  Osculum  Infame's  brilliant  "The  Nine
Ghosts of the Ring of Power" and the rest  of  _Dor-Nu-Fauglith_,  in
which the keyboards were often missed when they were silent.  It  may
be true that more keyboards would end up softening the  intended  raw
feel of both albums a lot, but that's no excuse for the  weak  guitar
sound. If the guitars were able to make the music sound strong all by
themselves,  then  the  need  for  more  keyboards  would   certainly
diminish. Despite this and the rather mediocre death  vox,  "As  Dusk
Weaves the Night", "Flowers  for  a  Funeral",  "Like  Ravens  'Neath
Nightskies", the title track and also the epilogue carry that certain
raw appeal more successfully than the others and flow quite well. The
other tracks generally tend to contain several weaker sequences,  but
this is still an interesting debut album.

Contact: WWW: www.artmusic-pt.com


Infamy - _The Blood Shall Flow_  (Qabalah/Repulse, 1998)
by: Aaron McKay  (4 out of 10)

Well, I'm not about to tell anyone that I didn't struggle  with  this
one more than just a little bit. On one hand, I like  Infamy's  style
of self-dubbed "extreme brutal East LA style death/grind", but on the
other hand, I have been more impressed by other groups. I  understand
that Infamy has been on the underground circuit for quite some  time.
They definitely have a firm grasp on their chosen lot in music. As  I
listen to _The Blood Shall Flow_, I  hear  large  amounts  of  Morbid
Angel _Alters of Madness_ era influenced overtones and passages.  The
two guitars without a doubt drive this band forward  with  a  certain
hot-knife-through-butter approach. Cool, but not particular to Infamy
alone.  "Onslaught  of  Carnage"  and  "Cryptobiosis"   provide   the
highlights on _TBSF_. These two songs -solely-  manifest  the  talent
inherent in Infamy. Both are powerful and  equivalent  to  restrained
Armageddon. The impulse  behind  "Onslaught  of  Carnage"  is  almost
unspeakable, pausing long enough to surface the prowess of  the  bass
guitar lurching the song  further  down  the  listener's  ear  canal.
Likewise, "Cryptobiosis" boasts thrashy shreds and pounding  rhythms.
I must mention now, as I come to comment  on  the  vocals  as  hoarse
growls spewing forth illustrative massive carnage,  that,  it  is  my
understanding, Joshua "Jagger" Heatley  (bass/vocals)  is  no  longer
with us. The disc sleeve and the Repulse website list  his  death  on
March 5, 1998. Honestly, my condolences go out  to  his  friends  and
family. As for Infamy's _The Blood Shall Flow_ release, I would  have
to say it is more for fans only.


Interitus Dei - _Lonely White Idols_  (Bestial, 1997)
by: Brian Meloon  (7 out of 10)

One problem with compilations is that you only get one chance to make
an impression, and this impression may not be accurate. When I  first
heard these guys on the Bestial  compilation  [CoC  #33],  I  thought
"atmospheric doom/black metal". After a more complete listen,  I  now
find them more similar to bands like The Gathering. It has  the  same
melodic guitar-driven base style, with keyboards used  to  round  out
their sound. Their music isn't a carbon copy, but it's about the same
level of heaviness, and the female vocals give it  a  similar  sound.
What they change about that base style is an Indian/Arabic  influence
and more varied keyboards. The keys feature a good variety  of  tones
and textures, and remind me of what's done in atmospheric black metal
(Nokturnal Mortum, Mundanus Imperium, etc.). Both grunted male vocals
and angelic female vocals are used. Most of the music is  competently
performed, with the exception of the  guitar  leads,  which  sound  a
little cheap, both production-wise and from the fact that  they're  a
little bit off. Other than these parts, the production is  excellent.
I can recommend this for fans of The Gathering and similar styles, as
it has enough good parts to offset the weak ones.


Iron Monkey - _Our Problem_  (Earache Records, October 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)

Iron Monkey return with a blistering follow-up to  their  self-titled
six-song EP. With some nasty and vulgar cover artwork (censored  now,
I  believe?!),  the  doom-laden  growls  of  consumption  and   utter
aggression  spark  forth  from  the  band's  latest  effort  with   a
detonating  blow  to  our  skulls.  Powerful  waves  of  unbelievable
momentum keep things chaotic here from start to finish. This band  is
warped, yet oh-so good. From  frazzled  growled  vocals  to  sickened
slabs of anguished wails and chuggish riffs, England's Iron Monkey do
the unspeakable and penetrate us with its venomous claws. And as  bad
and disgusting as it may seem, the ravaging we get from  the  blatant
ass-kicking is worth it. Are there any bands out there  so  violently
charged? Maybe, but Iron Monkey do it just as well, if not better.


Legenda - _Eclipse_  (Holy Records, September 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (9 out of 10)

This second Legenda release is a successful attempt at perfecting the
style of music found on their debut  _Autumnal_,  which  is  achieved
essentially through the inclusion of three fast-paced songs that  add
more variety (_Autumnal_ was  rather  excessively  uniform)  and  the
improvement of their musical  choices.  The  sound  is  very  similar
(recorded at  Tico  Tico  again),  and  fortunately  Luttinen  hasn't
forsaken his raspy vocals. The only track  that  features  clean  vox
(performed by a guest singer)  fits  quite  well  within  the  album,
however, although this particular song is too long for its own  good.
The music is still mostly mid-paced, sometimes  doomy,  and  strongly
based on keyboards. Some songs are guitar-driven, however, and  these
transitions are well achieved (i.e., you have  to  pay  attention  in
order to notice it, rather than end  up  finding  yourself  wondering
where did those keyboards go). Of the three kinds of songs  found  in
_Eclipse_, my favorites are clearly the faster ones and  the  doomier
ones, but the catchier songs are  all  still  quite  acceptable.  The
digipak only carries lyrics for the title track, which, if you  think
of most of _Autumnal_'s lyrics, probably isn't much of  a  loss.  The
main feeling throughout _Eclipse_'s 50 minutes is that it is  a  very
smart album: smart melodies, rhythms and overall sound. Even though I
might personally subtract a mark from the 9 out of 10  rating  mainly
because the album is still too song-oriented for my liking (the  song
structures aren't exactly  challenging),  credit  must  be  given  to
Legenda for  blowing  away  most  of  the  softer  dark/gothic  metal
competition with _Eclipse_.


Lucid - _Lucid_  (<Independent>, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell  (6.5 out of 10)

This  music  reminds  me  of  Leaderdogs  for  the  Blind  and  newer
Moshketeers, with a bit of Machine Head thrown in. Basically, this is
well done modern metal, which is great, but listening to  all  twelve
tracks in one sitting might be considered too much of a  good  thing.
It's like being beaten twelve times in a row. Most of these songs are
strong enough to stand  on  their  own.  This  is  plain  and  simple
aggressive music that will send ya a-thrashin' around yer  room.  The
drums are triggered, and so they almost sound like  a  drum  machine,
but that actually gives the music a slight  industrial  tinge,  which
works for them.


Makrothumia - _The Rit of Individuation_  (Bestial, 1997)
by: Brian Meloon  (7 out of 10)

Makrothumia didn't make a good first impression on me with their song
on the Bestial sampler [CoC #33], but I'm glad I gave them  a  chance
with  this  offering,  as  it's  worth  a  listen.  They  are  dubbed
"progressive death metal", and I can  see  now  why  that  label  was
chosen. The closest comparison I can make is to  Pan.Thy.Monium,  but
Makrothumia aren't as weird or as advanced. What's similar about  the
bands is their base style: experimental death metal  with  keyboards.
The way the keys are used is  similar:  they're  used  as  a  backing
instrument, but the way they interact with the guitars is novel.  The
riffs are of the semi-melodic variety: the  melody  isn't  the  focal
point, but they're  not  unmelodic  either.  The  vocals  are  pretty
standard grunted death vocals, but have some interesting  variations.
Unfortunately, the production really isn't that good: it's muddy  and
more like black metal production. This gives the album  a  very  drab
sound and makes it hard to really get into on the first few  listens:
it all sounds the same. After a few listens, you  start  to  pick  up
things that you missed before. The playing also  adds  to  the  black
metal sound, as it's not as tight as it could be. While I don't think
this offering is quite "there" yet, it does  show  potential,  and  I
look forward to their future releases.


Malevolent Creation - _The Fine Art of Murder_
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)  (Pavement, October 1998)

Yes, they've done it at last. I think Malevolent Creation  have  been
building up to this triumph since  _Retribution_  deafened  ears  and
froze hearts with its cold, calculated death metal massacre six years
ago. Having picked themselves up after the disasters of  _Stillborn_,
Malevolent Creation produced two good albums, one being  last  year's
_In  Cold  Blood_,  but  always  failed  to  do   two   things:   top
_Retribution_ in the all-out classic brutality stakes, and change  in
a  way  that  really  showed  a  new  side  to  them.  Though  it  is
questionable if _The Fine Art of Murder_ quite tops _Retribution_  in
brutality, it is by far their most impressive musical step forward in
their history. Whereas the first four tracks, on first  listen,  seem
not to change a thing in the band's formula, repeated listens to  and
consideration of the album brings you to the realization  that  there
is so much more going on than there ever has been before. The  toying
with melody and harmony in songs  which  are  primarily  bludgeoners,
like  "Manic  Demise"  or  "Instinct  Evolved",  is  astounding  once
examined. This is not to say none of it is basic. Malevolent Creation
still have all that thrash, harsh-and-hard guitar riffing; it is just
used more sparingly and consequently  to  greater  effect.  The  real
achievements on the album are "The Fine Art  of  Murder",  "Fracture"
and "Day of Lamentation", which almost totally  lack  MC's  trademark
speed but are still both great to listen to and as brutal as ever  --
the melody sees a damn good look in, too. Malevolent Creation haven't
overstepped  the  mark,  they  haven't  "wimped   out"   --   they've
diversified. Sure, they're not producing anything innovative  in  the
genre-leading stakes, but while  still  staying  true  to  everything
we've come to expect from them,  they've  gone  the  extra  yard  and
successfully   pulled   plenty   of   new   elements    into    their
well-established approach. The full benefit of their current line  up
(Rob Barrett, Dave Culross,  Phil  Fasciana,  Brett  Hoffman,  Gordon
Simms) has been realized. Long live the killers;  if  they  can  keep
this kind of musicianship present, they can keep  up  the  spree  far
past the year 2000.


Mundanus Imperium - _The Spectral Spheres Coronation_
by: Paul Schwarz  (6.5 out of 10)  (Nuclear Blast, September 1998)

Hey, it isn't as bad as I had feared. Mundanus Imperium  are  another
of Nuclear Blast's recent signees who embody the spirit of metal from
the '80s, as opposed to the label's original, '90s centered roster. I
think it is fair to say that Hammerfall's  unprecedented  success  is
very likely to be the reason why Mundanus Imperium got  a  deal  with
Nuclear Blast, but this is not to say they are  necessarily  unworthy
of a record deal -- though whether they suit -my- vision for  Nuclear
Blast  is  another  matter.  Mundanus  Imperium  can  be  quite  well
described by the label "symphonic metal". Overall, the  guitars  tend
to mutter in the background with only occasional  full  power-chords,
the majority of the guitar  work  being  palm  muted.  Keyboards  (or
guitar synths) are Mundanus Imperium's preferred form of  expression.
As simple power-chord riffs tick over in the background, complex  and
flowing piano sections, organ atmospherics and various other wind and
string instruments comprise the  lines  of  melody  which  carry  the
songs. The drums  vary  between  AC/DC  simplicity  and  double  bass
passages with some interesting fills. Though what I  have  just  gone
over does not comprise anything I wet myself over,  it  makes  for  a
pretty decent mix. The bad aspect of this release, at least  for  me,
is the vocals. Though the vocalist is not "bad" -- he's  not  out  of
tune or lacking power --, his style is infuriating, to say the least.
It reminds me somewhat of the sound of the new Iced Earth album,  but
with more "yeahaeaaaahahh"s and note shifting than I can  take  in  a
single sitting. As I say, it is better than it looks, but  the  space
theme on which it works seems pretty lame: for  futuristic  rock  you
still can't do much better than Rush's _2112_. I think as  futuristic
metal goes, Nuclear Blast would've been better off signing  Nocturnus
when they were still around; but  gripes  aside,  this  is  a  decent
record.


My Dying Bride - _34.788%... Complete_  (Peaceville, October 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)

When I reviewed _Like Gods of the Sun_ over a year and a half ago,  I
gave it a 10 too quickly -- its metallic reinforcements (relative  to
_The Angel and the Dark River_) made me overlook a  few  faults  that
the album does have. But although _LGotS_ was  somewhat  inferior  to
its predecessors (certain tracks much more than  others),  it  didn't
necessarily mean that MDB wouldn't be able to reach  the  quality  of
their older releases again. After the departures of drummer Rick Myah
and especially keyboard/violin player Martin Powell (now linked  with
Anathema), it seemed less likely, but  still  possible.  However,  it
turns out that this new release is, in my opinion, inferior to  every
album MDB have done before. Almost everything  in  _34.788%_  (title,
artwork and most of the lyrics and music) shows very clearly  that  a
new  direction  has  been,  consciously  or  not,  chosen.   Sadness,
melancholy or dark romanticism can scarcely be found in  their  music
now, which should mean a lot to most fans. Not to say that the  album
is  -happy-,  though,  it  just  tends  to  sound  very  neutral  and
emotionless. This is what is worse about the album --  this  loss  of
the deeply emotional band MDB used to be. The music  could  at  least
have been  remarkable  enough  for  the  album  to  still  be  really
enjoyable; however, for the most part it's just above  average  metal
(hence  the  7  out  of  10  rating),  although   frequently   rather
repetitive. "The Stance of Evander Sinque" stands  out  as  the  best
track and "Der Uberlebende" as the doomiest (but nothing  special  by
MDB standards), but the album practically ends here, at track  three,
with the exception of a few more passages later on. The rest is  made
of three relatively unremarkable tracks and "Heroin Chic", which is a
song that will make many MDB fans feel very sad -- not  because  it's
especially doomy, but because it contradicts so much of what MDB used
to be all about. The new drummer performs  well  enough  but  doesn't
stand out, while the synths are a mediocre replacement  for  Martin's
violin and keyboard. As a result of all this, for me, My Dying  Bride
are no longer the special band they once were, even though this album
is of reasonable musical  quality.  People  keep  saying  bands  must
change with time, regardless of the quality of their past work. Well,
sure. Go ahead. Sometimes it works --  Anathema,  for  example,  have
changed a lot and still managed to put out four excellent full length
albums (regardless of which one is the best),  and  I  could  mention
many other bands here. For example, Katatonia's  _Discouraged  Ones_,
different as it is from the band's past efforts,  contains  not  only
musical  quality  but  also  the  sadness  that  is  fundamental   in
Katatonia, even if in a different form -- just like what happens with
Anathema. That just doesn't happen with _34.788%_. My  Dying  Bride's
classic albums, however, shall always remain as such for some  of  us
while we await better days for MDB.


Naglfar - _Diabolical_  (War, July 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8.5 out of 10)

Damn, this stuff is intense. I decided to give  their  Tagtgren/Abyss
produced  debut  _Vittra_  a  cursory   listen   in   the   wake   of
_Diabolical_'s release and found it to be  a  good  debut,  though  a
little derivative and uninspired. Three years on  from  that  and  we
have _Diabolical_ -- solid proof that touring and  just  being  in  a
band for a time should make people better musicians, more effectively
able to comunicate their message  to  the  masses.  Though  it  bears
similarities to Dissection's inimitable style, _Diabolical_ makes  up
for what it lacks in any real originality in  the  incredible  energy
which seems to literally course through  its  sonic  veins,  touching
every drum break, beat, guitar riff, lick or vocal line with its life
invigorating qualities. The kind of power this inspires in me reminds
me of Children  of  Bodom's  recent  masterful  debut,  and  although
Naglfar are certainly on a more "evil" musical path than Children  of
Bodom, the two can bear a lot of comparison. They both have a  talent
for combining keyboards into their intense sound well,  for  example.
Naglfar cannot match their deceased overlords yet, but they have time
on their side -- they're still young, and they already beat a lot  of
the remaining competition  (see  Raise  Hell),  although  as  I  have
already pointed out, Dawn are the only band who can at  present  even
reasonably sit on Dissection's vacated throne.


Nasum - _Inhale/Exhale_  (Relapse, July 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8.5 out of 10)

This really is one of the very few grind albums, especially recently,
which manages to conform to two criteria which so often seem mutually
exclusive: a) more than half as many tracks as minutes; b)  excellent
music. Nasum are treading the straight-to-the-point  path  of  Napalm
Death, Carcass and others of their pioneering ilk trod ten years ago.
BUT, and that is a big "but" in more than just the size of the  type,
Nasum are not a band living in the past. Nasum stand out with respect
to both the sound they have captured and the  quality  of  the  music
they produce. One asset:  their  production.  _Inhale/Exhale_  has  a
refreshing death metal edge to it, and this edge is somewhat  Swedish
in  its  deathliness  (unsurprising,  considering  Nasum  come   from
Sweden), but also possesses that essential hint of rawness which  all
great  grind/crust  needs  --  can  you  imagine  a  "clean"   _World
Downfall_? Nasum's basic frame is the  simple,  mostly  three  chord,
guitar and bass progressions,  and  virtually  unrelenting  drumming,
which is the essence of grindcore. BUT what they have a firm grasp on
is the manipulation of other drum beats than the blast snare and more
guitar chords than the Sex Pistols  could  remember.  This  is  still
pretty stripped down, it's still the virtual antithesis of Steve  Vai
or Yngwie Malmsteen (and the vocals are still harsh enough  to  strip
the enamel from your teeth), but it isn't boring,  which  is  exactly
what so much grindcore ends up being. Many  of  these  songs  nail  a
catchy  groove  ("The  Masked  Face",  "I  See  Lies"),  not  in  the
manipulative mosh-core fashion of  Machine  Head  or  Biohazard,  but
simply by putting together rhythms and vocals which  I  catch  myself
repeating periodically at  various  intervals.  The  other  technique
which turns up (most notably in "Shaping the End") is the addition of
a  varying  melodic  guitar  line  behind  the  intense,  unrelenting
grind-punk sounds, which gives the album a further angle  of  attack.
_Inhale/Exhale_ is excellent, unrelenting and interesting  grindcore,
an uncommon blend from an uncommonly good band.


Night in Gales - _Thunderbeast_  (Nuclear Blast, September 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7.5 out of 10)

I was really expecting more from Night in Gales with this record. The
band's previous effort,  _Towards  the  Twilight_  (their  debut  for
Nuclear Blast), was a solid record that showcased a true melodic side
to metal music, harnessing old  school  styles  (Helloween)  and  the
elaborate and technical side of death metal (In Flames, Katatonia) in
one package. The new record seems  a  bit  rawer  and  grittier.  The
band's use of melodic overtones has since been lessened and now seems
to be a slight reminder of their past work. While I am  strongly  for
bands exploring new routes within their musical agenda,  I  do  stand
firm on bands shifting their sound a good  deal.  They  alienate  the
listener and that's what has happened here for the most part,  though
some of the guitar work here  is  totally  mind  bending.  Check  out
numbers like  "Perihelion",  "Thunderbeast"  and  opener  "Intruder".
Crushing riffs touted on by gruff vocals make for some dynamic sparks
throughout the record. A mixed review for  a  band  that  really  has
potential. I'm still a fan, but just  wish  their  roots  had  stayed
firmly planted. Good record, though.


Nothingface - _A Guide to Everyday Atrocity_  (DCide, 1998)
by: Jody Webb  (9 out of 10)

Nothing juices me more than hearing some major  ass  kicking  from  a
bunch  of  unknowns.  Nothingface's  latest  disc  is  no  exception.
Although _A Guide to Everyday Atrocity_ is the band's second offering
and follow up to 1996's _Pacifier_, I see  no  reason  why  the  band
should not pretend _Pacifier_ doesn't exist.  Neither  does  vocalist
Matt Holt, whom I interviewed. "I never felt  _Pacifier_  represented
us well and we all hated playing it live," says Matt; "we  love  this
new record." And rightfully so, I say. The guitar,  drums,  and  bass
congeal into a massive weight that steamrolls the listener and  often
grazes the fringe between rock and metal. The  harmonies  present  in
the choruses bring to mind Soundgarden in their  _Bad  Motor  Finger_
era, while the chugging and grooving verses and breakdowns afford  an
analogy closer to  Kilgore  or  Stompbox.  Matt  likes  to  alternate
between singing and shouting, which may  throw  the  listener  for  a
loop, because on some cuts he shouts the entire song while on  others
he does nothing but sing. Holt explains: "I don't have a formula  for
when to do what, like, to sing during a chorus  or  scream  when  the
guitar is angry. I  follow  my  instinct  and  do  what  comes."  The
production is close to ideal, and at the slight cost of dipping a bit
into bass heaviness, you can usually hear exactly what  bassist  Bill
Gaal is  doing,  which  is  often  using  his  four  string  to  good
harmonizing effect rather than simply doubling the guitar  parts.  My
only qualm here is that the cuts start to sound a bit the  same,  but
with the consistent high quality, it  turns  into  one  long  awesome
song, sort of like Slayer's _Seasons in the Abyss_, which  on  CD  is
all run together. On a final note, the most relevant factoid  is:  _A
Guide to Everyday Atrocity_ has greater  time  of  possession  on  my
discman than either the new Death or Sepultura platters.


Odhinn - _From a Splendorous Battle_  (Napalm Records, August 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (6 out of 10)

The fact that Odhinn was formed by two former members  of  In  Battle
seemed enough to make this MCD potentially interesting. The first two
tracks, indeed, can be described as "In Battle meets Deicide". Mostly
fast, harsh, aggressive, and, although somewhat far from the level of
In Battle, still good stuff -- especially the second track. The other
two tracks, however, are very different. Although  musically  they're
not much worse, they suffer  from  a  terrible  production:  muffled,
weak, capable of nearly ruining the music (which isn't bad), at least
for me. Plus, it happens that I  started  listening  to  In  Battle's
excellent self-titled debut at the same  time,  and  its  superiority
really didn't help me to enjoy this  MCD.  Nevertheless,  considering
the first two  tracks,  a  properly  produced  full-length  could  be
interesting.


Queens of the Stone Age - _Queens of the Stone Age_
by: Jody Webb  (7 out of 10)  (Loosegroove, 1998)

Attention all Kyuss fans -- the crew is back in  action.  Well,  sort
of. Josh Homme from Kyuss has regrouped and released this self-titled
effort, a collection of fuzzy guitar work that may just satisfy  that
Kyuss jonesing. Be warned that Queens is a bit  more  song  oriented,
structured, and not replete with jamming. There's also this  hispanic
thing going on in the liners and song titles that I can't figure out,
which I'm pretty sure wasn't part  of  Kyuss.  Regardless,  for  some
solid rockin', give a listen to "Regular John", "If Only",  and  "How
to Handle a Rope". Or for a more trippy experience, spin  "You  Would
Know" or "You Can't Quit Me Baby".


Radakka - _Requiem for the Innocent_  (Century Media, September 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

It becomes quite apparent with one or two listens that Radakka are  a
very exploring and innovative band. Not really  going  for  a  trendy
sound at all, the music of Radakka holds its  own  weight  with  some
impressive guitar work and  powerfully  triumphant  progressive  ways
that could gain interest from the Queensryche  and/or  Fates  Warning
fanatics out there. With a bit more blunt character  and  sound  like
Iced Earth, Radakka are quite capable of turning up  the  momentum  a
notch or two when needed be. But there are  some  drawbacks  to  what
Radakka do, primarily as far as variety is concerned.  As  innovative
as it may be at times, the album is  overshadowed  by  several  bland
moments, bringing the positive vibe to a stand still  at  times.  But
it's a minor flaw. Killer vocals by singer Jon Dobbs  (especially  in
"Still a Stranger" and "Whore") makes this album great when it has to
be.


Raise Hell - _Holy Target_  (Nuclear Blast, September 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out of 10)

I imagine I am not the first, and I am sure I won't be the  last,  to
say  that  if  Raise  Hell  sound  like  anyone,  especially   anyone
significant, they sound like Dissection. I am  surely  also  not  the
only person to have expected them to sound like another  Dis...  band
from  seeing  their  promo  photos.  Still,  when  a  band   are   as
influential, and as good, as Dissection, one expects a  great  number
of bands to mimic them on a number of different levels.  Some  do  it
poorly and others do it rather well; Raise Hell fall into the  latter
category. Yes, admittedly,  most  of  what  makes  _Holy  Target_  so
appealing lies in the similarities it bears to _Storm of the  Light's
Bane_, but Raise Hell still salvage nearly all their dignity  through
good playing and the penning of a  very  consistent  and  melodically
complex album.  The  production  further  helps  in  bestowing  _Holy
Target_ with a sound as viciously spiked  and  bullet-ridden  as  the
band's wrist and waist adornments, respectively. Overall, Raise  Hell
are lucky that Dissection are no more. They aren't on  top  of  their
pile -- that position belongs to Dawn --,  but  they  are  also  very
safely away from scraping the bottom of the barrel  and,  along  with
others such as Taetre, could be elevated further in the future.


Resurrecturis - _Nocturnal_  (Diamond Records, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (5 out of 10)

"From brutal death to atmospheric dark", they say. I was  curious  to
hear how they would manage to  do  that,  since  the  combination  is
potentially very interesting. The result, however, is  that  this  CD
often sounds more like a compilation of different bands,  except  for
the obviously  constant  production  characteristics  from  track  to
track. But when you go from normal death  metal  to  groovier  death,
faster, relatively brutal death, thrash/power vocals,  clean  singing
and softer  parts  (once  even  keyboard/strings  only)  with  female
vocals, it's not easy to  avoid  that  compilation  syndrome  I  just
mentioned. Ressurrecturis fall  right  into  that  trap.  The  female
voices, for example, are acceptable, but  sound  so  totally  out  of
place in the album that just don't contribute for the  final  result.
The variations I mentioned to the death vox are inconsequent as well,
and, at times, even annoying -- way too much thrash/power vocals  and
very poor attempts at clean singing. These Italians still made a  few
better sequences that save the album from a  lower  rating,  but  the
music never rises above average quality and  the  production  doesn't
help much. There's just too much in this album  that  sounds  out  of
place and the music is never good enough  to  overcome  that  problem
(mediocre  songs  like   "Dark   Moods"   definitely   don't   help).
Ressurrecturis seriously need to get an identity of their own.

Contact: Diamond Rec., Postbus 2166, 1620 Ed Hoorn, The Netherlands


Sad Legend - _Sad Legend_  (Hammerheart, September 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (7.5 out of 10)

Hammerheart are always digging up various musical graveyards to bring
us some truly underground stuff, and they've done it again with  this
Korean black metal band. Though not  a  phenomenal  band,  either  in
their originality or skill, Sad Legend are talented at  both  writing
chunky, melodic black metal  tunes  and  interweaving  their  "Korean
Traditional Music" into these black metal tunes. In fact, nearly  all
of this album was played by one member, Naamah, but it strangely does
not suffer from the concentration-on-one-instrument syndrome which so
many albums conceived in these conditions have. All instruments amply
play their respective roles in bestowing _Sad Legend_ with a somewhat
individual character  and  certainly  make  it  a  pleasant,  if  not
entirely invigorating, 40 minutes. The band's  production  is  great,
unflawed by the tendency bands have to go for "that raw sound" (or to
just not have the money to afford more than a tape player  to  record
their stuff on). Overall, a  very  promising  debut  coming  from  an
unusual source.


Savior Servant - _Savior Servant_  (Dominion Records, 1997)
by: Aaron McKay  (8.5 out of 10)

Subtract a point or two from the score if your entire  CD  collection
consists of nothing but Broken Hope, Napalm Death and Massacre,  with
only Dimmu Borgir's _Stormblast_ for mood inducing  delectability.  I
feel the need to quote Sacred Reich here by way of "31 Flavors", from
1990's _The American Way_ release, when Phil Rind articulates: "There
is so much for you to choose; don't just be a metal dude;  it's  cool
(fool)." Very much like labelmates Mercury Rising [CoC  #34],  Savior
Servant provides a magnificent lion's share of straightforward  power
metal. I will say  this,  melodic  passages  run  wild  through  this
release. Often, throughout  the  song,  overwhelmingly  thick  guitar
passages are harshly paused, in lieu of which are  used  much  softer
acoustic harmonies. Leonardo Cancela's vocals remind me of  a  hybrid
blend of Brian Troch from Cyclone Temple's _I Hate  Therefore  I  Am_
period and the late Ray Gillen of  Badlands.  Impressive  vocal  work
indeed, second only to the successful  accompaniment  of  fellow  New
York bandmates Rob DeForge (guitar),  Eric  Weingartner  (bass),  and
Chip Rainone (drums). Now and again, I am reminded by  this  release,
at certain points, of Forced Entry's _Uncertain Future_. I will grant
you Savior Servant are dramatically less heavy than Forced Entry, but
still the argument can be  made  for  the  comparison.  A  very  nice
feather in SS's cap too, I might think. I must, at this point, convey
that the production on this disc is  unbelievable.  But  what  did  I
expect from a guy that produced  both  Screaming  Blue  Messiahs  and
Stewart Copland? Ernie Wilkens' efforts at Sea  Front  Recording  for
this release deserve at least a mention, if not an ovation, depending
on your open-mindedness. Take  this  to  heart,  you  could  be  that
-enormous- individual that stood in front of me at the Black  Sabbath
/ Motorhead / Morbid Angel  show  on  the  University  of  Maryland's
campus for all I care, but if you, as  a  sincere  metal  worshipper,
have -ever- said to yourself, "Damn,  that  (pick  one:  Queensryche,
Iced Earth) song ain't half bad,"  then  maybe  a  listen  to  Savior
Servant might be something that you won't hate.  SS  are  a  powerful
quartet and certainly worthy of 38 minutes and  17  seconds  of  your
time, at least once.


Suppression w/ Facialmess - _Collaboration_
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (7.5 out of 10)  (Clean Plate Records, 1998)

While this at first appears to be a collaboration EP, the liner notes
don't really dictate exactly who did what on which tracks. Because of
this, I am taking my best guess at who is controlling the noise based
on each artist's previous work. The opening track on this EP's  first
side is an obvious Facialmess recording, featuring one gigantic  shot
of pure sound energy that raises, collapses, and rebuilds itself back
up in a continuous spastic motion. Like with most  fast  paced  harsh
noise, it becomes impossible after a few seconds  to  get  any  exact
mental grasp on the sounds, as they  are  ever  changing  and  choose
never to  manifest  themselves  again  in  proper  order  during  the
recording. The second side is  much  more  choppy,  with  Suppression
trying their hand at noise with  "The  Average  Citizen  Is  a  Cheap
Tart". While Suppression's noise  style  mixes  in  well  with  their
grindcore, it is very poor on a stand alone basis.  The  mix  of  the
track is very uneven and seems to resemble more  of  just  a  lot  of
guitar sounds with a mixture of screams. Facialmess manages  to  fire
back, however, with another  excellent  piece  of  noise,  this  time
letting the feedback control the track while dropping a load of other
electronic crashes and sputters into the mix. The track has a  slight
Masonna feel to it, with all of the feedback and  rumbling  mixtures,
though not nearly as chaotic. The bottom line on this release is that
it's geared more for a  Facialmess  fan  more  than  anything.  While
Suppression is an excellent grindcore band, their  abilities  in  the
noise area are lacking. This is still well worth getting for both  of
the excellent Facialmess pieces, however.

Contact: Clean Plate Records, PO Box 709, Hampshire College
         Amherst, MA  01002, USA


Thy Serpent - _Christcrusher_  (Nuclear Blast, July 1998)
by: David Rocher  (10 out of 10)

Three dark spirits once again  leave  the  pinewoods  of  Finland  to
unleash an occult, antichristian assault unto us... Very  similar  in
style  to  their  previous   masterpiece   _Forests   of   Witchery_,
_Christcrusher_ embodies  a  deceptively  slow,  intense  requiem  of
vehement antichristian hatred. Mystical, occult lyrics  combine  with
enchanting  funeral  hymns  to  create  a  very  doom-like  style  of
sorrowful black metal, fuelled by an underlying rage that  is  nearly
tangible. The only  exception  to  the  melancholic,  sometimes  even
ethereal, yet uncontrived expression of rage burnt onto  this  CD  is
the searing, no-holds-barred title track "Christcrusher", that  would
without doubt earn its stars on Immortal's _Battles in the North_, so
strikingly similar to the  Norwegian  trios'  style  are  the  tight,
crushing riffing and vociferating, rabid vocals. To some extent, this
track embodies the lethal black thorn in a bunch of  poison  flowers,
whose  suddenly  unrestrained  violence  heaves  forth   the   tense,
threateningly  calm  atmospheres  of  the  other  serenades  on  this
absolute masterpiece. To cut it short, _Christcrusher_ is  definitely
one of the finest, most emotional releases of the year 1998 E.V.,  as
was _Forests of Witchery_ two years back -- buy or cry.


Training for Utopia / Zao - <Split EP>  (Solidstate, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell  (8 out of 10)

With both of these bands releasing  incredible  albums  earlier  this
year, this EP is very cool indeed, as it features two new songs  from
each band. The common factor that  links  these  two  bands,  besides
their friendship and mutual respect, is the fact that they  are  both
pushing the limitations of the "hardcore" moniker way past what would
be considered "hardcore". Training for Utopia's intent  seems  to  be
putting complete musical holocaust to tape, and  presenting  them  as
"songs". The two new "songs" on this EP  do  have  something  like  a
form, which is a change from the aural barrage heard on _Plastic Soul
Impalement_, but still have the required measure of chaos needed  for
a TfU composition. Zao keeps making strides toward death  metal,  and
their two additions to this EP stand out from the material  on  their
previous release _When Blood and Fire  Bring  Rest_,  in  which  they
grind a bit harder, but at the same time are not quite as drastically
aggressive. The handclaps add an interesting touch, too. A very  cool
collaboration of two groundbreaking up and coming bands.

Contact: Solid State / Tooth and Nail Records, PO Box 12698
         Seattle, WA, 98111-4698, USA
         mailto:webmaster@solidstaterecords.com


Twin Obscenity - _For Blood, Honour and Soil_
by: Paul Schwarz  (6 out of 10)  (Century Media, October, 1998)

There is a central difficulty I have with this release. It lies,  and
many of you may find  this  a  strange  statement,  in  the  record's
similarity to early Burzum. I am not  a  big  fan  of  _Burzum_  and,
although, it is better than this second  Twin  Obscenity  album,  the
aspects I don't like about it are almost identical to the  aspects  I
don't like about _For Blood, Honour and Soil_. The penchant which the
makers of both releases have for repeating riffs is  not  a  style  I
find either release carries off too well. On _Hvis  Lyset  Tar  Oss_,
Vikerness used these very same elements to create an album which,  of
its kind, is virtually unparalleled in  quality,  but,  as  this  and
other releases illustrate, achieving this is not easy. Twin Obscenity
don't  opt  for  the  super-raw  sound  of  _Burzum_,  or  Vikerness'
unmistakable vocals, but they do add a few nice instrumental  touches
and toy successfully with female vocals. The production has pattering
double-bass "hell hammers" (old Arcturus), Hellhammer's big,  echoing
Mayhem  tomms,  clattering  snares  and  a  melodic   tinged   guitar
distortion and playing style. When you put the 90%  raspy  vocals  on
top, it just isn't anything special, just  average.  I  think  albums
toying with a style  which  relies  so  much  on  a  perfect  mix  of
conditions, both musical and extraneous, need  far  more  spontaneity
than is in evidence on _For Blood, Honour and Soil_ which, continuing
the Burzum comparisons, is a title containing themes the  Nazis,  and
especially SS, toyed with. Whatever the band's stance, I am sure that
if they piss on an altar or rough up a priest, Michael Moynihan  will
put them in his next book and make them all some money.


Vanilla Ice  - _Hard to Swallow_  (Republic, October 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (5 out of 10)

Vanilla Ice is back. You might wonder what a rapper is doing  in  the
pages of CoC. Well, his new album is very different from his previous
efforts. And you know what's really hard to swallow about this album?
It isn't terrible. On the surface, this album comes across as a  more
rap-influenced version of Korn. The Korn-isms are rampant,  from  the
low-tuned guitars to the rip-off riffs and the  use  of  acronyms  in
song titles;  he  even  screams  "Korn"  in  one  song.  Upon  deeper
inspection, you realize that this  album  actually  features  a  good
variety of styles. Although he shows his  influences  quite  clearly,
there is enough original material for him to avoid being labeled as a
complete rip-off. He uses some reggae in one song, as  well  as  some
pseudo-industrial and some gloomy "introspective" parts.  His  vocals
span the range of shouts, screams, spoken parts and, of course, raps.
His raps are as bad as you remember them: so bad that they're  pretty
funny at times. Of course,  in  keeping  with  the  self-aggrandizing
hyper-machismo of rap, he usually raps about how cool he is  and  how
many records he sold. He also includes  the  soon-to-be-classic  line
"ICE ICE BABY! ICE ICE  BE-AHHHHHHHHHHHH-CH!"  Fans  of  Korn,  Stuck
Mojo, and other  rap-influenced  metal/hardcore  bands  should  enjoy
this, provided they can put aside their preconceived notions  and  do
as Mr. Ice says: "sit back and just listen to the music."


Zimmer's Hole - _Bound by Fire_  (Hevy Devy Records, September 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9.5 out of 10)

Where the fuck are all these great Canadian bands coming  from?  Holy
fuck! Jesus Christ, this is heavy shit. I almost shit my  pants  when
the opening number began. Like a mix between Brutal Truth,  Strapping
Young Lad and Ministry, Zimmer's Hole really lay the  sicko  shit  on
real heavy. This is stuff the PMRC warned us metal buying kids about.
Offensive sounds and lyrics are abundant here, not  to  mention  that
absurd and extremely grotesque manner of the band's  presentation  of
material on the disc. (Don't ask. You'll have to  hear  it!)  Anyway,
I'm feeling a little sick and violated at this point  in  time  while
cranking Zimmer's Hole and writing this  review.  Is  this  good?  Of
course it is, if you are into something  waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay  out  of
the ordinary. Let the ringleaders of madness within Zimmer's Hole  --
El Smooche, Bangsley Star Nipples, Sickie Moochmaster and Dr. Heathen
Hooch -- take you on  a  little  trip  into  their  perverted  world.
Zimmer's Hole are about as fucked up as you  can  be  on  record  and
still pull it off. A wacked-out and extremely  enjoyable  record  for
the masses to give in to.

Contact: Legion of Flames, 1856 Pandora St.
         Vancouver, B.C., V5L-1M5, Canada

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      E N C H A N T I N G   D R A C O N I A N   M E L O D I E S
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                   Moonspell, Therion and Darkside
                   at the Hard Club, Gaia, Portugal
                          October 25, 1998
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

     Before I start describing what happened in this concert, I  must
question the decision of giving such a superior  band  as  Therion  a
support role. This could have been a double-headlining concert,  with
Moonspell still closing the show, but without them playing for almost
twice as long  as  Therion  --  this  is  most  infuriating  because,
regardless of musical preferences, it will definitely  be  much  less
likely that Therion will ever return to  Porto  than  Moonspell,  who
have obviously also played here before. Maybe Moonspell -had-  to  be
headliners, from a commercial point of view, but their on-stage  time
and Therion's should have been much closer (to say the  very  least),
even if the majority of the audience may have been there  mostly  for
Moonspell -- which is far from unquestionable, too.  Anyway,  Therion
should have definitely been given time to play longer songs  such  as
"The Siren of the Woods", "Clavicula Nox" and "Draconian Trilogy"  if
they wanted to.
     Many of these thoughts were already in my mind as a premonition,
while I traversed the lugubre  surroundings  of  the  Hard  Club  and
admired the enchanting nighttime view of Porto across the  river.  At
9pm sharp, Darkside entered the stage and faced an expectably  packed
house. The sound was as great as usual in the Hard Club, and Darkside
took advantage of that fact to promote their new album. This band was
previously unknown to me, and they turned out to be able to deliver a
very acceptable 25 minute long opening for the concert. Playing  some
competent mid-paced death metal with decent use  of  keyboards,  they
improved after an average first couple of songs; the  next  two  were
slower and doomier and the finishing song was quite good live, too.
     The first draconian melody, the intro to "The Rise of Sodom  and
Gomorrah", announced Therion's arrival. What really surprised me  was
the massive crowd reaction to everything Therion did: almost everyone
seemed to be carried away by Therion's music, as the  crowd  movement
throughout and the cheering before and  after  each  and  every  song
proved. Lead by Christofer Johnsson, Therion delivered an outstanding
performance. Having brought three female vocalists  and  putting  the
recorded orchestral parts to very good  use,  their  live  sound  was
excellent -- far from  disappointing  and  furthermore  helped  by  a
strong drum sound. Sarah Jezebel Diva (I assume it was her),  Martina
Hornbacher (from Dreams of Sanity) and a third female singer  unknown
to me (who might have been the other Dreams of Sanity  vocalist,  but
I'm guessing) performed excellently, with confidence and  quality  as
the two main adjectives. Therion opened with "The Rise of  Sodom  and
Gomorrah", followed by the acclaimed "To  Mega  Therion",  "Birth  of
Venus Illegitima", "Wine of Aluqah", "Cults of the Shadow",  "In  the
Desert of Set", "Invocation of Naamah", "Black Sun" and  finally  the
well-chosen "Riders of Theli" as  an  immensely  demanded  encore.  A
setlist practically without a weak link and an absolutely  delightful
and truly uplifting performance. What a shame it was only 50  minutes
long.
     Moonspell started their  90  minutes  long  show  with  vocalist
Fernando Ribeiro wearing some sort of religious cloak during "Let the
Children Cum to Me...". After getting rid of the outfit, Ribeiro  led
Moonspell into songs like "Opium",  "Of  Dream  and  Drama  (Midnight
Ride)", "Second Skin" and so on  throughout  the  expectable  choices
from _Irreligious_  and  _Sin_.  Things  got  much  more  interesting
towards the end, with "Vampiria", "Mephisto", and "Alma Mater" as the
finishing song; it was interesting  to  notice  that  "Vampiria"  and
"Alma Mater" were the two songs the  audience  seemed  to  cheer  the
most. Nevertheless, the crowd sang along and generally  reacted  very
well during the whole show. Fernando  Ribeiro  suggested  that  "Alma
Mater" should become the new Portuguese national  anthem,  saying  he
believed most of the audience identifies much more  with  their  song
than with the current anthem, and the  vast  majority  of  the  crowd
seemed to entirely agree. Too bad that "Alma Mater" turns into a much
weaker keyboard-based song live; is the guitar part really that  hard
to play live? Anyway, Moonspell came back for "Awaken" and "Full Moon
Madness" as encore and "Raven Claws" as a second  encore.  Thanks  to
the  sound  quality,  the  very  reasonable   track   choices   (more
_Wolfheart_  would  have  been  great,  but...)  and  the   increased
aggression injected into the rather bland and  average  _Sin_  songs,
Moonspell played a very decent show. Still, I would have  traded  all
of Darkside and Moonspell for some more Therion; I  would  even  have
settled for trading 20 minutes of Moonspell (especially _Sin_  songs)
for 20 more minutes of Therion -- this would leave the two bands with
an hour and 10 minutes  each,  with  Moonspell  still  finishing  the
concert  as  "headliners".  This  would  have  been  a  much   fairer
compromise between concert quality and presumed band  status,  in  my
opinion, but enough of that.
     Finally, it goes without saying that it was a heartbreaking loss
for me that Anathema couldn't play in this  concert  like  they  were
supposed to. The official reason was the departure of bassist  Duncan
Patterson. If only that departure had been  postponed  for  a  couple
more months...

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

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

Gino's Top 5

1. Various - _Gummo: Soundtrack_
2. Marilyn Manson - _Mechanical Animals_
3. Absu - _In The Eyes of Ioldanach_
4. Brujeria - _Matando Gueros_
5. Rob Zombie - _Hellbilly Deluxe_

Adrian's Top 5

1. Zimmer's Hole - _Bound by Fire_
2. Queen of the Stone Age - _Queens of the Stone Age_
3. Deranged - _High on Blood_
4. Punisher - _Disillusioned_
5. Nashville Pussy - _Let Them Eat Pussy_

Brian's Top 5

1. Opeth - _My Arms, Your Hearse_
2. Enthroned - _Gothic Disturbance_
3. Dawnbringer - _Unbleed_
4. Aurora Borealis - _Praise the Archaic Lights Embrace_
5. God - _From the Moldavian Ecclesiastic Throne_

Alain's Top 5

1. Dying Fetus - _Killing on Adrenaline_
2. Bolt Thrower - _Mercenary_
3. Dark Funeral - _Vobiscum Satanas_
4. Cryptopsy - _Whisper Supremacy_
5. Black Sabbath - _Reunion_

Adam's Top 5

1. Fear Factory - _Obsolete_
2. Brutal Truth - _Need to Control_
3. Cryptopsy - _Vile_
4. Gorgoroth - _Destroyer (About How to Philosophize with a Hammer)_
5. Gore Beyond Necropsy - _Noise-A-Go Go!!!_

Pedro's Top 5

1. In Battle - _In Battle_
2. A Canorous Quintet - _Silence of the World Beyond_
3. Incantation - _Diabolical Conquest_
4. Legenda - _Eclipse_
5. At the Gates - _With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness_

Paul's Top 5

1. Cryptopsy - _Whisper Supremacy_
2. Malevolent Creation - _The Ten Commandments_
3. System of a Down - _System of a Down_
4. Obliveon - _Cybervoid_
5. The Grateful Dead - _The Grateful Dead_

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

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

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

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #35

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

