  _______ __                     __      __                      ___ 
 |   _   |  |--.----.-----.-----|__.----|  .-----.-----. .-----.'  _|
 |.  1___|     |   _|  _  |     |  |  __|  |  -__|__ --| |  _  |   _|
 |.  |___|__|__|__| |_____|__|__|__|____|__|_____|_____| |_____|__|  
 |:  1   |                                                          
 |::.. . |                                                          
 `-------'                                                          
                   _______ __                      
                  |   _   |  |--.---.-.-----.-----.
                  |.  1___|     |  _  |  _  |__ --|
                  |.  |___|__|__|___._|_____|_____|
                  |:  1   |                        
                  |::.. . |                        
                  `-------'                        


        CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, August 4, 2004, Issue #76
                  http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com

                       Ninth Anniversary Issue
                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Co-Editor / Founder: Gino Filicetti
Co-Editor / Contributor: Pedro Azevedo
Contributor: Brian Meloon
Contributor: Paul Schwarz
Contributor: Aaron McKay
Contributor: David Rocher
Contributor: Matthias Noll
Contributor: Alvin Wee
Contributor: Chris Flaaten
Contributor: Quentin Kalis
Contributor: Xander Hoose
Contributor: Adam Lineker
Contributor: James Montague
Contributor: Jackie Smit
Neophyte: James Slone
Neophyte: Todd DePalma

The   individual   writers   can   be   reached    by    e-mail    at 
firstname.lastname@ChroniclesOfChaos.com.                            
     (e.g. Gino.Filicetti@ChroniclesOfChaos.com).

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

Issue #76 Contents, 8/4/2004
----------------------------
* Editorial
* Chats
-- Bathory: KICKING*ASS in '85 - Quorthon RIP
-- Destruction: A Fully Loaded Discharge of Metal
-- Meshuggah: From Nothing to Number "I"
-- Serpens Aeon: The Dawn of a New Aeon
-- Fall of the Leafe: Autumn's First Triumph
-- Descent: Into the Pit of Pain!
* Albums
-- Ad Hominem - _...For a New World_
-- AmmiT - _Mass Suicide / Steel Inferno_
-- Aphotic - _Stillness Grows_
-- Bazzah - _Kingdom of the Dead_
-- Deathspell Omega - _Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice_
-- Exciter - _New Testament_
-- Filii Nigrantium Infernalium - _A Queda / A Era do Abutre_
-- Forest of Impaled - _Forward the Spears_
-- Goretrade - _Ritual of Flesh_
-- In Grey - _Sulphur Tears_
-- Infinited Hate - _Revel in Bloodshed_
-- Killaman - _Killaman_
-- Krieg - _The Black House_
-- Leviathan - _Tentacles of Whorror_
-- Martyr - _A Malicious Odyssey_
-- MD.45 - _The Craving (remastered)_
-- Megadeth - _The System Has Failed_
-- Napalm Death  - _Leaders Not Followers 2_
-- Nargaroth - _Raluska Part I_
-- Necrophagist - _Epitaph_
-- Officium Triste - _Reason_
-- Pest - _Daudafaerd_
-- Tankard - _Beast of Bourbon_
-- Today Is the Day - _Kiss the Pig_
-- Unleashed - _Sworn Allegiance_
-- Woods of Belial - _Deimos XIII_
* Demos
-- Chapter VIII - _Your Halo Is My Noose_
-- Empyrean Sky - _The Snow White Rose of Paradise_
-- Spiteful - _Upheaval_
-- The Green Evening Requiem - _The Green Evening Requiem_
* Gigs
-- Death Never Sounded This Good
-- Deicide? We Didn't Need No Stinkin' Deicide!

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                    __, __, _ ___  _, __, _  _, _, 
                    |_  | \ |  |  / \ |_) | /_\ |  
                    |   |_/ |  |  \ / | \ | | | | ,
                    ~~~ ~   ~  ~   ~  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~

          A N O T H E R   Y E A R   P A S S E S   U S   B Y
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
            Chronicles of Chaos heads into its tenth year
                         by: Gino Filicetti


As August 12th approaches this year, I'm sure there are many  of  you 
that will be shocked to learn Chronicles of Chaos  turns  nine  years 
old on that date.                                                     

For years, we worked for many many months to gather up an  incredible 
amount of material, so that we could  publish  it  on  our  birthday. 
Anniversary issues of yesteryear were incredible behemoths filled  to 
the brim with as many articles as we could muster.                    

Well, things changed in 2003 when we re-opened the doors on a new and 
improved CoC. No longer were we bound by the limitations  of  end-of- 
month deadlines. No longer would articles sit idly  by  whilst  their 
newsworthiness dwindled, waiting for the next  issue  of  CoC  to  be 
published. And thus,  with  that  transformation  the  notion  of  an 
"anniversary" super-mega-behemoth issue died.                         

Regardless of that fact, I wanted to write this editorial to tell all 
of our readers where Chronicles of Chaos is headed as we plunge  into 
our tenth year of existence.                                          

There have been some staff changes recently here at CoC. One  of  our 
newest writers, Adrian Magers, has left us to focus 100% of his  time 
on his new band and we wish him the best of luck in  all  his  future 
endeavors. Also leaving  our  ranks  are  two  of  our  oldest  staff 
members: Adrian  Bromley  and  Alain  Gaudrault  will  be  officially 
leaving the staff. As you well know, Adrian  was  the  co-founder  of 
Chronicles of Chaos and Alain joined forces with  us  on  our  second 
issue. You just don't get any older  than  these  old  timers.  Their 
contributions to CoC  made  this  magazine  what  it  is  today.  And 
although they may not be official staff members any longer, they will 
always be close friends to all of us.                                 

With this staff revitalization comes new blood, whom I  am  proud  to 
announce today: Todd DePalma hails from Long Island and comes  to  us 
seeking to expand his writing repetoire and  break  new  ground  with 
CoC, and James Slone is a name you may have heard in the past --  his 
work at previous magazines caught our eye and we are  delighted  that 
he's decided to bring his niche expertise to  bear  on  CoC  and  our 
readership. Please join me in welcoming our new additions; we hope to 
see many great things from them in the future.                        

Those with a keen eye among you will notice a  Bathory  interview  in 
our archive as of  July  16,  2004.  This  interview  is  actually  a 
re-print of a rare, early  interview  with  Quorthon  back  in  1985. 
Matthias thought it would be  a  fitting  tribute  to  Quorthon,  who 
passed away unexpectedly in early June. Enjoy the interview and  also 
Matthias' introduction, which gives a lot of insight into  the  world 
of early Black Metal at the time this  interview  was  published  and 
Bathory's role in it. Rest in peace, Quorthon.                        

In closing, I want to thank our readers, as I've done countless times 
in the past nine years. Without you and your  continued  interest  in 
Chronicles of Chaos, we would have bitten the dust aeons ago. Instead 
we've stuck  with  it  since  1995  when  the  Internet  was  in  its 
infancy, watched competitors come and go and watched the metal  scene 
completely transformed around  us  --  on  more  than  one  occasion. 
Through it all the only thing that allowed this magazine  to  survive 
and flourish for nine  years  is  its  indefatigable  staff  and  its 
sincere and loyal readership.                                         

Cheers to you all.

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

                          _, _,_  _, ___  _,
                         / ` |_| /_\  |  (_ 
                         \ , | | | |  |  , )
                          ~  ~ ~ ~ ~  ~   ~ 

  K I C K I N G * A S S   I N   ' 8 5   -   Q U O R T H O N   R I P
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     "I just want to wake up, whether it's in heaven or in hell
 or wherever, open a bottle of whiskey and know that I had a ball!"
                          by: Matthias Noll


As you all should know by now, Quorthon sadly passed away on the  7th 
of June 2004 , at the age of 39. To honor his work, CoC  has  decided 
to present the following interview to you -- and for the  first  time 
in the existence of CoC, this is not an original piece of  work,  but 
rather an interview that was originally published in one of the  best 
printed metal publications  that  ever  existed:  KICK*ASS  magazine. 
KICK*ASS disappeared almost two  decades  ago,  and  its  editor  Bob 
Muldowney has gone MIA as well -- at least as far as we at CoC  know. 
Anyone  who  senses  copyright  infringements  is  hereby  asked  and 
encouraged to stand up and be counted.                                

Besides the fact that this is one of the rare early  interviews  with 
Quorthon, I find this piece to be especially  interesting  due  to  a 
variety of reasons. This interview provides a look back to a point in 
time when metal history  was  actually  happening.  Several  passages 
(like for example the constant mentioning of the "death  metal  fad") 
could easily be taken from a 2004 interview, where the same  problems 
-- namely too many bands, too many crappy releases  --  still  exist. 
Replace black with death and it describes the situation  towards  the 
end of the second black metal wave or  the  second  demise  of  death 
metal during the mid-'90s. From today's perspective  it's  even  more 
peculiar, because the number of records that got released  back  then 
is small compared to what we see today.  Some  problems  have  always 
existed and will never go away.                                       

I also believe it might be interesting for some of our readers to see 
that in the mid-'80s, death and black metal  were  hardly  considered 
separate genres -- something that is  often  ignored  in  discussions 
about the early days of black metal and about how to categorize bands 
that range from Mercyful Fate to Hellhammer and Bathory.              

In addition, there's also the question of "who created black  metal", 
which is as much a topic for discussion these days as it was back  in 
1985 -- even among the CoC staff. Quorthon  has  always  denied  that 
Venom was his main influence; in this interview, he at  least  admits 
that he's heard and even loves _Black Metal_. What's also interesting 
is his claim to "have been the first maniac to know  about  Venom  in 
Sweden". If you take this last quote and remember  that  _Welcome  to 
Hell_ came out as early as 1981 and instantly made a  splash  in  the 
underground, and that _Black Metal_ got released in 1982,  it's  hard 
to believe -- at least for me,  who  saw  and  still  sees  the  same 
similarities as Muldowney -- that Quorthon did  not  get  exposed  to 
massive doses of Venom before the Bathory debut in  1984.  Of  course 
this is my interpretation of what may  have  happened,  and  what  it 
comes down to in the end is whether you believe  that  what  Quorthon 
has said over the years about this issue is true or not.              

Among many other things --  for  example,  the  absolutely  hilarious 
statements about "Wimphammer / Celtic  Compost"  (and  remember  this 
comes from a guy who together with Hellhammer, Frost and a few others 
is considered to have created the pillars of  black  metal)  --  it's 
interesting that Quorthon was not at all concerned about  his  image. 
The fact that he openly and honestly admits liking  Motley  Crue  and 
writing ballads and pop music (at a time when Metallica  got  accused 
of having sold out with _Ride the Lightning_, and people  like  Nasty 
Ronny from Nasty Savage filled KICK*ASS pages  explaining  what  they 
would do with the chopped-off  head  of  Vince  Neil)  is  absolutely 
stunning. In the realm of underground metal in the mid-'80s --  which 
was as much concerned about image and "trueness" (even  if  the  word 
had no meaning back then) as the black metal scene of today  --  this 
is the equivalent to Euronymous confessing his love for the music  of 
Michael Jackson during the recording session for  _De  Mysteriis  dom 
Sathanas_.                                                            

When you look at the "Venom is not  black  metal  because  they  were 
never serious" discussions that keep popping up everywhere, it  would 
be interesting to know why Bathory and  Quorthon  have  never  fallen 
prey to the same nonsensical and revisionist  interpretation  of  the 
past. Despite these surprising confessions,  early  Bathory  has  not 
sustained any damage and miraculously retained an effective shroud of 
obscurity up to this day. A possible explanation that makes  quite  a 
lot of sense to me is the fact that Bathory  never  played  live  and 
never took the risk of damaging their public image by exposing  their 
ordinary selves and  lousy  skills  on  stage  --  something  that  I 
consider to be the main reason why the public perception of Venom  as 
the most  evil  and  menacing  people  that  ever  walked  the  earth 
went down the drain during  the  mid-'80s.  It  seems  that  Quorthon 
accidentally (simply because he couldn't assemble a band and show off 
his flame-throwers) found a formula that would work equall y well for 
a band like Darkthrone. However, especially during the second half of 
the interview, Quorthon doesn't come across as being any more "trve", 
"kvlt" or serious than Konrad, Jeff and Tony, or  other  people  from 
assorted Newcastle pubs. So, I'll be looking forward  to  a  "Bathory 
were not black metal because Quorthon  enjoyed  listening  to  Motley 
Crue better than celebrating black  masses"  thread  on  our  message 
board.                                                                

Most importantly, this  piece  serves  the  main  purpose  of  paying 
tribute to Quorthon, Bathory, and especially his  importance  in  the 
creation of the black metal genre and the fact that he played a  main 
role in shaping metal, even as we know it today in 2004.              

In addition, I would also  like  to  take  the  opportunity  to  hail 
KICK*ASS and namely Bob Muldowney who conducted  this  interview  (of 
course the "ed." comments are also his), and who from my  perspective 
also played quite an important role during the rise of black,  thrash 
and death metal. His dedication and totally no-frills style, and  the 
fact that he  never  refrained  from  being  critical  and  sometimes 
brutally honest has and will always impress me.                       

Quorthon himself provides the perfect quote to end my rather  lengthy 
introduction: "I just want to wake up, whether it's in heaven  or  in 
hell or wherever, open a bottle of whiskey and  know  that  I  had  a 
ball!" May it be so! Thank you for the music!                         

BATHORY - By Bob Muldowney.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(From KICK*ASS Magazine, A Journalistic Poser Holocaust,
Volume XXXI, November 1985.)

At the time I initially heard the first Bathory  album,  death  metal 
was just beginning to become the underground fad it now is. I saw the 
cover, the song titles, read the lyrics and put on the record, and  I 
thought that this was like a vinyl version of the Sodom demo  (which, 
itself, I loved, because  it  was  different  from  and  sicker  than 
anything I've heard since _Welcome to Hell_),  nothing  more.  Speed, 
satanic lyrics and image, distortion etc.                             

However something made me listen to the album again, and the  more  I 
listened to it, the more I realized Bathory was not a band  comprised 
of little kids trying to be offensive and failing. Sure,  the  speed, 
distortion and raw production was there, but the more I  listened  to 
the album, the more I realized those three factors (speed, distortion 
and production) were part  of  the  Bathory  sound,  not  the  entire 
Bathory sound. The songs were legitimately heavy, and the more  death 
metal demos  and  records  I  heard  in  proceeding  months  couldn't 
come close to delivering the sheer  death  metal  hell  that  Bathory 
delivered.                                                            

I then decided it was time to feature this band in KICK*ASS. However, 
attempts at such continually  proved  fruitless.  At  that  point,  I 
further began to realize this was a different band. No names  on  the 
back of the album. Not a bunch of kids who wanted to see their "evil" 
picture  in  every  death  metal  fanzine  to  attain  limited  local 
"notoriety".                                                          

Shortly after KICK*ASS  #30  came  out,  I  got  a  phone  call  from 
Quorthon, rumoured to be  Bathory,  a  one-man  death  metal  assault 
squadron. He was not some weenie talking in a "death  metal  tone  of 
voice". He didn't scream at me about the nuns he's raped,  about  the 
black masses he conducts, about the little children  he's  deflowered 
then killed. He came across over the phone the same way  Tom  Warrior 
comes across to me through his letters -- a normal, intelligent heavy 
metal musician who enjoys playing brutally heavy death  metal  music. 
As a matter of fact, one of the things I  vividly  remember  Quorthon 
telling me was that he hates "death metal" and simply refers  to  the 
music he plays as "heavy metal". I was anxious to do  the  interview, 
and when it was over, my respect for and  opinion  of  Quorthon  were 
even greater than they had been before.                               

As I mentioned, it is widely believed that Bathory and  Quorthon  are 
interchangeable names. Quorthon is Bathory, Bathory is  Quorthon.  No 
other musicians, no actual band. Such beliefs are  only  strengthened 
when one notices the lack of interviews he does and the fact that the 
first record (and now the second one) gives no  listing  as  to  band 
members. I put this theory/question to Quorthon at the start.         

"I believe Bathory rehearsed for the first time  the  13th  of  March 
1983. I met these two guys  who  already  had  the  equipment  and  a 
rehearsal place so I said, 'Hey, why not put something together?'  We 
had a lead guitar player auditioning for us after  a  month,  but  he 
stayed with the band for only three and a half minutes, the  time  it 
took the three of us to play one of our songs for  him.  I  think  we 
played a song called "Witchcraft", a song we haven't yet recorded and 
probably never will."                                                 

"We never took this thing with the band too seriously. We just wanted 
to let off a lot of steam and have fun. We  didn't  even  care  about 
writing some original stuff at all the first  couple  of  months.  We 
blasted off with covers of  Motorhead,  Sabbath,  Maiden,  Anvil  and 
Status Quo. It's not that we were too influenced by  them  or  really 
big fans of them, but all three of us knew their songs quite well."   

After the band's volume forced them out of their  current  residence, 
the summer of 1983 found a new place to live and rehearse. "The other 
two guys came up with this asshole claiming he was the  new  vocalist 
of the band. They never really liked my way of singing so  they  came 
up with this decayed asshole. Besides, I never sang too much  anyway. 
I ran around and shook my head till my brain felt like it was chopped 
meat, and I never had any breath to sing.  [The  new  singer]  stayed 
with the band until the middle of February 1984 when I gave  him  the 
kick in his ass a few hours before we went into the studio to  record 
two tracks for the _Swedish Metal Attack_ sampler."                   

"I knew the Boss [Boerje Forsberg of Tyfon Grammofon AG Records] from 
the time I used to help Tyfon out listening to demo tapes and picking 
out new up-and-coming bands, so when I found out that he was going to 
put together a metal sampler, I called him up and said he just had to 
use one or two tracks with us... he gave us a few hours in the studio 
one afternoon."                                                       

Quorthon said that "the  band"  was  pleasantly  surprised  with  the 
favourable response elicited from the public who became fans  of  the 
band based on their two songs on  that  compilation  album.  However, 
towards the end of April 1984, the band split  up.  "We  slowly  grew 
away from each other. They were not into this fast metal  at  all.  I 
wanted to go on with total hellpaced destructive  shit.  They  didn't 
wimp out at all. They  dressed  different  and  listened  to  totally 
different stuff than me, but we are still best of  friends."  What  a 
pleasure to hear, rather than the usual death metal thing when a band 
member leaves and the remaining members scream about what a poser  he 
is.                                                                   

Despite this split, Tyfon wanted an album from Bathory,  so  Quorthon 
began looking around for guys who  could  fit  in  (and  survive  in) 
Bathory. However, this was not an easy task, as  Quorthon  discovered 
that most musicians "would rather bet their ass on a band making sure 
not to sweat on stage, making sure not to headbang  as  that  is  not 
good for their hairstyle, and a band walking around the rock clubs of 
Stockholm claiming to be the best with the heaviest record deal,  and 
a band with five blonde members walking home  in  anger  and  tearing 
their Bon Jovi posters apart when they don't get laid after the gig." 
"I told [prospective band members] what I wanted this band to be  all 
about: I wanted to breath fire with a smashed guitar, wear all  these 
chains, spikes and studded leather, vomit blood. I knew this guy  who 
made bombs and stage effects and he made four flame jets for  Bathory 
spewing out five foot flames. When  the  record  company  called  and 
asked how the auditioning was going I told them  I  had  a  few  guys 
interested but no one looking crazy enough to be a permanent  members 
of the band." Quorthon went no farther than that, keeping the mystery 
of the band intact.                                                   

At this point in time, Quorthon  admits  he  does  not  have  a  band 
together. "The people who I used to jam with a bit have started their 
own bands now and I don't know... maybe I can  find  two  maniacs  in 
U.K. or U.S. the second album was recorded the same way as the  first 
one [but how was that one recorded?! - ed.],  with  almost  the  same 
equipment [except] on this second one, I used my  Marshalls;  on  the 
first one, I used my little Yamaha  20W  home  amp.  Whether  it  was 
recorded with a 'band' or not, I cannot tell you, Bob. If I told  you 
the true story it wouldn't matter anymore. I want to have this  touch 
of anonymity with  the  band  and  therefore  I  don't  do  too  many 
interviews." Mystery... suspense... intrigue... anonymity... far more 
effective than mindless gibberish about satan,  evil,  and  violence, 
wouldn't you say?                                                     

Anyone listening to the first album and the second album  can't  help 
but notice a heavy Venom influence and draw parallels to  Venom  over 
each band's first two albums. The first Bathory album's album  cover, 
song titles and lyrics sounded like they were all the end-product  of 
a Venom fanatic. Additionally the first Bathory album sounded like  a 
faster and more raw-sounding version of _Welcome to Hell_, while _The 
Return..._ shows the same type of musical "maturation" and production 
improvement that _Black Metal_ showed over its predecessor.  However, 
Quorthon takes exception to such ideas. "I'm not a fan  of  Venom  at 
all, though I love the _Black Metal_ album. Before _Black Metal_  and 
after it, they have not [impressed] me at all. They really could have 
gone far. I thank them for what they have done for the  Satanic-based 
metal movement of today, but in an exaggerated form."                 

"I have heard Slayer's first [album] and a  few  [songs  from]  bands 
such as Sodom, Destruction, Wimphammer / Celtic  Compost  [Oh  my!  - 
ed.], and I think they all suck. I don't even listen to black  metal, 
death metal, satanic metal, or thrash metal at all. It's mostly crap. 
I don't say that Bathory is the best or anything, just that  I  don't 
like any of these bands mentioned. It's all up to the  kid  who  buys 
our albums. I may think that  Wimphammer  /  Celtic  Compost  is  the 
biggest load of horseshit I've ever heard, but I respect them [I  can 
tell! - ed.] and wish them the best of luck in the future. Slayer may 
have tracks faster than Bathory but what the  hell...  on  the  third 
album, I'll beat them all when it comes to speed."                    

"I write slow metal and fast metal, it all depends on what I have  in 
my balls and on my mind for the day. Bathory have some slow tracks on 
first album [like] "Necromancy", "Raise the Dead"  and  "Reaper".  On 
the new album "Born  for  Burning",  "Bestial  Lust",  "The  Rite  of 
Darkness", and the middle part of "Reap of Evil" and the second  half 
of "Sadist" is quite slow. Once I had  this  question  sheet  from  a 
magazine and they asked me whether Bathory  was  death  metal,  black 
metal, thrash metal, zombie metal,  or  even  corpse  pile  metal  or 
simply just skullcrushing fucking metal...  What  happened  to  heavy 
metal?! Bathory is simply just  a  metal  band.  It  may  be  totally 
hellpaced, it may be heavy and really slow. I may sing  about  Satan, 
hell, perverted sex, cunts,  the  power  of  the  weather,  blasphemy 
and... or a totally evil epic; I may  dress  up  in  spikes,  studded 
black leather, chains, spit blood, and breath fire,  wear  all  these 
upside down black crosses and bounce my  guitar  to  the  wall  while 
doing the leads in the studio; but it's still  metal  --  has  always 
been and will always be metal!"                                       

There's little doubt from those statements that Quorthon  is  a  true 
metaller who happens to enjoy playing blood-curdling death metal, and 
a serious metaller who is sick  of  what  the  death  metal  fad  has 
become. "Yeah, well this satanic thrashing thing has really become  a 
fad alright. I really think it has  grown  into  something  I  really 
don't want to be a part of any longer. Too many bands today  come  up 
with crap demos that get  quite  good  reviews  in  underground  mags 
while, at the same time, bands like Slayer and Bathory spend  a  week 
in the studio with all the expenses and get an eight or a nine in the 
same mag. Too many bands today put out  shit  vinyl  and  poison  the 
metal market. In a year or eighteen months, this  satanic  shit  will 
make people throw up all over a metal album."                         

"I am aware of Bathory being one of  those  bands  considered  to  be 
Satanic and total evil, but we're not. Bathory is a good way  for  me 
to unify my biggest interests in this world: sex, horror, the occult, 
death, speed, and noise. You may call it an image or  not.  I  don't, 
because I have never really put up  an  image.  I  dress  in  studded 
leather and spikes and chains privately as well as [for the band].  I 
may not be totally evil person, but I have my periods  like  anybody. 
My friends say that I change a lot mentally during the period I write 
the lyrics or a new track."                                           

Getting back to Bathory, since Quorthon has never been able  to  find 
any permanent or even semi-permanent band members, there has  yet  to 
be a live Bathory show. "We've been close several times  but  when  I 
tell them what we do on stage, the answer is always  the  same:  'OK, 
we'll see  what  we  can  do.'  We've  played  in  front  of  friends 
sometimes and thrashing around the rehearsal place, which gave us the 
reputation as the most outrageous,  craziest  and  wildest  thrashing 
band in Stockholm."                                                   

One of the main reasons that Quorthon has been able to  keep  Bathory 
going, despite all the  obstacles,  is  the  strong  support  he  has 
received from Tyfon Grammofon AB Records, who he said "gave us money, 
time, and studio dates during a period when no record  company  would 
even dream  of  looking  our  way.  Tyfon  gives  a  very  free  hand 
when comes to the band.  They  don't  complain  about  the  material, 
titles, music, [or] lyrics, they love this evil  shit  and  certainly 
don't look down at us  just  because  Bathory  may  not  be  as  good 
[musicianship-wise] as their other bands. We're like  a  family,  all 
the bands, and Boss is our father."                                   

Quorthon said that the band's first album was recorded in 55-60 hours 
and cost about $500. "The studio was so small that the whole drum kit 
could not be used in case we wanted to have enough space for both the 
bass amp and the guitar amp. I am aware of the first  album  being  a 
little too short, but I didn't have more usable songs at that time. I 
had tracks like "Die in Fire", "I Live in  Sin",  "Take  it  on  your 
Knees", "Satan, Master", and stuff like that... I didn't want to  use 
"The Return" on the first one  because  I  wanted  it  to  grow  and, 
besides, I needed new lyrics for it. The cover may not  be  the  best 
piece of art [as well],  but  I  had  three  days  to  come  up  with 
something or the record company would print a picture on the front."  

"The second album was a little more expensive, about $3000. We worked 
on the album for more than two weeks because I  wasn't  pleased  with 
the sound. The drums were recorded in this big room, like  a  concert 
hall, the bass was recorded through an  aluminium  pipe-line  to  get 
this  very  specific  sound,  and  the  guitars  [one  rhythm  /  one 
rhythm-lead] was recorded in the same room as the  drums.  The  cover 
this time is much better and the fans deserve that. I  receive  about 
three or ten fan letters a day. They send me Bathory  comics,  lyrics 
in case I'd be out of inspiration and the time gets short,  drawings, 
and pictures of their girlfriend's cunts."                            

"The third album will be much heavier. I have several new tracks  and 
some of them are really heavy, some totally hellpaced and  some  just 
thrashing metal at various speeds. The title of the third album  will 
probably be "Music from under the Sign of the Black Mark".  It'll  be 
partly recorded in a church. I'll use a ten-girl choir [use them  for 
what? - ed.], instruments from the 14th and 15th century -- the  fans 
can expect a lot of surprises. I want to show them that you certainly 
don't have to go on at 100mph just to sell or be powerful or wild."   

Okay, now that we know all about Bathory (or about as much  as  we'll 
ever know!), I wanted to delve into the person who is Quorthon.  From 
various statements made thusfar, one can easily see that  he  is  not 
some death metal weenie, but what goes on his mind  when  he  is  not 
involved in Bathory? What makes him tick? Is Quorthon an image or  is 
it a person? "I may love this evil shit alright but I  have  distance 
to what I'm doing. I can take off this studded shirt, look at  myself 
in the mirror, and see an ordinary kid from Stockholm into metal  and 
cunts. I'm not a beast or an overly-sick person.                      

"Quorthon is a two-way thing. First, it's a good name and it fits  in 
with the certain style of Bathory. Second, I don't  want  to  use  my 
real name in case I'd start a new band after Bathory when  that  days 
comes, and I wouldn't want people to be  reminded  of  Bathory  while 
looking at me in this new band." Quorthon also  wanted  to  make  one 
thing clear about his vocals. "I must have been the first  maniac  to 
know about Venom in Sweden. Cronos has done a lot for this evil thing 
and I thank him for that, but he didn't inspire me to sing  this  way 
as some seem to think. I used to sing through the guitar pick-up once 
and, shit, that really did sound cool, so I picked  the  whole  thing 
up, growl and roar like a beast."                                     

"I'm totally comfortable when I have my 60  cigarettes  a  day,  some 
wine and whiskey, a cunt to fuck and a  guitar  to  crank  up  really 
loud. I may not live day to day, more like night to night, but I have 
big plans and I take one week at a time. I  just  want  to  wake  up, 
whether it's in heaven or in hell  or  wherever,  open  a  bottle  of 
whiskey and know that I had a ball!"                                  

"I quite like cunts and I've had a lot  of  them.  I  like  women  as 
friends and as sexual toys. Every new cunt is an  experience  because 
they all want to be fucked, licked and beaten up in so many different 
ways. I have written a few tracks about women. "Born for Burning"  is 
a song dedicated to a witch who lived in Holland from 1521  to  1591. 
"Bestial Lust" is a track dedicated to this  girl  I  fucked  on  the 
lady's room floor at a rock club here in Stockholm, one night who was 
really into bestial sex."                                             

As far as his pre-Bathory days, Quorthon was quite vague. "Let's just 
say I was  born  during  the  middle  sixties  --  peace,  love,  and 
understanding, brother. Bathory  is  actually  my  first  real  band. 
Before starting  Bathory,  I  got  together  with  some  friends  and 
thrashed but I felt I wanted to start something for  real.  I'm  self 
taught, having started to play the drums a  the  age  of  nine,  then 
guitar and bass, piano and some  other  instruments  at  the  age  of 
fifteen."                                                             

"I don't like any of these bands out there today playing black, death 
or simply just decayed metal -- well, today you can use any word  and 
be right, so I can't figure out what band influenced  me  to  perform 
this type of hellpaced metal. I don't just write this  kind  of  evil 
shit. I write ballads, rock, pop, and metal because I  enjoy  writing 
different kinds of music."                                            

"My favourite bands would be Kiss form 1973  to  1978,  Sex  Pistols, 
GBH, The Beatles. I like Toyah, the  first  three  albums  with  Pink 
Floyd, some Motorhead. I like Motley Crue and  Aerosmith,  Space  Ace 
Frehley, Sid Vicious, some Triumph, some Sabbath, Ripper, some  Sweet 
stuff, and classical music. That certainly is an odd combination,  so 
you know the end result would have to be  sick.  It's  sort  of  like 
throwing ice cream, chopped beef, pickles, vinegar,  and  onions  all 
together into a blender, mixing then thoroughly, and tasting the  end 
result -- SICK!!!                                                     

One other thing that Quorthon mentioned to  me  over  the  phone.  An 
interview with him was published in  some  German  metal  publication 
which included him saying he liked some Motley Crue  songs.  He  said 
sometime after that, he received a couple of letters from people  who 
said that they burned their  Bathory  records  when  they  found  out 
Quorthon was a "poser". Why is he a  poser?  Because  he  likes  some 
Motley Crue songs? If he enjoys some Motley Crue songs, some  Beatles 
songs, whatever, but listed his favourite bands as Destruction, Death 
and Satan's Penis just to "impress" death metal weenies, then he'd be 
a "poser". And why did these people burn their Bathory records?  Does 
the music sound any different? What a bunch of losers.                

Anyway, that about wraps up this interview, and I'd have to say  that 
from it all can see that despite the underground fad status which has 
caused death metal to spit up a bunch of  chucks  of  metallic  vomit 
that do little else but leave a sour taste  in  any  true  metaller's 
mouth, there are a couple of  people/bands  who  are  true  metallers 
playing savage death metal with  sincerity,  all  the  while  keeping 
things in their proper perspective. Quorthon and Bathory, Bathory and 
Quorthon. We may never really know for sure if they are  one  in  the 
same. We may never know the whole story behind Bathory and,  while  I 
remain curious, the  knowledge  of  anything  beyond  what  has  been 
discussed this far is quite irrelevant. As  long  as  Quorthon  keeps 
Bathory alive, as long  his  sincerity  is  maintained,  as  long  as 
Bathory remains a viable entity in the metal scene, that's all I care 
about. Is there anything else?                                        

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  A   F U L L Y   L O A D E D   D I S C H A R G E   O F   M E T A L
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   CoC Chats with Schmier from Destruction about the band's first
official DVD release _Live Discharge - 20 Years of Total Destruction_
                          by: Paul Schwarz


Whatever your opinion  on  Destruction  --  whether  you  think  they 
started to suck after the _Bestial Invasion of Hell_ demo,  _Sentence 
of Death_ MCD, their _Infernal Overkill_ debut, or even if you  think 
they've never made a bad album  (at  least  with  the  main  original 
members present...) -- it is undeniable that they have become  thrash 
metal legends. Perhaps it is even appropriate to say  metal  legends. 
Thus a packed-to-the-gills DVD from this German  institution  is  far 
from unwarranted -- and when the DVD is as  thoroughly  comprehensive 
as  _Live  Discharge  -  20  Years  of  Total  Destruction_,  there's 
no  reason  to  complain.  Centrally  composed  of  an  eighteen-song 
meta-concert pieced together from three live performances by the band 
-- and interspersed with backstage footage and the like  --  the  DVD 
also features a host of extras,  including  Destruction  performances 
from the Eighties and backstage featurettes. I spoke to Schmier  back 
in March, before I'd had a chance to look at the DVD, to find out all 
about it and what Destruction had been up to recently. Hope you enjoy 
the results.                                                          

CoC: Destruction have recently been playing shows in  Latin  America, 
     right?                                                                

Schmier: Yeah. It was  killer.  We  played  three  weeks,  mainly  in 
         Brazil. We had a show cancelled in  Costa  Rica  because  we 
         were getting tight on time -- everybody was getting sick and 
         we had to go back to Germany and continue playing  here.  So 
         to make it back to Germany we had  to  cancel  the  show  in 
         Costa Rica, but we hope to go back and make up for it soon.  

CoC: So the tour was successful?

S: It was cool. Record sales are improving and  the  shows  had  like 
   1000 people or more every night, so it was pretty cool.               

CoC: Coming onto the new DVD: how did that come together?

S: We took the best parts of each show, so it's actually  a  complete 
   setlist of a normal Destruction gig, but made up mostly  of  parts 
   from Switzerland -- from the club show -- and, I think,  three  or 
   four songs from each festival. I think it's a  nice  mixture,  you 
   know. We have the indoor club show, we  have  the  at-night  (Full 
   Force) festival performance,  and  we  have  the  daylight  Wacken 
   festival performance. It has all the, you know, different colours, 
   and I think it's much more interesting than just one single show.  

CoC: It definitely has the variety: obviously there are only so  many 
     minutes you can cram onto a DVD.                                      

S: I think we have almost 4 1/2 hours, everything together. That's  a 
   lot, I think. We wanted to put as much as possible. We really  had 
   problems to fit everything on the DVD, 'cause it was getting  very 
   tight. My brother, who was managing the whole thing, he really had 
   problems to get everything on, so we had to squeeze  it  a  little 
   bit, you know?                                                     

CoC: You had to make some tough decisions to cut  together  the  best 
     footage that you could get into a single show,  to  the  maximum 
     amount of time that you had?                                     

S: Yes. It also features a lot of little bits  and  pieces  from  the 
   road and also some older stuff. So  I  think  we  have  the  whole 
   variety, and I think for the first DVD we ever did, it's  a  great 
   job. It's definitely value for money, especially because  it  also 
   features the Japan-only release live album, _Alive Devastation_.   

CoC: This live CD features the entirety  of  the  Wacken  2002  show, 
     featured in part on the DVD itself, right?                            

S: Yeah. It's the one where we had the big fuck-up at the  end  where 
   the stage was totally out of power and we had to  stop  the  show. 
   That's all on there, on the DVD                                  . 

CoC: Was  it  hard,  getting  _Alive  Devastation_  [previously  only 
     available on import in Europe -- Paul] packaged as a bonus  with 
     the - standard- edition of _Live Discharge_?                     

S: Well, we kicked Nuclear Blast's asses over this.  We  said:  we're 
   gonna release it worldwide as a DVD -with- the bonus CD. First  of 
   all they wanted to do just a limited edition of 5000. We said no.  

CoC: So you put your foot down?

S: I think it's a cool  compromise.  This  way,  everybody  that  was 
   complaining before  that  _Alive  Devastation_  was  a  Japan-only 
   release -- that you couldn't get it in Europe -- can  get  it  now 
   for free: just buy the DVD.                                        

CoC: For the actual construction of the DVD, did you look to some  of 
     the live videos or  live  DVDs  that  had  been  done  by  other 
     bands? For example, the format you use  --  of  concert  footage 
     interspersed with interview or backstage material -- reminds  me 
     of _Under Siege_ and _Live Intrusion_, from Sepultura and Slayer 
     respectively, and even,  going  right  back,  to  Combat's  _The 
     Ultimate Revenge_ Venom / Slayer / Exodus video.                 

S: I think of course you need to see what others do, to  improve  and 
   to make a nice statement. I've been watching a couple of  DVDs  -- 
   not even Slayer or Sepultura: they  have  more  been  like  latest 
   releases of other bands, of other big bands. To see, you know, how 
   high the bar is -- 'cause we definitely  didn't  want  to  release 
   something that looks cheap. So we tried to do whatever we could to 
   play in the first league with the DVD thing.                       

CoC: It's a really good thing for a band like you to do.  Destruction 
     -- no offence intended -- are a band  who  stand  very  much  on 
     their reputation, if you see what I mean?                        

S: Yeah. It's true.

CoC: People know Destruction. Destruction  have  a  classic  sort  of 
     status. So even if someone were to put out a  cheap  Destruction 
     bootleg, a lot of  people  would  buy  it  just  'cause  it  was 
     Destruction. So you could have taken a very different  attitude, 
     and just issued something 'cause you knew people would  but  it. 
     It's good to see  that  you  took  on  the  challenge  of  doing 
     something good.                                                  

S: For us it was a big challenge because we  don't  have  the  twenty 
   years every year. So we felt, therefore, that we also had to prove 
   to people that we're still trying to do our best and,  of  course, 
   it's a big chance for us to reach those people,  also,  who  never 
   saw Destruction before live -- somebody in Malaysia can now buy  a 
   DVD and see what Destruction is all about. The DVD also features a 
   look behind the curtain, a look into the band.  That's  definitely 
   what I like about the DVD thing: it's not just  a  plain  concert. 
   It's a look into the band, which also gives everybody  the  chance 
   to see the band.                                                   

CoC: So, to beg the question, what -is- Destruction all  about?  What 
     are people  going  to  -see-  on  the  DVD?  What  is  it  about 
     Destruction that comes out of the experience of  watching  _Live 
     Discharge_?                                                      

S: Basically, it's definitely that besides the show we're  trying  to 
   have a good time because, you know, the world sucks big time. So I 
   try when I'm on the road with the band to live the tour life.  You 
   know, sex, drugs and rock n' roll is definitely... still around. I 
   mean, it's a big -party- for us: to go out  there,  jam  with  the 
   fans. Also we try as much as possible to  have  contact  with  the 
   fans  besides  the  show.  You  know,  just  go  out  there,  sign 
   autographs, shake some hands, have some  drinks  together.  That's 
   what's in all the fucking backstage footage. I  think  you  get  a 
   nice view that we are a fucking aggressive live band, that we take 
   our music very serious on stage  and  we  are  fighting  for  some 
   recognition and some political statements also, sometimes. But  on 
   the other side we're, as much as concerns the band, trying to have 
   -fun- besides that. That's what you can see in the  footage:  it's 
   not overplayed, it's just real stuff. And I like that, you know.   

CoC: Talking about the actual footage, especially from Wacken, was it 
     a difficult process to get the rights to it? Because I've  heard 
     rumours that the Wacken organisation makes bands sign  contracts 
     to the effect that the Wacken organisation owns the footage.     

S: Well, it's not that, but it's like: they bring  a  film  team  and 
   then you can... pay the whole thing, you know. That usually  means 
   that the record company gets an offer -- they say: we  filmed  ten 
   bands of yours, and if you want the material you pay  this  amount 
   of money. It's a kind of... you know, eat it  or  forget  it.  You 
   cannot choose. The good thing was that we knew that, so we brought 
   our own film team.                                                 

CoC: You managed to get away with that?

S: Well, when they asked us to play we said we wanted to film  it  on 
   our own, and they told us that was no problem. But  when  we  were 
   there and filming with our own film team, they were like: what the 
   fuck are you doing? Why do you have your own film team?  We  said: 
   it's in our contract. Don't worry about it. Even when the DVD came 
   out they thought we'd used their footage!                          

CoC: So because Destruction have  a  certain  amount  of  clout,  you 
     -could- say that because the Wacken people  couldn't  afford  to 
     not have you play?                                               

S: Exactly. That's how it works.

CoC: It's good that you did that: I think that's a bit rich, what the 
     Wacken people do.                                                     

S: I guess they all do it. They fucking make money out  of  that.  We 
   tried to put  even  some  more  footage  on  the  DVD  from  other 
   festivals where we couldn't  film  ourselves  because  it  was  in 
   foreign countries; and then they made us the offer:  three  songs, 
   10,000 bucks. We were like, "Fuck off! How many DVDs do you  think 
   we're gonna sell? 500,000?! What the fuck is that!?" So we  didn't 
   put on footage from two other big festivals where  we  had  pretty 
   good footage too, but they just wanted too much money, so we said, 
   "No way".                                                          

CoC: What's  the  possibility  of  releasing  any  of   the   classic 
     Destruction  performances,  visual  or  audio?  It's   something 
     Mercyful Fate and King Diamond are doing,  Kreator  are  looking 
     into it, and it's a market that's clearly rich.                  

S: You mean the old stuff?

CoC: Yeah, classic shows from the Eighties.

S: There's not that much existing.

CoC: I have a friend who recorded your first show in Frankfurt,  when 
     you  played  at  a  Tankard  record  signing  which  Sodom  were 
     performing at...                                                 

S: <laughs> I remember. We were there, Sodom were  playing  and  then 
   they were like: Destruction is here! Let's get them on  stage  and 
   they will play with us. So we jumped on stage  and  we  made  some 
   noise, and yeah, that was basically our first show, but it  wasn't 
   because it was Desaster. <laughs>                                  

CoC: I've listened to the  tape.  It's  actually  quite  interesting. 
     There was a rumour that Sodom were upstaged because although you 
     didn't play that -well-, there was something that  came  out  of 
     it. There was some sort of energy that was there,  and  you  can 
     hear  it.  It  comes  through  the  early  demos;  and  in  this 
     performance you sort of hear that rough and raw sort  of  -edge- 
     -- which you then hone, obviously, into the speed metal sound of 
     _Sentence of Death_ and _Infernal Devastation_.                  

S: For us it was just the first time on  stage,  you  know,  at  this 
   show. So we were kind of excited about it, but it wasn't the  best 
   performance ever because, as you can imagine, the  first  time  we 
   were seventeen or sixteen and a half. I don't  even  remember.  We 
   were young. So we just had a blast to be -invited- to go on stage, 
   because at this time the demo tape was just out for a  few  weeks. 
   The underground was  fucking  rising  big  time.  We  were  really 
   surprised about it. So I guess it was a cool  thing,  but  it  was 
   definitely not a great show at  this  time.  Talking  about  those 
   shows: they are really hard to get in good quality. That's why  we 
   have some little pieces of some old performances on the DVD  also, 
   but the quality is really bad. We tried to get better quality, but 
   it's really hard to find.                                          

CoC: Have you been reaching  out  into  the  underground,  asking  if 
     people have anything?                                                 

S: Yeah. We tried to get some stuff, but the stuff people sent in was 
   -really- bad quality, on VHS tapes. So if  you  put  this  into  a 
   digital system it's getting worse -- but we're still gonna keep an 
   eye open on that, maybe for a future  project  we  will  have  the 
   chance one day to do a best of old material, and do like kind of a 
   medley or whatever we can do  about  it.  But  it's  definitely  a 
   problem that it's twenty years ago  and  the  VHS  tapes,  they're 
   fucking falling apart now. I did just hear that Gary from  Tankard 
   -- he told me he has a big collection, so  I  will  come  back  to 
   him about this, because he  told  me  he's  got  some  stuff  from 
   Destruction I never heard of. So maybe, for any future DVDs, if we 
   start collecting now  we  will  have  something  for  the  future. 
   There's definitely a couple of songs from old performances on  the 
   DVD also.                                                          

CoC: How balanced would you say the setlist is  these  days?  Do  you 
     like to -- or on the other hand, do you feel that  you  have  to 
     play up the old stuff?                                           

S: Well, I think the old stuff is a big part of Destruction -- so you 
   cannot leave the old stuff behind and play just the new  stuff.  I 
   think the balance -- if we headline and play a two hour  set,  the 
   set definitely  features  a  lot  of  old  songs.  Especially  the 
   classical stuff, from _Infernal Overkill_.  I  wouldn't  say  that 
   we're a band that just plays a lot  of  new  stuff.  I  think  the 
   balance has  to  be  there,  and  it's  actually  a  50/50  thing. 
   Basically, if we play a one-hour set, it's a 50/50  thing.  If  we 
   play a longer set, then it's even more old stuff, I think.         

CoC: Do you feel like enough of the audience,  at  least,  are  -with 
     you- on the new stuff?                                                

S: Oh yeah. We have a couple of new songs that are overtaking the old 
   ones right now. "Nailed to the Cross" and "Thrash 'til Death" have 
   definitely overtaken a lot of the old songs. I think if  you  were 
   to put a top 5 together right now, first place would definitely be 
   "Curse of the Gods", and second place  would  be  "Nailed  to  the 
   Cross", I think. Those two songs are  top  hits  live  right  now. 
   Also, "Thrash 'til Death" is one of the songs  that  people  love, 
   also "Butcher Strikes Back". I think those three new ones  are  on 
   the same level as "Bestial Invasion", "Mad Butcher" and "Curse  of 
   the Gods". Sometimes, live, I'll just stop my  wocals  and  people 
   are singing with me, and you see all the horns and the  woices  -- 
   you can definitely tell that some of the new  songs  have  reached 
   this point where people don't care if it's from the Eighties or if 
   it's from the year 2000. It's just a classical  Destruction  song, 
   now.                                                               

CoC: Well, it was nice to talk to you: hopefully we'll see you in the 
     UK some time soon...                                                  

S: Yeah. A UK tour is still planned. After  our  last  appearance  in 
   London we were talking about an English  tour  and  Metalysee  had 
   been connecting us with some English promoters, but then, all of a 
   sudden, Metalysee backed up, and I don't  know  what  happened  -- 
   really happened; because we never got any confirmation for English 
   dates. There were some strange fuck-ups. Now, our agency is trying 
   to set up something for Autumn or so, some UK tour. I hope it will 
   happen. We will see. I hope so. It's always up to  the  promoters: 
   we want to play, we just need to  find  some  promoters  that  are 
   gonna risk  their  ass  on  some  thrash  metal,  you  know.  It's 
   difficult.                                                         

CoC: Oh, one little thing:  is  there  any  thought  of  adding  "The 
     Ritual" into your setlist? Do you still play that?                    

S: We were playing "The Ritual", actually,  let's  say...  two  years 
   ago, at the headlining shows. So we still have "The Ritual" in the 
   setlist once in a while. Right now we are working on bringing back 
   some classics and exchanging some others. So we  have  "Deathtrap" 
   back in the setlist now. We  have  "Thrash  Attack"  back  in  the 
   setlist. So  I  think  "The  Ritual"  is  still  on  the  list  -- 
   especially because just recently in Brazil, Kisser from  Sepultura 
   was playing with us and he was playing the riff of  "The  Ritual", 
   and he was like, "Yeah, that's my  favourite  song!"  So  we  were 
   like, "Hey, maybe we should play it again one day." Because we had 
   it in the setlist on the 2001 tour -- we just  try  to  switch  it 
   around a little bit. We almost  play  every  song  from  _Infernal 
   Overkill_, so sometimes it's just nice to kick out "Tormentor" and 
   bring in "The Ritual", or kick out "Invincible Force" and bring in 
   whatever, you know? You cannot play every song on that album. "The 
   Ritual" is definitely a song that we  are  practicing  right  now, 
   again, for upcoming shows because we wanna exchange the setlist  a 
   little bit. Right now, at  some  headlining  shows,  we  are  just 
   asking the people: what do you want? So if they're screaming for a 
   song, we just play it because we have them all in the  setlist  in 
   our heads, we just cannot play 2 1/2 hours of thrash  or  we  will 
   die and people will fucking lose their heads! <laughs>  But  close 
   to a two-hour set is usual right now, so it's cool.                

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

         F R O M   N O T H I N G   T O   N U M B E R   " I "
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
               CoC chats with Tomas Haake of Meshuggah
                           by: Jackie Smit


It's a funny thing, trends. Usually started off the back of something 
fairly obvious and arbitrary, it's always highly amusing  to  observe 
those who are first to jump on the  proverbial  bandwagon,  staunchly 
claiming to be the ones who were "there from the beginning". With the 
exception possibly of Opeth, this ironic state of affairs  has  never 
been more applicable than  in  the  case  of  Swedish  math-metallers 
Meshuggah, whose star has been on the ascent from the moment  that  a 
morbidly obese Jack Osbourne waddled his way  on  to  television  and 
used their "Future Breed Machine" to intimidate his neighbours. True, 
they may have been  around  for  more  than  a  decade  before  that, 
creating some memorable slabs of metal like _Destroy Erase  Improve_, 
but pre quasi- celebrity endorsement, the majority of the media would 
not give them the time of day. But times have changed and  right  now 
it looks as though the world at large has finally  started  to  "get" 
Meshuggah. Thankfully though, the band seem just as hungry as ever to 
dumbfound, confuse and befuddle -- whilst still keeping it heavy,  of 
course. I caught up with drummer Tomas Haake on the eve of the band's 
recent London show to discuss future plans,  past  mistakes  and  the 
sweet taste of comeuppance.                                           

CoC: Your last album, _Nothing_, was released off the back of  a  lot 
     of publicity and hype. You  were  on  the  Ozzfest,  you'd  been 
     mentioned by Jack Osbourne on their  show  and  you  were  being 
     touted as the 'next big thing' in virtually every other magazine 
     across the globe. In light of  this,  are  you  happy  with  the 
     overall response you eventually got for the album?               

Tomas Haake: Oh, of course we're happy with  the  response.  I  mean, 
             sales-wise it's not like we've made it big or  anything, 
             but it seems like we're getting a  lot  of  credit  from 
             other musicians and we're moving head  commercially,  so 
             that's all good. As far as the Jack Osbourne thing goes, 
             I think it's a bit overblown. It's three minutes  of  an 
             old song, and I wouldn't really add too  much  value  to 
             that -- I doubt it really helped us all  that  much.  We 
             did get some  extra  press  out  of  it,  but  that  was 
             from people who were more  interested  in  why  we  were 
             mentioned, rather than in anything  actually  about  the 
             band. So, we got some more press from it, but at the end 
             of the day, it's not really press that you need. I think 
             that the main reason that we got on to the  Ozzfest  was 
             not because of Jack Osbourne  anyway.  The  same  people 
             that booked us for the Tool tour were very  involved  in 
             the Ozzfest, and having seen us the  year  before,  they 
             got in contact with us again and that got us on  the  to 
             ur.                                                      

CoC: It's interesting that you mention press that one doesn't  really 
     need -- in the UK especially,  the  mainstream  metal  magazines 
     seemed to have a sudden  change  of  heart  regarding  Meshuggah 
     following your mention on  the  Osbournes,  in  the  sense  that 
     writers who a few years ago would never give you guys  the  time 
     of day, were suddenly acting as though they were your oldest and 
     most loyal fans. How do you feel about this shift in attitude?   

TH: Well, I think it's either a case  of  the  people  in  the  press 
    taking too much notice of the things we  talked  about,  or  that 
    people are actually finally coming to grips with what we're doing 
    here. I'm not really sure, but I can imagine that it takes a  lot 
    of time for people to understand what we're doing,  because  it's 
    kind of different. The average listener might not understand what 
    it is on first listen. It's not something that you just put on in 
    the background and leave it on. And that's  what  we  like  about 
    this music. We like the fact that people have to really listen to 
    it. You don't put it on at a party or  something  --  that  would 
    wreck the party!                                                  

CoC: With _Nothing_ Meshuggah seemed to take another step into a more 
     concept-driven and avant-garde direction. Now with your upcoming 
     EP _I_, you've recorded a single song of 21  minutes.  What  was 
     the reason for doing something like this?                        

TH: Actually it was just one  of  those  cases  where  everyone  says 
    "Fuck,  let's  do  it."  We  were  asked  by  Jason  [Mann,  from 
    Mushroomhead], who now has his own small  label  that  he's  just 
    starting up, whether we'd like to do something for  him.  At  the 
    time we were kind of in an argument with Nuclear  Blast,  because 
    according to our understanding we had no more obligations  toward 
    them. So, we accepted it, went into the studio and played  around 
    and hoped that something good would come out of it, and  it  did. 
    It's a really cool song -- Meshuggah  fans  will  love  it.  It's 
    really intricate and it really grabs you as a listener.  It  also 
    goes through a lot of changes -- there are lots of  mellow  parts 
    and then there are parts that (for Meshuggah at least) are faster 
    than anything we've ever recorded. It has this kind of  unserious 
    touch to it as well; it's quite funny at times, but it has a  lot 
    of raw energy as well. I really think that people will like it.   

CoC: Touching on the label issue for a  moment  --  your  next  album 
     (_Catch 33_) is still being released on Nuclear Blast later this 
     year, according to my knowledge.                                 

TH: Yeah, that's right.

CoC: Have you guys decided to re-sign with them then?

TH: No, we haven't  re-signed  with  them,  it's  just  a  matter  of 
    opinion. They say that we owe them a full-length album and in our 
    opinion we don't, and instead of taking it to court -- no  matter 
    who wins the case,  the  drawback  would  definitely  be  on  our 
    account, because fans would have to  wait  longer  for  the  next 
    record, we wouldn't be able to tour... It's basically just a case 
    of saying "Fuck it", and doing it and keeping the fans happy. And 
    it's going to be cool album -- we're not going to be putting  out 
    a lot of nonsense. It's not a proper full- length  if  you  will, 
    more like an experimental full-length. Like _I_, it will  be  one 
    single song, but at full- length. It's  going  to  be  much  more 
    guitar riff based than anything we have ever  done  as  well,  so 
    there won't be as much of the drumming that kind  of  throws  you 
    off -- just more straightforward, but at the  same  time  totally 
    insane riffing.                                                   

CoC: I guess it stands to reason that this will be quite a  departure 
     from _Nothing_?                                                       

TH: I'd say so, yes.  It's  definitely  experimental  and  we're  not 
    telling people that this is the  next  official  full-length.  If 
    you're looking for another _Chaosphere_ or another _Nothing_ that 
    contains a bunch of different songs, then this  is  probably  not 
    the album that you want to  buy,  but  if  you're  interested  in 
    anything that we're doing then it's something  you  should  check 
    out. Like I said, I'm sure that Meshuggah fans will love it. It's 
    definitely a step to the side of what we're doing right now.      

CoC: Is there a single underlying concept running through _Catch 33_?

TH: There is a certain  concept  running  through  it  if  you  will, 
    because it is just one song with one set of lyrics. At  the  same 
    time, the concept is very vague.                                  

CoC: Looking back at how Meshuggah has  evolved  and  the  extent  to 
     which the band take more and more chances with every album, what 
     has been the inspiration behind all these risks you've taken?    

TH: I don't know, really. In one sense we've started listening  to  a 
    lot of different music, compared to what we listened  to  before. 
    We don't really listen to metal all that  much  anymore  --  more 
    electronic and alternative styles. I think -that- on one hand has 
    probably contributed somewhat, and also the  fact  that  we  just 
    don't listen to all that much music in general anymore. You know, 
    we make our way as we're going -- we  influence  ourselves  while 
    we're writing, as opposed to being influenced by other bands.  We 
    couldn't give, you know, a fuck about what's trendy now or what's 
    working now. We've never cared about that stuff. The changes that 
    we've gone through in between _Destroy Erase  Improve_  up  until 
    the next full-length have been pretty big, but where we'll end up 
    after _Catch 33_ -- that's hard to say.                           

CoC: You haven't considered nine-string guitars yet, have you?

TH: <laughs> That would be difficult. You have  to  make  the  guitar 
    neck really long for that. Even with these  eight-string  guitars 
    that we're using, for them to be intonated properly and to  sound 
    good, you need the guitar neck much longer. So for a  nine-string 
    you're pretty much stretching the limits!                         

CoC: You mentioned earlier that Meshuggah is being referenced  a  lot 
     more by other bands lately and your band's influence is starting 
     to become more and more apparent on  up  and  coming  acts  like 
     Mushroomhead. Out of fan, press and peer recognition -- which do 
     you value as being the most important?                           

TH: <pauses> That's really hard to say.  It's  definitely  cool  that 
    we have  influenced  other  bands,  because  it's  definitely  an 
    indication that a lot people listen to our music  and  a  lot  of 
    people are into what we do. There's a lot of people that come  up 
    to me and say that they're  really  sorry  if  we  think  they've 
    ripped us off, and we usually listen to their stuff and find that 
    there's a lot of our sound going on there. But at the end of  the 
    day, we still haven't found anyone that sounds like  us.  Usually 
    there's a lot of drummers  out  there  that  think  they  can  do 
    intricate parts, but to copy the style of guitar- playing and the 
    bass-lines that the guys in our band do is really hard. It's  not 
    that we really mind either, though. Music is free for everyone to 
    take and remake. If that's what you want to do, then go ahead. We 
    don't want to do that. We're  not  interested  in  sounding  like 
    anyone else. We definitely feel like we're pioneers in a  way  in 
    this metal genre that we play in. As far as getting our music out 
    and getting new fans -- that's what we're about. It gives us  the 
    energy to continue. I mean, that's basically what bands do.  They 
    try to reach out to new people, and as long as  we  keep  growing 
    with each album, that's a good sign.                              

CoC: So aside from all these things that go along  with  being  in  a 
     band, what drives you as a person to still want to make music?        

TH: Well, within the context of this band, I feel very  free.  I  can 
    program or write or come up with pretty much  everything  and  it 
    won't be like when we started out. We will  always  try  to  make 
    songs out of everything that someone comes up with. I mean, if it 
    doesn't work out, then that's okay too. We all have a fixed  idea 
    of where we want our music to go and what sort of sounds we  trip 
    on where we can say: 'Yeah, that sounds really fucking cool.' So, 
    that's definitely the strongest driving point for me. As  a  band 
    we also feel that we've only just begun. There's so much more out 
    there to collect and to create. That's a  really  strong  driving 
    power.                                                            

CoC: Touring  with  bands  that  don't  necessarily  have  a   strong 
     connection on a musical level to what you do, like Tool, etc. -- 
     is that something you want to do more of in future?              

TH: That's not something that we necessarily want. To us  it  doesn't 
    matter if we're opening for a  death  metal  band,  or  if  we're 
    headlining with a band that we love. We just don't want  to  open 
    up for a band that we think sucks, or have a  band  open  for  us 
    that we don't like. That was also the setup  with  Tool  --  they 
    could have had any band, but they wanted us on the  tour  and  we 
    got decent pay for it too. So it's evident that they work in  the 
    same way.                                                         

CoC: Who would be your dream band to tour with?

TH: I grew up listening to Rush, so to me it would be great  to  tour 
    with them, although I don't think that our music would work  with 
    that. Tool was definitely one of the bands that I wanted to  tour 
    with. Metallica, of course -- I think their fans are a  lot  more 
    harsh to opening bands, but I think that  our  music  could  work 
    along with a lot of different styles. With Tool we didn't  expect 
    it to work because of their music style and because  their  crowd 
    is like 50% girls. We  don't  really  attract  girls  other  than 
    someone's girlfriend, you know. I don't  think  that  we're  your 
    typical "girl's music".                                           

CoC: You're known for taking a long time between recording albums, so 
     what can we expect from Meshuggah in the next few years?              

TH: Well, that's the cool thing now -- we have the EP coming out this 
    year and then _Catch 33_ around October / November. So that  will 
    be two releases in this year, and we  won't  tour  for  them.  So 
    right after they're released, we'll  start  on  the  next  proper 
    Meshuggah full- length. When we're done with that, we'll probably 
    try to stay on the road for a while and get the most out  of  it. 
    We also want to go to places we  haven't  been  yet,  like  South 
    Africa, Japan or Australia when we do that tour.                  

CoC: What would you regard as your greatest  personal  accomplishment 
     in Meshuggah so far?                                                  

TH: It's really hard to say. I mean,  I  consider  myself  a  drummer 
    first and foremost,  but  we  really  put  a  lot  of  collective 
    energy into the lyrics as well. I can't  really  name  one  lyric 
    I feel  very  strongly  about,  but  I  think  that  overall  the 
    development that we have gone though  lyrically  is  one  of  the 
    great accomplishments for me in this band. It's easier for me  to 
    learn to play than it is  to  learn  to  express  myself  through 
    writing. We feel strongly about  not  having  the  same  type  of 
    lyrics that all the other metal bands are doing. We try  to  stay 
    away from all the metal clichés that other bands do.              

CoC: Any last words?

TH: No man, I never have any last words. <laughs>

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             T H E   D A W N   O F   A   N E W   A E O N
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     CoC interviews Luiz Martinez and Erick Diaz of Serpens Aeon
                            by: Alvin Wee


Simmering in the Mexican underground for half a decade  with  only  a 
single, underrated demo as testament to their  talent,  Serpens  Aeon 
has finally arisen on Moribund Records as one of the most  impressive 
newcomers in the death metal underground this year.  Spawned  out  of 
Luiz Martinez and Erick Diaz's  departure  from  cult  formation  The 
Chasm in 1997, Serpens  Aeon  ditched  the  progressive  leanings  of 
their previous bandmates and indulged in  a  full-on  celebration  of 
old-school death/thrash metal. Listeners familiar with their  obscure 
_Raising the Fire Serpent_ demo  will  recognize  much  of  the  same 
material on the new  album  _Dawn  of  Kouatl_  in  a  much  stronger 
package. Recalling the glory days of Possessed  and  Sarcofago  while 
flaunting their updated musical abilities with  hints  of  Dissection 
and latter-day Immortal, Serpens Aeon has accomplished what countless 
other "retro" bands have set out to  do,  but  failed  miserably  at: 
paying tribute to the gods of  old  while  sculpting  an  original  , 
inimitable new sound.                                                 

Still, breaking  away  from  the  "ex-The  Chasm"  label  has  proven 
difficult for the band, especially with the advertising tack taken by 
Moribund, clearly drawing on the two founding musicians' associations 
with their previous band. "Yes,  [Moribund  label  manager]  Odin  is 
promoting the band and the album that way, which we know  is  a  good 
marketing approach to promote the album",  agrees  the  bass-wielding 
vocalist Luiz Martinez readily. "But we are breaking away  from  that 
past since we do play a very different style from The Chasm,  and  we 
are making a name for our own as well", he adds.                      

One would assume, given Serpens Aeon's dedication to old-school death 
metal and The  Chasm's  slightly  avant-garde  stance,  that  musical 
differences played a crucial role in the birth of Serpens Aeon  as  a 
new entity. "Well, we all had that interest for the old school  since 
they are our roots to begin with, and indeed The  Chasm  had  at  the 
time a different direction and another  way  to  approach  it",  Luiz 
concurs. "That wasn't the  main  reason  for  our  decision  to  take 
separate ways though. For me, it  was  more  personal  than  anything 
else. I was getting more involved with  my  profession  as  a  tattoo 
artist and so on."                                                    

Nodding, guitarist Erick pipes up enthusiastically. "In my  case,  it 
was personal as well; I left The Chasm right after  we  finished  the 
recordings for _Deathcult for Eternity_. At the same time I had  quit 
film-school, so my life was at the right moment for a change.  That's 
when Luiz called me from Seattle, and invited me to go and visit him, 
and from there we started playing again! We both had the  concept  to 
do a side project besides The Chasm even before we left, but it  took 
a little bit of time to put every piece together."                    

What took the band so long to put anything official out then? "Moving 
to the US definitely has to do with us not releasing anything earlier 
than now", explains Erick. "Plus  getting  settled  and  finding  the 
right people wasn't an easy chore either."                            

Whatever their reasons for parting ways with the Chasm crew,  Serpens 
Aeon have certainly taken a different direction, taking  their  love- 
affair with the past to the hilt in both music and concept. _Dawn  of 
Kouatl_ stands as an old-school, thrash metal paean  to  the  ancient 
Aztecan past, brimming with the imagery of  aeons  long-forgotten  by 
mankind. With the  new  breed  of  death  metal  bands  (read:  Nile, 
Mithras) forsaking the political slant of  the  early  Florida  scene 
for a more historical perspective,  one  wonders  where  this  sudden 
obsession with the past originates.                                   

"It's not an obsession with the past at all", counters Erick. "We get 
that sort of response all the time, but in reality  we  approach  the 
theme in a very different way. It is clear that the Aztecs have a big 
part in our music, but also is a part of our life since we [Luiz  and 
Erick] were born in Aztec lands. That is our heritage, so that's just 
a fact. We do not obsess; the past is completely [different from  the 
way] we live in these days, and  we  are  indeed  interested  in  the 
contemporary music and themes that surround us.  We  just  choose  to 
live our lives in the way that our ancestors did!"                    

Even as one struggles to see Serpens Aeon as a wholly original entity 
with its own agenda, the  band's  lyrical  and  musical  themes  just 
beg comparison with  that  other  monument  of  the  scene:  Nile.  I 
couldn't resist a prod at their very obvious  similarities,  and  the 
possibility that  Serpens  Aeon  might  be  construed  as  followers, 
rather than originators in the micro-scene that Nile  seems  to  have 
single-handedly created.                                              

"We are definitely not trying to  do  what  Nile  does  whatsoever!", 
insists Erick defiantly. "The way that we approach the  Aztec  themes 
in our music and lyrics is mostly a reflection of our everyday  life. 
As I mentioned before, two of the members were born in Aztec lands so 
it is natural to relate to those roots, rather than try to talk about 
any other subject. We talk not about Aztec mythology;  it  is  rather 
how we live our lives with an Aztec approach, how we see our past and 
how we deal with it  in  the  present  and  in  the  future,  whereas 
mythology comprises tales about ancestors, heroes, etc.. Aztecs  were 
ahead of their  own  time  and  also  had  a  very  wise  yet  brutal 
ritualistic calendar, and a knowledge of astrological events,  so  we 
try to follow this ancestral path."                                   

The lack of printed lyrics  on  the  CD  release  only  adds  to  the 
obscurity and mysticism of the Serpens Aeon concept. I ask  Erick  to 
shed a little light on the esoteric worlds conjured up by song-titles 
like "Nectar", "Under the Fifth Sun" and "Circle of Serpens".         

"Serpens Aeon means the era of the Serpent, to put it in a  condensed 
way. It's the sempiternal Way of Wisdom. The serpent was one  of  the 
most  worshipped  figures  in  the  Aztec  society,  and  represented 
knowledge, wisdom, eternity, etc.. The way we see and live our lives, 
and the songs we write, are a mirror of how  we  are  in  real  life. 
"Nectar" talks about  Pulque,  a  ritualistic  alcoholic  drink,  the 
Nectar of Gods, but it actually applies  to  any  kind  of  alcoholic 
drink used in a magickal way. "Under the Fifth Sun" is  about  a  new 
beginning for our kind: the 'Cosmic Race'. It can also be interpreted 
as a Chant of War; from the Aztec point  of  view,  there  were  four 
worlds prior to our world, and each world had  a  representative  Sun 
and its people, and we live "Under the Fifth Sun". With  "The  Circle 
of Serpens", we are depicting our brotherhood, the place we come from 
and our way of thinking."                                             

Taking a step back, I bring up the topic  of  today's  resurgence  of 
death metal in the scene. I wonder, aloud, where  Serpens  Aeon  fits 
in, given their extreme old-school leanings and the current deluge of 
sub- par death metal bands flooding the  scene.  The  raw,  emotional 
power of the old scene seems to lacking in many of the  newer  bands, 
and it is precisely this atmosphere of  primal  energy  that  Serpens 
Aeon seems to  be  reviving.  Erick  nods  emphatically,  in  evident 
agreement.                                                            

"Feeling is what most of the new bands lack; they don't have the kind 
of recordings the early death/thrash bands used  to  have.  [The  old 
bands] didn't have the budget for big studios, but they did have  the 
guts and that's where that visceral sound comes from.  We  don't  fit 
into the new explosion of death metal, and we are not  trying  to  be 
the fastest nor the most evil ones; as I said, above it all comes  to 
the visceral way of playing... and  I  think  we  are  in  the  limbo 
between Old and New."                                                 

Is the  old-school  atmosphere  on  _Dawn  of  Kouatl_  a  result  of 
production values perhaps? Sound engineer Curran Murphy isn't exactly 
famous for working with death metal bands...                          

"Well, before the session we had a meeting with Curran and [producer] 
Todd,  and  after  we  talked  and  reviewed  the  details,  we  felt 
confident that they both were capable of doing a good job,  and  they 
did. The studio itself was amazing;  the  facilities  were  top-notch 
professional, with everything you  needed!  Besides  all  the  newest 
technology, they had a nice kitchen, a big yard in the middle of  the 
woods, and a place to sleep and relax... so I think it  all  reflects 
in _Dawn of Kouatl_."                                                 

In conclusion, I question Erick about the  band's  musical  direction 
for the future. Serpens Aeon's old-school sensibilities  will  always 
appeal to the die-hards in the scene, but aren't they concerned  with 
musical progression and development at all?                           

"Well, as we said before, Serpens Aeon is right in  between  the  old 
and new school", explains Erick. "Musical progression  is  important, 
but that doesn't mean we are going to change our style --  just  look 
at what happened with Chuck Schuldiner. He started to  get  more  and 
more technical, until the feeling and energy were gone, and the music 
thus became plain and flat, with no emotion at all! Even  if  we  are 
not looking for balance, it always comes naturally to us and it makes 
our music energetic and powerful."                                    

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             A U T U M N ' S   F I R S T   T R I U M P H
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    CoC chats with vocalist Tuomas Tuominen of Fall of the Leafe
                          by: Paul Schwarz


It's rare that a band  with  a  'metal'  sound  manages  to  straddle 
the gap between catchy, hook-laden  pop-sensibility  and  emotionally 
involved extremity; yet with their fourth album,  _Volvere_,  Finnish 
six-piece Fall of  the  Leafe  have  achieved  a  synthesis  that  is 
both unusual and intensely gratifying. Side-stepping  comparisons  to 
other metal bands  --  either  from  Finland  or  cast  from  what  I 
perceived to be a similar musical mould to FotL  --  vocalist  Tuomas 
Tuominen answered all my questions by e-mail (back in March)  with  a 
straight-up honesty and care-free humour that was truly refreshing.   

CoC: Delving into your tumultuous six-year  history  via  your  press 
     release, it strikes me that _Volvere_ may well be like  a  fresh 
     new start, so to speak, for Fall of the Leafe.  Your  consistent 
     portrayal of the past as a learning curve suggests that -- as  a 
     professionally- constructed, catchy and full-bodied album, which 
     projects a solid identity and is  getting  released  on  a  more 
     reputable  label  than  any  other  you've  been  signed  to  -- 
     _Volvere_ is the first recording you've  really  been  satisfied 
     with. Would you say that's a fair assessment?                    

Tuomas Tuominen: Thank you. Yes, in a way Volvere is a fresh start to 
                 us. The truth is that Volvere is probably the  first 
                 Fall of the Leafe album that has the  chance  to  be 
                 recognized by wider audiences.  This  is  largely  a 
                 consequence of us joining into the Rage of  Achilles 
                 roster of bands. Firstly, they are a European label. 
                 This means we are now operating in our  home  front, 
                 if you  will.  Second,  they  are  professional  and 
                 things work smoothly. In the  personnel  department, 
                 we have successfully integrated our old  friend  and 
                 rock 'n' roll animal Matias Aaltonen into  the  band 
                 -- in this process our sound has  developed  perhaps 
                 in an  edgier  direction.  We  have  stolen  Jussi's 
                 atmospheric music from him, whipped some groove into 
                 it, and out comes _Volvere_. It blends our trademark 
                 atmospheric elements and the kind  of  raw  rock  or 
                 metal edge that Matias and Kaj tend  to  bring  into 
                 our jam sessions. And while we  do  value  our  past 
                 works very much,  we  do  believe,  naturally,  that 
                 _Volvere_ is our best work so far.                   

CoC: Who would you say are your/FotL's core influences, in  terms  of 
     bands or individual musicians? Paradise Lost and  Amorphis  seem 
     to me to be the cornerstones of your 'sound',  in  the  broadest 
     possible sense: bands whose careers have produced work that  has 
     - essentially- informed what Fall of the Leafe write and perform 
     on _Volvere_ -- other names also come to mind... what  say  you, 
     Tuomas?                                                          

TT: Amorphis and especially Paradise Lost often come up as points  of 
    reference and it is alright. Both are excellent bands, although I 
    have not followed either very much lately. However, perhaps  some 
    of the most important influences to our music come  from  Jussi's 
    all time favorites. I happen to know, not least  because  it  was 
    already years ago he infected  my  taste  with  these,  that  the 
    cornerstones of his record collection include works by New  Model 
    Army, The Mission (UK), Fields of the Nephilim, The Smiths,  Dead 
    Can Dance, The Pogues. However, apart from Jussi and myself, none 
    of the other members are very fond of these bands. So while  most 
    of our material still comes from Jussi, the band that performs it 
    seems to like very different kind of music. For  example,  Matias 
    bends more toward grunge like Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and  the 
    likes, as well as bands like The Cult or U2. Now that this  issue 
    came up, I am planning on stealing this bastard's  collection  of 
    The Cult vinyls. K aj, on the other hand, digs the  raw  approach 
    of, say, Spiritual Beggars or Phil Anselmo's Down. Personally, in 
    addition to sharing many of Jussi's favorites, I am a big fan  of 
    the Hellacopters, Radio Birdman, the Finnish space-  boogie  band 
    Blake, Verenpisara, and above all,  anything  that  involves  the 
    world's most soulful rock singer Scott Morgan. So we have a large 
    variety of tastes in this band. It means that a large variety  of 
    different influences seep into our work. And if we manage to keep 
    this mess in any kind of control, like I think we can, things are 
    all good for us.                                                  

CoC: Your PR  statement  is  written  in  an  intelligent  style:  it 
     eschews, early on, the route of describing FotL's music, instead 
     opting to present facts of their history. Was  your  purpose  to 
     fill-out people's image of what the -band-  FotL  are  and  what 
     their history has been like, while at the same time to  -invite- 
     people to  enjoy  the  music  on  their  own,  more  independent 
     terms? If there was  a  particular  purpose  to  your  unusually 
     well-considered press release, please explain it...              

TT: I have no idea what documents Rage of Achilles has sent away, but 
    I presume it is the Fall of  the  Leafe  band  biography  we  are 
    talking about here. [We are. -- Paul] I wrote the text  with  two 
    things in mind. The first one being the fact that I  cannot  tell 
    this band's story from any other  viewpoint  than  my  own.  This 
    group is a bunch of down-to-earth blokes and since we  have  only 
    recently started speaking to each other, I don't know  what  they 
    all have felt in a given time or situation in  the  past.  So  in 
    lack of other viewpoints, our band history is,  so  to  speak,  a 
    Fall of the Leafe  history  through  my  eyes.  Therefore  it  is 
    impossible for me to present  a  band  biography  that  would  be 
    simultaneously honest and objective. I dropped  objectivity.  The 
    second thought I had was about  one's  freedom  of  independently 
    forming an idea of what we are. All I can offer to  our  listener 
    is an explanation of what I believe our  music  stems  from.  And 
    what I believe we are. Chewing the bits and piec es and  spitting 
    them out, saying 'this is what we are, this is what our music  is 
    and you had it better to see it that way too or  you  are  a  bad 
    person', would be nothing short of under-estimating our listeners 
    who are all capable of independent thought.  They  wouldn't  care 
    anyway. All are free to hear and understand Fall of the Leafe  in 
    any way they see fit. My interpretation is mine and forcing it on 
    anyone else would be like stealing one's own.                     

CoC: Any interest in shedding more concrete light  on  what  happened 
     around  the  recording  of  _Evanescent,  Everfading_?  I'd   be 
     interested to hear an anecdote about "... the eventful  trip  up 
     north to Kemi and... the band's batchelor life there."           

TT: Revealing too much here  would  ruin  my  plans  of  a  massively 
    successful release of the _Evanescent, Everfading_ sessions video 
    diary. However, I can tell that the  band's  van  was  a  hideous 
    piece of junk and was pulled  over  several  times  en  route  up 
    north. But before actually managing to even start the  trip,  the 
    band noticed that their singer  was  refusing  to  go  and  their 
    drummer had gone missing. Alright, I will cut the crap here.  The 
    truth is I only have second hand knowledge of the events  because 
    I was not a member of this band at that time. In fact, I was  not 
    even living in this country.                                      

CoC: How would you connect Fall of the Leafe to  Finland?  Would  you 
     say there is anything intrinsically Finnish to  your  character? 
     Would  you  resist  or  welcome  comparisons  to  the  likes  of 
     Sentenced or Babylon Whores?                                     

TT: Well, we are undeniably Finnish fellows, that  is  for  sure.  We 
    don't speak much and if we do, we  speak  Finnish;  we  like  the 
    sauna, porno, rock music and many of its subgenres, and  we  like 
    lager. However, apart from the sauna and silence, many blokes  in 
    their mid or late  twenties  are  made  of  the  same  components 
    regardless of their country. So besides being  Finnish,  we  have 
    cultural ties to many things that do not have a home  land.  Such 
    as rock music, for example. Now  that  I  have  effectively  made 
    clear that I have little cultural sensitivity, I am  afraid  that 
    further comments on this  subject  will  only  contribute  to  me 
    making an ass of myself on an internationally  recognized  arena. 
    Which is  fine,  because  I  care  little,  and  I  have  further 
    comments. First, the electric guitar is much more a  part  of  my 
    cultural heritage than kantele, and second, people are  basically 
    the same everywhere. Only small differences here and  there,  but 
    people everywhere share quite similar dreams, hope s  and  needs. 
    Seriously, on my list of components of a good  life,  nationality 
    in itself does not come close to the top one hundred. Now,  I  am 
    confused as to whether these comparisons to Sentenced or  Babylon 
    Whores should be made to music, or the musicians involved.  I  do 
    not know any of these people in person, so  it  is  difficult  to 
    say. Music-wise, I really don't care much. I don't know what kind 
    of music Babylon Whores play and Sentenced,  while  quality  rock 
    music, should excuse me while I kill myself.                      

CoC: You've played live only six times in your history. Any  concrete 
     plans to radically alter this  situation  in  the  near  future? 
     Do you  feel  your  music,  as  primarily  not  rooted  in  live 
     performance, has taken on a character which lends  itself  badly 
     to live performance? Do you think gigs are something  that  will 
     ever become a "high point" in your life as a band?               

TT: Correction: we have now played live eight  times  and  have  more 
    coming. We finally cut our two year live celibacy and are now  in 
    the process of changing our previously lame live  situation.  Our 
    first show in two years we played  in  support  of  the  Finnish- 
    singing Verenpisara, which features members of Amorphis.  With  a 
    new line-up, new material, and pretty much  a  new  situation  we 
    were a bit uncertain as to what was going  to  happen  with  that 
    'come- back' show. And shoot, we were really good. We managed  to 
    shift our songs and our great jam session atmosphere into a  live 
    situation. And people liked it too. I  could  hardly  believe  my 
    ears when people came up after the show and asked for more. Also, 
    we played another good show at our _Volvere_  release  party.  So 
    much for being less of a live band, I think. This  is  all  about 
    the scarcity of  opportunities  to  play  live.  But  whenever  a 
    possibility comes up, playing live  is  nothing  short  of  sheer 
    brilliance. It feels good and -- I never tho  ught  I  would  say 
    this -- we kick ass at it.                                        

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

              I N T O   T H E   P I T   O F   P A I N !
              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             CoC chats with Duncan Mitchell from Descent
                          by: Paul Schwarz


Descent could be called London's best ever answer to Machine Head  -- 
or as some might put it, "The Machine Head  Problem".  Voted  amongst 
Terrorizer magazine's best unsigned bands  in  both  2001  and  2002, 
their combination of thrash metal's  rhythmic  chops,  death  metal's 
downtuned heaviness and the catchy inflections  of  Pantera's  'power 
groove'  school  has  assured  a  steady  rise  to  widespread  local 
notoriety --  backed  as  it  was  by  increasingly  impressive  live 
performances. Though formed in 1998, Descent were relatively  unknown 
until 2000: the year they recorded the  impressively-acclaimed,  Dave 
Chang-produced _Focus, Purity, Darkness_ demo. A three-piece  at  the 
time, Descent stepped up their touring schedule in the  demo's  wake. 
To date, they have supported Shadows Fall,  The  Crown,  Decapitated, 
Darkane and many more 'name' bands,  as  well  as  clocking  up  many 
'underground' gigs besides. One of their final significant 'acts'  as 
a three-piece came when they contributed a moshing (death) m etal mad 
version of Testament's "Into The Pit" to Blackfish's  killer  _Thrash 
Or Be Thrashed_ tribute compilation. But now, with  the  addition  of 
guitarist Tim Spurr, they've substantially broadened their  horizons. 
As a four-piece who have come to fully embrace  Swedish  death  metal 
leanings -- and even a progressive turn or two --  on  their  current 
four-tracker, Descent are surely a more promise-heavy  prospect  than 
ever they were before. I chatted with bassist Duncan Mitchell back in 
April -- via Internet messaging -- to find out how things were going, 
focusing mainly on Descent's recent activities, current  release  and 
future prospects.                                                     

CoC: About the new four-tracker: does that have title at all?

Duncan Mitchell: No, it's  not  meant  for  general  release,  to  be 
                 honest. The demo's main purpose is to try  and  drum 
                 up some record company interest -- though people can 
                 download it from the website should they wish.       

CoC: Let's talk about the demo. The thing that struck me, first  off, 
     was how different it comes across, compared to the  Dave  Chang- 
     produced _Focus, Purity,  Darkness_.  I  don't  mean  the  sound 
     though: it's mainly the spirit, I suppose, in which the new demo 
     has been done. Without in the slightest wanting to  insult  your 
     songwriting on  either  release,  the  new  demo  does  not,  in 
     contrast to _FPD_, seem like the kind of  release  Metal  Hammer 
     would generally latch onto.  Unless  their  tastes  have  really 
     changed from "back in the day".                                  

DM: Well, there has been a couple of years in-between the two  demos, 
    and a couple of line-up changes. _FPD_ was written  as  a  three- 
    piece. Then we got a  second  guitarist  in,  then  we  lost  him 
    and got Tim into the  band.  We  have  quite  a  diverse  set  of 
    inspirations. Marc and Ross are big  into  power  metal  and  the 
    whole Swedish sound; I'm into my brutal death  metal,  grind  and 
    doom; and Tim  is  mainly  into  the  classic  Florida  sound  of 
    Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Suffocation... As for not appealing  to 
    certain magazines' tastes, I see a bit of a shift in public taste 
    at the moment with bands like Shadows Fall  and  God  Forbid  all 
    doing well and sound-wise we're not a  million  miles  away  from 
    them.                                                             

CoC: Did you feel like you wanted to take a darker, more  melodically 
     involved and less mosh-orientated approach  to  death/thrash  -- 
     the somewhat nebulous genre you broadly fit into  --  with  this 
     demo? Does that direction -- in the context  of  what  you  said 
     about the demo being mainly for getting a record deal -- reflect 
     the kind of record companies whose attentions you are hoping  to 
     attract?                                                         

DM: There wasn't really a conscious effort  to  write  in  a  certain 
    style. We all just  bring  our  individual  riffs  and  parts  to 
    practice, jam on them and form songs from there. A big difference 
    now compared  to  FPD  is  that  we  have  all  become  far  more 
    accomplished musically since then and like I  mentioned  we  have 
    added a second guitar which opens up whole new  avenues.  As  for 
    record companies, we've had a few offers  but  nothing  concrete. 
    There are certain labels I'd personally love to sign to,  but  as 
    long as we can find a good deal from  a  honest  label,  I'll  be 
    happy. I think the main problem we have  encountered  so  far  is 
    that people can't really pigeonhole  us  as  a  particular  style 
    (which I think is a good thing) but I suppose  it  does  make  us 
    that bit more awkward to market.                                  

CoC: I dig what you're saying: they can hear and  sometimes  perceive 
     the roots of some core aspects of Descent, but A)  that  doesn't 
     cover the full gamut of what's there, and B) (as  you've  proved 
     with this latest demo) there's no real way of telling where  the 
     band will go next.                                               

DM: Yeah... to be honest, I don't think we know ourselves. <laughs>

CoC: Obviously there are limits --  your  description  of  yourselves 
     very broadly as a metal band seems  to  cover  the  range  well: 
     there's a lot of possibility in that configuration.              

DM: The songs we are writing at the moment are so different from  one 
    to another, some of them are getting stupidly technical and we're 
    all pushing ourselves to the limit musically. But  then  we  have 
    other new songs where we just hold back, look for  a  groove  and 
    try to do something  a  bit  more  catchy.  I  guess  that's  our 
    old school Pantera, Metallica,  Fear  Factory  influences  coming 
    through. We just tend to go with the death/thrash tag. I think it 
    pretty much sums us up. We have hardcore, power metal and even nu 
    elements to our songs, but at the end of the day you have to  try 
    and put yourself under a vague umbrella.                          

CoC: And without wanting to put words in your  mouth,  I'd  postulate 
     that what's "nu" about Descent came from death and thrash in the 
     first place -- too many serpents with too many tails!            

DM: Exactly... people think that Korn and  Slipknot  were  the  first 
    bands to down tune to B and crank out a some great  grooves,  but 
    as we know Carcass, Bolt Thrower and tons of others were doing it 
    all fifteen years ago...                                          

CoC: In the context of what you were saying  about  songs:  have  you 
     been playing live much recently, and if you have, what have been 
     the reactions to new songs (from the demo or after),  and  which 
     songs have you been airing?                                      

DM: We've been doing a few low-key gigs. Tim is still relatively  new 
    to playing live with us. He's only up to  his  sixth  or  seventh 
    gig, but we played with Dimension  Zero  recently  and  that  was 
    awesome. Of the new songs, "Dust of the Fallen" always goes  down 
    well. I think that one sums us up best. It's  technical,  it  has 
    some great grooves and its  heavy  as  fuck.  "World  of  Dreams" 
    always goes down well, as well. We always  joke  that  that  song 
    will be our hit single, as  it's  us  at  our  most  melodic  and 
    catchy.                                                           

CoC: Any specific support/touring  plans  for  the  next  four-to-six 
     months?                                                               

DM: Well, we've just sent out 40+ press packs to labels and venues so 
    it depends what sort of offers we get back, to be honest.  We  do 
    have a couple of things lined up for the near future, but nothing 
    is 100% confirmed. It's best if people keep an eye on the website 
    for all the latest info.                                          

Contact: http://www.descentonline.co.uk

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

                       _, _,  __, _,_ _, _  _,
                      / \ |   |_) | | |\/| (_ 
                      |~| | , |_) | | |  | , )
                      ~ ~ ~~~ ~   `~' ~  ~  ~ 

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!


Ad Hominem - _...For a New World_  (Undercover Records, 2004)
by: Matthias Noll  (7 out of 10)

Simple, no frills, raw black metal is what  Ad  Hominem  from  France 
have to offer a new world. I'm not familiar with  their  debut  album 
and have only heard that previously  they've  used  a  drum  machine, 
whereas _FaNW_ features real drums -- so you'll have  to  do  without 
direct comparisons. I hear remote similarities  to  Deathspell  Omega 
(pre-_Si Monvmentum Requires, Circumspice_) but  overall  Ad  Hominem 
are faster, more shredding, less melodic  and  more  concerned  about 
impact than atmosphere. Highly distorted vocals, a killer sound  with 
ripping guitars, and seven relatively short and compact tracks of the 
same quality and intensity level deal out a vicious punch  throughout 
the whole album. Stylistically Ad Hominem sit in  a  comfortable  and 
unpretentious but innovation-free spot somewhere  in-between  blazing 
speed and  blasting,  and  the  simple-as-can-be  approach  of  early 
Gorgoroth; thankfully they avoid the kindergarden chord  progressions 
of the Marduk school of songwriting, but they also don't achieve  the 
total necro vibe of vintage Gorgoroth. My overall impression is  that 
Ad Hominem have recorded an album which is certainly no  masterpiece, 
but is nevertheless thoroughly enjoyable.                             

Contact: http://www.undercover-records.de 


AmmiT - _Mass Suicide / Steel Inferno_
by: Xander Hoose  (4 out of 10)  (From Beyond Productions, 2004)

The amateurism of AmmiT's _Mass  Suicide  /  Steel  Inferno_'s  inlay 
doesn't promise much good, so thankfully I am prepared when  I  press 
play. I haven't heard black metal  this  uninspired  for  quite  some 
time. And it's not even bad in a funny way, like Goat;  it's  just... 
bad. The bio states AmmiT has been heavily inspired by  Sodom,  Venom 
and Bathory -- three bands that had a great impact on  the  scene  by 
doing something new, something  exciting.  A  few  exceptions  aside, 
originality is hardly found on this  album.  _Mass  Suicide  /  Steel 
Inferno_ consists of three parts, the first one being the 2000  _Mass 
Suicide_ album, which is actually the  best  part  of  this  CD.  The 
1998 _Steel Inferno_ part has a  horrible  production,  exceptionally 
low-volume and even more uninteresting songs. The last part  consists 
of three songs from their 2004 studio sessions; the sound quality has 
improved slightly on these  songs,  but  the  vocals  are  so  damned 
horrible it's impossible to listen to this without feelin g  ashamed. 
Had this album been released more than a decade ago, there would have 
been a chance for AmmiT to sell some copies. But  alas,  we  live  in 
2004 and albums like these don't live up to any standard.             


Aphotic - _Stillness Grows_  (Flood the Earth, 2004)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Aphotic are an American atmospheric death metal band  that  has  been 
toiling in the shadows of the unsigned underground for several  years 
now -- its demos earning high marks  and  vast  praise  while  record 
labels strangely looked the other way. This  disc  unites  all  three 
demos the band has recorded  to  date,  including  the  very  limited 
_Stillness Grows_, and sees the light of day courtesy  of  Flood  the 
Earth Records.                                                        

Aphotic's gloomy atmospheric death has a sound  of  its  own  --  and 
finding a young band who doesn't borrow heavily from well-known  acts 
is not an easy task. This isn't to say there aren't some similarities 
to established artists, but Aphotic show a great deal of  personality 
on every demo. The songs have an understated catchiness and  strength 
to their riffs, which are  helped  along  by  unobtrusive  background 
synths. The death vocals are  relatively  clear  and  well-integrated 
with the music, while the drumming plays a  competent  but  secondary 
role throughout (only the last demo features a human drummer).        

While I understand the reasons why the band or label decided to  have 
the EPs in reverse chronological order (which may help put the latest 
material under the spotlight), it might have been interesting to hear 
the evolution in the band's sound reflected  directly  on  the  disc. 
This is debatable though, and the quality of all three demos  remains 
high throughout; their sound quality is  also  sufficiently  even  to 
avoid any significant continuity flaws.                               

Fans of doom and atmospheric death metal should definitely seek  this 
release and hope that it will prove to be a sign of better things  to 
come for Aphotic. There is great talent and personality in this band, 
and it would be a shame to waste such potential.                      

Contact: http://www.aphoticdeath.com


Bazzah - _Kingdom of the Dead_  (From Beyond Productions, 2004)
by: Xander Hoose  (3.5 out of 10)

OK, so I had just  finished  writing  a  fairly  critical  review  of 
AmmiT's latest album and now I get this thrown in front of  my  feet. 
Bazzah hails from Malaysia and apparently  they  don't  have  a  good 
studio over there, because _Kingdom of the  Dead_  suffers  from  the 
worst sound quality I have heard in a very long  time.  If  you  like 
your high frequencies, go for this album -- the producer even managed 
to get the vocals and bass in that range. It changes somewhat for the 
better after the first half of the  album,  making  me  suspect  that 
_Kingdom of the Dead_ actually consists of two albums.  Unfortunately 
there isn't much info in the booklet, and the info that is  there  is 
unreadable. Don't bother finding out for yourself: all nineteen songs 
on this album are based around the same guitar riff and drum pattern, 
with probably only the vocalist trying something  different  on  each 
song. The only other band that comes to mind when I listen to this is 
Enthroned, but even they are way above the level of this  crap.  Stay 
clear of this and go for something real.                              


Deathspell Omega - _Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice_
by: Matthias Noll  (3 out of 10)  (Norma Evangelium Diaboli, 2004)

Deathspell Omega's new album seems to split their core audience right 
through the middle. Some consider this  a  masterpiece.  Others,  and 
unfortunately I do belong to the second category, feel that this is a 
total disappointment, full of boring, overlong, pretentious and self- 
indulgent songs that are anything but memorable -- or going anywhere. 
While DO were always considered generic by  some,  I've  always  felt 
that their riffs and melodies where totally distinctive,  unique  and 
instantly recognizable.  These  trademarks  have  disappeared  almost 
completely on _Si Momumentum Requires, Circumspice_ and, if I  hadn't 
already known, I would have never, ever been able  to  recognize  the 
band. The flowing nature  of  previous  DO  work  has  given  way  to 
a generally  faster,  more  dissonant  and  almost  hectic  approach, 
which features far more breaks and which,  in  quite  a  few  places, 
structurally and  rhythmically  reminds  me  of  Satyricon  on  their 
_Nemesis Divina_ album.                                               

_SMR,C_ is a concept album dealing with "a theological dispute on the 
divine essence of the Devil, the roles and virtues of faith  and  the 
place of man therein" -- and I'm sure a tremendous amount of work has 
gone into this project. But as interesting as this sounds, I've never 
managed to spin this album without already getting bored  during  the 
third of the thirteen chapters which are obviously necessary to bring 
the dispute across. From then  on,  the  main  impression  I  get  is 
comparable to being present at a 72 minute lecture which  turned  out 
to be pointless and useless right after the introduction. Congrats on 
the full and powerful sound, but for the rest of the record I have to 
say that, if this really is the first  of  three  similar  'acts'  or 
albums, then I'm afraid that DO have ceased to exist in  my  personal 
black metal world.                                                    


Exciter - _New Testament_  (Osmose Productions / The End, 2004)
by: Aaron McKay  (5 out of 10)

Getting past the all the images of a Spinal Tap power metal  emissary 
resurgence is a real test for any reviewer. You know what I  mean  -- 
Sinner and their ilk have more-or-less  (re)warped  the  power  metal 
scene beyond all recognizable comprehension. So what, right? At least 
we have Exciter. These speed metal stalwarts from Canada have  enough 
time on the circuit to rename the whole  damn  scene  Exciter  Metal. 
After twenty-five years, the  recent  _New  Testament_  offering  may 
logically be viewed as a "best of" album. What  makes  that  special? 
The fifteen tracks are  re-recorded  with  the  newest  ever-evolving 
Exciter line-up. Most are familiar, at least somewhat, with  Exciter. 
Having forsaken their original moniker, Hell Razor, in favor  of  the 
more Judas Priest-esque Exciter name, this late1970s band takes their 
singing seriously, as would any Halford enthusiast; think  "Freewheel 
Burning" sung with Rob under-the-weather and that's what you butt  up 
against hearing Jacques Belanger's vocal style.  This  collection  of 
Exciter favs, by my count,  makes  ten  officially  released  albums. 
Obviously originality  goes  bye-byes  with  a  "best  of",  but  the 
production on _New Testament_ is solid and  that  winds  up  being  a 
large plus. The ability (and cojones) to recreate  past  material  is 
another. Testament did this with _First Strike Still Deadly_. In  one 
reviewer's opinion, that revision by Chuck Billy and the boys sounded 
more relevant for one reason or another. _New Testament_ incorporates 
a wide diversity of Exciter's catalog, yet it plays  out  similar  to 
being ridden hard  and  put  away  wet.  Much  like  having  Massacre 
(finally) put down "Corpsegrinder" on _From Beyond_, we  can  all  be 
grateful for Exciter's willingness to offer this  collection  on  one 
CD. Reviving "I Am the Beast" and "Blackwitch"  make  even  the  most 
conventional fan wanna "Stand Up and Fight"!  The  sixty-six  minutes 
this disc spins is a bit too long  and  runs  the  risk  of  sounding 
rehashed after that length of time . When all is said  and  done,  in 
spite  of  this  "Brutal  Warning",  folks,  even  I  have  to  admit 
sheepishly that Exciter have kept  "Long  Live  the  Loud"  close  at 
heart.                                                                

Contact: http://www.theendrecords.com


Filii Nigrantium Infernalium - _A Queda / A Era do Abutre_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (6 out of 10)  (Independent, 2004)

Portuguese act Filii Nigrantium Infernalium are all about  good  old- 
fashioned thrash, with the unusual twist of singing in  their  native 
tongue. Gathering two of the band's efforts, this disc provides  half 
an hour of their somewhat eccentric brand of thrash,  accentuated  by 
piercing vocal shrieks. Venomous and determined, FNI rip through each 
track while leaving in their wake some reasonably memorable hooks and 
choruses. Both works suffer from a somewhat underwhelming  production 
and a certain lack of consistency, but they have  their  moments  and 
plenty of character shines through. It would be interesting  to  hear 
what FNI might be able to come up with given a bigger budget to  work 
with, as there seem to be some good ideas floating about. Until then, 
this release will remain mostly for  the  consumption  of  a  limited 
audience.                                                             

Contact: http://www.infernalium.com


Forest of Impaled - _Forward the Spears_  (Red Stream, 2003)
by: Todd DePalma  (4 out of 10)

The opening track of this album begins with a short lead-in by way of 
orchestra, very cinematic amidst the sounds of  feat-hoofs  crunching 
along the dusty ground and the clamor of weaponry. In  the  next  few 
seconds we are launched into a trampling, viciously coordinate  march 
of metal, completely unrelenting for two or three  briefly  epic  and 
bloody minutes. What happened?                                        

From here on  the  album  deflates  into  a  plainly  derivative,  if 
energetic endeavor that falls short of the  band's  potential,  still 
apparent in at least a few tracks among the  ennui.  This  group  has 
always contained a slight thrash element, full of  melody  but  never 
being completely "melodic" -- a trait retained on this  release  with 
several catchy riffs here and there that (thankfully, I guess)  never 
become overdone or harmonized into something... Swedish. Nor do these 
riffs seem to ever actually build to anything interesting or --  more 
of a  necessity  --  sustain  their  own  integrity.  The  latter  is 
disappointing, the former contemptible. They are  from  Poland  after 
all. Any interesting hooks usually appear in the first minute  or  so 
of a track ("Sons of Cain", "Into the Mouth of  Oblivion")  and  from 
then on become surrounded and vanish within energetically played, but 
impersonal guitar rhythms over the assault of Duane Timlin's drumming 
-- which is sublime because in our age of tech-sa vvy  percussionists 
he's actually hitting the goddamn things. As it is, I can hardly hold 
it against him that his work is not Atlas  enough  to  prop  up  this 
material. Vocalist / bassist Marcus M. Kolar (since departed)  brings 
a fierce amalgam of styles together that are enjoyable  and  stirring 
to hear: a mix of rasps and David Vincent-like deeply spoken  echoes. 
But of the ten tracks here only the title track, "I Am the Temple  to 
Eternal Death" and the ceremonial "Orgy of Unearthly  Delights"  rise 
above something other than standardized sound.                        

Contact: http://www.forestofimpaled.com


Goretrade - _Ritual of Flesh_  (Displeased Records, 2004)
by: Xander Hoose  (8.5 out of 10)

Gore-grind and gore-death bands seem  to  be  popping  back  to  life 
lately. Does it mean it's the new big thing?  I  don't  know,  but  I 
can't say I'm not happy with it. As  long  as  quality  improves  I'm 
happy with my served  dish  of  mangled  torsos,  severed  limbs  and 
rotting brains. Goretrade fulfills a fair  share  of  my  needs  with 
_Rituals of  Flesh_.  For  a  gore  band  they  have  a  very  decent 
production, and the vocalist manages to squeeze a  nice  juicy  grunt 
from his vocal chords -- there's not much left to be desired.  It  is 
true that the drums could be  a  little  heavier,  but  that  doesn't 
deflect my attention from the music as a whole.  While  the  bandlogo 
gives me slight flashbacks of the good old Impetigo times,  musically 
I would love to see these guys perform as  opening  act  to  Cannibal 
Corpse or Jungle Rot. Granted, _Rituals of Flesh_ is not as  good  as 
the latest album by Splatterhouse, but  this  album  does  feature  a 
member of Internal Suffering! And it does have artwork by Jon Zig! If 
any of you freaks don't mind spending money on more  than  one  album 
this month, you should be chopping your way through a mass of zombies 
right now to make it to the record store.                             


In Grey - _Sulphur Tears_  (Last Entertainment Productions, 2004)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (6 out of 10)

Separated by only a few days, two discs arrived in  my  mailbox  from 
previously unsigned bands gathering demos for their  inaugural  label 
release: first Aphotic and now In  Grey.  Much  like  the  Americans, 
these Swedes have been producing demos for quite a few years, and now 
seem to have found a light at the end of the  unsigned  tunnel.  Last 
Entertainment Productions is the label that took  responsibility  for 
releasing their latest work _Sulphur Tears_ along with a  few  tracks 
taken from previous demos, as  In  Grey  now  hope  to  gain  greater 
visibility in the metal scene.                                        

In Grey haven't changed their style much over  the  past  few  years, 
tweaking rather than reinventing their  sound  with  each  successive 
demo. _Sulphur Tears_ is no exception, in spite of  the  addition  of 
three new members to the fold. Their gothic metal is at times vaguely 
reminiscent of present day Katatonia -- though  featuring  much  more 
of a gothic  look  and  a  bouncier  kind  of  sound,  far  from  the 
bleakness Katatonia can display, sometimes bringing to mind Sentenced 
instead. Their melodic and chorus-heavy style is repeatedly  explored 
throughout the disc as In Grey try to play to their strengths.  While 
this approach reduces variety, it can also work in the band's  favour 
at this early stage in their career. You can easily pick  out  a  few 
sticky choruses and riffs from _Sulphur Tears_, and  that's  a  bonus 
for a band still looking to make a name for themselves. In Grey  also 
include the occasional variation to their  chorus-oriented  material, 
which is quite welcome.                                               

_Sulphur Tears_ shows the band  is  continuing  to  grow,  especially 
in the guitar  department,  while  the  new  singer  makes  a  rather 
indifferent impact in the band's  sound.  The  disc  starts  somewhat 
poorly but improves later on, as the band struggles to keep things at 
a constantly good level. Helped by a decent production, In Grey sound 
more like a band capable of clinching a label deal than  before,  and 
this release could well set them on their way to success.  Some  more 
originality and consistency and a  less  evident  desire  to  make  a 
hit single out of nearly  every  track  would  be  advisable  in  the 
future, but _Sulphur Tears_ should already  provide  reasonably  good 
entertainment for fans of the genre.                                  

Contact: http://www.in-grey.com


Infinited Hate - _Revel in Bloodshed_  (Displeased Records, 2004)
by: Xander Hoose  (6.5 out of 10)

Those of you who have been paying enough attention to what  has  been 
happening in the scene have seen this album coming. Rising  from  the 
ashes of Sinister, Infinited Hate includes most of the final  line-up 
of Sinister -- even female gruntster Rachel Kloosterwaard  has  taken 
the step to provide _Revel  in  Bloodshed_  with  vocals.  The  album 
clocks a nice 37 minutes of non-stop death metal action from song one 
to song eleven. You're not allowed, not even for a single moment,  to 
catch your breath. Not that I mind though! What I  do  mind  is  that 
both production- and song-wise it could have  been  better.  Sinister 
has made better songs than  we  can  find  on  this  album,  and  the 
production is a bit thin for a brutal Dutch death band. The usage  of 
a drum machine doesn't really become obvious unless you pay attention 
to it; perhaps it does explain  why  there  are  only  some  sporadic 
breaks in speed. Nonetheless, if you have always liked  Sinister  and 
don't mind a more grindcore-oriented direction, you will like  _Revel 
in Bloodshed_. If you're looking for more variation, don't go looking 
for it here. Infinited Hate has taken  the  other  direction  and  it 
doesn't seem like they are willing to turn back soon.                 


Killaman - _Killaman_  (Displeased Records, 2004)
by: Xander Hoose  (9 out of 10)

Those who mourned over  the  disbanding  of  Murder  Corporation  can 
finally  put  their  grief  behind  them.  Under  the  name  Killaman 
comes their new  incarnation,  consisting  of  Rune  (vocals),  Johan 
(guitar/bass) and Rikard (drums). Those  of  you  familiar  with  the 
Deranged line-up might recognize a name or two as well. _Killaman_ is 
not as much the continuation of the Murder Corporation sound as it is 
the taking of a new course, mixing death with thrash and a  sniff  of 
grindcore. On the eleven songs on this album,  Killaman  doesn't  let 
their guard down for a second: from the first notes to the last, your 
senses  are  bombarded  with  non-stop  violent  riffing,  aggressive 
drumming and clear, deep growls. Think of a death  metal  version  of 
The Haunted's debut album and  you  might  get  the  idea.  Having  a 
fast-paced album without any slower pieces means something has to  be 
done to hold the attention: the tiny insane guitar parts that can  be 
found throughout the songs do the trick perfectly. Clocking in  at  a 
decent 32 minutes, _Killaman_ is a worthy debut album that  leaves  a 
desire for more. It's good to hear that in  the  meantime,  a  second 
guitarist and permanent bass player have been found.  If  these  guys 
are playing at a club near you, go check them out!                    

Contact: http://www.killaman.net


Krieg - _The Black House_  (Red Stream, 2004)
by: Todd DePalma  (10 out of 10)

After a seasonal round of split  releases  and  limited  demos,  2004 
brings the third full-length release from Krieg, and the first  thing 
to note (sensibly... obviously, I suppose) is the album cover --  the 
preferred style having changed over time from  the  illustrations  of 
Gustave Doré to obscure black &  white  photography.  The  cover  art 
captures a psychic  prison  "In  effigie"  representing  the  artists 
inner  "dreamstructure",  but  also  a  metaphor  for  its  cognizant 
manifestation  on  record.  Though  the  conceptual  nature  of  _The 
Black House_ gives the most explicit framing  for  the  band's  work, 
emphasizing personality, it remains alienating. The contradiction  of 
this approach is the nucleus of the album's strength. These  are  not 
songs begging for understanding. (No lyrics, as  usual.  No  sampling 
either.) And although this is the most "listenable"  Krieg  yet,  the 
band retains its raw hallmark, remaining only  semi-apparent  like  a 
phantom to the listener.                                              

Twelve tracks reflect a  wider  range  of  songwriting  --  and  with 
them a  necessary  change  in  production,  allowing  the  guitar  to 
have more clarity, capturing  a  more  gothic  sound  in  the  truest 
sense: often resounding a synthesis of Misfits (circa  _Earth  A.D._) 
and Darkthrone. The slashing, militaristic  riffs  of  "Deviant"  and 
"Sickening Voices Without Speech" display a handle on  catchy  rhythm 
breaks that were either non-existent or previously indecipherable  in 
earlier works. There is even a racing but somber instrumental  track, 
complete with closing guitar solo. Imperial's vocals abrasively  plow 
through the storm of sound, belching multi-layered  screams  that  do 
not stray drastically from his unique and familiar  style.  But  once 
the ceremonial, trodden tones of "Venus in Furs" (Velvet Underground) 
enter, Imperial is able to sing-scream over the slow  chord  changes, 
which is surreal enough and compounded by the euphoric stupor of  the 
music itself. In a genre so accustomed to masking so much sameness in 
bloated and overused  descriptions,  there  is  only  one  term  that 
truthfully describes this type of sound, in a word (most innocently): 
Separatist.                                                           

Contact: http://www.destructionritual.com


Leviathan - _Tentacles of Whorror_  (Moribund , 2004)
by: Todd DePalma  (7.5 out of 10)

This is the third album proper by  the  one-manned  sound  enterprise 
Leviathan, a ghostly ambient work with strong black metal tendencies. 
Twelve tracks of suicide-themed music  that  bear  a  wide  range  of 
influence gathering industrial, death, darkwave and  rock  into  over 
one hour's worth of schismatic time changes, as songs  segue  to  the 
next and within themselves portraying a dream landscape  of  criminal 
thoughts. Leviathan's music is cowled in scraping  production,  often 
challenged by its melodically diverse personality. Bass is worthy  of 
its even mix, while guitars are thin and comparable to  _A  Blaze  in 
the  Northern  Sky_  or  early  Sepultura,  and  not  surprisingly  a 
speed/death element emerges early on  with  "Heir  to  the  Noose  of 
Ghoul". Whatever the more traditional instruments  are  involved  in, 
there is always some element that  further  affects  the  unbalanced, 
schizophrenic mood displayed: bombs, wind,  choirs,  chamber  sounds, 
keyboards and  the  effectively  frightening  (if  at  times  whiney) 
hissing vocal performance by mastermind Wrest.                        

_Tentacles of Whorror_  is  most  rewarding  when  delving  into  its 
ambient side, showcased in "A Necessary Mutilation" and  the  spacey, 
Lynchian vibe of "Blood Red and True: Part  3".  While  this  zealous 
blend of technique is interesting, the styles are more stacked rather 
than interwoven, and the more blatant black metal sections seem to be 
weighing down a much more potent creative  force.  "Vexed  and  Vomit 
Hexed"  is  easily  the  dullest  piece,  while  track  seven  blasts 
through three minutes of rough, unspectacular  hysteria  then  splits 
-- focusing  on  hypnotically  reverberating  guitar  notes,  loosely 
reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine, over  a  mid-paced  stride.  When 
splitting these types completely: one half appears  a  journeyman  to 
early Burzum while the  other  half  could  be  approaching  its  own 
sage-like summit. Recommended as a semi-brilliant, darkly  engineered 
dichotomy of art.                                                     

Contact: http://www.moribundcult.com 

Martyr - _A Malicious Odyssey_  (Black Owl Records, 2004)
by: Aaron McKay  (8 out of 10)

Another dip into Martyr's blackened waters, this  release  represents 
the second offering from  these  guys  following  up  the  incredible 
effort on Regimental Records, _To Confirm  When  Destruction  Comes_. 
Gone largely is the fiery, scorched playing style of  their  previous 
effort, replaced with a more  feverishly  stripped-down  approach  in 
favor of speed and purity of form; simply two ways  of  tackling  the 
same black metal objective. While there are still strong elements  of 
Martyr's musical rhythmic change-ups that accentuate  their  material 
perfectly,  _To  Confirm  When  Destruction  Comes_  exploited   this 
particular feature to a fine art. This is  no  question  that  Martyr 
still harbors a  great  deal  of  potential.  Under  the  surface  of 
material laid forth on _A Malicious Odyssey_ waits a  whole  host  of 
paths less traveled by others on the extreme scene presently.         

As mentioned before, Martyr's technique has evolved  somewhat,  which 
may be due to the departure of N. Silence -- a  central  member  over 
the last seven years. This development of their style could be viewed 
as a maturation of Martyr's sound. Being a sucker  of  the  more  raw 
aspects of _To Confirm When Destruction Comes_,  admittedly  it  took 
some time for _A Malicious Odyssey_  to  fully  take  hold  upon  its 
arrival. Still a three piece, this outfit continues to enjoy  a  rich 
and full sound. "Downfall" drives  forth  a  pounding  punishment  of 
choppy riffs without sacrificing  any  of  the  harsher,  unforgiving 
expressions of Martyr's zealous  sound.  Immediately  following  that 
track, "Failure of the 4th" embodies what I consider the undercurrent 
of their technique. Catchy, with  an  enticing  guitar  accompaniment 
winding its way through the onset of the song  then  dissolving  into 
the basic searing structure before  resurfacing  toward  the  end  of 
track's six minutes of  wild  enmity.  Most  assuredly  a  ba  nd  to 
consider and monitor with interest.                                   

Contact: http://www.blackowlrecords.com


MD.45 - _The Craving (remastered)_  (Capitol Records, 2004)
by: Xander Hoose  (1 out of 10)

Call me a sucker for happy  music,  but  MD.45's  _The  Craving_  has 
always been one of my favourites.  This  collaboration  between  Dave 
Mustaine and Fear frontman Lee  Ving  was  the  perfect  mix  between 
thrash metal and that kick-in-your-ass punk attitude that  only  Fear 
could provide. The catchy, intriguing guitar riffs and melodies  have 
kept me happy during many car rides.  With  a  decent  production,  I 
couldn't really find anything bad about this album -- so why remaster 
this classic album? Now that I finally get to have  a  listen,  I  am 
shocked. No, I am outraged. Mister almighty  Dave  Mustaine  has  not 
remastered the album, he has  stripped  the  original  album  of  Lee 
Ving's vocals and laid down his own vocal tracks. And it doesn't stop 
there: upon mixing his new vocals in, he has completely  ignored  the 
balance between the  volume  of  his  vocals  and  the  rest  of  the 
instruments. So what the new  _The  Craving_  is,  is  Dave  Mustaine 
raping the original songs with the instruments too  far  in  the  bac 
kground. Unbelievable. Not only do Dave's whiny vocals make the album 
hell to listen to, using the old bandname is downright  hypocritical. 
MD: Mustaine, Dave. 45: the Latin L and V  for  Lee  Ving.  For  this 
effort in backstabbing I refuse to  give  mister  Mustaine  a  higher 
rating than the one I'm praising the album with now. Those of you who 
don't know _The Craving_, please go find the original.                


Megadeth - _The System Has Failed_  (Sanctuary Records, 2004)
by: Brian Meloon  (5 out of 10)

After Metallica's _St. Anger_ [CoC #63], one should've expected  that 
Megadeth would record an album that goes back  to  their  roots.  And 
after hearing the MP3 of "Kick the Chair" from their website,  I  had 
reasonably high hopes for  this  album,  as  that  song  sounds  like 
something that might have come off my favorite Megadeth album,  _Rust 
in Peace_. But instead of returning to the sound of their pre-sellout 
albums, Megadeth's latest  offering  is  a  hodge-podge  of  elements 
from throughout their discography. Aside  from  the  fact  that  it's 
professionally produced and played, this isn't a very good album. One 
major reason for this is that there just aren't very many good  riffs 
here: most of the riffs are either derivative or cliché, and the only 
ones I find decent are the  handful  that  remind  me  (usually  very 
strongly) of riffs from _Peace Sells_ or  _Rust  in  Peace_.  Another 
main problem is that it lacks consistency, so it comes  off  sounding 
more like an anthology than an indivisible body of work. For example, 
three of the early songs use samples, but none of the other songs do, 
and three of the last songs feature religious overtones, yet none  of 
the others do. I frequently found myself wondering which  album  each 
song might have come from, and  finding  that  some  songs  contained 
elements of a few of their albums. Strangely, they also seem to  have 
picked up influences from outside their discography, such  as  "Tears 
in a Vial", which sounds more like  early  Tesla  than  any  Megadeth 
album. Given all of these influences,  it's  hard  to  find  any  new 
elements that they've brought to this album --  so  what  we're  left 
with is a rehash of their old ideas, arranged and packaged as  a  new 
album. Still, this is an improvement over _Risk_,  for  example.  But 
while it restores some of Megadeth's  sagging  credibility,  I  think 
it's too little, too late to win back  many  of  the  fans  of  their 
earlier albums, myself included.                                      

Contact: http://www.megadeth.com


Napalm Death  - _Leaders Not Followers 2_  (Century Media, 2004)
by: Jackie Smit  (8 out of 10)

I had been looking forward to hearing this record for a while.  Sure, 
cover albums are fast becoming a dime a dozen and it  can  be  argued 
that they are little more than a convenient way for a band to release 
something they can make money off while fans salivate in anticipation 
of their next full-length. But, as the  first  instalment  of  Napalm 
Death's _Leaders Not Followers_ series pointed out, covers albums can 
also serve as interesting, if nostalgia-inducing reinterpretations of 
forgotten classics, especially when the Brummy legends  take  a  song 
like "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" (originally by The Dead Kennedys) and turn 
it into a bona fide Napalm Death classic. Consequently, _Leaders  Not 
Followers 2_ avoids the lazy cash-in of cover-albums  like  Six  Feet 
Under's _Graveyard Classics_, and goes straight for the jugular  from 
the word go. There aren't any surprises, and for once that's almost a 
relief -- hell, you'd have been a fool for expecting anything to  the 
contrary anyway. _Leaders N ot Followers 2_ serves up nineteen tracks 
of warp-speed violence that hit the mark again and again. On  an  odd 
few occasions one might wince at the inclusion  of  a  number  that's 
clearly not quite working as it should, but when you  have  an  album 
that features  blistering  adaptations  of  Agnostic  Front's  "Blind 
Justice" and Discharge's "War's No Fairytale", you have a record that 
contains enough primal aggression to power a small city. Add to  this 
the album's ultimate highlight (Sepultura's  "Troops  of  Doom")  and 
there really is no way that  you  can  go  wrong  with  _Leaders  Not 
Followers 2_.                                                         

Contact: http://www.enemyofthemusicbusiness.com


Nargaroth - _Raluska Part I_  (No Colours, 2004)
by: Matthias Noll  (5 out of 10)

Recorded during the same 2001 sessions as _Raluska Part II_  --  with 
Moonblood's Occulta Mors on drums,  but  Kanwulf's  vocals  added  in 
March 2004 -- _Raluska Part I_ is technically not all  too  different 
from the second part, which was released back in 2002. The  sound  is 
identical, the mood and general direction  of  the  material  is  the 
same, but the quality of the tunes  isn't.  Those  who  thought  that 
_Geliebte des Regens_ was too slow and plodding might have reason  to 
rejoice, because (out of  three  songs  and  an  intro)  _Raluska  I_ 
features two fast tracks; but as a whole, it leaves the impression of 
by-the- numbers Nargoroth material.                                   

After the "Trauermarsch" intro -- based on  the  traditional  "Marche 
Funebre" theme, used by Candlemass on _Nightfall_ and there  credited 
to an interpretation by Chopin -- the title  track  "Raluska"  starts 
off the EP in decent fashion, although it's certainly no  outstanding 
track -- and upon closer inspection just standard Nargaroth mid-tempo 
fare. (The "Marche Funebre" theme makes a return here, but is lousily 
integrated into the song itself.)  Track  three,  "Where  the  Cranes 
Fly", is definitely the most interesting of the three actual songs -- 
utilising blazing speed and unusual, interesting chord  progressions. 
The last track, "The Tears of a Man", does justice  to  its  pathetic 
title, consisting of a  lukewarm  riff  that  sounds  disconcertingly 
familiar if not worn-out, fast but absolutely monotonous  and  boring 
drumming and some totally unimaginative and  repetitious  rasping  by 
Kanwulf.                                                              

This material might have gone down a  lot  better  if  both  EPs  had 
gotten released as a whole, with a  track-list  that  cleverly  mixed 
material from both, but as it is _Raluska Part I_ is sadly only worth 
the money for die-hard Nargaroth fans.                                


Necrophagist - _Epitaph_  (Relapse Records, 2004)
by: Jackie Smit  (8.5 out of 10)

And so yet  another  supremely  worthy  contender  steps  up  to  the 
no-holds barred battle royal that is the current death  metal  scene. 
In 2003 we were blown away by the  likes  of  Zyklon,  Morbid  Angel, 
Krisiun and Akercocke, and likewise in 2004 we've already seen superb 
efforts by Decapitated, Cannibal Corpse and  Suffocation.  Now  comes 
_Epitaph_ --  an  album  which  if  anything  gives  new  meaning  to 
the phrase "inhumanly technical". Off  the  back  of  the  hyperspeed 
scale-based opening of "Ignominious & Pale", one might even be nudged 
as far as to say that this German quartet give Trey Azagtoth and  the 
late Chuck Schuldiner  a  run  for  their  money  in  terms  of  pure 
instrumental virtuosity. Indeed, Morbid Angel and Death influences do 
feature heavily on this  record,  but  unlike  many  of  their  peers 
currently trying to make headway into  this  style  of  death  metal, 
Necrophagist have enough original ideas to deliver  some  outstanding 
songs of their own. Not content to merely blast away  (Eric  Ru  tan, 
please take note for when you record the next  Hate  Eternal  album), 
the band shift seamlessly through a variety of tempos,  melodies  and 
atmospheres, creating a  deep-rooted  sense  of  dynamics  which  one 
unfortunately doesn't hear all that much anymore. "The Stillborn One" 
is a perfect example, starting off with a chunky pinch-harmonic  riff 
before building to a Nile-esque speed explosion, which in turns tails 
off into one of the most haunting guitar leads this side of _South Of 
Heaven_.  Relapse  Records  obviously  know  they're  onto  something 
special here as  well,  and  have  ensured  that  the  production  on 
_Epitaph_ is second to none -- every instrument  is  given  ample  to 
room to breathe. The  bass  guitar  in  particular  is  cast  in  the 
spotlight, which is not something you hear  on  death  metal  records 
every day. That said, there is more than enough skill being displayed 
here to ensure that a sterling production effort simply acts  as  the 
trifecta on an album which quite frankly  kick  s  ass  on  too  many 
levels to mention.                                                    

[Brian  Meloon:  "Aside  from  some  questionable  decisions  in  the 
 songwriting department, this is a very good slab of technical  death 
 metal, and a more complete album than  their  debut.  I'd  score  it 
 9/10, and rate it above Capharnaum, but below Psycroptic  and  Spawn 
 of Possession among recent technical death metal releases. And  yes, 
 it's far beyond Morbid Angel and Death for sheer technicality."]     

Contact: http://www.necrophagist.de


Officium Triste - _Reason_  (Displeased Records, 2004)
by: Xander Hoose  (8 out of 10)

Usually I let doom metal albums pass, as I don't have the patience to 
sit them out, but for some reason I couldn't get it over my heart  to 
let this one go. Officium Triste is one of the best doom bands that I 
can think of; their songs are very well textured, have deeper  layers 
so you will keep finding out new elements to the  songs  on  repeated 
listens, but mostly I really dig the vocals. Vocalist Pim has a  very 
clear grunt, up to the point where I would call it 'well-pronounced'. 
Not on one single moment does his throat sound forced, yet  there  is 
enough power in it to give the song a brutal but sad edge.            

Opener "In Pouring Rain" is actually  quite  fast-paced  for  a  doom 
song; a good ear will recognize the melody of "The  Final  Countdown" 
near the end, brilliantly interwoven with the song. While "In  Silent 
Witness" is very slow and melancholic, Officium Triste picks up  pace 
again with "This Inner Twist". The longest song on the album is  "The 
Sun Doesn't Shine Anymore", my personal favourite. This album  has  a 
clearer sound than _Ne Vivam_ and doesn't focus much on guitar  solos 
anymore. While not an outstanding album, _Reason_ is a very good disc 
for those who yearn  for  melancholy  yet  don't  want  to  drown  in 
sadness.                                                              

Contact: http://www.officiumtriste.com


Pest - _Daudafaerd_  (No Colours, 2004)
by: Matthias Noll  (7 out of 10)

Pest, the Swedish band, is one of the newer signings of Germany's  No 
Colours label. I had been considering purchasing  their  first  full- 
length album _Desecration_, but a couple of samples on the No Colours 
website did not fully convince me. This,  along  with  Aaron  McKay's 
less than favourable review in CoC, prevented me  from  adding  their 
album to my collection. With the EP _Daudafaerd_, featuring a  single 
20-minute track, I decided to take the risk. In the end  it's  better 
to waste 9 Euro instead of 13, and  I  have  to  say  I'm  pleasantly 
surprised.                                                            

Like almost every other black metal band these days,  Pest  does  not 
innovate the genre while delivering the trademarks of raw black metal 
within a slow  and  melancholic  framework,  with  strong  vocals,  a 
raw but surprisingly powerful sound,  and  riffs  and  melodies  that 
fortunately do not sound overly familiar.  _Daudefaerd_  is  not  the 
ultra- aggressive, Darkthrone inspired kind of material some might be 
expecting from Pest. Instead it's much closer to,  for  example,  the 
material on Satanic Warmaster's _Black  Katharsis_  EP,  as  far  the 
general mood is concerned. _Daudefaerd_ is  a  slowly  flowing  piece 
which consists of three major themes and riffs  which  get  delivered 
and combined at epic length with  a  couple  of  slight  alterations, 
twists and turns. Basically it would have been possible to slice away 
three or four minutes in the second half of the track without  anyone 
missing a lot, but as a whole _Daudafaerd_ works. Never does it sound 
as if shorter songs were just combined to create a single long track, 
and it succeeds in wrapping the listener in a  shroud  of  melancholy 
and sadness. A positive surprise, and from now on Pest are on my list 
of bands which I believe might have an ace or two  up  their  sleeve. 
Let's hope they already deal it out on the next full-length.          


Tankard - _Beast of Bourbon_  (AFM Records, 2004)
by: Matthias Noll  (8.5 out of 10)

Maybe it's the power of well brewed, superior German  beer  that  can 
bring someone back from dead. Who knows? Fact is (I should better say 
opinion) that Tankard have recorded an album that totally and utterly 
crushes every album bands such as Kreator, Sodom or Destruction  have 
released since the German thrash revival started a  couple  of  years 
ago. To my ears this is a thousand times better  than  even  the  new 
Exodus. Who'd ever have thought that thrash 'the Frankfurt way' could 
sound better than one of the Bay Area legends?!? _Beast  of  Bourbon_ 
is easily the best Tankard album since _Chemical Invasion_. A totally 
brilliant and crushing sound, courtesy of Andy Claassen;  frantically 
thrashing songs like "Under Friendly Fire", or the even better  stuff 
from the second half of the album like "The  Horde"  or  "Beyond  the 
Pubyard"; cool solos: this is killer from start to finish.  The  only 
exception is the Cocksparrer cover, "We're Coming Back", which sounds 
far too German for its own goo d, but is fortunately put at  the  end 
of the record. Gerre and his fellow beer-drinkers  have  successfully 
gotten rid of all the melodic crap  which  made  albums  like  _Disco 
Destroyer_ so atrocious, and replaced it with pure  energy,  fun  and 
aggression. A prime example of  a  true  return  to  form.  Frankfurt 
thrashers do indeed, and once again, rule tonight!                    

Contact: http://www.tankard.org


Today Is the Day - _Kiss the Pig_  (Relapse, 2004)
by: Aaron McKay  (7.5 out of 10)

Sauntering rather unknowingly into the Today Is  the  Day  boot  camp 
just a few years back at the  Milwaukee  MetalFest  with  their  1999 
release of _In the Eyes of God_, Steve Austin and his clan have never 
strayed far from their erratic trademark style.  Tipping  my  hat  to 
that fact, this band has never  remained  satisfied  or  stagnant  by 
anyone's definition. One more statement of the obvious: Today Is  the 
Day is absolutely an acquired taste; like  the  mezcal  worm,  maybe. 
Gusano!?                                                              

While late in life  realizing  the  somewhat  addicting  paranoia  of 
this outfit, _Kiss the Pig_  is  more  of  the  same  to  pacify  the 
monolithically frenzied disciples -- yet  ratcheted  up  to  a  fever 
pitch. Now that is saying something  for  this  band!  Ramped  up  by 
design in an effort to outdo himself, Steve Austin added more than  a 
few right angles that musically  doubled  back  on  themselves  while 
going in  three  directions  at  once  with  _KtP_.  Confusing?  Yes! 
Interesting? Hell yea! Typically what one  would  expect  from  these 
guys and their vast experience on the entire scene.                   

Mike Rosswog from Circle of Dead Children on drums and, again,  Chris 
Debari on bass join the fray on this new whitewashing of sanity  they 
collectively call _KtP_. As you might expect, Mr. Austin's vocals are 
ever-changing. Sounding occasionally like an  adolescent,  whispering 
other times, but always developing this vocal approach as  if  coming 
from everywhere at once. The spotlight on this album  seems  to  land 
squarely on Steve's communication of TItD's unabashed acrimony. "This 
Machine Kills Fascists" is an outstanding example of the shear danger 
inherent in a band able to meld atypical structure, untold aggression 
and  militant  riffing.  Possibly  arguments  of  the  principles  of 
government  and  political  persuasion  aside,  the  merciless  sonic 
brutality Today Is the Day represents is what has become an  industry 
standard for even the most disjointed in the grindcore field.         

_KtP_ climaxes with a double digit track clocking  in  at  just  over 
twelve minutes. "Birthright" may be  longer,  and  qualifies  for  an 
honorable mention for rolling what sounds like  more  than  one  song 
into a single track, it does punctuate this  band's  penchant  for  a 
certain definable discombobulation. Crazy like a fox. Over thirty-six 
minutes of punch-drunk  abject  dizziness,  with  a  madman's  creepy 
perseverance -- _Kiss the Pig_ will amaze you (again) with style, but 
not surprise you with novelty. But really,  would  you  have  it  any 
other way?                                                            

Contact: http://www.todayistheday.org


Unleashed - _Sworn Allegiance_  (Century Media , 2004)
by: Jackie Smit  (6 out of 10)

If anything is to be said for Unleashed's seventh studio effort, it's 
that at the very least it delivers a marked improvement  over  2002's 
_Hell Unleashed_, and the cringingly self-deprecating  _Warrior_.  At 
the same time though, one has to wonder just how badly we need a  new 
Unleashed album, given its place in an increasingly saturated  genre. 
Sure,  songs  like  "Winterland"  and  "Destruction"  are  skillfully 
performed examples of old-school death metal,  but  even  by  vintage 
standards they still come up pretty short against the likes of recent 
Bloodbath and Demonoid efforts. Likewise,  Fredrik  Folkare's  superb 
sound engineering is crisp and hard-hitting, but no amount  of  audio 
tinkering can hide the relentless absurdity of cliché dribble like "I 
only fuck the dead" or "You open wide and  prepare  to  receive  /  a 
hunger for sex unseen". Ultimately, with  _Sworn  Allegiance_  it  is 
very much a case of nothing lost and nothing gained.  It's  an  album 
that will  more  than  likely  please  existing  f  ans,  but  offers 
absolutely nothing to highlight it over the efforts of  its  numerous 
superior contemporaries.                                              

Contact: http://www.unleashed.nu


Woods of Belial - _Deimos XIII_  (Firebox Records, 2003)
by: Xander Hoose  (5.5 out of 10)

After a slow, haunting intro ("Worm  of  Na'ruq"),  all  hell  breaks 
loose. Or at least that's what you would expect; unfortunately, Woods 
of Belial's sluggish doom metal is far from  powerful  or  intrusive. 
Instead, we are served a somewhat bland and poorly mixed  album  with 
three songs clocking over ten  minutes  and  one  clocking  a  little 
under. Most of them feel like a lifetime though, and they  manage  to 
let all the obligatory ingredients pass by  as  well  --  the  cheesy 
keyboard backset on "Halla", the church bells on "The  13th  Horror". 
They even mixed in a bit of industrial, according  to  the  bio.  I'm 
sorry,  but  throwing  a  few  effects  over  the  mix  doesn't  make 
this music any more industrial than  your  average  doom  metal  band 
--especially the half-  hearted  attempt  at  ambient  industrial  on 
"Pervertum II", which is not even worth listening to. 51 minutes is a 
long ride if there's not much happening; if Woods of Belial can learn 
that no one is forcing them to write ten-minute-plus songs an d  that 
they should compact their songs, I will give them another chance.     

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                        __, __, _, _  _,  _,
                        | \ |_  |\/| / \ (_ 
                        |_/ |   |  | \ / , )
                        ~   ~~~ ~  ~  ~   ~ 

Scoring: 5 out of 5 -- A flawless demo
         4 out of 5 -- Great piece of work
         3 out of 5 -- Good effort
         2 out of 5 -- A major overhaul is in order
         1 out of 5 -- A career change is advisable


Chapter VIII - _Your Halo Is My Noose_
by: Aaron McKay  (2.5 out of 5)

Complete with a new name, this five piece outfit (formerly  known  as 
Krvnk) has now offered up a real Kafka-esque effort with metal-tinged 
hardcore enough to properly (de)hydrate a University of Florida  frat 
keger -- at least for the thirty-four plus minutes the CD runs.  Dark 
and estranged, Chapter VIII seems to develop yet another blurring-of- 
the-lines between  two  related,  yet  diametrically  unique  genres. 
Crumbsuckers did this, as did countless others, but Chapter VIII have 
(again) thrown their proverbial hat into the ring. Not overpowered in 
form or feel, the metal riffing  is  absorbed  quite  well  into  the 
general overall feel of the fast-paced  fury  of  _Your  Halo  Is  My 
Noose_'s nine original tracks; the album  closes  with  an  unusually 
stripped-down cover of Billy Idol's "White Wedding".  I'm  always  up 
for pushing the envelope, but "White Wedding"? If keeping with  Billy 
Idol is a must, "Rebel Yell" may possibly have been a more convincing 
selection to demonstrate Chapter VIII's c onvictions, but that is one 
humble reviewer's opinion. Anyway, these guys would  no  doubt  be  a 
welcome addition to a Shadows Fall / Mastodon tour. Dirk  delivers  a 
performance highlighted  by  strained  vocals  enough  to  pique  the 
interest of J.R. Hayes (Pig Destroyer) devotees. The disc  starts  of 
with some solidly crafted material, as "Hourglass" may convince  you, 
and henceforth infuses musical arrangements plentiful enough to  keep 
the listener duly curious. Overall, _Your Halo  Is  My  Noose_  is  a 
deliberately coordinated sonic metalcore stoning, but just enough  to 
say Chapter VIII didn't fall asleep at the wheel of imagination.      

Contact: http://www.chapterviii.com


Empyrean Sky - _The Snow White Rose of Paradise_
by: Aaron McKay  (5 out of 5)

The three piece outfit is very well packaged and delivers an  audible 
dance of decadence and delight. Light and dark,  images  of  Milton's 
"Paradise Lost" and Dante's "Divine Comedy" run like a raging current 
throughout this disc. Hot and cold, this Chicagoland area outfit  has 
ostensibly blurred the genre lines significantly, to the point  where 
any listener might question what he or she is hearing. In  fact,  the 
fast paced passages  with  eerily  soft  harmonies  interrupting  the 
momentum are just enough to challenge anyone's delicate balance.  The 
six total tracks are epically long. Each pummel, yet caress, all  the 
while pounding and pacifying with each precisely played  note.  While 
Empyrean Sky treads lightly with elements of doom,  their  skillfully 
paced tempo changes and the ability  to  utilize  crossover  melodies 
with  artful  ambiance  demands  attention.  The  finest  example  of 
Empyrean Sky's aptitude on _The Snow White Rose  of  Paradise_  is  a 
song that shares the band's name. "Empyrean Sky"  has  something  for 
everyone: beginning with a stormy atmosphere,  the  track  builds  to 
feature during its more than eleven minutes of track  time  a  finely 
crafted programming  (synth)  array,  wildly  outrageous  riffs,  and 
subterranean inhospitality that calls into question  the  concept  of 
reality itself. Finally, the incorporation of both harsh and  cleanly 
sung vocals is engagingly vital to Empyrean  Sky's  demonstration  as 
they recreate a musical experience exploring disgrace and redemption. 
Putting things as bluntly as I possibly can: why  aren't  these  guys 
signed to a major label yet?!                                         

Contact: http://www.wormwoodproductions.com


Spiteful - _Upheaval_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (3 out of 5)

Spiteful's _Upheaval_ is firmly rooted in classic thrash,  and  to  a 
much lesser extent  death  metal.  This  isn't  exactly  going  in  a 
revolutionary direction, you might say -- but then again demos  don't 
usually do that -- and while derivative,  Spiteful  are  a  competent 
thrash band. The production on this demo CD may not  be  of  a  great 
calibre, but it's reasonably  balanced  and  suits  Spiteful's  sound 
quite well. Beefy riffs abound, and the band seem well on  their  way 
to creating an interesting live set for  thrash  metal  crowds.  They 
manage to show some of that vibrancy on disc, but remain a few  steps 
short of remarkable and a few more short of original. Still,  as  far 
as demos go, _Upheaval_ is quite a decent effort from a band that may 
well grow into something more interesting and unique in the future.   

Contact: http://spiteful.gq.nu


The Green Evening Requiem - _The Green Evening Requiem_
by: Aaron McKay  (2 out of 5)

Hints of Opeth dance with wild abandon on this self-titled demo  from 
Philadelphia's own, The Green Evening  Requiem.  For  starters,  this 
outfit does place more of an emphasis on the harsher vocal style here 
than most of Mikael Akerfeldt's work, but the cleaner sung lyrics  do 
infiltrate all four tracks  in  delicate  form.  This  can  be  heard 
nowhere better than on the second cut  off  the  demo,  "Dawn".  This 
track also has the distinction of offering  an  inspiring  outlay  of 
talent as well. Picking up the tempo around the  three  minute  mark, 
"Dawn" definably lays waste to all serenity, but  then  regroups  and 
manufactures a finely laced, mood-induced surreal soundscape.         

Most of  TGER's  material  is  geared  toward  enhancing  an  overall 
atmosphere. Emotionally speaking, this band  is  not  understated  or 
docile in their approach to song writing in  order  to  conceptualize 
their sonic vision; at times running  a  Diabolical  Masquerade  feel 
through their material like a current.  Maybe  it  is  the  Katatonia 
connection that can be felt here. What is meant by that is  Blakkheim 
has an ability to coerce both stark and subtle qualities  into  roles 
with bands embracing his versatility. At times, so does TGER.         

Slightly over twenty-five minutes in length, this demo is  deep  with 
competence and mastery. The Green Evening Requiem, however, appear to 
prefer a more well-traversed path -- that path being one of forsaking 
a certain Byzantine boldness for the stability of  their  influences. 
It is prudent to lean on the support of those that inspire  you,  but 
to forge your own path is a reward unto itself. Given  time,  a  firm 
line- up and proper motivation, The Green Evening Requiem has  within 
itself the capacity to make brand their mark. Until  then,  "Tomorrow 
Is Just Another Day".                                                 

Contact: http://www.greenevening.com

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                             _, _  _,  _,
                            / _ | / _ (_ 
                            \ / | \ / , )
                             ~  ~  ~   ~ 

      D E A T H   N E V E R   S O U N D E D   T H I S   G O O D
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Death Angel and Descent @ The London Garage, England, 15 July 2004
                           by: Jackie Smit


Less than a year has passed since my first encounter with  the  live- 
powerhouse that is Death Angel, and I will forever recall how on that 
particular occasion they promptly proceeded to not so  much  surpass, 
but completely obliterate any expectations and presuppositions that I 
had about them. It is mightily  disappointing  therefore  that  their 
second  visit  to  the  Capital  in  less  than  a  year  is  greeted 
by an  audience  that  barely  exceeds  the  Garage's  halfway  mark, 
notwithstanding the fact that this time round they're touring off the 
back off what is easily one of the most convincing thrash efforts  of 
the last decade in _The Art of Dying_.                                

In stark contrast however, "convincing" is hardly a word that I'd use 
to describe tonight's opening entertainment, Descent.  Their  ability 
to play their instruments with an admirable level of prowess  may  be 
unquestionable, but when it comes to  piecing  together  a  memorable 
song, matters are unfortunately not so cut and dried.  Tantamount  to 
their shortcomings this evening is their frontman's insipid  between- 
song mumbling, which pretty much sets the tone perfectly for the bona 
fide yawnfest which inevitably follows. The UK's  answer  to  Machine 
Head? I don't think so.                                               

Thankfully it's not long after Descent have completed their seemingly 
endless droning that the acoustic intro track off _The Art of  Dying_ 
breaks the sound of audience chatter and signals the imminent arrival 
of the Bay Area legends. The reception, despite the poor turnout,  is 
overwhelming. Spearheading their set with the dual-headed assault off 
"Thrown to the Wolves" and "5 Steps to  Freedom",  Death  Angel  very 
quickly make it clear that regardless of  the  feeble  turnout,  they 
intend to give people  their  money's  worth.  To  comment  on  Death 
Angel's ability to recreate the magic of albums like _Act III_ and _A 
Frolic in the Park_ would be like telling Jenna Jameson that she  has 
a nice rack. Rob Cavestany and company take the act of performing  on 
stage to a level that  only  a  precious  few  are  able  to  attain. 
This becomes particularly evident when Andy  Galleon  is  handed  the 
microphone to handle vocal duties on "Spirit" --  while  playing  the 
drums! Needless to say, his flawless delive ry  has  virtually  every 
punter in the building gasping in disbelief. But  it's  not  only  Mr 
Galleon who gets the opportunity to flex his vocal  muscles  tonight; 
as the evening progresses, we are treated to a Rob  Cavestany-crooned 
rendition of "Word to the Wise", and possibly  one  of  my  favourite 
moments of the evening, Dennis Pepa punking it up on "Land of Blood". 
This  is  not  to  say  that  Mark  Osegueda  is  extraneous  to  the 
success of the evening's set  though.  Indeed,  the  dreadlocked  one 
is the consummate front  man  throughout:  always  energetic,  always 
enthusiastic and spot-on with every bile-soaked line he spits out  on 
classics like "Bored", "Seemingly Endless Time",  "Evil  Priest"  and 
"Voracious Souls".                                                    

If it's not quite clear enough by now, let me reiterate: Death  Angel 
rule. Period. Whether or not  tonight's  performance  tops  my  first 
encounter with them is up for debate, but  the  bottom  line  is,  no 
self- respecting metalhead should let the opportunity to catch  these 
guys in action pass them by. If you do, you may as well go ahead  and 
admit that you think Linkin Park are "da shit, yo", and Fred Durst is 
your role-model.                                                      

I've often wondered why, with all Metallica's talk  of  returning  to 
their roots and once again making "heavy" music, they don't put their 
money where their mouths are and take a band like Death Angel out  on 
the road with them, as opposed to  the  gang  of  imbeciles  commonly 
referred to as Limp Bizkit. What's the matter, Lars? James? Afraid of 
a little competition? Judging by tonight's show they have every right 
to be.                                                                

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            DEICIDE? WE DIDN'T NEED NO STINKIN' DEICIDE!
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              Akercocke, Mystic Circle and In Aeternum
              @ The Mean Fiddler, England, 8 June 2004
                           by: Jackie Smit


A haphazardly written sign tacked to the front entrance of  The  Mean 
Fiddler reads:                                                        

"Due to  circumstances  beyond  our  control,  Deicide  will  not  be 
performing this evening."                                             

Unsurprisingly, the look on the faces of those  who  have  taken  the 
trouble to leave the office early,  travel  from  far  and  wide  and 
generally made the effort to make it to this evening's show,  tell  a 
mixed tale of disappointment, astonishment and  disgust.  Never  mind 
the fact that this tour was announced in early March, giving  Deicide 
ample opportunity to review the conditions set by the promoter (which 
supposedly is the reason for this unprofessional  display),  but  one 
could safely bet that if both the band and the  tour  organizers  had 
had the common courtesy to give punters even one week's  notice,  the 
Damageplan and Mastodon shows taking place down the road  would  have 
provided two very attractive alternatives for a night out.            

Be that as it may, one would reasonably expect that in the  light  of 
these circumstances, the management at The Mean  Fiddler  would  show 
just the slightest hint of empathy and competence in dealing with the 
disgruntled ticket-holders. Instead, they opt to  solve  the  problem 
by charging  attendees  an  additional  £8.00  for  entry,  with  the 
instructions that they will once again be obliged to  sacrifice  both 
their time and effort in order  to  get  refund,  but  returning  the 
tickets to the outlets  they  bought  them  from.  Now  certainly,  I 
understand that doing things any  differently  might  cause  the  odd 
complication, but in the light of the fact  that  over  five  hundred 
people have been told, upon their arrival at the venue, that the band 
they came  to  see  won't  be  playing,  I  would  suggest  that  any 
additional administration on the part of The Mean Fiddler would be  a 
small price to pay to at  least  slightly  appease  the  disappointed 
fans. Predictably, most of the people who were queuing outside  go  a 
big rubbery one when informed about this, and when  security  finally 
do open the doors after nearly an hour past schedule, precious few of 
them decide to go ahead and watch the remaining three acts.           

For the rest of us, as if things couldn't  get  any  more  ludicrous, 
Swedish death metallers In Aeternum  are  given  possibly  the  worst 
production that I have ever encountered. To their credit, the quartet 
do play their hearts out, but it is to no avail. Their  sound  is  so 
muddied and distorted that one can barely hear their  frontman  thank 
the crowd when it comes time for them to leave.                       

The less said about Mystic Circle  the  better.  Their  ultra-generic 
black/death ironically provided the opening "entertainment" the  last 
time that Deicide played The Mean Fiddler. They were  terrible  then, 
and they're even worse tonight. Okay, so maybe  I'm  being  a  little 
over-critical after the manner in which tonight kicked off. But songs 
like "666 - Mark of the Devil" and "God Is Dead -  Satan  Arise"  are 
about as tepid and dull as their titles. Worse still, the absence  of 
Deicide gives the band additional time to inflict their aural torture 
on us, and it is only after forty-five minutes of suffering that  the 
band finally say their last goodbyes.                                 

So with In Aeternum and Mystic  Circle  not  providing  any  sort  of 
escape from the frustration that has thus far plagued  this  evening, 
the majority of those present are  just  about  ready  to  cut  their 
losses and call it a night. That is until local heroes Akercocke take 
to the stage and play not only the best set I  have  ever  seen  them 
perform, but indeed quite possibly the most brutal, convincing set  I 
have seen all year. "Scapegoat", "Enraptured by  Evil",  "Praise  the 
Name of Satan", "Son of the North" -- every song sounds more  intense 
and more determined than the next, and as if knowing that the onus is 
on them to make the best out of a rather  fucked-up  situation,  they 
pore absolutely every last ounce  of  energy  they  have  into  their 
performance.                                                          

It's over all too quickly, and as if to underline their contempt  for 
the very patrons that pay their  wages,  the  Mean  Fiddler  security 
visibly rush to hit the lights, and begin urging  the  road  crew  to 
dismantle the backline and the rest of  the  equipment.  This  leaves 
Akercocke with no opportunity to provide  us  with  an  encore,  even 
though they could most probably have played for a good hour more  and 
still keep everyone captivated. Nevertheless their  show  provides  a 
confident testimony that, provided they can create a worthy successor 
to their last _Choronzon_ opus, the world  will  soon  be  mentioning 
them in the same breath as the very elite of extreme  music.  I  will 
freely admit to not being a fan of theirs since the  very  beginning, 
but based on the ample evidence provided by their last record and  by 
the subsequent live shows I have had the pleasure of seeing, I  stand 
happily corrected.                                                    

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

Pedro Azevedo's Top 5

1. The Dillinger Escape Plan - _Calculating Infinity_
2. The Dillinger Escape Plan - _Irony Is a Dead Scene_ EP
3. Kaamos - _Kaamos_
4. Aphotic - _Stillness Grows_
5. Deströyer 666 - _Cold Steel... for an Iron Age_

Brian Meloon's Top 5

1. Necrophagist - _Epitaph_
2. Novembre - _Dreams D'Azur_
3. Mirrorthrone - _Of Wind and Weeping_
4. Vehemence - _The Thoughts From Which I Hide_
5. Alex Masi - _Attack of the Neon Shark_

Paul Schwarz's Top 5

1. Textures - _Polars_
2. Venom - _Welcome to Hell_
3. Today Is the Day - _Kiss the Pig_
4. Type O Negative - _Bloody Kisses_
5. Nocturnus - _The Key_

Aaron McKay's Top 5

1. Unleashed - _Sworn Allegiance_
2. Borknagar - _Epic_
3. Malevolent Creation - _Warkult_
4. Hatesphere - _Ballet of the Brute_
5. God Forbid - _Gone Forever_

Matthias Noll's Top 5

1. Piledriver - _Metal Inquisition_
2. Graveland - _Carpathian Wolves_
3. Nehemah - _Requiem Tenebra_
4. Overkill - _Feel the Fire_
5. Impaled Nazarene - _Ugra Karma_

Jackie Smit's Top 5

1. Torture Killer - _For Maggots to Devour_
2. Cattle Decapitation - _Humanure_
3. The Dillinger Escape Plan - _Miss Machine_
4. Vision of Disorder - _Imprint_
5. Damageplan - _New Found Power_

Todd DePalma's Top 5

1. Disasterous Murmur - _Rhapsodies in Red_
2. Agiel - _Dark Pantheons Again Will Reign_
3. Ennio Morricone - _Once Upon a Time in the West:
   The Original Soundtrack Recording_
4. Leviathan - _Tentacles of Whorror_
5. Krieg - _The Black House_

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DESCRIPTION
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chronicles  of  Chaos  is  a  FREE  monthly  magazine  electronically
distributed worldwide via the Internet. Seemingly endless interviews,
album reviews and concert reviews encompass the pages  of  Chronicles
of Chaos. Chronicles of Chaos stringently emphasizes all varieties of
chaotic music ranging from black and death metal to  electronic/noise
to dark, doom and ambient forms. Chronicles  of  Chaos  is  dedicated
to the underground and as such we feature demo reviews from all indie
bands who send us material, as  well  as  interviews  with  a  select
number of independent acts.


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End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #76

All contents copyright  (c)  1995-2004  by  individual  creators  of 
included work. All rights reserved.
All  opinions  expressed  herein  are  those  of   the   individuals 
expressing them, and do not necessarily reflect the views of  anyone 
else.                                                                


