Ravishing Grimness

Canada Arts Connect interview

2012-01-24T20:59:00.002-05:00

My friend Natalie has started doing a really wonderful column for Canada Arts Connect Magazine, and asked me to be her first interview subject.

Here's the final result: http://canadaartsconnect.com/magazine/2012/01/girls-dont-like-metal-interviews-grim-kim-kelly/

It's strange when people ask me to do interviews, 'cause I'm just a scribbler with a buncha records when it comes down to it, but it's always really fun. Thanks, Natalie!

AMERICAN AFTERMATH: Grim Kim Kelly’s Top 10 Demos Of 2011

2011-12-20T15:26:00.003-05:00

Original post (with song streams/Youtube videos) - http://americanaftermath.net/2011/12/20/grim-kim-kellys-top-10-demos-of-2011/#more-8562

Hello, American Aftermath. My name is Kim Kelly (or Grim Kim, if you insist). I suppose I’m something of a guest writer (party-crasher, more like) as Ross asked me to contribute something to the site’s year-end roundup. After procrastinating mightily, I presented him with this haphazard list of my favorite 2011 demos (and almost demos). I had to turn off Demoncy to revisit a couple of these babies, so you’d better fucking appreciate it.

Get a load of Kim on Twitter and her personal blog (which you are currently on - Ed).

Lycus – Demo MMXI
This wondrous slab of atmospheric funeral doom is quite simply the best demo recording of the year, if not the best album outright. It’s unbelievable that this is an initial offering – the complexity, maturity, and crushing, heaving emotions encapsulated within these three compositions is nothing short of breathtaking. These forgotten sons of Samothrace, distant cousins of Anhedonist, purebred descendents of Asunder…trust me, you’ll be hearing a lot about Lycus in the coming months (especially after The Flenser entomb this masterpiece in wax come the new year).

Bell Witch – self-titled
Bell Witch move at the slow, measured pace of an elegant funeral party, trudging along beside the pallbearers’ shining black leather shoes and picking their way, carefully, through the weeds. Droning, despondent, deceptively simple, and steeped in desperate pathos, this recording transcends the world of mere doom. The two minds behind is have also spent time in Samothrace and Lethe, which should tell you something.

Niantiel – Cavern of the Skeletal Spirits
Surreal, dissonant black metal thrown up from the void. Though Negative Plane’s psyched-out mindfuckery may be a good reference point for this Virginian horde, the sound they’ve created on this three-track demo is truly unique. Ominous, chiming chords, howling vocals, unsettling atmosphere, the stains of occult ritual…

One Tail One Head – Tandava
This is technically an EP, but the recording quality is subterranean enough to land it a place amongst the demo-level masses. OTOH feature members of Celestial Bloodshed, Behexen, and Mare, but this is no mere “supergroup” – this is pure fucking holocaust. Primitive in execution, slavish in its devotion to the old ways, and gloriously raw, Tandava is a chaotic hellstorm of Norwegian black metal vengeance – and a damn enjoyable listen, if you have the stomach for it.

Pilgrim – Forsaken Man
Without contest, Pilgrim are one of the most exciting new true doom bands to emerge from North American shores in ages, and Jon Rossi’s voice is the closest thing to a national treasure to which American doom has lain claim since Wino first picked up a mic. In short, this band is a perfect example of epic, traditional doom metal (it’s no wonder Metal Blade have signed on for their debut LP), and their debut offering makes it all to clear that Pilgrim have only begun their slow, certain rise to the top.

House of Atreus – Demo I
Melodic death metal isn’t all Gothenburg trills or wimpy American metalcore leanings. “Melody” does not have to be a slur; rather, in the case of some, it is a deadly weapon. House of Atreus wield their harmonic tendencies like a scythe, slicing through the thick, galloping death metal riffs that make up the bulk of this release and leaving fresh, oozing scars. Arghoslent are an obvious reference point, but this Greek horde are clearly well-acquainted with their countrymen Varathron as well. This is fucking fantastic.
listen here.

Rhinocervs
It’s impossible to tell who created these recordings; Rhinocervs are a shadowy collective, affiliated with the Black Twilight Circle and responsible for releases by Glossolalia, Odz Manouk, etc. Their two 2011 demos are exercises in primal fury – lo-fi, raging slabs of total misanthropic hate in the guise of cold, driving black metal. Oh, and all their songs are untitled, because fuck you. Good luck Googling ‘em, nerds.

Trenchgrinder
So a cadre of Brooklyn’s crustiest death metal dudes got together and formed a band, and, big surprise, it RIPS! Trenchgrinder feature past and current members of hometown homies Attake and Mutant Supremacy with artist Owen Rundquist manning the mic with his savage, shrapnel-coated roar. Bolt Thrower-worshipping riffs, breakneck d-beat machinegun blasts, punk as fuck speed, devilishly murky tones – it doesn’t get much better than this.

Mutilation Rites
NYC’s hardest touring, hardest-hitting black metal band may have hit the bigger leagues (‘sup Prosthetic) but they truly fucking earned it, by playing hundreds of shows, self-releasing a string of solid releases & splits, and spitting out some of the meanest, truest extreme music this city has to offer. Inhumanely intense and ice fucking cold, Mutilation Rites channel Mayhem at their best and Enslaved at their blackest, drawing down the moon onto a craggy base of crusty punk fervor. Their latest demo is yet another triumph of evil.

Doomslaughter – Downfall Progenitor
Bestial Belorussian extremity. An unholy amalgamation of black, death, and thrash metal, leaning towards the cult of death but even throwing in a few moments of certain doom before bringing the hammer of antichrist down – Doomslaughter fucking rule, and Iron Bonehead are releasing their next effort, so you know it’s good. I can’t stop listening to this.

Bonus Round:
This band doesn’t actually have a demo recorded yet, but the handful of songs they’ve posted so far have captured my heart, and the world needs to take notice of this newest addition to the NZ hordes. Behold, SABBATIC GOAT:
listen here

METAL INJECTION: Grim Kim's Top Ten Releases of 2011 That You've Never Heard Of

2011-12-20T15:24:00.000-05:00

Original post: http://www.metalinjection.net/lists/best-of-2011/grim-kims-top-ten-releases-of-2011-that-youve-never-heard-of

Every year, Rob asks me to contribute a year-end list to this fine establishment, and every year, I harsh everyone’s buzz by submitting the most putrid, willfully esoteric hodgepodge of sonic brutality I can conjure up. The following list spotlights some of the best underground releases of 2011; it’s been a good year for metal, and this is only a taste of what’s out there. There’s more to life than Mastodon (or even Leviathan). Come, my fanatics. Enter the eternal fire.

Ensorcelor – Crucifuge
(Media Tree Recordings) – This Quebecois horde’s first full-length album is one of the most perfectly-crafted releases of the past five years, and it’s a wretched shame that it has been allowed to fester in relative obscurity. A sinuous creation of ash and bone, dark and light, Crucifuge is a black metal record at heart, merged with a sludgy temperament and some of funeral doom’s more harrowing hallmarks – crawling pace, shivering tension between riffs and chords, coarse, cavernous vocals. However, Ensorcelor allow so much interplay between the spacious passages, the slow, resolute tempo, and the washes of ambiance, bathes them in cold, desolate atmosphere, and cloaks it all in a muted production effort, draped it across the recording like wispy strands of dying Spanish moss, that this monument of filth becomes something close to beauty.

Void Meditation Cult – Sulfurous Prayers
(Hell’s Headbangers) – Harrowing, hateful, and primitive, three songs of blasphemous black/death supremacy make up Void Meditation Cult’s virgin offering. Murderously slow and graced with some of the most bilious, guttural invocations this side of Wormphlegm, ‘Sulfurous Prayers’ was torn from the crypt and dragged straight down to hell. Highly, highly recommended.

Blasphemophagher – The III Command of Absolute Chaos
(Nuclear War Now!) – The third full-length from Italy’s finest apocalyptic war command is an unrelenting slab of bestial black/death, swathed in layers upon layers of distortion. Hellishly fast, lo-fi, and thick as blood, Blasphemophagher show no mercy, hammering out Blasphemy-baiting odes to nuclear hell and radioactive carnage in an orgy of violence. UGH!

Lycus – Demo 2011
(Graceless Recordings) Originally formed in 2008, lain to rest, and now, with this year’s demo, resurrected in despair, California’s Lycus are a welcome addition to the doomed pantheon. Mournful, weighty funeral doom in the vein of genre titans Skepticism and Worship and peers Loss; elegant in its despondency, achingly beautiful in its sorrow. Doomed forever, forever doomed.

Dolorvotre – Dolorvotre
(Crepusculo Negro) – The shadowy collective of musicians known as the Black Twilight Circle have unleashed a slew of demos and collaborations over the past few years, but few have stood out as brightly as Dolorvotre, who build upon the so-primitive-it’s-almost-punk black metal template lain down by brothers in arms Volahn, Ashdautas, Blue Hummingbird on the Left, et al, but dose their seemingly simplistic melodies with swirls of psychedelia and haunt their chainsaw riffs with hallucinogenic nightmares. Murky, claustrophobic, and bleeding raw, Dolorvotre are not meant for everyone – the sub-demo recording quality will cause many to shy away, but those who dare will not regret their foray into this subterranean cell.

Bestial Raids - Prime Evil Damnation
(Nuclear War Now!) – This album is fucking barbaric. Prime Evil Damnation is the second LP from this Polish cult, and sees them marching leaps and bounds ahead of their previous efforts. Submerged in filth and impenetrable darkness, constructed from an unholy meeting of black and death, and rife with Satanic hate, Prime Evil Damnation is intensity personified, a swirling void of chaos and menace augmented by vicious backing vocals from Vaz and Impurath of the immortal Black Witchery. Buy or die.

Oskoreien – Oskoreien
This one-man entity creates epic, nature-inspired atmospheric black metal in the vein of Altar of Plagues, Panopticon, Falls of Rauros, Agalloch, but still stands alone. Oskoreien immediately brings to mind the triumphant feel of Bathory’s Hammerheart, filtered through the sweet air and crystalline waters of the great Northwest and imbued with ancient wisdom. Gorgeous expanses of fragile post-rock mix gently with the harshness and purpose of the album’s more blackened passages, songs ebb and flow like waves at sunset, and it’s far too easy to lose yourself amongst the waves.

Ritual Necromancy – Oath of the Abyss
(Dark Descent) – Truly disgusting, stifling, churning, atonal death metal, torn from the pages of John McEntee’s songbook and flung into the cavernous depths that spat out like-minded Incantation-spawn Antediluvian, Cemetery Urn, Disma, Portal, et al. Ritual Necromancy practice ancient, occult death worship, smeared with black vomit and with tendons cut to slow them to a wretched crawl. They are not reinventing any wheels or breaking down barriers, but in this world, regression trumps progression. Hail infernal death.

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats – Blood Lust
All roads lead to Black Sabbath. Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats decided to take their pilgrimage early, trawling the paisley-clad, riff-worshipping, occult-laced , bluesy oozing confusion of seventies acid rock and late sixties witch rock on their way back to Birmingham. When Jinx Dawson dances with the Devil, Uncle Acid’s there running Ol’ Scratch’s fiddle through a Big Muff. When Iommi strummed his way through that inimitable Sabbath boogie, he was there again to filter it all through 666 layers of smoke and mirrors. When Electric Wizard climb up onto their dopethrones to sleep off the druglust, Uncle Acid is there to unplug their amps, mellow their buzz, and pack the bowl. Blood Lust is hazy, fuzzed-put, bad trip psychedelic doomed stoner rock from a trio of depraved acid casualties with Satan on their side. Tune in, tune down, drop out of life with bong in hand.

Botanist – I: The Suicide Tree/II: A Rose from the Dead
(tUMULt) – You have never heard anything like this before. Not simply because it’s a bit more on the obscure side, but because there is nothing on this dying planet that sounds like Botanist. The words “experimental” and “progressive” get thrown around willy-nilly by any band who’s ever owned a Yes record, but how many of them have composed a double-album suite played entirely on hammered dulcimer, accompanied by various percussion and one inhumanly twisted voice? That’s what I thought. The idea behind Botanist is rooted in ecological awareness and a deep love of the natural world; the Botanist himself professes a desire to see “ the day when humans will either die or kill each other off, which will allow plants to make the Earth green once again.” As for the music? It’s gloriously weird, saturated with otherwordly tones and startling transitions, both ambient and jarring, intriguing and alienating, harsh yet lush. Black metal’s misanthropic core and trademark nihilistic croak anchor it all in place, but that’s where the similarities between this and metal as we know it end abruptly. Enter the Verdant Realm – but don’t stray too far from the path, lest you never return.

Cha-ching.

2011-12-19T19:31:00.000-05:00

Excuse the rant, but: unless it’s a favor for friends/allies or a publication I genuinely adore (or a guest column of some kind), I will not work for free. I am an internationally published writer with PLENTY of credentials who has been doing this for almost a decade. Would you ask a plumber to fix your drain pro bono, or a painter to simply give away his canvases? No? Then don’t expect the same from me.

It’s like booking a gig. If you want people to come out and have a good time, you book a decent band, offer them a guarantee, and give them some free drinks to keep them happy - they’ll put on a great performance, you’ll clean up at the bar, everyone wins. If you just want to fill in room space, book a shitty local band, have them play for free (and sell tickets, “for exposure”) and then act all puzzled when no one comes.

This is not to belittle or denigrate bloggers or journos who work for free, or to demonize non-paying publications, at all. Working for free and providing quality material are not mutually exclusive concepts - I’ve been doing both for years, and so many many, many others. Doing something for the pure love of it is a beautiful thing. Being compensated for hours of hard work and years of dues-paying is also a beautiful thing.

This is simply something I wanted to say.

Top Records of 2011: Metalsucks Edition

2011-12-01T22:43:00.004-05:00

I'm doing a million versions of my supposed "year-end list" because 1. I hate narrowing things down, 2. I want to bring attention to as many of the releases I enjoyed this year as is within my power to do, and 3. people keep asking me. Already turned in my lists for the Terrorizer and Invisible Oranges polls, agreed to do listy lists for Metal Injection, Brooklyn Vegan, Cvlt Nation, and American Aftermath, and just had my Metalsucks one posted today. Here's that (and my goofy face) - also bear in mind, the order is purely arbitrary. I adore all of these releases equally, just had to skim 15 off the very top.

When I was first making this list, I had a hard time thinking of that many new albums I’d actually listened to in 2011. But once I actually got home and went through my iTunes/most recent pile of vinyl scores/the mid-year list I wrote, I realized that it’s actually been a damn good year. A few early favorites were supplanted by more recent discoveries and sneaky year-end releases (sorry, Aksumite; hello, Wrathprayer!). Two of my enduring picks came courtesy of the always-excellent Gilead Media, who could use a hand right now and richly deserve your support.

Most of the albums I really loved fall beneath the “black metal” umbrella (11/15), but there are a couple monuments of death and a few doomed souls thrown in there as well. Hell, I would have just written down Beherit’s Live at the Devil’s Studio 1990 fifteen times if I thought I could get away with it.

So, here’s my list! I decided to leave the descriptions a bit vague this year to pique curiosity and inspire further exploration. Spoiler alert: Opeth’s not on it, and I still think that Burzum re-recording was a terrible idea. No, I’m still not sold on the Sonne Adam record (Armed with Hammers was better, and the production on Transformation was far too clean), and if you’re going to leave pouty comments saying that “I’ve never heard of any of these bands, jeez!”, I recommend you direct your browser to Metal Archives and start typing.

15. Reveal, Nocturne of Eyes and Teeth (High Roller) – Eerie, horror-obsessed, lo-fi, classic ‘80s-styled black/thrash.

14. Corrupted, Garten der Unbewussthelt (Nostalgia Blackrain) – Enigmatic, atmospheric, slow-burning, beautiful doom.

13. Blasphemophagher, The III Command of the Absolute Chaos (Nuclear War Now! Productions) – Primitive, bestial, unrelenting black/death metal.

12. Absu, Abzu (Candlelight) – Complex, aggressive, thrashy, immensely satisfying mythological occult black metal.

11. Inquisition, Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm (Hell’s Headbangers) – Inimitable, memorable, savage, melodically-inclined old-school black metal.

10. Barghest, Barghest (Gilead Media/Big Mountain) – Cold, hateful, Second Wave-inspired black metal.

9. Wrathprayer, The Sun of Moloch: The Sublimation of Sulphur’s Essence Which Spawns Death and Life (Nuclear War Now! Productions) – Ritualized, chaotic, warmongering, bestial black/death.

8. Void Meditation Cult, Sulfurous Prayers demo (Hell’s Headbangers) – Menacing, sepulchral, esoteric, crawling black/death/doom metal.

7. Altar of Plagues, Mammal (Profound Lore/Candlelight) – Gorgeous, expansive, windswept, post-everything black metal.

6. Necros Christos, Doom ov the Occvlt (Sepulchral Voice/Van/AJNA Offensive) – Crushing, atmospheric, mid-paced, uber-occult 90’s-style death metal.

5. Wreck of the Hesperus, Light Rotting Out (Aesthetic Death) – Filthy, desperate, bludgeoning, funereal death/doom.

4. Negative Plane,Stained Glass Revelations (AJNA Offensive/Invictus Productions) – Warped, ingenious, experimental, otherwordly black metal.

3. 40 Watt Sun, The Inside Room (Cyclone Empire/Metal Blade) – Aching, fragile, emotionally heavy, Warning-esque doom.

2. Ash Borer, Ash Borer (Psychic Violence) – Entrancing, atmospheric, mercilessly aggressive Cascadian black metal.

1. Bosse de Nage, II (The Flenser) – Twisted, addictive, depraved, obscure black metal.

(Dis)honorable mentions (LPs):

False, False (Gilead Media) – Vicious, dynamic, innovative, schizophrenic black metal.
The Wounded Kings, In the Chapel of the Black Hand (I Hate)
Amebix, Sonic Mass (Easy Action)
The Atlas Moth, An Ache for the Distance (Profound Lore)
Wolvhammer, The Obsidian Plains (Profound Lore)
Antediluvian, Through the Cervix of Hawwah (Profound Lore)
Falls of Rauros, The Light that Dwells in Rotten Wood (Bindrune)

(Dis)honorable mentions (EPs/splits/demos):

Cruciamentum/Vasaeleth split 7”, Eroding Chaos Unto Ascendant Flesh
Batillus/Mutilation Rites split 7” (Shinebox)
Pilgrim, Forsaken Man demo (self-released)
Bell Witch, Bell Witch demo (self-released)
One Tail One Head, Tandava EP (Terratur Possessions)
Niantiel, Cavern of the Skeletal Spirits demo (self-released)

Whittling down the year-end list...

2011-11-26T20:49:00.002-05:00

A work in progress, sure to be spliced, diced, and spread out across multiple outlets...

Bosse de Nage - II
Corrupted - Garten der Unbewussthelt
40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room
Negative Plane - Stained Glass Revelations
Inquisition - Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm
Ash Borer - Ash Borer
Reveal - Nocturne of Eyes and Teeth
Absu - Abzu
Altar of Plagues - Mammal
Necros Christos - Doom of the Occult
Barghest - Barghest
Amebix - Sonic Mass
Wreck of the Hesperus - Light Rotting Out
Autopsy - Macabre Eternal
Sanguis Imperem - In Glory We Match Towards Our Doom
Beherit - At the Devil's Studio 1990
Antediluvian - Through the Cervix of Hawwah
Servile Sect - Trvth
Root - Heritage of Satan
Bastard Priest - Ghouls of the Endless Night

splits/EPs/LPs/demos/etc from

Cruciamentum/Vasaeleth split
Necrite
Antediluvian
Pilgrim
Wrathprayer
Wolvhamer
The Atlas Moth
Hot Graves
Nunfuckritual
Cormorant
Clair Cassis
Bell Witch
False
Dolorvotre
Mournful Congregation
Falloch
Batillus
Seidr
Exhumed

Liz Buckingham & Electric Wizard Worship (for NPR)

2011-10-11T20:48:00.002-04:00

I'm doing a piece on Liz Buckingham for NPR! Pretty stoked - she's a killer interview, and a huge inspiration. It'll be posted pretty soon, I guess. I got carried away on the intro and delved a little too deeply into 'Wizard history, so that's headed for the chopping block. I really liked what I originally came up with, though, so I'm throwing it up on here for posterity.

Rough Draft - Intro for VENUS AND FUZZ PEDALS: An Interview with LIZ BUCKINGHAM (ELECTRIC WIZARD)

UK doom titans Electric Wizard are a shadowy entity at best; a monolithic, esoteric mystery otherwise. Borne of the ashes of proro-Wizardian projects Eternal, Grief Eternal, and Lord of Putrefaction (musical ideas, like fine wine or bratty teenagers, need time to mature and lose their ungainly limbs and excess baby fat) the behemoth first began its flight in 1993 in the small, quiet English hamlet of Dorset. Small towns keep their secrets close, but for those who follow such things, it’s long been known that Dorset is possessed of a certain eldritch quality, buoyed by age-old reports of fairies, ghosts, will ‘o wisps, howling winds and rotting churches. Those ancient stones and lonesome moors breed ill omens and witchcraft, and fittingly enough, it is here that Electric Wizard’s occult doom rituals began in earnest. 1995 saw the release of their self-titled opus, and during the ensuing years, Jus Osborn and his marauding band of Brits released a series of splits, EPs, and 1997’s Come My Fanatics LP. Their following grew from cult to countrywide and finally to global phenomenon, securing them a sepulchre within doom’s most hallowed hallways and spreading the three-horned gospel of black magic, bad luck, and druglust far and wide.

2000, though, was the year the levy broke - Electric Wizard released their now-classic Dopethrone LP, and the world of riff-based stoner jams, heavy psychedelic vibes, and that which we call doom metal would never be the same. Epic in scope, effortless in execution, and catchy as the black death, the album's eight expansive compositions reign in the band's earlier psychedelic freakouts and erupt into a beautifully violent crescendo of sheer amplifier-worship. Inspired by B-movies’ gleeful gore and pneumatic Venus ’and the sultry, sinister auras of seventies’ film noir, narrated by Osborn’s entombed wail, the album conjured up images of Satanic bordellos and bloodstained altars. Moreover, there were songs - honest to goodness songs, with bastardized melodies that stuck in your head, seeped into your consciousness, and left you no other recourse than to wreck your neck for the . Many of the band’s signature tunes - “Funeralopolis,” “Vinum Sabbathi,” “We Hate You,” and the endlessly satisfying endlessness of the title track - are found therein, and the blueprints it drew in blood have served as the starting point for more bands than even seems feasible. The funereal fuzz of Dopethrone will forever be known as the ‘Wiz’s career highlight, genre defining landmark, seminal release, and above all, the kind of record that heavy metal (and heavy riffs’) Godfather Tony Iommi, would be proud of.

Electric Wizard had truly arrived, but within the ranks of the cursed few, trouble was brewing. A quick follow-up came in Let Us Prey, accompanied by a host of personal problems within the band - legal, medical, some may say musical. An ill-fated North American tour and several lineup changes later, the dynamic had shifted once again. “Manning” the axe, as it were, was an American guitarist named Liz Buckingham, who brought order to chaos alongside her black tar licks, world-rattling riffs, and road dogged experience in sludge fiends 13 and Sourvein. Her first album with Electric Wizard, 2004’s We Live, featured a leaner, meaner sound, streamlined yet still mind-melting and mercilessly heavy. Her presence was felt immediately, and nowadays, it’s impossible to think of the ‘Wizard without her molten leads, flying fingers, and flaxen-haired, dark-eyed visage floating above the stage. Liz rarely does interviews, and this one was a long time coming - we first contacted her this past spring, and, after months of crossed fingers and transcontinental email chains, her responses materialized out of the aether.
Liz is an extreme metal icon, an immensely talented musician, and, despite her low-key demeanor, an incredible inspiration to other women who feel the urge to strap on a guitar and hew some sonic slabs of their own. As a bastion of understated, self-confident strength, self-confidence, and femininity within a traditionally male-dominated genre, she has risen to the absolute summit, and shows no sign whatsoever of stepping down off her (dope)throne. Here’s what she had to say about her fluid evolution from classical scion to the reigning high priestess of doom.

Stay tuned for the finished piece!

...

2011-10-06T18:59:00.003-04:00

It's frustrating when a penchant for talking about the music you enjoy leads others to brand you as "insecure," or "trying too hard."

I am many things, but "insecure" is definitely not one of them. Why is it when a woman writes about how much she loves (insert random black metal band here) she's automatically met with derision, but when a man does the same thing, it's all "yeah man" and no big deal?

I love Wormphlegm, Loretta Lynn, Amebix, Nirvana, Thou, Tormentor, and Bestial Warlust. Come at me, bro.

About a boy...Oh well, whatever...Nevermind.

2011-09-25T13:54:00.004-04:00

This post is also not about metal.

It's now been over twenty years since Nevermind was released, and understandably enough, a vast number of music magazines, blogs, and whatever falls in between have been running stories in the tune of Cobain. Some have done generic cut-and-paste writeups (heroin, Aberdeen, Pearl Jam, flannel, naked baby - check!) and others, like my homie Lars, have done really heartfelt, interesting pieces (http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2011/09/21/140676378/about-a-song-thou-on-nirvanas-something-in-the-way). I've got an idea for a more in-depth piece that'll most likely surface on Invisible Oranges in the coming months, but for now, this is just my little tribute to the band that sold the world on raw power, angst, and unhappy endings.

Nirvana are one of my favorite bands. For awhile, they were my favorite, favorite band, one that I obsessed over to the degree of loving madness that only a fifteen-year-old girl with a lot on her mind can conjure. I had every t-shirt, every poster, every album, every bootleg, bought money orders at the post office so that I could order bootleg live DVDs off Ebay, absolutely devoured his Journals when the book was released, drew pictures of his wounded angel's face, wrote song lyrics and Kurt quotes on index cards and papered my walls with them...there is no love like a teenage girl's. Now that I'm a few years past teenage dreams, the love remains, but has matured a bit (I think), at least to the point where I can appreciate them as a purely musical entity as well as a cultural phenomenon, and can finally really relate to a thing or two that had Kurt hurting.
They still have a hold over me, though at this point I've locked away most of my considerable collection of Nirvana memorabilia in some heart-shaped box in my parents' basement. I will always love Nirvana, and that love has bled into some of the other bands from their era - Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees, Green River, Mudhoney. Grunge isn't dead, baby - it's just gone into hiding.

My best guy friend Jesse is still stuck in the nineties (despite our mutual January 1988 birthdays) and was the original impetus for my discovery of and appreciation for that little band from Aberdeen. Of course I'd heard Nirvana songs on the radio, but they never grabbed me really. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was cool, but generally I just thought of them as "Mom music," because they always came on after "Enter Sandman" or "Back in Black" on the classic rock station she kept the dial on. When I got to high school and befriended Jesse, an adorable, loudmouthed kid with blue hair and the nicest smile I'd ever seen, his Nirvana shirts and burned CDs began to interest me a bit. Fittingly enough, given Kurt's perpetually heartbroken existence and penchant for penning aching, unsettling love songs, the initial adoration I developed for "the band" in reality was about a boy.

Our fledgling romance lasted about two months, and when he decided to call things off, I was devastated beyond belief. Kurt was there for me, though, and I'd spend hours listening to every shred of Nirvana I could hunt down, alone in my room of course, nursing my first broken heart. Nine years later, the relationship Jesse and I have is quite a lot stronger than those first few weeks of adolescent awkwardness, hand-holding, rounding bases and nightly phone calls could have predicted. Puppy love settled and evolved, life happened, we grew up, fell in love with other people and with each other and with other people again, and now we have ended up solidifying into comfortably best friends. We've discovered that, to each of us, the other is the kind of person you love far too deeply to ever risk dating but will always be around, and we still listen to Nirvana together.

Apart from that romantic interlude, though, my love affair with Nirvana runs a bit deeper than that story might intimate. The music is what really got me. Kurt's lyrics, those inscrutable, mangled poems that didn't make any sense really, but made all the sense in the world when picked apart and filtered through however I was feeling that day. Every album has its tone, its hallmarks, its messages, and I loved - and love! - them all. Nevermind has always been my favorite, though, as much as I secretly wanted to be more into the scratchy demos and outtakes on Outcesticide or primal screams of Bleach. That album got me through some trying times and provided a soundtrack for some terribly happy ones, and has held up through it all. I damn near wore out every CD of theirs I had, and treasured every bootleg or live version I could find. When my parents were being horrible (or reasonable, in retrospect) I'd cry along to Nirvana Unplugged, or fume to Bleach. My best girl friend at the time, Ashley, was another Nirvana freak, and we'd geek out over rare demos and swoon over Kurt and trade Nirvana shirts for most of sophomore year, until my newly forming obsession with death metal really began to take hold.

Twenty years after a trio of misfits let loose all their anger and alienation and creativity and hurt into a big wide world, nine years after a couple of young misfits a countrylength away soaked it all in, and one day since the anniversary of the date it all went down, I am sprawled out in my New York apartment, with a sleepy roommate and sleepy black cat curled up on the couch across from me and an Irishman wailing to the ancients from my laptop speakers, thinking about another Irishman with dark eyes and my heart in his grasp, wearing a Zoroaster shirt and nursing suspension wounds, a long, long way from the pines and light years away from fifteen...and I still love Nirvana.

Some things never change. The people and songs and places and flavors and books you loved when you were young, when you were just discovering who you were and starting to dream of what you could be - those things stick with you forever. Who you are when you're sixteen is a skeletal version of who you could be when you're 64.

Come as you are, as you were, as I want you to be...

Whatchu Lookin' At?

2011-09-23T02:25:00.002-04:00

Tis post is not about metal.

Well. Not metal music, anyway.

Metal is a big, biiiig part of my life. It has yet to consume my entire existence, but it does a damn good job of trying, and I don't exactly fight it. However, I do have other interests, passions, and hobbies, some of which are fairly obvious and others I keep more private. One of these in particular is, for better or for worse, 100% impossible to hide (unless you happen to be blind, in which case just assume I look like a twenty-years-younger Doro and we'll go from there). I've made allusions to it on here before, usually by posting pictures that are pretty damn hard to misread. Body modification - the practice of altering one's physical form in order to achieve a desired result - has been around for far longer than the devil's music, and it forms one of the cornerstones of my life.
Depending on your experience/opinion, I am either moderately modded, heavily modded, or just plain weird-looking. I've posted photos of myself on here before, so scroll down a bit for a visual, but essentially, I am pierced, stretched, tattooed, implanted, and suspended. On top of it, I dress more or less the same every day - band shirt, boots, tight black pants. My hair is super long and kind of wild. Add my various visible mods into this particular equation, and we're looking at a lot of public scrutiny.

And it REALLY gets to me sometime. I know and have met people who are far, far more heavily modded than I am, and I can only imagine the shit they go through just because society isn't quite ready to accept those who purposefully deviate from whatever "normal" is. Yes, I am well aware that I look different. That's sort of the point (one of them, anyway). That still does not give other people the right to treat me as some sort of subhuman, alien, or sketchy character just because I've got a bit of metal shoved through the bridge of my nose or some tattoos on my neck. This isn't a unique problem - it's something the modified community deals with constantly. I'm just whining a bit because I had a string of negative experiences the other day, and bitching about it on Facebook et al just garners a chorus of "What do you expect?"

I expect to be treated like a human being, no matter how I've decided to portray myself. I'm not looking for attention - I'd look exactly the same way if all the world was blind. The way I look is an ever-evolving process, an experiment, and a very personal journey. Body mod isn't a fashion statement; hell, it can be for some, but for the majority of practitioners, and definitely for myself, it's a very spiritual, emotional act. A nose ring isn't always just a nose ring. Pain is a part of life, and learning to deal with it, accept it, and at times embrace it will only make you stronger. That massive smile on my face that shows through in the photos of my first suspension wasn't fake. Catharsis, release, adrenaline, endorphins, self-realization - a lot of positive energy can be found at the point of a needle.

The outsider status afforded those who choose to modify their bodies is similar in part with the way metal culture is regarded by the mainstream. Ostracized, held suspect, disrespected, condescended to, mistreated, mocked - both cultures have been through a lot, and it only gets easier with time. Both scenes are filled with passionate, intelligent, creative, unorthodox personalities, and it only makes sense that the twain should often meet. I've seen enough band tattoos by now to back that up, to say nothing of the legions of pierced, tattooed, dyed, or otherwise decorated metalheads I'e seen across the globe. I hang out on both side of that flimsy fence. Both body mod and metal have had a profound impact on me and my growth as a human being, and I know for a fact that I'm not alone in that.

It's just so fucking frustrating to be stared at, asked rude questions, see mothers pull their kids away from you on the subway, get dirty looks from older people, deal with your family's confusion and dislike for how you look, have strangers assume you're "kinky" or a "freak" and feel entitled to ask you about your sexual preferences, be greeted with derisive snorts or laughter when you try to explain why you are the way you are...

But, whatever. What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

TORI AMOS CHALLENGES METAL BANDS TO AN EMOTIONS-OFF..OR SOMETHING (AND WHY IT'S FUCKED UP)

2011-09-23T02:06:00.002-04:00

It takes a lot for me to click on anything that's linked to my least-favorite "metal" "news" aggregator, Blabbermouth, but a headline like "Tori Amos Issues Challenge to Metal Bands" is hard to ignore. I went over to Spinner.com to read the original interview (http://www.spinner.com/2011/09/20/tori-amos-night-of-hunters/). and this is what she had to say:

"Well, look, sometimes you don't know how music affects people. I embrace that because I don't think that just because I talk about emotional stuff that it's not mother---er stuff. I'll stand next to the hardest f---ing heavy metal band on any stage in the world and take them down, alone, by myself. Gauntlet laid down, see who steps up. See who steps up! I'll take them down at 48. And they know I will. Because emotion has power that the metal guys know is just you can't touch it. Insanity can't touch the soul. It's going to win every f---ing time."

Before we get too riled up, it'd be smart to remember that homegirl has a new album to promote, and will spout any number of ridiculous soundbites to sell some plastic. Also, the offending paragraph showed up at the end of the interview, and feels like an offhand remark. Metal news sites went apeshit over it, though, so here we are. I sincerely doubt that Ms. Amos really intends to stand onstage next to Iron Maiden (or Manowar!) and "blow them off the stage." Unless she's got about sixteen Orange amps to blast her whispery, piano-driven poem-songs through and 4/5 of Vader providing backup , she ain't gonna have much luck.

To take her slightly seriously for a minute, though, there is something worth gleaning from her inane rambling. The most glaring problem here is the implication that metal bands and emotions are two mutually exclusive entities. This (mangled) sentence - "Because emotion has power that the metal guys know is just you can't touch it. Insanity can't touch the soul" - is really quite ignorant, especially given than Ms. Amos has at least a working knowledge of metal (at least enough to know that covering "Raining Blood" will intrigue at least a few Slayer fans and bring 'em over to the, er, light side). To say that there is no emotion within the boundaries of heavy metal is beyond absurd, and is a sad reinforcement of just how little mainstream society "gets" it. Yes, death metal is predominantly a lyrical bloodbath - but not all of it. Black metal does spend most of its time worshipping black twilight and embracing anti-human, nihilistic hate - but not all of it. Look at Bathory. Look at Opeth, Katatonia, Mayhem, Type O Negative…look at Warning, Altar of Plagues, Worship, Corrupted, Revenge, Amebix…look at fucking NEUROSIS.

Hey, Tori. When I was an angry, pierced-up kid in high school, and my mother was lying in a hospital for months and months, drifting in and out of comas, with nothing but a lifetime of brain damage to look forward to - what do you think I was listening to? Was it your records - your artfully angsty, gentle, dreamy little songs? No. You know what cheered me up and made me feel strong, made me feel like I wasn't alone, and convinced me that there was a bigger world outside of my 600-odd person town in the middle of nowhere? A world worth living for, fighting for? It was not you, Tori. It was black metal. I couldn't talk to my friends about how I was feeling, about the howling void of bleakness, hopelessness, and sadness that threatened to consume me. The harshness, the raw, agonizing pain and aggression and sheer misanthropic ferocity that shone through Leviathan, Xasthur, Darkthrone, Cult of Daath, Kult ov Azazel - THAT made sense to me then. And I'd be willing to bet that I wasn't the only one. You've got a pretty voice, that's for sure, and i'm sure your lyrics resonate with and empower some people…but they do absolutely nothing for me. Nothing. Where are those all-powerful emotions? That soul? That fire? Your music is not universal, Tori. You are not all-knowing, or even particularly interesting. Turn down the ego, slow your roll, and back off.

This is why it genuinely bothers me when outsiders deride and scoff at metal as nothing but angry grunting and tuneless screaming. Metal saved my life. Metal has saved many lives. Listening, playing, writing, and being involved with this scene has given a lot of lonesome, angry, confused, fucked-up and otherwise "different" kids something to hold onto, to belong to, to count on. This shit MATTERS.

This "challenge" was a publicity stunt, one that will be forgotten by the end of the day and buried at the bottom of Twitter feeds where it belongs, but the ignorance and condescension it radiates are things that we have dealt with, and will continue dealing with, for a long time coming.

But hey, we can handle it.

-KK

Some words about WOLVHAMMER

2011-08-05T15:12:00.001-04:00

WOLVHAMMER - The Obsidian Plains (Profound Lore)

Bleak, moody blackened metal from a bunch of tattooed Midwestern miscreants that chose to bury their filthy rock’n’roll swagger beneath layers of cold, grim, distortion and desolate doom. Wolvhammer have progressed past their primal sludge/black metal hybrid of their first couple releases, and reached an (un)happy balance between the heavy and the hateful. Their jump to Profound Lore was richly deserved, and will hopefully expose their particular mutated strain of black magic to a broader audience.

Whiskey Funeral

2011-07-18T14:27:00.000-04:00

Whiskey Funeral

To separate the flesh from the bones...

2011-07-03T23:43:00.001-04:00

Six point knee suspension. Check out some video here: http://vimeo.com/25948744

Girlfriend Metal

2011-06-21T15:08:00.003-04:00

I had had no idea that the term "girlfriend metal" was used anywhere outside my immediate circle of snarky, elitist Brooklyn-based friends (does this mean KSG - "Kylesa Shirt Guy" is due to become the next big target demographic?) until one of my Twitter followers @MescalineSun sent me this link:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Girlfriend-Metal/231031770246295?sk=info

Their info states, "Kylesa, later Isis and The Sword are all excellent examples of Girlfriend Metal. Inoffensive, fairly melodic metal with enough pop structure that even your girlfriend who dislikes most metal will enjoy listening in the car.
Frequently talked up in more mainstream music media such as NPR, the AV Club and Pitchfork Girlfriend Metal is an excellent placeholder for when your gash just isn't in the mood to put up with Impetuous Ritual.
And yes, Watain after Casus Luciferi is Girlfriend Metal as is Ghost. "

Torche, Boris, Isis, Mastodon, Kylesa, The Sword, Saviours, Liturgy, Pelican, Doom Riders, later Converge, Municipal Waste get nailed, too.

The discussions happening on their Facebook wall are hilarious/heinous, as one might imagine.

I'm all kinds of torn about this - on one hand, it's pretty funny, and actually (for better or for worse) a reasonably apt description. It's important to note that this page isn't necessarily referring to female metal fans - just females who are not into metal but happen to be dating metal fans. It got me thinking, though, about the realities of girlfriend metal's existence. Like I said, the concept has been floating around for awhile, at least in my slice of the world, and I've engaged in plenty of spirited discussions about it. It all stems from the classic "girls don't like metal" idea.

Yes, a lot of female metal fans tend to appreciate more melodic or accessible strains. Yes, I've sold more girl-sized shirts at Dark Castle shows than with Hooded Menace. Yes, a lot of my metal dude buddies only bring their ladyfriends to more laid-back kinds of gigs; Sleep, yes, Ash Borer, no.

On the other hand, fuck that! For decades, metal dudes have been bemoaning the lack of females in the scene, and now that the estrogen levels are rising, he-man heshers are feeling all kinds of uncomfortable about it. Now that they actually have girlfriends, they've still got to assert their dominance and superior grasp upon metaldom by saying, "Oh yeah, Jenny digs metal, but, you know - just girlfriend metal." I'm calling shenanigans. It's indisputable that there are fewer women involved in the extreme metal scene than there are men; that's how it's always been, and we've all gotten used to attending many a sausage fest in pursuit of the riff. There are still a helluva lot of us out there, though, and contrary to what a worrying number of men like to believe, we know our shit. Come take a look at my record collection and tell me girls can't hang. Have you got a first pressing of Necros Christos' 'Trivune Ipvrity Rites' LP? How about Graveland's "In the Glare of Burning Churches' on bloodred wax (limited to 666), a signed copy of Saint Vitus' 'Born Too Late,' or Drudkh's first three albums on picture disc? No? Then suck my dick.

The concept of girlfriend metal irks me both as a female metaller, and as a girlfriend. My long-sufferng love would never dream of questioning my metal cred (and knows better than to try and drag me to a Kylesa show with him) because he knows me, and also, respects me. That's the underlying issue - respect, and the giving/receiving thereof. There are still some Neanderthallic metalheads out there that honestly can't believe that they're not the only ones who dig the heavy, and when confronted with a set of knockers in a Pentagram shirt at a gig, can only react with suspicion (or clumsy come-ons). If girlfriend metal only encompasses the beardy, melodic, sub-hipster styles, then how do you explain the legions of leather'n'spiked ladies I raged alongside at Nuclear War Now! Fest in Berlin, or the front-row females for Nunslaughter and Dead Congregation at MDF? I wonder what Jo Bench from Bolt Thrower, Liz Buckingham of Electric Wizard, the ladies of Japanese grinders Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation, or Anahita (the poster girl for anti-Islamic black metal [see her projects Seeds of Iblis and Janaza] and one of the bravest, truest metallers out there) would think of girlfriend metal.

It's time to grow up and move the fuck over, boys. Girls do like metal, and some of us like it even more than you do!

R.I.P. Seth Putnam

2011-06-12T01:38:00.002-04:00

Yes, it's true. Seth Putnam, one of the most infamous musicians that extreme metal has ever seen, the grindcore GG Allin, has passed away due to a heart attack.

I handled all the promotion for Anal Cunt's last album, Fuckin' A, and Seth was always happy to oblige any request I sent his way. The band had been working on a new album before his passing, so chances are his musical career's epitaph has yet to be inscribed.

I want to remind everyone that no matter how outrageous and controversial his musical career has been, Seth was still a human being with friends and family that loved him. I'm hoping that the internet will remember that. This is a very sad and trying time for those that knew him, and the last thing they need to see is an outpouring of messageboard hate. The man lived and died by his own rules; if anything, respect him for that.

Rainy day sounds: VIT

2011-06-11T15:39:00.001-04:00

- by Vit

Oaths and Black Blood

2011-06-07T12:58:00.006-04:00

I haven't written very much about my personal life on here, for two very simple reasons. Firstly, because I don't really like anyone knowing what I'm up to non-metallically speaking, and secondly, since my personal life essentially is my work life essentially is my metal life, there's not much call for me to unravel the tangled web I inhabit. Every facet of my life is tied up with my love, respect, and diehard dedication to extreme metal, so at this point, it's more or less impossible to talk about myself without bringing that element into play.

So, whatever. my boyfriend's in a couple reasonably well-known metal bands, I work in metal, and we're having a couple very un-metal issues. Love is grim.

So what do girls do when they're having guy issues? Buy shoes.

What do I do when I'm having guy issues?

Buy records,

plugs,

and band shirts.

I feel a bit better.

NEW FISTULA

2011-06-01T14:55:00.001-04:00

Picking Up Chicks by Patac Records

KRALLICE Video Retrospective:

2011-05-17T13:52:00.002-04:00

A collaborative effort between (((unartig))) and myself.
Go HERE for the amazing live footage & full writeup: http://unartignyc.com/2011/05/13/krallice/

Here's the text on its own...

The first time I laid eyes and fresh ears on Krallice was in a conceptual artist’s oversized studio, framed by boxes of wire and sticky with someone else’s blood. It was a rainy night in Queens. The Manhattan skyline stood slick and weary in the humid air, and the Hudson slithered by as languidly as a sated python. As summer light died away sweetly and darkness stole quietly into its place, the scent of burning flesh wafted by. A skinny man in a leather jacket brushed past me, and a woman in yellow tip-toed behind him. It was July in the year 2008, and with Dagon in tow, Inquisition had brought their occult black rituals to New York. An intriguing new band from the outer boroughs was slated to open the proceedings. A massive art space nestled on the banks of the river had been called into duty, and an unlikely mélange of leather jackets, cheap beer, silver necklaces and ballerina flats populated this alien slice of the city. Flanked by an upscale restaurant and a loading dock, the “venue” seemed as out of place there as its temporary residents, and no one was quite certain of what to expect. As longhairs and curious passersby gnawed bones and snuck swigs from carefully stowed bottles, a great rumbling came from inside the warehouse’s cavernous depths – a harbinger of things to come. As bodies trickled in, four men fiddled with instruments and twiddled knobs, preparing. And then – it began.

The juxtaposition of corpse paint, bemused and be-V-necked voyeurs, and a severed pig’s head lent an air of surrealism to that arresting, monumentally cathartic performance that that young band with the strange name and even stranger aesthetic had chosen to unleash. Whether or not we realized it then, Krallice had arrived.

Krallice have come a long way since that muggy night by the river. Making the jump from “promising upstarts” to “New York’s best metal band” was not easy, and every ounce of success that they’ve enjoyed has been earned. It’s all been worked towards, paid for in blood, and is now deeply appreciated. Their first album served as an introduction; their second, a statement of intent. Their third opus, the newly released Diotima, is nothing short of a declaration of war. Now, we’re not talking guns-blazing war metal here – there are no panzers splashed across the album’s cover, and there’s certainly nothing bestial about the intricate compositions within. Krallice’s fight is more subtle; a sea change, rather than an invasion. Remember a few years ago, when their self-titled debut dropped – and jaws throughout the American metal scene dropped with it? USBM, the bastard son and redheaded stepchild of black metal tradition, had suddenly become a force to be reckoned with. Weakling planted the seeds, Wolves in the Throne Room relit the torch, but Krallice were one of the first of an eventual wave of American bands that had decided, for whatever reason, to embrace the beauty in brutality, and look beyond the freezing moon into not what black metal is, but what it could be.

It’s been a fair few years since the first wave of USBM hit, and many of the old guard have fallen or paled into wistful imitations of their former strength. For some, the power remains, but regardless, the game has changed. The unimaginable has happened – the meek have inherited the earth. USBM has grown into an entirely different beast than its puritanical beginnings would have predicted, and become an entirely unique entity unto itself. American black metal bands eschew the corpsepaint and spikes of their European brothers in favor of a more human approach. This new breed’s descriptors – organic, progressive, atmospheric, experimental, expansive, earthy, technical, multi-faceted – are a far cry from the European hordes’ focus on occult aggression and Satanic orthodoxy. American black metal cannot draw upon the ancient spells of the fjords, the steppes, the Black Forest. Instead, its inspiration springs forth from the forests of the Northwest, the rolling hills and hidden homes of Appalachia, the urban blight and suffocation that plagues our cities, the wide-open skies out West and frantic pace out East, the poverty-stricken South and economic nightmares up North – our land, our history, our daily struggles breathe life into this darkest expression of musical malady. Maybe we’re all still victims of that “melting pot” mentality so many of our forebears picked up alongside their brand-newAnglicized names at Ellis Island. We as a nation are rather fond of recycling, reimagining, and rebuilding what we’re given to create our own realities. Why would our take on ravishing grimness be any different? A bit of post-rock here, some hardcore there, a pinch of crust, a dash of noise, a hint of folk, a snippet of thrash and a helluva lot of ambience…Call it what you will (“post-black metal” seems to be gaining ground) and point fingers towards its influences all you like, but this scene, this community, this movement couldn’t have come from anywhere else. Krallice couldn’t have come from anywhere but New York – and Abbath’s bombastic winterdemoncy has no place in Queens.

The members of Krallice are musicians and fans, purveyors of the heavy, the filthy, the complex. Their sonic template is as varied and diverse as a packed subway car, and the aural pictures they paint prove that there are many, many shades of black. Their skill levels are practically obscene, ranging from Colin Marston’s technical ecstasies to Mick Barr’s ingenious fretboard wrangling, to Nick McMaster’s flying fingers and Lev Weinsteins apocalyptic drumbeats, and the luxury of having a world-class recording engineer and access to Marston’s cavernous studio within their ranks hasn’t hurt ‘em a bit. Combining a mutual desire to progress, experiment, and explore with a shared love of the blackest of arts, Krallice exploded onto the scene and the aftershock rippled through scores of curious and appreciative eardrums across the world. They were new, they were interesting, but above all – they were damn good.

The debut was a stunner, but its follow-up was more of a grower. Dimensional Bleedthrough was a brave album, one that greatly revealed the band members’ backgrounds in uber-technical, complex music. This time, it really sounded like the dudes from Dysrhythmia, Bloody Panda, and Orthrelm were involved. The difficult second album was just that – a challenging listen, but a rewarding one, and a startlingly mature offering from a band that, for all their chops and know-how, were still pretty new. The material for Diotima was written with dizzying speed, and was already ready for release by the time its predecessor dropped. This album is their most cohesive effort yet, and makes it crystal clear that Krallice have grown into themselves, found their comfort zone, and then immediately, characteristically, pushed those boundaries to the breaking point.

By now, Krallice have grown used to press accolades, top ten lists, and fanboys, but that doesn’t mean they take it for granted; if anything, it seems to push them further.
Each member has settled into his respective role, comfortable with his past and his future in the band. In such a pedigreed project, stacked as it is with the combined resumes of Barr, Marston, and Weinstein, it’s been interesting watching bassist and vocalist McMaster stepping into a more prominent role as a vocalist and songwriter. His budding contributions to the band’s artistic direction (coupled with the visionary work of NYC-based artist Karlynn Holland) only serve to emphasize the fact that the man is a true talent in his own right. With time comes growth.

As you can see for yourself, Krallice are a formidable live band. For being such a complex band, not only do they pull it off in a live setting, but the intensity and raw power emanating from their speakers, strings, and selves amplifies the experience – turns it up to 11, even. The band is selective when it comes to playing shows, and have managed to make every gig and tour count, from their North American runs with Ludicra, Withered and Wolves in the Throne Room to appearances at events like Fall Into Darkness, Maryland Deathfest, and Scion Rock Fest. Less is more, after all, and while road dogs bust their ass and generally get their due, there’s something to be said for moderation as well. A Krallice show is an event, and a special one at that. The live footage that (((unartig))) has so artfully captured is testament enough to that, and says more about the band than words ever could.

Kim Kelly | New York City, May 2011

Musings on Metal's Nuclear Fixation

2011-03-09T23:32:00.001-05:00

I wrote this for Metalsucks, and wanted to post it on here because, well, I like it. It's something I may expound upon someday, time and luck willing.

"EVERYBODY’S DOIN’ THE TOXIC WALTZ: MUSING UPON METAL’S NUCLEAR FIXATION"

Ever since the dawn of the nuclear age, mankind has been fascinated with The Bomb and its terrifying capabilities. Even before The Manhattan Project bore fruit, countless nuke-themed songs, movies, books, and of course, good ol’ propaganda flooded the American consciousness and captivated our over-reactive imaginations. Some truly masterful books (Level 7, Alas, Babylon, A Canticle for Liebowitz) and truly abominable pulp fiction novels were written, the government cheerfully advised its citizens to build bomb shelters out back and stockpile creamed corn “just in case!” (better an oblivious populace then a nation of protestors, right?), and Bert the talking turtle advised kiddies on the best way to protect themselves during an atomic blast (hide under your desk and cover your head, and everything will be swell!).

These catchy little ditties, cheesy sci-fi flicks, and government-sponsored nonsense planted seeds of fear and xenophobia, and left lasting scars upon the children of the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. Ask your parents and grandparents if they remember being told to “duck and cover,” or the feeling that they got when they heard the air raid sirens scream, or the impenetrable dread that settled over the country during the Cuban Missile Crisis as JFK and Krushchev toyed with the idea of apocalypse. My granddad’s voice shook as he described it (and he’s a 6”4 ex-Marine who goes bear-hunting in Alaska on the regular). Our current administration grew up during this time, and one can only wonder how their childhood memories may someday impact their nuclear decisions.

A few decades of that will leave one hell of an impression on a young country like ours, and on the places across the globe wherein similar scenarios played out. Eastern Europe trembled when Chernobyl’s nuclear reactor blew, and the aftermath of that disaster can still be seen in the radiation-rich swaths of land as far as Siberia that some impoverished people still call home. In WWII, the United States’ destruction of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki served as a nightmarish introduction to the horrifying consequences of intentionally pushing that red button. The world has never reclaimed its pre-atomic innocence, or lost its morbid curiosity about what goes down after the bomb goes off.

The psychological remnants of this period inadvertently went on to inspire many, many more works of art, music, and literature, and has provided a creative spark for struggling extreme metal lyricists everywhere. Heavy metal has held a long-term love affair with Armageddon, and the genre itself was born barely a decade after the Cold War thawed. It’s only natural that the twain should meet. It’s possible to find references to nuclear war, fallout, and post-apocalyptic wastelands within nearly any subgenre (hell, even power metal pansies Primal Fear have a record called Nuclear Fire, and Erik Wunder of Man’s Gin penned a dark alt-country ode to his “Nuclear Ambition”). Insect Warfare, Angelcorpse, Mutant Supremacy, and the immortal warmongers Bolt Thrower have all referenced the topic within their lyrics, and that’s just the result of a two-second brain scan on my part. The theme of nuclear annihilation has been embraced most by the anti-lifers in black metal and sociopolitical edge of thrash (and about a thousand crust bands like the incredible Nuclear Death Terror). Sodom imagined “Nuclear Winter” in 1987, while Voivod lamented the onset of “Nuclear War” in 1984, and crossover bands especially had their fingers on the pulse. Nuclear Assault have been flying the atomic flag since 1984, Cryptic Slaughter envisioned a “Nuclear Future” on 1986’s Convicted, and nowadays, we’ve got Toxic Holocaust keeping that dangerous flame lit (Joel Grind kicked things off with 1999’s Radiation Sickness demo and hasn’t looked back). As far as the black legions go, the list verges upon endless thanks to the likes of Impaled Nazarene, Nuclear Desecration, Parabellum, Aanal Beehemoth, Bestial Holocaust, Black Witchery, Nuclearhammer, Bestial Mockery… even war metal OGs Blasphemy were preaching nuclear desecration in between dripping blood upon the altar. The mere existence of cult label/distro Nuclear War Now! says it all, really, and their roster is prime territory for apocalyptic metal.

When I was at this year’s NWN! Fest in Berlin a few months back, I heard so many nuclear song titles and hails to the apocalypse that it was almost funny. It all seemed bit ironic, too, that these sweaty, leather-clad musicians, with their gas masks and bandoliers of ammunition, would be calling for war in the middle of a city that has seen so much of it, and especially one that played such a crucial role during a time when WWIII seemed just around the corner. Extreme metal’s warlike nature will never be tamed, and as time goes on and mankind continues to flirt with its own extinction, bands like Nuclear Desecration may end up providing the most fitting soundtrack to whatever’s coming next.
-KK

AMEBIX Announce New Album Title & Release Date

2011-01-21T04:54:00.001-05:00

This is the most important announcement of my career, and one that means a lot to me as a friend to and massive fan of the band. Please spread the word.

AMEBIX Announce New Album Title & Release Date

The darkest hour is upon us. The legends have returned.

AMEBIX, one of the best-loved and most influential bands in heavy music, have spent the last two years working towards this, a defining moment in their storied career - the release of their first collection of all-new material since 1987.

On September 20, 2011, upon the cusp of the autumnal Equinox, the new AMEBIX album will be released. Entitled Sonic Mass, these nine songs represent the past, present, and future of the band, and will enthrall and inspire longtime fans and new converts alike. As dark, crushing, and honest as anything on their classics Arise! and Monolith, but imbued with a lifetime of hardship, raw emotion, and eternal hope, Sonic Mass is the album AMEBIX have always wanted to create.

The album was recorded at Rock Cottage in Derbyshire and The Lodge Studios in Northampton, England, and engineered, mixed and produced by AMEBIX drummer Roy Mayorga. Sonic Mass will be released digitally and on CD by Alternative Tentacles, with a deluxe 12" vinyl edition from Profane Existence.

Formed in the late seventies and hailed as the godfathers of crust punk and extreme metal, AMEBIX had long lain dormant until the addition of drummer Roy Mayorga (Nausea, Crisis, Soulfly, Stone Sour), a DVD release, and a string of 2009 reunion shows reignited the flame. The band's resurrection first resulted in the release of 2010's Redux EP, which features live and rerecorded versions of several of the band's best-loved classics, including "Winter," "Chain Reaction," and the immortal battle cry, "Arise." The songs were remixed by Mayorga and Redux is available from Profane Existence on CD, 12" LP and digitally.

Now, the time has come to finish what they started. A whole new chapter in the AMEBIX saga has begun.

AMEBIX IS
Rob Miller: Vocals/Bass
Stig C Miller: Guitars
Roy Mayorga: Drums/Keyboards/Mandolin

Photos from the recording sessions for Sonic Mass can be viewed HERE. All photos by Fin MacAteer.

http://amebix.net/
http://www.profaneexistence.org/
http://www.alternativetentacles.com/

Castevet, Lake of Blood, Seidr, Falls of Rauros played two blocks from my house.

2011-01-20T15:30:00.003-05:00

And I wrote about it for Brooklyn Vegan.

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2011/01/castevet_played.html

CASTEVET, LAKE OF BLOOD, SEIDR, FALLS OF RAUROS Played the Acheron

It was bitter cold outside,. A starless sky and biting wind provided the perfect setting for a black metal ritual, as soiled snowdrifts hugged the sidewalk and surely made load-in a nightmare for the quartet of bands slated to perform. Those that braved the winter chill and got to the Acheron in time for the first band were richly rewarded.

Falls of Rauros’ set unfolded over a series of long, gorgeously-crafted atmospheric black metal compositions. Their sprawling odes to the wilderness and man’s primal past recalled the power and delicacy of Drudkh and Agalloch, with a taste of Ulver’s Kveldssanger and a hungry intensity all their own. Unfortunately they’d already sold out of CDs by the time they rolled through Brooklyn, but this Maine collective are working on new material for an upcoming release that will undoubtedly surpass even my high expectations.

Louisville, KY’s black/doom cult Seidr have long been a favorite of mine, and did not disappoint. The band, which includes Austin Lunn of Panopticon, was unafraid to allow beautiful melodies to shine through the thick black fog that envelops their funereal dirges. Their performance was absolutely riveting – total catharsis, and the strongest set of the night.

California black metallers Lake of Blood commanded our attention, and got it. While their imposing frontman roared and raged down on the floor with a whiskey- and blood-drunk crowd, the rest of the band closed their eyes and hammered away, churning out riff after riff of darkness and light. They managed to sound melodic and refined without sacrificing any of the barbarity and speed that keep underground black metal dangerous – impressive, to say the least. Look for a new album from these guys as well.

Castevet still stand out as one of NYC’s most engaging live acts, and closed out the evening with a bang. If you haven’t seen them yet, you’re fucking up. Luckily, they’ll be back at the Acheron with Phantom Glue and brother band Defeatist – don’t miss out.

Albums I'm Looking Forward To Hearing In 2011:

2011-01-16T20:43:00.002-05:00

Adorior – TBA 3rd album

Antediluvian / Adversarial – split album

Ascended / Helcaraxë – split 7″

Bastard Sapling – TBA debut album

Burial Invocation – TBA debut album

Cruciamentum – TBA MLP

Gallhammer - TBA album

Gates of Slumber - The Scourge of Drunkenness

Gospel of the Horns – TBA mCD

Katharsis / Teitanblood – split

Kerasphorus – TBA 7″

EYEHATEGOD - TBA

Morbid Angel – TBA “I” album

Petrychor - TBA

Repugnant – TBA second album

Revenge – Scum.Collapse.Eradication

Revenge / Black Witchery – TBA split

Sanguis Imperem – TBA debut album

Scythian / Kawir – split 7″ (spoiler alert: the Scythian track rulezzz)

and probably a million more I'm forgetting about.

A couple upcoming releases that I can PROMISE you are awesome:

Altar of Plagues - Mammal

Amebix - Sonic Mass

Crowbar - Sever the Wicked Hand

Necros Christos – Doom of the Occult

I like band tattoos.

2011-01-11T05:07:00.003-05:00

And I really LOVE EyeHateGod.

Take as needed for pain, bitches.

Tumblr

2011-01-04T01:50:00.004-05:00

Hi!

I just figured out how Tumblr works (sort of) and decided to make one for my PR company, Catharsis PR. Once I caught myself posting non-work stuff on there like five seconds after I made it, I decided to make another one just for me to dick around on. Here are the links, let's be friends.

CATHARSIS PR

GRIM KIM

TODAY'S PLAYLIST:

ASCENSION - With Burning Tongues demo
BOLT THROWER - Realm of Chaos
APPALACHIAN TERROR UNIT - It's Far From Fucking Over
STEVE VON TILL - A Grave is a Grim Horse
JOHNNY CASH - American V: A Hundred Highways
THE GAULT - Even As All Before Us

I'm making a mix CD for my boyfriend, thus the more mellow stuff near the end of the evening. Yeah, I'm aware that I am 1. a massive sap, and 2. stuck in the early 2000's. Come at me, bro.

To Separate Flesh From Bone - Happenings and Discoveries

2011-01-02T02:00:00.000-05:00

The above photo was snapped by my beloved friend Samantha Marble to accompany a piece that ran on NPR.org this past week as part of the Record's "The Year in Music" retrospective series. Entitled "2010's Best Writing About Metal," the post rounded up a handful of pieces that its author thought particularly exemplary, and I'm pretty chuffed that my "Metal Etiquette: A Ladies' Guide to Concert-going" (Metalsucks) was chosen. Many thanks to Lars Gotrich for the honor. You can read the writeup and find a link to the original article here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2010/12/30/132413390/the-year-in-music-2010s-best-writing-about-metal

Sam, my roommate Karlynn Holland and I spent a good couple hours Immortal-izing my face, shooting in the snow outside Sam's apartment, spooking unsuspecting passersby,, and breathlessly giggling at the sight of my dumb ass in full-on Abbath mode. You can see a couple more photos here - I look like a dude, but am totally okay with it. Talk about ravishing grimness. Hah! http://samanthamarble.tumblr.com/

NEWS FROM THE DEPTHS (THAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION):

Clandestine Blaze released a new album on longtime allies Northern Heritage at the tail end of 2010, and it completely snuck under my nose! I haven't gotten my mitts on it yet, but according to the NH website,

"2010 album of Clandestine Blaze underlines the core of black metal as it has been interpreted by it. Utmost focus on the core elements of riffs, melody, song structures and lyrics, leaving out everything unnecessary. In stripped down simplicity of sound, music and artwork it continues logical journey since Church Of Atrocity, with more distorted, lethal and fierce sound."

There's a new Mgla on the way, too! Stoked.

Fans of Cruciamentum should hit up Metal Ireland and check out a cool new interview with Dan, conducted by Andy from Dublin doom titans Wreck of the Hesperus: http://www.metalireland.com/2010/12/26/cruciamentum-interview/ Cruciamentum's 2009 EP 'Convocation of Crawling Chaos' is a proclamation of intent and an essential listen for anyone who gives a damn about the current state of underground metal ov death.
Listen and worship: http://www.last.fm/music/Cruciamentum

Negative Plane have a brand-new record due out on Ireland's truly barbaric Invictus Productions in early 2011. Invictus will also be releasing an LP for Canadian black/death warriors Antediluvian, who are planning a split with brothers in arms Adversarial as well.

Altar of Plagues have completed their new album for Profound Lore, which is currently being mastered by the immortal Necromorbus. Can't spill any more details, but trust me - this will be the one of the best albums of 2011.

Much-loved Necros Christos affiliates Drowned have come to their senses and gotten together to record new material, though no hope (as of yet) of catching the Teutonic death/doom beasts live:

"11/2010
A new line-up has been coagulated earlier this year, involving Tlmnn on guitar, G.ST (also in Essenz) on bass and T.E. (also in Essenz and Android Empire) on drums. We are currently working on material for an upcoming full-length album.
MDR will remain available for future vocal recordings, albeit his participation in live shows is unlikely due to the ever more time-consuming nature of Necros Christos.
Because of this circumstance and also in order to focus on songwriting, Drowned will not play live in the near future."

My good friends Craven Idol will be releasing their debut EP Ethereal Altars on Hammer of Hate/Vengeful Atakkk - black/thrash supremacy! Speaking of the London scene, my mates Scythian (warlike black/thrash) will be releasing a split 7" with Greek horde Kawir in the coming months.

PLAYLIST FOR THE DAY:

Some new discoveries have hit my headphones today; I'm taking advantage of my newfound downtime to greedily devour as much new-to-me (and underappreciated) UGBM/UGDM as possible. Lots of demos, lots of new blood and surprisingly, lots of American stuff.

SKITSYSTEM - Stigmata (2006)
SOMBRES FORETS - Royaume De Glace (2008)
GOAT HORN - Trinza After Sunset demo (1999)
CASTLE OF PURITY - s/t demo (2009)
ETERNAL DIRGE - Morbus Ascendit (1992)
GAROTTE - Count the Almounds (2010)
ROMAN CROSS - Rain rehearsal (2008)
GRAVE MIASMA - Realm of Evoked Doom rerelease (2010)

OMG, OSDM! & Bestial Raidz

2010-12-22T00:44:00.001-05:00

For whatever inexplicable reason, OSDM (old school death metal, duh) has gotten way popular over this past year, and while some bitter assholes (like me) may complain about the trendiness (the horror, the horror1) of it all, I've got to admit, it's resulted in a marked increase in the amount of my kinda death metal being released. I've never been much for modern death metal, preferring to dwell within the fetid Florida swamps and spik'n'span Swedish art spaces that the birthed the old guard, and have made a point of thoroughly shunning all things technical, proggy, or "djenty'.

*On a side note, I just found out what "djent" means - it's music nerd for "shit mid-range riffs with no balls." Hateful.*

Out with wankery, in with necromancy!

CRUCIAMENTUM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZkMiukoxuc

GRAVE MIASMA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GOs92bYO5w

SONNE ADAM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyQA88S3wRM&feature=related

DEAD CONGREGATION

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWrN3yw-3t4

NECROS CHRISTOS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zg_682VU4E

DROWNED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B44PVJxzbQ

MIASMAL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahehhU3shpI

EMBRACE OF THORNS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTlpVg5JVSw

CRAVEN IDOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq8x6sJs5AQ

VANHELGD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq5ebnSwK90

FATHER BEFOULED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8AkYUobtA0

MORBUS CHRON

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ash-jnX0DLU&feature=related

The other big thing, at least on the other side of the pond (hail to England, as always) has been an explosion in not only tolerance for but downright slavish devotion to all that is bestial. Primitive, uncompromising black/death grinding noise and war metal assaults, Goatfago bands and Nuclear War Now! have pretty much dominated the leather jackets and pre-gig conversations of all my London mates for the past few years, and with the arrival of the now-annual NWN! Fest in Berlin, Germany (WHICH FUCKING RULED), the goat worship has reached a fever pitch. It seems like the Yanks are finally catching on, too.

BLASPHEMOPHAGHER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSXlEn4bPL0

GRAVE DESECRATOR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6RRsKl3nGE&feature=related

TEITANBLOOD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh7v9Ei5avk

NOCTURNAL BLOOD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n38K_KCNgA

KERASPHORUS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEGPh9IdJDE

BLASPHEMY (HAIL THE MASTERS!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpJLnUCnZPo

SADOMATOR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkrUHAxS7No

VASAELETH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNqf6EFTlsE

PROCLAMATION

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p29Dqxojvs0&feature=related

UPDATE: Tour, Travel, Upcoming Projects, Assorted Babbling

2010-12-19T22:20:00.000-05:00

This is how six months of near-constant travel will leave you: dirty, mean, haggard, and hungover. Since my college graduation on June 12th, I've moved from wild West Philadelphia to a delightfully grimy little pocket of Brooklyn, been on four US tours, spent time in five other countries, logged god knows how many airline miles, drank the devil only knows how much whiskey, been to countless gigs (at least a hundred), made some money, spent some money, written a hell of a lot about metal, promoted some killer records, fallen in love, and made a few additions to my arsenal of body modifications. Not bad for half a year, and the next six months are due to be even crazier.

I'm currently in Palm Beach City, Florida, listening to a band called Parabellum sing about whiskey and swamps through gritted teeth. My only other thought in regards to those particular fellows is that they should've considered taking a peek at the Encyclopedia Metallum and maybe not jacking Parabellum's name. I'm here because this is the last date of the tour I've been on since the beginning of the month, and my road brothers Black Tusk are up next.

We've been hitting the North/Southeast hard with the almighty Crowbar, and it's been an absolute fucking pleasure. Kirk, Pat, Tommy, and Matt were a force to be reckoned with, and absolutely decimated the stage every night with vintage Crowbar riffs and a few hot new licks off their upcoming album, Sever the Wicked Hand. I've heard the whole record, and trust me - it's absolutely great. I had a ball bonding with Kate, Kirk's fiancee, behind the merch table, hassling Troy, the tour manager/driver/possessor of the thickest Cajun accent this side of Billy Madison, and poking fun at Meatball the hyperactive drum tech. My boys done good too - but them again, they always do. I've seen Black Tusk at least 75 times now, and am always excited to see them hop onstage.

That's fucking saying something, I think - that after living, drinking, fighting, and sleeping next to these three Georgia boys for roughly three months this past year, I still love them, and their music, to death. They're taking a break from touring the US for a few months (and hitting up Europe/Japan instead!), but next time they (we) roll on through, do yourselves a favor and check that shit out. As for Crowbar - they'll be back in March, on a tour package that will quite literally amaze anyone who worships the riff - and knows their doom history...;)

Many thanks to all that came out, bought merch, gave us a place to crash, bought us drinks, fed us, talked to us, and filled up my tip jar. Y'all make those lonely nights far far from home a lot easier for a traveler's weary bones and heavy heart.

I also spent about five weeks overseas, dividing time between Ireland, England, and Germany. In England, I spent a couple weeks in London hanging out with my mates there, pestering my boss lady at the Terrorizer office, catching a handful of gigs - Live Evil fest, Shining, Metsatoll - and also made a trip up to Northampton, where I spent some time with my dear friends and clients Amebix. In between glasses of scotch and episodes of Man Vs. Wild, I got to hear a few new tracks off their upcoming album, which was an experience unto itself, and talk business with the boys. Expect to be hearing a lot from me about Amebix in the coming year - this album is going to be an EVENT. In Germany, I hit up Nuclear War Now! fest in Berlin to soak up as much bestial war metal horror as I could stomach (two days' worth, and I left wanting more!) and spend some quality time with my errant Aussie friend Griff, who as of now is probably somewhere entirely different. Buddy guy makes me look like a homebody - and is an amazing photographer, at that. The bulk of my time in Euroland was spent in Dublin, Ireland, where my boyfriend Johnny resides. Long-distance relationships are a bitch, but you fight for what you love. If it weren't for this absurdly illogical heavy metal gypsy life that I lead, I'd have never met him, and if he weren't in touring bands he wouldn't understand it as well as he does, so everything sort of works out. He drums for Altar of Plagues, who are currently working on a new record for Profound Lore, and from what I've heard so far, will be releasing one of the deepest, most gorgeously dark black metal records of 2011. He also mans the kit for crusty deathgrinders Abaddon Incarnate, who will be releasing a split 7" with Phobia soon, and hitting South America for a month-long tour (that I am of course trying to figure out a way to accompany them on!) this summer. I'll be promoting the split (mixing business with pleasure, oops) so keep an eye out for updates on that as well.

I'm heading back to Dublin in February, and will hopefully have a tour waiting for me when I get back in March, and by then, it'll be time to get ready for Roadburn, and the wheels keep on turning...

As far as stuff I'm working on - I've written about a billion year-end lists for various websites/magazines, so I'll post links to those as they surface. My post for Metalsucks is already up: fight me about it.

I'm fleshing out the concept of one book and have just had someone approach me with the concept for another, so there's something to work towards. I'm going to be aiming to complete the first issue of my zine Plague Ritual during the first couple months of the new year - more on that as it takes shape. I'm booking a tour for Atlanta doomhaulers Let The Night Roar. I've got a ton of new releases to promote and have entered into agreements with Ireland's mighty Invictus Productions and Boston's gnarly PATAC Records to work some of their upcoming releases, and will be working on new joints from Amebix, Aelter, Panzerbastard, Anal Cunt, and more in the works. There are probably a few other things too, but it's too loud to think in here. Black Tusk have just hit the stage running, and I'm not about to miss out.

A Quick Chat With ADVERSARIAL

2010-10-05T21:12:00.000-04:00

This band fucking rules, and carry the torch for true soul-defiling Canadian war metal. Their new record, All Idols Fall Before the Hammer, is out now on Dark Descent Records; cop that shit here.

1. Canadian extreme metal is becoming more and more recognized within the global metal scene. What are a few bands you feel are still overlooked, or that you'd like to recommend?

1) Well to name a few in no particular order Dead Of Winter, Witchmark, Lych, Sentient,
Antediluvian, Mitochondrion, Nuclear Hammer and Horde Of Worms…

2. Canadian war metal (Revenge, Conqueror, Blasphemy etc) is incredibly highly-regarded in the underground. How closely do you as a band identify with that particular group? You share a similar sound and aesthetic to many of the bands that fall under that umbrella.

2) While we don’t consider ourselves part of any group (simply because of our ideology)
we are proud to come from this country’s underground. We are glad if in time we slowly
become and are considered part of Canada’s extreme (and extremist) musical legacy.

That being said we strive for originality and tried to develop our sound and lyrical
aesthetic away from any outside influence including being part of ANY scene. The name
Adversarial was chosen for a reason…

3. Tell me a bit about the writing and recording process for All Idols Fall Before the Hammer!

3) Ok, well the writing was done by me over a period of about a year (other than the re-
recorded demo tracks which were done before) in which the songs changed constantly
until they ended up roughly as what was finally recorded.
During band rehearsals a few more changes were made stemming from suggestions by
E.K and M.M, recording began soon after.
Decisions were made about how we wanted to record and the resulting abrasive, fuck off,
claustrophobic sound was born.

4. What would you say is the band's main purpose as a musical entity? What is your message?

4) This band stands as an affront to almost everything and everyone alive today. This
band is war.
It’s the outcome of our characters and ideals, and personally it’s an outlet for my own
battle and beliefs.
The message is there for all who care to read our lyrics…

On a final note, thanks for the interest man, and for those who care be on the lookout for
future releases very soon including a split with the mighty ANTEDILUVIAN (on NWN!)
and a re-release of our demo plus some extras on Dark Descent.
C.S
www.myspace.com/adversarialmusic

We Are The Road Crew

2010-09-30T11:31:00.001-04:00

Tour's winding down. It's week six, and feels like I've been gone for years. It'll be nice to get home and get a real shower and make dinner and gossip with my roommates and drink cheap whiskey at my favorite spots and catch up on writing. Luckily for my wanderlust, I've got a whole lot more traveling to do before 2011 hits. A few days after I get back to Brooklyn, I'm flying out to Portland for Fall Into Darkness fest, indulging my Cascadian hunger with Fauna, Witch Mountain, Black Cobra, Worm Ouroboros, Krallice, Via Vengeance and more, seeing some dear friends, then turning right back around. One week at home, with Resistant Culture and Wolvserpent gigs included, then heading overseas. a week in London pounding pints and raging at Live Evil fest, Electric Wizard, and Bison BC with the lads, two and a half in Dublin with my sweetheart, a week in Berlin for Nuclear War Now! Fest, a couple days in the studio in Northampton with Amebix to check out the new record and talk business, a couple days back in Ireland with Johnny, then back to NYC on December 1st. The next day I'll more than likely be flying out to meet up with Black Tusk and head out on a two week tour with...(secret super awesome band). After THAT...bedtime.

See y'all on the road.

Get In The Fucking Van

2010-09-20T03:21:00.000-04:00

Heading back east, little by little. Trekking through the goddamn desert on our way to Dallas, then rolling through the Dirty South and playing with some killer bands - Weedeater, Radio Moscow, and fucking BUZZOVEN!!!! Sticking with the tour a little longer than planned - I'm hopping off in Richmond after we rage with Hellbastard, Cannabis Corpse, and Ramming Speed, then making my way back up north via DC and Philly/NJ. There's a possibility I'll be bouncing out to Portland for Fall into Darkness Fest 10/7-10/10 if I can rustle up plane fare, then I'm sticking around NYC until i leave for Europe.

Here's what we got left. Come hang out, do a shot, buy some merch, or let us crash on your floor.

9/21 Dallas, TX @ Nightmare
9/22 Little Rock, AR @Downtown Music
9/23 Nashville, TN @ The Muse w/ WEEDEATER
9/24 Johnson City, TN @Hideaway
9/25 Charlotte, NC @ Tremont Music Hall w/ BUZZOVEN
9/30 New York, NY @ Rocks Off Concert Cruise Aboard the Temptress w/ BUZZOVEN
10/1 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar w/ BUZZOVEN
10/2 Richmond, VA @ Alley Katz w/ Cannabis Corpse, Hellbastard, Ramming Speed, Parasytic, Occultist

Doomed to Suffer Presents: COUGH, Ghloas, Sadgiqacea, Hollenlarm

2010-09-14T00:13:00.000-04:00

September 26, 2010 @ 09:00pm - Doomed to Suffer & Philly F/M Fest Present:

COUGH

Doomed at heart but with a healthy appreciation for filthy sludge and bong-ripping psychedelia, this drugged-out quartet draw upon the power of the almighty riff to unleash their crushing odes to the infinite. Even their name is a dead giveaway – ever really listen to the beginning of “Sweet Leaf?” There you go. This year will see the recent Relapse signees releasing a split with UK doom heroes The Wounded Kings on the always-excellent Forcefield Records, embarking on their first-ever European tour this spring, then rolling across the USA in November. Thank Electric Wizard, Black Sabbath, and a LOT of weed for making this band possible.
myspace.com/cough666

GHOLAS

"This New Jersey-based quartet shares members with local heavyweights Deathbeds, but has carved out its own niche within the city's heavy music scene, blowing eardrums and dropping jaws with their spaced-out progressive metal compositions. Equal parts Mogwai, Mouth of the Architect, Russian Circles, Jesu, and Sonic Youth, Gholas are a rare and compelling sort of band, one with its own aesthetic, sound, and raw, beating heart."
www.myspace.com/gholas

SADGIQACEA

Heavy, slow, and atmospheric progressive doom from one of the Philly underground's rising stars. SADGIQACEA (sad-juh-kay-shuh) is a ferocious and epic power duo from the Philadelphia/South Jersey Shore area, using detuned guitars and thundering percussion to create a shape-shifting foundation of dripping darkness, while soaring vocals and echo-drenched strings pierce through the toxic sludge, painting a face-melting lucid dream of metaphysical pain and ecstasy.
www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.myspace.com%2Fsadgiqacea&h=4739a

HOLLENLARM

Bleakest doom, crushing black. Amber, PA.
myspace.com/derhollenlarm

at Millcreek Tavern
3200 Chester
$8 / 21+ with ID

Doomed to Suffer Presents:

2010-09-06T02:16:00.000-04:00

October 24, 2010 @ 09:00pm -

Doomed to Suffer Presents:

Ramming Speed
Boston thrash-grind-crust-party dudes!
myspace.com/officialrammingspeed

Deathbeds
Heaviest band in Philly.
myspace.com/indeathbeds

Vulcan
West Philly thrash dudes.
www.myspace.com/vulcanthrashers

Coffin Dust
Grave-robbing old-school death metal from Downingtown/Philly dudes.
www.myspace.com/coffindust

at JR's
22nd & Passyunk
$p / 21+ with ID

20 Buck Spin's WOLVSERPENT (formerly PUSSYGUT) Announce US Fall Tour

2010-09-06T02:00:00.000-04:00

Boise, ID's most intriguing export, the newly-christened WOLVSERPENT (known previously as PUSSYGUT) have revealed the details of their first-ever major North American tour. During the month-long trek, the ghostly duo will will be playing their upcoming opus Blood Seed in its overwhelming entirely, unraveling their haunting gothic tapestries of violin and doom, ambient and pathos, upon an army of strangers. WOLVSERPENT will be joined along their left-hand path by their friends and allies in Velnias, Locrian, Ehnahre, Javelina, Subrosa, and more.

Blood Seed, the group's fourth full-length (and first under the WOLVSERPENT name) will be released on 500 slabs of virgin vinyl by the ever-evolutionary 20 Buck Spin on October 5, 2010.

It would be awesome to get the band some coverage in their home state. Would you be interested in running a show preview, or doing a live review? Adding the Boise show to your event listings? Maybe an interview with the band? Let me know what you think!

Cheers,
Kim Kelly

WOLVSERPENT FALL TOUR DATES

Sept 25 Boise ID @ V.A.C Record release and US tour kickoff!
Sept 30 Denver CO @ The Further Shop w/Velnias
Oct 2 Milwaukee WI @ Borg Ward
Oct 3 Chicago IL @ Enemy w/Locrian
Oct 5 Brooklyn NY @ Archeron w/ Archon & Bezoar
Oct 7 Somerville MA @ Starlab w/Ehnahre
Oct 8 Greenfield MA @ John Doe Jr. w/Ehnahre
Oct 9 Ithaca NY @ Warehouse w/Ehnahre
Oct 10 Far Rockaway NY @ Red Light District w/Ehnahre
Oct 11 Baltimore MD @ Golden West w/ OAK, & Ehnahre
Oct 12 Chapel Hill NC @ Nightlight w/Clang Quartet, Mountains Named for Murderers and Ehnahre
Oct 13 Charlotte NC @ The Milestone w/Ehnahre
Oct 14 Atlanta GA @ Eyedrum w/Ehnahre
Oct 15 Nashville TN @ Little Hamilton w/Loss, & Ehnahre
Oct 17 Little Rock AR @ Downtown Music w/Pallbearer & Ehnahre
Oct 20 Austin TX @ Red 7 w/Javelina
Oct 21 Las Cruces NM @ The Trainyard w/Yazata
Oct 22 Phoenix @ PHX w/GOG
Oct 24 Las Vegas NV @ Brass Lounge w/Dead Neon
Oct 25 Salt Lake City UT @Burt's Tiki w/Subrosa
Oct 29-31 Boise ID @ VAC
Nov 4 Seattle @ The Comet w/(a) Story of Rats

Visit: www.wolvserpent.com for up to date info on Wolvserpent and Aelter

Tribal Grinders RESISTANT CULTURE Announce North American Tour

2010-09-06T01:55:00.000-04:00

Tribal Grinders RESISTANT CULTURE Announce North American Tour

The enigmatic tribal grind/anarcho-crust collective known as Resistant Culture have announced plans to take their message to the masses on a North American tour this fall. The predominantly Native American quartet are known for their ingenious blend of raging grindcore, chaotic crust punk, death metal intensity, and traditional chants & instrumentation. Based in LA and dedicated to the fight for equal rights, environmental issues, and recognition of the issues that face Native Americans and other minorities, Resistant Culture have been a strong voice within the underground for many years. Formerly propelled by the incendiary riffs of the late great Jesse Pintado (Terrorizer Napalm Death), the band has returned in full force, recording a new demo and preparing for a full-scale US tour that will wind through the entire country. The Sacred Fire 2010 U.S. Tour will be in support of the first pressing of the band's classic All One Struggle on clear vinyl, with a gatefold, and 24x36 full color poster and the third pressing of their debut album, Welcome to Reality.

RESISTANT CULTURE US Tour Dates:

9/30 Wandering Goat
Eugene, OR

10/1 Satyricon
Portland. OR

10/2 The Morgue
Seattle, WA

10/5 Roman's
Rapid City, SD

10/7 Rathole
Minneapolis, MN

10/9 The Black Hole
Chicago, IL

10/12 Token Lounge
Detroit, MI

10/13 Hexagon Space
Baltimore, MD

10/14 Millcreek Tavern
Philadelphia, PA

10/15 The Lake Underground
Brooklyn, NY

10/16 AS220
Providence, RI

10/17 Cambridge Elks Lodge
Cambridge, MA

10/19 Volume 11 Tavern
Raleigh, NC

10/20 Lenny's
Atlanta, GA

10/21 Marauders
New Orleans, LA

10/22 Broken Neck
Austin, TX

10/23 No Thanks Fest
Emory, TX

10/24 The White Swan Live
Houston, TX

10/26 Blast O Mat
Denver, CO

10/27 One Mind Studio
Salt Lake City, UT

10/28 Lucky Lady
Las Vegas, NV

10/29 Gilman
Berkeley, CA

11/6 Common Ground
Riverside, CA

Tour Blog 1

2010-08-31T02:45:00.000-04:00

So I'm on tour with my babyboys Black Tusk and stoner rock OGs Fu Manchu, and we just played the Masquerade in Atlanta. We stayed with our boy Dan from Zoroaster yesterday and got shwasted on top shelf liquor, had an epic cookout today (with venison! heaven), and are maxin' out relaxin' all cool in Dan's doom palace surrounded by pitbulls and pillows.

Andrew and Roadie Ben are at a bar with crazy Cameron from San Francisco, but me, Athon, and James are worn out. Kevin from Brutal Truth lives 'round the corner and warned me that the Masquerade sucks; as usual, he was right. The staff were sweethearts, but the crowd should have been way bigger, the openers drank up all the booze and got all uppity asking for free stuff, the house took a 10% cut of the soft merch sales, the moniters blew halfway through Tusk's set...bah. We hit Raleigh tomorrow, which should be cool - I like North Carolina a lot, and after that we hit DC and I get to bro down with Salome, then Cambridge, MA where I get to see my boy Metal George, then NYC for a taste of home, and on and on...

I flew out to meet up with Black Tusk in Austin last Thursday, where we were due to kick things off at Emo's that night (fourth time I've been in that damn club in as many months). After load-in, we grabbed dinner at Stubb's (Texas barbeque, yessss) then did the show thing. I went through all the merch and familiarized myself with the tools of the trade, set my shit up, and waited for the madness to unfold.

Austin is Austin, and Austin is crazy. We crashed with the boys' awesome friend Cory at her adorable little apartment, woke up late, and sauntered off to Houston the next day.

*Black Tusk LOVES lotto tickets*

Now that is a weird town - everyone's stuck in 2001 and the club we played, Scout Bar, was straight-up covered in nu-metal memorabilia. We're talking Disturbed on the house speakers and signed Saliva guitars on the walls, son.

I got cornered by a methed-out waitress who bought a Black Tusk girly shirt then spent the next ten minutes telling me about how breastfeeding made her rack huge, and the boys were enchanted by the lingerie-clad broad serving beer out of a tub (you stay classy, Houston). Crashed in a Super 8, then headed South to New Orleans - one of my most anticipated stops this time around.

I LOVE New Orleans - the city is just brimming with black magic and swamp light, and the food? Fuck. I am the pickiest eater imaginable, but even I'm powerless in the face of Coop's Cajun fried chicken and Cafe Du Monde beignets.

We played One Eyed Jack's in the French Quarter - wicked.

Drank a bunch of whiskey, sold a bunch of merch, and had a ball at Tusk's friend Alex "The Douche"'s house with her goofy dogs and champagne. On our way out of Louisiana, James won 500 dollrs off a two-dollar lotto ticket (!!!!) which provided some excitement (and a bottle of bourbon) for the rest of the evening.

The long drive out to Atlanta the next day was all worth it as soon as we rolled up to Dan's incredibly nice house, and now I'm almost wishing we had another day off to snuggle with his dogs and suck down his blue agave tequila.

On the road again...

ent

Reinventing The Steel; The New American Underground

2010-08-24T16:33:00.000-04:00

So here's a thing I wrote for Terrorizer months ago. In the usual editorial process, things get switched around and reimagined sometimes, and this piece ended up on the wrong side of a red pen. We decided to retool and revamp it to better reflect the theme of the next issue ("Southern Metal") soooo this baby's never gonna see the light of day. It pains me to shelve it entirely, though, so here's what it would have looked like. Some of it will be cannibalized for the new piece, too - waste not, want not!

REINVENTING THE STEEL
The New American Underground
Kim Kelly

The gods of metal have a habit of showing up in the unlikeliest of places. From festivals held deep in the Bavarian woods or Czech countryside to basement shows in Brussels and all-dayers in Singapore, the existence of heavy fucking metal is a damn near universal truth – a world without borders or limits. One has to ask, though - what the hell is it doing in the white-bread Midwestern wasteland of Columbus, Ohio? Or in Texas, America’s gun-totin’, pigment-hatin’ conservative stronghold? The answer: March 2010’s one-two punch of Scion Fest, and Austin, TX’s South by Southwest Music Conference. Terrorizer went deep aboveground to investigate the strange phenomenon of metal’s newfound popularity in the US of A.
Maybe “popularity” is the wrong word; after all, the dark arts have always been plenty popular with those of us who knew enough to care. “Respected” may be more apt. With bands like YOB and Alcest gracing the hallowed pages of the New York Times and Magrudergrind and Wolves in the Throne Room blowing up on indie rock behemoths Pitchfork and Brooklyn Vegan (whose Fred “Black Bubblegum” Pessaro has been making waves with his own black meddling and boundless enthusiasm for keeping it true), the level of aural brutality that Joe Sixpack will accept in his daily routine is steadily beginning to increase. Tastemaker labels like Profound Lore, 20 Buck Spin, and Relapse and interesting new signings from Candlelight, Metal Blade, and Prosthetic have colored the musical landscape in a whole new range of shades of black, and countless new metal-focused websites and blogs have been spreading the plague at 500 kbps per second.

As the inevitable “hipster metal” movement reared its artfully-coiffed head, the underground recoiled, but even the most stalwart basement warrior has had to admit that more interest in metal means more tours, and more chances to see the bands they actually care about. At the risk of sounding like a “special advertising section,” it must be said that carmakers Scion (a division of Toyota) have been stealthily leaving oil-slicked fingerprints all over the underground – in a positive way. By doling out sponsorship money to broke-ass touring bands and throwing massive ‘merican shows for bands like Immortal and Neurosis, Scion’s resident metal guru Adam Shore has had a profound impact on the scene at large, and his handpicked Scion fest lineups have brought many respectable denizens of the underworld kicking and screaming into the sunlight. This year’s edition featured Absu, YOB, Voivod, Shrinebuilder, Brutal Truth, Ludicra, Cannibal Corpse, Black Tusk, Lightning Swords of Death, Black Anvil, Landmine Marathon, and tons more, and took place at four small venues in the quiet college town of Columbus, Ohio. Over the course of 24 hours, legions of metal fans descended upon its quiet streets like a swarm of locusts, and Terrorizer caught jaw-dropping performances from Ludicra (a festival high point), Absu, Black Anvil, Thou, and Lightning Swords of Death. A few weeks later, a similar scenario happened, only this time, it all went down a little closer to Hell.

Traditionally held to be a hipster hangout and industry circle-jerk, this year’s edition of SXSW turned out to be the heaviest the fest had ever seen. Bands like High On Fire and Landmine Marathon held equal billing to indie darlings Japanther and Madlib, and the uberhyped Profound Lore/20 Buck Spin and Brooklyn Vegan showcases were so packed, they were only letting in a handful of people at a time. Terrorizer was on hand to catch electrifying performances by Coffinworm, Salome, Dark Castle, The Atlas Moth, Kill the Client, Howl, Bison BC, Zoroaster, Goatwhore, and god knows how many others over the course of the five-day, multi-venue music orgy. Beneath the merciless Texan sun, we wandered through Austin’s blocked-off streets, soaking in the live music that came pouring out of every bar and venue and bumping into band dudes everywhere we turned. Playing at SXSW can be a trial by fire for some, like The Atlas Moth with their hellacious seven-shows-in-five days schedule or Salome with their myriad van woes, but for those that make it out alive, the SXSW stamp of approval goes a long way. Don’t mess with Texas.

Now that we’ve brought you up to speed on what sort of trouble’s been brewing on this side of the pond, meet a few of the two festivals’ highlights: bands that are changing the meaning of “American metal.” Walk on home, boy.

LUDICRA

This San Francisco-based collective have been creating artful, mind-expanding black metal odysseys for over a decade, and are finally reaping the rewards of that which they have sewn. Vocalist Laurie Sue Shanaman is an angel and a demon onstage, possessed of a voice that veers from ethereal to apocalyptic in the blink of an eye and is augmented by guitarist/backing vocalist Christy Cather’s deafening roar. The band is rounded out by Aeson Dekker of Agalloch on drums, Ross Sewage (Impaled, Exhumed, Ghoul) on bass, and John Cobbett (Hammers of Misfortune, Slough Feg) on guitar – a dream lineup if there ever was one. An electrifying performance at this year’s Scion Fest and ensuing success on their Decancellation Tour (hastily rebooked after Mayhem aborted the US run they were slated to open), as well as an incredibly well-received new record (The Tenant/ Profound Lore 2010) have put them on the map, and solidified Ludicra’s place at the forefront of the new wave of American black metal.

COFFINWORM

These Indianapolis-born amplifier worshippers have only been around since 2007, but have already risen to the top of the American doom/sludge pile. 2009’s Great Bringer of Night demo was an impossibly brutal, downtuned beast that set the stage for this year’s When All Become None (Profound Lore), six songs’ worth of gutter sludge, vindictive black metal, old-school death, and suffocating doom. Add in some of the most devastatingly clever, anti-human lyrics around, not to mention an imposing live presence (as seen at SXSW and in cursed venues across the Midwest) and a heavy debt to the occult, and you’ve got yourself one unholy racket. Coffinworm are special, not only because of their grave-digging sound, which mines the tombs of death, doom, and darkness and comes up corpses – they matter because they really fucking mean it.

THOU
Move over, New Orleans; Baton Rouge is rapidly becoming the new home of the heavy. Case in point: the uber D.I.Y. doomlords of Thou, who have been criss-crossing the country spreading their nihilistic sermons and earth-shaking riffs since 2005. This extremely prolific, constantly touring quartet have unleashed over fifteen splits, demos, and albums (on labels like Southern Lord, Robotic Empire, and Gilead Media) and show no signs of slowing down. Thou’s vast, monolithic dirges are a hateful mangling of EyeHateGod, Isis, and Winter – droning, shimmering, feral, and achingly honest – and are giving the old guard one helluva run for their drug money.

LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH

The City of Angels isn’t exactly the most kvlt of locales, but L.A. black metal mystics Lightning Swords of Death are living proof that something wicked lurks behind all the glamour and plastic. Oozing pure evil, occult secrets, and urban blasphemy, their take on the blackest of the dark arts hits hard, fast, and mean, drawing liberally from the genocidal black/grind of Revenge and Conqueror, the pitch-black thrashing of Aura Noir, and Watain’s perverted rock’n’roll. There are even a few epic nods to Blut Aus Nord in there, coupled with a totally D.I.Y. underground-‘til-death mentality that is doing well to keep their attitudes in check and their weapons deadly sharp. An upcoming Metal Blade debut and more live actions are brewing, so watch your back.

SALOME

One mic, one guitar, and a set of drums. Doesn’t sound too impressive when you lay it out like that, but when you add in a few massive fucking amps, earth-shaking riffs, and the doomed trio behind Salome, and you’ve got yourself a problem. These Virginian destroyers have been decimating stages and blowing out eardrums since 2006, releasing a thunderous Profound Lore debut and killer split EP with Thou along the way. Vocalist Kat’s bloodcurdling shrieks and sepulchral roars claw their way to the forefront of Rob Moore’s down-tuned, mercilessly heavy slabs of sludgy, funereal riffage and Aaron Deal’s impossibly tight war drum, and the deadly combination thereof is as catchy as it is crushing.

KILL THE CLIENT

Once the reigning kings of American grindcore, Insect Warfare, called it quits, their throne stood empty for several long, slow years; that is, until their fellow Texans Kill The Client stepped up their game, and went for the fucking throat. The Dallas quintet have been grinding 24/7 since 2002, releasing two raging albums on Willowtip and splits with Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Thousandswilldie before signing a deal in blood with Relapse for their upcoming full-length. A killer live act (as SXSW found out) and known for their snarling, furiously fast take on balls-out grind, these bastards reek of Swedish putrefaction and have something to fucking say, on top of it – their sociopolitical rants are as smart as they are searing.

THE ATLAS MOTH

The denizens of Chicago’s three great talents are scarfing down greasy food, making music, and doing drugs. Judging by the fuzzed-out psychedelic space jams on The Atlas Moth’s Candlelight debut, A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky, this Chi-Town quintet are no exception. Longtime road dogs and D.IY. buzz-builders, the men of the ‘Moth are no strangers to hard work; even a grueling SXSW schedule of seven shows in five days (!) couldn’t slow them down. Drawing from the post-everything catharsis of Neurosis, the Southern-fried dirt tones of Buzzoven, the mangled chords of Coalesce, and even the shimmering progress of Deftones The Atlas Moth’s sound is both many things, and one unified theory. On record, they captivate; live, they decimate. With several high-profile tours and collaborations on the way, the future’s looking bright for this post-sludge collective.

BLACK ANVIL

Hardcore dudes playing black metal? It sounds like the worst idea possible, but New York’s mighty Black Anvil have proved how devilishly well it can work. Featuring former and current members of Kill Your Idols, None More Black, and Deathcycle, what Black Anvil lack in kvlt cred they more than make up for in sheer brute force and the kind of songwriting chops that come with years spent toiling in the underground. Sneaking pages out of Celtic Frost, Bathory, Motorhead, and Immortal’s songbooks (check out Paul Delaney’s Abbath impression), armed with a positively nasty “Dethroned Emperor” cover, and hauling out lick after lick of thrashy, bottom-heavy blackness, this New Yawk trio have been blowing up stage across the nation, and, with an upcoming Relapse debut and several high-profile tours in the works, seem hellbent on total destruction. Now THAT’S hardcore.

DARK CASTLE

Dark Castle are sort of like the White Stripes of doom metal, except about a billion times more brutal. This Florida duo are also known for their stripped-down approach – one guitar, one keyboard, a drumkit and two throats – and have spent time as a couple, but instead of garage rock, churn out impenetrably dense, hypnoticly sludgy riffs. It’s difficult to compare Dark Castle to any other band, because although the music they play on their At A Loss debut, Spirited Migration, is very recognizably doom, there is an intriguing balance of atmosphere and ferocity, of droning heaviness and gently clean psychedelic melodies, that many attempt but few actually realize. Stevie Floyd’s guttural roar and Rob Shaffer’s lumbering, almost tribal drumming play off the mystical, bleak soundscapes they create beautifully, and in a live setting, with the lights turned low and the band bathed in red light, are nothing short of breathtaking. These road warriors recently returned from a European trek with Kylesa and are gearing up to cross the USA with Zoroaster this summer, then it’s back to the studio for round two!

LANDMINE MARATHON

This Arizona quintet have been blowing up over here. Their electrifying performances at SXSW and Scion Fest, a killer new record, Sovreign Descent, out on Prosthetic, and a charismatic frontwoman with a mouth like a sailor and penchant for Death shirts have all done their part to bring Landmine Marathon into the spotlight, and they couldn’t be more stoked. Their crusty, old-school death metal sound has a heart of pure grind, culled as it is from the back catalogs of the Earache greats (think Bolt Thrower, Morbid Angel, Napalm Death) and the Infest patches on their shorts. Armed with a perfectly muddy mid-90s guitar tone as well as Grace Perry’s ferocious pipes, they have been sweating it out in the underground for five years now; after releasing several demos, splits (w/ Stormcrow and The Funeral Pyre) and albums (Level Plane released ‘Rusted Eyes Awake’ in 2008), they were snapped up by Prosthetic, and unleashed a monstrous new LP. Watch your back!

The crusty post-sludge fiends on Howl, cosmic doom luminaries YOB, reborn black metal legends Absu, mind-expanding riff worship of Bison BC, NOLA stoner death ‘heads Goatwhore, grind gods Brutal Truth, stoned cavemen High on Fire, and scads of other worthy accomplices made these two events fucking sing, and are slowly but surely making it a hell of a lot more fun to be an American metalhead. Horns up!

THIS IS EXCITING

2010-08-24T04:50:00.000-04:00

SUNN O))) TO CURATE ROADBURN FESTIVAL 2011

Roadburn festival is thrilled to unveil the curator for the 2011 edition of Roadburn: Sunn O))). The band, to be specific Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley, has agreed to curate our festival on Friday, April 15th, 2011 and host a special event.

As curator, Sunn O))) will personally select the bands that will play during their special event as well as perform a headline show. Sunn O))) will be Roadburn’s fourth curator, following David Tibet in 2008, Neurosis in 2009 and Triptykon’s Tom Gabriel Warrior at this year’s festival.

Right now, Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley are gearing up for two major Sunn O))) events in September: performing Altar with Boris at ATP New York and Brooklyn’s Masonic Temple, but you can expect to hear from them in the future with respect to their thoughts on the 2011 Roadburn festival and Sunn O)))’s performance.

We are overjoyed to join forces with Sunn O))) for the upcoming Roadburn festival. Their metal-based drone experimentations have proved groundbreaking and hugely influential for an entire new generation of musicians practicing the art of avant-garde metal, drone, post rock and psychedelica. Sunn O))) is also widely acclaimed for their eclectic collaborations with everyone from musicians Attila Csihar, Masami Akita (Merzbow), Boris, Steven Stapleton, Justin Broadrick, Oren Ambarchi, Ulver, Joe Preston, John Wiese, and Julian Cope to filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and visual artist Banks Violette.

Greg Anderson, who is also Goatsnake’s songsmith and the entrepreneur behind Southern Lord Records, and Stephen O’Malley, a prolific improviser and composer who is well-known for being involved in Burning Witch, KHANATE, KTL and DACM/Gisèle Vienne theatre-works, have performed in different guises during various Roadburn festivals over the years, which is exactly why we felt they would be the ideal curators. Both of them consistently push the envelope musically, and one of our steadfast goals has been to make Roadburn a festival that explores the cutting edge while celebrating the familiar, too. With that in mind, we could think of no better spiritual guide for 2011 than Sunn O))).

We are truly looking forward to the new ideas and visions that the crossover drone duo will bring to the festival next year. When asked to sum up Roadburn in one word, “progressive” would be a fitting choice. Evolving and improving are part of this. The festival is a tribute to the open mindedness of its bands, curators and audience. The joy comes from expanding musical horizons, and with Sunn O))) acting as our curator we’ll definitely be in for some artistic surprises.

Roadburn Festival 2011, including Sunn O)))’s special event, will run for three days from Thursday, April 14 to Saturday, April 16 at the 013 venue and Midi Theatre in Tilburg, Holland. There will be an additional afterburner event on Sunday, April 17, 2011.

For more info, please visit: www.roadburn.com

*See you there, dudes and ladies!

AESOP DEKKER Interview

2010-08-24T03:27:00.000-04:00

This was published on Brooklyn Vegan here: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/08/an_interview_w_42.html#more.

An interview w/ AESOP DEKKER
Kim Kelly

The metal world is rife with curious individuals and iconoclasts, demonic personas and mysterious, elemental figures. We’re none of us “normal,” and neither are our heroes. One of the most interesting (and hard-working) figures in modern American extreme metal is one Aesop Dekker. As an artist, Dekker makes his mark on this ever-evolving world as the drummer and driving force behind such fascinating, innovative, and often life-affirming projects as Agalloch, Ludicra, and as of recently, Worm Ourobouros. As a fan, his rabid and bottomless enthusiasm for all things heavy, dark, obscure, and honest is laid bare in his popular blog Cosmic Hearse and in various other behind-the-scenes efforts. The man himself recently granted an e-interview to Brooklyn Vegan’s erstwhile pillar of ravishing grimness, Kim Kelly, to discuss his thoughts on USBM, the lure of San Francisco, and Agalloch’s upcoming 4th album (and upcoming live shows!).

Your blog Cosmic Hearse is an absolute treasure trove of obscure and not-so-obscure music, metal and otherwise. You’ve clearly got an incredibly extensive knowledge of
music, and are constantly posting about new bands and records that fly below most peoples’ radars. Where do you find out about new bands?

Aesop: Discovering obscure music has been a passion of mine since I was about 13. It is almost to a fault. I can’t stand the thought that there may be some amazing recording that
I have yet to hear. Anytime I travel I come home with a stack of stuff to listen to. Now with the notoriety of Cosmic Hearse people send me stuff or hand me weird releases at shows. Also I ran a short-lived “cassette only” label in 2004 that put me in contact with a myriad of interesting Black Metal bands and labels. I also spend a ridiculous amount of time perusing other blogs and combing bins at record stores.

What does it take for a new band or album to really catch your interest these days?

Aesop: It’s hard to pinpoint what makes a band click with me. A band doesn’t have to be terribly original, talented, or well produced. I think most important is atmosphere,
songs…There really isn’t a whole lot of new bands that interest me. Some bands work for me live but have yet to make a recording that can hold my interest. There are so many variables in how music is taken in and made that to say what makes something “good” is rather difficult.

What are your thoughts on the current state of American black metal? USBM arguably started in the Bay Area with Weakling, and has since grown into this sprawling,
progressive, critically-acclaimed (or at last, acknowledged) scene. Is it surreal to see bands like Wolves in the Throne Room and Krallice getting talked about in the New York Times or on NPR?

Aesop: Well, USBM probably started with Von, then Profanatica, but Weakling was very influential on the west coast. Both bands you mention owe a huge debt to Weakling. Wolves took Weakling and simplified it, Krallice expanded on it. I haven’t really given much thought to the attention the USBM is getting these days. The early Norwegian bands are winning Grammys in their country, so I think it is just progression. Black Metal has gotten too big for major media to ignore and not seem out of touch. While
it’s nice to see American bands getting some accolades, I think that it is a bit of a dilettante’s game. I mean, where is all the praise for Absu, one of America’s longest
running Black Metal bands who happen to release on of the best albums of last year?

Do you miss the older days of USBM when only a handful of people knew, or cared,about what was going on?

Aesop: Not particularly. My experiences with listening to music remain the same. It canbe frustrating seeing hobbyists flooding the bins with subpar releases, but on the other
hand it can also mean exciting new bands. It makes you have to sift more through chaff to find the wheat.

The West Coast and Bay Area in particular has a long history of metallic excellence,and in recent times has played host to an absolute explosion of talented, interesting new
bands. Who are some of your favorite new California metal bands? I’m guessing Dispirit and Fell Voices will fall somewhere on the list…

Aesop: Dispirit and Fell Voices are both excellent. I would also add Lascowiec and Bosse De Nage to the list of amazing Bay Area Black Metal bands. I have also been
impressed recently by Vastum, who feature members of Acephalix and Saros, doing Bolt Thrower worship. Elk from Oakland are getting better and better every time I see them.

You’ve mentioned before how deeply the city of San Francisco affects Ludicra’s music and lyrics, and have lived there for many years. How important is living in San Francisco to your creative process? The city seems to have this unique energy and vibe, something I’ve never found anywhere else – is this what you feed off of?

Aesop: I think cities in general have a certain zeitgeist that is reflected in their bands. People who live in SF have an almost romantic love for this city, it’s architecture, it’s weather, it’s art… But it is also a hard place, it’s expensive, it can seem wholly unwelcoming at times. Ludicra never set out to be the audial essence of the city, we never set out to be anything other than a band, the link to SF is almost natural and unintentional. I remember a few years back people were talking about the Bay Area sound, but I think the bands here are all unique. We may share a geography and the occasional beer but it ends there. Ludicra sounds nothing like Leviathan, and Leviathan sounds nothing like Weakling.

In regards to Agalloch, is it difficult to write and demo material with your Portland-based bandmates when you’re living in different cities? How would you describe Agalloch’s creative process?

Agalloch relies heavily on demos and doing things via mail. It’s definitely slower than having a band that rehearses regularly and works out arrangements together. The three original members, John, Don, and Jason have the process down to a science. For me it was a bit intimidating, It is almost an exact reversal of the process that Ludicra uses to
make records. As strange as it is, it obviously works. Agalloch makes impressive records for sure. It was exciting to be involved with the new album. Of course I wish I saw them more and we could work together closely on the material but I am not sure that if we all lived closer that would change.

Congrats on signing with Profound Lore, and the imminent release of a new Agalloch album. Expectations for this record are high, perhaps higher than ever, which has got to
place a bit of pressure on this recording. How does it feel to be in the studio with your Agalloch brothers? How is the album taking shape?

Aesop: Well, like I mentioned this is my first time in the studio with Agalloch. There was really no more pressure than any recording really. I believe the material to be strong and we did a great deal of preparation and demoing before tracking.

What can we expect to hear on this new record, and how will it be different from your past few releases?

Aesop: Without divulging too much I can say that it will be very different than past Agalloch releases, darker, but still having all the elements that make Agalloch special.

Agalloch are seldom seen in a live setting, which makes every performance seem like a special event. Is that your intent in limiting the band’s live appearances? I know fans are always begging the band to do a full US tour; is that something you would ever be open to doing?

Aesop: I think that some bit of the Agalloch mystique dies if we play out too much. Also we are dealing with scheduling issues when we play. I think the planning of an Agalloch
show or tour requires much more than most bands, issues like gear , rehearsals, and flights come into play. With these factors in play we would rather play shows that are special to us in some way. I know that this can be frustrating to fans but if they put in the effort to see us then we work hard to make it a memorable experience When we played in
Romania with Alcest there was a thousand people from fifteen different countries there, that is much more rewarding to us then playing show after show opening for some bigger
band.

Will Agalloch be playing any shows in support of the new material?

Aesop: Yes, we have some plans for later in 2010 and early 2011.

Besides this record, what do you have planned for the upcoming year? Will Ludicra be doing any more touring/recording? Any new projects in the pipeline?

Ludicra is laying low, writing new material. I am also now playing with Worm Ouroboros, a great band from Oakland who have a brilliant album out on Profound Lore.

*Shortly after this interview, I was lucky enough to catch Agalloch’s John Haughm perform with my friends in Vindensang at a rare performance in Philadelphia, PA, and during a chat after the gig, he confirmed that Agalloch will be embarking on an East Coast tour in March 2011. Keep your ears to the ground!

INTERVIEW: Zoroaster

2010-08-05T08:18:00.001-04:00

'll be chopping and screwing this into a Terrorizer-sized 600ish words, but here's the full transcript of my email interrogation of my man Will Fiore of Atlanta psychedoomelic troublemakers Zoroaster. Buy their new record and come see 'em on tour with Nachtmystium next month!

ZOROASTER
Interview for Terrorizer
w. Kim Kelly

So you’ve just gotten back from a tour with Black Tusk and Dark Castle, and are
hopefully somewhat recovered by now. Can you share a few stories from the road?
Nothing too incriminating, of course, but a couple of your favorite memories, maybe?

Hmm I don’t know all my favorite memories are way too incriminating. I’ll just say
that any tour that involves as much booze, rooftop pools, broken down vans, fighting,
cookouts, bloody fire extinguishers and cocaine related car accidents has got to be a good
tour, right?

Now you’re already gearing up to hit the road again come September with some old
friends. Are you excited to get back out there again, or would you prefer to have a bit
more downtime? You guys are touring hard on this record – you’ve got Europe on the
horizon, as well! When do you get to take a vacation?

Yeah we head out in September with nachtmystium which we’re really looking forward
to. Blake started this whole thing for us by releasing our first record and we did one of
our first big tours with them back in 2006. I actually wish we could leave right now I
always love coming home after a tour there’s nothing like laying in your own bed for
the first time but honestly after 2 or 3 days I’m ready to get the hell out of town again.
By that time you get caught up with friends you’ve missed but then it’s back to work
and having to pay for beer and liquor and who the fuck wants that? That’s not cool.

The new record is something else. After having heard some of it every night for about
thirty days, I’d definitely say that it’s both immediately compelling, but also something
of a grower – it took some time for the songs to really sink in and open up. How do you
feel about Matador now that it’s out there?

I’m really happy with it actually, getting to finally work with Sanford was great we’ve
been talking about that since before voice of Saturn. I usually don’t think too much about
a record once it’s done though. you live with this thing and it’s all you think about when
you are writing then recording and mixing it and it can be really intense. Once it’s all
done I kind of just let go of it and start all over again I’ve already started making demos
for a new record last weekend so my mind is on that right now. Plus there is always
something you wish you had more time on or could have done something a little better or
whatnot so I try to avoid that it’ll drive you crazy.

What was the writing and recording process like for this record? It seems like you
finished it pretty quickly once Voice of Saturn was released. Can you give me some who/
what/where/when details?

Like I said I’m always writing so there are always songs ready to record we get together
whenever there’s a break from touring and work on songs either brent or I have or we’ll
just work on ideas from jamming. Old world for example is one I was working on around
the vos record but I ended up playing it in a side band I have instead but then a few
months later I realized it really needed to be a Zoroaster song. Plus there are still songs
we wrote when my brother was in the band that we never played with dan or even our
second drummer so we always have those too. Ancient ones, Trident and matador are
actually from that time.

Can you tell me a bit about the lyrics? What are songs like “D.N.R” and “Old World”
about?

D.N.R. Brent wrote about a friend of his who has a terminal illness. He had to sign a do
not resuscitate document for her which makes him responsible for that decision when the
time comes.
In Old World I wrote about letting go of things or people that maybe aren’t good for
you and being able to recognize where and what you should doing or going in life just a
bunch of drunken rabble really.

Who is the Matador?

A car actually. A dead car.

Listening to a song like “Brazen Bull” alongside “Ancient Ones” is almost like hearing
two different bands. Your core elements and influences are still there, but your sound
has evolved and expanded considerably, and gotten way more psychedelic and rockin.’
What brought about this change? Was it a slow-burning evolution, or did you consciously
decide “We want to try something new”?

That’s funny cause Ancient Ones was written when the band first started way before
brazen bull. I think a lot of what people hear is really just us getting more and more
comfortable in the studio. We know what we sound like as a live band and we’ll always
have that so in the studio there’s this chance to take these songs somewhere else without
straying too far from that live sound and I like to be able to have each record have a
certain sound or mood that is unique to that recording while still sounding like us. Dog
Magic definatley has more of that live sound, we went right into the studio to record that
after two to three months touring so we were in that mindset.

The vocals in particular are really interesting – those drawn-out, distorted drone and
stoned harmonies melt into the riffs and seem like another instrument rather than a
focus. Was that what you were going for? How’s you guys come up with that approach?

The vocals are definitely like another instrument to us and a thing where brent and I try
to bring something new to each record and it’s another example of us just getting more
comfortable with that where we are able to push ourselves more than I ever thought.

The current sound of Zoroaster is a logical step, and feels as if that’s where you’ve been
heading the whole time – someplace tripped out, hazy, relentless and never too far from
your dirty Southern roots. With a mystical name like Zoroaster, I guess it makes sense
that you’d like to mess with peoples’ minds a little! How would you say you feel about
where the band is now?

I couldn’t be happier like I’ve been talking about I think we are finally confident enough
and have been playing together long enough to where we can do whatever we want. I
can’t wait for the next record we’re just getting started.

How have your older fans reacted to the new material? Have you been seeing a new
crowd coming to your shows nowadays?

It’s been really great we just played almost the whole record on this last tour when the
record wasn’t even out and people really seem to be digging it. All the feedback we’ve
been getting is really positive but then I don’t know how many people would go out of
their way to tell you your record sucks.

E1 is pushing this record hard, and it’s great to see you guys getting some heavy label
support after doing things on your own for so long. How did you hook up with E1? Did
you have any qualms about signing with such a big label?

They are doing an amazing job it’s awesome we couldn’t be happier. There was
definitely some concern cause we’ve been doing everything ourselves for so long which
is great but it also get’s really expensive and once we met with scott a few times we
knew it was the right decision. It’s been a relief to get a lot of the financial burden off our
shoulders for a minute so we can just concentrate on playing and making this record I
think that really helped out with the outcome of matador.

What’s coming around the corner for you guys after you finish the Nachtmystium tour?

There’s more touring being sorted out now and possibly another video and in the
meantime just working on songs for the next record.

THE BODY, Atakke, Bad Dream, Curandera played the Acheron

2010-07-28T13:21:00.000-04:00

200 words for Terrorizer Mag:

Providence, RI is rapidly becoming a hotbed for doom activity; local heavy weights Sin of Angels, Howl, and now The Body have been laying it down low and keeping it dirty for years, and are finally getting some attention for it. To kick off an extensive US tour, The Body recently played at Brooklyn’s Acheron (a practice space turned DIY show spot) with a trio of NYC’s best underground bands – the powerviolent sludge fiends Curandera, psyche-doom-elic 70s rockers Bad Dream, and thrash/death hellraisers Atakke, whose spitfire of a frontwoman Chloe Puke had the crowd going mental. The true highlight of the night was the out-of-towners, though. With sweat pouring down their bearded faces and shining off of faded tattoos, the two men of The Body hammered away at our eardrums and showed no mercy, hauling out riff after sludge-infested riff of murderously heavy doom and bowing to the crowd’s demand for an encore.
Waves of feedback, creepy samples, and a no-nonsense, head’s-down-keep-playing approach made their set all the more enjoyable and even more intense than a spin of their excellent new LP All Of The Waters Of The Earth Turn To Blood, could have prepared us for. Doom or be doomed.

Photo by Samantha Marble - check out more sick shots and an extended show review here: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/07/the_body_now_on.htm

COFFINWORM/Vaste Burai/Wizard Eye - 8/13 PHILLY

2010-07-24T04:38:00.000-04:00

I am REALLY EXCITED for this show :) Come support the bands and Doomed to Suffer in the City of Brotherly Hate:

August 13, 2010 @ 06:30pm - Doomed to Suffer Presents: *note: THIS IS AN EARLY SHOW! 7-9PM!
COFFINWORM

This band is fucking AMAZING. Vicious nihilistic sludge with a blackened bent and syrupy Southern discomfort. Death, doom, destruction, and an insane live show. On tour from Indiana, new record out on Profound Lore. One of my favorite bands!
www.myspace.com/coffinworm

VASTE BURAI
Brutally down-tuned two-piece on tour from Texas!
www.myspace.com/vasteburai

WIZARD EYE
Philly's best psychedelic doom warriors.
www.myspace.com/wizardeye

at The M Room
15 W. Girard Ave
$8 / 21+ with ID

DEVOURMENT Didn't Take My Bait

2010-07-24T03:53:00.000-04:00

I wanted to get them talking shit about deathcore, but instead they had to be all diplomatic. Bah humbug. Keep an eye out for an excerpt on Noisecreep sometime soonish.

DEVOURMENT
Interview for Noisecreep
w. Kim Kelly

Congrats on signing with Relapse! How did that come about?

MM- They contacted us a couple of years back about doing an exclusive t-shirt design and we just kind of stayed in close touch with them ever since. A couple of the Relapse guys caught us live a few times and were impressed with our performance I guess, and pretty much approached us at one of those shows and said they were interested in us. We were definitely interested in Relapse we well as it seemed like a logical progression so they patiently waited for us to be free from our previous contract and the rest is history.

You’re heading off to Europe in support of 2009’s Unleash the Carnivore, and will be hitting some pretty major festivals. Have you played over there before?

MM- Yes, we had a successful headlining European tour in 2007 with Viral Load and Despise, and it was an amazing experience. So this will be our second full tour there, which we will be doing with Cerebral Bore. These will probably be the biggest fests we have ever played, especially Partysan and Brutal Assault.

You’ve got a US tour coming up quick as well, and will be heading out with Cattle Decapitation as well as a handful of newer bands. How do you think your fans will react to a band like Knights of the Abyss or Burning the Masses?

MM- Hard to say really, as this will be our first US tour so everything will be a very new experience for us. We have played in the US before but very few cities so it will be exciting to see how it goes. I’m sure all of the bands on the tour will do great and have a lot of fun.

Devourment are one of the most well-known brutal/”slam” death metal bands out there, and have undoubtedly inspired countless others. It’s not much of a stretch to assume that many of the modern deathcore bands have taken some cues from your ultra brutal approach. What do you think of deathcore and your theoretical influence upon it?

MM- Well I can’t really speak for any bands, I mean it would be pretty arrogant to assume any band is influenced by us just because it’s a similar style. We didn’t invent that style so who knows. I personally don’t listen to much deathcore or whatever, but I have no problem with it, each his own. Shit I ripped off a Van Halen song on Anal Electrocution.

Do you see deathcore/metalcore as gateway drugs to the real underground metal scene, or as something to be ignored/condemned/stamped out? It seems like many metalheads take the latter stance. Do you think the generation gap between younger deathcore fans and older death metallers is part of that?

MM- I honestly don’t waste my time or energy giving a fuck what other people talk about or care about. I always have my Reign in Blood CD close by. If it skips, that’s when I get fucking pissed.

Do you feel that the death metal scene lacks unification?

MM- Yes.

What five records are you listening to the most right now?

MM- As far as new albums,
Misery Index: Heirs to Thievery
Immolation: Majesty and Decay
Dying Fetus: Descend into Depravity
Cannibal Corpse: Evisceration Plague
Skeleton Witch: Breathing the Fire
I always have my old school death and thrash CD’s close by as well, but I do listen to other music, not just metal.

Cheers for the interview, see y’all in NYC!

Awesome, thanks a lot!

SUMMER SOUTHERN BURN TOUR: Part II

2010-07-24T03:51:00.000-04:00

For a bunch of embarrassing pictures of us, check out the original post: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/07/tour_diary_kim_1.html

Writer Kim Kelly has completed her (epic) journey on the road with the Summer Southern Burn Tour aka the indomitable team of Zoroaster, Black Tusk, and Dark Castle. She kept a diary along the way, revealing the first part a few weeks ago, and now the conclusion! (below) - BBG

==============

June 26th - San Francisco, CA @Thee Parkside

We had a hella short drive over from Oakland to San Francisco, so we all splintered off and made the most of our semi-free day. Black Tusk, Zoroaster Dan and I hit up Nation Burger for breakfast, then Dan and I drove over the Bay Bridge (twice - thanks, GPS) in search of records and decent grub. Every time I find myself in the mighty Amoeba Records I know I'm going to drop a bundle, and Dan is an even worse vinyl nerd than I am; he had a fucking stack of at least ten slabs of vintage country/rock'n'roll, while I was just stoked to find Blasphemophager's 'Nuclear Empire of Apocalypse' on picture disc and grab the new Thou/Moloch split alongside a couple Skynyrd and Scorpions tapes for the van. He split to go check out the barbecue that everyone else had been chilling at all day, and I met up with my friends Erin and Kyle and Andrew from Black Tusk for Thai food (he got green chili catfish - you can take a boy out of ol' Dixieland, but you cannot take ol' Dixie from a boy), then after wandering around Haight-Ashbury for awhile, Andrew and I headed over to the venue to kill time at the bar before load in. Everyone else moseyed in about an hour later, and people started piling in shortly thereafter. Tonight fucking slayed - packed house, good sound, a rad promoter (Whore for Satan rules) and a bunch of great friends came out. I was particularly stoked to see my friend Arthur von Nagel from Cormorant and his adorable lady Amber, and a bunch of Zoroaster's buddies kept things lively. We ended up staying with the latter after the show, and tried to grab a few hours of sleep post-party, pre-drive. Thanks for showing us a hell of a good time, San Francisco! This show was just the morale boost we all needed; tempers were flaring and spirits were sagging pretty low up until this one.

June 27th - Chico, CA @Coda Café

Black Tusk's merch babe Chloe (who screams bloody gore in NYC's Atakke) grew up in San Francisco, so when we woke up the next morning she took us out to her favorite burrito place, and to Whole Foods to stock up on van food. I can't stress enough how important it is to stop at grocery stores on tour. The nonstop menu of gas station munchies, fast food, and Waffle House starts to take a heavy toll after a couple weeks, and it's cheaper, too - a box of granola bars and some apples costs about as much as a Big Mac, bro! We've been trying to eat healthy on this run, but finances, time, and general laziness makes it pretty hard. Generally, Rob and Ben will eat any deep-fried monstrosity they can get their hands on while Stevie and I scrounge for Cliff Bars and string cheese (though I did see Ben eat an orange the other day, and swore it had to be a mirage). Living like this makes us even more appreciative of venues like the Coda Café in Chico that made it a point to offer up some decent food when we rolled up. We were there for a pick-up show that'd been added to fill in a day off, which ended up being a pretty laid-back affair. It didn't hurt that the Dark Castle and Zoroaster crews were already in a great mood after having spent a few hours that afternoon drinking beers and swimming in a wonderfully cold river a few miles from the venue; many thanks to Brandon from The Makai for taking us there!

Coda Cafe is small and cozy, with a palate-pleasing menu of gourmet pizza and an appreciative crowd of locals who trickled in once the first band started playing and stuck around 'til the not-so-bitter end. The second local band, The Makai, were fucking awesome - their unholy amalgamation of doom, black, and death metal was executed with merciless precision and unfolded throughout the course of one epic thirty-minute song. Keep an eye on these guys! Their drummer also pulls double duty in Mammoth Tora, the weirdo surf rock band that closed out the night once the touring bands had done their thing. Good show, good vibes, good times!

June 28th - Portland, OR @Satyricon

The drive from Chico to Portland was absolutely beautiful, but hellishly long. This tour's been littered with 8+ hour drives, which has given us all a lot of time to catch up on reading and fight over music selections. We alternate between Stevie's iPhone, my laptop, and the radio, which yields a pretty ridiculous mishmash of sounds that no one can ever agree on. Stevie likes slow, depressive stuff, Ben's a firm advocate of dirty Southern gangsta rap, I'm an elitist prick, and whenever Rob's driving he wants to hear something rockin', which doesn't work well when my laptop's plugged in. "Do you have any Metallica?" "Fuck that." Saint Vitus' Born Too Late starts wailing out of the speakers. "I need something I can sing along to!" Okay. Mercyful Fate goes on repeat for the next couple hundred miles. "Don't Break the Oath, motherfucker!"
Portland's a wonderfully weird city surrounded by breathtaking natural surroundings and populated by a bunch of our good friends, so we'd all been looking forward to this show for awhile. Chloe and I snuck off to Voodoo Donuts before the show for some maple bacon bars and picked up a dozen (chocolate on chocolate and decorated with pentagrams!) to celebrate James (drums, Black Tusk)'s birthday later that night. The Satyricon is an all-ages venue with an adjacent bar, where my friend Zack from the insanely awesome Nux Vomica happened to be bartending and hooked Andrew and I up with some free drinks. It's always surreal to see young kids wandering around, but the bassist of the killer local band Tenspeed Warlock had brought his ten-year-old son to the show and the kid was a total badass! Our buddies Mike and Aaron from YOB came out to hang, and Nate Carson from Nanotear put us up in his awesome house afterwards. A night to remember (for some of us, anyway; a couple of us got into a fight with Jim Beam and Johnny Walker, and lost. Badly). As Athon said, "Girl, you lost your knees!"

June 29th - Seattle, WA @Funhouse

After enjoying a lovely (hungover) breakfast with Nate and some friends from Subarachnoid Space, another long, scenic drive deposited us at the Funhouse in Seattle - right under the Space Needle! This is a pretty merch-heavy tour, and the merch crew has had a hell of a time fitting our assorted bags and boxes into the smaller bars/venues. I'm already dreading trying to fit all three of our setups into the miniscule merch area at the Khyber in my 'hood. The three of us (me, Chloe, and Zoroaster's road dog Nick) took over the joint's lone pool table and laid out our wares, reveling in the luxury of having an actual space for all of our stuff. The Funhouse was one of the raddest venues we've encountered so far. In addition to the merch corner, they had plenty of room for gear, a cozy backstage room, and a basketball hoop outside, where Steven from Kreation Records fucking rocked all of us!
The metaleros in the opening band, Sin Dios, unleashed some high-quality black/death metal fury, but had a sense of humor, too - at the end of their set, the singer cracked "There are a lot of bands from the South playing tonight. We're from the South, too - South of the border!"
Our original plan was to crash with Stevie's friends in Galder and Grey (two killer Seattle metal bands) but we and the Zoros ended up staying with Steven (an old friend of Dan's) at his tricked-out doom mansion instead. His record collection was about as jaw-dropping as one would expect from the guy that runs one of the bets metal/stoner rock record stores on the planet (he had a Deathspell Omega 4xLP box set that still haunts my dreams). Dude had a SAUNA in his bathroom, and you bet your ass we all crammed in there and sweated out the toxins we'd accumulated during the past two weeks of hard-livin' and hard-drinkin' (there was a LOT of sweat!). We stayed up 'til 5am listening to Om records, drinking port wine, and appreciating Steven's hookah. Totally surreal, and totally awesome.

June 30th - Boise, ID @Red Room

We showed up late and had to rush to load in during Pussygutt's set, which was a damn shame because from what I heard, they were fucking awesome. Our dear friends Darcy Nutt and Chad Remains had set up the show for us, and their badass stoner doom band Uzala played second. They are seriously one of my favorite new doom bands; imagine a run-in between Electric Wizard and Saint Vitus with a foxier Jinx Dawson on vocals. So good! Unfortunately, time constraints and set up issues resulted in all three touring bands having to cut their sets short, which no one was too pleased about. Despite the stress, it was a fun show, and the band dudes had plenty of fun scoping out the drunk college chicks stumbling around outside afterwards (apparently, drunk sorority broads love taking pictures with heavily tattooed metal dudes!). The Dark Castle crew ended up at Darcy and Chad's place and stayed up late listening to Saint Vitus records and catching up before crashing hard.

July 1st - Salt Lake City, UT @Club Vegas

We woke up to a homemade breakfast and hung out with Darcy, Chad, and their kickass daughter before heading to their tattoo shop, Chalice, to take a look around. Darcy's work is absolutely unbelievable - there's a reason she's such a well-known, well-respected tattoo artist (and is the sweetest little lady you could ever meet, on top of it!). She hooked Stevie and I up with some gorgeous new jewelry (1" plugs for me, carved wooden weights for her) and showed us around the shop before we had to hit the long road to Salt Lake City. Before we left, we discovered a seriously injured cat curled up outside their shop; Chad made a few frantic calls to local animal shelters, and the couple ended up taking the poor kitty to an animal hospital after we'd left (they called to let us know that the cat was going to be okay!). We got to the club a little late again, loaded in, scarfed down some pizza, and settled in to watch the two locals. Los Rojos laid down a short set of Southern-inspired rock, and Invdrs (not a typo) screeched through some EyeHateGod-worshiping swamp sludge before Dark Castle thundered onstage. Gentry from Eagle Twin came out to hang and check out Dark Castle's set, which was definitely cool. The crowd wasn't huge and everyone that came up to the merch table said they'd loved the set but were too broke to buy anything (hot tip: don't come up to me and cry about not having money while holding the beer you just bought. Fucking dweebs). We all crammed into two hotel rooms, watched some Metalocalypse, and crashed out early in anticipation/dread of the 9+ hour drive to Denver the next morning

July 2nd - Denver, CO @Larimer Lounge

One of the most difficult parts of touring is creating and maintaining a positive balance between tons of very different personalities. Oftentimes, personalities, plans, and opinions clash, and clash hard, and it can get mad ugly trying to negotiate a solution. This morning was one of those times for our camp. Things eventually worked themselves out, but for awhile, shit was pretty apocalyptically awful. This has been a really tough, stressful tour for a number of reasons, and it's taking its toll. The fun and positivity always comes back, though; at the end of the day we're all good friends working and playing music together and it's that love that keeps us sane (or something like it). A long drive and shitty load-in (showing up late and frantically trying to steer the entire contents of our van through a crowd of nonplussed hipsters is never a great way to start a show) put a damper on our arrival, but a good turnout and plenty of hang time on the patio smoothed things over; fair enough, Colorado.

July 3rd - Kansas City, MO @Riot Room

Kansas City was lame, but at least we had a baller hotel room to come back to at the end of the night. Dan Zoroaster is truly the King of Priceline!

July 4th - St. Paul, MN @Turf Club

We spent our Fourth of July cooped up in a van with the windows down to save the engine from overheating and rolled up to the Turf Club just in time for a deadly evening heat to set in. Jesus fucking Christ, it was hot! The venue was cool (it had a photobooth, at least) and some of our friends from Wolvhammer came out to hang, but the crowd was what you'd expect on our nation's birthday. Also, I swear the green room was fucking haunted. The "backstage" area was down a rickety flight of stairs, in a dank basement with a secret closed-off bar in the back and way too many dark corners. I don't think any of us were man enough to stay down there more than few minutes! A very dapper gentleman with full-on face tattoos gave me a wink, though, and drinks were cheap, so the night wasn't a total bust. In addition, HeathHammer's dog RULED, as we discovered upon trudging into the apartment he shares with his lady and Rob from Battlefields (who came stumbling in at an ungodly hour, fresh from working the Dillinger Four-th of July show downtown). Crashing with friends always trumps staying at hotels, especially when they live with awesome friendly beasts.

July 5th - DAY OFF

To make up for our aborted Fourth of July, we decided to stop at a hotel in Madison, Wisconsin, halfway between St. Paul and Chicago and have a barbecue. Needless to say, we left the joint in an absolute shambles. All the madness, blood, and mayhem that went down later that night can be traced back to a single event - Nick and Andrew returning from Walmart with a grill, tons of food, three cases of beer...and a gigantic jug of rum. Hotel security kept creeping in and giving us the hairy eyeball, but since none of us were actually doing anything wrong, they couldn't do a thing, and were forced to leave us to our own devices. Imagine twelve heavily tattooed/pierced people jumping around a pool and swigging beers in the hot tub, periodically wandering off to check on Athon's grilling techniques and ducking back inside when it started to rain - and repeating the entire spectacle for about four hours. After they closed the pool, we ended up at the hotel bar, then up in our rooms, and then things got really fucked. Someone ended up nearly slicing his thumb off, a hole got punched in a wall, earrings were lost, more booze was drunk, people disappeared and reappeared, shit got broken, and, after witnessing just a fraction of what was going on, instead of kicking us out the dudes at the front desk seemed genuinely worried about us. Our theory is that they thought we were actually a big deal famous rock band and were totally cool with us trashing their hotel. We found out later that they'd moved every other guest off of our floor because of noise complaints, and left us alone (which was probably the worst idea they could've had, but hey, at least no one ended up dead.) Most of the crazy stuff happened before midnight, proving that day drinking is NOT good idea, no matter how much rum you've got to finish.

"What's up, bitches! I found the secret entrance!" - Rob Dark Castle

July 6th - Chicago, IL @The Empty Bottle

Chicago rules, and we have a ton of friends out there, so it was no surprise that tonight's show was a fucking blast. Bruce from Yakuza was behind the bar and dudes from Nachtmystium, the Atlas Moth, Lord Mantis, Indian, Twilight, and Blood of the Tyrant came out to hang, and the crowd was killer. The lady behind Metalcakes showed up with 'Black Tusk cupcakes' soaked in SoCo and studded with pecans, which were happily devoured (thanks again!). Chloe Puke has been doing guest vocals with Dark Castle almost every night by this point, and Stevie's been singing "Spirit Molecule" with Zoroaster, so it's turning into quite the family affair. We all ended up going separate ways after the gig, which as per usual led to some confusion the next morning when half of Dark Castle was across town with Zoroaster and the rest of us were at The Atlas Moth World Headquarters in the 'burbs. It's impossible to keep track of eleven other people, but even keeping tabs on the rest of our van is a constant struggle!

July 7th - Newport, KY @Southgate House

This was hands-down the biggest surprise of the entire tour. I expected Newport to be a let-down after the awesome time we'd had in Chicago, but the Southgate House show was absolutely amazing. The staff was super nice, tons of kids came out including some old friends of Black Tusk's (shout out to Mollie Hatchet!) and we were kept busy at the merch table all night. The only bummer came right before Dark Castle's set, when Stevie discovered that her guitar had finally succumbed to a crack it had sustained during their last European tour. After trying in vain to make it work, she had to quickly borrow Andrew Black Tusk's axe to get through DC's set. Dark Castle have had THE worst luck on this tour, but they still manage to bring it every damn night.

July 8th - Pittsburgh, PA @31st St. Pub

Everyone's always told me that Pittsburgh sucks, which seems a little harsh. I fully expected to be proven wrong tonight, but no such luck. After choking down the worst wings in the world (seriously. Nick got his money refunded, they were that bad) we rolled over to the venue and did what we do. Pittsburgh is a pretty lame town, but at least its local bands are super nice. We hung out with Vulture all night after seeing them dredge up some seriously nasty sludge - their drummer, Kelly, was one of the coolest people we met on this tour. The show itself was pretty weak, and there were some money issues with the promoter afterwards ($120 for catering? Really? I didn't realize a couple pints of fried rice and some bottles of water were that expensive, bro) so we were happy to get out of there.

July 9th - New York City, NY @The Studio at Webster Hall (pics from that show)

If you think parking in Manhattan is a nightmare, try parking a fifteen passenger van (or a van with a trailer) in the middle of the street, climbing up a flight of stairs carrying a bass cab, and weaving your way through a crowd of hipsters and Jersey Shore extras to toss your gear on the sidewalk and hope nothing goes wrong. Welcome to hell - and welcome to loadout at Webster Hall. The show was fucking awesome (presented by the always rad Rich Hall and Brooklyn Vegan), the joint was totally packed, tons of friends came out to rage and our buddies in Hull started things off with a bang, but once it was over, everything went to hell. Loadout was a nightmare, bad decisions were made, mass confusion enveloped our entire party, tempers flared, words were said, and almost everyone left angry. Everyone except the two members of Dark Castle ended up at Duff's in Brooklyn, where the indomitable Jimmy Duff took us downstairs to a private room, plied us with beer and whiskey, and told us stories about the crazy goings-on that that room had seen (he also pointed out a pair of Peter Steele's prison boxers...). A late night got later and later - I'm still surprised Ben and I made it back to my place without encountering any more trouble. A great night with an awful ending.

July 10th - Philadelphia, PA @The Khyber

And, one day away from the end of tour, the stress and animosity that had been building up over the past month came to a head, and Team Dark Castle hit rock bottom. The madness and poor planning of the night before caught up with us once one party made its feelings known to another party, and an explosive, heated argument broke out when we got to the van. Total bullshit. Most of the van ride was spent in silence, punctuated by Ben and Andrew's colorful commentary on the New York passersby. By the time we got to Philly, most of us were in a good mood, and things sort of worked themselves out by mid-show. Turnout was good, a ton of my buddies came out to hang, and the bartender was very liberal with free drinks, so spirits were a bit higher by the end of the night. We crashed with my friend James in his enormous house and tried to mentally prepare for one last battle.

July 11th - Harrisonburg, VA @Blue Nile

Last day of tour. We all knew we were one day away from going home, so everyone just went with the flow and enjoyed ourselves.. There were some real characters in the crowd that night, but they added a certain something to the atmosphere (except the one broad that came up to my table and started yelling at me for trying to sell her "lithographs"). Black Tusk made a point of thanking the road crew (love you boys!) at the end of their set, and to the small but rabid crowd's delight, hauled out an older song as an encore. A few good friends made it out (always a pleasure to see Brandon from Cough), and there was no stress, no drama, just good tunes, good vibes, and a lot of bromantic goodbyes. After spending a month living, eating, playing, and fighting with one another, you can't help but start to miss your tour family as soon as their headlights fade into the distance. Luckily, all three bands tour like motherfuckers, so make sure to catch Black Tusk with Fu Manchu next month, and see Zoroaster and Dark Castle with Nachtmystium and the Atlas Moth in September!

SUMMER SOUTHERN BURN TOUR DIARY: Part I

2010-07-19T05:38:00.000-04:00

Also, I just got back from a month-long tour with Zoroaster, Black Tusk, and Dark Castle, the latter of whom I was slingin' merch and haulin' gear for. I documented our travels and travails in a tour diary for Brooklyn Vegan. Here's part one.

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/06/tour_diary_kim.html

June 15th - Birmingham, AL @ the Nick

The first day of tour is always madness, especially when you wake up late and still have a thousand things to get ready. After merch, equipment, loading, and the procurement of the other roadie, Ben, Team Dark Castle ended up leaving two hours later than anticipated, and still got to Birmingham before the Black Tusk or Zoroaster bros. After eight hours of Panhandle scenery punctuated by gas station stops and Rob's freestyling up front (3 6 Mafia never fails!), we were pretty stoked to get to the Nick and slam down a couple drinks at the rickety old bar. With a ceiling plastered in old flyers and promo photos and a bar staff that was just oozing with Southern hospitality, the Nick seemed primed to deliver a good time. The crowd wasn't huge but were crazy enthusiastic; Dark Castle had the biggest audience of the night, but Zoroaster had the most energetic. I never thought I'd see the day that dudes in Blacklisted shirts would be picking up change to "Spirit Molecule," but there's a first time for everything. Dark Castle hauled out two new songs, opening with an untitled number then dropping "Seeing Through Time" like an atom bomb halfway through their set. Cheap drinks, killer sets from Black Tusk and Zoroaster, and a reunion with our good friend Jamie rounded out one hell of a first night of tour. The 3:30am Waffle House run and Black Tusk/Dark Castle slumber party afterwards was just icing on the cake.

June 16th - Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone

Thanks to Black Tusk bassist/throat Athon's good ol' boy charm, we checked out of the hotel late enough to keep our collective hangovers at bay, stopping at Waffle House again on our way out (expect to hear plenty more about this particular establishment from here on out). We had a short drive to Memphis, and took advantage of the extra time to stop at one of the sketchiest grocery stores I've ever seen (and I live in West Philly!) and load up on van food. As soon as we and Zoroaster met up at the Hi Tone, a dilapidated-looking building hunkered down next to a couple check casing joints and a gas station, it started pouring rain. It rained, and rained, and rained; load-in was treacherous to say the least. Inside, though, it was rock'n'roll paradise, with good food at the bar, ample space to set up our merch fortress, and plenty of room for gear and hanging. The show started late, with local boys Galaxicon throwing down some cool spacey doom (think Minsk, YOB, Atlas Moth) held down by a killer drummer/vocalist. The rest of the show went smoothly, and we sold a ton of merch. This time we cuddled up with Zoroaster and headed out early the next morning on Dan's goading.

June 17th - Breakdown in Van Buren, Arkansas

After bidding farewell to the Georgians, we hit the road and were making great time when all of a sudden, the van started acting weird. We had no idea what a nightmare this would turn into, but quickly realized - shit's not right. Ben took a look and offered up suggestions, so we'd try one thing, go for a bit, break down, repeat, repeat. Eventually the van died completely by the side of the road somewhere in Arkansas. We managed to flag down a nice lady who gave us a jump then took us over to the closest autobody shop to try and resolve the issue. They towed the van back to Larry's Wrecker in Van Buren, AK and fiddled around under the hood while we sweated and worried outside the shop. It became apparent that there was no way we were making the Oklahoma City show that night, so Dark Castle called the promoter and other bands and let them know what was up. Fast-forward a few hours, and the four of us had finally given up for the evening, retiring to a nearby Motel 6 to do laundry and try to get some sleep. Before we crashed, we decided that a beer or three was necessary, and headed off down the road on foot to find a watering hole. To our absolute horror, we discovered that, of all the places in the world to break down, we'd done it in a dry country! Thankfully we ended up at a Chili's that was inexplicably allowed to serve us (overpriced) booze, and Rob had his first Long Island Iced tea, so the night wasn't a total bust.

June 18th - Day 2 in Van Buren

We woke up early and, with fingers crossed, went down to check on the van. Good ol' Larry had determined that the problem lay with the van's computer, so after graciously refusing to charge us for the hours he'd put in under the hood, he took the van (with Stevie) over to a Dodge dealership to get it looked at. In the meantime, Rob, Ben and I settled in at, yep, Waffle House for a long wait. Our kindly waitress Diana took a shine to us and helped speed the time along by regaling us with stories of her moonshine makin' days and slipping us virgin tequila sunrises. As she was leaving after her shift, she offered to take us out for a beer in the next county over, and we figured - why the hell not? We ended up at The Branding Iron, which was everything you'd expect from a bar in Fort Smith Arkansas - Confederate flags everywhere, methed-out locals laughing at my accent and playing AC/DC on the jukebox, antlers and light-up Miller signs on the wall, pool tables, grizzled old bikers, makeup-caked old hags, and our dear sweet Diana, who slipped us a joint before she went home. Another local gave us a ride to the Continental Motel down the street, where 45 bucks got us two beds (with moth-eaten sheets), some 70's era décor, and access to a teeny-tiny pool ringed by leering residents. It was shadier than anyplace any of us had ever stayed at before; we were too skeeved out to leave the premises after dark, so we ordered Domino's and crashed early, hoping against hope that we'd finally make it out of that godforsaken speck the next morning.

June 19th - Austin, TX @ Emo's

We got out of there as fast as we could the next morning after we picked up the van, and somehow managed to escape. We passed through Oklahoma (through Cherokee and Choctaw territory, and, to my immense delight, Muskogee) and headed into Texas,, bound for Austin. We got there on time, loaded out, and were reunited with all of our long-lost tourmates and a few old friends as well. Austin is a fucking awesome town for live music, and we had a blast being there. That was a messy night; we all started out with six drink tickets apiece and went from there. Dark Castle got a crazy response, Black Tusk are endlessly entertaining, and I couldn't be more excited about seeing Zoroaster bring the hammer down every night for the next month. We made out like bandits on merch that night, and stayed up way too late partying after hours, before all twelve of us squeezed into a room and crashed out at stupid o'clock.

June 20th - Day off - Lubbock, TX

Breakfast at Denny's, then more van trouble. This time it was the water pump - when it rains, it pours! After spending a frantic hour searching for an open auto repair joint in Texas on a Sunday morning, in Texas (mission: nearly impossible), we struck gold, and spent the next four hours waiting, hoping, and scumming up the Firestone lobby. Repairs finished, we got back on the road and headed west to Lubbock, TX where our friend Paul from Absu had offered to put up all three bands. We rolled in around eleven and immediately commenced barbequing, drinking, and heavy metal singalongs until the wee hours.

June 21st - Albuquerque, NM @ Burt's Tiki Hut

"Being in a band is like having four girlfriends. Except you can't fuck 'em, so it's no fun!" - Andrew, Black Tusk guitarist/vocalist.
Burt's Tiki Hut was uber-kitschy and plastered with tropical doodads, the bartenders mixed their drinks strong, and the bar itself packed full of crust punks in cowboy boots (seriously). Definitely a weird spot, but Dark Castle's set went down a storm, Zoroaster had every head nodding in stoner bliss, and Black Tusk - well, Black Tusk put on even more of a show than usual, without even trying. A very drunk, very friendly girl in a very short skirt clambered onto the stage during their set and started dancing around, shaking her ass and whooping into Andrew's microphone through at least two songs. The crowd (and the band!) ate it up, though she was smart to hop down before Andrew could kick her off for stomping all over his pedals.

June 22nd - Scottsdale, AZ @ Rogue

Arizona is absolutely gorgeous, at least if you're driving through the forests and mountains around Phoenix. Scottsdale is considerably less exciting. The first band slipped by without us really noticing, but the second, Via Vengeance, was absolutely mind-blowing! A one-man doom project that absolutely filled the room with pummeling, engaging doom, tinged with death and filthered through a thick layer of sludge, and made simultaneously playing guitar, drums, and vocals look effortless. Truly impressive. Dark Castle ran into major technical difficulties during their set when they discovered that there was only one power outlet available for the entire stage, but persevered. Zoroaster and Black Tusk brought it as always, though the crowd was less than impressive. These middle of nowhere shows are starting to wear down our morale.

June 23rd - Ramona, CA @ Mainstage

What a DEBACLE, in every sense of the word. Things started off fine, with a legit venue and hospitable staff, but by the time the first local band went on, it became apparent that something was wrong. The crowd war barely there, and made up entirely of the two beyond goofy locals' high school-aged friends, who promptly cleared out as soon as the second one got offstage. There were about seven people left during Dark Castle's set, and once they finished (after dealing with a dickhead sound guy) it came out that the owner of the club was canceling the rest of the show - before Zoroaster or Black Tusk could play. The handful of fans who'd come out for the touring package were bummed, but not as bummed as we were; seriously, who does that? The show was clearly not promoted at all, and the money situation was a mess. Note to booking agents and bands: do NOT every play this venue, unless you're in the mood to get royally screwed.

June 24th - West Hollywood, CA @ Viper Room

LA is a weird town. We got in early and spent some time wandering around the Sunset Strip and drinking a whiskey or two at the Rainbow (sadly, no sign of Lemmy or any glam-rock casualties at the bar) before dealing with the absolute clusterfuck that was load-in. The Viper Room is a cool joint, but very small and with very strict rules; we had barely any room at all (like, two feet or so of the bar) for merch and had to share a bunch of equipment and leave our gear outside until fifteen minutes before each band played. Annoying, but it was still a good show and a few rad friends from Metal Blade and Decibel came out to hang. We only got a couple drink tickets apiece, but since it was LA, where everyone is almost someone and likes to prove it by buying you drinks, we managed to party pretty damn hard. Zoroaster rolled off to stay in their friend's porn mansion (hello, LA), Black Tusk spent the night at a rest stop, and we ended up crashing in Ben's friend's living room

June 25th - Oakland, CA @ Metro

Six or so hours in California traffic later (I'm surprised Rob didn't lose his mind), we got into Oakland way earlier than expected, and killed time wandering around the neighborhood and waiting for the promoter to get in touch and let us know what the hell was going on, 'cause no one else had any clue. The venue, the Oakland Metro Operahouse, looked like a total DIY spot, but once the staff showed up and opened the doors, we discovered that it was quite the opposite - a full-on theatre, with a bar, backstage, tons of room for merch, and a really cool atmosphere. The promoter and staff were awesome and incredibly hospitable (the way to a band/road crew's heart is paved with free beer and hot meals) which made up for the attendance. There was definitely a crowd, and plenty of people bought merch and got excited about the bands, but the high door price and nature of the venue (according to a friend of mine who lives there and runs shows out of his basement, Oakland's more of a DIY house show kind of town) dragged the turnout down. Zoroaster and Stevie from Dark Castle have been plotting to do a song together for days, and finally made it happen tonight when she hopped up onstage during "Spirit Molecule" to do guest vocals. It was an absolutely hypnotic performance, and one that I believe they're planning to repeat. During Black Tusk's set, the crowd showed more energy than they had all night, including this crazy tweaker dude that was going nuts and even attempted an ill-fated stagedive. Luckily for him, the stage was only a few feet high...

MARYLAND DEATH FEST Recap

2010-07-19T05:37:00.001-04:00

I originally wrote this for Brooklyn Vegan but haven't seen it posted yet. Once Fred gets it up I'll add a link, but until then, enjoy the madness that went down.

MDF isn’t just a concert, it’s an event, as any of you who have made the pilgrimage down to Baltimore to bask in the glow of this heavy metal mecca can attest. “America’s Biggest Metal Party of the Year” has been besmirching the perpetually befouled streets of Brawltoscore for almost a decade, and this year’s edition (the eighth!) boasted the kind of lineup that had heshers the world over popping sweatpants boners. Headlined by the freshly exhumed death metal gods Autopsy and packed with top-of-the-line bruisers like Entombed, Incantation, Pentagram, Watain, EyeHateGod, and literally dozens more, this year’s incarnation might have been the best yet. Now if only they’d managed to get Bolt Thrower back here…

So on Thursday, May 27th, I packed a couple friends and way too much booze into my little white car and headed down a day early to catch the preshow. we’d seen PLF and Gride brutalize a house show in West Philly the day before, but decided we couldn’t stand to miss Birdflesh or General Surgery. Best decision that could’ve been made! We rolled up right as PLF stalked onstage and pierced the sound barrier with their don’t-give-a-fuck Texas grind, then caught Iron Lung’s always killer, hellaciously heavy two-man powerviolence assault. Bouncy grinders Birdflesh left their usual summer dresses and makeup at home (bummer) but they made up for it by donning silly hats and kicking copious amounts of ass. The highlight of the night was definitely General Surgery; their attractively blood-splattered butcher ensembles complemented their gory Necroticisms like fine wine. Plenty of bands rip off Carcass, but I’ve yet to see one that does a better job of it than General Fucking Surgery!

Day 1 of the actual fest served as a warmup for the chaos that was to come. The main event (fucking Autopsy!) wasn’t for a good long while, but my party managed to drag ourselves into the sunlight in time to soak in some of Brooklyn’s heaviest, the blackened downward spiral doom of Tombs. Then a quick dash outside to check out a few songs from cryptic Aussie black metallers Nazxul, who made their US debut with the sun beating down on their berobed shoulders and melting corpsepaint (poor chaps).

Due to flight disruptions both Sadistic Intent and Possessed (well, same thing) were forced to fly in the next day, so a little reshuffling ended up placing Watain inside. I got down with Malignancy’s caveman NYDM for awhile but missed Watain (preferring to keep the memory of their first blood-drenched US tour fresh and morbid) and apparently missing out on seeing the surly Swedes thoroughly beat down Harald, the high-spirited bassist of crossover legends D.R.I, when the latter ran onstage during their black metal rites. Dick move, guys – we know, you’re grim, WE GET IT.
I did catch some of the revitalized Gorguts lineup, and while I personally could care less about widdly technical stuff, the legions of fans pressed shoulder to shoulder against the barricade and screaming their lungs out clearly begged to differ. For many people, this band was their sole reason for attending, and thankfully, LeMay & Friends put on a killer show for them. The band debuted some new material as well, which got more than one tech geek’s panties wet! The band I personally came out to see that day was Coffins, who slowly and joyfully (judging by frontman Uchino’s perma-grin onstage) laid waste to the stage with slabs of fetid, doomy, creeping death metal. I’d have killed to see them play again, but was luckily spared the homicide conviction when some crusty handed me a flyer for an aftershow with Coffins, Massgrave, and Oak. Fuck yeah!
D.R.I. picked up the pace with their vintage punked-out thrash riffs, hauling out the hits and spurring on a neverending circle pit. seemed to have recovered nicely from his Watain encounter, and the whole band just radiated energy – you could tell they were having a good time, and so were we. The medley of classic covers they ran through was the icing on the cake – “Master of Puppets,” “Into the Void/N.I.B.”, Iron Maiden’s “Running Free, and“Holy Diver” and “Heaven & Hell” for our dearly departed Dio.

Once the shouty security guards had herded us all out of the parking lot, I collected my crew and headed off to the aftershow, which ended up going down in a squat at the top of three rickety flights of stairs. The organizers of the show were running pretty “punk-tual” so shit ran mad late, with Coffins playing to a sparse but ravenous crowd as the sun rose behind them (I am trying so hard not to make a “Land of the Rising Sun” joke here). Massgrave ground us into a pulp and Oak brought the blackened hammer of doom down hard, but the night (and morning) belonged to Coffins.

Day 2 was stacked so hard it made Jenna Jameson look flat. I somehow made it in time to catch a few songs from Mexican death squad The Chasm (so underrated; look them up) then ran in to catch my beloved Jucifer, who, even with a much smaller setup than usual (I only counted about six amps!) managed to absolutely overwhelm an entranced crowd with choice cuts off their latest record, Throned in Blood. I spent all day running around like a maniac – lots of conflicts and near-conflicts, but I managed to at least wander through almost every band I cared about. After Jucifer’s set, I peeked in on Sadistic Intent. A few rehashed proto-death riffs later, and I was over it; Jeff Becerra came out halfway through to do some Possessed songs (they did a “combined” set) but I was long gone by then, ensconced inside the venue getting my groove on to the mighty Impaled, who are one of the most consistently fun/brutal live acts I’ve ever seen. Aussie grind’n’roll terror squad Blood Duster swaggered onstage and promptly spat out a rollicking set of corpse-raping classics like “Knee-Deep in Menstrual Blood,” “Piss Stomper,” and “Kill Kill Kill,”, pumping up the crowd and giving the least fucks of any band that weekend. Wicked.

Fifteen minutes before Melechesh were due to hit the stage for their first-ever US performance, I passed by mainman Ashmedi in the hallway, stopping to give him a quick hug and tell him I was stoked to be seeing them play again. “Fifteen minutes?! Shit, I’d better get onstage,” he sputtered, hurrying off. Turns out the whole band were running a bit late, which wasn’t helped by the seemingly endless intro music that blared out at the rapidly sunburning crowd. Once they were on, though, they were ON, as their trademark slithery Middle Eastern melodies wove through viciously blackened riffs like poison asps. Melechesh threw down a memorable set and got a good reaction, though their lollygagging cut their set short enough to get ‘em yanked offstage before they could play “the hit” – the criminally catchy “Rebirth of Nemesis.” Bummer! Cozying up to the stage for Incantation right afterwards soothed the pain, though, as New Yawk’s heaviest hauled out riff after time-honored riff of down-tuned, pummeling old-school death, unveiled a new song or two, and stopped to pay tribute to two deceased legends with Death and Dio covers.

Grind gods Repulsion were all business, tearing apart Horrified like a pack of rabid wolves. Marissa Martinez from Cretin came out to shred on a couple songs, and hearing “Festering Boils,” “The Stench of Burning Death,” “Maggots in Your Coffin,” and “Black Breath” blasting across the entire festival was an unholy revelation. They even played a fucking Venom cover! I’ll never listen to “Schizo” the same way again. Repulsion were an incredibly hard act to follow, but Asphyx forged ahead, laying down track after track of vintage Swedish death (the brutal way) and leaving plenty of aching eardrums in their wake. And really, how can you not love Martin van Drunen? Everything dude touches turns to black gold. I bailed on their last few songs to fight my way through the gathering horde and get a spot near the stage for Autopsy. This band was a major draw for damn near everyone at the fest, myself included, and to our great relief and inescapable glee, they DESTROYED. Chris Reifert is a masterful frontman, even from behind the kit, and that sound – that fucking sound. Many try to sound like Autopsy, but no one comes close to replicating the sheer primitive genius behind songs like “Twisted Mass of Burnt Decay,” “Embalmed,” “Severed Survival,” “Slaughterday,” “Ridden With Disease,” Service for a Vacant Coffin,” and world-ending closer “Charred Remains.” Far from seeming tired or mechanical like so many other reunited bands do, Autopsy were on fire, enlisting the tall man Danny Lilker to hold down the low end, and Reifert’s immortal gurgle is as nasty as ever. They recently announced plans to record a new record and play more shows, so it’s really true – Autopsy have risen!

How do you follow Autopsy? You cover Dio, I guess. , Deceased covered “Stand Up and Shout” during a characteristically ornery and fast-paced set. King Fowley was as over the top as ever, pretending to maul his cohorts between chestnuts like “Night of the Deceased” and “Shrieks from the Hearse.” Reunited by grime and crust , the Swedes of Wolfbrigade stormed the stage with their raging d-beat assault, breathing new life into the flagging circle pit and sending bodies flying with “Hour of the Wolf,” “No Future,” and “Basic Urge to Kill.” Up the punx!

Portal were the last band to darken the stage that evening, and darken it they did, swathed in black robes, masks, and hangman’s nooses. Their oppressive, twisted take on bottomless black/death was even more intense and suffocating live, drowning out everything else around them and laying a blight upon all who listened. I still think they sound like Conqueror on downers, but ain’t nothin’ wrong with that. A hellish way to end a long, hot day.

Day 3 was brutal, in more ways than one. I made it back to Sonar just in time to catch what I thought would be the last few minutes of Rompeprop’s set. They inexplicably played an extra half hour, though, which gave me ample time to bounce around and circle it up for everyone’s favorite Dutch pornogrind goofballs, absurd toilet flush vocal effects and all. These dudes are literally the most fun live band I’ve ever seen – and you can’t argue with lyrical poetry like “I Am the Dolphon Blowhole Fucker” and “Dislokating Purple Stoma.”
Crucifist were, musically speaking, as tight, dirty and mean as always, but their stage presence could use a little work. Ditch the robe, panda paint, and crucified cat skeleton, dudes – just keep grinding out those sweet black/thrash/punk/filth riffs and leave the dressup to the Scandinavians,. Speaking of which, the Somberlain-loving Swedes in Necrophobic played outside, which meant their leather daddy getups and corpsepaint looked way sillier than their razor-sharp melodic black/death metal deserved. Black metal just doesn’t work in the sunlight.
Distorted Delta blues, on the other hand, holds up just fine, as veteran sludge warriors EyeHateGod cruised through a loose, murderously heavy set of classic cries for help from Dopesick/Take As Needed For Pain , throwing in a new jam or two to remind us that they really are working on new material (I swear! They promised to have it out by spring!). Mike IX was in high spirits and Jimmy Bower’s face was lit up like a Christmas tree as they and the boys proved once again that EyeHateGod are fucking back, and they ain’t goin’ nowhere.
I ignored Pestilence because they are boring (truth hurts) and bummed around ‘til it was time to ping-pong over to Pentagram (with Victor Griffin back on the axe) who gave us what we wanted, slow and sleazy. “Forever My Queen,” “Relentless,” “20 Buck Spin,””Sign of the Wolf…” oh yeah, baby. Even if it was the exact same set they’ve been playing for the past year or so, Bobbly Liebling’s still alive, which is an impressive enough feat that I don’t feel like I can hate on ‘em.

I also caught a glimpse of Nirvana 2002. Technical difficulties shortened their set to a half hour and I still don’t see what all the hype was about (sorry, BBG) but what they did (old-school Swedish death), they did well. Entombed were a bit of a letdown as well, going through the motions as they knocked out a bunch of their so-so “death’n’roll” songs before closing with the essential “Left Hand Path. Obituary, on the other hand, proved they’ve got plenty of mileage left in their swampy Florida death grooves, pulling out a lot of new material alongside the eternal “The End Complete” and “Chopped in Half” and a pointless drum solo (seriously, stop it) before ending with the one-two punch of “Slow Death” and “Slowly We Rot..”

The three and a half seconds I caught of Magrudergrind sounded pissed as usual, but the considerably longer span of time I got to spend with Capitalist Casualties gave ‘em a run for their money. Fast, hard, relentless, and punk as fuck, Cap Cash tore it up and burned it down. I’d never heard of crusty hardcore OGs From Ashes Rise before MDF (sorry, BBG) but ended up being well impressed. They somehow managed to wake up a roomful of hungover, beaten-up metalheads, get ‘em to throw all their energy into one last circle pit of death, and closed out the show on a sky-high notes. D-beat uber alles.

See you next year, Sonar. Let the recovery (and detoxing) begin…

July already?

2010-07-18T15:08:00.000-04:00

This year's been flying by! I've been MIA from this thing for ages (sorry) due to a massive life change or three and the busy bee status that came with 'em, but you can expect to see a bit more posts on here from now on. For now, here's some stuff I've been jamming hard (alongside the Lil Wayne/Birdman collaboration. So good!).

Favorite Records of 2010 (so far)

The Wounded Kings - Shadow Over Atlantis (I Hate)
Coffinworm - When All Became Nothing (Profound Lore)
Church of Misery - Houses of the Unholy (Rise Above)
Thou - Summit (Gilead Media)
Ludicra - The Tenant (Profound Lore)
Wolvhammer - Black Marketeers of WWIII (Init)
Amebix - Redux (Profane Existence)
Encoffination - Ritual Ascension Beyond Flesh (Ritual Death)
Dispirit - Rehearsal at Oboroten (demo)
Ramesses - Take the Curse (Ritual)

Favorite Songs of 2010 (so far)

"Glory To The Gods on the Highest" - Sabbath Assembly - Restored to One (Ajna Offensive)
"Strip Nude for Your Killer" - Coffinworm - When All Became Nothing (Profound Lore)
"Clean White Void" - Ludicra - The Tenant (Profound Lore)
"Arise" - Amebix - Redux EP (Profane Existence)
"Red Eyes, Black Skies" - Black Tusk - Taste the Sin (Relapse)
"Black Hole" - Zoroaster - Matador (Ei)
"Swarm Intelligentsia" - Kerasphorus - Cloven Hooves at the Holocaust Dawn (Nuclear War Now!)
"Atlantic Light" - Altar of Plagues - Tides (Profound Lore)
"Beginning of the End" - Panopticon featuring Rob Miller (Amebix) - Collapse (Lundr)
"A Curse" - The Body - All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood (Aum War)

MUTANT SUPREMACY Update

2010-05-27T16:48:00.000-04:00

This just in:
NYC death metal brutes Mutant Supremacy have parted ways with guitarist Daniel Satanas; replacing him will be axeman Curt Johnson. The revitalized lineup is ready to lay waste to New York alongside Obliteration and Necromantheon on June 3rd at Fontana's.

Trust me, you REALLY need to LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND!

www.myspace.com/mutantsupremacybrooklyn

For Those Of You That Couldn't Make ROADBURN This Year...

2010-05-27T10:52:00.000-04:00

Walter - the heart, soul, and benevolent overlord of the mighty Roadburn apparatus, and the sweetest dude ever - just sent me this email about the new audio streams that just went up on the Roadburn.com site. You can listen in and relive/catch up on the magic my boys in Nachtmystium, YOB, and a host of others laid down in the shadow of volcanic doom. Oh, and also - make sure to check out Shever's crushing witch doom rituals - this all-female Swiss outfit was a festival highlight for me. Awesome!

With a bunch of YOBs in Antwerp ost-'burn

First Roadburn 2010 audio webcasts now on line; performances by Nachtmystium, Yob, Earthless and Brant Bjork amongst others.

Finally, the volcanic dust has (almost) settled! For everyone no longer fighting short term memory loss and extreme fatigue caused by sleep deprivation and sensory overload, get ready to re-live the highlights of Roadburn Festival 2010.

For everyone who could not make it due to the mighty Eyjafjallajokull eruption, now is your time to enjoy the festival without any hassles. And for everyone who could not magically clone ourselves to simultaneously catch all of the action in the Bat Cave, Green Room, Midi Theatre and Main Hall and felt kind of bummed about it, cheer up!

We are pleased to announce that VPRO 3voor12, which is the leading cultural media network in the Netherlands, has posted additional on-demand audio streams for your Roadburn 2010 listening pleasure.

Online now! Performances by Brant Bjork, Earthless, Firebird, Horisont, Nachtmystium, Pagan Altar, Shever, Trinacria and Yob are currently available on-demand for free at: www.roadburn.com

As many of you already know, nearly all of the performances at Roadburn 2010 were recorded. Right now we are still busy mixing, but you can be sure that we will share the finished results with you as soon as they are ready!
For more info, please visit: www.roadburn.com

CHILD ABUSE Review

2010-05-22T22:29:00.000-04:00

Elise from Reign in Blonde told me to listen to Child Abuse, a new-ish NYC outfit that she wuvs. Here is my reaction to the song "Wrong Hole:"

"Oh god. this sounds like an angry fax machine. With Gremlins trapped inside. And possibly a small broken toy piano. And a machine gun. Oh my god is there a cat in there?! I think Disgorge are gangbanging Iwrestledabearonce in there...and someone isn't happy about it."

If that sounds like your bag, uh, check 'em out I guess.
http://www.myspace.com/childabuse

I'm gonna go listen to Take As Needed For Pain again.

ALTAR OF PLAGUES/VELNIAS North American Tour Dates!

2010-05-17T22:39:00.000-04:00

I have been waiting anxiously for these dates to be announced since the guys first told me they were coming to the States. We met, partied, and bonded hard at Roadburn earlier this spring, and not only is the black metal art they create nothing short of breathtaking, they are some of the sweetest, most ridiculously fun dudes I've met in a good long time. Also,I totally have a massive crush on the drummer, but that's neither here nor there, haha! Seriously, though, they are amazing live, and the shows they've got lined up are going to rule. That's a guarantee. I'm bummed I'll miss seeing them with Fell Voices, Worm Ourobouros, Kerasphorus (goddamnit Frisco!), Lake of Blood, Coffinworm, or Thou, but at least the East Coast gets 'em with Castevet (favorites 'round these parts). I might end up tagging along for a couple dates - we'll see how our respective tours line up.

ALTAR OF PLAGUES/VELNIAS North American Tour, Summer 2010

JULY
07/09 - Seattle, WA @The Fun House (w/ Mamiffer)
07/10 – Portland, OR @ Berbatis
07/11 - Salem, OR @ Burial Grounds (w/ Plutocracy, Fell Voices, Galdr, Ash Borer, Mania, Hell, Anadonius)
07/13 - Eugene, OR @ Warehouse (w/ Rye Wolves)
07/14 - Arcata, CA @ The Aloha House (w/ Fell Voices, Ash Borer)
07/16 - San Francisco, CA @ Elbo Room (w/ WORM OUROBOROS, Inquisition, Kerasphorous, Fell Voices)
07/17- Oakland, CA @ Your Haus (w/ Fell Voices, Elk, Lake of Blood)
07/19 - Salt Lake City, UT @ TBA
07/20 - Denver, CO @ Blast-O-Mat
07/21 - Dallas TEX, @ Phoenix project Collective
07/22 - Baton Rouge, LA @ Northgate Taverne (w/Thou, Barghest)
07/23 – New Orleans, LA @ Big Top (w/ Thou, Tirefire)
07/24 - Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn (w/Thou)
07/25 - Birmingham AL, @ The Firehouse (w/Thou)
07/26 - Greensboro, NC @ CFBG's
07/28 - Richmond, VA @ TBA
07/29 – Washington, DC @ DC 9
07/30 - Baltimore, MD @ The Sidebar (w./CASTEVET)
07/31 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Neck Tie (w/ CASTEVET)

AUGUST
08/01 - Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool (w/ KRALLICE, CASTEVET)
08/03 – Boston, MA @ Great Scotts – Allston
08/05 – Columbus, OH @ The Summit
08/06 - Indianapolis, IN @ The Dojo (w/ COFFINWORM)
08/07 – Chicago, IL @ The Shaker

LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND: The Gates of Slumber

2010-04-12T21:38:00.000-04:00

Great dudes, great band, and holy fucking epic! Trad metal as it should be played - with skill, precision, and a whole lotta fuckin' balls. Dirty denim'n'leather, Icarus Witch, Judas Priest and Pagan Alter-worshipping sonsabitches from the desolate Midwest who came thundering out from the prairies with a Profound Lore debut and are now pummeling the masses with their brand-new Rise Above-sanctioned slab, "Hymns of Blood and Thunder." They just tore it up with Weedeater and Black Tusk in Illadelph a few days ago, are hitting Europe hard with Cathedral and Church of Misery this month, and will be mercilessly storming the mellow stages of Roadburn 2010 in a few short days! I'll be there to take in the carnage.

BLOOD AND THUNDAAAAAAAAAH!

Oh, and, duh - LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND.

Pensées Nocturnes Have "News to Spread"

2010-04-09T12:37:00.000-04:00

As a writer, I often get unsolicited emails from publicists, promoters, bands, and various industry schmucks (as well as the inheritance-wielding Nigerian bankers we all know and love). Most of the time it's fine, a lot of the time it's annoying (seriously, I DO NOT CARE that Psychostick or Stigma are touring) and once in awhile, it's really fucking cool, and I find myself being introduced to new bands that I'd have otherwise never encountered. This is one of those (read it to yourself in a French accent for extra adorability):

For the release of the second "Pensées Nocturnes" album : "Grotesque", out on March 27th, LADLO Productions propose you an Ultra Limited (yet cheap) “GROTESQUE pack” (CD + T Shirt + Patch). Pensées Nocturnes is a mix of innovative and avant-gardist Black Metal acclaimed by the press.

http://www.myspace.com/ladloproductions
http://www.myspace.com/penseesnocturnes

Tracklist

1 - vulgumpecus
2 - Paria
3 - Rahu
4 - Eros
5 - Monoses
6 - Hel
7 - Thokk
8 - Next

The best part is that I've listened to the record, and it's really good! Very avant-garde, in the "let's incorporate some vague militaristic elements, some gothy clean vocals, keyboards, free jazz, and a whole bunch of other shit and see what sticks" kind of way, with the grime and gloom of black metal smeared all over it. Carnivalesque, in a Sigh sort of way, but imbued with just enough of that eerily eldritch French take on post-rock to appeal to more adventurous fans of Amesoeurs, too. It's a shame that this album won't be given the kind of attention the latest pile of bollocks from Century Media Deathcore Band #7 or Washed-Up Hair Metal Band #47 will be getting from the Twitterverse ; music like this is what keeps metal interesting, and keeps pushing its boundaries past the mouth of hell. So check them out, spread the word, and tell me what you think.

EYEHATETOURING

2010-04-06T12:07:00.000-04:00

Literally COULD NOT BE more stoked for this. My favorite band and a bunch of my favorite dudes, palying my favorite (legal) Philly venue, on the day before I graduate and leave college behind forever? Fuckin' hell. My only complaint is that the Atlas Moth and Howl won't be at the Illadelph date, so I'll have to wait a little longer to see their precious little faces again. Why not make this into one of those retarded 'fests' like Summer Slaughter, except with only good bands? They're halfway there already.

Best Tour of 2010. No fucking question about it.

6/03/2010 Backbooth - Orlando, FL w/ Withered

dates w/ Nachtmystium
6/4 Spartanburg, SC @ Ground Zero w/ Withered
6/5 Raleigh, NC @ Volume 11 w/ Withered, Black Tusk
6/6 Louisville, KY @ Headliners w/ Black Tusk
6/7 St. Louis, MO @ Fubar
6/8 Nashville, TN @ Muse w/ Withered
6/9 Richmond, VA @ Alley Katz w/ Black Tusk, Strong Intention
6/10 Frederick, MD @ Krug's w/ Brutal Truth, Strong Intention
6/11 Philadelphia, PA @ Unitarian Church w/ Brutal Truth, Black Anvil, Tombs
6/12 Brooklyn, NY @ Europa w/ Brutal Truth, Black Anvil, Tombs
6/13 Providence, RI @ Club Hall w/ Brutal Truth, Black Anvil, Tombs, Howl
6/14 Milford, CT @ Daniel St w/ Howl
6/15 Manchester, NH @ Rocko's w/ Howl

6/16 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
6/17 Cleveland, OH @ Now That's Class w/ The Atlas Moth
6/18 Detroit, MI @ Blondie's w/ The Atlas Moth, Strong Intention
6/19 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle w/ Strong Intention
6/20 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle The Atlas Moth

Start Saving For Your Funeral

2010-04-02T20:22:00.000-04:00

I love getting packages - especially when they're from sweet boys in sweet bands like Coffinworm that are willing to mail me t-shirts that I may or may not have been too tipsy to remember taking with me at SXSW.

Seriously, how rad is that design?

Preorder their VICIOUS new record (and Profound Lore debut!) HERE.

CASTEVET Complete Work On Debut Album

2010-04-01T16:45:00.000-04:00

File under: Good News!

This band seriously rules. They're from Brooklyn, and may have stolen a sip or two from the same goblet as Krallice, but tackle their sneakily subversive style of black metal with technical ecstasy and post-hardcore catharsis. Definitely going to be one of those bands that people glom onto and start praising to high hell as soon as promos get sent out. Fuck it - I saw 'em at Heart of Winter with a bunch of leather-clad heathens, and have been waiting for the rest of the world to sit up and take notice of 'em ever since.

According to my boy Bruni's website:

Brooklyn, NY’s CASTEVET have completed work on their debut album. Entitled “Mounds Of Ash”, the three-piece have already made quite a reputation in their local scene with their highly praised “Stones/Salts” 7” EP (which sold out pretty much immediately) and their strong live performances respectively.

Like an apocalyptic conjuring, a thrusting into utter darkness, almost coming across as a ritualistic summoning of an amalgamation of VOIVOD, progressive/post hardcore (i.e. RORSCHACH, UNSANE, ANODYNE , a band in which Castevet bassist J. Scott was once a part of coincidentally) and the haunting and disorienting avant-black metal dissonance found in the likes of such acts as VED BUENS ENDE and DEATHSPELL OMEGA, with “Mounds Of Ash” CASTEVET will rise to prominence within the forward-thinking movement of the underground extreme metal scene, one which is comprised by a very select few elite acts, while at the same time standing their own ground within their local scene. This will all come to prominence when "Mounds Of Ash" unleashes itself on May 25th, an album which will also become a sonic harbinger to the downfall of humanity.

With the band seeking to play live and tour as much as possible, tracklisting for “Mounds Of Ash” (which was captured in the Thousand Caves Studios by Colin Marston of KRALLICE) goes as follows:

1. Red Star Sans Chastity
2. Mounds Of Ash
3. Grey Matter
4. Red Aura
5. Stones
6. Wreathed In Smoke
7. Harvester

An MP3 of the track ‘Grey Matter’ can be heard via the MP3 section of Profound Lore's website!

LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND: Antietam 1862

2010-03-27T18:53:00.001-04:00

The extreme music scene in RVA (or Richmond, VA if we're being formal) is so good, it's not really fair to the rest of us slogging away in the armpit of the East Coast. Yeah, we've got Javelina, Total Fucking Destruction, Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, Woe, Infernal Stronghld, Deathbeds, Bubonic Bear, and 1/4 of Brutal Truth, but the Richmond scene is just retardedly potent. Everyone knows about Municipal Waste and Lamb of God (even, ugh, GWAR) but let's talk about Cannabis Corpse, Battlemaster, Bastard Sapling, Occultist, Inter Arma, Ravn, and my new favorites, Antietam 1862, all supported and augmented by the mighty Forcefield Records and annual Heart of Winter fest. Speaking of A1862 - I just caught them at a show space in Baltimore last night, and they fucking KILLED. Imagine a seriously nasty mashup of Domination-era Morbid Angel, older Goatwhore, Dissection-styled melodies and cold, heartless mid-90's black metal; sound good? Sounds fucking GREAT if you ask me. As their warmongering moniker might imply, these four horsemen of the apocalypse deal exclusively in American lore, history, and fallacy when it comes to lyrics and themes; add in a killer Burzum cover for good measure, and it's safe to say that these burly black metallers are on to something viciously cool.

These sons of Southern darkness are SERIOUSLY worth checking out, so go LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND.
http://www.myspace.com/antietamrva

Grim Kim vs. The Dirty South

2010-03-15T14:56:00.000-04:00

So check it out. I'm heading down to Austin, TX for a slice of SXSW madness 3/17-3/19, then heading out on tour with SALOME until the 24th.

SALOME MARCH TOUR DATES

03/11 @ NYU, New York NY (w/ Shrinebuilder, Wolves in the Throne Room)
03/14 @ Little Hamilton Collective, Nashville (w/ Hull, Tombs, Evil Bebos etc.)
03/15 @ Vino’s, Little Rock, AR (w/ Iron Tongue, Zucura)
03/17 @ Emo’s, Austin, TX (SXSW, Brooklyn Vegan Day Party at Emo's)
03/19 @ Headhunters, Austin, TX (SXSW - Profound Lore/20 Buck Spin Showcase)
03/20 @ Michelle’s House, Baton Rouge, LA (w/ Thou, Black Market Ministry, 54R)
03/21 @ Magic City Wholesale, Birmingham, AL (w/ Dark Castle)
03/22 @ PS Warehouse, Atlanta, GA (w/ Dark Castle, Sons of Tonatiuh)
03/23 @ Slim’s, Raleigh, NC - Slim's

03/24 - scurrying back North as fast as my scrawny Yankee legs can carry me!

I'll be planted behind the merch booth slingin' shirts (they've got three brand-new designs, get 'em while they're hot!), lugging gear, and covering the whole shebang for a coupla publications. Come hang out and buy me whiskey shots.

Top Ten Albums of the Week - 3/6/10

2010-03-12T00:14:00.001-05:00

Originally posted here: http://www.metal-army.com/?p=1419#more-1419

Here's some rekkids I can't stop spinning.

1. The Wounded Kings – The Shadow Over Atlantis (I Hate Records)

Incredible traditional doom from the British Isles. A delicious melange of vintage riffs and modern know-how, The Shadow Over Atlantis builds upon the foundations laid down by Cathedral, Candlemass, and the like, yet is sprinkled with sly tempo changes and wreathed in the kind of atmosphere Reverend Bizarre could only dream of. Essential.

http://www.myspace.com/thewoundedkings2

2. Burzum – Belus (Byelobog Productions)

Varg Vikernes’ return has yielded one of the most controversial releases of the year – and it’s only March. Whatever you might think of Vikernes, it’s impossible to deny the depressive brilliance of Belus, which recalls his classic black metal albums Filosofem and Hvis Lyset Tar Oss yet shows a marked increase of maturity as well. Addictive.

http://www.burzum.org/

3. Nux Vomica – Asleep in the Ashes (Aborted Society)

One of the best albums you’ve never heard. Portland’s finest transplants have created something truly special here, and I can’t endorse them enough. Epic melodic death metal meets crust punk meets aching doom, grinding black metal, and shimmering post-rock touches. Truly unique and beautifully cathartic.

http://www.myspace.com/nuxvomica2

4. Revenge – Triumph. Genocide. Antichrist. (Osmose Productions)

Borne from the ashes of Conquerer and heavily inspired by Blasphemy and Beherit, Revenge dole out bestial, take-no-prisoners show-no-mercy war metal on this, their debut. If you don’t know these guys, you don’t know shit. With their heavy distortion and blinding, barely-sane tempos, unhinged shrieks and cavernous production, Revenge could be called “black/grind” if they didn’t hate you so fucking much. Death to false metal.

http://www.myspace.com/revengeattackbloodrevenge

5. Neun Welten – Destrunken (Prophecy Productions)

Newest album from one my my favorite neofolk bands, Germany’s Neun Welten. An unspeakably beautiful collection of instrumental classically-inspired, semi-acoustic European dark folk songs for fans of Agalloch, Tenhi, and cold winter nights.

http://www.myspace.com/neunwelten

6. Palace of Worms – The Forgotten (Flenser Recordings)

I’ve been losing my shit over this record ever since it first landed in my mailbox. Haunting, howling, self-loathing black metal with lurching tempos and depressive tendencies, all overlain with the familiar chainsaw buzz, now perverted and infused with shreds of mangled post-rock. SO FUCKING GOOD.

http://www.myspace.com/tattooedinworms

7. Seidr – Blood in the Soil demo (Lundr Records)

Death/doom brilliance from A. Lundr of USBM visionaries Panopticon. Haunting, melodic, almost shamanistic – this is definitely a band to watch.

http://www.myspace.com/seidrdoom

8. Amebix – Arise! (Alternative Tentacles)

The soundtrack to my latest neck tattoos. This is the album that launched a thousand crust punk, black metal, and d-beat bands, and still stands a head and shoulders above them all. Amebix are not gods, but masters of their craft, and the best is yet to come. ARISE! GET OFF YOUR KNEES!

http://www.myspace.com/amebixuk

9. Negura Bunget – Maistret (Prophecy Productions)

The latest offering from these Romanian maestros of the riff. Maistret is a beautifully complex, multi-textured release steeped in archaic atmospheres and ritualism and populated by gorgeously crafted black metal odes to their Transilvanian homeland.

http://www.myspace.com/negurabunget

10. Hot Graves – various demo recordings (Satanik Recordings)

Gainseville, Flo-Rida’s nastiest. An unholy concoction of Hellhammer riffs, ravishing grimness, creeping death, Satanic sneer, crusty d-beats, punk-as-fuck attitude, and no-fi production, Hot Graves are ridin’ dirty and aiming low. You ain’t ready for this.

http://www.myspace.com/hotgraves

MUTILATION RITES Post New Demo Tracks

2010-03-02T00:53:00.001-05:00

NYC black metallers Mutilation Rites have finally finished recording a few new tracks for their highly-anticipated (at least 'round these parts) first demo, and have posted 'em on Myspace for your listening pleasure. Head on over to their site and soak in three songs' worth of suffocating, heavily distorted riffs baptized in vintage Scandinavian fire and ice, inescapably dark shards of melody, and demonically rasped vocals from New York's most promising new underground black metal band. Ya heard.

As I've said before, I caught MR live at Richmond's Heart of Winter Fest in January, and goddamn did they slay. " They brought total aural devastation, nasty with primeval riffs and impassioned vocals. They were ugly, fast, and distorted, just as a New York black metal band SHOULD be (are you listening, Liturgy?)"

And I think it goes without saying that you need to go LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND.

Another Reason to LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND

2010-02-28T23:09:00.000-05:00

It's official: Morbus Chron are the BEST DUDES EVER.

Why? This handwritten letter that they sent along with their demo tape (only cassettes are real) should make it clear:

The pubes were a nice touch.

LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND: Hot Graves

2010-02-25T17:13:00.000-05:00

As soon as I heard the first gnarly chord of Hot Graves' set at this year's Heart of Winter Fest in Richmond, VA, I was HOOKED. Hellhammer-smashed sounds, goat-worshipping ugliness, d-beaten crustiness, primeval death metalisms, blackened battle kommands and a punk-as-fuck attitude - what's not to love?

LISTEN here - http://www.myspace.com/hotgraves
WATCH here -

Excerpt from Revelations of Doom 2/25/10:

"Hot Graves swear allegiance to like-minded blasphemers in Archgoat, Discharge, Revenge, Hellhammer and Wolfbrigade with their genre-smashing amalgamation of black metal, thrash, crust punk, war metal and heavier-than-hell slabs of primitive death metal (think Necros Christos). Throw in the odd sizzling guitar solo, a quartet of Southern drawls sweet as Waffle House sizzurp, sick Anti-Cimex & Discharge covers and a tongue-in-cheek, fuck-you attitude, and you’ve got yourself one hell of a good time. Wonderfully raw, unabashedly old-school, and undeniably awesome, Hot Graves’ d-beat death dirges are essential listening for those of you that like it nasty. Are they reinventing the wheel? Hell no, but you can bet they’re throwing some pimped-out spiked rims on that bitch!"

Read the full post here: http://www.metalinjection.net/latest-news/desecration-time-hot-graves

And go LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND.

Profound Lore Announcement: COFFINWORM

2010-02-19T14:11:00.000-05:00

COFFINWORM - Complete Debut Album, New MP3 Posted

Along with their recent induction in the Profound Lore/20 Buck Spin SXSW showcase (to take place March 19th at Headunters in Austin, TX), Indianapolis, Indiana blackened sludge metal abomination COFFINWORM have completed their debut album, “When All Became None”.

Following their acclaimed “Great Bringer Of Night” demo, which was hailed as one of the best and most crushing demos released in 2009 (even by magazines such as Decibel, Terrorizer, and Metal Injection) and blew away pretty much all metal demos attempted last year, said demo doesn’t even hold a candle to the final product that is “Great Bringer Of Night”. Summoned with the aid of Sanford Parker (Nachtmystium, Yob, Yakuza, Twilight, Krieg etc.) within the confines of Semaphore Studios, “When All Became None” has revealed itself as the soundtrack to the demise of humanity, the destruction of Christ, imminent death, poser disposal, and in a nutshell, pretty much sounds like death, doom, and destruction.

The blasphemy and depravity that COFFINWORM conjure is something that mirrors a diabolical mix of the sludge doom madness of bands such as EYEHATEGOD and UNEARTHLY TRANCE, along with a vicious layer of black metal to heighten the aesthetic, and of course a nod to the old-school ala CELTIC FROST/HELLHAMMER, BATHORY, and AUTOPSY respectively.

As previously mentioned and announced (and reiterated once again), look for COFFINWORM to bring their perversity at SXSW this year as they will bring nothing but destruction to the stage hosting the Profound Lore/20 Buck Spin showcase on March 19th. As well, COFFINWORM have also been confirmed for a few other shows during SXSW. More details surrounding these other shows will be revealed shortly.

To officially be released mid April, tracklisting for “When All Became None” goes as follows:

1. Blood Born Doom
2. Start Saving For Your Funeral
3. Strip Nude For Your Killer
4. Spitting In Infinity’s Asshole
5. High On The Reek Of Your Burning Remains
6. The Sadistic Rites Of Count Tabernacula

An MP3 of the track ‘Start Saving For Your Funeral’ is now available via the MP3 section of the Profound Lore Website:

LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND: Shadow of the Torturer

2010-02-12T19:52:00.000-05:00

Paraphrased from my trio of Noisecreep features on the band:

The current incarnation of the band is comprised of three hardy scene veterans who've all done time in other bands (Aldebaran, H.C. Minds, North American Bison, the Fartz), and its original lineup boasted current and ex-members of Yob, Engorged, Fall of the Bastards and Oakhelm. As anyone with half an eardrum left can tell after suffering through the first three seconds of a Shadow of the Torturer song, this is not pretty music. It's not progressive or overly technical or accessible in any way; this is filthy, raw, misanthropic fuzz, slow as blackstrap molasses and oozing hate and distortion. Last year, Shadow of the Torturer hooked up with the sludge barons at Blind Date Records to unleash a strictly-limited vinyl version of their debut LP, 'Marching Into Chaos,' which is already in danger of selling out.

In short, DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

Now go LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND! http://www.myspace.com/shadowofthetorturer

ARISE!

2010-02-11T00:14:00.001-05:00

I am incredibly pleased and excited to announce that I will be working with crust punk legends Amebix as the band's official publicist and that my company Catharsis PR will be promoting their forthcoming new album. More updates soon! Watch this space...no gods, no masters.

Sadistik Exekution Are Death. Fukk You.

2010-02-10T22:24:00.001-05:00

As I was looking over Nasko's answers from a recent Teitanblood interview I'd done for Terrorizer, one set of quotes popped out at me" "We are Death...Fukk you!"

He was referring to both his band's perceived genre, and to a certain bestial classic - Sadistik Exekution's 1994 LP "We Are Death...Fukk You!"

What follows is my favorite Wikipedia entry ever, if only for the fact that the phrase "We Are Death...Fukk You" HAS A FUCKING WIKIPEDIA ENTRY.

We Are Death... Fukk You! is the second album from Australian death metal band Sadistik Exekution. It was released in 1994 on Osmose Productions. The name of the album does not appear on the cover, as the band had intended it to be a self-titled release. However, singer Rok had written the words "we are death... fukk you" on the master tapes in protest against the label's marketing of them as a black metal band. Osmose mistakenly believed that was the title of the album, and released it as such. Drummer Sloth left during the recording, and some drum tracks were recorded by Steve Hoban.
[edit]Track listing

"Suspiral" – 2:44
"Burnt Offering" – 1:51
"Internal Klok" – 4:44
"Mathematikus" – 0:35
"Electrokution" – 2:06
"Lest We Forget" – 2:07
"Evoke War Vomit" – 4:28
"Astral Abortis" – 6:39
"Ipsis Simus" – 4:05
"Hades Valley" – 6:46
[edit]Credits

Rok - vocals
Dave Slave - bass
Kriss Hades - guitar
Sloth - drums
Steve Hoban - drums

________________________________

.BUY OR DIE.

LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND: MITOCHONDRION

2010-02-10T20:23:00.001-05:00

Filthy 'Domination'-era Morbid Angel grooves torn from the grave then mercilessly suffocated with no-fi production and gurgling slime? Yes please. Like every good extreme band ever (or at least Revenge and Blasphemy, which about covers it), Mitochondrion hail from Canada, and, much like every other good extreme metal band that is not Revenge or Blasphemy, have apparently signed to Profound Lore.

This music is about as noncommercial as you can get without turning into pure noise (and without being Merzbow if you've actually managed to create said pure noise). Unexpected moments of downtrodden, moody melody emerge like ghosts from the fog but are quickly dragged back down into the mire. As with new labelmates Vasaeleth, some will undoubtedly mislabel this viscous, roiling sonic mass as 'black metal,' but take heed: this is death metal at its filthiest and most bestial, down to its warm, still-beating heart.

Now go LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND!

http://www.myspace.com/mitochondrion

New Noisecreep stuff: At the Gates, DOWN, Anti-Flag

2010-02-09T23:16:00.000-05:00

I do more than just insult deathcore bands and rave about Swedish death metal.

Well, sort of.

More At the Gates worship:

http://www.noisecreep.com/2010/02/09/at-the-gates-dvd-documentary/

I did my little sister a favor...

http://www.noisecreep.com/2010/02/09/anti-flag-pay-tribute-to-a-fallen-fan/

Rex Brown: Still Badass.

http://www.noisecreep.com/2010/02/09/pantera-down-rex-brown-government/

NEW ENGLAND METAL AND HARDCORE FESTIVAL Lineup Is Announced. Grim Kim Is Not Amused.

2010-02-09T22:18:00.000-05:00

According to a press release:

The New England Metal and Hardcore Festival will enter year 12 this April with an eclectic mixture of bands from the metal and hardcore genres. Returning to the Palladium in Worcester, Mass., the event will take place on Friday, April 23 and Saturday, April 24, with an extra special pre-party sponsored by Atticus on Thursday, April 22.

Bands performing on Friday April 23 include Mastodon, Between The Buried And Me, Baroness, Cro Mags, Earth Crisis, Death Threat, Death Before Dishonor, COA, American Me, Thick As Blood, Forfeit, XTheWarX, Grave Maker, Rose Funeral, Conducting From The Grave and Howl. Doors open at 3:00PM

Bands performing on Saturday April 24 include Cannibal Corpse, Amon Amarth, Job For A Cowboy, Whitechapel, Skeletonwitch, Eluveite, 1349, Impending Doom, Lecherous, Nocturne, Tony Danza, Chelsea Grin, Abacabb, Arsonists Get All The Girls, Malfice, Swashbuckle, Cattle Decapitation, Acaro, Holy Grail, Disembodied, Cruel Hand, Reign Supreme, The Mongoloids, XTyrantX, Foundation, Soul Control, Alpha Omega, Burning Empires, Mother Of Mercy, Gaza, Across The Sun and Monsters. Doors open at noon.

Tickets for Friday only cost $40.00. Tickets for Saturday only cost $46.00. A 2-day ticket costs $80.00. All tickets go on sale THIS FRIDAY FEBRUARY 12 at 10AM at all stores, online at or to charge-by-phone call (800) 477-6849.
Sponsors this year include Atticus who is sponsorsing the pre-party on Thursday April 22, Metal Blade Records sponsors the main stage, Monster Energy Drink is the official energy drink of the festival, All In Merch / 518 Prints is the official merch sponsor, R&D Express / Art Brigatta makes our festival banners and backdrops. Heavy Hitter coordinates all our radio promotions, Mazur Pr coordinates our media inquiries and Metal Injection supplies fans with all the videos and interviews on their site so you can get a preview of all the bands to perform, Jeremy Saffer from jeremysaffer.com and Aaron Peppelis from returntothepit.com provide all the official festival photos."

Now here's my take on it:

First off, no disrespect to my dear friends at Heavy Hitter, Metal Injection, Atticus, and the Rev. Aaron - y'all are champs.

Secondly - this is absolute rubbish. There are exactly 10 bands on the lineup that I give even a microscopic shit about, and out of the 10, I have seen... 9 before, multiple times, on better packages and in smaller venues. I'm going to assume that a majority of the metal-consuming public can say the same - at least the people that actually dig, you know, metal, instead of regurgitated hardcore/metalcore/deathcore bollocks. I understand that this is a metal AND hardcore fest (they give it away in the title) but, seriously, that's the best you guys could do? I've only made it up to one of the editions of this particular fest, and had a good time (thanks largely to good friends, Municipal Waste, free booze, a lovely interview with Erik Rutan and the heart-stopping awesomeness of drinking whiskey with Brian from EHG) but it's embarrassing how overwhelmingly weak the lineups have been.

Bands that rule:
Cannibal Corpse, Skeletonwitch, 1349, Amon Amarth, Lecherous Nocturne (NOT "Lecherous, Nocturne," as the press release stated, for fuck's sake), Howl.

Bands that are pretty cool:
Earth Crisis (I used to LOVE this band when I was 14, and Kurt Buechler digs black metal. No shame), Eluveitie, Cattle Decapitation

Band(s) I have not yet seen but am going to FUCK EVERYONE'S DAY UP TO:
Cro Mags, duh.

Bands that I think should quit music and go work at Radio Shack:
All the others.

Bands that will have sweet gym shorts for sale and spend the majority of their stage time trying to be Scott Vogel:
Death Before Dishonor, Reign Supreme, xTyrantx (Though I will admit, the singer's pretty hawt in a "I have prison tatts and shank bitches" kind of way)

Bands that will inspire beard-stroking, marijuana usage, and blank stares from xTyrantx fans:
Baroness, Mastodon, BTBAM

Bands I have never heard of (but still don't care about):
Foundation, Soul Control, Alpha Omega, Burning Empires, Mother Of Mercy, Across The Sun, Monsters

Band I have been meaning to check out purely because Curran told me to:
Gaza

Bands I really, REALLY fucking hate:
Rose Funeral, Whitechapel, Impending Doom, Arsonists Get All the Girls (for FUCK'S sake, did you really think that was a badass band name? FUCK), Tony Danza, Chelsea Grin, Abacabb, Job for a Cowboy (metamorphosing into a lackluster fifth-rate cover band of Morbid Angel's b-sides does not make you credible, it just makes you more annoying to death metal fans).

Amount of whiskey it would take me to make it through both days of this shitshow without getting kicked out or making some deathcore wanker cry:
Immeasurable.

HEART OF WINTER II on Brooklyn Vegan

2010-02-08T14:32:00.000-05:00

Check out my debut post for Brooklyn Vegan (featuring incredible photography by my babygirl Diana Lee Zadlo) on the 2010 edition of Richmond, VA's HEART OF WINTER FEST. I'm stoked to be working with BV, and hope to contribute more in the coming months. Mad thanks to my man BBG for bringing me on board.

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/02/heart_of_winter.html

LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND: Morbus Chron

2010-02-08T00:14:00.000-05:00

Primitive yet preternaturally sophisticated death metal from a bunch of Swedish dudes. Sounds familiar, right? Except that most of the kids - yes, kids - in this band were FIFTEEN when they started, essentially making Decapitated look like elderly statesmen of the death metal scene. Recently signed to the always on-point Pulverised Records, we can expect to see a full LP of creeping death and putrid riffage from these whippersnappers sometime in the coming year. Consider me stoked.

Now go LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND.

http://www.myspace.com/morbuschronband

GO!

2010-02-07T22:00:00.000-05:00

I'm going to make more of an effort to update this sumbitch and hopefully get some exclusive content up here - turn it into a *real* blog, instead of just a catch-all corner of the web for my sporadic ramblings. To put my money where my mouth is, as it were (or at least give me something to do besides procrastinate on this Bethlehem feature), I wanted to share a few thoughts about my adventures with At the Gates this weekend. Keep an eye out for (legitimate) extended features in Hails & Horns, Noisecreep, and on my Terrorizer.com blog (username Catharsis), as well.

So I went up to New York this past Friday afternoon to attend an invite-only screening for Swedish melodeath behemoths At the Gates' first DVD and interview axeslinger Anders Björler. A lot of familiar faces turned up, and to his well-hidden dismay, my man Bram from The Syndicate found himself fighting for precious elbow room and fending off my excited pokes whenever Skitsystem ("THEY'RE SO FUCKING GOOD") or Niflheim ("I KNOW THAT GUY!") popped up onscreen. The camera work wasn't incredibly professional (a few too many blurry shots and pensive "driving down a random highway" frames marred an otherwise well-done production) but the content is what really matters. After watching Tompa wander through his childhood elementary school and talk about his tape trading days, or seeing the naked emotion on original guitarist Alf Svensson's face as he was asked about his decision to leave the band at the height of their upswing, the viewer is left with no illusions whatsoever about the strong, yet fragile personalities that drove At the Gates into becoming what they were - and still are. The footage from their reunion lap across the globe struck a chord with this writer especially, as the reverent, fanatical, almost heartbreaking intensity with which fans met their heroes was laid bare. I remember watching At the Gates at both of their 2008 NYC gigs and being absolutely overcome by emotion. 'Slaughter of the Soul' was one of those albums that directly influenced the course of my musical development, and struck an incredible chord in my fifteen-year-old self. Seeing Tompa and the boys rip through their perfectly calibrated setlist - heavy on SOTS material, of course, though a few oldies slipped in - was an overwhelmingly euphoric experience. The fact that I got to see them do it from the side of the fucking stage made it even better!

(there I is - tucked away on the right!)

So the DVD screening ruled. I fully recommend that you check this baby out - it's a hell of a history lesson for those lacking in vital knowledge in the early Swedish death metal scene (though diehards will find plenty of interest, as well) and a fitting epitaph for a band that know better than to tarnish an untouchable legacy by recording new material. Would that Jon Jon Nödtveidt had had the same forsight (may the devil take his soul - R.I.P.). As various media types and a few stray Earache interns milled about and began trickling out the door, I nabbed Anders and stuck a microphone in his reserved, but perfectly cordial face. We talked tape trading, downloading, horror movies and Judas Priest until Earache's publicist Anthony started looking fidgety and herded us out the door. An impromptu photo session that found Anders shivering in the middle of a New York street (nervously eyeing the heartless taxi drivers hurtling his way) and dinner at some fancy-shmancy burger joint followed. We all ended up at Arrow Bar's weekly Heavy Metal Happy Hour event, where I proceeded to outdrink a sleepy Swede (Anders was on his last legs by 9pm - that Gothenburg-to-Gotham time difference is a bitch), make several new friends whose faces I'd be hard-pressed to pick out of a police lineup, and somehow manage to tear myself away from the Big Apple and head back to the (215) before Snowmageddon hit. Two feet of snow and a couple days later, I'm sequestered in my cozy little hole-in-the-wall procrastinating by writing this blog and getting ready to transcribe my interview with Anders (and about a million and a half more). A small part of me is still marveling at the fact that - dude, I totally MET Anders from AT THE FUCKING GATES! Fifteen-year-old me would have never seen that one coming, and twenty-two-year-old me is still pretty stoked, too. I've met, drank with, interviewed, and hugged the shit out of countless musicians I admire/worship by now, but there are still a few left out there that leave me starstruck - in theory if not in person. Anders is a perfectly nice, unassuming gent with a sly sense of humor; he's probably the least intimidating 'rockstar' ever, but dude was still in At the Gates!

Anyway, here are the deets on this DVD set, in case you were too lazy to look it up on metal-archives.com yourself :

Boxed set, Earache Records
February 22nd, 2010
[
Housed in a deluxe six-panel DVD digipak with a 40-page colour booklet, THE
FLAMES OF THE END will include three indispensable DVDs:

Disc 1 'Under A Serpent Sun - The Story of At The Gates' - a brand new
documentary with a running time of over 2 hours, detailing the band's entire
career with exclusive interviews and footage, filmed and directed by
guitarist Anders Bjorler.
Disc 2 'Purgatory Unleashed - Live at Wacken' - a 75-minute live set from
the band's reunion set at the Wacken festival in 2008 in front of 100,000
people.
Disc 3 'Only the Dead Are Smiling' - 26 rare and archive live performances
of the band playing in locations around the globe from 1991 - 2008.

FAVORITE RECORDS OF 2009

2009-12-12T18:22:00.000-05:00

So I've made four year-end lists at this point, and figured that I may as well combine 'em all into one massive self-indulgent post in my admittedly self-indulgent blog. 2009 was just too fucking killer to limit myself to a top 10, or even 20. I pulled it off - check out my Top 20 contributions in the next issue of Terrorizer, my Top Ten Black Metal Albums of 2009 on Noisecreep.com soon, my Top Ten Instances of Amplifier Worship over at my boy Brandon's new Stereogum column Haunting the Chapel, my Top Ten Records of 2009 That You've Never Head of for Metal Injection, and a very special list for my brotha BBG at BrooklynVegan. Still, it hurt. It hurt to leave out the Batillus EP, or Scythian album, or Rampant Decay demo, or the new Sunn 0))) record due to space/theme constraints, so without further ado, here's my complete list of favorite records that came out in 2009.

Fight me about them.

ALL-TIME FAVORITE ALBUM OF 2009:

Coffinworm – Great Bringer of Night (self-released)

RUNNER UP:

Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vestusta II: Dialogue With the Stars (Candlelight)

THE BEST OF THE REST:

Archgoat - The Light Devouring Darkness (Blasphemous Underground)
Cobalt – Gin (Profound Lore)
Nux Vomica – Asleep in the Ashes (Aborted Society)
Diocletian – Doom Cult (Invictus Productions)
Fen – The Malediction Fields (Aural Music/Code 666)
Teitanblood – Seven Chalices (Norma Evangelium Diaboli/Ajna Offensive/Dauthus)
Shining - VI – Klagopsalmer (Osmose)
Skeletal Spectre – Tomb Coven (Razorback)
Destroyer 666 – Defiance (Season of Mist)
The Atlas Moth – A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky (Candlelight_
Brutal Truth – Evolution Through Revolution (Relapse)
Oak – Oak (A389 Records)
Peste Noire – Ballade cuntre lo Anemi Francor (De Profundis)
Ascended - Temple of Dark Offerings (Enucleation)
Funebrarum – The Sleep of Morbid Dreams (Cyclone Empire)
Amesoeurs – Amesoeurs (Profound Lore)
Gorgoroth - Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt (Regain)
Absu - Absu (Candlelight)
Altar of Plagues - White Tomb (Profound Lore)
Drudkh - Microcosmos (Season of Mist)
Lethe – Mnemosyne (Reptile)
Bestial Holocaust – Temple of Damnation (Crush Until Madness)
Seman Datura – Einsamkeit (ATMF)
Arckanum - Pppppppppp (Moribund)
Funeral Mist - Maranatha (Norma Evangelium Diaboli)
Krallice – Dimensional Bleedthrough (Profound Lore)
Javelina – Beasts Among Sheep (Relapse)
Ahab – The Divinity of Oceans (Napalm)
Ork Bastards – Final Price (Witch Hammer Productions)
Grave Miasma – Exalted Emanation (Sepulchral Voice)
Merrimack – Grey Rigorism (Moribund)
Zoroaster – Voice of Saturn (Terminal Doom)
Cormorant – Metazoa (Saturnine Media)
Dragged Into Sunlight – Terminal Aggressor (self-released)
Grave Miasma – Exalted Emanation (Sepulchral Voice)
Argentinum Astrum – Argentinum Astrum (Failed Recordings)
Pombagira – Black Axis Abraxis (Withered Hand)
Khanate – Clean Hands Go Foul (Hydra Head)
Church of Misery – Houses of the Unholy (Rise Above)
Shrinebuilder – Shrinebuilder
Manegarm – Nattvasen (Regain)
Rampant Decay – Antisocial Death March (Obscenity Cult)
YOB – The Great Cessation (Profound Lore)
Culted – Below the Thunders of the Upper Deep (Relapse)
Tombs – Winter Hours (Relapse)
Process Of Guilt – Erosion (Major Label Industries)
Scythian – To Those Who Stood Against Us…(Nectroterror)
Urgehal – Ikonoklast (Season of Mist)
Ramming Speed – Brainwreck (Candlelight)
Wolves In The Throne Room - Black Cascade (Southern Lord)
Infernal Stronghold – Godless Noise (Forcefield/KVN)
Litany for the Whale – Dolores (TBD Records)
Sunn 0))) – Monoliths & Dimensions (Southern Lord)
Wino – Punctuated Equilibrium (Southern Lord)
Immortal – All Shall Fall (Nuclear Blast)
Batillus – The Batillus (self-released)
Marduk – Wormwood (Regain)
Arkona – Goi, Rode, Goi! (Napalm)

I write band bios sometimes.

2009-11-21T00:40:00.001-05:00

Here's one I did for my friends in Salome (www.myspace.com/salomedoom - they SLAY).

SALOME BIOGRAPHY

Fort Awesome, Virginia’s slow-motion destroyers Salome came into being in 2006, after Kat and Aaron Deal decided to take their mutual love of Thorr’s Hammer and Khanate and start up a slow, heavy project of their own. Joined by Rob Moore on guitar, the trio started writing songs for what became their self-titled debut album. Salome was released in 2008 by Vendetta Records, and featured 45 minutes of pure sonic excess driven by Deal’s megalithic drumming, Moore’s soul-crushing riffs, and Kat’s cavernous roar. Drenched in feedback, downtuned to the point of no return, and tempered by moments of eerie calm, the four songs on Salome were nothing short of obliterating, and gained them a considerable amount of positive attention from the media and the fans alike.

A series of high-profile gigs followed, and saw Salome opening for doom god Wino’s solo project, sharing stages with the likes of Ocean, Black Anvil, and Woe as part of Pitchfork’s Show No Mercy series, and appearing at the inaugural edition of the Scion Rock fest alongside Neurosis, Mastodon, Boris, High on Fire, Nachtmystium, and dozens more. Vocalist Kat has also contributed guest vocals to a Pig Destroyer song (“Lost Cause” on 2004’s Terrifyer) and pulls double duty behind the mic in spazz grinders Agoraphobic Nosebleed.

In September 2009, Salome took their furiously cathartic live show on the road with Hull and Batillus on the aptly-christened “Beard Destroyers” tour, and a triumphant performance at Asheville, North Carolina’s Planet Caravan festival this past September saw them treading the boards with the immortals in Pentagram, Clutch, Wino, and dozens more. In addition, this past October they headed north to raise the dead on NYC’s Lower East Side as part of a high-profile Relapse Records/Brooklyn Vegan-sponsored CMJ showcase. They’ll be entering the studio in late 2009 to once again open up the gates of hell and record the follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut, which will proudly be released by Profound Lore Records in the first half of 2010. In the meantime, fans hungry for new Salome material will have a new split 12” LP with Baton Rouge sludge fiends Thou and a Fugazi cover (recorded for Blind Date Records’ CLONE compilation LP) to chew on.

As purveyors of the avant-garde, the up-and-coming and the criminally talented, this highly respected Canadian label provides a perfect home for Salome’s punishing down-tempo doom, and sets the stage for bigger, meaner, heavier things to come. Salome’s future is dark with promise.

- Kim Kelly 2009

Recent goings on

2009-11-03T00:16:00.000-05:00

HI!

I haven't updated this in roughly a thousand years - blame a transcontinental move and the bristling hydra of inconvenience, red tape, and worry that is attempting to graduate from my astronomically-priced private university. Since I last posted, I've sold my soul to Terrorizer Magazine; here's what they've sucked out of me to date:

2-page feature on GORGOROTH (conducted an interview with Infernus at this year's Hole in the Sky Fest in Norway!!!)
4-page COVER feature on Skeletonwitch (December '09 issue - look for it!)
1-page pieces on Secrets of the Moon, Urgehal, Arkona, Leaves' Eyes
2-page History of Mayhem for the Black Metal Special
Small writeups on Krakow, Evil Bebos, Argentinum Astrum
Small memorial piece on Chris Witchunter for Decade Special
A million album reviews (including one of the new IMMORTAL record)
A couple lists of things
Live review of Jesu/Caina in London, Saint Vitus in NYC, Scythian/Grave Miasma in Birmingham
2-page "Extremity in Metal" feature for the Decade Special
+ more things I've forgotten

Currently working on:
2-page feature on Death/Doom for an upcoming Death Metal Special
3-page EYEHATEGOD tour report
3-page Scene Reports: Philly, Richmond, San Francisco
and who knows what else!

I've also cranked out a 3500 word cover piece on Thrash in 2009 for Hails & Horns, as well as two 1000-word Year in Black Metal/Year in Doom wrapups.

After flying out to Antwerp to catch one of their last gigs for the next couple years and bonding hardcore with the lads over Duvell and fries, I'm working with AMEBIX on a super exciting new project - shhh ;)

CONQUER ALL!

YOB: The Metal Injection Interview

2009-09-16T07:37:00.001-04:00

YOB: The Metal Injection Interview

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Cormorant - Metazoa now available for pre-order (free signed p... - Cormorant (Metazoa pre-orders NOW OPEN)'s MySpace Blog |

2009-09-02T11:23:00.001-04:00

Cormorant - Metazoa now available for pre-order (free signed p... - Cormorant (Metazoa pre-orders NOW OPEN)'s MySpace Blog |

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GRIM KIM'S TOP TEN UNREADABLE BLACK METAL LOGOS

2009-08-23T18:06:00.001-04:00

http://www.terrorizer.com/content/ravishing-grimness-grim-kims-top-ten-unreadable-black-metal-logos

Are YOU grim enough to read them all?

Hails & Horns Reviews

2009-08-22T09:41:00.001-04:00

These got published awhile ago, but in my search for the proper template for this month's reviews, I stumbled across the folder they were lurking in and, as a testament to my own cleverness (and foul mouth) decided to throw 'em up here for posterity.

GRIM KIM’S UNHOLY MASSACRE: Stripped, Raped, and Reviewed

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Grim Kim’s Unholy Massacre , the shortest, surliest review roundup this side of the Canadian-‘Merican border (big ups to Kevin Stewart-Panko and his indomitable Rimshots). This column was borne partly from my aversion to giving any new record that isn’t black metal, doom, old-school death or grind a fair shake, but mainly from my own seeming inability to submit reviews to my long-suffering editors on time and bullheaded unwillingness to stop writing them. Basically, this is my way of saying “I don’t have time to write 300 fucking words on every album that lands in my mailbox but really wanted to talk about how awesome a couple of them were anyway.”
Welcome to hell!

Absu – Absu (Candlelight)
Absolutely fucking amazing, viciously relentless melodic black thrash with the odd moment of atmosphere here and there. Seriously, if you enjoy black metal on any level, go buy this right now. The best thing they’ve done since Tara.

Millions – Gather Scatter (Seventh Rule)
Tightly-wound, frantic, noisy hardcore for dudes that dig Pissed Jeans and Wetnurse. Sounds like a faster Black Flag (circa My War), updated for 2009. Nice.

Bloodbath – The Fathomless Mastery (Peaceville)
Akerfeldt and Co. cleaned up their act, shined up their production values, got a little technical, and somewhere along the way, lost the old-school magic that their first album conjured up. A solid album (“Mock the Cross” rules), but no Nightmares Made Flesh. Come on, guys – where’s “Eaten Pt. II”?

16 – Bridges to Burn (Relapse)
The sludge/hardcore vets return with a bottom-heavy, crunchy collection of songs to drink whiskey to. The soundtrack to a rough night.

Throne of Katarsis – Det Iskalde Mørket (Candlelight)
A severely underappreciated bunch of black metallers that adhere strictly to the Norwegian style of the early ‘90s. Think early Darkthrone or Immortal, with the slightest hints of vintage Ulver –styled melodies peeking through. This one’s for the old guard.

Wino – Punctuated Equilibrium (Southern Lord)
Exactly what you’d expect a Wino solo album to sound like – spacy, mellow, bluesy, riff-worshipping stoner rock straight outta the ‘70s. Fire one up, kick back, and soak in the good vibes.

Rumpelstiltskin Grinder – Living for Death, Destroying the Rest (Relapse)
These dudes were playing old-school crossover thrash before it got cool again, and will still be tearing shit up onstage long after the freshly-minted hordes of newjack mall thrashers have hung up their high tops and moved onto the next trend. Catchy as fuck, tinged with black & death metal, and unabashedly fun, THIS is what thrash should sound like in 2009.

Gathiens – Nesh (Murkhouse)
Elegant, expansive, slightly experimental post-everything songs for fans of Russian Circles, Mouth of the Architect, Mono, and the soft-loud dynamic. Slow-burning and star-gazing.

Acid Witch – Witchtanic Hellucinations (Razorback)
Cheesy synth lines and B-movie samples aside, this album serves up a bubbling brew of fuzzed-out doom, psychedelic swamp fumes, subterranean gut vocals, and knuckle-dragging death metal; you can practically smell the resin oozing out of your speakers. Also, what’s not to like about a concept album that features such gems as “Witches Tits” and “Rabid Werewitch”? Clearly, this album rules.

Thyrfing - Hels Vite (Regain)
Atmospheric black metal that’s been lumped in with the “folk/Viking metal” crowd for far too long. No flutes, no fiddles, and no fucking around – simply dense, huge-sounding slabs of darkness that bring to mind recent efforts from like-minded souls Moonsorrow and Falkenbach. KILLER album.
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Blut Aus Nord – Memoria Vetusta II – Dialogue With The Stars (Candlelight)
An immensely satisfying return to form for BAN, this album recalls the purposeful melodies and black metal thunder of their more straightforward early material, generally shying away from the jagged mindfuckery of their last few records. You seriously need to hear this.

Cobalt – Gin (Profound Lore)
The best black metal release of the year so far, hands fucking down. Enough said. Buy it and you’ll see what I mean.

From the Vaults: Unpublished SAMOTHRACE Interview

2009-07-07T22:03:00.000-04:00

"Heavy tunes for heavy times" - that about says it all, dunnit? That's how Samothrace vocalist Spinks described his band's sound in a 2008 interview I conducted with him, bassist Dylan, and drummer Joe. For one reason or another, the piece never got published, and when I stumbled across the interview earlier tonight, I decided it needed to see sunlight. Some parts may end up on Noisecreep.com later on, but don't quote me on that just yet.
Not only did Samothrace release one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful, unnervingly cathartic albums of the past ten years with 2008's Life's Trade, they are a powerful live force that, if you're lucky enough to catch it, will change your life. You owe them your time, your money and your full attention. Get to it.

http://www.myspace.com/samothraceproject

CRUSHING SILENCE: The Lost SAMOTHRACE Interview

I caught you guys at a bar show in Philadelphia the other night, and was blown away by the hugeness of your sound; not only were you playing loud enough to wake the devil himself, but you managed to absolutely fill the room with a palpable sense of emotion. Your quiet-to-crushing-to-quiet-again dynamic makes itself even more known in a live setting; when you went high, you shone, and when you came back down, you destroyed. What sort of effects/pedals/black magic do you use to achieve your desired effect live?

Dylan: Thanks a lot! That show was so much fun! To be honest, I'm a little worried to answer this question. For one, I could really geek out in my answer. For two, because I dont want to be a geek. But anyways...We all rely on distortion/overdrive pedals...some of us more than one. Probably more important in that is the levels and quality of amplification I like to think we incorporate. A distortion pedal is nothing without the right amp receiving it, which is also nothing without the right tone it is instructed to put out. I keep the volume on my amp just under the point where it wants to naturally distort and rely on a Big Muff for all distorting on the low end and a Rat for the more mid and high range overdrive. I use a volume pedal to lay off or bring up my own sound at certain times along with some other effects such as delays, reverbs, chorus, wah etc. Also, I use a six string bass, which adds an extra element to some parts, because there's an extra high and low string that I get to incorporate. On that note, the pickups in our instruments play a fairly important part. For example, the pickups in my bass distort the low end a lot more the harder I hit the notes. I'll finish here, adding fifteen more geeks points to my score card.
Spinks: Thanks for the kind words. Here we go. TONE. It is the most important thing in a rig, or as I like to call it a shrine. You can be tuned down as all hell and have 500 amps, but if your tone is shit you're nothing but dead weight. I use Sovtek, ElectricAmp, Matamp and Orange for amplification purposes in varying degrees. Headroom in amps is also very important for us. It can make or break(up) your tone. My trusty '92 Les Paul, Sweet Pea, is my guitar of choice. I love her. As far as effects, I use a couple of delays from time to time as well as reverb and phase pedals. I have a Keeley modded distortion unit and a killer boutique fuzz called the ? Lady by Skreddy Effects. Pretty simple set up. But it makes for the tone I've been searching for all my days. I am always into new distortions, overdrives, and fuzz pedals. The warm ones. Keep that crunchy shit away from me.
Joe: Since we are all hopping on the gear train... I play a 100% Maple C&C Custom kit and it is the best investment I've ever made. Acoustically, they sound impeccable and they cut right through the wall of sound. Large, non-cracked, Sabian cymbals also sound great, prefferably the HHX series. Each persons' individual sound is very important to them and what you hear as Samothrace is just the culmination of those sounds. We have all been through plenty of shitty gear and realized that it does matter exactly what you sound like. You can have all the nicest gear in the world but unless you know what you are doing with it, it doesn't mean shit.

You’re currently on the road, (hitting pretty much the whole damn country) and have mentioned that this will be your last tour for awhile. What’s the reason for that?

Joe: We are in pretty much right in the middle of a 9 week tour going all over the US. We just got a new van about a week into this tour so we will be touring as much as we can. Expect to see us sooner than later. Immediate plans include a few dates through the midwest in mid December and were are going to hit the road in early 09 for a while, most likely the southern half of the country.
Dylan: We're going to be touring a lot more often now that we have the new van. Definately expect to see us sooner than later.
Spinks: Not sure where you heard that, perhaps Whiskey or Vodka told you? We really cannot stress how much we love to tour. It is life. We obvioulsy need some down time and adeqaute writing sessions, but next to personal relationships touring is the top priority. We had to get a new van a few weeks into the current tour, so we'll definitely be hitting the road hard in order to get it paid off in full. Also, we are not very sedentary folks. We prefer the nomadic life.

Can you give me some background info on the band, for those who haven’t yet heard about you guys? When/where did you form, current lineup, how you all came together, trials & tribulations, etc?

Dylan: Spinks and Renata were visiting Kansas from New Mexico. Late one night at a party, Spinks and I discussed the two of them moving to Kansas. Next thing I know, we're emailing each other back and forth and they're sending me rough sketch cd's of some stuff they were working on. They finally moved up to Kansas and we immediately got to jamming, playing shows and then writing songs as a unit. It all came together fairly fast, to be honest. We were on the road within a year and a half of our first practice. Even before then Dave at 20 Buck Spin contacted us, discussing the possibility of putting out a record on his label. We eventually met him in person at the Emissions from the Monolith festival in Austin, Texas. Since then, Joe took over the drum duties before our West Coast tour of 2007 and recorded Life's Trade with us in April. More recently, Daniel took over second guitar duties for the US tour we're on right now, promoting the album.
A good trial and tribulation story? I got one. Regarding the rough sketch demo cd Spinks and Renata sent me...they had been jamming with a buddy of ours in Oklahoma City and made a rough four track recording of three songs at a practice. So meanwhile in Lawrence KS, I receive the package in the mail. On my way to eat dinner with my mother and father, who is a professional, working musician, I put the cd into his vans cd player. The recording had three songs. I'm sorry, four songs. The letter accompanying the cd instructed me to listen to song number four, because I would like it the most. I obeyed, saying "put it on track four, Dad." He did. For the next three and a half minutes, slightly confused, we unknowingly listened to the one and only Hulk Hogan solo project do "When the Hulkster Goes to Heaven." Half way through, my musician father asked me, "what the hell kind of a band are you joining, again?" I had a tough time answering him. To this day, I believe, some members of Samothrace still think this was a funny joke. I'm not one of them.
Spinks: I absolutely cannot top that answer. That was some good stuff.

For a fairly young band, you’ve managed to hone in on your sound and come up with something wholly unique and deeply evocative. How did you come across the inimitable sonic mixture that is Samothrace? What was the one moment when you realized – THIS is it, THIS is what we want to sound like?

Spinks: We just set out to play heavy music the way we truly wanted to hear it. We truly love doom/stoner metal, but did not want to take a traditional approach to it. We knew we would be loud and de-tuned and we knew the lyrical structure would be sparce, as far as the mixture, we really wanted to utilize both guitars and the bass as separate entities. With three different options for distinct riffs, we focused hard on creating a layered, and sometimes revolvoing sound. It felt natural once we delved into the riff writing process. I'm not sure when we realized the formula was on, but it has been with us since. We rally did just want to play some heavy tunes for heavy times.
Joe: I would say it is simply the combination of everyone's style, their strengths and weaknesses, equipment, and everyone's passion to play music. Nothing was ever really decided on purpose, well except playing slow. I think we all knew what we wanted to sound like personally and the combination of those sounds is Samothrace.
Dylan: Spinks and Renata were the original conspirators of the sound, or maybe I should say idea. I had something of a time getting used to experimenting with the drone/long drawn out notes that we started experimenting with right off the bat. As things progressed, the tempo continued to slow itself down and somewhere in that more room for expression seemed to creep up. It was wierd! With more open space between attacks, the raw tones coming out of the amps started to speak in a different way than anything I'd experienced. From that simpleness, we like to expand into a somewhat more complex set of layers. I think the more we experiment with this sort of method the more we're honing in on our own unique sound. On that note, there is always a point when we're writing a song that two or more of us will look up and sort of gesture "that's it, right there."

Who would you cite as inspirations or influences, as far as your music and your aesthetic goes?

Dylan: I grew up in a Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix sort of household. I personally always lean towards thick, heavy and bluesy. SRV's "Lenny" might be my biggest influence when I'm getting into writing mode.
Spinks: We have all been listening to underground/DIY punk/metal/hardcore for years. This definitley has shaped our sound. There are so many enumerous influences and in most cases the absolutely least obvious. I grew up around classical music, Barry Manilow, and Neal Diamond. That's what my folks rocked. So, needless to say I was left at a very early age to find my own musical tastes. It has always lied with the heavy and distorted. As far back as I can remember (Thriller) I was fucking floored by guitar solo's. Likewise, the warm, heavy tone of an overdirven amp has always been my thing. Tone.
Joe: As far as drumming goes I really attached myself to drummer's that knew how to drive hard when needed and knew when to back of and let go. Drumming needs to be just as dynamic as any other instrument and understanding how to accompany those other instruments is the mark of a good drummer.

How did you originally get into this style of music? Was it your uncle’s KISS records or your big brother’s Eyehategod LPs, as it always seems to be?

Spinks: I've always been into rock, that including all the good genres, including Punk and Metal and its sub-genres. There were many opportunities for my exposure to it being the path I chose growing up was that of a stoner/punk. I got into doom/stoner a la the crust punk movement/community. Bands like Corrupted, Asunder, Leechmilk... I have always worshipped the riff, but at some point back down the line it needed to slow down. I remember seeing His Hero Is Gone in Tulsa, OK sometime in the mid/late 90's and being absolutely in awe of the live show. They had those killer blast and d-beat parts, but the heavier tunes were what changed it for me, those break-downs. Also, the tone. Yeah, man.
Dylan: I think it was my older neighbor dudes Black Sabbath and Metallica tapes that got me into metal. When I first heard bands like Eyehategod and His Hero is Gone, I wondered where the hell they'd been all my life.

Where do you think Samothrace fits into the greater musical scheme of things? Not to pigeonhole you, but what sort of "scene" do you most often find yourserlves associating with?

Dylan: Over the years, we've all been consistantly involved in the DIY music scene. I find us most often associating with stoner metal, doom and crust bands within it. A lot of times, these are the best shows because the audience is somewhat versed in the style. It always sucks to play to a big crowd that came to see whoever other band that clears halfway through our first song. But on that note, I really love the situation where I expect a crowd is going to hate us...and they end up diggin it more than the metal heads the night before who knew what they were getting into. I think the music offers something to everybody, regardless of what styles of music they normally listen to. It just takes an open mind and ears.
Spinks: We're definitley a doom/riff band, but we get all types at this point. I think alot of folks really dig the emotive aspect of our music. It can carry you, I suppose, if you let it. I really don't like trying to define or classify Samothrace. We really assoiciate with the underdround/DIY metal and punk communities. We always have. That's where our hearts and souls thrive.

Tell me about Life’s Trade. How did you come up with the concepts behind the songs, and how do you go about writing the songs themselves? What sort of topics do you address in your lyrics?

Dylan: Musically, the songs all start from an initial set of riffs or a skeleton and we work the meat onto the bones. There is ussually a good deal of time put into each riff, slowing it down, articulating it and bumming it out. From there, we'll start adding guitar/bass layers and textures based on what is going on before it and after it. Ussually, a common riff is reffered to throughout the whole song. (By reffered, I sometimes mean reefered. Do my geek points go up 15 more?)
Spinks: The songs were not written in particular to be grouped on one album, they just happen to be the four songs we have been playing live for sometime. I suppose through that they have taken on a linked similarity. Certainly, they all sound like Samothrace. As far as lyrical content is concerned, all the songs address some sort of oppression or strife with the overall message being to take back your life and make it what YOU will. Not what THEY will it to be. "Cacophony" is about the refusal to be "sent" to an idealogical "hell" for not believing in a book written by human. "La Llorona" is about not throwing away what is truly important for petty reasoning, only to spend the rest of your days searching for what you've lost. The message of "Awkward Hearts" is that the oppressor must be shown the err of their ways and for the oppressed to unite and take back what was stolen from them as a commodity of life. Realizing the unforgivable wake of religious strife is the concept behind "Cruel Awake." So much culture, tradition, and life has been destroyed in the wake of religious perseverence.

Who did the recording where, and why did you chose to work with that particular engineer?

Joe: It was recorded and produced by Sanford Parker at Semaphore Studio in Chicago. It was recorded it at the conclusion of a tour we did through the midwest in March/April. We basically couldn't have asked for a better environment to record it in. Sanford is a great guy to work with, it was very relaxed which allowed all of us to get what we needed done.
Dylan: He also had great ideas regarding synthesizers, delay/reverb and noise. He helped incorporate a lot of that stuff into the record which added a whole other element to some of the songs. There were parts where I was doing synthesizer/envelope passes. He totally helped me expand on the ideas and bring out more of their potential.
Spinks: Sanford has been in some amazing bands (Buried at Sea, Minsk) and has recorded some great albums. He truly understands the heavy. He was a buddy of mine prior to recording and after the process has become a dear friend of us all. He has much experience recording huge tones and loud amps. Seemed very fitting for us to record with him. We are really pleased with the outcome.

The artwork on Life’s Trade is absolutely gorgeous, who took care of that for you? Did he design your merch as well?

Spinks: The artwork was done by David D'andrea. He is an amazing artist. We were very honored when we found out he'd be doing the album art. His work has a killer organic aesthetic to it. Flows really well. From his designs we pieced together some new shirt, patch, and sticker designs. They look great. As far as our first shirt design, we were fortunate to work with artist Tom Denney. Like David, Tom has worked with dozens of great bands, many of whom are our friends. It also seemed a natural fit. Both those guys are truly passionate about their artwork. It shows.

Are you planning to release the record on vinyl? If so, when will it be out and where can we pick one up?

Joe: Yes, 20 Buck Spin is also doing a gatefold 2xLP release as well. As of 10/12/08 both formats are available through www.20buckspin.com. The first 150 copies were pressed on gold vinyl and will include a poster, sticker, and embriodered patch. We also have had the CD's for sale on most of the tour so far and will be getting the vinyl in a few days.
Spinks: Like Joe said, Dave and 20 Buck Spin pressed both CD and 2xLP versions of "Life's Trade." We haven't physically received the vinyl as of yet, but the photograph we've seen of it layed out looks amazing! We absolutely cannot wait to see 'em in person. So stoked!

[ed. note - The vinyl is available now, and it's BEAUTIFUL. I got mine after their set at Kuma's Doom fest in 12/08; BUY IT]

What’s next for Samothrace after this tour winds up?

Spinks: We'll definitely be taking some time to write new material. That being said, it will have to balance out with a rigorous touring schedule for 2009. I imagine we'll take some personal time thru the end of 2008 and reconviene after the new year. It'll definitely be go time then!!!
Dylan: In addition to more touring, I'm looking foreward to writing more songs. Should be working on a new album by spring of this year. All the ideas we had on the table when we left for this tour are going crazy inside of me!
Joe: We are going to be playing a couple shows in December through the midwest and plan to tour early in '09. We just bought a new van so expect to see us soon.

COLLECTOR ALERT: New WOE Vinyl!

2009-07-07T20:58:00.000-04:00

LP Version of WOE’s “A Spell for the Death of Man” Available Now!

Philadelphia-based black metal band WOE has announced the official release of the long-awaited LP edition of their debut full-length, A Spell for the Death of Man. A mid-July release is planned as a collaborative effort between Creeping Vine Productions and Woe frontman Chris Grigg's own label, Subvert All Media.

Originally released on CD by American label Stronghold Records in 2008, A Spell for the Death of Man received universally positive reviews, and was hailed as one of the “most important black metal releases in years” by a number of publications.

Written and recorded as a solo project, WOE has since expanded into a full band (featuring members of Woods of Ypres, Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, XXX Maniak, The Green Evening Requiem, and Infernal Stronghold), one whose intense live performances have wowed audiences up and down the East Coast and gained legions of new fans with each performance.

With an initial pressing of 500 copies on red wax, the album features entirely new cover art courtesy of artist Justin Miller, whose artwork for the CD version has been described as "the final song" by Grigg, as well as a printed inner sleeve. The music comes straight off of a brand-new master taken from the original HD recording. Commented Grigg, "This is the album I recorded, the album I wanted to hear. This is Woe as it was intended."

WOE's A Spell for the Death of Man LP can be pre-ordered directly from www.woeunholy.com and www.creepingvine.org now. Additionally, a pay-what-you-want, DRM-free, high-res digital version of the CD master (with artwork) is available through www.woeunholy.com. A full stream of the album, live dates, pictures, and live videos can be found at www.myspace.com/woeunholy.

*East Coast fans, mark your calendars - WOE will be playing several Philadelphia shows next month, tearing it up onstage with Bloody Panda, Ludicra, Hammers of Misfortune, Locrian, and T.O.M.B. Check their Myspace for details!

WHAT THE PRESS HAVE SAID ABOUT A SPELL FOR THE DEATH OF MAN

A Spell for the Death of Man is easily 2008's most criminally overlooked album and is quite simply the most important black metal release in years." -metalreview.com/Jordan Campbell

"If a complete stranger or non-metalhead were to come up to me today and ask me, 'What is Black Metal?' I'd give him this record." -teethofthedivine.com/Erik Thomas

"As mentioned, this is one fo the most important works for black metal in America in the present... People, this is what we've been waiting for, the new USBM." -heathenharvest.com/Sage

"It's hard to ask anything more of a debut full-length." -Aquarian Weekly (JJ Koczan)

"In a genre of the mediocre, this will stand above the many as a prime example of how black metal can move across the years and still sound relevant." -liveformetal.com/Crin

"This is just about the most perfect 'brutal' black metal album I have ever heard." -Metalpsalter.com

Slow, brooding, and airy with tortuous, Xasthur-esque shrieks, it is the sonic equivalent to the smolder remains of a massive forest fire." – Blabbermouth

I'm going to add Philadelphia's Woe to the top of the overall list because A Spell for the Death of Man is an awesome album that moves and grooves as much as it slays and kills." – Metal Maniacs

" If Woe are a sign of things to come, we should all be focusing on the Eastern US seaboard with wide-eyed enthusiasm. A Spell for the Death of Man is a strong endeavor and is brilliant as his first full-length. " - Chronicles of Chaos

2009-03-04T22:35:00.002-05:00

Interview With: PLAGUE BRINGER

2009-02-20T13:19:00.000-05:00

APOCALYPTIC VISIONS: Plague Bringer
Kim Kelly for Hails & Horns Magazine 2009

It’s 2009. Happy belated New Year! We’re now only three years away from 2012, and, if you believe in that sort of thing, the end of the world. Untold numbers of theories, prophecies and “facts” about the onset of the end times have been circulating for millennia; whether you buy into the Novelty Theory, watch the skies for signs of deadly asteroids, fear the return of the Annunaki, or simply watch the news, it’s apparent that the shit’s about to hit the fan. Something’s gotta give, and when it does…it won’t be pretty.

The apocalypse is nigh, and the Four Horsemen are drawing near, ushering in a new world order built upon ancient evils. The silent white horse of Pestilence – the Plague Bringer - eyes wild with triumph…the red horse of War, its slavering jaws stained crimson with the blood of a thousand battlefields…the black horse of Famine, bathed in the stench of rotting corpses…and finally, the pale green horse of Death, and the last days of humanity.

A depressing thought, no? Until those dark days are upon us (or, you know, until the next round of prophesies hit the tabloids), do yourself a favor: take a deep breath, kick back, pop open a cold one, and read on as I catch up with Greg Ratajczak of Chicago’s own apocalyptic riff machine, Plague Bringer.

“I came up with the name Plague Bringer; its origin (in this context) is kind of a long story involving Werner Herzog's "Nosferatu the Vampyre,” but the way we see it, the name translates to, mean “Enjoy today as if is your last...we're all going to die, make the most of your life.” I began writing music under the name Plague Bringer back in 2002. Originally, I had no intention of starting an actual band, I just wanted to write and play heavy music for my own enjoyment. I began writing some songs on whatever equipment I had lying around my apartment at the time. After a few months of writing, I came up with four, songs I felt satisfied enough with to present to Josh for him to write words for. The next thing we knew, we were being asked to play shows.”

Plague Bringer’s sound comes across as a vicious mishmash of grind, death, industrial, and electronic music, propelled by the drum machine from hell, Josh’s manic exhortations, and Greg’s own frenetic guitar playing.

“ People come up to us and say that they hear all kinds of stuff within our "sound". Everything from hip hop to industrial, death metal, and straight up pop! Its awesome. I love ALL music. There is not a genre that i don't listen to. Inevitably, some of those influences creep into my writing. I only ever wanted to write music that i enjoyed playing/listening to. As far as Plague Bringer's actual sound goes, i would say: equal parts TOOL, PIG DESTROYER and GODFLESH. In regards to using a drum machine instead of a human drummer – when Plague Bringer began, I was just doing what I could using what i had at the time and fell in love with the process! After all these years, the machine has become as significant to this project as both josh and myself. i have had more offers from drummers wanting to play with us than i can even recall, but i have no interest in changing the way that i work at this point in the game.”

Their set at Kuma’s Doom Fest this past winter was one of the most insane intense performances I’ve ever witnessed; the ‘Bringer are known for the barely-contained insanity of their live shows, yet rarely tour.

”I would love to go over seas. I've heard that it's actually easier to tour in Europe. Playing shows is a lot of work for us. We both have jobs and bills to pay so it's hard to find the time and money to travel sometimes. Another big reason we don't get out much is that our live rig has kinda become a part of the band! We have an ENORMOUS live rig! its our "band", if you will. it's 5 1/2 feet tall by about 10-12 feet wide. we've completely outgrown our touring vehicles and gas prices last summer made it virtually impossible to travel and not lose money. However, it is in the works to get it together to do some traveling and playing this summer; there is not a song on "Life Songs..." that we do not enjoy playing live because the songs are more dynamic and challenging, and I can't wait to play "One in Two Parts" live!”

HeWhoCorrupts Inc. released the record “Life Songs in a Land of Death” in 2008, and will also be unleashing its follow-up companion album later this year.

“The new record is titled "One In Two Parts". It is intended to be a companion release to "Life Songs...". It's basically one long track and like "Life Songs...", it is a complete thought. Every note/sound has been obsessed over and is absolutely intentional. I write and record all the music pretty much alone. All the while, Josh outlines ideas for the lyrics...alone! Did I mention that we live together?! HA! Obviously, we share our ideas, but it's usually only AFTER the music is finished, that Josh actually comes in and starts laying down ideas. I took over three years writing and recording both "Life Songs..." and "One in Two Parts". I really wanted to make an album (or two) that was more than just a collection of songs. I wanted the completed vision, when reflected upon, to make the listener think. I feel that we really accomplished something with these albums both musically and lyrically. That's not to discredit any of the music on our first record, "As the Ghosts...", but the biggest difference between our old and new material is that the new material is more dynamic and very conceptual.” “Our songs are generally about things that affect us every day. Love, death, fear, hope, addictions... They're about overcoming adversity and becoming a better person in the process. "Life Songs...", however, deals with a few very personal subjects and has a strong political tone to it. While writing the album, our dear friend Malachi Rischter, committed suicide by self immolation in protest of the war in Iraq (http://www.savagesound.com/gallery99.htm). The album contains two songs that are written for and dedicated to him. We also dedicated the entire record to his memory. We've never set out to be a preachy or politically inspired band, but as far as i see it, its hard to be American these days and not be affected by the situation we're in. The title basically represents everything that PB is about. The way we see it, the Life Songs are these uplifting and relatively positive ideas that we "sing" in order to stay sane in this Land of Death, which could be seen as either the actual WORLD or just the metal scene, depending on your perspective. Life Songs = Positive. Land of Death = Negative.”

A product of and well loved within Chicago’s hugely fertile metal scene (which is as individualistic as it is tight-knit), it comes as no surprise that Greg’s last words were of support for his city, his scene, and his friends.

”Ya know, i have no idea where all these great bands are coming from. One day i woke up and Chicago is this great metal town. Who would've thought? I think part of what makes our scene so great is that every band is doing something original and doesn't really sound like anything else. I think that goes a LONG way these days. Harpoon, Lord Mantis, Winters In Osaka, Bloodyminded, the Atlas Moth, Decrypt, Indian, and Dirty Dead are some local bands that could use some attention. I'm sure i forgot others, sorry guys!”

Unsigned Band Profile: BATILLUS

2009-02-12T18:15:00.001-05:00

What’s What: A New York band by birth, but heavy by the grace of the doom gods - behold, the power of Batillus. The band was formed in Brooklyn by three amplifier worshippers who met by chance; a mere twelve months later, Batillus had already self-released an EP and played with the likes of Withered, Tombs, Rosetta, The Gates of Slumber, Evoken, Bloody Panda, Hull, and Unearthly Trance. Lauded by the metal press as “shudderingly mighty” and blessed with some of the heaviest riffs this side of Dopethrone, Batillus describe their music as “dynamic, atmospheric blackened-doom.” If you like your songs loud, long, and lingering, Batillus’ eleven-minute epics will be right up your alley. They are currently working on a limited CDR version of their self-titled EP and plotting tour dates for the fall. Bring your earplugs.

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Current Release: Self-titled EP, self-released digitally January 16, 2009 (http://batillusdoom.com/batillus_ep.html)
Rocks Like: Electric Wizard, Graves at Sea, Samothrace, Zoroaster, Asunder

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*additional questions by Jacob Round/asst. editor Hails & Horns;
answers by Geoff Summers/BATILLUS*

GIVE A BRIEF HISTORY OF YOUR BAND FROM INCEPTION TO PRESENT DAY.

It's not a particularly fascinating story-- Greg and Willi met while working at a record store, then they found me on craigslist. We played together as a trio for the first time in February of '08 and it just gelled. Since then it's been a pretty fast ride-- we've played a dozen shows in half as many months with bands we respect and admire such as Withered, Tombs, Rosetta, The Gates of Slumber, Evoken, Bloody Panda, Hull, and Unearthly Trance. Revolver Magazine caught us at a show, describing our sound as "uber-slow, beyond-atmospheric blackened doom," and Invisible Oranges (written by Cosmo Lee of Decibel, Pitchfork, All Music Guide) described our EP as such: "trippy Sabbath-isms, mutated Helmet riffs, even black metal tremolo picking [...] shudderingly mighty."

HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND?

Dynamic, atmospheric blackened-doom.

WHY SHOULD PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT YOUR BAND? WHAT SETS YOU APART?

Well, at the end of the day, we're just a doom band. We're not saving the world-- we just like to play fucking loud and we hope people can find some enjoyment in that.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR YOUR BAND? (Specific tours, planning to record, etc.?)

We're currently working on a limited CDr version of our self-titled EP, which will be hand numbered (limited to 100), hand assembled, and contain a bonus track not included in the digital release. We're also in the beginning stages of planning our first tour, which is likely to be a two-three week affair along the east coast in September of this year. In the meantime, we'll continue to play local and regional shows, and we'll also be harassing our favorite labels until one of them succumbs and agrees to put out some wax for us!

Interview With: SUIDAKRA

2009-02-09T14:36:00.000-05:00

On a Plain of Standing Stones: SUIDAKRA Hail Heritage

Kim Kelly for Hails & Horns Magazine 2/2009

“Celtic metal,” eh? Sure an’ that seems like an unlikely combination – if you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade or so, that is. With the folk metal explosion nearing critical mass and legions of conquering metal hordes storming our beaches armed with glockenspiels, warpaint, and bagpipes, if you’re listening to metal in 2009, chances are you’re familiar with (if not a ravenous consumer of) that feisty little subgenre dubbed “folk metal.” Skyclad’s legacy has held fast and spawned untold numbers of modern-day Vikings, city-dwelling rune-worshippers, and iPhone-wielding shamans; the voices of the past are calling, and it finally seems as though the general metal populace is heeding their call. Of course, folk metal and its affiliates (Viking metal, Celtic metal, all manner of regionally-specific tags, and something I, to my immense chagrin, heard referred to as “battle metal” – it’s a Turisas album, kids, not a genre) have been around for decades. Skyclad may have been one of the first, but they were predated by Mago de Oz and The Lord Weird Slough Feg, and followed closely by Cruachan, Orphaned Land, and Subway to Sally (comrades from Ireland, Israel, and Germany, respectively). One may even argue that folk metal’s first stirrings were felt in seminal “Viking metal” offerings from Bathory, Enslaved, and Amorphis. Leaving the history lesson behind, though, let’s shift our focus onto one of the original Celtic-focused folk metal bands – Suidakra, who formed in Germany in 1994. Blending melodic death, black, and power metal with traditional Irish folk and a healthy appreciation for melody, the band is often backed by a sixteen-member choir and have been releasing record and touring the world since the early nineties. Suidakra’s affable frontman Arcaduis “Akki” Antonik took some time to weigh in on some metallic (and not so metallic) issues and share some juicy details about their brand-new record, Crógacht.

On the folk metal explosion:

To be honest, I’ve no idea why Folk metal has become big lately… And we don’t care too much about it, because as all trends it will be gone as fast as it has come probably. Concerning ourselves, it’s just the music that comes out of us when writing songs; we like to combine joyful melodies and powerful metal tunes into our own style. For some reason, in private we do not even listen to many other bands that play this kind of music, at least no more than we do to other styles of metal or music in general…

On the band’s name and history:

“SuidAkrA was formed in Germany in 1994. We released a bunch of albums since then and the new -our ninth- album “Crógacht” will be released in the US on March, 3rd via Wacken Records / SPV. We consider ourselves to play Celtic Metal, but that’s just a shorter term for melodic death metal blended with Irish folk music which might describe our style a bit more precisely. The folk influence has been part of our sound since the very beginning and during the last years we introduced some new instruments like the bagpipes and the choir to have some more diversity. If you listen to our albums you’ll find some acoustic songs, but we like to keep the wilder stuff for the live shows. It’s a wide range that we’re covering.”

“There is no deeper meaning behind that name. Once we started to write our names backwards because it sounded quite funny, and my name Arkadius backwards is Suidakra. We called the band “Glorifcation” at that time and were not really satisfied with that so I said “Hey, let’s call the band SuidAkrA!” And that’s all, it has nothin’ to do with “dark” or “Suicide,” hehehe!”

On their upcoming US tour:

“We already had the opportunity last year to play six US shows as a special guest on the Pagan Fest USA Tour last year. It was a blast. We noticed that there are many SuidAkrA fans out there. We knew we would have to come back as soon as possible. After returning home we get the offer to play a “real” North American tour in March 2009. This time we will play about 4 weeks with Týr & Alestorm. This time we will use sound samples live to create the same atmosphere as we did on the records. It’s a new experience for all of us. Every single song from the new records has its own intensity and character, so we’re looking forward to play almost all songs off “Crógacht” live on stage. We’re really looking forward to meeting some friends and gaining some new SuidAkrA fans!”

On Crógacht, the new full-length:

Since 2005 we have been signed to Armageddon Music, a label that was transformed into Wacken Records / SPV last year. We’re happy so far because SPV can supply a much better distribution now than we had before. They are really providing their support for our band and our new album.

“I think the main differences between now and the earlier days lie in the sound of the production and in our musical and songwriting skills. Both have improved on every record and while the first releases sounded quite raw it changed to a kind “controlled power” on the newer ones. On “Crógacht” we experienced how it works to write music according to a concept. I guess this would not have succeeded in the early days. We told Kris Verwimp, our longtime graphic artist who was also responsible for the lyrical concept on ”Crógacht”, that the new album will include about 9 songs. He came up with the concept and its division into chapters. So, before we wrote the first song we knew what the whole story and album should be about to express. We sent him the first recordings from the rehearsal room and planned which song would fit to which lyric. It was a new way of songwriting for us. This time we had the oppurtunity to create certain moods and atmospheres according to the lyrics. It was more like writing music for a movie.
The recordings were also very special this time. We worked with Martin Buchwalter for the third time and he never gets bored with us, haha!
He likes to develop himself as a producer and to record bagpipes and other exotic instruments is very exciting for him. I knew that it’s gonna be hard to mix the sound, because at some parts of the songs there are so many different instruments and you have to do a good mix to give each element its own place so it can be heard! Martin managed it perfect.”

On lyrics and writing a concept record”

“Crógacht” is the Gaelic word for “valor” or “bravery”... First of all we came up with the idea to title the album “Valour” but in our opinion it didn’t sound that good, so we found the Irish word with the same meaning. We thought that would fit to the concept 100%.The concept concerns the Irish legend of the hero Cuchulainn. We focus on his journey to the Isle of Skye, where he seeks to learn the arts of war from the Scythian warrior woman Scáthach. His decisions set the events in motion that causes his son Conlaoch’s tragic fate... But I won’t tell you how the story ends haha! We had the idea that Kris could create a lyrical concept for us many years before when we found out that he also released pagan comics & books that tell Irish stories. The problem was that we always finished the songwriting a few weeks before we entered the studio so there wasn’t time left to work on that. After the “Caledonia” album was released, we met Kris at one of our shows in Germany and we asked him about our idea. He was very excited to work on such a big project. He came up with the idea of using that Irish legend and we gave him free space to create the story like he would like to.
This way we got Kris involved into the songwriting. After the recordings were finished and I asked Kris a few days ago if he would like to work with us in this way on the next album again and he said: “of course!” ;-)

On German metal (is it something in the beer?):

“Germany’s important role in metal probably started in the 80’s with Thrash metal bands like Kreator, Sodom etc. I think back then the foundation of a good working distribution of metal music was built that lasts until today and gets many people introduced into metal. And I agree with you that our beer plays an important role of course! Also, I’d like take the chance to say hi to our friends from Sirocco, a folk thrash band from Ireland. And we want to apologize to the American people for sending over the band Tokyo Hotel to tour the US… Hahaha!”

Parting shots:

What upcoming albums are you most looking forward to hearing in 2009?

Since we’re extremely busy at the moment because of our own upcoming album release, I’m not really up to date with what’s coming out soon… Maybe the next Guns ‘n Roses album?
What’ve you guys got planned for the rest of 2009? What’s next for Suidakra now that your latest record’s been completed?

First of all we want to play as much shows as we can when we return from the US tour and I think at the same time we will start to write new material for the next release. We can’t wait to record a new album! We hope to meet many people on our tour in March! Feel free to check out SuidAkrA on the net: http://www.myspace.com/suidakra so you know the lyrics to sing along or the correct timing to bang your heads off at the show! See you there!