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Chronicles of Chaos Issue 010
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CHRONICLES OF CHAOS E-Zine, May 10, 1996, Issue #10
Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti <ginof@io.org> <_DeaTH_ on #metal>
Coordinator: Adrian Bromley <bw823@torfree.net>
Assistant Editor: Alain M. Gaudrault <alain@mks.com>
Web Page Manager: Brian Meloon <bmeloon@math.cornell.edu>
Contributor: Steve Hoeltzel <hoeltzel@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu>
Contributor: Sally Sanchez <926841@utb.edu>
Mailing List provided by: The University of Colorado at Boulder
--> Interested in being reviewed? Send us your demo and bio to:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
CHRONICLES OF CHAOS
57 Lexfield Ave
Downsview Ont.
M3M-1M6, Canada
Fax: (416) 693-5240 Voice: (416) 693-9517
e-mail: ginof@io.org
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
DESCRIPTION
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chronicles of Chaos is a monthly magazine electronically distributed
worldwide via the Internet. Chronicles of Chaos focuses on all forms
of brutal music; from thrash to death to black metal, we have it all.
Each issue will feature interviews with your favorite bands, written
from the perspective of a true fan. Each issue will also include
record reviews and previews, concert reviews and tour dates, as well
as various happenings in the metal scene worldwide. We here at
Chronicles of Chaos also believe in reader participation, so we
encourage you to submit any material you may have to Gino Filicetti
<ginof@io.org>.
HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You may subscribe to Chronicles of Chaos at any time by sending a
message with "SUBSCRIBE coc-ezine <your-name-here>" in the BODY of
your message to the list handler at listproc@lists.colorado.edu.
Please note that this command must NOT be sent to the list address
<coc-ezine@lists.colorado.edu>, but to the mail server which handles
this mailing list.
WORLD WIDE WEB SITE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We are currently in the process of constructing a website for
Chronicles of Chaos. You can check it out by pointing your web
browser to http://www.io.org/~ginof/coc.html. If you have any
comments or suggestions, please e-mail Brian Meloon
<bmeloon@math.cornell.edu>.
AUTOMATIC FILESERVER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All back issues and various other CoC related files are available for
automatic retrieval through our e-mail fileserver. All you have to do
is send a message to us at <ginof@io.org>. The 'Subject:' field of
your message must read: "send file X" where 'X' is the name of the
requested file. Back issues are named 'coc-n', where 'n' is the issue
number. For a description of all files available through this
fileserver, request 'list'. Remember to use lowercase letters for all
file names. If you experience any problems or are having difficulty,
feel free to e-mail us the usual way at <ginof@io.org>.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Issue #10 Contents, 5/10/96
---------------------------
* Editorial
* Loud Letters
* Ferocious Features
-- Pan-Thy-Monium: Raagoonshinnaah Sleeps
-- Cannibal Corpse: Reviving the Corpse
-- Pitch Shifter: The Pitch Of Pessimism
-- Paradise Lost: Can Paradise Ever Be Found?
* Chaotic Chat Sessions
-- Edge of Sanity: Over the Edge of Sanity
-- Serpent: Serpent Singer Sheds His Skin
* Record Revelations
-- Amorphis - _Elegy_
-- A.C. (Anal Cunt) - _40 More Reasons to Hate Us_
-- Demonic - _Lead Us Into Darkness_
-- Fleshcrawl - _Bloodsoul_
-- Arckanum - _Fran Marder_
-- Various Artists - _A Gathering..._
-- Glazed Baby - _Atomic Communists_
-- Hypocrisy - _Carved Up_
-- Impaled Nazarene - _Latex Cult_
-- Minas Tirith - _The Art of Becoming_
-- Vinnie Moore - _Out of Nowhere_
-- Impaled Nazarene - _Motorpenis_
-- Necromantia - _Scarlet Evil, Witching Black_
-- Necrophobic - _Spawned By Evil_
-- Pitch Shifter - _Infotainment?_
-- Sarcophagus - _For We... Who Are Consumed By Darkness..._
-- Satanic Slaughter - _Satanic Slaughter_
-- Moonfog Split CD
-- Satyricon - _The Forest Is My Throne_
-- Enslaved - _Yggdrasill_
-- Black Funeral - _Vampyr - Throne of the Beast_
-- Vondur - _Stridsyfirlysing_
-- Wicked Innocence - _Omnipotence_
* New Noise
-- Spastic Ink - _Ink Complete_
-- Anhkrehg - _Sacrificial Goat_
-- Summertime Daisies - _Gathering of Vermin_
-- Burning Moon - _Eternal Darkness_
-- Diablo Brothers - _Twizted Harmony_
-- Parricide - _A Future Of Suffering_
-- Glutton - _Cruel, Disfigured_
-- Porno - _Give Me a Pistol_
-- Eterne De Sade - _Beyond The Mind's Eye_
-- Hidden Pride - _The Encounter of the First Kind_
-- Sick Society - _Sick Society_
-- State Of Grace - _Some_
* Chaotic Concerts
-- Unsigned Metallers Come Together: The Toronto Deathfest
-- The Wave of Death: Deicide in Staten Island
* Tours of Torture
* What We Have Cranked
* The Final Word
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E D I T O R I A L
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by: Gino Filicetti
Here it is everyone! Our TENTH fucking issue (and released on
the 10th of the month to boot), and everything is just on the up and
up. I'm sure all of you crazies out there will enjoy this issue. We
have a record amount of demo reviews, and our average motherlode of
record reviews. But let's not forget the wild stories contained in
these here electronic pages!
First off, I'd like to fix a correction from last month and it
has to do with our rating system. After some consideration and a lot
of discussion, we've come to the conclusion that a 5-point rating
system is just not broad enough for our Record Revelations section.
We've decided to keep the current rating system unchanged, and we
hope everyone agrees that this is truly the best way to have it.
However, I'm proud to announce that we have introduced a new rating
system for our demo reviews which were previously unrated. THIS
system will be out of a possible five stars (*****) and should prove
more helpful as a guide to the quality of work contained in any of
the demos featured in CoC.
New this issue is a feature that I think EVERYONE will
appreciate. It is the automatic fileserver that I've set up on my
account at <ginof@io.org>. This fileserver gives you the ability to
request back issues and other CoC related files from our archives and
have them mailed to your account immediately. For more information
read the instructions in our header.
Also, this issue features the first exposure of a good friend of
ours, Adam Wasylyk. We have a few reviews from Adam this month, as
well as one half of a split concert review.
Loud Letters response was respectable this month. I want to see
this trend continue, however, because I think a CoC without Loud
Letters is a CoC without pizzazz. Loud Letters are probably the
funnest part of this mag in my opinion, and I'd hate to lose them
over laziness.
Independent Interrogations has been deleted this month because
we didn't get around to interviewing any independent bands. I know
this sounds pretty bad on our part, but it's hard enough for us to
keep up with labels who offer us interviews, so there just isn't
enough time in the month for us to chase around indie bands. Believe
me when I say we really do support the independent scene and we want
to promote it as much as we can, but sometimes the opportunities to
interview these bands don't present themselves. However, I'd like to
invite our readership to submit any interviews they may have with
independent bands in their area. This would be a great way to promote
your local scene, so just e-mail us and let me know. And remember, we
don't have room for EVERYONE'S story!
Tours of Torture are pretty scant this month. We only have
European dates for Impaled Nazarene and a couple of North American
dates for Suffocation, but hey, it's better than nothing. Remember to
send in any dates you might have so we can use them for next month.
Well, that's about it from my end. We decided to treat ourselves
this month and give you our Top 10s of ALL TIME to commemorate our
10th Chronicles of Chaos Issue. Enjoy!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
M""MMMMMMMM dP
M MMMMMMMM 88
M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. dP dP .d888b88
M MMMMMMMM 88' `88 88 88 88' `88
M MMMMMMMM 88. .88 88. .88 88. .88
M M `88888P' `88888P' `88888P8
MMMMMMMMMMM
M""MMMMMMMM dP dP
M MMMMMMMM 88 88
M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. d8888P d8888P .d8888b. 88d888b. .d8888b.
M MMMMMMMM 88ooood8 88 88 88ooood8 88' `88 Y8ooooo.
M MMMMMMMM 88. ... 88 88 88. ... 88 88
M M `88888P' dP dP `88888P' dP `88888P'
MMMMMMMMMMM
This is the column where we print those lovely letters our readers
decide so graciously to write us. Whether they be positive, negative,
ignorant or just plain spelled wrong, you can rest assured that
they'll be here in their original form. If you'd like to see your own
letter here, e-mail it to <ginof@io.org> and enter 'Attention Loud
Letters' in the subject field. Hopefully all letters received will be
featured in upcoming issues of Chronicles of Chaos.
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 96 10:20:14
From: Boris <TU44031@LVRULV11.LANET.LV>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters
Hi everybody! I must regard that your magazine kicks ass. I've
printed some of them and they rules! I like that you are using plain
text , keep it going. I want that your respectation grows with it
lenth. I want non-sizable zine. I espessially like >record
revelations< because it is the only way for me to know about the new
releases. THANKS !
Boris_Riga.Latvia
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 1996 06:04:29
From: Mike C Diaz <christ69@ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Loud Letters
I just discovered your mag (from a mention in RIP's "RIP Rap"), and
it is great! Much better than said magazine's weak "Death Files." You
guys cover some great shit. Thanks to you, my bank account is empty,
but my cd rack is full! Anyway, I hear there's a new Amorphis coming
out on May 14. Since they have a new album, any chance of them coming
to North America? How about Hypocrisy? I was a little miffed that
_Abducted_ didn't contain a lyric sheet. Think you guys could weasel
one out of the band or maybe the record lable? While you're at it,
how about one for _The Fourth Dimension_ too? I'm a great fan of My
Dying Bride and loved the interview with Aaron. It would be a shame
if they never got a chance to tour over here. Maybe we could sent a
bunch of e-mails or something to Futurist to show them there's a lot
of support for MDB here in North America. If there's enough interest,
maybe they'd cough up the money to bring 'em over. Keep up the good
work, and an interview with Amorphis would be greatly appreciated.
PHIL HINKLE
Date: Fri, 19 Apr 1996 17:46:24
From: Jack <sorcerer@gnn.com>
Subject: Re: Chronicles of Chaos #9 (3/3)
Gino,
CoC just gets better and better. The CD reviews continue to be some
of the best around. Great shit.
- JACK
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* "All things please Nature. * <http://members.gnn.com/ *
* We serve Her as we sin." * sorcerer/homepage.htm > *
* - Exodus * FUCK CENSORSHIP *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Date: Sun, 21 Apr 96 03:20:32
From: jd141@llano.net
Subject: Attn Loud Letters
Gino,
As we say in my enforced-PC government office, "Sierra-Hotel" or
SHIT-HOT!! I'd been out of the metal seen for several years and when
I saw this 'zine, it re-opened my eyes to what I'd been missing. I
went out and bought Sepultura's _Chaos A.D._ on your recommendation
and Fucking Love It!
I'd like to ask 3 things of you:
1 - Can ya'll work it out with the record companies (since I'd never
dream of asking you to do something illegal) to put sound clips of
the bands on your Web site? I respect your opinions, but I'd love to
be able to "test-drive" some myself.
2 - Can you put a more printer-friendly version of CoC on the site?
Do you do all the editing in a text editor? If not, how about putting
the original word-processor version on the Web for download? You
might even save yourself some mailing hassles as some people may pull
their copy from the web rather than thru e-mail.
3 - How about a special feature of each of ya'lls top 5 or 10 albums
of all time?
Thanx and keep it coming,
Jim Davis
Captain, US Air Force <jd141@llano.net>
(really, but expressing my own fucked-up opinions)
[We've been asked COUNTLESS times to spice up our Web page and get
all kinds of pictures and sound clips on it and so forth, but you
guys have to understand that everyone here already has a maxed out
work load. You'd be surprised at the amount of work we do here, and
frankly there just isn't any time to work on our Web Page. I think
the quality of CoC has always come from our writing, and I want it to
remain that way. There are a lot of webzines and web sites that
already have all the sound bites and cool pictures you could want,
but when you feel like reading some quality material on your favorite
bands, you know you can always turn to CoC for that. -- Gino]
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 1996 19:58:19
From: ARNE PLATHAN <aplathan@ix.netcom.com>
Subject: CoC-
Hey man!
Great issue! Thanks for sending it. I enjoyed all the articles. Your
one of the top E-zines i've seen in awhile here! If you need any
reviews/scene reports,just ask me. :) Take Care....
Klaus..
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| \\ ___/ / __ \| | | | /| | \/\ ___/ \___ \
\___ / \___ >____ /__| |____/ |__| \___ >____ >
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/
The meat of the matter lies here. Read on for the juiciest morsels on
bands ranging from the reknowned to the obscure. No fat, no gristle,
just blood-soaked slabs served hot and ready. Dig in, readers.
R A A G O O N S H I N N A A H S L E E P S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An interview with Day Disyraah of the late Pan-Thy-Monium
by: Steve Hoeltzel
"A dreamer from the lost dimension of Beeebh saw the Battle of
Geeheeb in his vision. Raagoonshinnaah felt the time had come to
finally encounter his foe, face to face, dream to dream. He lost. The
massive charisma of the God of Everything Light and Complete drained
his vision in the Sea of Naaak, and the heart of the soul of
Raagoonshinnaah was filled with joy and togetherness. He died."
Okay, did you get all that? If not, you might take another look,
because these words from the liner notes to Pan-Thy-Monium's crushing
epitaph _Khaooohs and Kon-Fus-Ion_ actually encode the reasons behind
the recent dissolution of a truly special band. Over the course of
their debut EP and three subsequent full-length releases,
Pan-Thy-Monium have injected a massive dose of creativity into the
brutal death sound, charting lots of unexplored and mystifying
musical territory in the process. Their latest, final recording,
_KaK_ is a crazed hybrid of pulverizing power and inventive
experimentation, easily among the most technically accomplished -and-
musically intriguing extreme music releases ever. As it's also the
first of their releases to gain widespread distribution outside of
Europe, I asked P-T-M bassist/keyboardist/mastermind Day Disyraah
(who sometimes also answers to "Dan Swano") how he might describe the
new CD's unearthly fusion of death, grind, jazz, and you-name-it to
someone who's never heard the band before.
"What we've wanted, always," he replied, "is actually the title
of the record. We always wanted P-T-M to be chaos and confusion, in a
great mixture. This doesn't necessarily have to deal with just the
music. It could be confusing and chaotic in the sense of the layout,
the artwork, you know, the promotion <laughs>, anything. It should be
chaos and confusion; it should be weird and strange. People have to
realize that this is not a natural, normal band. We just wanted to
get back to our roots, and get really heavy, and really slow, and
really tuned down and weird again. It was a kind of a 'coming home'
feeling, and that influenced us a lot to be even more weird and even
more strange."
Of course, the oddity of this band's output is by no means
limited to the music alone. On top of their strange sonic output,
P-T-M have dreamed up an entire imaginary world whose events and
inhabitants are chronicled in the band's songs. In fact, as Dan went
on to reveal, the saga of this alternate world parallels the story of
the band itself. The dire fate of Raagoonshinnaah and the destiny of
P-T-M are one.
"When we started out P-T-M," he relates, "we were very lonely
guys, and we got together, and with this band we kind of opened our
hearts a little bit to each other, and realized that we were fucking
lonely, you know? And we just gave a name to this feeling of
loneliness, and we named it Raagoonshinnaah. And we told each other
that we should have a secret thing going, where whenever we'd feel
lonely and very depressed we should get together and write music that
reflected the way we were feeling. Everything was feeling empty, you
know? We didn't really have anything inside of us - no love, no hate,
nothing. Just complete nothingness. And that's when we came up with
this vision of Raagoonshinnaah."
To that basic vision, the five members of the band soon added a
roster of additional characters and places. On _KaK_, we encounter
the Emperor of Goobhaabh, Maab, and of course Raagoonshinnaah's
conqueror, Amaraah, the God of All that is Complete and Full. Given
that the bleak spirit of Raagoonshinnaah is so basic to P-T-M, and
that it is defeated by Amaraah on _KaK_, you might begin to suspect
that the demise of this band is actually the result of some very
positive changes in the lives of the five musicians which make it up.
Perhaps the destruction of Raagoonshinnaah actually represents good
tidings for these guys? This is a guess which Dan is clearly
delighted to confirm.
"For a while, I think we actually believed in this
Raagoonshinnaah cult. We were actually pretty serious. It's not like
a Satanic thing. It was like a depressive cult. We were just feeling
miserable, drinking a lot of beer. <laughs>" But things are quite
different now, Dan happily reports. "I have a son, and I'm going to
be married next Saturday [April 27]. Totally out, totally out!
<laughs> And the other guys have girlfriends, and life is like, you
know, really -fun-!!"
"So, basically, Amaraah killed Raagoonshinnaah. And that's 'The
Battle of Geeheeb' [_KaK_'s opening track]. That's the end of the
band. We just can't go on, when everyone is happy, trying to pretend
that we're lonely and trying to write music that is so naked and so
mourning. The first P-T-M tracks came right from the heart to our
instruments. Now it goes through the brain: we actually have to
transform 'We are really happy' into 'We should be sad right now,'
you know? And that doesn't work. This process is not good for the
music. So that's why we decided to quit. We don't want to fool
people, you know? It's not easy to write sad music when you're happy.
It's very hard."
Indeed, the aptly named "Behrial" (sound it out boys and girls,
it reads: Burial), the lush and moving soundscape on which Dan
single-handedly lays Raagoonshinnaah to rest, is striking sonic
confirmation that the triumph of hope over negativity is the real
reason for P-T-M's decision to call it quits. In stark contrast to
the frenetic metallic grinders which precede it, this track weaves
together a gorgeous tapestry of glowing sound; somber, yes, but
quietly beautiful and full of promise too. Anyway, that's my opinion
of it, and (lucky for me!) Dan essentially agrees. "I got the feeling
when I wrote this track that P-T-M should have a decent burial," he
says. "I thought this song should be like, 'Farewell, sleep forever,
thank you for all that you've done for me.' It's like saying farewell
to a good friend. I guess it's a little bit sad, and a little bit
beautiful. It was a very strange song to write. It actually wrote
itself. I think I recorded it in like thirty minutes. It's like
'Blam!' and it's finished. Really strange."
So is there no possibility that Raagoonshinnaah will ever
return? "Never say never" is Dan's reply, but he seems much more
interested in looking toward the future. "To me, P-T-M was like a
child. It was to all of us. But, you know, it was taken away from us,
because we became happy. We couldn't take care of this musical child
anymore. We wanted to move on and do different things. So
Raagoonshinnaah is sleeping, and maybe he is going to awake. I don't
know, one day, you never know." For what it's worth, though, Dan
doesn't seem to think that could happen any time soon. But whether it
happens or not, the crazy, crushing sound that Raagoonshinnaah
inspired P-T-M to create will live on in the group's recordings. I
asked Dan if he had anything he'd like to say, in closing, to fans of
this truly unique band. Here are his parting words.
"Thank you for putting up with such a weird band! <laughs> And I
want to thank all the people who have written to me over the last
five or six years and told me that they really got a special feeling
out of P-T-M. I would like to thank them for the effort and for
actually doing that. That is fucking fantastic, that there are more
people than just the five of us that actually can be linked together
by our music. That's fucking fantastic."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
R E V I V I N G T H E C O R P S E
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An Interview with Cannibal Corpse
by: Gino Filicetti
Since their first release in 1990, _Eaten Back To Life_,
Cannibal Corpse have been putting the death into death metal like no
one else can. Once renowned for their shockingly brutal and gory
lyrics, a sea of imitators and copy-cats have de-sensitized the
masses, but the truth is, no one can out do the masters at their
game. On the phone with drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz, he explains what's
been happening with the band since we last encountered them.
With their newest release, _Vile_, Cannibal Corpse has undergone
a lot of changes, the most prevalent of which was the firing of
singer Chris Barnes. Chris got his say back in Chronicles of Chaos #5
when we interviewed Six Feet Under. Now it's time for the Cannibal
boys to tell us THEIR side. Paul begins by explaining the
circumstances which brought about their decision: "When we went into
the studio in September we had laid all the music down and we were
really happy and really pleased that everything was going great, we
were so pumped. Then Chris came in to do the vocals and that really
let the air out of the tires in our eyes. We didn't like a lot of his
stuff and we wanted to change some of it, but Chris wanted to do his
own thing and didn't want to change any of it. That's really what
brought upon the whole change, because we wanted it to be the best
album we could make it and the vocals just didn't live up to that."
Although Chris' lack of enthusiasm and down right stubbornness
was discouraging to the band, Paul tells us that they tried their
best to make things work. "We tried to work with him, but he's really
difficult to work with in that way. We tried to have him change stuff
and it wasn't working to our liking. He was supposed to have the
vocals done before he left to go on the road with Six Feet Under in
October, and when he came back we were going to mix. So we told him
that we were going to rewrite some stuff and he got all pissed, but
we had to, we just weren't happy with some of the songs. He didn't
take it very well and he got all mad and walked out, but this was
like a week before he was leaving. So when he left, we knew that this
wasn't working and that we had to do something. So we decided that it
was the time to make a change. We didn't want to release an album we
were going to be displeased with. So we decided when he was gone that
we would have to kick him out and George was our first choice to
ask." He continues, "We told Chris as soon as he got back. Don't
think we dicked him around or anything. We didn't want to tell him on
the road, I mean, that'd be dumb you know? But we contacted George
like a week before Chris was coming back and asked him if he'd do it,
and he was totally into it."
George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher was someone whom Cannibal Corpse
knew for quite awhile from the Florida scene. "We knew him from
Monstrosity. It's Rob who knows him really well. Alex knew George
quite a bit just from meeting through shows and what not. I myself
didn't talk to him that much before, but I've gotten to know him now
that he's in the band. We just basically knew him from Monstrosity
and we loved his voice and knew he could do the job. Also we knew who
he was and where he was to get in contact with him." Paul also tells
us that George has been fitting in just great with the rest of the
band. "I think he brings more of a ferocity to the band. I think
after all these years, we lost a bit of our edge and it became a bit
stale, not because we weren't into it, but because of the tension
between members, especially between Chris and the rest of the band.
Now we just feel more revitalized. George is amazing, he's just
non-stop, a real madman, he's powerful, he's intimidating. It's all
combined, George joining and the new songs and everything as a whole
makes us feel just raring to go. We haven't played a tour in over a
year, and we're all into the new album, and with George we feel like
we're back on our first album and we haven't done a tour yet.
Although the departure of Chris Barnes shocked a great many
people in death metal circles, almost no one thought that Cannibal
Corpse could survive without their frontman and mastermind. Paul
tells us that the vision of Chris being the band's ringleader is a
completely misconceived one. "That's where I think everything got all
jumbled in the mix of things as time went on with the band. He took
credit for everything. That's what he wanted to do, you know? It got
to the point where everyone wanted to do interviews with him and we
just couldn't talk to him about stuff to do with the band. All the
stuff wasn't his, I mean he came up with most of the song titles and
he came up with ideas, but a lot of titles we came up with and I just
think everything got blown out of proportion to where people believed
that Chris Barnes did everything, you know? I'm sure there are people
out there that think he wrote the music and that he told us what to
do and if it wasn't for him we wouldn't know what we're doing. He did
a heavy share of stuff but then again everybody did. He never wrote
any songs because he can't play any instruments, the music always
belonged to us. But me and Alex also came up with a lot of the song
titles and ideas.
Blood, guts, and gore has always been THE trademark of Cannibal
Corpse. Throughout all four of their previous studio releases, the
band has become infamous for their lyrics. Does Paul see Cannibal
writing in this vein forever? "Yeah definitely. I mean, that's why
we're here, that's what Cannibal Corpse is. We wouldn't be Cannibal
Corpse if we were writing about something else. I think there are
definitely enough subjects and ideas that can still be covered in
this genre, but I still think we came up with some 'different' songs.
We kind of drifted away from the woman abuse type of stuff on this
record. It's more hate-filled, hate and violence in general. We'll
always play death metal and we'll always write gore because Cannibal
Corpse wouldn't be what we are today without that." Paul continues
explaining how their lyrics do not necessarily reflect their
personalities. "Personally, for me, I just want to write a cool story
you know? I just want to sit back and write something that's
disgusting or sick or cool. I wrote two of the songs on this album
myself, and that's how I looked at it. It's got no meaning to me
other than the fact that I'm writing a story. It's more in the music
that you get your release, your feelings and such come out when you
play the music. I can't answer for the other guys, but for me that's
how I see it.
Although Cannibal Corpse isn't the only band with such vile,
disgusting lyrics, they have received attention from many self
proclaimed saviors of our society including The 700 Club and Bob
Dole. Paul tells the tale behind these encounters. "The 700 Club
thing was pretty cool. It was just this thing on music and they were
really ragging on stuff like Nine Inch Nails, and just music in
general. They showed a lot of the 'Staring ...' video and they
flashed the words underneath it. We thought it was pretty good
exposure. We didn't even know it was going on there, it was just like
one day you're flipping the TV and bam! The Bob Dole thing was him
just dissing us when he brought up the movies like Quentin
Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and then he talked about bands like The
Ghetto Boyz and Cannibal Corpse. That was a few months ago and that
was national, everyone heard about that. It was in USA Today and
Newsweek. We got our names in there and it was on the nightly news
too. He was just starting his censorship thing, and talking about
movies and music and how it's corrupting today's youth and he
happened to mention our name. Chris did a little comment on that
saying why would a guy running for president care about something so
menial, because we're just a death metal band, we aren't selling
millions of records. But it's cool for the publicity."
Talking about exposure and publicity brought up Cannibal
Corpse's appearance in the 1994 flick _Ace Ventura: Pet Detective_.
The band was in Hollywood shooting for two days and Paul tells us a
lot of the footage that was shot with the band ended up on the
cutting room floor. "We thought they should've used more of the film.
That would've been killer. It was cool that we got in the movie at
all, but it sucks that most of it got cut out. They filmed some shit
that was absolutely hilarious. We never saw it, but I remember the
whole thing. It was the scene where Jim's being chased by those
thugs. First Chris is singing and then jumps out into the crowd, and
he's crowd surfing and then he gets pulled into the pit, so we don't
have a singer. So Jim is getting chased by the thugs and he comes up
to the stage and jumps out into the crowd and he starts crowd surfing
too. Then the two thugs try it. The little guy jumps out and starts
surfing and the fat guy goes to jump and the crowd splits apart and
he hits the floor. They filmed him getting kicked in the head and all
that shit. In the meantime, Jim is being chased around the venue by
the little guy and they are both on top of the crowd so it's kind of
funny you know? So then Jim gets pushed onto the stage just as we're
finishing a song and he picks up the mic. Then the thug is just about
to come onto the stage and Jim goes, 'One, Two, Three, Four' and we
start playing, and the thug gets pulled back into the crowd and
everyone is going crazy. Jim's up on stage and he's singing with us
and doing all his crazy dances and shit and it all fucking got cut
out. I thought it was going to be amazing but it all ended up on the
floor."
As a closer, Paul was asked if he thought death metal should
become mainstream. He answered, "I think the only way it's going to
become more mainstream is if more people start listening to it.
That's the only way it's going to happen. It's not going to change to
suit the mainstream audience. If it's going to get mainstream it's
just because there are a lot of people who are listening to death
metal. Other than that, it just wouldn't be the same. I mean, we
wouldn't be the same band if we changed to become mainstream. Like I
said, the only way it'll become mainstream is if fucking ten million
people buy the record, then that's mainstream." He continues, "Death
metal has always been the extreme music that it is, and unless
people's tastes change, it won't become mainstream, it'll just stay
the way it is. Which is great, I mean, the more people into the scene
the better, but all we can do is keep pounding it in people's faces
and that's what we've been doing."
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T H E P I T C H O F P E S S I M I S M
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An interview with England's Pitch Shifter
by: Adrian Bromley
Imagine, if you will, an otherwise empty room, shrouded in darkness,
the only light coming from the snow on a television set, then, as you
stare absent mindedly at this machine that has held mankind captive
for the last fifty years, you see before you...
**********
... *click* ... tonight on CNN, bloodshed in Bosnia where a mortar
has landed in a crowded market place killing dozens ... *click* ...
police have seized a half a million dollars worth of marijuana,
confiscated from a first grade school teacher's home in the quiet
rural town of Lincoln, Nebraska ... *click* ... another teenager has
been shot to death outside a night club in downtown Los Angeles, the
second to happen this week ... *click* <fuzz> ... <static> ... This
is the emergency broadcast system. This is just a test ... *click*
... *click* ... WELCOME TO INFOTAINMENT? <static> ...
The music and lyrics of _Infotainment?_, the latest noise
assault by Nottingham, England's Pitch Shifter (PS) and follow-up to
the successful 1993 opus _Desensitized_, shapes heavy visions and
dosages of reality with the help of multiple samples, distortion,
loud guitars and multi-faceted song styles of industrial, hip hop,
techno, and jungle beats. _Infotainment?_ is the TV guide of our
past, future, and present. The music and emotions sparked throughout
this 'guide' pretty much makes the bloodshed on TV look like Romper
Room.
J.S. Clayden, a power-packed individual not afraid to voice his
opinions or stick to his own beliefs, is rather fatigued (two weeks
of European press) over the phone from Earache Records offices in New
York, but rather talkative. About the mindset and the construction of
_Infotainment?_ he reveals: "What happened is that I hadn't
personally listened to any guitar music for about eight months," says
Clayden about the substantial amount of hip hop and jungle beats
throughout the record. "It has all been techno, jungle, trip-hop and
jazzy stuff that I have been into and it is natural for Pitch
Shifter. We never have to force it, we intrinsically know. We just
include stuff that we listen to.
"It is weird because PS has been more of a social experiment and
a way of exchanging ideas with others around the world and more of
channelling on their negative energy to positive energy. We are
controlling our aggression. People find it hard to believe that I
don't listen to this kind of music - ever. I do it, but I don't
listen to this style of music. But for this album I was thinking,
'Well we are going to be playing this album all year' and I wanted to
include elements of stuff I listen to so I can really get into it
when I play."
While the record only took three months to record and assemble
with the help of producer Simon Efemy, the recording of the record
was slowly put together due in part to some untimely surgery for
Clayden. He explains, "It took three months cause I had an operation
on my leg and that took up a lot of time to recover, about six
months. They had to reconstruct a muscle in my groin area (writer's
note: OUCH!!!!) which is very excruciating and a bit too close to the
family jewels," he jokes. "It took three months to assemble. We
recorded it in two weeks and then took the whole package back to the
studio where we bastardized it with samples and then we mixed it."
And while samples provide most of the intrigue about the record
(quite effective on songs like "Virus", "Hangar 84", and "Product
Placement"), Clayden notes the motives by the band to get back to a
rawer feel with the recording and the type of music they were
creating with _Infotainment?_ were essential. "We wanted a more
musical feel," he says. "I came to the limit of the three chord
monolithic sludge. We came to the limit of it... it is too limiting.
We couldn't do anything else with it. So I do listen to more of dance
style music seeing that I live in England and every car that goes
down the street has that style of music blaring from the car." [he
imitates music blaring from car] With a modest tone he says, "Nothing
has been forced on this album. We didn't go like, 'Oh, we'll make
this more dance.' The time was right to do this, to use these break
beats and dance sounds."
Talking about the fact that the band (rounded out by
guitarist/programmer John Carter, drummer D. Walters, and bassist
Mark D. Clayden) has stolen numerous samples for the benefit of
shaping their album into a frenzied noise-fest, he says, "Everyone
makes out that they are the original 'God-like genius' that invented
everything and that is bullshit. There are only so many chords on a
guitar, drum beats or sounds from a drum. I think appropriation is an
art of the 90s. There is nothing more that I like than billboard art,
where someone has defaced a billboard to make it into art whether it
be political or whatever. It is great. I like taking things and
changing them.
"It is like the rave culture where they take logos that people
know like Texaco and Shell and change them into their own thing. It
is art, appropriational art." About being approached by any artists
about their theft of material he laughs, "I hope not. I tried very
hard to distort and change everything so that no one will ever
realize. Funny thing is most of the stuff sampled here is from people
that are dead. We're jamming with the dead people!" <laughs again>
Clayden is also a strong advocate of being honest and showing
that through their music. He is first to admit that his lyrics are
about his experiences, stuff many of PS's listeners can relate to. "I
try to avoid storytelling and creating with a character because that
can be pretentious. The thing with PS is [the music] is about life
and if it happens to me and happens to the band it affects the music
as well. If I got hit by a car, it would be a track on the album."
He goes on to say about other lyrical inspirations. "A lot of
things piss me off about life and I just don't understand why things
have to be the way they are. I don't understand why people have to
hate people because they don't look like them. It is political but
not necessarily topical politics. We are not like a band like
Consolidated where we will wait for something to happen in the news
to sing about it. It is personal politics in our music."
On the album title and cover image? "It is satirical. If you
look at the cover you see the happy family and the PSI sign where
normally you'd see CNN or BBC and a skull-faced journalist and it
saying INFOTAINMENT with a question mark. People should get it... I
shouldn't have to explain it," he says with sarcasm. "I just want
people to get it."
The topic shifts from song lyrics to the world and its problems,
primarily the problems that he has witnessed firsthand or read about
daily in the United States. Is he worried about how violent and
screwed up things have become? "Fuck yeah. Go to anywhere in the
south and they are so full on racism. I don't take to that fact very
much or that everyone has a gun here too, even parking attendants
have guns. But there are a million things that bother me but
everything will become the same. There are the three same things that
make a 'shit culture' and Germany, England, and America have them
all. They are: bad TV, beer, and pornography. They are bad for the
culture. For example the news; the control is so subtle that we don't
see it or realize that it is happening."
So do you believe that kids nowadays are being raised poorly
because of their surrounding conditions then? "You don't get raised
now, you drag yourself up don't ya?" he states. "I started smoking
when I was eleven and doing a lot of other things. <laughs> I don't
think people are raised any more. I think people are dragging
themselves up and it is individualistic culture. Our generation, or
at least mine, got lost. In England, my generation dropped out of
school and became vegetarians and they challenged and examined a few
ideas. Whereas the generation below us are like, 'This is my CD, my
Sega, my trousers, my car and my drugs' and it is going onto a very
individualist culture. It is not their fault. In the old days it was
the 'duty' generation where my parents got married because it was
their duty. You got your wife pregnant, it was your duty. You did
stuff for your country, it was your duty. This generation is like,
'Look! We know the Earth is fucked and I want my seventy-five years
as part in it before it goes under and who the fuck are you to tell
me to pick up the pieces of the last generation and do my duty?' That
is the generation we are in now and it is a very auto-destructive
state of mind to be in. Everyone wants their seventy-five years as
part of it and they are 'Outta here!'"
Future plans for PS include a possible summer tour with Neurosis
in the United States. Clayden can't wait to tour and is not too picky
about playing with any specific band. "I can play with any type of
band. I love doing that. We have played with punk, rock and
alternative bands like Fugazi, Girls Against Boys, No Means No and we
have played with extreme stuff like Napalm Death and Carcass. Right
now I am working on a project over here [in England] where there is a
showcase where you have a DJ, then guitar band, then DJ, and again a
guitar band that night with visuals. I think things need to be
crossed. I think promoters under-estimate everyone. I don't want to
go to a show and see six metal bands," he says loudly. "I want to see
a mix of things, a crazy mix of all types of music. I want to express
moods in the evening where people will get something out of the
evening and go, 'Wow! I learned about different types of music
today.'"
So deep down, and this has always been a real virtue for
Clayden, he wants to act as an informer and not a preacher of the way
things should be. "For this record to be successful is to have
someone somewhere around the world come up to me and say, 'Explain to
me what you mean about this.' And after telling them they'll say,
'Interesting idea and I think this.' That is success to get people to
talk or understand what I do or the way they think about something.
Or even to think about something they have never thought about. That
is all it is about and all I want."
Slightly disillusioned he says, "I think ten people in the last
five years have come up to me and told me that." Proud of where the
band is at right now since their formation in 1991 he concludes, "If
I wanted to make money I would have sold my ass on the street. I
don't need the cash as much as I need the ideas."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
C A N P A R A D I S E E V E R B E F O U N D ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An interview with Paradise Lost's Nick Holmes
by: Adrian Bromley
As we head into the middle of 1996, it has almost been a year
since the European release date of Halifax, England quintet Paradise
Lost's well-received fifth release _Draconian Times_, and just over
six months since it was released Stateside. In Europe, they have been
hailed as heroes of the metal community, praised for their stunning
work of metal-meets-goth on _DT_ and have been included in almost
every metal publication's Top 10 lists. But while sales of _DT_ may
be heading to three times that of 1993's breakthrough record _Icon_
(which sold half a million), the band still has a long way to gaining
the same amount of respect, admiration, and exposure in North America.
To make things worse, the band's label over here, Relativity
Records, has dropped their entire rock/hard rock/metal roster
recently (though they are strongly supported by their publicists over
here, Mazur Public Relations). This may make things a bit harder now
right? "Relativity just sacked their Rock Department so we are
basically fucked right now," says a somewhat astonished and
disappointed lead vocalist Nick Holmes. "We are trying to sort things
out and trying to get over to North America. It is pretty frustrating
for us because we really wanted to get over there. Now we are gonna
look into getting on a major tour over there so we can play."
Holmes - along with the rest of the band, guitarists Gregor
Mackintosh and Aaron Aedy, drummer Lee Morris, and bassist Steve
Edmondson - never saw the incident coming. There was nothing they
could do to prepare for it. He accounts, "The people at the record
company just cleared their desks. I think one guy was on the phone
crying as he was packing up his things all worried about his wife and
children. It just happened overnight."
As facts would state, the U.S. is by far the least devoted and
worked on market for the band. The band saw some exposure with _Icon_
with a few solo showcases and an opening slot on Morbid Angel's tour
that year. In regards to North American reviews of the latest album
he says, "Most of them have been good to us but I am not sure how the
marketing system works over there. It is more radio oriented over
there isn't it? We haven't gotten any AOR over there with this
record. We have been doing a lot of radio interviews in the last
little while but I can't really say how we are doing." Holmes goes on
to say about sales, "In Europe we have sold three times what _Icon_
did. This album is 90% of all our sales that we have done with our
albums and hopefully the next album will do the same or better. We
are seeing our albums grow in popularity with each release and it was
_Icon_ that got us a good-sized following over in Europe. We
concentrate heavily on Europe because that is what you do right? You
focus on your strong market. We need to get over here and see what is
happening, at least hit the key cities and try to expand our North
American market."
He adds, "We just need to get over there to actually check out
the situation. I mean we are over here in Europe and concentrating so
heavily with the market that we are out of the picture when it comes
to how we are doing there. We just want to get a vibe by playing over
there. We are not prepared to come over there and do an eight-week
club date tour. The most important thing is getting people out to see
the shows and I don't care if it is a negative or positive response.
We were over there playing three years ago and reasonably unheard of
and we haven't heard much since then," he chuckles. "We did eight
weeks a few years back with Morbid Angel and that was tough for us,"
he says in reference about the hardships of touring. He reveals the
following anecdote; "Six weeks into that tour, it was becoming very
soul-destroying and much like banging your head against the wall. We
didn't particularly go down well though some of our gigs were pretty
good but most were mediocre. We didn't expect to do well seeing that
it was a new market for us. I think that point was very tough because
we all felt very low and we were arguing and getting on the bus at
night and holding our head in our hands and wondering what was going
wrong for us."
Though this all looks to be a long hard struggle for the band,
it has been the complete opposite. Aside from lack of U.S.
acceptance, the road to success for the band in their 'neck of the
woods' has been quite easy since their inception in 1988.
In the beginning the band signed to then-Peaceville Records and
released in 1990 their debut album _Lost Paradise_ and followed with
extensive touring. The band's popularity grew quickly and by the time
the band released their sophomore effort, _Gothic_, in 1991, the band
had established themselves as one of the main focuses of the
death/goth music scene. The band delivered solid riffs marked by
emotional lyrics and hardy vocals to match. The music of Paradise
Lost had taken shape and would carry over and grow with future
releases.
The band in 1992 signed to Music For Nations label and soon
followed with the well-received third effort _Shades Of God_,
probably the most well-rounded release to date. Onward, the band
moved with their quest for crafty songwriting and music of heavenly
metal proportions encompassed by the spiritual aspect of gothic tones
which led us to the phenomenal _Icon_ release. The band toured
heavily in Europe on their own and in support of Sepultura on their
Chaos A.D. Tour for quite some time before coming off the road to
take time off (there was a line-up change with former drummer Matt
Archer being replaced by Morris) and prepare for their fifth and most
awaited release, _Draconian Times_.
Preparation and careful thought went into the work of the latest
album assures Holmes, but never really any pre-conceived notion of
where the band was to go musically. "I think it was a case of just
writing more songs and if they change, it is not a conscious thing. I
don't think the music here is much different than _Icon_, rather an
extension of the music except better. I think the next album will be
a lot more different." In what way? "We will most likely be moving
away from the heavy sort of way of things and it will be more based
around creating more moods and atmospheric music. We want it more
darker as opposed to heavy." He confesses, "We are not really into
using chugging guitar riffs for the sake of it. We'll let Machine
Head or other heavy bands do that because we really have no need for
it any more. We'll probably get a bit more gothic."
While _DT_ doesn't really rank up above the work of _Icon_ in my
books, it is almost impossible to ignore the sheer power of
complexity and intricacy that went into the songwriting and lyrics of
this album. The music creates images and sparks emotion throughout
_DT_. "We play the music that we want to hear or listen to. We are
not in it to please anyone or appeal to a certain market," says
Holmes about the band's work style of making music. "We play music we
appreciate and hopefully right-minded people will like it and grow
with us. If you start to play music to appeal to other people then
you basically are selling out on yourself right? You gotta keep it up
and keep it fresh. We have been very lucky that we have had more
people pick up on what we have been doing than losing it.
"I think it is the songwriting style that keeps people
interested," he says, "Gregor [Mackintosh] has his own way of writing
music, very distinctive and I think it comes down to that feature
that makes _Draconian Times_ what it is." And seeing that he is the
key lyricist for the band's music, after almost eight years of
writing, how does Holmes keep it fresh? "There are lots of things in
everyday life that you can incorporate into a song or certain lyrics.
Musically, Gregor has loads of ideas and as we move into the 21st
Century with a keyboard and all these ideas plus a studio to use, it
makes it easier for us. The songwriting process gets more difficult
with every single album I think 'cause people get more precious about
the pieces they have written. I'd say it is quite hard to compromise
but you have to do it with everything you create."
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_______ __ _ _______ __
/ ___/ / ___ ____ / /_(_)___ / ___/ / ___ _/ /_
/ /__/ _ \/ _ `/ _ \/ __/ / __/ / /__/ _ \/ _ `/ __/
\___/_//_/\_,_/\___/\__/_/\__/ \___/_//_/\_,_/\__/
____ _
/ __/__ ___ ___ (_)__ ___ ___
_\ \/ -_|_-<(_-</ / _ \/ _ \(_-<
/___/\__/___/___/_/\___/_//_/___/
This is the column where CoC sits down to have a face to face, no
holds barred conversation with your favorite bands, and get the
inside scoop into what's happening in their lives.
O V E R T H E E D G E O F S A N I T Y
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC chats with Dread of Edge of Sanity
by: Gino Filicetti
It's been six issues since we've last heard from Edge of Sanity,
and all the things Dan Swano promised for the band's new album have
come true.
Edge of Sanity have now released their newest record entitled
_Crimson_ which is a 45-minute, one-track opus of epic proportions.
The band manages to capture all the elements that make Edge of Sanity
what they are in one song that never bores you, never loses you, and
never ceases to amaze you.
Chronicles of Chaos sat down with a new face this time around,
guitarist Andreas Axelsson a.k.a. Dread (the rest of the band
consists of Dan Swano, vocals and rhythm guitars, Anders Lindberg,
bass, Sami Nerberg, guitars, and Benny Larsson, drums).
Here is what Andreas had to say.
CoC: So what's up? What have you guys been up to lately?
Andreas Axelsson: Well, you know, drinking beer. <laughs> Our singer
just got married this Saturday so we had a big
party, and we made an album as you probably know.
CoC: Are you just going to take it easy and not do anything until
your next record?
AA: Well, we're going on tour on the 25th of May in Germany for nine
days only. That's what we're geared up to do in the near future.
I've also talked to a lot of people from the States today, and
they say they want us over there. All I can say is that I want to
go! <laughs> I have to talk to Dan and we'll see about that.
CoC: Have you ever been to America?
AA: Not with Edge of Sanity. I've been to America with my mother and
sister once. We went to New York and Philidelphia, it was really
cool and I would love to go over there and play.
CoC: How different do you think it is from where you come from?
AA: Oh! It's like night and day. The place where I live is a little
out in the country kind of town. Everybody knows each other,
everybody fucks each other. <laughs> But in the States it's just
so damn big, I mean, I'm just a small town boy and when walked
around over there, I was amazed.
CoC: I talked to Dan about six months ago, and he said you guys don't
really like to tour. Is that true?
AA: No. Well you know him, he's got his studio and all that. It's his
work so what can you do? It's booked until February of next year,
so he doesn't really have much time to tour.
CoC: What do you think of Dan being tied up in his studio all the
time? Wouldn't you like it better if he had more time to tour
and spend with the band?
AA: Well, we've had some bad experiences touring. The last time was
in Germany. All we had was a little car for all five of us, and
in some of the places we only had five people watching us. That
was the first real tour for Dan and ourselves, so he was a little
bit disappointed about the whole touring thing, but I'll go on
tour, just say the word. <laughs>
CoC: About the new record, was it totally Dan's idea to have the one
epic track or was it a group thing?
AA: It was Dan's idea, but the whole band supported it 100%, it was a
really cool idea. What I like best about it is the fact that it's
never been done before, at least not in death metal. The thing is
that EVERYTHING is in that song. We have the mellow parts, the
really heavy parts, the grind parts, it's all there, just like an
Edge of Sanity record should be. The fact that it's only one song
makes it a little more exciting or a little more strange. I think
it's strange that time flies so fast when you listen to it. You
think you've just listened to a ten-minute song, and forty
minutes have passed!
CoC: Does everyone in the band enjoy creating music on the spur of
the moment?
AA: Actually, this time it was a new experience for us. It was a new
way of working because the whole band really did this album.
Before it was mostly me and Dan that wrote all the lyrics and the
music, but this time the whole band created it. It was really
cool, a great way to work.
CoC: What do you think makes _Crimson_ special besides its length?
AA: It's got a lot of variation. I mean, you got your gothic parts,
and you have acoustic guitars, you have cello parts, you have
some symphonic parts. The whole feel of it was so different, we
didn't put any boundaries on where we could go, we just let it
flow, and put everything on it. We had normal vocals, death
vocals, bright vocals, and Mike [Akerfeldt] of Opeth doing the
black metal style. It's got it all, that's what I think.
CoC: Tell me about the lyrics to the song. What is the story about? I
found it confusing.
AA: It's like a futuristic tale. When Dan and I sat down and talked
about this world we were going to create, we made it far into the
future, as if the world had died a thousand times. The women can
no longer give birth and the whole human race is facing
extinction. Then a little girl comes and... read the lyrics man!
<laughs> I'm so bad at English, it's really hard to explain, but
it's all there.
CoC: Tell me about the extra musicians you brought in and why you
chose them?
AA: Well, Mike from Opeth is a close friend, and we wanted to use him
because he's got some really great vocals. He's got the really
high-pitched black metal screams and we wanted that for the grind
parts on the album to make it extra brutal. As far as the cello
goes, none of us can play the cello and we wanted a real cello,
not a synthesized one, so we had to bring in a cello player.
CoC: The album has been out for almost a month. What kind of response
have you gotten?
AA: We've gotten great responses so far. I've talked to the Black
Mark people in Germany and they we
re telling me how good the
reviews are in the German magazines. It's sold great in Sweden
and got excellent reviews in the big music magazines in Sweden.
We couldn't really be any happier. I heard we sold 2000 copies in
one month, in one store! We are on the top selling charts above
bands like Sepultura. It feels unreal when you are above a band
that's inspired you to play music.
CoC: What is Edge of Sanity going to do for their next albums? What
can possibly top this?!
AA: We'll be going back to basics. We've talked about it this week
and we will probably do more of a rock n' roll kind of album.
We'll still be death metal though. We aren't going a Paradise
Lost kind of thing like start singing normal or anything, but we
are going back to basics. Also, we'll be recording it in another
studio so that Dan doesn't have as much pressure on him. For
_Crimson_ he played guitar, he sang, he produced it, and he mixed
the album, but for the new album we'll be going into a new studio
so he can relax a bit. <laughs>
CoC: Do you have any other side projects?
AA: Yeah, of course! I play in eleven other bands. I live in a little
town and I'm unemployed and the only thing to do is go out on
weekends and get drunk and on the working days, just rehearse
with all the bands that you're in. I have a lot to do. <laughs>
None of these other bands are signed, but we have one punk band
called Lucky Seven, and we're signed to a little label in the
town where I'm from. We've already put out one album, and we'll
be putting out a mini CD soon. But it's nothing big, just an
underground punk band.
CoC: What do you think of Dan and all his other side projects?
AA: I think it's cool! I think it's good for Edge of Sanity. This way
it doesn't get too weird with Edge of Sanity. We are a heavy,
death metal band so maybe it's good that all our influences don't
go into Edge of Sanity. I think it would sound strange if my punk
influences went into Edge of Sanity or if Dan's pop influences
went in. So I think side projects are great.
CoC: How long do you think Edge of Sanity will last? Do you see an
end in sight?
AA: Not really. I think we can go on forever! <laughs> There's no one
that wants to quit the band, we've never talked about it. Edge of
Sanity is the kind of band that if one of us stops, the whole
band will stop.
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S E R P E N T S I N G E R S H E D S H I S S K I N
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chronicles of Chaos chats with Piotr Wawrzeniuk
by: Adrian Bromley
While Serpent's debut album, _In The Garden of the Serpent_,
might not be the most popular piece of metallic harshness to be flung
into the music scene of late, it is however one truly remarkable
assemblage of riffs and groove that'll shake any foundation to
rubble. The riffs are thick and Sabbath-esque, the vocals are heavy
and gritty and the production is simple. Pure, uncommercial music to
take hold of and crank.
The band was formed in 1993 by bassist Lars Rosenberg (then of
Entombed) and drummer Piotr Wawrzeniuk and guitarist Andreas Wahl,
both of Therion at the time. Over a period of time, members shifted
and finally settled on the line-up that included Wawrzeniuk (taking
over vocals), Rosenberg, drummer Per Karlsson, and guitarists Johan
Lundell and Ulf Samuelsson. They then recorded their debut album
_ITGotS_ in the spring of 1995 at In Deep Studio in Stockholm, Sweden
with engineer Anders Paulsson.
Speaking with lead singer Piotr Wawrzeniuk from Sweden, he goes
into detail about the difficulties of touring, success, and breaking
into the American market. Here is how it went:
CoC: How have things been going for you guys?
Piotr Wawrzeniuk: Not bad. We have just gotten back into the studio
and are rehearsing new songs because it has been
quite awhile since we wrote the material for the
debut album.
CoC: What kind of material or sound are you looking for with the new
stuff you are presently working on?
PW: I don't think the music will be much different. We were hungry to
make new music and we didn't look for a new style or approach
rather just have a hard, loud sound to get our kicks out of it.
It is fun writing these songs but it is still the same style...
maybe a bit slower though?
CoC: Have you guys decided if you will tour in the near future? Aside
from playing Europe, what are the chances of you playing the
United States?
PW: Ooh... to tour over in the Unites States, you have to sell plenty
of records in Europe, somewhere in the vicinity of 30,000 records
and we will never do that. Bands like us never sell that many
here in Europe.
CoC: What about getting a tour in Europe?
PW: I am not sure about that. It is hard to get a tour over here in
Europe if you play such uncommercial music. We are looking for a
tour though in the coming months. Of course we could play Europe
but the money we would make would not be enough to cover the car,
gas or hotels and we don't want to pay for this so I guess
nothing is going to happen right now.
CoC: Considering yourself somewhat uncommercial, how have you managed
to stay away from commercialism while other death metal or metal
acts have gone to that source for exposure?
PW: Well, I have played in many bands in the years and I wanted to do
something really heavy and slow. So did Lars and it just ended up
this way. Of course, I wouldn't mind being in a successful band
and selling lots of records but unfortunately this music is not
selling a lot but we still play it and enjoy making this type of
music.
CoC: Do you value your music more than your success?
PW: Yes. I have done so many compromises in the music industry with
my other bands and they didn't get far and I would rather stay
where I am and be happy doing it. At least we can feel
comfortable about our music and not care what people say.
CoC: How would you describe your band to people who may not know your
music?
PW: I would say that we are a hard rock band. More hard rock than
metal I'd say.
CoC: I'd say you are a bit along the lines of Kyuss with your
dirge-like gritty guitar with heavy bass sound backing the
music. I wouldn't say you are metal.
PW: We produced the record ourselves and we made it sound this way on
purpose as it went along with the music. We made it sound like
the last Saint Vitus record. I thought that record sounded great.
We just wanted to capture that style with this record and I think
we captured a feeling of hard rock and heaviness.
CoC: What do you think is the best attribute that comes out of the
album?
PW: That is hard to say. Some people like the vocals. I personally
don't think they are outstanding, and they are comparing them to
Wino of The Obsessed. The sound is very important because I can't
imagine the music we have written without this sound of heaviness
and creativity.
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This is where we rant, rave, and rip apart albums. Check this column
every month for the scoop on the latest in heavy hand-outs.
Scoring: 10 out of 10 -- If there was ever a perfect CD, this is it!
8 out of 10 -- A great piece of metallic mayhem
6 out of 10 -- Not too bad of an album
4 out of 10 -- You are treading in dangerous waters
2 out of 10 -- If you like this, you are fucked!
0 out of 10 -- My shit can put out better music than this!
Amorphis - _Elegy_ (Relapse Records, May 1996)
by: Gino Filicetti (9 out of 10)
After falling in love with Amorphis' last album, the ever mystical
and utterly breath-taking _Tales from the Thousand Lakes_, I was MORE
than anxiously anticipating this newest release. This album starts
off in fantastic Amorphis form, expanding on the sound the band has
become known for a million fold. The opening track, "Better Unborn"
shows that Amorphis has come quite a ways since we've last
encountered them. The music has become more complex in a multitude of
ways. It incorporates more of everything: guitars, keyboards, drums,
and the vocals have also improved, transcending the whispered growls
of before to become a truly majestic complement to the music which
surrounds it. Also on this track is the first showcase of Amorphis'
new 'clean' vocalist Pasi Koskinen. Although I can't say I approve of
this new element, I really can't slag it because the vocals are
superbly performed. All of the tracks on this album feature both
styles of singing, but to my disappointment the clean vocals are
predominant over the growls. My favorite track is "Song of the
Troubled One", which of course features only growling, and an
instrumentation that surpasses all other tracks in my opinion.
Another notable mention is the multi-faceted "Cares", incorporating
all of the elements that make Amorphis so diverse, from the rock
guitar parts, to the intricate keyboards, to the heavy grind of the
bass, to both the clean and growled vox, and even some techno-ish
parts thrown in (I heard the band might be making a video for this
one). The only thing I don't like about this album is what seems to
be a "new" Amorphis. It seems that the band is trying to portray a
new image as evidenced by the new logo which is less "metallic" than
before, and also by the look of the band (all the new members look
pretty alternative), but who am I to judge? I admit it does seem
stupid on my part to point this out, but that's what I'm here for, to
point everything out. Anyway, this album is definitely a milestone
for Amorphis.
A.C. (Anal Cunt) - _40 More Reasons to Hate Us_ (Earache, 1996)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault (3 out of 10)
I've heard this band mentioned various times in metal circles, but
have only now been graced with the supposed genius that is Anal Cunt.
Basically, this is the kind of album I'd put on as a joke at a party,
but I can't see myself ever listening to it seriously. In fact, this
isn't quite as metal sounding as I had expected, more hardcore punk
with the odd metallic riff resounding occasionally. With song titles
like "Everyone in the Underground Music Scene Is Stupid", "I Just Saw
the Gayest Guy on Earth", and "I Got Athlete's Foot Showering at
Mike's", _40 Reasons ..._ is certainly amusing, and even downright
hilarious if you listen to some of the lyrics (what of them you can
make out), but musically, this album is devoid of much structure,
which I suppose some find appealing. The high point of this release,
however, is their rendition of the "Three's Company" theme song, a
marked improvement over the original, I must say. If your idea of a
killer record is 42 bursty bits of noise in a 30-minute span, then
Anal Cunt's latest is for you. All others, beware!
Demonic - _Lead Us Into Darkness_ (Necropolis/Sepulture, 1995)
by: Gino Filicetti (7 out of 10)
This release is actually a re-release of Demonic's first demo
entitled _Nar Morket Faller_. After forming in 1994, this two-man
band went on to sign with Necropolis in 1995. Only four tracks are
included here, but the power of this recording is nonetheless
undeniable. The record was recorded at the "legendary" Greighallen in
Norway and produced by Pytten (Mayhem, Immortal, Emperor, Enslaved
etc). The first track, "Spell of the Witchdemon", starts this EP off
on a very powerful note. Guitars are well produced and intelligently
played, drumming is excellent and a good measure of synth work is
thrown in to even out the mix. The only weak link I found were the
vocals which I think should have been given more power in the final
mix. The next track, "His Eyes Burn Hate", is not much different than
the first track; the riffs are still killer and escape stagnation
through clever tempo changes. One blatant mistake on this track is
the abruptness with which it ends, practically mid-note! "Unholy Gate
of Limbo" continues Demonic's trend of powerful Black Metal and also
includes a cool organ section which becomes even cooler once the
guitars and drums are thrown in. Lastly is "Nar Morket Faller" which
is sung in Norwegian (obviously!). I found a strong similarity here
with later Burzum material, but one thing is for sure, The Count's
production pales in comparison to this. Try this one out and see for
yourself.
Fleshcrawl - _Bloodsoul_ (Black Mark, May 1996)
by: Gino Filicetti (7 out of 10)
This is Fleshcrawl's third release since their inception back in
1987. Although they have only been signed to Black Mark for a scant
four years, the band has managed to release _Descend into the
Absurd_, _Impurity_, and finally their latest and greatest
_Bloodsoul_. This new album shows that the band is unwilling to give
in to the temptation that a lot of death metal bands do; Fleshcrawl
is one band that is proud of its roots, and continues to play their
own style of European death metal the way they want to. The music on
this release is very powerful and full of energy. Guitars and bass
are both superb here even if the drumming is simplistic and sometimes
annoying. The vocals on _Bloodsoul_ are deep and guttural, but they
don't lose any of their power in the mix. _Bloodsoul_ was recorded in
Sweden's Abyss Studios by Hypocrisy's own Peter Tagtgren. I think a
lot of Fleshcrawl's power and tight sounding music should be
attributed to the top notch production with which this CD was made.
As the bio says, "_Bloodsoul_ is an album which no 'DIE HARD-Death
Metal freak' should miss!" I wouldn't go this far, but I would
definitely give it a good listen and decide for yourself.
Arckanum - _Fran Marder_ (Necropolis Records, May 1996)
by: Adrian Bromley (6 out of 10)
Draped in mysticism and darkness, the latest release by Swedish
primitive death metal outfit Arckanum is one of the most intriguing
releases I have heard in some time, due in part to the skillful
stylings of the album's music provided by sole musician Shamaatae.
Their debut album for Necropolis Records, _Fran Marder_ (From the
Forest), is an interesting look into the lifestyle of those that live
for, respect, and worship the way of the wilderness and for the god
Pan (God of the Forest). The music here is simple and primitive death
metal with screams and heavy clusters of guitar bursts but when
enhanced by the sounds of nature and sung in old Swedish dialect, it
makes for a rather dynamic combination that sheds light on
Shamaatae's creativity and his passion for his work. Hard to decipher
the names of several tracks (as they are written in ancient Swedish)
but worthy and enjoyable listens are "Hbila Pa Tronen Min", title
track, "Sbinna", and "Gaba Fran Trulen". After listening to _Fran
Mader_, my thousands of hours playing Dungeons & Dragons as a 7th
Level Druid character seems lifeless and uninspired, the complete
opposite of the realism and authenticity Shamaatae reveals to us
about his experiences "in the woods."
Various Artists - _A Gathering..._ (FaceFront, September 1995)
by: Brian Meloon (6 out of 10)
The complete title is _A Gathering... of 8 Norwegian Prog. Metal
Bands_. It's a two-CD compilation of Norwegian bands who the liner
notes claim "in some way can be related to progressive or technical
metal." Each band gets two songs, clocking in between 10 and 16
minutes, with a total running time of over 90 minutes. The first disc
is much better than the second, but the whole set is the same price
as a single CD, so what the heck... Spiral Architect start things off
with the two best songs on the disc, which are also on their 1995
demo (see review in CoC #9). Nothing more needs to be said about
them, other than that with Spastic Ink (see review this issue), they
are IMO the world's premiere prog metal bands (and they're both
unsigned). Manitou also appear on disc one, with "Entrance", the
title track from their 1995 debut album, and "Desert Storms", an
unreleased (and their last) track. They remind me of Fates Warning
(circa _Parallels_, but not nearly as commercial). Trivial Act and
Tritonus round out disc I, and both are Dream Theater clones. They
show some potential, displaying some good musicianship, and some neat
ideas occasionally, but mostly are too commercial, and their
songwriting is inconsistent and choppy. Disc II starts off with the
worst band on here, Winterland, who are generic, cheesy commercial
metal/hard rock. Heartless and Sagittarius follow with their similar
brands of commercial metal. Both are average, having at least a
couple decent sections, but really don't do anything interesting. The
singer for Sagittarius is weak, though. Finishing off Disc II are
Minas Tirith (see review this issue), who really aren't progressive
metal in the traditional sense. Their sound at least adds a little
diversity to this compilation though. All told, this is a worthy comp
for prog metal fans to have, especially if you don't mind
commercialized metal.
Check out http://gi29.gi.no/scream/Gathering/Gathering.html for
further info.
Glazed Baby - _Atomic Communists_ (Red Decibel, March 1996)
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10)
Can anything be any heavier I ask you? Well...? Storming out in a
blinding fury from the ever-rising pop culture of "Beantown" (Boston,
MA) comes four-piece Glazed Baby, a perfect collage of strength,
stamina, and sludge music. From the opening air-raid intro of "1"
with the newscaster warning us of an upcoming raid on North America,
the four-piece dive right into the fuckin' chaotic releases of "2/3",
the slow-paced heaviness of "Lucky 7" and "Dak's Jag". The noise
continues with "St. Valentines Massacre Day Blues" and "Message For
the People, By the People, Against People", revolving around a strong
and depthful focus on heavy guitars, sludgey riffs, and downright
radical vocal styles. The music here is very similar to that of The
Melvins or Kyuss and Toronto's Sons Of Otis but very much GB's own
style too with their perfect blend of noise, samples and loud... er,
I mean... LOUD music. Heavy as shit and hard to take in large doses,
_Atomic Communists_ (their debut for Red Decibel) is the album that
you wanna crank up but are too afraid to. You're worried it'll either
a) blow your speakers or b) loosen your ear drums, leaving you
partially deaf. Live a little and take a chance 'cause your hearing
eventually goes anyway.
Hypocrisy - _Carved Up_ (Relapse Records, December 1995)
by: Adam Wasylyk (4 out of 10)
This 7-inch contains two tracks, the first being the title track off
their latest album, _Abducted_, and "Beginning of the End", a
previously unreleased demo track. It's exactly what you would expect
from Hypocrisy, from its mid to slower-paced drumming to its heavy
riffing. Neither of the two tracks really stood out. It didn't excite
nor interest me in the slightest. The most interesting thing about
this release was its gory cover art, which isn't a good sign when the
art is better than the music itself. Another thing that bugged me was
the lack of lyrics, which really bothers me as I like to know what
the guy is singing about. There isn't too much else to say about
this, other than I recommend it SOLELY for true Hypocrisy fans.
Impaled Nazarene - _Latex Cult_ (Osmose Productions, April 1996)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (9 out of 10)
Christ on a crutch!! When it comes to unrelenting energy and fiery
aggression, this 14-song, 30-minute monster pretty much shreds
everything I have ever heard. Seriously. Over the course of four
full-length releases and a couple of EPs, Impaled Nazarene have
progressively stripped their trademark "cyber nuclear black death"
style of the rust and grime it was coated in on their '93 debut _Tol
Cormpt Norz Norz Norz_. The result: _Latex Cult_, a teflon-coated
sonic bullet gunning straight for your adrenal glands. This is total,
no-frills fury-mongering, delivered with amazing conviction and
skill. The songs are all ultra-simplistic, each consisting of a few
basic, punishing rhythms and surprisingly crusty bass lines
propelling a tidal wave of scorching guitar. The riffs are pretty
basic, too, but many are also catchy as hell. Some pummel you like a
kick to the chest ("Goat War", "Violence I Crave"); some cleave the
air like razors (the amazing "Punishment is Absolute"). The overall
energy level is never less than totally maniacal, and the whole
package is pushed way over the top by Mika Luttinen's raspy,
lacerating snarl. And check out the battle screams that launch "Zum
Kotzen" and "Karmakeddon Warriors"!! Ha ha!! The blazing speed of the
best black metal, the snarling delivery of the craziest hardcore, and
the pounding rage of the coolest death metal are all present, in
their purest form, in every song of this astounding release. _Latex
Cult_ sets a whole new standard for getting down to the business of
just plain tearing it up.
Minas Tirith - _The Art of Becoming_
by: Brian Meloon (5 out of 10) (Art Music/Voices Of Wonder, 1996)
I'm not really sure how to classify these guys, as their sound varies
from watered-down death metal, to progish metal (sans commercialism),
to thrash. A lot of acoustic sections break up the songs, keeping
things interesting, but also breaking up some of the continuity. The
production is okay, being clear enough, but ending up giving a "dull"
sound to the songs, especially the guitar tone. Unfortunately, they
don't really live up to the "technical metal" tag that they give
themselves, as while the riffs are moderately interesting, they
aren't in any sense "technical." The playing is competent, but not
really as flashy as I would expect of a "technical" band. The riffs
also tend to be a little generic. The drumming is impressive though,
and fairly dense. The vocals really set this apart, as they are very
distinct, varying from gruff (not guttural) death vocals to clean
vocals with an almost country-like twang. The vocalist also has an
annoying habit of adding high grace notes to his vocal lines
(somewhat similar to what King Diamond occasionally does, but not
quite...), which at times is comical, and at others is irritating. In
any case, though, this is a diverse affair, with a lot of styles
touched on. I'll give them credit for being unique, if not completely
satisfying.
Vinnie Moore - _Out of Nowhere_ (Mayhem Records, 1996)
by: Brian Meloon (3 out of 10)
This disc is labelled (c)1996 Mayhem Records, (p)1994 Sony Music,
making me guess that it was recorded in 1994, and Sony planned to
release it, but thought better of it after realizing what a piece of
crap it is. I had a really bad feeling about it after _Meltdown_
(Vinnie's 1991 disc on Relativity) and after reading the song titles
(e.g. "Move That Thang!" and "VinMan's Brew"). After listening to
half of it, I really dreaded listening to the rest of it. The halfway
decent song (yes, only one) sounds like something that wasn't quite
good enough for _Meltdown_, and the rest of it is generic
instrumental bluesy hard rock. Quite frankly, I don't see the point
of this record. There's nothing on here that is in any way original.
All of the riffs you've probably heard many times before. Even the
playing is subdued. We all know that Vinnie is a fast player, but
here he only cuts loose a few times, and those are usually with tired
blues licks. It's painful to hear Vinnie try to play with "feeling,"
when "feeling" has never been his forte. His strength lies in playing
fast, precise guitar lines and sweep-picked arpeggios, which are
antithetical to the blues philosophy of "less notes = better." This
disc is entirely forgettable, and I'm sure it will put Vinnie right
back where he was before it was released... nowhere.
Impaled Nazarene - _Motorpenis_ (Osmose Productions, April 1996)
by: Gino Filicetti (8 out of 10)
This EP is a supplement to Impaled Nazarene's newest album, _Latex
Cult_. Included herein are five tracks, totaling about nine minutes
of sheer mayhem that has come to signify Impaled Nazarene's work. The
first song is an album cut, "Motorpenis". It starts off in a very
Motorhead-like way (for obvious reasons) with the bass intro, and is
quite whimsical as a Motorhead satire song. The next track is an
unreleased original number entitled, "Whore." Although not in the
usual IN style, this song sounds like a lot of their new material
which I think has come a long way from the days of _Tol Cormpt Norz
Norz Norz_. I still don't know if I'm convinced that IN have
improved, no matter how much better their production is. The next
three songs are cover tracks, "S/M Party" by Faff-Bey, "Transvestite"
by Terveet Kadet, and "Alkohol" by Gang-Green. All three songs are
superbly performed but my absolute favorite is "S/M Party" which
starts with a drum roll that gives in to a wicked bass solo, and
finally the guitars come blaring in and cut out just when you thought
you couldn't take it any more. A wild nine minutes of music. If you
love Impaled Nazarene, depending on the price, it's definitely worth
it.
Necromantia - _Scarlet Evil, Witching Black_
by: Steve Hoeltzel (8 out of 10) (Osmose Prod., December 1995)
Although it's cursed with a cover that exudes the aroma of some
pretty stale death metal cheese, Necromantia's second full-length
effort is actually an imaginative and haunting foray into much
blacker and more esoteric musical territory. In fact, this band's
unique sound, which their bio describes as "occult soundtrack music,"
is a lot richer and more inventive than are the vast majority of
established black metal acts. Every song contains numerous fluid
shifts of tempo and mood, covering the range from blasting and
chaotic to slow and sorrowful. Synthesizers are used heavily
throughout, but always tastefully and to eerie effect. What really
sets this CD apart, though, is Necromantia's willingness to
experiment with instruments that most black metal outfits would never
go anywhere near. The brilliant "Arcane Light of Hecate", for
example, makes entrancing use of twin saxophones woven into a
flickering soundscape painted with synth and tympanic percussion. And
in place of rhythm guitar, Baron Blood saws away at a heavily
distorted 8-string bass, which gives the music a thick, crusty vibe
totally unlike the typical black metal sound. Magus Wampyr Daoloth's
vocals have the standard scratchiness, but carry a distinctively
sinister tone all the same. Most black metal bands have used up all
their tricks by the end of their opening track. Not Necromantia. This
album is packed with unique and interesting musical passages, and
it's highly recommended to anyone who likes their metal not just dark
but daring as well.
Necrophobic - _Spawned By Evil_ (Black Mark, May 1996)
by: Gino Filicetti (8 out of 10)
This EP is a prelude to Necrophobic's upcoming new release entitled
_Darkside_. This disc includes one original track alongside three
classic covers. The original song, "Spawned By Evil", shows that
Necrophobic haven't changed much since their last album _Nocturnal
Silence_. The band is still pumping out the blackish death metal with
an amazing double guitar blast to their music. The vocals, however,
leave much to be desired; they are nothing more than weak screeches
that just don't move me. The next track is a cover of Slayer's "Die
By The Sword". With this song, the band completely redeems their own
shortcomings. The vocals for this track are not as high-pitched and
are definitely stronger. The music here is a supreme adaptation of
the original Slayer track and by far my favorite song on this EP.
Next is Venom's "Nightmare" which the band has no problems covering,
but the rawness which epitomizes Venom is lost. The vocals have
disappointingly resorted back to their former state of weakness,
which could never compare to those of Cronos. Lastly we have
Bathory's "Enter The Eternal Fire", a fine song which Necrophobic
succeeds in covering well. The bell chimes present in this song give
it a gothic feel and provides the Bathory mysticism which every
Bathory cover track wishes they could capture. A fine piece to own if
collecting new versions of your favorite songs is your cup o' tea.
Pitch Shifter - _Infotainment?_ (Earache Records, May 1996)
by: Adrian Bromley (10 out of 10)
Speaking with vocalist J.S. Clayden (see feature story this issue),
it isn't too hard to understand the mentality and motivation that
went into the recording of their latest brilliant release,
_Infotainment?_, the follow-up to the successful 1993 opus
_Desencitized_. This Nottingham, England four-piece are back once
again with a heavy dosage of reality, this time shaped into the works
of multiple samples, distortion, loud guitars, and multi-faceted song
styles of industrial, hip-hop, techno, and jungle beats. Unchartered
territory for PS in some aspects it may be, but territory
well-observed and molded into PS material. Look no further than
"Underachiever", "(We're Behaving Like) Insects", and the harshness
of "Virus" to get the blood boiling. Applause must go out to
guitarist/programmer John Carter for his superb work in keeping the
flow of the record strong and memorable with over a hundred samples
whisked in and out of numerous tracks on the record like "Hangar 84"
and "Bloodsweatsaliva". Angry, yet informative, the truthful accounts
and visions of PS's lyrics and music on _Infotainment?_ lie deep in
the heart of scattered riffs and the screams of their frontman, just
there for us to discover. And along the way, we get mind-fucked
pretty bad, yet we can't stay away. _Infotainment?_ is the TV guide
of our past, future, and present, and it showcases just how
civilization has deteriorated over the past few decades. The music
and emotions sparked throughout this "guide" pretty much makes the
bloodshed on TV look like Romper Room.
Sarcophagus - _For We... Who Are Consumed By Darkness..._
by: Adam Wasylyk (7 out of 10) (Pulveriser Records, 1996)
Sarcophagus are a four-piece from Chicago who play their God hating
style of black metal with death metal influences. Containing 9 tracks
and clocking in at a very short 31 minutes (especially for a black
metal album!), the quality of the music is top-notch with excellent
production (again, especially for a black metal album!). Songs worthy
of mention are "Godless" (with both death and black vocals), "One
Black Autumn" (which contains great use of keyboards), and Agony's
Tale. The only criticism I can think of is its length, as what you
compromise in having a short record is a lack of substance in the
songs and the "as soon as you're getting into it... it's already
over" feeling. Even with this in mind the music itself is worth the
money paid for it. Black metal fans should check this out.
Satanic Slaughter - _Satanic Slaughter_
by: Gino Filicetti (6 out of 10) (Necropolis/Sepulture, March 1996)
This album starts off on a very bad foot. In the beginning, all that
is heard on this not only bio-less, but SLEEVE-less CD is some shitty
tin can drums, annoying, screeching vox and the all too typical black
metal guitar riffage played way too fast. Usually, when CDs give me a
bad impression on the first song, it's next to impossible to shake
that impression. However for once, I actually grew to like this album
with only one listen. Drumming improves greatly as the album
progresses and the guitar seems to learn more variety as well. To my
amazement, there are an abundance of leads on this release, as well
as a shocking OFF BEAT drum "riff" in "Forever I Burn". It was just
one shock after another with this album but one major glitch I did
not approve of was the lead off riff of "Into The Catacombs", which
seemed to be a direct lift from Slayer's less than classic "Hardening
Of The Arteries". Some of my favorite tracks include, "Breath of the
Serpent That Rules the Cold World" (nice title, eh?). This song
starts off with a really catchy, mid-tempo riff, cool drumming, and
even includes synth sections. "I'll Await My Lord" is also one for
the "best of" books. It combines weird vocal effects with, believe it
or not, NON black metal riffage. Another notable mention is "Divine
Exorcism", which is a haunting ambient number, another surprise that
Satanic Slaughter aren't afraid of throwing at their listeners. I was
ready to give this one a 2 out of 10, but I can't deny that it
actually kept me awake and away from the "next track" button, and
that on its own, is a feat in itself.
Satyricon - _The Forest Is My Throne_ (7 out of 10)
Enslaved - _Yggdrasill_ (5 out of 10)
(Split CD, Moonfog Productions, March 1996)
by: Steve Hoeltzel
If you've never heard these bands before, this split CD is not really
the place to start. With one noteworthy exception, it consists
entirely of old demo material which I think both groups have really
bettered on subsequent releases. The Satyricon demo - their second,
recorded in '93 - begins with the standard creepy intro and rips
mercilessly into some blazing, high-speed black metal in the
trademark early Bathory style. But as they've gone on to do ever more
skillfully on their two full-length CDs, Satyricon enrich that basic
framework with weirder, catchier riffing and some very crisp,
lightning-paced percussion. Of course, the production is extremely
raw, but that tends to fit this sort of material rather nicely,
giving it that weird, grim, faraway vibe. Pretty cool stuff, in my
opinion, but not as good as their debut, _Dark Medieval Times_, or
their excellent follow-up, _The Shadowthrone_. A newly-recorded bonus
track is also included here, and it's easily the highlight of this
whole CD. "Night of the Triumphator" is Satyricon's tribute to the
80's sound, and it's a good, bloody sacrifice at the altar of
Bathory, Sodom, and Celtic Frost. (You know, there have been an awful
lot of those lately.)
The '92 Enslaved demo, on the other hand, is not so enjoyable: this
very raw and simplistic black metal totally pales in comparison to
the band's newer and more inventive material. The two best tracks,
"Heimdallr" and "Allfgor Ooinn", have both since been re-recorded,
and with much better sounding results. I do like "Enslaved", which
features a pretty wicked main riff and some killer screaming vox. But
like most of this band's earlier output, the songs here tend to
suffer from a surplus of length combined with a dearth of ideas. And,
of course, the production is horrible.
Black Funeral - _Vampyr - Throne of the Beast_
by: Steve Hoeltzel (7 out of 10) (Full Moon Prod., February 1996)
If you're a total old-school black metal purist, you might tack
another point or two onto the score for this one. If, on the other
hand, truly creepy, blackened scorch is really not your thing, you
should definitely subtract four or five. Much like Bathory circa '85
and current groups like Gorgoroth and Ungod, Black Funeral feel no
need to dress up their pure black sound in more colorful sonic
fashions. There are no "epic" synthesizers washing out the
electrified strings; there are no moody medieval acoustic bits; there
are no female friends of the band reciting poetry in the middle of
songs. Nope, these guys can create a really icy and other-worldly
atmosphere with bass, guitar, drums, and vox alone. Black Funeral
churn out highly evocative music, stark in its simplicity, yet so
unrelentingly dark and distorted that each song gives off an
authentically grim vibe. The key is some pretty crafty songwriting,
especially evident on "Spectral Agony of Pain and Loneliness", the
title track, and "Of Dark and Crimson Spheres". Every song features
cool changes in tempo, weirdly haunting riffs, and chilling vocals.
And unlike far too many black metal bands, these guys know how not to
wear out their welcome: this debut CD is only 28 minutes long.
Definitely some of the creepiest sounding metal I have heard in quite
some time, this is highly recommended for those with a taste for the
ghastly. Another very cool release from Full Moon.
Vondur - _Stridsyfirlysing_ (Necropolis/Sepulture Prod., 1995)
by: Gino Filicetti (7 out of 10)
This album probably wouldn't have scored as high as it did if it
hadn't been in my CD player for as long as it has. Vondur is a
two-man side project comprised of Ophthalamia's IT (guitars/bass/vox)
and ALL (vox). Most of the music contained on this CD is very fast
and very aggressive, WAR METAL, as the band is fond of describing
themselves. Actually, the album's title means "Declaration of War" in
Icelandic, the language that this entire album's lyrics are written
in (even though Vondur are Swedish). The start of the album is
signalled by a trumpet blast and the beating of drums over which is
spoken an Icelandic speech. Next comes a quick transition to Vondur's
fast and furious music. Guitars are not played with the utmost skill
here, especially when they are played fast enough to become pure
distortion. Drumming is taken care of by the trusty drum machine,
thereby eliminating any power the drums could've possessed. But, I
still liked this album. There are many surprises here, some of which
are the sad, depressive piano number played by Alexandra (IT's main
squeeze I suppose), or the two-minute song composed of the sound of a
fire raging or the final track, "Hofoing, Satan", which is a
symphonic track of ultimate beauty.
Wicked Innocence - _Omnipotence_ (Napalm America, November 1995)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (7 out of 10)
This Salt Lake City, Utah quintet play an extreme metallic style that
showcases big time technical prowess. More importantly, though, they
manage to be extremely creative and throw lots of interesting
ingredients into the musical mix without diluting the heaviness of
the result. Add the occasional dash of 200-proof aggression, and
voila!! Wicked Innocence!! Imagine what Cannibal Corpse might sound
like if their song structures, riffs, and tempos were about a
thousand times stranger, and you've got some idea of the jagged,
alien style displayed on _Omnipotence_. Every song on this CD
contains about a gazillion changes, often from one far out passage
into something even weirder and heavier. It won't all go down real
easy the first time, but if you're like me, you'll be craving more
and more once you get used to that wacky taste. "Lines" and "The
Greys", in particular, both give you lots to chew on: spastic rhythms
and cool, mind-bending riffs stirred in together all crazy-like. The
guitars could be a bit crunchier, but the overall sound is still good
and clear. The songs don't all hang together equally well, and I
could do with a little less belching from the vocalist, who otherwise
utilizes a variety of brutal styles, and even some real clean tones
as well. Overall, I really like their unique brand of super-technical
extremity, and I'd recommend this impressive debut to anybody who
wants to hear just how far out brutal music can get.
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Your best source of information on the newest of the new, and the
lowest of the underground, New Noise is the place to read about all
the coolest shit you never thought existed! And if you have a band,
don't forget to send us your demo with a bio if you want to be
reviewed; our address is included in the zine's header.
Scoring: ***** -- I see a record deal in the future
**** -- Great piece of work
*** -- Good effort
** -- A major overhaul is in order
* -- A career change is advisable
Spastic Ink - _Ink Complete_ (5-track demo)
by: Brian Meloon (*****)
Why are the best prog metal bands unsigned? Probably because labels
don't have the balls to sign the real innovators, instead opting for
half-assed Dream Theater or Queensryche clones. Spastic Ink is the
current project of WatchTower guitarist Ron Jarzombek, his brother
Bobby, and Pete Perez (both ex-Riot). Their name (which means "crazy,
written out music") accurately describes their style. This is some of
the most technical music out there, at least as technical as
Meshuggah, and a lot more melodically interesting. It is probably
best described as what an instrumental version of WatchTower's
_Control and Resistance_ would sound like... without the (annoying)
vocals, and with the quirky jazziness allowed to dominate the music.
However, unlike a lot of instrumental releases (e.g. Vinnie Moore's
new disc, see review this issue), there is a good amount of
diversity, and the songs all have their own unique feeling to them.
The playing on all counts is amazing, with dense drumming, lots of
polymetrics and polyrhythms, very fast bass work, and of course fast,
jazzy guitar work. Instead of lyrics, a brief description (with
illustrations) is given for the inspiration (or reason for the title)
for each song. There are five tracks on my advance cassette, one of
which appeared on their (unreleased) 1993 demo as well (_That 178
Thing_). Unfortunately, these tracks aren't quite as good as the 1993
demo, but it's still one of the best things I've ever heard. The band
has recorded 11 tracks for the _Ink Complete_ project, and are hoping
to get it released on CD sometime in the future.
Contact: Ayres Rock Management, 6655 Wilkinson Ave. #103
North Hollywood, CA, 91606, USA
Anhkrehg - _Sacrificial Goat_ (9-track demo)
by: Adam Wasylyk (***--)
In reading the credits of the tape insert, "A Word from the Sound
Engineer: I personally apologize for the lack of professionalism in
this recording. Also, we should keep in mind that it is the musical
content that matters the most, not the sound quality.", the first
thing that came into my head was "Oh no." I was glad to see when
listening to the 9-track tape that these words were too harsh.
Although the production isn't great, it wasn't as bad as I was
expecting. It's clear enough for all instruments to be heard well.
Playing what could be described as slow-paced black metal with speed
parts, and vocals of a husky, wailing type (which admittedly took a
little getting used to), and a good amount of variety (musical intros
for both sides of the tape, and even a song recorded backwards, the
title track "taoG laicifircaS"), this is a good release, and along
with Burning Moon (see previous review), production is the only thing
holding them back.
Contact: E.S.T Management, c/o Michel Monette, 755 Muir, Suite 205
St-Laurent, Quebec, H4L SG9, Canada
Summertime Daisies - _Gathering of Vermin_ (2-track demo)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault (****-)
Don't be fooled by their name. This demo is hardly akin to a stroll
in a field of wild flowers. This is brutal death, excellently
delivered and well written. This is conceived with the mosh pit fans
in mind, featuring plenty of nasty bits with which to skank about the
floor, while also providing blast beats to cut loose and go
ballistic. The production is average, and the instruments can all be
heard, but I find the guitars a bit too thin for my taste.
Suffocation fans take heed, as the Daisies take that genre and
massage is just enough, adding a good dose of memorable riffs, to set
them apart from the sea of clones. These guys really need to be seen
live, as I've had the pleasure of doing twice, most recently on their
opening slot for Deicide on March 25th. The demo is a worthwhile
purchase, albeit short, and I quite look forward to more recorded
material, particularly since this tape was produced over a year ago.
Needless to say, I'll be reviewing any further material of theirs
right here, so keep your eyes peeled in future issues. A band to be
reckoned with indeed.
Contact: SUMMERTIME DAISIES, 417 Richmond Street North
London, Ontario, N6A 3E8, Canada
voice: (519) 433-5032
Burning Moon - _Eternal Darkness_ (7-track demo)
by: Adam Wasylyk (***--)
Formed from the breakup of a Toronto death metal band called Flesh
Emperor, most of the band afterward got together and formed Burning
Moon, a four-piece black metal band. On this demo, the music is very
well played, but the production is unfortunately quite weak. At
times, the vocals can become overpowered by the keyboards, and the
guitars suffer the same fate as they did on Emperor's epic release
_In the Nightside Eclipse_, becoming muddy and at times hard to hear.
Despite these flaws, I give credit to the band, as in this 7-song
effort, the music and talent is definitely there, especially with the
keyboards as they are well played. With better production (which in
this case would have earned them perhaps a five out of five), in the
future the band can expect to reap the rewards.
Contact: BURNING MOON, c/o Aden Solowinski, 884 Queen St E, Apt. #1
Toronto, Ontario, M4M 1J3, Canada
Diablo Brothers - _Twizted Harmony_ (4-track demo)
by: Gino Filicetti (***--)
The partnership that is at the core of Diablo Brothers was founded in
1987 when Rane and Marko met and started playing guitars. After
forming other bands, they realized that they couldn't work with
anyone but themselves. So, armed with a drum machine and some really
low-tuned guitars, these dudes set out to create Diablo Brothers. The
music on this demo is reminiscent of a lot of hardcore with some very
solid metal influences thrown in. One example of that is the Fear
Factory-type double-bass drum sound which comes across weak for the
simple fact that a drum machine is producing the sound. The guitar
work is VERY solid, and includes a lot of leads (thanks to Marko) and
crushing rhythm sections (thanks to Rane). With a group made up of
two guitar players, it's no wonder that this is the best aspect of
the band, however, I believe that the absence of the two missing
musicians can be noticeably felt. Vocals are another section that I
think can be improved on. The problem here doesn't seem to be that
these guys can't sing, it just seems that vocals have not been
produced very clearly. The rest of the production however is quite
clean except for a few glitches here and there, but the packaging for
this demo needs some MAJOR improvements. There was no track listing
anywhere to be found and it didn't come in a case (Well, it could be
the band just sent me a dubbed copy). All in all, Diablo Brothers
show promise as a new band and should really start looking to fill
their vacant spots.
Contact: DIABLO BROTHERS, Sammonkatu 7 A 12
00100 Helsinki, FINLAND
e-mail: menyra@tit.fi or k23539@kyyppari.hkkk.fi
Parricide - _A Future Of Suffering_ (4-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley (***--)
Rhode Island's Parricide, a one-man project led by guitarist/vocalist
Bob Cardente, is quite the heavy dose of sickness, anger, and
brutality all packed into one on this EP. With only four songs, the
message shoved down our throats happens at such a speed (from the get
go of first track "Living In Fear") that we have little time to
recover before we are force-fed the anger and intensity once again
("A Future of Suffering" and "Inhuman Condition"). While Cardente is
in the process of using/searching for musicians to fill the open
slots in the band, Cardente skillfully and successfully assembled
this impressive onslaught of death/thrash metal all on his own,
manning the vocals, guitar, bass, and drum machine, though he was
helped with guitar duties by Ritual Sacrifice guitar shredder Bill
Pincins. Influences and sounds similar to Metallica, Slayer, Death,
Cannibal Corpse, and many others are present and that makes this
music seem to flow with some ambience and creativity instead of
displaying monotonous growls, screams, and standard riffs within the
charges of rage and speed. A strong effort that with some slicker
production and a solid and experienced line-up should be able to
punch out walls and go for the jugular vein (something this band
wouldn't think twice about) next time.
Contact: PARRICIDE, PO Box 17106
Esmond, R.I., 02917, USA
Glutton - _Cruel, Disfigured_ (6-track demo)
by: Gino Filicetti (****-)
A strange band to say the least, Glutton's newest 6-track release
showcases the fact that Glutton is unclassifiable. I received this
demo with a cover letter warning that if I expected anything typical
of this band to just burn the cassettes and carry on with my life.
Glutton is "STRANGE METAL" according to their bio; "the product of
four young men who met at a funeral and formed a band by the time the
body was buried." Deep eh? So is the music contained on this demo.
Very heavy and low-end guitar riffs dominate herein with a tempo that
is slow at best. Vocals here are superb, a very distinctive type of
spoken word distortion that manages to dig its way into one's memory.
Thankfully, lyrics were included with this demo and many of the
songs, although simplistic, manage to deliver their message; one of
ultimate sorrow, depression, and surprisingly enough, love. Not your
run-of-the-mill band here folks, I would definitely check these guys
out.
Contact: GLUTTON, PO Box 56691, Harwood Heights, IL, 60656-0691
voice: (312) 283-6913, e-mail: miketv@mcs.net
Porno - _Give Me a Pistol_ (7-track demo)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault (**---)
This is one of strangest demos I've heard in some time. The graphics
and layout of the tape's packaging gives it a hardcore punk look.
Even the lyrics, which touch on government oppression and the crooked
corporate world, have a mildly hardcore flavour. The music, at first,
doesn't come close, though. The first two tracks are grinding death,
unrelentless, although not entirely original nor memorable. The third
song takes a turn for the weird. "The Machine" sounds like
Nirvana-wannabe so-called alternative music. Side B features more
strangeness, starting off with "Soiled", an alternative rock song if
I ever heard one, but with growling death vocals which are faint
enough not to drown out the rest of the mix, while clean vocals are
featured in the background. Porno go on to deliver more
alternative/punk jams on "Incomplete", then making a switch back to
the mediocre death/grind in "My Reward". The cassette ends with
"Sheople", another grinding number with a few twists and turns that
don't seem to lead anywhere quickly. Not a bad listen, and
experimental to say the least, but not quite my cup of tea. Check it
out if you're in the need for something different.
Contact: The Multi-National New World Disorder Core
7-333 Wharncliffe Rd. S., London, Ont., N6J Z19, Canada
Voice: (519) 439-5512, (519) 652-9342
Eterne De Sade - _Beyond The Mind's Eye_ (3-track demo)
by: Sally Sanchez (***--)
Eterne De Sade is a death metal band from Central Florida. They have
been together since 1992. Their demo _Beyond The Mind's Eye_ is their
first release. The demo contains three songs, the first of which,
"Beyond the Mind's Eye", starts off strong, and remains that way
throughout the rest of the song, with both deep and high growling.
This brings back memories of classic death metal but with a twist.
Eterne De Sade have two vocal styles, a deep growling one and a
higher, grinding growl. The two other songs are both of this same
style. The sound quality is pretty good and the packaging of this
demo is good as well. It comes with a color cover and lyrics.
Speaking of lyrics, these ones deal with matters of the mind,
diseases, false prophecies, and people such as Dr. "Death" Jack
Kevorkian. Aside from their first demo, Eterne De Sade have also
release a video documentary filmed in Central Florida called _Six
Feet Under_ which was limited to 666 copies and has sold out. They
also have T-shirts available. The band will be hitting the studio
this summer for a possible mini CD or 7". If you are interested, you
should REALLY check these guys out! They are a good band with lots of
energy, and I think we need more bands like this out in the scene!
_Beyond The Mind's Eye_ is available for $5US worldwide.
Contact: ETERNE DE SADE, c/o M. Alsup, PO Box 88
Anthony, Florida, 32617, USA
Hidden Pride - _The Encounter of the First Kind_ (6-track demo)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault (***--)
Hailing from the Montreal area, a haven of extreme metal since the
formation of Voivod back in the 1980s, Hidden Pride showcase their
talents on this well-produced cassette with the help of Obliveon
guitarist Pierre Remillard twiddling the knobs. This is grinding
death which, while not overly original, is expertly delivered. A lot
of power, and plenty of chugging riffs set this release apart from
others in the genre. The drumming is nothing spectacular, but the
guitar sound is crunchy and thick, filling out the sound quite well.
While _The Encounter ..._ displays the members' talents, it also
leaves me to wonder what more they can do to expand on the sound
they're slowly developing. Without an added twist, they'll simply be
considered another death/grind band, but I've a feeling that this
bunch have it in them to create more unique ditties befitting their
prowess. Hopefully, they'll find the creative energy to do so.
Contact: E.S.T. Management c/o Michel Monette
P.O. Box 5088, St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada H4L 4Z7
For a copy, send $7US, money order or well-concealed cash.
Serious distributors, ask for wholesale prices.
Sick Society - _Sick Society_ (8-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley (**---)
Straight from the text books and schooling of every thrash/speed
metal band that has been successful comes the work of San Luis
Obispo's (California) aggressive quartet, Sick Society, a band pretty
much trying hard to come across as original but in the long run
sounding like regurgitated Sacred Reich, Anthrax, Pantera, and
Metallica rolled into one. The problem? Well for starters this 8-song
demo is poorly recorded (maybe even rushed?) and most of the material
seems bland - no real edge to it. I'm not saying that Sick Society
play boring commercial sell-out shit like Metallica or
uninspired/monotonous music like Sacred Reich, but it just seems that
a little too much time was put into the material of their self-titled
debut demo. Most bands need to release some substance from their
material and other than "Spinning Circle" or "Buried In My Own
World", nothing truly leaps out of this demo tape. Emotions run high
on this record and there are a lot of issues being thrown around in
the songs but without music backing it, it is sounds like a soap box
rally with very few passersby having an interest in what is going on.
Bottom line: go for a stronger guitar sound adding screams/growls and
lose the melodic vocals.
Contact: SICK SOCIETY, 2413 Broad St.
San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401, USA
e-mail: mperotti@tuba.aix.calpoly.edu
State Of Grace - _Some_ (14-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley (***--)
After a few listens of this record from Oakville, Ontario four-piece
State Of Grace, I wasn't seeing much. But after I got past my "Oh
this sounds like NIN's _Pretty Hate Machine_" phase, I discovered
there was something to the mish-mash of industrial force, metallic
riffs, and samples. Lose the macabre of Marilyn Manson (keep the
music style though) and throw in every imaginable twist and turn of
Nine Inch Nails and Frontline Assembly (both industrial and dance
mode) or rip off and steal all the stylings and arrangements of
Stabbing Westward's _Ungod_ LP, and you pretty much have the music of
SoG. Though somewhat pigeonholed with this specific sound and style,
the creativity in such songs as "Broken Down", "Can It Only Be This
Way", and "Beaten" allows the band to at least provide us with some
originality. Fans of those bands mentioned above check this band out
because they have a little bit of everything you may want. Looking
forward to seeing any further progress this band makes.
Contact: STATE OF GRACE, 1011 Upper Middle Rd E. #1301
Oakville, Ont., L6H-5Z9, Canada
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Here is where Chronicles of Chaos gives you the lowdown on the latest
shows coming your way. Check out Chaotic Concerts every month for the
scoop on the bands brutalizing the masses with their own form of
terror.
U N S I G N E D M E T A L L E R S C O M E T O G E T H E R
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Toronto Death Fest at the Opera House, March 31, 1996
by: Adam Wasylyk and Alain M. Gaudrault
Adam sez:
I arrived early at this year's venue, the Opera House, which has
been home to many big death metal concerts in the past, such as the
"Campaign for Musical Destruction" tour with Napalm Death, Brutal
Truth, and Cathedral. But for the past year or two, the scene in
Toronto has practically disappeared, except for some hard-working
independent acts which made up the roster for this year's Toronto
Death Fest. When it finally started (about 45 minutes late) the band
Porno took the stage. From London, the band played surprisingly well
for an opener. They utilized different tempos (which surprised me, as
I was familiar with only one of their songs, an atmospheric/death
track off the _Sonic Obliteration Vol. 1_ compilation) and had a
female vocalist, who also danced during Porno's opening song.
Definitely a good act to start off the night with. Next up were a
three-piece called Anhkrehg, a black metal band from Montreal. Having
seen them play before, they were just as intense as I remember.
Playing songs off their two demos, _The Oath of Sorcerer-King_ and
_Sacrificial Goat_ (the latter reviewed in New Noise), the band were
a good follow-up, but as I remember didn't fare too well with the
crowd. Following Anhkrehg were Anthropophagus, a four-piece from
Toronto. It was unfortunate that Anthropophagus were experiencing
technical problems, as it really affected their performance. The
vocals were weak at times, but musically they fared better, playing
songs off their demo _Ripped Open_. Classics like "Blood Scabbed",
"Pus Filled Erection", and "Nothing Left to Fuck" were played in
their brutal fashion; it was truly a Cannibal Corpse fan's dream!!
The last band I was to see on this night was Burning Moon. Formed
from the ashes of now-defunct Toronto death act Flesh Emperor,
Burning Moon played their black metal,
decked out in full corpse
paint and all. Featuring a really bad cover of Deicide's "Sacrificial
Suicide" (unless it was sung in Latin or something), the band didn't
play nearly as well as on their demo (also reviewed in New Noise),
because of the lack of a keyboardist. I had to leave soon after
Burning Moon's set, missing half the entire show. I can truly say
that when I left, I left with the impression that the Toronto scene
isn't dead just yet.
Alain sez:
I came in late, being from out of town, but having a car meant I
could stick around until the bitter end. Fearsight followed Burning
Moon, playing a style of power-groove metal with NY hardcore-ish
vocals that left me cold. Actually, the music was quite decent at
times, with some memorable hooks occasionally heard, but those vocals
right turned me off. These guys must have a bit of a following as I
saw a number of Fearsight t-shirts around, sporting a nifty logo. I,
unfortunately, was not a convert. Flesh Feast followed with a dose of
mediocre grinding death metal. I can't really say a whole Hell of a
lot about this group except: unmemorable. Stage presence was
virtually nil, and the music was entirely generic. At this point in
the evening, I was actually beginning to mildly regret having driven
down for this event, as I'd seen very little talent thus far.
Luckily, Summertime Daisies took the stage and changed that. Strong
stage presence, crushing riffs, and unrelenting chugging death were
unleashed by this top-notch five-piece act. This London, Ontario
based act were easily the highlight of the evening, delivering an
excellent set of tight, well-arranged slabs of hatred. Check out my
review of their _Gathering of Vermin_ demo in this month's New Noise.
The night ended with Hidden Pride's set of grinding death, again
expertly delivered and tight as a homophobe's asshole. Hailing from
Montreal, these guys have taken a hint or two from fellow Montrealers
Kataklysm and Cryptopsy, and perhaps need to work on distinguishing
themselves from the pack. They were kind enough to pass along their
demo, _The Encounter of the First Kind_ (see this month's New Noise
for my review), despite being visibly bummed at the turnout. Sadly,
there were maybe 70 people who bothered to attend, and far fewer at
the end of the night, which meant that Hidden Pride played to a
near-empty venue. They were frustrated with the whole affair, and it
showed, but nobody said playing metal was an easy, or lucrative,
career choice. Greater fan support is essential to these bands, so I
encourage all readers to attend these types of shows featuring
unsigned acts, and to give their demos a try.
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T H E W A V E O F D E A T H
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deicide at The Wave in Staten Island, April 14, 1996
with Fallen Christ, Incantation and Immolation
by: Vishwanand Singh
On Sunday night, April 14th, Deicide invaded The Wave in Staten
Island, NY. The club was filled to overflowing, the air was gray with
smoke, and the crowd lay in wait like hungry wolves for a feast of
brutality and death.
A huge screen dominated the area above the stage while the bands
readied (forever) to play. The crowd was held in thrall to bloody
images from Traces of Death (a must-get, for the music alone) and
ear-quaking clips from Much Music's Power 30. From the start,
everyone knew this was going to be a night to remember. People
travelled from as far away as Westchester and New Jersey to witness
Deicide in action. They were not disappointed.
The doors to The Wave opened at 6 o'clock, but the show didn't
start until after eight. The first band up was Fallen Christ, who
played a decent show but were mistaken for Rotting Christ by many in
the crowd until midway into their act. Their set was pretty tight,
their playing (esp. drummer) was fast, and the crowd largely hated
them. "Get off the stage! You suck!" and other niceties were flung at
the band to let them know how much they were loved. Heedless, they
played on, much to the chagrin of half of the crowd. The rest
actually got into their music and even began moshing (especially at
the foot of the stage).
The next act was Incantation. Garbled vocals accompanied what
was otherwise a great set. The frontman (who looked like a biker)
mostly stood still with one of his legs propped up comfortably on a
bar and blew into the microphone for a while before Incantation was
dispelled (and none too soon). The BAND was excellent, the vocalist
seemed more interested in his drink than in putting on a good show.
He actually looked SLEEPY during some of his songs. Nonetheless, some
in the crowd were able to get past the horrible vocals and bang away.
They should seriously consider getting a REAL vocalist. Preferably
someone more AWAKE during shows... who can SING.
Immolation was the third act, and directly preceded Deicide.
They came close to killing the headlining act with their intense
display of brutality. Until them, NO ONE at the show was truly heavy
and worth bleeding for. Indisputably the best band of the show aside
from Deicide itself, they blasted the somewhat sedated crowd out of
their Incantation-inflicted swoon and into a frenzy of madness. If
not for security, blood would have slicked the floor then and there.
As it was, only one person (a green-haired punker) was smashed. He'll
need stitches for sure. The Staten Island crowd is pretty tame.
Immolation left the crowd in the perfect state for Deicide to
take over, but of course, Deicide took their own sweet time getting
around to it. Most of the bands took about 10-15 minutes to set up
before playing. Not Deicide. Steve Asheim's drums alone took about
15-20 minutes to ready. Eric and Brian Hoffman were tuning their
guitars for roughly the same time (namely, forever) and then went on
to adjust their amps. Finally, Glen Benton himself came onstage (he'd
wandered the crowd before. Nice trench, too.) to the adoring crowd's
cheers. He set up his bass in about five minutes and immediately
opened into "Suicide Sacrifice". The effect on the crowd was amazing.
People began to shake. The deathheads and metalheads banged away like
Glen had brought on Armageddon. The rest of the crowd could FEEL the
energy and KNEW there was something powerful happening. They reacted
maniacally, slam dancing, screaming, moving any and all movable body
parts. Deicide had the crowd in its unholy grip and did not seem to
want to let it loose.
After "Suicide Sacrifice" the band fell into "When Satan Rules
His World" off of _Once Upon The Cross_ and then roared into the
title-track off of that album. The crowd was enthralled by "Once Upon
the Cross". People were screaming it along with Glen. They did some
older songs off of _Legion_ and before, and then did more from the
last album. The crowd was mostly unhinged by newer material like
"Trick Or Betrayed", "They Are the Children of the Underworld", and
"Kill the Christian". The people from Fallen Christ and their
girlfriends seemed a bit taken aback at the show of insanity that
Deicide somehow conjured.
Throughout the show, people did their best to liven things up a
bit. One person managed to work the glories of pretzels into every
band's act by shouting out praises to pretzels at every available
opportunity. A HUGE man who looked to be in his 40's terrorized the
hapless denizens of the pit until he got tired and went to the bar to
rest in the sidelines. The members of Thanatopsis thought they found
members of Suffocation roaming the crowd, and one of their friends at
the bar almost joined a drunk man in stripping off his clothes and
stagediving. The majority of the crowd vanished at around 1:30am.
Although the show was very good, I have my own gripes with it.
Glen Benton decided sometime that there were too many bands at the
show, so he axed half of them. Mortician, Deathrune, and Candiria did
not get to play. I talked to a member of Deathrune about it and he
said he expected it. "Glen's a stuck-up bastard," was his reasoning,
and I believe him. Glen also did not show much interest with the
crowd. Deicide went up, played, and left, one-two-three. They didn't
interact at all with anyone. They didn't play anything from the new
album [ed: 5 new songs in a 1-hour set is a lot! - AMG] or announce a
single song. Someone let slip that at the last show, Glen was caught
complaining that he had to play "for a whole hour!" It looks like
shows are more of a chore to Deicide than anything else.
Finally, the church came to the show and went around outside
handing out flyers which detailed (somewhat erroneously) the history
of death metal from someone who was once "a part of the scene." Our
music is evil and they know it. They want to SAVE us from forces we
do not understand! Heh. Repent. I picked up an extra flyer for my
girlfriend. She's the antichrist.
Regardless of my nitpickings, the Deicide show was amazing. It
was NY/NJ's only area appearance of what many have dubbed "the Green
Day of death metal." That may or may not be a compliment. As an
aside, Glen seems to have gained about 20 pounds of table-muscle. He
is definitely much rounder than he was when they shot the picture on
the back of _Once Upon The Cross_.
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________ ________
___ __/_________ ________________ _________ __/
__ / _ __ \ / / /_ ___/_ ___/ _ __ \_ /_
_ / / /_/ / /_/ /_ / _(__ ) / /_/ / __/
/_/ \____/\__,_/ /_/ /____/ \____//_/
________ _____
___ __/______________ /____ _____________
__ / _ __ \_ ___/ __/ / / /_ ___/ _ \
_ / / /_/ / / / /_ / /_/ /_ / / __/
/_/ \____//_/ \__/ \__,_/ /_/ \___/
Welcome to Chronicles of Chaos' tour listing column. Check out Tours
of Torture every month for the scoop on who's coming to town and
where to catch your favorite bands. If you have any information about
upcoming tours, we'd be more than happy to hear about it. Contact us
at <ginof@io.org>.
Impaled Nazarene/Cannibal Corpse/Immolation/Asphyx/Grave
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 1 - Exil, Trier GERMANY
May 2 - Markthalle, Hamburg GERMANY
May 3 - Werra Rohn Halle, Merkers GERMANY
May 4 - Ratskeller, Fraureuth GERMANY
May 5 - Jungend Hause, Saalfeld GERMANY
May 6 - Huxley's, Berlin GERMANY
Impaled Nazarene/Dark Tranquility/Cannibal Corpse/Vader/Immolation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 7 - Pumphuset, Copenhagen DENMARK
May 17 - Rockhouse, Salzburg AUSTRIA
May 18 - Maribeua, Marseille FRANCE
May 19 - Garage Club, Barcelona SPAIN
May 20 - Pavillhao, Porto PORTUGAL
May 21 - Carlos Lopes Pavillion, Lisboa PORTUGAL
May 22 - Revolver Club, Madrid SPAIN
May 23 - Bikini, Toulouse FRANCE
May 24 - Real Theatre, Lyon FRANCE
May 25 - Sala Fundemental Cares TBC, Pamplona SPAIN
May 26 - World of Hard, Reims FRANCE
Impaled Nazarene/Dark Tranquility
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 8 - Rohre, Stuttgart, GERMANY
May 9 - Atak, Enschede NETHERLANDS
May 10 - Staddijk, Nijmegen NETHERLANDS
May 11 - Melkweg, Amsterdam NETHERLANDS
May 12 - Biebob, Vosselaar BELGIUM
May 13 - Forellenhof, Salzgitter GERMANY
May 14 - Belmondo, Prague CZECH
May 15 - Tankhouse, Stavenhagen GERMANY
May 16 - Chelsea, Vienna AUSTRIA
Suffocation
~~~~~~~~~~~
May 16 - World Beat Center, San Diego, CA
May 17 - Showcase Theater, Corona, CA
May 18 - Showcase Theater, Corona, CA
May 19 - Latin Village, Los Angeles, CA
May 24 - The Embassy, London, Ontario, Canada
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
W H A T W E H A V E C R A N K E D ! ! !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gino's Top 10 of ALL TIME
1. Entombed - _Clandestine_
2. Slayer - _Reign in Blood_
3. Carcass - _Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious_
4. Marilyn Manson - _Portrait of an American Family_
5. Pan-Thy-Monium - _Khaooohs & Kon-Fus-Ion_
6. Monster Magnet - _Superjudge_
7. Obituary - _World Demise_
8. Bolt Thrower - _... For Victory_
9. Amorphis - _Tales from the Thousand Lakes_
10. Fear Factory - _Soul of a New Machine_
Adrian's Top 10 of ALL TIME
1. Warrior Soul - _Drugs, God and the New Republic_
2. Warrior Soul - _Salutations from the Ghetto Nation_
3. Iron Maiden - _Piece of Mind_
4. Guns N' Roses - _Appetite for Destruction_
5. Monster Voodoo Machine - _Suffersystem_
6. Megadeth - _Rust in Piece_
7. Alice In Chains - _Facelift_
8. Anthrax - _Sound of White Noise_
9. Ozzy Osbourne - _Blizzard of Oz_
10. Kyuss - _Sky Valley_
Brian's Top 10 of ALL TIME
1. Cynic - _Focus_
2. Cynic - 'Roadrunner' demo
3. Spastic Ink - _Ink Complete (incl. demo 1993)_
4. Watchtower - _Control and Resistance_
5. Psychotic Waltz - _A Social Grace_
6. Helstar - _Nosferatu_
7. Sieges Even - _Life Cycle_
8. Thought Industry - _Songs for Insects_
9. Believer - _Dimensions_
10. Death - _Human_
Alain's Top 10 of ALL TIME
1. Alice Cooper - _Love It to Death_
2. Black Sabbath - _Black Sabbath_
3. Slayer - _Reign in Blood_
4. Metallica - _Ride the Lightning_
5. Ozzy Osbourne - _Diary of a Madman_
6. Queensryche - _Operation: Mindcrime_
7. Judas Priest - _Sad Wings of Destiny_
8. Morbid Angel - _Blessed Are the Sick_
9. Razor - _Evil Invaders_
10. Rush - _Moving Pictures_
Steve's Top 10 of ALL TIME (in chronological order)
1. Metallica - _Ride the Lightning_
2. Slayer - _Hell Awaits_
3. Bathory - _The Return..._
4. Celtic Frost - _To Mega Therion_
5. Morbid Angel - _Blessed Are the Sick_
6. Sinister - _Diabolical Summoning_
7. Emperor/Enslaved - _Hordane's Land_
8. Marduk - _Opus Nocturne_
9. DodheimsGard - _Kronet Til Konge_
10. Impaled Nazarene - _Latex Cult_
Sally's Top 10 of ALL TIME
1. Metallica - _Master of Puppets_
2. Overkill - _Years of Decay_
3. Drop Dead - _Ending the Sadness_
4. Obituary - _Slowly we Rot_
5. Dead Can Dance - _Aion & Passage in Time_
6. Death - _Scream Bloody Gore_
7. AT The Gates - _The Red In The Sky Is Ours_
8. Christ Agony - _Deamoonseth Act II_
9. Dark Throne - _Under the Funeral Moon_
10. Desulphize - _Neolithic Era_
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
T H E F I N A L W O R D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ten issues, shit, what can I say? I'm still stoked, and I guess I'll
always be. Everything has gone so well for CoC since day number one,
and I think the biggest round of applause has to go to Adrian Bromley
for that. Let's hear it everyone!! Adrian is the workhorse behind
Chronicles of Chaos, and if it wasn't for his hard work and
dedication, this magazine would never have existed. Thanks Adrian,
and thanks to all of you. Keep the kraziness alive!
-- Gino Filicetti
PS.. Here's a little surprise from Alain, dedicated to everyone who
actually read this issue all the way to the end.
As a tribute to our 10th issue, I'm giving away a free copy of
Naphobia's _Of Hell_, a demo album reviewed in a past issue of CoC.
The first person to e-mail me at <alain@mks.com> with the answer to
the following question will be the proud recipient of this fine death
metal release.
Q: What two prominent metal musicians were involved in the recording
of _Of Hell_?
Good luck -- Alain
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #10
