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Xenocide Issue 5
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* XENOCIDE 5 *
****************
Hello and welcome to Xenocide 5! This issue is larger than ever and
contains a LOT of stuff. It's long, you might want to print it and read it
later. Speaking of which, printed copies are available, and the printed
version is a bit different than the email version. The layout is a lot
slicker than issue 4, it is a 'magazine style' layout with center-stapling
and a real cover and there is a lot more artwork. Printed copies are
available for $3 in the US and $4 foreign.
I'm happy to welcome a lot more guest writing in this issue, but I am still
looking for artists and people willing to do reviews! If you are interested,
drop me a line. I'm also looking for distributors, if you can even sell a
few zines in your area, write me. As always, I do zine trades and I'll mail
out your fliers if you do the same.
Hope you enjoy this issue!
Jon
Xenocide c/o Jon Konrath email: jkonrath@indiana.edu
414 S. Mitchell Suite 13
Bloomington, IN 47401 USA
***************
* UNLEASHED *
***************
In March I saw a mighty performance of Unleashed, the Swedish gods
of Death metal. I was with Ray Miller of Metal Curse magazine and we
enjoyed a very brutal performance by Johnny Hedlund and his band. After
the show we got to go back to the hotel with Johnny and speak for a while
about music and life in general. One of the big surprises of the evening
was when Johnny mentioned songs from a third album while he was on
stage playing, and we got a chance to hear some of this new material live.
When we inquired about this, he revealed a lot about this new LP. "Well,
it's not recorded but the music and the lyrics and everything is ready." He
told us. "[There are] nine songs and one acoustic part. We'll probably
record it in the middle of the summer and then it should be released like
September or October hopefully. We could do it right after this tour but
our manager wants us to do the festivals and stuff" he explained. He
continued by telling us song titles "To Asgard we fly, Open Wide, I Am
God, In the Northern Lands, Forever Goodbye, Captured, Execute Them All
and The General". One of the impressive things about Unleashed is they
are a Swedish band that decided not to record in Sunlight studios like
most Swedish acts. When asked about studios, he confirmed that they
would be recording in Germany again. "The German studio again,
Woodhouse studio, the same place we did the first two albums" he
mentioned. "We've developed it, the first album was good for the time
being but I think the second album has developed. I think the third album
will progress the same." On the topic of recording, Johnny had some pretty
fresh views on Death metal production. "Most Death metal bands out have
pretty weak production if you compare them to heavy metal bands and so
on. That is what you have to do, is compare to other bands that are more
popular and sell more. Otherwise, I think it will be hard to explain to
people why you like Death metal, because if the production is very weak,
almost demo-like, then people aren't going to listen to it, they aren't
going to get into it. But I think its going to get better."
We of course had to ask about 'Countess Bathory' on the current
album. "Well, Venom has been an old influence of ours, I mean all four of
us since a long time back, and we played that one for many times in the
practice place and we thought 'hey why don't we put it on the album'
because its been an old influence of ours and a lot of people that get into
our kind of music are also into this kind of music. It could have been a
Slayer song or a Celtic Frost song, but we decided to do Countess
Bathory." Ray asked about his singing style on the song and the similarity
to the original song. "I sing 'Countess Bathory' in C, and it sounds
different. I try to play songs in key, because a lot of bands try to sing
just one tone." Johnny explicated his writing of music, and he told us a bit
about how he works out his songs. "The way we make music is we just sit
down wherever and play. The songs I come up with I make when I'm home
or actually I can come up with a sing just sitting in the subway station or
picking my nose or any time. There isn't a special time for me to write
music. The only thing I write down is the lyrics. Music wise we just play
the riffs and memorize it, if you don't memorize it then it isn't good, and
then just develop from that." Ray asked about his choice of writing
instrument and he attested "I always write songs on guitar. Bass isn't the
same feeling. I probably could write a song if I think of a riff in my head
but it's more fun to play guitar when writing songs."
The Shadows In The Deep t-shirts had a set of runes on the back, and
we were curious about the meaning of them. "In the song Onward Into
Countless Battles there is a part where I sing in Swedish for four lines in
the slower part. The 4 sentences are what we wrote in runes: brothers we
shall conquer or die, blood of my enemies shall flow, Odin take us to
Valhalla, from the horns of pride we shall drink." This led to a discussion
on one of the cool parts of their stage show, when Johnny drank from a
horn of pride on stage and then sprayed the audience with the water. "Our
ancestors always drank from horns like that. Sometimes smaller, but they
had it with a strap and they always when they went to festival or a
sacrifice they always brought the horn. I got this one from my father. My
father bought this somewhere and gave it to me on my 21st birthday,
which was 3 years ago and I always bring it to every show sortof as a
salute to those who come." We laughed after he said "I'll probably do it
until someone breaks the horn, I'll probably get a hard case for it." I knew
that Johnny followed Norse mythology, and Ray had discussed this with
him before. We asked about his religious beliefs in mythology, and he
explained this to us in great detail. "I personally don't call it a religion.
1000 years ago Thor, Odin, and Freya meant something different than they
do now. 1000 years ago people thought Thor was this man in the sky
holding a hammer and they prayed to him for luck when it came to weather
for the harvests and for luck in battle. Its the same with Freya, they
prayed to Freya for luck and to be healthy and for a wedding to be
successful. Odin was for luck and battle, and for other things, but
sometimes Odin wasn't trustworthy and would turn on someone. Nowadays
we know there isn't a person up there in a sky holding a hammer, he's not
sitting there because I don't believe in anything I can't see. But we can
still believe in the same kind of symbols and have these feelings toward
mother nature. This Thor hammer for example [a Thor hammer on a
necklace] for me is a symbol of power and strength. It was 1000 years
ago and now we know there is no man there. And there is no bible saying
what you can do which is good because no matter what year it is you can
translate what it means. If I say something about Thor I mean something
strong. I don't mean some man in the clouds. But 1000 years ago people
weren't as intelligent. Nowadays we know better but we can wear the
same symbols. For example if I tell someone I want to have a lucky
wedding with my girlfriend I can wear a Freya symbol and that way I'm
marked that I have strength and mean it from the bottom that heart. It
means I really don't see this as any girl or someone I'll exchange in a year.
That way I can use the symbol to show I really mean it. Its the same way
with the Thor hammer, the people in Sweden that see me wearing a Thor
hammer know that this is a guy with a strong spirit that won't give up
because someone is blaming him for something, or in battle if someone
wants to pick a fight and they see a Thor hammer, he knows that I'm not
going to turn the cheek, he knows I'll fight if I have to. This way all these
symbols all come back to us."
Johnny also had a few words about the evils of other religions. "I
think most religions are a big joke but I know for many people it means a
lot. I know a lot of old people that wouldn't have a very good life without
Christianity. They would not have known what to do with their lives so I
know it has good influence for some people. But I still can't see the
hypocrisy in it. If other people believe in Christ that is OK, but I don't see
why they should push it on people. If they want to they should prove it to
me. Me and Tomas had a debate with a Christian band, it was a five hour
debate but it didn't give answers. They were saying one thing and doing
another."
The topic of blind following brought about a lot of talk about
European politics too. "What did the Russian people know before this
whole coup? They didn't know anything, they barely had a pair of jeans to
them. Its the same with the Polish people and the East German people,
they didn't know how it looked on the other side, because there's a big
wall. I don't think it's a problem with the people, I think its the fault of
their leader. We shouldn't necessarily blame the people there."
We continued to talk about politics by comparing the US and Sweden.
"For example, here you can drink liquor when you are 21. In Sweden you
can drink when you are 18, but you cannot buy liquor until you are 20 but
you can go into pubs if you are 18." He also mentioned "In Colorado you
can carry a gun, but you can carry nothing in Sweden. You can barely carry
a knife. There's a lot of differences." Another strange law is the way TV
is handled in Sweden. "You can say a lot in Sweden [on TV] you can't say
something that is really racist, and you can't say something that is very
accusing about a special type of people. What is funny though is that you
can claim for example that people with long hair who listen to heavy
metal are idiots and you can print that in big magazines and you can say
they are all stupid, or you could say all skinheads are Nazis, but you can't
say 70% of the immigrants coming in the country are raping people, even if
it is a fact. You can't do that because it is racism. The government has
its strange laws." We had to ask about the scene in Sweden. "It ain't
that big." He proclaimed. "I can see why people think its so big because
there are so many bands from there. But if you think about how many that
just sound like some bands that are already out, and there's not many
clubs to play in. Stockholm isn't that big of a city, there's not many clubs
to play in unless you're a glam band. Stockholm has a big scene if you're
Unleashed, we pull big crowds, or Entombed, they pull big crowds, but if
you're a small band you'll have a lot of trouble. There's not a club where
you can sit down and have a beer and watch the local death metal bands
play in front of 29 people. That just doesn't happen." Johnny did seem to
really like Sweden though. "Overall it is a very nice place to live, it is
very calm compared to Germany, Holland or America. Then again there are
only 8 million people living there and it is a big area. Sweden is a very
clean country I would say. Its definitely one of the richest countries in
Europe, but it has its strange laws and I think you can't do as many things
which is good in some ways and bad in other ways. I prefer that now, but
when I was 18 and couldn't buy liquor I couldn't see that."
Another topic hot on everyone's mind is the European Community, and
Johnny had a lot to say about that. "Now Sweden wants to join the
European Community which means more drugs and more violence, because
on the borders you will be able to bring in anything. I don't think its gonna
happen, but if it happens it means more problems. It means more cost and
it means ghettos for the first time. I don't see why Sweden would go in
because it would mean it would make it just another country. I could see
why Greece and Italy and Spain would want in but I couldn't see why
Scandinavian countries would want to give in money to them." He told us
"In our next show in Stockholm, we're gonna burn a huge European
Community flag, and I know the newspapers will be there and I know
they're gonna take pictures because that'll raise hell. Its very hot stuff
now."
Back on the topic of music, we asked about any future videos for the
band, and we asked about the last video also. "In Europe they played it
[the video], there's gonna be a video for the third album. Century Media in
Germany promised us a video for the second album too but it never
happened, as well as other things that were promised. Now we have very
good management so we're sure we will get the video. We haven't agreed
on a song, that will be a tough choice. We will at least have 30 or 40
percent live shoots, because we are a live band. None of us are really into
a video that is like some kind of theatre or something." Ray asked if he
considered the last Morbid Angel video bad because of its conceptual
theme, but he exclaimed "The Morbid Angel video is great, it really fits
the lyrics and everything." When we mentioned this was on Headbanger's
Ball in the states, he commented "I think it is really good promotion for
Death metal if any of those videos get played." But, he did have some
things to say about the Entombed video for 'Stranger Aeons'. This video
has a girl in it from a popular Swedish pop band called Army Of Lovers,
and a lot of people say she doesn't quite fit in the video. Johnny agreed,
and explained the situation with the girl's status in Sweden. "What would
happen if you saw your favorite American band, like let's say Deicide, and
all of a sudden you see Michael Jackson in the video? A lot of people
would be pissed and would think its ridiculous. I don't think it fit in at
all."
The topic of touring was inevitable, and I questioned if they got to
do any sight-seeing while here this year. "We saw Niagra Falls.. We didn't
plan this tour though, Cannibal Corpse's managers planned it but we did
have some time off for tourism." We also asked about the fact that they
didn't headline this tour. "The first time we were here we were the first
band on the bill, and this time we are second. Maybe next time we will be
headlining. I think if we headlined this tour, there would be less people
every night, and even if its 50 people less every night, it would help to
draw in more people." He did explain their popularity in Europe however.
"We had twice as many people on the European tour as Entombed, and we
had the same tour manager." I asked for any opinions on Cannibal Corpse,
the headlining act, and Johnny seemed fairly enthusiastic about them. "I
like them, they are a cool live band. There's a lot of American bands that
have too many riffs in their music and its harder to memorize. I'm not
accusing them or anything though, but I want to have a lot of fun. I want
to have as much fun as the crowd, I want to feel the music. I want to feel
what the crowd is feeling. I don't want to be thinking of what riff I have
next. There are a lot of bands that are good with complex songs, but there
has to be a good reason how it all fits together. There's a lot of bands that
have 20 riffs in a song just put together. Its like they get to the practice
place and go 'OK, this is the next song, its gonna have 18 riffs..' There's no
structure. I like that old fashioned structure. Bands that play more
technical like Bolt Thrower or Morbid Angel do a good job at it. Its just
perfect. If Morbid Angel does a song with 15 riffs in it, I know why
they are there, I can feel how they come from one another.
We continued the discussion on musical styles and how they relate
to Unleashed. "Its not because we can't write riffs, we have material for
the fourth album, that's not a problem. There's nothing that I like more in
the whole universe then when the whole crowd screams my choruses
because then I know they feel the same way I do, and they can listen to the
album a couple times and remember it. And then when they go to a party
and drink beer and put on the album, everyone screams it. That's what I
did when I was younger, and still do. Ya know, put on Reign In Blood,
Slayer or whatever, any band, Venom or whatever. There are Death metal
bands with this kind of thinking, that's why I like their music more than
others, its easier to listen to." He continued talking about guitar solos.
"I enjoy good guitar solos, especially if they have something to do with
the music and if they're just not flipping out, I don't like that. But there's
a lot of good death metal guitarists, solo guitarists and some of them
really make their solo fit the music. If you can feel why the solo fits
alongside the riff, then I think its good. But if it's a solo just because of
the fact there should be a solo then it's bad, I don't like it. For example
Slayer solos, I actually whistle them to myself, that's the way i like it.
The third album is gonna have a lot of good solos like this. I don't like to
have too many solos, I don't enjoy it as much as the pure beat of the
music.
I asked Johnny what kind of music he did like. "I listen to a lot of
rock and roll from the 50's. I like a lot of the older heavy metal stuff,
AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, and some older hardcore punk like the Sex
Pistols. I listen to Death metal, that's why I said I like the bands I was
mentioning." He also mentioned a few demo bands. "Necrophobic is a good
band, there are so many bands. Deathstorm from California too, but there
are so many bands out there."
We wanted to know if the members of Unleashed still worked regular
jobs in Sweden. "I've lived on social welfare for about 1.5 years because
we didn't make so much money on the first album, but as of January of
this year we can live from what we can make on music. Cause now we
have the same manager as Morbid Angel, he's doing a lot of good stuff for
us, and he went into the contract and changed it for us so the record label
wouldn't be taking any of our money. Like on the first tour, they took all
of the t-shirt money and they could because it was in the contract we
signed. When you sign a contract with only a demo, when you're at that
level you can't say much of what's in the contract, especially when the
contract is 27 pages of very hard language that even people who think in
English can't understand. Gunter has done so much for us, he's the reason
we are still doing this."
One of the big fears these days is a band "selling out" or recording
weak albums for the money. When I asked Johnny if he would want to sell
on a large scale, he said "actually yes because that means i would never
have to go back to work. Resisting success is stupid and has no part in the
law of nature." He further justified his answer with "I know we will
never turn into any other musical style than Unleashed, and I don't think
fans will be disappointed. I wouldn't care if we got as big as Metallica, it
just means more and more people like what we do and like the lyrics.
Bigger doesn't mean you are selling out. There are bands that get better
without selling more, and there are bands that get wimpier and sell more
copies, but if they didn't sell that many copies they still would have got
wimpier anyway." We wondered if there would be any surprises in
production or anything experimental. "No, the sound on the new album will
be the same as shadows in the deep. the production on this album was
perfect, so its gonna be small levels if any and nobody will notice it. It
will stay the same, nothing major."
After we got some stuff signed, we asked Johnny how he spends his
off-time. "Watching soccer games, and watching ice hockey games, spend
more time with my girlfriend, and go to parties. We practice about 3
times a week but ill write new material. We've been touring since Jan, 60
shows in 80 days, so we're gonna relax a little."
Johnny closed by telling us "a big thanks to everyone who came to the
tour, i had a great time and the crowds were very dedicated!" Johnny was
one of the most articulate people I've talked to in the business and one of
the nicest people also. Best of luck to him and all of Unleashed on the new
album and many more to come!
*******************
* Paradise Lost *
*******************
I had a chance to chat with Greg MacKintosh, guitarist of Paradise
Lost while he was in New York promoting their new EP. Greg started with
a discussion of the Shades Of God Tour in the US. "Its going to be May or
June time when we come over, but I don't know who we will be touring
with yet. We basically just finished touring Shades of God everywhere
else in the world just about, and we've worked on writing new material
and demoing it for the new album"
The new EP will be released in April, shortly before the tour. "The
EP track is 'As I die' from the Shades of God LP, and its just basically a
sortof revamped version of that. The second track on it is called 'Rape of
Virtue' which was recorded at the same time as Shades of God, but not
released." The EP also includes a live version of "Eternal" and the track
"Death Walks Behind You"
The progression from Gothic to Shades Of God is staggering, and
Paradise Lost seems to be a band that experiences constant change. "For
ourselves we aren't a band who writes with a view to sales, which is
what we feel is right. But we like to evolve and use fresh ideas which is
probably why we sound different from LP to LP and possibly from song to
song sometimes. Its just a question of we like to use fresh ideas and keep
people fascinated rather than change for the sake of change. On Shades of
God we have been more settled than we have before, but we've already
written and demo'ed 7 new tracks and we've changed again quite a bit, but
its still very settled." Greg continued, "We don't like to cover ground
that we covered before, we like to use fresher ideas. Gothic was
something that we did at one time, and it was quite popular in Europe and
a lot of bands have done similar things since, but we'd never go back and
do it again unless a song demanded it. I'm not saying won't ever use
keyboards again, or we won't ever use any other kinds of vocals again, but
we like to experiment with other things, and we like to stretch the limits
of our own instruments before we start using anything else." On the topic
of the direction of new material, he explained, "The new stuff is a lot
more Gothic but not in the sense of the LP Gothic we did, more Gothic in
the sense of more early death type stuff mixed with Shades of God type
stuff, so its quite interesting"
Shades of God is the first LP to be released by Metal Blade Records,
while Paradise Lost's first two LP's were released on Peaceville. Greg
explained to me the situation with the label change. "Well we signed with
Peaceville when we were very young, and we signed for 2 LP's and we did
the two LPs. When we finished those, we decided to move on to someone
with more input. Distribution was a factor, and having more money to
spend on the LP, production, advertising, tour support. We are just taking
another step forward, it is in everyone's interest to promote yourself, we
just needed to promote ourself more. Metal Blade is been giving us the
most artistic support"
When discussing the last LP, the first observation was recording
studios. "Its a private studio, it used to be owned by the Queen, its a big
building converted into a studio in the middle of nowhere, it was a good
sort of inspiration for the LP. We really enjoyed recording there, but I
think next time we're going to move because we got as much as we could
out of that studio." We also discussed the central theme behind Shades of
God. "The emphasis was trying out different ways of getting as much
emotion and atmosphere into a song as possible but doing it in different
ways, subtle ways, melancholy themes, rather than this obvious morbid
thing, because we like to be more subtle than that. On the last LP,
lyrically and otherwise it was based on emotion and provoking thought. I'd
say all of the songs have a lot of meaning, but we like people to use their
own minds. We like people to make up their own minds on what things are
about." Greg also said "Life is quite a big influence on our lyrics.
Musically, there are a lot of the early bands like early Judas Priest, early
Black Sabbath, and things like that, and a lot of the early Gothic stuff, and
more contemporary stuff like Dead Can Dance."
The topic of American culture came up a few times, and Greg
explained to me his feelings on his first visit to he US. "The UK as a
whole is very different from America. I'm quite surprised really, the way
of life is very different. I suppose though politically, we have the same
problems, that are going on here, like crime, drugs, race, violence, the
recession, joblessness, all of those problems happen, but the way of life
is much different, the music scene is much different." He continued, "I
don't know what the underground is supposed to mean anymore. To me,
underground now is totally different from underground when we first
started. The underground then meant a certain group of people and bands
who wrote letters to each other and traded tapes. The underground now,
being an underground band means you have a certain cult following. The
audience could be totally different to another band's cult following. I
mean, our audience has changed so much in the last few years, we have
more older people and more females going to shows." The subject of
political difference also led to the topic of censorship. "Censorship
seems to me more in the headlines in the US than in England. Obviously
because of the PMRC and such. I don't agree with censorship, but then I
don't agree with a lot of the Death metal bands using stuff as a gimmick
to sell records, they should be selling records on integrity and
musicianship, not on gore. And then there is MTV, they have such a strange
outlook on what is a good video and what isn't, they focus so much on the
mainstream. They have these videos with half naked females and a lot of
metal won't get played, I don't understand their line on censorship really,
they just see mainstream rock bands as the thing, even if some people
don't want to see that, but MTV just isn't interested. They have a certain
image to keep, a teenage pop magazine format, its too bubblegum pop
oriented. I prefer a more down to Earth style."
Greg finished up by telling me about the band's future work. "We
plan on continuing songwriting in our own method, but we're not trying to
go too far in that direction. Some bands like VoiVod and Celtic Frost went
too far with their personal tastes and failed, we're trying to avoid that"
The As I Die EP will be out in April, and the American tour will
follow. Look forward to checking out this European supergroup soon!
**************
* Defiance *
**************
Defiance is a brutal band from the San Francisco bay area. They have had
three releases on Roadrunner records since 1988, with Product of Society,
Void Terra Firma and Beyond Recognition. They have since added guitarist
Brian Wenzel, and went into the studio in March. We had a chance to have a
few words with them, thanks to Whiplash for the brief interview.
X: First of all, if you would tell us a little about the new album and how
does it stand up to your earlier albums?
D: Much better production for one, Rob Beaton really took the time out to
make sure we'd put out an album both he and the band could be proud of.
X: How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard the
band but is interested?
D: Heavy, fast, somewhat melodic (at times) and downright brutal.
X: Do you have any tour plans for 1993?
D: No, we pretty much got screwed out of that because of the combines
problems of a poor economy and a downright flake for a booking agent
whom we've just fired, but if the new album is done in time we could be
touring by the end of 1993.
X: How do you see the heavy metal scene and thrash scene today and how do
you feel it has changed?
D: The metal scene is just like any other in the music business, it has its
ups and downs.
X: Well this is short but please tell everyone how to contact the band and
if you would like please leave some last comments to your fans.
D: Yeah, keep your ears out for us in late '93 or early '94 and thanks for
your support! Write to Defiance c/o Morgan Kennedy Mgmt., 8033 Sunset
Blvd. #4005, Hollywood, CA 90046
Thanks again to Whiplash for the interview and look forward to the new
Defiance soon!
*********************
* TYPE O NEGATIVE *
*********************
I talked to Pete and Josh of Type O Negative this summer after the release
of the Origin of the Feces EP, and decided to reprint the interview because
of the upcoming release of the new LP, and because a lot of you missed the
first printing of this in Xenocide's infancy. Check the news section of this
issue for more up-to-date information on the album, since this is slightly
dated.
X: Lets talk a little bit about your new EP, The Origin of the Feces. Now
this said it was a semi-live recording. Exactly what does that mean?
P: What it means exactly is that we did this recording to rip off the record
company.
X: Was it actually recorded live at Brighton beach?
P: No, of course not. We totally made everything up, we got a $100,000
budget, and we spent approximately $2,000 on this piece of shit recording
and we went out and we all bought Harley Davidsons and we're gonna kill
ourselves just like in Cyclemania. You ever see that cool movie?
X: Oh yeah, I based my life on it...
P: That is the agenda. We did this not just to rip off the record company,
but to rip off the fans as well, because we know the average person is a
moron... Sorry fans, but we had to rip you off because we need your money.
X: Now you guys are working on a new LP right now, is this gonna be a
similar setup there?
P: Well, this LP is gonna be much worse than anything else that we've done
before... If people don't hate us already they'll hate us after this next LP.
And right now its titled Things Worse Than Death (And Other Acts of God)
X: Any songs done for the LP yet?
P: Well, we have them all written... Right now we're trying to find the best
way to scam the record company out of a lot of money, so until we figure
out just exactly what our plan is.. We've got 2 or 3 plans we might go
with, we're gonna narrow it down and see which way we can get the most
bucks out of 'em and then give them some piece of shit, some piece of
garbage that they'll try to push on people like bad dope or something.
X: OK, you had a little difficulty with the cover art on the EP.. Did anything
inspire you to do that? How did they approach you on that, did they say no
right away or what?
P: I dunno Josh, how did that come up, how did we think of that?
J: Well, I dunno, we figured it looked a lot better than our faces so we
went for it.
P: Well, that is my best side.
J: We didn't have trouble at all. The record company loved it.
P: They loved it. And I think right now that thing is banned in Germany,
and England.
X: I know some US distributors refuse to carry it...
P: Well, they don't know art when they see it.
X: Exactly... I heard rumors you were thinking of recording a Carnivore song
for the EP or, do you plan on playing any Carnivore stuff live?
P: Yeah, well, see there were one or two songs in the set, and we were
gonna do one on the EP, but we're really trying to push the Type O Negative
stuff now.. If people want to hear Carnivore they can go and buy a
Carnivore disc, but right now we just wanna stick to our stuff.. Maybe
some time in the future if we pull some other scam maybe we'll do a
Carnivore song, or maybe a Partridge Family cover or something.
X: As for your live touring, do you know what's going to go on after the
album supporting it, are you going to do a headlining tour or a split bill?
P: Yeah, we're just going to do a New York tour, we're going to do a five
venue tour, and make it expensive and like a year long, and spend like a
month or two at each club.
X: Will you do anything elaborate on stage?
P: Killing ourselves... No, we don't like to do much on stage. Sometimes if
we come out and we don't like the looks of the audience, we don't even
play. We just walk back out and say "Well, you paid your 15 or 20 dollars
and that's too bad, so, goodnight." And then there will be like a riot. Or
sometimes we'll actually play one or two chords. We just like to say "We
don't feel like playing, so we're not gonna play. And if you don't like it
that's too bad because you already paid us. And you can go home and you
can think we're assholes but we'll be out tomorrow spending your money
and laughing at you!"
X: Lets talk about musical influences. Do you look toward anything for
musical inspiration?
P: I guess when I was younger I did. But now, I don't, ya know, I like to
write how I feel, I mean, I don't try to follow in anybody's footsteps, and
nobody in this band tries to sound like anybody. We are just trying to
establish our own crummy identity. Just like even though vomit has the
same basic smell, if you put four cups of real hot vomit next to each
other, they would smell slightly dissimilar depending on what was eaten
for dinner, or lunch or breakfast, too, with all that shit in your stomach.
X: Do you look toward any movies or books or political sources when
writing lyrics?
P: No, I just look into my Swiss cheese soul, because my soul is very
blackened and has many holes in it, and there is a lot of powerful things
lurking inside of me, following me everywhere I go and I don't have to look
to TV or books or anything for any really bad ideas because I'm full of
them.
X: OK, you did mention you're trying to get everyone to hate you...
P: Umm, let me clarify here. We aren't trying to get everyone to hate us,
we're just trying to be really honest with people, trying to tell people we
are only in this for money, and that we are trying to rip you off. If you
want to come along for the ride, and laugh with us, or at us.. It doesn't
matter, as long as we get to spend your money.
X: Have you been approached by any censorship groups?
P: Actually, if I had kids, I would not let them listen to Type O Negative,
so I guess I'm totally for censorship.
X: I talked to a few people who wanted to write-in Pete Steele for
presidential candidate in the fall. If by some freak chance you got elected
in the fall, what would be your agenda?
P: I would kill anyone under 6 feet six inches.
X: Why?
P: Because I'm 6 foot 6 and a quarter, and I like to look up to people.
X: Do you still have the same day job?
P: Yes. I am a human feces remover. I make $100,000 a year on my job, I
do not have to use my mind on my job, so I get to dwell on the things that
disturb me greatly, I let these things torment myself and I let them burn
holes in me like acid dripping on me, so by the time I get home, I'm really
pretty wound up and looking to hurt myself, not so much the other people
around me, but because I don't have the balls to kill myself yet, I must
supplimate, and I must take these aggressive feelings out in socially
acceptable ways, such as transforming these thoughts and feelings into
music.
X: I noticed reading through your liner notes mentions of Prozac, Xanax and
Doctor Whittaker, is this mention to actual psychotherapy?
P: It is. He is my psychotherapist, who did not help me. He told me I was
crazy and threw me out of his office. I won't waste my money now,
because I have come to the conclusion that I am not fucked up, this world
is fucked up, I am the sanest person I know.
X: If you really hit it big would you move out of New York?
P: I think ultimately I would like to be real rich so I can get out of this
city, because I don't like what is going on here too much, as far as what is
going on with crime and where my tax dollars are going to. I don't think I
would move until I made my fortune and then I would move somewhere
isolated like Iceland and never be heard from again.
X: Going back to touring, you toured with a few bands.. What happened on
last tour, it got cut a little short...
P: What happened is we were out with Exploited and Biohazard, two bands
that we were good friends with and like very much, but we felt it wasn't a
very good matchup because we're not a punk band and we're not a hardcore
band, we're more like a Gothic band, and a lot of the skinheads we
encountered on tour didn't like us too much, and we had problems with
them, and over in Germany and Austria we had problems with the left wing
over there. But, ultimately that turned out great because it was kindof
planned, and we had set the whole thing up ourselves... We had spread
rumors that we were the fourth reich coming over to Germany to retake
the country, and we took plenty of time to make preparation, and when we
got there we phoned in bomb threats to the clubs that we were supposed
to play at so the shows got cancelled and we got paid for nothing. We just
went out chasing German women, Austrian women, we just went chasing
women.
X: If you tour with any bands on the next tour, any ideas on who?
P: I don't think anybody in their right mind would tour with us, so it would
have to be someone very desperate.
X: We're gonna have to wrap up here.. Is there anything we should look
forward to on the new album?
P: It's gonna be worse than the other stuff, no doubt about it. And I'm sure
its gonna be overpriced.
X: Any last words to your fans?
P: Yeah I think you should get your hearing checked.
X: OK, we're gonna cut to the first track on Origin Of The Feces.
P: No I don't think you should. Don't you have anything better to play?
X: Well, lets go into the first track here. I'd like to thank Pete and Josh
for talking to me.
P: I'm sorry I wasted your time.
*****************
* SHOW REVIEW *
*****************
I got a chance to see Unleashed, Cannibal Corpse and Epidemic in
March at Bogart's in Cincinnati, and although I really enjoyed Unleashed, I
was disappointed by Cannibal Corpse, and I was very frustrated with the
way the venue treated us and everyone else at the show.
First of all i have to say i might have had a bad attitude going into
the show since the venue just FUCKED me over in a major way. I went
with Ray Miller, of Metal Curse magazine, and we waited for an abnormal
amount of time after being told conflicting information by the people
working the ticket booth. This is the dialogue that took place at the doors:
Me: Is the list ready yet?
Bitch at counter: What list?
Me: The zine list.
Bitch: What's a zine?
Me: A magazine. The list the record company gave you should have
my name on it, the guest list.
Bitch: A magazine? You can't sell magazines in here.
Me: Look, you have a guest list. Its in your hand. Give me a ticket
before I kill somebody.
Bitch: You mean like Kerrang? That kind of magazine?
Me: Kindof. But not really.
Bitch: I don't see Kerrang on the list.
Me: No. I'm Jon Konrath. Look on the list for Jon Konrath.
Bitch: What list?
(Repeat 7 times)
So we couldn't bring zines in. Then when we were going in, they
nabbed my recorder, and after a lot of arguing, they said I could keep the
recorder if I gave them every cassette tape on my person, which consisted
of a cool demo I just got in the parking lot. (Luckily they didn't take Ray's
and I dubbed a copy.) Then they said they wouldn't give them back but I
could bring them to my car if I paid full price to get back in. Great. Oh,
and when we got in, we got no passes, and if it weren't for a lot of
bullshitting we would not have gotten the one of three interviews we
were promised.
Epidemic started, they were OK. The pit was decent, they got like a
2 second soundcheck and their guitar sound sucked, but then I was told
they got there late and the only reason they had any sound at all was that
them and Unleashed shared a drum setup. They were OK live, they didn't
suck but their sound wasn't great and I think they were just really rushed
since they opened and this really held them back.
Then Unleashed. I saw Johnny before the show and he recognized
Ray, so only because we knew him he said OK to an interview later. They
were one of the best bands I've seen live, they were tight, the sound was
good, the pit was frantic, and it looks like they were having a lot of fun on
stage. Johnny did a lot of talking between songs and also at a point he
pulled out this giant horn-type drinking cup and threw water out into the
pit. They played a lot of their old stuff and stuff from Shadows In The
Deep, plus stuff from their forthcoming 3rd album. It was cool as hell, it
made the trip worth it.
Before i mention Cannibal Corpse, let me talk about shirts. A
million people told me, "man, those prices aren't the venues fault" before
the show. Well, you're wrong in a big way. I don't care if your venue in the
middle of Kansas doesn't add a 40% shirt markup, all the rest of them in
the states do. The tour promoters selling shirts told me this, there were
signs at the booth apologizing for the fact that the venue was screwing
people, there were people that worked at the venue who admitted they
were screwing people out of money and I had a 3 hour talk with all of the
members of Unleashed and they mentioned it too. What sucks even more is
that if you directly buy it from the label, the band gets almost no money.
Point of reference: Unleashed long sleeve shirts, $35 at the venue. Johnny
offered to sell me one for $15 and he'd make money off of it, and that was
one with a cooler back design too, it wasn't the one they had there. Also
in Europe they sell the shirts for $15-$20 each. Go figure.
So anyway, Cannibal Corpse. Their sound was good, the pit was
violent. That's about it. The performance had a lot of energy but you just
can't claim there are an abundance of memorable riffs and sing-along
lyrics in their stuff. Now i have heard they really suck live compared to
the studio work, and i disagree, it was cooler than the album. But it
wasn't something that sticks in your head or something you hum on the bus
or something. And yes, Chris did seem a little hokey between songs. I
wont go off on it too much, I'll just say i sat in the back of the venue and
talked to a tour manager about Max Cavalera's new kid and didn't even pay
attention to a lot.
I do have to say though that I had the coolest interview ever with
Johnny... Ray and I went back to the hotel with him and hung out and talked
until 3 in the morning about EVERYTHING, he sat and talked about the third
album forever, we talked about Sweden a lot, and mythology too. I'm
really looking forward to the release of the 3rd album. It is all written,
and they will record it this summer and it will be out in the fall.
I don't entirely mean to go off on Cannibal Corpse because they were
OK and I got into one of the most violent pits I have ever seen before so it
was cool. But it was really overhyped, and if someone gory and non-flashy
as them did a live show, they should have done something really fucking
cool like sprayed blood in the front row or lit something on fire or hosed
the place down with smoke or something to make it more rememberable.
Just my opinion.. My main bitches were having to do with the venue: the
passes and the recorder, and the shirts. I know the bands worked extra
hard on this tour, and all three of them were cool about that, and I know
the people at Metal Blade and Century Media were extra cool to me about
interviews, and the people at World Management went way beyond the call
of duty on the Unleashed interview. But a big fuck off goes to all the
assholes at Bogart's in Cincinnati. From the people I talked to before and
during the show, the management has been real shitty about the sales of
demos and 'zines, something important to the underground. They pull in
some cool shows, but they are just real assholes. From their $2 Cokes to
their asshole bouncers to their 40% plus markup on merchandise, they
really know how to fuck up a good time. If you are in the area and have a
choice, don't catch a show there, go somewhere else. You'll be glad you
did.
*****************
* BLOODY MARY *
*****************
Bloody Mary is an aggressive thrash band from the North Carolina
area, known for their tight sound, and lasting impression on the
underground. Randy Robinson (vocals), Craig Baker (lead guitar), Joe
Charles (drums), Bill Vasil (rhythm guitar), and Barry Hannibal (bass) have
been shaking the fans of extreme metal with their newest release, "Bitch
Needs Psychotherapy". I got a chance to catch a few words with Bill Vasil
before the unsigned band started work on their next release, and heard a
lot about their most recent successes.
"Bitch Needs Psychotherapy" was recorded here in Charlotte, NC at
Reflections Sound Studios, the same studio where Confessor did their
'Condemned' LP for Earache" guitarist Bill Vasil explains. "...An excellent
studio that hosts a lot of label projects from across the music industry.
The best thing about the place to me is the main room, studio A, which
produces a killer drum sound" continues Vasil. The recording has a very
sharp feeling to it, and doesn't have the 'muddy' sound that is so apparent
in demos.
"As far as an official number of copies, 1500+ at least that have
been sold, given away or traded" exclaims Bill. This is a band that almost
everyone in the underground has heard of, because of the vast amount of
publicity work and flier distribution the self-managed group does. The
strength of the underground is a big factor in this band's success. "The
bottom line: we don't want your money; we want your respect" proclaims
Vasil. "I encourage a lot of people that get our tapes at shows to make
copies for their friends" he continues. "We give out small packages of
underground stuff to people who buy our tapes at shows. We have found
that people really do appreciate the information about the underground"
When it comes to work, this band seems perpetually busy. Between
being the hardest working band in the underground scene of the East coast
and demo work, it seems they are always busy with some project. "We
took January off from shows to write new songs for our next release,
"Blood Core" and that's mostly done" Bill explains. "Some of the songs
have already been performed live and others have just been fleshed out.
We are shooting for late spring for our next release. We'd like it sooner,
but there's no reason to hurry on a recording." After eyeing a Bloody Mary
1992 schedule, I could see why they necessitated taking time off for the
recording. The "Blood Core News" newsletter printed in January shows
the grueling list of close to 45 different gigs the band had, basing their
operations in the North Carolina area, but also venturing down into Florida.
There is quite a scene in Bloody Mary's home court, although the
southern area is biased against underground metal at times. "[we play
with] Regional bands and locals here in the Southeast. Some are known in
the underground like Aftermath AD, Anti-Seen, False Prophet, Raped Ape
and some not so known like Misplaced Aggression and Sudden Dismissal to
name a few. The larger club scene here in Charlotte is fucked up, where
they totally treat area bands like shit. We don't deal that way, and really
don't give a fuck about all the hype associated with opening for label acts.
We've earned everything on our own".
Every band has their roots, and when Bloody Mary is labeled a thrash
band, it would be assumed their background wouldn't be as diverse. But
when asked about influences, Bill offered a different opinion. "[That's]
the one question that I really hate, because we draw upon a lot, or none at
all. I listen to all kinds of music, whenever I have time, and it all comes
out sometime later. I'm really influenced by some of the better bands that
we play with here, maybe because we have gotten to know them. A lot of
times it has to do with respect". The mutual respect issue comes up again
when I ask Bill who he would like to work with. "Anybody that's good (in
our opinion!) and has brains. And anybody that's really hungry for this -
they tend to take the necessary risks to get things done. The band that I
feel would benefit us, as well as themselves, is Anti-Seen, who are signed
to Rave Records. We go together very well, and we try to offer them
shows wherever and whenever we can."
Although the band does plan to break out of the minor leagues and
work with a label, they hold rather unique opinions on the matter. "We've
really just started doing the things that will shape this band for
preparations to a major label, and there's a lot of satisfaction that we get
when we achieve our goals. Having a lot of control of what we are doing is
real important to us. When we demonstrate how much we can accomplish
on our own, the more control we'll have. With no disrespect to labels in
general, I don't care too much for all the hype that signed bands get.
That's all I hear, and it gets so old. I've known tons of bands wasting their
time trying to get signed, when they should be out there promoting
themselves to the very people that will buy their music." Vasil does seem
certain of the bands ability to sign with a label, however. "I know the
right label with the right offer will find us. Like I said - we've just
started, and we have a lot of confidence in how we promote ourselves".
The natural question of how the dying genre of Thrash can still
survive came up, but the band seems very confident in retaining this style.
"I've been asked that question for a few years now, ever since Death
metal's emergence into the scene. To me, it's not that a particular style of
music dies, its the new different trend that starts up, and then everyone
jumps on that bandwagon. I don't believe the style of music that a band
plays has anything to do with their popularity. Its how they do it. If its
good, fresh, original - people will come. I don't think anything else dies,
but that something else thrives."
Of course, the quintet isn't relaxing for long. "Well, let's see..
Finishing new tunes is the first priority. We have a loan pending for
$5000 for our next recording, and when that comes through, we're going to
release "Soul" from the "Bitch Needs.." tape on a split 7" with Raped Ape
for radio promotion. We've recently received a bulk mailing permit, so its
economically feasible to send out a large number of records at one time.
This is all pre-promotion for our next release, and we'll do another song
off that for radio as well. We are booking shows to keep us busy until the
next recording as we tighten up the songs, and once "Blood Core" is out,
nothing but shows everywhere and anywhere to build our following on.
There's a lot to be done."
A question on my mind that the group had good insight on was that of
the religious right in the area. Bill did agree with me on some of the
music censorship issues. "I agree with the view that labelling interferes
with free speech, and the kind of control is plain bullshit, but on the other
hand, I'm more likely to check out a recording that has "objectionable"
material on it than one that's been tamed down to suit the PMRC." As we
closed, Bill continued on about the area's tyranny. "No, not any problems
from the bible thumpers around here. Some of the local music scum in
this area have tried to intimidate us and the clubs we play at because we
don't kiss ass, or "fall in line", but they can't keep us down."
Bloody Mary have proved themselves to be a strong contender in the
world of the underground, and their next release should be killer. If you
want to contact Bill or any of the rest of the band, drop a line to Bloody
Mary, POB 560938, Charlotte, NC 28256.
**************
* PUNISHER *
**************
Punisher is a dying legacy in the metal world, a band that still puts
out a brutal form of the Thrash sound, and doesn't try to wander to the
new schools of Death or Industrial. The Detroit scene-based band sent
their "Go Nukes" demo over the summer, and I was very impressed by its
tightness, quality and trueness to the roots of extreme metal, such as
Coroner, Venom and Exodus. However, when I spoke with Garrett Brown,
the group's drummer, he started off with some somber news on Punisher's
latest work.
"Well, right now, we're trying to replace our guitar/player singer
[Bruce Schwiebert]" says Garrett. "He doesn't want to sing anymore, and
we haven't played out since July. So, I joined another band and I've been
trying to keep Punisher together". Andromeda, the Toledo-based band that
Brown has been working with, is more of a club scene oriented band than
Punisher's raw metal format, even though the members have strong metal
roots. "As a matter of fact, the guitarist and the bass player are the
people who first started Punisher." However, it is no replacement for the
faltering trio of speed. Garrett continues "We play more older stuff, and
some slower stuff. Some stuff gets a little faster, but its not thrash.
We're gigging out now to save up money, and we've got a decent following
going".
This split-personality in musical performance became more evident
as Garrett explained his listening taste, and his involvement in the music
business as a drum instructor. "I listen to a lot of trash and heavy metal,
and I try to keep on top of all of that. I like to listen to about anything
though. I work at a music store, and I pulled this instructional cassette
and booklet on African drumming, its more polyrhythmic oriented. But, I
really don't care for people that put labels on stuff, and I have to tell
them 'oh yeah, we're a thrash band' or whatever, but to me, its just all
music. I listen to whatever I want. But people ask you what you listen to
and you say 'well not Death, and not grind' and all the categories can
really make you sick. Whatever I hear, 50's and 60's stuff, lighter rock, or
whatever." However, the strong basis of thrash did show up in the
discussion of ascendants. "Well, Coroner. Coroner is our big influence. Its
a big influence for all three of us, the way they write. That's what we
really like. Nuclear Assault too, they're someone we listen to a lot"
One of the most common remarks about the Punisher demo is the
recording quality. For an unknown studio, it had an uncanny precision and
professional style to it. Garrett credits this both to practice and to the
studio itself. "We were polished, we went in there and put the songs out
right away, and we did all the stuff in like 10 hours. We went in there and
recorded 4 songs and then went back later and played with the vocals".
Garrett was quick to praise RT Audio and their production staff. "Rob
[Tylak] is really good, he's got a 24 track now, he had a 16 track when we
recorded. If we go anywhere, that's where we're going because he really
knows what he's doing. He's really easy to work with, whatever you want,
he does it."
The Detroit scene hosts many underground bands, and is occasionally
the playing ground for larger acts. "We've opened up for Cyclone Temple,
and Immolation. We play with Damien a lot but that's no big deal, they're
good friends" In fact, Brown mentioned the scene in Toledo is also
growing and has a lot of musical talent. "..A lot of Thrash, a lot of Death..
Actually there are just a lot of good musicians in general. When I work in
the store, a lot of older guys come in, really good Country/western
players. They do this finger picking stuff on guitar, it is just incredible
how much skill is there".
As we closed and talked more about the music scene and the
industry, Garrett touched upon a facet that might have a lot to do with
Thrash's fading away. "Its like a popularity contest, not the talent. A lot
of the records that are sold, people don't know why they buy it. You know
that Billy Ray Sirius song, 'Achy Breaky Heart'? A guy that went to my
high school wrote that song, and he's not the one making money off of it.
The whole thing, all of the greed is terrible"
Although the current situation looks bleak, Garrett mentioned a lot
of plans to keep punisher alive. If you wish to catch up on his current
exploits, drop a line to Punisher, 1301 Woodville Rd., Millbury, OH 43447.
*******************
* OLIVER MAGNUM *
*******************
"Real fuckin ugly metal. Hard as nails, twice as rusty." That's what
guitarist Monte Humphrey says about Oliver Magnum, the northern
Oklahoma metal band. Their bassist Dan Kurtz further evaluates their
uniqueness by stating "Our sound is very punchy, with lots of driving bass
and guitar. I don't want to categorize us but if I had to paint a picture it
wouldn't come out correctly. So to shorten things I would have to say our
style is... Brutal music with a singer!"
The band is certainly a change from the sound of modern Death metal
or the style of Thrash. Their melody and punch is reminiscent of older
Living Color or Fishbone, but their speed and edge sound more like that of
older Queensryche, which is further built by vocalist Mark Mueller's
singing style. Officially, they are described in their biography as "a
serious, malicious attitude with aggressive, intelligent songwriting
combined with an adrenaline-induced stage show" This and their
energetic, fresh production style make this band's newest effort, 'Drive
By', a very worthwhile addition to the metal world.
Monte continues about the origin of the band. "We formed in '85 in
after-school detention. We jammed and jammed, skipping school. After
Dan's mom ran over his big muff he switched to bass with me on guitar.
Curt could play 'Fast as a Shark' double bass in high school so that was
bad ass. We Jammed instrumental shows, which introduced us to Mark
Mueller who became our vocalist - and we made out '01986' demo,
unleashing to the world the ugliness of Oliver Magnum" This recording
lead to a nationwide tour, appearances on some compilation tapes, and
signing to Colossal/Restless, which led to their self-titled LP.
Oliver Magnum's latest release is a 5 song EP called 'Drive By'.
Monty explains "We recorded 'Drive By' ourselves. We did 6 songs to send
to some labels, and we put 5 out for our fans. We did it in our own studio,
the 'Vamm Room' and recorded it on an eight track. It was engineered and
mixed by our own fifth man Mr. Howard Worthen. It was great recording
because we did it all ourselves and the mistakes we made were ours - not
someone else tellin' us what to do or sound like." Dan adds "If you people
out there haven't got 'Drive By' yet -It'll blow your fraggin mind out... Like
a bullet to the brain, a wake up call from hell, a half-woman, half-
alligator ripping your flesh...." The band is currently searching for a new
recording deal with the EP, although they recently joined up with
Transworld Music in a management deal.
Although the band does travel frequently, Monte praises the
surprisingly decent scene in Oklahoma. "Yeah, the scene in OK is cool. Lots
of great fans and some good bands. We travel to Colorado, Missouri and
Texas lots to play, and a couple of our tours have taken us all over" Dan
adds "Oklahoma is a happening place... Lots of national acts and the locals
are all really killer. We do travel a lot for other shows, we are fortunate
enough to be able to travel rather cheap so we do it often." This extensive
roadwork has provided some interesting billing partners over the years.
"Well since 'Drive By' has been out, we've done shows with Pantera,
Savatage, Lizzy Borden and Nuclear Assault to name some cool ones. Most
shows we do with bands from this area" says Monte. He continues on
about past shows "Some of the greats we've shared bills with besides the
ones I already mentioned are Armored Saint, Jag Panzer, Megadeth,
Anthrax and Metal Church. Death Angel and Forbidden were real cool as
well. One real great show was the Troubadour in Los Angeles, where King
Diamond's Mikkey Dee sat in with us and we did 'Welcome Home' it was a
fuckin mind blower man!!!" Dan tells of his favorite experience too. "Last
band we played with was 'Cold Gin'. a Kiss tribute band! What a good time!!
The Gene Simmons looking guy was great! I'm a true Kiss fan so it was a
blast." He continues, "I've enjoyed Wrathchild America, that was a good
time for us. We enjoyed Pantera, they're the nicest fellows in the world
and the crew is just a killer so that eases things quite a bit. I liked
Arcane, also Forte, Mystik Force and others so its always fun but some
bands just have asshole crews. Lizzy Borden's crew was cool as fuck yet
Lizzy (Lazy, Smizzy, Wizzy) was a jerk-off."
The influences this group has are very diverse. "This week? Robert
Johnson, Ramones, Marillion, Brutal Truth, Type O Negative, Sick Of It All,
Wrathchild America and the new Flotsam." says Monte, explaining his
listening tastes. "Right now, Alice in Chains. I'm also into a lot of St.
Vitus, LL Cool J, Rollins Band" replies Dan. He also continues, mentioning
bands he would work with. "The Ramones, Sepultura, AC/DC, Skinny
Puppy, NIN, Trouble, anyone is good for me. I just like to rock. It doesn't
matter national act or a local thing, its all balls out rockin'"
As work on 'Drive By' promotion continues, the band is keeping very
busy. "Well, I've been workin' on tons of interviews from the 'Drive By'
campaign! And we are doing new studio work this week - on 10 brand new
tunes, so my fingers have been burnin' the new ones up." exclaims Monte.
Future goals? "To get a full length CD out this year, plus a video for the
song 'Worlds of Peace' and to do some tour dates with Nuclear Assault in
March" says Monte. Dan adds "Writing songs, practicing, staying sober,
and looking for rare LP's!"
Oliver Magnum is definitely a unique force in metal, and a bunch of
pretty cool guys as well. If you want to check out their EP, or their 'Force
Fed' fan newsletter, drop them a line!
****************
* JACKHAMMER *
****************
"JACKHAMMER is a good mix between death metal and hardcore
music", says J.W. Baker, vocalist of the Indiana band. Baker, plus Andy
Snider as drummer, Edward Baun on guitar, and D.J. M on second guitar
make up the troops of crossover hardcore metal.
"Austin and I live in Bloomington, but the band is based in
Indianapolis" says Baker. The Indiana area hasn't always been known for
its thriving underground scene, but the band seems to get by. "Yes actually
we have lots of opportunities to play... This month (march) we are playing
in March in Louisville at the Enterprise, in Dayton, Ohio at the New Space
and Indianapolis." "Indianapolis is okay, take it or leave it..." He explains.
"The hardcore scene is cool, could be better, could be worse.." A host of
other bands are in the area of Indianapolis and Louisville, some of which
Jackhammer works with. "[We hang out ] with Split Lip, a band from
Indianapolis.. The new Kinghorse from Louisville, and Endpoint from
Louisville..". But he explains the Bloomington scene quite sim
ply. "Sucks.
Bloomington is just a bunch of fuckers listening to John Mellencamp and
REM. The only music scene are these 'college rock' bands playing Nirvana
covers at bars with overpriced drinks. If I ran into someone in the streets
listening to Death metal, I'd probably shit my pants." He adds "my only
friend is Jon Konrath, i hate all other human beings."
The first Jackhammer demo is a nice mixture of metal and hardcore,
with a tight sound and a good amount of energy to it. "Our demo was
recorded at the Sonic Iguana, in ten hours... JACKHAMMER produced the tape
itself and it is pretty good, but we do have our complaints.. We really
could have used someone who really knew what the fuck they were doing.
All and all the demo was a pretty good beginning for us as a band..." Baker
adds "Austin was releasing the demo on his label Catalyst Records, but
now anyone can write me and have one for a big three bucks....."
"JACKHAMMER has really made a good name for itself and the
response we have gotten has been incredible..." states Baker. In fact,
Recently, Jackhammer was given a deal to record a seven inch that will
get decent distribution. "On April the 18th JACKHAMMER is going back to
the studio to record for a record, that will come out on 'C and J' records
which is a division of Doghouse and will be distributed by Cargo."
One problem in a small scene has been keeping a consistent lineup
who is willing to rough it through the bad parts of the band's development.
John, explaining some of his lineup maladies, says "yea, we gave our old
guitarist the boot because he was just too fucking lazy.. As JACKHAMMER
became more serious Clay, our old guitarist, started to drag behind. so
now we have DJ and he is working out really well and he is excited to be in
JACKHAMMER" There were also other problems. "Yeah, our bassist Austin
decided to quit and that really fucked us over. He was a real jerk-off
about it, and just 'didn't like the direction we were taking' so he just
fucking leaves while shows and recording is scheduled. Luckily this dude
named Damien is playing now, we didn't know how good he was but when
he rehearsed with us he was fucking awesome! Plus its killer to have
someone named Damien in your band."
John was eager to detail the differences between his work and that
of more generic hardcore bands. "All of our songs are about my life
basically, things i have done or seen.. You will not find pointless lyrics in
JACKHAMMER songs, all the songs have real meaning.." He continues "I
write all the songs.. Well, I work out the lyrics. Sometimes having a band
split between two towns can make me distant from the musical end. But
it does work out cool, I mean the band can practice out shit while I'm not
there, then on the weekends we can all jam together." When discussing
influences, he continued to explain their originality. "our influences are
really varied.. Mostly JACKHAMMER tries to make music that is really
original and that can not be easily labeled.. JACKHAMMER has the theory
that people look for something new, and we try to give that to them.."
Baker does add "well, one big influence for me has been that of serial
killers. I have this book about serial killers and I read it all the time, and
I think this sways my writing style. I figure if I don't make music my
life, I'll probably become a mass murderer. Maybe like that dude in Waco.
Did you know he fucked all those chicks he was holding hostage? That's
pretty rad." Back on the subject, he explains his musical tastes. "I listen
to nothing but death metal, not anything else... I like bands like Entombed,
Carcass, Dismember, Desultory, Nuclear Winter, and Sepultura"
The Jackhammer frontman continued to discuss other aspects of the
industry. "What pisses me off the most is that the music industry is that
it is run by politics.. It is all who you know or whether you can make the
label big bucks with stupid gimmicks.. I hate MTV and Ricky Racktman and
Headbangers Ball can fucking blow me. Fuck all glam rock trash."
Before we closed, Baker continued about his direction. "I don't know
what I'm going to do, I really don't want to continue school, I really just
want to be in a band and hang out and do nothing. See how much of an out
and out loser i can become.. Get lots of tattoos and just hang out and be in
a band. I'm sick of working in a fucking bagel shop"
If you are interested in Jackhammer, drop them a line at 300 N.
Bryan St., Bloomington, IN 47408.
**************************
* SCENE REPORT - EARTH *
**************************
Hello and welcome to the news article that says "Who really gives a
fuck?" Lots of stuff has been up, lots of bands are in the studio now or
are hitting the road. Morbid Angel is currently working on their new
album, Covenant, with Flemming Rasmussen, and is aiming for a late
spring/early summer release.... Sepultura are in pre-production of their
fifth album, with a release date of fall 1993 expected.... Type O Negative
entered the studio in January to record their third album, Bloody Kisses.
The album will be produced by their keyboard player Josh. Working titles
include "Christian Woman", "Kill all the white people" and "I fucked your
mom". Look for a spring release.... Atheist is currently working on
material for a new album.... Exhorder is also working on a new album.... The
original lineup of Mercyful Fate has reformed and signed to Metal Blade
records. King Diamond, Hank Shermann, Michael Denner and Timi Hansen
started recording February 1st at Dallas Sound Lab Studios, and are
working on "a heavy, disturbing recording very much in the vein of Melissa
and Don't Break The Oath". A US tour is expected to follow.... Death will
have a new release in June and a US tour sometime in August. Pestilence
will soon be recording their 4th release, replacing temporary bassist Tony
Choy with Jereon P. Thesseli. Speaking of Tony Choy, Cynic will be
recording their debut album Focus this March. Vio-gression vocalist Brian
DeNeffe has been working as a fifth member to the band recently. And,
because Sean Reinert will be playing drums for Cynic, Gene Hoglan,
formerly of Dark Angel, will be filling in for him on the next Death
recording. Bassist Skott Carino will be involved in the project, which will
start in Morrisound in early 1993....Paradise Lost will have an EP called As
I Die, featuring the title track, "Rape of Virtue", "Death Walks Behind
You", and a live version of "Eternal". There will be a coinciding US
tour....Benediction's third album Eye of the Rubicon will be out soon.... Both
Entombed and Dismember have finished recording new LP's at Sunlight.
Entombed working titles include "Heavens Die", "Hollowman", "Demon"
and "Eyemaster" while Dismember has cuts named "Fleshless" and
"Sorrowfill". The two groups switched off studio time in two week
intervals for the projects. Revenant, who were dropped from Nuclear
Blast, recently signed with Rage records.... Sadus has been dropped from
Roadrunner records.... Asphyx broke up due to personal differences. Martin
Van Duren will replace L.G. Petrov in Comecon.... Sin Eater and Butchery
have both broken up.... Cyclone Temple have replaced Brian Troch with
vocalist Marco Salinas.... Bob Rusay of Cannibal Corpse recently left the
band due to personal conflicts. Guitarrist Rob Barrett of Solstice and
Malevolent Creation is filling in for their Tomb of The Mutilated tour....
Malevolent Creation have been reformed by John Rubin, guitar, and
drummer Mark Simpson, they have a live EP but it isn't available on their
label. It includes the "Piece By Piece" studio cover and is available from
Flesh Fest distribution. Broken Hope were pulled from the Grindcore
International deal by Metal Blade records. Look for a new release by them
on MBR in the near future. Gwar was nominated for a Grammy award for
Best Music Video - Long Form for their "Phallus in Wonderland" video.
They are also in negotiation with producers for a feature length film...
Brutal Truth recently released the world's shortert video at 2.5 seconds,
consisting of 64 frames of political footage whizzing by on-screen.
Sepultura's Max Cavalera and girlfriend/manager Gloria Bujnowski are the
proud parents of a baby boy born January 19, 1993. Zyon Graziano Cavalera
will have a cameo appearance on the forthcoming Sepultura album; 'dad'
brought his DAT to the hospital and recorded newborn Zyon's heartbeat.
Bolt Thrower will be touring the US in April with Benediction and
Disincarnate... Also there's a spring tour with Deicide, Vader, and
Dismember.... and I'm outa time! Keep up to date and away from CNN!!
-Jon
*******************************
* SCENE REPORT - CALIFORNIA *
*******************************
The California Scene: From the way I've seen It in the past.
The Facts: California concert tickets are purchased through the bass
ticket outlet. Also, northern California tickets run through three major
clubs that I know of: Santa Clara's "One Step Beyond", Oakland's "The
Omni", and San Francisco's "The Stone". As far as Southern California is
concerned I don't know. A lot of bigger bands that come through get paid a
certain amount at these Clubs. How much they get paid I will never know.
Hopefully the acts get paid a fair chunk of money, especially, if they pack
these clubs. Unsigned local California bands such as Pax Mortis,
Unprovoked, Exhumed, Immortal Fate, Habeas Corpus, Phobia, and Mutilus
Mucus (just to name a few) are forced to sell tickets to play these shows.
For instance, at the Omni there is a 70 ticket minimum that a band has to
sell. The tickets usually sell for around $8 each with the club claiming $5
profit and the bands getting $3. If you don't sell all of your tickets you
will go in the hole. Some bands, such as Exhumed, Immortal Fate and
possibly many others sell their tickets for $5 instead of $8 in hope of
getting rid of the tickets for the opportunity to play in lieu of profit for
the band. Rich, the guitar player from Immortal Fate told me straight up
what he thought of it. As of right now they aren't playing gigs at the Omni
because of having to "pay to play". In other words, there are not many
opportunities for unsigned bands to play. For our band Pax Mortis it is
especially tough to sell tickets, not only because it's hard to sell 70
tickets but that we live 2 hours away. Who the hell is willing to drive 2
hours to see us play at $8 bucks a pop? Our other alternative is to travel
to other shows and try to sell our tickets for upcoming shows. Hopefully
one day Pax Mortis and other bands can work out a deal with the clubs to
let our bands open for signed bands just to get recognition. Then we could
get a mailing list started. You figure that the signed act or headlining act
should draw the crowds in the first place. A lot of clubs in California are
great healthy places to play at. The security is good, the bands are good
and the crowds are nice. Its just frustrating for Pax Mortis to have to pay
out of pocket to play at some of these clubs if we don't break even on
ticket sales. Just to play this type of music is gratifying in itself for us.
Enough bitching!! As I say these were the facts as I know them.
-Aaron Copelan
********************************
* SCENE REPORT - ELKHART, IN *
********************************
Satan help us. The only thing even close to a scene here is the band
Afterlife, who are picking up a lot of momentum and will be releasing a
new album real soon now. Besides this it's just people in lowered pickup
trucks listening to little boys with their pants on backward. The next
time I see Jon I'm killing him for making me write a scene review for this
hellhole.
-Ray Miller
**************************
* DEICIDE BOMB THREATS *
**************************
Deicide and Glen Benton had a few problems on their European tour last
December. In early December, the band was playing at Fryshuset Club in
Stockholm, Sweden, and during a set being played by Therion, a bomb went
off near a fire exit. The bomb would have gone off during the Deicide set,
but due to delays, they were still waiting to play. The explosion tore
apart an entire wall and a piece of the roof, and injured several people.
Luckily nobody was seriously hurt, and Deicide got to play a short set
before the police cleared the place out. The whole deal got front-page
news coverage plus TV news looked at it too. The following letter showed
up at Roadrunner records for Deicide:
ANIMAL MILITIA
MANCHESTER CELL
AN OPEN LETTER TO GLEN BENTON AND DEICIDE.
WHEN YOU SIGNED YOUR CONTRACT TO PERFORM AT MANCHESTER'S
INTERNATIONAL 2 AND LONDON'S ASTORIA ON 16TH AND 17TH OF
DECEMBER, YOU EFFECTIVELY SIGNED YOUR DEATH CERTIFICATE. NOT EVEN
SATAN HIMSELF WILL PROTECT YOU ONCE YOU SET FOOT IN ENGLAND.
R.I.P.
Benton's reply to the European press was "Crush the Christians! Kill me if
you can. And if I meet the guy who's been making those threats, I'll rip his
tongue out of his throat. That's no threat. I mean it!" A week later the
following showed up at Roadracer's London office:
ANIMAL MILITIA
MANCHESTER CELL
RE: DEICIDE
STOCKHOLM WAS JUST A TASTE OF WHAT IS TO COME.
BENTON IS LIVING HIS SCHOOLBOY FANTASY BUT WON'T SUFFER ENOUGH,
WE'LL TRY OUR BEST! WEDNESDAY 16TH DECEMBER AT A VENUE WE KNOW
INSIDE OUT, THIS IS GOING TO BE ARMAGEDDON. THIS IS THE FINAL
WARNING, SHIT, IF SALMAN RUSHTIE HAD BENTON'S BRAIN HE WOULD HAVE
BEEN DEAD YEARS AGO.
WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME
Security was increased during the UK dates, and at the Manchester date,
someone threw what was thought to be a bomb. After calling in a bomb
squad and evacuating the club and surrounding homes, the police found a
false bomb made with a clock and some wires. Deicide finished the
remainder of the European tour without major incident, and are currently
in the states rehearsing before their third Roadrunner records release.
*************
* REVIEWS *
*************
AT DEATH'S DOOR II compilation (Roadrunner)
This is a pretty decent showcase of Roadrunner's talent and variety, and
has a lot of neat stuff on it, whether you are a new fan looking for a good
sampler or an old guru looking for new rare tracks. There are 12 tracks on
here, and you get some LP material from Fear Factory, Gorguts, Sorrow,
Atrocity, Skin Chamber and Immolation. But also you also get half an
album full of unreleased stuff. Disincarnate does a demo song, Suffocation
does a song from their upcoming LP, and Cynic has a cut from their demo.
Also Death does a so-so Kiss cover, Malevolent Creation covers Slayer's
"Piece By Piece", and Brujeria has a track from their 7". I liked the
variety on here, but I did find that the 12 tracks made a kindof short
compilation, especially if half of them are old songs. However this is
still something to look for, especially if you like a variety of stuff.
-Jon
BOLT THROWER - The IVth Crusade (Earache)
Bolt Thrower returns with their heaviest album to date. Precision lead
guitar soars above, entices, and then hangs over exceptionally heavy
grindcore rhythm guitar and thundering death metal double-bass hell
drums, augmented with inventive bass guitar palpitating. Chords flow
into one another with the fluidity and confidence of a prowling boa
constrictor, over which roar the raging winds of terror hurling forth
abstract lyrics about the fantastic. A tremendous ambient heaviness
emanates from this music, whether emerging from drifting bass tones or
from purely tremendous rhythmic pulsating apocalyptic battering guitar.
This album sounds like the fibrillation of a dying heart; even in the slabs
of monster distortion-build chords which achieve impact and then
resonate in the stillness there is a sense of urgency and despair. Overall,
it is beautiful. Bolt Thrower bring to us a world of fantasy that overlaps
far too much onto real world problems and emptiness to be frivolous, and
sings it with the conviction of the already executed. An amazing sense of
purpose and conviction pervades this album.
-S.R.
Wow, I didn't think anything would match Warmaster's power, but this not
only reaches the mark, but avoids redundancy. Brutal integrated drums and
grinding guitars set the scene for agonizing riffage and deadly vocals.
This is definitely one of the top ten for the year.
-Jon
CANDIRU - Unloved and Weeded Out (Release)
I don't know if I'm starting to like industrial more over time, or if some
of this stuff is just getting a lot more metal influenced. At any rate,
Candiru would be classified as an industrial band, but I think a lot of
metalheads would like it too. This 10-song LP is really automated and
repetitive in places, and it really has some bizarre stuff in it. It even
breaks off into prose with synth background in places. There are really
excellent samples all over the place, and it has a really high-tech feel to
it. It isn't metal, but it has a lot of power and precision. It feels like a
future world soundtrack, something violent in the same context that
nuclear weapons are violent. It isn't straight heads-up terror, it is an
implied heaviness from the technical feel. Great stuff...
-Jon
AUTOPSY - Acts Of The Unspeakable (Vile)
Autopsy's newest and sickest! 18 tracks to mangle your mind. Although
they have mostly been known for slow to mid-paced Doom/Death on their 4
previous releases, the bay area quartet crank it up to a good fast grind on
many of these tunes, notably "Tortured Moans of Agony", "Battery Acid
Enema", "Blackness Within" and "Skullptures". But on other selections
such as "Your Rotting Face", "Funereality" and "Pub/Rot" Autopsy
continues the approach found on their classic older material. There should
be something here for both old and new fans (me being a new fan). As for
the production, it is excellent, the band handling it themselves at
Starlight Sound. There are, however, a couple of glitches in the
engineering that you will notice if you listen through headphones. Also,
all gore freaks should check out the "Deluxe ultra-sicko edition" which
includes lyrics and a horrific painting by Kent Mathieu. Chris Reifert
handles drum and vocals well, his guttural growlings repulsive throughout,
and Danny Corrales' guitar work is technical, yet not overbearingly so.
This is an excellent release from some Death metal pioneers!
-Adam
I guess someone has to compete with Cannibal Corpse for sickest cover
art and lyrics. And like the Corpse's Tomb..., this album comes in a
"clean" no lyrics version and the "Deluxe, Ultra Sicko edition" If you buy
the censored version, I'll personally hunt you down and kill you slowly ya
fuckin douche. Anyway, musically this varies from slow Death to a near
Grind. The lyrics are kinda silly and I've never been a huge fan of Reifert's
vocal style, but this is brutal stuff. Autopsy may not be my #1 favorite
band, but you can fucking count on 'em to be totally sick and heavy. And
they continue to expand their style a bit with each release. That's a
strong point. In this case, strong enough.
-Ray
DEATH IS JUST THE BEGINNING II compilation (Nuclear Blast America)
This compilation is a hefty source of new metal for any fan. We're talking
21 tracks of unreleased material by pretty much every Nuclear Blast
America band. From Benediction to Pungent Stench, from Deceased to
Disharmonic Orchestra, from Fetish 69 to Dismember, there is a lot of
ground covered, and a lot of variety. There isn't much bad to say about
this thing, there is so much stuff that the cassette is hard to reference,
you really need a CD and its index. Besides that though, this is money well
spent, a very good investment into Death!
-Jon
DEICIDE - Amon: Feasting The Beast (Roadrunner)
I really liked both of Deicide's LP's, but I saw little point in this. This 10
track album is a reissue of the two demos that Amon made. (Amon was
Deicide's original name) Every song with the exception of this intro track
can be found on Deicide's LP's, and they also include two versions of
"Sacrificial Suicide", further adding in the monotony. Some of the songs
vary a bit from the album versions, but the concept is a lot like that of a
live album that sounds basically the same as a studio album with no new
tracks. Imagine Deicide's first album, recorded in a garage, with less
talent and not as much harmonizer. Now take away the cool artwork and
mystique behind Benton's Satanism and you have this. Actually one of the
demos was recorded in Morrisound, but you really realize how much
production goes into a Deicide album after hearing this. Yeah, it might
make a good collector's item or whatever, but I think they just wanted a
fast buck. Don't waste your cash, get their other two albums with your
money and you won't miss much.
-Jon
GENERAL SURGERY - Necrology EP (Relapse)
Although this was recorded in November, 1990, this was only recently
released by Relapse Records. This is basically a Swedish "supergroup" of
death, featuring members of Dismember, Afflicted and Creamatory, plus
Exit-13. The 5 songs on this musically draw a lot from old Carcass, but
with a more direct, straight-forward feel and much better production
(courtesy of good ol' reliable Sunlight Studios and good ol' reliable Tomas
Skoksberg). Lyrically, the quote on the back cover pretty much sums it up:
"Murder is the only way to kill time". "Severe Catatonia in Pathology" is
the sickest on the disk, with the happy overtones. Also the opening
instrumental "Ominous Lamentation" will be of interest. With nice
packaging and production, this is a worthy addition to any Death/Gore
metaller's collection!
-Adam
DESULTORY - Into Eternity (Metal Blade)
GO BUY THIS NOW. PUT DOWN THIS MAGAZINE AND GO BUY THIS ALBUM
NOW, EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO KILL PEOPLE GO GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Desultory are
new Gods of metal straight from the capitol of the underground,
Stockholm, Sweden. This 9 track prophecy of the art was recorded at
Sunlight studios and is probably one of the best albums I have heard leave
the hands of producer Tomas Skosberg. Every song on the debut release is
a perfect example of the power, rage, and speed of a brutal Swedish group,
but the music stays a step ahead of the rest of the generic crowd of
Entombed-wannabe's. The songs talk about depression, hate, pain and
negative feelings. They aren't overly satanic like Entombed, or gory like
Dismember (actually Dismember's vocalist Matti Karki sings backup
vocals on the song "Depression") The feel of the album isn't that it is a
copy, they are their own sound. And the entire album is just a library of
new sounds, they don't cop any of the cliche riffs or fills like so many
other bands. My only complaint is if you listen to the demos a lot and then
listen to the album, it is a little different. It isn't as raw, it has a
thicker sound, not as sharp but then it is well produced. I don't have a
favorite song, I'm still listening to the entire album all the way through
every day. I suggest you do the same.
-Jon
MY DYING BRIDE - As The Flower Withers (Caroline/Peaceville)
Well, the Latin lyrics threw me, but other than that, I'm reasonably
impressed. Eerie violin adds to the Doom element and poetic lyrics (when
in English) add credibility. I still like their EP better, but this is growing
on me. The power and emotion behind the vocals make me think of Nick
Holmes (Paradise fuckin' Lost), although Aaron is rawer. I'm anxious to
hear more from this band, but I have to wonder if they can pull it off live
(like the violin parts).
-Ray
DISMEMBER - Pieces EP (Nuclear Blast)
My immediate disappointment on this was that the American version has a
different back cover than a European version I saw. But the original cover
is there, a cool picture of the 5 member's heads severed with their hair
all tied in one knot. Aside from that bummer, I like this six song work, I
thought the production was a bit cleaner than the stuff on "Like An
Everflowing Stream" and some of the stuff seems way heavier too.
"Pieces" is really fucking pounding, and "I Wish You To Hell" is also
majorly vicious. My favorite track is probably "Torn Apart", which isn't
on the European version. This is a pretty decent deal, and is a good
supplement to their recent LP, it was awesome to get this because I
couldn't get enough after the album. This is a must-have.
-Jon
SAINT VITUS - C.O.D. (Nuclear Blast)
Hmm, I'm not a real big fan of doom metal. This band used to be on SST,
and they have been around forever. They are a good alternative band, they
are really tight, and have a unique sound. The album is a decent
progression from their older stuff, the recording is clean and the songs
are cool and all. But, even though they have a bit of a metal edge to them,
they are neither fast nor tearing, and they are probably not that appealing
to a lot of people into metal. If you are into alternative and doom, and get
into that kindof stuff, it isn't a bad album. But if you're the world's
biggest Morbid Angel fan, don't rush to the stores and buy this expecting a
really grating, speed packed album. It isn't.
-Jon
WINTER - Into Darkness (Nuclear Blast America)
Feel the winter grind you away.... This New York City/Long Island group is
SLOW, and I don't mean that as an insult. They would be best described as
ultra-heavy, ultra-slow doom metal. They start their sonic attack at a
heavy, crushing stride and slow to a pummeling subsonic terror. There is
so much low end in this recording, I wouldn't recommend listening to it on
a weak stereo, and I seldom listen to this while walking to class, because
my feet strangely become atomically heavy and it takes me an hour to get
there. These guys aren't Death, or thrash, but are a totally separate breed
that refuses to be labelled. The lyrics talk about how screwed up the
world is, all the problems with oppression and certain destruction are the
topics. They have decent musical ability, and the recording is great. This
is something really unusual that I don't think everyone would get into, but
on those days when you wake up and feel like the end is near, remember
the harshness of Winter, it sets the scene for certain doom.
-Jon
GOREFEST - False (Nuclear Blast America)
This is a pretty fresh sound in the underground. The content of this
soundscape from Holland touches on a lot of different aspects of groups I
like, but also has a good original feel to it. Jan-Chris de Koeyer sounds a
lot like Barney from Napalm Death, but doesn't directly cop it. In fact, a
lot of little things here and there remind me of Napalm Death. But there
are a lot of reminders of Pestilence, and Carcass too. Colin Richardson did
do the mix on the album, giving it the high-end sound that Fear Factory and
Carcass obtained. Lyrically, the title says it all. Some of the stuff is
reminiscent of Cannibal Corpse, but they aren't as shocking, it all blends
in very well. But the striking thing is there is a lot of originality in
places, working with stuff we all love now, which makes it something I
really keep picking up and hearing over and over again. And you gotta love
some of their sound samples....
-Jon
AFFLICTED - Prodigal Sun (Nuclear Blast America)
Psychedelic Death metal? Well, yeah, that sums this up. This sure doesn't
sound like something I'd expect from Sunlight. There are places that are
very stock Death metal, with the Swedish grinding guitars and galloping
drum and bass frenzying the beat. But, there are spots that the group goes
off on a tangent, really deeply drawing on their roots in older 1960's
psychedelic rock. The result: a truly unique and entertaining blend of
Death with a truly new source of influence. The recording is tight, and
overly deep, it has a great sound. Although some people might find this a
little far out, I found that it had enough Death in it that it was brutal and
great to kill to, but it had enough strangeness to it to keep me on my toes.
Truly a unique recording.
-Jon
GORGUTS - The Erosion of Sanity (Roadrunner)
Hmm, this group is just a bit TOO influenced by Cannibal Corpse at times.
The Canadian group produces a Deathly mix of tunes depicting the
gruesomeness of the world. Its a really tight recording, and the playing o
n
it is much better than their earlier stuff, they have really refined their
stuff. But, I did find this to sound a LOT like Cannibal Corpse, it didn't
have that extra punch to put it above the mark.
-Jon
DISEMBOWLMENT - Dusk (Relapse)
This is part of Relapse's "Underground Series", which I guess is supposed
to be a sort of label-released, demo-feeling line of recordings. At any
rate, the album has 3 tracks. Two tracks, "The Tree of Life and Death" and
"A Burial at Ornans" are from Disembowlment's 1991 demo Deep Sensory
Procession Into Aural Fate and a third track, "Cerulean Transcience of All
My Imagined Shores" is a previously unreleased item. These songs are
pretty slow, in a Winter-style grating, but I wouldn't say they have the
same approach or style. There is a certain amount of power behind this
work, but it doesn't come across real well. I was very dissatisfied with
the production of the album. First of all, it sounds like it was in the
worst room acoustically possible; it sounds a lot like it was recorded at a
gig or something. It isn't a poor quality of recording though, it is just not
very punchy or powerful. In places during "The Tree of Life and Death"
where there was a break and the guitar should have jumped out and
grabbed you, the guitar level was abnormally low and it didn't do anything
for the level of energy. There is just a certain amount of sharpness
missing in production. The last track picked up a bit, and the constant,
clear eerie rhythm guitar really stood out ok, and the drums sounded a bit
better. But this production, plus the fact that the songs dragged on
forever, really made this of little interest to me. I think with more
powerful production and less of an emphasis on long musical essays, the
talent shown here could really come out. But I've got to give a thumbs
down to this entry in the Underground Series. I wouldn't want to pay label
price for a cd that gave me demo-price quality.
-Jon
MASTERS OF MISERY - Black Sabbath: an Earache Tribute (Earache)
If you're in the states and can find this, do whatever you have to do to get
a copy of this. This is licensed to Toy's Factory records in Japan, so an
American version can cost you in upwards of $35. But.. The big deal is this
is an 11 track compilation of Black Sabbath covers by Earache bands.
Pitch Shifter do a cover of "N.I.B." that is tough as hell, but sounds
NOTHING like the original slow and grinding Sabbath song, it is an
automated, punching rhythm with screaming precise vocals and sampling.
Fudge Tunnel takes the slow and soothing ballad of "Changes" and start
with business as usual, then all hell breaks loose and its a triple-fast
screaming rendition that pushes the 70's tune to future speed. Scorn does
an eerie ten minutes plus version of "The Wizard", with haunting effects-
laden lyrics and dissonant guitars in the background, adding to the
mystique. Lee Dorian of Cathedral does what I think is his best lyrical
appearance to date on "Shock Wave" and Ole Bjarkebakke's lyrics are the
coolest addition to Cadaver's near-stock recording of "Sweet Leaf". Add
appearances by Sleep, OLD, Godflesh, Confessor and Brutal Truth and
you've got one hell of an interesting mix of stuff. This is probably one of
the coolest collector's items I have next to my Haunted Garage double 7"
with 3-d cover and read an blue clear vinyl disks, and If you see this, it is
worth it.
-Jon
TOUCH OF DEATH compilation (Cargo/Black Mark)
This ten track compilation gives you a feel for what kind of metal Black
Mark has to offer, and is a great mix of music.
It's worth the price just for Edge Of Sanity's Enigma, and having Blood and
Iron by Bathory on the same CD makes it really worth your while. Black
Mark has a lot of bands with a good European sound but without the clich
Swedish sound you hear so much of. Stuff like Fleshcrawl, Seance,
Cemetary and Necrosanct give this a really good variety and make it
something that is almost necessary in anyone's collection. Even though it
is only 10 tracks, with Bathory coming in at almost ten minutes,
Fleshcrawl at almost seven, and Rossicrucian doing their 6:15 Within The
Silence, you're talking about a damn long disk. Cargo stuff is still hard to
find in this part of the country, but push your retailer for this, the
compilation and the bands within are something you're going to want to
get familiar with in the world of brutal music.
-Jon
AMORPHIS - The Karelian Isthmus (Relapse)
Amorphis is a balanced speed of Death metal, with a brutal attack of
powerful guitarwork intertwined with a Gothic blend of synthesizer. The
Karelian Isthmus is a historic battlefield in Finland, and is the perfect
name for this pummeling 12-song work. This has a lot of smoother,
mystical intros and backing work, but the quartet keeps the ferocity of
true Death up front.
The recording is very demonstrative of the work at Sunlight with
Skoksberg at the board, and the mixture of guitars and the occasional
synth nicely preface the pounding rhythm of bass and drums, with a
perfect growling of lyrics by Tomi Koivusaari. This is a pretty decent
recording, pretty technical but still brutal and worth it.
-Jon
SKULLCRUSHERS compilation (Relativity)
This doesn't feature any newer stuff, but is more of a 'historical'
compilation. It showcases "ten selections from ten very different bands
who all staked their claim to fame as leaders of the aggressive
underground movement of the Eighties." It goes as far back as early
Megadeth with Skull Beneath the Skin, and highlights include Exodus,
Nuclear Assault, Prong, Death, Voivod, Obituary and Celtic Frost. Like I
mentioned, no real new stuff. But it is a cool combination of sons, and I
really enjoy listening to the mix of old favorites.
-Jon
GOD IS LSD - Spirit of Suicide (Century Media)
Thomas Ludke is the German equivalent to Al J from Ministry, a techno-
pop wizard that is into project work in the industrial world. God Is LSD is
his latest project, using 3 other studio musicians. This album has some of
the heavy feel of a lot of older industrial, but it also is one of the more
dance-oriented albums I've seen from this genre. There's digital drumming
and keyboards with a lot of guitar sampling and the overall mix is really
precise, really snappy. But this is really not in the metal realm as much
as it is pop-oriented, so unless you are a true industrial fan you might not
get into this. But it is a great recording.
-Jon
SOULSTORM - Darkness Visible (Metal Blade)
This Canadian three piece is an industrial act that is exported from
Epidemic Records. This is pretty harsh lyrically, basing its sound on
industrial. It isn't really dance oriented because the structure of the 8
tracks can be surprising in places, and it doesn't seem as Death metal
based as it claims. The guitars aren't as prominent as something like
Malhavoc or Fear Factory, and the drums seem pretty automated. I'm
thinking they might be more morbid live, playing shows in the past with
Grave and Massacre. This does have a good sound to it and is an over-par
industrial recording, even if it isn't as crossover as some bands are.
-Jon
SOLSTICE - Solstice (Century Media)
This is another product of the ever-popular Tampa scene, recently signed
to Century Media. This is recorded in Morrisound with Scott Burns if this
tells you anything right away. The music is pretty fast Death metal, with
brutal lyrics and speedy soloing. The sound isn't really cliche or
repetitive. This didn't totally jump out at me, but after listening a few
more times it becomes much more appealing. Its still a pretty tight
recording though and worth looking into.
-Jon
ANACRUSIS - Screams and Whispers (Metal Blade)
This is the fourth release from St. Louis' claim to progressive metal.
These guys aren't a Death or Thrash band, they have some of the accent and
meter of a doom band but they have the balls and sharpness of a hard rock
band. Its like Cathedral meets Fates Warning or something. Kenn Nardi's
lyrics are strange, they are sung in places and the phrasing is abnormal,
but it gives the album a good feel. The drumwork by Paul Miles and John
Emery's bass lay down a really offbeat and unique foundation for the lucid
guitarwork by Nardi and Kevin Heidbreder. The guitars blend pretty
decently into the mix except for a well planned jump out of the pit for a
sharp, distortion-clear solo of precision, or a harmonic, dual guitar
chorus. Don't forget the clear standalone guitar passages here and there.
This concept probably won't sit well with most fanatic headbangers, and
even some more broad-tasted individuals may have to give it a second or
third spin before it catches. But to me, it was worth it.
-Jon
***********
* DEMOS *
***********
ANGELS IN EXILE (demo)
This demo is a pretty thrash-influenced Death band, that has both a good
original feel and enough ties to their roots to make something a lot of
people can really get into. The New Mexico band has had a lot of work
behind the demo, it is very well recorded, and is really tight. The songs
are on the level of Sepultura, not terribly fast, but a lot of energy. There
is a cool use or two of keyboards, and a really neat intro too. This is a
pretty well done demo, there are parts that sound a tad cliche, but overall
its got some power. Write to POB 3712 Albequerque, MN 87190-3712
-Jon
HELLBOUND - Apocalyptic Visions (demo '92)
Although New York's Hellbound call themselves a Death/thrash band,
I tend to disagree with that. To my ears, they sound more like a thrashier
version of Atheist or Sadus, possessing the prominent bass guitar &
screaming vocals, respectively, of those bands, but with the simpler, less
technical approach of bands like Vio-lence, D.R.I., or Exodus. Their
drummer, however, has his own very cool style that "demands to be
heard"! Amazing that this is their debut! Hellbound showcase their
professionality in both instruments & songwriting throughout the four
tunes on Apocalyptic Visions. The last two songs, "My Guilt is Silence"
and "Infernal Ecstasy", absolutely rage!!! And the icing on the cake is the
stunning production - recorded on a 16-track machine, all instruments can
be heard clearly, with drums and bass shining through especially! Quite a
debut! HB should have a new demo out by the time you read this, but get
their brutal first effort by sending a blank tape and return postage, to: J.D.
Valladares 35 E. 208th ST., # 1J Bronx, NY 10467
-Adam
DAB - Alice In Horrorland (demo)
This French band is the prime example of a good Death metal band. There
are no stupid gimmicks, and no weird cross-over influences, these guys
just play straightforward vicious Death. The four song demo has speed,
excellent guitarwork, great vocals, and is really tight. Its a really good
recording, and has a really good color cover. This is a really good demo if
you're looking for a new Death metal band that has a good, unique sound.
Write DAB c/o Richard DeCastro, Le Roudour, Servel, 22300 Lannion,
FRANCE
-Jon
OLIVER MAGNUM - Drive By (demo)
This Oklahoma band has a really cool sound to it, I would say they sound a
lot like a white version of Living Color, maybe a little harder and not
poser-ish, with a cool sound to them. Progressive metal might be another
label. But then we all hate labels, don't we? It's kinda speedy, has a lot of
energy, but its not too thrashy or Death-like. It has a really good sound to
it though, the songs are really interesting, and they aren't a bunch of
posers or anything. In fact, they mentioned that Duff from GNR showed up
at the show they hooked up with their current manager at, and he left
after 2 songs. Cool enough for me. This is a well-produced album, very
professional packaging and a lot of cool, informative, and humorous promo
material. Like I said, these guys aren't extreme metal, but they pack a
punch and aren't just another clone bar-band. Send $7 US/$8 World to
Oliver Magnum, POB 3951, Enid, OK, 73702, USA
-Jon
PHANTASM - The Abominable (demo)
I've heard a lot about this band ever since the Milwaukee Metalfest, and
I've been seeing their fliers for this tape all over, so I'm glad I finally
heard what its all about. This death band from Wisconsin has a really
brutal sound, very grinding with tearing vocals and really awesome song
content. "The Abominable" is about a guy who is severely burned and is
trying to get surgery to cover his fucked up face. They do a cover of The
Yardbirds' song "For Your Love" The recording quality is great, and check
out the incredible artwork on the j-card. Great demo! Send $6 US or $7
World to Phantasm c/o Doug Schoeneck, 3433 S. Wollmer Rd #209, West
Allis, WI 53227
-Jon
ENRAPTURED - 7 Song Demo '92 (Demo)
This is actually a combination of the unreleased 5-song Reconstrued
Malfeasance demo and a new 2-song demo. Although the "Reconstrued"
tunes, recorded as a 4 piece (Tino Lesicco on drums/vocals, Pierce Totty
on Bass, Jason Smith on guitar and Justin Jones on guitar) and "included
as bonus tracks because of the poor sound quality", the 2 newsies with 2
new members (Dan Stoops, vocals and David Smith, 2nd guitar) actually
have about the same sound and production. While Enraptured improved
their musicianship in the 4 months between recording "The Downfall of
Christianity" and "Abortion Consumed", they show a decrease in
songwriting skill, The older tunes like "The Execration" and "Probe the
Flesh" contain headbangable Slayer/Carcass type riffs and deep, growly
Karl Willetts/Barney Greenway style vocals. The new tracks, however,
are generic highspeed Cannibal Corpse or Obituary-esque noise with
annoyingly loud vocals and incessant double bass drumming. My advice:
pick up this demo for the 5 excellent bonus tracks and ignore the 2 cheesy
commercial fag songs.
-Adam
LANDFILL - Face The Insanity (Demo)
Landfill is a three-piece industrial outfit consisting of Steveo (vocals),
Todd (Guitar, drill) and Brian (bass). The demo uses a drum machine, and
is 5 songs of pretty original industrial stuff. Yes, the band is names after
the song by Pitchshifter, and their style is pretty reminiscent of their
namesake. This wouldn't be considered a metal crossover band of any
sort, but the members have a lot of interest in areas outside of industrial
such as Death and thrash. The structure is really techno and full of
energy, with seldom a slow or simple moment throughout. Production is
mediocre, there is a lot of ground covered and there is thick use of
sampling and production tricks, but as with most industrial demos, it
really needs to be hauled into a high-tech studio with a 5 digit budget to
get the mastermind songwriting flawlessly executed. The present
recording tends to be a bit thin and sounds a bit too 'artificial' in places.
Hopefully their efforts will not go unnoticed and money from playing out
and demo promotion will make this kick-ass work really shine. If you are
into Godflesh, Ministry, NIN or any other industrial, check this group out!
Only $5 (anywhere) to Landfill, 2904 "R" St., Vancouver, WA 98663 USA
-Jon
TIMEGHOUL - Tumultuous Travelings (demo)
Perhaps the best demo I've heard since I began listening to Death
Metal/Grindcore less than a year ago is Timeghoul's debut 4-song,
Tumultuous Travelings. Mixing elements of Immolation, Cathedral, Brutal
Truth and Suffocation, this Foristell, Missouri quartet rage through "Rain-
wound", "The Siege", "Gutspawn", & "Infinity Coda", with unmatched
intensity and style. All the songs run over 5 minutes ("The Siege" is the
longest), and much variation is contained within. Drummer Tony Holman
can go from a high-speed "blast" beat, to a slow rhythm, and back to a
fast part in the blink of an eye! Jeff Hayden's vocals are brutal but
different: Check out the singing part on "Siege" and the special FX on
"Infinity Coda"! The band's instrumental ability is second to none, as are
their song writing skills, but this otherwise top-notch tape is marred by
bad sound. There's much flutter and warble, and the volume is rather low.
With Timeghoul's excellent musicianship, it's a wonder that they haven't
been signed yet!! So hey! If anyone from Earache or Relapse or whoever is
reading this, come on!! Pick up a pen and ink 'em right now! It would be a
shame if Timeghoul broke up before recording at least one album
professionally! But until then, we've got this masterpiece! Write to
vocalist/guitarist Jeff Hayden and send $4.00 U.S./$5.00 world for
Tumultuous Travelings POB 32, FORISTEL, MO 63348-0032 USA
-Adam
WINDHAM HELL - Complete Awareness (Demo)
Do not fear, for hell is here! This is probably one of the most bizarre
releases I have received, but is really hip. L.T. Windham is a one man
prophet of music, and his word is a strange, ethereal presence executed by
the sole performer. This music is really far out, with some of the
guitarwork being tranquil, soliloquy of the strings, and some being
searing, grinding chords. This isn't straightforward melody and lyrics,
and it isn't noise either. It is something that really has to be appreciated,
but it has a lot of feeling and message to it. I guess if I was pressed to
describe it, I would say try imagining an art-oriented guitarist like Steve
Howe and making a solo work with the soul of a metal-oriented individual
and then tape 7 unique songs on a tape. This isn't something the tried-
and-true headbanger is going to get into, but if you appreciate a lot more
theoretical music you'd like this. Oh, include about a jillion pages of
lyrics, pictures, stories and about everything but 2 forms of picture ID in
the promo packet. If you want the most unique and enjoyable demo you'll
ever hear, send $5 to L.T. Windham, 9405-384th ave SE, Snoqualmie, WA
98065 USA
-Jon
CANDY STRIPER DEATH ORGY - Alter Nations (Demo)
This is a rather unique crossover band from the New Hampshire area that
incorporates hardcore drumming and grindcore singing, plus a wild mix of
song structure for a really unique sound. Eric Park and Eric Paone mix
vocal duties for a decent variation of the thrash growl, and Jim Mazarakis
has a great snappy drum sound that occasionally breaks into a faster
death-like pounding. Basil Clarke and Paone combine guitar duties with
Park's bassmanship for a varying pattern of death metal riffs and hardcore
styles. This, plus an occasional glance back into older Thrash really keeps
your head reeling. The 4 songs are nicely produced and recorded, and talk
about war, genocide and nuclear power. I guess the guys want to extend a
big "fuck you" to the Seabrook nuclear power plant. Overall this is a good
recording, but you'll probably have trouble finding one unless you're quick,
they go fast! Send $5 to CSDO c/o Eric Park, 601 Washington St.,
Haverhill, MA 01832
-Jon
DAMNATION - Volume Two (demo)
San Diego, California trio DAMNATION have been playing together since
late 1990, and Volume Two, their second effort (naturally), is a
professionally done, musically mature release that, unfortunately, is
lacking in the songwriting department. The two-song tape features rather
boring lyrics about insanity and nightmares, generic Sodom/Kreator style
thrash/death, and monotone Jorgen Sandstrom-style vocals. That said, the
songs do grow on you after a few listens, but I haven't had the urge to
constantly replay them, as I did with, say, Timeghoul!! As I said, the
cassette is pro-packed and recorded, with excellent production (this is
the sound Timeghoul should have had) courtesy of a 24-track studio and a
great purple logo on the cover! Fans of Possessed and other early
Death/thrash will dig this. Send $3.00 for the tape, to 926 St, George Ct.,
Spring Valley, CA 91977
-Adam
CROSS FADE - Ruined (Demo)
This New York State band's 3 track demo is pretty much straightforward
grindcore metal in the style of Cannibal Corpse, but more oriented at
Death metal's evil lyrics then the typical gore lyrics a band with their
sound might use. The three tracks, "Ruined", "Rape For Profit" and "Born
Against" are all full-speed, tearing metal, with decent production pulling
in a great guitar sound, and some really pounding drum work. There are
some interesting time changes and it isn't boring or dragging. I like how
they occasionally break into a strange acoustic guitar part then jump right
back into high speed moshing, the guitar work on here is great, John
Tinger, their guitarist really knows what the hell he's doing. But the
reason I love this demo is the cover picture of a bombed out church... $4
(US) /$5 (World) Cross Fade, 191 Mastic Blvd. , Mastic, NY 11950 USA
-Jon
ETERNAL TORMENT - (demo)
This is a DAMN speedy demo. This 3-piece have a lot of things that really
remind me of an American version of Carcass that has a strange Napalm
Death influence. Al Costa sounds enough like Barney to remind me of
Napalm Death in spots but in others he abandons the growling yell for a
sicker battle cry. The Buffalo, New York trio takes some of the gore of
their New York ancestors Cannibal Corpse but add more riffiness and style
to the music. Dan Nelligan slaps the music in place behind the drum kit
while Carl Pace's guitar jams away a decent assortment of music. Like I
said, a lot like Carcass, damn straightforward, but not lame 2-riff songs
that put you to sleep. The four song demo is well recorded, and is
definitely something to look into. Contact Eternal Torment c/o Al Costa,
454 West Delavan, Buffalo, NY 14213 USA
-Jon
SKELETON OF GOD - Hideous Corpse: Demented (demo)
Hideous Corpse are now called Skeleton of God even though their new demo
Demented doesn't reflect this. This demo was recorded five months after
the band's formation, and Jeff, their vocalist and guitarist assured me
their next effort would be much better. However, I thought this demo
really kicked ass! Jeff's singing is pretty basic, and blends in with the
rest of the music except when he jumps out with a horrifying death
scream. The drums are pretty speedy, but aren't just straightforward
banging, and the guitarwork is pretty riffy. This was mastered by Scott
Burns at Morrisound, and the recording is really professional. This is a
pretty tight band and worth checking out. Write to Skeleton Of God, POB
156, Nederland, Colo 80466 USA
-Jon
SNAP JUDGEMENT - Hey! Soul Classics (Demo)
These guys are a pretty tight Hardcore sounding band, although I don't
know if they classify themselves as that. The music is pretty speedy, the
drums are really tight and snappy like a Hardcore sound, but the vocals can
get kinda raw and harsh more like a Death band. The bass is really
impressive, and the guitarwork isn't bad either. The lyrics are funny as
hell, but sometimes get serious too. If you're looking for something funny
in the vein of SOD, but also want something that isn't just more noise,
check out this demo. Contact Snap Judgement c/o John Tekiela, 12901
Escanaba, Chicago, IL 60633 USA
-Jon
MASS PSYCHOSIS - Face (Demo)
These guys used to be called just Psychosis, so don't get confused. This
stuff is pretty deadly, and is one of the best demos using integrated
keyboards, females vocals and other Gothic elements. Most demo bands
don't have the budget or skill to pull this off, but these guys do so
beautifully. The 7 song work is a great recording, well mastered and all,
but also the songwriting is complex, yet brutal, with lots of speediness
that breaks into complex and interesting stuff. This thing is complete
with neat intro work composed of acoustic guitars and eerie backing
female vocals. Don't forget the killer artwork. This thing is definitely an
impressive demo. Write to Mass Psychosis c/o Doug Grandon, 313 Broad
St., Keyport, NJ 07735 USA
-Jon
NECROLATRY - Within The Shroud Of Misery (demo)
This 7 song demo showcases the skill of a pretty decent band. The three
piece seems pretty skilled at their instruments and the music is pretty
decent fast grindcore metal. The lyrics are a pretty basic, deep grunting
tone, but the bass is all over the place and the drums are pretty complex,
not just a straightforward scathing beat, but also adding some pretty
intertwined complex patterns. The production isn't real hot, but it is a
good effort. I'd like to see these guys work in a high-tech studio and turn
out some really tight stuff. They sound musically capable, so support
them and help 'em move to a good studio where they belong.
Write to Necrolatry c/o Ash Thomas, 3657 Woodsong Dr., Cincinnati, OH
45251 USA
-Jon
DELUSION - Autumn Dawn (Demo)
This is the second demo from the New England band, and is a pretty decent
recording of a Death band that sounds like it has the upstate New York feel
but also with a lot of European influence. The 4 track is pretty tight and
is basically slower stuff, but it builds up to speed in spots. The lyrics are
basically a lower growling but in places it gets to a Morbid Angel-like
chanting. My complaint was 4 songs really left me wanting a lot more, but
nothing at all wrong with the content, its definitely something worth
having. Send $5 US/$6 world to Delusion c/o Brian Bergeron, 2 Sapling
Circle Apt 8, Nashua, NH 03062 USA
-Jon
SOUNDSTORM (Demo)
No, this isn't the same Chris Poland that used to be in Megadeth! I thought
this as I listened to this thing, since I just got the other Chris P's solo
album and thought the slick guitarwork was one and the same. This thing
is faster technical thrash, kindof like if you got Geddy Lee stoned and paid
Steve Vai enough and had them sit in with Nuclear Assault. Speaking of
bass, you almost never see a bass solo integrated into a song just like a
guitar solo, but it happens here. There's some pretty impressive 4-
stringing by Pat Hamel and it fits in nicely with the advanced rhythm on
the skins by Rob Youells. Pat's old band Insaniac was the source for singer
Tom Nolz, who's style is progressive metal sounding and pretty decent.
This five song production was recorded on 16 tracks and while I thought
the production was muddy in places, it is overall pretty decent. This demo
is worth the cash, and I know they are offering it for free with their
shirts (see ad elsewhere in this issue) so get in touch with them! Contact
Soundstorm c/o Chris Poland, 295 Cortland St., Belleville, NJ 01709
-Jon
BRAIN - Blasphemous Odd Fellows (Demo)
This is the first demo I have received from Japan, and I'm pretty oblivious
to their music scene there, but I thought this was a pretty decent demo.
Brain is four-piece thrash band that sounds like the Far East's answer to
Pantera. It isn't all straightforward thrashing, but it has some more
groovin' parts and some pretty unique musicianship in it. The demo is very
well produced and the songs are kindof socially oriented lyrically. The
four song recording does come with lyrics in English and Japanese, which
is pretty neat, but at only four songs I really wanted to hear more. Maybe
they'll release more stuff later. At any case these guys are pretty friendly
and if you want to try out something a little different, drop them a line at
Brain c/o Norio Hayashi, #102 25-2 Hiraike-Cho, Neyagawa-City Osaka
572, JAPAN
-Jon
INCEST - Misocyny (Demo)
This recording is just plain damn scary, and I mean that as an ultimate
compliment. This four song demo makes Deicide look tame. The four-piece
composes music that could be compared to Deicide but more elaborate in
places, especially considering this is only a demo. They make use of eerie
Gothic background vocals and have a full-time organ player. I swear it
sounds like they took Agonaces, the vocalist, drove a nail through his arm,
and recorded his hideous deathly screaming as he bled to near death. That
is when he isn't doubling over on a low unearthly growl behind his other
lyrics. As for the lyrics themselves, does "God of the dead, drunken the
soul of the ogers blood which falls from the mouth of my decomposed
death" This tape is plain fearful, and worth checking out. Write Incest c/o
Janie, 8314 Glen Court, San Antonio, TX 78239 USA
-Jon
THE DEAD HORNETS (demo)
This Ohio band shares management with Decay, so I thought it might be a
ultra-death band of some sort, but really it is a fairly alternative
sounding setup. I'm not going to say there isn't ferocity here, tracks like
"Thank God I'm an Athiest" are pretty grinding and Mike Waters' vocals get
pretty raw. But then the song starts out with riffage that is really modal
and sounds like it is based on either contemporary Jazz or the 'Dead. I
mean stuff like "Midnight Noon" is really basic college-rock stuff with a
really snappy, bright sound, but then some stuff is bordering on
underground hardcore kinda stuff, like "8-feet deep" that has sharp off-
beat drumming like Biohazard or something. I'm not going to complain
though. While your average only-faster-is-better Death fan might hate
this, I really liked the musicianship and variety here. And living in an
oversaturated college town, when I say I like a band that could be labeled
as such is great, its saying a lot. Contact The Dead Hornets c/o John
Craig, POB 37, Englewood, OH 45322 USA
-Jon
DECAY - Atrocities (demo)
Whenever I think I'll never find another band in this area of the country
that is cool, I get a tape like this one. This Ohio-based four piece really
has their shit together, and is probably one of the tightest bands I've seen
from the Ohio area. The six song effort is a very well produced work of
speedy Death, with grinding subsonic descents marked by savage double
bass, then taking off into speedier stuff with a really good beat. Dave
Jefferis' vocals aren't the cliche growling that can get really monotonous,
the lyrics (about pain and hate) are really clear, but also aren't sung in an
annoying fashion like some bands that don't sing death-style do. There are
a lot of very catchy riffs and the songs aren't as predictable as a lot of
unsigned material is. The mix does seem to lack a bit of low-end in
places, but the bass is there - maybe it's just the guitars are a bit too
clear. In any case the recording is great, and the tape is very
professionally packaged, copied and printed. Its really worth it, this band
really seems to have a handle on things. Write to Decay, POB 37,
Englewood, OH 45322 USA
-Jon
SEPTIMO ANGEL - Total Genocide (Demo)
This band is pretty much what I picture the Mexican Death metal scene to
be like. This five piece from way down South puts out a pretty harsh five-
song demo. The lyrics are in English and are pretty cool stuff and all deal
with either nonconformity or violence. The band seems pretty proficient
in their playing, and the songs are a faster, somewhat grindy sound with
pretty much Death metal lyrics. I did find the quality a little lacking,
however, I expected this since most Mexican bands can't seem to find very
good recording technology in their country. This tape is now available
through Cursed Productions here in the states, and even though this '91
demo is a bit old, it is still great. Send $4 (US) or $5 (world) to Cursed
Productions, POB 302, Elkhart, IN 46515-0302 USA.
-Jon
PAX MORTIS - Fear '92 Demo (demo)
This cannot be a four track recording. I cannot see how this sounds so
excellent on a Tascam Portastudio, I have never heard one do something
this clear! Well, I'm not going to complain, because the excellent
production of this demo just adds to the fact that I really get into what
Pax Mortis is doing. This four piece from Auborn, California play a style
that is a pretty fierce Death metal with a lot of little extras and twists.
There's a lot of complexity to the songs, yet they are still very memorable
and fun to listen to. There are cool intros, outros, and sampling in the
background, plus some keyboard and solo guitar stuff there too. Don't get
me wrong though, this ain't any pussy stuff or industrial, the songs are
really pounding, fast and Chris Crites' vocals go from a thrash-like
singing to a low Death-style growling. My favorite track of the four is
probably "Created Equal" although I like the whole demo. And once again, I
can't say enough about the production, I can't wait to see what these guys
do with 16 tracks. Get off your ass and send $4 to Pax Mortis 11484
Sherwood Way, Auborn, CA 95602
**********************
* EDITORS' CHOICES *
**********************
Jon's top ten weapons of destruction:
1 - Desultory : Into Eternity. Great Swedish metal with mega power. A lot
of originality and a really great sound.
2 - Gorefest : False. Pounding low end and clear production. Brutality with
good, unique riffs.
3 - Oliver Magnum : Drive By. Progressive metal, a little off the beaten
path. Very lively and upbeat, a lot of energy.
4 - Snap Judgement : Hey! Soul Classics. I love the humor behind this, and
it has a fast beat. Good hardcore production, and great variety for a demo
5 - Candiru : Unloved and Weeded Out. Futuristic industrial that makes me
feel like a Terminator T-1000. Excellent recording, and really innovative
structure.
6 - Masters Of Misery Compilation. Black Sabbath covers by your favorite
Earache bands. Hard to find but well worth it.
7 - Malhavoc : Premeditated Murder. Killer psycho industrial.
8 - Bolt Thrower : The IVth Crusade. I didn't think anything could top
Warmaster, bu
t this continues on the tradition.
9 - Pax Mortis: Fear '92 Demo: This is a four track? It sounds better than
most 16 track stuff. Catchy as hell, too!
10 - Dismember: Pieces EP. It made my neighbor move out. 'Nuff said.
Spinoza Ray Prozak's top ten:
1 - Amorphis: The Karelian Isthmus. Intensive progressive fantasy death
metal from Finland, with beautiful melodic touches to the lead guitar.
2 - Affliction: The Damnation of Humanization. Simple straightforward
speed metal a la Exodus with melodic vocals (at times). Local to la area.
3 - Bolt Thrower: The IVth Crusade. A study in how heavy to make an
album.
4 - Desultory: Into Eternity. Progressive Swedish metal, fairly refined,
rather potent.
5 - Afflicted: Prodigal Sun. Progressive psychedelic Swedes playing death
for their souls.
6 - Agthocles: Theatric Symbolisation of Life. Grindcore returns,
artistically.
7 - Asphyx: Last One On Earth. Power swedes, brutal grating songs.
8 - Impetigo: Horror of the Zombies. Horror-cheezball-death, goofy as hell
but essentially good.
9 - Comecon: Megatrends In Brutality. Swedish collaboration from hell,
extremely good. Lyrics a plus.
10 - Cemetery: An Evil Shade of Grey. Intellectual crush-0-rama death
metal.
(Hear 'em on kspc, 88.7 FM, 6-9 Fridays inna la area.)
Ray's Ten recordings to fuck and maim to:
1) Gorefest : False.
2) Dismember : Pieces EP.
3) Unleashed : Shadows In The Deep.
4) Pax Mortis: Fear Fuckin' 92 Demo. GODZ! GODZ! GODZ!
4) Grave : You'll Never See.
5) Nuclear Winter : Inverted Cross Up a Nun's Cunt. Extremely rare because
of 47 country ban, but still lethal.
6) Desultory : Into Eternity.
I only included 6 to pay tribute to our great master.
***********************
* NONE OF THE ABOVE *
***********************
This section is for all of the little things that just don't fit in pla
ce
elsewhere in the fanzine. I'm getting more and more interesting things in
the mail, and I've also been spending money on even more things, so I
thought I would tell you about them.
I've started reading a lot of other fanzines lately, and I wanted to
provide insight to readers on what else is out there. I'm reviewing each
zine I get on a trade basis. If you have a zine, or if you are a regular
reader of one I don't have listed, I'll swap a copy of Xenocide for it and
review it too.
CHAINLETTER - A long runner (12 issues strong) this features some of the
most bestial artwork around, and is packed crowded interviews and
reviews. Mark is a musician himself and always seems to get very
esoteric underground interviews. Sometimes the typed layout can get a
tad sloppy, and it is Xeroxed and corner-stapled, but its still worth the
cash.
Chainletter c/o Mark Gonce 3611 Woodlea Ave. Baltimore, MD 21214 USA
$4 US/$5 world
FACTSHEET FIVE - The God of underground publication. This is a highly
professional 100 page magazine featuring reviews of other zines. Not
just metal, but all music, art, environmental, radical, news, comics,
technology, hobbies and about any other kind of zine you could or couldn't
imagine. With an 8000 copy distribution, you can't lose getting
reviewed there. If you run a zine, mail in a copy, and read this thing like
the bible, because it has enough info on distribution and publishing that
your copy will be sitting around getting read on a daily basis. If you are a
fan of zines and want more, or if you want to check out some other area
besides music, like politics, or humor, or anything, its worth the 4 bucks.
You might even be able to pick this one up at the local newsstand!
Factsheet Five c/o R. Seth Friedman PO Box 170099 San Francisco, CA
94117-0099 USA $4 bulk/$6 priority/$6 world surface/$7can.-mex air/$8
Europe air/$9 other air
METAL CORE - Well, when I look at this 'zine, the thought of 'why?' pops
into my mind to a lot of Chris Forbes' decisions. There's a total lack of
quality in layout, but then he could defend himself in saying he doesn't
have a computer. Well, he could at least afford some more time, or
someone to correct his choppy and awkward writing. I was stunned on a
really blatant mistake in the Desultory interview, and also the short as
hell record formats seemed way cheap. And why is the back cover just
blank? I don't know. There are a lot of interviews here, and I guess a lot
of purists will be yelling at me saying "It's got an underground feel!".
Whatever. Chris Forbes 13 Carriage Lane Marlton, NJ 08053
NO GLAM FAGS - "Our father, who art in hell, Marco be his name". For
those of you who don't know King Marco, he works out at Metal Blade, but
he also runs his own little distribution service, and prints out this 68
page tome of the metal world. This thing is really professionally printed
and has a really surgical layout. I noted at least 25 interviews before I
lost track; the roster just looks more like a record bin at a store than a
list of interviews (Entombed, Unleashed, Morbid Angel, Death, Obituary,
Massacre, Epidemic, Grave, Suffocation and more and more..) There are a
shitload of well-written reviews and a lot of other stuff too. This is
really worth the money, it takes you days to get through all the reading in
here. If I wanted to nitpick I could find some rough areas in the writing
department, and the publishing schedule makes Metal Curse look speedy,
but those are very minor tradeoffs for the end product. This is truly the
best zine I have ever seen.
No Glam Fags c/o Marco Barbieri 1626 N. Poinsettia Pl. #208 Los Angeles,
CA 90046 USA
THE WILD RAG! - This is kindof a fanzine, but also kindof a catalog. See,
Richard C. does Wild Rags Records and his catalog of underground demos,
shirts, EP's and records is in here, but its also a 'zine with news and
feature articles talking about signed bands and stuff. Its supposed to be
the largest circulation of anything at around 16,000 and it is very nicely
printed with 2-color stuff in it and lots of clear photos. Now there are a
lot of people out there with a serious vendetta against Richard C., and
there's a lot of talk about him being a rip-off. I've heard a lot of stories,
but then in the limited amount of business I've had with him, he hasn't
ripped me off, so I'm not going to start spreading rumors or anything
unless he did rip me off. Although it's great for the catalog, its also great
for the articles, so even if you don't trust him with your money on demos,
you can waste the $2 on the zine, it is worth the effort. send $2 US or 4
IRC's, for subscriptions: $5/6 issues $7 Canada/Mexico $10 world. The
wild Rag! POB 3302 Mtb. Hills Sta. Montebello, CA 90640
METAL CURSE - The Godslayer of all zines. Ray Miller dishes out so many
reviews it isn't funny. (200+ in issue 7) There are always a bunch of
primo interviews, and this thing is a treasure chest of addresses and
contacts. Excellent layout, offset printing, center bound, and a very
authoritative presentation. Isn't as frequent as some, but worth the wait.
Send $3 US/$4 world to Metal Curse c/o Ray Miller, POB 302, Elkhart, IN
46515-0302
NEXUS SIX - The Cybernet Neurojack survival guide. A short newsletter
featuring reviews, ads, addresses and editorial. It is short, but it is
unparalleled, especially if you're into cyberculture, and its free. Nexus Six
c/o MBR 18653 Ventura Blvd. #311 Tarzana, CA 91356 Free, a trade
suggested though.
SKULL SESSION - This Canadian punk/metal zine has been around since
Metallica was a demo band. (24 issues and counting) Cool artwork, a
hilarious parody of Calvin and Hobbes that alone makes it worth the time.
Short reviews with both Death and hardcore bands, but very long in depth
interviews of people from DRI to the Ramones to Dead Horse. The layout
can get a little weak in places, but there's enough stuff here to make you
look over it. Send $1 or a trade to Skull Session 3280 Bobwhite Mews
Massasauga, Ontario L5N 6G1, Canada
HOLOCAUST - Christians beware, this Polish based zine is your enemy!
Tomasz Krajewski brings forth a very dark, satanic, black metal zine that
is incredible. It is folded letter sized paper but don't let the size fool you
.
This is a very nicely printed zine and has tons of reviews and interviews.
I really loved the use of old woodcuts and other satanic drawings in the
fanzine, it gives it a really excellent look. Send $4 to Tomasz Krajewski,
POB 12, 86-105 Swiecie 5, Poland.
PUNCHLINE "Static Elect Trickery" zine
I got a copy of issue 13 of this zine, and its pretty cool - it is a political
zine, and this issue is about the elections. It comes out of England, and it
is visual-oriented; like it'll have a picture of two men hauling dead cattle
tied on poles with a caption of "Another vote bagged for the system". Its
really catchy stuff, kindof artsy, and some ads for indy labels in the punk
scene. Its only a buck, you can't beat that. Take a look at it if you're
really into politics and against the New World Order.
Punchline Communication Station, POB 460683, San Francisco, CA 94146
THE DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY CIRCUS
I got issue 6 (Grandma's Started to Sprout!) of this book, but with no
letter, and no return address, just that it came from Buffalo, NY. I wish i
knew who did this, because its funny as hell and I know a dozen people
who would pay money for this. Its basically a bunch of Family Circus
cartoons with altered captions. They change the cartoons to have
sadistic, perverted, demented meanings, and its great! The mom is
screwing Billy, PJ is screwing Greek sailors and dad's off practicing
necrophilia. Its a blast. I don't know how to get this or who its from, but
I really want to know so I can get other issues. Mail if you know more!!
MURDER CAN BE FUN -This is a rather interesting fanzine that talks all
about murder, death, violence and conspiracy. Issue 14 has a cover story
on postal worker rampages, completely researched with a table and blow
by blow descriptions of all of the slayings. There is also a nice article in
this issue on the top twelve riots in American history. There's a calendar
available, with 365 deathly events, and back issues cover natural
disasters, Disneyland casualties and much more. This thing is morbidly
humorous yet the research and journalism is superb. The 8.5x11" doubled
over size and short length was kindof a bummer, I really wanted more;
however the back issues and calendar look like they might help there.
Great stuff though! Send $1.50 to John Marr, POB 640111, San Francisco,
CA 94109
I've also been getting a few 7" EP's in the mail lately. I haven't
become a militant 7" collector yet, but I have been growing my collection.
Here's some recent stuff:
BURIAL 7"
Burial recently released a 7" on Rage records. It's got 2 great cuts of
Death, "Presumed Dead" and "Unnecessarily Executed". This Florida 4
piece really hashes out some killer stuff, the songs are pretty lengthy and
have a decent amount of time change to make it feel like you're getting a
lot more than just 2 songs. This thing is really well produced and is on
clear gold vinyl, its a cool thing to have in your collection. Probably one
of the best Death-oriented 7"s I've seen this year. Burial POB 20633
Sarasota, FL 34276 USA
TUMOR CIRCUS - Meathook Up My Rectum 7" (Alternative Tentacles)
This single features good ol' Jello Biafra, and the single song is best
described as something comparable to the really old, really harsh Dead
Kennedy's stuff. I'm not a big fan or follower of punk, so I can't tell you
guys a whole lot about these things that I get in, but this was a pretty hip
piece of vinyl. The catchy thing is the Clive Barker sleeve art and (get
this) etching on the b-side of the record. No, I didn't try to play it. I'm
glad Jello is still putting stuff out, if you're an old fan you might want to
get a copy. Alternative Tentacles POB 424756 San Francisco, CA 94142
Special Limited Edition DANZIG III How The Gods Kill Boxed set (Def
American)
The first thing you'll notice about this cd is the long box sized boxed set
is graced with H.R. Giger's "The Master and Margarita" just like the
regular CD, but in molded, raised plastic! When I opened the box, I was
greeted by a copy of the new album, but all of the packaging was different.
The booklet is different, and is on white paper so you can read the lyrics
now. The cd itself has a cool picture on it, and the back cover is different
too. The album is identical, however.. bummer they didn't include any
bonus tracks or anything. Also, there is a video cassette of the title
track's video. I don't understand why this is the 'uncensored' version
because I didn't see anything offensive at all. MTV can be a bunch of
assholes sometimes I guess. Once again, no neat special stuff on here like
rare footage or extra shit, just the one song. I can't say this is a good
purchase to make if you are just starting to get into Danzig or you are just
looking for a good buy. But if you are a collector like me it is a cool thing
to have just for the bragging rights, and I seem to spend a lot of money on
that kind of shit, so I really like it.
-Jon
*********************
* CARNAL LEFTOVERS *
*********************
Once again, this issue draws to a close. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I
did... This issue was a lot of fun and went by very smoothly. For all you
techno-heads out there, I sat on my new 486DX-33 and hacked out a lot of
the text using emacs. I used Omnipage to gather up all of the scanned
artwork, and Ed gave me his stuff in GIF format. It was all dropped into
PageMaker 4.2 on the Mac and dumped to its final form, which was
assembled thanks to the cool people at Kinko's copies. A big thanks to
RMS for the emacs program, thanks to everyone responsible for the EDB
database program, and also thanks to Linus T. for the Linux operating
system my PC is now running. Well, a big thanks goes to all of the people
at labels that helped me out. Thanks to Marco and Metal Blade, Dominick
and Shreddomatic Records, Bill and Relapse/Nuclear Blast America,
Roadrunner, Ivette and Century Media, Relativity, Rage Records, and A&M.
Bigger thanks to all of the bands I reviews demos from, and extra
appreciation to John Baker from Jackhammer for free food and for being
the only other cool person in Bloomington, Bill and Bloody Mary, Garrett
and Punisher, Paradise Lost, Chris and Cannibal Corpse, Johnny and
Unleashed, Monte and Dan from Oliver Magnum and Stefan and Desultory. I
had a lot of extra production and promo help and I'd like to thank Ed
Stastny for his Godly artwork, Seth, Jerod and all at Factsheet Five, Chris
"S.R. Prozac" Blanc for advice, help, writing and prose, Ray "I fucked her
corpse" Miller for the concealed firearm and the shallow grave, Adam
Gadahn for all of the writing work, Whiplash for all of his help too, Jeff
Whitmer and Jeremy Niemann for layout and artwork advice and help, Joe
Husk for help with the DocMaker program, Tom Loos, Mark VanHeyningen,
Andrew Violette, Bill Perry and all of my other CS friends for a good
working atmosphere and lots of caffeine, Mark Gonce, John Woods and Rock
Out Censorship, and everyone else I forgot. Lastly, I want to give a very
big thanks to T.M. Houghton for help above and beyond the call of duty in an
emergency that could have screwed up this issue in a major way, and for
putting up with my shit in a way no other human could. Well, that's it for
this issue. I'll be taking a 3 month vacation, and Xenocide will be back in
the fall with a new address and a newer look. But look for me at the
Milwaukee Metalfest and at a pit near you!
-Jon
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