Cerebral Metalhead

GO: Midnight/Saviours/Lightning Swords of Death, 5/14/11 @ The Roxy in L.A.

2011-05-09T00:51:00.000-07:00

How about we pretend that it hasn't been five months since I've posted. Agreed? Agreed. Day jobs and paid writing work and girlfriends take precedence. And I've been listening mostly to jazz in my free time, which means that metal has taken a backseat. Gotta admit -- after a few weeks straight of Coltrane, Miles, Monk, Mingus, Bill Evans, Joe Henderson and Brad Mehldau, the new Izegrim and Hyperborean records sound pretty aces. Call it Joni Mitchell syndrome. Ya don't know what you got 'til it's gone. I'm happy metal is back in my life.

More than any record though, I've missed going to metal shows over the last couple months. That's why I'm looking forward to Scion's next free metal matinee, coming up this Saturday at the Roxy in L.A. And also why I'm going to insist that you join me.

Midnight, Saviours and Lightning Swords of Death are all on their "7 Days of Plague" west coast tour. The whole shebang is presented by the good gents at OvrCast and City of Devils but Scion's footing the bill for this particular show (tourmates Archons will sadly not be joining them on stage for this particular stop). It's a perfectly curated lineup, presenting three very different styles that oughta balance out like the ideal imperial IPA, brutally bitter but loaded with the sweet stuff too. Saviours (reviewed here) will provide the riffy hesher fodder. LSOD (reviewed here) will provide the soot-choked atmosphere. If there is a pit (Scion's metal matinees aren't known for 'em) then Midnight will be its genesis. Featuring Jamie Walters of Toxic Holocaust/Nunslaughter fame, Midnight's all off-the-rails blackened punk. All of these guys are road dogs so the sets oughta be tight, or at least loose in that tight way that only a great punk-metal band can do..

As with all Scion shows, this one's free. But you must RSVP here. See you in the pit.

Midnight: myspace.com/athenarsmidnight
Saviours: myspace.com/saviours666
Lightning Swords of Death: myspace.com/lightningswordsofdeath

Nile - Live @ Key Club, 11/16/10

2010-12-29T18:21:00.000-08:00

Nile - "Kafir," live at the Key Club, 11/16/10

Here's my new year's resolution: grow some balls. The cramped quarters of the Key Club's merch area, squeezed in between the men's and ladies' bathroom, almost requires interaction with band members. And despite the many times I had to pee during the L.A. stop of the Nile/Ex Deo/Psycroptic/Keep of Kalessin tour, I didn't work up the nerve to talk to a single musician. I made eye contact with KoK's vocalist Thebon but opted not to tell him how much I loved Armada andKolossus. Nile's Ra-like frontman Karl Sanders (whose last solo album I reviewed here) stood at the Nile table, and while I debated telling him how much I respected his pedagogical commitment to Egyptian mythology vis-a-vis death metal, the best I could manage was purchasing a sweet keychain bottle opener from the merch girl. Karl, just know that I will henceforth dedicate each brew that I open with my Nile opener to Tenenet.

But I come to praise Nile, not to drink with them. The band's riffing has long been some of death metal's most spectacular, weaving in Arabian modes, heave-ho string bends and exotic instrumentation amidst the fingerblur. All the surface uniqueness of Nile's music came across just fine in Nile's second L.A. stop of 2010. Even more impressive, lickety-split songs like "Permitting the Noble Dead to Descend to the Underworld" sounded surprisingly huge -- rounded, air-sucking, supremely heavy. Maybe it was the band's gear. Maybe it was a natural result of the increased emphasis on ass-shaking on their last release, Those Whom the Gods Detest. Whatever the cause, Nile sounded every bit as regal and dominant as the arriving gods that so many of their songs portend.

Nile - "Hittite Dung Incantation," live at the Key Club, 11/16/10

Once a band for guitar worshippers, Nile have emerged as fantastic vocal hookists. "There is no god but god / There is no god!" from "Kafir" is easily 2009's most memorable metal lyric, and barely a song was played at the Key Club that didn't have a shout-along refrain. The entire club sang along with the darkened melody of "Those Whom the Gods Detest"'s chorus, no doubt sympathizing with the song's unrepentant message: "Impenitent / I blaspheme the sacred scrolls / Unwilling to submit / I embrace what Ra hath called profane." Add that alongside "No life 'til leather" to the list of heavy metal's unofficial slogans.

There was a time when I found Nile's deep-throated death growls too hard to stomach. At the Key Club, they were my favorite part of the show. Karl Sanders, Dallas Toler-Wade and live bassist Chris Lollis traded off lows and mids on Gods Detest standout "Hittite Dung Incantation." Death metal tends to focus on the talents of the individual, but there Nile was, snarling three-part gang vocals about warding off demons via dog feces. It was a jarringly powerful experience to hear three men step confidently up to their microphones and simultaneously utter their own take on the same horrid incantation, like a death metal Rashomon with all versions overlapping.

There's nothing surprising about Nile playing everything perfectly. We should expect musical perfection (this is different from technical perfection) from top-tier bands. What separated this show from most death metal shows is the band's freewheeling, confident energy. Full-band fist-pumps were plentiful at the Key Club, as were smiles from the always-affable Sanders. I was most drawn to bassist Lollis (front and center in the above videos), who moved with an impish energy I rarely see onstage. He lunged up and in to his microphone as he growled, holding his bass nearly upright when not crouching low in communion with the heaviness. Lollis and his bandmates are obviously moved by this music, and it helps immeasurably to move me.

********

Nile spend January/February 2011 on tour in Europe. Check the dates here.

Vaulting - "We Are the Cavalry" Video

2010-11-25T10:58:00.000-08:00

So. It's Thanksgiving. The best of us will try to extrapolate some meaning from the holiday, acknowledging the sad truths about its origins (check out this link for some background -- courtesy of Mama Rosenbloom) while setting aside some time to remember how lucky we are to congregate with people we love. The rest of us will walk like tryptophan zombie sheep through an annual cycle, visiting our families out of a combined sense of affection and obligation (the exact proportions depend on the family). We will stuff ourselves, get drunk, talk about nothing in particular, and wake up early the next day to participate in the disgusting communal ritual of "Black Friday." Another year, another Thanksgiving come and gone. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Germany has its own version of Thanksgiving, a religious celebration called Erntedankfest (literally "harvest festival of gratitude" - read more here). As far as I know, the gents in German death/grind act Vaulting didn't intend the song "We Are the Cavalry" to relate to Thanksgiving. But its lyrics -- like many grindcore lyrics -- handily address how easy it is to turn a meaningful process (in this case, being in a band) into something mechanical:

Birdie, sleep well
Far glimpse from hell
Boredom an insecure partner to keep you from death
Rest in your shell
Distant music sounds
Radio, party starts, let's exercise our art
They begin, let us in
Let us go, do our show
We will rock, time to shock
Celebrate, lacerate
Is this honourful?
Staring down, stripped down
Defiled pride
And without a whisper
We are the cavalry

Their video for the song, directed and edited by Vaulting's guitarist Matthias Gathof, captures that same idea: the suffocating, ritualized normalcy of white-collar life is leading us to spiritual suicide. Again, that's an idea that grindcore bands have hammered home since Napalm Death's debut, Scum. What's more interesting about this video is how plain the shots of Vaulting are. Grindcore's full-frontal assault is broken into its constituent parts, set against stark white backdrops. Precisely-picked guitar strings. Quivering snare and kickdrum heads. A mouth, opening wide to scream. These are the mundane details that still remain powerful. These are the rituals for which I remain eternally thankful.

Download or stream Vaulting's excellent Modis Humanis EP at the band's Bandcamp site.

Exhausted Prayer / Dreaming Dead - Fall Into Ruin Tour Begins Tonight

2010-10-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

I'm coming out of semi-hibernation to help spread the word about a West Coast tour that I would see every night had I the time, financial means and ability not to come off as creepy for treating underground metal bands like the Grateful Dead. Exhausted Prayer share provenance (Los Angeles) and a drummer (Mike Caffell) with Dreaming Dead, whose debut Within One (reviewed here) was my favorite record of 2009. They're also two of the more unassumingly thrilling live bands around. No synchronized headbanging or live goat sacrifices, just a sense that you're watching/hearing something special unfold before your eyes/ears.

In Exhausted Prayer's case, it's how they pretzelize familiar black metal tropes into unfamiliar shapes -- sometimes twisty and muscular, sometimes hazy and dissolute. These dudes have finally finished their first album in five years, Worst of All Possible Worlds (previewed here), so chances are they'll be debuting plenty of new stuff.

You also need to see Dreaming Dead's Elizabeth Schall. She's a terrific guitarist with an elegant approach to riffcraft and fluidly melodic soloing style (I often hear her described as Chuck Schuldiner incarnate). And while her femaleness doesn't really have anything to do with her talent, it's tough to ignore that such rarefied death metal chops are coming from a kind of person that isn't normally in a death metal band. The rest of the band plays regally. Dreaming Dead are nearly done with their second album Midnightmares. They just released the video to the new track "Overlord," which they'll undoubtedly be unleashing live.

Go see these bands on tour, and tell them I sent you. They'll probably scratch their heads quizzically and ask if you want to buy a t-shirt.

EXHAUSTED PRAYER / DREAMING DEAD "FALL INTO RUIN" TOUR:

10/21 - The Red Hat - Concord, CA

10/22 - Monstros Pizza - Chico, CA

10/23 - Plan B - Portland, OR

10/24 - Cretin Hop - Spokane, WA

10/25 - Galway Arms - Seattle, WA

10/26 - Le Voyeur - Olympia, WA

10/27 - The Gup - Eugene, OR

10/28 - Burnt Ramen - Richmond, CA

10/29 - On the Y - Sacramento, CA

10/30 - Three Clubs - Los Angeles, CA

D.I.S. - Critical Failure (Deep Six Records, 2010)

2010-08-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

It took me a long time to understand why D.I.S. (Destroyed In Seconds) guitarist Leon del Muerte would ever willingly quit Intronaut. After seeing him play in Phobia and Murder Construct (just signed to Relapse!), I started to understand. And D.I.S.'s debut Critical Failure clinches it: Del Muerte prefers the direct to the oblique, the visceral to the heady. And that means unfiltered death metal, punk, thrash and grind.

"Fake"

Of course, del Muerte is just one-fifth of D.I.S., a band full of old-school punk/metal lifers and lovers. Vocalist Mike Fisher spent the late 80s in the speedcore act No Warning; guitarist Bruce Reeves played in SoCal grind stalwarts Phobia for 15 years; bassist Kent Elmore did time with Reeves in sludge act Mange; drummer Sean Vahle's played with Eat the Living for a decade. D.I.S. play Swedey d-beat and sloppy crossover thrash with the dirty telepathy of a band that's been in the trenches for years and knows what to give a fuck about and what deserves the middle finger.

"Lamentations"

In the former category: power, simplicity, aggression, momentum. In the latter: anything that takes away from the elements of the former. D.I.S.'s version of "stirring the pot" is limited to a brief guitar solo where one of their influences might've left it out, or the occasional blastbeat where, say, Discharge never would. That's just fine when the performances are this ferocious, the songs so varied while still staying firmly within the realm of the old-school. As much as it'll please aging punkers, Critical Failure can't quite be considered a throwback record. It would've been way advanced for the mid-80s. It's destructive now. Or rather...a few seconds from now.

You have very little time to visit D.I.S.'s MySpace page

BUY:

Deep Six Records

Power It Up (Germany)

CHAINMAIL: Drowned Sorrow - Fittings at the Coffin Shop EP (self-released, 2010)

2010-08-13T03:20:00.000-07:00

The CHAINMAIL section reviews bands that were proactive enough to contact me directly. Here at Cerebral Metalhead, initiative is rewarded.

I like The Red Chord. A whole lot. So do Long Island's Drowned Sorrow. On their first official EP Fittings at the Coffin Shop, Drowned Sorrow synthesize many of the same metal-, grind- and deathcore elements as THC, but the similarities run deeper than genre signifiers. Both bands respect their listeners enough to keep them pummeled, embodied and slightly off-kilter at all times. Groove is rarely absent from Fittings, and unexpected guitar leads, tempo changes and textures abound. Some songs could use more transitional finesse, but a song like "Deception Waves Hello" invalidates its songwriting seams through sheer burliness. This EP was written for the high-minded pit-o-phile, not the stay-at-home grindcore fan.

"Receiving Presents at a Funeral"

Drowned Sorrow's wildcard is Dan Roberts, a vocalist who never met a trebly tic he wasn't willing to indulge. Roberts has a hardcore bark that would make his NYHC scenesmates proud, an abrasive tenor scream, a weak death metal growl and the occasional mid-song spoken phrase (my favorite of his hardcore Barry White-isms: "Being damned is not an honor / Yet you bring the confetti"). He deploys all of them, always. The constant switching is impressive enough from a technical standpoint and sounds smoothly integrated. It's also more distracting than commanding. For a band whose sound already has so much going on, I don't need any distractions.

Throw a few back (and hear the entire EP) at Drowned Sorrow's MySpace page

BUY:

drownedsorrow.com (CD)

Facebook (MP3)

Ovrcast 5th Anniversary - Friday the 13th in L.A.!

2010-08-11T21:09:00.002-07:00

As the price of a concert heads towards nil, my interest in attending it often heads the same direction. Why would a worthwhile band choose to play a slapped-together free show when they stand to make more money from a door charge at a proper club? And if there's a major sponsor footing the bill, who am I really supporting by attending?

Years before Scion and Converse began investing beaucoup marketing bucks in metal, Martin de Pedro and his Ovrcast Productions were putting together free metal gigs in Los Angeles. And although they could certainly use the money to help fund their nicely-curated label, Martin and Ovrcast have never wavered from their vision of uniting underground bands with underground band-fans, without a mandatory transaction fee between the two.

Thanking Martin in person is one of two reasons to attend Ovrcast's 5th Anniversary show, happening tomorrow at The Blvd. The other is the typically great lineup. Black Cobra (reviewed here) are on tour like 580 days a year, so you know they're well-oiled. Huntress (reviewed here) started out awesome, and they just keep getting better and better with each show. Valdur (reviewed here) and Harassor offer black metal in polar opposite styles, while It's Casual and The Fucking Wrath (reviewed here) poison the evening with punk. Howl are riding off waves of great press for their new album on Relapse, and Lions of Tsavo's unsung last record Firelung slaughters too much ass to mention (or sing about, apparently). Upsilon Acrux (reviewed here) are not metal in any way (or any genre, really), but they make much better use of their two-drum lineup than Kylesa or The Melvins.

So go to The Blvd. tomorrow, pat Martin on the back, rock out and tell me all about it. Because I'm out of town this weekend. And I hate myself for it.

Ehnahre - Alpha/Omega 12" (Fun With Asbestos, 2010)

2010-07-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

My avant-jazz pianist dad told me once that jazz was essentially about instability. All those added 9ths and 13ths, re-voiced chords and unexpected drum accents deconstruct the predictability of a tune, opening up harmonic and rhythmic rabbit holes for the musicians to follow.

He may as well have been talking about Ehnahre, a band of Boston wackos formed by various Kayo Dot defectors. Ehnahre's debut record The Man Closing Up (reviewed here and here) hit the extremes of pretty much every musical binary you can imagine -- slow/fast, soft/loud, rigid/spacious, sonorous/dissonant, composed/improvised -- that it felt like deconstructive exercise as much as a metal record. Brutal death metal is known for its atonality, but few metal bands (Behold...the Arctopus is a notable exception) swear such allegiance to discord that they'll use serialism and to ensure their music's freedom from tonality. Ehnahre took that step.

Ehnahre's two-track Alpha/Omega, limited to just 100 vinyl copies (now sold-out), drifts even further into psychosis than its predecessor. Rhythms are in perpetual flux, melodic repetition and groove are fleeting when they exist at all. The one through line is the psychotic laughter at the end of each phrase of "Leda & the Swan;" other disembodied voices chortle in the background in what must be the oddest gang vocals I've ever heard. The lines between doom, death metal, avant-classical and total abstraction continue to dissolve. The jaw-dropping flexibility and power electronics of new drummer Ricardo Donoso enable his bandmates to unhinge their sound even further.

Alpha/Omega sets two William Butler Yeats poems to music. "Leda and the Swan" recounts Zeus's rape of the maiden Leda, a story that has been interpreted as a creation myth. "The Second Coming" prophesies the apocalypse in the wake of WWI. Violence as both beginning and end -- it's a concept that works in parallel to Ehnahre's music, which destroys conventions and erects new ones with the same spectacularly messy, ugly mass of sound.

Ehnahre will release their next full-length Taming the Cannibals on Crucial Blast in October. Prepare ye.

Rape a swan at Ehnahre's website

BUY:
You can't. Alpha/Omega is sold-out.

Kings Destroy - Kings Destroy EP (self-released, 2010)

2010-06-16T23:29:00.000-07:00

Stoner metal should be played by ugly dudes for ugly dudes. I'm not saying that heterosex can never come into it -- gettin' down to Sky Valley is one of life's great pleasures, and I suppose Electric Wizard's smoking hot second guitarist Liz Buckingham must have found something seductive about the genre when she married bandmate Jus Oborn. Point is, the almighty fuzz riff is best pursued and appreciated when sex is a non-issue, and bliss is the main objective.

Brooklyn's Kings Destroy aren't anything much to look at, and the two songs on their debut 7" aren't much prettier, just a bunch plodding rhythms, Obsessed riffs and Steve Murphy's adenoidal singing voice. There's something really satisfying about how these dual guitars lock so tightly, maybe more tightly than is ideal for music this bong-tastic. Come to think of it, other than the chanted note halfway through "Medusa," the music here isn't all too weedy. Murphy sounds like he's toking the same weed as 1967 Ozzy. The others sound like they gave up drugs years ago. Totally pro performances, and a bright mix from Mike Moebius.

"Old Yeller"

Then again, maybe the riffage is so economical and precisely played because a lot of these guys used to play meaty music in hardcore bands. Guitarists Carl Porcaro and Chris Skowronski were in NYHC legends Killing Time, Murphy was in Uppercut, and the rhythm section did time in Electric Frankenstein and Stanley. Listen hard, and you'll hear hardcore energy, shoehorned into stoner metal strictures. It's a little clean to connect, but these are just Kings Destroy's first two songs. Soak the band in bong resin for a millennium and they'll be considered classic. Or, just give the knobs over to Sanford Parker, as Kings Destroy are doing for their upcoming full-length debut. Same difference.

Commit regicide at Kings Destroy's MySpace page

BUY:

iTunes: "Old Yeller"

iTunes: "Medusa"

Kings Destroy donate a portion of all proceeds to the Brooklyn-based youth basketball team, the On Point Cyclones.

R.I.P. National Sunday Law. Much respect.

2010-06-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

National Sunday Law scream goodbye

Sad news today from Darin Tambascio, the guitarist/vocalist/everything-but-drums-ist of Los Angeles metal duo National Sunday Law:

After playing over 50 shows with some of our favorite bands (Intronaut, Mouth of the Architect, Irepress, Behold...The Arctopus, Dysrhythmia, Exhausted Prayer, Solar Wimp, Hurt Model, Fight Amp and so many more), we are taking a break from National Sunday Law. Due to a dire financial situation and ongoing employment issues, Darin will be moving back to his home state of Maryland in late June. Therefore, the band will be on an indefinite hiatus after two more shows.

This is a major bummer. National Sunday Law were one of my favorite L.A. bands of any stripe. They filled a pretty vital function out here -- heavy enough for the metal crowd, arty enough for the noiseniks, tricksy enough for the prog-heads, NSL could play on almost any bill. And with just two dudes covering a vast sonic spectrum, their shows were always a minor spectacle. Both Darin and drummer Derek Donley were faithful supporters of the scene on both sides of the band/audience divide.

NSL's disbandment is especially disappointing given that they just released a killer new EP, The Fifth Ape, which you can download here for free. The EP showcases the band's balance of meditative mood and eye-bugging heaviness way better than their debut album, La Storia di Cannibali (reviewed here). "Joshua the Anchor" sets washes of analog keyboards buzzing against a ten-ton waltz; "The Darwinian Heart of Darkness" recalls early Isis in the planetary bigness of its riffs; "Last Flight of the Dodo Bird" seems aimed at new vistas, with melodic vocals and elastic bass (courtesy of Intronaut's Joe Lester) striating Tambascio's spidery guitar and Donley's totally money drumming. These guys were going places.

A glimmer of hope amidst the gloominess:

In other news, we're excited to announce that Graviton (our new side project with Sacha Dunable of Intronaut) has finished recording a full length album. We hope to have it available by the fall, around the same time as the new Intronaut record!

Here are some promising snippets of the Graviton recording sessions:

While we all wait for Darin to win a lucrative government oil contract so that National Sunday Law might tour and record again, download the The Fifth Ape EP, hold your breath for the Graviton release, and if you're in the LA area, come out to one of their last two shows. It's been a good run, boys.

Pay Your Respects at National Sunday Law's Final Two Shows (For Now):

June 3rd @ Relax Bar with Salvador, Of The Horizon, Nameless Lights. NSL is on at 9:55pm.

June 7th @ Vacation Vinyl in-store with free Colt 45. 7pm sharp.

National Sunday Law Merch Procurement:

Download The Fifth Ape for free

Buy a copy of The Fifth Ape for not free (soon)

Buy their first album and some sick t-shirts

CHAINMAIL: Huntress - Off With Her Head (self-released, 2010)

2010-06-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

The CHAINMAIL section reviews bands that contacted me directly. Here at Cerebral Metalhead, initiative is rewarded.

As soon as I read about this band on Invisible Oranges, I started encountering them everywhere. They e-mailed me about coverage. They showed up together at a Black Math Horseman gig. They were in line at the free Dark Angel/Arsis show. All of a sudden they're on every backwards-looking metal bill and local blog that we've got. The L.A. metal scene is a concentrated one, and it's easy to make your presence known, especially when you've got an obscenely great-looking lead singer named Tuesdae and the other 4/5 of your band is recognizable from another regularly gigging band (the ripping Professor). Still, the short amount of time it's taken these folks to become regulars on the L.A. metal circuit is pretty impressive.

Listening to Huntress's debut EP Off With Her Head, it's not hard to understand why Huntress would want to hurry the fuck up and get out there. This shit is almost too easy to love. Time-tested NWOBHM riffs with the amber melted away by sparking electricity. Witchy themes and hooks-a-plenty. Galloping rhythms and harmonized Maiden leads, and Tuesdae's double-tracked caterwauling -- not nearly as theatrical as her opera training would suggest, and way more solid than the cynical metal fan might expect given her Playboy pedigree. This is just three tracks, of course, but it shows great portent. It's probably a good thing that Professor went on hiatus a couple weeks ago and Tuesdae's all-star covers band, Chelsea Girls, officially disbanded in April. These five need to shoot for the moon or shoot for nothing. All eyes on Huntress.

Ogle away at Huntress's MySpace page

SEE HUNTRESS LIVE IN L.A.:

June 2 @ King King: with Slough Feg (reviewed here), Gates of Slumber and The Czars Dogs

June 19 @ Echo Curio: with Gypsyhawk

July 3 @ Mountain Bar

GET HUNTRESS STUFF FOR FREE:

Download Huntress's Off With Her Head EP right here.

Download Professor's two tour EPs right here.

Harvey Milk - A Small Turn of Human Kindness (Hydra Head, 2010)

2010-05-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, May 22nd, was the first annual Harvey Milk Day, instituted in California to honor the openly gay San Francisco politician immortalized in the 2008 film Milk. It would have been Milk's 80th birthday were he not assassinated by a close colleague in 1978. One hopes that public schools throughout California will forevermore use the day to commemorate Milk's life and work.

Metal fans will celebrate in a very different way, with downtrodden sludge guitars and parched soul vocals. In an eerie coincidence, Hydra Head elected to release the A Small Turn of Human Kindness by Athens, Georgia's perversest sludge group, Harvey Milk, just four days before the inaugural Harvey Milk Day. Could someone on the HH staff have a particular affection for the slain gay icon? Cerebral Metalhead has cited evidence of Hydra Head GM Mark Thompson's own homosexuality in the past, but the release date seems more like cosmic serendipity.

Harvey Milk's re-released, eponymous debut, 2010

I used to believe that Harvey Milk, like their frequent comparison partners The Melvins, were in the game of deliberately confounding their audience. Sometimes they were confrontational about it, as with the harsh noise-rock of their shoulda-been debut (aka "Bob Weston Sessions"), finally remastered and give a proper release earlier this year (buy it here). Sometimes they were more guarded about their outré tendencies, as with their two comeback albums, Special Wishes (2006) and Life...The Best Game In Town (2008). And sometimes they would throw in a total curveball, like 1997's boogie-centric The Pleaser. I saw Harvey Milk play at a loft party in 2008, and their tightness was shocking. It was a hastily put together gig, but Harvey Milk played like its members had been staring at each other for 16 years straight. They were that neurotically together.

"I Alone Got Up and Left"

On A Small Turn of Human Kindness, we hear Harvey Milk in sobering, straightforward mode. Doom connotes sorrow and despair. A Small Turn feels like neither. We get only the barest outlines of the story in this song cycle -- pregnancies, tire squeals and gunshots -- but the music is all clear-eyed gravitas, strength in the face of Creston Spiers's hoarse vocals and the band's wide-open guitar moves. Harvey Milk use slow paces and heaviness differently than any other metal band -- not as hypnosis, but to ratchet up tension. Keyboards and harmonized leads in "I Alone Got Up and Left" yield a queasiness that never abates, while a track like "I Know This Is No Place for You" isn't so much sludge metal as really heavy blues music. Harvey Milk let difficult emotions sit with no foil on A Small Turn. They're doing more than just telling us how it feels to be emotionally desiccated. They're making us feel desiccated ourselves. Slap Harvey Milk on the back and then give them a hug.

Be flamboyant as you want to be at Harvey Milk's website

BUY:

Amazon (CD)

Amazon (MP3)

Blue Collar Distro

CHAINMAIL: Locrian - Territories (At War With False Noise / Basses Frequences / Bloodlust / Small Doses, 2010)

2010-05-17T22:26:00.000-07:00

The CHAINMAIL section reviews bands that were proactive enough to contact me directly. Here at Cerebral Metalhead, initiative is rewarded.

Ronnie James Dio is dead. I never really knew him aside from his role as a talking head in VH1 documentaries and his popularization of the metal horns. Yet the more I read, the more samples of his work with Rainbow, Dio and Black Sabbath that I hear, the more real his death becomes. While I wouldn't say that my life feels any different, I do feel more connected to the metal world because of the collective outpouring of mourning. And so I mourn, as well.

The new Locrian album Territories is ideal for this mood. The emotions it inspires are fathoms deep and unnameable. It is everything that Dio's music was not -- fuzzy, oblique, meditative, often static. There will be no holy diving to the synth and bass throb of "Ring Road." Terence Hannum, Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded), Blake Judd (Nachtmystium) and Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), each of whom contribute emaciated howls to "Procession of Ancestral Brutalism," could learn a few things about enunciation from Dio. This music feels dry and empty, even at its most energetic. Territories is the purgatory that Dio must wait in while his afterlife is determined. Heaven? Hell? Heaven and Hell?

Locrian's last album Drenched Lands soundtracked Chicago's urban dystopia with improvised windscapes and scratchy feedback. Half of Territories thaws out the desolation by setting its improvised electronics against warmly-recorded, Ulver-like black metal storms from Judd, Hannum, Locrian's Andre Foisy and drummer Andrew Scherer (Velnias). "Procession of Ancestral Brutalism," is really inspired black metal, and I hope to hear this expanded band record a whole record like it someday. But the two disparate styles feel frictive, especially when the latter erupts out of nowhere a few minutes in to "The Columnless Arcade." It's too Dio-like, its regal drum patterns and repeated harmonies clenching triumph from the jaws of horror. I am gratified that such bold improvisers as Locrian are taking steps away from their discomfort zone, even more gratified that they're putting Bruce Lamont's saxophone to good use (his layered braying on "Between Barrows" threatens to steal the album). I don't want to be woken from my drone-drenched reverie by blastbeats though. Too much emphasis on rhythm. Give me more organ, more queasiness. Let me mourn for Dio in improvised peace and quiet feedback.

Read as Locrian Blogs from the Land of Decay!

BUY:

At War With False Noise (via PayPal)

Basses Frequences

CHAINMAIL: The March - Dead Ends and Blind Spots EP (self-released, 2009)

2010-05-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

The CHAINMAIL section reviews bands that were proactive enough to contact me directly. Here at Cerebral Metalhead, initiative is rewarded.

Ever notice how it's easier to write metal lyrics in English than it is to communicate normally in English? Exhibit A: French post-metal band The March, whose vocalist Olivier Haese peppered his e-mails to me with minor (and adorable) idiomatic mistakes like "Would someone on your website be interested in making a review of it?" and "I haven't received the receipt that says you've got it well." In contrast, the lyric sheet for The March's debut EP Dead Ends and Blind Spots has a telegraphic pithiness to it that feels like its own dialect. "Perfect lines, artificial edges / Plastic birds, fake water around us" howls vocalist Olivier Haese on "Ancient Seed," before eructating one of The March's many awesome seabeast-themed apocalyptic forecasts: "The giant shell is on its way / Let the beast crawl over the great seawalls / And swallow them all / Now celebrate!"

"Ancient Seed"

The March have also mastered the language of post-metal. Normally I dismiss this stuff as formulaic and one-dimensionally triumphalist, but the drama here feels real. The heavy sections come quickly, like each song's lifesblood instead of its payoff. There's a dryness to the recording that keeps the shimmery clean-tone guitars leaden and creaky. They're dripping in liquid mercury, not fondue cheese. Cymbals crash crunchy and live. Haese's vocals spew electricity. Extra points for the silkscreened package, laden with seahorses. Yes Olivier, I am interested in making a review of your album, and yes, I've got it well.

March on over to The March's Myspace page

BUY:

Dead Ends and Blind Spots (self-released, 2009) is available by mail-order only. E-mail zguidon@hotmail.fr for your copy.

Knu from Knut: Wonder

2010-04-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

Two months of waiting 'til this is out ain't so bad considering I've already waited for 5 years.

So let's say that one of your favorite bands puts out an amazing record in 2005. Here's a standard timeline of events, using the release date as a reference point:

6 months later: stop listening to last record once a day

1.5 years later: actively await news of new record

2 years later: suffer through pointless EP, B-sides, live or remix record

3 years later: forget band ever existed

4 years later: rediscover last record while searching through record collection

5 years later: find out that band broke up two years ago

I was prepared to give up on Knut (one of only two bands that ever convinced me to wear their hoodie), despite my undying reverence for their last record Terraformer (Hydra Head, 2005) and each of their previous Hydra Head releases. That remix album Alter from 2006 did nothing to assuage my slide into apathy. But now it looks like it's time to recalibrate my timeline.

"Descent" (from Bastardiser)

"Kyoto" (from Terraformer)

Hydra Head just announced the June 29th release of Knut's new album Wonder. It's reportedly both "A commentary on the human capacity for creative thought and numinous experience in the face of a violent and oppressive global-market ethos" and "Testament to our will for survival and defiance in times of adversity and crippling doubt." That's a lot of touting for 40 minutes of music, but I guess Knut have had plenty of time to develop creative thoughts about survival and defiance in the interim.

So...is anyone else excited about Wonder?

Click here, here, here and here to check out the progression of that glorious album cover by Aaron Turner.

Listen to a whole bunch of old shit at Knut's MySpace page

BUY:

Blue Collar Distro (available on June 29)

CHAINMAIL: Fuck the Facts - Unnamed EP (self-released, 2010)

2010-04-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

The CHAINMAIL section reviews bands that were proactive enough to contact me directly. Here at Cerebral Metalhead, initiative is rewarded.

Go listen to your Repulsion and early Napalm Death records. Now listen to the new Fuck the Facts Unnamed EP. Lordy, how grindcore has changed. Frequent changeups and breakdowns and beat-flippings keep the 'core as prevalent as the grind, the headspin as prevalent as the gutpunch. Grind isn't just for speedfreaks anymore. This stuff is as impressive for its pure composition as it is for the fury it channels.

Fuck the Facts: ". ."

There's little room for imperfection on Unnamed EP. It's surgical in its savagery. Performances are ship-in-a-bottle-builder precise, instruments cleanly separated. I could never call the group's pixie of death vocalist Mel Mongeon "caged," but here's she's less frontwoman than vocal accompanist. This will change when you see Fuck the Facts live. A Mongeon performance is not conducive to upstaging or forgetting.

"La Tete hors de L'eau"

Fuck the Facts habitually pick at their own bones and reassess their catalog. Founding guitarist Topon Das et. al cobbled together 2008's Disgorge Mexico from jam tapes and riffs dating back to the band's founding, nearly a decade prior; Unnamed EP finds the band re-recording "La Tete Hors De L'eau" from a 2004 split with Sergent Slaughter and "Doghead" from Mullet Fever. I like the idea of a band that's proud enough of its past to incorporate it into its present. Self-sampling, if you will. There are subtle differences between new and old on Unnamed EP, mostly in the more straightforward tonalities and structures of the two re-records, which compare favorably to The Red Chord (Frankensteiny combos of grind, groove, pinch harmonic and roar). It's remarkable how consistent Fuck the Facts are on record, especially considering how prolific they are. Unnamed EP upholds the band's fact-fucking quality.

Unname yourself at Fuck the Facts' MySpace site

BUY:

7" w/free digital download - $6

Download only - $5

Consider Fucking the Facts live:

Apr 23 2010 8:00P The Alex Brantford, Ontario

Apr 24 2010 8:00P Hard Luck Bar Toronto, Ontario

May 14 2010 8:00P CSMA Ithaca, New York

May 15 2010 8:00P Bug Jar Rochester, New York

May 16 2010 8:00P Now That’s Class Cleveland, Ohio

May 17 2010 8:00P Mac’s Bar Lansing, Michigan

May 18 2010 8:00P Reggies Chicago, Illinois

May 19 2010 8:00P Fubar St. Louis, Missouri

May 20 2010 8:00P Conservatory Oklahoma, Oklahoma

May 21 2010 8:00P Renos Dallas, Texas

May 22 2010 8:00P War Legion Amarillo, Texas

May 23 2010 8:00P Red Seven Austin, Texas

May 25 2010 8:00P The Bar New Orleans, Louisiana

May 26 2010 8:00P Firehouse Birmingham, Alabama

May 27 2010 8:00P Hideaway Johnson City, Tennessee

May 28 2010 8:00P Sleep On It Harrisonburg, Virginia

May 29 2010 8:00P MD Deathfest Baltimore, Maryland

Jun 1 2010 8:00P Club Hell Providence, Rhode Island

Jun 18 2010 8:00P Montebello Marina Montebello, Quebec

Jun 19 2010 8:00P Bar Le Magog Sherbrooke, Quebec

Jul 23 2010 8:00P Friendship Cove Montreal, Quebec

Lair of the Minotaur interview

2010-04-13T22:08:00.000-07:00

Nate Olp, Steven Rathbone and Chris Wozniak of Lair of the Minotaur

The new Lair of the Minotaur album is out this week. Those of you who were worried that the Chicago trio were going to drop their Greek mythology shtick will have to go find something else to worry about, because Evil Power sticks it to the Olympian pantheon over and over again with an even more brutish approach than LOTM's last few. Screw that Clash of the Titans abortion. This is the real shit when it comes to Greek god-busting in 2010. I caught up with the band's main man Steven Rathbone for a soon-to-be-published Decibel feature. Here's how the talk went down.

///////////////

You’re at work right now?

Technically, yeah. I work at home.

What do you do other than rock the mic?

I run a business called theGrind-House.com and we sell movie poster t-shirts. The label that’s putting out the new record is kind of like a sister company of the Grind-House. It’s called The Grind-House Records.

Why did you decide to go the self-released route with this record?

Our contract was up with Southern Lord. We had them behind us with distribution and whatnot. We just wanted to take it in our own hands. It’s kind of in the original spirit of the band. We got signed with them (Southern Lord) early. When we first signed the demo had only been out for six months. And so it’s something we always wanted to do, and I thought it was the right time, and it was the right record, and so far the response has been really great.

Is there much of a difference in making this record as an independent band distributed by a larger label as opposed to going straight through Southern Lord? Or have you not noticed that much in terms of what you have to do on a day to day basis?

It’s definitely a little more hands-on as far as the label aspect of it, but the approach with this record is exactly the same. I mean if this record would have come out on Southern Lord, it’d be the exact same record, you know? It is a different aspect of trying to act as a salesman a little bit more for your record. I think that’s something that I find a little bit hard to do. It’s one thing to write and record an album and make music. It’s another thing to go like “Aw, you gotta check out this band! They’re fuckin’ awesome!” Like, do what labels do. Which is sell a band.

I imagine you taking off your Conan helmet and instead of saying “I’m going to destroy you!” saying “Will you please buy my record?”

That’s also where some help comes in handy. My good friend Josh Diebel is partnering with us on this label. He used to own Alleysweeper Records back in the mid-90s, and they put out some of the old Tribes of Neurot stuff, and solo Justin Broadrick stuff, and Mick Harris – experimental, ambient/noise stuff. So he has a little more experience with the label when it comes to sales and that kind of thing. It definitely helps to have someone else doing that and not the guy from a band.

Let’s talk about the new record a little bit. Evil Power has a much simpler, more straightforward vibe than the last one. Did you try to strip it down for this record?

Yeah! The storyline is a continuation of the storyline from War Metal Battle Master (reviewed here), which was about Ares. If anyone doesn’t know, our stuff is about Greek mythology. So it was about him becoming a god. And it was also about this period of peace ending, and this period of – it was sort of a violent period, where men became very violent. And so the music – it’s also about celebration, about the celebration after a big victory, a bloody victory. That was the overlying theme behind this record. To create a record that was celebratory, kind of like a party record. When I started thinking about that, I had some older stuff I had worked on, that was working out real well with this. And it’s basically we wanted to make a really kickass record could put on at a party. The kind of stuff you would listen to – Judas Priest, Motorhead, that type of thing and that type of vibe. And it’s also about drunk-driving as well.

Really! Tell me how drunk driving fits in to the equation.

Well, it kind harkens back to when I first started driving, growing up in Detroit. We didn’t really have much to do, and that’s all we did, drink and drive. Listen to music. I definitely look back fondly on those times now. Don’t want anyone to get a DUI, but… ::laughs:: it’s one of those records that’s good to put on if you’ve had a few and you’re driving real fast on the freeway.

Got it. So it’s more of a throwback to those heady days of driving under the influence than a recommendation that your listeners do the same.

::laughs:: That’s right. You’re just begging for a DUI if you buy this record.

That’s a subliminal message you don’t want to record backwards on your album.

And then there’s the overlying story of the Greek mythology, and there’s a lot of movement in the marauding type thing, with these bands of soldiers, so there’s also that. The marauding type element to it, you and your friends get in a car and jammin’ some tunes. Havin’ a good time, going somewhere or whatever.

I was going to ask if, after four albums of Greek mythology, you were starting to see some sort of overarching allegory in your music, or a connection to modern living. And I guess that would be it.

Yeah. That’s pretty much it right there. I dunno if we would ever make it out that all of the songs are about partying and getting pussy, but…::laughs::

A lot of them are! So the War Metal Battle Master DVD (reviewed here) was one of the most over-the-top blood and tits fests I’ve ever seen. Do you have something similar planned for Evil Power?

Actually I’m supposed to see the final edit of the video tonight. The Deciblog is doing the premiere at the end of the month.

What song is it for?

It’s for the song “Evil Power.” And yes, this video makes the last one look like crap. It’s gonna blow people away. The artistic element is way over the top, the blood and the gore and everything else is tenfold. I’m really happy. I promised myself that we wouldn’t do a video for this album. ::laughs::

Was it just for financial reasons?

It was such a headache. That War Metal Battle Master – it took like a year to put that together. It was like, a lot of time. And it was cool, and it did its job, it created a buzz for the record, and a lot of people saw it and a lot of people really enjoyed it, and it was fun to make, but when I started thinking about doing something like that again, I was like “aw man! I don’t wanna like, unless I have some HUGE budget.” But we started talking with Ryan Oliver, who directed it. He had done some of the special effects for the War Metal Battle Master video. And he lives here in town in Chicago. And we just started talking, and one thing lead to another, led to another, led to another. Next thing we know the scope of this thing just grew tenfold. Yeah, I’m real pleased. But yeah, it’s insane.

Are you using the same actresses that played the Keres in the last one?

No. This is a different story. There is a minotaur, and it’s basically what goes down in the lair of the minotaur. It follows the storyline, the myth of virgins would be brought to the lair of the minotaur to be sacrificed, and that’s what you see! ::laughs:: It’s brutal. It’s fuckin’ unbelievable.

It’s just concentrating on that part? It’s not Theseus coming in and saving the day?

No.

It’s just the sacrifice of the virgins.

Theseus doesn’t come in on this version. I mean it’s a two-minute song. So of course we’d love to keep adding all this stuff but it’s a shorter song. I think it fits well with the song, and it fits well with the album. We have definitely one-upped the last one so I’m happy about that. I don’t feel like we’re putting out a lesser video. It’s definitely…MORE.

What makes the Grecian war concept more badass than what Nile’s doing with Egyptian mythology, or what Unleashed is doing with Norse mythology?

I am personally just attracted to it for the D&D aspect. I grew up playing D&D, and Greek mythology was sewn into the game. And so that’s how I got into it, along with old Ray Harryhausen movies like Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans, Sinbad and all that type of stuff, and then I started reading early on the Aeneid and some of these early writings, and it’s just something I’ve always been into. As far as metal lyrics go, it’s perfect. It’s filled with lore, and monsters, and death and fuckin’ horrible shit. And it expands on themes…some of these stories are as old as man. You can’t really trace how far. Half of these stories weren’t written down until around 1 BC or something. And so that also interests me too, the lore aspect of these stories, sown and told down through the ages. When it comes to metal lyrics, there’re a lot of bands doing stuff about Satan, and so with that ground being so well covered, we figured the Greek mythology angle would be perfect for us. I had the name of the band first before I started writing any of the lyrics, so it was grown out of that. When I first started writing lyrics, I was like “Oh, we’ll just kinda roll with this.”

So that concept was always with you. As soon as you had the name Lair of the Minotaur, did you know that you would forever be writing lyrics about Greek mythology?

Heh…yeah. I remember the look of dismay when I tried to tell the rest of the band.

I can’t imagine this band singing about anything else. But what do you think? If you ever moved on from Greek mythology, are there other themes that you’re interested in exploring?

Probably not with this band. I’ll robably keep (Lair of the Minotaur) along these lines. There’s just such a well of stories. I’ll make up stuff, too. I’ll use some of the characters and just make up stories as well. So that’s fun too.

Why do you think that American metal bands so rarely engage American mythology? Yeah there’s not as much history, but it’s always been interesting to me that usually when you hear about a band working with lore, it’s Scandinavian lore, or pagan lore, or Greek or Egyptian lore.

Right. All we have is Christianity.

Well you know, there’re the myths of the west, there’s Paul Bunyan, there’s Native American lore they can work with.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a band using Native American lore in metal. Probably in types of world music. But yeah, I’m not really sure what bands’ lyrics are about these days. I don’t really have much of a clue.

There’s a lot of consciously retro metal going around these days. Do you consider yourself aligned with that at all?

No. I’m kinda in a bubble and I don’t really listen to a lot of new bands. When you hear Lair of the Minotaur sounding the way it is, it doesn’t sound that way to be cool or retro, it sounds that way because that’s the kind of music I listen to, and that’s the kind of music I want to write. As far as any kind of scene, we’ve always existed outside of any scene. Even as being part of Southern Lord, we were never really sounded like any of the bands on Southern Lord. It seems like there are little cliques of bands that for together, and kinda sound similar, from the same region. We’re friends with plenty of the bands around here but I wouldn’t say that we sound in any way in the same vein.

At the same time you’ve got this other band 7000 Dying Rats (reviewed here), which is totally different and also going for something completely different than most grind bands. Let’s talk about that. It’s basically a satirical grind band. Would you say that humor is an important part of Lair of the Minotaur as well?

I tell you what. I grew up listening to metal, laughing and having a good time with my friends. And most of these bands that try to portray an image of being really serious, when you meet them, they are just as goofy as me and you. And so there’s never been a big façade or anything that we try to pull to try to be super serious. But at the same time, the music is serious to me. The way I’m singing, the song names, the albums, the reason it’s so over the top is to cut the wheat from the chaff. The impetus for doing that was that there are so many bands that would take little elements of metal but you could tell that they still thought of metal as cheesy. There’s that popular kind of misconception about all those shitty glam bands from the 80s, that that is what metal is. Or when they have the “Top 40 Metal Videos of the 1980s” on VH1, and it’s all Poison and all that. And so I think there’s a generation now that think some aspects of it are cheesy, whether it be Dio, or that type of thing, the sword and sorcery type of thing. Spinal Tap made fun of it as well. But to people that grew up listening to metal, that’s what metal was. Metal was fantasy, and sword and sorcery, and monsters and Satan and having a good time. And so that’s a big part of why we do what we do. It’s to draw a line in the sand and just have something that’s so over the top metal that if you don’t like it, you should move on.

You’re saying Lair of the Minotaur forces you to address why you listen to metal to begin with?

Right. In some ways. It depends on the listener, you know. When people grew up.

I started listening to metal way after you did, so to me the Dio stuff seems silly, but it’s something I embrace as part of metal’s history. And an essential part of its development, too! Even without the fantasy theme, getting up there on stage and brutalizing a crowd is a form of escape, you know? So why not match that with lyrics, too?

Right, right. That’s what it’s supposed to be. Slayer, Celtic Frost, so many of these old bands wrote fantasy-type lyrics.

General Diaboloical Slaughter from Usurper guests on a track, yeah?

He’s a good friend. And we actually wanted to get him out o n the last record, and he wasn’t able to. So we made sure this time we got him out, and laid down some shit.

Which track is he on?

He’s on four or five of the tracks. Just backup stuff.

Tell me about the switcheroo between bassists DJ Barraca and Nate Olp. How and when did that come about?

That came about two years ago actually. Our original bassist DJ – his wife had gotten pregnant, and he was not going to be nailed to doing this nonsense. And Nate from Demiricous – we’re good friends with those guys, we’ve played with ‘em several times down in Indianapolis –he was the first person I called, and he’s a super awesome dude, and we’re happy to have him in the band.

So he’s a full-time member now?

Yes.

So he’ll be touring with you whenever you come out.

Yes.

A lot of people accused Demiricous of sounding exactly like Slayer. But I don’t care. Slayer’s great! Demiricous write amazing riffs!

Kerry King loves them, too.

That’s enough for me.

Nate has actually hung out with Kerry before. He’s a huge fan of the band.

So tell me about Sanford Parker. Obviously he’s all over the place these days, especially for Chicago bands. You’ve used him for pretty much every record that you’ve put out. What works so well about him and the Lair of the Minotaur aesthetic?

He has a really good ear and he’s really easy to work with. We’ve recorded everything so far with him. And he’s one of the very few people that I will actually take suggestions from concerning a song.

You mean the writing itself?

You know what I mean. Effects on the vocals, that type of thing. He’s got a nice little setup over there (at Volume Recording). He’s moved into a larger spot than where he was originally recording us. And it’s really comfortable. Nice, big place. I consider him a fourth member when we’re in the studio.

Has he ever suggested adding keyboards or anything beyond your normal band setup?

I mean all the keyboard stuff is stuff that I’ve done. It’s not so much changes in the songs, as much as little studio things. Doubling up parts of vocals, that type of thing.

I’ve got one more question. And this one is killing me, because it’s about lunch time out here. You’ve got your own Kuma’s Corner burger with caramelized onions, pancetta, brie and bourbon-soaked pears. I’m assuming you’ve eaten it a few times?

Yeah, it’s pretty good.

Do you ever feel this weird auto-cannibalistic lust when you’re eating your own burger?

::laughs:: Yeah it’s crazy. I guess it’s the best-selling burger there. And still to this day, probably twice a week I’ll get a drunken e-mail from someone going “Dude! I just ate your burger!”

“You taste great!”

It’s funny. When I’m there, I can hear people ordering it behind me, and I cringe.

There’s really nothing that metal about pears. But I guess you’re soaking them in bourbon before you put ‘em on there.

I saw just recently one of the shows from the Food Network. And some guy went there, and they prepared the burger and he ate it, on the show. Some blonde guy that has the show and runs around and sees all these food places. That was weird as well.

It’s a pretty dubious distinction to add to your press pack, you know? That you have the best-selling burger at Kuma’s Corner in Chicago?

Have you ever been?

No, I haven’t been to Chicago in years. But I need to go. It’s a mecca for metal definitely, but I’ve been hearing so much about the burgers over there. It’s like a hangout spot for the Chicago metal crowd, right?

Yeah. It’s become very popular, so sometimes it’s a little unbearable. There’re a lot of people there. But all the food’s really good. They have this killer mac ‘n cheese. It’ll blow your mind.

Steve, you’re making me salivate. Is there anything else you want to say about Evil Power?

No, I think it speaks for itself. Personally it’s my favorite of our albums. I’m stoked for it to come out.

///////////////

Enter the Lair of the Minotaur at the band's website

BUY Evil Power:

The Grind-House Records

See Lair of the Minotaur live:

4/16/2010 Melody Inn - Indianapolis, IN w/ Coffinworm

4/17/2010 Peabody's - Cleveland, OH w/ Solopsist

4/18/2010 Sonar - Baltimore, MD w/ Revolta, Wolfnuke

4/19/2010 M Room - Philadelphia, PA w/ Ludicra, Tombs, Krallice

4/21/2010 The Charleston - Brooklyn, NY w/ The Binary Code, Elks

4/22/2010 Velvet Lounge - Washington DC w/ Ol Scratch, Admiral Browning

4/23/2010 Broadway Joe's - Buffalo, NY w/ Cattle Decapitation, Gaza

4/24/2010 The Summit - Columbus, OH w/ Fools Crown

CHAINMAIL: Karloff - Bled Dry (Midwestern Decline, 2010)

2010-04-12T23:47:00.000-07:00

The CHAINMAIL section reviews bands that were proactive enough to contact me directly. Here at Cerebral Metalhead, initiative is rewarded.

I love the idea of a hardworking local hardcore band with few ambitions beyond playing some gigs, releasing a few records and staying passionate about its music. Hardcore is nothing without passion. That's definitely Karloff, a four-piece group of straight edge DIYers out of Ft. Wayne, Indiana. When last we visited the band, they were recording 12-minute EPs of drum machine punk and Joy Division and Suicidal Tendencies covers. Things have changed for the better. Karloff now have a beast of a drummer in a dude named Austin, and a cool command over hardcore's groove-to-grind continuum that keeps the gears shifting, the songs short and the rage undiluted.

"Desolation"

"Faithless"

Fault the clunky production job all you want -- Karloff's resolve still shines through, whatever style they attempt. The bristling fastcore of "Desolation" is all in-the-red energy and bowel-loosening bass breaks; "Bled Dry" track compacts a Crowbar album into 2 and a half minutes. With its snarled soliloquies, gang-chanted title phrase and d-beat midsection, "Faithless" might be the most traditional hardcore song on the album. Also traditional: Karloff spit their anger with no filter or compunction: "I believe nothing that you speak/I care nothing for what you believe/Spew my curses/I spit my rage/Your bribes of an empty paradise/Cannot sway my fucking disdain/Fuck you." Fuck me indeed. By the end of this record's 12 minutes, I'm starting to believe that I deserve the hatred.

Stream all of Bled Dry at Karloff's MySpace page

BUY:

BigCartel.com

Interpunk.com

Midwestern Decline

CHAINMAIL: Peopleperson - The Kids Are All Done For (Fictionband Mechanics, 2009)

2010-04-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

The CHAINMAIL section reviews bands that were proactive enough to contact me directly. Here at Cerebral Metalhead, initiative is rewarded.

You are reading a review of an album by the retardedly prolific Darryl Robbins and his band Peopleperson. This is one of at least four albums that Peopleperson released in '09. By the time you finish reading this review he will likely have put out another one. What sort of person is Robbins? This is how he introduced himself to me:

"I too am a cerebral metalhead. I make music, not necessarily metal, but a bit may come through. Thought you might like. If not, whatever. Thanks for the time spent reading this riveting email of mine."

Short and to the point. He doesn't have time to spend on elaboration; gotta record that music. Words are stumbling blocks for this band. Peopleperson have no use for words.

"Rainman on the Silver Mountain"

"The Hinderer"

For a man of such pithy messaging, Robbins sure is discursive with his compositions. There's as much rockabilly and surf guitar twang as there is blastbeating and riffage on The Kids Are All Done For. In fact, way more of it. But I don't hear the work of a Mr. Bungle biter, mashing up genres with no business hanging out for the sake of juxtaposition. I hear a guy who's striving for something new, trying to find the commonalities between Liturgy and Link Wray (two of the band's top MySpace friends). And strangely, it works. Substitute a distorted guitar tone and a bit of dissonance, and you've got the same smeary guitar texture of Deathspell Omega and Glorior Belli. I like this stuff. Maybe you will too. If not, whatever.

BUY:

Fictionband Mechanics website (just $6.99)

Find out if you're a people person at Peopleperson's MySpace page

CHAINMAIL: Batillus - Beard Destroyer Tour EP (self-released, 2009)

2010-04-08T07:25:00.000-07:00

The CHAINMAIL section reviews bands that were proactive enough to contact me directly. Here at Cerebral Metalhead, initiative is rewarded.

An upside-down photo of the Beard Destroyer Tour EP

Courtesy of the ESEF Industries Blog

Why aren’t there more instrumental doom bands? Simple. Shit’s boring. Great as it feels to have a riff crumble on top of you, slow metal gets old real fast without some human presence to bring us outta plodlandia. On their self-titled debut EP, Batillus crawled outta the Brooklyn muck with some ho-hum doom bashing. Twasn’t bad so much as overly workmanlike, nice for a toke (or so I’m told) and occasionally a vigorous headbang but lacking in any defining features that might inspire a second traversal of its 10-minute bummer sessions.

Batillus - "Beyond the River (excerpt)"

Batillus drafted Fade Kainer, from Inswarm and Jarboe’s band, to add vocals, synths and samples on their second eponymous EP. What a difference a growl makes. Now there’s a ring-wraith diffusing its howls over the trippy thunder on “The Division,”a skeleton riding side-saddle atop the bumpy end of “Beyond the River.”Batillus’s guitars sound hungrier, Geoff Summers’s sturdy drumming more flagellant. The songs here rumble forward like medieval war machines with a dangerous sense of momentum. And Fade’s choked keyboard atmosphere adds the perfect amount of humidity for the growth of doom fungi. It’s a snappy Electric Wizard homage that Batillus have on their hands. Moshless tour with Naam, Samothrace and Laudanum, por favor.

BUY:
EP 2 is currently sold out. All the material will appear on a 12” split set for release in 2010

Slow yer heartbeat to a crawl at Batillus's MySpace page!

Cynic - Live @ House of Blues West Hollywood, 1/17/10

2010-04-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

Crappy video of Cynic playing "Nunc Fluens" --> "The Space For This"

@ House of Blues, West Hollywood, 1/17/10

God wants me to write this review. Two months after I promised Cynic frontman Paul Masvidal that I'd cover the L.A. date of the band's tour with Between the Buried and Me, Devin Townsend Project and Scale the Summit, I ran into this almost-as-belated review of the same show by my Metalsucks bro Anso DF. Then two weeks later, the first edition of Masvidal's new "Metta Mind Journal" column appeared on Metalsucks. Look, I'm four nights deep into Passover. I'm sensitive to plagues. So when God sends a hailstorm of Cynic references my way, it is my duty to read the hieroglyphics on the wall and "Let my review go," to paraphrase Moses.

Kenny G also wants me to write this review. The Prince of Pap was right in front of me in the ticket line on that rainy Sunday night in West Hollywood. "My 16-year-old loves all of these bands," quoth Mr. G, "but he could shred any of them into the ground." Uhuh. Of one thing I can be sure: whether you loathe or go into fantods over this tour's lineup, there wasn't a single member of any of the bands on the bill that didn't have total mastery over his instrument [much like Mr. G has total mastery over his hair (Seriously, it's like he's wearing extensions made of lasagna noodles)].

If my tone's irreverent, it's only because this show was laughably good. Especially the meat of the prog-metal sandwich, Devin Townsend Project and Cynic (the only two full sets I saw). I love all those Strapping Young Lad records because they've got so much personality. Now I love Devin Townsend because he isn't afraid to promulgate said personality, even if he comes off as the doofus that he most assuredly is. In between his god-heavy musical devastations, often in bewildering major keys, the bald-pated, suit-clad Devy announced such unironicisms as "Don't be afraid to be the nerd that you truly are!" and "I may look like a fool, but I'm a hippie at least!" The dude sings magnificently, cracks the sky with his guitar solos, and smiles the whole time -- this wasn't a band playing, it was a factory of light and love. Of the many strangenesses presented that evening, how a band this jubilant could be so gravitationally intense was one of the strangest (only Torche can touch them in that regard). New favorite live band.

Cynic offered complementary joys. I overheard an audience dude saying "I like their first album, but the new one is gay." I laughed at how inadvertently spot-on he was. Cynic's masterful last album Traced In Air felt free-flowing and contoured, compared to the jagged masculine thrust of most death metal. It's tantric sex to death metal's doggystyle. The live show was no different. Their energy was introspective instead of projective; Masvidal's guitar solos came as offerings, and Sean Reinert's drumming, refreshingly free of blastbeats, tapped into some internal continuum that flowed through the entire set, and probably beyond. This is the only live metal band that can play soundbytes from spiritualist Eckhart Tolle over the PA, then engage its audience in an impromptu yoga session, and leave an entire sold-out venue's worth of metalheads more endeared to them than before. No new material, not even "Wheels Within Wheels," which they "rolled out" elsewhere on this tour. But I have a feeling that Traced In Air will be remembered as their finest achievement, and I'm lucky enough to have seen them twice in support of the album. 'Twas remarkable how emotionally diffuse the two songs they played from Focus sounded in comparison.

Good as Between the Buried And Me are, and gawd can those boys play (and play, and play), their neverending series of riff forests and melodic clearings felt like several steps backward from the clarity and elegance of the last two bands. They've definitely improved as a live band over the years, but they've also learned to equate increased compacted songwriting with progress, and I've taken the opposite route. Could this be the true meaning of the title of their most recent album The Great Misdirect? Maybe. I left about three songs in to their set, and it felt like I could have been one song or ten songs in. In retrospect, I probably should have stayed in case Kenny G was a surprise guest on their encore. Damn my impatience!

CHAINMAIL: From Exile - Monolith (self-released, 2009)

2010-02-28T18:15:00.000-08:00

The CHAINMAIL section reviews bands that were proactive enough to contact me directly. Here at Cerebral Metalhead, initiative is rewarded.

How this unknown, unsigned studio project helmed by Atlanta resident Eric Guenther secured the production talents of Daath's Eyal Levi and journeyman drummer Kevin Talley (Dying Fetus, The Red Chord, Black Dahlia Murder, Decrepit Birth) is anyone's guess. So here's my guess: the band's talent is too obvious and massive to be ignored by anyone that hears 'em, labels be damned. Listen here for prog-metal without pretense, a huge album that packs a two-disc Dream Theater album's worth of musical fireworks and superior writing into its meager 32 minutes.

To put it in the feminine hygiene product vernacular, Monolith is a "heavy flow" kind of album. Less a collection of songs than a continuous suite of big bang music, most of Monolith sweeps across the shred-to-stomp continuum with plenty of luxurious solos from Levi and his Daath bandmate Emil Werstler for the rubbernecking (ed. - each of them contribute just one solo, though all the lead guitarwork is first-rate). There's fleet melodic death riffage that'll leave the soul julienned and imperial marches that mimic planet formation. Processed melodic vocals are tacked on to a few tracks as afterthoughts, and they're the only letdown here (only album I've heard that work the semi-robot vox well is Cynic's Traced In Air). Otherwise Monolith is a totally inspired, cohesive work, and proof that not all progressive metal has to be over-the-top in concept or execution to instill me with pride in my long-haired, scale-savvy brethren.

Learn about smooshing two of the same prepositions together from From Exile's website

BUY:

From Exile website

v/a - They Don't Know Unless You Tell Them (FSS, 2010)

2010-02-02T08:17:00.000-08:00

Taken to their logical limits, the tremolo guitars and slipstream drumming of black metal become so fast that they cease to function as rhythm and instead become pure drones. Buzz and beat as two forms of background noise. In that context, it's not so hard to draw a line between black metal and ambient/noise recordings. Even before Burzum obliterated the boundary between black metal and ambient aesthetics, the music coming out of Norway's second wave of black metal declared the sizzling atmosphere of its lo-fi recordings as nearly as important as the music itself.

For the past two years, Flingco Sound System has curated a roster that suggests ambient music and black metal are two parasitic vines, sucking off each other for the benefit of absolutely nobody. Now the label generously offers a 90-minute compilation of exclusive tracks from FSS artists and others whose work FSS admires, titled They Don't Know Unless You Tell Them. It's a wide-ranging beast of a comp, and there's something for everybody -- the noiseniks get the harsh soundscapes of Buer's "Dogwomb" and Grief No Absolution's "Befalling the End of One's Own Harpoon;" open-minded black metalheads will dig Hamsoken's hell-howling "Acrid Desire" and the surprisingly straightforward, and unsurprisingly awesome, crunch of "Mephitic Celebrator" by Wrnlrd (whose Oneiromantical War is reviewed here); No Anchor and Dead Meat both offer darkened, drugged-out rock music with proper human vocals. And there's oodles in between. It's not so much a "listen all the way through and love every minute of it" kind of comp as a "wow, I never realized how well this disparate shit could hang together" kind of comp.

They Don't Know Unless You Tell Them also comes with an amazing digital booklet in the form of two-sided, printable pdf playing cards. Each artist on the comp contribute visuals and the whole shebang was framed in designs by Wrnlrd (see the comp's cover above).

Download They Don't Know Unless You Tell Them:
MP3 format (237.8 MB)

Wav format (466.23 MB)

Liner notes

In other Flingco news, the label's released a curious lil' device called the Black Box:

This evil little battery-operated fucker is loaded with eerie loops from FSS artists Wrnlrd, Cristal, Haptic and also a spoken word piece from Annie Feldmeier Adams. My sense is that any good reason you'd have to buy this is a very, very private one. Perhaps it would make a good Valentine's Day gift for that special someone who hates you?

Buy the Black Box in its analog form for $15 here.

For those with digital proclitivites and an iPhone, purchase it as an iPhone app for $2.99 here.

Visit the Flingco Sound System website

Orphaned Land interview

2010-01-28T19:45:00.000-08:00

It was nigh-impossible to schedule a time to talk with Orphaned Land's lead singer Kobi Farhi, what with the 10-hour time difference between Los Angeles and the band's home base of Israel. Eventually we settled on 10am on a Sunday morning (8pm Jerusalem time) for our interview. While I was still rubbing the sleep from my eyes, Farhi spoke with the articulate loquaciousness of a guy who's done a lot of explaining over the years. Orphaned Land is certainly an anomaly -- a world-class progressive death metal band from a region that doesn't produce much metal at all (and, as Farhi explains, is often opposed to it), a band of Jews with a huge Muslim fanbase, a sextet of outspoken Israelis without a political agenda to push. Farhi was promoting Orphaned Land's new album, The Neverending Way of ORWarriOR, set for a US release of February 9 via Century Media. It's a big album full of big ideas, conceptually and musically. Farhi conveys the vastness of Orphaned Land's visions in his remarks.

An abridged version of this interview can be found in Decibel issue 65 (Fear Factory cover). Click here for an abridged version of the abridged version.

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Orphaned Land is known for taking its sweet time in between records. Why the long wait since Mabool and the Ararat EP?

I guess it’s a combination of a few things. I should say that the first thing is that our music is very complex, very layered and if you take the new album, it’s a three-chapter story reaching a total of 78 minutes long. So the amount of information inside of that album -- we could easily make three albums out of it. We do let everybody wait, but then we give them, let’s say, something to eat for a few years.

This is who we are. We can definitely write more catchy songs, more poppy kind of songs, and that would take us a shorter time. But that’s not what we’re all about. We are very much devoted and faithful to what we do. We take good care of it, and it’s a huge responsibility. Some people and record companies say that we take too long, and they are right -- from a commercial point of view, it’s not really good. But this is who we are. We always try to go as fast as we can, and it takes time. This is the first reason.

The second reason is that living in our region was never easy. We always have to struggle a lot in order to keep the band alive. Because most of us also have other day jobs, and we have to struggle with a lot of things. Everything in terms of normal living here is very stressing, and all the time there is a war, there is a threat, you read about a nuclear weapon, this is just the routine here, since we were born. I guess it is sad, a little bit. We cannot be fully concentrated on creation. On the other hand, it’s also one of the most inspiring places. So I don’t think a band like Orphaned Land can emerge from a place which is not the Middle East. So it’s a two-way conflict between the two. But I guess these are the main two reasons. The complexity of the album and the fact that we live here in the Middle East. And not like in Europe, where things are much easier in terms of society.

Americans, and westerners in general, have a pretty skewed vision of what happens in Israel and the Middle East. As an Israeli artist with a worldwide audience, do you ever feel pressure to use Orphaned Land as a platform for “explaining” or “translating” the Middle East for the West?

I wish the government of my country would adopt Orphaned Land harder than they are. Because Israel is always struggling to explain its bad image towards the news and the press. And I think that Orphaned Land is some kind of good news coming out of Israel, being very caring, very peaceful messengers of harmony and synergy between cultures and religions. So for us, it’s fun to tell our story everywhere. The fact that we have a huge Arab fanbase – it’s a miracle in itself. Everybody is familiar with the Israeli-Arab conflict. But you actually have to live here in this region in order to understand how bizarre it is that an Israeli band has thousands of Arab followers. It doesn’t make any sense. I mean, it sounds very hallucinative (sic), and not very connected with reality.

The fact that the music has succeeded to do it – succeeded where politicians failed – and the fact that it is actually happening, and some of them even have tattoos of the band – this is a story that we wish to tell. It’s a story of hope. The most amazing thing is that it’s not a new age, white or “shanty-banty” band that is doing it. We’re a metal band, at the end of the day. Which is an added value to the whole thing, I think.

I’ve never heard that term “shanty-banty” before.

Well, “shanty-banty” is slang for…you know Indian music which is very Shanti and peaceful? Spreading the message of love and harmony?

Okay, so it’s sort of “head in the clouds."

We do have a very peaceful and spiritual message, but at the end of the day, this is a metal band. I’m screaming this message into a microphone with growls. And this is the amazing thing, I think. That a metal band has succeeded. I don’t want to sound like I’m very proud, or megalomaniacal. But I truly think that this is more successful than any other style in our region, that’s succeeded to unite Arabs and Jews altogether.

Would you say that it’s the mere act of combining so many of these different musical styles that gives it that impression of unity? Or is there something in your lyrics where you’re addressing situations politically, in a very direct way?

I would say both. Of course the music is definitely synergy between cultures, and if a Middle Eastern guy or an Israeli or an Arab will go to Ozzfest or to the USA and he will hook up with some local US metalheads, he can definitely pull the CD of Orphaned Land and play it, and say “This is a metal country. This is coming from my region, and reflecting inspirations from my region and my culture, as well.” Because we are Jewish, and we are Israeli, but it doesn’t say anything on a political term. We are not politicians. We don’t take any side. We are actually sick of this circle of bloodshed and war that never ends. Even 18 years ago, we sang the same songs, the same messages. So we’re pretty sure that people here are trapped in some kind of magic circle of killing each other, and confusement (sic), and raising their children to even hate more, fight more. And you can see the outcome by the development of mass destruction weapons, and stuff like that. And every once in a while, yeah, we kill each other once again.

Orphaned Land is a completely different thing. And I think both the music and the lyrics, what we say in interviews – in all channels and platforms of the band, we always say we don’t take a stand. Because we should stop doing it and really understand that everybody is the same. And it’s okay that if someone else is different than you. You shouldn’t avoid yourself from hooking up with them. It would be interesting for every culture to learn about the other culture. And I think that if I lived that way, I’m a very rich man. Because I have friends from so many countries. I get to eat so many kinds of food from so many variations of cuisine. The languages, the music, the instruments that they play. The way they dress. All these things. If I don’t avoid them, if I’m not afraid of them, I’m becoming a rich man.

And this is our music. When you listen to our music, you can definitely see that from a musical level, it is heaven on earth. And we wish that people will live that way. I mean, you shouldn’t give up your culture. It’s okay. I’m Jewish, I’m Israeli, I like it. But being a Jew and an Israeli doesn’t necessarily have to mean that I hate Arabs, or that I want to kill them, or that I want to steal from them their land, or that they’re my enemy. I don’t want to agree to that. And every day that it’s going on, I see that it’s actually working. I get shitloads of feedback from Arabs, despite my being an Israeli. This is definitely the proof of it.

We published a photo on our Facebook fan page, and it was simply amazing. It was like comment after comment. The first comment was by a guy named Muhammad. The next comment was by a guy named Yossi, which is an Israeli name. The next was from, I dunno, Jonathan. And you see a Muslim, a Jew, a Christian, just writing one after another, “Wow.” “Unbelievable.“ “Amazing.” Peace to the Middle East. No politics whatsoever, and they don’t even fight with each other. It’s amazing, you know? It’s definitely like a miracle.

You approach religion in a very, very different way than your average metal band. Obviously as you’ve said, you’re a band of Jews, and you don’t make a big deal about it. Your music tends to engage the stories and traditions of the Abrahamic religions – Islam, Judaism, Christianity -- and not in a critical way. Do you see the place for organized religion in the traditionally anti-Judeo-Christian metal world?

Well first of all I must just say, because people sometimes tend to confuse. We are not a “white metal” band, the way the metalheads tend to call it. We don’t preach, we’re not missionaries, we don’t say to people “Go to pray to god, go to church.” This is not what Orphaned Land is about.

No, of course. I think you engage Middle Eastern and biblical mythologies in the same way that Unleashed or Amon Amarth deal with Viking mythology.

Yeah, yeah. We definitely use mythology, but we like to (blur) the line between the white and the black, between God and the Satan. So on one hand we use religion, on the other hand I can growl, and really connect myself into black metal elements. Everything is okay. We call it “tango between God and Satan.” So it’s just important to say that Orphaned Land is not any kind of religious or orthodox metal band. We just use religion the same as we use growls, or electric guitars, or many ancient instruments. It’s just one of the motives.

On a conceptual level, I have a lot of criticism to religion. I do believe in god, at the end of the day, but I do think that monotheism, and what it was supposed to bring to the world, and the fact that the three Abrahamic religions are just killing each other for decades, not to mention that they do it in the name of god, is one of the most ridiculous things that I’ve ever heard in my life. I mean you want to do it? Go ahead and do it. But why do you do it in the name of God? Who is the god that told you to do it? I don’t know this kind of god. This is definitely not the god that created this world – the trees, the birds, and the love and our ability to bring children into the world. This is not this god. You’re not doing anything on his behalf. And I’m speaking to all religions. If it’s inquisition, if it’s the Jew thinking he’s the chosen one, the Muslim thinking he has to fight with the Jihad against the whole world.

I’m usually a very peaceful man, and I don’t tend to judge people, don’t tend to prefer any culture than the other. But I do have a problem with people that they are sure that they are holding the absolute truth in their hands. And they have to force you to believe that. And it doesn’t matter what you say, or what you have to say, or what your beliefs are. They don’t want to listen to you. These are the people that I’m afraid of the most. It’s extreme people. It could be from any kind. It could be neo-Nazis, it could be Muslims, it could be Jews. It could be Christians. It doesn’t matter. It could be the guy that listens to jazz music, and thinks that the only music that exists is jazz. I have a problem with these kinds of people because they are not willing to listen to me, to my points of view.

Tell me how this idea integrates with the concept behind the new album, The Neverending Way of ORWarriOR. There was definitely a guiding concept behind it, right?

Yeah. The concept is the basic thought that the spirit and inner forces are sleeping. And every one of the listeners of the album is actually the Warrior of Light himself. We truly believe that we create our own reality by our choices. We truly believe that this is not some kind of a god above us that is shaping the world to be the way it is. This is all in our hands, and we are responsible for it. And we shouldn’t be dependent or put the responsibility on some other mighty force. And the purpose of the album is actually to awaken this warrior that is within each and every one of us. This was also one of the themes of the last album. Are you familiar with the album Mabool?

Yeah, I’ve listened to it. I understand it’s about the Flood, yes?

Yeah well Mabool was about the mythological flood in a way, but we created new heroes. So we made up the flood according to Orphaned Land. And the three heroes in the spiritual level, they were some kind of a soul that was divided into three. And that transformed itself into planet earth as a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim. They were all spread out to a different culture of the Abrahamic religions, but at the end of the day they were from the same source, the same soul. And the new album speaks about the same thing. When your warrior is awakened, you can see that everything is connected to one. You can see that “Yeah okay, the guy is a Muslim.” And “Yeah okay, I’m different.” But we are not different at all.

Our head is so full of media bullshit and political manipulation because the people tend to react and to believe like they were sheep. And people always need some kind of a shepherd, and people always tend to believe the one that has charisma, the one that knows how to manipulate them. So they brainwash our minds. It could be with TV commercials, it could be with kids eating McDonalds. It could be with Jews hating Muslims, and Muslims hating Jews. The Warrior of Light, the one that we are trying to awake, he definitely knows to see what is right and what is wrong. He definitely knows to see when he is being manipulated, and when he is trapped in a circle of never ending evil. This is something that we are trying to awaken simply by music and lyrics. And the hero for the album, the Warrior of Light actually believes in himself. This is not some kind of messiah that would come through the sky with, I dunno…a ring of fiery pegasuses or something like that. Each and every one of us is the small Messiah of its on life. And if you would look at our life, most people live in desperation and sadness and disappointment. They are being betrayed. They don’t really understand this world, and why we’re living here, and how come things happen the way they happen.

It’s interesting, you couch so many of your songs in religions themes. I remember hearing the phrase “Crown of thorns” a few times. And then just the notion of the Warrior of Light…I immediately jumped to Jesus, who I know is often called the Prince of Light.

We use it all the time, motives from this religion in our lyrics. We can also say in one of our songs, “Father thou art here in heaven, they kingdom cry.” We changed it to “cry” instead of “come.” And we always like to play with these texts. Because we do like to touch these religious themes, but we don’t have anything against religion in terms of the religion which came to bring us morality. Religion in basic came to bring us morality, and to teach us how to be better human beings. So this is what we are trying maybe to teach -- the way we see religion. And we use this motive so that we will be able to speak to all people from all kinds. It could be a Christian, it could be a non-Christian. We think they are all our brothers, so we like to use it. It’s very sad to say but, religions are having a terrible failure in delivering what they were supposed to deliver.

Tell me a little bit about the research that went in to the story and lyrics on the album.

I think that we wanted to get more personal this time. As I told you in the previous album, it was the Flood story. And we had the heroes, which were as I said the Muslim, the Christian and the Jew, but it was all about the Flood story and whatever goes around it. And in this album we wanted to be more personal, to approach each and every one of the listeners in a personal way. So that they will listen to it, and they will know that this is truly about themselves. This is like the good friend that came to talk to you about your inner self, how much he believes in you. How much power he knows that you have within yourself, and you should get yourself aware of it.

So we really wanted to make it more personal. And this is why we’ve focused it on the hero himself. And since this is such a strong, hard and long journey, to reach this understanding and knowledge, we made this album very long, and we called it The Neverending Way of ORWarriOR. ‘Cuz it’s a huge struggle. I see my parents, I see the people over here, they are living in the same loop, over and over and over again. And it’s hard to me to see it, because it’s like…you suddenly awake yourself, and you see that everyone is sleeping. And you succeed to live good, and you succeed to laugh, and you enjoy life, but you see everyone around you is suffering, and you want to help them. I don’t think we are gonna bring salvation to the world or anything like that. But I definitely think that we can be a good friend that can bring some hope and relief to people. And this is what I think music and art is all about.

That’s a beautiful idea. Was there a process that you went through looking through texts, or researching specific story elements as you were putting together the story for ORWarriOR?

I would say that I tend to meet some people that they are awakened warriors of light. But it’s not really a specific story that I read or…people get to think that maybe we speak about Jesus, which is not true. I mean I do tend to look like Jesus in these photos, or in general. But being serious now, everybody back then looked liked that. And Jesus was the only icon that remained famous. I don’t wanna offend no-one, and I truly appreciate Jesus, and even connect with his ideas, and messages. He was definitely a warrior of light at the time, and I definitely think they crucified him for it. I have a lot of fights with my orthodox Jewish friends, that they are not willing to listen to anything about Jesus. Because for Jews, Jesus is a false messiah in a way. But it’s really a mixture of so many things, and nothing in particular. This is definitely reflecting our life in the Middle East, and take every story of life that we know and we try to enlighten the listener. Not being influenced by any specific story like the previous album which was influenced by the Flood story. This is a very personal – our own kind of story that we created here.

I wanted to talk about the recording of the album itself for a bit. This is the first time you’ve had Steve Wilson as producer. What would you say he brought to the new album and the recording process?

Well first of all, the guy is a genius. And we’re very big fans of what he does. We’re fans of the guy in terms of music, but also on a personal level he is so down to earth, and very humble. Such a nice guy. And he really is an inspiration, by all means. We were privileged to work with him, or maybe to be the second band he chose to work with after Opeth. Another great band. So definitely amazing. He’s not forcing his ideas upon us. Orphaned Land is very busy the way it is, already. We pretty much know who we are and what we want, and we just need some kind of an added value. We don’t need to become something else. Sometimes producers come and they turn you into a completely different thing than what you are. And this is not the case here. We just needed to upgrade. And it’s some kind of small touches, or keyboard sounds, or the way he mixed, the way we gave him the sources and the way he mixed it and the way it sounds now…everybody that listens to the album that knows our previous albums says that this is like Orphaned Land 2.0. A new version of Orphaned Land. And this is Steven I think.

On a musical level of course, we also upgraded ourselves as musicians. We always develop, and play better as the time goes by. But in terms of style and putting sonically everything together, Steven really did a tremendous job, and he really knows how to understand progressive music. We were privileged to work with him. I mean, I’m a fan of the guy. I was at his house, I even met his mom. It was amazing for me as a fan to work with the guy and to bring him in as an added value. The fact that he is even playing on the album was great.

I was listening to Mabool and ORWarriOR back to back yesterday. You’re still the same band – it’s still Orphaned Land playing this. But it’s brighter, more colorful, texturally and sonically.

I think, if I could go back, I would definitely bring Steven on all of our albums. I am happy with them the way they are. I really like Mabool, and it had some kind of success, and people really liked and dig it. But I think that if I remix it some day, I’ll definitely ask Steven to remix it and even bring it to a higher level than we brought it ourselves. Because he definitely knows how to do it. When you listen to a Porcupine Tree album, it always sounds so genius, you know? Even in terms of sound. They are one of the most beloved progressive bands around today. And yeah, I listened to the album and I really like it. Even some stuff in there in the mixing that - I don’t hear it in metal albums, the way he did it. He put some phasing elements in my vocals, but not in an extreme way. It’s like there and it’s not there. He did some really genius stuff in there. When I listened to the final mixes, I was completely blown away. Some parts were much higher than I expected or imagined in my mind.

There’s such a diversity of sounds on this album, and really that’s part of who Orphaned Land is. But I wonder about the composition process. Is there a backbone of guitars or backbone of the song, and then stuff just gets layered on top? Or do you always consider it as a whole from the beginning?

You remember at the beginning of the interview you asked me about why does it take us so long? What I’ll answer now is also a part of it. We never write a song actually. We’re not songwriters. The way we compose our music is like this. First of all we find a meaning – the story, the concept that we want to speak about. Then we collect material. Now this material, usually it’s not songs, it’s just riffs. It could be an acoustic guitar riff, or a distortion pedal riff, it could be like an ancient instrument riff – we always write music in all those instruments. And all of us are doing it. Even if I’m not playing, sometimes something is playing in my head. And I go to Yossi, our guitarist, and I record myself singing it, and we transform it into an instrument.

So we collect this material, and then according to the story, according to the storyboard, the chapters, the scenes and the way the story goes, we start to put the guitar riffs together like a puzzle. Imagine that you have an amount of, I dunno, 100 guitar riffs, because you probably notice our songs begin at one point, then it continues to number three, then number five, eight to ten, and it ends completely in a different context. We barely repeat ourselves. We take this huge amount of riffs, and we start to put them as a puzzle. For example, the album speaks about the warrior. So we look for this heroic guitar riff. Or if it speaks about the warrior being sad, or wounded and broken, and betrayed, we look for this sad acoustic guitar part that we wrote, and we start to build it like a puzzle. On one hand, it’s fascinating, because you don’t even know yourself the picture of your album while you’re composing it. Because you’re busy with the puzzle. You cannot see the picture until you finish. I wasn’t able to see or to understand our album until I got the final mixes. And it’s a very scary process, a very painful process, because it’s a lot like…walking in the dark. It’s like playing a puzzle, you know? It’s very hard, because you try to put it here, you try to put it there. You go to 100 places until you find the right place for one guitar riff. On the other hand, I don’t know any other band that works like that, and I think this is why people can say that our music is unique and different and very complex, and rich, and layered. So this is actually the way we compose. I wonder if we could do it otherwise. I don’t know.

I want to try to do some other things in the future, maybe. Just to try and be more, maybe…maybe we’ll do one album that will be more easygoing. I dunno. Don’t take my word for it.

The first single you’re releasing and the first track on the album, “Sapari,” is an adaptation of a Yemenite folk song, right?

Well yeah. Originally this is a synagogue song actually.
Oh, like piyyut.
Yeah, it’s piyyut. It was written in the 17th century by a Yemenite poet named Assad Ben Amram. And our female singer, Shlomit, she’s originally a Yemenite Jew, and we simply fell in love with everything that she sings from their piyyut. It’s such a fascinating thing – the Yemenite Jews, they were amazing by all means because they kept and preserved the Jewish language in a perfect way. They came after 2000 years of being exiled, and they speak Hebrew the same way that Jews were speaking 2000 years ago. So this song is a fascinating conversation between a poet and his spirit. You could say that it’s commercial…it’s more commercial and catchy than the other songs on the album. It repeats itself, and it’s very uplifting.
You talked about how your process is very different from the standard process of most bands. You and probably Moonspell were the first two bands to incorporate Middle Eastern or Arabic bands into metal. But now there’s a whole lot of them – Nile, Absu, Melechesh, Arkan. Do you feel some kind of kinship to those bands? Or resonate at all with the surge of folk-metal bands coming out of Europe?

Well definitely if you ask me where I put my next bet, I think that the Middle Eastern metal is the next thing. Folk metal which comes from Scandinavia or Finland or stuff like that already made their thing, and everybody’s familiar with that. And I think that this is the time that people are looking for something interesting because they are circulating and recycling themselves all the time. And I think that metal with a Middle Eastern flavor is definitely the next thing. I definitely think that it’s the time for the Middle Eastern metal to take over. And even though we’ve been around for 18 years now, I think that -- now taking into consideration – I don’t know if you’re familiar with Sam Dunn’s Global Metal documentary?
I haven’t seen it but I know you were featured in it, right?

Yeah. We were featured in it and the guy was exploring bands in some unconventional countries. So he was visiting Indonesia, Dubai, Israel, Japan, places like that. And I think that the people in the metal scene are thirsting for something new and something fresh. And we’re definitely the answer for it. And you know the author Mark LeVine, he wrote the book called Heavy Metal Islam. It’s a great story. So you can see that buy these documentaries, by the book of Mark, this is definitely something that is growing beneath the surface. And I think it is the time for it to explode.
There’s that Heavy Metal in Baghdad documentary about that band Acrassicauda. That actually did extremely well.
That’s right. We were even on a TV series of Al-Jazeera. If you Google “Orphaned Land,” you will be able to see Orphaned Land on a series called Playlist of Al-Jazeera. And they explore also some bands from the Middle East, and Jordan and Dubai. So this is definitely a growing thing. I think the internet is a big help over here. Because these Arab countries, they are not democracies. And I don’t think that metal is actually not allowed over there in many ways. I know about an Egyptian fan of Orphaned Land that was thrown into jail for six months because authorities found in his house a song by Orphaned Land where we used a part from the Koran. In a very respectful way, by the way. But the guy was thrown to jail. And this is what’s scary to me, when I told you that I’m scared by people that don’t want to listen. Because they didn’t even check it. The band. What words that they used. The guy actually was blamed for blasphemy and words of Satan. And he didn’t! And even if he did, then he didn’t hurt anyone, so what do you care? This is a completely new definition of the word “underground scene.” The way you and me don’t even know it. But I do think that the internet is doing its job and making everything more accessible. You can reach, you can download music. I don’t think we would have had this huge success with Arabs without the internet. It would have been very like an underground band.
It’s interesting to me that you were doing the job of the internet long before the internet existed. Where attempting this cross-cultural, almost globalized sound. Now it’s a lot easier to come by for the exact reasons that you’ve expressed. Do you feel like the intent behind what Orphaned Land is doing has changed now that it’s so much easier to get eyeballs and to get ears on what you’re doing?

Well yeah, I definitely feel that it’s a lot easier today. Having so many people on Facebook and MySpace, you’re able to communicate with your friends from your home computer, you know? And you know that if we go back like to the year 2000…so the band was not active in those days, and we had a lot of issues between us, and the band was not really successful, and we had to deal with a lot of things. So the band was in some kind of a coma. And after six years of nothing, it was the year 2000, when the internet actually arrived in some places that were not familiar with it yet, I get to check my e-mail this evening. And I open my e-mail, and I see a mail – I started to get some e-mails back then from some Arab guys, like from Syria and Egypt. But it was just a few you know? Here and there. And one evening I opened the e-mail box, and I see a mail from a Jordanian guy, and I see a video file attached. So I open the file, and I start to watch the file, and I hear Orphaned Land’s music in the background. I don’t see a face, but the camera is filming his hand, and he’s like pulling up the sleeve from his shirt, and I see that he has an Orphaned Land tattoo.
Now the guy is Jordanian, and I was Israeli. Back then, this band is in a coma. And right there, in this moment, I understood that something is happening here, and it’s going to get bigger. And being with Orphaned Land, doing what we do, is definitely our mission, our contribution to this region. I don’t know what else I can do to help this region. And definitely I’m helping it much more with my band. And this was the breaking point where personally I understood that I had to take the band from the coma, and to direct it again to being active. So the Israeli Orphaned Land can even say that coming back to life was mainly because of Arabs. I even met the guy. We had a concert in Turkey and I met him. And when we speak to each other, we call each other brother, you know? We don’t even call each other by name. We call each other brother because we are awakened. We know that this is complete bullshit between politicians. And we are awakened. We cannot fall for this.
That’s a fantastic story, Kobi. That almost deserves its own feature.

Yeah you know I have to be honest with you…I tell them the story, and then I tell them if I’m okay with the guy… “listen, I know it’s not up to you, it’s up to the editors, but seriously, between you and me, don’t you think you should give me the front cover?” I mean what else can you do, put Metallica or Slayer again, only this time they’ll be, I dunno, drink the other beer, or holding the other guitar? I mean be brave. And have some courage and break this paradigm of repeating yourself all the time. This is what I’m trying to say. I appreciate any kind of exposure that we get. But I definitely think that this is a story that has to be told loud. Because it’s a metal band that succeeds to create friendships out of enemies. And it’s interesting, and it’s amazing, and it’s a miracle. So yeah…who’s your editor? ::laughs::
Most progressive metal fans can identify some of the rock/metal influences in Orphaned Land’s sound. What music from outside the metal world is most inspiring to the band, and helps in framing your music?

This is really so much, Etan. So many. You know it could be Italian opera by Puccini, it could be Arabian music. We simply admire – I can say that when it’s right, it’s right. If you go through my CD collection, then you will hear music and musicians from all over the world. It could be even a goa trance. It could be classic music, Pakistani music, Indian music. Really, anything.
Was there anything you were listening to more than anything else during the recording process?

I do have my own personal favorite poet, which is Leonard Cohen. He is definitely my mentor and my favorite one.
You’ve been meaning to record songs of his, right? Did you consider one for this album?

We wanted to cover “First We Take Manhattan” by Leonard Cohen but then we decided not to do it because we didn’t have the time. We decided to delay it. But I do admire the guy so much, the way that he writes, and his songs. He is definitely my all-time favorite. I also like Depeche Mode very much, which is some kind of 80s new wave poppy style. And of course I love metal, Israeli artists, Arabian singers, really everything. You name it.

How would you characterize the Israeli metal scene? Is there a supportive network of bands and fans? Or has it been difficult being isolated from the rest of the metal world?
Well, I think living in such an intense place such as Israel makes the metal fans to be one of the best fans around. A lot of the bands that are playing from Europe or the USA always said that the Israeli crowd kick ass. Because they’re very much screaming singing along, hand-clapping, jumping, these things we do – and follow you. This is like their 15 minutes of freedom in this world, in this very harsh reality. And I think that the scene here is great. We have bands of all kinds, from black metal to thrash metal, doom metal and even folk metal. Everything is here by local bands. Yeah, everyone is supporting each other. There are some things that are missing. There were some failures of organizing some metal festivals in the past, the organizers stole the money at the end of the day. So there are some shit going on, but yeah, the scene here is well-developed, and great. Every years hundreds of people are going to Wacken open air in Germany. We have metal pubs over here, some radio stations playing metal. We have a metal shop over here completely devoted to metal music.
Wow, you barely have any of those out in Los Angeles, where I am. There are a couple that have sprung up in the last couple years, but it’s amazing to me to find in such a farflung place a whole shop devoted just to metal.
The one that runs it is Uri from my band. He’s my bass guitar player. He’s not the owner, but he’s the one that runs the shop. People are buying CDs there. They come there to buy tickets to shows. Nevermore was here recently, and they did a signing session over there, and more than 100 people came.
Do most of the bands that develop a large following in Israel end up signing with Israeli labels, or do they end up signing overseas?

I would say that 80 percent of these bands are actually ending splitting up, because of going to the army. Imagine you being a metalhead with your long hair, and then at the age of 18, you have to cut it all off, and then go to the army for three years. So tours are out of the question, not to mention free time to meet each other and to rehearse and everything. So a lot of the bands are splitting up, a lot of them are there to work or to cooperate with bands after the army. Some of the bands that do survive are getting signed -- could be by an Israeli label, some of them could even get signed by foreign label. We had one band that was even signed with Roadrunner for one album, but then Roadrunner didn’t want to continue with them. But these things are happening. I’ve known the scene in the last maybe 20 years, and this is the best situation in terms of bands getting signed. Some of them are really getting signed by indie labels. But then again, it’s abroad, and it’s cool, you know? We also started with a French label (called) Holy Records, which is an indie label. So it’s a good starting point, and maybe the bigger labels will notice you later.
You seem to have some success with Century Media, which is among the biggest indies in the world.

Yeah. Century Media is nothing but great. I really like them. The people here, both in the European and American office, are really great, and behind the band, and really believe in us. And even the owner of the label – I’m really in touch with everyone over there. We are all believing in the same purpose, that Orphaned Land is unique, that we should push it. And they are really behind us. I really appreciate them for that. Hopefully they are for the others bands. You sign with a label, and you can always hear shit. Because you cannot make everyone happy. Some bands are pissed off, some bands are happy. I’m on the happy side. Maybe it’s my attitude. I don’t know. But I really love the guys.
It’s probably a little bit of both. It’s sort of a strange prospect for a label to get behind a band that records an album every four or five years, and has maybe a bigger potential audience than your average metal band, just because of all the styles you do, but it’s still a weird style of music that you’re making, no bones about it. It’s not immediately bankable.

You know that photo that we did, that controversial photo, where the Jews are praying like Muslims and the Muslims are holding siddurs like they’re Jewish…and I’m like the Jesus with Magdalene in the middle? Originally, it was the idea of the owner of Century Media. I mean I had my A&R in both the US and the German office. I know the owner of Century Media, we met a couple times. But I’m not supposed to be in touch with him. And then at one night on Friday evening, I get a phone call from the guy. And he says “Hey, it’s Oliver from Century Media.” The guy’s like the owner of the company, calling me out of the blue, and telling me “Listen, it strikes me like lightning. Because you’re so different, and you’re so strange, and your music is so unique. And we should try to reflect this in a visual aspect as well.” And he was completely right, and we really developed this idea, made it for the first time, the band is transformed on a visual level a bit of our music.
Are you going to tour in the Jesus costume?

During the show I’m doing these things that related to Jesus, with the stand of the microphone, you know? Our show is really like a religious celebration at the end of the day. But a metal celebration. Some friend came to me after our show in Israel one time and said, “Do you know what your show is?” And I said to him “no, you tell me.” And he said “Your show is the synagogue for the metalheads.” And this is definitely it. And when we play in Turkey, it’s like the mosque for the metalheads. That’s the way it is you know? But it’s very important to explain, because some people – I saw some reactions of American people that saw the photo. You really need to get to the bottom of it in order to understand what we wanted to say, the purpose of it. Why did we do it? Because if you don’t get to the bottom of it, it could appear to be like a parody, or just something which is ridiculous. It’s a utopia. It’s something that we really wish to have in our region. Try to put yourself in our shoes, living in a place where the three Abrahamic regions, believing in the same god and killing each other for decade after decade after decade. So this is being ridiculous. And having our picture is being artistic. That’s the way we see it.
Do you have touring plans yet?

We do, and Steve (Joh, from Century Media) in the U.S. is also looking for some cool things. But yeah, we’re looking for opportunities to play to the right audience. The one that will like our music at the end of the day. It will happen. With the help of Steven and Century Media, it will happen in 2010 for sure.
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Visit Orphaned Land on the web

CHAINMAIL: Moroghor - Darkness... (self-released, 2009)

2010-01-25T22:59:00.000-08:00

The CHAINMAIL section reviews bands that were proactive enough to contact me directly. Here at Cerebral Metalhead, initiative is rewarded.

Instru-metal band Moroghor exists perpetually in between the verses of Slayer’s “Dead Skin Mask” and those sections in later Pink Floyd songs where a slashing guitar chord burns out a slow vamp and David Gilmour tattoos heroic solos over it. Throw in some 70s sci-fi synths for extra headfuck. It’s a unique sound, neither depressive enough to qualify as doom proper nor quite loopy enough for a trip down LSD flashback lane.

Guitarist/synth player Ndehatl explains in an e-mail that “Our music started out as sort of psychedelic black-ish metal, and recently took a turn into black/drone/doom in our 2nd album….not sure where we’ll go next. Don’t really care. We’ll end up wherever we end up.” You can sense the indecision on Darkness… As infrequently as we get to hear major-key, modal doom ("Taijitu”), the metal textures tend towards the static. Zombi-fied synthy textures help, but Moroghor’s songs never resolve into anything – they’re mostly endless slow-motion space trudges. Let’s get these guys a vocalist or license Darkness… for a low-budget sci-fi soundtrack, pronto.

Disagree with me at Moroghor's website or MySpace page

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Pfffttt. Moroghor are kind enough to post their entire discography for free download right here.

Metal Video Roundup

2010-01-14T23:32:00.000-08:00

My laptop is now seven years old. YouTube and other video sites are much younger. As a result, my lowly 866 mHz processor isn't optimized to handle streaming video. The frames flow by haltingly if at all; the audio stops intermittently; whatever degree of spontaneity there is in watching a whole series of Slayer videos right after you think of doing it is completely lost. There is a whole part of the heavy metal fan experience that I'm missing out on because of my faulty technology. Really it's no different than my lack of cable TV back in the heyday of MTV. Perhaps I'm lucky though -- might there be something purer about my relationship to the music I hear because I have no visual to accompany it?

Visual aesthetic is of paramount importance to most every subgenre of heavy metal. Maybe in this era where bands can slap together a decent video on the cheap and spread it like wildfire for free, making a video serves a similar purpose as playing live. There's no exchange of energy between band and audience in a video, of course, but the purpose is partly the same: prove that your band is more than just sound. Give the audience an opportunity to connect with you using a different sense.

Enjoy the following recent metal (or metallic) videos that were worth the painfully slow techno-slog.

Venerable death/black metal band Acheron and director Aaron Werner took the road more traveled on their first ever video in the band's 20+ year career. Band playing in studio + bald frontman with hot chick with apple + bald frontman with hot chick with snake = obvious metal video. Sez frontman Vincent Crowley: “The video is about embracing the life of being a Heathen. Many people struggle with what is wrong or right, good or evil. When they go against the norm, the guilt eats away at them. Heathens don’t have negative feeling about embracing their true nature. Temptation doesn’t weaken us because in the end we control it! Lots of the symbolism in the video shows just that.” It's a simple clip for a simple song about simple anti-religious notions. Two band members have no hair; the other two have a lot of it. The synchronized headbanging possibilities are endless! The song comes from Acheron's solid 2009 album The Final Conflict: Last Days of God, out last year on Ibex Moon.

Here's a video for the last song, "Final Breath," off Pelican's stately new album, What We All Come to Need (Southern Lord, 2009). Director Matt Santoro's slow-moving, gauzy imagery perfectly complement the song's repetitive atmospherics and the ghostly guest vocals of ex-Shiner singer Allen Epley. Total side note: I was listening to Shiner's final album The Egg a couple days ago and it still smokes any other rock album from that era. Talk about underappreciation!

Here's a goofy clip from Look What I Did, a cool post-punk/screamo four-piece out of Nashville. These dudes fuse tight vocal harmonies over a base of angular Dischord/DeSoto-style noise rock. "Fade to Daft" ain't that heavy, even within the Look What I Did canon. It's a creative tune though, and it makes me smile that the band members are comfortable wearing hoodies AND tying up their t-shirts all naughty-schoolgirl style. Look What I Did's new album Atlas Drugged is out on 2/9/10 via Modernist Movement Recordings. You can preorder the album for just $6.99 from Smartpunk right now!

Ah, Katatonia, you avatars of noble Swedish depression. You had me at the vomiting goth girl. The saran-wrapped body (very Twin Peaks, no?) is icing on the cake. The romance is a little suffocating in this video for "Day and Then the Shade," from Katatonia's late '09 Peaceville release, Night is the New Day. Quite a color palette though!

Cerebral Metalhead's Adios to 2009 Metal Mix

2010-01-05T09:30:00.000-08:00

To paraphrase Kylesa, time will fuse this past year's worth. But from the scant five days' distance we now have from 2009, it smells like one of the best years for new music that metal has seen this millennium. Mastodon and Baroness both made bold, important albums that made waves outside of the metallosphere. Krallice, Tombs and Liturgy all released big beautiful records that helped cement (heh) Brooklyn as one of the world's epicenters of black metal. The resurgence of old-school death metal bands felt more wholesome than the thrash revival of the last few years. Dormant legends like Coalesce, Brutal Truth and Immortal roared back to life with terrific albums, and even some of the old dogs (Slayer, Kreator, Megadeth) put out material that approaches their vaunted oldies.

Only one of the aforementioned bands made it into my top 20 favorite metal records of 2009. That should tell you how crowded the playing field was. The sheer amount of music will only increase in the next decade, as it becomes cheaper and cheaper to record and distribute music, and divergent music forms continue to collapse into recombinant hybrids. If the amount of great metal that came out in 2009 is any indication, I'm excited to wade through it all. The death rattle of the record industry shall be accompanied by blastbeats.

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Without further ado: here's a mix (in suggested listening order!) of one representative track from each of my top 20 albums of the year. My FTP client is being a little bitch, so you'll have to download it in two parts, OG YouSendIt style. The below tracklist includes a link to my full-length reviews of these, if available. To read capsule writeups on each of these records, head on over to MetalSucks.

1. Necrophobic - "For Those Who Stayed Satanic" - Death to All

2. Obscura - "Universe Momentum" - Cosmogenesis

3. Seance - "They" - Awakening of the Gods

4. Bergraven - "Fasa" - Till Makabert Väsen

5. Blut Aus Nord - "The Alcove of Angels (Vipassana)" - Memoria Vetusta II - Dialogue With The Stars

6. Dreaming Dead - "Perpetual Pretext - Within One

7. Baroness - "War, Wisdom and Rhye" - Blue Record

8. Converge - "Dark Horse" - Axe to Fall

9. Revocation - "Deathonomics" - Existence is Futile

10. Secrets of the Moon - "I Maldoror" - Privilegium

11. Amesoeurs - "Heurt" - Amesoeurs

12. Liturgy - "Beyond the Magic Forest" - Renihilation

13. Church of Misery - "The Gray Man (Albert Fish)" - Houses of the Unholy

14. Absu - "Those of the Void Will Re-Enter" - Absu

15. Oranssi Pazuzu - "Myöhempien Aikojen Pyhien Teatterin Rukoilijasirkka" - Muukalainen Puhuu

16. Nile - "Hittite Dung Incantation" - Those Whom the Gods Detest

17. Saros - "Acrid Plains" - Acrid Plains

18. Struck By Lightning - "The Watchful Eye" - Serpents

19. Shrinebuilder - "The Architect" - Shrinebuilder

20. Sunn 0))) - "Big church [Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért]" - Monoliths and Dimensions

Download my Adios to 2009 Metal Mix (152 MB)

Part 1

Part 2

Please comment if you need a re-up.

Portal - Swarth (Profound Lore, 2009)

2009-12-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

There's another Portal that opened in 1994, the band formed by 3/4 of Cynic shortly after the release of Focus. That Portal closed shortly after releasing a demo. This Portal is still wide open after its own 1994 birthing, and like the infamous refrigerator from Ghostbusters, it's let some pretty awful things pass between this world and whatever hellish nether-region it connects to. The awfullest are on the Australian band's third full-length album Swarth. Of course this is death metal, so the awfuller the better. But even in a genre in which the words "beastly," "inhuman" and "brutal" are used to express approval, Portal manage to out-nasty pretty much every other band on the planet. WTF, mate?

"Writhen"

They do it by holding up a cracked, dusted-over mirror to death metal. Portal's guitars seem to detune themselves as they're played, turning tremolo picking into the revving of broken vacuums. Drums clatter in brief surges, rumbling where they should crash and pummel. Nothing locks; gusts of hoarse bellows from vocalist The Curator howl through like a tornado ravaging a ghost town. The uniqueness of Portal's sound obscures some pretty out there song structures, too. Like Gorguts, whose Obscura is perhaps Swarth's closest spiritual cousin, Portal's abstraction lies in its disorienting vibe. But don't call their willfully esoteric sound and lyrics pretentious. This is primal music, and it disturbs at a deep, physical level. Portal's commitment to unease is total. What could be more metal than that?

Break on through to the other side at Portal's website

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Amazon (CD)

Profound Lore

Decibel's Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of the Decade

2009-12-02T07:25:00.000-08:00

Publish a list of the 100 greatest anythings of the any time period and a crowd of howling banshees will come out of the woodwork proclaiming your suckiness and positing at least 100 of said thing that were better than the ones you chose. Credit Decibel, then, for not giving a flying fuck, and publishing a list of the 100 greatest metal albums that panders neither to metal purists nor to posturing beardos. Yes, there are dubious inclusions (Fugazi's The Argument, gobsmackingly brilliant an album as it is, couldn't fit anyone's definition of metal). But there's also a ton of stylistic range, and the fine writing that's long been Decibel's trademark. Plus, it's a way more interesting list than MetalSucks' 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century...So Far debacle.

There's plenty to dispute inside the superslick pages of Decibel's 100 Greatest Metal Albums of the Decade special issue. But beyond dispute is the fact that Decibel is the raddest extreme music mag currently published in America, and worthy of your cash. $5.99 is a bargain for this much food for thought...there are even a couple illuminating, expanded versions of Decibel's awesome Hall of Fame series. You can use it as a conversation piece, a Christmas present, a bathroom reading option or all of the above.

You can pick up your own copy here, or at select indie music retailers. I wrote four blurbs in it, so if you love me, you've already ordered ten copies.

CHAINMAIL: Magnum Carnage - More Unreal Than a Box of Precious Metal and Radioactive Ore (self-released, 2009)

2009-11-30T00:09:00.000-08:00

The CHAINMAIL section reviews bands that were proactive enough to contact me directly. Here at Cerebral Metalhead, initiative is rewarded.

Magnum Carnage's More Unreal Than a Box of Precious Metal and Radioactive Ore calls into question the point of reviewing records. So mired in both underproduction and over-ambition is the album that my written opinion is based less on my impression of its value, and more on whether I have the patience to deal with it at the moment I permanently inscribe my thoughts about it in the digital firmament of the interhole. I recoiled in horror the first few times I heard More Unreal, and it still makes me sort of uncomfortable now. But like a lovable puppy that keeps shitting all over your nice throw rug and then licks your face and looks at you with gigantic puppy eyes, I can't possibly hate something this adorable. On a good day, More Unreal itself is easily resistable. Magnum Carnage's charm is not, and at this point (might change as soon as I hit "publish"), I kind of admire its oddness as a supreme middle finger to black metal uptightness. Kind of. Could this band come from anywhere other than Hawaii?

"Divine Comedy Pt. 1 - Damn This Age!"

Self-described as "psychedelic black metal," More Unreal is only psychedelic in that it sounds like a moldy artifact unearthed from lone member Kai Laigo's attic (helping that impression: it came to me in the same package as a cassette tape, a waaaaay DIY live DVD and some Hawaiian candy. Just add in a couple dead cockroaches and it feels like moving day!). And it's only black metal to the extent that Laigo's got some fast guitars and a bit of rasping buried underneath his caveman drum programming, which turns tom rolls into the sped-up click of a broken record, blastbeats into the clinking of glasses before a wedding toast. Laigo proudly claims that he recorded More Unreal using a dinosaur version of Pro Tools LE. But even dinosaurs stomp; the album's cluttered mixes and sunken guitars just drag, where Laigo's colorful palette demands bigness and clarity.

"Temple of Doom"

As easy as it is to dismiss More Unreal for its extreme sonic shortcomings, you gotta admire the cojones of a guy brazen enough to let the gated drums and cheesy synths of 80s pop within ten miles of a death metal riff, or to call one of his songs "Video Games of the Gods," and have it sorta work in an early-Emperor-still-figuring-out-their-gear kind of way. There's no shortage of imagination on More Unreal, no end to the shred-worthiness of Laigo's manic guitar solos. Occasionally a pop hook rises out of the mixing murk and connects big-time ("Demon City Honolulu"). But then Laigo will awkwardly pair a doom metal riff with doo-wop backing vox ("Suitcase Nuke"), and back to the murk we go. Every great riff is offset by an eyebrow-raising production quirk (seriously Kai, AUTOTUNE?!?!) or forced structural aside. Wrapped in the dayglo pinks and purples of a Lisa Frank sticker set, More Unreal demands to be taken on its own silly terms. Yes, it's a near-failure as a metal record. More metal records should fail in such spectacular fashion.

Fail in spectacular fashion at Magnum Carnage's MySpace site

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CD Baby

Giving Thanks for My Neck

2009-11-26T22:50:00.000-08:00

This past Tuesday night I fell in my new apartment, busted my chin on the hardwood floor and hurt my neck badly enough that it's still painful to move my head too far in any direction. Turns out my neck and spine are fine, and the doctor says I got away with a bit of torn muscle fiber. My mom worried that I was going to be paralyzed. My first thought when I woke up the next morning? "Shit, this is going to make headbanging really difficult."

Perhaps you've heard of the sad case of Evanescence guitarist Terry Balsamo, whose doctors believe that the 2006 stroke that left him partially paralyzed was brought on by excessive headbanging (check out this interview for the whole story). His was of course an extreme case, and the more cynical among us might conclude that he deserved it for making such terrible music. But the truth is that the neck is a complicated, elegant system of bone, muscle, blood vessels and other soft tissue, and while it's built for resilience and flexibility, the kind of physical strain brought on by improper headbanging can result in some nasty disorders, whiplash included. Check out this study, published late last year in the British Medical Journal, which concludes that the faster you bang, and the wider the angle of the banging, the more prone you are to neck injury. Fascinating.

If abstinence is not an option, the best you can do is follow the British Medical Journal's sage advice for minimizing injury:

Decrease your range of head and neck motion. (For a bangable song of around 146 bpm, 75º or less is ideal)
Headbang to slower tempo songs by replacing heavy metal with adult oriented rock
Only head bang to every second beat
Use personal protective equipment

As Thanksgiving day draws to a close, I wanted to remind all you metal folks to be appreciative of the fragile strength of your cervical region. Bang safely, my friends.

Giving thanks for Struck By Lightning's Serpents (Translation Loss, 2009)

2009-11-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

On this day of cornbread stuffing and tryptophan delirium (Tim Lambesis should start a Thanksgiving-themed joke band with that name), I thought it prudent to give a shout-out to an album for which I am very thankful this year. Too often I get caught stuck in compartmentalization mode when I review albums, attaching genre descriptors or comparisons for the sake of brevity. It's not that the debut from Struck By Lightning sounds like nothing else -- there's a lot of early Mastodon in the guitar filigree and harmonic motion, plenty of chuffing High on Fire rhythms, and a lot of airtight d-beat punk breaks. That particular combo is pretty unique, but what comes across to this jaded reviewer even more than Struck By Lightning's influence-on-sleeve approach is their transcendent songwriting.

"The Watchful Eye"

Unlike vocalist/guitarist Gregory Lahm's other band, Mouth of the Architect (reviewed here), Struck By Lightning lets nothing get in the way of momentum. The intro to opener to "Silent and Still" portends great things, and boy, does it deliver. A galloping verse riff pushes through to a tension-building pre-chorus which bursts into a ragged, wailing chorus that I want to play again RIGHT NOW. Travis Klein's loose-tom, tumbling drum fills power the "Nothing Sacred" riff juggernaut, heavy and propulsive as anything off Surrounded By Thieves. In the line "Smiling vultures slowly circling," the opening line from "The Watchful Eye," Struck By Lightning have their own version of Mastodon's classic "I think that someone is trying to kill me." The comparison holds up throughout the rest of the song too, making for one of the punchiest one-two-three punches I've ever heard.

"Widowmaker"

As Serpents wears on, the shock of such a fully-formed sound of composite elements wears off, and it's only then that this album really reveals itself. Beyond the perfect execution and terrific songwriting, there's a malevolence that underlies Serpents. You can hear it in the sudden switches between diatonic and chromatic intervals. You can hear it in Struck by Lightning's bottom end, which slithers around in the murk like the album's titular beasts. Mastodon rode that same foreboding musical path to fame. Struck by Lightning are probably a little too punk to ride the dragon that far, but at least they can say they put out one of the year's best albums, and probably the best album that Translation Loss has ever released. Thanks for that.

Increase your 1/750,000 chance of getting Struck By Lightning at the band's MySpace page

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Translation Loss

Marduk 'n Co. Change Venues for Dec. 4 Show in L.A.

2009-11-23T23:59:00.000-08:00

Marduk express their delight at the new venue for their Dec. 4th show in L.A.

Changes are afoot in Los Angeles. As reported here, here and here, venues typically kind to metal are folding at an alarming rate. The Knitting Factory shut its doors this Halloween. The Black Castle will have its last show in January. The Relax Bar's booking has stalled to a trickle, and the fate of the Key Club hangs in the balance. With the weekly Metal Mondays at Footsies on an apparent hiatus, L.A. metalheads are left rudderless, without a regular venue for their mournful congregation. Is this really a downstream effect of the economic downturn, as some have suggested? Or is it divine retribution for L.A.'s fickle support of our local metal scene?

Credit Church of the 8th Day for trying to bail us out. The tireless booking/promotion firm is scrambling to reschedule all the shows it had previously booked elsewhere. Sound at the Heathenfest this past weekend was atrocious, but the new Ultra Violet Social Club venue was otherwise ideal -- great sight lines, plentiful outside space for smoking/gabbing, exposed wooden framing that gave the impression of being in the galley of a Viking warship. Very metal.

And what of the Plague Tour, which was set to invite Marduk (whose new album Wormwood is their best in ages), Nachtmystium, Black Anvil (reviewed here), Mantic Ritual and Merrimack to assault the Key Club on December 4th? Church of the 8th Day has moved that monstrous package to The Royal Hall, which previously hosted the Bestial Legion Fest. Quoth Church of the 8th Day's Jordan in a statement about the move:

The Key Club canceled the show about two weeks ago, leaving us just a few weeks to move it. Since we had two stages' worth of bands booked, it was near impossible to move the show to anywhere in Hollywood, at a reputable club, as everything was already booked. We found a place downtown, which is a banquet hall, and we are going to build it into a venue from the ground up, with two full stages and great sound, full bar, and a BBQ...If you purchased tickets through one of the local bands, your tickets will still be valid at the new venue. If you purchased your tickets through Ticketmaster, you should be receiving your refund any day. The Key Club said they will be issuing refunds, but they haven't been responding to us about the progress of it, so if you'd like to call and find out, go ahead. You can now purchase tickets exclusively through our new ticketing website, 8thDayTix.com. We're sorry about the confusion, and hope to see everyone there. More information can be found at churchofthe8thday.com.

The Royal Hall is at 8637 S. Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90002. Parking is provided through the “Steel and Lube” entrance. Which is also very metal.

Shrinebuilder interview

2009-11-14T02:45:00.000-08:00

This past Wednesday I witnessed the first ever live gig by Shrinebuilder, the heavy metal supergroup featuring Scott Kelly of Neurosis, Wino of St. Vitus/The Obsessed, Dale Crover of The Melvins and Al Cisneros of Om/Sleep. As if we doubted the integrity of any of those guys, they played a nearly hour-long set at the tiny Viper Room in Hollywood for a way over capacity crowd, then did it again fifteen minutes later for whomever didn't believe they would really begin at 10:45pm. Their self-titled debut, out now on Neurot, nearly fulfills Shrinebuilder's astronomic promise. But live's where it matters. We all know these four can play -- they're each musical figureheads in their other bands. But do they have chemistry? Hell yes. On stage they're four bandmates, riffing off each other, following one another's grooves, soaking it all in. Dale Crover reminded me that he's one of the best drummers in rock music. If I had only been able to hear his cymbal work, it still would have been a great night. He should record an album with just cymbals.

I had the opportunity to interview Scott Kelly and Wino about Shrinebuilder for a short piece in Decibel magazine, published here. Here's the full transcript of what they had to say.

//////////////////////////

SCOTT KELLY

Rumors have been floating around since '07 about Shrinebuilder's existence. Did the expectation ever get to you? Did you think about how mammoth this band could possibly be?

I don’t know what you mean by “get to me.” Not really. I knew before I was a part of it that it was going to be something great. When they asked me to be a part of it, I felt confident that my input would be significant. There’s a real belief and trust in the visions in this band, you know? We’ve all known each other, and known who each other were, forever. And been big fans of each other’s work. So there was never any doubt in my mind that what we would do would be exactly what we wanted to do. And therefore fine, whether people like it or not. I don’t care. Never been a concern of mine whether people like what I do. I just gotta feel satisfied with it, you know? Not to say it’s not nice when people like it, but it doesn’t affect the bottom line at all.

On the blog you kept during the album’s recording process, you described the first night of playing with Shrinebuilder as “immediate thunder.” Can you describe in a little more detail what it was like to all jam in the same room at the same time for the first time?

Well, the expectation and the anticipation of the whole event was pretty strong amongst the four of us. Al and Wino and I had jammed together, Al and Wino and Dale had jammed together, but we hadn’t all four been in the same room. We were wondering, “is this gonna gel? Is the chemistry gonna be there naturally? Is that gonna take time, ‘cuz often times things like that take time?” And it just blew up. The first song that we played was “Solar Benediction,” the first song on the record. And it just…instantly was right there, you know? I dunno man! Water, man. Just flow. Perfect. No hitch. It just happens. And it was strong, you know? It was like we were able to step right into it.

On a personal level, playing with Jason (Roeder, Neurosis drummer) for 25 years, I’ve been basically ruined for playing with any other drummers. I mean every time I play with another drummer I’m sorely missing him. Dale’s really the only guy in the world other than…maybe Dave Lombardo that I would really want to play with. Because I knew that he had that same fire, that same reckless drive that Jason has. So I was really excited about that. In fact I remember calling Jason right before and being like “I get to play with Dale Crover tomorrow.” That was really great, you know?

I’ve always found – I’ve found so much between the three of those guys, over the years. I mean it’s really like – I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent listening to Wino’s music. His guitars, the tones and textures, and his really unique voice. I can’t tell you the hours that I’ve spent listening to Al’s music. Om is one of my very favorite bands ever. If I had to choose one, that might be it. It just works with every part of my being. And the Melvins changed the face of everything. They’re one of the deepest, most inspirational influences in music in my life. It’s fucking amazing! I don’t think I could pick three other guys that I’d rather play with than those three.

The cool thing about it for me is that – this is picking up on something you mentioned about Dale – the album has elements of everything you guys have done individually in the past, but there’s something about the synthesis that kicks it up to an even more muscular level than your individual bands. Not better, it’s just such a perfect marriage.

It’s weird man, I know! I don’t think I’m being a conceited, fuckin’ self-absorbed person when I say that, although I am a pretty self-absorbed artist, most artists are, you know. But I agree. It’s there. It’s just there. It’s undeniable. The thing is, everybody in this band has sacrificed everything they have for their music, and given everything they had to their music. There’s not one person in that band that’s put out a shit record, or put out a record that they didn’t back 100%, ever, you know? Everyone has always done what the music demanded of them, and submitted to the sound, you know? And so as a result, when you give that much, when you put the things together like that, you get this result that’s really unique, and really special. And I honestly couldn’t be happier with it, and we’re working on new material now. We’re gonna play new material when we hit the road.

Tell me a little bit about the thematics. There’s this theme of construction and structure in both the band name, and in song titles like “Pyramid of the Moon” and “The Architect.” What are you guys building?

I think we’re just laying more bricks on the foundation that has been laid previously. And I think that our other projects have probably put a few bricks in there as well. But it’s really an homage to sound, to music, and to its infinite wisdom, you know? The power of it. The religion that is sound. The electric church. All of that. I think that that’s been our lives. Now that’s my interpretation. Most of the things you spoke of were straight from Al. If you’ve ever spent time with Al’s lyrics, you know that he constructs these tone poems of imagery and words that weave this unspeakable story. And that’s what it’s about as well. There’s a large part of what we’re doing that’s not something you can put into words, and it’s not supposed to be, not intended to be.

You’ve talked in previous interviews about a psychic space that you reach with Neurosis, and also that you have to be in before you play with Neurosis. Is there a similar sense of place when you’re playing with Shrinebuilder?

Yes, but…if you want to know something about Neurosis I can tell ya. Anything. We’ve been there for the entire time and we’ve performed, you know, 3000 gigs and released multiple albums and all that. That’s an experience that I have deep. The Shrinebuilder experience is yet to be told in many ways. So we’ll see. I’ve wondered what it’s gonna be like live. Am I going to be in the same sort of trance that I’m in with Neurosis, or is it going to be something different? I’m expecting something different. I think the sum total of the lives that we’ve spent together in Neurosis has everything to do with the experience that comes through us when we’re performing. And although Al and I have a lot of shared life experience, Dale and Wino and I don’t have as much of that. I’ve known Dale for a long time, but we’ve never really been on the road together, we’ve never performed together. He has a whole different deal, you know? That’s a whole different animal.

So you have to wait and see what it feels like.

Yeah. I can tell you that the songs definitely take me somewhere. But there’s definitely that feeling of less – I don’t know if you’d call it baggage – there’s a newness to it that’s pretty significant, and that I’m totally looking forward to. We’ll see! I don’t know.

While you were liveblogging during the recording sessions, you wrote that you emerged from the sessions a better person. What do you mean by that?

Did I?

You did! It was probably pretty early in the morning.

Yeah, quite possibly. I think that’s true, man. Anytime you get to experience something that significant in your life it’s going to make a huge difference. I think the chemistry that we had, and realizing the possibilities, and kinda looking forward was pretty significant to me. Yeah. I’m a better person for knowing those guys, honestly.

You wrote also that “plans have already been enacted towards the next move (you wouldn’t believe it if I told you).” Can you please shed some light on what you’re talking about?

No. Yeah…no. Not happening. Not yet. Not until it’s set.

Does it involve tour plans, or recording, or both?

Ah, you’ll just have to see. I dunno man, it’s nothing I would want to say, and I probably should never have said anything about it.

Each of you has such a strong personal style, but the album feels perfectly balanced. Do you have some idea of how you guys achieved the “more than the sum of its parts” scenario instead of what could have been a compromise, or a watered down record?

No, it’s kind of one of those things that I never try to think about too much, because it’s always existed inside Neurosis as well. There’s always something else there, you know? So I just accept that as being whatever the force that drives everything is. I was wondering if it was going to be there, and it was. You know, I didn’t really doubt it. Knowing the guys as I do…I think everyone in the band is aware of that. That there’s always this thing in play, whatever it is. I’m sure people have names for it, but I choose not to put a name on it just ‘cuz – again, it’s kinda beyond words. It’s the sum total of the parts, or whatever the fuck that is. Who the hell knows? Who knows? It could have been anything, I have no idea. But I agree that it’s there. And I was really, really pleased to find it again. It’s a good feeling.

You were next door to the Museum of Death when you practiced and recorded. Did you ever go inside there?

No, I was kinda bummed about that honestly. I didn’t go in there, no. I have no need. I don’t have the desire. I have enough of the real thing in my life. I don’t need to go see the museum exhibit. Maybe when I was 16, but not now. I don’t need to be around shit like that. I thought it was funny and everything…but I don’t want to go down that road anymore. I thought the (sign in the parking lot) “death parking only” was kinda funny.

I’ve been in there once, and it both is exactly what you’d expect but also not what you’d expect. The proprietors have a healthy sense of humor about life and death itself but they’re not just doing it as a joke.

Yeah, maybe I’ll look at it some time. You know I enjoy BodyWorks…I’ve been to see that three times. That stuff fascinates me. But if it’s anything like the movies, Faces of Death shit like that, or just weird ways that people go…I’m aware of a lot of those weird ways. You can pretty much go damn near any way possible.

Okay, well that takes care of my next five questions!

//////////////////////////

WINO

Wino relaxing during the Shrinebuilder sessions

You’re on tour with Clutch right now, right?

Yes we are. Yup!

And how’s the tour gone so far?

Well we’ve only played one show, so…last night was a kind of break-in-the-gear, see-what’s-gonna-happen type show. It was great! Lot of people here to see us, and then the Clutch fans are phenomenal, as usual.

Are you doing mostly stuff from your solo album Punctuated Equilibrium?

We’re doing a little bit of everything. We’re doing Punctuated Equilibrium, we’re doing some old Obsessed stuff. Basically between those two, Punctuated and old Obsessed stuff. We played a Spirit Caravan song too.

Oh fantastic. Looking through the entire back catalog. Tell me, how did recording with Shrinebuilder contrast with recording with The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, Hidden Hand, etc?

Well, the Shrinebuilder recording was definitely a little bit by the seat of your pants. Because we didn’t really – we put it together, but everybody’s schedules were really busy. So basically what we did was we started sending around musical ideas by the internet, and then I came up with the concrete idea at what point of actually going to a recording studio, and laying down a few guitar tracks with the bass drum kick and I – I think I mailed out a CD to the guys and we did it that way for a bit. And we started getting together, not all together but in little pieces. Me and Al and Dale got together, then Al and Dale get together, then Al and Scott get together, Me and Al and Scott got together which was like the three guitar players, we worked out all the arrangements, but then we’d still never played all together.

So we’re slated to record Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So on Thursday night, Scott flew in real late, we went to a rehearsal space and we all played together as a unit. So we only all played together one night before recording. We had it done, but in the studio, it was totally professional. Everything went flawlessly. We had all our ideas worked out, arrangements worked out. We talked about it a little bit, we played through each tune before we did it, and then we just went ahead and did it. And it was one of those things where it’s just kind of magical, actually.

Each of you is iconic in your own right. Was it at all difficult to manage those four strong musical personalities, or did it all just come together?

Nobody tried to manage it, that’s the thing. There was no management – everybody had something to do, so we were basically left to our own designs, which was totally cool. We all get along great, and it ended up being really good.

Everyone sings, you can hear bits of each of your signature styles, but nobody really dominates, either. Was there a conscious effort to keep the songwriting and recording collaborative, or did that just happen naturally?

Basically, everybody brought musical ideas to the table. The musical ideas that Scott brought to the table – he sings on all his ideas, right? The stuff that I brought to the table, I had some lyrics finished but not all, because lyrics for me are one of the hardest things to write. Lyrics for a song might take me – I might have it all in one night, or it might take me a month to finish it. So basically Scott and Al are both really proficient, lyrically. I mean Al’s got a kind of stream-of-consciousness thing going. And what happened was, I brought a bunch of musical ideas to the table, but not that much lyrics. So that allowed Al and Scott to fill in the holes.

I remember at one point – there’s a lot of serendipity going on, there really was. I dunno what we were channeling, but there’s a lot of that going on. I remember distinctly there was one night, where I brought the first half of “Pyramid of the Moon” to the table. And then I was having trouble with the lyrics, and I remember that very minute, Kelly called me and said “Man you know, I’d really like to write lyrics to ‘Pyramid of the Moon,’ do you mind?” and I was like “No, I don’t mind at all.’” And it just worked out really weird that way.

It’s like you have that psychic connection.

Sort of.

I sorta hear that in the record itself, also. You can hear everybody individually, but it sounds like so much more.

Everybody’s contributing. Al and Dale, especially, they did that chanting thing you know? And that was really amazing. That came together totally off the cuff. And that was just mind-blowing, really.

How did (producer) Toshi Kasai add to the sessions?

Well, he’s just a good engineer. Plus he’s a musician. So he’s able to take our musical ideas and translate them, you know? He’s Japanese, and we were having a good time – there was a little bit of a language thing but not much. At one point in time I asked Dale – Dale finished his drum tracks, we did drum tracks first. So once we got good tracks from Dale, he didn’t have anything to do. So he sat next to Toshi and started making some production comments, you know? Which was actually really great. He was with him for the vocal tracks, and asking for more, pushing for more than what he was hearing. It was really cool, man. He sorta acted like a producer if you will. But it worked out really well actually.

Dale Crover (left) and Toshi Kasai at the mixing board

He helped mix some of it after the fact, too, right?

Yeah, definitely. He was very proactive all the way around.

To my ears, “Blind For All to See” is the sexiest shit any of you have ever recorded. Was that song fully mapped out or did it just evolve from a jam?

It was mapped out, but then…one thing I forgot to tell you is that, when all was said and done after that one weekend, I felt like it needed some more stuff. I felt it needed to be fleshed out a little bit, there should be a few more heavy rhythms on there. So basically I had to fly over to Baltimore, and J. Robbins from Jawbox has a studio in Baltimore. And I went in, laid down a couple more fat rhythms on everything, and that’s when I did the acoustic guitar on “Blind For All to See,” and I did some more e-bow, I did a slide thing there. So basically I did as much as I could over the weekend, whatever else I needed to do I did when I went to Baltimore. The acoustic thing was added, that one chord, you know? I did it on the head of each phrase, I did the slide thing, and I added a couple riffs. The heavier stuff. Kinda fatten it up some, you know?

The promo that I have deliberately left off “Science of Anger.” Can you tell me anything about that track?

Well all I can tell you is that I brought the music and title to the table, and some of the words. Kelly finished off the second half of the lyrics. It’s been kind of…heh…a rough year for me as far as my domestic situation goes, and it was something I was feeling at the time.

What does it sound like?

Angry. It’s a cool song, man. It’s definitely got some…Scott Kelly sings the second half, we actually trade vocals in there. We trade off, which is really cool. At first we wondered whether it was going to work or not. But heh…it’s sorta like the first guy comes in and kneecaps everybody, and then the second guy comes in and bludgeons everybody.

It’s perfect! It’s like you’re two Italian mafia henchmen.

Exactly. It worked out really well. It was cool. I was pretty amazed by the way everything gelled. I mean, Dale famously said, “it was like an experiment that actually worked.”

It’s so true! How many supergroups have you heard about way in advance, and then been extremely disappointed by the results? But this is not one of them. I fall in love with Shrinebuilder every time I listen to it.

Well that’s cool man, I’m very happy. I’m glad it’s getting the response it has, and I’m really glad that people are digging it. The most important thing for me is that people get something out of the music. When I listen to that record, it defies the boundaries for me, you know? I hear all of our forefathers in there, like I hear Pink Floyd, I hear a lil’ Sabbath, but you can really tell that it’s us, but you can also hear our influences a lil’ bit. You know? That’s the way it should be, I think. Being original, but still holding the elements.

You know it’s funny, I talked to Scott right before I spoke with you, and he said that while he’s really happy when people respond to his music, it’s more important to him that he is moved by his own music.

I’m the same way, but it’s kinda like the other way around. It’s more important that – I don’t know, it’s a hard line to define. My philosophy, like I’ve always said, is that I was given a gift, and I believe it’s kinda like my duty to share that for people’s wellbeing, you know? And that includes mine, for sure.

That’s a good way of putting it. Do you have any stories from the studio that you can share?

It was a quick three days. It wasn’t like a tour or anything, so nothing really too crazy happened. When Al and Dale did the chanting thing, that was fucking really intense. I remember they did a couple tracks, and it sounded really good. Then they did a couple more tracks, and more tracks and more tracks, and I was like ‘WOW.” By the end of the day – I didn’t start any of my tracks until late in the day on Sunday. Scott had to leave, So Dale did his stuff, Scott did his stuff, Al punched in his stuff and the very last person to go was me. So I basically sat around in the studio for two and a half days, I re-strung every guitar in the place, went back ‘n forth to the store four million times, you know it was just that way. But that’s the way it worked out, you know? That’s the way it is. It ended up being really great. I was totally happy.

You’ve just announced a few live dates so far. What can we expect from you guys in the near future?

We’re gonna play these last shows, then we’re gonna play Roadburn in Holland, then we’re gonna do a European tour, then I think we’re gonna do a bunch of shows in the US, too. So we’re definitely gonna tour, and then allowing everybody’s schedule, we should be able to hit quite a few cities. So I think people should come out and see us in the flesh, man.

####

Build yer own! at Shrinebuilder's MySpace page

One Track Mind

2009-11-02T02:00:00.000-08:00

Cerebral Metalhead readers: I apologize for the month-long gap in posting. This October was one of the most hectic months of my working life thus far and I barely had time to devote to exercise, social obligations or hygiene let alone Cerebral Metalhead. You can expect more frequent posting now that I'm out of the woods. Thanks for sticking with me. Without further ado: One Track Mind!

The impulse that causes us to listen to most metal is not the same impulse that causes us to seek out a 40-minute song. The former usually involves energy in need of immediate outlet; the latter requires long term, process-oriented listening experience. That's probably why single-track metal albums tend to be so slow, and just as heavy on atmosphere as on, like, heavy (think Sleep's Dopesmoker, Cephalic Carnage's Halls of Amenti and Pig Destroyer's Natasha). Can you imagine a single-track album that's all shredding? Plenty of doom metal bands stretch song lengths to ludicrous extremes, but it takes chutzpah, pretense and absolutely no commercial ambitions to commit to a whole album consisting of one track. Here are a few recent albums by acts within metal's sphere of influence that went the distance.

Jesu - Infinity (Avalanche Recordings, 2009)

Jesu's alchemical transformation from slow-burn doom to blissful synthetics is one of the more fascinating (and transparent, thanks to Justin Broadrick's obsessive documentation of his progress) metal metamorphoses of recent years. Yet I grow increasingly disinterested with Jesu the more deeply Broadrick explores his shoegaze fixation. He's a frequently brilliant producer, but the move towards enveloping warmth coats over his music's disturbing core. Whereas Jesu was pulverizing in its droning atmospherics, the Why Are We Not Perfect? EP (reviewed here) felt lighter than air, even at its deepest moments.

"Infinity" (excerpt)

Broadrick seems well aware of his path on Infinity, a one-track album that references the entirety of Jesu's recorded output -- like a sonic version of the "my whole life flashed before my eyes" scenario that near-death experiencers go through. There's plenty of actual riffing deployed in the first twenty minutes, followed by long stretches of ambience in the middle, some droning metallic crush, and then more than ten minutes of the noodly post-rock cues of recent Jesu to finish it off. For many, the return to the heaviness of Broadrick's earlier years will be enough to recommend Infinity. Me, I need more in exchange for my 50 minutes. This track is nicely produced (pretty much a given with Broadrick) but poorly sculpted. There's nothing driving toward a conclusion here. Segments are pasted together, without much mind paid to momentum. Perhaps this is more a preference than a criticism; music need not be linear to move. But a 50-minute track oughta give you an experience that you couldn't have just by listening to 50 minutes worth of Jesu music in any other context. Infinity doesn't.

Drown in cosmic molasses at Jesu's MySpace page

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Avalanche Recordings

MGR y Destructo Swarmbots - Amigos de la Guitarra (Neurot, 2009)

Admittedly, Amigos de la Guitarra isn't a metal record in the slightest. The metal association comes via MGR main (only?) man Mike Gallagher, who plays guitar for Isis (whose recent Wavering Radiant is reviewed here) as his main gig. You'll hear a lot of that group's watery guitar soup-ization on this guitar collaboration with experimental musician Mike Mare, aka Destructo Swarmbots. The disc pits cyclical electric guitar figures against soft washes of ambience and guitar loops manipulated in various ways. It's profoundly meditative stuff, growing and changing incrementally but steadily. It's important that Gallagher is accustomed to destroying speakers with Isis, and that Mare's early work with Destructo Swarmbots amounted to sonic terrorism. Amigos de la Guitarra is the kind of quiescent, patient music that could probably only be made by creators so accustomed to its impatient inverse.

"Amor en el Aire" (excerpt)

While Amigos de la Guitarra involves discrete sections with patches of ambience smoothing their transitions, they scan best as a gestalt. A lot happens over the course of the album but it's mostly on a micro level and only in the long term; guitar patterns fade and are overtaken by others, loops rise and fall like tide waters are lapping at them and eroding them, cycle by cycle (those who have heard Basinki's Disintegration Loops might find a less willful echo of the same idea here). On a surface level, Amigos de la Guitarra is a pretty gorgeous work, and your average post-rock band ought to take cues from the glassy depth of MGR y Destructo Swarmbots' production, captured by Alap Momin, otherwise known as the amazing producer behind Dälek. But beauty alone isn't enough to sustain Amigos de la Guitarra for its 42-minute run time. This one sets the dimmer switch low early on and never raises or lowers it. As a result, there isn't any risk at all, nothing that compelling beyond fodder for a nice long gaze at the navel.

The wind cries "Mike" at MGR and Destructo Swarmbots' MySpace pages

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Amazon
Hydra Head

Overmars - Born Again (orig. 2007; reissued Crucial Blast, 2009)

This forty-minute sludge marathon from France's Overmars is exactly the right length. The pain of listening to a single chord for so long, throbbing and bleeding interminably as three vocalists purge their innermost fears, is exactly the point. Like Swans and Godflesh before them, Overmars make vulnerable, uncomfortable music for scraping out those unexplored recesses of the soul. Whatever joy we experience through listening to it is the joy of vicarious catharsis, the knowledge that by album's end, the band has exorcised everything they could and that, if we follow their example, maybe there's some hope for us. That purging process takes a lot of time. Born Again has to as well.

"Born Again" (excerpt)

This is music about process -- if you're in search of tonal variety and chord changes, you'll be bored five minutes in to the harmonically stagnant first half. Stop thinking about it and let those tick-tock dirges take control. Let it own your listening experience instead of vice-versa for a change. Locate the loneliest, most self-critical part of you, the part that might sympathize with Overmars' amazing female vocalist Marion when she screams "I’m close to dying a thousand times/But this time I allowed myself to cry." Only then will you truly feel the payoff of Born Again's second half, a succession of droning Neurosis riffs that gets heavier, denser, more engulfing as it goes on. Overmars couldn't continue to make music this emotionally devastating if it weren't healing in some way. And based on the surprisingly upbeat, but still über-metal final stanza, it is:

Listen to the screams coming out of my wounds, free from the plague
Listen to the screams coming out of the hole, holding the sound of joy and pleasure
Listen to my screams announcing the birth of a new man
I, born again
Until the bell tolls, nothing’s finished, nothing’s done
Until the bell tolls, I am immortal

See the plague coming out of your wounds, liberating you at Overmars' website

BUY:

Amazon (CD)

Amazon (MP3)

Crucial Blast

Chris Puma of Candiria - R.I.P.

2009-10-01T02:08:00.000-07:00

Chris Puma, an original guitarist for Brooklyn's uncategorizable metal-fusion group Candiria, has died. Puma was a member of Candiria from 1992 and 1997, during which he helped build Candiria's innovative sound. His stuttering guitar riffs, often set against those of second guitarist Eric Matthews in unconventional voicings, can be heard on the band's Deep in the Mental and Surrealistic Madness albums, both from 1995. I discovered the band well after Puma left, but it's clear from listening to his work on Candiria's early records that Candiria continued to employ the guitar sound he helped develop.

Said Candiria via press release: “Chris Puma died on September 20th 2009. The cause is not known to us, as his family did not speak of it. He leaves behind two children, 3 year old Aislinn A'marie and a 4 month old Aidan Todd. Chris was a great friend to the founding members of the band, and a respected musician among his friends and peers. He was a kind and gentle person and he will be missed.”

Here are two tracks with Puma on 'em from Surrealistic Madness:

"Elevate in Madness"

"Pages"

This news comes not long after the announcement of Candiria's Toying With Insanities, a four-volume remix and rarities set drawn from albums on which Puma performed.

Pay your respects at Candiria's MySpace page

Warrel Dane of Nevermore interview

2009-09-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the full transcript of an interview I conducted in late August of '09 with Warrel Dane, lead singer of Nevermore. It's been cleaned up a bit for ease of reading. The shortened version of the interview was published as a studio report in the November '09 issue of Decibel (Baroness cover). At the time of the interview, none of the songs from Nevermore's forthcoming album The Obsidian Conspiracy had been finished. Even so, Dane's delight at how things were going was palpable; he was even excited to tell the same stories that he did in his last Decibel interview. The Obsidian Conspiracy comes out in January of 2010 on Century Media.

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Hey Warrel! How are you doing sir?

I’m fucking fantastic.

Are you in North Carolina right now?

I am, yes.

What does it feel like to be back in the studio with Nevermore for the first time in – what must be almost five years now?

This feels like the family’s back together. We’ve been together a long time, and people are gonna be pleased with what they hear. I don’t want to overstate anything, really, but obviously, I’m in a very good mood, because I’m very excited about these songs. We’re in a beautiful place, and we’re creating something that I think is going to surprise people. Maybe not shock people. But definitely, if somebody’s disappointed with it, I’ll be shocked.

So then I’m hearing there must be some kind of change of direction.

No no no, not really.

So what kind of surprises are you talking about?

I think there’s no change in direction, but it’s more of a progression of where we have been going over the years. It’s finally come to a place where…it’s just brutal dude. I mean last night I was listening back with Peter (Wichers, producer) to some of the tracks Jeff (Loomis, Nevermore guitarist) was doing, and I’m like “Oh my god. This riff is so fucking brutal!” and he’s like “What are you gonna sing over this?” and I said “…something really melodic?” And I’m like “NOBODY DOES THAT!!!”

You know it’s funny, I was reading some of the interviews with Jeff, just the little blurbs on Blabbermouth, where Jeff says it’s a more wide-open album musically, and that will let you be more vocally free. Can you talk more about that? What does he mean by that?

You know what the funny part about that is? After I read that, or after I heard that he said that, I had a talk with him. I’m like, “Dude, this is some of the most vicious, complicated, brutal stuff you’ve ever written.” “Oh, but the choruses are big!”

So there’s a little bit of that brutal verse, big chorus switching dynamic.

That’s where that came from. I think.

Are you doing more overdubs than usual? What’s changed about your vocal approach for this album, if anything?

Uh, nothing, so far. Well I actually haven’t started singing yet. Jeff is still doing guitar tracks. Our drummer, he did the tracks in Seattle, and then we moved to this beautiful, beautiful place in North Carolina called Lake Norman, and we rented a house, and basically just turned it into a recording studio. Which I think is the wave of the future for the recording industry, because it’s much more cost effective for the band. I mean you can rent a house, bring in equipment, and you don’t have to spend as much money as if you went to a high-level studio in a major city. We’re in this gorgeous, gorgeous fucking setting that’s so inspiring. It’s allowing us to be so creative, and really expand…I don’t know how else to describe that but that’s what it is.

The view outside Nevermore's studio

Lake Norman, NC

So this is not Peter’s actual studio. This is more…you brought him in and rented equipment.

Well it’s all his stuff, but we just kind of moved it into this house that he found. If you go on to my Twitter page, you can see all the pictures of this place.

Man, making some of the most vicious music of your career in the most gorgeous setting possible?

Isn’t that kind of ironic? But at the same time…Dead Heart in a Dead World. That record that we did, a lot of people view that s our best record, a lot of people view that as our shittiest record. That’s what’s funny to me, that there’s that wide gap of opinion about it. But we were listening to some tracks back last night, and Peter said to me, “You know, coming form a fan viewpoint, Dead Heart in a Dead World is my favorite Nevermore record, and this is as good.” So I don’t know what to say about that, but these are really good songs. And obviously, we’ve had a few years to work on them. So I think that’s showing in the end result.

You mentioned that you don’t have vocal lines worked out. Have you written lyrics for any of these songs yet?

Oh, of course. All the songs are written.

Since the last album, there’ve been a lot of setbacks with various illnesses, band members dropping out…but obviously you’ve rebounded, you guys are back together, both you and Jeff put out solo albums last year. Did any of that turmoil feed into what you’re writing for this album?

I don’t feel that was really turmoil for us. I think that (recording a solo record) was something that we both had to do to get something out of our system. Jeff has always wanted to do an instrumental record, and I have always encouraged him to do that, because I knew when he did one that it was going to be amazing. I’m so proud of what he did with Zero Order Phase. And at the same time, I always wanted to do something that was a little more rock-based. And you know, we were lucky enough that we both got to do what we wanted to do. And we got that out of the way, everything’s…

Hunky dory?

Well yeah, I guess, that’s kind of a funny thing to say, but it’s true.

I guess I meant more the medical things that a few of you went through in 2006. I know with your diabetes, there was a complication or two that resulted in some show cancellations?

That’s all managed now, I’m doing very well. It’s a difficult thing to go through, but I’m lucky enough that it was caught early on I guess. But you know, the booze – this is my favorite quote right now, “Satan lives in a bottle, you can find him at every 7-11.” I basically drank myself into Type 2 Diabetes.

I understand it ran in your family as well? Or a predisposition to it?

It does, yes. And my sister recently just this past month was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes as well.

I’m sorry to hear that.

So I probably woulda got it anyway, but I just…kickstarted it.

You might as well get it over with.

Yeah well, I think I’m a better person for the whole experience of going through that. Trying to be sober is a day-to-day thing. I used to mock people that went to AA, and these bumper stickers “One day at a time.” But seriously, it’s true, that’s all you can do. And I’m not a perfect person, and I never will be, and I’m okay with that. So I relapse sometimes, but now, I am much, much better than I was when I was a fat, bloated fucking idiot that could barely fucking sing on stage. I look at some of those old videos and I’m like, “Oh my god. And we still have fans?” I don’t want to preach to people and say “alcohol is bad,” but you know, everybody has to make their own decisions.

So then you are going to AA now, but I understand from the last article that Decibel did with you that it’s a non-religious AA?

Yes, exactly. Because I did not want the god crap. So I found an agnostic AA meeting. Of course it was in a church. Which is ironic, as well. But I have a great story about that. This girl I know, that’s a friend of mine, who is also in AA, she came out to visit from New York, and she wanted to go to a meeting. So I took her to this place, but it was on the wrong day, and we ended up going to a sex addict meeting. And of course she thought it was some kind of evil plan to get in her pants. It was one of the most surreal moments I’ve ever had. It was funny as hell. But eventually I convinced her, “No, I didn’t do this on purpose.”

It definitely tells you that church holds a lot of “A” meetings…any kind of addiction you got, we’ll take care of it!

Yeah well, I’m a victim of multiple addictions.

Tell me a little bit more about the musical addiction that’s going on here – you actually sound kind of high on the experience of recording this new thing. I mean, you’re so happy, but the name of the album, The Obsidian Conspiracy, just sounds black and paranoid to me. So what’s behind it?

If I told you what it means, you would probably want me to be institutionalized.

Please. Try me.

I’m not sure I can yet. It’s still evolving. The way I approach songwriting and recording, is everything evolves up until the moment it comes out of my mouth. And is permanent on tape – well there’s no tape anymore. But it’s evolving. And it’s something very, very intense. I don’t know how else to say it, actually. But when I’m done recording all this stuff, and we’re done writing – because we’re still working on music, lyrics, everything on a day-to-day basis, and it’s changing, and morphing, and becoming something different, even sometimes within minutes. And that’s so exciting to me. I mean that’s probably why I sound like I’m high on something. But I’m not. I’m high on life right now. And that can be the best drug ever. “There is no stronger drug than reality.” I said that once (on the Enemies of Reality album) and I meant it.

I was just listening to that album in the car on the way over here today, actually.

Funny, some people regard that as our worst album ever.

Well I think it’s mostly the production. A lot of the songs are fantastic.

Well the songs are great. You know when Andy (Sneap) re-did it, I think it took on a different life. And then I realized, “Wow, those songs really were pretty fucking good.”

Yeah, there’s some fantastic hooks, and then thematically it works really well, references to the reality issue from front to back.

I think a lot of people blame Kelly Gray (original producer of Enemies of Reality) for that record, but it wasn’t him. I mean he had a vision. He thought that metal was going to have a new sound, and apparently that would be it. I guess that vision was of horrible, muddy production, and it didn’t quite work out.

Yeah, that’s the thing. It works out for a lot of bands…

It does! He’s a very good guy, and I would never say a bad thing about him, except that situation didn’t quite work with us.

So take me back to The Obsidian Conspiracy, the story behind the title. You told me you’re constantly changing, up to the minute that this is laid down.

Right. Yeah. When I get in hyper mode and I’m in the vocal booth, I just keep writing and writing and writing and I change things constantly. So sometimes I feel like I don’t even know what some of these songs mean until I’m done, and later, and it’s all permanent. And I sit down and read what I’ve written, and I’m like, “Holy crap, is that what I’m saying? Wow. I think I need mental help.” But that’s kinda always the way that I’ve always worked, since day one. Since the first band that I was ever in. I guess it seems normal to me at this point, but it kinda freaks out my bandmates sometimes.

From talking to a lot of songwriters – I work at ASCAP, so all we do is deal with songwriters – that actually sounds very normal. You’re a creative person, you don’t always have perfect control over what you create. And maybe it’s only in retrospect or when you start matching up what you’ve done with what you’re thinking about right now, or were thinking about when you wrote it – it’s only then that you can make sense of it all.

I think that you put that a lot better than I did. And you’re exactly right.

So does that title The Obsidian Conspiracy relate to that process, would you say?

Probably, yeah. Probably.

Once the title’s actually printed on the album cover, and you look back at it, you’ll have a better idea of what it’s referring to.

My idea for the album cover is like – Wal-Mart will not stock it. That’s all I know. And after I’m off the phone with you, I’m immediately calling Travis Smith and discussing his ideas for the cover. I think Travis is one of the most amazing artists, and he’s done some of my favorite album covers ever, especially stuff with Opeth and Katatonia as well as Nevermore, and it’s gonna be…interesting. That’s all I can say.

You worked with Peter Wichers on your solo album, Praises to the War Machine. Is it any different having the rest of the band there working with him? It’s the first time that Nevermore as a band has worked with him.

Well you know what, I told them all, “Don’t have any fear bout working with Peter, because he has such insight into the psyche of musicians when they’re recording that he’ll work with you so well that you’ll never want to work with someone else.”

Well he’s a musician himself, he was in Soilwork.

Yeah, exactly. And the only difference with this is we’re not writing with him. I was writing with him on that (the solo album). He really is doing such a great job. And one thing that I’ve always said, and this may sound funny because I’m a singer, but Nevermore is a guitar band. And we need a guitarist as a producer. That’s why Andy Sneap worked so well, that’s why Peter’s working so well, Neil Kernon (producer on the early Nevermore records) – he plays guitar as well. And I’ve always said that our main focus should be just vicious, brutal riffing. Vocals to me kinda seem like an afterthought. Obviously they’re a big part of it, but I’m a fan of guitar. I always have been. And I always want a wall of sound. That’s the best way to describe it.

So you feel like so far, what you’ve listened to, Peter has been able to capture that.

Oh yeah. Is the world ready? Maybe that’s being arrogant, but fuck it, I’m the singer!

You gotta have a little arrogance to inspire an audience. I hear you have two cover songs on the album. How did you choose those two?

Well Jeff chose one, he’s a big Doors fan, and I chose one because I’m a huge fan of the Tea Party, a Canadian band that’s now defunct. The Doors song was not my original choice. I really wanted to do this song called “Waiting For the Sun.” When I listen to songs, of course since I’m a lyricist, I gravitate towards cover songs (for which) I admire the lyrics. Jeff being a guitarist, he goes for the guitar stuff that he thinks is really cool. And that’s `how we came on the Doors thing. “Crystal Ship” originally he had taken the approach of making it a little heavy. And I tried to work with it and I said “Jeff, I don’t think this is working. I think maybe what we should try is an all-acoustic approach to the song.” And when we did it, he was like “Dude, you’re totally right.” And he was like doing five layered guitar parts over this – when people hear it – it doesn’t sound like the Doors anymore. I think that’s what people expect when we do cover songs. ‘Cuz we’ve been known to deconstruct and recreate more than one song.

Definitely the “Sound of Silence” cover (from Dead Heart In a Dead World), I wouldn’t have recognized it if it weren’t for the lyrics.

Yeah, well there you go. Those lyrics are brilliant, Paul Simon is one of the best rock lyricists that has ever lived. And if you listen to some of those old Simon & Garfunkel records, holy fuck. I mean they’re so dark and so depressing. I mean “Richard Cory…” you know this song?

I do. It’s such a depressing story.

The end. “Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet in his head.” ::sings:: “But I / I work in his factory / And I hate the life I’m living…” it’s just fucked up! It’s fucked up shit!

The Simon & Garfunkel song “I Am A Rock,” too – that’s a pretty depressing image to have to deal with, also. “I am an island.”

Every man is an island.

You and John Donne could get into a fight over that one. I mean he’s dead, so you’ve got the upper hand. So what about The Tea Party? I haven’t heard of them before.

Are you kidding? They’re a Canadian power trio, kind of like…we’ve got Rush, we’ve got…well, obviously Rush is the biggest Canadian power trio …Triumph, another Canadian power trio…anyway, this is like my favorite rock band. At the moment. My tastes change, every now and then but…the singer is just so fucking good. I mean he sounds like the bastard child of Mark Lanegan and Jim Morrison. So Screaming Trees meets the Doors.

Nice expressive baritone there.

It’s really, really interesting. And I would hate to say which album is their best, because I can’t pick one. But to start with, I would go with Transmission. It’s different. Definitely. But we all are kind of into this band. I mean we wouldn’t cover a song if we didn’t like the band.

Did you suggest earlier that you’re recording some other tracks as part of these sessions that you might not release on the album?

I don’t know. One of my ideas, because we’re in this absolutely gorgeous, inspiring place, is “Jeff, can we just go out and sit on the dock with your acoustic and just jam? And I’ll hit record on my iPhone and see what happens?” You never know, something might happen. I mean I think that we are in a space right now where we’re being so creative that anything can happen. And I’ve never really experienced that before. So that’s something that’s just – I mean I feel like a 13 year old kid. And I’m over 40, so that’s something.

Are the other two members of the band contributing much to the songwriting this time around?

Well it’s mainly Jeff and I. They do have their contributions, but Jeff and I are the songwriters.

And it’s just Jeff on guitars right? You don’t bring in a rhythm guitarist for any of the recording sessions?

No. Jeff is a fucking machine. Every producer that we’ve ever worked with always is amazed by his precision in the studio. So this is basically the same kind of situation we did when we recorded Dead Heart in a Dead World, when we didn’t have a second guitar player at that point so Jeff did everything. And it’s I guess that’s why we’re also thinking in the back of our heads that it’s sounding similar to that. Maybe I’m just being crazy, but maybe it DOES sound like it. But we are definitely doing some stuff that is going to…I think, nobody can change the world of music, but people can make a contribution, at least, with something startling. And I hope at least this is startling.

It’s really fantastic to hear that you’re getting behind this so much. I mean every band is going to be hyped on their new album, I hope…

I’m not gonna lie and say it’s the best shit we’ve ever written, because I don’t think it is…but I think it’s as good as anything we’ve ever written. For a musician, if you’ve got a number of records out in your career, it’s like picking a favorite child. You can’t say “That’s my favorite kid.” Because you have to love everything you do, or create. So it’s kind of like childbirth in a way. I guess that sounds weird, but it’s the only way I can describe it right now.

Are there any ridiculous studio stories that you can share so far?

Heh…nothing that you could print. Wanna hear about toothless redneck hookers?

Dude, you’ve read Decibel before. That’s all we write about.

Yeah, we’re in an interesting area. I’ll just say that much. The people here are so polite! It’s making me be more polite when I’m relating to people. And I think that’s just part of Southern culture, but…you go to the grocery store and people talk to you different. They’re like “How’s your day? How’re you doin’?” And it makes you relate to them in the same way. “Well thank you, thank you very much! I’m havin’ a great day, and I hope you have a great day too!” You know in Seattle (Nevermore’s hometown), people get weird. Sometimes you’re walking down the street and people don’t even look at each other. Same thing in New York. It’s a different world out here and I think that’s also affecting our experience.

It’s funny, some of the metal that comes from the South, especially the New Orleans area, it’s the dirtiest, nastiest, least hospitable metal you could imagine.

::laughs:: That’s cool though!

Maybe it’s just a complete reaction to what you’re talking about. Could you see yourself moving down south? Or even importing some of that vibe up north?

I love Seattle too much. I’m born and raised there and it’s just too much…I mean that’s my home. So I can’t see myself living anywhere but Seattle.

You’re a trained chef. Are you cooking for yourself down there in the studio?

You wanna hear what I’m making tonight?

Yes I do!

Pasta a la puttanesca. The story behind that…

You know you talked about this in the last Decibel interview you did. It’s the whore sauce, right?

Yeah, the prostitute sauce. It was hookers that wanted to cook up something quick that they could eat before they did their next trick. And it’s very easy to make. It’s just fresh garlic, anchovies, capers, crushed red pepper, basic basil sauce, and that’s it. And it’s fucking delicious. One of my favorite pastas, ever. But I have to tell you something. There was this man that affected my life so profoundly. His name was Vince Mottola. And I worked for him for a number of years in Seattle. And he was from Naples. And he immigrated over here, brought his family over, and he opened a chain of restaurants in the greater Seattle area, and I started working for him, as did Jeff and Jim (Sheppard, Nevermore bassist). And we learned so much from this man. And when my father died, he kind of became my second dad. He would scold me for doing bad things, and I’d get so pissed off, then think “Oh my god…he’s totally right. I was being a little shithead.” And I miss that guy so much. I really do.

This is one thing that’s kind of funny. There’s so many musicians that work in the restaurant industry. And people that are playing music, if they’re also cooking, it seems to me that they view food preparation as more of an art form than people that are not musicians. So when we were hiring people at this restaurant, we would hire musicians. Even if they were fucked up, they were always better cooks.

That’s really interesting!

It is, but it’s true.

When you write reviews, one of the go-to metaphors to use to describe music is food. Like “What the band’s got cooking..” or “put ingredients of this and this and this in there,” or “it boils down to…” It goes together with what you’re saying. So did Vince own that restaurant that you were working at in Seattle?

He did, he did.

And then you took it over once he passed?

Yes. Eventually we had to make a decision -- do we wanna do music? Because running a restaurant is 24/7. You have to commit yourself. There was a time around ’97, when we toured for Politics of Ecstasy. We went on tour, and we came back, and there were like 17 kegs missing from the inventory, and the liquor costs were going through the roof, and we figured out that these people were taking advantage of us, our employees, because they thought “Oh, you’re in a band, you’re partyers, and nobody’s going to notice.” But we noticed. And so we kinda had to make a decision, it’s either this or that. And of course music is my passion, and it always will be. But I still cook! And I’m cooking a damn puttanesca tonight for everybody.

You’re making me so hungry. I haven’t had lunch yet.

I made ‘em matriciana the other night.

What’s that?

Matriciana is basically spicy red sauce with bacon and onions. Have you ever had carbonara?

Yes I have.

We used to joke about that and call it heart attack on a plate. Because it’s heavy cream, egg yolks, cheese, butter, bacon, and you don’t drain the fat, and it’s just yummy. And a lot of black pepper. I don’t eat that so much anymore because, you know, that can really affect your cholesterol levels. I try to be healthy. You know, when I was in my twenties, I was a bad guy, I did everything unhealthy, but when you get a little order, you realize that that was your time, and it’s time to grow up, now.

Not that there aren’t plenty of great fat singers, there are…

Don’t make me even go there. Because I have a really bad joke that I cannot tell you.

Come on!

Unless it’s off the record. No, I can’t do it. I can’t do it.

You've had a lot of members come and go over the years. Has Nevermore ever had a band member that you wanted to keep with the band, and they just decided to leave?

We always think that the current one is gonna be the one! And it turns out that something weird happens. I’m not gonna name names, but there was one guy in the band where his wife tried to poison Jeff’s girlfriend by putting shit in one of her booze bottles. Like ammonia or something. And the cops came, and it was a really big thing. And anyway we got rid of him, and his wife was crazy. Yeah. I live Spinal Tap every day. And I think that really, to be a metal band, you have to. Don’t you, really?

I think you’re absolutely right. There needs to be some hilarity to keep you going all this time, too.

Laughter’s the best medicine.

So that’s about all the questions I have, unless there’s anything else you want to tell us about The Obsidian Conspiracy.

It’s rising.

The Obsidian Conspiracy is rising.

That’s my quote.

That and your opening line “fucking fantastic” are competing for the title of this interview. Well great. Thank you so much Warrel.

No, thank you. It’s really cool when you talk to someone…I mean obviously we both do a lot of interviews – when people ask questions that aren’t like the normal dumbass questions. I’ve been asked really stupid things like “So…tell me something of the meaning of the lyrics because we think maybe you do not like Jesus.” I mean that’s just retarded to me. I have nothing against any deity, except I don’t prescribe myself to any organized religion, and everyone needs to make their own decision and take their own path in life.

Now there was something that really made me very angry recently on CNN…where this guy, who is a pastor in some church, and I think it’s here in the south somewhere, and he took his kid to school, this little girl that I think was eight or ten years old, and made her wear a t-shirt that said “Islam is of the devil.” And I was so stunned that there are people that are that fucking ignorant in the world.

It’s both having that opinion and also forcing it upon an eight-year-old that probably doesn’t know well enough to decide for herself.

Exactly. Remember this old song by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Teach Your Children Well?” This guy ain’t doin’ it.

That’s probably the hateful underbelly that you might see if you go a little further outside the nice mom ‘n pop places where you’re shopping. There are more gun-toting wackos there than most other places… more hate crime and domestic violence down south.

There’s good people everywhere, there’s bad people everywhere. That’s the way I look at it.

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Visit Warrel Dane on MySpace

Visit Nevermore's fan MySpace page

End of a Black Metal Summer

2009-09-22T02:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the last day of Summer. For once, I'm glad to see it go. Los Angeles was rocked with high-profile murders and political sex scandals, choked with pollution from the raging Station Fire, and mired in the same budget crisis as the rest of California. The last couple weeks, temperatures skyrocketed almost as high as the unemployment level. If the American Summer was born in Southern California, 2009's was a partial abortion. To celebrate the demise of Summer, here are a few black metal records released this summer that helped remind me of the darkness of this dismal season.

Unholy Matrimony - Croire, Décroître (Deepsend, 2009)

Talk about an appropriate band name! Unholy Matrimony is one of five projects crafted and performed entirely by Swiss auteur Vladimir Cochet with the aid of a drum machine -- if the guy doesn't trust other band members to play any of his material, how is he going to trust a life partner to join him in marriage? Turns out Cochet does just fine by himself. In sharp contrast to the isolated vibe of many of black metal's solo misanthropes (see Leviathan, Striborg, Wrath of the Weak), Unholy Matrimony's third album Croire, Décroître announces itself boldly, with serrated riff discord and creepy arpeggios piled on top of each other, like later Emperor with less pomp.

"Innocence Abusée"

Cochet's throaty gargle is one of the main attractions here -- the black metal rasp is tailor-made for destroying diphthongs, and there are plenty of them in his hostile French screeds. Blastbeats and double-kick rolls usually sound terrible on drum-machines, and Croire, Décroître is no exception; the more relentless portions of "D’Élégance et de Déréliction" and "La Lente Mort sans Panache" feel out of place surrounded by such human-sounding layers of guitar, vox (both harsh and sung) and acoustic instruments (is that a ukelele in "La Lente Mort sans Panache"?). Cochet seems aware of that, and litters his lengthy tunes with moments of comparative serenity, where the rhythms let up, the harmonies shine through, and we can hear why he still remains marriageable.

'Til death do you part at Unholy Matrimony's website

BUY:

Amazon

Deepsend Records

The Omega Order

Black Anvil - Time Insults the Mind reissue (Relapse, 2009; originally 2008)

Relapse has never been known as a purveyor of high quality black metal (or ANY black metal). So why start with a reissue of the debut album by Brooklyn trio Black Anvil? In many ways Time Insults the Mind is a safe bet from a pure marketing perspective. It's far less extreme than your average blast furnace black metal and the crossover potential is huge -- Black Anvil rock out convincingly towards the end of "And You Thought You Knew Pain!" and make no effort to hide their punk pedigree (all three members were formerly in the New York hardcore group Kill Your Idols), stinking up gutter-dwellers like "Ten Talons Deep," "Release the Kraken" and "LTHLTK" with grimy punk beats.

"On This Day Death"

If Time Insults the Mind lacks the danger of traditional black metal, Black Anvil make up for it with the grumbly gravity of their sound. You can tell that it's three dudes playing this music, especially when drummer Raeph Glicken breaks into his sinewy, mid-tempo blasts (e.g. the swinging' "On This Day Death"). In a genre that makes a point of erasing traces of humanness, burying them behind rasps and robotic musicianship and makeup, it's refreshing to hear the work that goes into this shit. And for all those that accuse Black Anvil of falseness because they used to play punk, dudes, have you never listened to early Celtic Frost? Totally punk. And speaking of which, have you ever heard Celtic Frost covered so well as on Black Anvil's boss version of "Dethroned Emperor?" It's the best song on Time Insults the Mind, but not by much. And that's saying something.

Strike when the iron is hot at Black Anvil's MySpace page

BUY:

Amazon (CD)

Amazon (MP3)

Relapse

Nihill - Krach reissue (Hydra Head, 2009; originally 2007)

If there's any band that gets the void, it's the mysterious Dutch troupe Nihill. They've only been eating heavy metal from the inside out since 2007, but they've already got an intimate understanding of nothingness. They know that sometimes it rushes over you in howling torrents of oblivion (check "Mundus Subterreanus," which brings Portal's smeary dissonance into sharper focus), sometimes it looms overhead like the Sword of Damocles (the doomed Esoteric-a of "Gnosis Pt. I"), and sometimes the abyss just is, without giving any choice in the matter (as in the closing 17-minute tone poem writ ambient, "Gnosis Pt. III").

"Dreams Upon the Scaffold"

One could wile away the hours, debating which of Nihill's many shades of black is the blackest in between sips of absinthe and recited passages of Nietzsche, without coming to a consensus. It's all pretty bleak, and it all bleeds at the edges. The two ambient tracks at album's end absorb the violence of the earlier black metal moments, and the whole thing spirals inwards and disappears down the drain. While Krach is never quite beautiful in the conventional sense, there's something almost poetic about Nihill's all-encompassing embrace of so many forms of void-seeking. Krach is supposedly the first of a planned trilogy of albums documenting the transfiguration of tormented, mortal life into an astral state of unconscious knowing, then back again through the cycle. If you think Krach is a headfuck, just wait 'til you hear the second installment, Grond, out on October 13th via Hydra Head. Ho. Lee. Shit.

Stare into the abyss at Nihill's MySpace page

BUY:

Amazon (CD)

Amazon (MP3)

Hydra Head

Reflections Records

Expulsion - Wasteworld (Deepsend Records, 2009)

2009-09-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

In the extreme metal world, omnipresence might mean that your album was reviewed on two blogs, you were the second of three opening bands on a five-date leg of a Goatwhore tour, and/or you got a small mention in Decibel or Terrorizer. Even with that reduced threshold for hype, records come out on small metal labels every week that get buried for lack of exposure. I'm convinced that the anonymity of a band like Expulsion has only to do with marketing. I.e. do more of it, Deepsend Records. There can be no other reason why the band's debut full-length Wasteworld isn't being frothed over by anyone with a functional set of ears and a passion for thrashin'.

"Neoconomicon"

Competent speed metal bands ain't hard to come by these days. What's far rarer is a speed metal band with a novel guitar style. That's where Expulsion distinguish themselves. Wasteworld's most delirious songs pile a frothy meringue of melodic counterpoint atop energetic death-thrash tremolo picking (check out 0:36 to 1:13 of "Neoconomicon" for an example). I've heard this compound "string-skipping" technique employed by emo-metal bands like Fall of Troy (reviewed here) and Human the Abstract before in uber-showy fashion, but never so well integrated with raw thrash as it is on Wasteworld. The thrilling thrash sections of "Land of Empty Graves" and "Re-Examination" sound like the best pale ales taste -- perfectly balanced between a rich, malty speed metal base and the tart, hoppy melodic lines wiggling above.

"Promise Never Made"

Elsewhere, Expulsion are merely very good songwriters and players. They've got an innate sense of song flow -- when to drop out the drums, when to thicken up the guitar harmonies, when to make an imperceptible time signature change and when to let lead guitarist R.B. loose for a shredding sessions -- that keeps Wasteworld tumbling ever forwards. Frontman A.B. adds a natural sense of coloring to his screams, grunts and bellows. It's impressive when a dude you can't understand 80% of the time possesses this much charisma. Wasteworld ain't my favorite album of the year, but it's definitely one that I'll keep coming back to.

Get expelled at Expulsion's MySpace page

BUY:

Amazon

Deepsend

Omega Order

CHAINMAIL: The Perennial - Dissension EP (self-released, 2009)

2009-09-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

The CHAINMAIL section reviews bands that were proactive enough to contact me directly. Here at Cerebral Metalhead, initiative is rewarded.

Dang. Just as I thought I could nail the coffin shut on my interest in metalcore, here come Connecticut fivesome The Perennial to push me and my coffin-nailin' ass out of the way, rip off the casket lid and bodyslam the corpse. Now, your standard New England metalcore does nothing for me. It insults my intelligence. Textures are thin, tension is non-existent, lyrics repeat tired platitudes, and song structures are numbingly dull -- everything aims towards the breakdown. The Perennial's second EP The Dissension suffers from none of those problems. Like a less grindcore-influenced version of The Red Chord, these three short tracks whirl through varying tempos and riff styles but stay in complete control of the overall idea: a disorienting yet full-frontal pummel, the aural equivalent of E. Honda's hundred hand slap. Punky parts are serrated with dissonant overtones, and compact crunchy riffs provide groove without hijacking the entire song. Sometimes they'll just let a big ugly chord sit there for a bit and fester. Best of all, The Perennial leave space in these songs, enough for exposed bass parts and short, melodic guitar leads and drum fills. Marco Corsino's hardcore screaming is the least exciting part of the EP, but that's only in context of the rest of its awesomeness. At least Corsino couches his sociopolitical diatribes in some disturbing conceits.

"The Course of a Coward"

As an aside, I love it that The Perennial share their name with a class of herbaceous plant, and I don't even care that they bit the graphics style and color scheme from Converge's Jane Doe for the cover to Dissension. More tough guys from New England should be comfortable to admit their fondness for botany and expressive cover art.

Return from your root-stock in the spring at The Perennial's website

PROCURE:

Download Dissension for free in stereophonic, 320 kbps sound. Ooooooh yeah.

Chickenhawk - A. Or Not? EP (Brew, 2009)

2009-09-11T00:41:00.000-07:00

I'm really not sure what to call Chickenhawk's music, nor do I really care. Genres be damned, it's energetic and brash and shot through with melody and post-punk danceability. The Yorkshire, England band's second release, the three-track A. Or Not? EP, sounds like an amalgamation of what the older brothers of Hot Topic shoppers have been listening to for fifteen years. Parts remind me of a heavier At the Drive In; others recall a less screechy Blood Brothers. 90s noise rock segments pop up on "Son of Cern" and the killer opening riff to "Nasa Vs. ESA" sounds like a Page Hamilton creation that Helmet axed from Betty (perhaps that's Betty herself yelping along at the end?). I can bang my head or shake my fist at the sky or sing along or shake my ass to this EP, and Chickenhawk are equally happy for me to do any or all of the above. Plus, the cover provides lovely visual counterpoint to that of Coalesce's Ox and Yakuza's Transmutations (reviewed here), don't you think?

Of course a multi-directional band like Chickenhawk would have a marketing plan to match. Chickenhawk are making videos for each of the three tracks on the new EP. Here's one for "Nasa Vs. ESA:"

...and here's a nifty zombie-themed one, released just this past week, for "I Hate This, Do You Like It?" This was directed by NME photographer Danny North and shot on location in Leeds:

One can only assume that a video for the EP's final track, "Son of Cern," will surface soon.

While you wait, the Brew-masters were kind enough to make available a couple tracks off Chickenhawk's debut:

"Dude-a-Tron"

"Dude-a-Tron - Gavron Remix"

Yeah, that's right. A remix. Of a track that already sounds like one. Kids these days.

Let's see YOU make a zombie video at Chickenhawk's MySpace page

BUY:

Brew Records (EP only)

Brew Records (EP/t-shirt combo)

Fuck You, Penguin book signing - September 12 in Los Angeles

2009-09-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

Today, I take a short break from dropping science on heavy metal to promote someone that drops f-bombs on cute animals. If you've never been to Fuck You, Penguin, you clearly don't read my "Endlessly Readable" list over on the right, and probably don't belong here in the first place. Visit it now and you will be forgiven -- MAYBE. Fuck You, Penguin is the most metal site in the interwebz that isn't this one. The whole concept: every day, whatever genius blogger created it (he is by no means my best friend since 6th grade, that's for sure) posts a picture of a cute animal, then totally rips on it. Like, straight-up frothing-at-the-mouth, accusing-it-of-things-that-it-probably-did-but-is-too-cute-to-ever-be-accused-of trashing. The site has become a daily addiction for me and millions of others across the globe. I actually died once, but I was resurrected the next day by Fuck You, Penguin. You wouldn't think a blog could bring you back from the dead, but such is the power of Fuck You, Penguin.

The point is, Random House witnessed the resurrective power of the blog, and decided to give my non-best-friend a book deal so that he could spread the glory to the bathrooms of the world. The book's been out for a couple weeks and it's already doing pretty well. I read one report that some school boards opted to hand out copies of the book to school children in lieu of watching Obama's controversial address.

Matt Gasteier, the blogger behind Fuck You, Penguin (many of whose secrets I know intimately for a reason I couldn't quite explain), is returning to his hometown to affix his golden signature to copies of the book. Here's deets:

WHEN: This Saturday, September 12, 1pm to whenever

WHERE: Fred Segal - 8118 Melrose, Los Angeles, CA

WHAT: FU, Penguin book signing

WHY: The dark lord commands you to buy a copy of FU, Penguin and find out if its author is man, myth or simply a wisp of air

Hope to see you there. I'll be the guy not talking to Gasteier because why would I do that if I'm not his best friend?

If you can't make the signing shame on you, but you may repent buy buying multiple copies online, preferably one from each of the following distributors:

More information can be found here.

Wodensthrone - Loss (Bindrune Recordings, 2009)

2009-09-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

Back in the late 7th century AD, Wodensthrone's hometown of Sunderland, England became a major center of learning in Anglo-Saxon England, home to the 300-volume Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery and its famous monk-historian Bede. Just last year, Sunderland was named the best-connected city in Britain. Not much has changed in 1300 years, eh? While modern Mackems should rightly be proud of their continued tradition of access to knowledge (a tradition tied to the advent of Christianity), Wodensthrone extol the virtues of pre-Christianized England -- a time no less bloody than the centuries that followed, but also a one during which heathen civilizations, immigrated from what is now Germany and Scandinavia, lived in concert with the land and defended their divergent bloodlines.

"Leódeum On Lande"

The title of Wodensthrone's debut long-player (and at nearly 70 minutes, it is truly a long-player) is crystal clear: these boys pine for Britain's pagan antiquity. Their lyrics speak of ancient battles and fallen ancestors, invoke pagan gods and insult invading ones ("Children of the crescent moon / Your desert god is silent here...And 'pon these rocks which aeons stood / Are carved the names of forgotten gods: Tiw! Thunor! Woden!"). In their complete slack-jawed seriousness, these guys are the anti-Korpiklaani. Even if these tunes aren't proper for ale-swinging, and your own sense of nostalgia runs more towards mommy's home-cooking than Northumbrian history, you gotta admire Wodensthrone's commitment to their themes.

"Black Moss (excerpt)"

Musically speaking, Loss has nearly everything one could ask of a pagan black metal release. Battle-ready blasts and keyboard beds summon the pagan vastlands, galloped over by tremolo guitars in fully tonal flurries. Frontman Brunwulf sounds more like he's cawing from atop a Sunderland tree than shrieking like a ring-wraith from someone else's mythology. Like fellow pagan black metal artisans Moonsorrow and Wolves In the Throne Room (interviewed here), spiritual and artistic cousins to Wodensthrone both, Loss revels in the epic and the tonal. Admittedly, oscillating two-chord harmonies don't hold up by themselves over ten-minute expanses -- "Black Moss," with its occasional tritone-ridden darkness, deeper growls and breaks into non-black riff territory, is the only track that really bristles with tension. Smartly, Wodensthrone take up the slack of their pretty humdrum harmonic landscape by keeping the texture dynamic. Keyboards drop out, flutes and acoustic guitars pop in during restful moments; Jew's harp and dulcimers join in for the instrumental "Pillar of the Sun." Harmony vocals and Celtic drumbeats supplant the harshness and automated blasts every now and again to enhance the drama.

"Under These Stones (excerpt)"

Recorded in Romania by two members of Negura Bunget, Loss sounds warm and huge, but not oppressively so. The effect is one of glory that's veiled but still apparent. It's a great complement to Wodensthrone's nostalgic fondness for Old Albion.

Add a few accents to your name at Wodensthrone's MySpace page

BUY:

Amazon

Bindrune Webstore (CD - no shipping fees!)

Sex and Metal (NSFW)

2009-09-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

"Passion is a poison laced with pleasure bitter sweet
One of many faces that hide deep beneath
It will take you in / It will spit you out
Behold the flesh and the power it holds
Touch, taste, breathe, consumed"

Death: "Flesh and the Power It Holds"

While doing some self-directed internet...research, I stumbled across a series of photos of pornstar Liz Vicious, posing with Ohio black metal band Dark Monarchy (now known as Strigoi VII). The above image is one of the more conservative from the gallery. What struck me wasn't so much the nudity itself, but how alien the idea of a seductive woman seems in the context of a bunch of dudes wearing corpsepaint and Marduk t-shirts. It got me thinking about how extreme metal deals with sex, hedonism and carnality. My conclusion: extreme metal is asexual.

Despite increasing numbers of women getting into metal as both band and audience members, extreme metal is still dominated by men. You'd think that such a boys club would engage sex from a male, hetero and hedonistic perspective. Certainly there was plenty of that in the straightforward hedonism of 80s glam metal (which has its own complicated relationship with gender and sex). But the picture isn't so clear when you move into death, black, grind and the more extreme end of the metal spectrum.

Check out the above picture, from the liner notes to Diadem of 12 Stars, the debut album by black metal band Wolves in the Throne Room. A naked woman in the forest stands in an idealized pose, surrounded by a ring of fire. She's not just an object of desire. She's a goddess, perhaps an incarnation of fertility, taking part in a pagan ritual. Witchcraft rites would often involve nudity and/or symbolic union with the divine, manifested as sexual intercourse. Aleister Crowley emphasized libido as the most potent force available to us humans, and many of the occult rites that he invented involved intercourse, masturbation or orgasm.

To the extent that many black metal bands invoke pre-Christian religions, one could say that black metal embraces sex and sexual desire as natural, important, and charged with power. At the same time, you don't find a lot of black metal bands that actually write songs about sex. Destruction and rebirth cycle throughout the black metal worldview, but black metal bands tend to dwell on the former, without addressing the human productivity necessary for the latter. In both musical and visual aesthetic, black metal literally masks the individual and shuns the social, and adopts a more "feminized" or "softer" approach than in-your-face death metal. Perhaps there isn't room for something as interpersonal as sex when your music largely critiques man's relationship with forces beyond himself (reality, the divine, etc.) or within himself (despair, hatred). In fact, I wonder if some of the nihilism in black metal stems from lack of love and sex. Is it going too far to say that the long-term preservation of black metal thrives on the sexual frustration of a generation of pimply teenagers?

"Show yourself unto me

Believe in what you know / Believe in what you can touch

Legs agape / Stretching slow
Show yourself unto me
The soft wet kisses / To the mouth of the vagina
Taste exquisite to me"

-Akercocke, "Axiom"

With the notable exception of Akercocke, who write about tits and Satan with equal gusto, death metal also has little to tell us about human sexuality. This despite what is arguably the most bluntly physical, thrusting musical style of any of metal's sub-genres (who hasn't gotten it on to Morbid Angel's "Where the Slime Live?"). Death metal feels more populist and socially-oriented than black metal -- there's more camaraderie, more opportunities for communal experiences like headbanging and moshing -- and this probably goes hand in hand with the lyrical concerns of death metal, which can run towards more worldly, less esoteric subjects than its black metal counterpart. War. Violence. Conformity. Political commentary. You'd think that sex could be one of those topics, but sex involves vulnerability, and there's not much of that in death metal; there's an aura of impenetrability to double-kick drumming, palm-muted guitars and monotone death growls.

Probably the most explicit (in both senses of the word) convergence of sex and metal comes with the graphic, violent lyrics of Cannibal Corpse and the entire pornogrind genre (see XXX Maniak, Cock and Ball Torture). I'd argue that their psychosexual diatribes aren't really about sex per se, rather about violating as many taboos as possible in one fell swoop. As a teenager, I would print out the lyrics to Tomb of the Mutilated to freak out my mom and impress my friends with my cutting edge depravity, not because I empathized with the narrator of "I Cum Blood." In the same way, I'd assume (hope?) that Cannibal Corpse never intended to offer serious commentary or air actual sexual fantasies. Their sickness was offered for its own sake.

Liz Vicious and Dark Monarchy in happier times

Maybe there's a much simpler explanation for my impression that extreme metal is asexual. Sex is great, and who wants to write a death metal song about something positive? Chuck Schuldiner got away with the didactic "Flesh and the Power It Holds" (see the top of this entry) because it's a critical, admonishing lyric. Imagine if he actually wrote "Flesh and How Much I Love It." On a Death album, that would stick out like a sore phallus.

The question keeps me up at night: who is gonna be turned on by a naked chick hanging out with an ugly-ass black metal band in corpsepaint? I get the light fetish angle, but this Liz Vicious shoot goes way beyond BDSM. Sexy and un-sexy nullify each other, amplified by a far-too-well-lit practice space, leaving the softcore viewer flaccid and confused. Thank Baphomet that Liz is the only naked one in the shoot.

So now it's your turn. Do you agree that metal is asexual? What are some other metal bands that deal with sex and sexuality in interesting ways?

Liturgy - Renihilation (20 Buck Spin, 2009)

2009-08-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

Long before I was a Cerebral Metalhead, I went through an obsessive Sonic Youth phase. Back then, as now, my favorite Sonic Youth track was "Theresa's Sound-world" from Dirty (1992). With its crescendos of criss-crossing, dual tremolo guitars and blastbeats, that song seems to reach some elevated plane, where music ceases to exist as something to be heard and judged and instead accesses some fiery realm where all is sound and light and power.

Sonic Youth - "Theresa's Sound-world"

I thought of that song as I read this quote from Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, main man of Brooklyn's Liturgy. It's from an interview he did for a recent Pitchfork "Show No Mercy" column. This particular reference was about the cover art for Liturgy's last EP, Immortal Life:

"(It) is supposed to represent transcendence, which for us means an ecstatic encounter with the present; a violent, apocalyptic, cosmic joy. And a shattering of ego."

That's exactly what it feels like to listen to "Theresa's Sound-world." And given Thurston Moore's professed love of black metal, perhaps it's no coincidence that I get that same feeling from Weakling, Wolves In the Throne Room, Krallice and now Liturgy. All of these bands make majestic, tension-filled black metal, unafraid of combining violence with trembling beauty, the separate parts of which smear into a messy and often quite beautiful gestalt. I couldn't begin to guess what it is about in-the-red tremolo and relentlessly pounded drums that unlocks the spirit realm for me.

Liturgy - "Ecstatic Rite"

Liturgy access that place with tooth and claw, forcing open the doors with an elemental bag of tricks. Two electric guitars, picked at hummingbird speeds, spiraling in and out of conventional harmonies. Tension and release, mostly tension. The guitar sound is thin but textured (thanks, Colin Marston), an homage to early Ulver. Slower parts reveal bass-like sound, but it's ghost-like, nearly undetectable -- it could just be a trick of the overtones, or nothing at all. Howled vocals are almost completely whitewashed.

Liturgy - "Beyond the Magic Forest"

Greg Fox's drumming still floors me, ten listens in, because it sounds more like the extreme free jazz of Peter Brötzmann's Machine Gun than metal. Fox's barely-controlled clattering dominates the landscape, crashing through in huge washes. You can feel the impact of wood against skin and metal. Even in the superhuman canon of black metal drumming, this is technically amazing stuff. Every piece of Fox's kit seems to be hit all at once. And it probably is: he's using just a kick, snare and two crash cymbals for that giant tsunami of sound.

Liturgy - " - "

I could see someone conducting Liturgy live, sculpting their unhinged washes to resolve only when it feels right. At full-force, Liturgy sound like they're doing that for themselves. Renihilation threatens to slide off the rails into pure abstraction, but it never does. The songs are completely tonal; pretty guitar melodies and counter-melodies frequently poke out of the morass. And when everything unifies for the mammoth riffs on "Ecstatic Rite" and "Beyond the Magic Forest," the effect is even more cathartic for the chaos that preceded it. A series of untitled interludes, mostly wordless vocal incantations underpinned by looped guitar drones, create the quiet, (dare I say it) liturgical space out of which this music erupts. It's another indication of the control that Liturgy have over their chaos.

Annihilate the annihilation at Liturgy's MySpace page

BUY:

20 Buck Spin (CD/LP)

Amazon (CD)
Amazon (MP3)