PR is not something most nascent bands worry about. Their first concerns are usually stable lineups, local shows, and maybe a demo or two. But right out of the box Wolvhammer got called "racists," which led to the requisite Internet damage control.
The issue was this: the Minneapolis band's logo (see kick drum above) resembles that of the Hammerskins, a white power organization whose logo evidently comes from the fictional neo-Nazi group in Pink Floyd's The Wall. Phil Freeman called them out on this here. They rebutted the allegations, which led to Freeman's retraction here. For all involved, this was an unnecessary mess.
Now that the issue is settled — "working class," not "racist" — the focus can return to music. It's good: blackened, sludgy punk. Celtic Frost, Darkthrone, and Eyehategod are certainly influences.
Two things stand out. The songs are memorable, with measured pacing that highlights actual riffs. The vocals are like rusty blades. This stuff is usually disposable — the world does not need another 7" petroleum product — but Wolvhammer have that certain something that staying power requires.
You can download their two demos for free here. The second, Dawn of the 4th, is essentially a reworking of the first. I'm not the type to fetishize demos, but I hear some raw power here.
For reference, here is an excerpt from the new album's one-sheet.
It's been eleven long years and now the world will finally see the return of Burzum. Belus is not a religious album, or even an anti-religious album. It is not a political statement or means to provoke. It is simply an attempt to explore the myths about the ancient indo-aryan solar deity of light and innocence and unveil the oldest roots of European cultural heritage. The album deals with the death of Belus, his sombre journey through the realm of death and his magnificent return. In essence, the story of Belus is meant to be an entertaining story about something that once upon a time played a major role in the forming and shaping of Europe.
Belus has been recorded in a professional recording studio with the highest quality equipment available but has been made according to the musician’s heart and soul. The music can best be compared to the music of some of the earlier Burzum albums; in particular the ground breaking Hvis Lyset tar Oss and the atmospheric brilliances of Filosofem. However the ambient parts present on these albums has been almost completely ommitted. There is no special reason for this other than mere coincidence.
Congratulations to Saints quarterback Drew Brees on being named the Super Bowl MVP.
However, for the entire game I couldn't help but think of a different kind of "brees," namely, "pig squeals," namely, the most annoying style of metal vocals ever invented.
I first noticed "brees" as a phenomenon several years ago, when Job for a Cowboy got hot. On MySpaces of metalcore and deathcore bands, I would see fans requesting "more brees." (See above).
Generally I can get where kids are coming from, having been one myself. But on things like crunkcore and "brees" (the two intersect in Brokencyde's "Bree Bree"), the generation gap is insurmountable.
Where did this contagion originate? Wikipedia says that Mike Patton invented the technique on Angel Dust. I don't hear it, even though his versatility is peerless. I've also heard a lot of breeing in brutal death metal. When did Cookie Monster become Porky Pig?
Thankfully the Saints won the Super Bowl. Otherwise, I would have had to look for metal songs about colts.
Speaking of Armored Saint, have you heard the preview track, "Left Hook from Right Field," from their new album La Raza (out March 16 on Metal Blade)? You can stream it here.
To be honest, it gives me idiot shivers. It would have made a decent Anthrax song in the late '90s. But John Bush is singing for Armored Saint, not Anthrax. I am afraid for this album. What do you think?
Tomas Lindberg needs little introduction. Former vocalist for At the Gates, current vocalist for Disfear, with a slew of bands and projects in between, he has branded his gritty growl on some of metal's finest moments. In 2008, At the Gates undertook a triumphant, one-time reunion tour. On February 22 in Europe and April 6 in the US, Earache will release The Flames of the End, a 3-disc At the Gates DVD box set. The first disc is a documentary of the band's career, the second is the band's set at Wacken, and the third contains rare and archival live footage. I talked with Lindberg about At the Gates, his new career as a school teacher, and Fred Estby's upcoming solo record (!).
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At the Gates got a tremendous welcome from fans on the reunion tour. Do you wish that this recognition had come earlier?
No. We've always been very down-to-earth people. We don't think like that. We did what's best for the band then, and we do what's best for the band now. All the good stuff that happened between the band's breakup and the band's reunion — maybe that wouldn't have happened if the band was still together. Then we would have become a washed-up copy of ourselves.
Could At the Gates have avoided breaking up?
I think so. If we were just a few years older, maybe we could have made some mature decisions and had more respect for each other as persons. We were not the best diplomats (laughs). You're not [so] in your early twenties.
Many bands who reunite often say that they've mellowed out and moved past their conflicts from when they were younger. Did you experience that with At the Gates?
Yeah, of course. Not only that we could avoid the conflicts, it's, like, "What were the conflicts?" (Laughs) That's the feeling. There were really no big conflicts back then, either. It was more a sense of pressure and tiredness.
You guys have said you won't record again as At the Gates. But some of you have said you might record together under a different name. How likely is that?
You never know what can happen. I don't want to say something that I'll have to take back. We enjoyed this [reunion tour] summer, and we really felt that we were a band again, and we became really good friends and started to hang out normally again. I realized that these are childhood friends that are meant to hang out. Because we all are musicians, we want to keep the door open. Who knows? One day we could do a punk band or a 7", maybe. I'm not talking about the whole five of the band doing a complete record. It's just more like if any of us play together in different lineups. I could see that happening, some project here and there. We'd like to do music together. It would get rid of that expectation of being At the Gates.
When the twins (Anders and Jonas Björler) went off and did The Haunted, were you pissed?
No. I was really tired of the whole death metal thing. Anders made the wisest decision, and that left me to not make the decision. The couple years after that was a lot of confusion with different directions musically, but it was good for me to discover all that.
Can you go more into that?
It was just an opportunity to try out [different] things. At the Gates was one of those bands that were really limitless when it comes to death metal. There were no restrictions. But there are still other areas of music you want to try out. Some projects — it was probably good that they never got official (laughs). But it's good to try your wings in different settings. It develops you as a person and as a musician as well.
So you have a rap album no one's heard.
No (laughs). It was more like the same type of context — hardcore, punk, post-rock, whatever. You don't have to master everything, but you want to try to do different kinds of stuff.
Your career is split between more melodic bands like At the Gates and Nightrage, and crustier, more punky bands like Skitsystem and Disfear. Is one side closer to your heart?
You have to remember that most of those bands on the melodic side were bands I didn't form. The bands I formed were Skitsystem and The Great Deceiver, who were more on the hardcore, noisier side. I was more active in the punk/hardcore ideas, not only musically but also lyrically and politically. That's a big part of me. But the metal side, I grew up on that, too. I love doing a death metal album. It's more on an enjoyment kind of level. I enjoy it, but it's not what I was meant to do, I think. It's more important with the punk/hardcore thing. I portray something I really want to get across.
What do you want to get across?
It's hard to sum up in one sentence. The whole concept of writing lyrics for me has always been to work myself through different subjects and to try to find my own standpoint, to not be guided by already fixed ideas. That was the same when I was writing more occult, mystical lyrics with my old band Grotesque. I always tried to find different paths and experiment with different ideas to see what I could come across. But I can say definitely that [my approach is] more left-wing. I am a strong believer in historic materialism.
What do you mean by that?
Everything has an economic meaning behind it. Everything happens for someone gaining something from the situation. It drives history forward.
Are you educated in economics?
A little bit. I'm one year away from being a teacher in social studies, which includes economics — not on the big mathematical scale, but social economics.
What level of school will you be teaching?
High school. Geography, social studies, politics, history, and religion.
When did you decide to become a high school teacher?
Five years ago. I had been teaching without a diploma for a while. It was quite a big step, because even if school is free here, you don't really earn money [in school]. So if you have kids and everything, you have to take a step to go into education, because it's close to five years. But I really felt that it was something that brought me forward as a person and [was] the next natural step. I'm able to combine it really good with my musical [endeavors].
In the town where you'll teach, will people know who you are?
It has happened. I try to downplay the role. I noticed that [with] the "cool" teacher, the kids think they can slide their way through that course (laughs). There's no secret that I'm a singer in a punk or metal band, but it doesn't have to be the first thing at their ear.
One thing I got from the Swedish Death Metal book (by Daniel Ekeroth, reviewed here) was that much of the '90s scene was due to Sweden having a good social support system. Is that still true?
It's eroded due to socialism on a big scale being brought down. It's on the way down in Europe, the whole welfare idea. Everything is [being] privatized. But it's still better than in most countries. You can still get money to rent a rehearsal room, which is great. My son is starting to play guitar, and it would cost me 20 quid for a year.
After having toured America, what do you think of our country?
Sweden is starting to look more and more like America every day. The poverty [in America] is really striking. What I feel is kind of sad is the idea of the new continent when it was taken over [by Europeans] — which was kind of brutal — it was one of the most socialistic countries in the world. It had a lot of big dreams for the common man to have a place and all that. But all the welfare structures were torn down before they got started. It's a really brutal country. It's harsh. I'm not living there; I can't really comment that hard on it. But from a more historical or social studies kind of perspective, I really hope that you get some communal health care system or try to get some welfare situation going, at least.
In what ways is Sweden starting to look like America?
They're selling the previously state-owned companies, like the post, the national railway line, and stuff like that. Some of these companies are being sold to private interests, and schools as well. Things that weren't about money before have started to be about money. With globalization, you have good things, of course. We are a good multicultural country. We have a good infrastructure for that. But at the same time, with the Internet, it's harder...before, it was more isolated. We weren't allowed to have commercials on TV before. But now they broadcast from Denmark, and there's commercials for kids. Five year-old kids can watch commercials on morning TV. That could never have happened before. It's more about money, and who can buy stuff, basically. I have a teenage daughter — she gets all excited with advertising and billboards thrown at her every day. It's getting more brutal.
What musical projects are you working on?
Right now it's mostly Disfear. We are writing material for a new album. We are taking it slowly, to choose what shows we want to play. We're getting [to be] old men now; we want to keep the focus and happy about it all the time. So we try to make it as enjoyable as possible for ourselves, therefore being more honest to the people as well.
There's more musical projects here and there. Some should be secret for now; we'll see what happens. I'm going up to Stockholm in two weeks to sing on Fred Estby's solo record, for instance. That could be interesting.
Fred Estby from Dismember!
Yeah, he's doing a solo record with, like, 10 different singers, and I'm one of the lucky [ones].
That's cool!
I think it [has] the singer from Grand Magus. I know Martin van Drunen is on one track. I think Chris Reifert should be on one track, too, I'm not really sure. It's an all-star singer lineup.
Speaking of old men, you go way back with Fenriz, since you did the Darkthrone logo. He's also another guy who has both a metal and a punk side. Do you still talk to him?
Not really on that basis. We are in contact through Fredrik [Wallenberg] from Skitsystem. I'm really a social person. I like to talk to people. Fenriz does not. When we meet, we click. We have a lot of fun, and we talk a lot. But that rarely happens.
What are you listening to these days?
A lot of stuff, actually. I listen constantly to new music and to old stuff, too. I really like those new bands from America, like Liturgy and Krallice, the new kind of avant-garde black metal bands. Some of the new old-school death metal, like Funebrarum. A lot of old stuff like Axegrinder, Hellhammer, stuff like that always gets played. Black Heart Procession — I really like the new one. The important [thing] is to keep it interesting, not to lose interest in music. That's why I got into Liturgy, Krallice, and those bands. That took some effort to get into, because it was really harsh and really weird. Therefore, they stuck harder when I got through it.
Do you educate your kids in metal and punk?
Not really. They know where all the stuff is if they want to find it, because I've got this large collection. If I should force it, they'd probably rebel the other way. They don't really listen to any brutal music at all (laughs). I let them have their own idea. [But] of course, I comment on stuff. I'm being the boring dad: "This stuff's crap. You should listen to this, and not this one." But I try my best to behave. I know it always tracks back the other way if you try to "educate" them too much.
Right, they're going to rebel and listen to soft rock.
Yeah, exactly. That would be horrible, wouldn't it? Like Nickelback or something.
In the '80s and '90s, Order from Chaos created raw death-thrash brimming with social discontent. When Order from Chaos split up in 1996, bass guitarist and vocalist Pete Helmkamp went on to found Angelcorpse, while guitarist Chuck Keller and drummer Mike Miller started Ares Kingdom. Of the two, Ares Kingdom has been the less prolific by far, producing three EP's and only two full-lengths, Return to Dust and now Incendiary (Nuclear War Now!, 2010). Their patience has paid off, as both albums are excellent.
Much like Order from Chaos, the music of Ares Kingdom stands between death and thrash, albeit with considerably more complex songwritingt. Blasted vocals resound amidst a torrent of heavy riffing, but while the overall aesthetic fits within metallic traditions, the songwriting is too inventive to be genre study. Ares Kingdom's songs seek their own glory: they evolve with their subject matter, hammer you with d-beat-laden riffs, break down into chaos and uncertainty, and then perservere. Witness a tour de force like "Abandon in Place," in which the music builds in intensity as the lyrics become more dire, until halfway through, when everything collapses. Radio broadcasts float through space, and then, slowly, the music drags itself to its feet and trudges onward.
Chuck Keller is the primary creative force behind Ares Kingdom, and in interviews has stated that the lyrics are often as important a component of his writing process as the music. Incendiary bears that out. The ideas are much the same as on Return to Dust, although the songs get into more detail, and are more carefully interwoven in terms of theme. Incendiary portrays a world in which demagoguery and complacence lead to destruction. Images of serpents, grace, and the Garden of Eden reappear in an album that begins with religious extermism and closes with nuclear war. Dogma kills because it blinds and weakens: "Pronounce the living dead / Yet still fear the remains / Piety digs a necropolis for the future." While the world we're in might be doomed, depending on how you decide to respond, that might not be as bleak a picture as it seems: "The realization that your throne is an illusion / A liberation and a challenge / Stand in awe or fall to your knees and grieve."
The world looks pretty dire right now, and I'm sitting pretty compared to most people. Incendiary feels relevant and refuses to turn into the dogma it rails against. Ares Kingdom won't placate listeners with nostalgia or easy answers, but they will urge them to go on.
Evidently the Mayhem tour with Ludicra, Krallice, and Tombs has been cancelled. The reason so far is unknown. Ludicra are moving forward — you can't arrange a month off from work and not do anything with it — and seeking to tour in April anyway.
Personally, I'd love to see the original grouping of Ludicra, Krallice, and Tombs. (I've been on a major Tombs kick lately.) But the whole point of the Mayhem tour (other than seeing Mayhem) would have been to expose these bands to new audiences.
Would any big(gish) band want to take some or all of these bands on the road in April? Do you know people or people who know people? If so, have them contact the bands at their respective MySpaces.
Pictured: DevilDriver Photos and review by Chris Rowella
Toad's Place is probably the best place to see a metal show in Connecticut. Not too big, not too small, good sound, and (for venues around here) decent drink prices. Most metal tours end up in Hartford's Webster Theater or skip the Nutmeg State altogether, so I was excited to see a great tour package like this end up at Toad's.
Unfortunately we arrived late and only caught two songs from Thy Will Be Done. For a newer band they are consummate performers, and I'm proud to say they are from my home state. If Kataklysm had a baby that grew up in the '90s CT hardcore scene, it would sound a lot like Thy Will Be Done. Their sophomore release, In Ancient of Days, shows a real progression of musical ability; in a live setting, the songs approach a new level of (confidence and) power. After their set, I had an old-man moment hearing one pimply-faced teen say to another: "I appreciated them throwing in some Slayer." Were you even alive when Lombardo was behind the kit the first time around?
Ben Falgoust, Goatwhore
I'm not sure if it's some kind of metal community service requirement, but apparently Goatwhore have to play about 300 shows a year. That's not a slight; their blackened Cajun thrash attack has been honed to perfection from a never-ending tour schedule. This might lead to burnout for some bands, but they proved that idea wrong with flawless renditions of "Apocalyptic Havoc," "Alchemy Of The Black Sun Cult," and "Blood Guilt Eucharist." Ben Falgoust was a true metal diplomat, repeatedly thanking and praising the other bands. He didn't leave the fans out, either, saying, "Even if you don't like us, thanks for coming anyway." Some guys looked around as if they were actually seeking out people who didn't like Goatwhore. No haters in this crowd.
Frank Mullen, Suffocation
Suffocation are one of those bands where I love what they do so much it's almost hard to put into words. (See also: Down, Iron Maiden, and High on Fire.) They have never disappointed, live or on disc, and I can't think of a death metal band I enjoy more. Frank Mullen employed his signature moves, the death metal spirit fingers and blastbeat six-shooter, in just about every song. Terrance Hobbs and Guy Marchais were in lockstep groove on riff workouts like "Thrones of Blood" and "Infecting the Crypts." Derek Boyer's squatting upright bass stance still seems like an optical illusion to me. The real star, though, has to be Mike Smith. How any person can make endless blastbeats and ridiculous drum fills look so effortless is beyond belief. I thought my mosh days were long gone, but when Mullen called for a circle pit during "Liege of Inveracity," I had no choice but to comply.
These sets were going to be hard to follow, no matter what band it was. Full disclosure: I enjoy DevilDriver. They're a decent groove metal band with some cool songs that are fun to sing along to. Dez Fafara is an engaging frontman, and his band is comprised of some talented guys. New tunes like "Pray For Villains" and "Fate Stepped In" meshed right in with crowd-pleasers "Hold Back the Day," "End of the Line," and "Grinfucked." DevilDriver might not approach the level of Goatwhore or Suffocation, but those bands wouldn't have played here if Dez hadn't invited them on the tour. Whether you like his band or not, thanks for coming anyway.
I've always wondered why extreme metal bands don't write more choruses. By "extreme," I mean growling/screaming/etc. metal. Singing metal is often based on pop music, so choruses aren't lacking there. But extreme metal is full of "the voice is just another instrument," so entire songs and albums go by without the listener understanding a line, much less remembering one.
They say you need to tell a message seven times before people will hear it. So full-blown choruses aren't even necessary; just repeating a line or two will suffice. Watain's "Sworn to the Dark" and Cannibal Corpse's "Make Them Suffer" are the only songs I remember from their respective albums because the vocalists repeat those lines often enough. Are they the best songs on those albums? I'm not sure. Are they the most memorable? By a country mile.
I bet choruses were why AC/DC won a Grammy for "War Machine." The song's music is solid, but nothing extraordinary. As the above video shows, the lyrics are about...well, virtually nothing. It's kind of sad that this song, which didn't even come out last year, won "Best Hard Rock Performance." I like the song, but to call it an industry-wide best-of-anything is a stretch.
Enter its chorus. When I first heard Black Ice, "War Machine" immediately registered with me due to its call-and-response refrain. I've broken it down above. Brian Johnson sings the first "War Machine"; his bandmates reply with the second one.
This chorus is interesting because of its rhythm. Johnson's "Machine" starts on beat 2 and ends on its "and." This is off the beat, leaving the word hanging, almost creating a question. His bandmates answer by offsetting the second "Machine" by half a beat. Now the "chine" in "Machine" falls squarely on beat 3, pinning the word down, creating a feeling of resolution. It's subtle but unexpected, and it totally makes the song. Instead of simply echoing Johnson, his bandmates add a slight tweak, with a big payoff: the band's first Grammy.
Let's face it: hype affects our initial opinions. Positive or negative, we bring assumptions and preconceived notions to the stereo, or more accurately for the times, the computer. Such is certainly the case with Shrinebuilder. When four musical titans group together, expectations will soar.
In Shrinebuilder's case, the sum of its parts yields anticipated results: a hulking, Sabbath-inspired behemoth. Scott "Wino" Weinrich, Scott Kelly, Al Cisneros, Dale Crover: they have given much to heavy music. Their contribution continues with this communion of like-minded spirits. Though they share a devotion to all that is heavy, they still display their personalities. This occurs throughout each song, particularly the multi-faceted "Solar Benediction."
Wino's blues sensibility blends well with the darker inclinations of Kelly and Cisneros. Crover lends his trademark clang and thud. The result is an intricately designed and flawlessly executed record that ranks as highly as anything in the contributors' respective canons. In fact, some who might not have been won over by their other pursuits could well be swayed by this. Wino has never performed on an album this dense, nor the others on something so graced with blues inflections. While not offering anything unexpected, Shrinebuilder is still satisfyingly diverse and bludgeoning.
Due to popular demand, I've resurrected the "Upcoming metal releases" list. However, it will take a different form now. Instead of a static page, which gets unwieldy with even a fraction of the 10,000+ releases annually, I've opened up access to my Gmail calendar called, naturally, "Upcoming metal releases."
Here is the calendar as a web page. (If you have Gmail, you can incorporate the calendar into yours as well as search within it.) You can subscribe to the calendar via XML here, though I'm unsure how user-friendly the feed is. If you view the calendar as a web page, I recommend using the "Agenda" view (see tab on upper right). Click on the entries to expand and collapse them. The presentation is primitive, but should suffice for most purposes. I have included this information in the sidebar as well.
I maintain the list on a rolling basis as information enters my inbox. Thus, the list is hardly complete but should contain most of the major releases that people care about. As always, use the comments box for corrections or additions.
Personally, I'm excited this month about the Meshuggah live DVD. (See trailer above.) I'm also curious about the Dark Fortress and Hayaino Daisuki records, as well as the US release of the new Heathen album (preview tracks here). This is not a strong month for releases, but the year's just starting.
I have a feeling Tony Reed and I would get along famously. His previous outfit, Mos Generator, was steeped in the Seventies hard rock tradition of Riffs, Hooks, and Blooze. With his new project Stone Axe — essentially a two-man band (Reed records all the instruments) — he's delving even deeper into the smoky bong of history and coming up with something special.
There is a big difference between a band like Stone Axe and Wolfmother, whom I consider to be the most popular "retro rock" band out there. Wolfmother come across as a copy of a copy, picking out the lowest common denominator aspects of Led Zeppelin and AC/DC. Stone Axe are all heart and soul; they're not concerned with looking or sounding "right" — they just are.
The album kicks off with "Riders of the Night," a tune centered around a slinky Leaf Hound/Free riff complemented by the priceless vocals of Dru Brinkerhoff. Reed is a riff machine, but Brinkerhoff brings it all together. He's Paul Rodgers, Phil Lynott, or Deep Purple-era David Coverdale at any given time. The orchestral section on "My Darkest Days" recalls Robin Trower's "Bridge of Sighs" or Zeppelin circa Houses of the Holy, while the one-two punch of "Sky Is Falling" and "There'd Be Days" sounds like the evolution between The Small Faces and The Faces.
The only criticism, if I can even call it that, is that Stone Axe are trying to be too many excellent things at once. But when you worship at the altar of so many classic bands, it's inevitable that influences bleed through. Can you imagine there was a world not long ago where a band like Stone Axe would play arenas and have women throwing panties and hotel keys their way? I can, and to paraphrase Seth Rogen in Knocked Up, it makes me sad all day. Spinning this album cranked to 11 remedies that immediately.
Let's help each other out. Use English words and syllables to denote pronunciation, with all caps for syllabic stress. For example, Metallica's bassist is Robert True-HEE-yo. Got it? Good. I've listed some names below that perpetually stump me. Can you help?
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Celtic Frost
SELL-tik or KELL-tik?
Dan Swanö
SWAIN-oh? SWAN-oh? Swan-OOH?
Jørgen
There are a lot of metal guys named Jørgen. How do you pronounce the o with the slash through it?
Also, is the J a Y sound, i.e., Jens Kidman = YENZ Kidman?
Marduk
MAR-duck? MAR-duke? Mar-DUKE?
Mieszko Talarczyk
One of my all-time heroes, and I still have no idea how to say his name.
Mikael Åkerfeldt
We Yanks say "Michael ACK-er-FELT." Is this right?
Interestingly, Digby says that he downloaded Wormrot's album from mediafire to check them out. This is the first time I've seen a big label head openly admit to illegal downloading (especially after past posts denouncing filesharing). Then again, Wormrot's album Abuse originally came out on a tiny Singaporean label, so I'd guess that 95% of those worldwide who have the album downloaded it illegally.
And then again, Earache recently released Gama Bomb's new album as a free download, with a follow-up release on CD. So the label is now comfortable with manufacturing physical versions of albums that have already leaked all over the Internet. In Wormrot's case, the investment is miniscule, as the A&R costs = zero (perhaps we should get a referral fee!), the album has already been made, and all Earache has to do is slap on a logo and add some bonus tracks.
Typing this entry, I get the feeling that CD's are now the real "niche market" instead of vinyl.
Since the demise of pioneering black metal band Emperor, frontman Ihsahn has led a collaborative life. He did three albums as Peccatum with his wife Ihriel. Then he made three solo albums, which have featured Garm of Ulver, Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth, and Lars Norberg and Asgeir Mickelson of Spiral Architect. In this interview, Phil Freeman explores the Spiral Architect connection and the aesthetics of After, Ihsahn's new solo album. (It came out this past Tuesday on Candlelight). After features the sax playing of Jørgen Munkeby, of Norway's Shining. I used that as a starting point to probe Ihsahn's life after Emperor and his collaborations with others.
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What was working with Jørgen Munkeby like?
It was very nice. I sent him the demos and [told him] where I wanted him to play, what melody lines I wanted him to contribute on, and [where] the more improvisational parts [were].
For the improvisational part, he would do a great take, but it was not necessarily in touch with the emotion I was going for. In the process of writing this album, I had abstract landscape pictures on my laptop for inspiration. When [Munkeby] wasn't spot-on at first, I just explained to him from these abstract [images], and he totally got it and played something different that's so much more in line with where I was heading. So [he was] a fantastic musician in all senses.
He is obviously a very sophisticated musician. I'd like to ask you about someone that you've played with who's probably the opposite: Ildjarn.
(Laughs) My relationship to him was because he's a very nice guy. He played bass in Thou Shalt Suffer, the band me and Samoth had prior to Emperor. When that broke up, he continued his solo thing with Ildjarn. The Ildjarn demo that I sing on is recorded on the same 4-track in the same rehearsal space as the Wrath of the Tyrant Emperor demo. So he was there recording his stuff, and he asked me if I could do vocals for it. I said yes. I came there, he gave me the lyrics, and I put vocals on his songs in an evening. So that's the extent of our collaboration.
That was a long time ago, and Emperor as well. Do you still follow black metal?
No, not really. It's so much these days. It's hard for me to keep track. I've been listening to so much metal over the years, and I feel like I've missed out on so much other fantastic music. These days, working so intimately with the genre myself, it's hard not to be thinking professionally when listening to music. So I really enjoy listening to other forms of music that I have no direct experience with because I can just enjoy it for what it is, and I don't think subconsciously about how I would have done it differently (laughs).
What have you been listening to?
I'm a huge Radiohead fan: anything Radiohead-related, like Thom Yorke's solo album, the soundtracks of Jonny Greenwood. I'm a huge Prince fan. Just yesterday I bought something called Russian Circles. I thought it was quite good. Geneva, I think it was called? Some of the Icelandic stuff — Sigur Rós and Múm. Classical music, both contemporary and older stuff. Recently I've been listening to some Tom Waits and an all-time favorite, Diamanda Galas.
Speaking of other influences, there's a riff in "After" on your new album that seems like a Pink Floyd reference.
The only Pink Floyd album I have on my iPod is Dark Side of the Moon.
Yeah, it might be on that album (actually, it's on Wish You Were Here: "Shine On You Crazy Diamond").
I just got that recently. Of course, I've heard it before. Anyway, it's not a conscious ripoff or anything like that. If I caught onto the same idea, I'll take that as a compliment, I guess (laughs).
In "Austere," your vocals seem very Katatonia-like. Was this a conscious decision?
No. I really like Katatonia, and other people have referred to Opeth. They all feature great clean vocals. It's easier for people to hear connections where there's not necessarily in any connection, because Mikael [Åkerfeldt] did a song on my previous album, and I mixed my album at Fascination Street in Sweden with Jens Borgen, who produced the two [bands]. So there are those similarities. But, no, I've not tried to do Katatonia's style. No disrespect to them at all, because I really like that stuff.
It's me trying to come to a point with my clean vocals where I sing with my natural voice. With my black metal voice, I've been doing that for so many years that it's second nature to me. It's like playing distorted guitar. But my clean vocals have always changed. My natural voice, my talking voice is a bit soft, really, for metal. So I've never really got comfortable with my clean singing voice. But over the years, especially doing these solo albums, and my wife not letting me cut any corners with the recording, I've come to a point where I'm getting more comfortable with how I would naturally sing.
Wikipedia says you're a music teacher at a school. Is this true?
Yeah, I tutor guitar once a week.
Presumably you're teaching kids much younger than yourself.
Yeah. I've had some grownups before.
Do they know who you are?
For the most part, yes. It's a small town, so it's up and down. Sometimes it feels a bit frustrating when you have an 11 year-old kid telling you that they didn't really have time to rehearse. And I'm thinking, well, to be honest, if I had the resources of being taught by someone like me when I was your age, I would fucking rehearse (laughs). I never had any lessons myself. But it's all good. I've had some really great talents. Half my live band are previous students of mine.
Yeah, yeah. Both guitarists have taken lessons from me, and even the keyboard player is tutoring with me.
Can you read music?
Very badly (laughs). I'm horrible. I was the worst piano student ever. I read tabs and all that very well, but I always played by ear. I always sucked at reading scores. My piano teacher was very frustrated because I'd rather watch her fingers and learn the pieces rather than watching the score. I can read the score and understand it, but it's not like I can play from [sheet music].
I wish I could, but on the other hand, I have some families who play, who are really good at playing, but they're lost without the paper in front of them. So having to figure out how to play songs by listening to them on record — it's probably been good ear training. And also not having taken lessons and [being] forced to play so much cover material, I've been forced in the direction where I start drawing my own material at a pretty young age.
So that's the rock 'n' roll side of music, as opposed to the academy side.
Yeah, I guess. And there's some parts now where I use [written music]. I wrote the Emperor tablature book, and I use a score program called Sibelius. Me and my wife took compositional lessons with a composer. We had homework, to just write music from the head straight to paper without the piano, without anything. Of course, that would be very valuable, because sometimes the ideas that pop up in your head — as soon as you strike the wrong note on your guitar to replicate it, it disappears like smoke.
Speaking of your wife, will Peccatum ever make a new record?
It all depends, really. We do Mnemosyne Productions together. We run the studio together. She's invaluable for me in my work. She's really contributed to helping me form the concept of this new album and being my invisible bandmate. She will tell me if my singing sucks. Or if I think all my new material is crap, she will tell me otherwise. We have that kind of communication.
We've been working separately. She's been doing StarofAsh albums and working with other people, and I've been doing my solo stuff. But we both worked together on a project called Hardingrock, together with a Norwegian fiddler. We are always running ideas by each other. When she was doing a soundtrack to an Irish movie, I was engineering and setting up the film. So, yeah, at some point we might resurrect Peccatum, but we work together on music all the time. If time and the project are right, we will definitely be doing something together.
That's great. I really enjoyed the Peccatum project.
Actually, a lot of people ask about it. Maybe there's a sense in the market now for people that want that extra edge in the way of the experimental. I don't know if you heard the Hardingrock album?
No.
That's kind of Peccatum mixed with Harding fiddle (a traditional Norwegian stringed instrument). It was a very interesting project in the sense that he's in his sixties now. A Norwegian fiddler [Knut Buen], probably the most famous folk musician in Norway, contacted us and wanted us to interpret these old Norwegian folk songs. So it's all rearrangements. Some were arranged for more traditional extreme metal, and some were more in a more electronica-jazz type of [vibe]. He really wanted to have that all, because he really liked the Peccatum album and the dynamic range of that. So he wanted to implement this music in that type of scenario.
I'll check it out.
Yeah, if you like Peccatum, you very well might like that.
Recently I read Robert E. Howard for the first time. Fantastical settings are not my thing; only last year did I read the first "fantasy" book I've ever read, other than books by Tolkien and Rowling. That was a free offering on Stanza, an e-reader iPhone app that I recommend. So was the Robert E. Howard anthology that I read. Free was the right price; I wound up enjoying both.
The Howard anthology seemed very long, so I think I have a decent grasp of what he is about. However, even a cursory perusal of his Wikipedia entry and various fansites reveals that he and his work are more multifaceted than I thought.
At any rate, here are my impressions. Howard was not much of a writer, in the sense that he did not wield language well, at least for my taste. I prefer streamlined language; I often found myself mentally editing his sentences to be shorter. I also found his dialogue abysmal. His characters tend not to speak, but to orate. He falls into the sci-fi crutch of having his characters explain the story. Finally, I often found his characters one-dimensional. The men are usually supermen, and the women are usually scantily clothed.
Howard's most famous creation
Such characters have their appeal, though, and not in the obvious ways. Howard focuses on big themes: justice, loyalty, physical prowess, individuals as movers and shakers in history. He writes about heroes, which, despite a popular TV show with that name, are rather unfashionable today. Heroes these days are more interesting when they fail — see, for example, tabloid culture, Blabbermouth, TMZ, and so on. It seems corny to have some dude just slaying everything. The superman of my generation, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is usually appreciated through a heavy dose of irony.
Thus, Howard's work is idealistic in a way that's very metal. It was eye-opening to see how much inspiration metal has drawn from him. His fans in bands are legion: The Gates of Slumber, Manilla Road, Ironsword, Bal-Sagoth, Reverend Bizarre, and on and on. The wonderful Shadow Kingdom label takes its name from a Howard story. Even the most infamous commenter in Blabbermouth history got his handle from Howard: Kull the Valusian.
However, Howard's metal acolytes seem to miss, or at least fail to convey, his gift for atmosphere. His stories involve temporal instability, shape-shifting, things not being as they seem, and a general wispiness that belies their sword-and-loincloth trappings. From what I've read about Lovecraft, he has a similar way with atmosphere. (I'd love to read Howard's correspondence with him.) I've never read Lovecraft — a metal sin, I know — because he seems to have similar weaknesses to Howard's. But I made it through Howard, so I can probably make it through Lovecraft. On deck for me is a free Lovecraft collection I just downloaded on Stanza.
Those familiar with A Storm of Light's pedigree won't be surprised by Forgive Us Our Trespasses (Neurot, 2009). Vocalist/guitarist Josh Graham's involvement with Neurosis and Red Sparowes rubbed off on his musical inclinations. As on ASOL's debut And We Wept the Black Ocean Within, the band erects massive songs of epic ambition not unlike Neurosis. In its weakest moments, the album too closely resembles that progenitor of the form. From tempestuous swells to eerie passages bathed in violins, ASOL readily adopt some of Neurosis' finest attributes. It helps that the band exudes confidence in crafting and performing this material.
Despite those similarities, ASOL boasts impressive qualities. Throughout the album, the musicians incorporate a refreshing variety of sounds and techniques. "The Light in Their Eyes" bears similarities to classical or symphonic music, while a trio of songs/interludes called "Law of Nature" adds a welcome weirdness.
Graham's vocals most differentiate the band. His deep, clean voice perfectly suits ASOL. It adds a melodic, almost pop quality absent from most that attempt Neurosis' approximation of what it termed "spiritual warfare." This is best evidenced on "Trouble is Near," a plodding song that seesaws heaviness with quieter passages. I'd like to hear A Storm of Light explore the melodic and experimental dimensions of their sound. The world doesn't need another attempt to recreate Through Silver in Blood.
The Deathspell Omega vinyl box set is stirring up the expected circles — but if you're not in them, here are the details. Five picture discs, five art prints, and an A1 poster in a logo-decorated box. The discs cover DsO's early period: the first two LP's (Infernal Battles and Inquisitors of Satan), and three discs of material from various splits. For a large discussion of the box set, including the requisite debate about pic discs, see here. A real-life photo of it is visible here.
In the EU, you can order it at Eisenton, Undercover, and W-T-C (and probably other distros also). In the US, Hells Headbangers has no pre-orders, but says to watch its new arrivals space; see here. The AJNA Offensive sold out of its first batch, but will likely have a second batch available this Thursday and Friday.
Speaking of DsO merch, I stumbled across Deathspell Omega jackets.
Want those abs? To have them, that is (not to hold them)? Then try The Spartacus Workout. Spartacus is a Roman gladiator TV series that premiered on Starz last Friday. The Spartacus Workout is inspired by the workout routine of the series' male lead, Andy Whitfield (pictured above). The workout is online here, and in print in the February '10 issue of Men's Health, which is on newsstands until February 9. If you do this workout, I recommend getting the magazine, as it contains the workout in a handy poster.
I've been looking for something like The Spartacus Workout for a while. Until I discovered it, I was doing a one-body-part-a-day weight training routine. This is standard practice, and it works. But it can take a long time — e.g., doing separate exercises for all three tricep heads — and it's not terribly practical. Bicep curls, for example, are really only good for headlocks and drinking beer.
The Spartacus Workout addresses these problems. It centers around two concepts: compound exercises and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Compound exercises hit multiple muscles at once. They are better training than isolation exercises (which hit only one muscle, e.g., bicep curls) for sports and daily life. HIIT is short, intense bursts of activity, as opposed to long, steady-state exercise (e.g., slogging it out on a treadmill). It has been demonstrated to be superior in boosting fat loss, strength, and endurance.
You may be wondering how metal ties into this. It has to do with the workout's structure. The workout consists of doing 10 exercises for a minute each, with 15-second breaks between them, and a two-minute break after the last one. You do these 10 exercises three times. The workout takes about 45 minutes to complete.
I didn't want to use some boring timer to count time, so I made a little mixtape to do that. It has 10 one-minute songs. Naturally, most are grindcore. For the 15-second and two-minute breaks, I put a synthesized female voice (she happens to have an Indian accent) to count down time over hip-hop beats from Cypress Hill and Da Lench Mob. The tape works perfectly for the workout. Just put it on repeat, and you're good to go. Here's the download link and track list.
1. Impending Doom - When Waters Run Deep 2. (15s rest) 3. Crowpath - Pigeonsmasher 4. (15s rest) 5. Trap Them - Day Twenty Nine 6. (15s rest) 7. Nasum - När dagarna... 8. (15s rest) 9. Abscess - Street Trash 10. (15s rest) 11. Repulsion - Pestilent Decay 12. (15s rest) 13. Maruta - Man Versus Gravity 14. (15s rest) 15. Defeatist - Maruta 16. (15s rest) 17. Antigama - Orange Pills 18. (15s rest) 19. Mumakil - XIX 20. (2m rest)
A brutal workout requires a brutal soundtrack. And this may be the most brutal workout you'll ever do. I've been doing it for over a week. Each time it has left me drenched in sweat, gasping for breath, and borderline nauseous — and I'm fitter than most. This workout comes from a men's magazine, but I see no reason why women couldn't do it (other than, say, pregnancy). The only equipment you'll need is a light pair of dumbbells. Evidently the average man will burn 730 calories (give or take 130) by doing this workout. You'll also burn calories afterwards, as it will jack up your metabolism something fierce. Download this mixtape, get to work, and tell me how it goes.
Throneum pursue Death Metal until it becomes fulfilling in itself. Blasphemy, grue, and punkish riffs are their own justification. Don't look to the lyrics for philosophical insight. Don't listen to the music for technical inspiration. The content is stupidity and ugliness, with no moral lessons to give. It is also phenomenally enjoyable. Scrape your head against a wall. Listen until your brains turn to slime.
The relentlessness of Throneum is part of their appeal. Their latest, Deathcult Conspiracy (Pagan, 2009), is gloriously unrevolutionary. If anything, the writing is less adventurous than on their last full-length, Deathmass of the Gravedancer, although the songs avoid keeping with too staid a formula. Witness the winding melody that opens "Abyss of the Underground" or the military-march drum solo in the doomy "His Shadow." Touches like this keep the album from getting stale, even as it toes a steady line.
Whereas Deathmass was murky and dark, Deathcult is sticky with blood. The instruments come through separately and clearly, the bass guitar pulses, the kick drums splat. Tomasz Hanuszklewicz shouts lyrics that are more potent for their refusal to be clever: "Stakes of grotesque heads / With cut dicks in mouths / The holy church." They feel crude and spontaneous, like the invective that runs through your head before you put a face on it to keep the peace.
Other bands also toe this protoplasmic, Possessed and Scream Bloody Gore-influenced line. But, along with Nunslaughter, Throneum are one of the style's more distinctive proponents. Deathcult Conspiracy is neither exceptional nor disappointing, and that's just fine.
Fredrik Nordström has one of metal's most glittering production discographies. Slaughter of the Soul, The Jester Race, The Gallery, Still Life, Wages of Sin, A Predator's Portrait — the list goes on and on. Basically, he is Fenriz' worst nightmare. He is also in a power metal band called Dream Evil. Until recently, I did not know this. I don't really follow modern power metal, except to make fun of it.
So I thought In the Night (Century Media, 2010), which comes out today, would be another "Power metal LOL"-fest. Just look at those promo photos! Look at the album cover! Even in an age of horrific Photoshop graphic design, it's bad. I am so not the target audience.
And yet I like this. It's not full-on cheese like Dragonforce or Freedom Call. Instead, it's mostly mid-paced, like Wolf — Nordström produced The Black Flame — but con un poco más queso. There's the obligatory Eurometal piano ballad. It's called...wait for it..."The Ballad."
We are made of metal Our hearts are made of steel Even if we're stained with blood You know we've kept that sex appeal
Edguy must be green with envy. But I won't lie. I've banged my head (and probably my IQ) to this record. I may have thrown a goat. If you like Judas Priest's "Eat Me Alive" — the greatest gay metal anthem of all time — you'll like this. Just don't forget: no glove, no love.
Suddenly Powermad are back in the spotlight. In Decibel #64 (American Carnage tour cover, buy here), Adem Tepedelen profiles guitarist Todd Haug, now the brewmaster at Surly Brewing (motto: "Beer for a glass, from a can.") Tepedelen's beer-and-metal blog Brewtal Truth has these outtakes from the interview.
If this means that every '80s thrash band is reuniting, I am all for it.
This is a good time to revisit Powermad's appearance in David Lynch's Wild at Heart. Actually, it's not revisiting for me because I have sadly never seen the film. Judging from the above incredible scene — if Powermad truly attract a primarily female audience, I cannot wait for them to tour — I need to rectify that posthaste.
They say that every person has a price. That is, every person has some monetary threshold at which one can be induced to do things one normally wouldn't do.
Let's tweak that to apply to downloading.
First, let's assume that the default behavior by a metal fan in 2010 is to download music for free.
The "I buy CD's" and "I buy vinyl" folks might protest. They are valued and integral members of the metal community. They are also in the minority. Or if they aren't, they will be soon. The vinyl folks are certainly in the minority. Vinyl is expensive, so it will forever remain a niche market. CD's are on their way out, and downloads (paid or not) are trending up. This is undisputed.
It might seem cynical to assume that metal fans would download music for free. Metal carries notions of "supporting the band" and "supporting the scene." But in the face of illegal downloading, these notions become ones of honor. Honor is not a business model. The rational metal consumer (ignoring the theoretical flaws of the "rational consumer" construct) will download music for free. The cost is zero both in terms of money and chance of getting caught. You're almost a dummy if you don't download illegally.
However, as I've pointed out before, illegal downloading has other costs. The biggest one is of time. To download illegally, one must find a suitable Internet back alley. For obscure releases or those where the record label has clamped down on illegal downloads, the search time can be great. And, as everyone knows, time is money.
Metalhit.com sells MP3 albums for $5.25 each. Would you buy them at that price?
So you're at a website that sell MP3 albums. Your natural inclination is to click away from the site to search for a free download. At what price point do you stay on the site, buy the album, and avoid the hassle of seeking the free download?
For one commenter on the Amie Street post last week, $2 was still potentially too high.
Some people are hellbent on getting music for free. They will expend great amounts of time and energy to avoid paying for music. For them, no price is low enough.
I would wager, though, that most people would pay for convenience. I have better things to do than to trawl the Internet looking for illegal free music. My price is $2. If an MP3 album is $2 or below, and I'm thinking of getting it, I will pull the trigger 99% of the time. Between $2 and $3, I will think for a bit, but still pull the trigger over half the time. Anything above that is more iffy.
Artwork by Ed Repka, logo by Tom G. Warrior Review by Cosmo Lee
It amazes me that Hirax aren't more well-known in their home country. Instead, they seem to be most popular in South America. The Spanish title of their newest album, El Rostro de la Muerte (Black Devil, 2009) is perhaps a nod to that. Endless lineup changes haven't benefited the band, and even its current incarnation has only two constants, vocalist Katon De Pena and guitarist Glenn Rogers.
But that's been plenty adequate. 2004's The New Age of Terror is my favorite post-'80s thrash album, 2007's Assassins of War EP was solid (review here), and 2008's Thrash and Destroy DVD, recorded at the Keep It True festival, is one of the best live sets I've ever seen.
El Rostro continues this hot streak. It's straight-up, balls-out thrash about war, death, and other metal standbys. ("Blind Faith," however, has curiously sunny lyrics about religious open-mindedness.) Hirax won't win points for innovation, and some fault them for lack of catchiness. De Pena's air raid siren vocals are more than memorable for me, though, and I don't expect the band to do anything other than thrash. In this respect, they have few peers. If you're up front at a metal show, banging your head off, songwriting isn't your first concern. You want your ass kicked. Hirax do that with aplomb.
Evergreen Terrace drummer Kyle Mims was seriously injured in a biking accident. The resulting broken bones will prevent him from playing drums, his livelihood, unless he gets surgery. Kyle's family has set up a donation page to help defray the considerable medical expenses. Click on the logo to help out.
is my favorite post-'80s thrash album, 2007's 
EP was solid (review 
