Vargr - Northern Black Supremacy

by Cosmo Lee

One of Buddhism's most famous koans is "If you meet the Buddha, kill him." It seems counterintuitive, but it makes sense in Buddhism, which posits that the Buddha nature is inside all of us. In Buddhism, the way to enlightenment is to eliminate all desire. (Of course, this raises the paradox of the desire to eliminate desire as an impediment to enlightenment. Many texts already discuss Buddhism's paradox of desire, so I'll let that issue lie as not fatal to this discussion.) The Buddha in the road would be an external, and thus false, embodiment of the Buddha nature. In other words, we should not desire to find internal truth in external manifestations of it.

Mord
Bring Forth the Ways of Old

That nothing external should be one's master is a powerful assertion. (Again, never mind the logical contradiction that a command to disregard authority acts like one itself.) It negates patriotism, religion, hierarchy, and the like. It also squares with certain notions of individualism offered under the guise of Satanism (which would properly then not be called Satanism, a term under the Judeo-Christian framework). And, more pertinently, it applies to metal.

Vargr is the black metal project of Henrik "Lord Nordvargr" Björkk, of legendary death industrial (or black industrial or industrial noise or whatever you want to call it) outfit Mz.412, whose Burning the Temple of God used a certain photo of a burning church as its cover two years before Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind's book Lords of Chaos did. The project's catchphrase is "True Black Nekronoise Metal," which is ludicrous, as a misspelled, made-up name with so many adjectives can hardly be "true" to anything. Indeed, the artwork invokes so many black metal/Satanic cliches - 666, upside-down crosses, pentagram, Baphomet head - that it seems like a put-on.

Yet Northern Black Supremacy (20 Buck Spin, 2007) is "true black metal" precisely by not being "true black metal." If "true black metal," whatever that is, is transgressive and individualistic, then hewing to finite notions of it betrays its very essence. Here, Lord Nordvargr goes through black metal motions - minor chords, howling rasps, lo-fi production. But he can't keep his true self/selves contained. Jet engine noise pours out of his Mz.412 side; more subdued dark ambience spills from his Nordvargr guise (see last year's fine The Betrayal of Light on tUMULt). Vocal snippets float throughout like a shortwave radio scanning a killer's psyche. "Bring Forth the Ways of Old" isn't "black metal" in the conventional sense; it's a noise workout. But the way its flames sear the edges of the frequency spectrum feels exactly like black metal's best.

Buy:
The End
20 Buck Spin

Grand Magus - Iron Will

by Cosmo Lee

Some records are so metal that one has no choice but to genuflect before them. Iron Will (Rise Above, 2008) is one such record. Janne Christoffersson is the vocalist for Spiritual Beggars, the retro rock project of Arch Enemy guitarist Michael Amott. In Grand Magus, Christoffersson sings and slings a mean axe himself. In fact, he's got some of the best riffs in the biz. Lumbering doom, Viking pageantry, traditional metal - the guy can do it all. Iron Will could have come out 20 years ago, and it would still hold up today. This kind of metal doesn't go out of style, especially with songs this strong. Try not to bang your head to "Iron Will" - it's impossible. When Christoffersson booms, LIKE THE OAR STRIKES THE WATER, damned if I don't want to head for the nearest longboat pronto. One can practically smell the leather tanning. Beowulf metal doesn't get much better than this.

Like the Oar Strikes the Water
Iron Will

Buy:
Rise Above (CD)
Rise Above (vinyl)

Machinery - The Passing

by Cosmo Lee

I've lost much interest in Swedish melodic death metal, because of both changing tastes and stagnation/oversaturation of the music. While good melodeath records still come out (Dark Tranquillity are still thriving, while Omnium Gatherum and Mors Principium Est are enjoyable new blood), the style increasingly seems limited and conservative to me. I suppose that "style" and "limitations" are flip sides of the same coin.

I Divine
Decide My Pain

Stockholm's Machinery don't break new ground in the style. But they bring a sense of drama and ambition I haven't felt from melodeath in a while. I'm surprised how much I like The Passing (Regain, 2008), since it has so many elements I don't like: melodeath riffs, melodic singing, keyboards. The riffs are sturdy enough, however, and the leads are ripping. Both benefit from Jonas Kjellgren's (Scar Symmetry) punchy production, which preserves clarity in picking even at high speeds. The singing utilizes both growling and singing, but the latter is more of a grand Viking style instead of simple good cop/bad cop mechanics; some of the vocal patterns and melodies also recall Nevemore. As for keyboards, they tastefully act as textural color rather than a sonic crutch.

Most importantly, Machinery write actual songs. These jams stick in the head. "I Divine" is a memorable indictment of Christianity: "Why does he keep on fighting / Why does he believe in god/ I can't believe his crying / Crying for the love of god." "Decide My Pain" deploys a similarly catchy chorus. This record's got hooks, it's got scope, and on its first spin, it made me sit down and hear it straight through. I can't remember the last time a record did that!

Buy:
Regain
Relapse

Grave - Dominion VIII

Grave present what I'll call "the AC/DC problem": what does one do with bands whose records essentially all sound the same? Will just one suffice? Or can one derive more benefit from consuming more of the same? Now, I am probably being unfair to AC/DC. I personally don't think that their albums are identical. Their stand-out tunes certainly stand out, though their filler tunes sure are filler.

Fallen (Angel Son)
Dark Signs

Likewise, Grave albums aren't really all alike. Some are slower, some are faster, some sound better than others. Yet they all reduce to the same thing: old-school Swedish death metal. That Sunlight Studios sound. Those basic but nasty riffs. Not much technicality. Lots of good old-fashioned urrrgh. Dominion VIII (Regain, 2008) - the band's eighth studio full-length (natch) - is indeed more of the same. The grooves are still headbangable. The riffs are still catchy. Ola Lindgren still sounds like he could use a glass of water.

The only differences from before are that the production is surprisingly murky for 2008, and that the riffs are somehow not exactly the same as the hundreds that preceded them. Perhaps these minute variations are what keep fans coming back. I don't buy into the "if you like X's previous records/X's colleagues Y and Z/X's general genre, then you should buy this" argument. Chances are, X's previous records (and those of Y and Z) are better. In this case, You'll Never See... or Soulless are probably all the Grave you'll never need.

Still, I like this, and all the way through. Does this mean that someone could sell me the same plot of land multiple times? Or does it just mean that I'm a metal fan?

Buy:
Relapse
Dis-Order

Meshuggah - obZen

Few things amuse me like watching people try to mosh to Meshuggah. At a recent show here in SF, a crew of guys took off their shirts and pushed past people to get to the pit. (Did they plan beforehand to take off their shirts? Like girls wearing matching outfits?) At first, they tried to "fuck shit up." But they quickly grew confused at Meshuggah's poly-limbed math meters. Meatheads standing shirtless, trying in vain to count past four: priceless.

Bleed
Combustion

Yet Meshuggah provoke a profound bodily response. People sway, nod their heads, or simply close their eyes. It's trance music in the true sense. The key is Tomas Haake, whom only Vinnie Paul rivals in steely precision and groove. Meshuggah cut through the testosterone bullshit that "groove" in metal usually entails, and tap into something truly primal. Yes, they're cerebral - but towards physical ends. Their sonic vice grips probably light up the same areas of my brain that addiction does. Like how certain psychedelic experiences weren't possible before synthesized drugs, Meshuggah couldn't have existed 30 years ago. They're that rare band for whom today's antiseptic, hyper-compressed production is perfectly appropriate.

"Bleed" is the metal song of the year so far. Its rapid-fire kicks and engine-like riffs recall Bad Company (the drum 'n' bass group, not the classic rock outfit). Whenever it starts up, my brain experiences something like a small orgasm. I also love the cyborg limp of a beat that Haake unleashes near the end. "Combustion" revisits Meshuggah's thrash beginnings, but with a muscular new chassis. This is exactly what thrash should be doing - moving forward, not engaging in the silly costume ball that's currently glutting the market.

Nuclear Blast sponsored a drumming competition for "Bleed." You can see the finalist videos here. They range from professional to extremely artsy. (One features a hand puppet; another, pots and pans.) Hearing people try to tackle Tomas Haake's foot work only highlights how insane the real thing is.

Tid - Bortom Inom

Swedes can bring the umlauts, too. Tid hail from Linköping (and Stockholm) and have a bassist named Björn, a guitarist named Söderberg, and songs titled "Synvända" and "Västanvind." I can't do much with the Swedish lyrics other than bask in the profusion of umlauts and cute little circles above the letter "a." (The one in Mikael Åkerfeldt's name is almost angelic.) And that artwork! It screams "'70s synth project." You had me at ELO.

Se

Tid don't bring progressive cheese, but psychedelic hardcore doom. That sounds like a bad MySpace description, but it's literally true. Bortom Inom is like a cross between Cave In's psychedelic pop period and their later return to heaviness. Spacy, gauzy tones alternate with huge, ball-dragging distortion, with midrange hardcore-ish screams. Tid evoke that Boston hardcore-gone-sludge vibe (Isis, Old Man Gloom, Zozobra), but more melodically; they're keen on bittersweet oscillations between major and minor thirds.

I don't understand why Tid aren't on Hydra Head yet with Technicolor all-over prints by Aaron Turner on white hoodies. This EP is godlike. "Se" is a towering edifice of "awesome." These four songs last almost half an hour, and almost make me want to start smoking weed. Best of all, this EP is free to download - in both MP3 and WAV versions, complete with artwork! Tid couldn't have packaged this gift more nicely. Do them and your ears a favor, and grab this EP here.

Avsky - Malignant

The intro to "Fuck Your Values, Fuck Your Beliefs" is a direct throwback to Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath," heavy metal's big bang moment. Church bells toll over stark tritones, as iron boots trudge underneath. Eventually, the mid-paced slog of mid-period Darkthrone settles in. Most of Malignant (Moribund, 2008) is mid-paced, a refreshing change from black metal's usual blur. Avsky (Swedish for "disgust") understand that heavy requires slow, a principle that makes me prefer Darkthrone after their classic records. Blastbeats crop up occasionally, but otherwise this record is built for headbanging - see the huge, curmudgeonly hook that starts "The Filth." Yes, Malignant is derivative, down to its cover - see Ihsahn's The Adversary - but why mess with the template when one can perfect it? Darkthrone haven't sounded this caustic in years.

Fuck Your Values, Fuck Your Beliefs
The Filth

Malignant is available at Moribund, Relapse, and The End.

The Secret, Origin, Sourvein, In Flames

The Secret

I was watching UFC a few nights ago, and it occurred to me that brutal music is like mixed martial arts. One has to vary one's attack. When bands do blastbeats for entire songs, that's like going into a fight doing only high kicks. You look for any opening, then shoot in and take advantage of it. Sometimes you triangle choke, sometimes you armbar, sometimes you go for the good old-fashioned KO.

The Secret - Funeral Monolith
Origin - The Aftermath
Sourvein - Septic Werewolves

Italy's The Secret, whom I've reviewed at Pitchfork, understand this. Using fists, feet, elbows, and knees, "Funeral Monolith" reduces three and a half minutes to a bloody pulp; the breakdown at 2:29 is ground-and-pound in slow motion.

Origin, on whom I did a Decibel feature, are starting to learn this. Previously, they were guilty of blasting themselves into submission. On Antithesis, which I've reviewed here, they insert more space and melody, and launch themselves into my year-end Top 20 list. The CD's artwork, by Orion Landau, is amazing. It's a combination of Aliens, Star Wars, and Motörhead's Snaggletooth mascot. When I opened it up, I actually exclaimed, "Wow, that's cool!"

At Decibel, I've also reviewed the new live disc by Nasum, and a short but nasty EP by Sourvein. Try not to commit acts of domestic violence upon hearing "Septic Werewolves." At Pitchfork, I've reviewed the new In Flames; at Metal Injection, I've reviewed retro thrashers Warbringer. Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. What is up with Celtic Frost???

Skitsystem - Stigmata

At a Disfear show some years ago, I saw Tomas Lindberg sitting by himself at the merch table. He seemed forlorn, and surprisingly un-iconic. I don't recall if he had dreadlocks then, but for sure he didn't look metal. He looked crust-y, fitting for much of his post-At the Gates work. While history will remember him for metal (i.e., Slaughter of the Soul), he seemed more at home as a crust punk.

Blodskam
Stigmata

As metal/punk voices go, Lindberg's is like home. (Perhaps only Lemmy's growl and Rob Halford's falsetto elicit more affection.) In Skitsystem, he (correction: guitarist Fredrik Wallenberg and bassist Alex Höglind) sounds like a house burning down, in a good way. Skitsystem is the darkest and nastiest, and thus my favorite, of Lindberg's post-ATG projects (correction: although he wasn't on this record; see comments). It's d-beat, natch, but with death metal heft; push those thrash beats any harder (imagine horses mercilessly whipped), and they'd tip forward into blastbeats. They don't, though, so they're pure tension, blood vessels about to burst. "Blodskam" has black metal atmosphere (dig those "Seasons in the Abyss" chords in the middle); "Stigmata" is like a hail of police batons.

I'm pissed that the band recently broke up, and I'm usually not pissed about these things. (In fact, I wish bands broke up more often.) Every time I hear Stigamata (Iron Fist, 2006), it speaks truth to me, even though it's mostly in Swedish. It's one of those "come home from work, put your hand through a wall" records.

Skitsystem described one of their own 10"s as "so fierce it made ears bleed, the heart to d-beat, and knees to wiggle." Amid blood letting, boss punching, and boner popping, knee wiggling was the least of it.

Stigmata is available for free download at Skitsystem's website. You can also buy it physically at The End.

Disfear - Live the Storm

Sweden's Disfear have made significant upgrades over the years. The first was switching from their well-meaning but ultra-lame original name, Anti-Bofors. (You can download some Anti-Bofors here.) The second was signing At the Gates frontman Tomas Lindberg as a free agent, making Disfear the 387th band he's been in. The last was adding ex-Entombed guitarist Uffe Cederlund, who has the coolest first name in metal. Now Disfear are like the 2004 Lakers of d-beat, minus the choking in the finals.

Get It Off
Deadweight

Disfear's innovation is transcending the d-beat sound to write actual songs. The addition of Cederlund has yielded much more melody and two-guitar interaction, in contrast to the monolithic riffing of before. Kurt Ballou's recording brings this out; ironically, it's a bit cleaner than Mieszko Talarczyk's (RIP) grimefest on 2003's Misanthropic Generation. It's still dirty, though, and the hyper-compressed mastering actually helps flatten the layers into a singular warhead. In other words, this record is loud as hell. Normally, I'd complain, but the songs are so catchy that I don't mind. And it's not like this is the most dynamic material. This is d-beat; it's supposed to kick ass. Disfear are just more sophisticated than most at it.

Live the Storm is available physically at Relapse and The End, and digitally at Amazon.

Black Cobra, Corpus Christii, Vader, and more

Up at Decibel, I have reviews of Blotted Science (new project of Ron Jarzombek), Devian (new project of Legion, ex-Marduk), and Rigor Sardonicous (slower-than-slow dooooom), as well as a feature on Portuguese black metallers Corpus Christii, whose recent record Rising is sick-sick-sick. The print version (#41, At the Gates cover) also has my live review of Neurosis/Earth/Saviours on NYE.

Black Cobra - Red Tide
Corpus Christii - Stabbed

At Metal Injection, I have reviews of The Great Deceiver (Tomas Lindberg's almost-nu-metal project), Polish behemoths Vader, mighty SF duo Black Cobra, Hot Topic pinups Bullet for My Valentine, and Strapping Young Lad clone The Arcane Order.

The latter's album is noteworthy, as it is a digital-only release in the US - from Metal Blade. CD's are available in Europe, but not in America. Metal Blade must have done a cost-benefit analysis and decided that CD's generally weren't worth manufacturing. Instead, the label has outsourced distribution to iTunes, Napster, et al., not even selling MP3's on its own site (yet). Metal Blade is the first major metal label I've seen do this - but I'm sure it won't be the only one.

RIP Stylus

Behold...The Arctopus

As you may have heard, Stylus Magazine closes its doors today. However, the site's pages will stay up. My final review for Stylus is of Soilwork's new album (I also have a review of Jesu's Lifeline EP and a dual review of Behold...The Arctopus and Byla & Jarboe). This brings me full circle: my first review for Stylus two and a half years ago was of Soilwork's previous record. Since then, my Stylus portfolio has 116 full-length reviews, 19 features and interviews, and 8 Left Hand Path columns. In total, I've reviewed 226 albums for Stylus.

Aetherius Obscuritas - Víziók
Behold...The Arctopus - Canada
Byla & Jarboe - 10:58 (excerpt)

I never thought I'd do half as many. Writing on metal for an indie rock audience has been an uphill battle. I'm proud of some of my work, embarrassed by lots more, and glad for the chance to sharpen my chops. My fellow Left Hand Path writers Stewart Voegtlin and Todd DePalma are working on a new site, so keep your eyes peeled. Looking back at the old Left Hand Path columns is quite a trip.

Up at Metal Injection, I have reviews of Hungarian one-man black metal band Aetherius Obscuritas, deathcore outfit Whitechapel (my review is drawing an amusing amount of ire), and Paths of Possession, the other band of Cannibal Corpse's George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher.

I don't do this enough - big up the work of other writers. Phil Freeman (The Wire, Village Voice, etc.) has a humorous piece on Marduk for The High Hat. Julie Graf has done a nice interview with The Dillinger Escape Plan for Stylus. The tireless Adrien Begrand has two mammoth pieces for PopMatters, on Ulver and former Gathering singer Anneke van Giersbergen, and on The Heavy Metal Box by Rhino. If anyone has the knowledge and stamina to tackle a 4-disc set that purports to cover heavy metal's history, it's Begrand.

Aeon, Akimbo, Dethklok, Prong, and more

Aeon

For some reason, I've been in a death metal mood recently. Maybe it's because I've been hitting the gym (TESTOSTERONE! BR00TAL!). Or maybe it's because it's warm here in SF, which enjoys its summer in autumn. It's hard to be grim and cold when the sun's out.

Prong - The Banishment
Dethklok - Hatredcopter
Aeon - You Pray to Nothing
Sickening Horror - An Eerie Aspect of Us...Drowning

Up at Metal Injection, I have reviews of Greek death metallers Sickening Horror and Swedish death metallers Aeon. At Stylus, I have reviews of Christian death/grinders Impending Doom, the incomparable Dethklok, and Prong, whose new album is their strongest since Cleansing. I also have a look back at my favorite Metallica recording, The $5.98 EP: Garage Days Re-Revisited. At Decibel, I have reviews of The Jesus Lizard's live DVD, as well as very drunk band Akimbo and a split by Dysrhythmia/Rothko.

The Red Chord, Darkest Hour, Halford, etc.

The Red Chord

I'm moving from Berlin to San Francisco at the end of this month. This, combined with excessive travel (five trans-Atlantic crossings in six weeks, with five destination airports and way too much sleeping while sitting), has severely hampered my recent productivity.

The Red Chord - Tread on the Necks of Kings
Halford - Made in Hell
Year of No Light - Traversée

However, I've published a bit since my last update - dual reviews of Azalea City Penis Club/Robin Allender and Caina/Godheadscope at Stylus, as well as a review of Immolation and an interview with Year of No Light. At Metal Injection, I've reviewed The Red Chord, Darkest Hour, Halford, Mortuus, and Ion Dissonance, as well as a DVD of the Metalmania 2006 festival and a fine book by Keith Kahn-Harris.

Marduk - Plague Angel

Once, I took the night train from Zagreb to Llubljana. Thankfully, my sleeper car wasn't the "three seats facing three seats" kind that forces one to sleep while sitting too close to other annoyed, dehydrated strangers. Instead, its rooms had six bunks each, stacks of three with a space in between. The bunks were about one meter high, so one had to lie down. But it beat sleeping sitting up.

Throne of Rats
Steel Inferno

My room had three other inhabitants. Each was fat, middle-aged, and Balkan. They didn't speak Croatian - Slovenian, perhaps? At least two were friends. They drank beer, then disrobed to various degrees for bedtime, revealing round, practically pregnant bellies.

Falling asleep was a nightmare. The men snored in alto, tenor, basso, like a beached whale symphony. The man nearest me was the basso. I knew this because my noise-cancelling headphones cut out some of his jet-engine frequencies. Still, the noise was too much.

It was time for my secret weapon - Plague Angel (Blooddawn, 2004). Normally, I don't listen to this album. It's from Marduk's mediocre latter period, in which all they do is blast, blast, blast. The album is mastered way too loudly, so it's basically a wall of noise. But that makes it perfect for times like this. I dialed up "Steel Inferno," tucked myself in, and blissfully blasted the night away.

Neurosis, Watain, Pig Destroyer, and more

Neurosis, upstairs @ GAMH, SF Photo by Brendan Tobin

It's been a while since my last reviews update. There's so much good stuff now, it's almost overwhelming! At Stylus, I've reviewed Cephalic Carnage, Neurosis, Pelican, and Pig Destroyer. At Metal Injection, I've reviewed Akercocke, Toxic Bonkers, N.I.L., Deadlock, Merciless Death, Thought Chamber, and Watain.

Neurosis - Water Is Not Enough
Watain - Sworn to the Dark
Akercocke - The Dark Inside
Pig Destroyer - Heathen Temple
Cephalic Carnage - Divination & Volition

The Neurosis album will make my year-end top three. Watain might get up there, too. Akercocke would have stood a chance if not for the horrible hack mastering job. Check out "The Dark Inside" for the drum 'n' bass part that drops into the song - random but cool.

Seance - Fornever Laid to Rest

I wonder when Dan Seagrave will start swatting away the metal writers that keep interviewing him about his work from over 10 years ago. Luckily, he patiently and good-naturedly answered my questions about his death metal years. Seagrave's newer covers are just as epic as his old stuff, if not more so, and he recently finished a short film called Shadowline. His interview and artwork are now up in my metal artists feature this week at Stylus.

Reincarnage
Necronomicon

For maximum Seagrave-ness, I thought I'd revisit Fornever Laid to Rest (Black Mark, 1992), the debut album by Sweden's Seance. The cover is hardly Seagrave's best work, but it's unmistakably his style, and the album is one of the lesser-known gems in his "discography."

Seance graduated three members to Satanic Slaughter and then to Witchery, with Patrik Jensen also joining The Haunted. However, the band itself was a force, releasing two albums of raging, old-school Swedish death metal. Fornever's raw, natural production captured ripping performances and righteous riffs; the album is a joy to hear, with none of today's overcompressed bullshit.

Amusingly, the band's original GeoCities website is still up, with awesome text like "With this album SEANCE did penatrate [sic] their fans ears to the limit," and "Seance are still looking for a bassplayer, if you are a bassist over 22, have your own equvipment [sic] and are into the metal of death, send them a mail for more info."

Akercocke on BBC TV, black metal "Pimp My Ride"

Akercocke

Two recent and bizarre bits of black metal in the popular media (clips below) - the first is Akercocke on Irish BBC TV, in a somewhat hyped "debate" with Christian types. The band isn't that articulate (hitting the bottle on live TV hardly advances one's cause), but then again, the whole show is a disorganized, Jerry Springer-esque mess. I thought these kinds of censorship flaps were relics of '80s America? By the principle of "any publicity is good publicity" (Earache uploaded this), Akercocke wins by simply showing up.

The second is the now-popular clip of Christian black metallers Admonish on MTV's "Pimp My Ride International." Not much metal about this, really, though there is an absurd amount of goat-throwing and Lil' Jon puts the "black" in black metal. Bonus points for brief snippets of Slayer and Method Man. But why does this Swedish band have a Norwegian flag in its rehearsal room? Was the suicide door an ironic black metal joke? And now that that speakers take up the back seat, how will the rest of the band get to gigs?

Akercocke on Irish BBC TV



Admonish on MTV's "Pimp My Ride"

Silencer - Death - Pierce Me

Given my recent review of Diagnose: Lebensgefahr, I thought I'd revisit Nattramn's previous project, the legendary Silencer. This Swedish band only had one album, Death - Pierce Me (Lupus Lounge, 2001; reissued by Autopsy Kitchen, 2006), but it's a touchstone of depressive black metal.

Death - Pierce Me

In addition to the music's general high quality, the production is surprisingly beefy. It's hardly polished, but the low end has girth and definition that's usually lacking in this kind of stuff. The result feels strangely strong; it's not all "kill me, kill me, kill me."

There's lots of that, of course, but there are also troublingly straight-up NS lyrics: "Crush the Shield of the Hexagon / Condemn the Sons of the Law," and "The Consumption Of Six Million Stars / Cyclonic Winds In Septic Wars / Shed Are The Blood Of Jewmans / Slay The Lion Of Juda / Revive The Night Of Crystals!"

I struggle with the issue of great music by people whose ideologies I find repulsive. Superb though this album is, knowing its lyrics, I would not pay money for it. And I'm surprised that Autopsy Kitchen carries this, since Jeffrey seems like he'd be anti-racist/NS. If you disagree with this interpretation, or if your political/moral compass orients differently, it's available at the label's webstore.

Antigama, Throne of Katarsis, Get Thrashed, and more

Antigama

A bunch of new writing up - at Metal Injection, I've got reviews of Polish grinders Antigama, Norwegian black metal band Throne of Katarsis, and Los Angeles prog metallers Redemption, as well as interviews with Spanish band NahemaH and shredder Laura Christine from San Diego death metallers Warface.

Antigama - Neutral Balance
Naglfar - The Darkest Road
Stalaggh - Projekt Misanthropia (excerpt)

At Stylus, I've reviewed Rick Ernst's excellent documentary film, Get Thrashed: The History of Thrash Metal. I also have dual reviews of black metallers Naglfar/Nagelfar and the literally insane Diagnose: Lebensgefahr/Stalaggh. Stalaggh is hands down the scariest sound I've ever heard. Coil's Hellraiser themes, the original Omen soundtrack, Prussian Blue - all pale in comparison.

Eyehategod, Left Hand Path #007, Dark Tranquillity, and more

This recent quote from Frank Urbancic, coordinator of counterterrorism for the US State Department, got me thinking.

"This is not the kind of war where you can measure success with conventional numbers. We cannot aspire to a single decisive battle that will break the enemy's back, nor can we hope for a signed peace accord to mark victory."

It reminded me of Orwell's 1984, in which the world is perpetually at war. Here is an excerpt from the outlawed book within the book by Emmanuel Goldstein, the manufactured enemy of Big Brother.

"War, however, is no longer the desperate, annihilating struggle that it was in the early decades of the twentieth centary. It is a warfare of limited aims between combatants who are unable to destroy one another, have no material cause for fighting and are not divided by any genuine ideological difference... To understand the nature of the present war -- for in spite of the regrouping which occurs every few years, it is always the same war -- one must realize in the first place that it is impossible for it to be decisive."

That, in turn, reminded me of Eyehategod's "Peace Thru War (Thru Peace and War)," of which Lair of the Minotaur does a blistering cover on the For the Sick compilation, which I've reviewed for Stylus.


Lair of the Minotaur - Peace Thru War (Thru Peace and War)
The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound - Occult Roots
Dark Tranquillity - The Lesser Faith


#007 of Stylus' Left Hand Path is up, featuring reviews of Akimbo, The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound, The Funeral Pyre, Gospel of the Horns, Mortuus, Necros Christos, Tyrant Throne, and Watain, among others. In the column, Stew Voegtlin interviews Israel-based black metal band Tangorodrim.

At Metal Injection, I've reviewed Chaotica by Behemoth, as well as new albums by Dark Tranquillity and Extinction of Mankind.

Nachtmystium has signed to Century Media?!

Sound of the Beast author Ian Christe has a new blog called Bang! Bang!. He's posting old demo tapes, and those of you who read his old Demo-Lition blog will remember how awesome that was.

Man, Polish metal week nearly polished me off. Remind me not to review 14 albums in a week (plus two more and a DVD for other sites) ever again. But I learned about a ton of cool Polish bands, including some I didn't write about. I hope you found some you liked, too.

Maitreya - New World Prophecy

Grief
Leave This Place

Self-Released
2005


Maitreya is the Buddha of the future, a savior figure who will return to Earth to do good things, unite people, and so on. Quite a lofty name for a band. Whether this Swedish outfit will save metal remains to be seen, but its debut certainly shows promise.

Opeth comes to mind - death metal with melodic, proggy passages. Maitreya isn't as heavy, though and its light parts are lighter. The clean vocals are pleasing, as are the subtle keys and acoustic guitars. Songs range from three to 10 minutes in length. The longer ones are quite mature, with gently rolling grooves. True to the band's name, the lyrics describe an apocalyptic future, with the possibility of rebirth. The production is clean and crisp. For having been written when the band was a two-piece, the album shows great vision.

"Why isn't this band signed yet?" also comes to mind. Has it really been shopping this record for two years? Maybe #1 contributes to #2, but Opeth is hardly a bad band to emulate. It's certainly a better touchstone than the cookie-cutter metalcore that labels are still signing. This band writes lovely songs; give it time, and it may serve up some Deliverance. You can order this CD directly from the band.

Digression Assassins - Next Step Can Only Be Supposed

Chaotic metalcore is getting very, very crowded nowadays. I generally like the style, but it takes increasingly more for such a band to impress me. Thus, I'm pleased to present Digression Assassins, who hail from Stockholm, Sweden. They fill me with unadulterated pleasure, and not just because their name contracts to "dig ass."

Bully the Weak
Existence Is So Latent
New Stars
Next Step Can Only Be Supposed

The band is aptly named, with songs that feel like high-speed pile-ons. Post-Botch, tons of American bands do the chaotic thing. For some reason, though, European practitioners of the style seem crazier. That is, American bands focus more on technique and heaviness, while Europeans are just plain gonzo. Americans play in community centers, while Europeans play in squats, which are ten times gnarlier - maybe that has something to do with it.

I don't know what the budget or production circumstances were, but this demo sounds phenomenal. The drums sound natural, the bass is audible, the guitars have the right amount of grit and twang, and the vocals fit perfectly on top. This is one of the best recordings I've heard this year, and it's self-released!

The performances have an unhinged quality that leaps out of the speakers. Of course, the band isn't really unhinged; disjointed material like this requires tightness. In "New Stars," the band demonstrates this by slowing down and speeding up as a group, yet keeping its raw energy. The title track, too, goes through delightfully dadaist pauses and accents that feel like elbows to the face.

Someone sign this band! You can find out more about Digression Assassins via their MySpace or by emailing them directly.

ChthoniC, Laethora, The Handshake Murders reviews

Su-Nung, ChthoniC erhu player

New reviews up - Taiwanese symphonic black metallers ChthoniC; Laethora, featuring Niklas Sundin from Dark Tranquillity; and Arkansas' answer to Meshuggah, The Handshake Murders.

ChthoniC - The Gods Weep
Laethora - Black Void Remembrance

xDeathstarx, Impious, Sauron reviews

Up at Metal Injection are reviews of Christian hardcore punkers xDeathstarx, not-so-Christian Swedish death metallers Impious, and Dutch black metal band Sauron.

Nahemah, Flesh reviews

My review of Nahemah's new album is up at Stylus. After many listens, I realized that Nahemah was like a lusher, less repressed Isis.

Up at Metal Injection is my review of old-school (and excellent) Swedish death metal act Flesh.

Nahemah - Phoenix
Flesh - Baptised on the Demon's Throne

Ethereal - Demo '07

Open Wound Salvation
What Is Worst?
Driven by Hatred

Self-Released
2007

"Swedish" and "death metal" go together like "Swiss" and "chocolate." That's true for Ethereal, which sounds neither like its name nor the signature style of its Gothenburg area home. Instead, this band does straight-up death metal that balances simplicity and technicality.

What jumps out immediately is the band's tightness. The performances are surgical, with production on a par with professionally recorded albums. Atypically for metal, bass lines are warm and audible. The best song, "Open Wound Salvation," comes first - a good move for a demo. It's a catchy headbanger with a few technical runs for color. "What Is Worst?" does likewise, with a solid feel that recalls Kataklysm or Bolt Thrower. "Driven by Hatred" has chugging riffs that do that half-time Behemoth "Conquer All" thing, with precise machine gun bursts near the end.

No reinventing the wheel here - just well-done death metal with well-done artwork and a strong sense of purpose overall.

Year of Desolation, This Ending, Architect, The Network reviews

At Metal Injection, I've reviewed fine debuts by Indiana death/thrashers Year of Desolation and Swedish melodeath dealers This Ending. Over at Stylus, my dual review of Blackmarket Activities bands Architect and The Network is now up.

Crimson Falls, Meshuggah reviews

Two more reviews up - at Metal Injection, I've covered the new Crimson Falls, absolutely ripping Belgian metalcore that's pretty much death metal but for the occasional breakdown. At Stylus, I've reviewed the Meshuggah reissue of Nothing.

Arch Enemy - Wages of Sin

Some time ago on her MySpace blog, Angela Gossow wrote, "I personally believe the last two Arch Enemy albums were too harmless. We got to get the grit, bite, speed and danger back into our music. Less controlled, more riffs, melodies, solos, different parts, breaks, sudden changes." I couldn't agree more.

What frustrated me about these albums was that they were too soft for Gossow's voice. Ever since she linked up with vocal coach Melissa Cross, she's become one of the most formidable vocalists in metal, regardless of gender. Live, hearing her slide from a death growl up to a high shriek in the same breath is amazing. The band has this flamethrower for a lead instrument - why does it clutter up its songs with pretty clean tones and prog sections?

My favorite Arch Enemy album is Gossow's first with the band, 2001's Wages of Sin (on Century Media). On this album, the band established its present sound, a hybrid of power and melodic death metal. While its ingredients are the same as those of its successors, this album has a more "classic" feel. The songs are more exploratory and don't feel so tied to verse-chorus structures as later efforts, which seem to me like endless quests for the perfect anthem. Sure, choruses make anthems, but any metalhead would pick riffs over choruses, and Wages has riffs in spades. Even though some songs wander into that accursed clean tone territory, none are the blatant filler found on later albums. "The First Deadly Sin" is Slayer-esque, especially in the modulations up during vocals, while "Web of Lies" is simply well-written and well-played. Dig those cool bass runs, which would have never happened on the hyper-controlled last two albums.

Arch Enemy - The First Deadly Sin
Arch Enemy - Web of Lies

There's also an amusingly low-budget video for "Ravenous," which has become one of the band's signature songs.



Be sure to pick up the two-disc version of this album, the second disc of which contains cool covers and tracks from the Johan Liiva era. You can find this at CM Distro or The End.

Writing Roundup - The Esoteric, Wolf, Into Eternity

My review of The Esoteric's Subverter is up at Stylus. Great album, great band, why aren't these guys huge???

Also, I've started writing for Metal Injection. I've been a fan of the site for a while. In its early days, it put out primitive, often hilarious shows composed of metal videos, tongue-in-cheek interviews, and some extremely silly skits. Now they've grown up and changed their format to on-demand streaming, with much of the same content, just broken up into more user-friendly bits. The site is more of an awesome time-suck than ever before, so I encourage you to browse around. This week for Metal Injection, I've reviewed the new Wolf and Into Eternity. Enjoy!

Dimhymn / Hypothermia - Sjuklig Intention

Sjuklig Intention (on Eerie Art) is a split from Swedish black metal bands Dimhymn and Hypothermia. Dimhymn does three tracks, while Hypothermia turns in two for a total of almost 41 minutes. Despite differing approaches, the overall vibe is gloriously dark and depressing.

Dimhymn is a duo that includes Ondskapt's Nattal on vocals, guitars, and bass. The band's three tracks here include two proper songs and a dark ambient piece. The songwriting is extremely disjointed. Riffs stop and start with varying tones and feels, with random bits of sound like classical piano and reverbed trumpet dropping in out of nowhere. These insertions are startling at first, but they're ultimately quite charming. Somehow the parts hang together, partly due to the quality of the punky, catchy riffs. The production is appropriately buzzing and lo-fi, but the dark ambient piece is menacing and expansive, betraying some degree of production skill.

Hypothermia is also a duo, with members having done time in Kyla, Durthang, and Nihilum. The band's two tracks here clock in at seven and 16 minutes, respectively. Each has slow, grim riffs hypnotically repeated over very basic drumming, with free-form vocals ranging from spoken word to anguished shrieks. The execution is primitive, down to the lack of pop filter on the microphone, but the riffs are melodic and actually quite moving.

Dimhymn - Drakoforism