Suicidal Tendencies - Self-Titled

by Cosmo Lee

Tomorrow's a big day for metal anniversaries. Overkill's Under the Influence and Slayer's South of Heaven both turn 20, and Suicidal Tendencies' self-titled debut turns 25. Now, Suicidal Tendencies isn't a metal record. Other than a few metal-ish leads, it's hardcore punk. It's also Suicidal Tendencies at their most vicious - and fun. They weren't weighed down yet by a subconscious, radio concerns, or experimentation with metal and funk; they were just snotty punks going for it. The video for "Institutionalized," where Mike Muir looks like he's 15, is one of the great treasures of the '80s. (That's Slayer's Tom Araya pushing Muir at 0:35.) Between it, Black Flag, Repo Man, and Dogtown and Z-Boys, I have this warped image of '80s SoCal as a beachfront heaven of punk shows filled with dudes in plaid and skaters doing that old-school, horizontal, hand-on-the-ground style. Happy 25th to one of the most awesomely juvenile albums ever.

Institutionalized
I Saw Your Mommy

Pharaoh - Be Gone

by Cosmo Lee

Pharaoh's new record Be Gone is streaming in full on label Cruz Del Sur's MySpace until July 5. I soaked up the whole thing in one sitting. It deserves the accolades it's getting. I'm not normally a fan of power metal, but this record goes down smoothly - guitars, drums, the vocals of Tim Aymar (who sang for Chuck Schuldiner's Control Denied). A t-shirt scan above reveals Aymar saluting Death (natch), drummer Chris Black plugging his rock 'n' roll band Superchrist, and guitarist Matt Johnsen unexpectedly supporting Danish indie prog act Mew. Mew are a must-hear, with an awesomely helium-voiced singer in the '70s AOR tradition (Supertramp, Kansas, etc.). Johnsen's bio states that his heavy metal mantra is "Don't just listen to metal, but don't stop listening to metal!" Amen.

Buy:
Relapse
The End

Project: Failing Flesh - The Conjoined

by Cosmo Lee

Project: Failing Flesh's main selling point is probably vocalist Eric Forrest, formerly of Voivod. His time in Voivod is highly underrated; the band lost the nuance it had with original vocalist Snake, but it became heavy as hell. After Voivod, Forrest formed his own cyber-thrash outfit, E-Force. He also linked up with brothers Tim and Kevin Gutierrez, of Vienna, VA, to form Project: Failing Flesh. More accurately, the brothers emailed Forrest out of the blue, and he agreed to contribute vocals after hearing their material.

Through the Broken Lens
Regenerate

Forrest's yells and occasional singing are sturdy enough, but the brothers Gutierrez are the real stars of The Conjoined (Burning Star, 2007). They wrote all the music and played all the instruments, except for some keyboards, trumpets, and cello. The record is some of the freshest metal I've heard in ages. Meshuggah, Voivod, Godflesh, black metal, industrial electronics, and general weirdness intertwine seamlessly; a lot of neurons are firing here. One never knows what's around the corner, but it's usually a pleasant surprise. Such unpredictability reminds me of Mike Patton, but none of his projects have been this heavy or substantial.

I recently had a discussion with live4metal.com's Dave Schalek about the state of metal today, and we generally agreed that the major subgenres of metal (death, black, thrash, etc.) have run their course creatively. Metal hasn't had any major paradigm shifts since black metal in the '90s; trends since then have been more faddish than innovative. The concept of "hybrid vigor" greatly appeals to me (interracial marriages, mixed-breed animals, etc.), and I believe the way forward with metal is hybridization à la Project: Failing Flesh.

Buy:
The End
Burning Star
Amazon (MP3)

Interview: Dave Adelson, 20 Buck Spin

by Jess Blumensheid

Dave Adelson is the man behind one of doom metal's most gracious labels, 20 Buck Spin. It was born in 2005 with SPIN001, the re-released Supereclipse by Black Boned Angel. From day one, Adelson's life became the label that began as a mixtape of his favorite bands. Adelson bonds comfortably with acts like The Obsessed, Grey Daturas, Coffins, and Graves At Sea, lowering the divide between business partners and close friends. What arose as a love for extreme music now flourishes as a small yet thriving label that continuously gives back to the metal community. With the label's advancing success and his recent purchase of the Olympia, WA record store Phantom City Records, Adelson has been able to pay the bills by doing what he does best: being a true metalhead. We talked with Adelson via email to cap off 20 Buck Spin week.

[Stream 20 Buck Spin's online mixtape]

What are your criteria when selecting bands for 20 Buck Spin?

The only real criteria there's ever been is music that's heavy and/or dark. It also has to be something that I want to listen to repeatedly. Lately there has been stuff I want to release that I don't feel is necessarily appropriate for 20 Buck Spin, and for that reason I'm "spinning" off another label soon. 20 Buck Spin will remain a diverse label that will always have its foundation in metal, even if some of the releases seem to deviate from that label to some extent. 20 Buck Spin is my personal mixtape for whoever cares to listen.

Explain the risks for those interested in starting their own record label.

Well, I suppose the risk you take is losing a lot of money and embarrassing yourself by supporting music that sucks. One kind of leads to the other. Figure out ahead of time what you really want to achieve. Are you doing it to help out friends? Then maybe making money isn't so important. I want to make enough money to keep putting out more records and pay the label's bills. If you can do that, you're running a successful label in my mind. My goal is just to put out good music in a quality looking package.

What is the Business 101 on making connections with bands like Coffins? What causes a band to spark the thought that they'd do justice for your label?

If you think a band is killer and want to do something with them, literally just ask them. That's how I hooked up with Coffins. My friend Mauz gave me their first album, I thought it ruled and I just emailed [Coffins frontman/guitarist] Uchino about maybe doing something and he was into it. I suppose depending on the band it may matter how "established" your label is and what bands you've worked with previously. I worship Darkthrone and Throbbing Gristle, but it's not likely either would consider doing a record on 20 Buck Spin if I asked them.

As for what makes bands think they got the goods to be on 20 Buck Spin, I'm sure they just look at the roster and previous releases, and based on that determine whether or not their band might be to my liking. Actually, sometimes I don't know if bands really pay attention to that, either. I need to put up some kind of disclaimer, I think. I get hit up by a lot of shitty solo projects that have a demo after three months of existence that they deem worthy of me releasing. Probably not gonna happen, lads. If a band thinks I might like them because they play in a similar style to The Endless Blockade, for example, then it follows that they should be as good or better then the Blockade are because I'm already working with them and I don't need two. I already got the best.

Logo by Arik Roper

What's the prized lesson you've learned by running 20 Buck Spin?

Maybe not something I've learned, but something I always believed that has been reaffirmed doing the label is that in the music biz the best way to have lasting relationships with bands, or anyone else involved for that matter, is to treat them honestly and treat them as friends. A band/label relationship needs to be looked at as an equal partnership in my mind, and I don't want to work with bands who don't understand that. The label is not "bigger" or more important than the band, and vice versa. We need each other to achieve the goals we're working towards.

Why is maintaining a small-label mentality so important for 20 Buck Spin?

I've thought a lot about whether I want the label to become some kind of bigger entity like the major metal labels, and I just don't know. I'm pretty happy with the way things are right now. It seems like with the bigger labels, only a very small fraction of the ten albums they release every month are any good. A lot of it is downright embarrassing. Maybe I'm just a snob, but smaller labels always seem to be doing a better job with more sincerity, more fairness to the bands, and finding cool new bands. Having a bunch of employees just seems like a hassle, too. I'm kind of a control freak about the label. The best labels around, like Tank Crimes, Nuclear War Now, Life Is Abuse, and Prank are all one- or two-man ops.

What monetary hurdles do you face with the label?

Man, in my personal life I'm just a working class dad livin' paycheck to paycheck, and the label pretty much works the same way, if that makes any sense. As soon as cash comes in, it goes back out for something else. If I can snag a few bucks to help pay the rent or my phone bill, it's been a good month. Also, if there ever is a surplus of dough, that just means I can release one more record this year than I thought I could (since I'm always committed to more than I can actually afford). In other words, just like life, it's a constant struggle. But I'd much rather live this way doin' something I love and scraping by than live comfortably by slaving away in a cubicle doing meaningless shit for The Man.

Black Boned Angel - Superclipse SPIN001

With Black Boned Angel's reissue Supereclipse in 2005, 20 Buck Spin rose up from the ground. What motivated you to give light to this release along with your own record label?

At that time, that album was kind of the embodiment of a lot of different shit I liked about music. It was utterly heavy but on the experimental side, for sure. I knew if I did a label I wanted to represent both facets, and Supereclipse, being only released as a really limited CD-R, was just asking for a wider release. So, like I said before about contacting people, I just emailed Campbell [Kneale, mastermind behind Black Boned Angel and Birchville Cat Motel] outta the blue, and he was into it. It helped that the bonus track he gave me was about 15 minutes long and the most crushing of the three.

I'd been working at Alternative Tentacles at that time for about six months and felt that a lot of connections I had made and knowledge I had gained through that job would help me get my own label off the ground, and it certainly did help in the early stages. But working for other labels has always had creative restrictions (after all, it's someone else's baby). So 20 Buck Spin was just my way of taking total control of a label in every way in exactly the way I wanted it to be done. No outside influence.

What are your goals for the label?

My goal has always just been to release records and bands I really like and would want to listen to a lot. And I do listen to all the shit I put out constantly. I am intimately familiar with every album I've released. I really just don't want to contribute to the glut of shit records being released all the time, and I hope that the label is not perceived that way. I'd be horrified if I was adding to the landfill of terrible garbage you generally see advertised in the magazines. Seems like people like the records I've been releasing, but it's hard to know how it's really perceived.

The other goal is just to make enough cash to keep putting out more records without losing my ass over it. I can't really afford to lose money in my life, so if the label ever gets that way, I'll just fold it. But at this point it's paying for itself, so in that regard, goal attained.

For their first US tour ever, Coffins were introduced to America via the Maryland Deathfest, with you as their tour guide. What compelled you to drive them all over the East Coast?

Well, luckily I didn't have to drive them all over. The first leg of the tour they were driven around by The Endless Blockade and their awesome driver Christina. So I gotta give credit where it's due. Andrew Nolan, Blockade bass player and lead academic, plotted the course of the tour and booked the shows (with the exception of Deathfest) and coordinated a lot of that. I met up with the band around Pittsburgh, and from there I was Coffins driver, guide, mouthpiece, and spiritual guru. I did facilitate connecting the two bands, as well as getting the Deathfest to bring 'em over. It was a lot of work to make it all happen, but it was more than worth it for me to see two of my favorite bands play together. And witnessing Coffins at Deathfest, the culmination of a lot of work for a lot of people, and seeing the crowd reaction (I was watching from the side of the stage) made it all worthwhile. Bringing a band all the way from Japan to play and the fact that it all went down OK was for me a definite highlight in the label history so far. I'm working on getting them back over to the West Coast, my homeland, in the spring of '09.

Coffins/The Endless Blockade Tour Poster 2008

How has your battle with cancer cultivated the label?

Cancer fucked up my life in ways I can't even begin to explain here. The year it was all going down was the first year of the label, 2005, and that was the main reason I only got two records out that year. My friend Mauz who does Life Is Abuse had to physically assemble and ship out all the Graves At Sea/Asunder LP's for me because I was pretty much bedridden when it came out. Most of 2006 I spent recovering and getting used to my altered way of life, and also there was a lot of other personal upheaval that year, so getting six records out was pretty miraculous. 2007 again was characterized by enough personal problems that I felt like it somewhat affected the label. I felt I could have done better. Now I've moved out of the Bay Area and left behind a lot of bad memories and feel a lot more at ease up here in Cascadia. In a sense, I feel that 2008 might be the first year of 20 Buck Spin operating at full capacity. So I'm hoping I can get through it without any more bullshit going down. If it wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't have no luck at all.

What was life like before you gave birth to 20 Buck Spin?

Life pre-20 Buck Spin was still a lot of involvement with music. I worked at Necropolis Records in the early part of the century, and in the late 20th century I did a 'zine called Short Wave Warfare. Before that, I did a metal radio show at my high school radio station in Concord, CA. So I've been involved with this shit in one way or another for a long time. For most of that time, since I was 20, I've also had a daughter who is really way more important to me than any of this other stuff.

What's your daughter's response to your involvement in the metal community as well as the music you listen to?

Thus far my daughter has little interest in metal - at 10 years old. I haven't pushed it on her 'cause I feel like when parents try too hard to get their kids into what they're into, the kids just reject it during their teen years. So she hears it, it's around, but she's never expected to like it or participate. Living in Olympia now, it's a good place for a girl to be into music. It's very female-friendly here. I think she'll really like the punk rock house shows that are such a big part of the Olympia music scene. I took her to a few shows at [924] Gilman Street when I was still living in the East Bay, and she enjoyed the social atmosphere of it. My daughter doesn't live in Oly yet, she's still in the Bay Area, but visits often and will probably move here in the near future. So, whatever she ends up being into is cool with me - kids need to be allowed to develop their own interests, not inherit their parents'. She loves Miley Cyrus right now, but I've managed to get her interested in stuff like Johnny Cash, Lush (she really loves "Ladykillers" and "Single Girl" [from 1996's Lovelife]), and Kimya Dawson. She's a really happy kid, and doesn't understand why metal dudes are always screaming about shit.

What do you wish to see happen with the label in the next five years?

I want it to grow in a way that allows me to work with more established bands I admire and respect, in addition to still trying to find a lot of newer, worthy bands. Dream bands to work with would be Darkthrone, Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore, Philip Jeck, Nurse With Wound, Eyehategod, Jack Rose, Daniel Higgs, Amps For Christ, and Corrupted among many others. I really just want to keep it relevant. It seems like after a certain amount of years, almost every label, with very few exceptions, seems to lose the ability to put out good records (I'm speaking mainly of metal labels here), even if they are bigger now then they were. In fact, it seems like that growth is directly related to the decline in good records. So, I hope I can avoid that pitfall. If it's starting to feel shitty, I really don't think I'll have a problem putting the whole thing to bed.

I just bought a record store in Olympia called Phantom City Records. So in addition to the label, I'll be concentrating on that for a while as well. It's something I always wanted to do. Despite the shitty climate for selling music these days, I feel like I can make it work to the extent that it pays for itself and maybe even pays me a little. Mostly I just want to have fun with it, just like the label.

Links

Blog
Label
MySpace
Discography

Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. 1

by Jess Blumensheid

Nachtmystium's demise isn't near, but they should embrace the time they have left. After signing with major label Century Media, intuitive bands work on the ticking clock that measures the downfall toward mediocrity. Usually, scraggly production is the first thing to go - The Haunted is a prime example. Here, Century Media strips away the hissing recording that complements black metal's signature hum. This, along with changing vocals, pulls Nachtmystium far away from their true Darkthrone-seasoned flavor.

Assassins (excerpt)
Seasick Part 2 (excerpt)

Evidence of this appears in the second track of Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. I. "Assassins" first strikes with a barrage of fluent blastbeat, blistering riff, and Blake Judd's familiar Nachtmystium/Twilight rasp. But then comes a putrid chorus that brushes off all of the band's black metal foliage. In homoerotic camaraderie, the men of Nachtmystium bark, "We feel nothing / And are nothing / Traveling leaches / Rejecting weakness / We stand alone." With these layman lyrics and repetitive riffs, "Assassins" is the longest Nachtmystium song ever. They trick us in the "Seasick" three-song series with atmospheric interludes that juice Assassins into a tangy citrus. Then the sap turns sour with "Seasick (Part 2: Oceanborne)." The track exemplifies Assassin's weak approach to Nachtmystium's once fierce abomination. After a gentle riff reminiscent of Earth’s ambient psychedelia, a soaring saxophone leaps in, cluttering Assassins with reeking sewage. This shit is rank!

Regardless of what path Nachtmystium take, their old material will always do them justice. Eulogy IV and Instinct: Decay voyage deep into the depths of black death. Their beastly delivery in these releases shells out magnificent, lo-fi fuzz that echoes hauntingly in menacing chambers. This stuff runs thick in my blood, a feeling not easily lost. But such darkness is missing in Assassins. I hope it isn’t the beginning of an end, as it's barely worthy of an invisible orange.

Buy:
Amazon (MP3)
Century Media

Alice Cooper - Trash

by Cosmo Lee

Yesterday's post made me revisit Alice Cooper's Trash (Epic, 1989) for the first time in over 15 years. It was the first tape I ever bought for the sole purpose of shocking my mother with the cover. (It worked. I also remember feeling that the inside artwork in Appetite for Destruction had crossed some sort of line.) Funny how tastes change - in retrospect, this record seems hardly edgy at all. Basically, it's '80s cock rock tinged with Cooper's trademark camp horror, sort of a hair metal version of King Diamond.

House of Fire
Bed of Nails

Two things stand about this record, though. First are the awful, awful lyrics, which I can't imagine anyone singing with a straight face. "Pull my trigger / I get bigger / Then I'm lots of fun / I'm your gun"??? This makes Licensed to Ill look like Ulysses. Second is the fact that Trash was an album by committee. The songwriting co-credits are numerous - Joan Jett on "House of Fire" (which had an incredibly hot video, at least to 12 year-old me), Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, and Diane Warren on "Bed of Nails," which surprises me because she's a woman, yet is responsible for lines like "I'll lay you down and when all else fails / I'll drive you like a hammer on a bed of nails." Maybe it's the songwriting equivalent of a Harlequin romance novel.

Other than Cooper himself, the main party to blame/credit for Trash is Desmond Child, who co-wrote 9 of the album's 10 songs. Maybe that's why they have so many tricky moves that only professional songwriters can do. "House of Fire" is essentially one continuous gearshift key change. The chorus of "Bed of Nails" sounds like that of Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name," which makes sense, since he co-wrote that hit, as well as a gazillion others. Look at his discography - it's jaw-dropping. The guy did some of Aerosmith's and Bon Jovi's biggest hits, KISS' "I Was Made for Lovin' You," Ricky Martin's "Livin' la Vida Loca," and Sisqó's "Thong Song"? Pure genius.

Metal dance remixes

by Cosmo Lee

The music at my gym is mostly horrible Hi-NRG dance fare. I have made multiple complaints, to little avail. As a result, I have probably been subjected to more dance versions of pop songs than any other human alive, including "Total Eclipse of the Heart," Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," Skee-Lo's "I Wish," Extreme's "More Than Words," and Celine Dion's song from The Titanic. Screw waterboarding and Deicide - as torture, this stuff would be infinitely more effective.

Poison (Alice Cooper)
Poison (Groove Coverage)

Nothing, however, could have prepared me for the most surreal remix of all (by a German group called Groove Coverage (a name which doesn't even make sense - it sounds like a football defensive scheme)). The moment is firmly etched in my mind. I was on the stair machine. Second one from the left. Doing the stairs. Doing the stairs. Over the speakers I hear, "Your cruel...device...your blood...like ice..." NOOOOOOOOOOOO. No effing way. Alice Cooper got a dance remix??? I nearly fell off the stair machine.

Even worse is the dance version of Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train," by Gyr-8 Productions (yet another terrible name). Whenever I hear those arpeggiated synths at 0:19, a small part of me dies. Incredibly, this remix gets even worse. First come some "Macarena" synths. Then it goes into two different Italo house piano themes, dragging Randy Rhoads' riff along like a vestigial appendage. It's truly repulsive - which is why I can't stop listening to it. Goddamn, does it make me laugh. I can't see anyone ever dancing to it or even listening to it seriously. Maybe it's showed up in an aerobics class or two.

Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne)
Crazy Train (Gyr-8 Productions)

RIP K.Angylus, The Angelic Process

Word has been trickling out - K.Angylus, of the husband-and-wife duo The Angelic Process, passed away in late April. No official cause of death has been announced. The final Angelic Process record was the mammoth Weighing Souls With Sand, which ironically was about coping with a spouse's death. Last year, Angylus suffered a hand injury which rendered him unable to play music, and The Angelic Process went on hold indefinitely in October.

Million Year Summer

I will always associate Weighing with sickness, for different reasons. Last year I visited some friends in Texas, one of whom suffered acute food poisoning. He was retching his soul out next door, and I was trying to sleep. I put on Weighing in my headphones, turned up the volume, and was immediately bathed in a surreal, electric world in which My Bloody Valentine morphed into Neurosis. Weighing is, in a good way, one of the most grotesque-sounding records I've ever heard. It's compressed beyond belief and the guitars seemingly come from a volcano. Drums strain to punch through the din; Angylus' voice fights for its life. Few swan songs have been so passionate.

Burning Witch - Crippled Lucifer

Short-lived, yet way ahead of their time, Burning Witch remain undefeatable. Ten years after its original release, Southern Lord has reissued Crippled Lucifer. This double-disc compilation of EP's Towers... and Rift.Canyon.Dreams relights the Burning Witch torch, inviting newcomers and embracing old fans to trail its gloomy illumination. Formed in '95, Burning Witch were the grandfathers of extreme doom. On the '90s doom menu, Burning Witch served the most extreme recipe, painting the doom cosmos with eerie yet vibrant colors.

History of Hell (excerpt)
Sea Hag (excerpt)

Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))), Greg Anderson of Goatsnake, Jamie Sykes of Atavist, B.R.A.D. and G. Stuart Dahlquist of Asva, and Edgy 59 – together they awaken the silent unknown, freeing its evil into an ear-shattering explosion. Edgy 59 serves his shrieks on a bed of ice in "History of Hell." Its eerie effect compares to Khanate's Alan Dubin, as he ingests Edgy's coldness, projecting soaring wails throughout Capture and Release. Edgy frostbites ears in "Sea Hag," searing tangled chords and feedback that creep like long spider legs. He nearly sounds like a burning witch, spitting final incantations at his inquisitors as fierce flames engulf his puny body. He's gulping for air as corrosive drum strikes and extending chord vibrations trap his vocals in dark corners. I imagine this live, and I feel boiling cysts explode in my belly. 11 years after their demise, Burning Witch remain as beautifully repulsive as ever.

- Jess Blumensheid

Buy:
The End
Southern Lord
Amazon (MP3)

Witch - Paralyzed

My generation's musical trends baffle me. How some kids resist listening to anything past their parents' record collection is beyond my understanding. Unless, of course, these parents munched on a '70s brunch of hot Saint Vitus cakes, savory Captain Beyond patties, and ripe Witchfinder General tarts. If this image were true for most, my generation would flourish greatly. So I fathom this: music isn't dead. The bulb of dark rock is in full bloom, and the psychedelic doom outfit Witch is a maturing seed.

Gone (excerpt)
Sweet Sue (excerpt)

I can't help but nod my head in approval when listening to its recent Tee Pee Records release Paralyzed. In addition to its classic look, Witch sounds credible. J Mascis becomes reacquainted with his drums, advancing from his past with Dinosaur Jr. and Deep Wound. Mascis locks heart and groove with bassist and good friend Dave Sweetapple, creating a harsh spark in Witch.

The band saturates Paralyzed with luscious, upbeat rhythms that pay homage to the works of Wino and label mates Graveyard. The album's catchiest riff strides high in "Gone." A healthy introduction with high-toned guitars, solid bass lines, and lively drums indents the action to the 1:06 mark. Guitars and drums flow fluently, translating classic '70s tones through clear pronunciation. "Disappear" tangles vibrant, psychedelic guitars with a beat that grows like the five men's free-flowing hairdos. Although Kyle Thomas' voice is abnormally feminine, it's not sloppy or overdone, feeding Witch with sweet authenticity. In fact, his voice is one of my favorite parts of Paralyzed. Thomas' vocals purr in "Sweet Sue," trilling words of a bittersweet vixen. With ensembles like Witch, I forgive my parents for not conceiving me decades earlier.

- Jess Blumensheid

Buy:
Tee Pee
All That Is Heavy

Brave - Monuments

I love the sound of female singing. But I generally hate it in metal, usually through no fault of the singers. Its usual context is what I'll call "corset metal," over-produced schlock with billowing hair and faceless male minions. It's all drama and no nuance. Lacuna Coil were actually a good band before they became a Pro Tools plug-in farm.

Driven
Something to This

If instead Century Media and Nuclear Blast signed more bands like Brave, the world would be a better place. This DC band has the chops, songwriting, and, yes, the polished production - Monuments needs only a label logo to go on shelves - yet it preserves its singer's humanity. Michelle Loose has one of the most wonderful voices I've heard in ages. It's technically adept, yet big and soulful. She knows exactly when to push her voice and make it "break up"; contrast, for example, Dolores O'Riordan's histrionics in The Cranberries' "Zombie." Metal hasn't had such an appealingly accessible female presence since The Gathering's Anneke van Giersbergen.

Brave is that rare band where each instrument stands out. The guitars are robust, the bass is warm, and the drums burst with tasty fills and propulsive accents. Violinist Suvo Sor is Brave's secret weapon, complementing Loose with mournful melodies. In "Sooner or Later," he even breaks out a shredding solo with four-string arpeggios, the classical precursor to guitar sweep picking.

Many influences enrich Monuments. "Driven" is straight-up, fist-pumping Eurometal. "Stronger" swims in a sea of Pink Floyd echoing guitars. "Forgiveness" plumbs Katatonia's moodiness, while "Hero" is a swirling stew of prog odd meters and Viking melodies. The poignant "Something to This" begs to be a video, in a good way. (But please leave the wind machine at home.) Monuments has more hooks than a UFC fight card, and will make my Top 20 this year.

Buy:
Brave (CD)
DigStation (MP3)

Bongripper - Hate Ashbury

Referencing the notorious San Francisco district Haight Ashbury, Bongripper relishes another opportunity to smash the hippie mold. Hate Ashbury re-affirms the Chicago quartet's slogan, "The only good hippie is a dead hippie." A hostile illustration plasters Hate Ashbury with anti-beatnik animosity. All peace, love, and happiness vanish as the fingers of the peace sign are torn from the joints.

Pt. III (excerpt)
Pt. IV (excerpt)

Yet Bongripper conjures a sweet high, injecting dense doom with kisses of ambient mist. After two minutes, "Pt. III" lingers like smoke escaping weed-infested lungs. The delay pedal, bass hum, and drum batter caress like soft hands. The atmospheric delicacy is nice for a change, but it evaporates as guitars plow into the vapor on "Pt. IV." Despite its lack of vocals, the transition is an awakening. When asked why Bongripper despises hippies, guitarist Nick Dellacroce replies, "The real question is, 'What is there to like about hippies?' Fuck peace. Hail Satan. Worship doom." If there’s food for thought in those statements, I suggest the latter for mass consumption.

- Jess Blumensheid

Buy:
MySpace
Cassette

Thrice - The Earth Will Shake

Photo by Myriam Santos-Kayda

A reader comment on yesterday's Wrnlrd review got me thinking about how American metal has largely omitted American traditional music. Europe has loads of "folk metal" (which often seems to be just racist folk music), Brazil has/had Sepultura, Taiwan has Chthonic with their erhu. A few American counterparts come to mind - Across Tundras, Earth, Resistant Culture - and Southern sludge metal occasionally throws in the odd country or blues lick. But pre-amplification American music is mostly unexplored in metal, perhaps because the latter is so dependent on electricity. Metal could mine this ground, though. There is much darkness in America's (musical) history, and what better vessel for darkness than metal?

The Earth Will Shake

Yesterday I stumbled across a stunning example of what I'm talking about. It comes from Thrice's Vheissu, my favorite record of 2005. The source is most unlikely; until that point, Thrice was a straightforward metalcore band (albeit a skilled one). Their fans must have gotten a nasty surprise upon discovering that the band had become an amalgam of Isis, Tool, and Radiohead. I, for one, welcomed the change, and the band has flexed their new muscles with lovely results on their Alchemy Index recordings. Vheissu is full of revelations, the most revelatory being "The Earth Will Shake." Neurosis would be jealous of most of it; at 2:52, it breaks wide open with old-time chain gang singing. It's O Brother, Where Art Thou?, complete with freedom narrative:

We dream of ways to break these iron bars
We dream of black nights without moon or stars
We dream of tunnels and of sleeping guards
We dream of blackouts in the prison yard

Then it drops into a neck-snapping 7/4, as Teppei Teranishi flings plangent chords skywards. The 27 year-old multi-instrumentalist orchestrates Thrice's beautiful arrangements; I don't hesitate to call him a genius. Who would have guessed that some kids from Orange County would provide metal's most convincing throwback to 19th century America?

Buy:
Amazon (CD)
Amazon (MP3)

Wrnlrd - Pentagon

Pentagon, by one-man band Wrnlrd, is one of the most intriguing packages I've encountered in a while. The translucent papers and gray/silver tones of the CD jewel case suggest IDM. A single eye peers out from behind the back traycard. Lifting the tray reveals the number "21" written twice, as well as the the number "51090942171709440000," which is 21 factorial; the CD has 21 tracks. (Wrnlrd's website has a similar obsession with numbers.)

Sun Wheel: Eye of Horns
May Day: Dance of Vines

The liner notes include an antique map of Washington, DC, as well as a foreboding photo of the Washington Monument (see above), which recalls Fugazi's In on the Kill Taker; Wrnlrd lists Dischord among his influences. They also contain an aerial view of The Pentagon, located in Wrnlrd's native Arlington, VA. (The front cover is a Photoshop filtered image of The Pentagon burning on 9/11.) Finally, the liner notes include a dedication to an officer of a local Masonic Lodge. This leads back to the eye on the traycard - is it the All-Seeing Eye?

Perhaps surveillance is a theme here, an inverse of Isis' Panopticon. The photo of The Pentagon: watching the watchers? It's tough to tell if this record has a political subtext, as it's mostly instrumental. Black metal is the starting point from which it departs in a hurry. The guitar tone is the sonic equivalent of spilling beer on an old rug. Tempos hover around soggy, mid-paced trudges. Creaky banjo adds a woozy, back porch feel, while fuzz runs rampant like weeds. The record feels like a soundtrack, with lots of brief sonic vignettes.

It's all quite strange and a little paranoid - or perhaps I'm inferring that from the artwork. Even if one can't fully grasp the aesthetic, it's still thought-provoking. Pitchfork has a good interview with Wrnlrd in which he talks about his background in bluegrass and country blues: "I see ghosts of American music everywhere. I hear Dock Boggs in black metal, the droning banjo, voice like an earthquake. I hear Blind Lemon [Jefferson] pounding his feet on the floor, and I know he is my cousin... I think the essence of black metal is something that goes beyond geography and stylistic tradition, even beyond music."

Buy:
MySpace
Official Site

Cannabis Corpse - Tube of the Resinated

The Cypress Hill of death metal, Richmond, VA's Cannabis Corpse re-up with another disc of sticky icky. Blunted at Birth, which I reviewed here, introduced the concept of weed-themed death metal in homage to Cannibal Corpse, both in musical style and song titles. The debut was a cute novelty; Tube of the Resinated (Forcefield, 2008), which came out on 4/20 (natch), feels like a real record by a real band. Catchy vocal patterns and groovy riffs yield a solid, headbangable set of old-school death metal. The artwork is more thrash than death metal, but then again, this is the side project of Land Phil from Municipal Waste. Evidently, "Mummified in Bongwater" is about "a portal to a realm spawned from centuries of spilt bongwater," while "Experiment in Horticulture" is about "a giant monster made of pot attacking humanity." Sweet leaf, indeed.

Mummified in Bongwater
Experiment in Horticulture

Buy:
Amazon
Forcefield

Dio - Rainbow in the Dark

Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of Dio's first solo record, Holy Diver. The title track has made inroads into popular culture (South Park, the Judgment Night soundtrack, Killswitch Engage's cover and its ridiculous video), but "Rainbow in the Dark" inspires more love, even though no one really knows what it's about. People have tried to parse it (attempt #1, attempt #2); the most cogent explanation seems to be Dio's feeling of alienation after leaving Black Sabbath and/or Rainbow.

The song's video is beyond explanation, though. A creepy man follows a woman into a Soho sex shop, whereupon he is repelled by a ferociously youthful Vivian Campbell. Bassist Jimmy Bain joins Campbell in the street, while their boss lip syncs on some rooftop. It's all quite baffling. Evidently, Dio is not fond of the song - it's the poppy aberration on Holy Diver - but he is in the minority. "Rainbow in the Dark" has the second greatest synth hook of all time (#1 and #3 would be Europe's "The Final Countdown" and Usher's "Yeah!"); it and Dio's purple boots are beyond reproach.

Howl, Mendozza

Howl

In the current issue of Decibel (#44, Iron Maiden cover), I've done the "Throw Me a Frickin' Bone!" column, which reviews demos and unsigned records. Some of them are actually good. The two of note this time are by Howl and Mendozza. Both are hairy and sound like it. (One of my non-metalhead friends read the column, after which she turned to me and asked, "What is 'beard metal'?" It was so cute.)

Howl - And the Gnawing...
Mendozza - The Rise of the Piscean

Howl hail from Providence, RI, and remind me a little of Lair of the Minotaur, but with more color. Dig that half-speed Slayer riff in the middle of "And the Gnawing..."! This June, these dudes and dudette will play at Indiana's Dude Fest, which really should be called Beard Fest. Also hirsute and heavy are Vancouver's Mendozza, who drop an absolutely nasty wah-wah workout in "The Rise of the Piscean." The criss-crossing bluesy leads are pure Sabbath, and pure awesomeness. Somehow this band ended up on the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack next to Atreyu and My Chemical Romance - WTF?!

Buy:
Howl
Mendozza

Testament - Low

Speaking of Testament, D.X. Ferris (author of the 33 1/3 book on Slayer's Reign in Blood) has written a fine article on Testament for the Village Voice Media group of weeklies. Of interest is the discussion of Native American shamanic medicine in Chuck Billy's fight against cancer. To my delight, Ferris mentions "Trail of Tears" from Low. The Alex Skolnick years of Testament are rightly considered the classic ones. But for sound quality and sheer power, I prefer what came afterwards, starting with Low (Atlantic, 1994).

Low
Ride
Trail of Tears

Two key personnel changes occurred between 1992's The Ritual and Low. James Murphy and John Tempesta replaced Skolnick and Louie Clemente on lead guitar and drums, respectively (not counting a brief lineup shuffle for 1993's Return to the Apocalyptic City live EP). Murphy was a tasty shredder like Skolnick, but less elegant and more visceral. Tempesta, who would drum on White Zombie's Astro Creep: 2000 a year later, was a clean, rock-solid timekeeper.

The memorably heavy result straddled thrash and death metal. Songs charged through catchy riffs, with solos only when necessary. (Ironically, "Trail of Tears" is a very Skolnick-esque ballad.) Billy's vocals on "Low" are perhaps his finest performance to date. The crisp, balanced production is arguably the best Testament has ever had, in a career plagued with wildly inconsistent production. From personal experience, Low is by far the best Testament record to blast in a car. It's not canonical, but it's a must-have.

Buy:
Amazon (CD)
Amazon (MP3)

Jucifer, Testament

Jucifer

Music critics are privileged in that people send them music for free. They are also cursed in that people send them music for free. Ever since I became a music critic, I have been deluged with such piles of shit that part of me wants to say "fuck you" to all "benefactors" and just buy records like everyone else. Then again, everyone else now probably downloads the same piles of shit. Does anyone listen to records more than once anymore - or make records worthy of such?

Jucifer - Birds of a Feather
Testament - The Persecuted Won't Forget

I've reviewed two records that I actually want to get to know better. The first is Jucifer's sprawling L'autrichienne, which will require the rest of this year for me to digest fully. The second is Testament's The Formation of Damnation, which sounds like shit but has good music on it. This quote by Bob Dylan is applicable: "I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years, really. You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like...static."

Jawbox on Cello - A Benefit for Cal Robbins

Speaking of Dischord, Gordon Withers has put out an all-cello tribute to Jawbox. The record is a benefit for Callum Robbins, son of J. Robbins, frontman for Jawbox, Burning Airlines, and Channels. Cal was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which affects the brain's ability to communicate with muscles. He cannot stand, crawl, or sit without support, and faces a lifetime of this, as SMA has no known cure. It's heartbreaking that his parents are thinking about a wheelchair for him at age three. Their only income comes from Robbins' work as a producer and engineer (he did Modern Life Is War's Midnight in America, Clutch's Robot Hive/Exodus, and Wino's upcoming solo record for Southern Lord). See the links below for more information on Cal, SMA, and how you can help.

Motorist (Gordon Withers)
Motorist (Jawbox)

Next to the human voice, the cello is the most expressive musical instrument. Its extremely wide range allows it both to growl and shriek, and Withers fully utilizes it. String tributes to bands are decidedly hit-or-miss; the relative simplicity of rock often feels flat when stripped of distortion and percussion. Not so with Jawbox, whose music exhibits counterpoint and harmonic ingenuity surprising even to me, a longtime fan. Withers has preserved much of the power of Jawbox's songs, while exposing the melodies behind their electricity. The result is not as explosive, of course, but then again, prime Dischord tempered aggression with abstraction.

Savory (Gordon Withers)
Savory (Jawbox)

Jawbox were arguably the best at adding emotion to that mix; "Motorist" devastatingly casts friendship/romance as a car crash ("So turn your back / Just drive on past / Cause nothing is better / Than getting out fast"). Robbins' voice here sounds a bit like Page Hamilton's; Zachary Barocas' kick drums flutter desperately under Kim Coletta's Kim Deal bass line. As for "Savory," to this day I still have no idea what it's about. (The video for it is even more baffling.) But as music, it's breathtaking - pulsing dissonance, weeping bends throughout, the afropop-esque miasma of the pre-chorus. The chorus is relatively upbeat, until the relative minor chord at 3:12 pulls everything out from underneath, as Robbins' voice trails overhead. It's like a rollercoaster just before it plunges.

Jawbox on Cello is available physically from Gordon Withers' MySpace, and digitally from Amazon, iTunes, and eMusic. All proceeds from CD sales will go to the Cal Robbins Care Fund. You can also make a direct donation via PayPal here.

Cal's story
Cal Robbins blog
Interview with J. Robbins

For Callum is another benefit record for Cal. Its two discs compile tracks by Channels, Jawbreaker, Joe Lally, Mission of Burma, Travis Morrison, and others. It is available physically and digitally. All proceeds will go to the Cal Robbins Care Fund.

Circus Lupus - Super Genius

Speaking of Joan Jett, she produced a 7" in 1992 for DC's Circus Lupus. The pairing was odd - jukebox queen and Dischord geeks - but it showed she had good taste. (The tracks also appeared on 1993's Solid Brass.) Circus Lupus were one of Dischord's more aggressive bands, not counting its straight-up hardcore acts like Minor Threat. Someone accurately described them as Fugazi meets The Fall; their rhythm section was organic and bass-heavy, while Chris Thomson's vocals threatened to leap out of the speakers and scrape you.

Breaking Point
Amish Blessing

In high school, a classmate of mine visited his DC area hometown for Christmas one year. He returned bearing armloads of now-classic math and noise rock - Jesus Lizard, Helios Creed, Dischord in its prime. Of the Dischord stuff, Circus Lupus flipped my wig the most, specifically 1992's Super Genius. At the time, I listened mostly to mainstream metal, so while Circus Lupus weren't that heavy, they seemed much more strange and threatening. The music was so dry and off-balance, and Thomson always seemed to wander into songs rather than enter them normally.

Now Circus Lupus don't sound so hostile - the guitar work often seems downright delicate - but that's probably because I've been conditioned by their offspring. Bands like Blues, Black Elk, and Fight Amp owe much to this sound. Before mathcore, there was math rock, and long division alone could split heads.

Super Genius is available physically from Dischord and digitally from Amazon.

Abacinate - Ruination

"Abacinate" is a real word, not just a Slayer lyric. It means to "blind by holding a red-hot metal plate before someone's eyes." New Jersey's Abacinate aren't quite so painful. In fact, they're quite pleasant. Ruination (Epitomite, 2008) is a death metal kaleidoscope of Carcass harmonies, Cannibal Corpse pick squeals, Suffocation breakdowns, rising Death licks, and even a snippet of Gothenburg melodies to which I'll turn a blind eye. The riffs are strong, and the grooves are infectious. One gets the sense the recording session was actually fun. Movie samples help in this regard. They're not as profuse as with Graf Orlock or Killwhitneydead, but they're good for a surprise or two. The production is perfect - heavy and steely. I'm not hot on death metal these days, but I've been playing this nonstop.

Six and Eight Hard (Nickel Each)
Sadist Misogynist

Ruination is available physically from Abacinate's MySpace, and digitally from Amazon.

Thanks to Dave Schalek for the recommendation.

Rob Halford & Pantera - Light Comes Out of Black

Speaking of Vinnie Paul, Pantera collaborated with Judas Priest's Rob Halford on a song for the soundtrack of 1992's Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. Now, all I know about Buffy is that she fucks up Google searches for the band Slayer (solution: type in "-buffy"). I've watched but half an episode of the TV show, which is evidently hardly related to the movie. But seeing as how the cast includes a young Hilary Swank, a pre-Punisher Tom Jane, Rutger Hauer, and Paul Reubens aka Pee-wee Herman, I just might have to rent it sometime.

Rob Halford & Pantera - Light Comes Out of Black

However, it would not be for the soundtrack. Stay far, far away. Any album with Toad the Wet Sprocket is DOA. I could give a toss about Susanna Hoffs and The Divinyls (not playing their one song). The C+C Music Factory song is bad, even for C+C Music Factory. Mary's Danish turn in a downright insulting cover of "I Fought the Law." The Cult and Matthew Sweet phone it in, though cult Canadian rappers Dream Warriors make a respectable, if completely unexpected, appearance. If you're curious what Ozzy Osbourne would sound like with Van Halen for a backing band, look no further.

The one bright spot is appropriately titled "Light Comes Out of Black." My two favorite sounds in the world are a woman's orgasm and a cat's purr. (An ex pointed out that they have the same name.) #3 is probably Rob Halford's voice. This song really isn't that special; it's just Pantera doing straightforward metal. But when Halford's voice comes in, I know everything will be all right. The guy could sing about mowing the lawn, and it would still sound epic.

In fact, he probably is singing about mowing the lawn. The lyrics seemingly string together random fortune cookies: "Light comes out of black / Stand and face the fear / Give him eye to eye / Walk the walk right here." If Halford's lyrics made sense, I wouldn't like him half as much. No other singer has a higher awesomeness of voice to awfulness of lyrics ratio. Well, Phil Anselmo comes close - and he conveniently shows up here to sing backups. The Halford + Pantera concept would turn into an actual band called Fight, but in 1992, it was merely background music for Kristy Swanson.

Nadja, Russian Circles

Nadja seem to have emptied their hard drive onto CD's, sent them out, and gotten signed to 10 labels simultaneously. By the end of 2008, they will have put out 15 releases in two years. That's too much. But it's about right if you consider each album as a song. Make one long ambient fuzzfest, divide it into tracks, call it an album - next! At Pitchfork, I've reviewed two recent Nadja reissues, Skin Turns to Glass and Bliss Torn from Emptiness. (The artwork for the latter is above.) I've also reviewed the new Russian Circles record.

Nadja - Bliss Torn from Emptiness (excerpt)
Russian Circles - Youngblood

Angel Eyes - ...And for a Roof a Sky full of Stars

After being doused in NeurIsis/instru-metal/post-metal the past few years, I took a break from the genre for a while. Upon hearing Chicago's Angel Eyes, I realize my problem has been not with the message, but the messengers. This is exactly how this stuff should be done - smart, emotional, directed; none of this "eight minute songs for the sake of eight minute songs" nonsense. On their latest EP, Angel Eyes have a grand total of two tracks (which they didn't bother to name) sprawling across nearly 27 minutes.

One (excerpt)
Two (excerpt)

It's almost all gold. Angel Eyes are like if Mono were doomier, with hardcore screaming for vocals. The vocals are a little harsh for the material, but they mostly stay out of the way. Guitars are the meat here, with Mono-style tremolo picking and delicate melodies (even the EP's title is Mono-esque). But they also drop proper heaviness, balancing out the upper register. The riffs flow smoothly and subtlely; I'm amazed that musicians can keep it together so long, both compositionally and performance-wise. The EP comes in a cool cardboard sleeve with lyrics printed on the inside. I am burned out on this sound, but when it's done this well, it's still a joy to hear.

...And for a Roof is available for cheap at Underground Communique, No Idea, and Aquarius Records.

Members of Angel Eyes keep a blog here.

Brown Jenkins - Angel Eyes

The artists that speak most to me tend to speak ineffably. They convey feelings without names, gray areas between coarse distinctions like happiness and sadness. One of my favorite such feelings could be called "hollowness," though that's not fully descriptive. Dub reggae is hollow, for example, and doesn't always speak to me. Both sound and harmonic content have to embody this feeling. Successful instances: Prong, Beg to Differ and Prove You Wrong. Metallica, ...And Justice for All. Later Coroner. Godflesh, Pure - but not Streetcleaner, which is very "filled in."

Pale Conqueror
Angel Eyes

Godflesh as black metal might sound like Brown Jenkins. This Austin-based one-man outfit runs Godflesh's discordant open strings through creaky production. The cold goosestep rhythms come from Joy Division, though I also hear Killing Joke. I can't tell the songs apart, but no matter - the sound is so grippingly personal that I'm content to wallow in its frigid dirtbath. The growling is incomprehensible, and the promo came with no lyrics, yet this record chills my marrow. The triumph of sound over language is the apex of metal; however unconventionally, Brown Jenkins has hit it.

Angel Eyes is available from Moribund and The End.

Averse Sefira - Advent Parallax

Averse Sefira are a tough band to get into. Often, however, such bands ultimately offer the most satisfaction. And often in black metal, that satisfaction comes from discomfort. Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord are my touchstones for beautiful anxiety; but while they space out such unease, Averse Sefira apply it full-bore. The result is familiar yet not: blastbeats and rasps emanating from a parallel universe of alien tonalities.

Serpent Recoil
Descension

I've never heard a guitar player like Averse Sefira's Sanguine. (Sanguine Mapsama, in full - what do he and bassist Wrath Sathariel Diabolus call each other in daylight?) Sometimes his axe claws at strange angles; sometimes it grumbles in lower registers. I have no idea where such skewed discordance comes from. When I talked to Wrath, he didn't seem to know, either. Evidently, he and his drummer ("The Carcass") have to keep Sanguine's strangeness in check. The raw versions of these songs must be stupefyingly abstruse, as their final versions are still quite abstract.

The thick, clear production here accentuates such eccentricity. Watain's Tore Stjerna mans the boards again, and he delivers Averse Sefira's best sound yet. On 1999's Homecoming's March, the band emerged almost fully-formed; since then, it has been refining more than evolving. The long ambient interludes of yore are mostly gone. Songs are more direct, yet dig deeper with more varied speeds and feels. This band need not, and does not, hide behind murky sound. They're loud, proud, and a little off - just how I like my metal.

Advent Parallax is available physically from Candlelight (with free poster), Relapse, and The End, and digitally from Amazon.

Wrath keeps a rather compelling blog here.

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???