Not Metal

Live from Hellfest 2009 in France

You can allmost make out the main guitar riff…

The Norwegian Black Metal scene has been well documented. There have been documentaries and books.

Now, feast your eyes on an article by Revolver magazine’s Associate Editor Kory Grow listing some quality death metal recordings from the realm of ice and fjords.

ISIS

Wavering Radiant

Know what you should not do? Follow up what was considered your high point with complete mediocrity. ISIS did this with their last LP, In the Absence of Truth, and… well lets just say I listened to it once or twice and went back to Panopticon. Just as if that bad boy had never even happened. Your mom’s miscarriage? No one talks about that when there you are doing your thing much better than what would have been her (technically it was called Bethany, but that’s besides the point). It was the same thing with the last ISIS record.

Then there is Wavering Radient, and this is where it gets harder to explain. While I was temped to explain that ITAOT was a weak record because of Aarron Turner’s expanded use of clean vocals, I can’t actually say that. Clean vocals are on this record. Is it because the songs are shorter? Nope, that’s not the case either as most of these are around seven minutes as were the majority of ITAOT. Faster songs? Guest Vocals? Naked chick on the cover riding a dragon? Nope, nope, and nope. What makes this album better than the last one? Better s(b)ongs.

ISIS never speeds up out of the ‘ISIS thump’ groove for any noticeable amount of time outside of song peaks but that is not a bad thing. The post metal blueprint became the ‘NeurISIS’ sound because ISIS was really good at it, and here is another example. “Stone to Wake a Serpent” and “Ghost Key” could be movies or books if volume was related to typical plot progression.

Figure 1. Western Literature Plot Progression/ISIS song structure:
Intro >> Plot Point >> Progression >> Added Tension >> Progression >> Apex (Creshendo ) >> Resolution (Outro)

No one ever bitches about how Joseph Heller didn’t reinvent the written story, and people shouldn’t complain when ISIS doesn’t come up with the “New ISIS Sound”. Only complain when they bring a weak product to the market; then we’ll have to wait another three years to see if they can do it better. This is not one of those times thankfully.

Score:

3 \m/ out of 5

Where: Louisville KY 6/12/09

Wow, what a kick-ass show. 10 bands, 8 hours. Summer Slaughter o9 did not disappoint, which was a task considering 2 bands listed on the bill (Ensiferum, Decrepit Birth) and 2 of the main reasons I went weren’t even at this particular show.

The one thing that bothered me about this tour is that I was expecting a death metal show. What I got was a death metal show mixed with a metalcore, hardcore, tardcore, crapcore whatever you want to call it show. I guess if it were a strict death metal bill, then it’d be me and like 5 other dudes. So they add  a variety of other styles of music in order to sell more tix.

Here’s a band by band rundown:

Blackguard: Ugh, I just saw them last month at Paganfest. As far as folk-metal goes, these guys don’t cut it. They aren’t bad necessarily, it’s just that if you want to listen to this style of music, there are a ton of bands that do it much better (Finntroll, Eluveitie, Korpiklaani to name a few).

After the Burial: They hit the stage and announced that the singer was outside puking because of heat exhaustion and that they were going to do an instrumental set without him. I figured good, a metalcore band, the vocals probably blow anyhow.
So they start the instrumental set and man, the guitarists can shred. I’m talking sweep arpeggios, dual lead harmonies, tapping. The bassist and drummer were good too, excellent musicians all throughout this band.
Then the singer gets on stage for the final song, saying he was dizzy and tingly but wanted to at least do one song. Wow, he’s a big fucking hero. Remember what I said earlier about it was probably better that they were doing an instrumental set  because the singer probably sucked? I was right. The vocals really take away from an otherwise good band.

Beneath the Massacre: More like on the shed. They aren’t bad, certainly not good either though. They are mediocre at best.

Origin: I wasn’t familiar with Origin but am a huge fan now. They fucking destroyed, nay, decimated. The term “brutal” gets thrown around often when discussing  death metal and grind, but these guys are fucking BRUTAL. The singer is amazing. Great vocals full of guttural growls and  higher, almost chirps. He owns the stage and stalks it like a ravenous sasquatch with his hand held majestically skyward. He even lent a hand to a crowd surfer who was about to hit the floor head first. He grabbed the surfer by one ankle and held him up whilst singing. The music is technical and unrelenting with sick riffs and machine gun drums. Also, after the show, I saw the singer in front of the venue and said, “You guys fucking killed. I hadn’t heard of you guys until tonight but I’m a fan now.” He then proceeded to shake my hand and wobble as he was extremely inebriated and then ask the person behind me, “You got any weed?” Very metal.

Born of Osiris: Metalcore with a keyboard. Disco-core? I don’t know the proper label, but it sucked. The tour program states they have “proggy death skills”. The only thing progressive about them is their ability to progress from shit to shittier to shittiest band on the bill. Part of the bill designed to bring in hardcore teenagers in skinny jeans and white belts or gym shorts. Karate kicks and cartwheels in the pit. In the words of Brian Posehn, “Dude, you look gay-tarded.”

Dying Fetus: Fucking amazing. Hasn’t missed a step, still ferocious, technical and yes, brutal.

Winds of Plague: These guys are ok; I like them, not love them. Someone had to leave in an ambulance during their set if that tells you anything about their live show.

Darkest Hour: The only thing good about them was the solos, which were brilliant, precise and melodic.

Suffocation: They were great, fucking annihilated. Most of the material played was from their earliest albums (some would say their prime) but we also got a preview of their upcoming album. They just still are great after 20 years. The band is on point and the singer is charismatic. A high point of this particular set was when the singer from Blackguard took the Dying Fetus thong that was on display at a merch table, put it on his head and face and entered the pit.

Necrophagist: One of the main reasons for me going. They were excellent. Complex, beautiful and yes, brutal music. They owned. Wonderful musicianship all around. Muhammed Suicmez (the leader, writer of all music for all instruments in Necrophagist) has found a great group of musicians this time around to execute his vision. Can’t wait for their next record. We got a taste of it, but fuck a taste, I want the whole meal.

That’s what we’ll call it

CKY’s Deron Miller’s top 10 death metal albums of all time.

CKY’s Deron Miller, happens to be a big death metal fan. Any of you out there thinking who the fuck cares about CKY, well, yeah, I’m not sure if I care much about them anymore either. The last album I liked of theirs’ was “Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild”. I have to say I hated the Bam Margera tv show and the whole (unfortunate) connection the band has with him (Bam’s brother is the drummer). Ignore my album rant and understand, the guy has a nice collection of obscure death metal in his list. I had never even heard of Cancer…the band…(“It’s not a tumor!”). Judging by the rarity of that one single Cancer release, and the thought of discovering a single fucking CD/LP readily available to purchase, seems slim. Street cred bonus. My hat’s off to Mr. Miller and his taste in death metal. Obscure, brutal, death metal. Nicely done. Now, if his band can stop sounding like Torche for an album and start writing heavier jams with less of a rehashed, “I can make a skate video to this song” feel, that would be great. On that note, check out his actual death metal side project, mentioned in the article at Deciblog, World Under Blood. It’s surprisingly good.

I’ll admit it; I don’t like much black metal. But Old Man’s Child has always been an exception.

Their latest album, “Slaves of the World” is another fine entry into their catalog. It’s filled with what we’ve come to expect from Old Man’s Child: black metal tinged with thrash, anti-Christian sentiments, you know, typical Scandinavian fare.

This is a good record, far better than the typical “excuse me while I apply corpse paint and by the way, fuck Jesus and here’s endless trem picking and blast beats” stereotypical and beat black metal that abounds.

Although I would like to point out that this album nowhere near compares with “In Defiance of Existence”, the best Old Man’s Child record, not to mention one of the genre’s best. That album is like one of my bowel movements: epic and intense.

Standout track: “Path of Destruction”

3 \m/ out of 5

Ratings system:
1 \m/: Pile of shit
2 \m/: Smaller pile of shit
3 \m/: Average
4 \m/: Above average
5 \m/: Elite

Live At Roadburn 2008

Secrets came packaged within…

I’m on a big black metal kick right now. I’m getting into a lot of Darkthrone I forgot I had, Deathspell Omega, Nachtmystium demos, Bathory, and Immortal (more shameless name dropping to come). I even ventured out into the realms of the under-underground of the scene and discovered a few good tracks from bands I had never even heard of via my Last.fm scrobbler: Fen, Melechesh, and Katharsis to name a few. Somewhere, some corpse-painted black metal tr00ist is laughing at me…

What I dig on the most and still come back to after all my time spent “discovering” are the mighty Wolves In The Throneroom. About a week ago, I was wrist deep in the “Metal” vinyl section at my local hipster Reckless Records downtown. I hastily flipped through the first 22 letters of the alphabet not finding anything I hadn’t already downloaded or owned, when I came finally to the ‘W’s’.

Now, normally when seeking out the finest in obscure and underground metal records, the best place to venture in Chicago is the awesome Metal Haven. However, I was disappointed to discover they did not have the LP in stock. So, with a fresh paycheck in store and an impulse for evil, I reached into the ‘W’s’ section and bought the fucker today at Reckless. I cannot tell you how happy I am to have purchased it. Each LP at Reckless has a brief description printed out on a sticker. The notes for this record read as follows:

“Limited edition LP documenting a 2008 live performance from the mighty U.S. black metal horde WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM. The sound quality is excellent. A CD version is also included in the packaging.”

A CD version too?! Shit. And I’d have to agree with the excellent sound quality. Which employee does all the metal reviews? I want to shake that persons’ hand. Side B, has an extended, almost psychedelic version of “I Will Lay Down My Bones Among The Rocks and Roots”. They wrote the book for “shoegaze black metal” on that live track.

Oh wait, popped in the “CD” version into my PC…it’s a fucking DVD. A DVD featuring a few highlights of what the fuck “Roadburn Festival” is, and the entire live set recorded on the LP LIVE for you to watch.

Fuck me. That is awesome. Leave it to an indie hipster store to not pay attention to what this record really is and comes with…

If you’re into vinyl and black metal, get this and quick, it’s a limited edition import. You will not be disappointed.

Three to four song sets, 10+ minute songs. Epic.

Where: The Bottom Lounge, Chicago IL.

Indian is Chicago’s doom band. Indian remains (in my book) still the heaviest fucking band I’ve ever seen. That’s saying a lot with the likes of the rest of the lineup in this awesome offering of underground black and doom metal. However, with their Emperor cabs cranked they bring the brown note like they invented it. My body shook the first time I saw them at the Empty Bottle a year ago. Once again, their Earth shattering chords could be felt in full in the depths of my colon.

Angular and odd paced riffing, glacial paced dirges, Indian knows it’s doom and does it well. With the stage lights politely requested to be turned “completely up”, the band was completely exposed. Because of this, they are in your face, there is no escape. They are going to liquefy your bowels and rattle your noggin’.

My only gripe is their drummers’ style seemed oddly robotic, and I’m certain he missed a few beats of double bass kick during one or two of their four song set. However, vocalist/guitarist Dylan O’ Tooles’ raspy banshee doom throat is something to behold. Mix that with Ron Defries’ distorted fuzz bass and you have a recipe of utterly terrifying doom. The long bellowing screams that can be heard on tracks like “Slights and Abuse” and “The Sycophant” are doom perfection. There was no half-assing whatsoever in the vocal department.

Krallices‘ sound check was kind of over the top.

“A little more treble in my monitor please?”
“Could I have a touch more drums in my monitor please?”

The stage banter between band and sound crew went on for what seemed like 20 minutes. They are apparently REALLY picky for their sound. It’s one thing to be a perfectionist, but if the monitor isn’t working ya gotta get on with it without. Surprisingly, the crowd did not react as negatively as I would have expected. One guy did yell, “Play some fucking music!”. There were also no “Slaaaaaaayeeerrr!!” taunts from this crowd. Odd.

When they finally did start their set, they destroyed. So far for me though, Krallice feels like a band that will take many many listens to get used to and start appreciating as something relevant to the new(er) school of black metal.

A Storm Of Light was very NeurIsis-ish. They had a great visual backdrop synced up to the music, a nice touch to have with a band playing droney post-metal. I don’t have much else to say about these guys as they are still unfamiliar to me. if you want an idea of what they look like live check out this video here. It has one of the best combos of creepy intro to gargantuan main riff that I have heard in a long time.

This was my first “black metal” show. I don’t care how you define black metal. If you’re tr00-ist, a satanist, only prefer 4-track basement recordings, whatever. Wolves In The Throne Room brought the fucking black metal in the purest sense of how I understand the genre.

It was like a goddamn seance setup on the stage. Candles all over the floor, fog machine, and, with the band bathed in deep red and blue lighting they proceeded to open a portal into darkest netherworlds of metal. It was perfect. they did not disappoint with new songs off of Black Cascade. “Ahrimanic Trance” is my favorite song off that record and it was like I was suddenly transported out into a dark forest full of evil shit when they played it. The sense of confinement you get from the torrential riffing and blasting is stunning. I thought it would get tiresome, only so because I had already withstood the punishment of 3 other bands that play 10+ minute songs. I was left wanting to go into a forest with my amp and guitar and play evil riffs.

That said, it was probably one of the best metal shows I’ve been to this year.

Dopesmoker Live

Proceeds the Weediaannnnnhhg, Nazareth!

I can only hope that there will be a similar tour in America and/or a new record.

Don’t drop that bong! More video footage posted here.

Mastodon

Crack The Skye

I love Mastodon’s music, ever since I picked up Remission after seeing a dude’s t-shirt with the “horsesplosion” art. I’ve dug what they do. But…

I wasn’t excited about this album at all before it came out. Maybe I’d listened to Blood Mountain a little too much, maybe because I hadn’t been listening to nearly as much metal as I had over the last two and a half years, or maybe it was because Brendan O’Brian was involved. Whatever it may have been, this album was hanging out in the “I’ll get to it whenever, its on the list, but its not a priority” zone and it was not moving off it anytime soon.

Then the rumors about the album being about Rasputin and some other shit and the album went onto the “God I hope this doesn’t turn into a Mars Volta thing” list. The only other album on the list is the next Mars Volta album. And that list is well below the list in the above paragraph.

Then the album art came out. All I saw at the time was “Tonight! At the Planetarium! Lazer Metal!” It wasn’t as iconic as the previous records and I wasn’t pleased. I know what I liked, and I liked old Mastodon. I feared the worst. My shrunken penis was conferring with an underused mattress and they feared the worst.
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