INTERVIEWS:
BURZUM "Filosofem" (Misanthropy Records)
From one of the masters of black metal comes a new, very surprising release! Riding the current wave of ambient black metal, most of the songs here have heavy synthesizer backgrounds. However, "Rundgang um die transzendentale Saule der Singularitat" (whew!) is all synthesized utilizing synth bell notes swirled over a beautiful but eerie landscape, interspersed with ominous bass notes. This track, along with many others, are quite long, and this track in particular, in addition to having no vocals at all, is 25 minutes long! Most of his other tracks have ultra distorted guitars and surprisingly, a sort of sorrowful, doomy style to them. Instrumentation wise, very different, though some tracks are a little long and on such tunes like "Dunkelheit," and "Jesus' Tod," there isn't much variety on the instrumentation, even when there are distorted guitars present. Track 6 also utilizes piano notations, all very well done, though he could have padded his songs out more. A very different black metal project, production is a little low on some tracks, but overall it has a nice feel to it! Ambient black metal. What will they think of next!
C17H19NO3 "Terra Damnata" (Fifth Colvmn Records)
Anyone familiar with John Bergin and his various works, most notably Trust Obey, will know what to expect here! This time around, it's very dark, cold, and quite torturous! Especially the track "Scarifice," my personal favorite, one of only 4 songs with vocals in them done up quite harshly in a scary, distorted style backed by eerie and haunting symphonic notes. "Breeding" shows John's unique ability to work with many different moods within the cold, sinister framework, especially using slow violin notes to weave a mood of the beauty of birth into a harsh landscape. "Androgyne" features a female vocalist telling a story to an extent. The lyrics are very cool, and all written by John except for "Razor Raped Pain" which is an old STG track. "The Imperator" was rather plain, however, and "The Lords of Bone and Machinery" was a bit long. Great dark pieces which present a horror filled atmosphere so well, I was impressed by this work, which presented it's emotions in such a clear cut fashion. This is a disc which those into dark symphonic music interlaid with mechanical beats and sinister overtones will appreciate most immensely!
DIE KRUPPS "Odyssey of the Mind" (Cleopatra Records)
Truly one of the best industrial units to hit the road this year, their follow up release to 'Rings of Steel' is quite truly a phenomenal album! This latest effort features heavier guitar riffs and more skull crushing melody! Mixing thrashy guitars with aggressive and mosh-laden keyboard "riffs," this is an album you can mosh to as well as dance to! Feature tracks like "Isolation" and "The Final Option" feature a sort of hardcore/rap style vocals, my theory is that Biohazard was a definite influence on them! The songs don't totally incorporate that style, but if you remember how heavy "Bloodsuckers" from the 'Rings' album was, these are MUCH heavier! "Eggshell" is also a great track, and live these guys are awesome so go catch them on tour whenever you get a chance!
FA-Q "Each Hit" (ATP Records)
A sort of moshing, thrash style band, I guess, these guys are kinda hard to pin down. Their first track "Leave Me Alone" REALLY caught me up, this thing has choppy riffs, cool drums, great vocals, what more could you ask for in a song? A near perfect mosh masterpiece! And those lead guitar riffs smoke with the intensity of Satriani or some of those other melodic metal groups! So what's wrong, may you ask? Well, the rest of the disc just didn't grab me for some reason. Sure, tracks like "Rip-Off" and "Inside Man" do blaze on a bit, and they manage to inject a little bit of speed in places, a la Anthrax or newer style Exodus, but it just didn't click. "With Me," however, I did enjoy as a powerful slow tune, it had a good injection of melody to boot, and the lyrics spoke to me, man! They called out my name! It's obivous that they're having a good time, and it's hard to ignore such good musicianship on the part of our axemasters, but maybe someone else might appreciate it a bit more.
FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY "Hard Wired" (Metropolis Records)
WOW! What an amazing disc! It's been stated in their bio that Front Line Assembly has been around for 10 years, and this album showcases PERFECTLY just how well Rhys and Bill work together! Every single song is a perfect masterpiece of harsh, industrial terror with vocals just slightly enhanced by electronics! Many of these tracks would make great dance floor pieces, especially "Re-birth" with its hard edged acid/trance notes mixed into the industrial pounding of drums and machinery. "Barcode" is also a great club track, lyric wise it has interesting notations as well. This time around people cannot complain that this is a guitar driven album, only tracks like "Re-birth" have any guitars in them and they are used to a minimum at that. "Paralyzed" and "Mortal" take awhile to kick in, while "Modus Operandi" is slow and quite torturous, especially on the vocal end of things. Lyric wise, instrumentation wise, and all around, this is a great album, one of the best industrial efforts I've heard in quite awhile! Shame that Roadrunner dropped these guys, as it shows they are just as brutal as ever, if not more so than on past releases like "Millenium" and "Tactical Neural Implant."
G//Z/R/ "Plastic Planet" (TVT/Wax Trax)
Geezer Butler teamed up with Tim Burton from Fear Factory? Yeah, and this disc is full of fire! Starting out on the first track "Catatonic Eclipse" you can hear remnants of the Black Sabbath sound coupled with the intense guitar riffs and explosive vocals a la Fear Factory! Burton Bell's voice also displays a unique singing style, evident on tracks like Give Up the Ghost" and "Plastic Planet." His voice is ominous and eerie, and I'm wondering if that is actually him singing a bit higher pitched on the last track "Cycle of Sixty," which is inlaid with beautiful acoustic riffs. The title track "Plastic Planet" and "Seance Fiction" were the only weak links on this disc, mostly in part due to the "singing" parts of Tim somehow not matching up to the rest of the music. Many of these songs have brutal riffs, but it's not all a speed fest, there are slow and crunchy parts as well, especially on "Plastic Planet." A great release, the combination of Butler/Burton works very well together! Hopefully a tour is in the works soon!
HYPOCRISY "Abducted" (Nuclear Blast Records)
Purveyors of fine death/black metal are going to be quite shocked at the strange turn of events this band has taken. First off, and most noticeably, are the references to aliens and alien abduction! Within the disc, however, the vocals sound most like that of Jeff Walker and company in the Carcass camp! Their ability to wrote songs hasn't taken a nosedive, however, the instrumentation showcases their best works fast and slow! Their best tracks are ones like "Killing Art" (which absolutely shreds!) "Abducted" (check out the Slayer'esque riffs midway through the song) and "Point of no Return" though on the latter I didn't like the way the lead breaks were written. Towards the end of the disc, and this is where some may find fault with the band, things get rather slow and doomy, and the last two songs are acoustic and keyboard ONLY with Peter actually SINGING on "Drained." I found the disc a refreshing change towards their usual style, the elements are all there and their "When the Candle Fades" is slow and doomy in a Candlemass/My Dying Bride style. Some may find fault with the last few songs on the disc, but to my ears they were very interesting, this coming from a band that usually plays vicious, heavy music. Not many complaints here, it was a nice change of pace that showcases mature writing and direction.
MEMENTO MORI "La Danse Macabre" (Black Mark Records)
Gone is Messiah Marcolin from the ranks as vocalist, however Kristian Andren does quite a good job as the new throat man for this group. Instrumentation wise, it's very classical oriented, utilizing keyboards that emulate string sounds. The guitarist Nikkey Argento plays some amazingly intricate leads that showcase a diverse classical influence. The whole record, with a few exceptions, is amazingly well written. It's a sort of power metal with a melodious feel, though some tracks do boast some heavy, borderline thrash riffs, especially the intro leads on songs like "Lost Words" and a killer instrumental "La Danse Macabre." My complaint was with the last song "The Beggar's Walz," the vocals sound kinda hardcore-ish, though the instrumentation was very heavy, a bit TOO heavy for the style they laid down throughout the whole album. Trying to incorporate heaviness with a melodious atmosphere, they succeed in creating a timeless masterpiece that shows these men to be masters of their craft.
OVERKILL "The Killing Kind" (CMC International)
Yes, the home of many a great band that was dropped by one major label or another, CMC International picks up the new Overkill record. Overkill, in my honest opinion, is a band I lump into the same category with Testament; a band that had a great killer debut album but never really could do another great album since. And that's exactly how I feel about this new Overkill record. Sure I enjoyed songs like "Horrorscope" and "Feel The Fire," but the only songs off this record I really could get into were "Burn You Down/To Ashes" which has some outstanding lead breaks and riffs (though the singing style of 'Blitz' gets annoying as hell at times,) "Cold Hard Feet" which has cool bass lines, and "Feeding Frenzy," which is a killer instrumental. Their instrumentation writing ability is fine, and some songs are probably good mosh tunes for those who like Overkill, it's just that these songs didn't really sit well with me. And what's with "Morning After?" I can't see Overkill doing a ballad. I dunno, maybe it's just that it didn't really grow on me yet, even though I had to listen to it several times. What REALLY annoyed me was some of their strange techniques on songs like "Certifiable" and "Battle" with the wierd arrangement of vocal useage like screaming "Whooah!" and "Yeah!" several times within the song. I just really couldn't get into it much, damnit!
PAUL CHAIN "Alkaheist" (Godhead/Flying Records)
Paul Chain, a legend over in Italy (see the interview we did this issue - Ed) is just becoming known over here in the U.S. Responsible for his descent onto American shores is none other than Lee Dorrian, who does vocals on tracks like "Static End," "Voyage to Hell," and "Lake Without Water." The songs that Lee Dorrian sings on are VERY heavy, sounding a lot like Cathedral but his vocals are in more of a raw form than what you may be used to! The REAL beauty of this disc are the first four songs, featuring the most amazing and beautiful lead AND rhythm guitar work I've not heard in quite some time! Paul Chain's voice is astounding in how much emotion, feeling, and beauty he crafts into every note. Although his lyrics do not exist, according to the bio the language he uses is purely phonetic, one can tell he uses regular words from time to time, and that is my only complaint about this album, well, except for the track "Reality," which puts the instrumentation at too harsh a sound to match the beauty of Paul's vocals. The keyboard and synth arrangements, when they are present, are done rather well, and the riffs (those on the crunchier end) are well written and catchy, not to mention HEAVY! It's amazing how well most of these songs were written, the perfect marriage of beauty, the doom style of metal, and the overall heaviness! One of the albums to watch out for, hopefully Lee Dorrian will bring him over here so we can catch the full experience live!
PENITENT "Melancholia" (Cold Meat Industry)
This is a rather unusual release for a label that caters to mostly dark ambient and industrial music, with a touch of black metal nowadays. This is just absolutely beautiful, NO guitars whatsoever, however you will hear classical compositions made up of piano and string synth sounds. The lyrics are mostly in Norweigan, they are poems written by Beastus Rex and they praise the Norse forests and various attitudes of their subconscious. Wonderful arrangements on tracks like "I Det Uennelige" and "The Dance of Demons" showcase good songwriting skills, though on tracks like "Dance of Demons" and "Stille" the slightly electronically distorted vocals are a bit TOO menacing to go with such a beautiful playing style. "Det Sorte Tjern" ends the disc quite nicely, with a rather long piano intro with spoken word interspersed throughout, before a rather majestic ending. The lyrics, by the way, aren't sung, they are spoken. Very relaxing on most tracks, quite different an attitude than what most black metal bands are into, unless you've heard the new Burzum! A good disc for those late night hours.
POUNCE INTERNATIONAL "The Populace Oracle" (Silent/Furnace Records)
I see now why this couldn't be on any other 'industrial' record label... It's WAAAY too experimental! And in fact, only a few songs are TRUE industrial. Take the first track "Serve and Protect" for instance. HEAVY thrashy guitars inlaid to a killer industrial/techno landscape. It would make a GREAT dance floor hit, and is only one of a few songs with vocals. Many tracks here are more ambient pieces, utilizing, of all things, PIANOS! Yep, on tracks like "Violet Eyelashes," and "Analogica" there are such beautiful sonic landscapes that one would forget you're listening to an industrial band! They even use female vocals, like on "Velum Heart" they are soulful, groove oriented, while on a track like "High Altitude Nosebleed" they are operetta style and quite beautiful! My only complaint, besides the male vocalist sounding a little thin on the only other 'industrial' track "Wirethief," is the fact that they didn't do more heavier tunes. If you like Ministry or Nine Inch Nails, this isn't the band for you, however, if you are ready for a relaxing experience, one that is so utterly different, and one that gives you dark keyboard instrumentation that melds with beautiful, atmospheric ambience beyond belief, you have come to the right place! (And the Ministry/Nine Inch Nails fan will still enjoy "Serve and Protect" anyway!)
SKREW "Shadow of Doubt" (Metal Blade Records)
Back once again with their third full length release, the bio was correct when they stated that there are so many heavy riffs in this one! Instrumentation wise, Adam and company have written some very crunchy, thrashy riffs! Many songs like "Knotted Twig," (which could be a MTV or radio hit due to a slow and powerful sound) "Sam I Am," (one of the best cuts on the album) and "Black Eye." The only complaint is some of the weaker cuts on the disc, namely "Head," which sounds closer to their debut album 'Burning in Water...' than anything else. That and "Generator" are just too slow, with whispered vocals, lacking the serious crunch of their other numbers. There is much more emphasis on the guitar work than the keyboarding effects of their 'industrial' side. They have written some powerful tunes, several of them are slower in scope but retain that thrashy feeling. Many will find this a heavier work than their previous effort "Dusted," but not more so than their debut. Gone it seems are the days of ultra distorted vocals that were so predominant in their first album! Overall, they are still very powerful, but they lose that heaviness from time to time. Still, there's enough to keep you interested.
TROUBLE "Plastic Green Head" (Century Media Records)
FINALLY Trouble has a home! For you Trouble fans it was well worth the wait, lemme tell you! May I say that after hearing the cool 'Trouble' album released on American, this one blows most everything they've ever done away! Songs like "The Eye," "Opium Eater," and "Plastic Green Head" have such crunchy, fat leads and killer guitar work that the whole disc takes on a much heavier atmosphere! Even their respect and admiration for the Beatles is evident in their nice cover of an old Beatle classic "Tomorrow Never Knows." It's hard to pinpoint the best tracks, though special mention MUST go to "Requiem," for it's haunting and beautiful lead and instrumentation work. At times a few songs sound similar in style and vocal wise to their self titled release on American Recordings, but overall it's trippy, heavy as hell, and is definitely their best work yet! The only complaint I had was with "Another Day," obviously the weakest cut on here, with its over repetitive riffs and sound structure, but this disc is so damn good, you'll forget all about that! Vocal wise Eric is still able to maintain a good range, it's the classic Trouble you all know and love with a harder, heavier edge!
VARIOUS ARTISTS "Four Ways to Misery" (MMI Records)
From across the Atlantic comes 4 bands guaranteed to pulverize your brain into little tiny fragments. First up we have Caesarean Section, born out of the ashes of two former Inner Thought members. The vocals are Cannibal Corpse style but the playing is the thing! Out of all the bands on this comp. these guys are one of the most interesting to listen to! The dual vocals work quite well, in fact, most of what you will find with these 4 bands is dual vocals, insane grindcore riffs, and varied tempos and speeds. One of C. Section's tracks, "Dietary Discomfort," features slow jazzy riffs interspersed with speed, speed, speed! Nyctophobic sounds closer to Deicide in vocal approach, but they like to write in slower riffs and instrumentation alongside the grindcore approach so well known and loved. The coolest thing about this group is the constant vocal samples from various TV and radio shows, especially cool is the song "My Soul's Lament" with a sample about the Grindcore movement, and "Far Beyond Reality," taken from a Bob Larson Christian radio talk show about a guy who carves up his arm after listening to a Venom record! Winter of Discontent sounds like, don't be surprised, a more insane version of bands like Winter and Disembowelment, however the interesting change here is that the vocalist is a FEMALE! Backing her up on dual vox is a swirling, ultra low growler you have to hear to believe! There are many touches of gothic overtones in their few songs, which do at times tend to drag a little too long for the average fan of grindcore. Groinchurn, that South African unit I reviewed a few issues back, hasn't changed their style much, however their dual vocalist does screech a little more and on some songs it gets a little annoying. Overall, the bands presented here aren't doing much you haven't heard before, but Marcus did put together a well balanced diet of brutality you should be able to sink your teeth into quite easily, as at least the tempo and speeds of the song do not remain constant throughout! Bon appetit!
VARIOUS ARTISTS "Hellscape 2" (Furnace/Silent Records)
One of the most innovative and bizarre industrial compilations I've ever heard coms to us from a label better known for darkwave ambient projects. One word of warning before I proceed: Do NOT, and I repeat, do NOT under any circumstances attempt to use mind altering drugs while listening to the track "Caged Distortion 3" by Yarn of the Moonfruit. Why? Well, remember the "Revolution #9" track off the Beatles' White Album? Imagine that 20 times worse! Yes, this is no song in the traditional sense, just random samples and harsh electro noises thrown together guaranteed to warp any sane mind! To the rest of this disc, the tracks presented here do industrial music in quite a different fashion from what most of us are used to: some of it works and some don't! Martyr Colony has some interesting sounds, and Syntax Error has nice harsh, slow pounding electro drums and the overall atmosphere of their track "Zukunftstaume" is rather horror effected. ECM has very unorthodox instrumentation utilizing uptempo drum sounds mixed with metallic pipe-banging and warped laser shots! Abstinence has showcased some of the harshest distorted electro-industrial sounds and styles I've ever heard, on their track "Fractured" the first half of the 'song' is comprised of brain shredding metal string grinding noises inlaid with speaking samples. Before the rest of the song kicks in you hear a funky bass line interlaid with turntable scratching and vocal samples. Some songs have no lyrics at all, the worst of which is "Syntaktik Struktures" from Permutation Test: it's overrepetitive and annoyingly fast. A rather odd compilation, many will find that there is indeed a fresh breath of life being expelled on this disc; the vocals, by the way, are all overtly distorted, some in the harshest style imaginable!
X MARKS THE PEDWALK "Meshwork" (Zoth Ommog) :Special Advance Release:
Though this should be on Cleopatra in the next few months or so, Zoth Ommog was kind enough to send me an advance. Unfortunately, I can't say I was all that impressed. For those of you familiar with their harsher style of industrial on such albums and comps like 'Abbatoir,' 'The Killing Had Begun,' and 'Human Desolation,' you will be surprised greatly. "Meshwork.m.1" starts the disc off, a rather uninspiring ambient piece with dance style beats, moving onto "Monomaniac" which has very bizarre lyrics which are hard to understand. The singing voice presented here doesn't sound too well, and the high pitched robotic effected voice is rather annoying. "Free and Alive" is very interesting with a female vocalist; while she sounds very nice it is unusual to say the least. The female vocals are also presented in "Emotion," and while a beautiful song it is, one gets tired of hearing the same chant over and over for 7 minutes. Although on the plus side, it's a very unusual mix of atmospheric ambient instrumentation mixed with those heavy industrial style dance beats, but it's way too experimental for true XMTP fans. I did enjoy some of the more atmospheric parts, but the one that hit me the strangest was "Never Look Back," one rather weak attempt to mix the harsh vocals from XMTP we all know and love with more ambience.
FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY. Interview with Rhys at the Metropolis offices.
Going on ten years now, Front Line Assembly started out in 1986, and Rhys gives us the rundown briefly it's history: "Bill, the singer started the band after he quit Skinny Puppy. He started making tapes under the name Front Line Assembly, which is when I met up with him and started jamming on a couple of tracks. I didn't really join the band full time until about 1989, however in 1990 we made an album called Caustic Grip, then we released Tactical Neural Implant, which brought us over in 1992 to do a U.S. tour, after this we released Millenium and finally this year we have unleashed Hard Wired. There aere a few other albums that Bill did with a guy named Michael, who later left and joined Revolting Cocks." Into this long history, Rhys talks about the many side projects that both band members have been involved in, including Intermix and Noise Unit: "Noise Unit actually started out as Bill and this other guy from Belgium who was in The Klinik, back in 89/90, when that scene started to take off in Europe, they were one of the premier acts to tour, and we started touring with them overseas. Mark was his name, and after awhile he couldn't commit to Noise Unit anymore, so Bill and I started doing the last couple of records on our own; the last Noise Unit release was actually Front Line tracks that we didn't use on the album Millenium. We don't really concentrate on the other projects anymore, just in the last year it's been strictly Front Line Assembly. Delerium is rather different, more in the style of bands like Enigma or Deep Forest. Commercially, it did really well for us, better than Front Line in terms of sales, but we actually did another album and we're waiting on the vocals to be completed. Right now we're just going to concentrate on F.L.A. and getting them out more."
Fresh off their tour with Die Krupps, they have done quite a bit of touring and have more plans in the works: "We're getting ready to do a European tour and then we come back to the States, after which we go BACK to Europe and do some festivals, one show overseas we're doing is a tour with Motorhead and Type O Negative. Everything's so crossed over now, and in Europe we were drawing people from the metal scene and they'd come check it out because they were more open minded. I always thought of everything as aggressive music whether it's techno, metal, or industrial!"
Onto the new album Hard Wired, which Rhys admits is one of the best albums they've ever written. I was rather intrigued by the fact that the guitars which rather dominated their previous album Millenium are kept to a minimum in this new effort, and Rhys explains a little about the Front Line sound: "Basically, it's just a sound, and to me Millenium was a total Front Line record because of the structure of the sound and the way it was written. The guitars were all sample loops, very mechanical, and a lot of industrial heads think that's like a rock record, which it isn't at all! We wrote a bunch of songs after Tactical Neural Implant, and we just didn't think they were aggressive enough, they were kinda getting more Euro-trancey, synth poppish style. I guess they sounded softer and more melodic and we weren't pleased with this because F.L.A. has always been aggressive, in your face and hard edged. Those are actually the songs on that Noise Unit record. Actually, the songs without the guitars we kept on Millenium, and when we were signed to Roadrunner I started listening to a lot of metal, I thought utilizing some metal guitars would be a good idea to add a fresh perspective to our music, it would make it exciting for us to make a new, different record without repeating ourselves. We didn't think it was a compromise for us, and actually on Hard Wired the guitars are played by our friend Davin, we integrated it better. On Millenium, the guitars were all sampled and we had to clear them with the bands first, it made it much easier. We pulled riffs from Pantera, Sepultura, Metallica wouldn't give us clearance and made us wait for like four months, songs like 'Millenium' have samples from Fear Factory and Pantera. Fear Factory thought it was cool, and we have worked with them quite a bit, I did all the keyboards on their last album. We've hung out with the guys quite a bit."
For those who are a bit confused with all the changes Front Line has made from label to label, Rhys tries to simplify things for us: "The thing with all the American labels is it's all licensing. We've never actually been signed to an American label, especially with us being from Canada and all. That's why over here the labels will change alot because we have different licensing deals. We're actually signed to a small German label called Off-Beat, and they've done a great job for us overseas, setting up tours and everything." So how hard is it being managed by different labels? "Not hard at all!" Rhys jokes, "Especially with telephones and fax machines! The main thing with Roadrunner was that they had bigger bands to cater to, we didn't get much priority, and we didn't even have a manager so we relied on the label to do a lot of the management stuff and they weren't really down with that. We both agreed that Roadrunner should let us go, and actually I say small label, but we went to Off-Beat, which is huge for us, they totally do everything for us, and they take care of a lot of stuff for us. We had such a good time, and we did a live video and live CD in Germany that we will release this summer. It was really great, it was at a club called the Kraftwerk, where about 1,500 people showed up! I'm glad they filmed the show as it was nuts! For us that's a really good crowd. We've been doing a lot of shows like that in Germany, and the long absence (we hadn't been there before since 1990) really made the show more special. This live project should be going through Metropolis Records, and the video is also going to have our videos on it and some interviews. The live footage will be cut with a lot of other stuff so it won't seem boring to some people. A lot of people haven't seen our videos, and we have released a single 'Plasticity' and also a remix by a band called Haujobb, they did a really cool remix of this song."
Mentioning other infleunces, Rhys tells about some other bands he's been listening to: "Death metal for me is sorta drying out, but overseas I have been to see Paradise Lost, they're really cool and huge overseas! I also like Type O Negative and Tiamat as well. I'm pretty open minded myself, I listen to a lot of different things and I played with Nailbomb at the Dynamo Fest. They called me up to play that one show and I went to Phoenix and rehearsed, after that we flew to Holland and did the show, which was just awesome! Fear Factory, Type O Negative, Biohazard, Paradise Lost, Dog Eat Dog and a few others played, we played as well but we weren't really that industrial live. We had the bass player from Neurosis on bass, and Igor from Sepultura played on drums, and it rocked! Over 120,000 people got into what we were doing. Tiamat and My Dying Bride played the night before our set at about 3 in the morning. We did remixes for Die Krupps and they did some for us as well, and that will be coming out in an E.P. sometime this year." With a variety of projects, they are one of the forerunners of the industrial movement, so be on the lookout for their new Delerium project, and watch out for their other albums popping up on various labels.
PAUL CHAIN. Interview with Fabrice Francese at the U.S. office of Godhead Records.
Paul Chain, a legendary cult figure in the Italian metal scene, has been involved the music scene for many years. Fabrice tells a bit about his involvement with Paul Chain over the years: "I've known Paul for about ten years now, but we've never really worked together until this album, as I've been in England living. At the moment I'm very pleased with the result of the album, and am glad to be working with him. As far as my involvement in the record, basically I wrote my own arrangements for bass parts on the album and that's about it. Paul is basically a philosopher of different times, he should have been born in a different time period because of his ideas. He struggles to keep his identity and integrity together in this crazy world we live in. A true artist, he's been doing musical projects for quite some time, since about 1977, and he is finally making a statement here in the States, which broke for him in the last 5 years. It's great to finally see him make it after working so long and hard." Many don't realize that he was also involved in many other projects, like Death S.S. and Paul Chain's Violet Theater, which Fabrice expands upon a bit: "He has had success all over the world without a lot of distribution. 7 years ago, I was in London and tried to get his works around so people could hear it. Death S.S. had nothing to do with religion or politics; despite the name, it was just a shocking title for him to use at the time for a heavy rock band that started in '75. They were doing something very shocking and very different for the whole Italian music scene, and that's why they ran into lots of problems getting the record out. Lots of people didn't want to know about it, they utilized makeup, horror and lots of different ideas and effects. Paul has talked about doing a reunion with the original members of his first band, putting out singles and possibly touring." As of now, most of the Death S.S. and solo stuff is only available on import, due to the fact that Paul has never really been signed to any label, and most of the record deals were verbal agreements anyway.
It is very evident that Lee Dorrian has been doing lots of work with Paul Chain, and I asked about the possibility of a tour here in the States to expose Paul Chain to a wider audience: "Well, the reaction has been great for the album, unfortunately it IS a matter of money. We are getting good efforts from the label, and though we're talking about scheduling and free time on maybe Cathedral's part, everything is still open, right now nothing is confirmed. I think for doom metal in particular it would be a unique opportunity for fans who have never been exposed to this style of music."
Before we wrap things up this issue, it is interesting to hear from Fabrice about his extensive musical background: "I have played with a variety of bands in Italy, and had my own project working. I stopped work on these to join a band called Trininga, which featured Ray Felix, the original drummer from New Wave of British Heavy Metal band Budgie (who has had a slight influence on Metallica, per their cover of "Crash Course in Brain Surgery." - Ed.) After that I left Italy and moved to Wales, then I played with Nik Turner from Hawkwind while he was doing his Space Ritual tour. I toured England with Nik for awhile, I never made it over to the States for that leg of the tour though. At some point Ray and I were talking to Paul Chain about doing a project, but when it came down to a monetary aspect it just wasn't possible, even though Paul and I are huge Budgie fans. I had even played some African music with performers, after that I formed my own band which was called Treason, we did one album, but the label we were on just went and spent our money on someone else, and it never came out, but we had a good following and did some shows. Hopefully we can release it someday, but it was hard for us to get things going with that, because at the time we were trying to keep a true Sabbath sound, mixing in that spirit of N.W.O.B.H.M., and everyone else was into thrash metal." Thrash or not, I'm sure that Treason will be brought back to life through Flying Records, and the rest of you should keep up with what is coming out on Flying as well, as Lee Dorrian and company have more surprises for you in the coming months!
PITCH SHIFTER. Interview with Mark Clayden.
After a rather long delay, due to the band's equipment getting stolen TWICE, Pitch Shifter is back with a new album in "Infotainment." Which musically is quite different from other albums, as Mark explains: "This is a natural progression for us. It's really nice to play those three chord monoriffic songs that are so mind crushing, but it's terribly limiting. After a while you reach a point where you say 'I can't do any more with those three chords now' and I don't really listen to much music that sounds like us, I'm into more techno, tribal, jungle, ambient and old punk and hardcore, and that's what we decided to incorporate into the new album. It's a big musical experiment, every Pitch Shifter record is a bit different from the last one, and this is the one I like the most out of all the ones we've done, which is a pretty high recommendation from me, as I'm usually very severe. In general, the album cuts more of a groove musically. We haven't shied away from the old sound, but we have put everything in there! The songs are still about all the things that piss me off. One of the things going on with me, is I haven't eaten meat in about ten years. I gathered all the information I could about this and decided I could live better as a vegetarian. Now it's rather amusing that here in England this mad cow disease is running rampant, it is something that humans can catch from cows, and the way it happened was that the farming industry was allowed to regulate itself a few years ago, so it mixes a part of cow feed with sheep carcasses. The cows don't eat sheep, so you have perverted the food chain. You pervert the food chain by making a vegetarian an omnivore. Onto the musical aspect of things, I see music as an opportunity to exchange ideas and see if anyone has the same ideas or same questions as myself, to raise awareness. There's a lot less statement on this album. I believe that people have had their imagination stripped. Like, you can go to Disney World, or watch Terminator II on television, which doesn't take much imagination. I don't want to have to pay to experience Walt Disney's insights, and people should be able to have imagination to organize mass rallies or to bypass the system so that you don't have to pay all the money, or even make your own art very cheaply." On the subject of the Internet, which both Pitch Shifter members and I agree that it is the most powerful tool we have today, Mark feels very strongly about the way it is being utilized: "I don't want the Internet to be some crappy, trendy art-core 'elite' thing, like 'Hey, I'm having a lunch party, meet me at the Internet cafe.' You have this massive power with computing at your fingertips. I have friends who are hackers, they can do such insane things! On the back of our CD is our email address, so anyone who knows of some hackers that want to work for Pitch Shifter, let us know! I have a few hackers who are working for us now, but I don't think they're good enough. Anonymity will definitely be preserved, so there's no worries there!"
Tour wise, they have to come back to the States, they just have to! So, I asked Mark about the touring schedule, which he sums up as "Starting May 9th, we are doing a full tour of Europe for about 6 weeks and Above All has their very first album out on Roadrunner. Then we come to the States and do a tour, but it's gonna be a bit different this time around. Maybe Neurosis will go out with us, because basically, I'm sick of doing these big 'rock star' style tours, where the big rock band charges loads of money for their T-shirts, and you have to charge a lot for your stuff, and the door charge is too much, it's embarrasing to me, I want to play 300-500 size sweaty halls where no-one can escape and we come on, we play, and then we leave. We will be able to interact with people, I don't want any stadium crap." Though the show they did with Carcass was a good show, (for Pitch Shifter, I could care less about Carcass) I wondered if they would be bringing back the video screens they used on stage: "I don't know if we're gonna do that this tour, simply because we like to experiment all the time, we've been experimenting with throwing stuff into the crowd and singing from the crowd level. We just try to do mad stuff, and I want to break down those barriers between crowd and performer, I want to say there is no teacher/pupil thing, there's no artist/audience concept, there's no stage there's just a space. This album hopefully will be a stepping stone for people with experimental tastes to check out some jungle, techno and hip-hop. People who are open minded are really interesting to me; We've played with a lot of good bands who are open minded and diverse, like Girls Against Boys, Neurosis, Fugazi, and one of the best examples, we played with a band called Sick Of It All, and though they're not the same style of music as us, we did a couple of shows with them and they stood at the side of the stage and watched us play and they were like, 'Good show, man!' I like anything that's experimental, I really like the Beatles' White Album track 'Revolution Number 9' and also Revolver. I like extreme ambient music, some of the Cold Meat stuff is good, but some stuff is like 90 percent cheese and 10 percent quality. I am really getting into a band called Art Core, they do ambient jungle music, it's like the only ambient jungle I've ever heard." I was a little concerned with just how they would utilize their new tribal sounds on stage with their touring itinerary, and the process, according to Mark, goes something like this: "With Dean, the percussionist, we have the sample drums and then he plays his tribal stuff over the top. So he's a stand up drummer, and he overlays the core sounds of the tribal drums with his drumming patterns. It usually ends up being different each time we play out, and we all change various aspects of our instrumentation; I change the intonation of my vocals, the guitar player changes certain riffs, etc. You know, every time we play an old song live, we remix it. So, even though we're playing songs off of 'Deconstruction' and older albums, we remix it at home since we use samplers. We're probably one of very few bands that actually play our own remixes." The new album also has a few extra tracks, which are 'stolen,' from various artists, including a few dead ones! What really surprised me was how the whole copyrighting process takes on a different form overseas, and as Mark was quick to point out, there were things about copyright laws overseas that even I was not aware of: "In Japan and Italy, there are really no serious copyright laws (as pertains to the useage of samples - Ed.) but in the rest of Europe, technically, you can only be sued for sampling something that contains melody. That's why you hear a lot of people that sample John Bonham, you know, that whole drum bit from the song 'When The Levee Breaks.' There's no melody in drums basically, according to the laws as they exist overseas." While I find ot very amusing that drums are said to be devoid of melody, I had to point out the fact that one industrial group Industrial Heads from Norway (who we interviewed a few issues back) told us that because of the lengthy and expensive process of prosecuting overseas and the whole hassle, they felt pretty safe in their ongoing sample wars. Mark points out that "The whole thing really is stupid. I consider it an honor if someone's prepared to incorporate a bit of your work into theirs and bring it over to a whole new genre." I tend to liken the whole thing to free publicity and exposure! In wrapping up, I'll let Mark carry us out: "Go see us on tour, get the album, steal the samples, make your own music and open your mind, Peace from Pitch Shifter!"
NOTEWORTHY ITEMS:
Black Mark Records has new records due out by Seance, Necrophobic, and Fleshcrawl due out by summer, and Bathory's "Blood Upon The Ice" should be out around May. Also, they plan on sending Cemetary on tour through the States sometime in August, no dates confirmed as of yet. Keep watching the new Canadian office division of Black Mark, as they have a few surprises planned for the rest of the year.
Slayer's new record "Undisputed Attitude" is set for a release date of May 28th and features a host of punk covers, by such legendary artists as Verbal Abuse, T.S.O.L., Minor Threat, D.R.I., and Dr. Know, plus two brand new Slayer songs presented in a punk style. Slayer was very much influenced by old school punk, and hopefully fans are looking forward to it. Also Paul Bostaph is gone from the ranks of this mighty machine, they have recruited John Dette, whose work with Testament and Evil Dead beat out Gene Hoglan, Glen Evans from Nuclear Assault, and Jean Mooney (ex-Acrophet/Killing Culture)
Speaking of Dr. Know, a longtime favorite punk band of mine, Kyle Toucher is involved in a new project that is very innovative! Keyboard-stabbers tuning in to the alt.rock-n-roll.metal.death newsgroup may know already what this band is called, though we won't divulge any info right now, we will surprise ya with it probably next issue!
In other 'new project' news, Dismember vocalist Matti Karki and Entombed axeman Uffe Cederlund are playing together under the moniker of Slaughter Ceremony, a unit who has roots in early 80's death metal. Carcass guitarist Bill Steer is said to have his own project going, which is rumoured to be a 70's style rock band, and the greatest news to me of all: Messiah Marcolin, formerly of the late great Candlemass and also having done vocal work with Memento Mori and Stillborn, fronts a group known as Colossus which will record an album on Dynamite Productions. For those unfamiliar, Dynamite is the record label run by King Diamond/Mercyful Fate manager Ole Bang. Dynamite Productions will also put out new albums by two side projects of Mercyful Fate/King Diamond members: Hank Shermann's 70's rock style project Gutrix, and Andy Larocque's new effort under the band name of Illwill. Also worth mention is Serpent, a Stockholm based group featuring Therion members Piotr Wawrzeniuk and Lars Rosenberg. They have signed with Nuclear Blast Records over in Germany (on their subdivision label Radiation Records) and hopefully will have an album out by the time you read this. The style of music they incorporate may surprise you to a degree: a rather St. Vitus/Obsessed style of playing.
Godhead Records is moving right along this summer, and they have signed another Swiss act by the name of Sludge. A 4 track mini CD from them entitled "Sweet Daisy" will be released in May, and their sound is very unique - a Doors style vocals with gothic undertones reminiscent of Bauhaus, and references to Alice in Chains, Cathedral and The Young Gods! Also, Dark Passages II (Lee Dorrian's Rise Above Records compilation) will be released shortly afterward, featuring tracks from Eye Hate God, Acrimony, Mourn, Electric Wizard, Orange Goblin, Paul Chain, Pentagram, Trouble, Down, Cathedral and Solstice. In June we will get to hear more bands from the Rise Above label, by way of new records from Orange Goblin and Electric Wizard. June will also see a new live recording of punk/hardcore legends Raw Power. And finally, autumn will see new efforts from Acrimony, Expulsion, Nero Circus and Sadness.
REUNION TIME! Yes, those unsubstantiated rumours are true! The Misfits are planning on rejoining, unfortunately without Glenn Danzig. As reported in Metal Maniacs this past issue, Jerry, Doyle and company have decided to record some new material, in addition to playing some surprise dates with Type O Negative late last year. Doing extensive rehearsals and playing a few shows, there is definitely plans for more from this newly revamped lineup, featuring new vocalist Mike Graves from New Jersey, who it has been told sounds strangely like Glenn during his early days. As to WHY Glenn wouldn't accept the position as frontman for the group, no one knows, though it's obvious that his massive ego gets in the way of something that is LONG overdue. I have just two words for the overactive machismo of one poseur Glenn Danzig: SCREW YOU!! When it comes to your fans, obviously they come a distant second to your 'physique.' (I'll jump down off the soapbox now. - Ed.)
While on the subject of reunions, by now I'm sure everyone has heard about the group Kiss donning the makeup and coming back for more. With a new Unplugged album out and a few dates played in Florida selling out in sheer minutes, it looks like 96 is the year for reunions! With the Sex Pistols also making a comeback, it remians to be seen if other bands will jump on the 'hey, there's money to be made' or if they're just doing it because they're bored with holding down a regular job. Either way, the fans have more to look forward to in the coming months.
Metal Blade has quite a busy release schedule lined up for the summer, here are some release dates: Cannibal Corpse "Vile" May 21st, Decoryah's newest effort slated for June 4th, Wardog's "Scorched Earth" (a powerful thrash unit) will hit on June 18th, July 2nd we will see Ancient's "The Cainian Chronicle" (a good black metal band) August 20th will see a new album from Mercyful Fate entitled "Into the Unknown," Desultory returns to our shores on September 10th with "Swallow the Snake," King Diamond will unveil "The Graveyard" on September 24th, and Guitars that Rule The World Volume II will hit stores October 8th and will feature Billy Sheenen from Mr. Big, Billy Corrigan from Smashing Pumpkins, Kim Chayle from Soundgarden and Jack Owen from Cannibal Corpse!
Fresh off their tour with Kreator (a series of dates I was VERY disappointed in fan wise, see the editorial notations section for details) Skrew will embark on a tour in July with label mates Thought Industry and Pitch Shifter! Cannibal Corpse, with new vox shredder George from Monstrosity, will start their US tour after the summer.
For those not in the know, Milwaulkee Metal Fest X will be held July 26th and 27th and will feature over 35 bands, including the likes of Gwar, The Misfits, Pitch Shifter, Vital remains, Sadistic Intent, Machine Head, Brutality, Master, Monstrosity, Acheron, Ancient, Marilyn Manson, Anthrax, Carnivore (which I find surprising, since the band is now known as Type O Negative,) Testament, Overkill, Malevolent Creations, and more! Updates will be given on the USENET newsgroups, or contact the following email address for more details:
MHuntPub@aol.com (he is updating weekly).
On the Silent Records front, after the near dissolution of their east coast office, there are several new releases planned for the summer and beyond. Makyo will release "Rhasa Brava" in June, and this record will also feature a Bill Laswell remix on it. For those not in the know, Bill has done work with Godflesh and John Zorn. Phauss will release an album which the title is still to be announced this summer. They have been described as a very experimental, VERY dark and harsh ambient group. Finally, there is a Various Artists compilation album to be released in the fall entitled "Land of Baboon" which features bands from the New York area doing darkwave style hip-hop! Bands to be featured include Spectre (similar to Scorn with some dark trip-hop,) Dr. Israel (who has done work with the group Techo Animal,) and a couple of other acts.
Century Media has quite a bit of surprises planned for your listening pleasure as well, from some top acts. Coming your way in July are new releases from Nevermore, entitled "In Memory" and released as a 5 song digipack, and Iced Earth's "The Dark Saga." Both are scheduled for release July 23rd. June 4th will see a release from Turmoil, described as a cross between straight edge and Metallica, their album is entitled "From Bleeding Hands." On the 18th of June Madball will re-release "Ball of Destruction" with some bonus tracks. Finally, the kings of overseas death metal Morgoth will enter the studio in June to record their as yet untitled fourth full length album, which they hope to have ready by November.
In addition to new records by Out Out and Swamp Terrorists, Metropolis Records will have some new releases out, guess when, this summer! Crocodile Shop will unveil "Beneath" between late June/early July, Haujobb will have a single available with a few remixes on it, and Evil's Toy, a strong gothic/electro combination, will release "Morbid Mind" also in late summer. Fall releases will include new records by Numb and Mentallo & The Fixer.
Many of you may know that Carcass will finally release "Swan Song," which should be out by the time you read this, however, label executives at Earache have informed me that there will be one final Carcass record after Swan Song, with a tenative release date of September 10th. This final eulogy of the death/grindcore unit will feature many unreleased tracks that have never before been available until now. Also out on Earache, all the Columbia efforts (including the Entombed, Napalm Death, and Carcass albums) will be totally remastered and reworked with new artwork and graphics and even bonus tracks! This will occur in September, and Cathedral will unveil their brand new studio effort which is still to be announced near the end of the year. Also, the new Godflesh record will appear around August 20th, along with new discs from Scorn, Johnny Violent (responsible for Ultraviolence,) and Massacre. And it is confirmed, Pitch Shifter WILL be hitting the road with Bloodlet and Neurosis, that tour kicks off August 9th!
CONTACT ADS AND ADDRESSES:
Griffin Music is an independent label with a catalog comprised of established '70s and '80s artists previously unavailable domestically in the U.S. As The Official U.S. Hawkwind Label, Griffin carries an extensive Hawkwind collection, including: "Astounding Sounds," "Quark Strangeness and Charm," "25 Years On Box Set," ... The BBC Radio One Live In Concert series includes: Jethro Tull, Robin Trower, Selector & The Specials, Stiff Little Fingers, Thin Lizzy, XTC... Griffin also features artists Rick Wakeman & Wishbone Ash.
EDITORIAL NOTATIONS:
The summer is soon to be upon us and I must admit the touring situation has improved a bit. It was nice to see the newly revamped Iron Maiden lineup looking rather strong at a showing in Atlanta, Georgia last month. While new vocalist Blaze Bayley is no Bruce Dickinson, he sounded similar to the man we all have grown up with for years. His performance as frontman was very refreshing, and there was only a couple of songs that he couldn't quite pull off. Other than that, new Iron Maiden sounds good! On the other end of the spectrum, I am a little disappointed by Rob Zombie's vocal performance at the recent White Zombie show we had in February. His vocals just don't seem to hold well anymore, their stage show is still very impressive, but this journalist still wonders if his voice isn't deteriorating. Either that or he doesn't pace himself, as he always seems out of breath missing delivery on words altogether. It seems he also had the same problem at the Atlanta show, however I don't know if I bought his line about being sick, since he said the same thing when he came down here. I really appreciated Fear Factory's appearance (touring with Iron Maiden was a strange bill) as quite brutal and melodic at the same time, the pit activity at this particular billing was fierce and everyone who was there was impressed by their sound and delivery.
Hopefully there will be a radio show in Savannah hosted by yours truly, though things are moving a bit slower than I'd like. There will be two shows planned, one will be an all-metal show and the other will feature the hardest and heaviest (not to mention UNDERGROUND, IE. no Nine Inch Nails or anything else already getting radio play on some of the other stations!) in techno and industrial music. More info on that as it becomes available. This is something that Savannah has been needing for quite some time now.
I am VERY upset at the recent turn of events with the Skrew/Kreator tour that I was a party to in Atlanta! I guess it was the choice of venue, the Wreck Room, which is rather small compared to places like Masquerades and the International Ballroom, but the turnout was VERY small! And no moshing hardly at all! Come on guys, this is KREATOR we're talking about here, the thrash gods of the 80's! And Skrew? These guys are totally kick ass! It's a shame when a great billing like that receives almost no notice, however at least the people that DID show up seemed to appreciate what Kreator has done for the whole metal scene in general. I guess Kreator has been away too long, still there should have been a better attendance, if for nothing else than for respect for one of the longest running early thrash bands in existence. And I have to say it's now no real wonder why there has been a lack of good shows in Atlanta as of late.
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