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So what have we got here? Three new favorites: two recently discovered and one that’s finally grown on me. Something new, something kind of new, and something really old. Two “temples” and some South American madness. Varying shades of blasphemy. Loud, ugly, and evil as fuck. Check ‘em out.
Welcome to 2012! No matter if you’re inclined to believe the predictions of a certain ancient civilization or subscribe the nonsensical ravings of yet another evangelical Christian idiot (or are just, like, paying attention to the amount of holy-shit-we’re-fucked that’s been going around), all signs seem to point pretty clearly towards Armageddon. Maybe fire won’t rain down from the sky at midnight on the dot next December 31st, but the end times are nearing. As for every major event, you need a soundtrack, right? Something to drown out the screams of the damned, and distract you from the radiation sickness slowly spreading through your bloodstream. As some of you may remember, I’m a little nuclear-obsessed (and so are lots of your favorite bands), so don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.
Here are a few of my favorite ditties for celebrating the end of the world as we know it…and whatever comes next. Unsurprisingly, war metal does a damn good job of chronicling the horror, but crust, grind, and black metal take their turn doing the toxic waltz, too. Apocalypse now. Click to read more…
Pallbearer
Sorrow and Extinction
Label – Profound Lore
Release date – February 21, 2012
There are a few albums slated for release this year that I have been actively salivating over (Pilgrim’s Misery Wizard, that new full-length that Revenge have been teasing us with for what seems like ages, Drudkh’s new one, and the new Ride For Revenge LP that technically came out in 2011 but hasn’t shown up in my mailbox yet, so I’m counting it), but none quite so much as this one. Pallbearer are one hell of a special band, as many of us already knew and even more have recently discovered. On the strength of a simple three-song demo, this Arkansas collective took the world of doom by storm, racking up praise from fans and media goons alike. Their cover of Billie Holiday’s “Gloomy Sunday” (itself an interpretation of Hungarian composer Rezso Seress’ suicide song) was one of the most desolate things I’d ever heard this side of Warning, and the other pair of songs showed a startling amount of maturity and untouchable quality; this demo sounded better than 90% of proper albums released in 2010. Fans of the cleaner, more traditional elements of the doomed pantheon caught on quick, and the buzz around Pallbearer grew louder. Sporadic live gigs and rumors of recording kept anticipation high, until finally, it was announced that their debut offering would come courtesy of Profound Lore — and then, the wait began. Luckily, one of the perks of this whole music writing game is getting to listen to records early (before they leak, even) which is why I only had to endure a few agonizing months of impatience before finding a download link to this creation in my email inbox… and brother, it was worth the wait.
Okay, so I’m not a punk, and never claimed to be. My punk cred is spotty at best (though I do have sweet Amebix neck tattoos!), and my knowledge is far from encyclopedic. However, I do love the fuck out of crust punk, d-beat, fastcore, powerviolence, 80’s hardcore, and grindcore, so you’re going to have to deal with me writing about it within the context of this series, because a) there are tons and tons of badass female musicians within those scenes, and b) duh, this shit rules! Of course, lumping all those disparate genres together is a little lazy on my part, but you’ve gotta admit that punk and grind go together like peanut butter and chocolate (or whips and chains).
Our pals at Invisible Oranges just posted “Contrary Pulse,” a track off the upcoming Leviathan album, and boy, is it creepy. It’s not like Wrest (Jef Whitehead) has ever been much for kittens and rainbows (after all, this is the man that brought you such delightful USBM gems as “Fucking Your Ghost in Chains of Ice” and “Requiem for a Turd World”), but with this, his hitherto unexpected new effort, he’s really upped the ante. True Traitor, True Whore (Profound Lore) is genuinely nasty. You’ll feel dirty listening to it, and not in a sexy way.
I suppose “occult rock” is a handy enough term for it, anyway; it’s easier than stringing together “70’s-influenced psychedelic doom rock” to describe the aural spells these wicked women weave. The Devil is bigger than ever (bigger than the Beatles!) and the chorus of converts singing his praises has grown louder with every Ghost album downloaded or pig’s blood-smeared Impiety shirt sold. Rock’n’roll has always been the Devil’s music. Bluesmen gave it its desolate soul, but in the late 60’s, Coven draped it in black velvet, lit the candles, and sacrificed it, fanning the flames straight back down to Lucifer. In the ensuing decades since Jinx Dawson and her merry men first married black magic with heavy psych, plenty more women have ventured down the left-hand path. The following bands aren’t truly metal, but they flirt with enough occult references and genre staples to warrant a free pass. Any band/musician who can tour with Electric Wizard, call half of Watain their BFFS, rock the stage at Roadburn (or, you know, essentially introduce the concept of Satanism to American rock music way before even Black Sabbath or Pentagram were beckoning us forward) the way they have already boasts enough cred to put half the crowd at MDF to shame.
So here you have it, a handful of my favorite feminine purveyors of occult rock – most of them are vocalists, but a couple of them play other instruments as well. I definitely want to hear from you guys on this one, as this particular sound occupies a place very near to my metal heart. The thought of including Chelsea Wolfe and Zola Jesus (recent discoveries that I am unabashedly loving) crossed my mind but they seem a too close to the gothy end of the spectrum to warrant inclusion (good call/bad call? Wolfe’s Burzum cover was pretty neat).
Ahhh, it’s that time of year again. The now infamous Hottest Chicks in Metal — er, Hard Rock – issue has hit the stands, and legions of people who would otherwise be hard-pressed to remember the last time they even read an issue of Revolver are up in arms over its sexist, dehumanizing, and overall mad weak (Evanescence? Really?) content. In all the uproar, judgements, and debate about womens’ place within the world of heavy metal, though, it seems like a lot of people have forgotten the most important point: the women who are actually out there in the trenches laying down riffs, holding down the low end, wrangling the mic, and hailing Satan. In the interest of steering the conversation back towards the actual music, my next few posts are going to highlight some of the baddest bitches in the game — in doom, in black metal, in death metal, in occult rock, in grind, etc. There are so many crucial female bands and musicians who have made indelible marks upon this genre that it’d take a lot more than the sliver of time your attentions spans allow for me to write about ‘em all, so here are just a few of my favorites. This week, it’s all about the heavy…
A headline like “Tori Amos Issues Challenge to Metal Bands” is hard to ignore. So I went over to Spinner.com to read this interview with Ms Amos, and this is what she had to say:
“Well, look, sometimes you don’t know how music affects people. I embrace that because I don’t think that just because I talk about emotional stuff that it’s not mother—er stuff. I’ll stand next to the hardest f—ing heavy metal band on any stage in the world and take them down, alone, by myself. Gauntlet laid down, see who steps up. See who steps up! I’ll take them down at 48. And they know I will. Because emotion has power that the metal guys know is just you can’t touch it. Insanity can’t touch the soul. It’s going to win every f—ing time.”
Before we get too riled up, it’d be smart to remember that homegirl has a new album to promote, and will spout any number of ridiculous soundbites to sell some plastic. Also, the offending paragraph showed up at the end of the interview, and feels like an offhand remark. Metal news sites went apeshit over it, though, so here we are. I sincerely doubt that Ms. Amos really intends to stand onstage next to Iron Maiden (or Manowar!) and “blow them off the stage.” Unless she’s got about sixteen Orange amps to blast her whispery, piano-driven poem-songs through and 4/5 of Vader providing backup, she ain’t gonna have much luck.
(I am well aware that that is a shit title, but I’ve been hanging out with my grandma all day and she’s really excited about the Emmys, so it’s the best I could dredge up with visions of Mad Men buzzing through my skull. Also, I’m still wicked jet-lagged, so suck it).
RVA’s weed-obsessed death metallers Cannabis Corpse have just returned home from a triumphant month-long tour that took the four of them, our intrepid driver Michal, and yours truly on a whiskey-soaked, high-spirited adventure through Europe, the UK, and Russia. I started writing a full-on tour diary early on (check out the first installment here) but quickly realized that it was going to be nearly impossible to find the time or appropriate technological accoutrements to continue; the WiFi situation got pretty dire, and honestly, it gets boring after awhile to read a laundry list of “Italy ruled! France ruled! Austria ruled!” etc. I believe we did 28 dates total (give or take a few – I may still be hungover from London) and every show was a good one; some were amazing, others were more low-key, but it was a fantastic experience overall. There were tons of highlights – swimming in the Mediterranean, finding an old Russian tank and walking through a lit-up Red Square at night, drinking craft beer on a mountaintop in Austria, watching Mayhem from the side of the stage at a French festival, the mind-blowing food in Italy, absinthe lemonade in the Czech Republic, seeing old friends and reuniting with old ones, and partying in about four different time zones, to say the least. Essentially, this tour RULED, and there are now a few hundred heshers stalking the streets of Vienna, London, Moscow, Helsinki, and tons of other places sporting Cannabis Corpse shirts, so mission accomplished there!
One of the coolest things about this trip was being able to meet and hang out with metalheads from all over Europe and bond over a mutual love of brutality, blastbeats, and bongs. Of the many bands that shared the stage with the ‘Corpse, there were a certain handful that really stood out and made an impression on me, either through sheer musical might or by virtue of the awesomeness of the members themselves. There were plenty of utterly crap bands too, of course, but the odds were weighed heavily in the favor of high-calibre heavy metal. My perch behind the merch table generally afforded me the best seat in the house, and the following five bands were the ones that made me appreciate it most!
Richmond, VA stoners ov death Cannabis Corpse are currently burning their way through the European continent, with planned raids on Russia and the UK coming up quick, and yours truly is along for the ride to hustle merch and document the madness. Full disclosure: I work with the band and their label, but I’m doing this tour diary not as a sneaky promotional trick, but because I’m in fucking Europe with a bunch of awesome death metal dudes and wanted to write about the experience. So here goes.
Nine times out of ten, when faced with the option to listen to a band I enjoy’s brand-spankin’ new album or to their shitty old demos from six years ago, I’ll go with the latter. Don’t get me wrong — metal in 2011 is a many-headed, constantly evolving beast whose progress is fascinating to observe; I’m into tons of newer bands, and love discovering killer new releases. However, at the end of the day, when I’ve finally got a few minutes to myself, I’m going to be listening to Necros Christos’ Black Mass Desecration demo from 2003 or my battered old Celtic Frost records, not whatever new jam is buzzing its way through the blogosphere that week (no matter how awesome it may prove itself to be). There’s no place like home.
I also spent a helluva lot of time listening to my friends’/boyfriend’s bands, so color me a bit biased (though honestly, what writer isn’t?).
These basic truths about my listening habits make compiling year-end lists an absolute shitshow, so I suppose Axl’s asking me to haul one out mid-year will serve as a good trial run for the inevitable horrors ahead.
That being said, here are the albums I’ve been listening to the most. I’ve already written about a few of them, so no big surprises await. Read ‘em and weep.
photo by Maciej Mutwil
Chris Reifert is a man who likes to work slowly. His doom-drenched, depraved death metallic music is murderously slow. The long, long, long-awaited reunion of his band Autopsy took over a decade. Their ensuing brand-new full-length album, Macabre Eternal, materialized tantalizingly slowly.
He apparently also takes his damn time when it comes to answering interviews from keyboard jockeys like yours truly. His answers were worth the wait, though – and how could I possibly be irked at the man behind “Charred Remains?”
Check it out:
There are many awesome things about touring. You get to see new places, make new friends, hang with old ones, get free booze (sometimes), develop sweet guns from lugging gear around (Seriously, you should see my biceps. I’m straight-up Amazonian by this point.), make a little money (sometimes) and, if you’re lucky, get to listen to bands you love play every night (or, barring that, make fun of the shitty opening bands who never got the memo that 1999 is dead and gone, and that ripping off Pantera isn’t nearly as great an idea as it sounded when they came up with it in their PBR-scented basements).
One of the things that sucks most about touring, though, is that you almost never have a moment to yourself. You have free time, sure, but you’re generally always in or around the company of your bandmates, road crew, or just, like, dudes. It’s tough to get a moment alone to sit down and write, but I always do my best to sneak off and get shit done. That being said, it’s been more hectic that usual this time around, and instead of gushing at length about the latest EP from Invidious or mourning the sold-out status of the live Blasphemophagher/Diocletian tape, I’m going to give you guys a peek into what I’ve been jamming these past few weeks on the road with Corrosion of Conformity and Clutch. Some songs are the result of Woody Weatherman’s DJing bouts, some are favorites from the sets I see every night, some remind me of home/loved ones, and some are just fucking rad.
CLUTCH – “Profits of Doom” (Blast Tyrant, 2004)
With a cadre of screaming car alarms, vividly argumentative neighbors, and the ever-pervasive rise and fall of reggaeton blasting down the block as a sonic backdrop, I settle in to give as much of my attention as possible to an album that, after years of waiting, has finally arrived on my doorstep. I’ve been a devotee to Ireland’s Wreck of the Hesperus’ particular breed of funereal filth since I first heard their 2006 opus The Sunken Threshold, and while their ensuing slew of demos, EPs, and splits (including an absolutely colossal outing with doomed countrymen Mourning Beloveth) have all hit the spot, I wanted more. Now, thanks to Aesthetic Death (and the lads’ finally getting off their arses and recording!), Light Rotting Out has arrived, slick with afterbirth and writhing in the sunlight.
Photo by Alex York
Okay, before I even get into any of this, I’m going to come clean and be totally honest. I absolutely abhor everything about Liturgy, and think that Ghost is an over-hyped gimmick that features musicians from much better bands and produces enjoyable hard rock songs. Big surprise there. Now that y’all know where I stand, I’m going to do my best to be as objective and unbiased as possible in the following post, because I genuinely think it’s an idea worth discussing, and don’t want to color the content with a bunch of transcenderpal black metal hate. Well, maybe a little.
Depressive black metal is a definite hit-or-miss of a subgenre. When it’s good, it’s bone-chillingly great. When it’s bad (and a LOT of it is bad), it’s just embarrassing. Remember when Xasthur used to be cool, before Malefic started collaborating with Pitchfork-approved songstresses and ultimately threw in the towel? Yeah, me neither (what happened after Defective Epitaph, bro?). Alas, Shining have jumped the shark entirely, Make A Change… Kill Yourself haven’t put out a record in four years, Bethlehem spat all over their once-shining legacy with that rerecorded abomination (Kvarforth really just needs to disappear), I haven’t heard a peep from Nortt in ages, and it seems like Leviathan’s on ice while Wrest sorts out his legal woes. What’s a suicidal black metal fanatic to do? After all, someone’s got to chase away all this sunshine, and as depressing as the new Morbid Angel album is, those world-destroying techno beats just ain’t gonna cut it.
At least we’ll always have Krohm.
I’m working on something that’s going to bum out a LOT of people on here, and need to give it my full attention, so in the meantime, here’s some news from the void.
Music Ruins Lives will be reissuing the debut release from Ohioan blackened doom masters Vit. The album, -, will come in a six-panel digipack with completely new artwork, and you really need to buy it because this band is amazing beyond words. Seriously.
Petrychor have recorded a new album! Their 2010 Dryad EP was one of my favorite records of the year and was apparently crafted as one singular piece, broken up into movements and interludes. Gorgeous melodies, ethereal vocals, and studiously conceived concepts add an air of gravitas to the piece; the project’s bloody roots are plainly visible, and the interplay between gentle acoustic parts and raw, atmospheric black metal is nothing short of flawless. The album is available for free download on Bandcamp – but it’s definitely worth going for the pay-what-you-want option and throwing them a few bones.
I go to a lot of shows. Like, a LOT — hundreds a year, thanks to my propensity for touring for months on end, traveling to festivals, and just going to gigs at home or elsewhere. I get burnt out sometimes, but invariably I find myself down front (or at least by the bar) several times a week. These past few days were a bit more ridiculous than usual, given that I was bouncing from the Netherlands to the UK to Ireland within the space of a week. I still managed to catch some amazing performances, though, several of whom that once again reaffirmed my firmly-held conviction that live music is the lifesblood of the metal scene.
Hey dudes and ladies, sorry I haven’t been posting much this month. I’ve been travelingeven more than usual, and haven’t had much time to sit down and write down much of anything besides flight confirmation numbers and directions to wherever I happen to be sleeping any given evening. Cheers once again to those of you who went out and soaked up the riff-tastic metal circus that was Metalliance (especially those wonderful souls who came up to hang out or bought me a drink!), and mad love to everyone who survived that tour, especially the eternal road dogs in The Atlas Moth and Howl and my tour family on the Saint Vitus/Crowbar bus.
As soon as that madness ended, I flew over to Ireland to stay with my boyfriend J. for a couple days and get ready for my next adventure: reprising my now-yearly pilgrimage to the mighty Roadburn festival in Tilburg, Netherlands. He and I met there last year (he was playing, I was covering, the rest is history) so it was due to be special for more than the usual reasons, which are pretty fucking good reasons in and of themselves!
Roadburn is the best heavy music festival in the world, hands down. A bold statement, sure, but anyone who’s ever played, worked, or attended the event will agree with me. Yeah, the lineups are always amazing, and yes, the venues – the 013, which is separated into the Main Room, Green Room, and Bat Cave, and the Midi Theatre — are killer. The separate building for merchandise, vinyl distros, and movie screenings doesn’t hurt, nor does the charming ambiance of Tilburg itself.
The real heart and soul of this festival comes from outside, though; from the big-hearted organizers Walter and Jurgen, from the efforts of Roadburn public relations guru Yvonne (without whom the whole damn thing would have fallen apart), and from the thousands of fans and bands that have come together, united by an overwhelming sense of community and goodwill. Everyone at Roadburn is absolutely 100% thrilled to be exactly where they are. There is a reason that this year’s edition sold out – sold OUT – in fifteen minutes, and it’s not just because Swans, Godflesh, Winter, and Sunn 0))) were playing (though that can’t have hurt, either). I made it to my first Roadburn in 2009, and have made it a point to come backevery year since – I’ve heard the same pledge from a lot of first-timers, and I know a few people that are already saving pennies for next year!
This year’s lineup was insane (as always). To give you an idea, I wanted to be sure to catch Alcest, Year of No Light, Acid King, Winterfylleth, Zoroaster, Wovenhand, Naam, Blood Ceremony, Pentagram, Today is the Day, Cough, Godflesh, In Solitude, Wardruna, Soilent Green, Count Raven, Earth, Place of Skulls, Winter, Trap Them, Sabbath Assembly, Summon the Crows, Corrosion of Conformity, Menace Ruine, Sunn 0))), Hooded Menace, Grave Miasma, Scorn, Candlemass (performing Epicus Doomicus Metallicus in its entirety!), Black Math Horseman, Master Musicians of Bukkake, Weedeater, Rwake, Ludicra, Evoken, Ramesses, Shrinebuilder, Yakuza, The Gates of Slumber, Swans, Ufomammut, Blood Farmers, Coffins, Dead Meadow, and Sourvein … and that’s just me. There were plenty of other bands that I either had seen many times, was unfamiliar with, or just didn’t want to see (which is rare at Roadburn, but there’s a first time for everything).
Of course, since it’s a massive festival full of people from all over the world, a lot of whom I love dearly, I managed to miss tons of bands, but I’m okay with it. I’ll see most of them again, and Roadburn isn’t totally about the music. It’s about the experience, man.
Here are a few highlights from this year; third time’s the charm!
