SEND EMAIL TO
NEWS [AT]
METALSUCKS
[DOT] NET
Cynic’s Carbon-Based Anatomy EP highlights this week’s release slate, while White Wizzard, Blut Aus Nord, Bloody Panda, Coliseum and more are also releasing new albums. Let’s take a look after the jump.
What do Portal and Bloody Panda have in common? Well, on the most surface level, members of Portal wear executioners masks on stage, and members of Bloody Pan used to wear executioners masks on stage. On a somewhat deeper level, though, is the fact that they’re definitely both of the “love ‘em or hate ‘em variety.” I personally can’t stand Bloody Panda — the best description I ever heard of their work remains “It always sounds like the song is just about to begin” — but I know people who would gladly follow them around and sprinkle rose petals at their feet; similarly, I loves me some Portal, but I totally get why some people are like “Ugh! It’s just noise.”
And now the two groups have something else in common: Portal has remixed Bloody Panda’s “Saccades II” for the latter outfit’s upcoming remix collection, Summon: Invocation (which is apparently all remixes of a 2009 release, Summon, but I didn’t know that because, y’know, me no likee this band). You can stream that remix at Brooklyn Vegan.
So I don’t think there’s any way I can make an argument for this video as being what you might call “relevant,” but I saw it on Metal Injection awhile back and, well, I feel the need to support the minority race whose females are most likely to sleep with a Jewish dude like me.
Also, I would argue that this is still far more melodious than Bloody Panda, a band that also features an Asian woman and makes music that just barely meets the definition of that word.
Alright so maybe this girl doesn’t get naked, but like the headline says, she does do a lot of rubbing of her naughty spots, so maybe don’t watch it at work, okay?
-AR
Footage from last night’s show courtesy unARTigNYC
Before Portal took the stage at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn last night, some variation of the same phrase was on pretty much everyone’s lips: The singer had better be wearing a clock on his head. I heard at least one person threaten to riot if the performane was clock-less, and another drunken dude simply shout “THE CLOCK!” as we waited for the performance to begin. I mean, everyone has obviously seen the live videos, and as if Portal’s totally original, completely bizarre brand of metal didn’t distinguish them enough from the rest of the pack, well, the whole clock-mask thing certainly helped push them that extra mile.
Shame on us for making any comments that might have been interpreted as having a laugh at the band’s expense. Portal put us in our place.
For the singer – he goes by the moniker “The Curator” – was not wearing a clock on his head. Instead, he was basically dressed in an all-black Pope costume, while his bandmates – guitarists Horror ILLogiuM and Aphotic Mote, bassist Omenous Fugue, and drummer Ignis Fatuus – wore their traditional executioner’s masks and, in one case, a noose. (Oddly enough, Bloody Panda did not wear their executioner’s masks. I heard a rumor that Portal’s masks couldn’t get a work visa, so Blood Panda donated theirs instead. No idea if there’s any truth to that.*) But this in no way way diminished the impact of the band’s performance, which was totally unique, unsettling, and challenging.
Tonight Vince and I are hitting up one of those nifty pre-MDF shows, this one with Gorguts (YES!), Krallice (YES!!), Portal (YES!!!), and Bloody Panda (whatever). And as stoked as I am to see Gorguts and Krallice, for me, personally, the expected highlight is Portal. Listening to Swarth for the first time is still one of the biggest “What the fuck is this?” moments of my life. And the readers who have e-mailed us about the previous stops on this mini-tour have all raved. And, to my surprise and delight, tonight’s show is already sold out.
The trek hits Philly tomorrow, and then MDF, of course, is this weekend. Here’s some footage of Portal playing Outre‘s “Black Houses” last night night in Allston, MA.
-AR
Not Krallice. I don’t want you to be confused, because I start this blog by talking about Krallice.
Krallice live is truly something to behold. After checking them out at the inaugural Scion Fest last year, Vince wrote the following about them:
Krallice’s intense psychedelic black metal had me captivated with every turn after twisted turn their music took. Most of the time there weren’t any vocals, which placed the emphasis squarely on the epic, monstrous, riveting compositions. All I could do was stand and watch as each moment was more grand than the last… Krallice are a band with zero pretention and no corpsepaint; just killer, awesome black metal. And fucking INTENSE… that’s the word I keep coming back to. The band played the shit out of their instruments with a passionate fervor you just don’t see in most bands.
If you haven’t seen these dudes live before, well, you should soon get a chance; not only are they spending the second half of April on the road with Ludicra, but now they’re committed to a (too-) brief tour with the reunited Gorguts, Australia’s incredible Portal, and Bloody Panda.
That’s quite a line-up! GORGUTS!!! And who knows when the hell Portal will make it back to the States. Apparently their live show is really something to behold. I don’t know about you guys, but I fully intend to go the show with a clock on my head.
Get dates on Krallice’s MySpace page.
-AR
I’ve heard a lot of smart people with opinions I respect sing the praises of Bloody Panda, and I just do not get it. I saw them live once and they bored me to tears – and that was while I was high. Do you know how bad you have to be to bore me when I’m stoned? I could stare at my own foot for at least a solid hour if you get me high enough. But Bloody Panda made me wanna go sit through The Sorrow and the Pity again.
Have you ever known a couple that had a baby, and then the baby died, and so they had a sort of “replacement baby,” like another baby to take the place of the dead one?
Well, I guess the concept applies to bands, too, ’cause a mere six weeks after quitting Celtic Frost, Thomas Gabriel Fischer – who I will always always always insist on calling “Tom G. Warrior” – has announced the formation of a new project, Triptykon (awful name, Tom), to basically pick up where Celtic Frost left off:
“Triptykon will sound as close to Celtic Frost as is humanly possible, and the album I am working on will feature all the material I envisioned for the successor to Monotheist. I desire the album to be a darker, heavier, and slightly more experimental development of Monotheist.”
Well, I think we can commend Fischer/Warrior for coming right out and saying he basically wants to create Celtic Frost Version 2.0 (or 3.0, depending on how big a douche bag you are), as opposed to being the umpteenth musician to promise fans something “new” before releasing just another variation on their past discography.
What we can’t commend Fischer/Warrior for is “Cucifixus,” the demo now posted on the band’s MySpace page. Apparently, calling this new group “slightly more experimental” than Celtic Frost is the understatement of the year: the song is basically like two and half minutes of waiting for an actual song to start (has Tommy been listening to a lot of Bloody Panda lately?); put more succinctly, it sounds like Lustmord, but without all of the baggage of being, y’know, good.
Still, Fischer/Warrior is careful to say that the song “is but one of many compositions to that end. Triptykon is not defined by just this one song.” Hopefully we’ll get something more substantial (and enticing) soon.
-AR
The End Records is one of the better labels out there these days – they’ve put out some super sweet albums by bands like Voivod, Sigh, Ulver, Virgin Black, Novembers Doom, Laethora, Giant Squid, Agalloch, Sculptured, Mindless Self Indulgence, and a shitload more that I’m probably forgetting right now.
Well, they’re putting on a show as a record release party for Nadja, the awesome shoegaze duo pictured above, in Brooklyn this Friday, March 7. Tickets are only $6 so you really have no excuse not to be there. Yes, Bloody Panda are on the bill and we’ve made our feelings about that band pretty clear, but I know plenty of intelligent people who like Bloody Panda, so that shouldn’t deter you from going. Plus, there are a bunch of other cool bands on the bill.
Details are below:
THE END RECORDS PRESENTS: NWOBHM (New Wave of Brooklyn Heavy Metal)
Nadja CD Release Party
Featuring Nadja / Bloody Panda / Tombs / Tournament / And This Army
Friday, Mar 07, 2008 @ 8:00 PM EST
at Europa
98 Meserole Ave., (corner of Manhattan Ave.)
Brooklyn, NY 11222
$6.00
-AR
Vince and I went with the Metal Injection dudes to check out A Life Once Lost at the warm-up gig they did on Monday night at Lit Lounge. I don’t have much to say about ALOL; anyone who has heard their most recent release, Iron Gag (read our review here), or any of their other albums for that matter, knows that these dudes rock, and you should go see them when they come to your town with Walls of Jericho and Suicide Silence (get a complete list of tour dates on ALOL’s MySpace page).
But I have to say something about Bloody Panda, the band that opened the show: I’ve heard nothing but good things about this band, and maybe I just wasn’t stoned enough to appreciate them, but they sounded like some punishment sent from God – and no, I don’t mean that as a compliment.
