In the world of heavy metal circa 2013, making a comeback is harder than ever before. There are so many bands popping up out of the woodwork and so many albums being released on a weekly basis, that fans are faced with a constant avalanche of new product, which in turn means it’s difficult for any band to stand out from the pack, whether new kids on the block or crafty veterans. Furthermore, with the internet now being such an important part of spreading metal to the masses, things move so fast that even going a year without releasing new material feels like an eternity. But it is still possible for a band to rise up from the ashes of inactivity and recapture their rightful place amidst the metal pantheon, as the following trio of bands has proven.

Of the three bands we’re going to look at, Sweden’s Sorcery had the longest layoff between releases, having not put out a full length in a whopping twenty-two years. To make matters worse, the band was broken up from 1997 to 2009, which surely presented them with an even more difficult road to getting back into fighting form. On the flipside, the band most likely benefitted from low or even nonexistent expectations, because while their demos and lone full length are well enough regarded slabs of Stockholm-style Swe-death, Sorcery never garnered the same accolades that their peers in bands like Entombed, Grave, Dismember and Unleashed ultimately had showered upon them.

This lack of expectations most likely meant a lack of pressure, allowing the band to just do what they do best without any unneeded stress. This is of course speculation on my part, but it’s hard to imagine this not being the scenario after listening to the band’s devastating comeback album, Arrival at Six. The publication of Daniel Ekeroth’s wonderfully comprehensive book Swedish Death Metal caused many forgotten Swe-death bands to reform, along with various labels unleashing a flood of reissues, and while it’s evident there is a good reason why some of these bands were never heard from again, there are also some excellent bands that never got a fair shake, and Sorcery is one of them, as evidenced by this stellar sophomore release.

For Arrival at Six, Sorcery wisely chose to obey the golden rule of a successful comeback album: under no circumstances whatsoever should you fuck with the formula. The band even went so far as to record at the legendary Sunlight Studios with Tomas Skogsberg behind the boards; the very epitome of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy that should almost always be honored in a comeback situation. If you’re going to change your sound and not give the fans what they want after being away for over two decades, you might as well fucking stay home. The only way in which Sorcery altered their approach was by upping their songwriting game, penning a batch of tunes that strike the catchy/crushing balance perfectly, blowing away recent releases by just about any of the more prominent old school Swedish death metal bands you could name, taking sheer quality and pairing it with a snarling hunger that might lead you to believe that this was a much younger band if you didn’t already know better.

While Sorcery are a great example of an under-the-radar band coming back from the depths of obscurity to prove their worthiness, Suicidal Tendencies are a different story all together. Even though they haven’t released an album since 2000, ST has remained a household name in the heavy music world, thanks to a string of classic albums in the ‘80s and ‘90s. They have also continued to play shows and tour over the years, even without new material to support, so some might argue that they never really went away, but considering the tumultuousness of Suicidal Tendencies’ history, I think we can all agree that they had a lot riding on 13, their first album in as many years. Things get even more perilous for ST when one considers that vocalist Mike Muir is the band’s only remaining original member; heavy music fans develop fondness for particular lineups of their beloved bands, and even though Muir has always been the driving force of the group, there’s always bound to be diehards clamoring for the original lineup or the “definitive/classic lineup.”

To their credit, Muir and his young guns didn’t exactly fuck with the formula for 13, but they didn’t take the safe route either. Rather than committing to any particular era of Suicidal Tendencies, the band mixed all the various styles the group has plowed through over the years (hardcore, thrash, funk, alternative metal, etc) and created one hell of a mash-up of everything they’re about. In the wrong hands, this could sound like a shamelessly pandering attempt to appeal to every fan of every era of the band (see: Bathory’s Destroyer of Worlds), but here’s the thing; Suicidal Tendencies sound like they’re having an absolute blast on 13. This album doesn’t reek of cashing in, rather it reeks of sincerity; Muir is saying these are the things I like, these are all the things that made Suicidal Tendencies such a great band, let’s fucking celebrate that.

I think what I really enjoy about 13 though is the fact that Muir hasn’t lost his trademark sense of humor; this is evident as early as opening song “Shake It Out,” when the singer asks for a Diet Pepsi, which serves as both a reference to ST’s classic “Institutionalized,” and an acknowledgement of Muir’s advancing age. Perhaps he’s saying “I might be getting older, but I still feel like the twenty year old lunatic that I was when ‘Institutionalized’ was recorded.”  Muir is also responsible for my favorite lyrical couplet of the year, courtesy of the track “Cyco Style:”

“Charging like a cracked out ram / we don’t mosh, we fuckin’ slam!”

Pure fucking poetry right there, kidz, and characteristic of an album that flat-out kicks ass and is incredibly fun to listen to.

Not as well-known as Suicidal Tendencies, but not as underground as Sorcery, Summoning are the very definition of a cult band, having created a hardcore following for themselves thanks to a highly idiosyncratic sound and conceptual basis.  While Tolkien-inspired lyrical themes and epic, highly textured, symphonic songwriting aren’t uncommon in metal, few if any bands are as fully committed or as capable of creating a totally immersive listening experience.  Indeed, the Austrian duo of Protector and Silenius have been sorely missed during their half-decade-plus of total silence; other bands have attempted to follow in their footsteps, but none have been able to replicate the blackened majesty that these two musicians conjure so effortlessly.

It’s a bit ironic that I use the term “effortless” when discussing Summoning’s comeback, for it is actually them that had the most difficult uphill climb of any of the three bands discussed in this piece. When I interviewed them last month, it was revealed that vocalist/keyboardist/bassist Silenius suffered a heart attack at some point during their hiatus.  Now, any other band might have been able to move forward with a replacement or session musicians, but when you’re a duo comprised of two driving creative forces, this simply isn’t an option.  Thankfully, Silenius survived his ordeal, and while it prolonged Summoning’s absence, it also served to re-light the creative fires, resulting in the absolutely immense recording that is Old Mornings Dawn.

With Old Mornings Dawn, Summoning have against all odds made a comeback that both lives up to their legacy and shows them continuing to evolve as a band.  The album still possesses the buzzing, trebly wash of guitar distortion that has characterized Summoning since the early days, but there is also a clarity to the production that’s like night and day compared to previous releases, especially the deliberately dark and somewhat murky-sounding Oath Bound.  Old Morning’s Dawn also features some of the Summoning’s strongest vocal work ever; this is the first time I find myself paying attention to the vocals as their own entity, rather than just another texture amidst the guitars, synths and programmed drums.  Speaking of textures, this might be the most richly layered recording to date from Protector and Silenius; rather than simply revisiting everything they’ve done in the past, they’ve amplified it a thousandfold, improving upon the formula rather than just sticking with it.

What’s most amazing about Old Mornings Dawn, and really the entirety of the Summoning oeuvre, is how impossibly detailed and ornate each song is; one can’t help but marvel at the painstaking work that must go into sculpting the sonics behind tracks such as “The White Tower” and the title track.  In spite of the high level of meticulousness, nothing about the album ever sounds over-cooked or calculated, rather it is the sound of two men who have mastered their craft through years of hard work honing their skills doing what they do best.  Simply put, Summoning have become one of the most highly respected elder bands in the black metal underground and fans were foaming at the mouth over the prospect of the duo’s first release since 2006 for a fucking reason, and Old Mornings Dawn is that reason personified.

The trio of bands we’ve examined here couldn’t possibly be more different from one another, yet all three have managed to overcome adversity in one form or another and release killer comeback albums.  Slicing your way through the detritus that clogs the metal scene is no small feat, but these three bands did it the old fashioned way; by putting an emphasis on quality and staying true to what made them great, giving fans what they crave while at the same time never resorting to half-assed pandering or attempting to “sell out” (is it even possible for a metal band to sell out anymore?).

When we look around at the near-constant brown-nosing, glad-handing and poop-polishing that goes on in the underground circa 2013, it’s hard to believe that things like integrity and purity of vision still exist.  Sorcery, Suicidal Tendencies and Summoning are shining examples of these rare qualities, which is what has ultimately lead them to successfully reclaiming their respective stakes in this glorious thing we call heavy metal.  Bands both young and old should take note; this is how it’s fucking done.

Black metal stopped being “krieg” as the ’90s drew to a close, and there’s no going back; it doesn’t matter how Satanic a given modern band professes to be, how long the nails on their gauntlets are, or how crappy the production of their recordings is.  I’ve often posited that black metal is an inherently Satanic form of music, but without action, the anti-religious sentiment of today’s black metal bands rings hollow.  As all things eventually must, it has been absorbed by popular culture, slowly morphing before our eyes from a budding movement into just another cliche in much the same way that punk rock did at the end of the ’70s, forever de-fanged and de-clawed.  Simply put, it succumbed to the inevitability of commoditization.

National Socialist black metal, once perhaps the most controversial subset of the genre, at this point should be seen by any logical adult as nothing more than a bad joke; music made for idiots by idiots.  Anyone who has bothered to explore NSBM is confronted with incompetence on every level, making it blatantly obvious that these bands should be considered about as threatening as Liberace.  Wipe away the Nazi bullshit window dressing and all you’re left with are a bunch of horrendously shitty bands making shitty music in support of a miserably failed, nauseating ideology that should simply be ignored.

Furthermore, NSBM is quite possibly the most ineffective form of propaganda ever conceived; if it was ever proven that even one person in the history of the world heard an NSBM album and thought to themselves “Hmmm… I think I’ll become an ignorant, racist asshole because I dig this poorly written, poorly executed, poorly recorded black metal,” I would be so far beyond shocked that I’d probably have the big one right then and there.  I think we can all agree that NSBM is just a bunch of dumbfucks preaching to the choir, so attention NS dumbfucks: promoting your message of hate to the same dozen or so other dumbfucks that actually think this shit is good probably isn’t going to make your severely retarded worldview a reality anytime soon.  Time to get a clue, or better yet, get dead.

Rob Darken gets hella LARPy with Sasquatch.

Although it can be argued that some individuals with abhorrent beliefs, such as Varg Vikernes and Rob Darken, have made good and interesting music within the black metal paradigm, the fact remains that Darken is little more than a man-child who likes to run around playing dress-up and hasn’t released a truly great album in over a decade, while Vikernes has deep-sixed the early successes of his recent post-prison comeback (Belus, Fallen) in spectacular fashion by releasing three consecutive turd records (From the Depths of Darkness, Umskiptar, Sôl austan, Mâni vestan), joining the Rob Darken Cosplayers‘ Union, and starting a blogging career that’s just plain embarrassing.

These two men are not fearsome, nor dangerous, nor evil geniuses; merely woefully misguided, ignorant schmucks who just happened to at one time be creative/innovative black metal musicians, musicians who’ve ultimately rendered themselves more and more irrelevant with each passing year. Additionally, they’ve long since been surpassed by those they inspired, most of whom were intelligent and mature enough to draw influence strictly from the music and not the stunted beliefs of its creators.

Anyone holding onto the notion that black metal is even the least bit controversial in 2013 is holding onto something that simply no longer exists in the case of BM as it was originally intended by the Norwegian 2nd wave, or something that was utterly pathetic to begin with and should never have even been given the time of day in the case of NSBM.  It’s incredibly strange to me that someone would still think of black metal in this way, a way that it hasn’t been for at least fifteen years, if not longer.

As I hinted at earlier, black metal as it is now, regardless of how any given band might sound musically, occupies a space much more akin to that of the 1st wave (e.g. Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost) as far how it fits into the context of heavy metal as a whole; it’s simply another style within the genre, no different from death metal or thrash or doom.  Any controversy surrounding it has long since been addressed and dismissed, yet there are still those who would have you believe that black metal is the most unholy of all musical taboos, as much a hot-button issue today as it was a full two decades ago.  Are they really so naive? Have they only just discovered black metal and its history?  Is it simply a matter of selling a few more magazines or generating a few more blog hits?  Whatever the case may be, they’re out there, forever beating the dead horse until it crumbles into dust, and then beating it some more…

Somehow, VH1 Classic’s That Metal Show has been running for twelve(!) seasons. If you haven’t seen this show, let me give you a brief rundown: two horrifically unfunny comedians (Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine) wearing band t-shirts a stylist picked out for them attempt to talk metal and hard rock with a portly radio personality (Eddie Trunk) who prides himself in knowing everything there is to know about said genres, but instantly transforms into a butt-hurt five-year-old when it turns out he doesn’t know something, or when one of the comedians makes fun of him, or when one of the guests makes fun of him… basically he spends around 80% of the show being butt-hurt. Guests, which are occasionally people you’d actually want to see interviewed (e.g. Lemmy, Paul Di’Anno, Ace Frehley, Rob Halford, etc), but typically consist of a who’s who of hair metal has-beens, come on and have their asses kissed like they’ve never been kissed before, which is probably wonderful for their egos but pretty annoying to just about everyone else.

When I first discovered that VH1 had a metal show, I was excited; I grew up with MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball and was hoping for something similar. I should have realized that VH1′s definition of metal is basically hair metal and classic rock, with only occasional nods to thrash and NWOBHM. No other genres of metal exist in the VH1 universe (remember that this is the network that refused to allow an extreme metal episode of Banger Films’ Metal Evolution mini series). Sure, the Ball wasn’t exactly the be-all, end-all for metal, but at least they had the uh, balls, to play videos from Death, Morbid Angel, Entombed, Cathedral, Sepultura and the like. Do Trunk and his two pet jabronis even know who Trey Azagthoth and Lee Dorian are? I’m not saying the whole show should be death/black/doom metal or anything, but for the love of all that’s unholy at least acknowledge its existence! There are plenty of folks out there that think Covenant and Left Hand Path are just as classic as UFO’s discography, you silly bastards.

Most of you reading THKD probably either don’t watch That Metal Show, have never heard of it, or have heard of it but could give two fucks about it. If you haven’t seen it, one viewing is all it takes to make you want to vomit. To paraphrase my wife, watching Trunk is like having someone slap a cupcake out of your hand. If you know about it but don’t care about it, you should; this travelling shit show is representing our beloved genre in front of a large cable audience, making us all look like a bunch of schmucks in the process. I know some of you are grumbling at that last statement: “Who cares what the mainstream thinks of us? Fuck ‘em!” and to an extent I agree, but I also know I don’t like being perceived as a schmuck by anyone, and if people are to see and believe what TMS presents to the world, then it will continue to see metal as either hair metal or Ozzfest crapola, and metalheads as a bunch of ignorant jackasses. These guys are single-handedly setting metal back thirty years and celebrating all of its worst aspects; I think many can agree that the genre and we as fans have come too far to put up with that shit.

So how do we hypothetically fix That Metal Show? The first thing that needs to be done is sack the three stooges. Why in the blue hell do they need three hosts in the first place? If Riki Rachtman could do it by himself w/ a moderate degree of success back in the day, then surely we could find someone competent enough to carry this show solo. Plus, if you’re only paying one salary instead of three, you can divert some of that surplus cash to upping the production values; you know, little things like making the set not look likes it’s made of cardboard. My personal pick for host would be professional wrestler/Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho. Say what you will about Fozzy, but anyone that has been following Y2J’s career as a wrestler knows that he’s entertaining (not to mention genuinely funny), charismatic and most importantly fun to watch whether he’s grinding it out in the ring or cutting a promo, and comes off as intelligent and articulate during serious interviews. Additionally, the guy is actually in a band that’s currently signed to Century Media and was at one time signed to Mega Force, so chances are he knows at least a little something about modern metal and less mainstream acts.

Now that we have our host in place, it’s time to totally revamp the format. First, ditch all the useless recurring segments such as “The Throwdown” “Stump the Trunk” “The Rant” and “TMS Top 5.” Less time spent on this silly shit means more time with the guests, which in turn means more in-depth interviews. Interviews are the bread and butter of any good talk show, which is essentially what TMS is, so make it worth the viewers’ time by giving the guests the attention they deserve. As for the guests themselves, you’ve got to keep the veterans such as Lemmy and Alice Cooper on the roster in order to draw in mainstream viewers, but let’s also throw some lesser known characters in the mix to spice things up and introduce those viewers to some new music. Guys like Mikael Akerfeldt, Devin Townsend and Fenriz (provided he could be talked into appearing however unlikely) could hold their own and make for entertaining interviews along with the usual suspects. Imagine seeing unsung legends of the underground like Bobby Liebling, Scott Weinrich or Victor Griffin sitting down for a TV interview, how cool would that be?

Ok, this next one should be a no-brainer, and why they’ve never (to my knowledge) done this absolutely blows my mind: get some bands to play live on the show every week. How anyone thought it was a good idea to have a show about music with no fucking music is so far beyond me that it practically makes my head explode thinking about it. As far as I know, the closest TMS has come to live music is to have a “guest shredder” each week, which translates to a lone guitarist wanking away before each commercial break. This is about as thrilling as watching a Jenna Jameson movie that’s been edited for content by the Mormons, and is a sad substitute for a full band performance. Hell, you could have the guests do double duty, getting interviewed and then playing a song or two. Think of the great exposure opportunity this could be for young bands. I have no idea what TMS‘ ratings are like, but surely getting an up-and-coming band like Beastwars for instance to play live on VH1 would get them out in front of some people that have never heard of them but might actually like them if they did. As with the interviews, you’d want to have a mix of young and bigger/veteran acts in order to lure in more viewers.

So there you have it folks. That Metal Show has been airing since 2008, so VH1 obviously thinks they have a good thing going and will probably never change it unless Trunk, Jamieson and Florentine are sucked through a portal into a dimension where they’re forced to wear dresses and listen to Yanni: Live at the Acropolis for all eternity, but those of us who know better can always dream, can’t we?

While numerous bands (both heavy metal and otherwise) have drawn lyrical and conceptual inspiration from the works of JRR Tolkien over the years, few if any have managed to translate the late author’s work into music in as singular a fashion as Vienna’s legendary Summoning.  For two decades, the duo of Silenius and Protector have crafted fantastically immersive, utterly entrancing symphonies of synth-heavy, atmospheric black metal inspired by such timeless works as the The Hobbit, The Simarillion and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Over the course of seven full length albums and two EPs, they have transformed this rich literary mythology into a total musical environment that’s both regally breathtaking and strangely melancholic, carving out a style for themselves which is truly theirs and theirs alone, and in turn inspiring a rabidly devoted fanbase.

After over half a decade of silence, the masters of “Austrian epic black metal” are set to return with their best album yet in the form of Old Mornings Dawn, which will be unleashed on June 5th via Napalm Records.  Silenius and Protector were gracious enough to answer my questions via e-mail in advance of the album’s release.

THKD: It’s been seven long years since the last Summoning album. What were you up to during that time and what were the reasons for the lengthy wait between Oath Bound and Old Mornings Dawn?

Silenius: For many years I simply was completely empty and had no ideas at all for Summoning. Somehow I thought everything was said and I could not find any new aspects for this band. Later I concentrated on working on the third Kreuzweg Ost cd, that cost me another year, and after that a heart-infarct [more commonly referred to as a heart attack, scary -- THKD] knocked me out for another half a year, but somehow all this brought me to a point where I got hungry again and since then I concentrated again on making riffs. Everything started in small steps. but after a while I knew in which direction the music was going and the more I knew this, the easier it was to compose and the result is what you hear now.

THKD: How would you compare Old Mornings Dawn to Oath Bound? Oath Bound struck me as a very dark and murky sort of album, whereas Old Mornings Dawn feels more epic and uplifting.

Protector: Strange, we see it as the contrary. For us Oathbound was going more in the heroic direction while the new album is more melancholic. While Oathbound sounded like riding into a battle, Old Mornings Dawn sounds like riding back wounded from a battle. But of course the sound changed quite a lot so now most of the instruments sound more clear and therefore more natural and that can be considered to be more live and therefore more uplifting as you said. If the same song comes hidden behind a lot of reverb it offers more a feeling of far distance and therefore can be considered as more dark, but if we focus on the melodies I think the new one is definitely melancholic and even sometimes depressive.

THKD: What can you tell us about the writing and recording of the new album? How did the process this time around differ from that of your previous works, if at all?

Protector: Generally the overall sound of the album is more direct and clear. We did not use so much reverb this time and took more care to create a sound where the listeners can distinguish better between the different melodies playing at the same time.  Also the guitars now sound more varied, due to the clearer sound and the deeper mixing that interferes less with the high keyboard melodies. Like always, the final result was not long planned but was organically growing during the months of mixing. The original sound of the guitars was more close to the Oathbound guitars, but then Silenius noticed that in his car stereo that the guitars sounded too penetrating and shrill, so we completely rearranged the sound and put everything much more into the deep frequency spectrum. First we were not sure about it, but then we realized that this was a great step forward and gave the songs more power and a better balance to the keyboards.

THKD: What was your mindset going into creating the album? Did you feel any pressure while working on Old Mornings Dawn due to the lengthy break between albums?

Silenius: Luckily we have no pressure at all from our record company. I think Max knows us very well and realizes that any kind of pressure would not work and has absolutely no effect on us. We are not the kind of band who are into this composing-releasing-touring scheme so we only release an album when creativity is touching us. Coming to creativity: this time it was very different. While Protector already made songs and riffs a short time after Oath Bound was released, it took me many years until I got motivated again, and the turning point definitely was my heart infarct.

THKD: Summoning has long been known for its conceptual basis in the works of JRR Tolkien. What aspects of Tolkien’s literary world are being covered on Old Mornings Dawn?

Silenius: This time we mostly experienced the stories and legends of Eärendil the Mariner: half-man half-elder, ancestor of the kings of Numenor, with the Silmarill of his forehead he became an immortal. The songs are dealing with this topic. the lyrics of another two songs come from the poems City of Present Sorrow and Town of Dreams, two very old poems from Tolkien written at a time when the first world war was raging. The rest of the lyrics came from unknown writers or are written by myself and as ever are closely woven to the Tolkien universe.

THKD: How has the dynamic/working relationship between the two of you evolved over the years and how did that translate into the new album? What does each of you bring to the table?

Protector: This time it was a bit different than the last album session. While in the past (since Stronghold) each song was started by Silenius while I added additional melodies to it and let it grow into one big song, this time there are songs that I started (like the title track that I created during the long time of inactivity of Silenius), while Silenius later continued to work on it.

THKD: You’ve worked as a duo for the majority of Summoning’s existence. What are the advantages of having just two people into the band? Are there any disadvantages?

Protector: For me there are only advantages. I think the more band members, the higher the chance to have a band quarrel. In our case this can hardly happen because we are not only just two people but also have our other projects where we can put the ideas that don’t suit Summoning. Of course, our way as working as a duo would not be possible for all bands, but because we only work with the keyboard and the guitars and no real drums we are more flexible and don’t need a full band to perform our songs.

THKD: Has the resurgence in popularity of Tolkien’s writings due to the Lord of the Rings films and now The Hobbit had any effect on the band, good or bad? What are your thoughts on the films?

Silenius: To be honest I cannot say exactly if the Peter Jackson movies had any effect on our music in terms of a kind of promotion. It is really hard to say if these movies brought us new fans, at least I would say these films have no negative effects on us. My personal opinion about the movies is a very positive one. In contrary to many other die-hard Tolkien fans I see the necessity that a movie always has to be different from a book because the artistic act of suspense is a completely different one. so Peter Jackson made the right decision to make his own vision out of the books and not be a slave to the books.

THKD: It’s my understanding that 2013 marks the twentieth anniversary of Summoning. The release of Old Mornings Dawn is a major event in and of itself, but will you be doing anything else to commemorate this milestone?

Silenius: We will use this and next year to release a lot of things we missed in the past. For example we will continue to release older records on vinyl, there will be an ultimate yearbook edition of Old Mornings Dawn soon and there will be a special vinyl release with 6 unreleased songs from the sessions out next year. At the end of next year we will rest again and Summoning will fall asleep again.

THKD: What does black metal mean to you and what is it about the genre that continues to inspire you after two decades?

Silenius: To be honest we don’t follow the black metal scene in general too deeply. Our personal musical interests go into other musical regions, but have nothing to do with metal at all. We believe that is a big advantage not to fall into the trap of being to much influenced by present trends and styles and to keep our own identity alive, but of course we do not forget our roots and so i think that our latest release has a stronger metal feeling than our last ones.

THKD: Will Summoning ever play live? Do you have any desire to do so? Have you had many offers?

Protector: No, we surely have no desire for it. Summoning is simply a songwriter band, not a performer band. For me those abilities are quite different and don’t have to always to be combined in one band. For playing live it’s necessary to be able to present your own personality and some kind of “body language” that we never trained or even thought of. Any concert of ours would just be a huge disappointment for all fans and does not bring any advantage at all.

THKD: What are you currently listening to/watching/reading? Do you have any recommendations for our readers?

Silenius: What inspired me music-wise in the last few months are the two albums from Winglord and the releases from two ambient projects. First from the band Arkhaion – When Gods Walked the Earth, and second the band Penjaga Insaf, with the album Sama Sadja.

THKD: Are there any final thoughts you’d like to add?

Silenius: A big hail to all our fans who did not forget us over all those years of silence.

http://www.summoning.info/

[Many thanks to Nathan T. Birk for making this interview possible.]

Maryland Deathfest 2013 begins tomorrow. I haven’t been to a music festival of any kind since Lollapalooza… 1996. Ok, that’s not entirely true, I did go to local hair band fest a few years back, but I got in for free and was only there for an hour to see Ace Frehley play and grab a tenderloin, so I don’t think that one really counts. Anyway, every year when MDF rolls around, there’s a part of me that wishes like hell that I was going. Take this year’s installment for instance; I’d kill to see the likes of Integrity, Manilla Road, Revenge, Aosoth and Bolt Thrower, what metalhead in their right mind wouldn’t?

Then there’s the other part of me that knows I wouldn’t last five minutes. The heat, the crowds, the scads of bands I don’t give a shit about; these things are the bane of existence for a metal curmudgeon such as I. My anxiety when surrounded by large groups is often such that I can barely stand to be crammed into a mid-size venue to see two or three bands, let alone braving the veritable sea of humanity that will be at MDF in order to take in five to six bands per day spread across four grueling days. Of course I realize you aren’t required to hang around the fest grounds all day, but that just means sore feet from trudging back and forth to the hotel in addition to the sore neck and back (both of which have locked up for no apparent reason more times than I’d care to admit lately) that comes with standing/headbanging through a bunch of bands when you’re in your mid-thirties and out of shape.

On top of this, there is the substantial added anxiety that would undoubtedly come with being forced to choose between bands. For instance, if I’m reading the schedule for this year’s MDF correctly, Manilla Road is playing at the same time as Integrity. How in the blue hell are you gonna make a muthafucka choose between Manilla Road and Integrity?! Where I come from that’s just cruel and unusual. Couple that with the fact that I’m probably the most indecisive person on planet Earth and I’m pretty sure my head would explode.

For a person that craves simplicity, MDF just seems like overload. Too many people, too many decisions, too many bands, too much metal. In other words, it isn’t exactly the type of environment I’d do well in, given my propensity for being an antisocial prick. I mean you’re talking to a guy that used to go to shows by himself on the regular, rarely talking to anyone but to order a beer from the bartender, and being that I live where I do, the majority of those shows were sparsely attended. Hey, there are a ton of you going to MDF this year that I would absolutely love to meet, it’s just that I probably can’t handle meeting all of you at once.

I’m not trying to be a downer, and this is not meant as any sort of knock on MDF. I think it’s totally beyond fantastic that the good ol’ U-S-of-A has a metal fest it can call its own and be proud of, not to mention one that can hang lineup-wise with just about any of the European fests you can think of. I hope that those of you that are going have an absolute blast. This is merely an honest assessment of why this crabby bastard won’t be there raging with you crazy fucks, as much as I often think I might really, really, really want to.

So, to my comrades attending this year’s festivities; have fun, please stay safe, and goddamn you all for getting to see Bolt Thrower!

I’ll be thirty-four this year; just short of halfway to forty. But I’ve never felt like I was getting older as a metalhead until recently. It occurred to me a few weeks ago when I was attempting to listen to a new album by a band that shall remain nameless and is being released by a well respected label; for the first time, I felt like the crotchety old fart who didn’t understand what the hell the young whippersnappers were doing. I simply could not wrap my head around what the appeal of this album was supposed to be or what the intent was. I shut it off after one track on my first attempt, after three tracks on my second attempt. And that’s when it hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks.

WHERE’S THE RIFF?!

Now, this is NOT meant as a dis on the band who cannot be named, but I had finally started to understand where the cantankerous old men wearing patch vests (as well as the young guys who wear patch vests and behave like cantankerous old men; they’re out there, there’s probably some of them living in your mother’s basement) and pining for the ’80s were coming from. I was only eleven years old when the Eighties ended, but I could identify with the prevailing sentiment of “shit was better back then.” “Back in my day, we had choruses, we had melodies, we had THE RIFF!”

The great bands at the dawn of heavy metal, as well as at each major juncture of the genre’s evolution (e.g. NWOBHM, thrash, death metal, 2nd wave of black metal, etc), possessed a combination of youthful bravery, reckless abandon and naiveté that lead them to THE RIFF; it was understood that this was the wellspring from which all heavy metal flowed. As time went on, the naiveté dissipated, but the boldness continued as younger bands absorbed what had come before them, picked up the torch and ran with it. But, as so-called “post-metal” began to get a foothold in the underground, it was also misunderstood and misinterpreted as it began to proliferate. Bands copied Neurosis’ style but lacked their substance, and it is here that the primacy of the THE RIFF started to be ignored in favor of something more vague and indefinite.

Today, there seems to be a fearfulness among the majority of young bands to commit to THE RIFF. Everything is either experimental or avant-garde or hyper-technical or ancient ritual murkified metal of death or blackened psychedelic extreme championship pig-fucking ultra-drone, and all of it is just a fancy way of saying “we have no riffs.” As my friend UA of The Ash Eaters pointed out (sorry to drag you into this old boy, no hard feelings I hope ), a riff is a bold statement. We all know the “every riff has been written” excuse is complete bullshit; the lack of riffs in modern metal is a symptom of younger generations being mostly (but by no means entirely, mind) comprised of musicians who won’t commit to such a striking, definitive declaration.

Look at the way things are going; should it surprise anyone that everything that sounds “modern” sounds completely amorphous, ambiguous, and ultimately disposable/forgettable, while the veteran bands and bands being labelled as “retro” or “new wave of old school” whatever are bringing the songs that warrant listen after listen? As society continues to crumble around the edges, it is reflected in popular culture; most people are too busy dicking with their smartphones, spending too much time plugged into the hive to be truly bold, passionate or even just curious, and this translates into the art they create. Musicians either (falsely) believe THE RIFF has somehow become passe and create pointless noise in a misguided attempt to be “cutting edge” or are some deplorable hybrid of timid, lazy and ignorant, unwilling or just plain unable to tap into and harness its considerable power.

Now, now, don’t get your feathers too ruffled; I’m not saying all our youth are lost. I correspond with people far younger than me on a regular basis that are doing great things within metal, and there are plenty of young bands out there leading the way back to the riff-filled land. Beastwars, Enforcer, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, DeathCult, Weapon, Early Graves, Kadavar (to call out but a few recent examples by name); bands across the entire spectrum of the genre are brandishing THE RIFF in innumerable ways, whether it be as a blunt object to get the pit started, a sharp blade to cut through the blasting din, or as a form of hypnosis to draw the listener into a sonic opium dream.

This is the part where you say; “But, these bands aren’t doing anything new!” and to that I say; “So fucking what?!” Yes, you are reading the words of the same man who once railed against metal’s “cult of regression,” but slowly over the course of the past several years, I’ve come to value craftsmanship over innovation (is this a byproduct of advancing age?). This is largely because “innovation,” as well as “experimentation” in heavy metal circa 2013 are often code for “a bunch of songs you won’t remember five minutes from now,” but can also mean “irritating noise,” “pretentious horseshit,” “BOOOOOOORING,” or some combination of those. The established forms which cultivate THE RIFF have stood the test of time precisely because they are timeless; a song like Riot’s “Swords and Tequila” for instance, sounds just as vital, energetic and ass-kicking today as it probably did back in 1981.

There’s a reason for that. A great riff can convey so many things; death, aggression, violence, sex, sadness, happiness; you name it, THE RIFF is the ultimate primal musical expression, specifically designed to tickle the living shit out of your lizard brain. It’s the key component of rock and by extension metal; the goddamn electric pulse that surges through the music, making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It might also make you want to raise a fist, pound a beer (or twelve) or go slamming haphazardly into a pack of your closest friends. It is the musical equivalent of the Force; it surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy (of metal) together. It boils down to simplicity itself; THE RIFF is heavy metal and heavy metal is THE RIFF. Embrace it or leave the fucking hall.

——————————————————————————————————-/

Oh, and one last thing, just in case any of you reading this are too young to get the title/picture reference…

This was my second time seeing Katatonia open for Opeth; they stole the show back in 2011, and this show was no different; whereas Opeth’s more mellow material, which they’ve been favoring of late in concert, tends to meander, Katatonia keep your attention with shorter, catchier songs that balance almost impenetrable gloom with a surprising heaviness that recalls their early days as doom/death sorcerers. They’ve long since left those more extreme sounds behind, but their music hasn’t lost any of the oppressive gravitas. In the live arena, Katatonia’s music takes on a heft that isn’t always apparent on more recent albums, making their trademark despondence that much more affecting.

The band’s set favored their last four albums exclusively, and while I would’ve loved to hear them reach back to Tonight’s Decision or Discouraged Ones, I love their recent material just as much, and it was a pleasure hearing personal favorites such as “July,” “My Twin” and “Burn the Rememberance,” as well as the strongest tracks from their most recent album, last year’s Dead End Kings, namely the absolutely stunning “The Racing Heart.” I’ve already made it quite obvious that Katatonia’s biggest selling point for me is Mr. Renkse’s impassioned vocal work, but the entire band is tight as a drum, rendering each track with an energy and urgency that one might not expect from a band known for lyrics involving “depression, death, suicide, crime” (so says Metal Archives!).

In spite of the fact that Katatonia played for a solid sixty minutes, their allotted time was over before I knew it. It was kind of a drag to see them leave the stage after what felt like the blink of an eye, but in retrospect I walked away more than satisfied after getting to witness this very special band, a band I never thought I’d ever get to see even once just a few years ago, for the second time. When I interviewed bassist Nille Sandin before the tour got underway, the four-stringer expressed a genuine enthusiasm for playing live, and on Wednesday night it was obvious that his bandmates felt the same; that enthusiasm pouring out of them and manifesting itself in the form of an immensely enjoyable set.

Opeth / Katatonia remaining tour dates:
5/17 – Lincoln, Neb. – Bourbon Theatre
5/18 – Tulsa, Okla. – Cain’s Ballroom
5/20 – Boulder, Colo. – Fox Theatre
5/21 – Boulder, Colo. – Fox Theatre
5/22 – Farmington, New Mexico – Top Deck (Katatonia headlining show)
5/23 – Tucson, Ariz. – Rialto Theatre
5/24 – Los Angeles, Calif. – The Roxy
5/25 – Agoura Hills, Calif. – The Canyon Club
5/26 – Santa Cruz, Calif. – The Catalyst
5/27 – Los Angeles, Calif. – The Roxy (Katatonia headlining show)

http://katatonia.com/

The track itself sounds like Today is the Day and Jesu enagaging in a psilocybin-fuelled fuckfest (and of course I mean that in the best possible way) with just a hint of black metal, while the Phil Osbourne-animated video is a psychopathic gradeschooler’s art project gone berserk. TSTAT seems to have reined in the some of the experimental streak that characterized previous works, and as a result has blossomed into something more metallic and more vicious, while maintaining the droning, psychedelic strangeness that first grabbed my attention on those earlier releases.

There doesn’t appear to be a firm release date set for I Die Smiling as of this writing, but “Mr. Yawning Infinity Chasm/Superinfinity” definitely has me looking forward to what just might be the most accessible yet at the same time heaviest installment in the TSTAT discography.

http://www.tstat.org/

Now press play and prepare yourself for the most poorly produced album in Sabbath’s catalogue.  It’s a damn shame, because there is some pretty great material on here (and some not-so-great material, but we’ll get into that later), such as “Trashed” “Disturbing the Priest” and “Zero the Hero,” but Born Again unfortunately sounds like it was recorded with the mics placed inside rusty metal garbage cans while the band played down the hall.  Oddly enough, producer Robin Black’s botched production job would prove influential; ever heard of an album called St. Anger?  I think then-Sabbath vocalist Ian Gillan summed it up best when he said “I saw the cover and puked, then I heard the record and puked.”

And that brings us to what might be the strangest thing about Born Again; the presence of Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan.  Don’t get me wrong, he’s one of the great singers of metal and hard rock, but he’s a weird fit for Black Sabbath.  Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio, in spite of sounding nothing alike, both have voices possessing a certain dark gravitas perfect for Black Sabbath; Gillan, not so much.  In spite of this, Gillan’s vocals are the only thing on Born Again that sound as if they were recorded properly, and with a lesser vocalist the album would’ve been a complete shit show.  His awesome high-pitched screams that pepper the songs, as well as the overall energy of his performance on songs like the aforementioned “Trashed,” all but force one to wonder what Born Again could’ve sounded like in the hands of a more competent producer.

Of course, not every track on Born Again is a winner.  Black Sabbath have been all about pointless interludes since day one, but what purpose “Stone Henge” and “The Dark” could possibly be meant to serve here other than wasting almost three full minutes of my life every time I listen to the album is beyond me.  Then you’ve got the clunker that is the aforementioned “Digital Bitch” and the album-closing quasi-ballad “Keep it Warm,” the latter featuring such lyrical poetry as “Keep it warm at the place by your side / Nobody’s gonna take away our magical ride / Keep it warm for me when we talk on the phone / Don’t forget will you pretty one that your man is coming home.”  I’m not one to tell a band how they should do things, but a song by Black Sabbath should never, I repeat NEVER, feature lyrics about talking on the fucking phone.

Luckily, the good on Born Again far outweighs the bad as far as the songs themselves are concerned.  ”Zero the Hero” has a killer palm-muted riff that Danzig would later rip off for “Her Black Wings,” and “Disturbing the Priest,” is a classically atmospheric and evil-sounding Sabbath track with some cool guitar work from Iommi, and Gillan more or less rising to the occasion by adding a hint of menace to his vocals.  ”Digital Bitch” would actually be a decent song if not for the godawful lyrics; Dio probably could’ve whipped up some of his dragons and rainbows magic and turned this one into a minor classic were he still in the band.  ”Trashed” is about as ass-kicking an album opener as you could ask for with some great singing from Gillan, and the title track is a moody epic again only hindered by the subpar production scheme (not sure about that line about “the grey and plastic retards all floating in circles” though, ugh).  ”Hot Line,” isn’t really what I want from a Black Sabbath song, but it’s nonetheless a fun enough hard-rocker to keep the blood pumping through the record’s final third.

Born Again is a tragically flawed and unintentionally challenging listen.  It will never be mentioned in the same breath as Paranoid or Heaven and Hell, but it’s just one of those albums that manages to keep me coming back to it, due largely to its status as a curiosity within Black Sabbath’s discography.  Push past the piss-poor production and the square peg/round hole pairing of Gillan with Iommi/Butler/Ward and you’ve got an entertaining anomaly that reveals its charms only through patient, dedicated listening.  It must be studied and sifted through and pored over; isn’t that what being a music obsessive is ultimately all about?

Fenriz: First of all, two of the tracks of the album were finished, recorded, before “Circle the Wagons,” was out in spring 2010, and I also had the refrain – notes (not lyrics) ready for ‘Valkyrie.’ But let’s also point out that this was the end of the second wind of Darkthrone, with so many releases 1988-1996, and then the second wind from ‘99-2010 with 8 albums. A second wind like that is extremely rare for bands. I think a break would have forced it’s way, either way. But alas, in 2010 we both got life altering situations as we both got new girlfriends from TOTEN. Also, the lyrics for ‘Valkyrie’ didn’t materialize until October 2010 and most shockingly, the rest of the song didn’t appear until September 2011. Then in 2012 we had another two trips to the studio (we record when we have one song each, did that since 2005) and then it was basically done in June 2012, but again it took many months until the album was out, just like in the old days.

THKD: What bands past or present were influencing you this time around as you were crafting your three songs for The Underground Resistance? All three have a very epic, anthemic feeling, compared to Nocturno Culto’s more down ‘n’ dirty approach.

Fenriz: As vividly explained in the album booklet [note: my promo did not include the booklet. -THKD], it’s a bit like this, and this is what I THINK it’s inspired by, I don’t exactly know as I don’t sit down and listen to bands and then copy it. The Ides of March-ish start of ‘Valkyrie,’ re-written with a gypsy URIAH HEEP 1970 groove to it. Then generic Scandi-early ‘80s speed metal on the verse, maybe “How Many Tears” by Helloween ’85 refrain, then extra notes at the end my usual improvisations, did that always since mid ‘80s but that stuff sounded better the last years than in the 80s to say the least. I wasn’t so good at crafting songs or making my melodies work back in ‘88, for instance. ‘The Ones You Left Behind,’ is very much Agent Steel/Savage Grace Master of Disguise album vibes, and then the middle part is the NWOBHM style of Iron Maiden ‘84, perhaps subconsciously vibes from their underrated losfer words (big orra). Unintentionally, the vocals on the refrain sound Manilla Road-ish, but I know I didn’t opt for that. ‘Leave No Cross Unturned,’ is again the Agent Steel/Savage Grace thing (talking circa ’85 here) and then a couple of Celtic Frost riffs, ’85 and ‘84 style, respectively, then a generic heavy metal riff a la ‘83, and finishing the song way later is an ending I had from an old song which reminded me of ‘87 style pentagram (US) but it kinda sounds more like the ‘Enter Sandman’ groove like it ended up here, haha.

THKD: How did the writing and recording of the new album compare to that of Circle the Wagons? It seems like the old school heavy metal sounds have fully come into bloom this time around for both of you in the riffing/songwriting department.

Fenriz: Like I said, we just record two and two songs. When we got 37-42 minutes, that’s a wrap, it’s an album. So from the inside of the Darkthrone cabin it SONG BY SONG, to everyone else it’s ALBUM BY ALBUM. No master plan, no talk about style, no nothing. We just play what we want to or need to play, follow our hearts. We meet up and show each other the songs, learn them and record immediately.

I think if we just wanted to be old heavy metal we would sound real different than this album. I think it’s just another heap of coincidences. And a plethora of metal styles from the 80s portrayed. But it’s up to everyone that hears it to have an opinion.

THKD: “Leave No Cross Unturned” is one of the longest songs you’ve written, and it feels like you’re trying to cram everything you love about heavy metal into one mega-song, almost like a celebration of the history of metal. Is this an accurate assessment? What were your intentions with this track?

Fenriz: I actually feel that the structure is rather simple, and I was clear on making repetitions, as always. Also a medley, even. But when I finally got the mix from Ted I thought it to be too long and that it would bore the listeners, I evaluated a shorter mix. I told Ted and he told me to reconsider. So I kept the long version. I didn’t have to. I will never know if I made the right choice. I think perhaps the first middle part of the song didn’t have to be repeated. I am unsure.

THKD: One thing that really stands out on The Underground Resistance is your singing. I hear a little King Diamond and maybe a little Mark Shelton, but also a harkening back to some of your vocals for Isengard. How did you come up with this unique vocal approach? When did you first realize you could sing like that?

Fenriz: During the years I have had sooooo many different voices on soooo many different projects. I was just elaborating here on the vocals that already were lying in wait on the previous albums, only I donned the angry vocals and I left the Lemmy-vocals and instead went for what I thought would suit the songs. And also I became more and more into the faster heavy metal songs of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s (speed metal) and there are 2 styles of speed, the tougher one and then the more beautiful heartfelt one, and I like both but it’s the latter that I want to contribute with myself, it has been for a while and became particularly evident with the “Circle the Wagons” title song, I think. Anyway, I don’t do King Diamond on this album, when he does castrato it’s not like real castrato, it’s more like squeeking, I am following castrato of Geoff Tate and John Cyriis which ultimately came from Halford of the ‘70s. If you want some words on King Diamond vox, I prefer when he does his clear darker notes, actually. Easily! But I grew up with Uriah Heep’s “Sweet Freedom” album, lots of castrato on it, and I have that album completely in my blood, I obsessed over it since I got it in 1974 but I didn’t know I could sing like that until I got drunk one night in 1990 and started singing to it. And then I could. It wasn’t perfect, but I could do it. So I continued singing like that many, many parties to various metal with that kind of vocals. Those who know me, know I can do it. But it’s hard in front of a mic. I first time did it on the song ‘Dommedagssalme’ by Isengard in …I think I recorded that in late ‘92 or early ‘93.

THKD: Darkthrone’s sound has evolved from death metal, to black metal, to the mixture of classic heavy/speed metal, first wave black metal and punk that characterize what you’ve been doing for the last several albums, but it was your black metal recordings that really established the band for many fans. Would you ever go back and make another pure black metal album? Is black metal dead?

Fenriz: No music is dead as long as someone listens. But focus changed, I always thought essence of black metal was for instance 1985 Bathory “The Return,” album but then it seemed like almost everyone started focusing on making it more progressive and faster and cleaner and I didn’t find the soul of black metal in many releases after 1993. But there were always TONS of maniacs making dirty old black metal too, it just got crowded by a lot of people that seemed to misunderstand it. Daft. Well, we don’t seem to really go back, do we. We go back and forth and in circles and tear down the castle and build it differently and often on a swamp (Monty Python reference) or what not. As I told earlier, we don’t discuss style or anything at all really, we just go where the winds of mayhem takes us, or wind of freedom, gotta have a little of both. But I think we always changed rather slowly, expect us to continue like that, perhaps…and I think NO ONE would believe us, or think that it was genuine if we suddenly did a black metal album now (we only did one pure black metal album, UNDER A FUNERAL MOON), I think a lot of people would question that. As they have always questioned everything we did. Whatever, I know it’s stressful with the changes because us humans change and we need some constants to feel safe maybe. But Darkthrone is a natural project, and it’s left to change as freely as humans do. In that way it’s kind of opposite to Ramones. But I still dig Ramones!!

THKD: Your “band of the week” recommendations have taken on a life of their own. Did you expect what started off as you writing about bands on Myspace to take off the way it has? Do you have any metal recommendations for THKD readers?

Fenriz: Haha, many ask this and also with the question with the recommendation at the end. But Band Of The Week ..it IS just recommendations! Haha! It’s like a cryptic thing to ask, as I would naturally say YEAH, THE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE THERE on the band of the week blogs and pages and facebook. Actually I gotta put out/post another band right after this interview. But I haven’t decided yet. I have a list of many bands and I go by gut feeling when I pull out one of the candidates. But one of the BAND OF THE WEEK bands are touring again now, DANAVA, you can try to see them live on tour now.  And don’t forget to listen to HOUR OF 13!!!!!! !!!!!! !!!!!! And this concludes interview number 93 for the new album, by the way.

http://www.peaceville.com/darkthrone

https://www.facebook.com/bandoftheweekblog

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the band has an incredibly entrancing focal point in the form of Papa Emeritus II.  His appearance alone makes him difficult to turn away from, but it’s also much to do with the fact that Ghost is a very vocal-driven band, and Papa is the source of those oh-so-glorious hooks.  Even when not singing, Papa acts as if he is conducting the band and the crowd, gesturing and moving along with the music with grace and ease, leading me to believe that whoever he is under the makeup and vestments, he’s a crafty veteran frontman.  With minimal stage banter, he had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand as Ghost played through all of Opus Eponymous and five songs from Infesstisumam.  The live mix was among the most exceptional I’ve ever experienced, adding some metallic heft to Ghost’s sonic attack and making those stellar choruses sound absolutely enormous.

It’s difficult to pick out highlights of Ghost’s thirteen song set, but it was pretty darn exhilarating to hear personal favorites such as “Ritual” “Elizabeth” “Year Zero” and “Monstrance Clock.”  Luckily the band was loud enough that no one seemed to hear my tone deaf attempts at singing along.  I was headbanging and throwing up horns and invisible oranges like a drooling fanboy throughout the night, but the one thing that set Ghost apart from many of the other bands I’ve seen live is that they actually had me smiling.  Perhaps it was the euphoria that comes with finally seeing a favorite band in person, or maybe it was simply the fact that there truly is something joyful (for me at least) about Ghost’s music.

Indeed, Saturday night’s show felt like a celebration; the crowd reveling in a band that are not only great songwriters, but also great showmen, a combination that’s becoming all too rare.  Regardless of whether or not Ghost are 100% serious about their Satanism, I couldn’t help but think that if the sextet were legitimately on a mission to spread the perverse gospel of Old Scratch, they were doing one hell of a job.

http://ghost-official.com/

[all photos by the lovely and talented Mrs. THKD]

Today Jeff Hanneman, founding co-guitarist of Slayer passed away in a California hospital at the age of 49 due to liver failure.  While fellow six-stringer Kerry King might be the most recognizable member of the band, it was largely Hanneman that brought the undisputed attitude to Slayer with his love of the nastier side of punk rock and hardcore.  He was responsible for writing many of the band’s early classics, and his solos were a maelstrom of melodic frenzy that helped set Slayer apart from other bay area thrashers.  Simply put, the man was one of the most influential musicians in metal, who often shied away from the spotlight in comparison to his bandmates.

I honestly don’t have enough words right now to further describe the profound effect that Jeff Hanneman’s incendiary music has had on my life, so for now I’ll say no more but rest in peace.

The production on The Test of Time is every bit as disgusting as the music, emphasizing the ugliness without being so ridiculously lo-fi that one can’t fully hear what’s going on.  It has that sort of dry, slightly hollow-sounding crunch to it that recalls many a ’90s metal recording, which in this writer’s opinion is no bad thing.  The recording quality allows one to appreciate the catchier-than-herpes nature of the song-writing, which recalls not only classic thrash but also hints at NWOBHM in the way many of the tracks gallop into battle with reckless abandon.  I’d love to hear Pearson crank these songs out live with a full band, because one imagines a DeathCult gig could be quite the fucking rager if tracks like “Hail the Antichrist” “Mutant Generation” and the eponymous “DeathCult” are anything at all to go by.

Speaking of the indivdual tracks; this might seem like a bit of a tangent, but it has to be said that DeathCult instantly won a place in my heart the minute I stopped to read the lyrics for each song and discovered that “Born to Lose” is the first and to my knowledge only black thrash song about professional wrestling.  More metal bands should write songs about the fine art of grappling, and “Born to Lose” is a perfect example of how to do it without sounding wack as all hell.  Somewhere in Valhalla, the Macho Man and Mr. Perfect are smiling.

All of this is to say that The Test of Time is a fun listen and one that will likely stick with me throughout 2013 and beyond precisely because it doesn’t try to be the most original thing out there; it simply succeeds in being a totally badass slab of blackened mayhem from a fellow Midwestern boy gone metal thrashing mad.  Now dust off that cassette deck and bang thy fucking head.

Postscript: It’s no secret that I love the cassette format, so it’s well worth mentioning the excellent job Caligari Records have done with their inaugural release.  You won’t find any fancy-schmancy packaging, woven cloth magical pouches or twigs ‘n’ shit –whatever the hell other types of silliness some of these pretentious cassette labels get up to– just a good a ol’ fashioned tape in a jewel case with a j-card, the way it was damn well meant to be.  It’s a killer album enhanced by some charmingly amateurish artwork that screams old school metal zine madness (again, no bad thing where I come from) and obvious dedication on the label’s part to create a quality, gimmick-free physical product.The Test of Time is limited to 100 copies and available from Caligari Records.  Get on it.

Now signed to a subsidiary of Universal Music, Ghost have returned with Infestissumam, an album that sees the band largely eschewing all vestiges of heavy metal in favor of fully establishing themselves as the world’s first (to my knowledge) Satanic pop group. Indeed, the band’s cover of ABBA’s “I’m a Marionette,” (I’d love to hear them take on some other covers, specifically “Wouldn’t it Be Nice?” and “Fox on the Run”) which appears as a bonus track on the deluxe version of Infestissumam is telling; Ghost are not interested in convincing small groups of unwashed heshers to hail the Horned One, rather they’re out to entice the masses. Now, the question of whether the quartet’s reverence unto the Dark Lord is legitimate or merely a gimmick designed to move units is a matter of debate, but certainly if one is to judge them strictly on LaVeyan terms, they are far more Satanic than any black or death metal band ever could be, precisely because they have the potential to reach an extremely broad audience.

Tracks such as “Year Zero” “Body and Blood” and “Ghuleh / Zombie Queen” are ridiculously catchy, but they’re also coated in a haze of ’60s/’70s psychedelia; it’s easy to imagine the Manson Family-esque hippies of I Drink Your Blood getting weird to Ghost. It’s part pop, part opium dream and part Rosemary’s Baby, and it’s front-to-back one of the most downright infectious albums I’ve ever heard in any genre. Ghost proved their craftsmanship from the very beginning with Opus Eponymous, but on Infestissumam they’ve infused their songwriting with more depth, substance and nuance, all without forsaking the keen pop sensibility that brought them to the Devil’s dance in the first place.

Of course, no discussion of Ghost is complete without making mention of their flare for the theatrical; they appear on stage as anonymous members of a Satanic clergy led by a Pope-like figure known as Papa Emeritus II. Infestissumam as an album actually manages to sound as striking and dramatic as the band’s appearance, thanks to layers of synths, choirs and lead vocal harmonies juxtaposed against very minimal rock instrumentation. Take for instance lead-off single “Secular Haze;” the track carries a demented carnival music vibe, but there are some gnarly garage rock riffs lurking just below the surface to keep things from getting too over-the-top. Elsewhere, Ghost peels off numbers that sound like they could’ve come from the soundtrack to a broadway musical about the apocalypse, such as “Per Aspera Ad Inferi” and “Monstrance Clock,” as well as full-on Brian Wilson worship on “Jigolo Har Megiddo” and the aforementioned “Ghuleh / Zombie Queen” (the latter complete w/ some tasty surf guitar licks). This pairing of a stripped-down guitar/bass/drums foundation and grandiose orchestration to fill in the remaining space isn’t new to music, but Ghost do it in such a way that it comes off as both sugary sweet and frightfully sinister.

In just three years, Ghost have grown by leaps and bounds, blossoming into something far beyond the silliness of the “occult rock” movement they were unfairly lumped in with when they first appeared. Given the band’s rapid ascendance, there will no doubt be naysayers and backlash galore, but metalheads that can unplug themselves from the internet hive long enough to let the Devil in will find much to enjoy within the unholy confines of Infestissumam. Whether or not the diabolical psych-pop perfection they’ve achieved here will translate into spreading their master’s malevolent word to the general populace remains to be seen, but given the excellence on display here, as well as their commitment to touring and major label backing, I’d say there’s a very good change that 2013 may very well be Year Zero.

http://ghost-official.com/

THKD: What can you tell us about the creation of the music for the new album? What were you looking to accomplish when crafting the songs that would ultimately become Beyond?

Markus Vanhala: This time it was fast indeed, when we got into the mood. We kind of toured the whole of 2011 and I had a one year break from composing stuff for OG after New World Shadows, so when the channels opened and I had some free time and the state of mind, I composed a whole album during a 1-2 month period, which is really fast action for me. OG found its identity on the Redshift album and we’ve been evolving that formula further ever since. Maybe like going more to the melodic direction with every record, but that doesn’t mean commercial hit choruses in our case. Following our own individual path always.

THKD: Your previous album, New World Shadows, was very well received by both fans and critics. Did this create any additional pressure for you as you were writing and recording Beyond?

MV: Kind of personal pressures for pleasing ourselves as a band, as also we were really satisfied w/ New World Shadows and you gotta love what you do otherwise you’re a poser and wimp. But in my opinion Beyond went beyond NWS so it’s all good and I’m really happy and satisfied with the new album, and even the media and fans seem to love it.

THKD: Where and when was the album recorded? What can you tell us about the recording sessions? Are there any specific moments during the recording process that stood out for you? How did things differ this time around compared to the sessions for New World Shadows?

MV: Usually we’ve been doing studio recordings in one period like one month straight but now we recorded in two different studios and mixed in another studio, and we had lots of breaks. We started the recordings in July and the album was ready at the end of November. Less stress and pressure and more time to project and listen the stuff. During the mixing process I was touring North America with my other band Insomnium, so I listened to the premixes on the road in the bus lounge with my other bandmates, so this was really different from the past recordings and gave a fully different perspective on working. Listening drunk, hung over, sober…

THKD: What are some the lyrical/conceptual themes being explored on Beyond and what inspired them?

MV: Lyrical themes are playing with the dualism in the world and in the people. People are near each other and have an understanding towards each other, but people are never just like the same. Jukka is always writing OG’s lyrics so I really don’t know his real inspirations beneath…

THKD: Do you have a favorite song or moment on Beyond? What is it about that particular song or moment that makes it your favorite?

MV: I really love the “Luoto” intro and the epic ending song ” White Palace” which in the end returns back to the intro theme and the album’s circle closes. That’s a musical journey to beyond. My live favorite is maybe “New Dynamic” ’cause that always gets the party started and people go crazy!

THKD: Let’s talk about the cover art for Beyond. It appears to be an ocean scene with some wreckage in the foreground. Was this meant to embody the opposite of the cityscape that’s on the cover of New World Shadows?

MV: Of course, now we’re going BEYOND the cityscape and maybe even beyond the sea. People are always longing for somewhere beyond and everything’s better there beyond your own place and life, isn’t it? We’re also from the Finnish South Coast in the city of Kotka which is in fact an island so we’re people of the sea and sea has always been a really important element for us. At the same time, the sea is as calm as its restless and will never be the same.

THKD: As your career has progressed, more and more progressive (for lack of a better term) elements have crept into Omnium Gatherum’s sound. Where does this influence come from? Is this progression intentional or simply a natural byproduct of growing and changing as a band and as individuals?

MV: This whole band is about something more than just a gathering of metalheads, everyone of us is a real music lover in a large scale, also very much outside the metal field, so we just try to use all our influences via this metal template. So suddenly it’s a gathering of many different styles that makes the traditional “OG sound.” We could do some basic hit potential metal but that’s not what we’re after, we’re always into exploring our sound and digging deeper. Trying to keep things interesting as musicians and music lovers. There’s enough copycats in this world, which even succeeds well. We prefer to do our own thing, even not having so big success. At least we’re happy to play these songs!

THKD: Do you find it difficult to balance the heavier/angrier aspects of Omnium Gatherum’s sound with the more melodic and progressive aspects? What challenges does this blending of sounds present for you?

MV: Not exactly, we’re old enough a band to always sound like Omnium Gatherum; whether we like it or not, this is the way this band sounds. With the new album that’s true that we’ve gone in the more melodic direction. But usually within bands this means more clean vocals and choruses, but in our case it’s in fact that the music is more melodic and the vocals have gone even more brutal. To both directions we go. If both the music and vocals would go melodic then this band would be too cheesy.

THKD: Omnium Gatherum has become one of the leading bands in melodic death metal at a time when many in the metal scene don’t find the subgenre to be particularly “fashionable.” Why is melodic death metal still relevant for you in 2013 and what is it about it that continues to inspire you?

MV: This is our style, and I would prefer to call it just metal. It’s kind of far outside the “normal” melodic death metal field, but I surely understand why we’re always labeled as melodic death metal. But to be honest I don’t give a fuck about genres or being fashionable or commercial. This is the way we do our “business”, that’s all and well. I don’t even know much about what’s happening in modern metal ’cause I’m not really interested in it much…

THKD: Will you be touring or playing any shows or festivals in support of Beyond? Do you think you’ll ever make it over to the USA to tour?

MV: We just did Japanese and Finnish tours in support of the new album, and in May we’re heading back to Japan, doing European festivals in Summer and European and Asian tours in Autumn so there’s much stuff coming. Now we finally also have a US agent First Row Talent and we already had one tour confirmed for the US of A but unfortunately it was cancelled by the headliners before it was even announced. So we were pretty close already.

THKD: What are you currently listening to? What are some of your favorite albums released so far in 2013? Do you have any recommendations for THKD’s readers?

MV: Well, new Soilwork and Killswitch Engage have been nice new metal albums I’ve enjoyed this year. Anathema, Architects, Sara, Sia, Seventh Wonder and old Swedish death metal have been hot in my record player lately. Check ‘em!

THKD: Are there any final thoughts you’d like to add?

MV: Hope to make it soon beyond the sea, to the US soon. Keep on supporting OG and telling your local club promoters that there’s this one Finnish band that everyone would love to see there! Stay metal and be safe!

http://www.omniumgatherum.org/

http://www.lifeforcerecords.com/

[Omnium Gatherum press photo by Jari Heino]

Normally I would never make an entire post revolving around a single song.  But “God is Dead?” isn’t just any song, it’s our first taste of 13, the first Black Sabbath full length to feature original members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler together in thirty-five years.  Given that there would be no heavy metal (or at least no heavy metal as we know it today) without these guys, it’s uh, kind of a big deal.

13 was already somewhat controversial before even a single note was heard, due to original Sab drummer Bill Ward getting ousted over contractual disputes and being replaced by Rage Against the Machine skinsman Brad Wilk (Vinnie Appice, Mike Bordin or Dave Grohl were my personal guesses as to who might step in) and as expected, the reactions to the track have run the full gamut; I’ve seen people saying they love it, it fucking rocks, it fucking sucks, it’s boring, it’s average, it’s better than expected, you name it.  There can be no objectivity when it comes to a sacred cow like Black Sabbath; everyone hears whatever they want to hear, depending on an innumerable number of factors (who you think the best Sabbath singer is, what you think of Rick Rubin’s production skills, how much Bill Ward’s presence matters to you, whether or not you think Sharon should be dragged through the streets and beaten, whether you’re a cat person or a dog person, who your favorite president is, less filling or tastes great, Coke or Pepsi, Godzilla or Mothra, etc, etc, etc).

I think the song is pretty decent; decent enough to make me want to hear the rest of the album, while at the same time hoping there are better songs to be found on it.  Iommi’s in fine form, though I feel a song this long could certainly benefit from a guitar solo.  The riffs are good, recalling Sabbath’s early work and possessing at least some of that gloomy, doomy feeling.  Geezer’s bass playing, as expected, still kicks tons of ass, especially during the track’s last few minutes, and just the fact that you can actually hear what he’s doing gives me hope that the production will sound a bit better to my ears when I get to hear the album on CD or at the very least a decent bit rate.  To these ears it lacks grit, and I’m not totally crazy about how Ozzy’s vocals sit in the mix at certain points.  Mr. Osbourne sounds a bit stiff in places, which makes me wonder how processed his voice is on this thing, although he seems to get some of the old fire back towards the song’s conclusion.  As for Brad Wilk’s drumming, his performance is pretty standard; I’m guessing he was under strict orders to keep time and stay out of the way.

I like the way the song builds, but I’m not sure it needs all nine minutes to get the job done.  It’s at its best when it picks up steam around the six minute mark, and I’m glad to see Iommi is still doing the whole “Oh, you thought that riff was awesome, well how about THIS riff?!” thing that he does so well.  I have to be honest, I thought the riffage on the Heaven & Hell album that came out back in ’09 was lacking, and the songwriting certainly didn’t live up to the awesomeness of the three new/bonus tracks that appeared on the The Dio Years compilation, let alone anything on Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules or even Dehumanizer.  ”God is Dead?” might not be the best thing he’s written, but at least Iommi sounds like he’s fully in Black Sabbath mode and committed to at least trying to capture the spirit of the classic material, even if this particular song doesn’t quite measure up.  Then again, what the hell could?

As it stands now, my curiosity is officially piqued; I’m hoping the blokes from Birmingham will let at least one more track trickle out before the official release date rolls around on June 11th.  Until then, let the speculation and wildly varying opinions flow.

All this talk of fun and joy might be leading you in the wrong direction; Vhöl is every bit as heavy, gnarly and nasty as the bands they draw inspiration from, but I’ve always thought of metal as a celebratory form of expression, no matter how grim and corrosive it may be.  One can’t help but feel a certain strange euphoria as the band blazes through songs such as “Insane with Faith and “Illuminate,” often sounding like the whole thing could crash and burn at any minute.

Surprisingly, Vhöl don’t sound anything like any of the bands its members are previously known for.  One could I suppose draw comparisons to Ludicra simply because both bands play a form of black metal, but Vhöl are dirtier and more rooted in first wave BM and punk; there isn’t even a hint of YOB’s world-crushing doom, Agalloch’s artsiness or Hammers of Misfortune’s pop/prog metal leanings.  That said, there’s quirkiness aplenty to be found on Vhöl; look no further than Mike Scheidt’s utterly warped and surprisingly diverse vocal performance or John Cobbett’s ability to transition from quasi-Voivod chords to ice-cold tremolo riffs to NWOBHM-style leads and everything in-between.  The rhythm section of bassist Sigrid Sheie and drummer Aesop Dekker bring order and precision to the madness, steam-rolling over everything in their path along the way.

Ultimately, Vhöl isn’t just the sounds of a group of (in)famous musicians getting together to get their ya yas out; it’s a testament to their diversity, versatility and ability.  It’s also a hell of a good time to headbang your way through, and I can imagine Scheidt, Cobbett, Dekker and Sheie having just as good a time grinding it out in the studio.  When was the last time you heard a record where it sounded like the band members were actually enjoying themselves?

http://www.profoundlorerecords.com/

Indeed, Ash Borer have crafted a total environment of sound, something that’s not particularly easy to do with the EP format.  Most EPs are over before they have a chance to make any sort of real impact, but the band takes advantage of their penchant for songs that push beyond the fifteen minute mark to weave the same kind of hypnotic spell that Varg Vikernes achieved with Filosofem, but whereas Burzum entranced us with sheer repetition, Ash Borer do so with winding, eerie compositions that are as much about texture and timbre as they are about fury and aggression, if not moreso.  Sure, Bloodlands is plenty vicious, but it’s also rife with the kind of subtleties and nuances that allow you to pick out something new, different and exciting with every spin.

As the new wave of USBM continues to proliferate, so too has the wheat begun to separate itself from the chaff.  With Bloodlands, Ash Borer have fully asserted themselves as leading lights of the genre along with the likes of Mutilation Rites, False and Bosse-de-Nage, in some ways even surpassing them.  Ash Borer have already done big things in their five years together as a band, but if Bloodlands is anything to go by, you should probably expect even bigger.

http://www.gileadmedia.net/

This brings us to The Underground Resistance, Darkthrone’s sixteenth album and arguably the culmination of their recent supersonic journey back through time to recapture the roots of heavy metal. Songwriting-wise, the album is divided neatly in half between the band’s two members, with Nocturno Culto contributing “Dead Early” “Lesser Men” and “Come Warfare, the Entire Doom,” while Fenriz brings “Valkyrie” “The Ones You Left Behind” and album closing epic “Leave No Cross Unturned.” Culto’s tracks tend to be of the bruising, punk-metal variety, while Fenriz is all about mining classic American and European traditional/power metal. In spite of the different avenues being explored, the two styles mesh well together thanks to the unabashed enthusiasm of the performances and the same ugly-ass production scheme that has characterized Darkthrone’s sound since The Cult the is Alive.

When I first heard “Leave No Cross Unturned,” I described it as something like “Manilla Road having sex with Mercyful Fate,” due to Fenriz’s entertainingly OTT vocal performance which channels Fate singer King Diamond, combined with a grittiness and grandeur that recalls the aforementioned Manilla Road, a trad metal institution if ever there was one. This description pretty well applies to all three of Fenriz’s compositions; I’m guessing his influences are probably much more obscure than what I’m able to pick up on, but you certainly don’t have to be a living, breathing heavy metal trivia machine to appreciate the timelessness of what Herr Nagell has tapped into here.

Culto’s songs, such as “Come Warfare, the Entire Doom” have more of a chugging Venom/Motörhead vibe, representing the nastier, uglier side of the 1980s metal explosion. Whereas Fenriz’s tracks have a triumphant, “galloping into battle” vibe, Culto’s are more about the pummeling, merciless bloodshed of the battle; his are the songs of skulls being smashed by warhammers and split open with axes. They keep The Underground Resistance grounded and primal, putting everyone on notice that Darkthrone can still be one of the gnarliest bands on the planet whenever they wanna be, simultaneously punching you in the gut and (to paraphrase Smash of Demolition) kicking your stinkin’ teeth in.

What Fenriz and Culto’s compositions have in common, aside from the production and the players involved in the recording, is a symbolic return to innocence. When heavy metal as we know it truly became a genre unto itself in the late ’70s and early ’80s (it was pretty interchangeable with hard rock prior to this), it was a time when metal lyrics were mostly about swords, sorcery and the supernatural, or better yet about metal itself, and the musicians involved wanted nothing more than to peel off some righteous riffage and get some heads banging. There were no under-sexed pervs making porno-grind in their mother’s basements, no nazi assholes trying to co-opt the genre to spread their ignorance, no Christian metalcore schmucks leading the kids astray with smoke, mirrors and breakdowns. Metal was pure, and it is this purity that Darkthrone distills here, mainlining the genre’s essence and blasting it back out through their overheated amps, so that we the listeners might once more bask in its unspoiled Valhallan glory, as if the last quarter-century of metal (d)evolution never happened.

Some might see this as living in denial or perhaps revisionist history, but in reality it’s The Underground Resistance‘s greatest triumph. It serves as a reminder to the heavy metal world that even in the über-cynical, post-ironic landscape of 2013, genuine love and enthusiasm for this music still exists and knows no age limits. Fenriz and Culto might be in their forties now, but they still sound like two scurvy young punks bashing out songs in the garage just for the fuck of it.

http://www.peaceville.com/darkthrone

Nille Sandin: The main difference when writing this effort was the time limit. Before there was more room for the song writing to take place, but this time there was a tight deadline that had to be met. I don’t think this was a bad thing though looking back at the result. Another difference is that Per contributed to the songwriting with the song “Lethean.” The aim was world domination. No, just kidding. I think the aim was to exceed Night is the New Day in terms of songs and mood and I personally think that goal was reached.

THKD: Dead End Kings in many ways feels like a continuation or expansion of the atmospheres you were exploring on Night is the New Day. Was this a conscious choice or merely a natural byproduct of the band’s evolution?

NS: In some ways, yes. It’s like the sequel to Night is the New Day. Although I think there are some differences between this record and the one before.

THKD: Do you have a favorite song or moment on the new album? If so, why is it your favorite?

NS: My favorite song is “Leech.” I don’t know if it’s just because that’s the most challenging for me as a bass player to play or if it’s because that was the first draft of a song I heard. I think it was as early as on the US tour with Opeth I got to hear it via Jonas’ iPod in the Band Wagon.

THKD: Silje Wergeland of The Gathering performs guest vocals on “The One You Are Looking For is Not Here.” How did this collaboration come about?

NS: I think it came out very nice! She contributes to the song in a very tasteful and subtle way. It gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it. That should count for something haha.

THKD: You released a music video for the song “Lethean.” What prompted you to choose this song for a video? How do you think the accompanying visuals add to or enhance the song? Are music videos still an important medium for bands to exploit?

NS: It’s one of those songs from the album that catches you from the very first beat and the only words I can come up with that would describe it are “instant hit”. That is important when releasing a song through a music video. I think the video and the song go well together. It’s very artsy and it’s made by Lasse Hoile who is also the maker of the video for last album’s “Day and then the Shade.”

THKD: Is the album title Dead End Kings a reference to how Katatonia sees itself as a band? Where did the title come from?

NS: Yes, the title reflects the band being kings of our own domain. Katatonia choose this living and style of music and we got this far on our own terms, even though some would say that Katatonia is stuck in a dead end. So be it, then Katatonia are the “Dead End Kings”.

THKD: Katatonia’s music is often seen as being depressive, but to my ears there’s also always a glimmer of hope buried deep down. Do you agree with this assessment? Is there hope in Katatonia’s music?

NS: I agree that it’s quite depressive music to listen to. That’s what makes it beautiful and I’m glad that you in some way can find hope in it. I guess many people do since we hear from time to time that the music helps people through difficult times.

THKD: You’re a founding member of Katatonia; how has your perspective on the band changed over the years? How do you keep things fresh for yourself after being in the band for over two decades? [author's note: I was originally told that Anders Nyström would be answering my questions, so some questions were geared towards him. Thanks to Nille for being a good sport and answering.]

NS: Oh, this one will be hard for me to answer since I’m not one of the founding members of the band. I was only about 6 years old when Jonas and Anders started the band. Crazy huh? If I were one of the founding members at that age the sound would have been completely different ha-ha!

THKD: Katatonia’s sound has changed greatly over the years. When you started with the band did you ever imagine it evolving in the direction that it has? Is Dead End Kings a culmination of that evolution?

NS: I’ve got to try to answer this question even though I haven’t been around for the whole journey, but I’ve got to say that each record is a step in the direction that led up to Dead End Kings.

THKD: You’re going to be hitting the road for a second time with Opeth in North America in April. What can you tell us about the friendship between the two bands?

NS: Yes and I’m looking forward to it! Only two weeks now before we fly off for a one and a half month long tour with the Opeth guys. The friendship between the bands stretches far back since Jonas and Anders have been friends with Mikael for a very, very long time. Katatonia also supported Opeth on their Blackwater Park tour back in 2001.

THKD: Do you enjoy being out on tour? What are the biggest pros and cons of life on the road?

NS: I love being on the road. It almost feels like I’ve been on the road more in the last three years than at home. It takes a certain kind of person to cope with life on the road. Sometimes it can be hard for those with families back at home but it’s so rewarding being up on stage and connecting with the crowd. It’s in those moments it makes sense!

THKD: What does the rest of 2013 have in store for Katatonia? Is there any new material in the works or will you strictly focus on promoting Dead End Kings?

NS: We’re gonna release a stripped-down version of Dead End Kings as well as make the DVD to be released later this year. Of course heavy touring this Fall will accompany this.

THKD: What are you currently listening to? Do you have any recommendations for our readers?

NS: I’m currently listening to Decapitated´s latest effort Carnival is Forever. That’s my recommendation for your readers out there!

THKD: Are there any final thoughts you’d like to add?

NS: Stay heavy, make us happy by attending the shows and last but not least; keep on keepin’ on!!!

http://katatonia.com/

But that was then, this is now, and this year I am anything but pumped for Wrestlemania. Let’s face it, the WWE has been on a downhill trajectory ever since John Cena inexplicably ascended from a mid card-dwelling pro wrestling version of Vanilla Ice to becoming the always-smiling, poop-joke-telling, always winning face of the company, but this year’s event just might be its nadir. I realize Vince McMahon could give a shit about insulting long-time wrestling fans, but goddammit I’m both insulted and saddened by what the multi-million-dollar flagship promotion of professional wrestling has become.

You know there’s a serious problem when the main event landscape is dominated by part-timers. Triple H, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar and The Rock are taking up space that should be being filled by the Rocks and Triple Hs of the future. But the thing is, Vince McMahon has only been able to create two true superstars in recent times, one being the loathsome Cena and the other being CM Punk, and Punk has always been Punk, Vince and his cadre of yes men had nothing to do with it. You can only have Cena and Punk wrestle each other so many times, so what to do when no one else on the roster can rise to the occasion? Bring back the legends. Wrestling fans love legends. I love legends. But their time has passed. It’s time to create new legends. The problem is that WWE calls up the blandest of the bland from their developmental system and saddles them with the most godawful names and gimmicks imaginable. I mean Jesus fucking Christ, what kind of a ring name is Dolph Ziggler?!! Can you imagine a motherfucker that calls himself Dolph Ziggler headlining Wrestlemania?!! It sounds like it should be the name of the nerdy neighbor on some lame sitcom. Steve Urkel, meet Dolph Ziggler.

Ah, here is where WWE’s greatest weakness reveals itself. For every one Stone Cold Steve Austin they’ve given the world, they’ve given us literally dozens of Mantaurs, Bastion Boogers and Duke “The Dumpster” Droeses. Indeed, the crappy gimmickry has hit an all-time low with the recent introduction of Fandago, a wrestling ballroom dancer who can’t even keep his fake accent through an entire promo. Adding insult to injury, this nincompoop is booked to wrestle Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania on Sunday. Say what you will about Jericho’s endeavors outside of wrestling, but the man is without question one of the greatest all-around performers and technicians to set foot inside the squared circle. This is the part where you say: “but isn’t he a part-timer now too?” Hey, Y2J might not be on Raw every single week anymore, but when he shows up, HE FUCKING WRESTLES! This is the other problem with filling Wrestlemania with part-timers; coming out and cutting the same promo over and over again without any in-ring action or even so much as laying hands on each other prior to the Pay-Per-View is no way to build a proper feud, let alone generate any real excitement for the product.

What might really be saddest of all is that the best-built feud of this year’s road to Wrestlemania will probably be buried as the opening match. I’m talking about Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger; these two have done a great job of working an old school program with plenty of match interference, impromptu brawling and even some psychology. Swagger’s weak promo skills haven’t been an issue thanks to the presence of Zeb Colter (aka Dirty Dutch Mantell) as his manager/mouthpiece and both Del Rio and his loyal sidekick Ricardo Rodriguez have shown they can adapt well to the babyface role, although Del Rio needs to work a little harder at getting the fans behind him (the “Si!” chants that have been cropping up are a step in the right direction). Both men have plenty athletic ability, and both men wrestle just about every week, which automatically makes their storyline a hundred times more legitimate than anything you will see in the multiple main events.

But, I digress. Wrestlemania is at the end of the day one symptom of a company that has actually been hobbled by a lack of real competition. When the WWE’s dominance was being threatened by WCW and to a lesser extent ECW, they had no choice but to kick things into overdrive and deliver the best product in the business for every episode of Raw and Smackdown and every monthly PPV. With the immediate threats to the company’s supremacy long since eliminated, they’ve been allowed to coast for far too long, and Wrestlemania is just the latest and by far the most heinous example. I’m not sure if the WWE is still “what the world is watching,” given the drastically decreased TV ratings and PPV buys, but I for one certainly won’t be watching Wrestlemania.

The award for most improved band on the HHR roster goes to Australia’s Denouncement Pyre, who have seriously upped their game with Almighty Arcanum, their second album overall and the first to be recorded as a full-on band (previous album World Cremation was the sole work of guitarist/vocalist/mastermind Decaylust and a session drummer).  World Cremation was a fine debut effort, but Almighty Arcanum benefits from better better production, better riffs and flat-out better songs.

Decaylust has done time in the great Nocturnal Graves, so you know what you’re getting with Almighty Arcanum; a nasty black/death/thrash concoction with that feral gnarliness that only the Australians seem to be able to properly capture, as well as a scathing atmosphere that serves to place most of the emphasis firmly on black metal.  That said, the catchy riffs and the occasional bursts of slicing lead guitar are pure thrash, and there is an old school mentality that serves Denouncement Pyre well in helping the songwriting stick out from the rest of the black pack.  The production is clear enough to get the point across but retains enough grit ‘n’ grime to compliment the aggression.

My love for the Australian metal scene is well documented, so it’s entirely likely that I’m biased as hell towards this shit, but I’ll be damned if Denouncement Pyre aren’t one of the few bands doing this type of hybrid black/death metal in 2013 that can still make my ears prick up, thanks to their combination of precision, passion and prowess.  Carry on, gentlemen, carry on.

Technically, Vomitor’s The Escalation was released at the tail end of 2012, but since I never got to write about it then, now seems like as good a time as any.  Another Australian band with a penchant for blackened death metal motherfuckery of the highest order, Vomitor bring it sleazier, sloppier and filthier than just about any other band out there, and I absolutely love it.  Their last album, the disgusting Devil’s Poison, was one of my top albums for 2010, and The Escalation would’ve undoubtedly made my 2012 list had I been given the opportunity to explore its sickening depths sooner, as it is even more putrid than its predecessor.

The Escalation sees Horror Illogium of Portal joining the band on guitar, which probably goes a long way towards explaining the frenzied, chaotic assault Vomitor brings to the table here.  Granted, they’ve always been pretty frenzied, but it seems that with this album things have reached a barely controlled fever-pitch, not due to speed, but a combination of reverbed-to-hell vocals, solos that make King and Hanneman sound like Mozart and a guitar tone that mimics a wide array of malfunctioning antique power-tools.  These guys get so far out there on tracks like “Salem Witches Grave” that it damn-near becomes psychedelic.

Vomitor might just be the ugliest sounding band on the entire HHR roster, and when you look at the competition they’ve got (Nunslaughter, Nocturnal Blood, Cultes des Ghoules, etc), that’s really fucking saying something.  If you like your black/death metal with a dose of nuclear scuzz, you’ve come to the right place.

Much like Denouncement Pyre, Poland’s Cultes des Ghoules is a band that seemingly gets better (and more harrowing) with every release.  I was a big fan of their debut full length Häxan, but that album ultimately only scratched the surface of what this band is capable of, as evidenced by the great Conjurers of Archaic Powers split w/ Goat Tyrant and the beyond killer Spectres over Transylvania EP.  But as good as those recordings were, they did not prepare me for what Cultes des Ghoules have achieved with Henbane.

It isn’t easy for metal bands to achieve a truly arcane and evil feeling; over forty years of genre history has taught us that it’s not as simple as tuning down your guitar and scribbling some lyrics about Satan.  With Henbane, Cultes des Ghoules crafts a soundscape that will have you believing beyond a shadow of a doubt that the band has tapped into something metaphysical; call it witchcraft/the occult/dark arts/whatever, there is a truely ritualistic vibe at work here (and by ritualistic I mean actual rituals, not metal gigs at shithole bars), the same inexplicable current of darkness that Lovecraft tapped into when he envisioned the Cthulhu Mythos.  I realize I throw the term Lovecraftian around way too often, but I honestly think that in 2013 Cultes des Ghoules are rivaled only by Portal in creating this kind of vibe, although their approaches couldn’t be more different.  Cultes des Ghoules are far more rooted in traditional black metal, but they take its ethos of obscurity to a level that few bands can, a level populated by nameless, forgotten gods and nourished by blood sacrifice.

Henbane is as dynamic as it is horrific; Cultes des Ghoules songwriting prowess has grown by leaps and bounds since the days of Häxan, sprawling in many directions but never coming off as unfocused or self-indulgent.  The recording quality is raw and lo-fi, but as is often the case in the realm of black metal, this is a great help rather than a hindrance, adding to that aforementioned atmosphere but never at the expense of detracting from the ample craftsmanship behind the songs.

Cultes des Ghoules have made an astounding effort to put their own unique spin on black metal, and at a time when bands think putting a dolled up Grace Slick impersonator at the front of the stage makes you “occult,” these Polish maniacs have created something that sounds like it is legitimately in league with the Lord of Darkness.  Total excellence.

Denmark might not be as prolific in vomiting out metal bands as its Scandinavian brethren Sweden and Norway, but the country has always been about quality over quantity, and Cerekloth are no exception, delivering the first pure death metal album of 2013 to really tickle my fancy in the form of In the Midst of Life We are in Death (henceforth referred to as ITMOLWAID).  Kidz, I can’t stress this one enough, if you dig traditional death metal, you need to spend some quality time with this pestilent platter.

Cerekloth play death metal of the slow and deliberate variety; even when they pick up the pace a little, the album still comes off like a crawling miasma of morbid malevolence sweeping over a mass grave.  I’ve said it once, I’ll say it over and over again ’til I’m in the ground and rotting; death metal should sound like death, and death doesn’t sound like the clickety-clackety-ass pro-tools’ed-to-oblivion bullshit that gets passed off as death metal more often than anyone should care to admit (well, it might sound like that when a robot dies… hmmm…).  ITMOLWAID sounds great, but the songwriting approach is such that the album drips with creepy atmosphere in spite of the crystal clear sonics.  The classic death metal bands didn’t just write heavy, brutal music, they wrote music that was genuinely unsettling, with riffs and songs you could tell apart, and that’s exactly what Cerekloth have done here.

The album sticks to the fundamentals of death metal, but they are so well executed that Cerekloth are still a breath of fresh (fetid?) air amidst a death metal scene where Incantation and Entombed babies are multiplying like motherfucking gremlins.  Indeed, these Danish overlords have the death metal debut album of the year on their hands, so whatever you do, don’t let In the Midst of Life We are in Death get buried under the avalanche of 2013 releases.

Another blackened blast of Australian bestiality, another member of Nocturnal Graves; Impious Baptism is the sole vision of vocalist/multi-instrumentalist J, and Wrath of the Apex Predator is the band’s debut full length after some demo and EP action.  This is more raw and ugly sounding than either Nocturnal Graves or Denouncement Pyre, but still falls into that same realm of blackened death thrashing carnage that embodies the signature sound of metal from the land down under.

Once again, you probably already know what to expect from this one, a lot of high-speed riff-mongering and a lo-fi production scheme where the drums sound like the trash compactor in Star Wars and the guitars might trick you into thinking that someone in your general vicinity kicked a hornet’s nest.  Wrath of the Apex Predator does occasionally put the breaks on and gives you a chance to breath with a trudging, doomy section or an ambient interlude, but for the most part Impious Baptism is all about hitting you over the head repeatedly with the almighty Aussie metal filth-hammer.  Subtlety is not the band’s strong suit, but the album isn’t so OTT that you can’t tell what’s going on, which is often the make-or-break factor with this stuff.

Ultimately, Impious Baptism might be the least essential of the releases we’ve looked at so far, but at the same time it’s certainly no slouch, and fans of the Australian sound will no doubt eat this shit up.  Nasty recording quality, some sickly buzzsaw riffs and plenty of passion go a long way with me.

Incantation.  The real fucking deal.  Accept no substitutes.  Arguably one of the most influential bands in today’s metal scene gets the lavish vinyl reissue treatment for their fourth album Diabolical Conquest, which is generally considered to be one of the best in their entire catalog.  I’m not exactly what you’d call a vinyl fetishist, but I do love me some Incantation, and the pictures of this over at the HHR website make it look like a pretty sweet package for all you turntable psychos to get your grubby paws on.

I really shouldn’t have to tell you what Incantation sounds like; I mean let’s face it, if you don’t know you’re probably a false and should not entry.  I will however say that Diabolical Conquest is notable for featuring Daniel Corchado on guitar and vocals; you might know Mr. Corchado from The Chasm, one of the best death metal bands that ever existed.  Pair him up with Incantation mastermind John McEntee and stalwart drummer Kyle Severn, and you’ve got a death metal super-group on your bloody hands that actually delivers.

Well, I reckon that wraps up our look at a plethora of recent releases from Hells Headbangers.  They’re quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite labels and I can’t wait to see what other sacrilegious surprises they have in store for 2013 and beyond.

http://www.hellsheadbangers.com/


http://hellsheadbangers.bandcamp.com/

Alpha Tiger also brings some mighty fine songwriting to the table for Beneath the Surface; the tracks here are for the most part as catchy as it gets for the style, largely thanks to the near-flawless vocal performance of Stephan Dietrich who may or may not be Klaus Meine’s illegitimate child.  Sure there’s a whiff of cheese here and there, but that’s all part of the fun, and whatever silliness the band may occasionally display is more than made up for by the killer hooks that pepper soaring tunes such as the opening one-two punch of “The Alliance” and “From Outer Space” or the flat-out awesome “Along the Rising Sun” (I’m pretty sure there’s an unwritten law among traditional heavy metal bands that you must write at least one song that somehow refers to Japan).

The band taps into a style of trad metal that’s tough to pull off, possessing an inherent slickness while still attempting to “keep it true.”  It’s hard to say exactly what it is that made the Scorpions sound badass and Def Leppard sound like a bunch of pansies, but Alpha Tiger assuredly falls on the Scorps side of things, balancing commercialism with righteous riffage and an unabashed  desire to rock and rock hard.  Perhaps it has something to do with being German?  Regardless of what the reasons may be, Beneath the Surface manages to bring it on both fronts, which is ultimately what makes it so appealing.

Part of being such a loudmouth online is that I often find myself being forced to eat humble pie, and Beneath the Surface is yet another album that has me questioning a long-held stance.  Perhaps I’ve been a bit too harsh on the retro-radiation that’s been sweeping the metal nation for the past half-decade or so.  I mean, if the end result is a band as good as Alpha Tiger, then it has most certainly been worth it.

Charnel House juxtaposes ethereal female vocals that wouldn’t be out-of-place on a British shoegaze album circa 1992 with a mix of doom, drone and black metal at their most minimal. It’s a combination that works surprisingly well, and though the description might have you ready to lump them in with the current crop of female-fronted occult rock/doom/whatever that the metal community has been blowing load after load over for the past few years, just one listen to Contagion tells us that Charnel House are a very different animal, blacker, grimmer and uglier than the hordes of Coven clones.

To these ears, Contagion sounds like a musical storm brewing over a vast ocean in the middle of the night; thick, ominous clouds of distortion congregating over waves of submerged percussion while those beautiful vocals haunt the skies from somewhere deep within the noise. The album ebbs and flows, speeds up and slows down, adding to the impression that you’re floating atop a roiling sea, while thunder and lightning rain down from above, and a lilting, siren voice that you thought might guide you to safety only serves to take you ever further into the eye of the maelstrom.

It should come as no surprise that Contagion is a lo-fi affair; a common thread amongst Sygil’s releases is an extremely raw, live feel to the recordings that infuses them with an immersive “you-are-there” quality. The production scheme works well for Charnel House, allowing the listener to lose themselves in the volatile dynamics of the band’s approach to composition and emphasizing the spaces between notes as much as the notes themselves. You feel the music as much as listen to it, swallowed whole by that aforementioned storm at sea.

Overall, Contagion is a damn near perfect introduction to a young band that has a frightening level of potential. One can easily see Charnel House expanding upon and evolving the minimalist approach they already seem to have perfected here, which will no doubt lead to attracting the wider audience they so obviously deserve. Expect big things.

http://www.sygilrecords.org

In the first paragraph I joked about ale horns and beerhalls; Wanderer… isn’t without drunken lyrics, but this isn’t the stuff of hobbit metal, rather this is about pouring out a drink for fallen comrades and reminiscing, something that I’ve become all too familiar with over the past several years.  Being able to identify with the sentiment behind the folk parts makes all the difference, especially when they’re written and performed with such passion.  Thrawsunblat truly taps into not only the genuine sounds of folk music at it’s most pure, but also the intent.

Things get really interesting when Thrawsunblat mixes the two styles rather than keeping them segregated from one another, coming off in places like a revved up black metal version of The Pogues.  This is mostly achieved by blending clean vocal harmonies with distorted guitars that warp traditional-sounding melodies into icy tremolo riffs, and being that I’ve always believed that black metal and folk music are closely related both musically and thematically it works exceptionally well.  Indeed, Wander… benefits from a great deal of craftsmanship and attention to detail, as well as a deep understanding of both the genres being explored and how they relate to and mesh with one another.

Thrawsunblat have created an emotional, beautiful folkened black metal album (see what I did there?!) that deserves your time, even if you’re a cranky old bastard like me that thinks all folk-infused metal is music for hairy-footed midgets to barf up a gallon of grog to.  Wanderer on the Continent of Saplings has proven me dead wrong on that assumption, so forget all you know (or think you know) and give this folk metal Can-Am Connection (see Rae, I told you I’d get a Canadian pro wrestling reference in there somewhere!) a listen if you know what’s good for ya!

http://thrawsunblat.bandcamp.com/