Tag Archives: Children of Technology

I fucking love Motörhead and so should you.

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I’m pretty sure I first heard Motörhead via Headbanger’s Ball, around the time of the March or Die and Bastards albums. I distinctly remember the video for “Hellraiser” from March or Die making quite an impression on me; Lemmy Kilmister had to be pretty badass to be playing cards with Pinhead. I already loved horror movies when I started getting into heavy metal in the early nineties, so making a connection between my two obsessions made perfect sense, even if Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth didn’t exactly turn out to be cinematic gold.  Also, being already familiar with Ozzy Osbourne’s version of “Hellraiser,” I thought Lemmy must be doubly badass if The Prince of F’n Darkness is stealing his tunes. The Bastards album spawned “Burner,” which is a great song and had a pretty cool accompanying clip in spite of it being a glorified performance video, as well as ”Born to Raise Hell,” which appeared on the soundtrack to Airheads, a horrifically dumb movie  (which I absolutely love) about a metal band holding a radio station hostage.
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Children of Technology – It’s Time to Face the Doomsday (Hells Headbangers, 2010)

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Imagine a heavy metal version of The Road Warrior, starring Lemmy as Mad Max and Toxic Holocaust’s Joel Grind as Lord Humungus.  This is exactly what Children of Technology sound like on their debut full length, It’s Time to Face the Doomsday (henceforth referred to ITTFTD).  It’s a post-apocalyptic cross between crust punk and thrash/speed metal that doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but does cause massive amounts of headbanging.

I’ve been listening to this album for some time, having ordered the ultra-sweet “nuclear green” cassette version from Terror From Hell (I unearthed my wife’s old stereo and was on a bit of a cassette kick) well before Hells Headbangers released the compact disc last October.  There is something oddly appropriate about the tape format for ITTFTD.  One can imagine the mohawked motorcycle warriors of the aforementioned Mad Max films blasting this thing on junkyard salvage boomboxes while out on a petrol raid.  Also, the album sounds like just the sort of rough ‘n’ ready crossover thrash that would’ve spread faster than a herpes outbreak at a Poison concert via the tape-trading heyday of the ’80s (but without being self-consciously retro, natch).

The Motorhead influence is palpable here, especially in Deathlord Astolfi’s sub-humanoid vocals, but also in the sense of desperation and urgency Children of Technology convey on tracks like “No Fuel… No Hope!!” and “No Man’s Land” (dig that fucking bassline!).  Much like early Motorhead, Children of Technology go for the throat like a pack of hungry wild dogs, bridging the gap between punk and metal with a musical attack that’s raw and aggressive yet catchy as all hell.  Of course, Children of Technology aren’t the ground-breakers that Lemmy and Co. were during the mid-to-late ’70s, but the spirit of that legendary band lives on in them.  The Italian quartet could very well be the product of some bizarre experiment involving the corroded electronic guts of a Rickenbacker bass and DNA obtained from one of Lemmy’s warts.

It’s Time to Face the Doomsday ain’t all Overkill and Bomber worship though.  Children of Technology have obviously taken a few lessons from the likes of Discharge and Amebix.  The disc crackles with instrumental intensity and a fistful of “fuck you” attitude that could have only been derived from the early kingpins of crust.  It is telling that these bands were products of horrendously shitty political and economic circumstances, similar to what we’re facing today.  Indeed, Children of Technology are further proof that hard times breed great punk and metal, while prosperous times breed bullshit (i.e. nu metal, metalcore, etc), but that’s a whole other article unto itself.

Children of Technology aren’t going to win any points for originality, but they more than make up for it with a batch of memorable songs and a take-no-prisoners approach to the crusty, thrashing mayhem they create.  If you’re looking for a soundtrack to celebrate the impending economic collapse and subsequent nuclear apocalypse, you could do a whole hell of a lot worse than It’s Time to Face the Doomsday.

THKD News, notes and nonsense.

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Well it’s that time of year where things slow down considerably for me in the writing department.  I typically like to take things easy around the holidays in order to spend time with family and get all the assorted nonsense that comes with the season squared away.  So, you probably won’t be seeing much new content here at the THKD bunker between now and the first week of January, when I unleash the THKD TOP 20 METAL ALBUMS OF 2010 extravaganza.  I know a lot of other sites are already putting up their top albums lists and such, but for me personally, it ain’t over ’til it’s over, as Yogi Berra once said.  I don’t like to publish my reflections on the year until that year has actually ended.  Besides, there’s always a chance that Satan Claws could put an awesome album in my stocking that totally changes the year-end rankings.

With that said, if you have sent me an album to review recently, please be patient.  Between the holiday headaches and THKD’s mammoth year-end post, I am quite busy at the moment.  But if I have promised you a review, I am a man of my word and will definitely get one.

In what can only be called shameless self promotion of the worst possible kind, I’d like to encourage everyone to check out the THKD facebook page.  In the past I had only been using it to put up links to my reviews and such here at THKD, but I’ve decided that there is a lot more that can be done with the facebook platform.  This means that I will be using the THKD FB page to post links to metal-related news that I find interesting, cool bands I have discovered that may or may not be seeing a write-up here and plenty of other random thoughts and musings about metal that don’t necessarily warrant a full-on post at the THKD site proper.  There is also a discussion board there, so feel free to start up a topic about what you’d like to see  on THKD, tips on cools bands I should be checking out, how badly you think my writing sucks, etc.  Whatever your little black hearts desire.

Here’s a link to the THKD FB page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thats-How-Kids-Die/126905647342601 (I believe you have to be logged in to FB to access it, if this doesn’t work, just type That’s How Kids Die in the FB search box.)

Now is also a good time to note that I will no longer be updating the THKD myspace page.  As some of you may know, myspace recently went through a re-design that has rendered the site virtually unusable.  I don’t have the patience to deal with the shitfest that myspace has become, so if you’re a myspace friend of THKD, you might as well hop on the FB bandwagon.

Looking forward to the impending New Year, THKD already has a lot on tap.  I’m waiting on fresh interviews from Norwegian bizarro black metal practitioner Furze and Italian crust-metal road warriors Children of Technology.  I’ve also got reviews and write-ups in the pipeline featuring Wrnlrd, Sabre, Ghost and Kylesa.  I’m also very excited to talk about 2011′s first truly great death metal album, Mitochondrion’s Parasignosis.

So, although THKD is experiencing a bit of a Holiday hangover, keep watching this space for a lot of rad new content, coming sooner than you think!

Blitzkrieg: Rants, Raves and Recommendations

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I’ve been spending a lot of time lately with Apostle of Solitude’s Last Sunrise (Profound Lore, 2010).  These guys really stand out from the traditional doom pack thanks to Chuck Brown’s awesome Danzig-esque vocals.  Brown is an ex-member of Gates of Slumber, but trust me Apostle of Solitude rule way harder.

The band also has a great sense of dynamics and knows when to bring the heavy and when to mellow the fuck out and pour on the atmosphere.  The music and vocals are bleak and emotional without ever sounding cheesy or overwrought. There is a gravitas present on the album that other trad doom bands can’t hope to match with their pot-addled tales of wizards ‘n’ witches.  In other words, seriously killer stuff.

Listen to “December Drives Me to Tears”

A lot of fuss has been made over the cover art.  Is it bad that I don’t hate it?  To me it looks like it could be a still from some freaked out foreign film.  Or maybe a romantic comedy gone sociopath?  All I can say is, don’t let the artwork deter you in any way from checking out this sweet slab of doom.

There are also a couple of bonus cover songs tacked onto the release, my favorite of which is a spot on cover of the Misfits’ classic “Astro Zombies”.  Personally, I would love to hear the Apostles doom this sucker out rather than be so faithful to the original, but the song does speak to the band’s Danzig influence, which is great.

Apostle of Solitude just happens to be in the midst of a brief tour.  I’ve never seen them live, but I’d recommend doing so if you’re anywhere near these dates.

Jul 20 2010 8:00P The Court Tavern New Brunswick, New Jersey
Jul 21 2010 9:00P Ace Of Clubs Manhattan, New York
Jul 22 2010 9:00P The Bug Jar Rochester, New York
Jul 23 2010 9:00P Annabell Akron, Ohio
Jul 24 2010 9:00P The Metal Shaker Chicago, Illinois
Jul 30 2010 9:00P the Melody Inn Indianapolis, Indiana
Aug 7 2010 7:00P The Melody Inn Indianapolis, Indiana

http://www.myspace.com/apostleofsolitude

Another recent discovery is Italy’s Children of Technology.  This quartet recently released their first full length, It’s Time to Face the Doomsday, a catchier-than-syphillis blast of crusty Motorhead worship.  Think Toxic Holocaust doing speed and whiskey shots with Lemmy while watching a Road Warrior marathon in a filth-ridden garage and you’ve got a pretty good idea of what these fuckers sound like.  The album clocks in at less than 25 minutes, but CoT pack so many gnarly riffs and singalong hooks into that time that you’re still getting plenty of bang for your buck in spite of the abbreviated length.

Currently the album is only available on vinyl and cassette. I opted for the ultra-rad “radioactive green” cassette since I don’t currently own a turntable.  Word has it that the mighty Hell’s Headbangers will be releasing a CD version this Fall, so those of you that aren’t into outmoded forms of technology will get chance to hear this shit. I e-mailed them with an interview request a while back but have yet to get any sort of reply.

Watain‘s Lawless Darkness has finally started clicking with me.  I’ve been listening to the damn thing since before I interviewed Erik Danielsson for the now defunct Sonic Frontiers, but for some reason the album just wasn’t holding my attention.  Much like Sworn to the Dark, this album is a grower, and it’s myriad depths probably won’t reveal themselves to you unless you are willing to sit down with the album and devote your full attention to it.

I think that’s the reason a lot of albums get written off.  People either can’t or won’t devote the time and effort necessary to discern the intricacies of an album like Lawless Darkness. Even I don’t have time to give every CD the “king’s listen” it deserves.  People want instant gratification, but oftentimes the best works of art just don’t lay themselves bare so quickly.

Perhaps I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it at the time, but I take back everything I’ve said about the band peaking with Casus Luciferi (although that is still my favorite Watain recording to date).

On the horrors of shopping at big chain record stores…

Personal rant time… when did record store clerks become so annoying? Unless I’m with my wife or one of my friends, I prefer to be left alone while browsing. No sooner did I start checking out the metal selection at the local FYE this weekend, then a clerk started stalking me. I was wearing a Sepultura Chaos AD shirt and the guy says to me “A guy who posts on one of the message boards I’m on says Sepultura is the worst band ever!” I felt like saying “That’s fucking great, do you and your message board buddy want a cookie?” but before I could come up with any sort of response, he says “I told him he didn’t know what he was talking about.” I said that Sepultura had gone down hill after Max left and kept browsing.

Just when I thought he had gone away and I was in the clear, he pops up over my shoulder again. This time he hands me the new Soilwork CD. At this point I wanted to say “Soilwork?! You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.” but instead I basically advised him that in my opinion Soilwork hadn’t put out a good album since Natural Born Chaos (some would argue they crapped out long before that) and I hadn’t paid attention to them since. With his Soilwork parade officially pissed upon, he went back to the register and at last I was left to browse in peace.

I’m sure he meant well and is a perfectly nice person.  However, I like to be left to my own devices when browsing music, unless I am with someone who has similar tastes (i.e. my wife, my friends).  Basically I’m a mean, curmudgeonly old son of a bitch who doesn’t want to deal with these young whippersnappers and their melodic metal.  I especially don’t want one of them recommending shit to me or commenting on the band adorning my fucking t-shirt to try and get a reaction. Man, I’m a total asshole.

Anyway, I think I’ll be posting scatterbrained pieces like this every so often, just to get things off my chest.  Any suggestions for bands or other metal-related subjects to be discussed are welcomed.