nrnr
a deaa jM at ua/z£...
S7n/roouc/i'on
And this would be number 20.
Anyway ... the plans for the next edition, number 21 , will be a release date in December . . . and before
the holiday season.
An aspect that strikes me as difficult has to do with the large Internet sites that offer much music or
rather work as a platform for bands to distribute their art. Take bandcamp for instance. It is a mess ...
and especially so once you try to find something as simple as: noise music from Japan. Folk from
Ireland. Tags are nice thing but without a proper search engine, it is futile to look for some obscure but
possibly interesting bands. Larger groups profit from this, because you can search for their name, but
small ones lack this chance and a lot is lost in the ever-increasing oblivion of the Internet; the same is
also true of the Internet Archive ...
It is nice to have some sites, which create small spotlights on small bands and projects, like:
http://freemusicarchive.org/
http://doqscanreadyourmind.bloqspot.com/
http://freemetalalbums.wordpress.com/
(active again)
http://ribsout.bloqspot.com/
http://calmintrees.bloqspot.com/
There are more of course ... somewhere ...
A good blog ceased to exist this year and it had a focus on free (non-metal) music. The FMA has been
re-activated but is run under new management.
On the content of this edition:
Even though the Putsum interview is rather long, the one by Rostau (see edition number 13) would still
be one with more pages. I wonder whether there will ever be a piece that would exceed it in length at
some point in the future. Speaking of this Greek band, I never actually contacted them for an interview.
Internet sites and newsletter lack some amount of precision now and then, especially when it comes to
describing something as "black metal", which had been the case in terms of this project. An e-mail to
the label remained unanswered, but the band got in touch with me at some point - I had been under
the impression that it was the label that I am speaking to, which lead to some strange formulations in
the questions - sorry about that. Putsum is not a black metal band ... but they use some of the
elements for their art, but the interview will reveal it all in an extensive kind of way.
The 20th edition of the magazine has also another novelty: an interview with a band from the southern
part of Africa. No, not South Africa ... but from the Botswana. As some might know this country, the
latter one that is, has some interesting bands to offer, like Wrust or Crackdust for instance - both play
death metal. 'Amok' on the other hand would be a rather young band and they have released their first
output not too long ago and plan to record another one soon. It is a bit difficult to get in touch with such
small scenes and to get a glimpse into how the metal scene evolves in this part of Africa.
On non-metal stuff from Africa I would like to refer your attention towards this:
http://freemusicarchive.org/label/Brother Sister Records/bloq/Mobile Rekodi Situdio
It is about a mobile recording studio in Kenya.
Speaking of development, another interview request led me astray as well. An attempt to get in touch
with bands from Vietnam, resulted in a portrait of the scene -from the perspective of one label.
And ... this magazine contains two interviews with labels and not with bands: Shaytan Productions
and Must Die Records. The latter one might be familiar to those, who have followed the last edition of
this magazine.
It may be save to say that a lot of things did not turn out the way they were originally planned, but the
end result is quite interesting I have to say.
Requests of interviews and reviews are generally possible
new bands and artists. Also from non-metal genres.
I am always open to get in touch with
And as I do not want to write this every time in every freaking interview:
I would like to thank every band and label for the promotion material, answers and so on. And thank
you for the moral support and nice e-mails ... appreciated!
This magazine was released under the:
Creative Commons - Namensnennung - KeineBearbeitung
http://creativecommons.Org/licenses/bv-nd/3.0/de/
Contact:
Oneyoudontknow at yahoo dot de
All the best ...
oneyoudontknow
edit:
[note from the editor: I wanted to add the following to the previous edition, but had forgotten about if\
The interview dealt with some other issues as normally, because a local Nepalese magazine already
covered most of what I generally like to ask. So, give these two extensive and well conducted
interviews done by the ktmROCKS a try:
1: http://ktmrocks.com/site/interview-kalodin/
2: http://ktmrocks.com/site/interview-davin-shakya-kalodin/
Critu s.
9n&
ex
A long opening interview
Putsum 5-12
Interviews
Amok (Botswana; Heavy Metal) 12-13
Vaginia Wolf (Sweden; Experimental Noise) 14-16
Vietnamese Metal Scene 16-18
Shaytan Productions (Canada) 19-22
Bad Suburban Nightmare (UK;Acoustic Funeral Music/Doom) 22-24
The Kult ov SatanachiTa (Algeria; Black Metal) 25-28
Must Die Records (UK) 29-32
Glina (Russia; Experimental) 33-36
The Winchester Club (UK; Post-rock) 37-39
Analgesia (Morocco; Symphonic Gothic Metal) 40-41
Reviews
Hesper Payne / Sabazius split 42-43
Busukyangbernanah-3.01 (2012) 43-44
La Rainbow Toy Orchestra - Family Album (2008) 44
Skinfather - aGeog (2012) 45
Silent Path - Mourner Portraits (2012) 45-46
Loudrage - Pungent Roots (201 1 ) 46-47
Telegraphy - Someone in Detroit (2012) 47-48
Auaesuve - Displaced and Uncharted (2010) 48
Foreskin - Anger Management (2012) 49
Ars Praesagus - Inhale Satan (2007) 49-50
Equipo Humano Uno - Nemad Mufor (2012) 50
Apophallation / Nxfxtxex "True Stereo Split" 51
Ghostandthesong - Escapes (201 2) 51 -52
Atrum Tempestas - Ne Deus crede (2012) 52
Afternoon Talk - Afternoon Talk ep (201 2) 53
Sea Oleena - Sea Oleena (201 0) 54
Sea Oleena- Sleeplessness (2011) 55
Gravehuffer - Blasphemusic (2012) 56
Zix - The WarWhore (201 2) 56-57
Outlook
Ji Ion a openina inieruiew:
fut&im
Why don't you start off by introducing the band a bit? When and by whom had it been started?
Who would conduct this interview?
I am Katerina Greek Roma spiritualist... I can communicate with the dead and can see clearly the past
and some aspects of the future for the person referred to as Putsum. Who actually Putsum is, is
unimportant the important thing is what he is. Some people would say he is the Antichrist, or at least
what the Antichrist represents. An anti-authoritarian power that wants to save the world from the
coming Apocalypse and the eternal servitude to the invisible man named G.O.D. Putsum started
preaching in the August of 2010 some time after his release from prison for the murder of his favorite
puppet Hieronymus. His preaching is a mixture of urban pseudo-rituals and infernal noise.
What does Putsum refer to? It has some vague reference to Burzum; at least your label
explained as much to me.
As I said Putsum started preaching in August 2010 but a few months before he had heard Det Som En
Gang Var by Burzum and started being interested in the story behind the music. Vikernes killing
Euronymus was somehow like a sacrifice for the Norwegian Black Metal scene to be known worldwide
through the coverage and panic the media created. The spark that created Putsum was an incident in
the local noise/free improvisation scene that reminded him of that dispute between Vikernes and
Aarseth as well as some numerological elements. And since Burzum never performs live, Putsum
performs in his place.
How would you describe your music? I had a chance to listen to a good amount of your tracks
and they are of a rather eclectic kind and cover some genres and styles. Why do you put such
a large emphasis on experimentation?
Putsum gives a lot of emphasis on low frequencies, he enjoys the trembling feeling that they create on
someone's body it makes the music more experiential. Putsum's music is a patchwork of ideas and
meanings transformed into sound. He develops his music in a way to support the main idea of the
performance. Meaning that he first collects samples of sounds and other peoples music, soundscapes
or performing, based on the connection these have with the theme of the performance and after he
has collected them he makes a composition with all these diverse musical elements.
Putsum has been experimenting with music since he was 14, basically because he didn't have anyone
to play music with (at the time he was playing bass guitar). Because he was bored of making covers of
other peoples music the only thing he could do, was to beat up his bass guitar and use a dildo on the
bass guitar's magnets for extra noise satisfaction. Since then he has been experimenting with other
instruments and objects in order to have a broader musical vocabulary, experimenting is the
continuous search to surpass himself and this applies also to the way his ceremonies are conducted.
Can you lay out some of the history of your band? How did it develop over the years? How did
it sound in the early days and has it changed since?
Yes time has changed Putsum's performances... As I said the first Putsum ceremony was more made
up to ridicule a specific situation and as a kind of parody for Burzum, actually Putsum didn't follow the
path he is destined to take in the beginning, he always had something in his mind but it was not clear
yet. Then something happened, one of his best friends, the closest thing he had to a brother was killed
in a car accident. He was buried in the typical undertaking/church business as most people do now-
days. Of course since he was always disgusted by these vultures who make profit from the suffering of
others, he wanted to do something better, something, more personal, not for his friend (he was dead,
no point) but for him. He played live using a large car part as percussion, tapes and guitar feedback
before performing a burial ritual on a terrace next to the cemetery where his friend was buried. That
was the second part of a tetralogy which is based on the four elements (fire, earth, water, air) and their
connection with death rituals. After that he saw the path he had to take, a few months later he
performed a wedding ceremony marrying his friend Tamsus Miskai and Giedre, and made two
concerts concerning racism and homophobia in the Black Metal scene.
5
So there is always a mixture of ritual pseudo-religious ceremonies and things and ideas he wants to
communicate. In May for instance he made a tour in Europe, most of the performances that he did had
a reference to European history representing historical incidents from contemporary history and
incidents or meanings concerning the Black Metal scene.
Do you have an underlying philosophy or idea?
The world is going to end on the 21st of December 2012 and fuck copyright and anyone who believes
that the one who dies with the most is the winner of the game..
Putsum is a one-man band, right? Do you feel comfortable with this? Might it be possible to
see some additional musicians joining your rank in the future?
Many have asked him to play together, and they have taken no answer... his path is a path of
loneliness.
resemble an icy cave,
remembered and its fun!
I received some pictures of your live performances.
You burned small scales churches, right? There were
fireworks, burned dolls (?), a grill and many other
strange things. Judging from the amount of fire that I
see on the pictures you seem to be some sort of a
pyromaniac, or? Why are fire and all these elements
important when it comes to the live performance of
Putsum?
You are clearly referring to the first Putsum ceremony the
one about Vikernes and Aarseth. On that ceremony the
police and fire department came because they probably
had many phone calls about a building burning. They
came two or three hours after the gig had finished and
everyone had left searching for the burning building (the
gig was during the feast of the Assumption of the
Cursed Virgin and most people were away for vacations).
They didn't find anything.
Well fire was necessary then, as most times is, for a
Putsum show, like for instance the burning of cursed Cd-r
covers along with a sympathetic dancing doll version of
the person responsible for the curse. Putsum's main idea
is to have a low budget, small scale show that has the
maximum effect, usually fire does the trick, maybe
because humans have embedded in their minds a
fascination with fire and the importance that it had from
prehistoric times. But fire is not the only element he has
used, in August he finished the tetralogy about the
elements and their association with death rituals.
An example being Putsum playing drums dressed as a
caveman in front a piece of ice with a doll trapped in it
and placed on a fake de-freezing processor, and all
these inside a basement altered with sceneries to
All these elements make the concerts more powerful, something that is
Do you plan your performance beforehand or are most of the things you do on stage
spontaneous? How does the music fit into this? Does it follow a strict interpretation?
All of the performances except a few from the tour are planned, sometimes even months before the
actual performance. But there are always a few setbacks during a Putsum show. Putsum in Greek
sounds like saying "my dick" in a Greek redneck dialect, in Greek we use as slang the expression
"ston poutso mou"= "to my dick" meaning "I don't care" but we also use it as "gia ton poutso" = "for the
dick" meaning "it's crappy/bad. Putsum is just that crappy/bad, nothing actually works as it should be,
sometimes the dolls don't work, or he forgets to do something (like switch on the green light before
starting playing drums) or the walkman just happened to chew the tape.
As a one man show there are so many things he has to do, play music, change the lighting, turn on
the fog machine, push the button for the dolls to move, press play for the tape to play while at the
same time playing a riff on the guitar, that usually it is almost impossible to not make a mistake,
especially since he never rehearses for his performances. The only thing he might rehearse is the
music but that also depends on whether it is partly composed or a free improvisation, there are basic
self-instructions during a performance like when the music goes like that do that and vice versa. But as
I said there is always the element of surprise in his performances, which is one of his favorite elements
because he never knows what will go bad. In the beginning was Chaos and Chaos was Nihil and Nihil
was Chaos.
What about lyrics and texts. Such can be found but they are generally audible. Do they have a
meaning? Are there pre-arranged texts or do you express what comes to your mind at a certain
time?
The only lyrics Putsum has vocalized until now are simple words like Hirvi (meaning moose in Finnish)
and the name of a song he made a cover of "New in Class" by Gay Anniversary, before killing his
classmates and bombing the school. All the other "songs" are vowel choruses and gargles. But he is
able to vocalize more through the use of tapes, like for instance the shouting or should I say shrieking
of a woman in a public phone.
How would you describe your performance? What can people expect to see at a concert of
your band?
Putsum performances are humorous and experiential, almost always attacking taboos and human
stupidity, unless there is another concept behind the performance. Putsum has the power to tranform
himself, changing in front of your eyes to become the Master of the Wild Hunt, Countess Bathory, Vlad
Tepes Dracula, Daedalus, King Tafur or any other historical or mythical figure he wants to be or just
the schoolboy bombing his school. He has the power to alter his/your surroundings with just a click of
some light switches, Putsum has the power to control the elements especially fire and can manipulate
dolls to make his biding. But most of all, Putsum can make your body tremble by sound.
How many people tend to attend your concerts? Do you receive feedback from them in one
way or another?
In Greece there is a small following of people who believe in the power of Putsum, I would say they
are about more or less around 40. The minimum he ever had was three during the tour, not counting
the other bands, and maximum I guess around 70. Putsum makes his ceremonies only in small urban
places, hidden usually underground or on terraces, if he ever was asked to play in a bigger place in
front of a big audience he would refuse, he likes it with a few people, it 's more personal. There is
always laughter, this is usually the first feedback and lately the laughter is accompanied by cheers.
There are times where people ask him what did he use to make that sound, where was that sample
from, how did he make that costume, watch his self-made dolls. There are some people who take with
them parts of the dolls he destroys or throws at the audience.
Can you write a bit about your experiences on the tour which you did this year? Which
countries did you visit and did the feedback or rather the reception differ among the locations
and regions?
First of all Putsum would like to thank Gay Anniversary and Bazooka (two of his favorite Geek bands)
for asking him to come with them on the tour and Slovenly Records for arranging it. They were away
for a whole month having 25 concerts, meaning they had a concert (almost) everyday, Putsum was
what some people called "the Surprise Guy" because almost nobody from the places they went knew
that there was a third band playing. Putsum was the roadie and usually he was playing as a guerilla
band before Gay Anniversary after that he was making the lights for both bands. He played a total of
22 concerts some had a concept prepared with costumes, dolls etc. others were created during the
long drives in the van while a few where improvised. All concepts were for a specific place, fortunately
there where many places they went and so many different ideas.
They started touring in Italy and then Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany,
Poland, Hungary, Croatia the other guys went also to Serbia but Putsum stayed in Szolnok (Hungary)
to make sure the local shaman was taking good care of a member of Bazooka who went to the
hospital to have his appendix removed two hours before the show. His main concepts were "Bathory
Bath", performed in Budapest, the story of the Blood Countess involving Barbie dolls in a blender with
a contact microphone, Garglewrath a piece inspired by Gorgoroth's "Black Mass" in Krakow but played
in Szolnok since the Krakow concert was cancelled "Rise of the Pigs" a piece in two parts performed in
Amsterdam and Berin and "King Tafur" the knight from Normandy who after arriving in the hOLY lands
during the first crusade became the leader of an army of ragged cannibals who massacred men,
women and children just because they were Muslims, Jews and sometimes even Christians. The best
reception he had was in Hungary, Switzerland and Naples. In Naples he made a reenactment of the
destruction of Pompeii by Mount Vesuvius spitting cherry juice to the audience instead of lava. One gig
he really enjoyed was a show in Hoorn (Netherlands) where he performed in the dirtiest toilet he found
in Holland with the use of sound taken from the toilet's air handling unit and turning it into a monster,
the piece was called "WCmoth" I think when it was finished most people thought it was just a really
noisy soundcheck.
The worst was in Paris were he played "Wedding Crasher" which is about homophobia. It started with
Putsum destroying a gay wedding cake, then doing some double dildo solo guitar and finally stripping
naked while "Naked" by a Greek trash TV gay persona Ethnikos Star was being played. I don't know if
they were just uninterested, annoyed, snob or offended but they were numb. The only feedback he got
was some guy that asked him aggressively if he was a "tu-tu", if that means what I think it means, it is
definitely not the brightest thing to ask someone after a gig about homophobia especially when there
is a band called Gay Anniversary, also playing. I guess the audience was just too conservative to
accept a guy with a mask stripping and throwing his "shit" stained panties to the audience.
What about the black metal scene in general? Do they react to your kind of performance?
Actually I have no idea, there are people who listen to Black Metal and attend his performances but
Putsum has no ties to the local black metal scene. I would say it depends on the person.
You have released four tracks so far. Why don't you share the background of these, because
through this the readers would be able to get a better understanding of your band and the
underlying conception.
Masque of the Red Death
Was a noise ceremony in a basement in Thessaloniki during the day of "aNNUNCIATION", it
could be said it was a ceremony for the elimination of "virgin" Mary's pregnancy. It is an
improvised guitar piece that starts with small soft poundings on the guitar creating a low drone
with some high frequency scarce feedback. As it progresses it becomes more noisy to
escalate to chaos before being suddenly stopped. Actually one person puked during the
concert probably because of the low frequencies. Putsum was dressed in a black cape lighting
candles and burial incense before starting to play and there was a red scull projection on the
wall behind him. Some people actually moved back some meters when he started lighting the
candles. When Putsum stopped playing most people had already left the space.
Zombie Christ
Zombie Christ was performed two days before Greek-Orthodox eASTER. When he was in his
teens, some guys he knew from school asked him to play bass guitar for a recording they
wanted to make for their Death Metal band which I don't remember the name. After the
recording the band was having fantasies of playing live in a stadium and having a performance
with someone from the band dressed as a Roman soldier piercing the body of sweet JESUS.
Putsum had found it ridiculous at the time but when all these visions about boring religious
themed repetitions on TV, and boring family gatherings he changed his mind. This was the
concert he always wanted to do. He made a ceremony that showed all the stages of JESUS
cHRIST's assencion to stardom, in a distorted version of the religious propaganda and rituals
and customs that are performed during the Greek-Orthodox holy week, Putsum used his
powers to squeeze time and make it just in twenty minutes instead of a week.
Afro Black Metal
Putsum was asked to make an opening ceremony for Yuria Festival at Vinyl Microstore in
Athens. Inspired by the festival's poster depicting two giraffes and a Black Metal phone prank
he found in the internet he had this idea about racism in the Black Metal scene. During the
European Tour it was performed live in Switzerland the day that the Neo-nazis got into the
Greek parlament but the tape recording is from Yuria Festival.
It starts with a prerecorded tape of a low frequency pipe organ, after sacrificing an African
sanguini grape fruit and drinking its juice from a horn he starts playing percussion and drums,
with a guitar in front of the bass drum and a bass guitar under the floor torn, then a moving doll
singer is placed on the table "stage", as afield recorded angry shrieking woman "singing" on a
public phone in the streets of Thessaloniki is heard among the feedback inferno being
released. The tempo changes to follow a looped sample from "Hello Africa", by Nigerian-born
Swedish Dr. Alban, played slowly from a tape as Putsum places a self-made moving giraffe
doll on "stage", and then faster, making Putsum get up wearing his party-shirt and start
dancing as in a psychedelic dance party.
Societas Draconistrarum
During a time of "national saviors" (meaning the national unity Greek government formed in
December 201 1) and "German" propaganda which had an over-coverage by the Greek media,
Putsum made a concert based on the life of Vlad Tepes Dracula. National hero of Romania,
Vlad was also a victim of propaganda by merchants from Saxony that portrayed him as a
bloodsucking beast. Putsum made this concert on the eve of the Greek independence day
from the Ottoman Empire (in a mockery of school celebrations about the Greek independence)
proving that Vlad was actually a vegetarian.
During this performance Putsum played samples from Dracula/vampire movies and TV series,
Romanian propaganda movies from the late 70's and 80's, Dracula 8-bit and 16-bit computer
games and a massacre song from the devastated lands. At the same time he was shaving his
beard (with a electric shaving machine with an attached contact microphone) to be
transformed into Vlad Tepes himself. The performance ended with Vlad impaling vegetables
before being transformed into a Master Chef and cooking them in a barbecue. Making thus a
connection of all these elements on the basis of how TV was used to help one of the so called
"saviors" party get elected (since the woman presenting the show was the wife of a politician
belonging then to the right disguised nationalist party LAOS, which is also comprised by TV-
personas from the party leader's TV channel). It was about how TV shows and TV in general
has been used as a disguised propaganda tool for politicians to get elected, something that
continues to happen with the extremist Greek far-right party.
Has all your music this focus on combining a visual performance with some kind of audio form?
Do you think it can be enjoyed without it? How do you feel about spreading CDs, when the
reference might not be available to everyone?
There is music being recorded without having being used in a performance but these are yet
unreleased. Experiencing Putsum performance is one thing, but Putsum gives a lot of focus on the
music of his performances. His composed music is used as a guide for the performance so it is
actually the base of what keeps the ceremony going. When something is to be audio-reproduced
though, he gives a lot of emphasis to make the music have all the audible elements of his
performances but in such a way as to be shorter than the actual performance and to be "better"
composed than when played live. Being present while the music is playing has different time
capacities than the recorded reproduced version. Putsum
sees his reproduced music in CD
cassette forms purely as music.
or
It would be interesting to know how
you start and work on these
concepts. Do you have a lot of ideas
that are untouched and wait to be
explored?
I explained a bit on the four above
tracks of how Putsum's mind works
when he has an idea, many concepts
are small windows to his past and
obsessions he has. Some concepts
are ready in his mind months before
they actual happen, sometimes just
because he is waiting for a specific
date to present it.
The way these visions appear is purely chaotic and unexpected, for instance for the third part of the
tetralogy about the elements and death, Hirvi, which was presented on the 21st of December 2011,
one year before the end of the world. Putsum made this concept about a Finnish anthropologist, who
had disappeared while searching for Sammi myths about the Wild Hunt, and was found trapped after a
hundred years inside a piece of ice in a cave in Lapland. The anthropologist was found by a
Norwegian occultist who went crazy from what he experienced and his touristic Sammi guide was
missing. Then the story was mixed with cryogenetics and the temporal stasis of the dead in ice
something like Walt Disney (an urban legend). This was presented in a video projection as a Finnish
news report showing a video tape with a strange footage taped by the Norwegian occultist, after that
Putsum appeared as the Sammi touristic guide playing drums to summon Hirvi (the horned god, Wild
Hunt) before being possessed by him. All these started just because Putsum placed a touristic moose-
headed pen from Finland on the neck of a 40cm head-less cupid statue. Then because he had this
concept about using water, he chose to use a large block of ice, something he was usually making on
the freezer when he was young and threw of the balcony to watch it brake. And then it was also his
staying in Finland for a year, a place he has visited many times again ever since. All these combined,
sparked the idea for this concept around six months before it was presented because the date was
important for it. Putsum has one idea involving Jan Van Leiden the Anabaptist radical mystic-king of
Munster an Apocalyptica style gig with cello and there is also the idea of a ceremony he is destined to
make on the 21st of December 2012 to avert the aPOCALYPSE and eternal slavery.
Your label provided me with some video clips and I would like to know whether they are online
somewhere or available through your label?
Unfortunately these videos are not available to the public yet, in case Putsum averts the
aPOCALYPSE these will be spread to the world as the new scriptures. There are though parts of
some ceremonies, that evaded gODS censorship in you tube, these were recorded by people from the
audience.
It is a curious thing that you wear a mask in the colours black and white. You do not like
corpse paint do you? Is it easier for you to play the role of a "black metal" artist this way? The
bunny ears made me chuckle a bit.
In the beginning Putsum wore no mask until he found it in Yusurum, a bazaar in Athens were people
sell things found in the garbage. But this mask is actually one of the relics was given to explorer John
Rae in 1854 by an Innuit shaman. It is a vessel for emotions created during a Putsum performance
and yes it is more convenient than corpse paint. Changing faces is a part of a Putsum performance
and the mask helps, it is also easier for him to concentrate to his multiple tasks. As for the bunny ears,
they are actually xmas cotton reindeer horns with bells attached on them, they were the horns of the
Horned God Hirvi (Leader of the Wild Hunt).
How do you see the metal scene or the black metal scene in particular? Is it necessary to
demystify the underlying premises and 'ideologies'?
The truth is that Putsum was never a metal fan, most things he knows are mainstream metal bands. It
is partly a parody of the male bad ass image that most metal bands project. But it is not just about that,
the thing is that there are metal bands that through music propagate fascist ideologies, and like the TV
fascists mentioned earlier they too pass their hate messages. Putsum attacks these ideologies and all
those who support them (media, school propaganda, stupidity) with humor, through a detournement of
the Black Metal scene. But he also uses Black Metal as a musical form inspiration.
Do you see black metal as a kind of music that is stuck in a closet and refuses to deal with
reality, while mystical and religious aspects are far overblown in their perception or impact in
the underlying ideology of the scene?
Music is not the problem but as I said it's the attitude. It's that attitude that I have heard in a Greek
Metal documentary "Either you are Metal or not". It's more I think about belonging somewhere,
belonging to a subculture that distinguishes you from the others. It's like being a hipster and wear
glasses when you don't need to, it's just happens that instead of glasses you wear leather armbands,
sacrifice animals, pray to Satan or Mr. Pagan etc.
10
You do not only deconstruct the metal scene but also, judging from the videos, deal with media
in general. Do you feel it is necessary to destroy the messages of the mainstream media these
days? Is this a form of liberation or of defeatism?
First of all Putsum doesn't have a TV in his cave and this way it becomes even clearer what the media
are trying to do. For instance in late March he happened to watch the news in Greece, every channels
had excessive reports about (against) immigrants, when he returned from the tour in June, the far-right
party had been elected and there were everyday reports of neo-Nazis attacking immigrants, the
attacks still continue but the media don't mention it anymore unless if it is fatal. There was also an
incident were a politician of that party attacked another politician of another that happened to belong to
the Greek Communist party and was a woman and the media were all over this. The thing is that bad
publicity is good publicity and that's what happened, the neo-Nazi party had the same votes after a
month in the second elections which showed that they had now a following and not just reaction votes.
It is a matter of awareness.
How do you see the use of arcane or magick symbols?
They are really pretty.
When it comes to your own musical background, then what kind of music do you generally
listen to?
He grew up with mainstream punk rock and post-punk, then for sometime he was a Goth-kid but
always listened to other types of music. His father is obsessed with classical music playing it really
loud in the house, probably these are two of the reasons why he likes to play loud and noisy. Putsum
listens to experimental music usually drones, post-punk and punk, bands like Sunn(((0))), Six Organs
of Admittance, Current 93, and some of his favourite records include "Hearing Solar Winds" by The
Harmonic Choir/David Hykes "Ummagumma" by Pink Floyd and "Blood Saints" by Sujo. His currently
favourite is Phurpa. His performances are influenced by the Residents and Massaccesi.
How is the situation in Greece right now? Sadly, the mainstream media in Germany limits their
coverage to vile propaganda, while the situation on the ground is generally ignored. There a
few sites and magazines that try to bring other views on the matter, but these are rather in a
niche and do not reach that many people.
Do you expect to see an increase in radicalisation in the arts and in the music? Will there be a
backlash due to the extreme measures that your country has to suffer; thanks to the IMF and the troika?
As you said the "German" media use vile propaganda, which is used by the "Greek" media for their
own vile propaganda, the thing is to see what is hidden behind this charade. The number of homeless
people and people who can't even afford food for themselves or their families increases. Most people
who have work are being extorted to have lower salaries, while at the same time the prices don't go
down. Yes there is corruption in Greece (as is everywhere) and unemployment and these were the
basic reasons for the riots in December 2008 in Greece. It's not that the youth didn't try to avert what
is going on now it is that they failed, the system won. But since then there have been some minor
changes, a sense of solidarity and collaboration in the arts and not only new stages being from
occupied theaters to non-profit spaces for gigs. I believe in the near future there will be more changes,
also social. Unfortunately for now the only social changes are that the far-right extremists have gained
a lot of power which is scary, especially in a country that has a lot of enmity between right and left due
to the Greek Civil War (after World War II), a war that has been "erased" from mass memory and its
remnants supposedly died before the 80s' but it's still there, waiting to resurface.
Can art help to understand and deal with this situation?
Some advocates of art believe that art can change things Putsum is not one of them. What he does is
clearly existential and a way to deal with the situation in a personal level. If other people find some
comfort or meaning from what he does is clearly coincidental. Art helps when it brings people together,
opens someone's mind and gives some kind of satisfaction to the observer/participant/listener.
Do you have some forthcoming releases / concerts? What are the plans for the future?
There is a chance that he will visit the "Holy Lands" in Fall something that will be reminiscent to the
Crusades although more catastrophic, as well as some performances in Athens... He has also
channeled some of his powers to create an LP called "Hirvi", these infernal energies must be released
on the 21 of December 201 2 to avert the aPOCALYPSE.
as for the future it is close.
11
In case someone is interested in your music, how and where can this person buy your stuff?
www.phasejunk.com
How can people get in touch with you? What Internet sites do you use?
Putsum has a fan uploading photos from his performances and some music
www.myspace.com/michailadamis
and then there is also phasemaq.bloqspot.gr/ and www.noise-below.org/
Some closing comments if you like
Repent!
SJnieruiews
m»\
Why don't you start off by introducing the band a bit? When and by whom had it been started?
Who would conduct this interview?
Amok was formed by Odirile Dux Ditshupo on 19 July 2005. The Interview is conducted by Dux. Amok
is a 4 piece band, Band leader Dux on guitar and lead vocals, Siska-guitars, Cosmos-drums and Skull-
Bass. There have been changes n membership n guitar and bass over the years. Genre is Afro Heavy
metal. The band has recorded a single titled Marocko, vernacular for rockers.
Botswana is not a country that is often on the radar of the metal community and it would be
nice if your could describe the metal and the 'normal' music scene a bit. What status does
metal have in your country?
There are many rock lovers in Botswana only that misconceptions, myths and isms related to the
music. You know most people Rock is satanic and this breeds resistance. The are different kinds of
music here, borankana, kwaito, hip-hop, jazz, blues, gospel e.t.c. Only dat people this days are
obsessed with spinning disks. I think is economic to the stakeholders, or we whether real artists are
endangered species. Metal, Rock and other genres doing live music are struggling.As for Metal the
scene is growing because of persistence from bands and metal lovers.
What made you start Amok and what had been your reasons for playing heavy metal? On your
homepage you name some influences - Iron Maiden, Manowar, Wasp, Scorpions - and it would
be interesting to know how you got in touch with their music. Is it possible to buy their music
in stores? Is metal played on the radio/television?
Amok was started because personally i think there was something missing, melodic band, serious
singing than growling or talking. We wanted to close that gap. Bands like Scorpions, Wasp, Iron
Maiden, Hammerfall are melodic and your ear and heart cant resist the power behind their
music.Heavy Metal rules, we chose it or it chose us. I grew up listening to rock, thrash, hard rock but
heavy metal rules and we love this.
When it comes to forming a band, how difficult had it been to find proper musicians? Has this
changed over the years? Are there collaborations with other metal or rock bands; in the sense
that the band help each other?
Very difficult to find serious, dedicated and talented musicians you keep serching an ultimately you
find or they find you.There are many bans in Botswana and more are still being formed. Some Bands
do collaborations but we are still committed to building Amok and the future might bring collaborations,
welcome, otherwise we are very open to sharing stage with any band local or international.
African folk music meets metal ... do you think this could work?
Music is art and everything is possible.
12
Can you write a bit about other metal bands from your country? Do you have some favourite
releases in this respect?
There are many bands, Crackdust, Wrust.Remuda, Dust N Fire, Nodd, Evergreen, Metal Orison,
Nosey Road, Skinflint, Overthrust, Stane e.t. c. I love Dented Reality album by Crackdust, Souless
machine by Wrust, Mantainers of Brutality by Stane, Metal Orison album Mayopic Enslavement.
Amok would be the name of your band. Why did you pick it?
We had a list but Amok suits our style of play. Most of our songs start with slow tempo and suddenly
we run Amok. We know there are other Amok bands but we are the real Amok.
Why did you pick the title Marocko?
Marocko is and Anthem for rock lovers in Botswana. Is about them(Rockers), they feel proud and
special esp in live gig when we perform the song and so do we.
What do your lyrics deal with?
Life is a big package. The challenges we face in life, politics, love, war, diseases and our philosophical
stand for metal that is good
How did the fans react to your music?
Well is a small population but they love it. there is always a critic, they shall surrender soon.
It seems you have played live already. Can you write a bit about your experiences in this regard?
Do you play cover versions on stage? How large have been the crowds?
We have played in gigs and the crowd is good most of the time. 200 to 500 unless in shows like Fete
de la musique where attendance can be up to 2000. Gigs are a challenge esp funding, venues, sound
and lighting but metal shall conquer and prevail.
According to your homepage you have recorded an album called 'Running Wild' in March 2012.
Will it be released soon? How does the music on it differ from Marocko?
Correction, we suppose to have recorded running wild but not yet. We are working on recording it
soon.
Your favourite booze?
Tea total. Blak and strong enough to float a gun
Should someone visit your country, then what dishes should this person try? Does your
cuisine offer food with a good amount of chili as well?
Well try papa, meali-meal with seswaa(beef),dikgobe. There is alot of pherehere here(chilli stuff).
In case someone is interested in your music, how and where can this person buy your stuff?
We are selling locally in shops like Kgalagadi music, Rokas unfortunately we do not have online sales
but we shall in due course.
How can people get in touch with you? What Internet sites do you use?
Check, www.amok.yolasite.com , search amok on facebook, amokianlord@yahoo.com and
ditshupodux@yahoo.com
Some closing comments if you like.
We are intered in touring the world, leaving a legacy like the so called big metal bands. It is something
impossible here but we gona make it possible.
Thanks alots.
13
U*0* ifilf
Q: Why don't you start off by introducing the band a bit? When and by whom had it been
started? Who would conduct this interview?
A: I, Johan (also JSH and founder/owner of Ominous Recordings who released Stillheten that you
interviewed in the previous issue), started Vaginia Wolf in 2010.
Q: Are you alone in this band or are other members involved in it as well?
A: I have a drummer as well, PKT, and I do the guitar/vocals.
Q: What would be the meaning behind the band name?
A: I could be all pretentious and come up with something that could come off as deep, but the name
just surfaced during a conversation with a friend regarding bandnames, femininity and wordplay. I had
just finished a course in literary science, where I had read some Virgina Woolf, I like wordplay and like
writing lyrics from different perspectives.
Q: In an e-mail to me you wrote:
"/ started Vaginia Wolf in the spring of 2010, I wanted to play atonal, dissonant and disharmonic music
with a punk drive and attitude, harsh, noisy and weird."
Why? What are the, let us call it, benefits of this type of music compared to ordinary one? What
do you try to express through it?
A: Why? It's the music I like to listen to. I want music to be more than background noise or something
to tap your foot to, I want it to grab you, hit you from behind, mess with your head or inspire you, make
you feel something. When I decided to start this kind of band, I had been listening a lot to The
Birthday Party, early No Wave Stuff (Teenage Jesus and The Jerks, DNA, Mars) as well as Lake Of
Dracula, Die Monitr Batss, Jaks, Arab on Radar, french bands like A.H.Kraken and Sida and Oxbow.
What I'm trying to express is myself, in any way I can, which is the only benefit and it's for my own
benefit. There aren't any benefits in this kind of music, becuase there is no other reason to play then to
feel that you have to do this. There's no money and no fame, unless you compromise and add pop-
sensibility to it, you die, do a shitload of drugs and fuck shit up, or something else that has nothing to
do with the actual music.
Q: What bands and albums can you name as sources for inspiration in this respect?
A: The whole mentality of the No Wave scene has been a big inspiration, as well as dadistic poetry,
the punk "fuck-you"-approach towards everything. Name dropping something atonal, noisy and harsh
with a punk drive I would say White Suns - Waking In The Reservoir, The Birthday Party - JunkYard or
Die Monitr Batss - Youth Controllers. There are too many to mention, but these three are amazing
albums.
Q: How would you define term disharmonic? What are the core aspects of it?
A: Well, for me it's that it's not clean and harmonic, I like two notes that just tear at eachother. Like
tuning your guitar and the string your tuning isn't in harmony with "control note" or what to call it. To
play notes together that aren't in harmony with eachother but create that broken, out-ot-tune sound.
Q: What bands and albums can you name as sources for inspiration in this respect?
A: Well, DNA, Mars and Teenage Jesus and The Jerks seems disharmonic enough to mention here.
Q: In terms of creating music that would stand up the terms brought up by you in the e-mail,
how do you approach this aspect? Is there a starting point?
A: I usually get ideas that I try to play on the guitar, coming up with a rhythm or a "riff", get influenced
by an structuret in someone elses song and make an interpretation of that, which usually never
sounds anything near what I had thought, but sounds good anyway.
What I did, to get away from the thinking of writing "cool riffs" was to just mess with the guitar tuning.
So I'm not able to play anything normal or harmonic, while playing like a regular punk guitarist.
14
Q: What role do facets like
contrasts, noisiness, intensity,
chaos, counterpoints, layers and
offensiveness play in terms your
music?
A: A huge role, we are very
interested in dynamics, the contrast
between chaos and control, beauty
and filth, slow and intense, noise
and music, as well as the point of
separation between them.
Q: When crafting it do you prefer
something that has come
naturally and therefore
somewhat intuitively, or do you
feel more comfortable when time
and effort has brought it to a
more planned and organized state?
A: A combination of both I'd say. I love to listen to improv music, but I prefer to play songs that has a
structure, or at in this band. I'm open to collaboration with other bands and to improv jams, which we
have done with other bands we know, nothing released, but performed live and some recorded.
Q: Following this question in some respect: what makes an idea part of your release? Do you
scrap a lot of them or is everything preserved either for this one band or another project?
A: I don't play guitar in any other band, so things are either used or discarded, if it's not good enough
for this band, I won't use it anywhere else either. If it's good idea for this band, I might try and make an
interpretation of it with my solostuff or the other way around. I did a live cover of one the recorded
Vaginia Wolf tracks in march when I had a solo performance with my noise project JSH. It fit, and
that's probably because my solo stuff arent that far, theoretically, from what I do with PKT in Vaginia
Wolf.
It's more or less the same with lyrics, I re-use lyrics I have written for earlier bands or projects that
never was recorded/released. I also translate parts of poetry I've published and use as song lyrics. My
opinion is that since I have written everything , I can use it however I want.
Q: What does the track "Religious Noir and Sex (pt. I-III)" deal with? There is an extensive vocal
performance, but broken into several parts. Has this been an improvisation or did you use a
pre-written text? How does the title fit into this?
A: It deals with a lot. The biblical, christian view of women, how sex was turned into something filthy
and sinful, women in league with the devil, helplessness before temptation, lust, desire, self-loathing
and self-destructiveness.
I always write lyrics, I always have lyrics, then If I have a lyrical idea and it doesn't fit the song, I
rewrite it to fit the structure, or rewrite it completely if it's not good enough.
Since I have been writing for longer and more extensively than I've been a singer in a band, the lyrics
are extremely important to me.
Q: On vimeo a small piano piece can be found, which offers a curious juxtaposition of calm
minimalist melodies and intense piano noise. Are these two minutes representative for the
entire composition? Why do you feel such extreme contrasts are necessary? Can the noise
part have melodies as well?
A: As said earlier, we like contrasts, and extremes. And noise can/does always have melodies, you
just need to listen, you can find rhythm or melodies in noise. If there really there or not, that's irrelevant.
The piano piece is pretty representative for that particular song, but not the rest. It's a lot of ideas,
inspiration and influences that's been crammed into those four songs we recorded.
15
Q: Do you have some forthcoming releases? What are the plans for the future?
A: At the moment PKT is in Norway, and has been since December last year. When he gets back to
Stockholm, we're gonna get the songs mixed, released and then start to create new music. I also want
us to start playing live, which is something I really miss doing. I've always viewed a live performance
as something pretty cathartic.
Q:ln case someone is interested in your music, how and where can this person buy your stuff?
A: Through Ominous Recordings www.ominousrecordinqs.com you can buy the 3-way split tape
Vaginia Wolf did with Soviet Jazz and Totenpaahle. There you have the track Religious Noir & Sex in
all it's glory.
Q: How can people get in touch with you? What Internet sites do you use?
A: The Ominous website www.ominousrecordins.com or find Ominous on facebook, also have a
soundcloud, music/poetry-blogs connected to the label and a myspae that's out of use.
Q: Some closing comments?
A: Check out every artist, album and site I've mentioned! It's worth it.
Even though this is not an interview in the ordinary sense, it might be best if you introduce
yourself a bit. Who are you and what would be your part of the Vietnamese metal scene?
I'm Trung, the owner of Bloody Chunks Records and 676 Studio. I do record for metal bands in Ho Chi
Minh city, organize the gigs around the city and playing guitar for Disgusted, death metal ; Rot, black
metal ; and do vocal on Wuu, a grindcore band.
Even though the Metal Archives are limited in their scope in which they cover the hard rock
genre, at least in metal they offer some interesting insights into the development of the
particular scenes. In terms of Vietnam the year 1995 is marked as the first entry, Steel Wol's
Hay Nhin Xuong Chan release. The MA entry carries in the information that it had only been
spread in the USA. Is this band even known in your country? Did you ever had a chance to
listen to this release?
These guys from Steel Owl lived in Vietnam then moved to USA earlier in the 90's. This band sure is
well-known in my country. I myself got the copy of their album in 2000. They look like Skid Row to my
eyes at that time. The music is hard rock influenced, and it sounds good to me. Most of the songs
wrote by some "underground" artist here, about war and love in a very different way compare to the
other songs at the time it's been released.
Bu'c Tu'dng would be the second band to release something in the metal style and have done
so until the year 2006 in which they called it quits. They reformed in 2010 but changed to a
rockish style. Can you write a bit about this band their impact in terms of the metal scene.
What kind of music did they play?
This band have nothing to do with metal genres. They very popular here. But I think their role in this
game is success only with the following of the "mainstream" audiences. Lots of guys turned to be a
rockfan or something like that cause of this band's music. But if you ask me about the influence in true
metal music here. I would say NO. They play soft rock/hard rock like Bon Jovi and some glam/hair
influenced. The lyrics is very mainstream, no bad words, and full of "lessons in life". And that's why,
most of extreme metal guys here hate them very much.
Can you lay out the further evolution of the Vietnamese scene? What bands played a role and
what would be their status today?
The story of metal here actually began with ATMOSPHERE, back to 2003, they released a demo with
6 songs, played thrash metal. I myself formed ROT that year too, play raw black. And in Saigon, some
guys created a band called CANCELED, play death metal, the first step in the genre. Another
aggressive band is POLAR LOST, playing death'n'roll.
16
Some bands like UNLIMITED join the game with demo songs sound like Cradle Of Filth but then
quickly left the scene, and join the mainstream river with Power/symphonic metal materials. GOD
FATHER formed as a heavy/thrash metal change their music to melodic/thrash/death metal and got
some positive views from the crowds. In 2006, there's END OF ROAD, playing melodic death metal. 1
year later, DISGUSTED appear to be the only death metal and extreme metal band left. 2011, we
welcome the birth of WUU, a weirdo grindcore freak. Beside that, lots of young guys with
metalcore/melodic stuff formed bands like MULTIPLEX, DEADLINE, CO-EXIST, SEISMIC
ORIGIN
When it comes to genres, then which can be found these days and how well are they received?
Vietnam nowadays still have a negative views with extreme genres like death, black, grindcore... .But
with metalcore, the crowd seems growing bigger day by day. And alternative/nu metal get a lots of
fans following. The trend is turning to some gay stuff like post hardcore, screamo But we still got
like thousand fans of death metal left. The media like to focus on fabulous guys playing metal without
attitude and ignore the existence of extreme metal bands
How do you see the Vietnamese compared with other ones from the region? What are the
differences compared with Thailand, China, Malaysia or Singapore?
A lots ! First about policticians. The government don't like USA's trends like metal, that's why doing gig
and inviting metal bands here is hard like hell. Beside that, police always take a look on us, we cant do
gig often like the other country in our area. But I think in the next few years we'll have enough power to
do some metal festival with headliner from Europe or USA....
Why did it take so long to really get the metal thing started? Other scenes were active much
earlier.
This's about history. After war, lots of thing changed. If you do some research, metal music and long
hair guys is forbidden back to 80's. We got a big scene back to 68-69, rock'n'roll, hard rock,
psychedelic... But then, everything changed with the chaging of politicians too. That's why we are
slower than the other country and having a very weird metal scene here
From a broader perspective, what is the status of metal and hard rock in your country anyway?
Mainstream metal and rock stuff will become big next 5 years. But extreme metal ? Nobody help, we
need to do ourself, so it hard to tell about the underground scene here....
How does the society react to the metal scene? Has this changed over the years? Is it common
to see someone walk the streets with a metal shirt?
Yes, the look changing, slow but its acceptable. You can do whatever you want, tattoo, long hair, black
shirts.... Just don't making troubles.
How the media deal with this rather heavy kind of music? Do you have radio shows or even
music shows on television?
I don't watch TV myself. So I don't know Since I saw lots of shit on Music shows, I stopped
watching TV for 5 years now. All I watch is Discovery channel.
What about concerts and such? In what frequency do they take place and what kind of metal is
offered there? Do you have some larger festivals in Vietnam?
We had 2 big festivals, but now they stopped doing big gig. So we back to the small bars and do gig
with local extreme metal bands here every months. About alternive metal and mainstream stuff, you
can go to bars everynight for bands like that.
What about metal magazines, diy-culture, tape trading and bootlegging? Did any of these ever
played or still play a role in your country?
Some guys did metal megazines, but they failed 3 years ago. Tape trading ? No ! Kids nowadays stay
in their room and downloading shits... Back to 95-2003. Buying, trading CDs, Tapes is the main way to
reach the metal music. But now, that died.
17
Are there differences between the local scenes in the towns? Sai Gon and Ha Noi? Is there a
contrast between the north and the south of Vietnam?
It sure have the differences. Sai Gon play music in a more violent way than Ha Noi guys. In Ha Noi,
they love some kind of emotional music, even that's is metal or rock. You can image like this : Saigon
listen to Blink 182, Hanoi listen to Coldplay. Saigon listen to Cannibal Corpse, Hanoi listen to Children
Of Bodom I didn't say about all of them, but most of the fans from the north and south, they got
differences like that...
Are there bands, whose music is a combination between traditional concepts and modern ones?
Do you think such a thing could work?
We still in the learning time, so I don't think combination is good. Fews guys tried, but it sound terrible
and doesn't make sense at all. Just one track, called Tragedy Of Ratanasist by S.Y.G, that's the only
song I think have something to be heard... But S.Y.G stopped and they now living in USA, so sad.
From what I have seen at the Metal Archives a lot of bands sing in their native tongue, while
English does not play such a role. Is this still the case or is there a shift towards the lingua
franca? Can you describe the difference in the sound between a song sung in Vietnamese and
in English? Does your language have a special touch and vibe?
Yes, Vietnamese language sound sexier with metal ballads song and alternative stuff, and in fact, if
you want get famous and get money here, you need to write the song in Vietnamese language. But in
extreme scene, that's not a big deal, people screaming English mostly...
What are the topics bands tend to deal with in their lyrics?
Lots about the society and things that pushed our music taste down. Vietnam is still not compeletly
open minded. That's why the bands feel being abandoned from the big mother of metal scene. You
can see that. And some write about bad things happen in their life in a view of violence like Disgusted,
Polar Lost,. ...Some about horror and weird stuff like Rot, Wuu....Some like to say it out loud in ironical
words like Atmosphere.
In an e-mail you told me that you manage some bands in Vietnam. Which would these be and
what kind of music do they play? You also run a label don't you?
I help Disgusted, Rot, Wuu, Polar Lost, Omerta, Deadline, Co-exist.... record, do the gigs. They all play
Death, black.metalcore music. Im trying to make thing bigger. Vietnam still didn't have any real record
labels for metal yet.But I'll do it soon this year. All the work I did before is unofficial.
What albums of Vietnamese metal can you recommend?
Omerta - Beginning Of The End, Disgusted - Thorns Over The God's Crown, Wuu - 888, End Of
Road-Cung Duong, Atmosphere- Mat Xich,
Can you recommend Internet sites, which can be used as a starting point for diving into the
Vietnamese music/metal scene? What labels and such?
http://www.facebook.com/xmetalqroup
http://hehemetal.com/
Some closing comments if you like
Stay true and keep the faith.
18
6hwn pf Suction
Why don't you start off the interview with presenting the person/s, whose duty it is to answer
these questions. What role do you play in terms of the label and are there other persons
involved in it as well?
There is only one person involved and that is me, Shahid. I finance the releases myself and make
them available. The releases I have put out represent my own taste of music, although I have a
broader range of interest - I decided to make the label focus on just one part of it, middle eastern
(oriental) black metal.
Let us start with some basic ones:
Could you explain to the readers the background of the name of your label. What made you
pick it? In what language is it actually?
Shaytan Productions is Arabic. However it applies to all Muslims as "satan" because this is the word
usage for it based from the Quran. Shaytan also is the equivalent word for evil. Shaytan thus
represented the
majority of the East -
and for me this "East"
was what my focus was.
This "black metal"
genre would most likely
defined as "satanic" in
the East and for that
reason - the label name
was chosen. Not
because the label
promotes satanism or
believes in satan, but
rather that it represents
"black metal" in the
east as it would be
defined there.
Why and when did you
start this label after all?
What is the motivation
behind it? Is there even
some kind of
philosophy apparent, which finds and has found its manifestation through the releases?
This label began in 2008 and it was begun with the purpose of promoting middle eastern black metal
exclusively as there didn't seem to be anyone exclusively dedicated to this genre. For the most part
luck played its toll that I had found Al-Namrood from Saudi Arabia defining the label entirely to what I
had sought. Followed by Dhul Qarnayn from Bahrain, and now The Horn from Australia whose aim is
to put the Egyptian Book of the Dead into musical expression.
In terms of the music, then what kind of concepts and style can be found on your label? Are
you open to all kinds of music or do you keep it narrowed to a specific kind of it? What genres
have been covered by your label so far? Do you think such is an important aspect of a label?
Although my interest lies in various forms of music, defined by my favorite bands outside my label
Virgin Black, Elend, Slagmaur - my label is focused purely on the middle eastern forms of black metal
expression. So far I have covered doom metal (The Horn), dark ambient (Dhul Qarnayn), black metal
(Al-Namrood), and avantgarde (Kalki Avatara). None of these bands would be exclusively outside of
black metal though and most where in that vein. The Horn would be considered black metal more than
doom metal. Dhul Qarnayn made a special one time ambient release but was a black metal project.
Kalki Avatara from Malfeitor and Aborym becomes apparent was a side-project of a predominantly
black metal influenced mindset. Al-Namrood represent the label entirely - black metal with orientalism.
19
Can you present some of the bands that have appeared on your label so far?
The Horn, Kalki Avatara, Dhul Qarnayn, and most prominently and well known Al-Namrood from Saudi
Arabia.
How do artworks and music play together? Do you collaborate with artists that create them for
you? Or do bands approach you with a ready-made concept that merely needs to be printed
and distributed? Diy, hand-made or professional, what would be your opinion on these three
concepts?
When I began the label I assisted the bands in their design and concept as you can see from the initial
releases on my label. Al-Namrood being the band that the label is representing through for 4 years
now, has progressed to create their own image now. It was lacking in that professional feel for that
reason, but they have since managed to change their image by using professionalism in their
approach to concepts and design.
How would you describe your own cultural environment. How does your label fit into this? Do
you support bands from your region?
I'm from Canada, and I have had no Canadian bands on my label. Outside of Quebec, Toronto doesn't
cater many black metal bands.
When it comes to formats, then what can be found on your label? Can you explain for picking
some and leaving out others? Do you prefer analogue over digital?
I am not a huge fan of the digital era, I prefer the CD's because of their accompanying artwork - and
their overall physical nature to represent the entire full scale of art piece. I release only professional
CDs, and the music is available in digital though. I would be interested in doing vinyls, but Canada
lacks the support to do it, so I refrain from it.
Is it important for you to not only having a well crafting design, but also a booklet with all the
lyrics and the information on the release?
This is dependent on the band that is putting their work out. However I always mention to be minimal
is the best - since the less you know, the more that is left up for imagination.
What about special/limited editions? What would be your opinion on these? Do you sell such
or do you plan to do so?
I have finally made a limited edition special engraved box release, and it will feature Al-Namrood's
initial tracks remastered and perfected housed in a box engraved with their logo on the box with a
postcard for artwork.
Is it necessary that the music on your label reflects in some respect also your own preferences
or would it be possible for you to spread something that you appreciate for its own merit, even
though it might be difficult for you to listen to or enjoying it?
I only release what I prefer, it would be difficult to endorse something I didn't and justify financing it.
How do you deal with reviews and interviews? Do you send physical copies to writers and
magazines or do you prefer to deal with MP3 stuff for this kind of matter? Do you think these
written works still play a role in an age of the omnipresence of social media sites like Facebook
and Twitter?
I still deal with the original method of sending physical CD's, and I post each review whether good or
bad on our website so the listener or reader can make up their own mind. Also in appreciation of the
writers and websites/magazines time and effort I link back to them to spread the word. None of my
bands or I myself have Twitter, or Facebook. They're are fan pages that exist but are not endorsed by
or affiliated with Shaytan Productions or Al-Namrood.
When it comes to criticism and negative reviews, then how do you deal with this aspect? Do
you pass such stuff on to the bands? Do you respond to the person that confronts you with
them? Is it even possible to find them on your homepage? What is an honest review from your
point of view?
Every one will have their own opinion on the music. It just so happens each reviewer will have a
predetermined interest in the music I put out thus will judge based on that preconceived notion. I post
each review up whether positive or negative and I do not confront negative reviews, its an opinion of
the writer - that's all it is. It's one single person out of the many that may not have liked it.
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Even if the majority disliked it, the fact the the band have made it, and I liked it is enough to warrant
me distributing it. I don't believe in objectivity in reviews, so there can't be an honest review, it will
always be the opinion of the writer.
Is it easy for you to reach out to fans and sell your outputs?
Al-Namrood have a following at this point, they where our first band and it was difficult to be accepted
at first for the band and label. Since then everything has eased and the label and bands on it have
enjoyed at least some form of following.
Do you distribute all the music by yourself or do you collaborate with other labels or distros in
this respect?
I collaborate with other labels and distros - also keep up to date that way on what others are doing and
hearing new bands and music styles all the time. There are no limits to who I work with - as long as
the mutual support is there in the underground dark genres.
How do you see the aspect of downloads and tendency to 'piracy' music? Do you feel or are
bothered by this sting?
I use to be, but I have grown to accept it. Those that want it, will buy it and support the band. While
those that wanted it without paying, will find means to get it without paying. Piracy indirectly does lead
to more exposure which can mean more fans for the band. The label's intention was never to profit but
instead keep it self-sufficient.
How can bands submit music to your label? What steps are necessary for this?
I take the effort to locate and pick my own bands since only I can know what I prefer. Although I may
overlook a band by not searching enough so I will accept myspace links to listen to their music or take
their downloads if they contact me with a proposal.
And now to something more specific and different:
How do you see the metal scene in the Middle East? As your label as a certain focus on it, it seems
natural to ask about this aspect, doesn't it?
Its growing for sure. I am seeing and hearing a lot of black metal projects appear everywhere in the
middle east now.
Do you accept music from this region no matter what, or do you have a certain focus on a
couple of scenes. What would be your reasons for picking the bands you did?
I did not go by concept or their region, I went by their musical expression and if I enjoyed their music
or not. I choose on a very surface level what is appealing to me.
You write on your homepage: releasing exclusively oriental black metal, and oriental dark
ambient. Why do you have these focusses? How would you describe the differences towards
other scenes?
I found it more suiting to focus on this as their was no one dedicated to this. As mentioned, my tastes
in music vary greatly outside of the oriental sphere of black metal.
Do you see an establishment of a hybrid between metal and Middle Eastern folks music already?
Or do you think such will be established in the future?
I think just as folk music (viking metal etc) exist for the west, it will catch on that it will become
something separate from black metal entirely. It would be interesting to see that happen and I would
support it, as eastern influence is highly lacking in black metal especially.
How do you deal with the rise of Islamophobia? Is it an aspect your label had to deal with so far?
We had a lot of hate-mail as band and label originally but that subsided within the first year. There are
still those that are ignorant to the fact that the label is called Shaytan defining evil - and believe this is
"Islamic metal" the label promotes. I don't think those two things can ever co-exist hence the name
Shaytan Productions.
Do you make music yourself? If so, can you write a bit about your band/s?
I do not make any music myself and learned only to play the Darbouka (hand drum) and guitar very
minor.
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Do you have some forthcoming releases on your label? What are the plans for the future?
In the near future Jan 2013 there will be the limited edition special by Al-Namrood. It will be the first
release with a step away from the traditional jewel case on my label.
In case someone is interested in your music, how and where can this person buy your stuff?
Is it available through our online shop through our website www.shaytanproductions-shop.com , and
digital formats are readily available through iTunes, and outside of our shop the CD's are available
through Amazon and other online retailers.
How can people get in touch with you? What Internet sites do you use?
I don't use Twitter or facebook so only email is the preferred option shaytanproductions@live.com
Some closing comments if you like
Surprisingly I am celebrating the 4th year of the label creation =), thank you for the interview and time.
-Shahid
£3 6uJ>uW>fl flights
Why don't you start off by introducing the band a bit? When and by whom had it been started?
Who would conduct this interview?
Ok, Bad Suburban Nightmare is a one man music project I started maybe around '09 but I had been
doing home 4 track tape recordings before that. A lot of the musical themes started late '05. Its been
haunting me for quite some time.
Bad Suburban Nightmare is a curious name. It wakes memories on the urban development,
particularly the one in the United States, in which the upper class part of society moves out of
the cities and into the outer belt so to speak. Has it to do with this? Is it a somewhatself-
conscious reflection of the place these people live in? And, curiously, there is a strange double
negation in the name.
The name was pretty much unconscious, I think I was aware of my ownboredom and alienation. It just
felt like that was who I was, a bad or too sad suburban outsider, and it felt that was how I was living,
and some nightmares too. I liked the bad and nightmare becuz nitemares are bad anyway, I thought
that was funny.
Yet, the oddness does not end here. Also the music itself is anything but normal. How would
you describe your music in your own words?
Hmm Id say its a lone freight train, a lone dog barking in th nite. I try to make music thats really coming
from me, i try to channel and then transmitt some pure sadness, some pain. Yeh its a little weird, but i
hope it honest. Its sad beauty, and heartbreak. A longing for whats gone (and s never commin back),
and a longing for some other place (hope).
Why do you play such music after all? Is it possible for your to name a starting point, an idea
from where it all began? Do you have some albums that you use as a source for inspiration in
this respect?
How come? Its pretty much all I do, its somethin. I had this feeling that everything just went away and
was gone. That might have been th starting point, but Im not 100% sure. When i was younger, before
some things happened, i was really into godspeedyoublackemperor and th first a silver mt zion record,
i just remember really relating to it. I think my guitar playing then was just me trying to do that, in my
own way, my own version, if I could, and i didnt know if i could, but that was what i wanted to do.
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Then when Dylan Carlson reformed his band Earth, that made me want to pick up my guitar again,
and just try to do my own version of that. It just heavily resonated wth me, that darkness, id say th two
sound worlds godspeed and earth are a big influence on my music. They made me want to do
somethin of my own.
A characteristic element of your music is a general depressive atmosphere and minimalist
concept. Why does this have such a fascination for your that you have created an entire album
in this particular way?
I like my music to be simple, th soundworld to be a little empty, it makes it lonelier. I get depression, i
think it has a big influence in th bad suburban nitemare. Its honest that th musics depressive too. (like
th man!)
At times it felt you would play the music somewhat for yourself. I had the image in front of my
eyes of someone on a stage in a desolate place, playing for basically the vastness of the
surrounding emptiness. How would you respond to this?
Yeh I think theres some of that, playing in your own world or th guy playin on th porch to th nite, like
thats th only way you can think of reachin th
world. Its been really cool that th recordings
resonated wth others too, that its been
something they get, can relate to. i hope its
given them something. .out there, th world
does feel strangely empty sometimes, i think
for me, its some relief that it feels this way.
Is there a chance to find some
counterpoints, some more cheering ones,
on a future album as well?
I doubt it. But i think BSN is about finding
somewhere away from (here). I think th new
songs im working on, theyre kind of long
instrumentals wth singing right at thee end,
are (sad) songs of hope.
How do the title of the tracks and the
music that you present in them play
together? Is it some kind of mocking of the
expectations with which some listener
might approach your music?
theyre unconscious, i think if anything th jokes
on me.
Is it possible for you to name a starting
point for your music? What would be the
first step so to speak and how do you
proceed from there?
Ok, I improvise around musical ideas, themes,
chords, and just keep doing that, and over time it comes loosely together, sometimes a song happens
out of this, more recently ive been writing lyrics when theyve come into my head, i still have some
work to do on picking th rite words for th songs, i get really into a particular chord progression, and
slow it rite down, i also like to do my more drone instrumentals, i improvise against th low open note, i
basically have my slowd down sad country instrumentals and songs, and my drone pieces (also slow),
my music is basically split betwen th two.
What instruments do you use?
Electric guitar, some pedals and an amp. i only sing when i have to.
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Why don't you use percussion instruments for instance?
maybe i would if i had a drumset and practise space. But im pretty into th electric guitar on its own,
making a big sound wth that, i quite like leaving it hanging there like that, and maybe id use some
piano if i had an electric piano or keyboard, im thinkin if i do overdubs at all for th new recording, id like
to maybe layer some guitar parts, im just pretty into th electric guitar as an instrument, and amps and
pedals, its just rad to play.
Why are some tracks instrumental, while others have lyrics? What would be the topic of your
texts?
what feels rite as song and what works as instrumental, i guess, i think th subject would be heartbreak
longing, and missing.
Your album 'Highways I' had been released by 'Must Die Records' not too long ago. Would this
be your first output or do you have other ones as well? Do you plan to release other 'Highway'
outputs in the future?
yep that was th first cd i put out. what happened is i recorded highways one wth my friend (future
pizza), and we were going to try and self release it, sell it at shows, we did it in a day in a basement in
lancaster, and we did a house show th nite before and recorded that too. then mustdie were interested
in releasing it, which was some good fortune, so it got out to some more people. Rite now im working
on highway 2, im recording it at home on 4 track and then sending it to future pizza for
mixing/mastering, and hope to release that on mustdie too.
I did some shows for mustdie and we filmed them, so future pizzas also working on a bsn film goodbye
cruel world/drone heartbreak.
Who would be Nelson? You mention him in two of the track titles.
nelson was my dog, and he died, he was like a brother to me, it hurt when he went, was gone, i wrote
nelson nightmare when he was still around, but i didnt think hed be around for much longer, it was a
sad time in my life. Th song started out as a song inspired by th film 'boys don't cry' a long time before
that, and i decided to finish it and offer it up to my dog. Th songs as much about me as anything else.
Can you write a few words about the cover artwork of this release? How does it fit together
with your music?
It was a felt tip drawing/painting i did around th same time as th record, its like a drawing of a lost girl,
a ghost of a girlfriend, somethin like that.
Are you involved in other bands beside BSN?
Nope.
What music do you generally listen to?
u.s alt from th 90s (pavement, dinosaur jr, sebadoh ..). earth. Richard bishop, constellation records, vie
chesnutt. bill orcutt. hype Williams, lil b. the for carnation. John frusciante. bardo pond, sons of otis. A
grave with no name, jim o'rourke. daniel Johnston, butthole surfers. Roky erickson. lynrd skynrd.
melvins.
Have you ever played live or do you plan to do so?
yes 3 shows! one house show and 2 for mustdie.
Do you have some forthcoming releases? What are the plans for the future?
Yep. highway 2 on mustdie.
In case someone is interested in your music, how and where can this person buy your stuff?
from mustdie records.
How can people get in touch with you? What Internet sites do you use?
thru mustdie, i guess, and i have my soundcloud too.
Some closing comments if you like
Thankyou for interviewing me A Dead Spot of Nite', and thanks for reviewing my cd too.
mustdierecords.co.uk /// soundcloud.com/badsuburbanniqhtmare
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1 & sm^Hi*
n^f
Why don't you start off by introducing the band a bit? When and by whom had it been started?
Who would conduct this interview?
We wish to thank you first for the interest on our band, and about this interview that will be conducted
by Lord Igret von SatanachiiA : Bass/vocal
Well, The Kult of SatanachiiA always wished to play extreme Black Metal with True Black Metal roots,
later we introduced a little bit melodic touch, the band is actually composed by myself and
Nextiumarok on the guitars, we just parted ways with our second guitar player Trysphaitos and
recruited a new promising drummer after a long period of stay without drummer.
Who founded this band and how many of the original members are still present in the current
line-up?
The Kult of SatanachiiA is with no doubt the first Black Metal band in Algeria and maybe in North
Africa, the project started in 1998 under the name of "Satanachia" it was formed by myself (Lord Igret
von SatanachiiA) who played bass and co-founded by Ayrod who nowdays pursues his project
Barbaras, he played guitars and drums, we had also at least two session drummers on the start, and
for now I am the only original remaining band member.
Your band has seen a considerable switch of personal over the years. What had been the
reasons for this and did this have an effect on the style of your music for instance? How do
you deal with the song-writing and such anyway?
Yes, our band is sadly known for its unstable line-up, like we used to mention on our bio, it's hard to
find the right members, we've had many talented musicians but the band wasn't satisfied by their spirit
and this was the main reason to the line-up conflicts the band suffered over the years, but this doesn't
affect the band's music and spirit because The Kult of SatanachiiA will always be dedicated to the
purest essence of blackness, I was always a part of the song writing, there are some releases like the
Promo Ep released in 2008 where I was the main composer and writer, I try to keep the proper
personality of the band over the releases.
Your name needs some explanation. According to the Metal Archives you originally started as
Satanachia and released a demo under this moniker. Later you switched to The Kult ov
Satanachiia. Can you present the history for picking these and why you decided to use this
very peculiar way of writing in the current version?
Yes, this is right the band's original name is "Satanachia" and we made a rehersal demo before
Ayrod's departure to form his project Barbaras, I believe he was more focused on traditional-folk stuff
than the evil or dark corner, after we quickly figured out that there's too many bands wearing the
name Satanachia, a French one I remember, and also a Colombian band, so we switched it to "The
Kult ov SatanachiiA" and it's under that name that the band was made official, but it will forever remain
on the same spirit, and the major part of the metalheads in Algeria who knows us still call us
"Satanachia", to conclude I just say it's not a really change, it's only a variant of the band name an
"AKA" who says "Satanachia" in Algeria, automatically refer to "The Kult ov SatanachiiA" and NO
OTHER BAND
Why did you start this band after all? Had there been an album, a certain kind of music that
sparked your interest? Furthermore, why black metal and not death metal for instance?
When I met Ayrod, we decided to form a band, and his proposal was to form a Brutal Death Metal
band, but I was more focused on dark stuff and for me Black Metal was a better was of expression, it
also deals about north African Amazigh-berber mythology, there are many many legends about spirits
witchcraft and some occult stuff circling around, I was very influenced by the 80's-90's underground
metal, as many metalheads that doesn't know it but we are no Darkthrone and no Burzum fans, "The
Kult ov SatanachiiA" took it roots from band like Throne of Ahaz, The Black, Beherit, Old Mayhem, Old
Immortal, and also the first wave of black metal bands like Venom, Bathory (1983-1987), Hellhammer
(especially Satanic Rites), Celtic Frost and Mercyful Fate and so many more, we also do love german
Thrash and Heavy metal like Sodom, old Kreator, Destruction, old Grave Digger, along with the
Australian wave like Sadistik Exekution and Bestial Warlust etc...
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...concerning the Norwegian stuff it
will always be three great influencial
persons to us, the first is of course is
Euronymous (Oysten Aarseth R.I.P)
the greatest of all, the second is
Bard Faust Eithun ex-Emperor (we
loved old Emperor stuff of 1991-
1997), the third is Demonaz Doom
Occulta because Immortal albums
Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism and
Pure Holocaust had such an impact
on us back in time! too bad Immortal
changed direction after his
departure; they could have shown
another way of musical evolution.
How would you describe the
Algerian metal scene back in the
early days of your band? What
has changed since then?
Well, there were two styles
metalheads loved to play,
Heavy/Speed metal, and something
know as Algerian Thrash Metal or
Algerian Death metal, two styles
very similar that are too heavy and in some way dark, the main difference was the vocals, while other
bands showed some metalcore in the vein of modern Sepultura or Soulfly, this is why we wanted to
go a step further in the extreme with The Kult ov SatanachiTA, the most notable thing I didn't like in the
Algerian scene back in time and still exists nowadays is the fact that the major part of the bands back
in time thought that to be original is to make some stuff proper to our nation and culture of course I
have nothing against that, but if you wanna make it why are you going to import a culture from mid-
eastern lands and call yourself "Arabian Metal" or some other shit like "Oriental Metal" ? Algeria is the
north of Africa as I know isn't? North Africa is Called Tamazgha, the land of the Amazigh people that
have nothing to do with oriental culture, well, these people need to take some serious lessons in
geography you know?
Can you write a bit about your releases
We made first a rehearsal demo, the most notable thing is that the drums were recorded with a
traditional drum kit Ayrod made by himself!, haha curious to see it but it sounded good for a rehersal,
after his departure we gathered the songs the one I inspired him and the ones he composed and
made them into a split after he formed his project, after that I was searching for some members, and I
made a proposal to two friends that were from the area of Algiers, in "Bouzareah" much precisely, they
had a band only for rehearsals and played only for pleasure I can barely remember the name it was
"Hades" or something like that, some Black/Death metal stuff, they helped be me recording some
songs in their local they had some material, and we made a second demo, after that everyone of them
switched to other styles than metal, like Jazz and Gnawi, I realized that once again I have to find new
members, in this time I made the most know band's line-up Consisting of Me on Bass, Strigorr
Demetrius V. on Guitars and Arkhirion on the drums, it was a good line up but we had to may musical
differences that prevented us to record something, so the line-up changed again and I started
composing some songs that will fit more the band's style and can be played by every metal musician,
it's in that time that my old friend Trysphaitos known as (Shiva) helped me for the records, we found a
session drummer and recorded the Promo MCD 2008, and it's also at this time that we discovered the
talented guitar player Nextiumarok who composed the instrumental song on the same MCD.
Judging from the release dates your band does not seem to be a very active one. What
prevented you from recording/spreading more music?
The first reason was, that in Algeria there's no studios really allowed or competent to record Hard
Rock or Metal, the second is that a studio record costs too much money, the third is the fact that
The Kult ov SatanachiTA is against any form samples and drum-machines drums are made to be
played by a drummer and I can barely imagine a recording line-up without a drummer, or like some
bands do, they record with drum-machines and make credit to a drummer name on their release!
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Well we surely are an underground band, but we want our album to sound exactly like we want it to
sound even if it will took us 100 years to record it !
Not many will be familiar with your outputs, so why don't you lay out the basic elements of
your concept. How would describe The Kult ov Satanachiia's approach?
Speaking about our musical evolution, I can say that even if we had this underground raw True Black
approach, our releases showed some musical varietly, for example, in our early days we played a very
raw form of Black Metal, on the second demo it was more a kind of a melodic True Black, after we
started to "Extremize" this form of True Black Metal because we were so pissed of this critics who tend
to reduce the True Black Metal to a simple basic music not so powerful, so we wanted to take the
roots of this music and make it in a more extreme nature and avoid this kind of "Brutal Black Metal"
that consists of bands who are copying Death Metal riffs to make their Black Metal sound "Brutal" by
the way we don't like the term cliches and trendy terms like "Brutal Black Metal" or "Brutal Sympho
Melodic" or other poser names we simply call our music Extreme Black Metal and let the listener
guess about secondary elements like the True Black Metal Bases of our music or our Melodic touch,
but I must say that with the addiction of Nextiumarok he gaved the band new interesting stuff and
interesting way of playing it's own style he's helping a lot about developing our musical identity, he has
a Progressive touch In his way of playing Extreme Metal.
Interestingly your music is generally quite fast and on the spot as well as focused on the early
days of the black metal scene. Has this always been the case or has your approach evolved
and therefore changed over the years?
Well, speaking about our first release and the Promo MCD you're absolutely right, our influences can
still be felt, but on our rehearsals and preferences it's not really the case this is why we are saving
something more personal to make it on a "Fullength"
What do your lyrics deal with?
Even if we are attached to the Mediterranean culture, it's not our main subject, because as many
people who knows us know that the band lyrical themes are mainly focused on the occult, as a reader
of occult books and science, one of the great personalities was "Salmon", he had the power to control
every spirit from different circles and as everybody knows he had wrote a book about the method of
controlling spirits and their seals, titled "Goetia the lesser key of king Salmon" his science was named
"Goetia" by latin religions such as christianism and orthodoxes, it's interesting to see how he described
every "Demon Seal", in this analysis you can find some attributes to the dark side and nature of every
human in earth, the "Goetia" was always and object of misunderstanding in occultism, too many didn't
know who to rightly understand this "Demon seals" analysis as an alliance of spirit that consists of
"Matter" and another spirit consisting of "Anti-Matter" that was higher than the classical rapport of
"Perverted" Spirit with "Unholy" Body, it's so "Human" attribute the others tend to avoid but they sadly
fall into it, and of course it encourages the "Mythical" view of this occult science, we don't have to
make compromise between Occult and Myth, because Myth can be "Pagan" but "Occult" is without
doubt "Godly", of course with the end of the Pagan era and the starting of what we call "Religious Era"
the man developed this idea of two worlds the world we are living in, a world of matter where we can
touch and feel everything, and another world, a world of anti-matter were other spirits live whatever if
they are good or bad, and this world always "Obsessed" the imaginary of men, we had also some
other themes about medieval life in North Africa and Mediteranean-Northern Occultism, the Amazighs
(Berbers) were influenced by the latin culture back in time and has some pagan gods taken from
germano-Scandinavian people because they were a part of the vandal kingdom, our music is not
focused on the Amazighs or the Berbers we are not a traditional band this is only our Origins
Aside from this, how did and do you spread your music? Most of your releases appear to be
distributed by the band, right? Have you been able to spread music outside of Algeria?
We made our records by ourselves, and we distribute them in CDR format and also conceive the
artwork by ourselves, we of course promoted these records outside of our country we sent many
copies for webzines and fanzines, and made also trades
Judging from the pictures and the logo your band follows a rather conservative version of
black metal; corpse paint and pentagrams. Why are these elements important to you? How do
you see the modern trends in the genre?
You know, we are more focused on the music and occult than "how shall we look" we just respect the
Black Metal in a personal way and that's all, we don't care about the "modern trends" as you say that
are going to this great Fashion shops to buy a "Gothic Black Metal Modern Costume" just to look as a
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"The Dark Evil Philosopher" and have great audience, for us it always has been, leather, spikes,
chains, corpse paint, and that's all, for the logo we planned to made a "Restyling" but still in the same
spirit and more innovative in the strict band's perspective
Did you ever had a chance to play live? In case this would be the case, can you write a bit
about this experience.
We played in good events such as the "Lelahel Festival" along with Slavery and Carnavage, and in
other tests such as "Tizi Rock Fest", the Lelahel Fest was of particular memory to us because it was
the best Metal Festival in our country, it was it's 4th edition and I believe we were the first Black Metal
Band to perform Black Metal live in North of Africa along with the Black Metal stuff as corpse paint and
the rest, I can remember the expressions on the people faces, many of them were shocked to see this
new way of conducting a show, while other appreciate it, after this show many bands begins to use the
Black Metal look for making shows
Speaking of live music, what role does metal play in Algeria in this respect? Is it possible to
see bands on stage and how often would this be the case?
Well, of course it's possible to see bands on stage, the point is that I think the actual scene is not too
good as the past scene lol! I don't say that by pure nostalgia but comparing the past bands, the past
shows, we can easily see that the metal scene changed a lot, and not in a good way, in addiction to
that many Hardcore and punk bands appeared and are trying to make a "Core" standard to the Metal,
sadly the other bands are just following this stupid idea, in addiction to many other cliches that are
drowning the scene into Emo stuff
What is the status of metal and hard rock in Algeria anyway? Can you describe the music
scene a bit for us? How difficult is it to obtain metal releases in stores for instance?
To Obtain metal releases in stores in Algeria is quite impossible, you got to make some trades, or go
to a store and give him a list of CD's you want while he goes to purchase them in Europe for you, like
if he was to purchase any other normal stuff, the status of the Metal scene was always between
metalheads hands, for example in the past we had "Lelahel Events" that was organizing events and
shows, now we have a new organization that try to keep the metal scene alive called "EX FEST" that
made a few good shows for a start, the third possibility is that you have to go make a show for your
band by yourself and the help of the band who's going to play onstage with you
You have plans for an album that will see the light of day at the end of 2012. Can you write a bit
it?
Yeah, we try to got all the stuff we need to record it, it will be a self produced piece, as I said, after an
exhaustive search we found a good young drummer that is capable to show some good drumwork
concerning Black Metal, we got eight tracks ready and in "a new band's musical perspective" and
maybe more extreme, faster and also "old schoolish", it will be a combination of all the musical
experience gained over the years in the Black Metal domain
In case someone is interested in your music, how and where can this person buy your stuff?
Well we didn't decide to deal with distros yet we still distribute our music by our selves, if someone is
interested about our music he just has to contact us via internet
How can people get in touch with you? What Internet sites do you use?
We have use some sites such as, Last.fm, Myspace and others, people can contact us at:
Thekultofsatanachiia@qmail.com we shall answer any questions and proposal for the band
Some closing comments if you like
I wish to thank you for your interest in our band, and I also Hail all the people who supported us
Through the years, and the old Metal Dudes who helped us in the start back in the 90's, keep the
Black Flame burning high!
28
HittSt 3K e % Co ^
Why don't you start off the interview with presenting the person/s, whose duty it is to answer
these questions. What role do you play in terms of the label and are there other persons
involved in it as well?
Must Die Records is run by Carlito Juanito and Rich T. There are no defined roles. We both do a bit of
everything.
We've both had a hand in answering the questions.
Let us start with some basic ones:
Could you explain to the readers the background of the name of your label. What made you
pick it?
Must Die? Its a Memento mori thing. It's a reminder to not get to serious about life. Back in ancient
Rome, in order to keep egos in check, there would be a fellow employed or slave told to whisper into
ear of the returning triumphant general or current champion charioteer something along the lines of
"yep, your champ now but eventually even you must die". Life can be pretty sweet if you view it this
way. It's liberating.
Why and when did you start this label after all? What is the motivation behind it? Is there even
some kind of philosophy apparent, which finds and has found its manifestation through the
releases?
The concept of Must Die came into being just over two years ago. The motivation then, as it is now, is
the love of music and the joy of hearing and exploring new music and musical styles. Spreading good
art/music is the primary motivation; consequently we sell our releases as cheap as we can. Just
enough to cover the cost of production and continuation of the label. We also make many of our
releases free for download on the internet.
In terms of the music, then what kind of concepts and style can be found on your label? Are
you open to all kinds of music or do you keep it narrowed to a specific kind of it? What genres
have been covered by your label so far? Do you think such is an important aspect of a label?
Must Die is an exploration of experimental and leftfield music, there is also a strong DIY ethic at the
core of the label.
Initially we were a "noise" only label. As things have progressed music has come our way that we liked
but that did not fit into this category. So, rather than not release it and be restricted we thought it would
be healthier to broaden the horizon.
We are open to all kinds of music but it needs to be interesting of course. We er on the side of
experimental.
Genres covered include, digi-dub, noise, psychedelic sludge rock, drone, 8-bit, hardcore, experimental,
ambient, poetry and work that has no definable category.
Do we think a diversity of genres is and important aspect of the label? Important, no. Its important that
we both like or find the release interesting in some way.
Can you present some of the bands that have appeared on your label so far?
Ceramic Hobs Forthcoming are:
Nigel Joseph The A Band
Stained Afro Left Hand Cuts off the Right
Seven Footsteps to Satan Kid Toy Jam Band
Bad Suburban Nightmare Astral Social Club
Wrested Thread Finger Fangs
Ignorance Smell and Quim
Bedawang The Drop Out Wives
Uncle Paul Naff Natty
We are not cartoons Jeremy Gluck
King Summat Sound Mad Tyrant
29
How do artworks and music play together? Do you collaborate with artists that create them for
you? Or do bands approach you with a ready-made concept that merely needs to be printed
and distributed? Diy, hand-ade or professional, what would be your opinion on these three
concepts?
We've always thought artwork was a really important element of any album. We've both bought a lot of
things purely as the artwork interested us. But, also, if you are going to put so much time and effort
into creating something aural then you do yourself a great disservice being blase about the packaging.
This is just our opinion of course.
Sometimes the bands approach us with artwork, or ideas, but mostly the artwork is done in house.
DIY, hand made or professional? Well, the former two are always going to be more interesting for us.
Its a more personal kind of art.
How would you describe your own cultural environment. How does your label fit into this? Do
you support bands from your region?
Our local cultural environment is ok. Obviously the mainstream has the upper hand, as anywhere, but
there are interesting things going on all the time and the underground scene is healthy. We're also in
easy reach of a couple of other cities that have interesting and healthy scenes. We've had some great
support locally from people who have a deep love of music in all its forms and just want to help out
because of that. Some wonderful altruistic acts. It's been a very nice life affirming side effect.
We do support local bands.... or maybe they support us? Its a two way street. We have two releases by
local bands and one upcoming one.
We have also promoted a couple of live band nights and have another planned for December.
When it comes to formats, then what can be found on your label? Can you explain for picking
some and leaving out others? Do you prefer analogue over digital?
Our favourite format will always be vinyl. For the depth of sound and the artefact itself. You can find
vinyl in our online shop in the form of Ceramic Hobs excellent seven inch, "33trapped Chilean miners".
We have another vinyl single in the pipeline but at the moment most of our releases are available on
cd due to it being a way cheaper format. We can release a slew of cds for the price of one vinyl.
Analogue or digital? Analogue all the way!
Is it important for you to not only having a well crafting design, but also a booklet with all the
lyrics and the information on the release?
Design is important for us for reasons previously stated. With each release we are becoming more
experimental with the packaging. Lack of a deep pit of money means we have to be constructive with
what we have. It's liberating in a way.
A lot of the work we release has no lyrics but we are always looking out for way to make the release
special. As with everything it's a learning curve.
What about special/limited editions?
What would be your opinion on
these? Do you sell such or do you
plan to do so?
We do not produce huge runs of our
releases so in a way they are all limited
editions. We did do two versions of the
Ceramic Hobs vinyl. One cream and
one black. The limited cream version
came with a special edition of their last
album "Oz Oz Alice". We only have a
few copies of these left though. Be
quick!
30
Is it necessary that the music on your label reflects in some respect also your own preferences
or would it be possible for you to spread something that you appreciate for its own merit, even
though it might be difficult for you to listen to or enjoying it?
Its not important at all that it reflect our own preferences. In order for us to release anything we both
either have to like it or, indeed, be able to appreciate it for it's own merit. We have released work that
falls into the difficult for us to listen to camp. We're lucky in that we're both very open minded when it
comes to what is termed "music".
How do you deal with reviews and interviews? Do you send physical copies to writers and
magazines or do you prefer to deal with MP3 stuff for this kind of matter? Do you think these
written works still play a role in an age of the omnipresence of social media sites like Facebook
and Twitter?
Physical copies are always a preference over digital copies. The artwork/package can be an integral
part of a release, and it's important (especially for a reviewer) to evaluate the whole package.
Written works and social media sites can work hand in hand quite nicely but of course written work will
always play a role. Personal blogs are taking this into a different realm.
When it comes to criticism and negative reviews, then how do you deal with this aspect? Do
you pass such stuff on to the bands? Do you respond to the person that confronts you with
them? Is it even possible to find them on your homepage? What is an honest review from your
point of view?
A review should be an honest reflection/interpretation of a piece of work. It would be ludicrous to
disregard criticism and negative reviews. It is important to embrace both the negative and the positive.
At the end of the day everything is subjective anyway. We've had rotten reviews and praise for the
same release. Either is gratefully received. Its all promotion for the label or artist and, interestingly,
whether the review is good or bad, the hits on the must die website for that artist go up.
Is it easy for you to reach out to fans and sell your outputs?
At first it wasn't but it has become better as, obviously, the more releases you have the further the
word spreads. There are a great many forums dedicated to interesting left field work that also help. In
the internet age it's obviously much easier to reach your target audience. Must Die is quite popular in
South America for some reason. We had no part in promoting ourselves there so, something is
working. It kind of has a life of it's own now. We have released it into the wild as it were.
Do you distribute all the music by yourself or do you collaborate with other labels or distros in
this respect?
We have worked in collaboration with other channels of distribution and are always willing to consider
different options.
How do you see the aspect of downloads and tendency to 'piracy' music? Do you feel or are
bothered by this sting?
Modern music piracy has certainly had impact on the consumption of music, though we're unsure if it
is a negative or a positive impact. It is easy to become inundated and reduce the amount of quality
time spent with music. Though it has also expanded peoples horizons, and interests in music.
The often quoted argument that piracy is somehow a move against the corporation, sidestepping the
obvious hypocrisy that it will have most likely been downloaded on machines purchased from other
corporations is tiring. People who download a lot of pirated music are also often the same people who
love music the most and are probably spending more on music than those who aren't engaging in
piracy.
What is important is to support music; buying releases from musicians directly, supporting small labels,
attending local live events etc.
A lot of the music on our label is released under various Creative Commons Licenses and where
possible this is something we'd encourage the artists on Must Die to consider as an option.
31
How can bands submit music to your label? What steps are necessary for this?
We actively encourage music submissions, and we will respond to every submission we receive. We
have to be quite picky about what we decide to release due to financial restraints, but are always on
the lookout for something new.
Music can be submitted by contacting us via email: demos@mustdierecords.co.uk
And now to something more specific and different:
You use a rather strange kind of image on your homepage. It expresses an aggressiveness and
intensity which is actually not part of your label. On a sampler it makes an appearance as well. Can
you explain your reasons for picking it and how it fits into the concept of your label?
Quite right. When Must Die started we were a "noise" label and so the logo suited. We still like it.
There is something quite incongruous about promoting the label with it considering some of the acts
now on the roster. We are due an overhaul of the website though so, who knows, it may become part
of the past.
How do you look on the modern music scene? Do you feel it is quite confusing and with too
many bands and releases to keep track off?
It's an exciting time musically. Maybe there are too many bands but there is nothing like a little
competition. The more the merrier. It is hard to keep track but the quality stuff will always shine
through hopefully. Especially at our level where you don't have a billion pound industry ramming
something down your throat every five minutes. The only thing you have is the music or sound.
When it comes to finding new music, then how do you deal with this aspect? Are you a
searcher that likes to dig through the pages at bandcamp for instance?
We are both avid music collectors and gig goers and do trawl the likes of soundcloud and bandcamp.
It's been a while since we approached anyone about their music though. To be honest we receive a
healthy amount of demos now. Most of it is quality work too so we have to pick and choose carefully
what to release due to financial restrictions. Adding to the frustration of not being able to put out
everything we like would not be fun.
Do you make music yourself? If so, can you write a bit about your band/s?
We both make music. We have a couple of projects together and a few solo things.
This may not be the right place to promote them but some of them are, King Summat Sound, Kid Toy
Jam Band, SFTS, Variable Phantom, Stained Afro etc etc.
Do you have some forthcoming releases on your label? What are the plans for the future?
There are a number of exciting releases about to come out over the next couple of weeks and months:
The A Band Smell and Quim
Left Hand Cuts off the Right The Drop Out Wives
Kid Toy Jam Band Naff Natty
Astral Social Club Jeremy Gluck
Finger Fangs Mad Tyrant
Our plans for the future are to keep on releasing interesting work, gig promotion and seeing how far
we can push the Must Die envelope.
In case someone is interested in your music, how and where can this person buy your stuff?
Music is available directly from our website, via live events, through discogs....
How can people get in touch with you? What Internet sites do you use?
The most direct online communication would be through our website " mustdierecords.co.uk ". We are
also active on Soundcloud, Tumblr, and Facebook.
Some closing comments if you like
Many thanks for the interview and past album reviews in your excellent zine.
32
&$W
Who am I addressing and what members make up the band Glina?
Hi there! My name is Sergey and I'm the bass player of Glina. There are four other band members
besides me: Alexey is the guitar player, Ivan plays drums, Ilia - on "Spiritual safety" he played
saxophone and now deals with the guitar, Olga is the vocalist and Yuri makes noise with the
synthesizer.
Could you elaborate a bit on the band name? Is there a special meaning behind it?
Glina is the Russian word and it means "clay" in English. In our case the band name speaks for itself:
we always wanted that our music sounds raw, heavy-bodied, maybe mystical or even occult, you
know.
Why don't you write a bit about the history of the band? When did you start it, what were the
influences and how has the band evolved/changed over the years?
At the time the band started (in 2001-2002), we (I, Alexey and Ivan) were students at Saint-Petersburg
State University. We all were interested in free jazz, modern improv and played a lot of jams with other
musicians. Little by little, we came up with idea to set up our own recording studio. Of course, It all
began from home studio and our early experiments turned into self-released records: "Vyazkost pochv"
(2002), "Skvajina" (2003), "Daby preuspet!" (2004), "Nory" (2004). With the lapse of time our
equipment has grown, skills have been increased, we met great singer/performer Mikhail and together
were carried away by another project that was called Benzolnye Mertvecy. It was explosive mixture of
trashy blastbits, harsh-noise guitars and epileptic live performances. Later we were joined by Ilia, who
made a big difference in the quality of our sounding. Finally we managed to achieve some success:
we played a lot of shows, participated in various festivals Skif-12 (Saint-Petersburg), Budapest Spring
Festival (Budapest) , Baba Fest (Rome) and even had a tour in Italy, collaborated with painters
(Grigorii Yushchenko, Alexander Korolev), writers and poets (Vladimir Kozlov, Nataliya Romanova,
Fedor Sveshnikov ), were involved in a theatrical performance "It is not Hamlet" that was directed by
maitre of the modern Russian theatre Andrei Moguchi, layed down the soundtracks of silent films, our
records were regularly published by such labels as Fulldozer, Yaizekletka, Post-Materialization Music,
Distorted Bible Stories, Rauha Turva, Puzzle, Wort, No=Fi, Selva Elettrica. In 2009 with Olga and Yuri
we formed another band, Coaxil, influenced by minimalist and electronic composers. And in 2010 we
have recorded "Spiritual safety" with extended membership and refreshed concept. In general, at this
moment our community numbers ten regular participants involved in such projects as Glina,
Benzolnye Mertvecy, Coaxil, Harlekino, Mars-96.
There are not many information on your band in the Internet, so it had been very kind of you to
provide me with the following one: Vyazkost pochv (2002), Skvajina (2003), Daby preuspet!
(2004), Nory (2004), Sdelai tak, chtob bylo krasivo (2008). These are the releases that have seen
the light of day so far; ignoring 'Spiritual Safety' for a moment. Why don't you present your
oeuvre a bit, because not many will be familiar with them. How would you describe the
conceptual background of these? What kind of format (physical/digital) did you use for them?
As I mentioned above, these releases were our first steps. We hadn't any solid concept - we just
played music, made a raw live record and located it on different resources.
Are they sold out or are some of them still available? In case this would be true, is there a
chance to see a re-release at some point in the future?
I'd like to believe that some of them are still available in the open access. As for reissue, I hope that in
the nearest future we will be re-releasing "Daby preuspet!" on cassette tape.
From today's perspective, how do you look back on your early works? Are you still able to
enjoy them? What has changed over the years? Do you think you have established some sort
of framework, which you can use as a starting point for future outputs or is everything still in a
flux, a constant tendency to innovate so to speak?
I would say they are very naive. And it's great! - in my sight, we will never be able to record something
like that again. What has changed over the years? - first of all, our perception of the world has and as
a consequence music-view also has changed.
33
How have the responses on your releases been? Were you able to reach out to folks outside of
your local sphere?
To tell the truth, we didn't track this point.
'Spiritual Safety' would be your latest output. Contrary to your previous ones, this happens to
have an English title. What were your reasons for this change in style and could you elaborate
a bit on the reasons for picking it?
Actualy, I don't know how it happens. Usual we use transliteration for our titles.
Why did you choose an analogue format for it? Furthermore, it seems somewhat surprising
that the booklet is kept in such a minimalist kind of way. Also the entry at bandcamp leaves the
listener rather puzzled and I was not able to track down a homepage of yours. So, why this
minimalism and mystery in terms of the band?
We didn't choose the format, we chose the label. However, it is worth nothing that most of our
community records released on cassette tapes. I think, this is due to the fact that cassette culture and
DIY esthetic are inseparably linked together. As for booklet, we just tried not to overload it.
Back to 'Spiritual Safety': How does the cover artwork play into this? The juxtaposition of
blurry water colour drawing and ordinary black one is a curious thing. As it had been done by
an artist, how much of an impact did this person have on the concept?
The artwork was completely done by Maiorov, an artist from Murmansk, and Sasha from Jozik records.
This is what she write in her blog (http://sashakretova.blogspot.com): "In the very beginning we had an
idea of making an insert out of white paper with a black and white drawing on it, which would be
differently painted with watercolor on each cassette separately. And that's what we actually ended up
with, but we also got a nice new experience. I was taking so long time to come up with a drawing. I
kept sketching animals, plants and other things and nothing valuable came out. I am not so good in
drawing, really. One day i was checking a blog of one artist i'm following and realized, that this guy's
drawings are exactly what i'm looking for. He is an artists from Murmansk, his blog is called Maiorov-
DIY, check his drawings and other things he makes, i really like them. So i contacted him and he was
happy to participate, and the next day i got this cute cockroach. The day after i got another drawing
with many little cockroaches. I was supposed to choose one, but they were so pretty that i decided to
use them both, one on the outer part of the insert and another one inside. After i got the drawings, i
placed them and all the needed text in places, printed the inserts on greyish paper, cut them out and
then the most fun part began. I painted each of them differently with watercolor, as we planned. As i
already mentioned in previous posts, i love painting with watercolor, so i had lots of fun painting these
inserts. I still have a bit less than a half to paint."
When it comes to the music, then how long did it take you to get it done? Did you have some
sort of a definite plan when you began working on the compositions for this release?
There was no planning. We just recorded our regular jam and Ilia made some mixing and mastering
work. That's all. If I am not wrong It took for us a few days.
From your perspective, how does this release compare to your previous ones? In case
someone would like hear something similar from you, then what release/s would you
recommend?
In my opinion, "Spiritual Safety" very differs from previous releases. As a matter of fact, it's two
different bands - the only thing that remains the same is the improvisational approach to composition.
For the person who like the drone side of Glina I want to recommend our new release
http://steakauzoo.bandcamp.com/album/arabian-horses-glina-split-tape. It's a split cassette tape that
we made with our friends from Moscow sonic-drone duo Arabian Horses. It was published by STEAK
AU ZOO records. Also I want to recommend another split tape, that was published by Jozik records
http://www.jozikrecords.net/: the first side of this tape is a collaboration between a Russian duo
Punktieren (it's one of many Ilia's projects) and a Finnish musician Ous Mai, on the other side there's
Coaxil http://coaxil.bandcamp.com/
Glina's art is generally experimental and does not put too much emphasis on conventional
song-writing concepts. Why do you avoid these and compose music that is rather complex, at
times noisy and has a certain ritualistic touch?
This is a very interesting and at the same time really hard question to which I have no clear answer. In
our case music is a stream of collective consciousness. For some reason, this modernistic approach
proved to be the most convenient for all of us. Why did it happen? I have no idea.
34
Your music is not particularly cheerful. Is this melancholic atmosphere intentional or merely a
facet of the 'Spiritual Safety' tape?
As one can see, not only "Spiritual Safety" but also most of our recent works are permeated with
unfeigned sadness. As for me, we just have deal here with serotonin hunger)
What kind of instruments do you use and are you self-taught or did you have had a chance to
receive some kind of teaching?
We use a lot of various stuff at our sessions: saxophone, guitars, different effects, floor toms, cymbals,
synthesizers, samplers, laptops. And most of us had lessons, but we don't improvise over tonal music
so for us it's not a big deal.
How do you deal with the variety of instruments that tend to appear in the compositions? As
Jozik Records described Glina as a 'jam band', are a lot of passages and arrangements the
result of some kind of jamming around that had been worked on later?
No, It's always free improvisation.
How important are the aspect of contrasts, catchiness, variety, complexity and intensity for
you?
Not so much: for us It's just well-known techniques, along with others.
What impact does the cultural environment of St. Petersburg have on your band? Do you
collaborate with other bands and artists? In an e-mail you have written that 'we even played in
theater and layed down the sound tracks in the cinema for silent movies'. Would it be possible
for you to give some examples? How did these events turn out? What other kind of
collaborations did you participate in?
As i already mentioned, we collaborated with St. Petersburg painters Grigorii Yushchenko, Alexander
Korolev and poets Nataliya Romanova, Fedor Sveshnikov. We were involved (as Benzolnye Mertvecy)
in a theatrical performance "It is not Hamlet": we appeared on the scene from the puff of smoke and
coughed up brand noisecore comboes. Also we participated in the project "Silent films+Live music" in
the capacity of tapeurs: on-the-fly we layed down the soundtracks for classical silent films "Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde" (directed by Rouben Mamoulian) and "The Black Pirate" (directed by Albert Parker).
The aspect of German is an interesting aspect of your 'Spiritual Safety' tape. Why did you pick
this language? Did you learn it at some point? Do you like the sound? Are there other
languages on this release as well? What about your other outputs? Curiously, the texts do not
appear in a normal ordinary fashion but distorted; here: through the use of a wrong (intentional
(?)) mistakes in the grammar. Can you elaborate this aspect a bit? I had read on the site of a
Finnish distro, how this aspect confused this person, because the language could not be made
out. On the other hand, I felt bewildered by the mistakes, because normally a band would avoid
these and present a well crafted/tuned piece of text. As the vocals generally mark an important
focal point of the music, you seem to mock this aspect and confuse those who are familiar with
the German tongue. How have the responses been in terms of this release and did you receive
some feedback that emphasized the use of language in particular? Were the 'lyrics' improvised
during the recording or planned beforehand? Is this (has this been) an aspect that you
explored on various releases before, is there a chance to hear similar approaches on future
albums as well or has this been a one-time thing?Would an artificial language not also did its
purpose? Or had there always been the intention to leave a door open to those who like to dig
deep into analysing this tape?
[note from the editor: the band merged several questions together, which lead to this large and rather
pointless block of texf\
Actualy, It's hard to call the language. Most likely it is an imitation of the language. Similar kind of
singing, for example, can be found at swing music of the thirties-forties: Fats Waller, Cabell Calloway,
Ella Fitzgerald - they all used different sounds and words for an emotional content of their songs. If I
am not mistaken, this style of singing was called scat. So why do we use German? You are right, we
just like how it sounds. And we use this technique for all our projects.
How do you see Glina in terms of experimental audio performances, like they can be found on
Ubu to some extent? Example: http://www.ubu.com/sound/ruhm.html
Yeah, it's very interesting. I think, we have some similar moments at our earlier works - I mean some
elements of field recordings. If you talking about spoken words, I think it's not our case).
35
Are you able to enjoy contemporary music as well? Is Glina an escape from the more
commercial and mainstream oriented stuff?
On one side, of course, we make all in context of music that we all like to listen and in most cases it's
far from mainstream. On the other side, for most of us music is some kind of hobby, you know, and
we don't want to turn it into the job.
How do you see the development of the music scene anyway? What has changed over the
years and do you feel you are able to keep track of everything?
Recently I discovered a lot of interesting and very different diy bands, I mean really different). I think,
all the fuss is taking place in the local noncommercial scenes. And it always has been like this, at least
since the forties. Only the polished and glossed product gets big stage. However, nowadays it's much
easier to catch the works of such groups and, for sure, it makes a big difference.
What about side-projects? Would you mind writing a bit on these? What is their status right
now?
Well, I'll try to tell you in short about each project that regular has releases and gigs (in my opinion, it's
much better to listen than to talk about):
Benzolnye Mertvecy ( http://benzolnyemertvecv.bandcamp.com/ ) is a noise rock/art-punk quintet .
Coaxil ( http://coaxil.bandcamp.com/ ) is an audio-visual performance group. In order to understand
what does it mean, I think, one should watch this video http ://voutu . be/A3372sS FsYc . And Mars-96
( http://mars96.bandcamp.com/ ) is a nowave trio.
Why is 'Spiritual Safety' available as a free download on the bandcamp entry, while others do
not appear there? Might this change at some point in the future? What about downloads in
general? Do you have an opinion about this tendency?
We are of the opinion that at least the music (and the art in general) should not be someone's property.
I think you realize that it is not only our merit that we made this record. A lot of people had a finger to
this pie and it is the way how we divided it)
Do you have some releases available right now?
No, but in nearest future we will have some new releases - split coaxil/banana pill & wozzeck on
already dead tapes rec. ( http://alreadydeadtapes.com ), split coaxil/illia belorukov on rauha turva
( http://rauhaturva.bloqspot.com ), albums of mars-96 on snowcitytapes
( http://snowcitytapes.bandcamp.com ) and nostress ( http://www.nostressnetlabel.net ), glina and coaxil
on haze ( http://h-a-z-e.org/ ). And we got tons unrelesed material. So we will be glad any collabartion
and cooperation with other bands and label owners.
How can someone contact you?
Here is our email qlina.band@qmail.com
Some final words if you like.
Thanks a lot for your questions - I was very pleased to answer them despite the fact that it tooks a lot
of time for me, I think you should know what I mean). And wish you and all readers of your zine all the
best!
36
%t Idiqcke %r dub
Why don't you start off by introducing the band a bit? When and by whom had it been started?
Who would conduct this interview?
The Winchester Club is London based post rock band. We started quite a while ago in 2000. I started
the band as I wanted to play some long form post rock style stuff. I was playing with Jerry (guitarist) in
the country band CHINESEBURN at the time. We got together with Harry and Jonny as well, who I
have played in bands with before. So it was nice to bring together musicians that I already knew and
had come from different backgrounds musically. By the way at I am Tim (drums).
Your name sounds rather elitist and snobbish. It reminds on some strange obscure
organization that has survived the tides of time and is still paying homage to this long out of
service weapon for reasons that are impossible to fathom. So, could you enlighten us on the
background of your band name?
The name actually comes from an old (1970's) English tv show called "minder" which a sort of
comedy-drama show about a guy who tries to be a bit of a gangster, and his bodyguard. They go
drinking in a bar called "the Winchester club". It's quite a cult show in the uk, and a friend of ours
suggested it, and I really liked it, so we kept it. There's no connection to Winchester rifles but other
people have thought its about that, which I don't mind.
What kind of music do you play and what makes it so fascinating for you? Can you name
albums that have and still work as a source of inspiration? Is the music something that marks
an essential part of your musical collection as well?
Like I said we do mostly epic instrumental post rock stuff so far. The main stuff I was listening to back
then was GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR and MOGWAI. Specific albums would be: GY!BE -
"slow riot for new zero Kanada" and MOGWAI "come on die young". I guess they're my fave post rock
albums.
Is this fascination shared by all band members or are there differences in terms of the
preferences?
No we all like different stuff. I would say I am the biggest fan of that genre, the others like more
eclectic stuff from metal to country, electronica and more.
Can you write a bit about your releases? It is interesting to see that seven years lie between
your first demo and your debut
album. What kind of music do you
play on each? How do they differ
from each other ... etc.
Drown little joys in work and distress
(2000)
This is very raw, it was a demo we did
very soon after forming the band. It's
quite basic and not as heavy as later
work. There are some ideas I'd like to
revisit.
Britannia Triumphant (2007/8)
This took ages to release as we
recorded it in 2000 but didn't finish it
til 2007! It got lost a couple of times
so we has to rerecord lots of parts.
The title track is probably my favourite.
37
Negative Liberty (2011)
we did this after a lot of tour dates in Europe so we has the material completed and it was done within
a few months. I'm really pleased with the track "the end of history" I think it's the best track we've done
so far. This is probably the heaviest we've done so far.
How has the feedback or the responses to your releases been so far?
The Britannia album got some really good press we were so surprised and it sold out very quickly. We
had some very good feedback on the latest one too.
Why do you play such a calm version of post-rock? Especially the latest album comes with a
lot of these moments in which everything reaches for a very peaceful atmosphere and at times
even minimalist setting. Disruptions or stark contrasts are something that is kept out of your
realm it seems.
Hmmm that's funny I think there's plenty of loud stuff on the last release... there's no conscious
decision to make it quiet or minimalist, it just reflects the way ideas come about in the studio. I think
alot of recent post rock stuff tends to be mostly heavy so I guess ours may sounds mellower by
contrast.
There are also no interludes and elements woven into the tracks that would divert from the
main motive/s. Should post-rock have a certain constant flow in the music? Is there a chance
to see or rather hear more experimentation on a future release?
I think there will be more of that on the next record. In the older stuff we wanted to see what we could
get from the simplest of starts. Perhaps there will be more intricacies in the future material.
You seem to prefer the traditional setting of making music (judging from the instruments used
for the albums) with only a few electronic elements. Can you elaborate this topic a bit? Is this
reflected in your musical tastes as well or are you more tolerant in this respect?
We'll we are all from a background of being in 'traditional' rock bands, so that is just what comes
naturally. We do have samples and laptops onstage but it's mostly about what sounds right for each
track. There's no great desire to introduce more electronic elements for the sake of it. As far as
personal taste goes I love electronic stuff, such as boards of Canada, aphex twin etc.
Your three releases have each samples of various origins. Can you write a bit about your
reasons for picking them, your 'reluctance' to use vocals and what role they play in your
overall concept?
We're constantly collecting samples as we go, some of the early ones were from shortwave radio
broadcasts, 'numbers stations' and random stuff I'd found on the web. The samples for the last album
were all from the "The Trap" TV series, which we based the entire album around.
We've never really considered using vocals seriously (apart from a very old rack on our first demo). I
find vocals really difficult to get right, if they don't fit exactly with the music it just sounds awful. I just
don't think we need to add vocals to the music, I'm hoping the songs can do the talking for themselves.
Do you plan the use of them or do you stumble over one by chance and write the music around
it?
They run hand-in-hand, when it comes to rehearsing I'll have a bunch of samples that I want to use,
and as the song comes together, I'll try to work the samples in to the song as it develops.
Most of the time you use them in the sense of an introduction or as an option to close a
composition. Why not in the middle or in the sense as creating some kind of narrative through
an otherwise instrumental composition?
It's all about finding a space for the samples to sit. Most often, this is best during a quiet passage
which is most often at the beginning of a composition. We used only a few samples on the last album,
just the essential ones that sounded the best.
While your debut album Britannia Triumphant had some slight melancholic tendencies, your
latest output Negative Liberty - and this might come as a surprise considering the title of it -
has less of this facet. Do you feel the same about these two recordings?
no, not really... a big part of writing the songs is to try to find the most melancholic, heart-breaking
sounds we can. I think there some good moments on the first album, but I thought we got closer on the
last one, especially at the end of 'the lonely robot' and 'end of history'.
38
Both of your album releases come with a well-crafted design in terms of the CDs. Did you
approach your label Exile on Mainstream Records with this idea of spreading it in this
particular way or has this been the result of a mutual exchange of ideas?
In fact it was mostly the exile label that suggested we do some great packaging for the albums, which
we were really excited by. The first album had been finished for a little while and Exile offered to give it
a proper release with a woodpak CD case. The last album was a collaborative effort, I outlined what
we wanted to do and the label expanded on it so we had the art cards etc. I'm really pleased with how
they turned out. It takes us quite a while to write and release material so we like the finished product to
be the best it can be. If we were releasing albums every year then maybe they'd be a bit more
sparsely packaged!
Your comments on the tendency to download music instead of buying the albums?
I think its a double-edged sword. On the one hand I'm glad that people get to hear the music, but at
the same time it's good to get some money in to do new stuff. Downloading music is now a fact of life
so you have to accept that it happens and try to make the best of it.
You have also hit the stage quite a few times. What is it that listener can experience at a
concert of 'The Winchester Club'. Do you play the music as it appears on the releases or do
you add some variation to it? What about cover versions, are they part of your performance?
We tend to keep the live shows pretty close to the recorded versions. In addition we have live
backdrop visuals to go with the music which are crucial to the show. For the last album all the visuals
were taken from the TV show "The Trap", so they have a flow and common theme to the them. The
visuals for the older material are more random, taken from various films/TV Brodacasts and home-
made video. We don't tend to do covers any more.. We did do a cover of the theme tune to the
'Minder' show i spoke about before, but that was quite a long time ago now.
Do you have some forthcoming releases? What are the plans for the future?
We've started writing our 3rd album now, I hope we'll have enough to record by next year. Thats as
far as our plans go right now.
In case someone is interested in your music, how and where can this person buy your stuff?
From the following:
In the EU/worldwide -Direct from Exile on Mainstream - http://www.mainstreamrecords.de/shop
or in the UK - from our bandcamp site - http://thewinchesterclub.bandcamp.com/
How can people get in touch with you? What Internet sites do you use?
Our site is at - http://www.thewinchesterclub.org
We use Facebook and Twitter mostly:
http://www.facebook.com/thewinchesterclub
http://www.twitter.com/winchesterclub
Some closing comments if you like
Many thanks for including us in your mag, good luck with future issues!
39
fisft&si*
(questions answered by Youssra Atmen, the vocalist of the band]
Why don't you start off by introducing the band a bit? When and by whom had it been started?
Who would conduct this interview?
Analgesia is a symphonic metal band founded in 2005 by guitarist songwriter, and music composer
Ahmed Zine, its music is known by its orchestral sphere wrapped in melodic symphonies.
How would you describe your music and what have been your reasons for playing it? Can you
name influences in this respect?
The idea at first was to lead the Moroccan metal music with a melodic rock baed on two guitars, heavy
solos and riffs, most of the first album tracks are power metal toned, then with the second album it
became more smooth and more orcestral
On their early album "return to the self" the music sounded more traditional, and melodic rock bases
on two guitars, heavy solos and riffs. As the sound of the vocalist who has a power metal tone, the
atmosphere was described as hard-rock music.
After "Remission of Sins" single things took another stream, with soaring female operatic vocals,
strings, progressive melodies. Then the keyboard, strings, choir and symphonies developed the style
to become a Symphonic metal band. The songwriter-guitarist of the band describes it as "Somewhere
between progressive, power, heavy and symphonic metal"
When it comes to musical background of the band members, are there differences between
them? Who would be responsible for composing the compositions and writing the lyrics? Do
you have influences from your own traditional cultural sphere in your way of approaching
metal?
That what makes Analgesia members what they are actually, everyone in the band comes up with his
own background, but it's somewhere between classical and metal backgrounds. For the lyrics it
depends on who wrote them, for example Ahmed zine, ist's about engagement and commitment,
yusra's lyris are more personal stories inspired bu nature, fantasy and people.
Why did you pick metal after all? From your perspective, why does it have such a fascination
for you that you decided to play it and to form a band?
it's all about power J
How did you cultural environment respond to your band in the early days and how has this
changed over the years?
Analgesia has always been accepted and loved by people, the number has chaged a lat lately thanks
to new compositions, but from the first show up on stage and the first album analgesia got many
greetings from Moroccan people, and worldwide then.
What would be the status of metal in Morocco be generally? Can you write a bit about the
development of their music scene as well?
It of course has been developed with the new technology people become to know more about this
music, for this last decade many concerts, festival about rock-metal music were given in morocco
( paradise lost, napalm death ... ) for instance are good examples of great bands that have played in
morocco.
Do metal and non-metal bands/artists collaborate? Is there a mutual exchange of ideas and
feedback between them? What about ties to other countries of the Maghreb?
Yes, the members of the band do not only play with analgesia and this musical style specifically, the
drummer plays in different projects (metal bands), the guitarist is a music composer and composed for
many known musicians in morocco and abroad in different styles, the vocalist sings with the
philharmonic orchestra, and gives many recitals, also sings in featuring with known artists.
40
Can you write a bit about your (main) releases [style of music, how long it took you to get it
done, background/topics of it ... etc.]:
Return to the Self (2006)
From September 2005, and even before, some songs were ready before, they just needed more work.
Era of the Storytellers (2009)
from June 2007 till August 2009
Beyond Illusion (2011)
2 years, some songs were composed in 2009, but could not be recorded due to the technical
difficulties. And for to record the orchestral parts of some songs, the choir took many mouths as well
(it's not easy to combine nearly hundred voices in a same album J
How do you distribute your music? Do you print copies yourself and spread them locally, or
are/were you able to collaborate with labels outside of Morocco?
Era of the storytellers was out on September the 7th of 2009, the same day all copies were sold.
Some few days before beyond illusion would be out the band announced that it prefers to share it with
people through internet with a link to download it legally. All the songs, singles, EP, and albums are
produced by the same company which collaborate with the band from it's beginning, it's the A.S.P
production in which the song writer, music composer of the band is a member.
Do you have venues in the big cities in which metal is sold on a certain scale? What about
metal festivals and concerts, do they offer such sales?
we actually have, still have so many proposition to play in big gigs, and metal festival, we lately been
invited to play in Tokyo, Madrid, California, Paris, Dubai and so many big cities. However the members
are cannot respond to all of these events due to the personal schedule.
As you have had played live already, even on festivals, why don't you write a bit about these
experiences.
A great one, no matter how big of small is the festival or the concert, how many people are their, as far
as I am concerned being on stage and singing analgesia's songs is the most beautiful experience I've
ever had. I remember a concert we gave, we came on stage and stated asking people which song
they would like as to play, and we played the concert responding to their demands, that was amazing!
How often do concerts take place in the cities and what kind of music is offered there?
Events in morocco are so very often, and Analgesia could give a tour in the biggest cities witch would
take more than 1 mouth, but as I told you
it's very hard to deal with every member's
schedule.
Do you have some forthcoming releases?
What are the plans for the future?
lately 2 singles were out Fallen Beauty and
Tell Me in the same mouth, in so different
kind the first it more neo-afro-orchestral
and the second is a gothic ballad. Some
singles are coming very soon, J why not a
fourth album?!
In case someone is interested in your
music, how and where can this person
buy your stuff?
We are so close to our fans, all you have to
do is ask. You can send an e-mail to
analgesia.contact@gmail.com or through
the fan-page facebook of the band
ANALGESIA then we will greet all your
wishes J
J&
euiews
Hesper Payne / Sabazius split
http://loathso.me/
A curious release with two bands, whose conceptual differences are, at least on this output, rather slim.
Each of the compositions - yes, there are only one per participant - has nearly the same length,
follows a similar metal approach - doom metal in this respect - and even in terms of the conceptual
background both of them like to trod on the same path. Each has their own identity but there is
nevertheless a proximity that leaves a slightly bitter taste and confusion.
Hesper Payne - The Deathless Dreamers Will (32:09)
(UK; Doom / Death Metal)
http://hesperpayne.com/
The first of the two would be Hesper Payne, a band that hails from Newcastle upon Thyme. Having
been founded in 2004 and a good amount of releases out already, it can at least be suspected to
discover some kind of developed framework in which this latest instalment fits somehow.
A striking aspect is the general melancholy in the music, which finds expression through the use of a
mellowing guitar, a meandering through realms of minimalism and some rare aggressive counterpoints,
while all progresses with a somewhat sedative, calm but also appropriate dynamic. There is no hectic
in here and the overall dark atmosphere is able to unfold itself.
Dissonance or noise elements are not allowed to appear, which is a sad thing, because these would
add a certain kind of insanity to the performance; something that is commonly associated with the
stories of Lovecraft. Harmony, (at times) vague melodies and a certain setting in terms of the sound
follow a rather conservative approach, which seems to be the general idea when it comes to Lovecraft
and his works. There is nothing overtly innovative, disturbing, intense or confusing here. The same
can also be said of the concept itself. Guitars, clean vocals, solid drumming, well balanced
production ... everything is appears in such a way as can be expected. Doom stretched a bit for too
long and with some additional amount of heaviness - compared with the standard set of the genre -
can be found here.
Whether the performance is good or bad might depend on personal preferences, but it all feels a bit
too thin and hollow.
42
Sabazius - The Madness from the Sea (32:25)
(UK; Doom Metal)
http://sabaziusdoom.wordpress.com/
Another band ... and more of the same. Sabazius deliver what they have always done: extensive
composition/s, generally slow progression in terms of the riffs, often distorted vocals, a good amount of
repetition and samples. These had been the basic elements on the preceding albums and they make
an appearance here as well.
At times, the vocals remind on 'Death's Eternal Sleep' from the band's debut album, which is kind of
odd in case you are familiar with the band's outputs. Once they appear in this fashion also the guitar
show a similarity, which increases the amount of confusion even more. Why does the band have to
return to something they did already? Is this all they can offer in terms of Cthulhu? (Both tracks deal
with the same issue)
Sabazius' metal parts are interrupted or accompanied by piano segments, whose minimalist and
repetitive play create a nice counterpoint to the riffs. A point brought up in terms of Hesper Payne
would be true in this respect as well: the insanity or extreme nature of the topic can hardly be felt in
this long composition. Some voice manipulation can be found, but other elements like noise samples
or disturbing effects are equally non-existent.
While those unfamiliar with the music of Sabazius might find the performance appealing and
interesting, the other fraction might be irritated by the re-appearance of older ideas.
On the design:
The CD comes with a cardboard-like hull with two inserts; one for the CD and one for the booklet. I
have damaged mine already by simply trying to move the rather large piece of folded paper back into
its proper place. Also the CD cannot be removed easily. Something handmade is always nice to have,
but some more space for removing and replacing the stuff would have been nice indeed.
To sum it all up:
I am not impressed. Generally, the music drags on for far too long and is not of a kind that leaves the
listener motivated to take a second spin.
Note:
100 copies, handmade and with a A4 poster.
Busukyangbernanah - 3.01 (2012)
(Indonesia; Noise, Minimalist, Experimental)
15 Tracks (3 x 1CDr-Turbinicarpus) -_-_- (45:00)
http://www.turbinicarpus.net.ua/, https://www.mvspace.com/busukyanqbernanah
In some respect it would be fair to state that the composition is by no means conclusive. The general
absence of a consistent musical conception, the overall variation or rather emphasis on
experimentation, is not reflected through the actual design of the release. As outlined in the
description above, '3.01' can only be acquired in a version of three CDs, each with the same content
but with a different cover; 3, 0, 1. The idea behind it being that music is not only to be parcelled
through the means of experience and expression but also in the sense of an artefact, which can be
distributed freely and without any infringement of the copyright or some other kind of limitation.
In its own merits this is a nice idea with a certain emphasis of encouraging the idea of sharing music
and overcoming the hoarding of releases for the mere purpose of doing so. Yet, the actual way in
which this had been executed is not satisfying. Unlike some disks that require two players for the
listener in order to experience it in its fullest, such is not the case here, due to the emphasis summed
up above. What happens with the art once this 'passing over' from one person to another has/d been
established? Is there a chance to see this process happen another time ... and another ... and
another? It can be doubted. It would have been more interesting to see each CD with a different or a
variation of the 'overall' content, in order to encourage the exchange of the artefacts and to overcome
43
the aspect of collecting them. Maybe a flash
drive, which would reveal a different content
with each access would be interesting as well.
Aside from the rather peculiar design of the
release, the music itself is also anything but
normal. Fifteen times three minutes, exactly (!)
three minutes, are offered here and it is
strange how the listener is thrown to and fro
between a variety of sound concepts and
without much time to grasp or even to
understand them. Each of the compositions
presents a new take on the noise genre.
Often minimalist and consisting of only one
texture, then aggressive; occasionally
hypnotic, rarely pleasant and in some respect
surprisingly conservative.
Busukyangbernanah - no idea on how to
pronounce this properly - present a small
glimpse on the conceptual richness of the
noise genre. All of the compositions are
actually too short to fascinate in a long run,
but might give those a first impression, whose
ordinary focus tends to be of a more normal
kind. Three minutes are not much when it
comes to properly elaborate the motives and
arrangement, but it is possible to shed light
on the sounds, the atmospheres and in some respect also the peculiarities of the noise universe.
Buy this release and share it with friends. Open to them this strange realm a lot of bands tend to
wander in these days and spark their interest in this genre. This CD wants ... waits to be spread ...
distributed... thrown among the people.
Note:
Limited to 15 copies.
La Rainbow Toy Orchestra - Family Album (2008)
(Spain; Experimental, Noise)
9 Tracks (MP3 - Netlabel: Error Lo-Fi Recordings) -_-_- (12:23)
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/La Rainbow Toy Orchestra/Family Album/ ,
http://error-lofi.com/wordpress/?p=345
Children's toys and an accordion create together a strange experience. Weird noises, confusing
rhythmic arrangements, odd combination of sounds and the bubbling up of memories from one's own
childhood are what make this release an interesting experience. Despite a general lack in length, none
of the tracks is longer than two minutes, the ongoing battles of attention that takes place between
each of the elements are what makes 'Family Album' worth to give it a try. In some respect it is a
fulfilment of something children are generally not able to do: the full launch of their toys and equipment
in one gigantic (dys-)harmonic orchestra. What the parents never wanted to see unleashed - a
pandemonium which might close to what Lovecraft had written about - becomes flesh in this respect
and can therefore be described as a late satisfaction.
Yet, the performance is not too convincing, because everything is somewhat too nice and gentle.
There are too few contrasts and the chaos kept a bit too limited or rather controlled. A bit more daring,
a bit more of the childishness would have had a wondrous effect on the music. Nevertheless, one
cannot help but be amused about the strange arrangements expressed in this small/short piece of art.
Note:
can be downloaded for free from both links above.
44
Skinfather - ikBtoq (2012)
(USA; Death Metal, Hardcore)
5 Tracks (??? - Self-released) -_-_- (13:36)
http://www.facebook.com/skinfatherofficial, http://skinfather.bandcamp.com/
ci9eog (atheos) - 'without gods' in English - would be the debut release of the American band
Skinfather; whose band name I do not really get, but that is only a minor issue. The title of the release
is pretentious of course, because the band uses English lyrics while no cursing in some obscure
ancient Greek can be found. So much for consistency or expectations.
An aspect that strikes the listener as important is the overall intensity and the tendency of the band to
create an uniform atmosphere; some tracks even lead over to next one and with no gap in sight, as if it
had been a one session/take in which it all has been recorded. There are a lot of hardcore influences
and they shine through in the overall conceptual approach of the music: the breaks, the dynamics and
the tempo. The riffs are actually quite nice but some additional solos would have been a welcome
diversion; only the title track would have one.
Skinfather play heavy and powerful death metal / hardcore, which can be enjoyed quite easily. At
times there are too many vocals and too few counterpoints in the concept. Fans of a rather intense
mixture of these two genres might want to give this band/release a try.
Silent Path - Mourner Portraits (2012)
(Iran; Depressive Black Metal)
9 Tracks (CD - Hypnotic Dirge Records) -_-_- (53:45)
http://ekoveefrits.com/silentpath.htm, http://www.hypnoticdirqerecords.com/
Release titles are a strange thing indeed. Take this one for instance: 'Mourner Portraits'. From the first
glance one would expect some kind of presentation of various types of grieving. Even though it all
touches on a subject all cultures have to deal with in one way or another, it is sad to see how shallow
this topic is actually presented on this album. Yet, I am misleading you, the reader, because what the
band actually wanted to express is the following (taken from an e-mail, which I received from the band):
[...]the entire Silent Path's mourner portraits is about war and all its negative effects over the world so
world war II and specially Hitler is the boldest focal point in the album[...]
Well, a daring attempt one would say. War is a curious thing and has been a part of the history of man
for quite a while, but to reduce war to the aspect of the darker emotions, to bemoan all its ill effects, all
the tragedies, the death and destruction would leave out a lot of other aspects: the cheering over
victories, the endless parades, the music, the propaganda etc. Like everything, it is a complex and
confusing matter with a lot of contrasts as well as disturbing shades. Chris Hedges, to name one
example, not too long ago has written a book with the title "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning"
and this clearly indicates the complexity of this topic and how deep it cuts into our/the social fabric. Or
take 'Barbara W. Tuchman's 'The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam or even good ol' Homer and
his Iliad.
Yet Silent Path stick to the Hippie approach that all is bad and this can be felt throughout the entire
release. A mixture between depressive black metal and funeral doom are the basis for the music,
while additional samples create some short disturbances. Furthermore, noise plays a minor role as
well, but in terms of the overall impact it can actually be neglected. The tempo follows the all too
common genre concept, with its emphasis on a slow pace, a good amount of repetition, the all too
typical vocals, and reverb and also the production delivers what fans of this kind of music want to hear.
It is impossible to grasp something of the content of the lyrics, it is also impossible to put the samples
into perspective. What should be made of them? Without a booklet one is left - like me, who has
received nothing but some MP3s - in the dark and without much to go with. From the mere act of
listening one is unable to grasp their actual content. Due to the confusion on how to properly
understand the title, it may be best to consult them in order to get the full experience of the album.
45
Mourner Portraits is listenable but it lacks some conclusive elements that would put everything in a
proper framework. Therefore, while the music is has its moments, offers some nice melodies and such,
looking at it from a broader perspective leaves a bit of disappointment. How the aspects of war play
out, how the suffering is expressed, remains hidden and blurred; outside of the reach of the listener.
The debut album of the Iranian band does not move, does not dare to grab the listener and the
emotions are kept silent and apathetic. It all remains hollow and gentle, without any hints on the
horrors of the great wars. Not a disaster, but far from good.
Note:
CD comes with a 16 page booklet, which has the lyrics in it.
Loud rage - Pungent Roots (2011)
(Romania; Death / Groove Metal)
3 Tracks (MP3 - Self-released) -_-_- (1 1 :55)
http://www.facebook.com/paqes/Loudraqe-Groovy-Death-Metal/178914798804944
The 2011 release "Pungent Roots", the version this review is about, was actually meant to be re-
released as an EP. Should someone stumble over versions of this songs, then it should be noted that
this are not the final ones, so to speak. Furthermore, the EP never saw the light of day and therefore
also not the supposed new variants of the compositions. Instead, all of them will appear on the full-
length "Bloody Grooves", which will/might/should hit the Earth in 2012.
Actually, those three 'demo versions' are not bad, but may come over as a bit raw and unpolished.
Maybe 'Loudrage' wants to see the music with a more powerful production, which would have a larger
emphasis on the bass for instance. 'Doomed' the opening track gives a wrong impression in some
respect, because the influences from 'Bolt Thrower' do not appear in the later compositions. It some
respect it is strange to experience the progression of the album: 'Fear Me' comes with a surprisingly
groovy and strange pace, while the 'Suffo-Kate' lacks the dynamics of the opener as well and presents
to the listener some kind of death metal with a lot of breaks. Tons of vocals express tons of lyrics,
while the instruments are hardly allowed to add some solos to the music; for instance, one might
suspect such an element in the last track.
Considering that the tracks are not present in their 'final' version, they are still quite listenable and
interesting. The forthcoming debut album will be able to shed some more light on the potential of the
band.
Telegraphy - Someone in Detroit (2012)
(USA; Ambient, Experimental)
1 Track (MP3 - Netlabel: lonosound Recordings) -_-_- (43:51)
http://ionosonderec.bloqspot.com/
It is a track to drift away, to leave the normal shores behind, to take a dive into a different place, to let
the thoughts wander away, to experience a surreal atmosphere, to get haunted by some repetitive
hypnotic rhythms, to listen to music from a post-industrial area.
It is just one long track; a bloody piece of forty fucking minutes. It drags on for a while, seems like to
last forever. It has a vibe of an endless buzzing of bees and other swarming insects - sounds and
fragments that are unknown and incomprehensible. Life in a town that has seen the best of its days in
the past and which is left behind by the electronic beeps - similar to those in this compositions -
incomprehensible - intelligible.
Who is this someone? Is it you Michael?
What would this someone see?
Why do I feel that the music is mocking the reality?
46
Where can art thrive if no audience is left to experience it?
Telegraphy poses questions with 'Someone in Detroit'. It is a strange combination of desolation and
post-modern proximity. The de-industrialized vast reality and the closeness of the global village.
Should we be sympathetic? Should we try to imagine the vague melodies and their connection to the
life in Detroit? Judging from the warmth in the motives, it does not seem to be that bleak in this city
after all. Melancholic elements might shine through now and then, but the overall positive vibe will
most certainly be able to compensate this.
Headphones and twilight are recommended.
Note:
Can be downloaded for free from the link given above.
Auaesuve - Displaced and Uncharted (2010)
(USA; Funeral Doom)
4 Tracks (CDr - Gris Records) -_-_- (60:59)
http://www.myspace.com/auaesuve
Maybe this review comes a bit late. Maybe it would have been more appropriate to present it along
with the interview, which appeared in the 16th edition of my magazine. Maybe. 'Displaced and
Uncharted' would be the debut album of the American, who would be the head behind this project. It
took a couple of previous outputs until the band had been ready for a big jump. This then contains four
long tracks in a dense atmospheric funeral doom fashion and with it Auaesuve continues the path they
have walked on for quite some time. As can be seen from the length of the release, which is given
above, it is by no means short and the compositions range from 1 1 :24 to 1 9:51 . What might strike the
listener as bewildering is the actual development of the music the more it progresses and this requires
some explanation.
It needs to be stressed that the emphasis on the melodies and the charming sweets atmosphere of the
opener 'Sprouting Resplendent Wings' is by no means representative for other three compositions.
Even though the basic setting remains the same in some respect, it all changes and evolves over time.
It becomes ever unpleasant and more bewildering. The harmony begins to break down, fragment,
dissolve; something quite apparent in the last composition, which is not only strange due to the overall
lack in the vocals. The emphasis on a mixture between noise and ambient, with some kind of distance
towards the listener and less ear-friendly in style, unravels something that could not have been
anticipated in the first minutes of this CD. Instead of leading the person along the path, it is rather
unwilling in this respect and maybe
even tries to ignore him or her
altogether.
Actually, Auaesuve never offers music
that is too pleasant or rather too
cheering to begin with. A few minutes
into the opener reveal the basic
concept of the band: a dense layer in
the background with various types of
vocals on top of it - to simplify a bit. In
terms of the latter aspect the American
musician behind this project switches
between deep (distorted?) growls and
black metal screams. Which of these
can be experienced depends on the
track, because the band tries to keep
the overall approach rather minimalist
and without much of playing around;
something that resulted in a limitation
and scale. Some slight variation in
tempo are allowed to pop-up now and : " iffijj.jp"'
47
then, but from a broader perspective their amount can generally be neglected. They help to break the
monotony a bit; like the one drum pattern in the opener for instance.
What makes the music interesting is the bombast or rather the intensity in the concept. Whether it is
the opener or the last composition all breathe this vibe of sheer energy that lies hidden somewhere but
prevented from breaking out at a moment's notice. This has to do with the guitars and their impact.
Unlike bands similar to Nortt for instance, the American one put the emphasis on the metal part, while
influences from the ambient and noise genre are merely allowed to accompany them than to create
some sort of dominance. The strings are nearly omnipresent, while the keyboards are reduced to an
element in the background.
Remembrance meets Sabazius meets Sunn O))) might give an impression of what to expect on this
album. Contrary to what other funeral doom metal bands tend to play, the American one adds a good
amount of layers and drone elements into their concept. Maybe the band can be described as a heavy
and better thought through version of 'Until Death Overtakes Me'. Those four compositions are an
intense trip and present the music of this genre in an interesting approach. More or rather clearer
counterpoints would have been nice, but maybe the next release will have this on a larger degree.
Note:
Limited to 150 copies and can also be downloaded for free from:
http://archive.org/details/Auaesuve-DisplacedAndUncharted
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Foreskin - Anger Management (2012)
(Pakistan; Thrash Metal, Crossover)
2 Tracks (MP3 - Self-released) -_-_- (7:06)
http://www.facebook.com/foreskinband ,
http://foreskin.bandcamp.com/
Another short release by the Pakistani metal band
'Foreskin'. Two tracks with a total length of roughly
seven minutes follow in some respect the style of
the previous recordings, which does not differ much
from them in this respect. Well, one should be glad
that the persons behind this project have at least
decided to move away from grindcore-esque
approached and have started to write some longer
compositions instead.
And these are actually quite good indeed; despite the general differences in the concept and style.
While 'Hack N' Slash... The Dungeon' comes with a variety of tempi, the succeeding title track is more
straight lined in this respect and more in a punk/thrash kind of way. The emphasis is rather on the
instruments, while the lyrics seem give the impression of being there to fill some space instead of
delivering a message; this is especially true for the opener. In this an interesting combination of
elements appears, because due to the punkish nature of the second composition it could be imagined
with a larger amount and variation of the vocals. Well, the samples from the movie 'Pulp Fiction' are
able to compensate the flaw somehow.
It is an entertaining release by the Pakistani band, but most certainly nothing more. They should
spread more tracks on less releases and not throw these in tiny bits unto the masses.
48
Ars Praesagus - Inhale Satan (2007)
(Finland; Black/ Death Metal)
3 Tracks (CDr - Self-released) -_-_- (16:18)
http://www.myspace.com/arspraesaqus
Yes, me lads, the time has come to bring Satanic worshipping to a new level. No more of these tiring
recitations, candle orgies, goat sacrifices, endless deflowering of virgins, countless hours spend on
mastering intelligible as well as often faked ritual texts and let us not forget all the money that is
necessary to acquire the stream of unholy or supposedly sacred artefacts. Now, the time has come to
give us a good inhale of Satan: a chance to suck in the essence of our evil master and to let the evil
spirit flow through the blood veins; it is therefore mandatory to avoid cutting and self-mutilation,
because it would only result in a lessen of the diabolic presence.
Sadly, 'Ars Praesagus', now shortened to 'Ars', debut demo does not offer any deeper insights into the
realm of satanic evaporation. Maybe a grindcore band would have elaborated this topic to a certain
degree, but this Finnish black/death metal band falls back to the all too common bickering about who
can bring the lyrical expressiveness to a new level; 'I Cum on Your Christ'. At least the aspect of
'ownership' has been made clear quite explicitly.
In terms of the music the band presents a variety of approaches on their first ep. Each of the three
songs differ in some respect, despite the general idea behind the music. While the opener follows
more or less the standard conservative black / death approach, the second track 'I Cum on Your
Christ' has two kinds of vocals and also the dynamics are a bit different; a bit punkish at times. Ignis
Dominus on the other hand has some surprisingly mechanical and therefore sterile elements in it.
The tempo switches between aggressive and calm as well as slow moments. 'Ars Praesagus' present
a good amount of variation in their concept, which, despite a slight shallowness and predictability in
their approach, makes the debut ep an interesting listening experience. And even though the songs
tend to drag on for a bit too long, the intensity is able to compensate this a bit.
Note:
Limited to 100 copies.
Equipo Humano Uno - Nemad Mufor (2012)
(Spain; Experimental, Noise, Field recordings, Ambient)
2 Tracks (Tape - Poprebop) -_-_- (24:17)
http://www.poprebop.net/006/
Juxtapositions of absurdities
this is what comes to my mind. A juxtapositions of various sounds,
noises, samples, manipulation and whatnot. The
consistency lies in its inconsistency; the predictability
in its general lack of it.
Imagine a future world in which countless radio
channels fill the airwaves and you have the ability to
switch through them. Now something aggressive and
noisy, then an odd field recording, then vague
melodies, strange sounds from a (supposed)
machine - whose purpose remains unknown - and
then a home recording of some sort. The elements or
rather the fragments never become definite. They are
stuck on an abstract and vague level, without any
chance to penetrate the border to (or of) the real world.
A different perspective would have to do with the
general lack of being able to concentrate on a certain
task for too long and the desire to switch to a different
one once such is possible. Sometimes the interesting
is sparked for a longer period of time, then it breaks
49
down after a couple of seconds; it is the oversaturation with impressions and impulses, the subliminal
impulse to progress and to discover something new that can be seen in the two tracks of the Spanish
band.
What is interesting though, is the general aspect of control or calmness with which the segments
change. Abrupt changes, maybe through some emotion or fit, cannot be discovered on this release.
Everything is sedated ... inconclusive in its desires but definitely not acting out of some sort of
affection. And this leaves a stain on the concept, because this is not how we generally are. There are
always preferences and tendencies to prefer something over another and even though this can most
certainly be discovered here, the other side, the more darker and sinister one, remains hidden,
artificially removed.
As can be imagined from these paragraphs above 'Nemad Mufor' is a strange experience. It seems
rather to be music, whose sole intention might be to confuse the listener instead of giving this person a
pleasant time. A trip ... an experience . . . and a strange one at that.
Note:
Limited to 50 copies
Apophallation / Nxfxtxex "True Stereo Split" (uncut business-card CDR)
(???, Denmark; Harsh Noise)
2 Tracks (Shit music for Shit People) -_-_- (6:20)
http://shitcore.dk/smfsp/
According to the label:
One artist per channel, harsh noise. 5 copies made.
The actual tracklist:
1. Left: Apophallation "Destroying Peter Redmond Part 1" - Right: Nxfxtxex "My Uploads Keep
Stalling"
2. Left: Nxfxtxex "Argh, Dead link" - Right: Apophallation "Destroying Peter Redmond Part 2"
Even though it is a neat idea and an experiment that might occur on only some obscure release,
spread among artists and connoisseurs of strange performances, while the masses of the people
remain stuck in their "self-inflicted (mental) limitation", it is by no means conclusive. In fact, to have a
noise bands play on each of the channels is actually odd, because this robs the experience a bit of its
fascination. A more daring attempt would have been some kind of cheesy pop band on one left
channel and harsh noise on the right one. Something in vain of 'Rebecca Black' is bombarded with
'Whitehouse'. A folk band by an industrial one. Ambience for relaxation by a harsh noise wall. It is the
fascination of contrasts, the idea of extreme differences between the two bands, which makes listening
to such an album special.
Furthermore, even more daring would be a constant switch of the channels. Bands flip from left to right
and back again. Total confusion. Total chaos. Even harmonic structures become incomprehensible.
'True Stereo Split' is a nice attempt ... but certainly nothing more.
Note:
Sold out.
50
Ghostandthesong - Escapes (2012)
(Germany; Experimental)
3 Tracks (MP3 - Netlabel: BadPanda) -_-_- (12:32)
https://www.facebook.com/qhostandthesonq, https://badpandarecords.wordpress.com/
Escapes, escapes, escapes, escapes, escapes, escapes, escapes ... the cover looks like this one
word would be repeated endlessly (from top to bottom) and is only cut short through the artificial
limitation in the size of the picture. The band name had been smuggled in between the various
coloured version of the title, as if they wanted to make sure to appear in this (endless) list as well. An
apology for not standing alone and taking a position; a bit ducked one might say.
Ghostandthesong are unable to leave the composition and everything flows in each other somehow.
They escape their language and use French instead. It should not surprise to see them evading a too
strict set of music, something that would limit them in their quest. A flight away from the realm of
ordinary music. With two compositions the band breaks loose, while in the last one everything
becomes so utterly confusing that the listener will attempt the same.
It is not frightening ... or is it?
The Germans (?) - the band is from Berlin, so let us assume this for a moment - play music ... in a
variety of ways ... and to some level quite bewildering. It is like shuffling through a vast music
collection and with the program set to create a smooth transition from one track to the other. While it is
pleasant to listen to at some point, another one might take the listener by surprise. The opener has
some surprising techno vibes, the second and best (or at least most easily accessible) composition
comes with a mixture between pop, rock, electronic and such, while the last track is a bastard of eight
minutes, has excessive recitation of French texts and in terms of the music a gentle melody with
electronic elements, field recordings and so on.
Escape but where to ...? The release does not provide any answer in this respect. Osr is it only
accessible to those, who would be familiar with French?
Nevertheless, the video for the second track is really great and so is the composition. This alone
should be enough to give this output a try:
https://badpandarecords.wordpress.com/201 2/03/26/badpanda1 20/
https://www.voutube.com/watch?v=lmA-uXu5Vhq
Atrum Tempestas - Ne Deus crede (2012)
(Finland; Black Metal)
5 Tracks (CD - Self-released) -_-_- (21 :56)
http://www.facebook.eom/paqes/Atrum-Tempestas/1 57661 77091 1 078
Good ol' Nietzsche is allowed to open this release and this is something that does not happen on a
regular basis. Well, it is not him in person, but some of his phrases are allowed to appear now and
then over the course of the CD. What makes them interesting is the explicit way in which they add an
Anti-Christian element to the music. How many examples can be brought forth of something that
would stand up to: "one should never forgive Christianity". It is somewhat funny how few elements
from the literature flow around in the black metal scene; not only today but in general. Go figure!
What about the music? It is nothing spectacular but offers a mixture between old-school and
depressive black metal inspired elements. Generally, all is of a rather calm nature with not much
aggressiveness or harshness that would break out of the flow of the music. There are some bursts and
faster parts - Ecce corpus Jesu Christi -though, but from a broader perspective their total share can
actually be neglected.
51
'Behexen' meets Sterbend (music) or the
Canadian Niflheim. The French band Wolfshade
can also be used as a reference. Atrum
Tempestas' performance is not bad. What makes
this release annoying in some respect is the level
on which the listener has to endure the slower
passages, which feel like they would drag on
forever. It is the song-writing that is unconvincing
in somehow. Nice elements here, interesting
moments there ... but nothing that can be
described as 'definite'.
Recorded in 2008, but only released very
recently. It is not bad, it is not riddled with flaws,
not suffering from an awful production, not loaded
with cliche loaded lyrics and the like. A solid first
step in the black metal realm for this band... and
nothing more.
Note:
Limited to 20 hand-numbered copies.
Afternoon Talk - Afternoon Talk ep (2012)
(Indonesia; Folk, Pop)
5 Tracks (MP3 - Hujan! Records) -_-_- (13:22)
http://huianrekords.com/releases/afternoon-talk-self-titled-ep
https://www.facebook.com/afternoontalk
Indonesia has a considerable music scene and a short glance over the submissions to the Metal
Archives reveals this easily. Metal fans are therefore in the somewhat (more) comfortable position and
are easily able to discover some new bands/outputs, a new fix to the never quenchable thirst. When it
comes to non-metal bands/album, then things get or rather are a bit trickier. A first barrier would be the
language and a further one the general lack of e-mail addresses; to those few of us who refuse to join
Facebook - these do often not appear on their web site. Now, at least a small hole in the barrier has
been pinned:
http://indonetlabelunion.tumblr.com/
Well ... the name says it alright. Check it out ...
It would be nice to find something similar in other music scenes as well, but it needs dedication and
initiative.
Afternoon Talk present a mixture between folk and pop, which in style is closely oriented on the
Western concepts - something not too surprising, once the band pictures are taken into consideration.
Be it the music, be it the language and the atmosphere, all points in this direction and gives a glimpse
on how close certain kinds of music are interpreted around the world. From the mere sound alone it
would be hard to make out a difference between 'Afternoon Talk' and a comparable band from Europe
for instance. Whether this is good or bad shall be left open for discussion.
There is a certain kind of light-heartedness in the performance and it can be discovered in the way the
lyrics are expressed; 'Love Letter' and 'So Far Away'. Moreover, to describe the music as overtly
serious would be misleading as well. Some gentle, sweet compositions, with strange timing in the
vocals - and too many lyrics now and then, which are sooo difficult to articulate - and a minimalism in
the instruments that creates a somewhat charming atmosphere. For those, who are in a good
mood/spirit and might want to listen to a performance outside of the ordinary and local musical realm.
Note:
Can be downloaded for free.
52
Sea Oleena - Sea Oleena (2010)
(Canada; Pop/Folk, Ambient, Experimental)
7 Tracks (Tape - Bridgetown Records) -_-_- (25:50)
https://www.facebook.eom/paqes/Sea-Oleena/1 6921 281 31 25077
It had been the first track, the opener, that has/had sparked my interest. A bit of diving through the
endless tides of the bandcamp universe and I made a short halt at this one. Such a nice mixture of
drone, minimalism, ambient, repetition and somewhat ethereal folk can be found here. Easy to like ...
easy to enjoy ... disgustingly catchy and obtruding. Hard to escape, once someone has to dared to
peek into this obscure realm. 'Sea Oleena' avoid the aspect of loftiness and circle around it in a
somewhat infantile kind of way. Here an element, there a sound, now a drum, then a bit of noise.
Playing as an imperative and without much of a serious afterthought.
'Little Army' might be the best example for her - it is a one-woman band plus some occasional help
from this person's brother - way of creating and playing music. With over seven minutes in length, she
has enough room to "mess things up" in such a way as to take the listener to a strange to and fro of
sounds/impressions/variations.
Characteristic for the debut release is
the evolution of ideas in the
compositions. Layer follows layer, sound
follows sound. It is like looking or rather
examining a portrait of a well-known
painter. Facet after facet reveals itself,
the processes in the brain unfold
magically, make everything clearer,
presenting it all in a strange inexplicable
order, impressions flow around, there is
confusion, there is delight, there is the
pleasure in experiencing it, in
unravelling it. Here, music for the times
of pleasure, for the moments in which
the hormones turn ones head into a
dizzy, maybe especially those in the
spring and the summer.
All cheerful? A rose-coloured hell? By
no means. Some slight melancholic or
rather thoughtful moments have entered
the debut as well and these appear, a
short interval one might call it, once the
first two compositions have passed by.
To call them depressive would do them
an injustice, but they take the whole
concept back to a more "ground" level.
A few words about the instruments. Guitars and a piano play a vital role in the concept, while
electronic beats appear on a low scale and only in several compositions. Despite the rather pop-ish
nature of some compositions, other feel like ambient that has been received some additional folk
elements. As such, the music is never too complex or avant-garde in the arrangements, but is rather
fascinating due to the way it all had been merged together.
How to describe this release with a nonsensical reference? Tori Amos on acid meets Bjbrk and teams
up with some psychedelic folk/ambient band? Got it? Me neither, but it sounds good.
Autumn draws nearer and nearer ... and it seems this music does not fit entirely to this time of the
year, but you should make certain to have at close hand once the sunlight becomes more intense and
the dark depressing days have gone by.
Note:
Can be downloaded for free from:
http://seaoleena.bandcamp.com/album/sea-oleena
53
Sea Oleena - Sleeplessness (2011)
(Canada; Pop, Folk, Dark Ambient)
7 Tracks (Tape - Bridgetown Records) -_-_- (30:40)
https://www.facebook.eom/paqes/Sea-Oleena/1 6921 281 31 25077
'Sleeplessness' would be the second release of 'Sea Oleena' and it is different from the debut. First
impression: everything is more controlled, focussed, gentle. While the earlier presentation is rather like
running through a flowerbed and sucking in all the various types of smells and impressions, this latest
one feels much more sedated, sterile as well as distant. Yes, distant. It is like chatting with a women
via the video stream. You can see her, but not touch, smell or caress her. This chasm in between
makes everything much less spontaneous and crazy. Thoughts do not bombard each other, unravel
chaotic strange ideas ... their impetus loses its fascination the moment they have to pass through the
electronic gateway. 'Sleeplessness' sounds like a melancholic nightly contemplating about the loss of
the spontaneity of the first output.
Aside from this, all is darker, more melancholic, less able to enwrap the listener and take this person
to a strange sweet place. No more samples that appear out of nowhere. No more strange build-ups in
terms of the arrangements. Less of variation and contrasts in terms of the vocals. More order and
control. A post-modern version of the debut?
It is trip hop that has taken up part of the folk elements and with the effect of an increase in sterility;
something the first output definitely lacked on this scale; 'Sister' as well as 'Milk'. Tori Amos returns
with a vengeance, has brought Rebecca (& and the Musicbox) with her and thought some folk would
not hurt either. Ambient and noise are left in a state of rubble and hardly considered in terms of this
album. 'Sleepless Fever' - nomen est omen in this respect -would be an exception and reminds the
listener on the swiftness of some of the earlier compositions. Piano, guitar, (some slight and often
minimalist) electronic beats and also field recordings are the dominant aspects on this recording.
There is a subliminal mysticism in it all.
Somehow one should not sit astounded or bewildered at this kind of mixture. Sleeplessness is mostly
a facet that is commonly associated with the night time, while those dreamy sleepy moments in the
day fall under the table and are dismissed as a fancy of some sort; remember the imperative of work.
The music is generally dark and personal. It is an introspection, a pondering about questions,
impressions, ideas. There is no attempt of breaking out of it; for instance, I like to walk through the
streets at night and take pictures with my camera. The last track 'Orion's Eyes' is more like a yearning
to a faraway place, a mystical longing towards a region that escapes not only the human
comprehension but works as also as a fetish for one's own desires. It is in some respect sad that the
music fails to deliver a direction; remains on the spot,
is unable to break out of the person that is suffering
from insomnia.
Is this something we have to face alone? Can we not
leave out shores in these times and take a dive into
our outer world? Is sleeplessness not more of an
imperative to search for the spirits of the night, the
demons in the shadows and countless animals that
reconquer the towns/cities in these dark hours? To
remain stuck in twirling thoughts seems too much of a
selfish and maybe even pathetic state of mind. Unlike
the debut output, this latest instalment fits much better
into the darker days that lie ahead of us.
Note:
Can be downloaded for free from:
http://seaoleena.bandcamp.com/album/sleeplessness
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54
Gravehuffer - Blasphemusic (2012)
(USA; Thrash Metal/Crust/Grindcore)
20 Tracks (CD - Reality Impaired Records) -_-_- (52:11)
https://www.facebook.com/qravehuffer
The debut album of the American band 'Gravehuffer' continues where the previous band 'Krom' had
left off and those familiar with the releases of both projects will be able to identify the similarities. First
of all, each of fourteen tracks from the latter band first and only output have been used for this latest
instalment. These appear, according to the band (slightly) remastered on Blasphemusic. As some
might know, Joplin had been hit by a tornado in 2011, which left parts of the town in rubble. Also the
band member of Krom had been affected and all the merchandise had been lost. This first release by
Gravehuffer is therefore also an attempt to present the music to the audience again and a step to
recover from the tragic event.
To be more precise:
New tracks: 1-4 & 18+19
Old tracks: 6-17 & 20
It is a nice way to start this CD. A bit of a humorous take on the state the band is from and helps to set
the mood in the right way for the rest to come: with a sample from the movie "The Outlaw Josey Wales"
in which Grandma Sarah puts Missouri in its place by declaring that anything from there has a taint
about it. In case someone was ever wondering about Reality Impaired Records, Freakflag and all the
other countless bands/labels from Joplin, then this explains it all neatly, succinctly and most certainly
in a definite kind of way.
Those who might be interested in some nostalgia can dig up the 4th edition of this magazine and read
the review that had been written on the Krom output. What had been written back then still holds today,
because most of the tracks on the debut of 'Gravehuffer' have seen the light of day before - on the
debut output of the preceding band and this new project continues on this path.
There is this S.O.D./M.O.D. touch, which find expression through the lyrics, the samples and in some
respect also in the music itself. Krom and now Gravehuffer are no bands, whose concept wanders
around too much and meanders off into the realm of progressiveness or technicality. It is all rather
kept on the spot, intense and with a certain amount of aggressiveness. With a mixture between thrash
metal, crust and grindcore the American deliver a quite interesting mixture of facets, which stands
pretty true to what one might have in terms of the expectations. The emphasis is on metal and not on
crust or on grindcore. Elements from these genre have been woven into the music, but they remain on
a small level. Amebix, Doom, Warcollapse might point in the right direction and elements from D.R.I,
or Municipal Waste as well, but the problem with Gravehuffer is their lack of the speed commonly used
in the thrash scene as well as the absence of structures of punk or crust or grindcore. It is a bit of
everything ... with a good amount of humour. Music with a lot of groove and power as well as strange
lyrics. Freakflag, another project of some of the band members, would be a sick sidekick, which does
not have much to offer in terms of the lyrics, but has a similar attitude in terms on how to deal with
topics and on how to present them; here though in doses of odd and confusing samples from various
sources.
There are two cover version on this album and both are pretty sick. 'Commando' from 'The Ramones'
does not come as a grindcore version, even though the first seconds might give the listener such an
impression. Compared with the original though, this one is more sickish and has more power. The
same can be said of Gravehuffer's interpretation of Celtic Frost's 'Into the Crypts of Rays'.
The output by Krom had been a lot of fun and was pretty enjoyable and the debut release of
Gravehuffer takes it all a step further. With some additional compositions, well placed or chosen
samples and an increase in aggressiveness they seem to be a path in the right direction; the new
material works as a slight and more intense contrast to the older one. Music with a lot of punch can be
experienced and enjoyed here, and the band never really leaves the listener much of a time to rest or
catch some breathe.
Note:
An interview with Krom can be found in the 16th edition of the magazine:
http://archive.org/details/ADeadSpotOf Light. ..NumbeM 6
55
Connate Exasperation - Crypts of Decay (2010)
(Iran; Death Metal)
6 Tracks (CD - Self-released) -_-_- (22:41)
http://reverbnation.com/connateexasperation ,
http://www.myspace.com/connateexasperation
Somewhat interesting to hear the fascination for old-school death metal from an Iranian band. Morbid
Angel is an obvious reference ... with all the shortcomings. Yes, unbelievable but true, there are
indeed strange techno beats to be found in the music on 'Crypts of Decay', the debut output by this
band. Luckily, this aspect is limited to the last composition, but it is a strange experience nonetheless.
Is it really necessary to follow the American band on all of their endeavours? Will 'Connate
Exasperation' next output be a disaster of equal proportions like 'lllud Divinum Insanus' had been for
'Morbid Angel'?
Generally speaking, 'Crypts of Decay' contains fast paced death metal, with a good touch of technical
elements, driven by a drum-computer and some kind of deep growls. The band focuses on the tempo
and refuses to deal with interludes, breaks and the like on a considerable scale. Instead, everything is
kept tight and intense. A blast from the first second to the last. Luckily there is enough variation to
prevent too much monotony from occurring. Actually, it would be too far-fetched to add term 'brutal' to
the description of the music. What might come as a surprise somewhat is the lack of some longer and
sick solo parts. In this respect the band limits itself to short bursts, whose part is not able to
compensate this in any meaningful way.
Well, it is something not too innovative,
rarely disturbing but generally intense
piece of death metal from Iran. As the
production is quite solid, it is easy to enjoy
this piece of art. Fans of early Malevolent
Creation, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse
or Monstrosity - to name some prominent
examples - might want to give this release
a try.
Note:
Limited to 150 copies.
Zix - The WarWhore (2012)
(Lebanon; Heavy Metal)
6 Tracks (MP3/CD - Self-released) -_-_- (25:01)
http://www.facebook.com/Zixband , http://zixband.bandcamp.com/
Metal from Lebanon is a rare thing indeed. Metal from Lebanon with a female vocalist sounds like an
impossibility. Yet here are Zix and this would be their debut ep. 'Maya Khairallah' would be the women
behind the microphone and she expresses the lyrics in a quite peculiar kind of way; more of that later.
Like 'Blaakyum' also 'Zix' play heavy metal and do not head for the extreme realms of the metal genre;
unlike Kaoteon or Ayat for instance. Another similarity with the aforementioned band would be the fact
that the date of foundation is actually 1998(!) [see the Metal Archives entry], while the first release has
only seen the light of day very recently. A convincing explanation on the lack of other outputs are not
offered on any of the Internet sites but maybe the band members are able to explain themselves in an
interview at some point somehow. Enough of the strange aspects? No ... because one of the
musicians would be from Argentine(l), while the others are from Lebanon. Modern times, I guess.
56
And the music? Stunning! It may take a while to get used to the timing of the vocals, but once this
aspect is longer of any importance, one has to acknowledge the quality of the performance of this
Lebanese band. Catchy riffs, really cool solos, a really dense atmosphere and well crafted melodies.
Compared with the 2012 output of 'Blaakyum', the music of 'Zix' has a larger focus on NWoBHM, has
a considerable amount of drive and has a slightly sickish tone. 'Maya Khairallah' has a slight mocking
tone in her voice, which adds to an occasional sarcasm in the lyrics just the right nuances to make it
sound really good. What is strange in some respect is the tendency to rather speak the texts instead of
singing them. Moreover, she does not reach for the falsetto region, but stops somehow on the path
towards it.
I am bloody ignorant to some certain parts of the metal scene; especially when it comes to heavy
metal and all the power metal stuff. If you have "experienced" one epic tale about a dragon slaying,
you have heard 'em all -- Zix do not deal with this kind of stuff, though. There is also a certain lack in
noisiness and a tendency to polish everything, which give me a hard time in enjoying, it. Therefore,
references are a tricky thing and as Youtube has blocked a good amount of videos for German
Internet users - for reasons to complicated and stupid to explain here - it is difficult to do some proper
independent research. Well, why not take the ones presented by the band on their Facebook site:
Iron Maiden, Dio, Manowar, Virgin Steele, Warlord, WASP, Judas Priest, Saxon, most NWBHM bands.
The whole approach of 'Zix' has a conservative touch and does not try to be too modern. Similar to a
lot of other bands in the Middle Eastern metal scene, cultural influences from this region play a
marginal role and a native tongue is nowhere to be found. 'The WarWhore' is an album with
compositions that can be enjoyed easily, but which could have used more of the sickness of the last
track 'Shadows of a Dying Sun'. Even though the solo is rather slow, it nevertheless creates a strange
focal point, but at a spot of the album at which it can hardly be expected. The contrasts between the
voice of Maya and the instruments are rarely developed on a similar level over the course of the album;
a glance over the lyrics reveals the approach of Zix without much difficulty.
This first ep is by no means bad or flawed - the production leaves the vocals a bit hollow at times
though. Nevertheless the band has developed their own niche already: "female fronted heavy metal
from Lebanon"; not many bands will be able to join them there soon. The music is catchy, slightly
aggressive and quite melodic. To give nothing but a recommendation would be unfair.
Note:
The release is available as a free download at Bandcamp and as a CD; see their Facebook site for
more information on the physical thingy.
57
founts of tfte pictures:
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've.org/details/africatheearth01recluoft
ve.org/details/alledewerckensooOOcats
ve.org/details/diekunstdesradieOOstru
've.org/details/etchingcraftguidOOrobirich
've.org/details/fiftyhithertounpOOmaypiala
ve.org/details/gri_000r33125008476703
ve.org/details/hommagemilezOOslsn
ve.org/details/lelivreillustratOObouc
ve.org/details/lepeintregraveur07delt
ive.org/details/magasinpittoresq06char
ive.org/details/modernillustratiOOpenn
ve.org/details/mrpunchinbohemiaOOmaypiala
ve.org/details/paintingsdrawingOOhisp
ive.org/details/philmaysabcfiftyOOmayp
UuilooA
Some longer reviews are in the making.
Some interviews are planned ... some had not been handed in for the 20th edition.
And such ...
as usual
58
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