I was beyond stoked to see the complete original Black Sabbath line-up in Dallas (with Pantera opening, no less!) in 1999. Just prior to Sabbath’s set, the female half of a middle-aged couple showed their racist inclination for no apparent reason in the midst of a pleasant conversation. Looking me up and down, obviously noticing my dark complexion, she said, “You’re what they call a transplant.” I believe what she meant was “immigrant” or “foreigner.” I’m not overly sensitive, so it didn’t really bother me.

When the four metal Gods took stage and kicked into their evil hymns, I went berserk, banging my head like a madman. Apparently my behavior was too outlandish for the couple that seemed more at home at a bar with a juke box filled with Skynyrd, the man pulling the woman tightly to his chest as if to protect her. “You’re a weird (F-word) (N-word),” he exclaimed before they quickly walked away.

I can only assume that it’s because I’m physically larger than the average North American male that this is the only time I can recall facing racism in metal. But even though metalheads pride themselves for being outsiders, the underground metal “scene” is in many ways subject to the same norms and patterns of behavior underlying mainstream society. I assume that if I wasn’t bigger than your average dude, I might experience more prejudice. I hope I’m mistaken.

There are obviously pockets of prejudice, naturally, as it is an underground movement that stands at odds with regular society (facilitating the National Socialist Black Metal movement, for instance). Yet that isn’t very prominent. I can’t help but wonder, though: Do visible minorities, of any sort, face prejudice on a regular basis? Dear reader, I’d appreciate your feedback.

By Jonathan Millard-Smith

The fifth full-length release from San Diego’s Cattle Decapitation, Monolith of Inhumanity continues the band’s ideological focus on animal cruelty, environmental destruction, and the stupidity of humanity for willingly digging its own (probably made of plastic) grave. The misanthropic lyrical content is matched by band’s willingness to toss unexpected sonic curveballs at the listener, with the album offering just over 40-minutes of progressive death metal/grindcore that demonstrates several stylistic tweaks. Many of these experiments are effective and welcome, though the downside is that they often come off as tangential one-off moments rather than consistent threads. To offer an example up front, second-to-last track “The Monolith” is an eerie and atmospheric mood-setter of a track, quite different from the rest of the album. It should serve as an effective signpost that on this outing Cattle Decapitation are going to move in unexpected directions. However, its strength is diminished by being hidden in the back end of the record. It’s one of the more frustrating aspects of what is, ultimately, a pretty good album.

The record starts off with “The Carbon Stampede,” which is to-the-point and grind-heavy enough to meet basic expectations. However, its fake-out shift in the track’s final seconds (which always sounds like a new track is beginning) is its highlight. However, by the time its groove has set in time the band is already moving on to “Dead Set On Suicide,” a fairly forgettable song that includes an obligatory-sounding audio clip of someone dying via self-managed hanging. “A Living Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat” is definitely the catchiest songs on the album, its hook being Travis Ryan‘s use of a pseudo-clean but still distorted singing style throughout the chorus. That vocal twist appears again most notably on “Lifestalker.” Middle tracks like “Gristle Licker,” “Forced Gender Reassignment,” and “Project Ovulation” come off as more like the “standard” Cattle Decapitation fare; they’re the bread-and-butter moments, and they don’t stand out as well in comparison to the more progressive moments. “Your Disposal” is suggestive of final track material in both name and music, and it acts that way despite things still to come (it even has a gratuitously long fade-out). As mentioned above, “The Monolith” is unique in its emotional punch and smouldering aggression. It paves the way for “Kingdom of Tyrants,” a song that as far as I’m concerned ensures that Cattle Decapitation won’t get lost in the broader family of bands into which they are often lumped. It would have been a gutsy track to pair with “The Monolith” as a kick-starter combo for the beginning of the album, but with things in the order that they are it’s still a helluva closing track.

Monolith of Inhumanity is the most notable of Cattle Decapitation’s releases so far, and its more progressive passages suggest possible future additions to the band’s traditional approach to things. They’re additions that I would be happy to see the band build on as they continue their climb up to broader recognizability and an increasingly unique ensemble sound.

(Metal Blade)

by Jay H. Gorania

Late in the evening at Inferno Fest in Oslo last year, one of Napalm Death’s members was shaking his head with frustration regarding his bandmates and the slim window of time between the completion of Utilitarian’s writing and the booked studio time which was immediately approaching. While chewing on his breakfast the next morning at the posh, upscale hotel housing the fest’s bands, another member was shaking his head for the same reasons. This isn’t to say there’s “trouble in paradise,” though. Aside from the departure of late guitarist Jesse Pintado, their lineup has remained the same for over over 20 years. They are family at this point, and like any successful familial unit, occasional bickering is inevitable and arguably necessary to weed out the bad ideas from the good ones. Napalm Death’s recently released Utilitarian, their fifteenth (!) studio album, is proof.

Offering faint praise to a band that is irrefutably one of extreme music’s pioneers might seem obligatory, but considering the quality of Utilitarian, they’ve earned a thumbs up, thrown horns and a fist pump. Since ushering the new millennium in with Enemy of the Music Business, they’ve carried forward the marriage of their early career’s raw, unpolished blast-fest with their mid-career’s venture into pastures filled with experimentation, more prominent melodies and tempo variation. This time, they’ve fine-tuned said approach and possibly, and almost impossibly, produced an album that’s even better than Time Waits for No Slave (2009). “Quarantined” and “Blank Look About Face” are just as hook-laden as they are assailing. In truth, you’d be hard pressed to find a bad song on Utilitarian. Tracks like “Nom de Guerre” and “Fall on Their Swords” exemplify their undeniable mastery of arrangements. The latter song brilliantly merges menacing sections with powerful vocal and guitar melodies that wouldn’t be far removed, in terms of spirit, from Fields of the Nephilim and Swans’ goth-leaning period.

What’s really special about this is the manner in which the transitions between coarse and smooth are complimentary to one another, and how seamless and logical they are. It makes sense. Worthy of note is John Zorn’s guest appearance on “Everyday Pox,” his unique, frantic sax lines fitting snuggly with the clanging stringed instruments and Danny Herrera’s thunderous percussive abuse. And guitarist Mitch Harris’ biting, high-pitched screams, which typically augment certain growls from Barney Greenway, ride in the front seat as he leads verses on “The Wolf I Feed” and “Orders of Magnitude,” proving himself so proficient that there’s no way that he shouldn’t be the main vocalist for a side project.

So, there’s a new Napalm Death album that’s absolutely incredible? That’s about as surprising as the possibility of death and taxes.

(Century Media)

By Berneau van der Merwe

Over the years some awesome bands have been spawned from the cold eastern front that is Eastern Europe, bands like Nokturnal Mortem and Old Wainds jump to mind, another fine addition to the eastern hammers comes in the form of Arguss, formed in 2009 and based in Rivne, Ukraine. Not much is known about Arguss and I guess the band prefers it that way. Their debute full-length album titled Morok was released on the 26th of April, which evidently is the 26th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe. Nice planning in my opinion.

I have always found that bands from the more eastern parts of Europe have their own way of doing black metal which ensures it is not as generic as some of the more Western European bands. Arguss has a very grindcore-like approach to their vocals, which is complimented by more guttering vocal work, along with blistering blast-beats and scolding-cold-like guitar riffs.

The album starts off with a very subtle intro, which does sent the mood beautifully to set up the Damnation track. It starts with some acoustic guitar work which is very subdued before breaking into a very up –tempo rhythm. The vocals are relentless and unforgiving as is the norm in black metal, but this has a distinct guttering edge to it. The atmosphere is pretty much established within the first few seconds after the intro fades out. The over all pace of the track goes down a notch and remains the same for the duration.

The short intros are a trend on a few tracks of the album, reflecting different aspects of nature, from running water to winds howling over the treetops. It does add something different to the over-all composition. The second track that took my fancy is titled “Morok”, which has probably the best intro of the album with some fine guitar work, which shows off the musical showmanship of the band as well as good cohesion between the various members.

The album consists of 9 tracks, which takes you on a journey throughout the scolding cold landscapes. The final three tracks of the album is basically one large track broken into three parts, two of which last about seven minutes and the final one lasts about 14 minutes. This is really something special that everyone that appreciates atmospheric black metal should experience. These tracks are titled “Under the Snow” with the prefix as is appropriate for the 3 parts. “Under the Snow – Part 3” is probably my favourite of the 3 and a real stand out track from the intro to the very last. These last 3 tracks remind me of a similar approach by a band called “Mg?a” which is also from Eastern Europe. So I do admire this style of composition.

Over all I feel that the atmosphere created by the album really is something special, however, I personally feel that the high-pitched vocals are a bit over done, yes, I feel it is a bit too harsh and it gets a bit too much as the album progresses. The music in itself is absolutely remarkable in terms of how it has been composed and put together to produce the end product. If you are into Black Metal and especially something with an atmospheric and ambient edge to it, definitely get this album; it will be well worth it.

(Code666)

Review and photos by Justin Richardson

Although I did see the inaugural version of Paganfest, I’ve missed the rest throughout the past few years due to whatever reason. Sometimes the tour date didn’t come quite close enough and sometimes it was a job issue. But with the lineup for this year’s show being pretty awesome and the measly one hour drive requirement to get to the show, I felt the only choice was to go and get my metal on. Over the past few years, Folk/Pagan oriented metal has gained a lot of traction similar to that of the late 90’s and early 2000’s power metal scene. With its popularity not quite at peak yet as best as I can tell, the turnout for the Charlotte show was solid. Tonight would be a glorious night full of warpaint and loincloths with the occasional beer. Plus, what better way to spend Easter than a journey to Paganfest?

The local openers for Paganfest were Æther Realm, a pagan themed band with an EP to their name at the moment. Vocalist/bassist Jake Jones was clad in bear-skin (looked legit). The band played songs from their EP Odin Will Provide along with a few new songs. It sounds promising and they’ll be a band to keep an eye out for in the future. Best part of their show was one of the snares and cymbals falling over into the drummer and the kid just kept on as if nothing happened. Drummer-man Tyler Gresham, my hat is off to you.

SoCal’s Huntress was next. While the band doesn’t really fit in with the Viking theme that most associate with Paganfest, they do fit in with the Witchcraft-esqueness of not only their lyrics but that of their singer Jill Janus as well. Huntress plays a traditional style of metal, akin to a band like Wolf. And on album it works pretty well. But I fear that in a live situation, the band relies too much on Jill as a sex symbol and provided the audience with very limited interaction on stage. And for a band that has a very traditional-tinged sound with a lot of energy in their music, the album just didn’t translate on stage from anyone other than Jill. There was no onstage chemistry between Jill and anyone else except for their drummer Carl Wierzbicky who shared a few moments together. I believe otherwise, the rest of the band seemed more hired guns, and because there was no interaction, Jill came off as cheesy, and I don’t think that was her intention at all. Their music is pretty good and their debut is a nice slab of traditional metal, but the band really needs to work on their live performances if they want to gain ground. Aside from some of the cheese, Jill was entertaining to watch and seemed into what she was doing. I just wish I could say the same for the rest of the band.

Russia’s black-metal-goes-folk Arkona (??????) were next and I’ve always enjoyed their material on disc and naturally I was interested in seeing how that translated onstage. I’ve seen a lot of high energy frontmen. I’d say Sabaton’s Joakim Brodén is probably the most energetic. The man has to work out a ton to maintain that kind of energy. But I’ll tell you what, Arkona’s Masha Arhipova would give him a run for his money. It’s possible she’s even more energetic than he is, but that’s a tough call. Going at 100% back and forth on the stage and flailing the mic stand around with reckless abandon, she managed to toss it down not once but four times towards me and each time I returned it upright. She was so into the show that I don’t even believe she knew that the stand had dropped at any point. The sound was a bit muffly from where I was standing. I’m not sure if there was an issue during sound check or if it was just a shitty spot, but as best as I could tell they did great. The crowd ate up the energy. A few points highlighted the set, most notably Masha’s banging on a drum and Vladmir’s flute/bagpipe playing. Sadly the latter was difficult to see as the band didn’t tend to move around much, possibly because Masha was so dominating on stage. Hopefully Paganfest will have garnered them a larger fanbase and the chances of them coming back to the States will be higher. Until then, check out their latest album Word (?????).

Alestorm, the fun-lovin’-ale-drinkin’-Scots-gone-pirate band, was well received at Tremont. Their multiple North American tours have no doubt helped them in building an audience. The audience ate up each and every song, singing along with each one, and definitely gave Turisas a run for their money in the end. I couldn’t tell if the audience was mostly there for Turisas or Alestorm due to how well they were going over with the crowd. Mainman Christopher Bowes enchanted the crowd with not only his keytar precision, but also with his infectious charisma. Infectious like scurvy. I admit that I’m not the biggest fan of the band, but their live performance was a lot of fun. Enough fun to convince me to listen to them more. I already owned their debut, but I still wasn’t super familiar with the material. The guys were out there to be jolly pirates and they nailed it without even having to wear pirate hats. They’ll be on tour again soon in North America as part of the Epica and Insomnium package and I’m really looking forward to seeing this again already!

Finally the stage was cleared, sound checks made, and props moved on to the stage. Turisas stormed the audience with their trademark red and black striped makeup. They’ve traded in the furs and instead went with a more Mad Maxian tone for their costumes. Their video for “Stand Up and Fight” harkens to that vibe as well. As with Alestorm, the audience was singing every line with the band. You can tell when you’ve got a headline band when they’re given a small stage and they make you believe they’re playing for thousands. During a brief pause in the set, Warlord Nygård had some banter with the crowd regarding Rolling Rock beer. Needless to say he wasn’t a fan. However, he did compliment the USA on excellent microbreweries and said that Turisas was good for the economy because “We play globally, but we drink locally.” And if you’ve ever met a Finn, you know how much they can drink. As the show came to a close, the band played their ever-popular Boney M. cover of “Rasputin” which was a single on their previous album, The Varangian Way, and then ended the show with “Battle Metal”. They’ve definitely honed their skills since their first Paganfest. And having seen them several times, I can honestly say they’re on their ‘A’ game this tour. If not the best, then the second best show I’ve seen by them. Hopefully these guys will be back around soon playing a larger stage. Stand Up and Fight!

Another edition of thought-provoking book reviews from our Irish based correspondent Steve Earles. Please enjoy!

Siege Malta 1940-1943
By Ernle Bradford

Pen & Sword Books have a richly deserved reputation as publishing company of distinction, and Siege Malta perfectly compliments their fine catalogue of books.

Situated between Europe and Africa, Malta was a vital supply base in the Allied campaigns against Germany, Italy and Rommel’s Afrika Korps. It’s worth remembering that the siege of Malta went on for three years, one of the longest in history. While this would be a special story in the hands of any author, what makes this book special is that Ernle Bradford served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, with great courage and distinction. Moreover, after the War ended, he actually based himself in the Mediterranean and displays a love of Malta and its brave people far from the pen of any dry academic. Well researched and engaging at all those of us who value human courage (a cursory glance at the news, will tell you it’s an all too rare and precious commodity today), I found it as moving as it is informative.
(Pen & Sword Books Limited)

Shadow of the Sultan’s Realm
By Daniel Allen Butler

The Sultan’s realm in this fine well wrought book is The Ottoman Empire. This empire lasted for over seven centuries and stretched across three continents. At it’s peak, it produced innovations in literature, science, warfare, and architecture. When the empire collapse, its fall redrew the map of the world, changed the course of history, and it’s ramifications continue to effect the world to this day.

Daniel Allen Butler’s book tells the story of empire’s dissolution in the chaos of The Great War. We know if the battles it was involved in, Kut, Gallipoli, and Beersheba. The people who inhabitant Butler’s book have become legends in their own right. The ambition-driven patriot Enver Bey, T.E. Lawrence, known worldwide as the legendary Lawrence of Arabia thanks to the classic film of the same name starring Peter O’Toole (something of a legend in my part of the world himself!), who led an irregular war against the Turks. Aaron Aaronsohn, the Jewish botanist turned spy. David Lloyd George, who displayed as much integrity dealing with the Ottoman Empire as he did ‘aiding’ the White Russians against their fight against the Red Terror of the Bolsheviks. Winston Churchill, the man with the vision, whose plan for the Gallipoli campaign would have been a masterstroke of the Great War, had he been allowed to implement it as he saw it. Churchill would have his hands tied more than once in this period.

Following Lenin’s October Revolution, it was Churchill, not the self-serving Lloyd George, who saw the evil of the Bolsheviks and their anti-democratic Red Terror. It was Churchill who gave his all to the fight to free Russia from them, and the tragedy of the 20th century that this great man did not achieve his noble aim. And of course, most importantly of all, Mustafa Kemal, who would earn the name Ataturk, and go down in history.

Not only did I enjoy this book for its historical relevance, but also for its current relevance.
(Potomac Books)

An Introduction to the Psychology of Paranormal Belief and Experience
By Tony Jinks

In these dark times of recession, war, (and EMO!), more and more people are reporting seeing such phenomena as UFOS, ghosts, and angels. These topics will divide people into those who believe, (who think that those who don’t are blind), and those that don’t believe (who think that those who don’t are mad!).

What Tony Jinks (who is a lecturers at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, where he teaches neuroscience and paranormal studies to psychology students) does is to take an educated, fair-minded look at the reasons for people seeing these things. I found it a refreshing and informative read.
(McFarland & Company, Inc)

The Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses
By Paul Koudounaris

It’s fair to say that all of us here love heavy metal, we really do, and so do you, or you wouldn’t be here reading this. As well as the music we love our album covers, whether it’s technicolour madness of Derek Riggs’ renderings or Iron Maiden’s mascot Eddie, or the Hieronymous Bosch inspired madness of Cathedral’s Dave Pratchett, we love the artwork, and death and skulls are a huge part of it. Indeed, this book was very well-received by Britain’s top metal magazine Metal Hammer.

From the Middle Ages to the 19th century, human remains were an important part of the Christian religion’s cultural landscape. The fear of death we display in our insanely youth orientated 21st century did not exist then.

So, the book itself is a thing of beauty and joy forever, stick your e-books (e-books, there’s an new oxymoron!), a book is something you hold, care about and cherish. The photographs are incredible, honestly, this is one the best value books I’ve ever seen, if you bought it today, and you lived (which isn’t certain, as I see in this fine tome!) for another say, fifty years, you would still have the value of this splendid, timeless book.

Paul Koudounaris has a doctorate in Art History from the University of California and is an expert on the subjects of European ossuaries and charnel houses, and it shows. He loves and understands his subject. And so will you when you read and, not just read, but absorb this on an emotional level. For all the petty differences between humanity are ultimately trivial. The one thing we all have in common is we all die. That is not a morbid thought, rather to me, it’s a cause for enjoying our lives as much as we can without hurting anyone else.

A stunning and inspirational book, if you buy one book this year, make it this one.
(Thames & Hudson Ltd)

Aleister Crowley: The Biography
By Tobias Churton

All heavy metal fans are aware of the name Aleister Crowley, his name and his ideas are is mention in songs everyone from Ozzy Osbourne to Exhorder. Yet if you were to ask the same fans if they knew anything about Aleister Crowley, they would be stunned by the revelations in this book.

I have to say, I myself am quite knowledgeable on Aleister Crowley, I have written articles about him, read widely on him, and even done research for the fictional character based on Crowley that appears in Pat Mills and Olivier Ledroit’s fine graphic novel series Requiem, but even I was stunned by the breath of this book. Tobias has done himself and his art proud here, with a unique amount of unseen material and photos, but more! Tobias understands Crowley and gives his incredible life the nonjudgmental telling it deserves.

Aleister Crowley was born in 1875, to parents who belonged to a fanatical Christian sect called The Plymouth Brethren, it could be said that Aleister’s character was formed as a reaction to this. The only book he was allowed to read as a child was the Bible. Aleister could to the very end quote any part of the bible (this is well assayed in Bruce Dickinson [yes, of Iron Maiden] and Julian Doyle [who has worked with Terry Gilliam and Monty Python]’s splendid film The Chemical Wedding, in which Simon Callow, one of England’s foremost actors and Dickinsian scholar gives a wonderful portrayal of Aleister). Crowley was particularly taken with the Book of Revelations, and his mother took to calling him The Beast. A name he was quite taken with and adopted.

As an adult, Crowley inherited a fair amount of money and proceeded to explore such diverse field as mountain climbing (he was an outstanding mountaineer), sex (he was born out of time, the 60s would have loved Crowley, and indeed, it is through John Lennon having Crowley’s image on the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club album that interest in The Great Beast grew anew.), literature, drugs and of course philosophy and magic. He also worked as a spy for the British in both world wars , indeed Crowley was friends with Robert Bruce Lockhart, a British agent, who, with Sidney Reilly the ‘Ace of Spies’, plotted the overthrow of Lenin and Trotsky [the Beast was not involved in that one! Perhaps if he had been, it might have worked]. Crowley also knew Dennis Wheatley (whom he liked and provided the inspiration for the character of Morcata in The Devil Rides Out, made into a fine film by Hammer in the 60s, with a script from Richard Matheson and with the legendary Sir Christopher Lee as the Duc De Richlieu and Charles Gray as Morcata). He knew Irish poet and patriot WB Yeats too, but they loathed each other!

Most importantly of all, Alestier is known for his revelation : “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of law.” This does not mean you should do whatever you want, if means you should discover your own individual true will and purpose, if you find it and pursue it, you will be successful in it. Crowley believed all humanity’s miseries were as result of pursuing things that were meaningless, miserable and wrong for the individual.

Honestly, this book is marvelous, and Crowley himself would be pleased at Tobias’s work; he has even had access to the Crowley family’s relationships and papers.

I can’t recommend this book enough, if you already have an interest in Crowley this will be the book of the year (or even decade to you). If you have not previously read about Crowley, and my piece has whetted you appetite, this is the place to start (and it is so good, you could actually finish here too), Yes, if you only ever read one book on this incredible man, a man who’s time has surely come in the 21st century, make it this one.

Please check Tobias’ website for more information on both him (he’s quite an interesting fellow in his own right) and his work.
(Duncan Baird Publishers Incorporating Watkins Publishing)

The Devil Is A Gentleman
By Phil Baker

The perfect compliment to Tobias Churton’s fine Aleister Crowley biography. Crowley and Wheatley actually knew each other, and Crowley was a great inspiration on Wheatley’s work. When I was a child I was fascinated by Wheatley’s work, the lurid covers with devils and sexy ladies had a profound effect on my young self. Later I would read the books and still love them to this day. My mother read many of Wheatley books when she was expecting me and perhaps that explains a lot! Wheatley knew how to spin a tale. Some aspects of his work have dated a little, but it’s up to the reader to be sensible here and simply accept, not what they are, but the times they were written in. What is important is, his books were about the battle of good and evil, and despite the devils and demons used to sell the books (definitely an influence on many the heavy metal band!), Wheatley was full-square on the side of the angels.

I was afraid, approaching this book, that Wheatley would not live up to his fictional work, but Baker presents a marvelous well rounded fellow, a product of his time, but a tremendously entertaining one.

Well researched and compelling told, I hope this book is the start of seeing a revival and reassessment of Wheatley’s fine body of work.
(Daedalus Publishing Ltd)


Atrocitology: Humanity’s 100 Deadliest Achievements
By Matthew White

In this terrifying and enthralling book, Matthew White takes stock of the bottomless well that is man’s inhumanity to man across the centuries of human history. From the First Punic War to the reign of Peter the Great and the terrible wars of the 20th century, this epic book measures the hundred most violent events in human history. Matthew has not formed any grand theory for the causes of human violence and cruelty, he does share three big (and remarkably thought-provoking) lessons. Which I will share with you now.

1). Chaos is more deadly than tyranny.
2). The world is even more disorganised than we realise.
3). Wars kill more civilians than soldiers (in fact, the army is usually the safest place to be)

His research is impeccable and he writes with great strength and Oliver Cromwell’s genocidal invasion of my native Ireland, an event we still remember to this day, and still curse Cromwell’s name for, is covered in appropriate style. An Irishman would always notice if it wasn’t. He also covers one of my favourite periods of history, the Russian Civil War, and again, he does so in fine style. This war helped give rise to Stalin and he gets his own chapter, truly Stalin shows the banality of evil, that this ‘grey eminence’ should have killed and tortured and starved so many millions is bewildering.

But there is much more I didn’t know, so many other terrible events covered, and that made this a very thought-provoking book, for I realised this further important truth, We are all capable of the events in this book if we do not police not only each other but the darkness that lies within us. Regardless of race, colour, creed, we are all capable of the worst acts of inhumanity to man. We all have the potential for great evil as well as good, and it’s the evil we should watch out for while nurturing the good.

Read this and the next time you embark on some small petty act of meanness or cruelty, think again. From little acorns of cruelty… monstrous things can grow if left unchecked by us ourselves.
(Canongate Books)

By Adrien Begrand

To Sonic Unyon, having two of the Hamilton label’s most prized metal signees play a rare show together is something special, a neat little showcase for the wide range of styles it promises to bring to Canadian and international audiences. For local concertgoers in Saskatoon, however, the pairing of thrash upstarts Untimely Demise and doom/noise duo Mares of Thrace seemed a little surreal. Never mind the fact that both bands are plenty capable of attracting a sizeable audience at Amigos on their own, but quirkily, each band has its own specific fanbase in the prairie city. True, there’s plenty of crossover, as yours truly and plenty others attend any remotely heavy show that plays in Saskatoon, be it underground, avant-garde, mainstream, or good, old-fashioned traditional metal, but despite the fact that the local metal scene is rapidly broadening, there was no denying there was a bit of a clash of scenes on this night, a palpable divide.

Some might have grumbled about the lack of subgenre consistency in the four-band bill of headliners Untimely Demise, Winnipeg progsters Grand Master, Mares of Thrace, and local youngsters Agony Spawn, but if you asked me, a guy who loves variety at a metal show, this was right up my alley. And as I hiked up a bustling Friday night Broadway Avenue, turned left, and walked one block east to the cozy, familiar confines of Amigos, the most beloved live music venue in the city, just in time to see the likeable Agony Spawn shredding onstage, it bode well for the entire night.

Of all the metal bands in Saskatoon, the one with the most mainstream appeal is Agony Spawn. Formed in 2010 and tailor-made for the Sirius Liquid Metal demographic, the quintet’s sound is a tidy blend of the more accessible side of Death and the swagger of Lamb of God, and already with just one self-released EP under their belts they’ve proven to be a very strong live act as well as good songwriters. Led by vocalist Bart Caldwell, who barks out his lyrics in a Jens Kidman-style roar, and propelled by the outstanding drumming of Lexie Miller, they’d already attracted a sizeable crowd up front and were clearly going over extremely well. Having played a lot of local shows lately, they’re honing their chops in impressive fashion, and if they have enough ambition they could wind up following in Untimely Demise’s footsteps. If only they’d ditch the MySpace player and get the hell on Bandcamp and Soundcloud – music writers do not listen to MySpace anymore, kids, trust me – then they could really start to get the word out more.

To have Calgary’s Mares of Thrace play second on a four-band bill is odd, especially considering just how well-liked the band is in Saskatoon, but seeing how this was originally booked as Grand Master’s headlining show, it was only fair. And credit guitarist Therese Lanz and drummer Stefani MacKichan for being total professionals and delivering their most crushing, intense live set in this city to date. The chemistry between the two in a live setting has always been there and is integral to their unique sound – the tension created by Lanz’s punishing riffs and cathartic screams and MacKichan’s jazzy but alarmingly powerful drumming is remarkable in person – but we had not heard them sound this devastatingly heavy before. Lanz’s much-ballyhooed new baritone guitar, custom made by the great Kurt Ballou, boasts both a bass and guitar pickup that allows Lanz to make her already massive riffs sound even heavier. Couple that with the fact that their new Sanford Parker-produced album The Pilgrimage is far more intense and visceral than their promising debut The Moulting, and you’ve got yourself a jaw-dropping set.

Opening with a jam that segued into the menacing “The Gallwasp”, Lanz and MacKichan tore through a swift set including “Mandible”, “Act 1: David Glimpses Bathsheba”, “The Perpetrator”, and most notably, The Moulting fave “General Sherman”, which was transformed into a slower, brooding doom track, its climactic last few bars rendered even more harrowing. Ending with a frenetic reading of “Act III: A Curse Falls on the House of David”, Mares of Thrace left the audience, which had swelled to a sizeable blend of longtime devotees and people simply blown away by how these two musicians could create something so forceful, wanting more.

Having initially endeared themselves to Saskatoon’s indie crowd rather than the metal scene, though, much of Mares of Thrace’s core audience in Saskatoon isn’t very inclined to follow a half hour of forward-thinking extreme music with staunchly traditional heavy metal, and they either left or hung out at the back of the room with their backs to the stage when Grand Master came on. It was an odd situation as the trio kicked into selections from their new album The Dream Alive to a handful of people up front, but eventually the metal crowd started trickling in the longer the set wore on. Grand Master has always shown promise, and indeed they sounded better than when I last saw them play a year ago, the new songs a tidy blend of NWOBHM influences and Dream Theater-style flash. A band like Grand Master needs a lead singer who can hit the high notes with power, but bassist/vocalist Alec Schaefer continues to hold his own capably enough.

By the end of Grand Master’s 45-minute set, the audience at Amigos had transformed from the eclectic blend of indie scenesters, curious metalheads, and noncommittal music fans to a straight-up hesher fest, leather jackets, black t-shirts, and long hair becoming the norm as the venue started to fill in anticipation of Untimely Demise. The trio has steadily earned a very strong local grassroots following, and it’s gratifying to see them now able to fill a venue on their own. An incredibly taut live act led by the Cuthbertson brothers, guitarist/vocalist Matt and bassist Murray and driven by the precise yet low-key drumming of Scott Cross, the trio specializes in a unique brand of thrash, technically sound yet hugely indebted to 1980s bands, coming across as a combination of Death. Megadeth, and Destruction, and as their 2010 full-length debut City of Steel has proven, it holds up alongside any thrash record that’s come out in the last year and a half. And even more remarkably, it translates extraordinarily well live, thanks mainly to Matt’s guitar work, which is manic, nimble, and authoritative. He can shred with the best of them, as he showed on this night during such live staples as “Virtue in Death”, “City of Steel”, and “The Unmaker”. Most thrash bands need two guitarists, but Matt is so adept at shifting from rhythm riff to solo to rhythm riff so well, and deliver lead vocals without missing a step, that you hardly notice they’re a rare thrash trio.

As Untimely Demise prepare to head back in the studio with former Megadeth guitarist Glen Drover once again this summer, they’ve got a wealth of new material, and the songs they unveiled on this night – the blistering “Somali Pirates” and the tentatively-titled “Time Falls Through the Hourglass” – instantly clicked with the exuberant audience, a clear indication that the band is ready to elevate their game on album number two.

As Untimely Demise’s set, which also featured a spirited cover of Death’s “Misanthrope”, wound down, the polite crowd of two hours prior was replaced by beered-up, mosh-happy dudes merrily pulverizing each other to their hearts’ content. Sadly, if only Mares of Thrace had played later in the bill they might have won over more of those punters and created some serious momentum for Untimely Demise to feed off of. Nevertheless it was a great night of heavy music of different varieties, even though this show was a bit on the disjointed side and not quite as unifying as I’d expected. Indie kids, there’s nothing wrong with embracing the goofiness of traditional metal! Join the fun; most metal folk are nice people. Meanwhile, when The Pilgrimage wins the 2013 Metal/Hard Music Juno Award, those who hung outside or intentionally showed up late will swear they were there when Mares of Thrace tore the roof off Amigos that night in May 2012.

Well before the doors opened at the painfully early hour of 6pm, a large queue of short-haired, surly-faced hardcore kids gathered in front of the Mod Club, spilling onto the sidewalk in a sprawling, excited clump. While some early shows wind up being achingly empty for the opening band, this was certainly not the case for this particular event. Once the gates finally swung opened, the venue filled steadily until it was absolutely stuffed to capacity, bodies pressed against each other from the stage to the merch tables.

I was particularly happy to see a healthy crowd filling up the space for the opening band, as the act in question was Vilipend. The Toronto noisemongers were tapped to open this show after Git Some were unable to get across the border. Their nerves, in the opening moments of the set, were palpable; rather than the red-hot blast of aggressive energy they usually throw off, like the door to a furnace has suddenly been flung wide, the feel of their set was instead characterized by a crackling, jumpy kind of electric current that gradually gathered in strength like an storm. Notoriously confrontational front man Christopher Gramlich was more amiable than usual, pleasantly giving the crowd permission to enjoy themselves instead of just sedately bobbing their heads along. Nervous expressions on the band member’s faces morphed into snarls and furrows on intense concentration as the lean, 20-minute set progressed, culminating in the vicious new song “Fool’s Gold.” Under short notice and a great deal of pressure, these Toronto boys performed brilliantly.

The crowd swelled from comfortably full to jam packed during Vilipend’s set, so Loma Prieta walked out to a near-capacity crowd. The band’s name is a reference to a deadly 1989 earthquake that devastated the San Francisco Bay area, and they take this connection seriously, manifesting a seismic, disorienting force in their music. Their set was on the long side, making it difficult to maintain rapt attention during their more alienating moments, but they consistently reeled me back in, particularly the crashing, clamourous “Fly By Night.” The highlight of their set was unquestionably the last chunk of their performance, when they played several pieces from their multi-part “Trilogy” saga. In particular “Trilogy 1 (Sick Cities)” is a snaking, destructive piece that crashed over the venue is waves.

Direct support was provided by Toronto’s own Burning Love. Lead vocalist Chris Colohan was a member of the seminal Southern Ontario hardcore act Cursed, whose influence has a dramatic impact on the structure and sound of contemporary hardcore to this day. The rest of the band is made of of members of the now-defunct Our Father. Burning Love have a considerably more punk aesthetic than that of their progenitors, and as such the songwriting is not as tight. Their raw, excited energy is weighted down by sludgy elements, a sticky, lugubrious quality that smothers and drags. Grit against melody and tar against metal, their aesthetic seems to be at war with itself – and the fallout can be quite brilliant. Burning Love are currently working on a new album, Rotten Thing To Say, due to be released by Southern Lord on June 19th. I look forward to hearing the lovely wreckage that they produce.

The crowd has been somewhat subdued up until this point – enthusiastic, certainly, but also markedly restrained. Any semblance of holding back vanished, however, the moment the opening strains of “Jane Doe” rang out. Converge are an overwhelming band to see live, vicious, visceral and breathtaking. The set quickly settled into a hard, driving rhythm, and the entire audience was carried along by it, compelled, possessed – taken. It can be difficult to talk about music and sexuality in a way that isn’t sensationalizing or reductive, but there is no question that the sheer aural force of Converge is an intense experience that borders on the erotic. “Hell To Pay” became an awful promise in Jacob Bannon‘s throat, and the raw, wounded rendition of “The Broken Vow” was nearly beyond endurance. By the time the the encore, “Concubine,” wrung out its last notes, and the lights finally came on, the audience found itself in a sweat-soaked, blood-stained heap. Spent and reeling, is there any wonder why we do this to ourselves over and over again? Not one.

By Lauren Leuschner

Requiem for the Indifferent is the fifth studio album from Dutch symphonic metal band Epica. This is the last Epica record with original bassist Yves Huts, who announced his departure from the band just days after the album’s release on March 9. The album also features some guest vocals by Amanda Somerville, who toured America with Epica in 2008 while Simone Simons recovered from a staph infection.

The first time I played the new record, I was stoked to hear what would be in store for me from one of my favourite bands of all time. Somewhat disappointingly, I thought it just sounded like B-sides to 2009’s Design Your Universe and wondered if they would top that album. Nothing seemed to really stand out to me like the last record. After a couple spins of the new record, I started to like it more and more. It’s a pretty lengthy album, clocking in at 77 minutes. The production and mixing on this record are very well done. “Serenade of Self-Destruction”, “Monopoly on Truth”, “Deter the Tyrant” and “Stay the Course” quickly became my favourite album tracks.

Die-hard Epica fans that are expecting to hear darker tracks such as “Kingdom of Heaven” or “Martyr of the Free World” are in for a bit of a surprise as there are not nearly as many brutal vocals/grunts. Requiem for the Indifferent seems to focus more on the clean vocals of both Simone and Mark. Simone in particular seems to experiment and fully embrace more of her phenomenal vocal range on the new album. In respect to the instrumental aspects of the album, fans can anticipate to hear those familiar, brutal riffs and fantastic guitar solos.

After the album was released, Nuclear Blast announced that final album track “Serenade of Self- Destruction” was missing vocals and that somehow the instrumental version of the song ended up on the master version of the album. This was not noticed until after the album had already been released. Those who received these pressings from Nuclear Blast (I believe) were sent a free second copy of the album with vocals.

Overall, this record is absolutely worth picking up. I look forward to seeing Epica perform this album live in Toronto on October 31st, 2012 at The Opera House.

(Nuclear Blast)

By Gruesome Greg

Though I’m not nearly as devoted to them as I am to Matt Pike’s previous outfit, the recent output from High on Fire has been solid enough that a new record from them still lands on my “must-buy” list. (‘Specially when it comes out on my birthday, heh heh.)

HOF’s mid-paced blackened thrash attack is still intact on tunes like lead off single “Serums of Liao” and the pummeling “Fertile Green” while “Madness of an Architect” and its Sleepy sludge meets death-doom shows they can still play slow when it suits them. Instrumental “Samsara” even has some sorta desert rock vibe.

“King of Days” is the longest cut on here, at a shade over seven minutes, and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t sound like trad doom—Pike even tries his hand at clean(er) singing, albeit with a deep baritone. Actually, I suppose there are more gothic/death-doom flourishes than Sabbathian stomp here, but it’s still a pretty cool tune, a welcome change of pace from the balls-out thrashbusters that make up the bulk of this disc. In fact, things slow down considerably past this point with the sludgy “Romulus and Remus” and the stripped-down, rhythmic “Warhorn” closing out the album.

Not that there’s anything wrong with balls-out thrashbusters, mind you.

(E1 Metal)