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    • Interview: Blood (Eisen)

    Of the many grindcore, hardcore and punk bands that pass through the world, very few have any staying power. Their music, in simplifying itself, also lost any form of uniqueness not in the hipster sense of accessorizing and randomization, but in the sense of a sentence or poem: expressing something that is its own and is both distinctive and relevant. An exception to this random bleaching of meaning is Germany's Blood, who have pumped out quality material for years without particularly caring that they weren't on the cover of glossy magazines. Thanks to guitarist Eisen, who kindly granted us not one but two interview sessions, we have the skinny on the unique mix of death metal, grindcore and early black metal that is Blood.
    1. Do you view the music of BLOOD as death metal, grindcore or something else?
    It's a mixture of both: Grindcore and Death Metal. Generally more Death Metal, but almost always very fast with short songs as in the typical Grindcore-vein.
    Blood, a grindcore and death metal band from Germany, during a live blasphemic performance
    2. BLOOD lyrics are more like stories, using metaphor, or are insights into psychological and religious topics instead of political topics; why did you take this approach?
    We have no fixed concept for the lyrics. We write about the things that disturb us. Sometimes also political things, but mostly horrible stories, bloodbaths – less serious things - also against god and stupid religions.
    3. BLOOD lyrics portray a world where physical power and ancient psychic motivations prevail over civility and finance; this is a lot like horror movies, where supernatural forces defeat technology and law enforcement. What do you hope to communicate to the audience this way, and is designed to get past some of their expectations?
    We have NO special message for the people – we only want to shout out what's our meaning about those themes. Lyrics have to fit to the music, so you won't get lovestories from Blood.
    4. Your music sometimes seems to rest at an intersection of genres, being in song form like thrash or grindcore but in topic and riff style more like a death metal band with black metal overtones (like Hellhammer). What were your influences, and how did you reach this unusual style?
    We were always into oldschool Death/Grind. Bands like Death, Exodus, Hellhammer, Possessed, Messiah, Napalm Death, later Impetigo, Morbid Angel, Unleashed, Terrorizer and thousands of others influenced us. That's the music we are into and that's the music for what our heart beats, so this is the music for which Blood stands!
    5. Do you think it is easier or harder to write short songs than long songs?
    It's much easier to write shorter songs, especially when you are older than 40 *laughing* - no: It mostly bored me to listen to very long songs, so we prefer shorter ones with a clear and easy structure... right in your face!
    6. You recorded your first demo in 1987. The world has changed a lot since then. Has the BLOOD vision changed? Has it needed to, or is the same process going on that was happening then, in the world?
    We recorded our first demos back in 1986. From the very beginning the underlying concept of Blood never changed. We were always strongly rooted in the underground and never wanted to be "big." Only we have learned how to use our instruments much more over the years.
    7. For a band that is as blunt and confrontational as BLOOD is, there is a lot of subtlety in your lyrics and the way your songs are structured. How do people respond to this? Do they "get it"?
    Do you think so? Well - we think a lot about our lyrics. We don't wanna use the same stories again and again, but the major thing is our music. I think people love us or people hate us for what we do. There is not much between those two poles. We are very pleased with this situation.

    By the data to date, there is only one animal in the Galaxy dangerous to man--man himself. So he must supply his own indispensable competition. He has no enemy to help him.

    Any priest or shaman must be presumed guilty until proved innocent.

    If it can't be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion.

    A "pacifist male" is a contradiction in terms. Most self-described "pacifists" are not pacific; they simply assume false colors. When the wind changes, they hoist the Jolly Roger.

    History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.

    Of all the strange "crimes" that human beings have legislated out of nothing, "blasphemy" is the most amazing--with "obscenity" and "indecent exposure" fighting it out for second and third place.

    Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded--here and there, now and then--are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck."

    - Notebooks of Lazarus Long (from Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein)

    8. When you write songs, do you start with a concept, or a riff, or something else?
    Mostly we start with a cool riff, or a drum-section, than we are jamming around for a while and test different rhythms and riffings. If a song isn't ready in a short time, it's usually shit and we throw it away. The lyrics will always follow after the song is ready.
    9. When Hellhammer said, "Only Death is Real," it launched legions of death metal and grindcore bands who showed us through sickness, misery and sudden doom (in their lyrics) that life is short, manipulations are false, and we need to get back to reality. Only DEAD INFECTION and BLOOD seem to do it by writing short stories and setting them to music, as if trying to show people a state of mind, and not the conclusions of their thoughts. Why do you think you both arrived at this method?
    Hmm - do you think so? We try to let a lyric stand for itself... not as a small part of a "big" thing. I don't like concept-records, nor do the others in Blood. Only in "Gas Flames Bones" we went a bit in that direction. I can't say that much about DEAD INFECTION's lyrics only that they are very cool persons and their music fucking rules!
    10. Your music is very consistent, but the ability to make it keeps improving. Do you think bands need to change? Is it possible for bands to change both outward (style) and inward (content) without outward/inward influencing each other?
    Yes - we stand for the same style over those many years. NO Band really needs a change, but most bands who try to change their style became crap. It looks like a band is totally fake and false if they play a different style holding the same bandname. A good example how a style change works is Malignant Tumour. They found a way to get their own sound, the lack of which was their problem in the early years. I really love their actualized stuff.
    Blood
    11. Is there a relationship between how an artist sees the world, and the type of music he or she will then make? Do people who see the world in similar ways make similar music?
    No. I think both things are totally different from each other. Lyrics could be in the same way, but the sound/style could be absolutely different
    12. Grindcore seems to be composed of both metal music and punk music, just more extreme. What do you think grindcore inherited from punk, and what did it inherit from metal?
    Grindcore is not the same as grindcore - there are many different shades. From Punk grindcore gets the short songs and mostly the lyrics and the attitude. From Death Metal it gets its brutality and also a part of its lyrics (for the Goregrind corner).
    13. Is VENTILATOR's name a joke about the name of the drummer from Kreator? (sorry, had to ask)
    Ventor? No way. He's called Ventilator because he rotates as fast with his sticks as the blades of a fan/ventilator.
    14. BLOOD's work and image has consistently assaulted christianity, while most grindcore bands are political and most death/black metal bands are about gore, or take a "satanic" approach. Why do you take this approach, and what are you hoping to change in the minds of your fans?
    We are no Satanists, so why pray the book of Satan? But we are totally against the manipulations of the church. A free human who stands in life only needs his own mind to know what is good for him, and what he prefers in life. So why not write lyrics about this theme? We hope to change nothing in the minds of our fans, 'coz our fans are not religious!
    15. BLOOD has released great CDs for almost 20 years, but is less well-known in USA than TERRORIZER, REPULSION, NAPALM DEATH, etc. yet, American fans respond positively to BLOOD when it is played on the radio. The only other early band slighted this much is CARBONIZED. How are these great works overlooked? Is it a cultural difference (American culture, such as it is) in what is expected from bands?
    No! It's because we never wanted to be big. We never wanted to play big tours or lick anyone's ass. We have great fans in the USA, but bad distribution of our records.
    A self does not amount to much, but no self is an island; each exists in a fabric of relations that is now more complex and mobile than ever before. Young or old, man or woman, rich or poor, a person is always located at "nodal points" of specific communication circuits, however tiny these may be. Or better: one is always located at a post through which various kinds of messages pass. No one, not even the least privileged among us, is ever entirely powerless over the messages that traverse and position him at the post of sender, addressee, or referent. One's mobility in relation to these language game effects (language games, of course, are what this is all about) is tolerable, at least within certain limits (and the limits are vague); it is even solicited by regulatory mechanisms, and in particular by the self-adjustments the system undertakes in order to improve its performance. It may even be said that the system can and must encourage such movement to the extent that it combats its own entropy, the novelty of an unexpected "move," with its correlative displacement of a partner or group of partners, can supply the system with that increased performativity it forever demands and consumes. - The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge by Jean-Francois Lyotard
    16. What brought about the concept behind the song Sodomize the Weak?
    It's a song inspired by Leatherface and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre mixed with my own pervert ideas back in 1993, so it seems to be a bit funny and not that serious at all.
    17. Do you think that people use categories like genre names (black metal, death metal) to obscure the finer details of experience itself, like saying 'that experience was bad' or 'that experience was good'?"
    The whole world is full of categorisation. A person needs this to comparing things. Also I need such categorisation. In the Metal – genre many bands coined words to define their style to show others, that they created this style – but most of them are ordinary and fake! In my early days of Metal, there also were different styles, but since I've been into metal, I only know good music and bad music – in Death Metal, in Black Metal, in Hardcore, in Grindcore, in Rock, in Metal...
    Eisen of Blood
    18. "Dysangelium" was released in 2003, and in 2007, "Impulse to Destroy" got re-released. What's next for BLOOD? Are you going to tour Texas ever?
    Since 2004 our situation has been a bit different. I (Eisen) moved to another city for private reasons. So now we can only rehearse a very few times a year or at the shows. That's the reason why we have no new songs and it seems that we will not have a new record very soon. Since 2007 we have added another guitar player, maybe he gives the others in Blood some impulses.
    19. When I listen to Blood, I feel like I am watching some action happen, in the same way that bands like Hellhammer or (early) Belial made me think of a movie or opera. You have captured the feeling one gets of watching a drama, in that the music is very visual and sounds like someone experiencing something. How did this come about?
    Thanxx for this compliment, but I don't know how this will appear. We write our kind of music, because it's deep in our heart and come from the feeling, we get on this music. And also on stage we try to give people more than only playing our songs and that's it. We try to show them fire, blood and horror!

    "Bokanovsky's Process," repeated the Director, and the students underlined the words in their little notebooks.

    One egg, one embryo, one adult-normality. But a bokanovskified egg will bud, will proliferate, will divide. From eight to ninety-six buds, and every bud will grow into a perfectly formed embryo, and every embryo into a full-sized adult. Making ninety-six human beings grow where only one grew before. Progress.

    "Essentially," the D.H.C. concluded, "bokanovskification consists of a series of arrests of development. We check the normal growth and, paradoxically enough, the egg responds by budding."

    Responds by budding. The pencils were busy. - Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

    Many thanks to Blood for the interview!

    Blood homepage

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    The Metal Basement

    30 07 12 - 14:32

    New radio program DJ'd in part by one of our users:

    The Metal Basement with Maniacal Michael & the Basement Bunch.

    It airs every Tuesday night from 10-12 PM PST.

     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal |

    Metal Rising Worldwide

    30 06 12 - 08:34

     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | 359 comments

    Beherit - "Celebrate the Dead"

    18 06 12 - 19:34

    Black metal + dubstep



    Numen - intention = essence
     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | 134 comments

    Why this blog has been silent

    31 03 12 - 05:58

    We've moved it.

     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | 573 comments

    Impiety - Ravage and Conquer

    03 03 12 - 06:07

    Impiety - Ravage and Conquer



    This album is thoroughly enjoyable energetic and simple death metal which incorporates enough hints of melody and harmony to give the songs memorability. However, on the whole it belongs to that category of bands which are guilty pleasure bands by design. They do not aim for profundity, but rather intensity. We might list Vader and Angelcorpse as well, or maybe early Grave, because they have a similar low-tech approach. There is not much that is musical about this release. It is pure rhythm, with the aforementioned musical elements tacked on to keep your interest. But as rhythm, it has the intensity of later Angelcorpse and the raging power of broad basic statements that propelled early Grave. Its songs are not as memorably constructed as those on Exterminate or Into the Grave, have more the intensity of mid-period Vader, but in a time of feeble self-pitying rock bands trying to be hipster "metal," it's gratifying to find something with heart. You will tap your feet to these energetic, propulsive tunes and appreciate the sheer violence out of which they are created. Unlike many recent albums which drag you along for the ride, Ravage and Conquer drops you into the middle of it and makes you fight your way out.

     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | 262 comments

    Imprecation - Angel of Salvation's Doom (2012)

    29 02 12 - 19:08



    From their new blasphemous album. Sounds good, with a few nods to 1980s mainstream technical metal, pissing all over 2010s technical metal.
     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | 21 comments

    DEAD CAN DANCE tour dates announced

    29 02 12 - 05:21

    SEPTEMBER

    19th - HCTAT, Istanbul, Turkey
    21st - Earth Theatre, Thessaloniki, Greece
    23rd - Lycabetus Theatre, Athens, Greece
    25th - MCV, Utrecht, Holland
    27th - Grand Rex, Paris, France
    29th - Cirque Royal, Brussels, Belgium

    OCTOBER

    1st - Alte Oper, Frankfurt, Germany
    3rd - Tempodrom, Berlin, Germany
    5th - CCH, Hamburg, Germany
    7th - Philharmonie, Munich, Germany
    8th - Philharmonie, Cologne, Germany
    10th - KCP, Prague, Czech Republic
    12th - Bkz Oktyabrsky, St. Petersburg, Russia
    13th - Crocus City Hall, Moscow, Russia
    15th - Sala Kongresowa, Warsaw, Poland
    17th - Papp Laszlo Arena, Budapest, Hungary
    19th - Teatro Degli Arcimboldi, Milan, Italy
    20th - Batiment Des Forces Motrices, Geneva, Switzerland
    22nd - Auditori, Barcelona, Spain
    24th - Casa Da Musica, Porto, Portugal
    26th - Royal Albert Hall, London, England
    28th - Grand Canal Theatre, Dublin, Ireland

    Dates for the North American, South American and Asian legs of the tour will be announced shortly, along with ticket sales information

    www.deadcandance.com
     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | Five comments

    IMPRECATION update

    22 02 12 - 17:48

    New Imprecation tracks will be unleashed next week, the release should be ready by the end of March. The songs to come are entitled "Hosanna Ex Inferis" and "Angel of Salvation's Doom". - David Herrera
     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | 22 comments

    SUMMONING working on new materail

    19 02 12 - 19:00


    19.02.2012
    After a longer winter-sleep summoning is back again and ow works constantly for a new release. We promise that in the near future we will regularly update the homepage again, so it will we worth the costs to check the page in regular intervals.

    The present situation of Summoning:

    In the past years we have worked on new material just very rarely because of different reasons (partly personal, partly being not motivated enough) but since the last months ,we intensified the work for new material and realised, that the old spirit is back again and we are very motivated for a cool new release and we are very committed in every terms of composing.

    Meanwhile there are two songs which are fix starters for the album. 4 or 5 songs are in a more advance state and we composed riffs for at least 10 or 15 songs in a very early state. Btw. we still have one finished song from the last oath bound session which also will be in one or another way. so probably this time we are in the luck situation that we have more songs left, so maybe there will be some special limited fan releases beside the normal release, but this is of course just a wish right now.

    We hope that until the end of this year most of the material for the new album can be finished. In the moment we have no concrete conception about the lyrical concept. All we can say right now is, that Summoning is still alive and middle earth will awake again. - SUMMONING official web presence


    This is encouraging.

    It does not sound like it will be soon, but so long as quality is high, it will be massively anticipated.
     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | Eleven comments

    THRASH is not SPEED METAL

    18 02 12 - 16:52



    Mix together the early CIRCLE JERKS, early BLACK FLAG, MDC, MINOR THREAT, SSD, TERVEET K�DET, and GANG GREEN, and you have something approximating these DIRTY ROTTEN IMBECILES (so-called by their parents). What can I say--this is manic, intense, tight thrash with great lyrics, and I can't wait till these Houston boys unleash themselves upon the rest of us deprived people. 22 songs.
    -Tim Yohannan (from Maximum Rocknroll #5, March/April 1983)

     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | 31 comments

    PROFANATICA - Sickened By Holy Host / The Grand Masters Session

    18 02 12 - 16:51



    This oddity features an all new 39 minute mini-album plus the "The Grand Masters Session" Box Set on CD for the very first time. Nearly 80 minutes of true blasphemy & perversion.

    PART #1 features 5 new songs plus 2 old classics written and recorded by Ledney with a session member. The performance on this work is much like their primitive NECROVORE-ous atrocities committed in the early '90s and allows for safe assumption of what could have been heard on their long-lost album, "The Raping of the Virgin Mary."

    Meanwhile, PART #2 features the same titles but written and recorded by Gelso alongside the same drums & vocals performed on part #1. The execution of this session continues in the more musical direction showcased on their first 2 albums and incorporates soundscapes sonically compiled by the late Aragon Amori. The end result is nothing short of devastating, and the vast contrast between these two sessions takes on the form of an album in itself that is sure to appeal to both old & new devotees of the black cult.

    Finally, "The Grand Masters Session" previously available as a vinyl-only 8" Box Set, is a raging 2008 "live in the studio" recording showcasing many of the classics, a few newer hits and an exclusive medley (a conglomerate of 5 songs).

     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | Ten comments

    SUPURATION retrospective CD release

    17 02 12 - 10:10



    Yes, the mighty french legend SUPURATION (aka SUP) are back from the crematory in form of a retrospective collection CD which includes all the earliest and most brutal stuff of the band from '89 /'90 when they were in their most Death Metal shape right before they started to experiment with clean vocals and more varied sounds.

    "Back from the Crematory" is the generic title of this cult release which is planned for an imminent release on September 16th. The CD includes the awesome band's debut self-financed mini CD "Sultry Obsession" ('90), their only demo "Official Rehearsal" ('90) as well as the impossible-to-find demo of the band's very 1st studio recording "Haunted" under their previous monicker ETSICROXE as well as a 9-song live show, both from '89.

    This masterpiece comes with remastered sound and packed in a total old-fashioned layout in contrat to their latter weird & sophisticated designs. Includes killer 12-pages booklet featuring an exclusive retro-interview, liner notes, cover and tons of old photos & flyers. This definitely a must-have release not only for every SUPURATION fan, but for every lover of the good old Death Metal from late 80's and early 90's!!

    http://www.xtreemmusic.com/
     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | Six comments

    Lord Wind - Ales Stenar

    12 02 12 - 07:36

    New Lord Wind: not metal per se, but metal in spirit, and it will be hard to beat this impressive CD that I'm already calling as "album of the year."



    Note new URL.
     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | Sixteen comments

    New SAMMATH

    11 02 12 - 12:07

     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | Two comments

    YADENU (Yet Another DEMONCY "Enthroned is the Night" Update)

    11 02 12 - 12:06

    Demoncy (CD) jackets are in production and on their way to completion. No release date has been given yet but we are expecting them roughly around the 22nd of February. - Forever Plagued Records

    Can't fucking wait!
     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | No comments

    BLASPHERIAN update

    09 02 12 - 17:24

    BLASPHERIAN UPDATE:
    NEW SONG FOR SPLIT 7" WITH IMPRECATION......FINISHED
    2 NEW SONGS,REWORKED VERSION OF 'TO WALK THE PATH...'.... FINISHED
    AND NOW WE BEGIN WRITING FOR THE UPCOMING SPLIT WITH CRUCIFIER 'THE POISONERS OF YAHWASTE'...
    AND THEN WE RECORD THIS UNHOLY MADNESS....HOPEFULLY SOMETIME IN MARCH/APRIL 2012 ANNO SATANAS...
     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | Ten comments

    New footage of Quorthon

    09 02 12 - 16:42

    Part 1:



    Part 2:



    Part 3:


    See also our interview with Quorthon, one of the smartest men in metal.
     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | Two comments

    VARG VIKERNES converting to Christianity?

    06 02 12 - 20:09

    A textual comparison:

    A Burzum Story: Part VIII - On Overgrown Paths

    'Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat.

    Bible

    How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!' Matthew 7: 13-14

    All I can say is... oy gevalt. Ripped shamelessly from Faceplant
     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | Four comments

    Another DEMONCY update

    06 02 12 - 19:55

    Okay FPR confirmed the updated jacket design. I'm waiting to hear back that everything is accepted and in production. Remember everything is done but the jacket so once the jacket is done everything gets packaged and sent to us. I'll confirm once the jacket is in production and then I'll confirm once they give us an exact shipping date. I'll feel so much better once these are in the hands of all who preordered as I know we are at fault for accepting these pre's so damn early, considering the time its taking to get this finished.- FPR
     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | No comments

    Typical Gojira Fan

    03 02 12 - 01:34



    This from fans of the band who penned this lyrical turd:


    I hold my inner child within
    And tell him not to cry
    "don't fear the living"
    One day you will stand as a king
    And no fear can erase
    This light below us
    Each one of us is now engaged
    This secret we all have
    This truth is growing
    And as a warrior I have to fight
    I can already feel
    The love I'll discover


    Is it fair to point out that anyone who thinks this is "poetry" or "profound" is of the level of stupidity found mainly in Twilight fans?
     

    przk | ¶ | underground metal | Seven comments

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