H E I D E N L A R M

Metal E-Zine

Issue 2
November 7, 1999

info: prozak@anus.com
web: www.anus.com/metal/zine/

This is the first issue of Heidenlärm E-zine, in which we explore
death metal and black metal alongside ambient music, hardcore punk,
and other forms of alienated music. This can be downloaded in text
form or received via email (send a request to prozak@anus.com to be
added to our list). Our goal is to continue the mission of the Dark
Legions Archive in reviewing underground music in an analytical
fashion, except on a more timely basis. 

Contents:

Features
Interviews
Music
Editorial
Radar

Features
--------

Morbid Angel 
HARPO'S, DETROIT, 09 FEB 99 

A winter coming attempts to slow my progress toward this venue, but
nothing will deter me from seeing one of the great innovators of death
metal: Morbid Angel. In equal and opposite force the parking lot is
packed and the sound of breaking glass follows me toward the door as I
traverse a sidewalk glossed with drying urine. 

The concert experience slips into familiarity and soon the anonymous
opening bands have departed. No disrespect to them, but half of the
crowd did not notice their passing. The attention is focused on the
coming of the Morbid ones. We remember these are the people who had
the courage to speak a truth through DEATH METAL no matter who failed
to notice. 

After forty minutes of watching roadies drag nonfunctional equipment
around the stage for testing, some duct tape and a curse launches the
PA for the Morbid Angel set. Energy hangs in the air with sweat,
alcohol, cologne and cigarettes. I notice the crowd is divided: those
for whom this is a first Morbid Angel show, and those for whom this is
a revisiting of formative memories. 

The canned music fading out as the band come on stage resembles Dead
Can Dance, at least to my untrained ears; as new bassist Steve Tucker
and veteran percussion pugilist Pete Sandoval fill out the edges of
the stage, an inauspicious Trey Azagthoth enters the arena to a
collective cheer from those he recognizes with a warm but distant
gaze. 

As they take up instruments, it occurs to me they will launch the
concert like the last album: blast out the crowd pleasers of recent
advent first, and then advance a more in-depth exploration of the
tunes that have defined one of the most adventurous careers in metal.
That intuition proves correct as Trey tears into the first track from
the latest album, and his band follows him through to after a short
pause a medley of works from Blessed are the Sick, Covenant and
Formulas Fatal to the Flesh, their most recent. 

From this point onward the energy is unceasing, not spent in
showmanship or "crowd pleasers" but through unrelenting musicianship
and technical focus within each song. Steve Tucker's voice, finding
edges to what had sounded more ambiguous on tape, blasts out precise
notations to the rhythm of each riff as Sandoval delivers his
customary command performance of speed, accuracy and feel. Noticeable
passion blooms where given space in soloing or moments of
collaborative rhythmic adjustment on the almost invisible scale known
almost exclusively by musicians. 

Moments wash by and recede; many of us in the crowd do not notice our
positions have not shifted. The smell of beer, sweat, urine, blood,
booze, cigarettes, marijuana, cum, shit, and new silkscreen rises from
the crowd absorbing the heat of collective motion. The battering drum
echo never ceases. But immersed: in watching the players, seeing the
energy of the slam pit and the crowd vary, hearing the voice and
sound. 

There is much to watch: Azagthoth with fingers of electric motion
covering the neck like an attack, the whirlwind mayhem of Sandoval or
Tucker's ardent face above the humming strings of his bass. 

Azagthoth announces the band will round out the show with classics
from the earliest times in their existence. "Chapel of Ghouls" leads,
followed by such striking masterpieces as "Maze of Torment" and "Lord
of All Fevers and Plagues," with the latter demonstrating licks that
haven't been heard in that song since the band's demo pressed to CD,
Abominations of Desolation. Transfixed are most of the crowd still as
the final touches of an expository performance harmonize to a close. 

"That's it" - someone has said and the band are leaving the stage.
Many of us shift back into a suspended time. Visions of technical
execution and after-images of sound cloud our minds. So much so that
few notice when Azagthoth takes the stairs to the right of the stage
down to meet us all. 

"It's him" - several times this is heard. Fans crowd a narrow
passageway to get a glimpse of this magic-worker, and are not
disappointed: for a full thirty minutes, even in the freezing wind
outside, the t-shirted Azagthoth signs guitar picks and albums,
explains the band's convoluted discography and discusses Quaballah and
ancient gnostic religions with a core group of people. 

He is as gentle and informative with the drunken fan asking him the
same question for the third time as he is with those of us asking
questions about morality after relativism and philosophical certainty.
Grasping contemporary Buddhist and Christian concepts with the same
ease he applies to ancient Sumerian and Nordic codes of being,
Azagthoth dodges no questions and makes clear his ideas on logic. 

We listen. As the time passes and his arms turn bluish in the cold, it
becomes apparent this moment, too, must pass - and so the now small
group holds back, and Azagthoth begs out to return to the warm tour
bus. I ask Steve Tucker, "Is it like this everywhere?" 

With the all-American gesture that makes him seem an unlikely death
metal frontman, Tucker turns the question right back to me:
"Everywhere, man," and boards the bus with a smile.
- J.Maartens 

"Formulas Fatal to the Flesh"

Aggression has evolved alongside the death metal movement and Morbid
Angel match it once again. Their fifth album unifies the
fast-strumming style of earlier Morbid Angel albums with the more
percussive style of the most violent bands. The result is technical,
playful, and hard-hitting death metal which blasts with melody and
structure. Progressive lead guitar by Trey Azagthoth amazes with
conception and control, with conventional rock and jazz styles more
definable than before. Ambient compositions by Azagthoth and drummer
Pete Sandoval allow this album to fade from thunder into a texture of
indistinct sound. 

-~-

Master
The Old Miami, February 3, 1998 

Welcome to the Old Miami. To get here you've driven down the freeway
that buries a historic black district of Detroit under industrial
asphalt, past the giant towers of the world's two largest
corporations, past the large hospitals which house the highest rate of
cancer in the United States, past the rotting frames of cars and
shattered burnt frames vestigial from a time when this city had faith
in its downtown as a social structure. 

Inside the flimsy door which peels back from corrugated walling an
aged orange light plays over the gleaming bar, slick leather-capped
stools and a stained glass collage of war posters, slogans, unit
insignia, division mottoes, and other relics of tribute to a
life-defining experience mainstream life has denied. The atmosphere is
restrained, almost gentle, as if holding back the years for recovery
to occur. A grey-haired bouncer with his cap still bearing a unit
number waves you inside ("I think you'll enjoy the show"). 

It is a shock of stimulus. Bold, ...faded. A clutter of simple objects
accumulate around an enclosing central design, textured over and time
reconstructed. 

The stage is at the far end of the club, a sturdy homebuilt
carpet-padded wood platform, facing a floor capped with punched-out
faded sofas in vauge illumination. Behind the lone microphone a red
poster reads in yellow: "FOREVER PREPARED" below the unmistakable
shadow of a Huey. The stage is occupied by some photogenic teenagers
playing out a sincerity of paradoxical emotion to the activity of the
cadre of young women who have come to watch. Even the innocents sense
the mood is more ominous, and halfway through the set, switch to Black
Sabbath covers in an attempt to become more believable in the
framework of doubt. The band to play after them hovers in antisocial
metal wear, approaching hessians standing about. 

Meet Berry Ruffin, one of the gentlest people in the night and
frontman for "Kreator-ish" Requiem, a self-motivated metal band from
Wisconsin. He and I hit it off; you probably would, too. We go outside
past the gentle paranoid bouncer to Requiem's tour vehicle, which has
to be the coolest band transportation in history. It's a 1985 Honda
Accord limousine, with all the amenties including a drop-down panel
between driver and passengers, a series of skulls mounted in the
window, and a joint hidden in what once was the wet bar. "We try to
keep it low-key, going through the states," Berry says with the
huffed-in condensation of voice that occurs in those who have just
inhaled mightily. In a cloud of sinsemilla we talk about the
excitement of the evening, a rare chance to see in action the mighty
and infamous: MASTER. 

"I hope Master makes it," Berry says, passing me the joint. "They've
been doing this for years. Just driving around in this van, going to
shows, then going back up to Chicago." Folded fingers almost fumble
retrieve and it glows with the inhalation drawing fire through its
length. Guitarist Dave Doran II peers out the window which is barely
cracked to leak smoke and says, "Fuck this night - it's cold, bro," as
the wind from outside cuts into the snug limo, emptying smoke and our
breath-heat into the night. 

The shivers from the cold are nothing compared to the motion of
ambition, in excitement. A chance to see MASTER: the band known for
the life of death metal, the masterminds behind the rudimentary but
evocative "Death Strike" and "Abomination," the diehards whose
releases span sixteen years of death metal. Berry says the band have
been around since 1983 as their current musical project, but that in
1980, Paul Speckman started his first band which played simple,
driving heavy metal with a punk rock influence - the essential
elements to influence the death metal genre. "No way!" 

I take my leave back into the bar where action might be. The regulars
filter in from the street, with voices passing in the night. A car
backfires and some of us jump. The shadowy barmistress, a sculpture of
Italian dark-eyed beauty, watches dispassionately a scene her
twenty-three years do not enclose. A man claps his old machine gunner
on the shoulder and laughs, another time in his mind. Ten seconds
later Berry swings in from the parking lot with an expression of
worship: "They're here!" 

Us local Hessians who are by now very stoned pile outside to witness
our first impressions of MASTER. Traveling hippies - no, biker rockers
- maybe just some working-class heroes - who the hell are these guys?
The blue-eyed guy near me with a huge beard turns out to be Paul
Speckmann. I transfer mighty hails and boundless admiration as subtly
as I can. 

Big and blue, faded to grey, burnished with sun on corners and dulled
by ice on chrome, MASTER's van is a large-scale American model with
plenty of room and it is crammed to the ceiling with amplification
gear, instrument cases and drums. A group effort unloads it and MASTER
are inside, taking place at the bar while opening band finishes.
Speckmann and his brother Mark, the band's manager, order beer while
guitarist Bryan Brady and fans interact. All members are accessible,
and trail a wandering conversation through issues of their lives:
personal delights, social resistance, art over matter, life on the
road. They are articulate, intelligent and focused men who impress me
as being able to succeed anywhere they choose. 

We talk about drugs, and then art. Speckmann points out that he has a
choice about what he does, and a fine job back home (moving furniture
from dawn till dusk four days a week), but he loves the road. "It's
about doing what you want to, being where you want to be," he says
through his tusk of a moustache. Brady nods in assent. 

"I never thought I would have done as much as I have, now, when I was
younger," he says. "I wanted to - and I dreamed I could and knew I
could - but I didn't know how much of what I wanted was just waiting
for me to reach out and grasp it." They head toward the stage after an
internal conference, then adeptly and with kindness sidestep a raving
fan who is making a fool of himself, before disappearing to set up
equipment. I talk with Mark, who says he believes in the cause,
himself. "A job, too much place at home, I don't go by it," he says.
"You've gotta stay true to what you love. These guys been playing like
this for fifteen years - they love the music, the life - it's them.
Being on the road, and saying what you have to." 

MASTER take the stage with as little fanfare as can be imagined.
There's a soundcheck, then Paul looks over at Bryan and shrugs, as if
to say, "If we're ready, let's go," and then they both confer visually
with the drummer before launching into the first song. There is no
sign that they are disappointed, or have even considered, that eight
people total are watching. They have immersed themselves in what they
do, submerged themselves in an act very remote to and yet incredibly
germaine to this existence as a small creature under the towering
structures of power and money that control the large industrial
cities; under the constant illusion and the political reality of
inequity, under the constant privation and the lack of credit for what
it is that they do. They don't give a shit - they are in love with
life and playing their hearts out. 

His bass at his waist, legs bent and hips tucked to bear the weight,
Paul Speckmann riddles his instrument with high-speed strikes while
firing his vocals from the gut into the beckoning microphone. Next to
him Bryan Brady adeptly plucks and strums his instrument at the speed
of a hummingbird on ephedrine, ripping tirelessly through riffs and
solos. Behind them a man with all seriousness in his face keeps time
like a military engine. Those of us watching are transfixed with the
power of belief in what these men do. Our respect is evident in our
silence more than anything else - we know they have driven all night
in a van, and will drive another long night after this, for the sake
of what they are doing now. And so we are all ears, eyes, brains. 

There's a collage of songs. Notable titles - from their latest,
"Re-Terrorizer", "Believers Have a Choice", "We're about to Fall", and
an even scattering of songs from earlier albums whose titles have
escaped my mind. It's almost impossible to follow as Speckmann
routinely alters his basslines toward chaos at the end of the song,
flowing into the next song with barely a gap to breathe. MASTER's
music, simple metal riffs put together with the physical motion of
punk rock, is both moving and a sudden stop to all motion familiar
from social surroundings. Death is embraced as part of the road and
the stability and neurosis of modern life is exploded as static
isolation. It's a rejection of all the insanity hidden behind the
seemingly logical, and a logic of overcoming the fear which promotes
the insanity. 

From the bar vets watch alongside some confused yuppies who are trying
to pay for their drinks and leave. Word comes to the band through the
sound guy that they have only twenty minutes left. Speckmann's face
shows no response, although Brady is visibly deprived looking, and the
band confers briefly before bashing out a couple songs from their
latest, "Faith is in Season," and an anthem from their "Collection of
Souls" album from some years ago. Then it's apparent something must
give: there's only about two minutes and the soundman is cycling his
fingers in a "wrap it up motion." 

"Okay, well, it looks like we're almost out of time," Speckmann says
into the microphone pointed at his chin. "But we'd like to do one more
song. This is a song about... empty promises. We did it once
twenty-five years ago, and we're gonna do it again. It's about going
to war - going to die - for an empty promise." 

On his last syllable he begins a staccato caress of his bass and then
his band launches into motion behind him, chanting out a diatribe of
discontent which leaves hope only in its awareness of a sickness most
would rather deny. 

A row of grey heads at the bar watch with eyes glistening in the
fading of the conscious mind to reverie, recollection. It seems the
incandescent light of the bar is coming from an older time, when
technology was less refined. The bar seems simple in its frozen
motion. An AK-47 and an M-16 cross muzzles behind the register and
Hendrix drifts through the jukebox. As Paul Speckmann unleashes an
inhuman scream of deprivation, a resonance occurs among the gathered:
the Viet Nam War, a conflict never acknowledged while it raged in
Southeast Asia for over ten years without the public recognition of
the society that produced it, is still not over. It is unbearably
real, here, now. 

MASTER thunder until exactly two minutes past the owner-designated end
set, thank the people who attended, and begin packing up. I wish Berry
good luck as he's heading on next, and talk to MASTER while they
finish up a pitcher of beer in preparation for the road. "We're
driving all night to Cincinnatti, we'll sleep there in the morning,"
was Speckmann's brief commentary. "We don't have money for hotels,
that fucks everything up, so we're just staying with some MASTER
fanatics out there. If we get there tonight, we can sleep then, or
something." It's forty degrees out there, man... 

Requiem play a tight set, for which I'm delightfully stoned thanks to
videographer Ron Holt from Grand Rapids. Their music is a mixture of
middle-eighties speed-death crossover with some doom metal and death
metal influences, making it a well-polished hybrid which allows its
metalessence to shine through. The remaining people in the bar
appeared to enjoy the music and its motion essence in choruses and
extended verses, while the band themselves showed a mixture of shock
and delight at being onstage. Speckmann made a point of taking a beer
to the stage and toasting his touring act, which made the guys in
Requiem glow with an admiration bordering on worship. After another
pipe hit or two, their set was over, and the bands were frenetically
packing up for the club to close. Holy shit - it's two a.m.? 

The warmth of the club dispersed quickly in the night as we flooded
out to our cars, the vets veering home or walking up the street to the
veteran center where they could have a bed for the night, the more
sedate among the visitors heading home to cracker-box houses and
family obligations. MASTER flow into their van with a round of waving
goodbye, and pass into another structure, another lifestyle, another
economy in which they subsist under these giant buildings and the
machines that build them. Requiem pull away toward their hotel and the
second half of that joint. The Italian goddess who was tending bar
wraps the door-peel back into the cinderblock. For me, there was an
empty night unexplored, an experience only slowly realizing in my mind
for contemplation.
-- Steven Gonzales-Smith 

"Faith Is In Season"

Rolling destruction like a flight of B-52s, Master present simplified
metal riffs using hardcore punk style to bludgeon the listener into a
trance of loudness, emphasizing the basic consistency of melody and
its termination. A torn throat narrative guides verse and chorus
songwriting, suggesting this band is more thrash than death metal, but
in enjoyment of wavelike percussion or slow and heavy blues this band
assert a heaviness rooted in metal's past both distant and current.
The strength of grindcore, but the dramatic song structure shifts of
heavy metal, help this music stage its protest and make it listenable. 

-~-

Interviews  
----------

Ray Miller
of ADVERSARY 

HL: First, I'm going to ask you some boring shit, and then I'm going
to ask you some vague questions about your ideas. I do this because I
know you're an articulate man, and so I don't see any point in shoving
a bunch of shit in your face when you're going to tell me anyway. RM:
We'll see! haha - I'll do what I can. 

HL: Boring shit- When did ADVERSARY begin? 

RM: Just a little over five years ago, in May of 1994. Jack Botos
(guitar) and I are two of the original founding members. Our drummer,
Bob Burns, is fairly new - he's been damned with us for about a
year-and-a-half. 

HL: If you feel comfortable answering, what's the distribution of the
creative work in songwriting, lyrics, artwork, and concept/pot
smoking? 

RM: Sure, I'm comfortable answering anything... You'll probably test
me on that now! haha 

Anyway, in the beginning we had another guitarist, Thom Benford, and
he wrote a couple riffs back then. But since he quit (before our first
demo was released), Jack and I have written all the music and lyrics.
However, when Ed was still in the band (on keyboards and drum
programming - before we had a human drummer, of course), he created
all the drum and keyboard arrangements. How that would work is that
Jack or I would present some riffs, or sometimes a "complete" song
(the riffs in the "right" order - we sort of tweaked stuff a lot as we
worked on it, so a "finished" song would probably still mutate
somewhat), and Ed would listen to us play it a few times and get some
ideas. 

Then we'd record the riffs on my 4-track, and Ed would work out the
programming at home, and at the next practice maybe have something we
could play along with. Now that Bob is in the band, we just show him a
riff, and he starts playing behind it. Right before Ed quit (he got
married...), he had written a few really great riffs for a new song,
but we decided to not use them after he left. Not that we parted on
bad terms, or anything of the sort. 

As far as the artwork goes for the band, it's been different on every
release. On our new demo-CD, We Must Be In Hell, Bob brought over few
books of photos and paintings, and we basically swiped one. I altered
the colors and so on, and did the actual layout myself. I've done CD
packaging designs for a few underground labels, in addition to my own
releases on Cursed Productions. 

I also publish a zine called Metal Curse, and Bob has done 99% of the
art for that for the last several issues. 

Concept... Well, I suppose our general sound was more or less my idea,
being inspired by "simple" Death Metal such as MASSACRE, ASPHYX,
(early) GRAVE, UNLEASHED, IMPETIGO, (early) DEATH, AUTOPSY, and onward
into countless others. Of course Jack has done his fair share (or
more) to shape our sound since. And now, with Bob, we have the added
power of human drumming, but we have also lost our keyboards. 

RM: So, I suppose our sound is almost constantly evolving, but still
hopefully memorable Death Metal. If that's what you mean by "concept"
at all... 

RM: As for pot smoking, I leave that to Jack. I don't smoke, or even
drink unless it's a "special occasion." So, Jack gets my share. Bob
has been known to partake every now and then, too. 

HL: Are you guys touring? 

RM: I wish! That's exactly what we would love to do, but Cursed
Productions is too small to support it. That's one of the reasons we
would like to get signed to a larger label: So we can go out and see
the world. And the sluts, of course. We do have some shows lined up
during the summer, and there is a really slim possibility of us going
to Brazil to play some shows with some bands (NERVOCHAOS and INSANITY)
on Muvuca Records. 

HL: What kind of girls/boys do you like to see backstage? 

RM: I can't honestly say that we have a lot of experience playing
places with "backstage areas," but I guess what I'd like to see is
girls bringing us food and Pepsi, and of course blowjobs. And if there
were some guys back there, then they'd better dudes we know, or from
zines and want to interview us. Or from other bands and want to give
us shirts. Oh wait, they could also be representatives of Marshall who
want to give us amps. 

And we'd take free guitars and drums, too. 

HL: If you feel comfortable etc etc, do you do any drugs? Recommend
any? 

RM: I don't, but Jack would probably want to plug weed here, and Bob
has mentioned 'shrooms being pretty cool before. 

HL: What kind of instruments do you play, and why? 

RM: I have a Washburn bass, and a Fender Bassman amp. I like my
Washburn because it does not have all that "active electronics"
bullshit. It's old, but I'm attached to it. And speaking of old, my
Bassman is nice and fuzzy, and I really like that sound. I think it
adds a lot more depth to our live sound than a clean bass tone would.
However, when we recorded our debut album, _The Winter's Harvest_, I
was talked into plugging directly into the board, and got a really
clear "Steve Harris" kind of sound. That works pretty well for IRON
MAIDEN, but I think it made the album sound more "clean" than it
should have. Well, and the keyboards and drum machine also added to
the "clean" sound... Believe me, I learned my lesson about that, and
will stick with my "warm" Bassman sound form now on. 

Jack has had a couple different guitars over the years, and he just
got a new one. I think he may finally be satisfied with the guitar,
but now he's looking for a bigger, meaner amp. 

And my drum knowledge is pathetic, so all I know about Bob's kit, is
that it's like nuclear explosions going off whenever he hits the
snare. 

HL: Do you feel it matters, or matters only for aesthetic ("sound"
quality, texture, timbre, "feel") qualities? 

RM: What else would it matter? Just to be like B.B. King and his
beloved guitar? No, I'm not that attached to any equipment I own, so
if I could afford to get a bass and amp that I thought sounded better,
I would. But "sounding better" is obviously extremely subjective, and
after many years of using this same gear (I've had it and been in
bands for a lot longer than ADVERSARY has been around), I guess I'm so
used to it, that I'm not sure what would sound better. So, maybe I
*am* a little like B.B. after all. 

HL: What are you guys like outside of the band? Do you suffer under
the Judeo-Christian pestilence known as "day jobs"? Tattoos?
Historical heroes? 

RM: Bob and Jack do have "day jobs," but my full time job is running
my label, Cursed Productions. It may seem odd, but none of us have any
tattoos. I think we may be the only ink-free Death Metal band in the
world! I'm not sure I really have any heroes other than the guys in
MOTORHEAD. And, as my pal Psycho would say, "the guy who invented
lesbian pornography." 

HL: (In helpless laughter at this point) Hopefully unboring shit - To
ask the obvious, is the ADVERSARY eponym an identification with Satan,
the "adversary" of ancient Hebrew religion? 

RM: YES! Thank you. You are exactly the second person to ever ask me
that. I had thought it was odd that no one had snatched up the name
before us, but I guess not many people understand what it means. 

HL: What do you see as the difference between Jewish, Christian,
Islamic and Buddhist views of "evil"/"suffering"? 

RM: I'm not really well enough versed in Islam and Buddhism to answer
that. So, what I'll do instead is say that mainstream (x-tian at
least) religions seem to think that a lot of natural behavior should
be considered "evil," and that seems crazy to me. Fucking, well that's
evil. Killing, no matter what the situation, that's evil too. 

HL: What forms of art, ideas, or actions inspired the inception of
your artwork? 

RM: Early Death Metal, of course. But also other music, such as
MOTORHEAD, VENOM, SLAYER (I believe that you consider them to be a
Death Metal band, but that's open to debate, if you ask me), ACCEPT,
DEAD KENNEDYS... Non mainstream music in general. And I suppose that
honestly, everything I've ever heard has inspired me in some way.
Maybe not always in a positive way, though. I also read whenever I
can, and have certainly been inspired by the authors I like, such as
Charles Bukowski, Henry Miller, Vladimir Nabokov, Italo Calvino, Jorge
Luis Borges, William S. Burroughs, Douglas Adams, to name just a very,
very few. Plus, as geeky as it might sound, Godzilla movies. I've
always been a huge fan (excepting the dismal TriStar attempt of last
summer) of Godzilla and his monstrous pals. And, horror movies.
Zombies, especially, seem to grab my interest. I appreciate the
special effects, and I suppose like the thrill. 

HL: Do you consider your music a form of "art" (the academic
definition, not the trendy one)? 

RM: Certainly. 

HL: What motive inspires your art? 

RM: To create something that will outlast us. To, in sort of a
Shakespearean sense, live forever. The hope that someday we might be a
source of inspiration for others to creatively express what they feel.
And to one day take over for MOTORHEAD as the best, most respected,
band in the world. 

Or maybe just to meet chicks and take over the world. 

HL: Do you think drugs help/hinder art? 

RM: I can't really answer that, since I don't use any drugs. But I do
think that drugs can be used as a tool to possibly help with
creativity. However, they can also be detrimental. As I said, I think
they're a tool, and should be used as such, if at all. 

HL: Does religion help/etc? 

RM: Well, it sure seems like a lot of Extreme Metal bands these days
rely on religious (or more accurately, anti-religious) themes in their
lyrics, so I guess it helps them in that way. I think that organized
religion is a great way to oppress and control the masses, so it
"helps" us by giving us a focus on one of society's problems: it's
easier to be a sheep than to accept responsibility for your own
actions, think for yourself, and be your own person. 

Of course, x-tian religions love to censor everything they can, from
books to thoughts, so in that way, that kind of religion clearly
hinders the creative process. 

HL: Sex? 

RM: Well, I'm not sure. I think that anus.com should sponsor a lengthy
experiment to definitively find out the answer to that. I insist on
helping. You just supply the hookers, I'll fuck 'em, and try to write
some songs and/or lyrics afterwards. We'll probably have to run the
experiment for several months, or even years, to rule out all the
possible environmental factors involved, and to determine what
positions and other variables are the most helpful to artistic output.
And you'll have to extensively pre-test the hookers for all possible
diseases. 

HL: Hell yeah! I mean - back to the questions - Violence? 

RM: I don't know if violence has any affect on art, but I suppose that
as a society becomes more and more violent, the art it as a whole
produces will reflect that. 

HL: Television? 

RM: Most of what's on broadcast television is extremely dumbed down,
so that even the most idiotic Joe Sixpack will understand it, so
generally I see TV as sort of a filter that removes most of what is
interesting about life. Even worse when a movie is butchered so that
it can be "safely" shown without "offending" anyone. 

HL: In your personal lives, how do you understand and respond to the
presence of corporate control and material need? 

RM: Of course you do need to pay the bills, and obviously I like music
and books, so I do my best to bring in cash, and spend it just as
well. It would be nice to not have to worry about huge companies like
Blockbuster having more than a little control in determining the
content of the movies they carry, or Meijer driving all the mom and
pop grocery stores out of business, but when faced with the decision
of having enough to eat if I get the shit at Meijer, or going hungry
from trying to support a local store, I must choose to eat. 

HL: What do you think of "jobs"? 

RM: I don't like them. I am lucky enough to be able to make a very
modest living at doing something that I enjoy (Cursed Productions,
Metal Curse, and ADVERSARY), but I do put in a lot more time at this
than Jack and Bob do combined at their jobs. Sometimes, just for a
second, I wonder if it wouldn't be easier to go work for someone else.
Certainly it would be easier, and considerably less work. I could have
more "free time" to read and relax. But at what cost? So I could go be
a nameless cog in some huge machine that cares not at all about me, as
I am utterly replacable? So I could "finally grow up and get a real
job"? I don't think so. To quote Jello Biafra, "I'd rather stay a
child and keep my self respect, if being an adult means being like
you." But, then again, if one day Cursed Productions fails to provide
me with enough to get by, I will be forced to take other actions.
That's not part of the Global Domination plan, though. 

HL: Do you blaspheme on a regular basis for dentological, aka done for
the intensity of the action itself, reasons? 

RM: Maybe. It seems more appropriate to blaspheme for the reaction it
generates in others, whether positive or negative, as both responces
are extremely important at various times and in various situations.
But just screaming "Fuck god!" in an empty room doens't do much for
me. 

HL: Are you moral? Do you believe in morality? 

RM: I suppose so, but I certainly have my own morality. What I think
is "right and wrong" might not match up with what some people think.
I'm fairly close to what LaVey says in the _Satanic Bible_ as far as
morality is concerned. 

HL: Do you think ethics are separate from morals? 

RM: I hadn't considered it before. Perhaps morals could be seen as a
personal code of conduct, while ethics might be viewed as more of a
code of conduct for groups or whole societies. Perhaps to remain with
the given society, one would have to conform to the ethical
"guidelines," while still retaining his own personal morality that
might only come into play in other societies or groups. 

HL: What is the most important factor for you in creating music that
satisfies you at the deepest level? 

RM: Knowing that what we have created is honest and true to us. 

HL: If you met Jesus, what would you say? 

RM: "Until I see you turn this water into wine, you're just a punk in
sandals." 

Or, maybe upon seeing a "miracle" I couldn't debunk, "Oh shit!" 

HL: Hitler? 

RM; If I were back in time, I might say, "Stay out of Russia." But no
matter when I saw him, I'd want to talk about eugenics. What else
could you talk to Hitler about? 

HL: "God"? 

RM: Now that depends on what you mean by "God." But, playing along for
a moment, I'd ask why we exist, and what the purpose of the universe
is. 

HL: Nietzsche? 

RM: Maybe I could get him and Hitler together, as the conversations
would be pretty related. 

HL: Pamela Anderson? 

RM: "What happened to the implants?" But she'd have too much of my
manhood down her throat to reply. 

HL: Britney Spears? 

RM: Nothing, as I wouldn't want to hear her speak. I'd tape her mouth
shut, and ram my fist up her ass for starters, though. Let's see her
dance after that! 

HL: Ginger Spice? 

RM: I'd ask if she still has the Wonder Woman costume she wore in
_Spice World_, and also if ADVERSARY could open up for her on her solo
world tour. 

I'd make her an offer she couldn't refuse. 

HL: Gandhi? 

RM: I'd tell him that passive resistance cannot always work. 

HL: Have you read the reviews at http://www.anus.com/metal/? 

RM: Of course! 

HL: What do you think of them? 

RM: They're quite good, and also unlike virtually all other Metal
reviews I've ever read. 

However, you need to have more ADVERSARY and Cursed Productions stuff
reviewed! I think the only mention of ADVERSARY is our track on the
_Deterioration of the Senses_ compilation. 

(Editor's note: He's right, and we're embarrassed. Chalk it up to drug
abuse... look for more Adversary reviews coming soon.) 

HL: What do you see as their primary failings? 

RM: None, really (except the appalling lack of Cursed releases! haha).
Although they might be somewhat inaccessible, as they are written
"above" other reviews in the various Metal categories. 

HL: Do they succeed at their ostensible goal? 

RM: I think so. 

HL: Would you name your daughter Britney? 

RM: No way. 

HL: How would you react if she got breast implants? 

RM: Interesting. I'll try to take this one seriously. From the
perspective of a father, I don't think I'd like it, but I would
certainly have to have more information as to why she was doing it. Is
it just the fact that she's small chested and wants to fuck the
football team, who will only fuck the big boobed cheerleaders, or does
she think that she'll be better able to control the weak sheep-wills
of men and have legions to do her bidding? If she wants to get a boob
job so that she can dominate the universe, then okay. 

HL: Do you feel society is evolved from the hominid state, aka "ape"
social existence with inherent power games? 

RM: Evidently not. As George Carlin would say, "It's the bigger dick
policy at work. If they have bigger dicks, bomb them." 

HL: Why do you feel that many experience a dark sense of foreboding
regarding the millenium and significant times afterward, such as 2012? 

RM: Fear of the unknown, for one thing. And I don't have to mention
that most people are sheep, and that the media has been forcing
"millennium fear" on everyone, so it's only natural that the herd is
worried about it. What's significant about 2012? 

HL: 2012 is the date the Mayan calendar "ends" an era, with the
implication that what comes will be either total destruction or a new
frontier. I however think it is the date when the genome of marijuana
truly matures, and thus all earth will be unified in clouds of sweet
smoke. 

RM: More like the number of bong hits you've taken during this
interview! 

HL: A giant HAILS and BLACK VOMIT OF ETERNITY to the mighty ADVERSARY
for this lengthy interview. I've asked you too much shit already man.
Thank you for your time 

RM: You're welcome of course. I should really thank you for the
interest in ADVERSARY. 

HL: People who don't understand - ADVERSARY is exploring a new type of
metal, and an old type of metal, like any other group of
self-respecting artists in this age. 

RM: Yeah, it's sort of like my taste in literature: mythological and
postmodern. 

HL: New CD rocks, btw. Check it out on www.kcuf.org 

RM: Glad to see that you like it! 

HL: Hell yeah dude. That one part in the third song where you do a
great black metal riff, and then break right out of it into some death
metal is awesome. Was it satire? 

RM: It was partially serious, I suppose. But we do like to keep a
little humor in everything. Sometimes more than others. 

HL: I think it also has a cool sense of rhythm, "Bathory style" maybe
at first but it works. 

RM: Oh man, I see what you mean, but I'm not sure that was exactly
intentional. Ironic, really, since I'm not (shudder) much of a BATHORY
fan. 

HL: Also music that is exploratory more than most death metal, has a
lot of potential. 

RM: We do try! Thanks again and take care! 

"We Must Be In Hell" Carving music back to its basics, Adversary make
thunderous charges of power chords and polyrhythms in order to stripe
simple melodies into varied and catchy tunes. Hoarse blower of low-end
dimensions roars through a vocal track as bass and drums hold down
rhythm, guitars surging forward like a wave. Structurally, songs move
with a playful sense of tempo and resolution, but at a detailed level
they are focused more on hypnotic riff-building. For Celtic Frost and
Baphomet fans or devotees of diligent, heavy, old school death metal
this is a delicacy. 

ADVERSARY 
www.cursedproductions.com 
 
Music  
-----

Morbid Angel - "Love of Lava" 

To say that Morbid Angel guitarist Trey Azagthoth's solos are atonal
is to explore the beginning of where they stand out of the crowd, but
what is most impressive is how he uses freedom in tone to create
"spaces" in a more thematic version of the Brian Eno or "free jazz"
style of tone layout music. But here, in these solos stripped of their
songs and left in straight off the tape format, you can study them in
sequence as a code of musical ideas itself, as well as alternates and
improvisations. This is a cool bonus to the CD and a must for serious
Morbid Angel guitar fanatics. 

Aura Noir "Black Thrash Attack" 

Black metal deserved easy listening champions, and if its pop music is
the emotional heavy metal revival broken into fashion by Dissection
and followed in recent years through "retro-thrash" as a demographic,
Aura Noir is metal's Britney Spears. A constant energetic rhythm of
rolling ambient interpretations of Kreator, Destruction, Sepultura,
Sodom and Slayer riffs provides a familiar basis for fans of that
genre, but one can feel up-to-date with the scorching black metal
vocals and unphrased simple drumming. Yet like that "nature music"
they sell at the mall, there's no plot to any song: just a wave of
energy. Everything looks, sounds, and moves well; there is no
incompetence, but there's no particular direction, either, to gratify
those (still) reaching for new space of ideas. 

Aurora Borealis "Mansions of Eternity" 

This artist possessed a desire to create American style metal with a
highly technical but not overindulgent flair and in that succeeds with
the right application of fast riffs to balance the slower, dirge riffs
or percussive phrasing which here shines as tasteful and deliberate.
Like compatriots Monstrosity, this artist has a tendency to use heavy
metal riffing between blasting passages of rippling destruction, and
similarly has the taste for highly melodic guitar that has benefitted
Tampa metal since Obituary's "Cause of Death." Alternation to
surprisingly simple straightforward songwriting provides constant
energy to intricate work. This EP presents highly articulate songs
that show their youth well and suggest a powerful future for this
highly inventive and proficient act. 

Avulsion "Dimensions of Darkness" 

This top-notch American style death metal hides in its rough exterior
a heart that wants to be a doom band, with Incantation-style booming
slow passages and tense, dramatic melodies. Their other playing is
mostly fast death metal riffs with a decent amount of technicality and
impressive creativity, with highly versatile percussion. With low
guttural vocals and all the trimmings. Highly recommended. 

Bane "It All Comes Down To This" 

To build hardcore after several generations one needs to differentiate
the style with composition and flavor, the latter being a component of
attitude and ideal in the case of this genre, so that a center of
perspective can be understood from the music by the listener. Bane
strike fast with tasty metallic riffs, ripping punk riffs, a
nonstandard use of melody in riffing and some promising ideas in
lyrics and rhythm, but mostly fall into the theatre of sentiment where
structure falls out of the songs to such a degree it eliminates deeper
communication from the art than its lyrics. If that's the goal, fine,
but otherwise this band of immensely talented people are keeping
themselves inches from realizing their potential. 

Capharnaum "Plague of Spirits" 

Making death metal from jazzcore these inventive and exploratory
musicians remember to keep rhythm and "heavy" riffing in the picture
as they set up a basic melody and harmonize with it in strange,
offbeat ways. Variety in percussion and tempo, alongside an uncanny
voice to lead guitars, powers a variety of interesting structural and
tonal changes. Really creative underground work. 

Carbonized "Screaming Machines" 

Making progressive fracture rock from the foundations of technical
grindcore and avant-jazz in a more unified style than their previous
effort, "Disharmonization," Carbonized project evening radio pageantry
from songs harmonized around dissonance. Precision is required to
unify the styles brought into progressive metal with the energy of
rough hardcore music, and this band is up for the test. Carbnoized
play an impressive matrix of rhythmically versatile musical styles
with subtlety that dismisses the abrupt and dynamic nature of these
songs. As a way of keeping this outpouring of surprisingly chaotic but
coherent songwriting listenable the band have foregone strictly death
vocals for chanted or sung passages which nicely match the strictly
cadenced tempos around them. For a feast of variations. 

Darken "Darken" 

Rippling smooth progressive guitar styled riffs go into this black
metal offering which despite its slickness, manages some black metal
mood in which to place its energetic and self-discovering lead guitar.
Vocals are a muted version of the genre, which holds for the rest of
this album as well, appearing more like a refined technical
implementation of style rather than technique. Shredding on guitar, it
does not neglect song structure either, making this a recent favorite
in the accessible black metal camp. 

Death of Millions "Frozen" 

Based on the rhythmic staging of dynamic events in the way many old
school death metal bands were, but venturing toward the more recent
innovations in death metal for basic songwriting tendencies, Death of
Millions is all about satisfying rhythms and pounding conclusions.
Similar to Morpheus Descends or Florida giants Malevolent Creation,
this music holds court in the intensity between rigidly paced striking
and unleashed blasting, but maintains its own school of drama
according to the school of Necrophagia and Blood Feast-style
neo-death. Of note are the versatile vocals and all instrumentation
gets high praise for confident playing and reasonable subtlety. 

Defender "They Came Over the High Pass" 

Heavy metal designs to spur the spirit of its listeners toward ages
past and a sense of battley glory, or emotion, from which bands like
Defender get their take on thunderous music. Using epic hall rallies
and choruses of loss and unrelenting militarism, this band create a
foundation for their campy but proficient heavy metal, integrating
some progressive and death metal accents to become one of the top
handful of abundant "retro" metal bands. Clean voices, emphasis on
strength and loyalty, bluesy but alertly progressive soloing and song
construction contribute toward a powerful but unabashedly "heavy
metal" listen. 

Dehumanized "Prophecies Foretold" 

In the blasting style of American death metal punctuated by the
guttural utterances of a grunting voice, this distorted work slams
through many tunes which utilize the dual-hit style of death metal,
setting up a riff and then doubling up its point of resolution with
percussion. This high power rendition of the style uses a good many
almost too-catchy phrases, but pulls itself together on raw rhythm and
thunder. 

Deprecated "Deriding His Creation" 

Few bands who insist on a ranting blast this consistent find
themselves also able to maintain coherence to each song, but
Deprecated with a wily off the cuff approach integrate their songs
with force and intelligence. This band have found inspiration to make
the New York- and Tampa-styled school of ultra-explosive death metal
work with wide variation in structure, including churning doom and
grinding midtempo support. High-intensity textured blasts and viral
self-re-inventing riffs highlight the power and intensity of this
slamming death metal band. 

Diabolicum "The Grandeur of Hell" 

Applying the military march of underground industrial toward a
seething emesis of black metal riffs and sliding melodic
reciprocation, this band wind an ethereal wisp of idea through
otherwise relentless blasting in order to make melody sublime within
chaos. To do this, the band mix the unfettered beauty of notes in
harmony and the abrupt breakdown of raging blast beats with a
grindcore-inspired sense of vigilant rhythm. Squirm through various
riffs and ending abruptly without a sense of closure, these songs
maintain a continuity of violence that delivers a virus of anger. 

Dim Mak "Enter the Dragon" 

Using some of the ideas from extreme and progressive metal in a
post-Fugazi hardcore context allows Dim Mak to mix any number of
influences into a song without having to cue it to a tempo
requirement, since each song bounces between explosions of noise and
chanting of vocals and rhythm playing together. The freedom afforded
this band allows alternating blasting metal rage and double-hit
"anger" music from the mainstream school of Pantera, Rollins, Rage
Against the Machine, Biohazard. While for that context this band is
amazing, it is surprisingly the conventions of open-mindedness that
hold it back: not enough style melds through this mixture of rock,
jazz, metal, punk to give these guys something to shape other than a
somewhat random jam session. 

Down "NOLA" 

Bent into a stoned haze of blues rock smoke, Down stagger out with the
usual assemblage of roaring heavy metal riffs in the southern style,
making roadhouse rock from the elements of doom metal and drowning
themselves in repetition. While every single piece of this album is
well assembled, from riffs to production and cover, none of it holds
together as more than a self-relative immersion in a style - it's not
designed. An emphasis on slamming us with the same note for heaviness,
similar to lead vocalist Philip Anselmo's main band Pantera, ends up
leaving the listener hanging in the melodic absences of mechanical
doom riffs. Who can stand music with style but not heart? 

Drawn and Quartered "To Kill is Human" 

Learning from the masters such as Incantation and Morpheus Descends,
this offering is a straightforward advancement in the study of rolling
heavy death metal in the American styles separate from the one named a
city in Florida. Furious fast riffs and blasting beats abound, but
songs are built around the difference between agony in slow suffering
and the skidding blast of violence. Although more "gothic" than
anything the pretty androgynous crew have done in that its darkness is
an organic motion toward vital discovery, and not a stale anger
melodrama. Most songs are unified by active percussion which inspires
tempo motion and extensive bridging in these riff salads of deluxe
proportions: somewhat technical, versatile and creative, rhythmically
engaging. Low-end priest-sinus-sodomizing vocals. 

Evil Incarnate "Blood of the Saints" 

Rolling sludge metal in the style of ancient thundering death
metallers Malevolent Creation, this music hammers lush density into
one's skull with hypnotic repetition and tone-shifting, cryptic riffs.
Technically wrought from accepted death metal terrain this music uses
the style of Obituary to make a wandering but centered song of abrupt
changes, and in doing so delivers where death metal can satisfy with
sudden impact and rolling tension. Allusions to Autopsy and Death also
sneak in there, with a core of Florida or New York death in a
mellower, doomier setting. Some repetition is too much, and a few
abrupt changes barely pull it together and so fail to work as
intended, but overall the distinguishing raw material in songwriting
makes it clear this band has growing potential. 

Exiled "Ascencion Of Grace" 

This music takes the beginnings of proficiency in death metal and
expands with a working desire to become more complex, and its success
in being distinctive is celebrated here in some endless inventiveness
and more than a little performative cleverness, but what's lacking in
most cases is the ability to go beyond modifying a riff of three notes
moving in the same direction at even intervals. Vocals are overdubbed
ghetto shouts ringed in death vocals, and all instrumentalism, while
not exceptional is reasonable for where this is at. Techniques are
applied too much as style, resulting in a stilted and sparse sound,
but gratifying death metal rhythm often saves. Another album from
these guys could bring great things. 

Eyehategod "Southern Discomfort" 

EyeHateGod put the hate back into punk through frustration, with long
and hungover riffs driving mercurial songs through the absence of
concrete reality until the shuddering conclusion. Throatshredder
vocals that would complement any underground metal band well support
these slowed-down swamp crusties from New Orleans as they bash out
moody and violent music in the style of an extreme hardcore band
meeting a doped, distractedly hopeless Black Sabbath. Thick ladders of
chords join moaned choruses and droning transitions that inundate the
body with the deep resonance of rhythmic colossus disintegrating.
Incendiary, smothering, venomous and totally alienated, this band make
powerful music that is here celebrated in a collection of rare singles
and alternate tracks. 

Eyes of Ligeia "A Dirge For the Most Lovely Dead" 

Rough and seemingly unsteady music that races through several cycles
to return to its origin and from there open more spaces for
exploration, this qualifies truly as dirge for its use of doubling
rhythm and sequential harmonization to increase the tension of its
burden. Surprisingly, it's light on its feet, with fast riffs that
move alongside slow conclusions in thunderous chords. A unique sense
of structure and a dramatic concept of percussion and melody makes
this death/doom hybrid an enduringly interesting prospect. 

Final "the first millionth of a second" 

Making symphonies from the repetition of simple sounds in layers that
suggest larger sound ideas and then move toward them, Justin Broadrick
(of "Godflesh" fame) carves a place as Final for a highly meditative
information music formed mostly of stringed instrument noise and found
noises in loops overlaid to form structure. The nature of themes
repeating as other fragments of music enter the soundscape to
complement them, and the tendency of this style to move between chaos
and clarity, ensconces the listener in a world where the ultimate
sensibility is contemplation. Final is music amazed at its environment
that overcomes underlying anger to find in even the most minute
granules the largest definitions of the experience of consciousness. 

Forewarned "demo #1" 

Coming off as a more extravagant, anthemic version of the 1980s speed
metal bands to which they pay homage, L.A.'s Forewarned smash out a
series of hallrockers that use the rich impact of consistent strumming
in an Exodus-styled stadium rock declaration of independence. The
riffs don't vary that much, and in fact loop through only a handful of
thematic variations, but there is a more refined continuity there that
most bands don't capture. Rock n roll excessive stylings kept to a
minimum and clarity of musicianship makes this an exceptional listen. 

Ghoul "Master 98" 

Nicely building rhythm to fall into its own pocket so that riffs might
arise out of others, showing a simplicity beneath a structure of
otherwise seemingly unrelated hybridized heavy/speed metal riffs which
show an understanding of the depth of texture behind the power of
metal, this band bash out the old school death metal with elan.
Although not much else creeps out of this release besides solid
thrashing, song construction based around intuitive variations on
verse-chorus and with its tendency toward moving rhythm and dissonant
but precise conclusions. This and the high speed rasping shout of
vocals makes this release work toward the band's favor as an initial
effort toward making impulsively destructive metal. 

Gordian Knot "Gordian Knot" 

From the school of progressive jazz fusion comes this abstract
metallic dose of technicality featuring former Cynic and King Crimson
players, merging strongly logical metallicism with a progressive sense
of harmony that conveys a vast peace and contentment. Keyboards,
delicately picked lead guitars, adept bass and tastefully unobtrusive
drums accentuate the themes of each song, but it is the jazzlike
tendency to break melody into confrontation and resolution that gives
this the calm certainty of waves washing into sand at a beach. No
vocals intrude on the lyrical power of guitar as it uses lyricism to
guide the benevolent fusion playing toward a concrete sense of
listener appreciation. 

Hands To "Nazha" 

This album of waves of fluid noise, from sampled outside wind to the
pulsing of blood through a heart to random motion of metals, asserts
itself as an observer and a sculptor of a constant motion to its
environment, and in that motion finds a clarity suggestive of
spiritual connection to the organic and unformed. It's not numerical,
and attempts to be impossible to describe, but let it be portrayed as
allowing its changes to frame a new scene in which events come to pass
and resolve without triggering a new force of change. Without a
narrative imposed as a means of filtering events, music becomes noisy,
peaceful, confusing, organic and still mechanistic, yet above all, in
its motion of observer toward the basic elements of sound, purely
human. 

Himinbjørg "In the Raven's Shadow" 

Surprisingly warm in tone and uptempo in delivery, Himinbjørg strike
toward the style of metal bands like Borknagar, letting internal
breaks buffer clean guitar chords and gently backgrounded operatic
vocals, building racing breakaways where internal melody synchronizes
shadowed chords and softly intoned vocals. Drumming exposes the
traditional style of pulsing blast with skidding fills as subdued,
morbid songwriting adds a dark mood to the work. The power of
Himinbjørg comes through in the Bathory-inspired epic arrangements
which focus intensity so it may discharge itself, unraveling emotion
of underlying rage and despair in a pummeling breakdown. THE VOICE OF
BLOOD [MP3] (238k) 

Hollenthon "Domus Mundi" 

Bouncing neoclassical metal strips down to pace a rock/industrial beat
and the romanticized, almost Gothic vocals that give the music its
most listenable feature. As it calls immediately to mind both Dead Can
Dance and Girls Under Glass, it is only fair to mention that this
music is most epic at its most minimalistic. Theatrical rock-n-roll in
the heavy metal style uses techniques from other metal genres but
focuses on keeping a mechanistic rhythm to contrast the clean organic
male and female voices. Orchestrated expertly and friendly to both
mainstream and underground listeners, this album is an embracing
descent into the mournful but expansive emotion of heavy metal. 

Horna "Hiidentorni" 

Keeping the racing violence of a battle ride in the tempest of
moribund dissonance that is black metal, Horna slam out melodic metal
that uses the strong craft of the riff to create a melodic tension
within a song, demonstrating their northern viciousness in closing it
with chaotic rhythm and screams. What's strange about this album is
how violent it can be and yet how comfortably cyclic in rhythm it
usually is, featuring a rock-n-roll feel of creating a pocket of
expectancy even at high speed. There is no harmony here, only the
ringing of a melody as it becomes synthesized into a whipping beat
with sawing riffs uptaken collectively into a dreamlike melody. 

Impiety "Skullfucking Armageddon" 

For the year of millenial judgement, Impiety have unleashed a paradox
between the tendency to unify black and death metal into a style
style, in doing so to explore "retro" ideas in death metal. This is
part of a cylce that repeats as suddenly the need for more extremity
pressures music that has already discovered the roots of its
alienation into extremes. Each time a new hybrid is produced to fill
the time before real ideas come. In this case, the resulting
combination is a well-designed fusion of styles as well as an
intensity of raw speed and musical conflict, with an emphasis on
offbeat and violent drumming. All elements including vocals are done
respectably. Influences from Krisiun, Deicide, Sarcofago. 

Impure "Acts of Contrition" 

With the pulsing rhythms of hardcore this band merges death metal and
the more Victorian speed metal before it, making a style of hybridized
heavy metal emphasizing melodic structure and harmonized guitars near
gutteral low-end vocals and quintessential punk riffs. The resulting
cyclonic intensity is offset by abrupt structural and rhythmic breaks
which manage the overall rage of an album that alludes to a previous
generation of speed/death hybrids in the style of Kreator or
Destruction. Controlled technicality and minimal window-dressing makes
listening to this album a likeable choice while what makes it unique
is inclusion of Blasphemy-styled raw grinding blackness into an
otherwise more socially acceptable musical expression. 

Insanity "Mind Crisis" 

Melodic treatment of ripping dark riffs are like acquatic predators a
study in casual and nihilistic forethought. A weight of political and
social terrors descends through splendidly stark riffing which with
the sensibility of intelligent pop gradually harmonizes itself for
increasing emotional perception in each song. Death metal vocals,
percussion and rhythmic strumming emphasize the extremity of this
music, but much of its core is in the doomy or melodic riffs which
give character to otherwise fairly standard ripping death metal.
Certain aspects of it are reminiscent of Malevolent Creation or
Hypocrisy, but what gives this music its own voice is the desperate
melody for of harmonic antagonism in the style of epic industrial
music, or the last notes of the ship's band as the waves close in. 

Kilcrops "Javhe Karma" 

Rigorous music with a hardcore punk direct approach songwriting here
manifests itself in highly harmonized, structural heavy metal music
with an inherently progressive approach not seen in metal since
Canada's Dead Brain Cells. Dynamic songs melt into lead guitar jam
seconds after Voi Vod-styled melodic breakdown, to be completed
through rhythm riffing in the style of thrash bands in the middle
1980s. Built from the remnants of death metal over precision sequenced
hardcore chants, tightly composed and executed songs move this album
and its listeners without corrupting the intensity of any given
moment, making for music with impact and persistence of vision. 

Kreator "Endorama" 

What distinguished Kreator from other bands staggering into the zone
between commercial heavy metal and grimy underground death and thrash
was its tendency to bash out anthems of war to illustrate the
anguished collision of individual and society. Through the filtration
of years and increasing mellowness, Kreator have now become an
alternative-influenced speed metal band whose hall rocking
compositions fulfill what "heavy metal" always will be. Satisfyingly
crafted metal, nowhere near as conventionally heavy or savage as older
material from this band has been, this album manages an accessible
style today recognizable by yesterday's fans. As well-crafted as
Kreator has ever been, with the tight and purposeful feel the band
introduced on "Renewal," these songs propel a sense of purpose in an
empty world with heavy emotion but an absence of violence. 

Macabre "Dahmer" 

Making good on the promise of their earlier works, Macabre mesh a
percussive grind/death style into a technical speed metal format, with
humorous lyrics accentuating the deeds of one Jeffry Dahmer as the
central concept of this gleefully disturbed album. Melodies in the
style of folk music or commercial ditties are applied to fast, precise
riffing with a good deal of rhythmic suspense through sudden pauses
and harmonic rupture. Amazingly vocals cover, Carcass style, both a
shrieking higher and gutter al low-end range, while guitars often
quote a variety of genres from heavy metal onwards. Festive in the
comical vocal melodies, with most of drive derived from a Black
Sabbath heavy metal progressivism, this music uses startling
variations in song to reveal an underlying theme. 

Maeror Tri "Meditamentum II" 

Like a mist uncovering the depths of an endless lake, a sound collage
opens from a solidity of drone into a space where noises change tone
and become vibrating synchronizations of a dominant visual image.
Highly spacious, this music allows doubt in the form of vague and
jarring sounds to merge with a constancy of almost harmonious noises
working together into an environmental wrap for the listener. Although
there's a good deal of negative space ("quiet") used on this album,
and the abundance of sound variant can become disturbing, the organic
and emotional interlude it provides shows insight to the beauty of
ritual ambient music. 

Mastiphal "For a Glory of All Evil Spirits, Rise for Victory" 

Using the contrast between dominant keyboards and atmospheric guitar
riffing that appeared in much of early black metal, Mastiphal build a
world of spacious music which stages successive themes to produce an
appearance of motion where there is little. Song construction limits
itself to a handful of riffs per song, which are repeated in a
sequential fashion until the need for dynamism requires a striking
break. The lack of any unifying thought however is expressed in the
procession of riffs, grindcore style, which are then broken by larger
song patterns relying on keyboard or percussive distraction. It's
carnival machinery black metal, but saying much more is pushing one's
luck. 

Mercyful Fate "9" 

The heavily rhythmic emphasis of this music makes it easy to shift
themes with theatrical impact, making these songs fragments of
excellent musicianship laid out in vehicles for the equally amazing
voice of King Diamond without bringing either to the forefront. It's
worth noting that this band beats the current crop of disjointed
"retro-thrash" bands with a stick of unreal proportions, and that as
always the overall instrumentalism is impressive. The King's voice,
undaunted by the years, touches a lower overall register but manages a
comfortable chant which pulls alongside rhythm guitar to keep each
song in motion. What makes this worth listening isn't its updated but
consequently awkward arrangements, but the basic immersion in the
powers of imagination and feeling that makes it heavy metal at heart. 

Misanthropy "Human Hatred" 

Using a melded twist of black metal melody and death metal pattern
variation tucked into a series of alternatingly ripping fast and
upbeat doom riffs is the trademark of this violent and raw band. Their
fusion of raw melody with power allows a great deal of subtlety that
sustains their listenability, in the style of Burzum or Immolation.
Wandering overflow of decaying melody throws the listener into an
ambient space which builds intensity through a fluidity that is both
morbid and hopeful. This potential flowers into churning journeys of
black metal mayhem which attract the listener for the varied, chaotic
and unpredictable yet structured approach this band prefer. 

Motorhead "Everything Louder than Everyone Else" 

Who can pass up the exuberance of a Motorhead show? Loud guitars and a
grinding generator bass shove a roar of defiance into the night of
human futility. In its gritty, obscure, intoxicated purity Motorhead
is living itself. This 2-disk set covers most of recent material in a
live session recorded and mixed by professionals, including most of
the classics which define a crowdstorming show by this band. What's
amazing is how much there's left to cover after this, and how strong
this band remains after years of personnel changes, drug busts, and
political troubles. Lemmy Kilmister deserves a warm shake and a rail
for this one. 

Necronomicon "The Silver Key" 

Necronomicon make speed metal a nihilistic death metal style halfway
between Incantation and Iron Maiden, with doom-ridden and thunderous
riffs underscored by melodic voices and harmony. Somewhere between
deliberately simplified speed metal riffing and percussive death metal
technicality, the rhythm guitar work secures musical space with its
persistence. Although constrained by a lack of variation in chord
voicings and sometimes schizophrenic songwriting lapsing into
highly-skilled but ultimately directionless riff salad, this music is
gratifying for its ability to place and shape an extreme riff into a
fury of instrumental madness. Its remaining development be to use
these expert riffs, leads and breaks for precision in the development
of each song, and to allow more space for the morbid female vocals.
Currently the haze of similar intensities pervading this music could
bring poetry to unleash the powerful riffs and songwriting concepts
kept within this release by its lack of focus. 

Necrophagia "Season of the Dead" 

Unexpected beauty in the acoustic guitar that opens this release, or
in the samples between tracks and extended noise-y instrumentals,
poses a counterpoint to the droning punk/death surge the guitar music
projects. What's cool about this is the doomy effect produced by the
interplay between vigorous verses of churning guitar and Killjoy's
rasp of offbeat vocals, an autumnal earthiness of suspended rules. The
proto-death riffing isn't terrible either, and if you like bands like
Blood Feast or Rigor Mortis there are excellent similarities here in
the cross between the demise of rock n roll and the rise of truly
deathful music. 

Necrophagia "Holocausto de la Morte" 

A versatile lizard Killjoy is; somehow he fashioned the uneven bedroom
punk/metal of Necrophagia's first album into rippingly fast music that
appropriates most modern black/death conventions on top of a
fundamental "heavy metal" blues-based approach that isn't dissimilar
to Metallica or Pantera. His deft touch to songwriting is pacing and
release, and in this context most listeners won't mind the
Anthrax-style evenly paced strum forming the basis for the riffing.
Drumming even appropriates hints from Capricornus, of Graveland fame.
There is not a tremendous amount of coherence in musical terms to any
song, so like recent Misfits and Cannibal Corpse releases, this
functions like a scroll of drama from a late-night zombie show. 

Neurotica "Seed" 

Built using the framework of loop-rock that has recently dominated
radio but evenly sheared from the heavy tradition of Led
Zeppelin-esque open jams built into dynamic ballads, Neurotica put the
best of what made 90s rock confrontational and romantic into an almost
generic basis of sparse heavy metal rock-n-roll. Atheist (RIP)
guitarist Kelly Schaefer performs a vocal hybrid that stretches from
Alice in Chains to Axl Rose and Phil Anselmo, unifying a guitar
background of variants on standard riffing into a songwriting front.
What makes this band tolerable is the underlying jazzlike tendency to
keep verses open for jams, combined with aggressive chorus entry that
shows the mainstream "rage"-heads how style is really synthesized. 

Null "Inorganic Orgasm" 

Terror noise mastermind K.K. Null cut his teeth with Zeni Geva and
then, at the same time many musicians were reaching past the numerical
confinement of notes and rhythm signature, went to pure noise with
solo projects that enwrap a central theme in the harmonies of
electrified natural noises. Using ringing loops and the harmonization
of their most enduring tones, the music moves fluidly between ideas
like a procession of time and often ends in abruptly when its cycles
expire. What makes it evocative is its intuition for listener emotion
and rhythm of motion, which allows even these disturbedly alien noises
to be enwrapped in a passion front of organic sound. 

Obscurity "Damnation's Pride" 

Heavy collision death metal melted in such a way that fast riffs can
support the clatter in eurometal style, Obscurity wrench from the
rudiments of metal a powerful and anthemic death metal album which
calls to mind German classics from a generation before. Its sometimes
unsteady but creative and versatile riffing carries the songs, with a
heartbeat pulse of drums keeping up, and vocals are of the scowled
roar type. Death metal in the classic style with no compromises but a
wealth of diversity and history, this unpolished but fervent release
rocks hard. 

Of The Fallen "Ancient Gods of Battles Past" 

Masters of melding the ancient arts of metal into a rushing pace of
battle, Of the Fallen bring together the best classic heavy metal and
grinding black metal with a progressive taste for winding melody in
successive revelations through a complex song structure. Ripping
phrases and superspeed picking rise in the capable hands of a light
and adept keyboard lacing of theme. Its epic aspirations, which are
Wagnerian in the style of Bathory's "Viking" era, accentuate its
dramatic NWOBHM-style songwriting, work with intricate blues leads and
melodic vocals to reinvigorate the blood of classic metal. 

Ossuary Insane "Demonize the Flesh" 

As the second hit of death metal percussion patterns explodes, riff
momentum gains power, then decomposes into Suffocation-style death
metal turnarounds, illustrating a characteristic of this band in
complex drum fillwork and arching braces of power chords that hold
together otherwise unrestrained surges of violence. Most riffs are
rhythmic strobing of muffled chords and slamming riffs which end in
brief blasts and then the most textured fills this side of Slayer's
"South of Heaven." Keeping within the lower registers and managing
primordial motion in the building of tension and tempo, Ossuary Insane
chase the elusive grail of heavy death metal with repetitive but
well-spirited metal. 

Pestilence "Malleus Maleficarum" 

Straight out of the old school of storming Eurometal, with all of the
hooks and lead riffing that support anthemic choruses, Pestilence
brought extreme metal into an age of more complexity and technical
experimentation through this crossover speed/death work. Their songs,
while often fitting familiar riff styles known from the speed metal
era, use death metal rhythmic layering and structural bridging to
transfer melodic continuity within the song. Classic styles abound in
their most ambitious and powerful glory, including trademark 1980s
micro-riffs. Amazingly light-footed but powerful drumming and toneful,
lyrical lead guitar playing accentuate this amazing release
fortunately reissued so today's bands can understand an unstated but
foundational influence on the genre. 

Primordial "Imrama" 

Putting melodic metal accents into soaring raw metal in the vein of
Satyricon or early Immortal, Primordial embeds accents from folk music
native to their land within sawing but gracefully elegant black metal
songs. An alternatingly chanted clean vocal and a hoarse, nihilistic
black metal roar guides the upbeat but racing style of drumwork. The
subtle textures that guide this release give it a surprising depth and
urgency which accents its inherent melodic tension toward oblivion.
Like Ancient, this band is unafraid to use long repetitions of the
same chord or riff to build atmosphere. Especially for those who enjoy
the epic styles of modern metal, this release is an exceptional find. 

Requiem "U.S.S.A." 

Coming from the tradition of heavy metal that predates death or grind,
Requiem put together what is essentially protest rock from a heavy
metal past and an upbeat simple grinding of grindcore/hardcore/death
metal influence. In comparison most of this music seems more from the
rock n roll school, with extended jams of guitar solos and riff
interplay combined in tuneful albeit at times slightly dissonant song
structures. Vocals are shouted hardcore-style enunciations tinged with
death hoarseness, presenting an agenda of hard-edged anti-political
posturing, but fit well into songs and are tastefully kept away from
various areas of each tune. The essential rock-n-roll-y speed metal
nature of the music keeps it very listenable, but without becoming
cheese as Metallica has: smooth rolling road music that brings
together popular protest movements in American music as a metal
counterpoint to mainstream reality. 

Samael "Exodus" 

A deranged carnival of buoyant but darkly repetitive music, this
pseudo-nihilistic keyboard festival constrains itself a rock-n-roll
version of the characteristic songwriting from their first black metal
album, "Worship Him." With an emphasis on syncopation and suspended
rhythm this album is mostly speed metal riffs shadowed by keyboards in
rock-n-roll patterns almost three decades old. Although varied styles
and newer setting complement the darkness present from earlier works,
the bulk of the songs remain grounded in the looping harmony and
safety of rock music. Intervention by techno beats provides comic
relief, although this musically versatile band have adapted even the
ludicrous to a reasonable songwriting technique. What powers their
strength is a melodic awareness that few bands match, but since this
release cannot shake its intentions toward pop-music, it is impressive
but unlistenably manipulative. 

Samain "Indomitus" 

Using a raw but deliberate rhythm to propel a unity between melodic
romanticist black metal and folk music dramatism, the sound of Samain
resembles a cross of Greek black metal band Varathron and a northern
folk metal ballad war machine like Arcturus or Hades. Racing melodic
riffs move sinuously underneath rhythm lead playing, as harmonized
folk strumming illustrates the emptiness and carelessness in life.
Flowing melodic riffing highly reminiscent of older Ancient gives this
music its impetus, which aided by eerily disjointed black metal vocals
becomes a fireball of hate from its conflict between great internal
harmony and a widening gulf of despair. Despite its tendency to
sometimes hang upon a treasured creation, and thus deny its audience
breath through repetition, this band have put together a unique and
exploratory release. 

Sodom "Code Red" 

Where most metal provides drive Sodom's "Code Red" literally storms
its way through chord paths and a style of chorus that denounces life
with evenly spaced leaps in tone, ending each phrase with a concussive
finality. Engrossing for its speed and energy in rhythm, this music
survives its more predictable heavy metal touches, and uses
freewheeling guitar playfulness to demonstrate the deadly serious
violence within life's absurdity. For these old school epic thrashers,
true, this album is a more conventional face, yet it brings home the
appeal of metal music throughout the ages: loud, fast, and inspired
toward jagged, epic motion. 

Stratovarius "Destiny" 

To scratch the progressive metal itch, the technical proficiency of
the players must not outshine the songwriting sensibilities of the
band as a whole. Stratovarius push the line with wholly indulgent
vocal and instrumental buildup but vindicate themselves through a
liberated guitar lead jamming alongside exploratory riff structures.
The almost cinematic nature of this approach to sound and dynamicism
in music can drown some of the subtleties buried beneath "heavy metal"
signature styles in percussion and stringed musicianship. Most clearly
called to mind would be Queensryche and Iron Maiden, but this reviewer
can detect shreds of Queen and Yes as firm but underplayed groundwork.
For those who desire this style Stratovarius are delicious. 

Subsidence "Portrait of Pain" 

This is Meshuggah-metal, in the same way Meshuggah takes bouncy
rock-n-rolly rhythms and changes them into something interesting
through structure and the layering of rhythm through riffing
variations. Most riffs on here are familiar patterns, but they are
played without the "entertainment"-based heavy expectancy to the
rhythm section. Since rhythm guitar patterns exist mostly to hold a
tempo pattern until song structure varies, riff memetics is not as
important and there is less variation in riff structure than most
"death metal." Songs wind around a few key concepts and work through
rhythmic differentiation before returning to a familiar verse-chorus
theme. This vocalist gargles napalm, and the playing here is
reasonably technical in the garage metal style. 

Triumphator "Wings of Antichrist" 

To make extreme black metal melodic themes are broken into handfuls of
notes forming riffs which strummed at high speed allow for emphasis on
an increasing harmonization, building structure under each song. Like
the waves of the sea, riffs tug the listener in collision directions,
forming a cycle like breathing which paces the song to its furious
drumming. Shrieks of vocal crest each surge of melody and delicate
variations in structure provide intensity, but what makes this band an
engaging listen is the rhythm of their riffs meeting melody for a
driving sound which overcomes life's frustrations with anger. 

Urgehal "Massive Terrestrial Strike" 

Swinging into action with melodic riffs that reflect a Venom-era
obsession with melodrama and the staging of an anthemic theme over
loud and rolling percussion, Urgehal strike with a violent version of
black metal. Thrashing along with beats synchronized to riffing, these
guys vary the direction radically with open harmonies to provide space
for more battle noise. Only a handful of riffs per song form the drive
of structure which is usually accommodated by simple song structures
divided by material which foreshadows coming segments. Reminiscent of
later Darkthrone. 

Vader "Litany" 

Abrupt in structure but continuous in motion, music made from quick
breaks and heavy rhythms connected together by hummingly fast
strumming of melodic progressions works to bring pummeling
interruption rhythm to ripping death metal. Its speeding energy gives
it an overall drive that is both satisfying and technically accurate,
adding enough muscle to the style to permit experiments in vocal
delivery and song structure. Where previous albums attempted more
variation in composition and had longer riffs of strings of notes and
rhythm changes, this album energizes the pace with a practiced but
unrelenting approach to metal. 

Varathron "Genesis of Apocryphal Desire" 

The mystical sounds of Greek black metal come from a romanticism of
the night as expressed to free spirits, and so this metal is
atmospheric like nighttime sounds with plenty of space and a distant
fuzziness to all instruments and the almost-whispered vocals. Its
building of adventures nothingness in three opening notes, and its
awareness of zero in the spacing of its tempos and riff architectures,
allows it to open through the mind of the listener a channel to
existential joy and excitement in life. Sounds big, but it's true -
for the second part of this recording. The first is also really well
done youthful death metal in a partially American style, sometimes
reminiscent of Death, Possessed, or Therion. 

Vile "Stench of the Deceased" 

Mixing uptempo chug-on-the-beat speed metal riffing with a death metal
sense of melody in each song, Vile blend crowd-pleasing impact metal
with distinctive songwriting. In the gutter al Florida style of
technical slam riffing over bounding rhythm, each song winds up
intensity and unleashes into final, indisputable rhythm. Understated
but powerful is subtle harmonization in the interplay of guitars.
Double bass, organic speed-picking and an engaging flow of rhythm
transferred through lightfooted tempo shifts provide a gratifying
understructure to the chanted vocals and screams, making this solid
death metal strong. 

World of Hurt "Wrecking Ball" 

It's not as corrupt as music in this style, a method of changing
dynamic from soft and clean to distorted to imply pain or anger, would
be expected to be, but even with its technically-precise execution and
more enlightened riffing than its inspiration, Tool, this release
still stays within the confines of a genre based on shock and the
surprise of interrupted expectation. Singing in admirable soprano
tones and covering a funky beat with bass and drums, World of Hurt
drop in the firebrand guitars when needed, but it's part of an act few
in the underground will find shocking. For those coming into the
underground from more mainstream music, however, this could be the
taste of fire they're afraid to ask for. 
 
Editorial  
---------

Stuff that Rips vs. Stuff that Sells 

Much like "heat death" as a universe gives in to the uncertainty
generated in its own time, "scene death" occurs in those lulls between
productivity in an underground. Such as a time has come upon us now. 

In the mainstream media, since most styles have lost their uniqueness
to commerciality, "new styles" are being made by recombining the old.
Correspondingly, there is an overuse of identifiable "metal" styles in
either re-hashed ways or ludicrous combinations. Pantera thrashes
around to basically motionless music, and Cradle of Filth repackage
Iron Maiden into a black metal band, while Korn and other "nu-metal"
acts slap out the cheese. Is this our future? 

These bands share one thing in common no matter who they are:
confusing the music, and all that's behind it, with the end "product"
and its demographic result. That is, they are more concerned with
their own egos or how many units they sell, but have given up on
anything in the music itself that makes it unique. 

While such music sells very many units quickly, it is unsatisfying
because it has really nothing to say to the listener except "buy me."
Its power is its inoffensiveness, and its novelty. In that context,
"rap-core", "alternative metal", "female atmospheric metal", and
"techno metal" probably have the same thing to offer that sitcoms do:
entertainment that fills the time. 

For those with trust in nature, this latest cycle represents part of
an unending chain of cycles between something occurring and the
frustration building as only conformity and death (already-used
patterns of music) prevail. So as we write there are rising those who
will desire to make more intelligent music - and what can we pass on
to them? 

Our goal at Heidenlärm zine is to celebrate the strong, and ignore the
product of the weak while bashing their mentality. They are the ones
who turn independence into conformity, and force a slow decay of
genres from free thinking into different versions of an accepted norm.
The weak use money to fight. The strong use logic. We hope to educate
ourselves and other fans as to what is strong and inventive metal. 

The logic of metal is to make beauty from darkness, and from the cast
aside "dangerous" ideas that society can't accept because they
threaten consistency, commerce and morality. We are anti-moral. We are
anti-capital. Most of all, we are anti-illusion. And by educating
ourselves, we are masters of our music's future. 

Enjoy our reviews and remember to raise your horns for the strong as
the weak show their true colors of cowardice! 
 
Radar
-----

Since 1997, there's been an explosion of Internet sites, webzines,
etc. ANUS.com pre-dates the commercial web and was served via FTP in
1992, and distributed via BBS in 1988. We are not of the same ilk as
the Internet-only crowd, and the acts of our members (including zine
writing, radio, show promotion and physical aid to bands) far exceed
the internet. We do not wish to be identified with the crowd of
geocities.com sites which pretend to be "journalism." 

-~- 

To contact Heidenlarm zine or the Dark Legions Archive: 

A.N.U.S. 
PO Box 1004 
Alief, TX 77411-1004 

prozak@anus.com 
www.anus.com/metal 

-~- 

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(c) 1998-2003 Heidenlarm ezine/Dark Legions Archive