[- H E I D E N L Ä R M -]

A text zine dedicated to black/death metal music and cultural study
September 17, 2007 / Issue 9
Web: http://www.anus.com/metal/about/zine/
Correspondence: http://www.anus.com/metal/about/zine/contact.html

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[-CONTENTS-]

-Introduction-
	Our Mythology

-Hessian News-
	Hessian Sub-Organization Stages National Day of Slayer Rally
	Hessian Wiki Launched
	
-Interviews-
	ADRAMELECH (FIN)
	AURORA BOREALIS (US)

-Music-
	Album Reviews
	Book Reviews
	Live Reviews
	
-Features-
	The Triumph of Vulgarity - Book Review and Thoughts
	Metal Guitar Technique, Lesson One: Music Theory

-About-
	About Heidenlarm
	Staff Contact

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[-INTRODUCTION-]

Our Mythology

Metal has always been actively involved with myth.  Early on (heavy metal), 
myth was a lyrical plaything, sometimes touched with light metaphor but not 
taken as too much more than window dressing or interesting subject matter; 
it was an archetype through which to define the imagery of a song or 
occasionally an album, but never sought as broad concept for anything beyond 
that.  As with other art forms, fantasy and history were used interchangeably 
with myth for similar purposes

Not until death metal, partially of individual accord and partially in 
reaction to the increasing "earthliness" of the concepts adopted by later 
speed/thrash metal did myth come to the forefront as a legitimate basis for 
total concept.  The Lovecraftian/"Sumerian" pantheon adopted nearly wholly 
by MORBID ANGEL represents one of the earliest and most immersive uses of a 
"mythological" construct to underline and define all aspects of band 
identity.  Fortuitously, the band's choice of myth, being in essence a 
literary concept and not a "true" mythological reality per se, allowed for a 
certain flexibility in approach on all levels that did not seem plastic in 
its application; coupled with MORBID ANGELs bizarre musical genius and 
attitude, they were able to convey principles and ideas transcending those 
of the source material.  "New" matter invigorated established form; living 
myth was born and conditioned through musical dimensions.

Black metal attempted something similar.  Starting out, of course, with any 
and all kinds of primitive veneration of the Satanic/demonic, black metal is 
said to have begun a new developmental path with the immersion of BATHORY in 
the lore of pre-Christian Scandinavia.  Chest-swelling and Romantic tunes 
accompanied lyrics, mostly unstudied but heartfelt, cast in praise of the 
Æsir gods of bravery, sung directly from the perspective of one of Odin's 
patrons.  Despite two popular albums completely dedicated to these themes, 
the second wave of black metal (with some well-known exceptions) abandoned 
this approach in favor of a mythical-poetic one unhindered by any rigid 
mythological/historical backdrop.  It seems appropriate that those in this 
wave who were most "ambiguous" about their approach were the same ones 
working to create myth themselves through specific action, which had the 
dual effect of elevating black metal beyond music and dragging it back to 
earth as newcomers emulated the recent myth through all possible mediums but 
with almost none of original spirit.

Bands in both genres continue heavy reliance on mythology in a variety of 
forms: many black metal derived acts attempt revivalist/anachronistic 
religious historicism a la BATHORY and ENSLAVED; others, generally death 
metal acts, use myth or mythologized history to reframe certain subject 
matter common to the genre, in some cases to the extent of gimmick.  
Regardless of how heartfelt these explorations may still be, that they 
continue to foster lyrics, image, and worldview for metal bands could either 
be telltale of a deeper connection with the genre, or a purely material need 
for unique approaches to the craft culled from archetypes of cultures past.  
At this point, it is more of the latter, but it is difficult to deny that 
the former was not true of some of the most representative and creative acts 
of black and death metal.  To see truths in these representations of the 
past, to avoid sentimentality or overly Romantic applications thereof, and 
to embody these ideals positively in a way befitting of this time and place 
and of their medium of delivery is the essence of what was accomplished at 
best.  If it is possible or even desirable for this to be repeated in the 
form in question is uncertain, but we can admire those whose efforts to do 
so also embody the spirit of their creations.

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[-HESSIAN NEWS-]

HESSIAN STUDENT UNION CELEBRATES NATIONAL DAY OF SLAYER AT UCSD
Hessian Movement Makes Strides to Broader Recognition
June 6, 2007
by Grand Inquisitor

SAN DIEGO - On June 6, 2007, the University of California at San Diego’s own 
Hessian Student Union held a public celebration of the holiday National Day 
of Slayer. The annual event honors the band Slayer, comprised of some of our 
most historically important cultural figures.  Beyond this, we took the 
opportunity to raise awareness of metal culture, including facilitating 
fairness and diversity in education by advocacy for the creation of a 
Hessian Studies Program at our school. Currently UCSD, a large and 
prestigious American university, lacks any courses representing our 
culture, even though other classes examine hip-hop, pop music, and Buffy the 
Vampire Slayer. 
 
Our event lasted four hours on Library Walk, the largest walkway on campus. 
A continuous soundtrack drew attention to the fact we are a culture 
especially noted for our many musical achievements. Slayer’s music was the 
highlight, and Reign in Blood and Seasons in the Abyss were played several 
times in their entirety, but we also sampled Mercyful Fate, Emperor, 
Deicide, and Darkthrone. The inclusion of Scandinavian bands illustrated the 
diversity of Hessians by showing the fruits of other countries with 
important Hessian communities. We made announcements to the passers-by 
regarding the nature of the holiday, and calling on the university to 
demonstrate its progressive aspirations by accommodating the Hessian 
minority. Pamphlets were available explaining the objectives of a Hessian 
Studies Department. 
 
Unfortunately, the usual reaction was apathy, and some was negative. 
Numerous people refused fliers, rolled their eyes, mocked us, or crossed to 
the opposite side of the path. We were even shunned by students wearing 
Sepultura and Master of Puppets gear. There were positive encounters as 
well. A student who helped run an Islamic cultural booth told us he enjoyed 
“Angel of Death.” While recognizing there has been historical conflict 
between Hessians and Abrahamic monotheists, we saw no need for personal 
animosity and invited the opportunity for cross-cultural dialogue. He gave 
us a CD about Islam and took a Hessian Studies brochure. Another metalhead 
discussed helping us get university funding for our group and recruiting new 
members. One young lady eagerly inquired about the difference between true 
and false metal. Some “positive” attention was discouraging: a few professed 
metalheads claimed to prefer bands like Slipknot to Slayer, or even to have 
never heard of Slayer (!) Another woman thought we were promoting Buffy the 
Vampire Slayer. 
 
We believe some disinterest may have been affected by technical issues: 
printer problems meant we had only a limited number of blurry fliers, and 
our inadequate speakers failed to fill the whole area with the sweet strains 
of nihilistic speed metal. Therefore we recommend other Hessian groups plan 
further ahead and make sure they have top-notch equipment. Also, we suspect 
some Hessians shunned us because they were too concerned about 
discrimination and did not want to bring too much attention to us as a 
group. Indeed, there has been a trend of metalheads cutting their hair, 
listening to distorted-guitar emo and otherwise attempting to assimilate 
instead of embracing their heritage. This is an unfortunate indicator that 
we are still affected by a negative image and underscores the importance of 
our efforts. 
 
The event was small and some of the attention received was negative. This 
shows we still have a long way to go toward being recognized as equal 
members of society. However, that we were able to hold this event anyway 
(and despite equipment trouble) is a sign of progress, so we are optimistic 
about Hessians gaining more respect. We write to you in the hope you’ll 
share our story with your readers, spreading awareness of grassroots Hessian 
activism and inspiring others to stand up for their culture! 

-=-

HESSIAN WIKI LAUNCHED
New Hessian Community Portal Seeks to Voice Metal's Important History
August 1, 2007
by kontinual

AUSTIN, TEXAS - The Hessian Studies Center, a United States-based heavy 
metal culture advocacy group, recently announced the release of their new 
Hessian community portal, the Hessian Wiki.

According to the FAQ posted at the site, the aim of the wiki is to 
"encourage user contributions in the development of a comprehensive source 
for history and commentary on the most important bands and albums in heavy, 
death, and black metal."  Unlike other sites with a similar archive of heavy 
metal-related data, the Hessian Wiki "hopes to differ [by] providing an 
editorially consistent voice detailing death and black metal in a way which 
provokes understanding of its broader significances," says the FAQ.

The administrator for the site, who refused to be identified by name but 
laid claim to being a "thorough Hessian" and "motivated activist for Hessian 
causes," when asked about what the site was attempting to accomplish stated 
that he "would like to see it as a gathering place and resource for people 
who feel similarly to how I do, who have felt that not only "metal," but 
great, heroic, and otherworldly metal deserves to be celebrated in 
proportion to its profundity and its importance to metal as a whole.  A lot 
of useless stuff always ends up being celebrated and I would like to see 
that change with the Hessian Wiki as a step in that direction."

When asked if he thought it was possible to actually alter broad opinion 
with the site, the administrator said he "wasn't sure if it was necessary" 
but that "creating [this site] was a necessity regardless; for people who 
want a resource they can feel proud to contribute to without being drowned 
by the voice of the many, this may be the catalyst in a broader community-
movement of culturally-cognizant and thoughtful Hessians."

Currently, the site features a basic layout with suggestions for starter 
bands taken from the Dark Legions Archives (anus.com/metal), the world's 
oldest online metal resource.  The administrator said future plans include a 
"unique and metal-appropriate aesthetic" to replace the current, Wikipedia-
like interface provided by the MediaWiki shell, and a "sane system of 
navigability" once the number of entries increases.  "We need people willing 
to spend time on some of these aspects of the Wiki" said the admin, "to lend 
their expertise to both the working aspects and the data itself."

As to when he expects to gauge the success of the site, the administrator 
was optimistic: "based on some of the early user entries, I've been 
encouraged many people have been willing to spend time to articulate the 
who's and why's of metal at its best.  We have to continue to keep the site 
in the back of the minds of smart metalheads; there is a grand opportunity 
to have a direct, interactive effect within a community of like-minded 
people.  The more we can remind quality people that Hessian Wiki exists, the 
better."

The Hessian Wiki can be found at http://wiki.hessian.org.

-=-

[-INTERVIEWS-]

Interview with Jari Laine of ADRAMELECH (FIN)
by kontinual

1. What is the exact historical relationship of ADRAMELECH to DEMIGOD? 
ADRAMELECH is always portrayed as a secondary band to DEMIGOD but the 
earliest material for both bands was released close to the same 
time...something that is not apparent from the release dates of the official 
albums.

Jarkko, the founder of Adramelech and the guys from Demigod are about the 
same age...+/- 1 or 2 years and living in a small town of Loimaa which has a 
population of 7000 people and that meant that they hung out together all the 
time, you know, the kids into metal. I guess when Esa Linden formed Demigod 
and started rehearsing their own stuff, Jarkko was there too as a bystander 
and since there was no room in Demigod because all the instruments were 
there already - he wanted to have that same feel Demigod had when they 
played. The only choice was to form a band of his own and that´s how 
Adramelech was born. Jarkko has always been very non-acceptable with 
melodies so i guess his goal was to make an uglier version of Demigod with 
more brutal approach - there has definetily been a friendly kind of 
competition with those two bands from Jarkko´s point of view since the 
beginning. I´m sure he was pleased with the reception Demigod got from the 
underground but that same thing left Adramelech lurking at the shadows - 
Demigod had more better and memorable songs with some twisted and totally 
awesome melodic passages which Adramelech didn´t, and that´s why people were 
definetily more into that stuff. Also Demigod got signed with Drowned 
productions at the peak of the death metal wave so they got more attention 
having a real album out, at the same time Jarkko was having troubles of 
finding a stable line-up so he had to waste his creative energy for getting 
a properly working band together. Jarkko eventually got help from Seppo and 
Jussi from Demigod to complete his line up so i guess that was the main 
reason for the "little brother of Demigod" -tag, two bands from a small town 
with Demigod members in the line-up. But make no mistake about it - 
Adramelech and Demigod had different song writers. Also Turkka Rantanen, 
Jarkko´s older brother designed logos for both bands and drew demo covers 
and eventually did all the Adramelech covers so i guess there´s so much 
going on with a small group of people you finally end up wondering "who did 
what???" 

2. Was "Human Extermination" always an official demo/rehearsal release?  How 
long had the band prepared for it?  Was it important right away to try and 
form an identity distinct from that of DEMIGOD?

To my knowledge it was an official release with covers. I´m sure people 
didn´t think about releases like they do these days...they wanted to have 
something real on tape and design a cool image for it - that was part of the 
fun. To be able to hand out a tape with your band name on it...getting in 
touch with other people and bands and see if they wanted to trade their 
music to yours...THAT was the goal and eventually when time passed people 
started to have these "standards" about what is an "official" release and 
what was not. Even though Human Extermination was recorded at the rehearsal 
place with a taperecorded in the middle of the floor - that doesn´t make it 
any less important. The first time the guys went into a real studio was with 
"grip of darkness" though but in my books Human Extermination is one of 
those rare old-school cult releases...like i said earlier on Jarkko wanted 
to clearly make something more straightforward music with Adramelech and i 
assume that was his main goal - to let people know he made music of his own, 
not copying Demigod.

3. The "Spring of Recovery" EP release on Adipocere Records was one of a few 
one-off EP releases Adipocere was doing for similar bands at that time.  Did 
you plan to release anything else with this label besides the EP?  How well 
did the EP sell back then?

I wish Jarkko was here to answer this one since i really don´t have an exact 
information what was their plan. Personally i LOVE this EP but i have no 
idea about the sales figures, i guess they didn´t sell that much but sales 
figures are not the issue here...Spring of Recovery is so overwhelmingly 
dark and awesome release that i´ve always wanted to have it on CD - 
Hopefully someday we can have that one way or another. Even if there were 
plans to do something else with Adipocere i believe the reason why anything 
didn´t happen was that the drummer left shortly after the release leaving 
the band again with an incompetent line-up, at the time Jarkko played the 
guitars and did the vocals and then after the split, he realised that if he 
wanted ever to have a full band again - he would have to learn to play the 
drums. The following years were basically taken by him getting familiar with 
his new instrument.

4. ADRAMELECH were active during the very vibrant years in Finnish death 
metal, but didn't release the first official album until 1996.  At this 
point, many of the Finns (AMORPHIS, CONVULSE, XYSMA) were neglecting their 
original style, and death metal as a whole was in a lull period.  Do you 
think this had any effect on how "Psychostasia" was received?  Did this 
affect in any way what you decided to put forth on that album?

Most definetily. Black metal was on the rise and death metal in general was 
considered "yesterdays news". Psychostasia was a great album, but didn´t get 
noticed or the appreciation since there were Emperor, Burzum and Immortal at 
the peak of their success...those were the hot news and i can totally 
understand that. I totally believe that if the album would´ve been released 
straight after the Spring of recovery Ep in 1992 - we wouldn´t be the only 
two people knowing it..hahaha!!! It´s safe to say that Jarkko pays no 
attention whatsoever to the outside metal world - The distribution was ok, 
Repulse was doing great at the time but it didn´t have that "hit" potential 
for instance "slumber of sullen eyes" had. You and me can appreciate the 
vibe and the style the album is made but for the majority of the metal crowd 
it wasn´t that interesting since like i said - there were more interesting 
things going on in the black metal scene.

5. On "Psychostasia," besides the obvious DEMIGOD-type influence, there 
seems to be a lot of DEMILICH sound as well, including a lot of atonal, 
disjointed riffing in asymmetrical time; the album is thus a synthesis of 
some of the more well-known characteristics of Finnish death metal.  Is this 
at all accurate?  What influences do you attribute to the songwriting on 
that album?

That´s one of the most compelling aspect with the old-school finnish death 
metal sound. I don´t think Demilich was an influence at all though - Jarkko 
was totally into the first Morbid Angel albums together with Immolation, 
Deicide, Sinister and such so i think his main influences came from that 
direction. Also, Jarkko is fucking weird man...hahaha...seriously, if you´d 
met the guy you´d never expect him to be able to write the stuff he does. 
He´s quiet, totally keeping every emotion inside...hehe...like a serial 
killer next door you´d least expect...i think for some parts Adramelech is a 
continuation of his personality in some weird way.

6. What defines the Finnish death metal sound?  A lot of the well-known 
Finnish bands embraced a heavily grindcore approach at one point, but 
others, including ADRAMELECH, did not.  Do you consider all these grindcore-
type bands to also have been part of the formation of the same general 
sound?

The production is one, Tico Tico studios in northern finland had a very 
distinctive sound which to me personally has a huge meaning. Also the 
songwriting is definetily one of a kind, twisted melodies, weird timings, 
the general athmosphere...it´s impossible to describe what it is...you know 
when you hear it but you just can´t desribe it. As for Adramelech, i know 
Jarkko´s main influences come from the Florida death metal scene and this 
was his interpretation of that style. He got more and more into the faster 
and grinding style later on after "Pure Blood Doom". When i think of the 
great finnish death metal albums, i don´t necessarily agree since to me the 
first Amorphis, Demigod, Archgoat, Mordicus...they had more riffbased 
approach than just pure straightforward brutality.


7. Death metal bands seem to "sell-out" according to some national 
character: Americans tend toward hard rock, Swedes toward traditional heavy 
metal; Finns seem to embrace psychedelic/prog music...why is this?

Someone poisoned their tab-water??? I have no idea why...I guess getting 
older has an effect, but that´s such a cliche...i agree totally what you 
said and i for one hate it. To me it´s kinda funny that at the same time all 
those bands want to make a clear distance for what they did years ago, you 
know, almost talking it like an embarrasing phase of their youth...but still 
they gladly carry the same name because people know it and they gladly take 
the sales they make with the old-fans. I think the main reason is that 
changing their original name would mean they would have to start all over 
again - and with the shit they play these days - you can just fucking say 
goodbye to everything since i can´t see any reason why any label would want 
to sign them anymore. To put it short, they wimp out, i still love the 
albums i loved 15 years ago and i ain´t ashamed of it. I just can´t 
comprehend it...but then again i don´t have to.

8. How would you compare the work on "Pure Blood Doom" to that of the 
earlier works?  What about "Terror of a Thousand Faces"? 

I joined the band after the release of "Seven" MCD in 1998 and at that point 
i strongly believe we had the most committed line-up ever with me, Jarkko 
and Ali. Those are the best years of my life basically, i live about 70 km´s 
away from Loimaa and on fridays straight from work would take a train and 
together we would practise all weekend long and drank beer at evenings. Ali 
was an amazing guy with amazing vocals and musicianship - Jarkko had written 
all the material before that and we tried a new studio owned by a friend of 
ours (Mika, guitars on slumber of sullen eyes) but that didn´t go too well 
and we decided to re-do the album, we dropped one song and wrote two new 
ones, and re-recorded the album. To me it has 5-6 killer Adramelech songs in 
it but the production lacks the energy and the underground "feel" which 
kinda diminishes the final product a bit. The speed was getting a bit too 
much for Jarkko and we had to sample some of the drums pretty hard which 
resulted a non-natural drum sound, also the guitars lacked the feel although 
it is a great album which i´m very proud of, Centuries of murder, spawn of 
the suffering, thule, season of the predator, abomination 459...amazing 
tracks. Jarkko had kind of reached his limits with technicality with 
"Seven", he said he just felt the urge to write more and more technical 
riffs and if you listen to the title track of Seven, you can tell there are 
some bad-ass and wicked riffs all over it so with "pure blood doom" he 
wanted to pursue more with speed. Fine, the album turned out well but even 
to me that represents a "changed" Adramelech sound even if it has these 
elements you can clearly point out it´s Adramelech. Repulse however had run 
into deep financial coma and we were left without an official release with 
them so we decided to form an underground label ourselves with Jarkko called 
Severe Music and released the album ourselves. Man that was a glorious day 
to get our hands on our first release...we didn´t have distribution, nothing 
but we felt so strongly about it we went for it anyways. In 2001 i left to 
Kosovo for a year to serve in a peacekorps after the balkan war and during 
that year we sadly lost Ali to addiction for drugs...i lost a best friend 
and it is still a heartbreaking thing for me to talk about. Also there were 
only me and Jarkko left in the band but we decided we would still make 
another Adramelech release. So we began writing "Terror of thousand faces" 
Jarkko was swept more into the more brutal side of death metal and i 
contributed to more than half of the album which naturally changed the sound 
from the sound of the early days. Jarkko was totally blown by the Behemoth´s 
Satanica CD and he grew up with an obsession that he would get a d-drum set 
aswell - i disagreed but he´s the one calling the shots so he got em and 
with those d-drums we recorded the album, in a result was a very drum-
program like sound and mixed with a very dirty swarm of flies -like guitar 
buzz and that kinda was the point i knew this wasn´t going to work for long, 
the album was great, i still love it greatly and it has a new vocalist with 
a kick ass vocals sound, Marko, and it has a new feel of ugliness but still 
i had the feeling this would be it.  Repulse records was reborn under the x-
treem music tag and released the album in 2005, almost 3 year after it was 
recorded. I actually was so disappointed with the soundscape of that album i 
didnt listen to it before it was an official release and now i love it!!! It 
has the most aggressive approach ever with the band but still...i think we 
should go back to the classic Adramelech sound if we ever get back together.

9. Was it important for ADRAMELECH to "progress," or is it more satisfying 
to establish a style and write within that framework?  What percentage of 
songwriting is conscious choice as opposed to intuition, or "feel?"

I think for the most parts, the feel guides you to make conscious decisions 
when you write music. Picking up styles or parts or riff ideas you like from 
different bands and collaborating those into your own complete songs. At 
somepoint it evolves into a point you don´t necessarily even think about 
another bands - you´ve grown into it and the feel starts to live a life of 
it´s own. So to return some questions back - some people lose that feel for 
death metal within time, then you start to get the feel from Kingston Wall, 
Hellacopters, Pink Floyd or System of a Down...and that´s when big bands 
turn into a pile of steaming, warm feces.

10. ADRAMELECH has always had a somewhat unstable line-up.  Have you ever 
been able to play live, if it was even a priority to do so?

Yes there have been some recorded cases...heheh...i guess what Jarkko keeps 
as his greatest achievement touringwise was in 1997 the Repulsive tour with 
Incantation, Deeds of Flesh and Avulsed - that was after the Psychostasia 
release and it actually had a huge role in the continuation for Adramelech 
and surprisingly Demigod aswell. Seppo and Jussi from Demigod were on that 
tour to help Jarkko to complete the line up and Demigod was basically 
considered dead...that tour actually gave Jussi and Seppo the initial spark 
and boost to decide that they would reform Demigod without Esa, the mainman 
who had totally grown out of death metal. At this point i´d like to say that 
as i´m a huge fan of early Demigod i keep in touch with them all the time, 
we borrow guitar amps for studio to each other, Demigod has a new drummer 
now which i introduced them into so it´s a close relationship and i know 
other fans secretly hope that Esa Linden would return to the band to go back 
to that "slumber" sound...well i hate to ruin the fantasy but that AIN´T 
gonna happen. If Esa joined back, Demigod would sound like Monster Magnet 
instead of the metal band it does today. And i prefer metal. But back to the 
original question: we did some few random dates here and there with the 
"Pure blood doom" line-up but then came 2001 and things changed drastically.

11. ADRAMELECH describe their lyrics as dealing with ancient mythology.  Do 
lyrical choices reflect anything about the innate character of music?  In 
what contexts are they not important?

Jarkkos older brother Turkka wrote pretty much all the lyrics up until "Pure 
Blood Doom" and he´s totally into the mythology stuff. I think it just fits 
well with the strange feel of Adramelech music, a lot of cool ancient god 
names in titles, an actually story behind the lyrics and so on. On the 
latest album "Terror" i wrote a couple of lyrics and Ali wrote a couple 
together with Marko but theyre more of the standard death metal style about 
general violence and bloodshed  just because my focus on lyric writing comes 
down more with the actual vocal patterns and theyre just made out of my head 
without any connection to actual mythology. How cool is to have an actual 
trilogy like Book of the Worm, Book of the Black Earth and Book of Flesh on 
each full length? it backs up the music and the general image perfectly.

12. Is the choice of mythology as a lyrical theme simply a matter of 
personal interest? Something like this seems infinitely more appropriate in 
death metal than, say, jazz-fusion or techno.  Why is this?

See my answer above, Turkka started writing lyrics for Jarkko in the first 
years and when they turned out so well he just kept doing it since he loves 
that stuff. I think it backs up death metal because theyre ugly kind of 
stories with a compelling aura to them - techno for instance is definetily 
for a different kinds of simple minded people, people who worry about their 
make up and when theyre dancing in a nightclub, hearing a story about thoth 
slaying his enemies might be a bit off-place. Also the ancient mythology is 
violent, which is exactly what death metal is, kinda like a horror movie.

13. Is death metal a more "real" music than other forms?  What needs to be 
present to make music compelling?  To what extent is the communication of 
ideas controllable through it?

To me it is, or at least it offers the elements i want to hear in music 
where the others are just...hmmm...i don´t know, meaningless audio waves. To 
me it´s about the heavyness, it is the most heavy form of metal...the music 
needs to have aggressiveness to it, more than just break-neck speed it needs 
the meat around the bones. The juicy riffs and groove, vocals that are low 
more than high and it needs to follow a pattern, to make a rhythmic 
instrument of it´s own - not just off-time sewering. I can´t put myself 
higher above others with my opinions though, theyre just how i see and feel 
them but it doesn´t necessarily make this the ultimate truth...hehehe

14. What should be learned from mythology?

the name says it all...it´s a myth, so i don´t necessarily think of em as a 
guiding to any direction. Those were made up by a man, they have good 
stories in them and you can catch a lesson here and there but to me it´s 
basically just entertainment in someways. Good stories but don´t go building 
your life around em...that´d be weird.

15. Despite being Finns, you pick up a lot on Norse themes (songs such as 
"Heroes in Godly Blaze" and "As the Gods Succumb" for example).  Do all 
myths derive from a common source?  If so, to what extent did the 
differentiation of peoples affect myths as we have them recorded today, and 
are the differences important?

I don´t think Turkka, who wrote the lyrics, ever thought of it like he 
should stick to a certain mythology because there are good stories to write 
lyrics in any mythology. I think the mythology doesn´t come from a common 
source, they´re stories that have been travelling from generation to 
generation in different countries, and i example consider christianity and 
the bible a mythology, the norsemen had their history and myths but it 
didn´t grew up to be a major religion so for some people those are 
"fairytales" when christianity and the stories about jesus walking on water 
"a fact of history". When Texas Chainsaw Massacre came out, people were 
given the idea that it was based on a real story and that got em hooked. 
People really believed that it happened even if there were parts here and 
there that were based on real events, the most of it was just made up. So if 
people bought that in the 20th century that has to mean everything was 
"possible" in the early ages. And those stories turned out as myths.

16. Do we suffer, in modern times, from a lack of myth?  We have overcome 
many things, e.g. through science, that we now feel are false, despite what 
may be learned from them symbolically or poetically.  Is some kind of 
"mystery" important to make life worthwhile?

I think it is, your mind needs food other than a Britney Spears video or a 
game of Grand Theft Auto...The cool thing about the myths and the writings 
is that you can pick up lines and symbols that you can easily attach to 
modern life and say "this guy knew this was going to happen." For example 
the revelations of Nostradamus. I believe you see what you want to see and 
what you see doesn´t mean there wouldn´t be more.

17. Does ADRAMELECH or the members have any particular religious/social
convictions?  What is your opinion of: Christianity, Buddhism, capitalism?

None whatsoever, Finland is a peaceful place to live and even if youre not 
part of the church like me - people don´t come to my door trying to win me 
over again. So I basically don´t even think about these things, i have no 
idea about buddhism other than what they teached at school, if you find 
comfort in those - go for it. Everyone is in charge of their own lives.

18. Should death metal ever be political music?

I don´t necessarily feel that it should or should not be like that but to me 
the political stuff was more close to the grindcore scene. I´m kinda like an 
old-school death metal fan and to me death metal is about zombies, killing 
people and the violent stories...hehehe...If the music is good though, i´d 
have no problem listening to a political stuff - I love Napalm Death´s 
Harmony Corruption and that´s a political album.

19. ADRAMELECH have been inactive for some time.  What is the reason for 
this?

Jarkko doesn´t want to do it anymore, simple as that. He has a new life now 
and we haven´t been in touch too often, i think he hasn´t even touched his 
guitar in years so i don´t think there will ever be another Adramelech 
album, that´s just how i feel about it. If he does decide to get back on the 
horse i´m always there to help because i feel things were left a bit 
unfinished. I´ve my new band now which i´m active with, Torture Killer, so i 
get my death metal dose i need."=

20. Is death metal still relevant today?  In all mythologies there are
references to a "Golden Age" of prosperity.  Death metal's seems to be 
around 1989 - 1993...what albums/bands constituted death metal's Golden Age, 
and can there ever be a return to it?  How?

Those were the days eh? i don´t think the quality of the releases musicwise 
is ever going to be like that again...i wish it would, but i´ve been waiting 
a year after year for things to be like that again but it´s not going to 
happen. The early Death, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Obituary, Monstrosity, 
Cannibal Corpse, Gorefest, Vader, Sinister, Entombed, Dismember, Bolt 
Thrower, Asphyx, Pestilence, Morgoth, Incantation, Suffocation...every year 
there would be like 8-10 truly classic death metal releases coming out, 
gladly these days some of em are still doing what they do but they just fail 
to reach that same level of quality. Some new bands come up every now and 
then but theyre different and death metal is going to another direction now, 
some like it and there are good bands around still but to me nothing beats 
the time of late 80´s to mid 90´s...

21. What are the reasons for ADRAMELECHs end?  What conditions would be
necessary for a return?

See question no. 19...it would need Jarkko to get back his motivation but 
i´m afraid that ain´t gonna happen. There are times i call and ask what´s up 
and let´s do it again but then it just comes back with small things like 
trying to get him to do parts of this interview when i´m just losing all 
hope and remember all the things that just don´t work with him...I have a 
fully functional new band and i don´t have to energy to push somebody all 
the time to get things done.

22. Please name your five favorite Finnish death metal albums, including
ADRAMELECH albums if you choose.

Demigod: Slumber of Sullen Eyes
Amorphis: The Karelian Isthmus
Mordicus: Dances From Left
Adramelech: Seven
Archgoat: Everything
Adramelech: Spring of recovery
Adramelech: Psychostasia

...hehe...i´ve no problems naming early Adramelech stuff because i was a fan 
back then, not a member.

23. What do you feel are the motivations for bands to continue to record 
poor albums long after their creative impulses have disappeared?

Hehe...i´ve been thinking about that aswell, maybe they are just so deep in 
the process they fail to see that what they do doesn´t just cut it??? I 
don´t know, some of it has to be that the old guys want to experience that 
drive and force they once had...and if i´d have a complaining fat wife and 2 
children...hell...i´d want to form a band also and get on tours so i could 
get out of the house....hahahaha...

24. The idea of an afterlife seems absurd, but all traditions speak of one.  
Does the literal existence of an afterlife have any effect on humanity?

Sure it does, look at the extreme religious groups in the middle east - if 
you truly believe you get a seat in the heavens with fucking big titted 
virgins piled up in front of you...who wouldn´t blow himself up in a bus?

25. A lot of meta-historical studies (Toynbee, Spengler) maintain that
civilization forms in the face of challenge and withers at the lack of it.  
Is this what makes Finnish people so infamously cold, serious-minded and 
introverted?

hehe...are you saying were withering here because we´re cold to strangers??? 
heheheh...That´s a good saying though. I think our characteristics have 
modified since we live in the far corner of Europe, small population in a 
big country has left us isolated in someways and that reflects to our 
personality. We like keeping things to ourselves, don´t talk unless someone 
asks you something and it is reserved i agree, get-to-the-point style of 
communication - but i´m just like that aswell. 

26. What do you think of Pentti Linkola?

How the hell you know that guy!?!?! The basic ideas are pretty well on 
place, you know, things can´t continue like this - the earth will be 
destroyed and overpopulation is the biggest reason for it aswell as the 
industrialization with exploiting capitalism and just a sick urge to make 
profit. But his ways and methods are somewhat controversial - he´s basically 
a looney who has the right goal but with crazy ass methods. He supports 
poisoning the water on major cities to decrease the population and so forth. 
But he is a nature person and realizes that it is our most valuable resource 
if we want to stick on this planet for long. 

27. In the system of the universe as a whole, what is the purpose of death 
metal?  The purpose of music in general?

To entertain while were here...on an universe level it has no meaning at all 
but for individuals on this planet it may be the most driving force. Keeping 
people doing music keeps them away from getting in to trouble...hehehe...

28. Art is often characterized as a (passive or active) reflection of its 
surroundings. Does death metal make sense in a world that is not ugly, 
decaying, degenerate?

Perfect sense...If there would be total anarchy out on the streets people 
wouldn´t have time to play death metal - they would be too busy chopping 
heads out on the streets. The darker side has it´s appeal, the loving father 
of 2 has as much fascination towards a serial killer than i do - he just 
doesnt make songs about it. It´s a fantasy basically and if you have music 
as violent as death metal, in my opinion your lyrics need to be like that 
aswell. Finland is the safest place on earth to live, and if our music would 
be a reflection how we live here - our songs would be about chewing 
bubblegum...and sound like HIM.

29. What do you think jihadi violence represents?

There´s a saying that "another man´s terrorist is another man´s freedom 
fighter"...there´s some small sense to that phrase but i think it´s an 
excuse for total uncompromising anarchy and world domination. The problem 
with western culture that even in war we don´t want to hurt anyones 
feelings. Where as they don´t. Mixing a western culture with the middle east 
just don´t mix, it´s like trying to marry a match with a tank of gasoline, 
we need to get out of there and they need to get out of here.

30. Is death metal a "hobby"?  Is there a "death metal lifestyle" and what 
comprises it?

To me it is a hobby, the thing i enjoy doing with my spare time, but it´s a 
very vital part of my identity - i couldn´t imagine enjoying myself without 
this music. Death metal is a powerful form of music and the coolest thing 
about it is it´s modesty, that down-to-earth type of attitude towards it. It 
ain´t about an individual skill of some instrument, it´s just a group of 
people who together create a sonic wall of power. The attraction is its 
somewhat "faceless" group of normal working class people where no individual 
is considered higher than the others. You support the bands and instead of 
wasting your energy to put someone down, you let the ones you like know 
about it and encourage the others - there´s no room for overlooking others 
since we, the death metallers, need to stick together. We have a unity kind 
of feel no other style has.

31. Thank you for answering this long interview...please add anything I've 
omitted or that you find necessary.

Dude, a huge thanks for your interest towards our band. What you have here 
is most propably the last Adramelech interview ever to take place and i 
tried to give you as much info i could. You seriously made an effort with 
this interview and i tried to respond to that, hope you enjoyed it. Salute 
brother and be safe! 

---
Jari Laine
ADRAMELECH/TORTURE KILLER/Severe Music
http://www.myspace.com/torturekiller
[The ADRAMELECH Myspace can be found through this page]
---

-=-

Interview with Ron Vento of AURORA BOREALIS (US)
by kontinual

1. What made you strike out on your "own" to form AURORA BOREALIS?  Was it 
your intention from the  beginning to be the sole creative force in the 
band?

No Not really, I enjoyed playing with a band but the guys I was playing with 
had to many other obligations, the main thing was I wanted a better, faster 
drummer. I also am very picky when it comes to playing things so in  the 
studio I just preferred to play the parts myself for tightness reasons.

2. Not only have you been writing all the music since the band's inception, 
but circumstances have been since "Northern Lights" that you've released, 
promoted, and recorded your own music as well.  How well has this worked for 
you?

Yeah we have always released at least one version of our own albums on  
myvnightsky productions.  Die Hard released two of the albums as well. For 
the new one I was just sick of dealing with a label. They dont really do 
much  for you in the small world of metal. I have the financial means to do 
anything they can do so why bother with them. I can also keep track of 
exactly how many albums sale as well rather than get some bogus statement 
every quarter saying that I havent paid back my advance yet. That's not a 
shot at die hard just labels in general. I guess if i were a touring band on 
a larger label they may be alright but everyone I know on a so called bigger 
label hates it as well, and I know a lot of the bands out there.

3. I know you've had some European distribution, but have you ever had adeal 
with a label in the US?  Do you think AURORA BOREALIS is better suited to 
one audience or the other?

No we havent had any deal with US lables for aurora.  i do have  another 
band signed to a US label and it is a Disaster as well. Needless to say  I 
am out of that contract now also.

4.  A lot of bands release "classic" albums early and burn out quickly.  In 
your case, I think the development and improvement has been slow but steady 
through time, both in technical skill and in songcraft.  Do you feel you  
have a lot of ideas remaining for the future?

Yeah i have some great stuff that I may end up recording, I appreciate the 
compliment on the growing of the band, that is the same way I feel about it. 
I am just not sure however if I want to do another album any time soon.  
They are a lot of work and my time is stretched very thing with running my  
studio.

5.  Your lead guitar work, in particular, has become much stronger than on 
the earlier  recordings.  A lot of metal has given up on leads altogether, 
or tacks them on with such little taste that they are intensely distracting.  
What is a "great" lead guitar part in your mind?

Someone who can be very technical but still have taste to the solos.  
Playing fast means nothing if the part isnt adding or saying anything  to  
the song.

A lot of hte old school guys were great, now All I hear is no solos or
nothing but shred like it was the 80's some solo that's just way out of 
place.  I have had a few really good players come through the studio though.

6.  All the album releases so far are very strongly linked thematically:
artwork particularly, the nuances of the individual recordings and musical 
style, and to some extent through lyrics.  Why do you feel theme to be 
important?  Do you ever fear becoming stale, or  perceived as releasing the 
same thing too often because of  this?

No not at all, all my albums are based around history and I have  thousandS 
of years to go back on for new material. I couldn't cover it all if I 
released an album every week. There is always a new topic or era throughout 
time I can pull from. I like the albums to have a certain feel hence the art 
etc.

7.  AURORA BOREALIS reminds much of the more SLAYER-influenced Florida
scene, with the melody and speed of the faster strains of European black 
metal.  To what do you attribute the AB sound?

I Listened to slayer a lot when I was growing up but more so the Euro  
Thrash bands like Kreator, Sodom, Coroner etc. Those are the bands I was 
really into, and then later All I used to listen to were bands like dark 
Funeral, Setherial, and just whatever Speedy stuff drum wise I could get my 
hands on. I enjoy fast drums but once again with taste.

8. When and for what reason do you expect to stop releasing albums for
AURORA BOREALIS?

It could be soon, I will stop when it is work, and not fun. Then its just a 
job. There is no money in it so it has to be for fun. The last album was 
riding the line of work. I am just going to step back for a year or so and 
evaluate things.

9. It took much longer to write/record/release "Relinquish" than it did any 
of the previous recordings.  Was there a reason for this?

We spent so much time on this cd. It took months because I kept going back 
and re mixing or re recording parts to make things tight. Once I think I had 
it right I would master the album and then hear something and then go back 
and do it all over again. I also took my time writing to make sure the songs 
flowed  well together and just weren't a bunch of riifs strung together. 
TonY did a great job drum wise to make that happen.

10. What is your general method of songwriting?   Do you prefer to craft 
riffs into songs, or start with a theme upon which to build individual 
riffs?  How much do you experiment with your method?

Usually i write all the musical parts and then decide on a theme based on 
how the song sounds. Then lyrics follow. Every now and then I get a lyric 
idea first and build around that. I have no really method I try and stick 
to.

11. What do you think of the general metal "scene" in 2007?  Do you think 
there is still an  "underground," or has it been destroyed by the internet?

No there is still an underground but there are just a flood of bands to  
deal with 95% of what is out is complete garbage that you have to weed 
through to find the good 5%.  Also The basic groove metal I am not much 
into. and clean vocals. Songs just sound the same, clean part yell part 
breakdown its just the same song re hashed.

12. What inspires your lyrics?  There are a number of obvious references to 
Norse myth.  What do you think of "Asatru" as a  modern-day religious 
concept?  You've also touched on the Mayans, Egyptians, and others.  What 
makes myth interesting for you in general?

I have no interest in following any religion i write about, I just find  
them interesting and their beliefs fascinating. I follow a more traditional 
religious belief.  Myths are great to read about as well. People who listen  
to my albums and say" this stuff is so evil"  have no idea what they are 
talking about, we have no evil underlay anywhere on our cds.  I simply Tell 
stories about other people beliefs and ideas.  I may write an album  one day 
on my own beliefs but I dont think the metal crowd will like it to much.

13. If you could choose three mythological figures with whom to have a
"conversation," who would they be?

Sorry to be so boring but i wouldn't

14. Does it matter if Christ was a mythical instead a real, corporeal
figure?

Well Christ was certainly a real person, not mythical at all that is fact.  
The question to wether he was a corporeal figure matters a great deal to 
basically every type of religion. If he was it shuts the door on a lot of 
religions if he wasn't well then you have a ton of others to figure out. I 
guess it really doesn't matter to atheists. I do a lot of religious study, i 
have readthe bible cover to cover and just about every other religious book 
i can get my hands on.  I dont think you can make your religious choice 
until you explore all avenues. People who have been brainwashed since birth 
never decided on their own, they were force fed one religion or another. 
This is a very very deep question that takes books and history and science 
not an interview to talk about.  I just read a great book called the case 
for Christ it goes into great depth to prove Christ was a corporeal figure.  
It was written by a converted athiest, very good read.

15. Do you listen to any music outside of metal?  Do you think it is
important for writers of metal music to do so?

I listen to everything except rap. I have to know how to record and mix
every style for my studio to stay in business.  The Studio also Does rap  
but luckily I have other guys to handle that.  For metal writers i think it  
brings another avenue to venture down and can bring a new depth to your own  
music.  I actually like music outside of metal and would listen to it  
regardless of the studio or not.

16. Do you think it is important to support young artists and bands around 
you no matter how you feel about the quality of their music?

That's a tough question. I guess if they have potential you should. Like  
you said earlier look at the way we have progressed, I would like to try and 
help bands do the same but sometimes people are just awful and they have no 
chance at music. Some of those guys might want to think about another job.

17. Do you have a day job outside of AURORA BOREALIS and Nightsky Studio 
work?

No that is all I do every day of my life. The Studio will expand again soon 
we are just to busy to accommodate all the work we have. I started it in a 
house then moved to a crappy location, recently we moved it to a more 
adequate 1500 sq foot building and soon we will move again. It occupies all 
my time.

18. Are death and black metal "intelligent" genres of music?

Definitely, the good bands that are out are just as good musician wise as 
any genre out there.  What gives it a bad rap is those 95% of garbage bands  
we were talking about earlier. Even lyric wise some of the bands out get 
pretty deep with some stuff.  To bad those guys arent making the money of 
pop artists because the metal guys deserve it.

19. When is the last time AURORA BOREALIS performed for a live audience?  Is 
this something you think is important for metal bands to do in general?

We do not perform and never will.  I had enough of that in my old bands.
When I started it i knew it  was a studio band, that's it.  Im not into the 
smokey, drunk, crude, loud, club scene.

20. Do you have any strong political convictions?  Why do you think death 
metal generally developed to be apolitical in nature?

Not at all. I have no idea I dont think death metal is generally a  
political in nature genre, of course you do have your political bands but no  
more than your, satanic, gore or other style bands.

21. Is death metal/metal inherently anti-religious?  Are there useful
religions, and if so how would we as a society return to them?

I think for the most part it is anti religious or satanic in nature. As for 
the second part about useful religions once again that is a question that is 
to long to discuss. Religion in general teaches good. Maybe we need more 
good in our world today. I dont mean religions that have suicide bombers and 
100 virgins in heaven.  many wars have been fought over religion however 
wars run deeper than that if you look harder, the same wars satanists always 
say are religious based run way deeper and usually have a political, or land 
based theme to accompany the religion on the surface. I have studied many 
religions and for the most part they try and make you a better person.  I 
just cant figure out why someone would side with the bad side of things, 
with hatred, and destruction, and lets face it if satan is real then all 
these people that worship him are really morons seeing that he is all evil 
and full of despise for mankind.  good luck sitting and his side in hell i 
would like to know how that turns out for them. these bands that preach 
hatred for mankind, death and destruction are fake and simply retarded.  if 
they are into that so much, l would like to see them kill their family for 
death that they like so much, Burn their houses to the ground for 
destruction, and how could they even be in a band together if they preach 
hatred for mankind they would hate each other and couldn't even function as 
a band.  What jokes.

22. Does "might make right"?

No

23. Did you grow up in Maryland?  Do you enjoy living/working there?
Yes I grew up here but lived many other places.  I travel a lot as well. I 
dont like maryland so much. There is to much crime.  I live close to  
Washington DC, a cesspool of ignorance and crime.

24. What maintains your interest in metal music?

Simply the love for the way it sounds, i can get my aggression out by
playing it. I try not to focus on a bands lyrical theme to much if I dont 
believe in what they are saying but I do take note on how they word things 
even if what they say I have no interest in.

25. Thanks a lot for the interview.  Please feel free to finish this how you 
wish.

Thank you, i always appreciate an interview.  Our band is rather small so 
these things help us out more than you know.  Please list my contact info as 
well.

---
Ron Vento / Nightsky Studios
3432 Rockefeller Ct
Waldorf, MD 20602

www.nightskystudios.org
www.auroraborealis.org
www.imperialice.com
---

-=-

[-MUSIC-]
        
=ALBUM REVIEWS=

ANGELCORPSE (US) - Of Lucifer and Lightning (Osmose, 2007)

Eight years after the release of their previous album, "The Inexorable," 
ANGELCORPSE return with...the exact same thing.  A band of marginal 
importance in the first place, they became identifiable initially as one 
building primarily from early MORBID ANGEL in nearly all aspects, touched 
with the smattering of influences that commanded the works of Pete 
Helmkamp's ORDER FROM CHAOS as well as the latter's attitude and lyricisms; 
in short, their approach was scathing and more fiery than most taking from 
MORBID ANGEL directly, and clearly superior as a live experience rather than 
recording, for which their extensive history of touring during their short 
tenure is proof.  At around five years and three albums, their presence was 
mercifully short the first time around, which fit well with the mode of a 
band who seemed to be attempting to strike the Earth like lightning (to 
borrow some of their iconography) so it could smolder in their wake - not to 
create anything immortal.  For whatever reason, after a sabbatical longer 
than their term, we've been presented with this album of hasty, predictable 
self-mockery.  "Of Lucifer and Lightning" is hardly relevant to metal in 
this time, let alone to ANGELCORPSE, who would have been better left 
nostalgically in the minds of all those who could see this band positively 
for their one-time impact - more like the crushing blow of hammer to stone 
than the articulate carving of any wondrous forms from it.  Destroying the 
stone once might be an impressive feat, but proving you can do the same 
again, in the same way - who cares? -kontinual

-=-

DARK ANGEL (US) - Darkness Descends (Combat, 1986)

Emerging in the same year as Slayer's "Reign in Blood" this one is in a 
similar proto-death metal vein to that more famous album. Starting off with 
a blasting and majestic intro, the first track instantly sets the tone for a 
work whose only message is that violence is man's ultimate destiny. 
Possessing a spacious, old school steamy production this album is given 
enough room to expand mood whilst not losing on rhythmic intensity, 
reminiscent of what Immortal, Gorgoroth or Enslaved would later accomplish. 
As may have been inferred from the previous sentence, the main drive of 
these pieces lies in the consistency and incessancy of the rhythm section. 
Adopting the strumming techniques of speed and a thunderous percussion to 
match, "Darkness Descends" marches mercilessly through any wimpy 
cosmopolitan repulsion to animalism. Riffs reverberate through the networks 
of percussion gracefully weaving out an atmosphere of minimalistic 
destruction, bass existing somewhere between percussion and drums 
synthesises the two approaches to give a sense of delight in violence, an 
impression further strengthened by the jubilant and smug vocals. The 
versatility of the vocal performance is actually extremely commendable, as 
is the attentiveness to subtle shifts in mood by the vocalist, reacted upon 
with deadly precision. Each track starts off charging and pumping all 
cylinders on hell injected adrenaline before hitting the road flaming in its 
own apocalyptic delirium. While largely focusing its attention on being 
musically confrontational and aesthetically dark, there is also a sense of 
genuine craft in the structuring of phrasal detail as a microcosmic echo of 
thematics shifts towards the creation of a larger narration in form. 
 
Like the Slayer classic, this album has its golden mid-tempo bass carnage 
track too, entitled "Black Prophecies." This track carefully adapts rhythmic 
emphasis and textural details to extend a feeling of restrained auditory 
chaos. There is a small drawback to this album, in that in its unstoppable 
insistence on forcefulness content tends to occasionally blur into self 
through lack of particular variation in the different ideas, it is though a 
minor price to pay that would dissuade on the most shallow of listeners. 

This is Dark Angel's best and perhaps luckiest work, considering the lack of 
subtlety on releases prior to this and the failure to replicate the spirit 
of 'Darkness descends' on later albums. If this is overlooked it is through 
no particular flaw in the way this has been written, for Dark Angel here 
give every bit as much as Slayer do on "Reign in Blood." -FNH

-=-

DEMONCY (US) - Within the Sylvan Realms of Frost (So It Is Done, 1999)

Fusing the American brand of death metal atonalism with the idealistic 
neoclassical demi-symphonic methodology of Nordic bands, Demoncy with this 
album presented a fresh take on black metal that bypassed the effete 
sentimentality of the waning genre and avoided the tendency of death metal 
to lapse into ineffectual. 

The first six tracks of this album are a departure from the bands 
established style as a more rough-shod musical prospect and are actually 
quite discernibly consonant in parts. Juxtaposing the pulsating drone of 
Burzum styled percussion against a fuzz drenched hypnotic whirl of vaguely 
Gorgoroth inspired melodic riffing, Demoncy create a vast and expansive 
sonicscape. At once this is violently feral as well as thoughtful and 
contemplative encapsulating the contrary essences of black metal's 
nightmarish animalism and medievalist romanticism. 

The last seven tracks are both rawer in content and aesthetic, focusing less 
on the tragic dramatism of Nordic style black metal and more on the delight 
in violent destructivism through minimalistic riffing a la Belial, Beherit 
or fellow countrymen Profanitica. Melody is much less wistful here and 
struggles, perhaps deliberately, to assert itself through the incessant 
trudging doom of guttural riffs and suitably muddy production. Not 
surprisingly keyboards play far smaller role here to what they did earlier 
on in this album, taking a back seat for the most part to allow the chaos to 
unfurl in an unashamedly straightforward fashion. For this reason these 
latter tracks have an understandably limited listenability failing also to 
capture the off-kilter ghastliness that made the follow-up to this album, 
"Joined in Darkness," a more engaging listening prospect. 

Nevertheless this is a beast of an album that proves that American bands can 
match up to the style and worldview of the Scandinavians. -FNH

-=-

IMMOLATION (US) - Shadows in the Light (Listenable, 2007)

Having on good advice avoided the previous album "Harnessing Ruin," nothing 
of the below will be in reference to it.  At this point, it seems like 
abstinence from listening to said record was probably a wise decision given 
that IMMOLATION's latest is more spirited than anything they've presented in 
seven years, easily.

IMMOLATION secured their future path somewhere between "Failures for Gods" 
and "Close to World Below".  After three albums they had sufficiently 
explored and defined what it meant to be "IMMOLATION"; their frenetic 
dissonance and frantic drive has been bountiful as one of the most 
recognizable and consistent sources of quality death metal since then.

Despite these achievements, as mortals they too were subject to the entropy 
of self-reference and comfort-level creation: where arguably they peaked 
with "Close to a World Below," "Unholy Cult," while not an unsatisfying 
experience, seemed too deeply rooted in its own sense of identity and 
occasionally too simple in execution to rival its predecessor.  Again, 
without reference to "Harnessing Ruin," I am under the impression that this 
was true to an even greater extent on that release.

"Shadows in the Light" is thus easily a half-step back in the correct 
direction.  IMMOLATION need little in the way of descriptive flourish (hence 
the brevity of this review), but to summarize it sounds like they are have 
actually tried to create again.  The most bothersome aspects of "Unholy 
Cult," the recursive bits of too-bouncy rhythm that made some of the album a 
catchy but more immediate experience, have mostly been ignored in favor of 
some actual experimentation with the IMMOLATION-idea of riff writing and 
song structure that is extremely refreshing to hear.  The trademarks that 
scream "IMMOLATION!" from miles off are most decidedly still present, and it 
is hardly realistic -- or necessary -- to expect that these ever disappear.  
If the band can continue the kind of thinking demanding they re-tool their 
trademarks to some new approaches and can up the quality control somewhat 
(some of these riffs are sad, simple throwaways ruining what could have been 
an even better album), they might surprise us all again with a truly 
fantastic work in the near future. -kontinual

-=-

ISENGARD (NOR) - Vinterskugge (Peaceville, 1994)

Before Fenriz started to create reactionary fodder with Darkthrone, he was 
the humorous genius who broke the boundaries of extreme black metal, 
following the path of Klaus Schulze and creating cosmic ambient, as well as 
experimenting with black/thrash metal and Norwegian folk music. The latter 
project became "Isengard," which is a rough mix of the atmosphere from black 
metal aesthetic, the simple percussion from thrash metal, the dark undertones 
from ambient, and the Scandinavian melodies rooted in Norwegian tradition. 
The result is a Tolkien/Norse Mythology crossover that sounds something like 
a down-tuned Darkthrone with the morbid attitude of Celtic Frost.

Since "Vinterskugge" essentially is a compilation of previous demos, the 
material here shifts gradually. The first chapter "Vandreren," balances 
between rock-paced folk tunes that build up mood through simple verse-bridge-
chorus production, free experimenting solo performances on lead guitars to 
create a harmony from layers of sound, blast beating black metal in the vein 
of classic Darkthrone-recordings through repetitive chords, cycling forward 
until the song breaks down into more rock'n'roll-patterning of a melodic 
nature. Surprises consist out of almost pure folk songs where Fenriz 
attempts clear singing along with epic melodies, as well as electronic 
pieces of an equally simple yet immersive musical style. 

Second demo "Spectres Over Gorgoroth," hilariously is a thrash/death hybrid, 
somewhat close to the rock-sympathetic style of early Entombed, where riffs 
occasionally quickly fall out of cadence and thus reveal their roots in 
early projects by the same musician. The beauty here lies within the dark, 
unfolding passages, pervading the essence of evil in pre-Darkthrone 
stylistics. The late 80's-atmosphere is naturally present and so this demo 
oddly fits into the package, as a contribution to the overall epic mood.

Third chapter "Horizons," blends in old-school death metal with almost 
completely demo-clean Norwegian music, full of humour as in "Storm of Evil," 
sporadically overdoing the self-mockery that has defined the musicianship of 
Fenriz throughout the years. The experimenting goes on with funeral pieces 
of organ and synthetic percussion, and a somewhat crude finale that neatly 
wraps up this listening experience. Although this is an album containing 
completely different musical styles, with material recorded between late 
80's and early 90's, it is somehow possible to listen to it from start to 
finish without feeling too distracted. The different compositions complement 
each other, and the artistic quality is honest and creative, rendering epic 
space in distant beauty. For those interested in dark, magical moments of 
times now lost, with a touch of evil from Darkthrone and a Northern European 
presentation derived from Norwegian sources, this is a most excellent 
journey that any dissident would be glad to embark upon. -Alexis

-=-

I SHALT BECOME (US) - Wanderings (Moribund, 2006)

Simple chords made out of the prolonging of tonal maintenance, distil a 
muffled, buzzing sound that eventually deconstructs itself and rise like a 
spirit from the black forests, out of its own misery, to slowly form an 
aesthetic beauty in harmony by twisting and shaping untamed riffs. The crude 
production and improvising nature of this music, becomes a platform for 
mystical patterns, directionless but confined within basic melodies that 
constantly try to transcend their linear progression, by finding new ground 
within harmonic impact from the trembling bass, dictating the tonal height, 
and the lead guitar that fluctuates between melody and its echoing, creating 
an unclear but highly refined unsynchronization in counterpoint.

The intensity follows emotional direction and thus breaks free from most of 
the previous clones that tried to recreate the ambience of Burzum in simple 
patterning. I Shalt Become override this technique to find new methods of 
forming multiple layers of melody, by manipulating the feral nature of 
sawing, unsteady riffing, in an attempt to master the manipulation of sound 
that otherwise would sound linear, simplistic, derivative. The artistic 
achievement naturally falls back on its internal communication, which is 
like an unfolding state of nihilism: wandering emotions are allowed to 
expand until our mind is able to create significance of existence in a 
larger context - the cryptic poetic allusions being a part of this 
perversely esoteric journey.

Percussion qualities are generally low but somehow fit in as backbone for 
the music to develop internally, rarely or never relying on any form of 
rhythm outside of the flowing melodies, surging onward into cyclic 
repetition to enhance a hypnotic state of mind. As much as this work is 
close to its previous contribution known as "Birkenau," we still find a 
clear and mature music, not afraid to use old compositional styles to find 
new territory within transcendent and evocative ambient metal. The sheer 
feeling and experience that pervades this album, speaks of fragments of lost 
hope, but also of an epic power that wants to rise above its existential 
conflict and find new beauty in a world of bleak, isolated darkness. -Alexis

-=-

MAEROR TRI (GER) - Ultimate Time (Old Europa Cafe, 2005)

Maeror Tri was an extreme ambient noise project, famous among underground 
circles for their epic, droning works, experimenting with guitar reverb, 
multiple synth layers and loads of colliding sound effects. "Ultimate Time" 
was released in 1994 as an MC on Old Europe Cafe, and saw a CD-R release by 
the same label in 2005, together with "Hypnobasia." Although the band had 
been around for more than 10 years, "Ultimate Time" is a fascinating glimpse 
into the early phase of Maeror Tri's production.

The material is very diverse: some pieces begin with soft, tranquil melodic 
motives, developing very simple harmonic expectations, until suddenly the 
song breaks out into a lush explosion of screams, screeching sound effects, 
heavy digital reverbs, and long synth drones passing a high-frequency 
filter. On pieces like "Lost Paradise" the quiet motives slowly fades into a 
chaotic collage that sustains an interesting harmony through the vacuum of 
programmed noise. All songs are thematic and could be compared to Dante's 
travel through the Inferno. The music thrives on the complete breakdown of 
our expectations, and where it manages to capture clear visions of both 
cosmic and human entropy, it is also daring and beautiful.

Maeror Tri compose music of an epic atmosphere, but is in fact 
unquestionably post-modern in presentation. The unusual play with the 
senses, the sharp psychological intent, and the almost ritual scheme of 
thought, fulfil a strange collection of poetic realizations, in early 
developing stage, but mature enough for the listener to grow with the music. 
With the extreme attitude of grindcore and the hints of diverge from punk 
music into undiscovered territories among synthesizers and manipulated 
guitar sounds, this Dionysian disintegration of the Self, constitutes both a 
fresh and young revolt against a sterile modern society, and a possible re-
connection to a future holistic philosophy. Despite its sometimes-wandering 
direction, this music has got a surprisingly heavy impact on the listener, 
when the reception is clear, understanding and open. -Alexis

-=-

MYTHIC (US) - Mourning in the Winter Solstice (Relapse, 1993)

I've always enjoyed the kind of profound darkness that is to be found, when 
simplistic riffs crash between tonal counterpoints and creates reverbing 
harmony, using the drums as decisive backbone for essential rhythmic impact 
on the listener. Mythic was a death metal band utilizing this method when 
they integrated the doom metal aspect, consisting out of a tragic, droning 
sensation derived from very simple yet skillfully executed patterns in 
melodic direction.

The tastefully guttural roars from Dana Duffy spews out a black plague, 
filling the echoing void with a dark romanticism in context of an obvious 
structural scheme, revealing itself to possess a lingering beauty when the 
musical space expands, in between the prolonging of a tonal regression and a 
new rhythmic starting point - all part of a cyclic approach that only 
changes internally in form of strategic tempo changes.

What impresses me here is that potential in esoteric but honest 
compositional style, that has the ability to set mood and experience after 
detailed equivalences in the aesthetic of the thick, surging harmonic 
balance present. At the high peaks of the artistry in this music, a somewhat 
vague but yet powerful paralyzing effect builds up large cathedrals left in 
ruins, reflecting a need to see truth as a mystical variable in a world of 
self-pity and decay. -Alexis

-=-

SUFFOCATION (US) - Suffocation (Relapse, 2006)

Can, or should, albums be taken out of context as a means to more accurately 
evaluate them?  When reviewing or listening to an album, how much 
possibility is there for a disconnect from pre-conceptions or personal bias?

The answer to the first question is booming "no," in part because the answer 
to the second question is necessarily "very little"; we evaluate all sensory 
input based on experience, in part to simplify life's processes: if all new 
data was irreducible to data already in memory, the additional cognition 
would be a stifling and inefficient drain on mental energy.

With that established, how closely need an album like this be evaluated by 
someone intensely familiar with old SUFFOCATION material?  Does it make a 
difference that this is a distinctly different band than it was 10 years 
ago, and that they had a significant hiatus prior to returning to write 
material?

It seems too easy, or cliché, to pin their change on the latter fact, but 
the reality should not be ignored: this band has absolutely nailed their 
form but apparently ran out of ideas (or an idea-man, if Cerrito was the 
key) with their initial departure.  "Souls to Deny," their "comeback," was 
nothing if not superficially consistent with their previous incarnation;  
some new trends were apparent, including the additional emphasis on 
recursion, idea-borrowing (mostly from themselves), and other subtle 
simplifications.

At this point, one might assume that that they've had time, through touring, 
to establish an internal rapport, as well as to understand their emergent 
fanbase. Perhaps, also, songwriting has become more democratic, or has been 
contributed more by the newer members.  What is the result of these stimuli?  
This eponymous album, which further speaks to SUFFOCATION's transmutation 
inwardly into a completely different entity.  Unfortunately for those who 
have long esteemed albums like "Effigy of the Forgotten" and "Pierced from 
Within" as examples of "brutal" death metal/NYDM performed with the class 
and style necessary to elevate them above the idiot-mire that the band 
themselves directly inspired, it is a disappointing degeneration into 
something increasingly generic, stale, and unworthy of celebration.

Anyone speaking out against new and in favor of old is immediately under 
suspicion of having succumbed to fallacious reasoning.  With an album such as 
this, these charges might be hastily leveled being that everything trademark 
to SUFFOCATION is present: rhythmic intensity, complexity in song 
development.  So what is lacking?  Nothing quite as tangible, but it is the 
combination of these missing things that makes the whole album difficult to 
stomach; that a re-recording of a "Breeding the Spawn" track is by far the 
most exciting listen says enough.  SUFFOCATION have turned themselves inside-
out as slaves to their own expectations of their particular place as death 
metal legends, something which, coupled with the undercurrent of Long Island 
machismo and their instrumental skill, has made them excellent and 
charismatic live performers but overly confident songwriters who now lack 
the energetic spontaneity they need, and once possessed.

That they've chosen this particular album as their self-titled seems 
intentionally symbolic of what they consider to be their now-and-future 
identity.  What it represents is an even wider line in the sand between 
their former and present selves than did their sabbatical, with unfortunate 
parallels to the whole of the death metal genre of which they were once a 
vibrant and important part. -kontinual

-=-

WOLD (CAN) - Screech Owl (Profound Lore, 2007)

This might succinctly be described as post-ILDJARN black metal; it is 
caustic, Noise-influenced (again like ILDJARN, but almost strictly over-
modulated), repetitive and sometimes throbbing.  Where it varies somewhat is 
in choice of theme for each track, less contingent on melody in any sense 
than on the manipulation of noise at its service.  The first song, for 
instance, is virtually devoid of melody, instead using a hypnotic, distorted 
drum loop to support the noise-drone.  Most tracks consist of a single idea 
with little additional development; one becomes aware of textures or waves 
of distortion and noise effects moving in and out of the stream, such as 
sustained tones or additional instruments, as the melody, if present, moves 
inexorably through the track with distant percussive support.  In some 
instances, and in contrast to some of the loudest moments, a simplified 
traditional black metal "song" is almost palpable beneath the strata of 
normalizing and grinding feedback.  At its best, the ambience of this album 
forces itself upon the listener; some of these tracks are compelling beyond 
the expectations of the polarizing aesthetic.  This seems to be generally 
more successful when toned back somewhat; both the vocals and the distortion 
could probably be used more reservedly to great effect.  Commendably, this 
seems to be constructed as an album and not mere collection of songs.  The 
nature of the songs as simple motifs and their relative placement seem to 
suggest this.  It is not certain where this band will (or can) develop 
stylistically, but they at least seem intent on developing a means for 
delivering "black metal" that they can call theirs. -kontinual

-=-

XANTOTOL (POL) - Liber Diabolus: 1991-1996 (Kampf/Seven Gates of Hell, 2004)

At a time when most in Poland were content with VADER/MORBID ANGEL worship 
or the germination of what would become NSBM proper (GRAVELAND, VELES, et 
al), the obscure XANTOTOL was forging their own with a simple approach 
somewhere within the realm of mystical, heavy/black metal agglomeration of 
VARATHRON (particularly demo era) and SAMAEL.  The date of the first 
recording on this collection of three demos (1995, the final demo "Thus 
Spake Zaratustra") should be, assumedly, the most advanced work but is 
strangely lacking in maturity; the repetition is simple and awkward, relying 
predictably upon cycles through tried-and-true intervals as melodic 
framework over rigidly mid-paced, no-frills percussion.  The feature riffs 
tend toward single-note linear construction almost exclusively, pasted 
together in a mish-mash of incarnations to the detriment of any real 
internal variety on a background of heavy-handed power chord abuse.  It was 
obvious the essence here was on "atmosphere"; the production is clean enough 
but ambiguous and bassy, the vocals are muddy and thick like molasses poured 
over the top, the drums are completely one-dimensional, and every track 
features its own tacked-on synthesized introduction.  To be brief, the 
earlier material (1991 and 1993 demos) is constructed with almost no 
discernable difference in approach save possibly an even more early 
VARATHRON-derived sound in numerous aspects with occasional dissonance (1993 
demo), and perhaps some brief BEHERIT-like tendencies on the 1991 demo.  
Obscurity is often justified, and even charm or nostalgia can't save this 
one from metal's vast abyss of never-were-dom. -kontinual

-=-

=BOOK REVIEWS=

Ekeroth, Daniel - Swedish Death Metal (Tamara Press, 2006)

Not long ago I noticed some promotion for a new book, taking on the subject 
of Swedish death metal. Intrigued, I decided to order home this massive 
historical documentation over one of the most interesting and intense metal 
movements ever, to appear out of a small country up north. The author 
himself was a Swede, playing in several metal bands, and having close ties 
to many of the key figures within the Swedish death metal movement in the 
80's-90's. It was quite expensive to buy and even more expensive for those 
overseas, but luckily I am a Swede as well, so to me it felt natural to buy 
it and see what this was all about.

Daniel Ekeroth, the author of this book entitled "Swedish Death Metal," has 
focused on a historical perspective of the origins and the development of 
what we today refer to as "Swedish death metal." Ekeroth begins by covering 
the vital punk and thrash bands in Sweden, occasionally supporting his facts 
with international bands like Discharge, Kreator, and Sodom. From here on he 
describes how the thrash metal gradually evolved into a more brutal form 
close to the aesthetics of proto-black metal, with bands like Bathory. From 
the beginning we understand that Ekeroth himself is a metal musician, but 
although one understands the nature of a book appealing to a larger 
audience, the descriptions of the musicality of the different bands, remains 
very vague and perhaps even stereotyped. The essential musical progression 
is often measured in this book as by "brutality" and "evilness", which 
brings black metal-rhetoric to mind.

A large portion of "Swedish Death Metal" covers the historical and musical 
background to key bands such as Entombed, Nihilist, Dismember, At the Gates, 
Unleashed, Therion, Merciless and Hypocrisy. Ekeroth guides us from how post-
thrash composition became more complex and melodic in form, as well as how 
different famous studios such as Sunlight and Unisound gave birth to 
diverged production styles in sound and performance. Ekeroth has put in 
amazing energy into interviewing many of the founders of the largest Swedish 
death metal bands, giving the reader extensive knowledge directly from the 
people that began playing death metal. Some of the absolute highlights in 
this book are the historical anecdotes, such as rare gigs, drunken parties 
at graveyards, special recordings, and fan zine-production and tape trading.

We understand that Swedish Death Metal grew out of the creative genius of a 
few teenagers, wanting to rebel against their surroundings but first and 
foremost, find a musical expression that could channelize their inner feelings 
and attitudes of that day during the late 80's and early 90's in Sweden. 
Ekeroth's use of the English language flows well, he's a fairly skilled 
author trying to nail everything from a small underground circle of bands, 
to international gigs and promotions. Despite what he claims in the preface, 
"Swedish Death Metal" is a book that mostly covers historical aspects of 
music. There is no detailed follow-up on bands, outside of Ekeroth's typical 
epithets "brutal," "heavy," "evil," or "fast." These measurements are 
somewhat understandable considering long explanations would stop the flow of 
the reading, but at the same time we are left with questions marks: what 
made X band differ from Y band? The musical descriptions are rarely 
technical and thus this book, at least to this reader, instead becomes a 
historical tale.

Other things that probably will irritate many readers is Ekeroth's personal 
taste. Although he's very self-aware of this fact and points out that his 
work is formed after his judgment, we see a lot of mainstream metal-
journalism here. Venom is constantly cited as a vital inspiration for future 
metal bands, which musically makes little sense, even more so when Ekeroth 
states that they can be said to be "the first black metal band." What's more 
annoying is that he seems to carry a small contempt for black metal, and the 
chapter dealing with this topic becomes largely focused on Øystein Aarseth's 
role in the Norwegian circle of young teenagers, which Ekeroth refers to as 
"pupils." He also writes that the composition and aesthetics in black metal, 
generally is more soft and accessible than death metal. There seems to be a 
huge gap here and instead of putting more focus on bands like Dissection, 
Bathory (which comes very early into the book along with the thrash metal 
bands) and Throne of Ahaz, the author mentions Abruptum and hails Marduk as 
a supreme black metal band, which undoubtedly gave this reader a good laugh. 
Most musical connections are made though and the author manages to include 
bands such as Morbid Angel, Celtic Frost, Discharge, and Black Sabbath.

Equally, Ekeroth seems to fall short when presenting the new wave of Swedish 
Death Metal, which he claims wants to go back to the old school roots of the 
genre. While this in part is true, we must also keep in mind that what once 
made bands such as Unleashed, Entombed, and Dismember so great, today is 
only a glimpse of what once was. It is therefore kind of ironic when Ekeroth 
decides to put an end to black metal by explaining how it became mainstream 
and overwhelmed by crowdist bands, while Swedish death metal obviously has 
come back to haunt us again. What? Close to the closing lines of this book, 
we read the following: "Tiamat and Therion are still exploring new musical 
territories and the likes of Merciless, General Surgery and Necrophobic show 
vital signs of life now and then. Some bands originating from the Swedish 
Death Metal scene have even developed into international Metal titans, among 
these can be mentioned Hypocrisy, In Flames, Opeth and The Haunted. As you 
might understand, Death Metal is unstoppable."

What Ekeroth never goes into though, is the qualitative measurement of these 
future bands. That Hypocrisy lost their touch of the second full length 
album, In Flames never has been interesting in any way, that Opeth is a 
smart joke, and that The Haunted is as artistic as Britney Spears, never 
cross the mind of the author. What makes this journey somewhat vague is 
therefore the overcrediting to bands that really didn't bring something new 
to Swedish Death Metal. As readers we're left untouched by comments based on 
a band's "brutality," keeping in mind that such a description can fit both a 
genius band such as At the Gates, and a worthless one such as In Flames or 
Marduk. 

By primarily describing black metal as a farce based on dressing codes, 
Ekeroth never even tries to get into the philosophy of death metal. What did 
these bands want to communicate with the listener? If black metal bands are 
said to be "satanists" in this book, many of us will ask ourselves why the 
author never tries to describe the inner core of death metal. Topics such as 
Swedish pagan mythology, hate against Judeo-Christian morality and modern 
society, are reduced to "2-beat rhythms and brutal, fast riffs." This does 
not impress and perhaps adds to the feeling that this book is an underground 
creation, a death metal fan's salute to the genre, placing it somewhere 
between being "fanboyish" and "professional."

Regardless of what makes this book questionable compared to its price and 
content, we cannot overlook the primary positive aspects: half of the book 
is filled with rare photos of zines, gigs, and bands. We regularly get to 
read interesting comments from the Swedish legions, simply all great Swedish 
Death Metal bands are covered in the book, and the rare material and 
personal insights from Ekeroth are just amazing to be able to take part of. 
As a plus, it includes a massive A-Z list of Swedish death metal bands and 
zines, almost like a dictionary for newly evangelized fans who want to 
explore the immense world of extreme Swedish metal. If one uses a filter to 
bypass all the irrelevant opinions from Ekeroth and all the statements from 
bands that never produced any music of real worth, this experience is a 
fantastic one that probably every fan of death metal, and Swedish death 
metal in particular, should pick up. It's detailed, it's filled with rare 
material and teenage rebellion, and if you don't mind the simple nature of 
this book, it may very well be the first and perhaps only bible covering the 
platform, the evolving, as well as the regression and rebirth, of one of the 
world's most fascinating music genres of all time. -Alexis

-=-

=LIVE REVIEWS=

Hessian Gathering at Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra: Requiem in D minor, 
K.626

August 24, 2007
Avery Fisher Hall
New York, NY

"[D]eath, when we come to consider it closely, is the true goal of our 
existence . . .[the] best and truest friend of mankind...[something] very 
soothing and consoling" - W.A. Mozart

Manhattan groans under the weight of its inhabitants, swollen by the night-
seeking crowd shuffling along its sidewalks with no destination in 
particular. West of Central Park, a few unlikely visitors arrive at the 
Lincoln Center. Irony saturates the air, intermingling with the dense 
humidity that seldom stirs from its place during these warmer months. 
Backstage at the Avery Fisher Hall, the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela 
performs vocal exercises in preparation for the event, where bass Hector 
Ibarra ruminates over a clip of an American television program he had 
glimpsed in the hotel a few hours earlier. Could he envision himself and his 
family living in the States? He pushes these thoughts aside, and settles 
into meditating on the task that lies ahead. Momentarily, the patrons will 
begin filing into the shoebox auditorium. In upholding their end of the 
bargain, as ticketholding audience, they are afforded the luxury of 
maintaining their relationship with mundane reality.

The lights fade as the choir takes the stage, save for the cylindrical 
modern fixtures that are suspended directly above our performers. Without 
introduction, the program begins with Ginastera's "Hieremaiae prophetae 
lamentationes," lyrically inspired by Old Testament psalms of suffering, 
which presents itself as an exercise in contrasts: whilst the opening 
movement erupts into a strident, pulsating display of agony sustained by an 
organic matrix, and continues in tight circuit within polyrhythmic manifold, 
the second movement responds with ethereal counterpoint, emphasizing 
confidence through harmony that builds concentrically, abandoning voices 
with logical, albeit predictable succession. In technique, the third and 
final movement reconciles the two previous movements; thematically, it is 
the sense of triumph that takes preponderance. An insightful revelation on 
behalf of the composer, in suggesting that Romantic heroism is the ideal 
bridge between two worlds readily available to Man.

Lotti's "Crucifixus," while proffering little in the way of ingenuity, is a 
beautiful sacral piece detailing the Condemnation, not as time-space event, 
but rather as metaphysical function--in placement, an excellent choice by 
the conductor for its ability to carry the aforementioned themes to greater 
heights, as well as its thematic relationship for the Grau piece that 
follows, the captivating "Stabat Mater." The highlight of the program's a 
cappella pieces that frame Mozart's master work, Grau meticulously narrates 
the psychological and empirical events that preface the moment of epiphany, 
the torment of divine revelation, of initiation and its subsequent isolating 
influence. Whispers swell into melodic vocal passages, with roles constantly 
exchanged between the alto and soprano performers. Analogously, the two male 
voices remain unfixed throughout the piece, although the continual presence 
of staccato rhythm establishes a loose template and open sound space which 
allows for many subthemes to be explored, as passages echoing from 
labyrinthine halls of memory. Grau must be commended for his cavalier 
employment of nationalistic themes; the mastery and tasteful, uniquely South 
American implementation of rhythm stirs admiration for this "Stabat Mater" 
and its ability to function as a folkloric piece.

Unfortunately, the multiculturalism ad campaign always finds a way to render 
logic and higher principles obsolete. The development of interrelated themes 
is abandoned at this point, and the aforementioned South American tangent is 
exploited to the point of absurdity. Fonseca's "Jubiab?" manifests 
superstitious, animistic themes through its use of tribal chants, trills, as 
well as awkward, feverish changes in tempo that suggest a confusion of 
substance and form. Interestingly enough, this piece received the greatest 
applause thus far. At this point Grau returns, although his "Confitemini 
Domino" is incapable of rerouting the newly found direction of the program. 
While much of the technique remains the same (i.e. use of polyphony, further 
segregation of male and female voice, etc.), there is nothing to guide the 
piece through the plenitude of intermittent phrases in any meaningful manner--
yet the audience grovels over the display of technical mastery and the 
intricacy of parts, behavior which is no less absurd than assuming that 
observing the mechanisms of a Swiss watch could convey any aspect of 
Absolute Truth. At this point, it was safe to assume that the majority of 
these concertgoers were merely here to be entertained. This notion was all 
but confirmed by their response to "La Fiesta de San Juan," by Beatriz 
Bilbao. This hallucinogenic interplay of various images playing out amidst a 
town festival is only noteworthy in its interesting, albeit openly feminine, 
use of physical space in the transmission of sound waves--an implementation 
that can only be effectively conveyed in a live setting.

After a brief intermission, the complete orchestra graced the stage, with 
the Venezuelan choir lining the background. Maestro Louis Langrèe briskly 
assumed his place on the podium from backstage. No sooner had he raised his 
baton than the familiar opening bar of the "Requiem" dissolved the walls of 
the theater and proceeded to operate with complete disregard for the time-
space continuum. Within these fleeting moments the discerning listener is 
soon able to decode the conductor's intentions with the piece; Langrèe opted 
for the Karajan approach, as the first few notes dancing whimsically towards 
the powerful crescendo testified. And here, the debate over the authorship 
of K.626, and the many interpretations of how the composer envisioned its 
performance...all of this becomes irrelevant. Each component--choir, 
conductor and orchestra--submits to the Art itself, thus allowing it to 
carry out its inherent function: true Art supremely succeeds in suggesting 
Infinity. Of course, this would be impossible without the genius 
contribution of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: in his final "Requiem," we are 
offered a glimpse into the process of death, as encountered firsthand by the 
composer.

Mozart's intense ruminations over the nature of death have resulted in this 
freeze-frame analysis of the manifold events occurring at the moment of 
life's final breath: each aspect is abstracted and rotated in a 
multidimensional plane, in accordance with fugal structure, while strings 
replicate, invert and subsequently bolster each component, foreshadowing the 
emergence of the Romanticist movement to come, altogether affirming the 
supremacy of the Whole over the sum of parts. We encounter the sense of 
tragedy, the will to live, the recollection of ego imprints, before the 
sense of resignation culminates, extinguishing the flame but perpetuating 
fire on some unfathomable plane. All told, the experience of the "Requiem" 
was only diminished by the interruptions of modernity during transitions 
between movements; the ringing of a cell phone before the third movement, 
for example. Fortuitously, such profanities were quickly suppressed by the 
inspired fury of Maestro Langrèe and the orchestra, quickly restoring the 
sanctity of the ritual.

After receiving a standing ovation, the performers retreated backstage. How 
long the sense of attunement with such profound insight into design will 
last for these individuals...cannot be told. The thrill-seekers retreated 
into the night, perhaps completing their trip to the city with a visit to 
some upscale bar in the area. The influence of neon lights and dirty 
pavement slowly crept back into the forefront of consciousness for the 
general lot, and Mozart was placed back into the record collection. For the 
fortunate few, the sense of joy that often accompanies the experience of 
such masterpieces lent the remainder of the evening a lighthearted 
atmosphere, and for us the city did not exist. In the warm night air, some 
Hessians passed by the gentleman whose cell phone rang during the 
performance, and while they did not notice, he muttered something under his 
breath as they walked towards Penn Station. What he did not know: Vapid 
thoughts dissipate shortly after conception. This city will crumble and fade 
into obscurity, leaving behind megalithic ruins only to baffle sentient 
creatures of bygone eras returned. And they too, will be forgotten as aeons 
bury their memory, while the opening bars of K.626, Requiem in D minor, 
reverberate towards some yet uncreated corner of the cosmos. That is, until 
the Big Crunch returns the volley. Yet even beyond this veil they call Maya, 
Mozart is immortal. -Faustian Dreams

-=-
 
[-FEATURES-]

The Triumph of Vulgarity - Rock and Death/Black Metal
Book review and thoughts by kontinual

Anyone familiar with the Dark Legions Archive (www.anus.com/metal) or 
previous issues of Heidenlarm e-zine is accustomed to writings that try to 
capture the essences of death and black metal as cultural phenomena.  At 
this point, both genres may be attributed with 20 or so years of history in 
their prototypical forms, and slightly less in the more differentiated forms 
that follow.  In this time, very few serious studies of death or black metal 
have been undertaken from an "outsider" perspective, be it by academics, 
social scientists, or serious journalists.  The obvious Lords of Chaos 
(1998, Feral House), actually far more a book from the inside, projecting 
out, is still one of the lone attempts to intelligently portray (black) 
metal within a wider cultural context.  Another -- Death Metal Music, The 
Politics and Passion of a Subculture by Natalie Purcell (2003, McFarland & 
Company) -- is unfamiliar to this writer, but seems to be a similar attempt 
at the same.  Most other books of any relation to black and death metal 
whatsoever tend to either be sensationalistic, overtly focused on themes of 
"alienation," ignorant of any difference between heavy metal sub-forms, or, 
worse still, conflate metal indiscriminately with the rock music that 
preceded it.  Still more insulting though is that no serious, self-examining 
book on metal has been produced by metalheads themselves; instead, those 
books from "inside" the genre, when written at all, tend to focus on history 
alone, often inaccurate, with only scant and misunderstood recognition of 
broader historical or philosophical contexts.

It goes without saying that many books on the broader phenomenon of rock 
music are similarly focused merely on sensation, personality, or other 
superficialities, and are certainly the model for these kinds of books in 
the metal community.  It is easy to see why this is true: rock is not a 
particularly introspective form of music; it is one of the purest 
expressions of mass, or popular culture, and the idea of giving it external 
credence beyond this, particularly for the rock audience itself, seems 
absurd.  However, the emergence of rock, unlike that of metal per se, 
represents an obvious watermark in American "culture" of great enough 
influence to warrant elaboration about it by people whose job it is to do 
such things -- namely, the social scientists and other academics interested 
in "objectively" putting forth theses on socio-cultural issues.  Whether the 
cause, or effect, of any number of social ills, rock music is bountiful food-
for-thought in this realm, and has also been the subject of much wasted 
breath by community leaders, critics, priests, politicians, and others who 
generally seem intent on stopping this audible monstrosity of mass culture 
that their own failing system helped to facilitate and continues to shelter.

This notion -- that rock inherently shares the same system that it 
criticizes, and which criticizes it -- is extremely obvious but often 
overlooked.  It is easier, and perhaps more glamorous, to pretend rock had 
organic roots in a kind of deep-seeded rebellion, which finally manifested 
itself culturally in the fandom of a loud and crude music from the teenagers 
living in suburban, post-War America; this is the notion which has been sold 
to the public nearly since its inception, and they have happily bought into 
it for 50 years.  Despite the reality, though, the mythology itself is 
useful for understanding rocks naissance and subsequent popularity.  The 
Triumph of Vulgarity - Rock Music in the Mirror of Romanticism by Robert 
Pattison (1987, Oxford University Press) is a humorous and amusing 
exposition of rock's mythology as a crude, or "vulgar" continuation of many 
of the worldviews espoused by populist 19th Century Romanticism.  Far from a 
temporally limited artistic movement, the book argues that Romanticism in 
both high and vulgar forms persists to this day and continues to form the 
democratic basis for what is considered "culture" in all present realms, 
with rock music representing the logical mass extremes of these original 
ideas.

Particular to this vulgar, mass culture of rock music, argues Pattison, is 
so-called vulgar pantheism, directly descended from the Romantic idea that 
sees divinity as infinite, and sees God within all detail of creation.  
Pattison describes this as the reign of pure multiplicity, one which lacks 
all "transcendent" points of reference (what comprises this transcendent 
reference is never strictly defined), leading to the dissolution of any 
hierarchy based on such a reference, namely, in the case of music, those of 
"taste" or aesthetic.  Walt Whitman is cited in the book as the greatest 
spokesman for these (American) universalist, populist ideas of vulgar 
pantheism, though others -- Shelley, Emerson, Blake -- are commonly 
mentioned as well.  The author points out the common methodological need for 
some sort of veneration of the primitive and animalistic by the Romanticist.  
This can be completed with paganism, veneration of nature, or in the case of 
rock, the mythology of the black/African origins of its music.  Thus, rock 
is not simply the continuation of a black musical tradition, but requires 
the imposition of the late European tradition of populist Romanticism upon 
this mythical idea.  At its very core, rock's inherent simplicity is 
tantamount to the aural proclamation for this need for the primitive.  The 
"black" tradition of the blues, and not another "black" form of music (jazz, 
gospel) is required because it is a manipulable building block of the simple 
and vulgar, one which was sufficiently novel and one not so wholly 
entrenched in black American culture that it couldn't withstand the European 
Romanticist imposition upon its framework.  Post-war America provided a 
perfect place for the development of this into the phenomenon of rock music: 
burgeoning ideals of universal democracy, hordes of bored teenagers living 
in stale suburbs with nowhere to spend their money, and a primitive culture 
right in the backyard rife for this sort of manipulation.

Pattison is quite clear when describing the rock philosophy: it is pure 
veneration of the self.  This results, he states, from the lacking 
transcendent dimension, or vulgarity, of the pantheism to which rock 
subscribes and was handed down through the Romantic tradition.  Thus, where 
rock rests philosophically, the universe ceases wholly to be something where 
any discrimination, or "objective" meaning, is possible.  The turning to the 
self in order to fill the void left by this lack of transcendent reference 
results in a universe defined by mind and feeling alone.  However, says 
Pattison, instead of using this as a point of departure, this state of being 
becomes rock's end goal.  What is left is the music of something akin to 
Nietzsche's "last man," which Pattison acknowledges as he describes rock as 
a manifestation of Nietzsche's conception of modern man's "ignoble instinct 
for everything."  Rock is base, democratic ignobility incarnate, and it 
cheers loudly that it is.  It represents something of a new low in 
vulgarity, expressed aurally.

The meat of the book is spent exploring specific examples of rock's 
expression of these ignobilities through various means.  The sheer volume of 
material available that is in line with the author's thesis of rock as 
vulgar pantheistic Romanticism is amusing.  The familiar rock clichés are 
all given fair treatment: the excessive sex lives and phallo-centricity of 
rock icons, liberal attitudes toward drug use (the path to infinity toward 
expansion of the self or the embrace of nothingness in attempting to find co-
terminus with the universe), and technology/electricity worship alongside 
the primitive (as a means of destroying the "transcendence" of distance and 
cultivating a massive audience).  Pattison argues convincingly that all 
these are manifestations of a militant selfhood, one that sees no heroism 
but through profligacy and ignores all aspirations to references beyond the 
self.  That these last statements describe the lives and fates of many of 
rock's fallen ones is simple to acknowledge.  The cults of personality upon 
which rock (and the marketing thereof) is reliant are directly resultant 
from these notions of the self and the careful promotion and sale of them as 
something to provide relief from a boring, effete world that promises 
nothing but lifelong economic enslavement and social conformity.

This promise of rebellion, of course, is perhaps the most deeply inherent 
theme to the pantheon of ideas in rock music.  Pattison expounds upon it, 
amusingly again, by describing the "Cash Nexus," or the relationship of 
mainstream rock music to the money "offered" by the corporate labels for 
which the musicians record.  Rock's foundations rely heavily on its own 
mythological interpretation of the blues: that its musicians are generally 
of poor humble backgrounds, people unfamiliar with the workings of the 
business world to which these labels belong.  Enter the "myth of the 
swindle," where these primitive and naive rock musicians are "surprised by 
cash" as they are offered money for their music and discover capitalism via 
the music industry.  Despite having always been parcel to industry, and 
never previously an organic formation outside of the context of industry, 
the swindle myth continues as a means to reconcile the seeming contradiction 
of the rebel rock musician selling hundreds of thousands of albums and 
making extraordinary money at the hands of it.  To Pattison, rock gives in 
to the "system" in this way because, having no transcendent reference, it 
knows no means of real escape from it.  Thus, the rock musician takes the 
cash while rock in general perpetuates the idea that rock might still be 
"untouched by commercialism" despite being used by the music industry 
exclusively for its own money-making ends.

As a study of this most obvious identity-business, this book succeeds for a 
number of reasons.  Primarily, although the ideas it presents are serious, 
it does not take the analysis itself to be.  Pattison goes so far as to 
gently mock those who would esteem to "critique" rock as if it makes it 
available to such things -- it is almost a demonstration of Heisenberg 
uncertainty at the social level, further mocking the hubris of "objective" 
pretense of the modern social sciences.  On the "cultural" plane, rock 
sidesteps similarly damning dissection by thumbing its nose at the same 
systems of value by which previous artistic and cultural movements were once 
judged.  The central thesis of the book, outlined earlier, is this very idea 
that the dichotomy of "high" and "mass" cultures is a false one, with 
"vulgarity" alone being essentially the only identifying mark separating the 
latter from the former.  In reflecting upon this "irony," the author takes 
an almost apologetic tone towards the idea of rock music as a whole.  In 
fact, the book itself seems like an acutely ironic piss-take if there ever 
was one -- everyone knows what rock stands for, and it is almost certain the 
author decided to spend 200-plus pages linking it with late-period 
Romanticism more to irk and amuse his academic colleagues than to convince 
the reading (or rock-listening) public of that fact.

Much of the strength of Pattison's argument is in his ability to dredge up 
lyric-bytes or statements from bands at all turns to support the finer 
points of his relatively erudite analysis.  That there is no shortage of 
examples for almost anything in rock should be obvious; that Pattison chose 
to color it in the terms he did further underscores the fact that, rather 
than trying to be condescending toward rock, which he continually reminds us 
is immune to his kind of criticism, he is seeking to deflate the falsity of 
latter-day American "high" culture -- which he sees as strictly opposed to 
America in concept -- by shining the light on all the places in which it is 
similar to this most scorned form of low-brow entertainment.  That rock is 
the vulgar "offshoot" of Romanticism as he describes it is left in little 
doubt; for him, and for good or bad, rock is the ultimate exposition of 
"America": democratic, vulgar, and egalitarian, and he subtly implies it 
would be hypocritical not to "embrace" it as such.

Metal is little mentioned in the book, and for the author, it likely 
represents a louder, brasher version of the same current from which rock 
originated (Pattison calls "heavy metal" an incarnation of rock).  Where he 
does mention certain parallel genres such as hardcore punk (Black Flag and 
Dead Kennedys specifically), he mentions the penchant for "thought" and 
"reason" for the only times in the book, brushing them off with a reference 
to Blake's "deference" to reason not subverting his premise that "energy is 
the only life."  Strange is the fact that punk/hardcore managed to make 
their only appearance within this context.  The age and scope of the book 
leave the possibility unexplored that there can be music, "rock" in the most 
basic outward sensibility, that manages to escape some the trappings of rock 
as the author has framed them.

Culturally, death and black metal, as post-modern genres of music, can lay 
claim to a variety of heritages.  Many critics, like Pattison, are quick to 
assume rock is the substantial component of "metal" music in any of its 
guises.  For the casual observer this would be an easy conclusion to make 
considering what constituted metal as a genre up to around 1987, and what 
continues to dominate its mainstream forms to this day.  Metal of the rock-
like strain sheds little of the narrow solipsism of its rock counterparts 
even though violence is often substituted for sex and isolationist angst for 
socialized "rebellion."  In their idealized states, what remains, and what 
Pattison attributes as necessary to rock as a vulgar Romanticist movement, 
is the core of the universe's vital energy from which the musicians draw, 
and a recognition of the ability to harness this energy to their own ends in 
reaction to the ordered, conformist, "outside" world that are lacking these 
capacities.

Again, and in general, these central tenets are still applicable to the more 
advanced forms of metal: the same Romanticist veneration of the primitive 
contra the "modern" and of limitless energy are familiar pervasive currents 
to anybody with knowledge of metal's differentiated genres.  It would seem 
to follow from this that the democratic-egalitarian principles that for 
Pattison are the logical consequence of vulgar Romanticist thinking are thus 
part of death and black metal's philosophical undercurrents as well.  For 
two musical genres known to be both aesthetically alienating and verbally 
often in full contradiction to such ideas, this seems a puzzling conclusion.  
However, ore viably Pattison, tautologically, has merely determined that 
vulgar readings of Romanticism beget vulgar Romanticism, and such was the 
nature of rock, though the possibility of latter-day readings -- that are 
not from "high culture," in his tenuous dichotomy -- are beyond his scope of 
consideration.

Death and black metal, taken together and in reaction to one another, could 
be considered dual aspects of a similar Romanticist worldview to the one 
that Pattison outlines.  However, most of the broad implications of the so-
called vulgar, solipsist elements of rock that Pattison sees as central to 
its view of world and Self are abandoned in the genres in ideal form for 
total deconstruction/destruction and heroic adaptation to this reality, 
respectively.

Death metal as a clearly differentiated approach was the first means of 
manifestation for these ideas in metal.  The primary, and most obvious 
method through which death metal defines itself is through the ubiquitous 
imagery of the death that is its namesake, through war, murder, apocalypse, 
disease, putrefaction, or any number of other themes.  Of importance is 
their general means of delivery as lyrics; even where the "self" is placed 
in focus, there often remains a detachment or alienated depersonalization to 
the events as described.  In its ultimate form, death is venerated above all 
else in an absurdist inversion of the value placed in life's fleeting 
temporalities such as those found in rock music.  Rock shuns aging and 
adulthood, and thus death and decay, and responds only to youthful vitality; 
as an extreme reaction, and through similar means of youthful energy, death 
metal reinstates death and decay and their place in natural order with a 
complete and morbid shift in focus.  Flaws in the "pantheism" of rock are 
corrected under the realist replacement of death to its place within 
universal mechanisms, and a mocking kind of "equality" is achieved.

In social context, the post-war, consumerist euphoria of America where rock 
was birthed was reflected, a mere three decades and around a generation 
later, in a youth music that was all but an inversion of everything that had 
been manufactured for rock.  Whereas rock was a contrived creation, heavily-
funded, philosophically whimsical, and simple to market and digest, death 
metal formed organically as an underground movement, reflected on 
unspeakable topics, was difficult to listen to and became increasingly 
complex in approach.  The intervening years of social upheaval and constant 
fear of holocaust by nuclear attack had eventually pacified the rock-fed 
parents, once beholden to abstract causes, instead to lead lives of comfort 
and the pursuit of wealth, sheltered from death/reality and the decay 
directly beneath and about them: exactly what rock had paid lip-service 
against in a most superficial way but never really meant.  A second 
generation of suburbia, further numb and socially alienated from the 
behavior of their parents and the increasingly prevalent insincerity of what 
was available as "popular" culture, found death metal as an outlet where 
real experience and power were at last attainable.  Despite worldwide 
popularity and an arguably diverse selection of origins, death metal, at its 
essential core, like rock remains an American form of music.  In its 
Europeanized form many subtle elements were brought to the forefront and 
perfected (as precursor to European black metal) that were never developed 
in death metal's earliest, grittily rhythmic and chromatic guises.  This was 
possible since, in contrast to rock, handed to Europe and the rest of the 
world as a product and extension of a broader cultural imperialism based 
upon its rigidly Romanticized mythology of black origins and formulaic 
construction, death metal found itself everywhere as sprung from the minds 
of Western youth disaffected by phenomenon of "popular" culture and intense 
democratizing imperialism that rock so closely upholds -- in part, a 
holdover from the attitudes of hardcore punk and other earlier outsider 
movements that influenced death metal so profoundly.  It was a framework of 
vast potential upon which to build these ideas, musically, in subject 
matter, and in approach.

If death metal is a similarly vulgar offshoot of Romanticism (which it 
arguably it is within these sufficiently broad terms), it drew vastly 
different conclusions as to the behavior expected from this worldview, as 
Pattison would have it.  The eventual, inevitable failure of death metal in 
overcoming democratizing entropy despite its extremes of anti-social 
rhetoric was picked up on by black metal in the "second wave," which is the 
possibly the first music to attack these ideas directly and in totality.  
The external overtones of Romanticism are even more thoroughly present in 
black metal: appeals to nature, primitivism, paganism, Satan, all of those 
things that Pattison is loosely able to make congruent with rock music in 
the context of its pantheist justification of solipsist hedonism.  Although 
hedonistic currents justified by "Satanic" philosophies are commonly 
associated with the black metal genre, an evaluation of the earliest and 
most important second-wave acts makes it obvious that these are not original 
or core ideals.  Quite the opposite: an elitist asceticism ("No Mosh, No 
Core, No Fun, No Trends") developed originally along with black metal's 
vitriolic disgust for the inclusive and democratic way in which death metal 
had developed, or, per the matter at discussion here, in reaction to the 
rock music-like tendencies that it perceived to have compromised its 
perception of death metal's primary vision.

Death metal, the indiscriminate leveler to rock's erroneous and vulgar 
interpretation of certain Romanticist notions, was thus overcome by black 
metal, the first mode of modern expression to attempt to re-instate these 
notions with a direct and virile quality that nearly all the original 
Romanticists failed to approach themselves.  The result was a music of feral 
beauty and extreme primacy in presentation and, perhaps most importantly, 
the final acting out of these driving forces not as mere vulgar, self-
centered time-passing or "high art" but as life itself, heroically 
reconfigured for modern day warfare.  With regard to rock, Pattison speaks 
repeatedly about the lack of transcendental perspective as a core anti-value 
defining its worldview.  Rock is incapable of overcoming self because it is 
defined and nourished by it; it was a music created and sold specifically to 
provide a concept of self to millions of youth deprived of one in the 
increasingly pluralist and atomized post-war environment.  This milieu, not 
created but merely exploited by rock, and stood up to by counter-cultural 
forces right through death metal was in black metal finally explored with a 
real sense of transcendent possibility through action, however briefly.  
Arguably, it took the collective cultural memory of Europeans to finally 
overcome the cycle of synthetic and generally "American" counter-culture 
started in the 1960s and culminating in the extremity of death metal.  
Whether black metal constituted an actual "culture" itself is irrelevant in 
this context; more importantly, it brought to the forefront many 
possibilities for cultural re-emergence outside of the so-called opposition 
of "high" and "low" culture only possible in a world where any kind of real 
culture has gone completely absent.

...

Whether death and black metal can continue as relevant pursuits is a primary 
question of concern for Heidenlarm, one that will doubtless continue to 
receive dutiful treatment in the future.  With the disintegration of any 
human institution come crises of identity and purpose.  Such crises are the 
basis of the confusion and lack of will expressed tacitly in rock music's 
solipsist monotony.  The same goes for the un-differentiable multitudes of 
latter-day death and black metal acts.  Through confusion about the genres 
and what made them important -- namely, their ability to communicate ideas 
and take actions that transcend mere selfhood -- black and death metal have 
succumbed to the failures as if loud, angry, and extra-offensive rock music 
is all they ever were.  Given this, it isn't hard to understand why most see 
it this way.

In any case, what is usually being forgotten in this disturbance are the 
values themselves.  That the "values" of death and black metal have shown 
themselves to be different from those of rock music should be readily 
apparent.  This fact should remain important outside of any consideration of 
the "genres" proper, which, in correct reference, are transient relative to 
their expressive content.  That rock music, supposedly attuned to the 
divinity in the universe, has at its center one of the simplest and most 
plastic approaches to music possible is testament to its general banality 
and to the inversion that has occurred with respect to our means of 
assigning value.  Through our experience with the genre, we know the bases 
for black and death metal and capable of more.  As both genres continue 
their difficult journey through self-awareness, and if recent examples of 
greatness are any indication, hope will lie in the ability of a few capable 
visionaries to see beyond the limitations provided by history in distilling 
this potential to other forms worthy of its profound content and of the 
times when they are realized.

-=-

Metal Guitar Technique
by Arminius

So, you want to learn metal guitar. You've undoubtedly sifted through the un-
godly amount of Internet articles on the subject, maybe read a few guitar 
magazines, maybe read some of the (now illegal) tab sites, tearing your hair 
out and saying "But how do I fucking play it?" - I know, I've been there.

Well, this is the article you've been looking for. I'm not going to spend 
much time introducing it, so I'll just say this: practice what you see here, 
learn the techniques, and you will, with time, learn metal guitar. I'm going 
to start at 'thrash metal' (read: speed metal) such as Slayer and Metallica 
and go forward through death and black metal, but there will be some 
excursions back to the older stuff (mostly 'Maiden and 'Priest). There will 
be some history lessons and a few blurbs on metal ethics, but the focus will 
be technique, followed, by an editorial on writing metal riffs. Now…

LESSON ONE - Music Theory

You must know theory. All right? No buts. This is a metal primer, so I'm not 
going to spend much time on the basics, but rather how they are applied to 
metal. The things you need to know are:

-Basic major and minor scales, and the derivative modes (Ionian Dorian 
Phrygian etc.)
-Chord theory, and how major, minor, suspended, and diminished chords are 
constructed.
-Interval theory, and the meanings of terms like 'perfect fourth', 'perfect 
fifth', 'minor third', 'major sixth', etc.
-The basics of meter and rhythm, and how to differentiate between different 
time signatures. 3/4 and 4/4 are good enough for now, but later you'll want 
to learn some more advanced ones like 5/4 and 7/8.
-Oh, and make sure that you can read tabs.

If you don't know any of this, there's a good FAQ on it here: 
http://www.anus.com/etc/music_theory.
If you don't know how to read tabs, you can find out here: 
http://guitar.about.com/library/blhowtoreadtab.htm

Now, for the meat of this lesson: how does all of that obtuse shit apply to 
metal?

First of all, remember that any metal being played - besides the very first 
one or two waves of 'heavy metal' - relies heavily on dissonance. This is 
one reason that metal is so difficult to listen to for a lot of people, 
because in music, too much dissonance sounds 'bad'. A lot of this dissonance 
comes from what we call the chromatic scale. Don't panic: it's not some new 
scale you don't know yet, it's just what you get when you ascend the neck of 
the guitar one fret at a time. Another way of saying it is that it contains 
ALL of the notes.

You'll notice that a lot of metal is based on the chromatic scale. One of 
the best examples of this is the riff from Metallica's "Master of Puppets", 
which you've surely heard.

PM.............................................................
e |-----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
B |-----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
G |.----------------|----------------|----------------|------------4---|
D |.----------------|----------------|----------------|------------4---|
A |-----2-----3-----|4-----3-----2-2-|----2-----3-----|4-----3-----2---|
E |-0-1---0-1---0-1-|--0-1---0-1-----|0-1---0-1---0-1-|--0-1---1-0-----|

See where the chromatic progression is? It's on the A string, and it moves 
from the second fret, to the third fret, to the fourth, then back down to 
the second. I can remember panicking as a beginning guitarist when I first 
read this tab: "But what scale does it fit into?" Well, there are two ways 
to answer that question.

The first way is to say that it doesn't fit into a scale, save the chromatic 
one. This is what makes the riff sound so harsh and angry: the notes, since 
they fit into no recognized Western major or minor scale, clash and jangle 
against each other.

The second way to say this is that it fits into EVERY scale, because any 
progression can use a little chromatic lick to spice up its sound. 
Generally, the first answer is more pertinent with regards to metal.

CHORDS

The next thing you need to learn about metal is its relation to chords. 
Whereas your average boring-ass rock band uses chords as a backdrop for the 
vocals (which are the focus) and maybe some leads, in metal, the chords make 
up riffs which carry the song entirely.

You know, I hope, what a 'power chord' is; a perfect fifth. Metal uses power 
chords extensively, because they're the only chords that sound good with the 
amount of gain and distortion used in this music. However, in metal 
parlance, a 'power chord' is not always a perfect fifth. Rather, it is any 
chord made up entirely of perfect intervals (unison, fourth, fifth, octave), 
which will tolerate any amount of distortion and still retain its tough, 
angry, assertive sound.

The catch is this: since power chords have no tonality of their own, they 
can't imply a scale. What I'm saying is, there's no 'minor' or 'major' power 
chord, so you have to come up with a progression inside of a scale if you're 
going to make it sound like anything. For instance, this sounds like 
nothing:

e |-----------------|
B |-----------------|
G |.----------------|
D |--2--------------|
A |--2--------------|
E |--0--------------|

But this sounds minor:
e |-----------------|
B |-----------------|
G |.----------------|
D |--2-4-5-4-2------|
A |--2-4-5-4-2------|
E |--0-2-3-2-0------|

And this sounds major:
e |-----------------|
B |-----------------|
G |.----------------|
D |--2-4-6-7-6------|
A |--2-4-6-7-6------|
E |--0-2-4-5-4------|

The chords are the same, but the context is different. See?

Now that that's over with, I'm going to quickly run through the different 
forms of power chords.

e |-------------|
B |----------8--|
G |------5---7--|
D |--7---7---5--|
A |--7---5------|
E |--5----------|
This is your basic power chord, moved up three strings.. You can take off 
that top note for a sharper, more defined (but lighter) sound, like this:
e |-------------|
B |-------------|
G |----------7--|
D |------7---5--|
A |--7---5------|
E |--5----------|


e |-------------|
B |----------8--|
G |------7---5--|
D |--7---5---5--|
A |--5---5------|
E |--5----------|
This is an inverted power chord. This sounds a little darker and heavier, 
but muddier. It becomes much more useful when used to contrast the normal 
power chords.

e |-------10----|
B |----10-8-----|
G |-9--7--7-----|
D |-7--7--5-----|
A |-7--5--------|
E |-5-----------|

This is a power chord with another fifth stacked on top. It's a great, big, 
ringing chord which adds a bit of texture to a slower power chord sequence. 
It can hurt your little finger a lot if your hands aren't big, especially 
that last iteration with the root on the D string.


e |-------------|
B |-------10----|
G |----9--7-----|
D |-9--7--5-----|
A |-7--5--------|
E |-5-----------|

This one sounds like a compressed version of the one above. When strummed 
rapidly, it has, surprisingly, a subdued sound compared to the basic power 
chord being used in the same way.


e |-------8-----|
B |----8--8-----|
G |-7--7--5-----|
D |-7--5--5-----|
A |-5--5--------|
E |-5-----------|

This one is also big and ringing, but it's easier on your fingers and has a 
different flavor from the other really big one. It looks sort of difficult, 
but the trick is to fret the two lower strings with your index finger and 
the upper two with your ring finger. Get it?

PALM MUTES

Along with power chords, palm mutes are the bread-and-butter of most metal 
music (black metal and some thrash are an exception, but we'll get to that). 
I hope to Anubis that someone has taught you how to do palm mutes, but if no-
one has, then it's done like this: rest your palm on the strings, near the 
bridge. Don't push at all, just rest your palm there and pick as you 
normally would. Picking up and down on one string continuously is called 
'chugging', and if done right should have a heavy, thudding, percussive 
sound to it. Bear witness to this tab:


e |-------------|
B |-------------|
G |-------------|
D |-------------|
A |-------------|
E |-0-0-0-0-0-0-|
PM  - - - - - -


There are two things to keep in mind here:

-You should experiment with the 'attack' of your pick (the angle at which it 
hits the strings), and see which one is right for you. Some people like the 
sound of chugging with the pick angled slightly so that it scrapes the 
strings. The scraping sound is caused by the edge of the pick dragging 
across the wound nickel of the lower strings, and interacts with the 
distortion of your amp to create a 'fuzzier' sound, which is heavier. A 
'tighter', more percussive sound can be found by allow the pick to strike 
the string completely parallel, giving it more of a 'thunking' quality. 

-You should also experiment with where you rest your palm. Of course, it's 
always going to be near the back of the strings, and it's usually going to 
be on one of the two lowers strings, but moving your palm away from the 
bridge slightly can help produce a tighter, more 'modern' chugging sound, 
especially when using muted chords.

That said, there are a few ways to expand your chugging. The first is simply 
to use multiple notes, rather than just bashing away on the same string. 
Observe:


e |--------------------------------|
B |--------------------------------|
G |--------------------------------|
D |--------------------------------|
A |--------------------------------|
E |-0-0-0-0-1-1-1-1-3-3-3-3-1-1-1-1|
PM  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A short progression in Phrygian (a very 'metal' sounding mode, at least in 
the first four notes) can liven up a chugging progression nicely. You could 
also do it chromatically, like this:

e |--------------------------------|
B |--------------------------------|
G |--------------------------------|
D |--------------------------------|
A |--------------------------------|
E |-4-4-4-4-3-3-3-3-2-2-2-2-1-1-1-1|
PM  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

There are endless ways to make chugging better by simply using different 
note combinations. However, note that you can also chug with muted power 
chords:

e |---------|
B |---------|
G |---------|
D |---------|
A |-2-2-2-2-|
E |-0-0-0-0-|
PM  - - - - 

You can use the basic power chords, or, you can use any of the other types 
outlined in the power chord section above (note that this will sound very 
awkward if you use the really big chords).

Finally, there's something else you can do with chugging which makes for a 
much more aggressive sound. It's referred to colloquially as 'galloping'. 
You can hear it in the Metallica song 'Dyer's Eve' quite a bit, and in a 
number of other old thrash songs.

Galloping is quite simple: it simple consists of a series of triplets (three 
notes in the time it takes to play two) like this:

e |-------------|
B |-------------|
G |-------------|
D |-------------|
A |-------------|
E |-000-000-000-|
 PM --- --- ---

Each note must be executed very fast with alternate picking. If you have 
trouble going fast enough to get your gallops to sound like they have balls, 
try angling your pick so that it scrapes the strings and going in a circular 
motion. This technique, though not as clean, gives you a good speed boost if 
you're not fast enough yet.

Once you get really good, try this:

e |-------------------------------------------------|
B |-------------------------------------------------|
G |-------------------------------------------------|
D |-------------------------------------------------|
A |-------------------------------------------------|
E |-000-321-432-321-000-321-432-321-000-321-432-321-|
 PM --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---  

Then, try this:

e |-----------------|
B |-----------------|
G |-----------------|
D |-----------------|
A |-222-222-333-333-|
E |-000-000-111-111-|
 PM --- --- --- ---

You can try to gallop on the bigger power chords, but the resulting stress 
may cause your hand to turn black and fall off.

TREMOLO PICKING

Ah, yes, tremolo picking. It's been used throughout metal's history, but it 
made its big debut in speed metal, where tremolo picking on the A string 
through a chromatic progression made for a perfectly demonic sound. Later, 
it found its way into death metal, mainly through Morbid Angel (listen to 
the song "Fall from Grace" for some examples). Where it really took off was 
in black metal, where the late six-string genius Euronymous used it as the 
meat-and-potatoes of his riffing style. Tremolo picking is not hard at all 
to do. It works like this:

e |-------------|
B |-------------|
G |-------------|
D |-------------|
A |-------------|
E |-00000000000-|

The difference between chugging and tremolo picking is that tremolo picking 
is not muted. It sounds like a buzz. Also, where chugging (and the above 
example of trem picking) is usually done on the lowest two strings, tremolo 
picking is generally done on the A, D, or G strings. Also, tremolo picking 
takes a much more melodic and less rhythmic approach overall. Observe this 
riff from Mayhem's famous De Mysteriis dom Sathanas:

e |------------------------------------------------|
B |------------------------------------------------|
G |------------------------------------------------|
D |--------------999-10101010-99999-10101010-9999--|
A |---------7777-----------------------------------|
E |-0000000----------------------------------------|

(The 10's are tens, not ones and zeros)
You would never, ever do that which a chugging riff. Tremolo picking is used 
as a much more melodic device.

There's one more thing to keep in mind about tremolo picking which is that 
it can be either done in time (in which case you want to pick in straight 
16th or even 32nd notes if you can manage it), or you can just pick as fast 
has humanly possible; as long as you make sure to change notes on the beat, 
it will still sound in time. These two approaches have different feels and 
different moods, so, as always, experiment.

-=-

[-ABOUT-]

Heidenlarm is a quasi-quarterly publication of metal and neoclassical music, 
culture and philosophy in association with mock Him productions 
[anus.com/mock] and The Hessian Studies Center [hessian.org].

Editor: 
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Contributors:
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Contact
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