Kraftwerk nominated for Rock and Roll hall of fame

by Brett Stevens on October 17, 2014

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Electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk, whose work along with Tangerine Dream and Dead Can Dance influenced all of black metal, have received a nomination from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to finally be recognized by the semi-official industry group.

Kraftwerk burst into electronic music in a time before the personal computer or the programmable sound chip; instead, they created their early sounds with analog electronic instruments and by modifying their own synthesizers and sequencers to achieve a wider range of sounds than previously thought possible. Their greatest contribution however came through their transportative melodies and alert arrangements, as well as songs that through subject matter peered into the dark heart at the center of the glittering chrome positivism of modernity.

Black metal bands found the dark atmospheres and moral questioning of melancholic, alienated works such as Computer World (1986) to be highly influential, and bands as diverse as Mayhem, Burzum and Darkthrone inherited influence from Kraftwerk and other German-revival “cosmic” bands. Perhaps the greatest observation from Kraftwerk comes from their 1978 hit “The Robots” in which the ideal worker lauds obedience and tractability as a form of victory. Such cynical takes on modern time, coupled with a positive alternative vision of technology, defined the Kraftwerk approach during its classic years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXa9tXcMhXQ

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Organic (formerly Organic Infest) release new material

by Brett Stevens on October 13, 2014

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Puerto Rican death metal band Organic Infest took a new direction with new members and became Organic, which has re-issued its discography and recently unleashed a new track, “The Holocaust,” which shows the direction the band will take upcoming recordings.

As usual defying the conventional method and trends alike, Organic features a drummer, a bassist and… a second bassist. Chew Correa plays a piccolo bass in place of guitar which prompts unconscious fear by metalheads that the music will not have the same crashing intensity as regular death metal. “The Holocaust” puts these fears to rest.

Organic takes an approach to death metal which differs from the more aggressive riff-based attack; this is a layered, spacious and highly melodic vision of death metal without seeping into the sappy land of warmed-over heavy metal made pretty for listening at parties which is essentially what “melodic death metal” has become. Instead, Correa leads his team in an approach more like structured jazz, with deep percussive texture allowing the stringed instrument players time to overlap one another in patterns that do not quite mimic guitar, but push bass in a new direction as well.

“The Holocaust” shows Organic ripping into fast death/speed hybrid riffs with room for melodic touches and rhythmic fills, creating variety between the shredding straight-ahead approach and the more nuanced layering. Complete with roaring vocals that approach a “bestial” side of metal instead of the more uniform barking or riot shouts, Organic use this track to forge a new style based on their strengths and many attributes of classic heavy metal.

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Summoning at work on new material

by Brett Stevens on October 13, 2014

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Flowing black metal band Summoning have issued the following update:

After having turned our attention on different things during the first half of this year, we are back to concentrate on summoning again. There are already some new riff composed and rearrangements have been done of songs from the O.M.D session. Protector also started to recreate our homepage, with a total new design and updated content.

So the hammers are pounding loudly again in carven deep and far on the horizons the first ray of light are bearing witness of the return of the old ways …

This announcement cheers many who have come to appreciate the Summoning brand of black metal: longer melodies more tightly integrated with keyboard counterparts, slower pace with more atmosphere, and a medieval/Tolkien-esque escape from the nominalist insanity of modernity.

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Soulburn unleashes “Under the Rise of a Red Moon” from upcoming The Suffocating Darkness

by Staff on October 13, 2014

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Dutch underground metal band Soulburn — formed from the ashes of Asphyx and related acts — carries on in a new direction with new track “Under the Rise of a Red Moon” released in advance of forthcoming November release The Suffocating Darkness.

This track shows more of a black metal vibe and trope to this band, eschewing the percussive feel (and left-hand-mute sheeting distortion guitar technique) of Asphyx in favor of a dark atmosphere with melodic continuations driving the song, which was the style of black metal that exhibited the last gasp of an underground through bands like Deathspell Omega and Inquisition. However, the band cites first-generation proto-underground bands like Celtic Frost and Bathory as well as NWOBHM band Venom as inspiration, although Soulburn exhibits technique from later black metal.

Soulburn features Asphyx anchor and drum talent Bob Bagchus but also Eric Daniels, who wrote some of the more interesting guitar on early works up through the self-titled album, although by that point he had exited the band. Added to the list are Remco Kreft on guitar, who played with Daniels in Grand Supreme Blood Court, and Twan van Geel on bass. Notably missing is Wannes Gubbels of Pentacle who may be responsible for the melodic direction that Death… The Brutal Way took which was missing from the more mechanistic Deathhammer. However, Daniels and Gubbels serve similar roles in creating the melodic understructure of songs.

Billing themselves as “blackened death metal,” Soulburn clearly seek to distinguish their music from the choppy explosive death metal that Asphyx and related acts like Hail of Bullets are currently producing. “Under the Rise of a Red Moon” features a dark and lush ambiance with song structure mutations in unexpected places, leading to a sense of destabilization and ambiguity. This contrasts the style of Asphyx, which increasingly sounds like a reduction of the world into discrete and concrete statements, and embraces a future of dystopia and confusion.

Drummer Bob Bagchus, who left Asphyx at some point after they started to sound like Hail of Bullets, leaves us with this summary: “This track shows well what Soulburn is all about: cold, dark and grim blackened doom/death metal. ‘Under the Rise of a Red Moon’ is furious and contains all the elements we love the most about metal. This song also shows that one does not need many riffs to create a grim atmosphere…this is a mid-paced assault with a pure and heavy 80s feel, just how we wanted it!”

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Nunslaughter – Angelic Dread

by Staff on October 10, 2014

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This band have been around for over 400 years and have made the same album over 75 times, but each time it is good for a simple reason: this band know what they are aiming for and carefully edit their songs to make sure all parts fit together into a smooth musical experience. While it is tempting to categorize Nunslaughter as death metal, they are in fact speed metal, as most of these riffs come straight from the late-1980s fully-developed speed metal that incorporated advances by Slayer, Exodus, Anthrax and others into the Metallica standard.

Although Nunslaughter first came to the US on the Mayflower many years before Metallica existed, it is believed that Nunslaughter developed this style on its own and may have in fact invented it before the band was formed during the final days of the Roman Empire. While some may be tempted to categorize Nunslaughter as dinosaurs, the fact remains that this band takes the raw ingredients of power metal, speed metal and most death metal and makes a stripped-down, hardcore-punk style ripping version of this that remains highly listenable even if not particularly distinguishable on a song-to-song basis. Like other collections of many short songs, such as Dead Infection or Carcass, Angelic Dread operates like many small insights into roughly the same idea.

When paleontologists recently unearthed a complete Archaeopteryx fossil, they found early Nunslaughter recordings beneath it. Somehow, what this band creates never gets old, in part because they understand their riffs as a language from the same basic source, and in part because like a thrash band their song format carefully fits the particular clash of the two riffs (with a few budget transitions, and sometimes rhythmic variations, Nunslaughter uses two riffs per song on average) and the need of presenting them in the best light. The result is compelling and enjoyable and upholds the best tradition of riffcraft and expressive violence in underground music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7xz6lqOAOc

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The Electric Guitar in Popular Culture conference issues call for papers

by Brett Stevens on October 8, 2014

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The Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University will host the The Electric Guitar in Popular Culture conference on March 27-28, 2015. The conference will examine the study of electric guitar and its effects on popular culture, but also look at how it has changed music itself.

Matt Donahue, conference organizer, issued the following statement: “The Electric Guitar in Popular Culture aims to examine the roles of the electric guitar in cultures throughout the world. It is intended to serve as a space for academics, professionals, hobbyists and fans to engage in dialogue about topics related to the electric guitar and its cultural influence.”

The conference organizers also suggested topics that might be of interest and solicited papers on these topics. Interested parties should send a 300 word abstract describing your individual presentation to electricguitar2015@gmail.com with “The Electric Guitar in Popular Culture” in the subject line. Questions for analysis include:

  • How has the electric guitar altered music and the lives of musicians throughout its history?
  • How has the electric guitar impacted local music scenes in northwest Ohio and those throughout the world?
  • Have changing representations of the guitar in popular culture impacted aspiring musicians?
  • How have advances in technology impacted the production of electric guitars for both producers and consumers?
  • How have various cultures and perspectives surrounding the electric guitar shifted over time?

Additional topics for consideration include:

  • Representations in Popular Culture
  • Globalization of the Electric Guitar
  • Current Trends & Artists
  • Ohio Guitar Shows
  • Guitar Collecting
  • Album Artwork
  • Guitar Magazines & Publications
  • Guitar Manufacturing
  • The Guitar and Education
  • Race/Ethnicity and the Electric Guitar
  • Gender/Sexuality and the Guitar
  • Fender vs. Gibson
  • Guitar As Icon
  • The Guitar in Video Games and Toys
  • Genres & Associated Artists

Deadline for submissions is Sunday, December 21, 2014.​

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Details on Compilation of Death issue three

by Brett Stevens on October 8, 2014

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DMU reported recently that Compilation of Death zine has issue three back from the printers and ready to distribute. Like many of you probably were, I was intrigued by the use of the term “zine” to describe what looks like… a book.

In the grand spirit of investigative metal journalism, DMU reached out to Gabriel Andres Gatica Kretschmer, editor of the Compilation of Death. He answered our questions about the new issue and created anticipation of the new issue with his answers.

How many pages are in the new issue? Are all of them illustrated?

Aesthetically this new issue might be seen as a book because of its large number of pages, but this appearance was not premeditated. Independent of the size, we are and we have the essence of a fanzine: Compilation of Death is created by fans for fans. Our new issue has over 390 pages but keeps the spirit and outlook of a xeroxed ‘zine. And yes, all of the pages are illustrated!

What bands are in it?

  • Features
    • SADISTIC INTENT (in depth special)
    • Brutal Assassin
    • Decomposed (Usa)
    • SINDROME
    • DREAM DEATH
    • PHLEBOTOMIZED
    • Druid Lord
    • DR SHRINKER
    • VOID OF VOMITS
    • EARACHE RECORDS (Interview about the history of the label)
    • Necroccultus
    • HEXX
    • BLOODBATH (Serbia)
    • SORCERY (Sweden)
    • AUTOPSY (Fucking big interview)
    • Nephrite (Norway)
    • DISSECT
    • DIABOLIC/HORROR OF HORRORS/UNHOLY GHOST
    • ENTETY/COFFIN TEXT
    • AGRESSOR (Fra)
    • FATAL (Usa)
    • CIANIDE
    • THANATOPSIS (Usa)
    • OBLITERATION (Nor)
    • BLOODSPILL (Usa)
    • DEATH THREAT (Usa)
    • DECEASED
    • DEATH YELL
    • ETERNAL DARKNESS
    • NILE
    • ROTTREVORE
    • Embrional (Pol)
    • NECROWRETCH
    • ETERNAL SOLSTICE
    • PENTACLE (Studio Report-Live review by Costa Stoios)
    • PROFILES
    • MAGNUS (Pol)
    • Pages of pure fucking Damnation (Chat with old fanzine editors)
    • Aaaarrghh Magazine (NZ)
    • INVOCATOR/MACERATION
    • GOD VOMIT’ Zine
    • RATTLEHEAD ‘ZINE/BLOWING THRASH ZINE
    • DECIBEL OF DEATH ZINE
    • THE BOOK OF ARMAGGEDDON’ZINE/ RAGE RECORDS
    • RAM METAL SECTION (The section of LAURENT RAMADIER)
  • Interviews
    • Gino Marino & NOCTURNUS/INCUBUS
    • MUTILATED (Fra)
    • EXCRUCIATION (SWI)
    • INCANTATION
  • SOME DIE, OTHERS ARE BORN (New section with over 50 new bands)
  • DARK AWAKENING (Review Section)

Is this all-new content? (I assume so, just verifying)

All the content is new, from our own staff and some guests as collaborators in interviews. But we also have some reprints of old interviews from old fanzines.

How is this different from past COD issues?

I think the essence is the same, we just have more pages, therefore, more interviews and articles. We also add a new section with more than 50 upcoming bands where you may learn the basic and essential information about bands who have only been around for a few years and have few releases. We continue with an in-depth special about the history of a band; last issue this was IMMOLATION and in this new edition is been SADISTIC INTENT.

Where can people get this, and about how much will it cost?

HELLSHEADBANGERS from USA is our official distributor; they were responsible for printing our new issue. Some labels in Europe like APOCALYPTIC EMPIRE, IRON BONEHEAD, THE SINISTER FLAME, UNHOLY PROPHECY, TERROR FROM HELL, MEMENTO MORI, WITCHCRAFT ‘ZINE, etc. are distributing our new issue as well. All who are interested in distributing our new issue should contact HELLSHEADBANGERS Records directly and ask for wholesale pricing.

Can you tell us a bit about your background in metal, in writing and in zine publishing? What are you listening to now?

Previously I edited a fanzine called Brutal Passion in Chile, it was something generic, nothing new, you could find the same in other 100 fanzines. I’m a crazy fanzine collector and I decided to do something different and create Compilation of Death zine as a tribute to the old fanzines and focused on the development, history and continuity of a style like death metal and its closest branches.

I see Compilation of Death as a link between the forgotten and the present time… I listen to many things depending on my mood, but these days, the new album of ZEMIAL, OPHIS, DEAD CONGREGATION, DOMAINS, DROWNED, GORGUTS, HAEMOPHAGUS, RUDE, ATARAXY, DISMA, BEYOND, SHEOL, INCANTATION, RIPPER (CHILE), U. KULTEN, PROCESSION, etc… I listen to almost all styles of metal, especially a lot of death metal and heavy metal. My favorite band since I was a child is RUNNING WILD for example…

compilation_of_death-sample_pages

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Planetary Coalition – Planetary Coalition

by Brett Stevens on October 7, 2014

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Since this is a metal site, most of us know Alex Skolnick from his emotional and virtuostic guitar leads on Testament albums; in my view, he gave The New Order the power it needed to rise above being another speed metal band by creating solos that resonated and amplified the emotion in the riffs and vocals.

Years go by and guitarists find themselves in need of new pursuits. Skolnick has since created jazz with his Alex Skolnick Trio and participated in a wide range of other projects, but now he takes an acoustic guitar approach to world music in a style reminiscent of Paco de Lucia with more alertness to contemporary music. He tackles multiple traditions from music around the world with a combined classical/jazz approach which accentuates the subtleties of the music and add texture of melodic activity.

Joined by a wide range of performers including Rodrigo y Gabriela to Kiran Ahluwalia, Adnan Joubran, Pablo Aslan, Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez and more, Skolnick shadows these songs with fast acoustic playing that tackles a dozen or more styles from flamenco to Middle Eastern and combinations of the above, incorporating local instruments and styles in addition to the talents of multiple vocalists. The album basically splits between an instrumental portion and a vocal-driven portion.

Like most world music albums, Planetary Coalition sticks to recognized song forms and melodies that clearly communicate their place of origin and give him a chance to improvise alongside the relatively well-known tunes. Many of them are not known as songs per se so much as archetypes from movies and tourist documentaries that find a type of national sound and explore its tropes, which gives Skolnick a starting point to build on those familiar melodies and amplify the internal dialogue of these songs. He shines most on the instrumentally dense songs such as “Taksim Square,” “Negev Desert Sunset,” “Return of the Yi People” and “Sleeping Gypsy.” For those who are not world music devotees, or planning to use this album as a sort of musical coffee table book to show their SWPL awareness of the vast diversity of earth’s cultures, these songs are where Skolnick shines and shows how he can adapt to a different voice and make it his own.

As an introductory album, Planetary Coalition does quite well but stops short of showing Skolnick’s compositional range. Because it emphasizes a collage of cultures and styles, and thus sticks to the clearly identifiable as a means of communicating that, it ends up in the kind of world music background sound position that much of its audience will expect. That is a shrewd move for Skolnick who seems to be attempting to be accepted first, and then to build on that legacy, as any smart musician would given this opportunity. In an album of all-stars, he finds a place to shine in later tracks, leaving me wishing that he would do more of those, and hoping that the second album will showcase more of his power in his own style even as he pays tribute to the many great voices worldwide who contribute to human music as an ongoing adventure.

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Interview with Adrian and Ola of The Haunted

by Brett Stevens on October 7, 2014

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Back when At the Gates called it a day for the first time, a new band and a new sound emerged in metal. This hybrid mixed the late hardcore style of random and chaotic riffing with melodic metal and grindcore intensity, creating what most called “metalcore” with overtones of “math metal.” Unbeknownst to the band at the time, the entire industry followed their lead.

Almost two decades later, The Haunted return at the same time At the Gates is making a bid for return, and many remain curious as to how this band will continue its own evolution and contribute to the future of metal-punk hybrids. We were able to get in a few words with Adrian and Ola of The Haunted, thanks to Century Media’s Nikki Law.

The Haunted is returning with a new album and what seems like a new direction. Is that so? How does what you’re doing now compare to your previous album?

Hi there. Yes the new album definitely showcases a new style for the band. Its a return to our thrashy roots in some ways, but rather in a more modern version than what we were doing on the first few albums. It doesn’t really compare to Unseen. its just so far removed from that album on so many levels. Not strange though cause it was in sense a very different band with a different outlook and approach to what we are today.

The Haunted is widely credited with establishing metalcore, the style that took post-hardcore style composition and added in metal and melodic metal riffs. What is metalcore? How did The Haunted contribute to it?

I really have not got any clue about these genres. We just play the stuff that we like to listen to and the kind of tunes we like to play. Categories are really for people that needs to file music into compartments… For us they really are not that important.

Ola, you are in Feared as well, a band that sounds like Pantera performing Metalhead as performed by a deathgrind band. What influences your sound in Feared? How much of that will you bring to the new The Haunted record?

I keep my ideas separated; it’s clear to me when I start writing a song if it will be a song for the Haunted or for Feared. When I write songs for the band they were written a bit from a fan perspective initially before I started finding my role in the band. I bring youth and aggression to the outfit.

It’s impossible to discuss The Haunted without mentioning At the Gates. Why do you think At the Gates was so influential? What part of that sound lives on in The Haunted?

I really don’t know why. I guess it was a combination that we did what we wanted and did it with a lot of conviction. What we did hadn’t really been done by that many at the time when we did it… And then we disappeared. That’s what I think made it such a hype. My playing in The Haunted is way more open than what I do on the drums in At the Gates. When you hear the new At the Gates album i think you will be able to understand what i mean.

Adrian, you were in the original At the Gates lineup and founded The Haunted. How did the final At the Gates album, Slaughter of the Soul, contribute to the The Haunted sound?

It didn’t contribute at all. The Haunted was formed by Jensen and me the day after At the Gates split up and we wanted nothing to do with the last At the Gates album at that time. It was a fresh new start with brand new influences. I guess that the last At the Gates album contributed in the way that we knew how we didn’t want our new band to sound…

Slaughter of the Soul seemed like a break from the traditional At the Gates sound, and less death metal than a modern take on the melodic speed metal of Ride the Lightning or Don’t Break the Oath. Were those influences?

Slaughter of the Soul was influenced by a lot of different albums but mainly by the hardship and legal shit the band when through during the touring for Terminal Spirit Disease. We were so filled with aggression and wanted to make a full on album, a condensed more direct album than its predecessor.

How do you think The Haunted has changed death metal, and what is the nature of this change? Are the old school days dead, or did all of these genres (death metal, hardcore, speed metal) sort of merge into one?

Metal has merged in so many different ways and bands are combining different styles left right and center. I have actually stopped paying attention. My favorite metal albums are mostly from the 80s and early 90s. For The Haunted, we will continue mixing the different influences we have collectively within the band, play and write the kind of stuff we like regardless of what the style its called.

Ola, you have also played in Six Feet Under. How is it different to play in a Tampa-style band from a band like The Haunted?

Six Feet Under was pure death metal whereas The Haunted’s back catalog has so many different aspects to the playing and songwriting. I enjoyed Six Feet Under as well as shaping the future with The Haunted.

How does The Haunted write songs? Do you come up with riffs and then put them together, or use Jenga or another type of puzzle to make them all fit together, or is there some secret alchemy (numerology, occult symbolism) that explains these riff-mazes?

The songs are sometimes a contribution by one person that writes the whole thing. Sometimes they are a combination of someone’s verse and someone elses’s chorus and intro riff. There is no fixed formula. If the songs that takes shape is good then its a success.

You’ve got a new lineup and a new start as The Haunted. What do you hope your music will communicate, and how are you looking forward to sharing this with fans on tour?

There was no deep hidden meaning in the creation of Exit Wounds other than huge “Fuck off, we are not dead! Here we are and we are heavier than we have been in years!” Come and see for yourself at an upcoming gig! It will smoke you!

Thanks again for your support and hope to see you on the road!

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