Demonoir Makes Its Case

Because I know you were concerned: Demonoir has proven to the pleasant experience I had been hoping for. If I were to summarize in a sentence: what I wrote about "Atomic Chamber" being a mix of "plenty of pounding...some (slightly) more atmospheric stuff, and...a decent amount of structure that keeps a six minute song sounding like a six minute song and not an endless assault" turns out to be Demonoir in microcosm. Each true (or tr00?) song is bookended by a minute or so of atmospherics, titled in a numerically-ascending sequence as a progression along the tunnel of Set (maybe this Set?), which makes the songs feel like a brutal set of way stations. The effect is similar to that used by Teitanblood used on Seven Chalices.

Those songs in turn are distinct enough that I'm starting to remember portions between listens, which is probably about as catchy as a black metal album can get without crossing over into that tricky melodic territory. Most of them even have a personality that's more black metal standard, too - which might be why they're starting to stick. "Psalm 777," for example, cribs some Ride the Lightning-era Metallica in both riffs and solos, which certainly catches the ear. A few listens in and I'm already pretty close to calling Demonoir my favorite 1349 release.

Ravn's 15 Minutes of Grimness

Ever wondered why Ravn from 1349 always seems to be rocking the same Hellhammer shirt? Or whether he really cares what you thought of Revelations of the Black Flame? How about what he thinks about his record company calling Demonoir "a return to the band's more traditional, raw-yet-technical black metal sound"? Answers to all of these questions and more are now available for your reading pleasure, thanks to Elise from Reign in Blonde and her Q & A with 1349's oh-so-grim front man. My favorite piece of the interview:

What importance do you place upon philosophy or ethos when writing music? Would you say 1349 is a force against tyranny?

1349 is a force of its own. A force greater than any one of us members, and it is fulfilled whenever we meet and play or rehearse. We stopped trying to understand what it is many years ago since it only happens when we are together. This force demands that we do everything possible in order to maintain the results of its creative outburst. This means we don’t pay attention to anything else than what is created. Of course you can say this force is a force against tyranny as it is a force of our free minds that lets us put ethos and philosophy aside and also all other impulses lurking around with a religious heritage and mind control as purpose. To think for yourself and make up your own mind is essential in order to progress as a human. Lead not follow, wolf not sheep.

That's right, kids: make black metal a part of your next Independence Day party and you'll be carrying on the proud traditions of the founding fathers.

Stepping into the Atomic Chamber

Baroque, Bleak, Brutal, where it's 1349, all the time. The black metallers added the track "Atomic Chamber" from Demonoir to their MySpace page and because I must experience the future as soon as possible - even in its shitty, over-compressed form - I went to check it out (twice, actually: you have to be sure about these things) and over all, I'm pretty impressed: this track manages to find a happy medium between Hellfire and Revelations of the Black Flame: there's plenty of pounding, there's some (slightly) more atmospheric stuff, and there's a decent amount of structure that keeps a six minute song sounding like a six minute song and not an endless assault. Things manage to get a little melodic at one point, I swear I could hear the presence of a bass track, and Frost gets a special call out for being a living metronome on a high-speed setting.

Still, I'm sticking with cautious optimism rather than all-out excitement about Demonoir: there are a few things about this song - like the off-tempo piano counterpoint in the middle of the song and Ravn slowly repeating "atomic chamber" at the end - that don't sit quite right. Time will tell if these are aberrations, or a symptoms of a band trying too hard to break boundaries while sounding kvlt.

Limited Edition Knock Off

To continue the commentary on the artwork for Demonoir: 1349 announced a limited edition version of the album - available both on CD and as picture disc vinyl - with different artwork, displayed below:

Now, I'll not be the one to bash the use of a skull in art, particularly one that seems to rely on the always-excellent elements of blood and fire to keep its shattered form. However, I get a feeling that the artist might have drawn inspiration from the cover of a well-known member of metal's catalog:

It's not quite a rip off, but it's not exactly original, either.

Demonoir Cover Art: Cool or Cheesy?

Above is the artwork for 1349's upcoming release, Demonoir. The album has already generated some discussion 'round these parts for its promised return to the band's more traditional black metal sound and it seems the artwork is in keeping with the concept: not only - as Seth pointed out in an email to me - does the title font have a lot in common with the font used by Bathory, but the art has some substantial feel to it the way Hellfire did and Revelation of the Black Flame did not. However, though I think the Lovecraftian horror in the backgorund is pretty cool, there's something that bothers me about the whole presentation. Part of it is the eyes in the darkness, which seems just a little too cheesy evil; part of it might be the blocks surrounding the letters in the title font, which - either at first blush, or maybe because of the pixelation of the image - look like those Celtic-style fonts from a free font catalog that are meant to imitate illuminated manuscripts. I guess if they're trying to play up their old-school kvlt cred, using all of the cheesy old school artwork tricks emphasizes the point...

What do you all think?

Via Blabbermouth

Even Black Metal Bands Like the Limelight

Seth may have had a hard on for Revelations of the Black Flame - and I'll admit I find the album intriguing enough to give it an occasional spin - but if the band's announcement about the direction of their next album (coming in April) is any indication, either they felt a backlash they didn't enjoy, Revelations... really was (as rumored) a wank effort thrown together around three songs, or they've said all they want to say right now with soundscapes: "The new CD, which promises 'a return to the band's more traditional, raw-yet-technical black metal sound,' is due on April 13."

A straight return to Hellfire would be boring, of course, but I wouldn't mind hearing the band finding a happy medium between Hellfire's brutality and Revelations...'s chaos to explore in their next release. Of course, if they're reverting to form, they could just be trying to get more than five people to show up to their next headlining show. We'll see: if the next album is more of the same, I vote they call it No One Likes Toiling in Obscurity.

Black Metal Week Part 3: Dark Fortress

It's Black Metal Week only because Seth and I keep writing about black metal.

The same prospecting expedition to Wikipedia that produced this post led my discovering Dark Fortress, a German melodic black metal outfit that put out their fifth studio album, Ylem at the end of last month. Ylem is a deeply flawed album in many ways - most notably that it's really too damn long - and Dark Fortress has been around long enough that I suspect that the decision to write twelve songs with an average length of six minutes isn't something they're going to grow out of. However, I find them intriguing for the same reason I like Keep of Kalessin: with their melodic flavor, they've broke out of the stereotypical black metal mold, but they've got enough of a black edge to still sound pretty evil. "Hirudinieans," named after the scientific classification for leeches, is standard for the album: it's got some doomy material, some headbanging material, some melodic riffing and soloing, and the reasonably intelligible comparison between sycophants and parasites.



But Ylem's most interesting track is "Sycamore Trees," the album's final song. It starts out slow and soon plods forward with the speed and potential menace of an Ent, crushed by an ancient sorrow - a sonic representation of this picture. I'm not sure why, but after twelve songs of tonic madness, this one soul-dampening slog is enough of a taste of sweet sorrow to make me want to come back for more.

Again We Rise: Celtic Frost - Monotheist

True to Iron Maiden's promise at Madison Square Garden in 2000, the decade that followed has seen a resurgence of metal that not only obliterated the specter of death staking the genre in the 1990s, but makes previous heydays seem puny in comparison. Metal in the 2000s was all about proliferation: new styles emerged, old ones regenerated, and - thanks to the Internet - exposure spread like a virus. To highlight all of that success , we're launching Again We Rise, an occasional feature that will celebrate the releases that rose above the voluminous crowd to become classics. Today, Celtic Frost's Monotheist.

In the measurement of an album's brutality, there are a few key ways for a release to stand out: it can hit you physically, executing a convergence of riffs and mix that feel like a beating; mentally, dazzling you with vision-generating atmospherics; or psychologically, daring you to confront the true meaning of emptiness. Metal being such a masochistic art form, all three methods are enjoyable, but it's the psychologically brutal albums that are perhaps the most effective - and of the past decade's releases, none were more effective than Monotheist. Fourteen years in the waiting and six in the making, the swansong album for Celtic Frost takes its surface character from the bone-dry distortion of a single shambling guitar and the tuneless chant of Tom Warrior, working in tandem to drive the listener slowly down the road to the abyss.

There are many strange and wonderful sights along the way, however that keep Monotheist from becoming a simple plodder: the opening of "A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh," where a few simple guitar counterpoints, the rumble of a bass, and a haunting melody sung by Martin Ain build to a crushing crescendo that they eliminate the potential cliché in the lyrics - "frozen is heaven/frozen is hell/and I am dying in this living human shell" - with mesmerizing ability.



The combination of feedback, analog keyboard pads, and a To Mega Therion-style female vocal in duet with Warrior's growl on "Drown in Ashes" becomes the aural equivalent of chasing will 'o the wisps through a swamp.

The sonic imagery of "Totengott," which might as well be the bedrock for the albums released by Teitanblood, Anaal Nathrakh, and 1349 last year.

"Winter," which sums up all of the emptiness Monotheist trumpets in spades with a simple 1:30 of droning, shifting strings.



If the contemplation of nothing and our insignificance in the face of that infinity that represents this contemplation at its truest had a soundtrack, it would be Monotheist.

Revelations of the Black Flame: Not a Good At-Work Album

I am fortunate enough to have a job where I can throw on a pair of headphones and listen while I work, so the majority of my music listening - and concequently, my music evaluating - takes place during the working hours. While this arrangement generally works to my advantage, there are a few things I just can't listen to, because I'm not in the right mindset. Monotheist, for example, is a great album that I can't listen to at work because I start comparing my cube to a dark pit of despair where I labor ceaselessly on a treadmill for a pitiful reward and the knowledge that my death is a few hours closer. The result is a testament to Celtic Frost's abilities, no doubt, but not a great way to go through the work day.

Having just put Revelations of the Black Flame through a second listen, I have come to the conclusion that 1349's follow up to Hellfire deserves to be put on the same pedestal of respect: I just can't get into the album's murky soundscapes when I'm writing emails and updating spreadsheets. Instead, it seems that I'd be best served by saving Revelations... for a trek through a swamp - or a walk in the next heavy NYC rainstorm - letting the evil seep into me in a habitat closer to its creators' mindsets.

Fell on Black Days (a long weekend of Black Metal in NYC)

Interesting few days in Manhattan. On Friday 2/27 Satyricon and Cradle of Filth came to the Nokia in Times Square and on Monday 3/2, 1349 (prematurely) headlined BB King's. Here are my thoughts on those two shows.

I have always had an admiration for Cradle of Filth, but a reasonably low tolerance for their records. Dani Filth's shrieking gets on my nerves after a while. Sometimes a very short while. But I have always loved Damnation and a Day, and I am really into the new one, so I figured this would be a great excuse to scratch Cradle off the list and finally see them live.

However, this was not Cradle of Filth's evening. It was Satyricon's. Before their set I was marginally familiar with their records and certainly a fan of Frost's drumming. But Iwas made a complete convert. Satyr, with his slicked back hair and nice suit is rocking some sort of Nazi chic. Considering how grateful he was to be in NYC I am going to assume he is not an anti-semite and concentrate on the tunes.

Simply put they were amazing. The entire band moved with a ton of confidence and won over the whole crowd. The last time I saw an opening act so completely own the headliner was back when Children of Bodom on the Hate Crew Deathroll tour opened for Iced Earth at BB King's. The time before that was seeing In Flames open for Iced Earth, but the story of Iced Earth being completely upstaged by their openers is another post for another time....

In addition to the cool confidence of the whole band Satyr came off amazingly humble and thanking New York for being so supportive, despite having not played here all that much. By the end of the set when he asked if people would return if they headlined later in the year the venue exploded. You would do well to catch them when they come into town. They are not the most passionate live band, but with the exception of seeing Emperor, it was one of the most effective examples of seeing Black Metal live.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Cradle of Filth. Although they had a pretty fun stage set up complete with a crucified skeleton rocking the devil horns, they sounded very phoned in. The sound mix was also muddy and distorted, unlike the pristine mix of their opener. After four songs we split, having heard a couple of tunes from the new record (but not my current favorite The Death of Love which curiously wasn't on the set list) and some classics like Dusk and Her Embrace it was time to leave. Forty minutes of that band was plenty. That picture to the left? Matt snapped it. That is a woman dressed up as the Joan of Arc walking towards the Nokia bathrooms. I wish we got a snap of her from the front. She was a sight to behold.


1349 was a bit more curious. Dovetailing into Eric's review I agree that they do a much better job on record than they do live. Interestingly their drummer on the albums is Frost, Satyricon's drummer. But he does not tour with them, and it does hurt their performance. Their touring drummer is very obviously in a different league and it affects their intensity. Also they were not ready to headline such a large room. BB King's holds about 1,000 people or so, and I would say there were barely 100 in that room. When the venue is so sparse anything you think is evil, is actually hilarious. I was pretty hammered and way up front so it was kind of fun. Also in that picture on the right you will see at the bottom a gray haired man holding a camera. I recognized him from Tom Warrior's blog. You can see a picture here. I imagine he was filming the show for Mr. Warrior who mixed the new 1349 record has performed with them in the past. If everything I have said is correct and Tom Warrior finds this blog, I apologize for screaming "U SUR PER" so much by the camcorder. I was a little hammered.

The last thing to note is that at the end of the show the singer of 1349 was shaking hands with people in the front. I got my slap. When he got to Matt there was some sort of wardrobe malfunction and well, the picture of Matt's hand right after is below. Matt does want everyone to know that it is not just his own blood from the singer's spikes, but he wound up with corpse paint on his hand as well.

1349 at B.B. King's

You know what's great? When an unknown opening band defies expectations, manages not to suck, and makes some new fans in the process. To be sure, Annunaki sounds like something you'd order in a sushi restaurant (although the name's actual meaning is pretty cool) and their song introductions were laugh-out-loud cheese ("this song is about being locked in a dark basement, being torn limb from limb...this one's called TOOOORTUUUUURE"), but they still put on a fun show, playing whatever genre-melding combo of metal that tickles your fancy best: the band calls themselves "blackened thrash;" Seth and I settled on "blackened technical death." Either way, the sound was massive for a one guitar outfit, the guitarist and bassist both had expensive instruments they knew how to play, and most of the riffs had the sweet combination of variety and tasty flavor.

Last time I saw 1349, I was encamped in a chair at the back of the Nokia, fighting off the ill-effects of a meat coma, and I was not impressed: in their recordings, 1349 had all of the brutality of a brick wall appearing suddenly in the midst of highway traffic, but live that brutality seemed to disintegrate to mosquito-level annoyance. This time around, the space (and the crowd) was much smaller, I was up and wandering around, and it was very easy to get caught up in the moment for the kind of stress-relieving scream-and-bang fest I needed to enjoy myself. Sure, the between song synth breaks were as cheesy as Annunaki's song intros, but I had as much evil fun as my ears - and my neck - could want for a night.

Metal and Coffee

I'm sure many of you are coffee drinkers. I came into this particular habit within the last nine months, motivated by the health benefits purportedly given by drinking a certain measure of this acid-laden water every day. In my defense - if a defense need be given for a chemical addiction - I had psychological trauma to work through, brought on by several years servitude as a busboy in a coffee shop (and not the fun, sitcom kind of coffee shop, either). In any case, after I started drinking coffee regularly, I discovered I really like it black (you know, like I like my metal).

I should mention that when it comes to beverages, if there's a possibility that people tend to distinguish the beverage by its flavors - as they do with wine, beer, and whiskey - and I like what they're drinking, I'll latch on to this concept pretty quickly and do my best to find the flavors, too. With coffee, this flavor discovery is pretty easy to do, with even the free coffees my company provides to its caffeine-starved drones having a variety of easily-distinguishable tastes, brought on no doubt in part to help their makers distinguish their products from the competition. I was on my way to get a helping when it occurred to me: flavors of coffee are like flavors of metal.

For example: I started today with a cup of some dark, evil substance whose smoky fury was the taste equivalent of blast beats and tremolo strumming, foreshadowing my selection of 1349's Hellfire as the soundtrack for the first part of my work day. After lunch, as the caloric intake and a sleepy Friday afternoon started to weigh heavily on my eyelids, I felt the desire for a more melodic dose of caffeine - the desire to taste something like a Moonsorrow guitar line - and opted for a mug of French Vanilla. Baroque, bleak, or brutal: no matter what I'm feeling aurally, there's probably a coffee taste to match that feeling orally.

Hot Fucking Lanta

The best ad for Scion since Frisky Dingo, the Scion rock fest is rolling into Atlanta on 2/28.

Although my geographically challenged mind decided Atlanta must only be about 6 hours away, not 16, the BB&B crew may roll down for this. It is every band I like!

Hopefully Andre 3000 will have a stripper pole up by the stage so my fantasy of watching hos from the dirty souf shake their booty to Boris can finally be fulfilled. Sexxy.

THE SCION ROCK FEST Lineup:
Mastodon
Neurosis
High on Fire
Boris
1349
Cryptopsy
Torche
Nachtmystium
Wolves in the Throne Room
Baroness
Harvey Milk
Kylesa
Zoroaster
Withered
Krallice
Toxic Holocaust
Skeletonwitch
Rwake
A Storm of Light
Warbringer
Salome
Suidakra
Tyr
Alestorm
Converge
Pig Destroyer
Septic Flesh
Coalesce
Trash Talk
Evil Army
US Christmas
Gaylord
Apocalyptic Visions