Archive for December, 2011
Friday, December 23rd, 2011
Metal Army caught up with Mark Evans, the bass player for AC/DC from 1975-1977. As the first regular bassist in the band he went on to play on the seminal albums T.N.T., the re-release of High Voltage, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Let There Be Rock, and ’74 Jailbreak. Mark published his memoir Dirty Deeds: My life Inside/Outside of AC/DC. Mark is the first member of the band to tell the story of the early days of the group from a first hand perspective. He has many terrific stories from the bands early days making it a must read. The book also has many great anecdotes about Mark’s life, the band and the legendary late front man Bon Scott. What follows is an excerpt of a longer chat.
 Dirty Deeds came out in November from Bazillion Points Publishing.
MAA: How did you come to write your memoir at this time?
ME: My motivation has been two-fold. One motivation has been over the years people coming to my gigs have been so supportive of me. People always come up to me at the shows and say “Hey you toured the world with AC/DC” and “What was BON SCOTT like?”. I was just me paying back the genuine interest about my life in and out of AC/DC. It was just the right time in my life to take stock of things. To take a deep breath and immerse myself in a project. There were a few Australian publishers who were interested in my story. I didn’t take it really seriously at first. But it turned out to be the right time for me and that started in 2007. It’s been a real plus in my life since writing it. It’s been very good for me too, very cathartic to talk about my time in the band. This is the first time someone from inside the band has ever written anything. I have had the other books written about the band passed on to me over the years. Some of the stuff was at best really inaccurate. I am only qualified to talk about the years when I was in the band. Also, a lot of people are quite interested in Bon and it’s a great way to put some flesh on the bones and tell his story since he was such a great guy.
MAA: What originally inspired you to pick up the bass and want to start a band?
ME: I always had an interest in music from very early on. My siblings were a few years older than me. I got introduced into rock n roll through them like ELVIS PRESLEY, 1950s music, JERRY LEE LEWIS, FATS DOMINO and then the BEATLES. It wasn’t until I was 14-15 that I got into it, because I was nuts about football. That is, Australian rules football. Some friends of mine picked up the guitar and a few of my buddies started playing in bands. And they said hey ‘we need a bass player’. So I went down to the local second hand store and bought a bass. It was 22 bucks and it was bought with money that was supposed to be for my school books in high school. So I started on bass, moved to guitar and then back to bass. I always loved the bass. Initially it was just hanging out with my friends playing music. It was a great time for music. The early days of the 1970s guitar driven rock bands like CREAM, BLACK SABBATH and DEEP PURPLE.
MAA: What was the band like when you joined in 1975?
ME: It was a little bit odd. When I joined the band they were already known locally and the album High Voltage had been released in November of 1974. When I first joined we were playing the bars and pubs with maybe 10, 15 or 20 people at a show. Very, very early days. But the album started to hit right when I joined. Our first single started to really to hit when I joined, “Baby Please Don’t Go”. That was actually the B-side. Lucky for us the radio stations played the B-side, because the A-side of the single was this sappy thing called “Love Story” and it sounded like something out of SAVAGE GARDEN! (laughs) We got tabbed to be on a national TV show called Countdown. So I had been in the band literally three days and then I was on national TV. A few months later we were playing to thousands. The whole band had only been together 12 months at that time. People say the the lineup of Malcolm (Young), Angus (Young), Bon, Phil (Rudd) and myself, a lot of people call that the original lineup, but that isn’t true. There had been other people in the band before me. It moved and came together really quickly.
MAA: Please talk about the relationship between the Young brothers and the rest of the band during those early days.
ME: “Rob the Roadie” drove me home from my audition and told me ‘There is two things you need to know. It is Malcom’s band and we plan to move to the UK in twelve months’. The relationship with the brothers and how it was viewed in the band, and I mean (producer and older brother) George, Malcolm and Angus was very strong. They were the driving force behind the band. George was a mentor to me and pretty much to the rest of the band too. When you are in the band with three brothers working on the same project, it could be tense and George was very hands on. They would get pretty feisty and punches would get thrown and stuff. At the same time the positive far outweighed the negative undercurrent. Bon was very close to Malcolm and Bon was also very high up in the pecking order. I know for a fact Phil and myself had very little say in the decision making process. Bon had some influence, but any decisions were made by Malcolm, Angus, George and their manager at the time, Michael Brandon. And what a great guy to have helping you like George who had been through it all with the EASYBEATS. But it was very much Malcolm and Angus’ band. But we all had equal shares in the band, so no one was a hired gun. No one was in the band for personal gain. We were all in the band for a common goal. It mattered because we believed in the band. We had a common goal, to take on the world. Not to be too conceited, but we also all knew we were in a great band.
 Mark and Bon make a sandwich out of a girl.
MAA: You tell some pretty awesome stories about Bon in your book. Tell us something about Bon people might not expect.
ME: I think Bon felt a very strong responsibility and duty to his image. The Bon on stage was a larger than life figure. The crazy guy. The rock n roller. All denim and leather. But if you got him away from being Bon Scott, he was quite domesticated. He couldn’t wait to set up shop at home with a new girlfriend and settle down. He was a very warm hearted guy. He had impeccable manners. You could take him to a bikers club and he’d have a ball with the bikers. The next night you could take him to the White House to meet the President and he’d be the same way. He wouldn’t change. He’d still be Bon. He could deal with any situation. If it was getting too aggressive he could handle that too. I think he was very depressed and lonely on the road and missed home. If you want to get a good idea about Bon and his life I think the song “Ride On” is very autobiographical. Very much who he is. He was a very domesticated soul. Of course once he got a few charges in and a few bourbons, he was away! He was a partier of Olympic proportions. It’s a strange thing. He had many acquaintances. A lot of people wanted to know him, but he had very few real friends. I’m sure I could count them on two hands. We were all together in Perth for the funeral (Bon’s) which was really tough to go through. I have to say that that way the band handled it, with a lot of care and respect was great. I have a lot of respect for the way the band handled it, that whole situation. Then the way they came back with Back In Black was amazing. To come back that hard is impressive. But, they are pretty hard boys. I don’t think there has ever been a band in that situation that has had to make that kind of transition at their level.
MAA: Looking back on your departure from the band do you think I could’ve been handled better?
ME: I think the decision was made that they were better off without me. The answer Malcolm gave me at the time was they wanted to get a bass player who could sing, but that was kind of weak. It wasn’t so much of a surprise to me as much as it was a shock. It really knocked me over for a long time after that. I was like getting kicked out of a gang when your four best guys in the world say they don’t want to be your friend anymore. I was a very social person and maybe they thought I wasn’t as committed as I should be. At the same time I think it’s impossible to be any more committed than Malcolm and Angus have been. I have a very philosophical view of it now: had I been the right guy for them I would still be there. There was an element of relief too cause it could be very tense in the band. Bon at the meeting took great pains to let me know it wasn’t personal, but I took it very hard and very personally at the time. I would have appreciated a warning shot across the bow. In my ideal world that would have been great. Those guys can be pretty ruthless. They know what they want and you have to admire them for it.
 Mark was an integral part of AC/DC's early success.
MAA: What really happened with the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in 2003?
ME: I was quite surprise when a journalist friend of mine told me I was nominated. I was a little surprised. My initial feeling was like ‘Oh shit!’! Really? My first reaction when I got nominated that I might knock it back (turn it down) and get everyone off the hook. My relationship with the guys is I hadn’t and still haven’t really talked to the guys since 1981. Because I thought it would be very uncomfortable. What happened was after they said I was to be inducted with the band, they turned around and said my nomination was being “reviewed”. For the previous three times the band was nominated there was no issue with me. It was odd. The main thing is that washes up is the band richly deserved to be there and of course Bon had to be included. That sits well with me. What didn’t sit well with me was they put it on their website that I was accepted and then took it away. I would have liked an apology from the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. Overall, it’s good for the band.
 Mark Evans... today.
MAA: You have had a lot of rough times personally as well as professionally. How did get to the point where you are now perspective wise?
ME: I was very fortunate to come from a good environment all my life. I come from a family where we were always really truthful with each other. You try to look at things as they are. You just accept what you can’t change and live with it. If there is a message in the book for people who want to do music and start bands or anything else that is it. Take the time out to enjoy the good times. There’s ups and downs. You should look how to take success for what it is; recognition for hard work. And the same with the other times. You can learn a helluva lot more from a mistake than an easy win.
(Special thanks to Mark Evans and Bazillion Points publishing. You can buy Mark’s book and other BP titles here.)
by Keith (Keefy) Chachkes
Tags: '74 Jailbreak, ac/dc, Angus Young, Back In Black, Bon Scott, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Dirty Deeds: My Life Inside/Outside of AC/DC, George Young, High Voltage, Keefy, Let There Be Rock, life, Loss, Malcolm Young, Mark Evans, Phil Rudd, Rock interviews by Keefy, T.N.T.
Posted in Feature Interviews, Interviews | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
I had the pleasure of catching up with the members of BLACK TUSK a while back to discuss the release of their Set the Dial (Relapse) album. Andrew Fiddler, Jonathan Athon and Jamie May were cool enough to give me some of their time to discuss the band, the songwriting process, artwork and friendships. There is nothing cooler than a “round robbin” style interview as far as this intrepid metal reporter is concerned and I think you will dig it!
 Set The Dial came out on Relapse in October.
MAA: Please talk about the making of Set the Dial.
AF: We started writing Set The Dial right when Taste The Sin came out. We wrote a little of it before we put that record out. It came together pretty easy.
JA: It was in between weekends and weeks when we were on and off touring from Taste the Sin. We’d come home and get bored so we’d go into the practice space and just kind of write and get it down on our little tape recorder. And we kept revisiting it every time we were back in town. It just kind of took off from their
 Heavy Metal Parking Lot: Black Tusk Style!
MAA: You guys seem pretty prolific with four albums in five years. Are you always thinking about the next stage?
JM: We are usually thinking about the next step all the time. We get bored really easily and we don’t stop playing.
AF: We love writing music and making songs. We are constantly working on stuff.
MAA: Do you think the dynamics of being a trio affords the band certain writing opportunities?
JA: When you are a three piece like in our case, being that we are a three piece our equipment needs to be louder. You don’t it to be lacking because you don’t have four or five members.
JM: We want to sound more full. And we all three do vocals, so there is no dead space.
AF: You just have to think about what you are doing more because there is no someone to cover up for you if you are messing up a part.
 "Agatha" has appeared on many of the bands' albums, posters and other merch.
MAA: I love the entire creative package of the band with lyrics and artwork. How much thought goes into that?
JA: We usually start writing the music first. Within a couple of songs we’ll usually know what path we are on during the album. From there we start to fugue out a theme to go with the record and usually around that time we figure out what we want to cover. Then it’s ‘when can we talk to John (Dyer Baizley of BARONESS) and then get an idea of what is going on with him. That is pretty much that’s how it goes.
JM: Everything is intertwined: the lyrics, the music and the art are always interwoven in to each other, somewhere.
MAA: I was going to ask if you guys give John any directions or do you just let him go to work?
JA: It’s all thought through. All of our art work has symbolism and meanings from art history and old texts, stuff like that. Everything we do is referenced an we give him a strict outline of what we want, what everything represents and all the imagery we are trying to wrap up. We give him two pages of reference material and then he gives us back one cover. We want him to have his freedom because that is what is cool about his artwork and you wouldn’t want to take that away. At the same time we want certain elements to be represented there.
MAA: Do you feel a kinship with the other Savannah scene bands?
JA: Absolutely! We’ve all been friends for a long time. We try to help each other out. It’s cool, we’re all from the same place. We are definitely like a big family.
JM: It was always a friendship first, like doing our artwork before there was ever a business relationship.
JA: We don’t get to see them too much anymore since KYLESA is always touring and BARONESS moved to Philly. (laughs) But when we get together it’s just like old times.
MAA: Who are the the not so obvious influences on the band?
JM: We don’t really listen to any music and say we want to emulate that. It’s just what happens when we get together. That is just comes out.
JA: It’s a combination of everything, different genres all the music we listen to. It just comes from us. It vibes with us all the time and this thing we are trying to create, it just flows from us. It comes from us. We would never sit down and consciously think to try to sound like any band like ‘let’s get this sound over here and sound like someone else’. That doesn’t factor in our writing process at all.
AF: Our only boundaries with us is we make sure you can tell BLACK TUSK is playing. That is the only thing. Whatever we write, how ever it goes, we wanna play if it’s thrash or punk or metal or anything else we want our fans to know they can tell it’s us still.
 See the band live if you get the chance- they are killer!
MAA: What do you guys have planned for later in the year for touring?
AF: After we do some dates with MASTODON in Texas, we are going to hit the road with MONSTRO AND THOU. We’ve known Juan from TORCHE a little bit, so we have done some stuff with them before.
MAA: That is great! Thanks for your time guys! Hope to catch you on the road soon!
AF: Looking forward to it man!
(Special Thanks go out to BLACK TUSK, RELAPSE Records and Freeman Promotions)
by Keith (Keefy) Chachkes
Tags: Baroness, bassist Jonathan Athon, Black Tusk, cover by art John Dyer Baizley, drummer James May, grooves, Guitarist Andrew Fidler, interviews by Keefy, Jack Endino, Keefy, kylesa, metal reviews, power-trios, Relapse, Set The Dial, stoner rock, swamp metal, three-headed vocals
Posted in Feature Interviews, Interviews | No Comments »
Friday, December 16th, 2011
Decas (Metal Blade)
Rarely has a band released a compilation that truly holds its own among their past discography. On the latest As I Lay Dying release Decas, they have done just that. For a Christian metalcore band to have accomplished so much was rare to see back when they first started in 2001. Nowadays, almost every modern Christian metalcore band has to give As I Lay Dying thanks to popularizing the genre and making it more accepted, even among non-Christians.
Basically a heavy breakdown of a song with progressive elements, “Paralyzed” is an awesome track to add to AILD’s awesome repertoire. Definitely a stand out track, it’s full of chunky guitar riffs, metalcore progression, all while adding in an ambient overhanging guitar part that really sets it apart from most tracks. The melodic chorus fits the overall song structure perfectly, though it’s filled with the very familiar AILD song writing we’ve all come to know and love.
First we have the aggressive but mostly melodic song, now we head into a fast and furious song with a slowed down yet extremely heavy bridge. It’s a pretty awesome stand out track in their catalog, especially for its haunting guitar riff at the 1:15 mark. It’s also structured differently than most of their songs, with no set chorus line. Definitely should be included in their live set from this moment on as it has the potential to really get the crowd moving. Also recommended as a show opener.
It’s a little off-putting to see a Christian metalcore band covering a Satanic thrash band. Case in point, AILD covering “War Ensemble” by Slayer. Regardless, this cover is done very well. It sounds much cleaner and more refined than the original, yet it keeps together all of the elements that made the original a classic. It stays true, with the rapid barrage of riffs, intense drumming, and even the awesome solo, Slayer would be proud.
Throwing in not one, but two Judas Priest covers (“Hellion” and “Electric Eye”) helps keep the band close to their ties. They also keep these faithfully close to the originals, going as far as switching up the clean singing style to match Rob Halford’s. You rarely ever see a band that’s been around as long as AILD to go back and re-visit their debut album, yet they do so with a re-recorded version of “Beneath The Encasing Of Ashes.” Obviously for those who have heard the original, this version is much better.
EDM prodigy Big Chocolate has lent his talents for a remix of the classic AILD track “Elegy.” He keeps it dubstep with a slight mix of drum and bass that retains the energy that was present in the original track and makes it more upbeat similar to the style seen on the Hilion EP, specifically the track “Praise 2011” in terms of the dirty electro sounds that are used.
Definitely one of the best compilations ever released by a band that sums up their incredible history in the music scene instead of just recording a few brand new songs and releasing them in a greatest hits package like 99% of bands like to do.
Grade: B
By Ridge “Deadite” Briel
Tags: as i lay dying, christian, Deadite, Decas, Jordan Mancino, Josh Gilbert, metal blade records, metalcore, nick hipa, Phil Sgrosso, reviews by Ridge, tim lambesis
Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews | No Comments »
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
Being an independent one man black metal band is hard these days. Full of distorted guitars, fast tempos, blast beats and unconventional song structure, Fyrnask have delivered one of the purest forms of black metal I’ve seen in a while on the latest album Bluostar. Lyrically speaking, this is one of the deepest albums I’ve heard in a while. And it also covers different languages as well. Read on to satisfy your insatiable hunger for true black metal.
MA: I heard your demo Fjǫrvar ok benjar back when it was first released in 2010. What were the lyrical ideas for that demo? What were the stories behind each track?
Fyrnd: Fjǫrvar ok benjar had no concept in a sense of a story. The songs are dealing more with pain and despair in an individual, personal sense, than the songs of Bluostar. A point that was strange for some people were the amount of languages appearing on the demo. But this has also to do with, that the songs developed at different points of time. It was more like a compilation of works, done between 2008 and 2010. Songs like “A Thousand Winters To Come” deal for example, also with the neglecting of volition, and the origins of affliction, of course in a personal interpretation. “Forderver den første vanndråpen” (“Spoil the first drop of water”), is an approach to how to lose yourself, your life, your connectedness to this world, by losing yourself in the wilderness and to “give in” in a way. This is maybe something like typical “nature romanticism” one could say. All in all, topics like volition, the human will and so on, were also playing a role back then.
MA: By doing all of the instruments yourself, do you feel that this would hold you back from ever playing live?
Fyrnd: No, not really. Something more important to me is to do music with individuals that are thinking in the same aesthetic vein as I do and to not play live for just playing live. It’s important not to harm the atmospheres and ideas behind the project with doing something like a common “rock show”. So this should be worked out very carefully.
MA: What does Fyrnask mean?
Fyrnd: Fyrnask is old norse and means “to age”. It consists of two roots: Fyrnd or Fyrn- what means “age” and -sk, what derives from sik (modern Norwegian “seg”, modern German “sich”, modern English “oneself”). Fyrn can also be found in modern German as “firn”, which mostly describes corny snow that develops if snow dews and freezes again, but in its older meaning it describes something that is old.
MA: What made you want to add in the overall mystical and ambient aura into Bluostar instead of going a more straight-forward musical route like most black metal bands?
Fyrnd: To me it was important to capture the atmospheres of the concept and it craved in a way to do not just fast, hateful black metal. It was more that I felt some of the ideas and moods needed different kinds of musical backgrounds.
MA: What is the overall conceptual story behind Bluostar? Are the tracks lyrically related in some way or does each tell a separate story?
Fyrnd: The album deals with two abstract entities, two poles, one can say. On the one hand, there are attributes like will, power, the concept of the avenger in some respects, while on the other hand, a physical aspect, the hunted, the letting go of desires stands as an idea. Therefore Bluostar is also split in the middle, marked by change of languages.
There is a fairly obvious level that describes the process of sacrifice from the point of view of the sacrificed and the one who sacrifices, but there is still a deeper, less accessible reception level. It seemed important to me in the process to deal also with the tradition of thinking, and to pick up typical antonyms, such as life and death, light and darkness, hunter and hunted, etc. and also to dissolve them. It comes down to the symbiosis of very apparent opposites so that finally the process of sacrifice, not only as an apparent ritual sacrifice of a human being is described and considered, but also a sacrifice in a metaphysical and personal way. Here the term “self-abandonment” would probably fit well.
Certainly due to the linguistic constitution of the album, it is not necessarily easy to reach this core of the album, but I like to think that people who want to seriously understand Bluostar will find some of the ideas on the album, in a lyrical or musical way.
MA: Who are some of your biggest musical inspirations, both black metal and non-black metal?
Fyrnd: This is a hard question to answer as there is a vast amount of music I listen to. When it comes to black metal, the old stuff from Darkthrone is important, also classical stuff like Mayhem, Burzum, Hellhammer, Bethlehem of course, but this should be no surprise. But there’s also newer stuff that I like, as for example Lunar Aurora, Leviathan, Vhernen, Locrian, Valborg, Murmuüre, Fauna, Yoga or Echtra and so on. My non-black metal influences are also quite strong. Neurosis is very important to me and there were also releases from Esben and the witch, Master musicians of Bukkake, Halo Manash, The Goner, Barn Owl and many many others, which influenced me in one way or another, I think.
MA: Out of all the possible things to add into orders, the first 100 people to buy your album get a hand-crafted, deer- bone necklace. What is the significance of adding this in? Does it have to do with the ritualistic part of your music?
Fyrnd: It has to do with a very personal part of me, and of course also a connection to the concept. But the whole meaning would be far too personal to be described in an interview. But what can be said is that a “sacrifice” and a “bone” have connection to each other. Not to be misunderstood: this animal wasn’t sacrificed, but it reflects nevertheless some important aspects of Fyrnask. I mean, the deer theme is something that occurs also in the logo and on the artwork of the T shirt. It’s not chosen randomly.
MA: What other talents or hobbies do you have other than making music?
Fyrnd: I am studying, which takes a lot of time. I am into historic books, languages and so on. I am living quite withdrawn, and I try to read a lot– I like, for example, mountaineering.
MA: What was the recording process of Bluostar like? What was a typical day in the studio?
Fyrnd: I record in a very small place, where there are not many people and where I can focus on the music.
I do the recordings with a good friend of mine that I’ve known for many years now. In the end, it is the balance between all these technical issues you face when recording music, and a natural way to record it. I think between these two poles all the recording sessions took place. For me it’s like an escape from this world to go there and to focus totally on music.
MA: What sort of historical things do you tie into your music? What would you recommend people to study to gain a better understanding of your lyrics (other than knowing German of course)?
Fyrnd: There are a lot of things you can read about the topics connected with Bluostar. When it comes to Germanic offer-culture you can surely read Tacitus’ “Germania”. He was Roman, so of course it’s not historic reality he describes, but an interpreted view on German tribes as a whole, even though there were not as tied together, as described by him. When it comes to topics like dialectics you should of course read Hegel’s “Phenomenology of spirit”, as he describes there a modern interpretation of the term “dialectics”. When it comes to sacrifices in a greater perspective I would also suggest books like “Homo necans: the anthropology of ancient Greek sacrificial ritual and myth” from Walter Burkart. The explanations here have their starting point in ancient Greek culture, but they are discussing the whole topic in a greater view. There’s, as stated, really a lot to read about the topics that are important for the album.
MA: Do you have any other projects (musical and non-musical) that you would like your fans to know about?
Fyrnd: I do have other projects, yes, but they are not connected to Fyrnask. It’s mostly dark music that I produce, as this seems to be a way of expression that is natural to me.
MA: What does Fyrnask have in store for the future?
Fyrnd: We are working diligently on a new album and it is a very engrossing and rewarding process so far.Of course thanks to everyone who supports music and supports art.
-Ridge “Deadite” Briel
Tags: black metal, Deadite, FYRNASK, Fyrnd, interviews, One Man Black Metal, Temple of Torturous
Posted in Interviews, Q&A | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
May 13, 1967 – December 13, 2001
Ten years ago today saw the passing of a metal legend. Chuck Schuldiner – guitarist, singer, and composer for the bands DEATH and CONTROL DENIED. Known to many as the “Father of Death Metal”, Schuldiner’s lightning-fast guitar playing, influential vocal style, and definitive brutal-melodic songwriting served as a blueprint for death metal, and inspired many artists both in and outside the genre. Without Chuck, where would extreme metal be today?
DEATH has something for everyone. From the raw, original noise of Scream Bloody Gore, to the massively popular melodic tunes of Symbolic – Chuck’s legacy remains relevant and inspiring through the ages. The Florida native was unique among stars of the genre, in that he was a self-proclaimed “lover of life”, with an all-around positive attitude until the day of his death(which was, unfortunately, due to pneumonia while in a weakened state after radiation therapy for a brain tumor).
The music (and the cat sweater) lives on. In honor of “Evil Chuck”, take a moment of silence… then put on your favorite DEATH(or CONTROL DENIED!) record, practice guitar for 3 hours, and thank the gods of metal for granting us the all-too brief life and brilliance of Mr. Charles Schuldiner.
Official Death/Chuck site: www.emptywords.org
-Scarlett
Tags: chuck schuldiner, control denied, death, Death Metal, RIP
Posted in General Press Releases, The Bunker | No Comments »
Monday, December 12th, 2011
Februus (Basick Records)
Going up on my list as not only one of the best albums of the year, but as one of the best I’ve ever heard, Uneven Structure have unleashed the demon that is Februus. With a perfect blend of progressive metal, mathcore, atmospheric elements, and the energy that is on par with the almighty Meshuggah, Februus will take the music world by storm.
Beginning with a soft, atmospheric intro in “Awaken” that steadily gets heavier and heavier, you can really feel the energy that set to come, then it slaps you across the face with uncompromising brutality that is partly lead by palm muting guitars and partly led by the bass. You can easily be overwhelmed (in a very good way) by the barrage of complex guitar arrangements, snare shots that blast outward whenever they’re hit, and the one-two punch of energy demanding screaming and the harmonic, male-siren-if-sirens-were-males singing really left me in awe at this band. AND IT’S ONLY THE FIRST SONG!
Menacing and heavy guitar hits start off the next song “Frost.” The atmospheric elements of the band are shown more in this song, with sultry, inviting singing that is wholly unique and awesome. The overall atmospheric element is held throughout the entire song, even when it gets heavy. This is one of those songs that can put anyone out of a bad mood and really make a person feel positive.
Chaos descends in “Hail.” Precise guitar slams and crazy drumming keep your attention on edge by coming off slightly Dillinger-esque, allowing your mind to wander off as it pleases as the music envelops you. So many bands attempt to cross metal and ambient, but few can actually pull it off for six minutes at a time and actually have it captivate someone as much as this band accomplishes.
This band truly has technical poly-rhythms down to a fine art. I will say that this band should NOT, I repeat NOT, be pigeon holed as a fucking djent band. I love bands that people consider djent, but that word is thrown around way too much and the value is diminished. Getting high while listening to this also gives a whole new perspective on the album. This album is best described as a roller coaster, with the ups of meat tenderizing brutality, the lows being the ambience soundscape, all brought together with awesome middle ground that covers the bases well.
This is a must have album for any metal head’s collection.
Grade: A+
By Ridge “Deadite” Briel
Tags: Aurélien Pereira, Basick Records, Benoit Friedrich, Christian Schreil, Deadite, French Metal, Igor Omodei, Jérôme Colombelli, Matthieu Romarin, Meshuggah, Progressive Metal, reviews by Ridge, Uneven Structure
Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews, The Bunker | No Comments »
Thursday, December 8th, 2011
That’s right, hessians, go growl it on the mountain – King Diamond is BACK! As you know, King’s lovely wife Livia informed us, almost exactly a year ago, that King was rushed to the hospital for triple bypass heart surgery. For those of us King-worshippers, this was very depressing news. Since then, Mr. and Mrs. Bendix(King’s real last name, if ya didn’t know) have given fans updates whenever possible, and all signs point to a complete recovery for the legendary performer.
Today, King fans are given a real gem - not only is he doing well, but Mercyful Fate reunited to PERFORM with Metallica at the second of four shows celebrating Metallica’s 30th anniversary. That’s not all – there’s FOOTAGE! Holy demon babies, Grandma!!!
Check out the video, be amazed, cry and hug your cat, then listen to Mercyful Fate’s entire discography for the rest of the day. WELCOME HOME, KING!
Mercyful Fate performing with Metallica, Dec. 7th 2011
-#1 King fan, Scarlett
Tags: good news, grandmaaaaa, King Diamond, mercyful fate, Metallica
Posted in General Press Releases, The Bunker | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Words can do many things for a band – lyrics tell stories or convey a message, frontmen can piss off other frontmen and start rivalries with them, fans and haters alike can create posts on their uber-kvlt blogs, and of course the press can praise or slander. For Los-Angeles instrumental trippy-prog-metallers POLARIZATION, however, words are unnecessary. With members hailing from India and Sweden, the band brings a variety of influences together to create music you can headbang, or have an intellectual debate to. That being said, I will let guitarist Prashant Mathias inform those of piqued curiousity about the trio…
MA: You guys are an instrumental band, with a number of influences. Was the no-vox choice a pre-determined one? Or did you just find too many of your vocalists passed out backstage before shows?
PRASHANT: Hahaha… don’t even get me started on vocalists!!! No, vocals are awesome… we decided to keep it instrumental right from the start. The whole point of the band was to make the music feel like a good trip the whole time, and keep it as interesting as possible so that there’s no need for vocals to communicate the emotion.
MA: Where do you draw your inspiration?
PRASHANT: A lot of sources.. but mostly by watching killer jazz musicians totally go for it on their instruments in the moment. LA is a great place for that, especially with places like The Baked Potato and Catalina Jazz Club!
MA: Bands often use lyrics(along with imagery and other forms of propaganda, of course) to send some sort of message with their music. Do you feel more, or less limited in communicating the band s message, since you don t utilize lyrics?
PRASHANT: It’s slightly limiting, but then again, we focus more on the musicianship aspect of it and don’t really feel the need for lyrics in our songs. We want the listeners to interpret the songs in their own way.
MA: You came all the way from India to attend Musician’s Institue in Hollywood. Is the music scene here wildly different than your home?
PRASHANT: The scene is completely different over there. I’d think of it as a new market for Rock music because more people are getting into it now more than ever. A lot more international bands are starting to play over there. The local scenes are great as well, and bands are starting to take their music to the next level thanks to the internet.
MA: Do you hope to play in your hometown someday? Do you think the music would be understood and enjoyed there?
PRASHANT: I would love to play in my home town some day. I think they will totally dig it!!
MA: Do you feel that going to music school influenced the stylistic direction of Polarization? Would you be making the same music if you were studying something non-music related?
PRASHANT : Absolutely!! MI was the best thing I ever did for my musical growth. I learned a lot of things which would have taken me many years to figure out on my own. A lot of concepts and ideas I use in Polarization come from there. I would not be writing the same tunes if I didn’t go to music school. Not to say that it’s impossible!! But it definitely helped a lot.
MA: What’s next for Polarization?
PRASHANT: We recently got on to King Artist Management, and it’s been really great working with them. We have gotten some label interest, and should be signed sometime early next year. We will also be out on the road again right about then, so make sure you come and check us out! Cheers!!!
www.facebook.com/Polarizationmusic
-Scarlett
Tags: Instrumental, interviews, Los Angeles, polarization, prog, Prog Metal
Posted in Interviews, Q&A, The Bunker | No Comments »
Monday, December 5th, 2011
Listen. I don’t give a krap how “kvlt” you think you are(let’s face it, you are only truly kvlt if you live in a power-less hut in the middle of a Norwegian fjord, passing the time elk hunting and listening to Burzum on vinyl. And as we all know, listening to Burzum can cause cancer, hence why so few of us are able to maintain the trve kvlt lifestyle). Do yourself a favor, and listen to ALCEST. These guys are French, which brings to mind images of frog legs being eaten in cafes of both sexes with hairy extremities. ALCEST is anything but typical though – they blend elements of black metal, shoegaze, and gauzey ambience…creating an atmosphere that is truly unique I know, I know, sounds kinda homoerotic already. Although their new song, “Autre Temps”, is pretty much devoid of black metal leanings – the song is excellent, and your girlfriend will thank you(for getting into this band, and allowing that side of you that wants to make sweet love by a fireplace in a cabin in the middle of a Norwegian fjord out. Don’t act like you don’t fantasize about this sort of thing, Mr. Kvlty-Pants). Check out the video, then buy the album(and the vinyl, you hipster) on January 6, 2012.
Alcest, Autre Temps video:
http://youtu.be/85c-P9hbmBg
-Scarlett
Tags: alcest, autre temps, blackgaze, shoegaze, video
Posted in General Press Releases, The Bunker | 1 Comment »
Friday, December 2nd, 2011
Heavy. Beautiful. Crushing. Cathartic. These four words can easily be used to sum up the majestic musical tidal wave that is Orange County’s doom-metal outfit DESTROY JUDAS. The band released their first album “Wake” independently, online – allowing people to name their own price(even if it’s $0), and have created a buzz within the local underground scene with their impressively loud, emotional live performance. This is a band that truly lets the music speak for itself, when it comes to image and promotion. During their sets, the venue’s lights dim and the 5 members(which includes 3 guitarists)are, for the most part, in darkness save for the light cast by a screen onstage. As Destroy Judas plays through their set of massive, mournful(and yet somehow uplifting) arias, imagery of the sea and nameless humans in personal torment allows the listener to sink within themselves. This band is more than just good songs – they are an experience, and not for those unwilling to face their inner self-deceiver.
My interview is with Dan Kaufman(formerly of Eyes of Fire) – singer, guitarist, and main composer for DESTROY JUDAS.
MA: The debut album “Wake” seems to have a few running themes within it – the obvious one being the sea. Did you intend to incorporate this theme into the material before it was written? What is the significance of the sea in “Wake”?
DAN: The theme came from the music. When the first song “Wake” was starting to take shape, the opening notes reminded me of the sea. Almost like a soundtrack to the swell, rise and fall of the ocean waters. The lyrics are loosely related to each other. It’s kind of like reading the last writings of someone who has given up. Grown sick of the world and has decided to end their life by walking into the ocean.
MA: The members of Destroy Judas have a history of respective bands, past and present – including Phobia, Eyes of Fire, Asunder, Noctuary… How did you all come together for Destroy Judas?
DAN: It’s really just separate souls coming together at the right time to make it happen. I knew I wasn’t done playing after the demise of Eyes of Fire and it just so happened everyone else was game to start doing something new. Something different, for some of them. The next thing you know there’s an actual band with some songs.
MA: I’ve seen Destroy Judas play quite a few times now(amazing experience every time!). You guys utilize a projector and screen to project images that compliment the music. What inspired you to do this? Why did you choose the imagery you chose?
DAN: I’m glad you enjoy what we do. It means a lot to us that people enjoy the experience of our shows. The images, we feel, enhance the live experience. It helps generate a mood or mindset, if you will, for what we are playing and helps distract the audience from just fixating their attention on us as band members, and more on themselves – making it a more personal experience. It all came from the love of Pink Floyd. Their shows were so intense and mindblowing. All the multimedia they would have at their shows only made it more so. We want to do something that’s worth coming to see. Something other than five ugly guys on stage making the mad face and screaming at the audience. The imagery comes from songs. The lyrics. The feeling.
MA: Destroy Judas is one of the loudest(probably THE loudest) bands in Los Angeles. Is the volume a matter of personal preference, or something you feel is necessary to drive the overall “point” of the music home?
DAN: What we lack in talent we make up in volume. So we’re really really really really fucking loud. I have always played loud. Growing up listening to bands like MC5, Motorhead and Amebix – you can just tell that those bands were loud as fuck live. Plus, when I personally go to see bands live (particularly metal bands), I like them loud. I want to feel the music as well as hear it. Plus most venues we play don’t have the most amazing sound systems, so we just make it easy on the sound guy to just worry about vocals and the samples.
MA: On a similar note, why three guitarists?
DAN: It just happened. No reason in particular. Makes it a bit more difficult, though, to write songs. Don’t want a bunch of clashing guitar parts going on, and you don’t want to always have all three of us playing the same thing.
Photo by Scarlett
MA: “Wake” is available online, and people can name their own price – even if that means free. Why did you decide to do this? Do you plan on releasing free material again in the future?
DAN: I’m a big supporter of artists being in control of their art. With today’s technology bands can do it easier than ever before. Plus I know what it’s like to really like a band and not to be able to afford to buy their music. We do this so people can enjoy our music. Not just people with money. It’s a very DIY ethic we have towards what we do. Do we plan on doing it again? Sure, if the situation calls for it.
MA: Are there any touring plans in the works?
DAN: We kick tour ideas around from time to time. I really can’t see us doing a full blown US or world tour, just because our lives and the economy prevent us from doing that. A west coast or southwest tour could happen though, for sure. We all just have to make sure we’re available to do it.
MA: Is new material being written? If so, what can we expect(stylistically, thematically, and otherwise)?
DAN: We’re about 95% done with writing the second release. Just getting the vocals down and polishing up some music stuff, then we’ll hit the studio to get it all recorded. The new stuff is pretty epic. Very orchestrated stuff, with lots of good use of the triple axe attack (how’s that for a Leather Wolf reference?). Thematically, it will be dealing with what happens after death. Where you go or not go. And spirituality.
We’ve started to lay the ground work for another release as well. We’re just keeping ourselves busy.
MA: So what exactly is the meaning behind the band name?
DAN: Destroy the deciever. Destroy your deciever. What ever you make of it. I’m sure everyone can make it personal to them.
MA: What’s next for Destroy Judas?
DAN: That’s yet to be seen. Improve the live show. Work on more visuals and write more songs. We’re all here for the ride and we have no idea where it’s going. But it’s been a good one so far.
DESTROY JUDAS is playing with funeral doom masters MOURNFUL CONGREGATION, this Monday(December 5th), at the Five Stars Bar in Los Angeles. More info can be found here.
Destroyjudas.bandcamp.com
-Scarlett
Tags: Asunder, Crust, destroy judas, doom, Doom Metal, eyes of fire, interviews, Los Angeles, mournful congregation, Shows
Posted in Feature Interviews, Interviews, Q&A, The Bunker, Upcoming Shows | No Comments »
|
|
|
