Fans eagerly waited for the TURISAS show to begin on Feb. 7th but Father Time had other plans. The band ended up getting stuck in New York earlier that morning due to a bus trailer breakdown. This resulted in delays for the show but both the opening bands and the fans still managed to have a great time.
Boston natives and symphonic folk metal players WILDERUN started it all off. They set the tone for the whole show with their drinking and partying songs. It was clear they were having a lot of fun with it and the audience was reflecting it back to them. They were also kind enough to let the other bands use their drum set.
STOLEN BABIES don’t care if you think them odd. Their talent speaks for themselves.
Avant-garde band STOLEN BABIES took the stage soon afterwards. They did not exactly match the kind of music that was being played by the other bands, but they were definitely the most interesting. Besides TURISAS, they had the most unique looking group with singer DOMINIQUE PERSI wearing clown inspired makeup. Even if they music isn’t your cup of tea, you can’t help but be entertained by their act. They were able to play a great set despite some sound troubles.
This album was underrated in 2012. Go get it!
Soon after STOLEN BABIES, it was announce that TURISAS and FIREWIND had made it to the venue. However, fans were subjected to a long wait since it was decided that the meet and greet would happen before the show continued. This led to a number of disgruntled fans. When FIREWIND finally took to the stage about an hour later, all the energy came back. Anyone who wasn’t a fan before quickly became one. It was cool to see what guitarist GUS G does when he’s not playing with OZZY OSBOURNE. The audience was also wowed by BOB KATSIONIS’s ability to play both the guitar and the keyboard, often in the same song.
Set List:
Wall of Sound
Head Up High
Destination Forever
Few Against Many
World on Fire
The Fire and the Fury
Mercenary Man
Falling To Pieces
Late to the gig, but ready for blood!
Finally, the band everyone quite literally waited all night for, TURISAS took to the stage. After waiting for so long, the audience erupted into shouts and applause. All the members stood in their spaces while an intro played, then erupted into “The March of the Varagian Guard”. Fan favorites such as “To Holmgard and Beyond”, “One More”, “Stand Up and Fight”, and “Battle Metal” were played. Everyone was having the time of their life shouting and jumping along to it. They almost didn’t mind the fact that TURISAS had to play a shorter set. MATHIAS NYGARD apologized for the inconvenience and promised that they would return one day to play a proper set.
The show got out about midnight and audience members rushed to their cars to get home before the big snowstorm hit. No one could stop talking about how great a show it was despite the number of delays. All are now awaiting TURISAS’s return to take over Worcester once more.
Super-groups are not always so super. Most of the time they sound better on paper as an idea rather than once it is executed and later, picked apart. However, one amalgam of talents has come together in a formation that is actually unique and special. Less like a band, more like an avant-garde art collective, CORRECTIONS HOUSE delivers far beyond their actual promise. Bringing together some of the greatest names in the underground of metal, yet some how coalescing the resulting sounds into something really genre defying. CORRECTIONS HOUSE is comprised of MIKE IX WILLIAMS (EYEHATEGOD), SANFORD PARKER (NACHTMYSTIUM), SCOTT KELLY (NEUROSIS), and BRUCE LAMONT (YAKUZA). The live show allows each member to make a mark. After solo sets by each artist they come together for what they are calling an “Worlds End Manifesto”. It is brutal, harrowing and beautiful to watch and feel.
They are currently touring the USA with plans to go over seas to Europe and elsewhere soon. The band has been recording for future releases around everyone’s busy schedule. In the works is a limited edition 7” through Parker and Lamont’s newly-formed label, War Crime Recordings. Further details to be revealed in the coming weeks.
SANFORD PARKER led things off by creating some cool sound-scapes.
BRUCE LAMONT joined him next on the Sax, vocals and added his own weird effects.
MIKE IX WILLIAMS read poems and told some stories from his book “Cancer As a Social Activity”.
SCOTT KELLY joined next and sang two songs from his recent solo outing “The Forgiven Ghost In Me”
By themselves they are giants of heavy music. Together they are CORRECTIONS HOUSE!
MIKE IX.
BRUCE LAMONT.
Review by Keith (Keefy) Chachkes. Live photos by Echoes In The Well.
Yet another brilliant cover designed by VOVOID drummer AWAY.
The fact that VOIVOD have finally released their sixteenth album, is a triumph for not only their fans, but all of metal in general. As one of the progenitors of Progressive Metal as a sub-genre, you can make a case that many of today’s bands are influenced by the style VOIVOD pioneered in 1980s. Although this is their first album since 2009′s Infini, and their first for Century Media; the band has been crushing it with projects galore for several years now. Rather than rest on their laurels like so many others, the band has turned in another stellar album, full of all of the twists and turns that made them respected to begin with back in the day.
Starting off with the title track, the aggressive, and technically impressive first song has everything in it you love about the band. From its winding guitars and urgent beats, to SNAKE‘s sneering lead vocals, the song is gem. All of the trademark melodic interplay between the guitar and bass is there too, owing a lot to the return of bassist BLACKY, in his first recorded Vv action in over twenty years. The driving pace of the song is not without a few left turns into the weird zone. Like much of the album it has all of the Thrash, Prog and bizarro Jazzy stuff you can handle, and some you likely can’t!
“Kluskap O’Kom” is about as straight up thrashing a song as this band has ever conjured. The verses have a clever melodic bent, but keeps the same tempo as the rest of the song, blistering. The chorus parts are pure shout-a-long fun. Dan (Chewy) Mongrain has stepped out of the shadows of PIGGY (RIP) and really taken up the mantle with his brilliant writing and playing. “Empathy for the Enemy” is a moody jam with Snake again chirping in with his awesome vocal performance. This may be one of my favorite overall performances from him in years. “Mechanical Mind” was the single, but in true fashion for this band, it is far from a typical musical piece. AWAY‘s tremendous drumming carries this track, but really all of the members contribute memorable parts. Angular riffs and jazzy cymbal hits transport the listener to a different head space. This is easily my favorite track of the album, and one I would love to hear played live. “Warchaic” is another song that is just full of sick changes. Mellow and introspective one minute, space rock-opera the next, and razor wire riffage of the highest order. The last 3/4ths of the song is just insanely good. “Resistance” again has that punky MOTORHEAD proto-metal feeling track the band does so well. Then it shifts gears into a creepy crawl of chords and strange beats and hits. “Kaleidos” it a track that the band started playing live over a year ago. Hearing it now recorded properly, it definitely proves to be another of the strongest tracks here. I think in the live setting, some of the slick guitar effects were lost a bit. No matter. “Corps Étranger” is a track that calls to mind the earlier work of the band and is simply majestic. I highly doubt even the most accomplished modern guitar players will be able to pull off some of these parts. Oh and Snake raps in French (Canadian) and it totally rules! “Artefact” has a touch of doom to it and some killer tribal sounding drums. Away remains one of the finest drummers of this or any eras, and does so without resorting to the trickery of others. Finishing off things like a death blow, “Defiance” is a minute and a half of weird, rage and mind bending technique. It fades out raging, a fitting close to another brilliant chapter in their legacy.
Another year, another twisted masterpiece for VOIVOD.
Here is Keefy’s final Top Ten from his overall Top 40 Metal Albums of 2012 list! Enjoy!
#10. CRYPTOPSY- Cryptopsy (Self Released)
To paraphrase comedian Chris Rock, I’m tired of apologizing for CRYPTOPSY. I was in the minority among people when I loved The Unspoken King. I’m sure as people are reading this; they are scratching their heads again. No matter, CRYPTOPSY has silenced all their critics with an album that matches the best work of their career. A brutal slab of technical death metal on every level the album is great for all the reasons that made the band stellar in the first place. Obviously, people talk about the inhuman level of Drummer FLO MOUNIER. However, the real strength of the band is returning guitarist and writer JON LEVASSEUR and mainstay guitarist/uber producer CHRISITAN DONALDSON. The songs they wrote are superb. I was nervous about Oliver Pinard being able to replace ERIC LANGLOIS on bass, but even he was great too! Lastly, MATT MCGATCHY‘s performance provides the shut the fuck up moment of the year to all the haters. Well done sirs!
#9. PRONG- Carved Into Stone (Long Branch Records/SPV)
I thought my birthday came early this year when PRONG’s new album came out. PRONG has always been one of my favorite bands and all of their recorded output has been always been strong. Carved Into Stone is actually the bands best album since 1996′s Rude Awakening. Not only is the album full of sick tunes, but over the top, guitar playing in general is terrific. TOMMY VICTOR (DANZIG, MINISTRY) has been known for two things in his career: great songs and being a riff master general. The album displays an unexpected depth for any record in 2012. Packed with just the right touch of technical mastery and catchy songwriting to please and the hardcore soul, which hearkens back to Tommy’s NYC metal roots. The performances from TONY CAMPOS (SOULFLY/ MINISTRY/STATIC-X/ASESINO/POSSESSED/OTEP) and ALEXI RODRIGUEZ (ex-3 INCHES OF BLOOD) are matched perfectly too, making this one of the baddest power trio’s around.
#8. GOJIRA – L’Enfant Sauvage (Roadrunner)
GOJIRA albums, when they come out, are an event. The metal world waits with baited breath and the results are always stellar. Armed with a new deal from Roadrunner, the band put out L’Enfant Sauvage over the summer to roars of approval. Perhaps, even I was too cynical to believe that GOJIRA would continue to get increasingly popular as they stayed true to who they were? L’Enfant Sauvage is a great blend of theProgressive Rock/Metal, Tech Death, old-school Death Metal and Thrash influences they are known for. Then there is their subject matter: they are one of the most thoughtful and socially conscious bands around, lyrically. The album hits the right mood on every level, every time and has the musical confidence of a band much more senior in years. Songs like “Explosia”, “The Axe” and “Liquid Fire” are going to be talked about in metal head circles for years to come.
#7. CANNIBAL CORPSE- Torture (Metal Blade)
Like a beautifully marbled steak or a legendary work of art, CANNIBAL CORPSE truly does get better with age. It seems likely that much like SLAYER, the death metal godfathers will keep right on trucking on to oblivion, making skull splitting, gore filled albums for as long as they can. Torture is perfect in every way and all of the things you love about the band are in the mix. Perhaps due to being the most collaborative written album in the bands history, the sound from song to song is quite eclectic. Not like Dubstep, power-ballad eclectic, mind you, but the band has figured out how to blend different song styles seamlessly. Inventive new chord structures and riffs, hard to fathom bass lines and stupendous drumming are all topped off by GEORGE “CORPSEGRINDER” FISHER‘s impeccable voice from hell. Plus, don’t forget the grooves. Oh those crushing grooves! Nobody writes a grooving-ass, brutal riff better than ALEX WEBSTER. The band continues to be the yard stick by which all death metal music and consequently, all death metal bands are measured.
#6. C.O.C. – C.O.C. (Candlelight)
That C.O.C. was able to make a comeback as a trio at this point in their career is not a surprise. The fact that they reunited to make an amazing album is not even a question. What I am surprised by, is that it seems like the rest of the world has caught up to the sound of the band and the love from fans and the press is over flowing. When last we saw C.O.C. as a trio it was the 80s and they were mostly an underground phenomenon. Lots of bands like to say they were influenced by the Sludgy, Crossover Doom masters, but in this age of the Internet; flattery goes a long way to help a new bands rep.To hear WOODY WEATHERMAN tell it, the reunion circuit was totally un-interesting to the band, unless they were gonna make new music. C.O.C., the album has more quality and vitality than many of the upstarts of the genre they helped put on the map. MIKE DEAN‘s bass is full of fuzz and style; Woody‘s soloing is on fire and REED MULLEN, back for the first time in over decade, drums and sings like a man possessed. Let us not forget the poignant political lyrics, much welcomed in these troublesome times of a divided America. You might say the metal world needed C.O.C. to come back, as much as they needed to make a comeback themselves.
#5. MESHUGGAH- Koloss (Nuclear Blast)
What can you say about MESHUGGAH that hasn’t been said already? It’s not hard to run out of superlatives when talking about the most influential metal band of the last fifteen years. Whether Koloss was going to be great or not was likely not debatable. What was up for grabs, was what direction these geniuses would take the iconic music we have all come to expect. The results were stunning. Can you change things up, and still be the same band? By definition no, but that is MESHUGGAH for you. Koloss is a collection of songs much like the rest of the bands’ storied catalog: brutal, and complex. Most of the songs feature a pulsing groove that has come to the fore in the bands work of late. Every beat and riff is a maelstrom of twisting delight, overlapping time signatures and finger-defying licks galore. Most of all, the album sets another technical high water-mark for guitarist FREDRICK THORDENDAL and drummer TOMAS HAAKE.
#4. TESTAMENT- Dark Roots Of Earth (Nuclear Blast)
The return of TESTAMENT to their former level of greatness is nothing short of a triumph for all of metal. 2008′s Formation of Damnation was an excellent comeback album, after almost a decade of no new music. In the interim years since getting back together, they have toured tirelessly around the world, reignited their chemistry and fulfilled the promise of their early career. Dark Roots of Earth takes the concept of the old-school Thrash style, added a modern sensibility and took it all one step further. Only EXODUS and ANTHRAX have been able to pull of the feat of making new music for modern ears, staying true to their past and begin able to add a level of panache. ERIC PETERSON finally got his dream come true by getting GENE HOGLAN to write and record drums for a TESTAMENT album. The unrelenting bottom end of the songs gives the band a new power they have never had. Every song is a gem. “Native Blood” is one of the catchiest, yet grooviest songs I’ve heard in ages. The chorus is also the best of 2012. CHUCK BILLY‘s ageless voice carries the day and ALEX SKOLNICK displays the chops that verify his legions of fans. Even GREG CHRISTIAN is heard from, with some excellent bass lines. Dark Roots of Earth is all killer and positively no filler.
#3. BARONESS- Yellow And Green (Relapse)
One of the most anticipated albums of 2012 did not disappoint when BARONESS dropped the latest in their color-themed recent discography. The band made no pretense that this album would be not be metal and frankly, that was OK by me. If you have been following the band, they have been less concerned with the trappings of fitting in, in their career up to this point. They instead stayed true to their artistic authenticity. What BARONESS delivered is a double-album of incredible songs, displaying great chops and the best dynamics overall of any album on this list. Some of the songs are quite heavy, but more often than not, that heaviness never came the expense of melodies or tones. “Take My Bones Away” was my out and out favorite song of the entire year. “March To The Sea” was another stone cold rocker, the likes that haven’t been heard since the heyday of QUEEN or THIN LIZZY. Some of the best moments are the most unexpected ones; like the freak-out synth work in “Cocanium”. All of the keyboard work is stellar as is the bass playing, which band leader John Baizley played all of too. “Back Where I Belong”, “Eula” and “Board Up The House” will also rank at the top of the bands’ song book for years to come. The “Green” side of the double set is equally tuneful and more mellow, but no less mint song-craft wise. Finally, tying it all together is the brilliant cover artwork, the years’ best; also by Baizley once again.
#2. DYING FETUS- Reign Supreme (Relapse)
DYING FETUS is such a great band in its current incarnation that one almost forgets there were entire years in their history marked by upheavals and departures. The present day lineup has been intact since 2007 and the comfort level they have together creating the most brutal Death Metal possibly known to man is sky high. Through it all, JOHN GALLAGHER has been the one constant: constantly growing as a guitarist and writer and constantly writing pissed the fuck off, baffling and sick lyrics. Reign Supreme might be remembered years from now as one of the top three releases of the bands’ career with its non-stop violence inspired songs. GALLAGHER and his p-i-c SEAN BEASLEY crush it out of the park on the guttural vocals. Beasley, who was always an underrated bassist for the genre, plays some of the best passages ever recorded for the instrument in the context of technical death metal. TREY WILLIAMS also one-ups his performance from Descend Into Depravity, being a might less technical, but still precise as fuck and bludgeoning as all hell. His blasts are far and away my favorite of any drummer on album this entire year. The album is a masterpiece of death metal brilliance, and that is really saying something considering how deep the sub-genre is these days.
#1. IHSAHN- Eremita (Candlelight)
In what was a high quality year at the top of the heap of metal music, IHSAHN‘s fourth solo outing is my choice for the album of the year. It’s not the sexy choice compared with typical years past, but it is the best choice, by far. Eremita is a sprawling, ambitious album full of musical twists and turns, yet perfectly coalescing into a sensible piece of art. In an interview I conducted with him for Metal Army he talked about the creative process as a continual evolution, a death followed by a rebirth. That would just begin to cover the emotional and lyrical depth in the music. In many ways, this is the album that IHSAHN, famously known as the legendary front man of EMPEROR, has been building up to for his entire career. His mastery as a composer, guitarist, vocalist and lyricist is without equal at this point in his career. Musically the songs cover the gamut of emotions and styles and reveal a complexity that mirrors the artist himself. Songs like “Arrival”, “The Paranoid”, “Something Out There”, “The Eagle And The Snake” and “Departure” are among the best of the year. Topping off the package are the guest performances by the likes of DEVIN TOWNSEND, JEFF LOOMIS, EINAR SOLBERG (LEPROUS), JEFF MUNKENBY on sax and IHSAHN’s wife HEIDI S. TVEITEN‘s enchanting vocal turns, which sends the quality of the album into the stratosphere.
Metal Army America interviewed EPHEL DUATH mastermind Davide Tiso via email. The on the eve of the release of a sprawling new EP, On Death And The Cosmos, Tiso shared a great many insights. The new EP sports an all-star lineup of some of the greatest names in all of metal which enabled Tiso to bring his grand vision to life. In the interview below he not only explained the concept of the record, but broke down each song to its lyrical bones, detailed how the new lineup came together, what the future holds for the group and much more!
MAA: Please discuss the concept behind the new EP On Death And The Cosmos?
DT: The main concept of On Death and Cosmos rotates around the idea of feeling rootless. The creative process this time started from a personal loss: that event marked me so deep not just because I’ve lost a person I felt very close to, but because together with his disappearance I feel I broke the bond with the place I’m coming from. At this point in my life I think I could live pretty much everywhere without feeling home sick. I have a “cosmos” of opportunity opening up in front of my eyes, and while this can be considered a positive things for a human being, the lyrics in the EP dig in the painful process of detachment from what for 30 and more years I felt were my roots. On Death and Cosmos holds together some of the lyrics I’m most attached to. These words erupted from me, and all three songs are lyrically tied together by the theme of Death and mourning, and the escape represented by the Cosmos.
After that loss I mentioned before, I felt in a terrible depression and returning to compose for EPHEL DUATH was the way out from that paralyzing state. Some days I was feeling so bad that I felt my mind getting take over by the spirit of my dead beloved, who was not accepting his death and wanted to keep living through me:
The opening song “Black Prism” pictures the hopeless search of oneself in the splitting process of spirit attachment.
“I lie between layers of perception
I’m neither here or there Twice but still nothing My image multiplies While my sight plays dead and regress”
The song “Raqia”, the ancient Hebrew word for the English “firmament”, marks the pain caused by abandonment and the excruciating consequences of letting go.
“You may be as lonely as I feel
But the emptiness around you is cosmic Immense While mine Mine tastes just like flesh”
Composing the lyrics of On Death and Cosmos I spent a great deal of time out at night, listening music, smoking cigarettes and looking at the sky. Considering the turmoil my life was in at that moment, writing new lyrics I was literally pushing my sight and my mind as distant as possible from that mess I was in. I wrote this way every time I got the chance and I started to feel a pretty strong comforting sensation while immersing my head and thoughts into the sky/firmament/Raqia entity. I read that warming feeling like the confirmation that my healing process was supposed to pass through that stage to get to the core of my pain and I kept going.
The closing track “Stardust Rain” is an ode to self-purification through inner death of senses.
“I am the black coat
Where stars hide in I protect each of them One by one They keep shining to live I let them burning to live To my slow death I aim to”
This is probably the song I feel closer to. Everything in life has a positive and a negative power, I think that bad situations are the one that teach us the most: loss gives us the chance to readjust or even reshape ourselves during and after the mourning process. This positive chance offered by such traumatic experience is blurred out by the big dose of pain involved but I’m confident that each of us while suffering, on the long run, have the chance to know how much they are changing and self transforming day after day.
I changed for better while mourning: I was an unfocused and worse person before my grandfather died. His death brought some good to me, I had the chance to find myself again, and as I wrote inside the booklet of On Death and Cosmos: “It took one’s death to give life back to another”.
DAVIDE TISO leads EPHEL DUATH.
MAA: How did you go about recruiting such stellar talent to join the band?
DT: Respecting my music so much I try to set the bar pretty high for what concern the other musicians I involve with EPHEL DUATH. In On Death and Cosmos I’m lucky enough to be joined by my first choices in terms of drumming, bass playing, singing, producing and mastering. Thanks to the big support offered by Agonia Records and with a big dose of stubborness, this time around I was able to make the album I wanted with the team I wanted. Planning things right and way ahead of time we made the collaboration with MARCO MINNEMANN and STEVE DI GIORGIO possible. Both these musicians have a pretty tight schedule, but their enthusiasm, professionalism and commitment to the project made the difference. They found the time and the energy to learn my songs, compose and record their part, and they both did a wonderful job.
Having KARYN CRISIS at vocals is like a dream come true. I’m a huge CRISIS fan and I’ve been a fan of her since the very first time I read one of her lyrics. I’m extremely proud of having Karyn spitting out my words on a microphone and I can’t wait to have her record some new material.
To make this shine even more I choose to have the supersonic ears of ERIK RUTAN behind the mix board, and I have to say that I have never felt that connected with a producer before. Erik worked non-stop on this EP for weeks, and I found his work ethic to be frankly stunning. I consider Erik Rutan one of the key elements for On Death and Cosmos successful result and collaborating with him has been one of the best musical experience I had since I started this band.
DAVIDE TISO has truly found his muse in KARYN CRISIS.
MAA: Karen especially seems to fit the music perfectly. Did you write with her in mind originally?
DT: I composed the EP knowing that Karyn was going to sing it. There are some kind of voices that are like a slap in the face and some others that hit you directly in the stomach being that emotionally charged: Karyn’s voice has both these qualities. I think her voice fit the ED music extremely well. Karyn’s raw and cutting way of singing is able to bring the songs to higher emotional picks and I’m blown away by how effortlessly our two different musical backgrounds collapsed together in this EP.
MAA: Is the lineup going to be able to stay together to at least create the next full length album and tour?
DT: This lineup will record also the new album, Marco Minnemann is actually already recording the drums, he did 5 songs and everything sounds stellar so far. ED will return to play live once the full length will be recorded, but just if we will be offered the necessary conditions to do some good shows. To compose music is a very intimate process for me, vital I would say: I don’t do it for passion, I do it because I have to. To bring EPHEL DUATH live usually means to loose a lot of the artistic side of things, and having to deal with just the practical, and worse, side of music: promoters that don’t pay the fees, shows with lack of promotions, bad planned tours, a lot and a lot of expenses. I’m not interested in repeating that kind of experience once again. Returning to deal full time on EPHEL DUATH, I promised myself to not accept anymore compromises and to take decisions solely based on the band’s benefit. To play live in horrible conditions will not be an option for this band anymore. It would be fantastic to have this line up on a stage and I’ll work my ass off to make this happen.
KARYN CRISIS did this custom limited edition print for the new album
MAA: Do you think it is difficult for visionary artists to exist in the framework of “the music industry”?
DT: I would say that for long time it was pretty much impossible for a musician to deal with the music industry without feeling powerless. The whole music industry was in the hands of few greedy ones, now that whole mechanism is collapsing everyone seems to escape from it, trying to save the few money left and finally, the real stars of the game are returning back. Underground labels: small realities run by really passionate people, respectful of the bands and their music, that with labor of love and not the revenues in mind are putting together products with such quality and tremendous attention to details.
What it’s important now is to save the public. Probably what I am about to say could sound like a silly utopia, but I still think it’s important to underline how much the main public need to return to consider music as a form of art that have to be respected. Music is not supposed to be taken for granted, ready to be consumed and disposed with a click. Bands are not supposed to accept to spend their time begging for attention, bands should instead spend their time playing good music. I think that on the long run, quality music will keep being noticed, and it’s up to the bands to believe in themselves, creating unique music and stick to their vision. To compose honest music probably represents the only way to be musically dissident nowadays. I have faith that EPHEL DUATH’s public will keep supporting all the hard work and labor of love we put in this underground reality since day one.
MAA: What bands or artists do you listen to when you are looking for inspiration?
DT: Sometimes I listen to music to get some musical inputs, and I usually finish listening to death metal. This genre makes my brain feels very alert, there are so many nuances to capture here and there and I would say this is the kind of music I’m more fund at the moment. I like so many bands, the more dissonant the better, probably SUFFOCATION, HATE ETERNAL, AUTOPSY, DECREPIT BIRTH and CATTLE DECAPITATION are on top of my list.
Sometimes I listen to it to relax, and to get some unconscious inspiration, I like BARONESS, UFOMAMMUT, ZU, ANIMALS AS LEADERS, ELECTRIC WIZARD.
Sometimes I need music it to write lyrics: I try to enter in the “writing lyrics” mood at least once every week or two and when I do that, the day is gone: I usually finishing drunk and crying by myself in a park bench while joggers swing by. To write lyrics I usually put a song in loop, or I listen a part of a song in loop. I need heavy sorrowful music, but I never compose lyrics listening to EPHEL DUATH. Lately I have been writing listening to MONUMENTUM, AGALLOCH, CULT OF LUNA, NEUROSIS.
MAA: If you could book a festival for EPHEL DUATH to play with any bands of your choosing, whom would you choose?
DT: I would love to have EPHEL DUATH opening the festival so that I would be able to enjoy the other shows. Three stages, a Death Metal one with DECREPIT BIRTH, CATTLE DECAPITATION, SUFFOCATION and HATE ETERNAL as headliners. A Doom stage with DISPIRIT, UFOMAMMUT, AGALLOCH, YOB and PENTAGRAM as headliners. A main experimental rock metal stage with DYSRHYTHMIA, RUSSIAN CIRCLES, ANIMALS AS LEADERS, IHSHAN, BARONESS and REFUSED as headliners. $60 the ticket, not a bad festival!
(Special thanks to Davide Tiso, Agonia Records and Nathan T. Birk)
Metal Army spent some time chatting it up with PRONG front man Tommy Victor regarding the bands’ new album Carved Into Stone (Longbranch Records/SPV). Tommy is never one to hold back on any topic, so he candidly shared his feelings about the band, recording, past successes and failures, other notable projects and people he’s worked with and a look back his career.
MAA: Please tell us about the making of Carved Into Stone.
TV: It was a long process. It started about two years ago writing the material, maybe even longer than that. I had some stuff on my computer I was fooling around with out of the initial five songs I started with, maybe one little part made it on to the record. Tony (Campos) came in and we did a couple of tours together, we were writing on the road together at Motel 6′s or what have you. Then we made a demo with Alexi (Rodriguez). We got up to fourteen songs and then up to twenty-five songs and more demos. We did a last pre- production demo before we did the actual recording, kicked a whole bunch of songs out, rearranged somethings in the last ten days before we went in the studio with Steve Evetts. We knocked out twelve basic tracks, eleven made the record. From twenty-five songs completely written down to eleven on the album! In the studio everything was done on the grid, like it was done back in the 90′s where we just played it live, all the basic tracks. It wasn’t a computer record at all. There’s no samples, no drum replacement, no quantizing, no cut and paste on any of it. It was just preformed. That’s what was so grueling for me. I was working on MINISTRY records where you’d lay a riff down and they’d cut and paste it a couple of times, ya know and bam bam! That why people have been doing since people started using Pro Tools and digital technology. Steve had me play every little thing, it was all dialed in precisely, the solos were designed, there was no improvisation. Same thing with the vocals, they’re completely doubled exactly and harmonies done without the use of Melodyne, etc.
MAA: What’s it like working with Steve Evetts?
TV: He’s an extremely hard worker and I needed someone like that to kick me in the behind because I’m getting older and stuck in my ways and he directed me to be more clear with the vocals and that was one of the big main reasons we got him for the work he’s done. I was really impressed with the vocal sound and the way he was able to get great performances. At first I thought he was a lot of using technology to do it but he was like ‘No! I get the guys to sing this stuff, the way it is’. I was like ‘Oh wow! Ok he’ll take a crappy singer and make him sound golden. I’m not saying I’m a crappy, but I needed work and he was great on that aspect of things. I knew he could get the guitar sounds and drums and the actual sounds together. Until we actually got in there I didn’t know how he was doing it. Everything was done outside the box. The only difference between then and back in the 90s was its on a hard drive rather then tape. Other then that everything was external and done really pure. Having a little bit of engineering experience, I really appreciated that. We talked about that right before we went in. He’s done like ninety records and his repertoire is unbelievable. We needed somebody broad based. He’s worked on THE CURE to THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN it’s just a broad base of that. He’s unbelievable. He’s a genius all business it was strict work. I’m not saying it wasn’t fun, but it was really hard, strict work.
PRONG in 2012: Alexi, Tony and Tommy.
MAA: You have been critical of your own output at times. How does this new album stack up to the history of PRONG?
TV: I thinks its one of the best ones, I mean it doesn’t have the cutting edge impact that Cleansing did where we were going in a new direction for heavy music in general. It isn’t anything ground breaking, but I think it’s up there in the quality of songs are up there with the best we’ve ever done. That was important for me. I wouldn’t know where to start to try to break any ground anymore, it seems like everything’s been done. So with that in mind, it was a matter of just getting the best songs we could possibly put together in reflection of the previous PRONG records, without going off in a complete different direction like we did with Scorpio Rising for instance. Where I think it failed, it wasn’t the right time. We didn’t work at it as hard. I just had a batch of songs I was just fooling around with. This wasn’t like that. This was much more intense. We put the work in and let the chips fall where they may. I feel this is one of the most hard working efforts I’ve ever done as far as PRONG goes. As far as anything really.
MAA: Carved In Stone has a lot more thrash feeling and a lot more lead guitar playing on it. Was that a conscious decision?
TV: It was conscious decision. I felt if the solos meant something or were designed properly, that was something I had the energy to work on. I was never been the kinda guy that practices and sits around figuring stuff out. It’s just been when I’m forced to do that like learning like with either MINISTRY: Mike Scaccia’s guitar parts or in DANZIG: with Glenn, John Christ and Todd Youth’s parts. I felt my chops got better. So I was able to do some solos that weren’t a bunch of noise or something that was completely off the cuff. I didn’t wanna do that. We had the option to design some solos that were precise that are actually part of the song, again. I wanted it to be a guitar record and a song record, rather then relying on haphazard routes like loops or other things to get more dynamics.
MAA: Between your work in DANZIG and MINISTRY would you say one or either have a reverse influence back to your work in PRONG?
TV: Not at all! PRONG is a completely different entity, it’s its own mindset. I don’t really listen to a hell of a lot of stuff. It all comes from the heart, really. I’m not out there scouring the charts or delving into countless hardcore metal records to find influences, I don’t have he energy to do that. I’m not being a snob, I just don’t have the time and energy to do that. I don’t want to do that or bring in any other project I’m involved in. I worked on the last two DANZIG records and Glenn has his own way of arranging stuff. Then with Al, I mentioned with his process, is highly computer oriented and I didn’t wanna do that either.
MAA: Where do you get your lyrical inspirations from?
TV: I think its in personal troubles and a way of coping. I try to find a way to deal with emotions. Then I have opinions too, so its a combination of those two things. There’s also some strict writing on this album, which is more like story lines. Like with the single, “Revenge Best Served Cold”, that is something completely outside. The title track also has a universal element to it where I feel there’s an external power that enables PRONG to still survive. Some outside force that is from the future, from the present and the past. Something paranormal. Then you get the angry ones like list of grievances. Then you have a song like “State of Rebellion”. I have a close friend who’s always talking politics with me. I try to leave these type of things to my songs a little bit. But when I’m hanging out or something I just don’t wanna hear about it. Let’s just ‘watch the game’ and shut the fuck up!’ That’s what that’s all about. I’m over it, ya know? I’m old school. I was brought up to never talk politics or religion with people. I’ve learned the hard way not to do that. (laughs) It’s not necessary.
Know your history.
MAA: Looking back did you know at the time that Beg To Differ and Prove You Wrong were going to influence so many other bands?
TV: For years I didn’t really see that. People have been saying that for a long time, its mainly people in the press. We’ve toured with younger bands, I don’t wanna name names, but the attitude we got was ‘Who the fuck are you guys?’ I mean completely unfamiliar with PRONG and didn’t like us. I almost feel like I’ve gotten more of that attitude out there then any congratulations. But on a personal side, I had to re-investigate the early PRONG records recently and I listened to Beg to Differ. I haven’t heard it in years! I was like ‘oh my god!’ How did this thing come about? It’s bizarre to me. I don’t know how that really came together like that. It’s like that song “Carved Into Stone”. It was something outside myself made that happen. I have not a clue! I wasn’t even really playing guitar that long when PRONG did that record. Its bizarre to me the things that go down. It wasn’t even calculated. On a personal level, I’m happy with the discography, but it’s not like I go down the street and people are ‘Oh Tommy!” I don’t hear it that much. It’s mainly press people, but other bands, they either don’t recognize it or they don’t know. If anything about the past, like when I was forced to re-investigate Beg To Differ, I just kinda of zap it into the void. Like anything in the past, I think everyone needs to do that, its like a personal psycho-therapy in a way. It’s all good. I don’t have any bitterness towards anything, maybe at one time I did. It’s been so worn out, I just have a different attitude about that stuff.
I am fairly certain that about 70% of my reviews this year have been from super-groups. Some of them were in face super and some were okay. Some were not. Tossing their hat in the ring like The Avengers is BEREFT who’s members certainly live up to the superlatives part, at least on paper. Sacha Dunable (INTRONAUT/GRAVITON), Derek Donley (NATION SUNDAY LAW/GRAVITON), Charles Elliott (ABYSMAL DAWN) and Derek Rydquist (ex-THE FACELESS) have come together to make a unique concept record to say the least. This impactful, experimental Los Angeles-based doom project is all about two different ancient death rituals. It turns out the music is as heavy as the subject matter.
With sounds rising from the hum of guitars and amps to the roaring first droning notes of “Corpse Flower”, this album is going to be a different listening experience to be sure. Feedback flows in like a police siren while harsh, slow riffs mete out their punishment. Donley’s powerful drumming call to mind the funerary rites of a lost world and he is more subtle and sneak than you average skins masher today. The opening dirge gives way to second track “The Mentality of the Inanimate”. There are some otherworldly deep growls from Elliott who handles most of the lead vocals on the album with strong contributions from the rest of the band. The BLACK SABBATH influence is apparent, but there are some other little twists and turns in the music as well. “Withered Efflorescence” continues the theme of grave matters and dire music to match. There isn’t much variation from song to song, but I think that was the purpose of the album actually. Patience is the key for this band. On this cut there are some cool gang vocals with different styled voices (Dunable and Rydquist?) that really add to the track. Rydquist is solid as the bassist as well. There are some interesting guitar motifs that come in and out of the track too. These part extend these six and seven minutes songs into epic feeling songs. “The Coldest Orchestra” has some psychedelic sounds in the opening before returning to the harshness and sludge of the other tracks. This track has a bit of a Buzz Osbourne of THE MELVINS quality to it that I rather enjoyed. “A Cruel Mirage” is full of weirdness and just gnarly low vocals. “Ethereal Dispersal” is the most interesting track on the album in that it breaks up the monotony a bit with some interesting acoustic guitars. It still has a heft to it and some cool backing drone/delay guitars as well. Then it shifts NEUROSIS style into more dynamic crushing riffs and slow waves of beats. The closing cut, 0“…And You are But a Thought” is pretty trippy too. If you are not into doom, sludge and more out-of-the-box type albums, this is likely not music you will run too. On the other hand, I think loyal fans of the sub-genre will find a lot of cool sounds and songs to latch on to.
Last year when Metal Army interviewed Thérèse Lanz of MARES OF THRACE, she talked about how the band lives to injure people with sound waves and disturb them with visuals. On their much anticipated new album, The Pilgrimage(Sonic Unyon Metal), the band manages to do both to the nth degree and they do it all with music. If you thought 2010′s The Moulting was a brutally hard mind fuck, you have no idea what kind of sonic terror and delight awaits you on their new opus. It’s not hard to place a value on the talent of a group who goes out and tops their last album easily, yet builds on their unique sound without compromising one iota. Impressive.
From the first moment of the album when drummer Stefani MacKichan plays a thunderous intro fill, this album means business. Beautiful, brusk sludge riffs and clever bits of melody fill your ears all at once. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that this densely packed, but still tuneful wall of noise comes from just two people. Lance’s custom baritone guitar (which has both bass and guitar pickups) roars to life while MacKichan murder’s her drum-kit slowly with manic precision. Every picked tone and finely tuned drum hit pierces the mix just so, making for a great listen sonically. Props to producer Sanford Parker (NACHMYSTIUM, PELICAN,YOB) for doing aural justice to the music and the players. Once the harshly wailed vocals of “Act I: David Glimpses Bathsheba” cut in, a potential high concept album is revealed as well. Or the band just has a fascination with Henry King movies. Who knows? Vocals and lyrics are delivered to match the music stride for stride in sickness. “The Pragmatist” crushes with dissonant riffs and massive beats. As much as it rocks out, it’s definitely music that makes you think and feel too, with Lance’s voice once again hitting home. The driving mid-song quasi rave-up is just mind blowing. “The Gallwasp” packs the punch and groove of BLACK SABBATH, but the weight of SLEEP or MY BLOODY VALENTINE. The best track out of a bunch of stellar ones for certain. The long, entranced drone of the main riff will definitely suck you in quick. The slower, epic type jams are interlaced with curious shorter forays into madness such as “The Perpetrator”. Shattering avant-garde riffing, driving rhythms and super deep growls of anguish and rage highlight this song, that I wish would never end. “Act II: Bathsheba’s Reply To David” returns us to the majestic theme of the opening cut. Sonically heavy, but more uptempo, this is another top-notch song writing effort. After the interlude of “Triple B”, in comes “The Goat Thief” which begins like a demented lullaby. It alternates between punishing verses and somber reflections. There is also a cool spoken word-type verse in the middle as well. “Act III: A Curse Falls on the House of David” is rather rough and over quick like a random stabbing on the street. The two part, album ending triumph of “The Three Legged Courtesan…” “…and the Bird Surgeon” are amazing to absorb on repeated listens. Great riffs and deft melodies ride out past a pulsing beat until the a slight wave of feedback bleeds out the final moments to musical a singularity.
When I first heard about the collaboration between LOU REED and METALLICA I felt in my heart of hearts it could go either way as far as being a success or a failure. It is not a typical album for either artist and for the most part the two of them working together doesn’t mean the finer qualities of each would necessarily rub off on one another. Most metal heads don’t know Lou and why he is important to rock history and I also doubt any longtime or recent fans of METALLICA would necessarily sit down and listen to Berlin, Transformer,Rock N’ Roll Animal or The Blue Mask. Lou’s Metal Machine Music also has nothing to do with metal for those uninitiated newbies. I have been a fan of Lou’s career both with the VELVET UNDERGROUND and solo and no matter how I feel about the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, there is a good reason why he is in there twice. As much as Lars Ulrich loves the idea of this and feels the band is free to do what they like, James Hetfield was smart enough to publicly state “this is not the next METALLICA album”. Making a high concept art rock/poetry album is high stakes proposition creatively for anybody, but when you are under a microscope like METALLICA has been, it isn’t dangerous as much as it is a curious oddity. The story is solid: a siren type of women ruins many men with her charms and fickleness until she meets a tragic end. Concept albums are only great if the music is as good as the concept. I took a deep breath, jumped in with both ears and gave the album several attempted full spins before jotting down the notes that became this review.
Anton Corbijn can still shoot nice photos. Yippee.
Now where to begin? Slow, disjointed and generally all over the place like a bad YouTube mash-up, Lulu is not going to please fans of either camps right off the bat. It’s going to be one of those records that has its day briefly, but only because of the power and success of the principles, not on the merits of the music. Lou’s often brilliant poetry and grave baritone voice are often lost against the dross of the songs. His laconic word style aside, he spends much of the sedate portions of the songs pattering about vocally and when the volume rises and the rock parts enter he struggles to stand out. Lou apparently brought in the basic songs to the band and they did their thing with it. The results of which are an album that sounds unfinished and unfulfilled. The tepid tempos and boring chord structures are perfect for one person here and that is Lars, who continues to put out a minimal drumming effort for whatever reason unknown to me. James Hetfield has some decent parts to hang his hat on here and there, but nothing really outstanding at all. Barely a solo can be found from Kirk nor an inventive bass line from Robert Trujillo can be heard, both obviously ignored in the creative process.
THE BLUES BROTHERS....they are not.
As for the songs themselves there are a few decent riffs and moments, but mostly just passable and some of it is even downright terrible. “Pumping Blood” and “Mistress Dread” have some acceptable parts, especially when they try to rock out for a bit. For the most part it all sounds like Lou was glued on top of the band’s music circa the Load-era and barely enjoyable for that matter. “Iced Honey” kind of sounds like “Sweet Jane” musically (minus the soloing) and has a few nice lyrical nuggets in there. Still, the track isn’t anything to smile about either. The arty and expansive structure of “Cheat On Me” calls to mind a TOM WAITS song, but misfires with it’s stunted delivery. Lou’s ability as a story teller and his Dylan-esque ability to articulate the emotional into the absurd and obtuse are always welcomed. However, a true mesh of the two styles of artists doesn’t really ever arrive with Lou barely holding it down and the band holding themselves back. Late album cuts like “Frustration” (maybe the best track of the bunch), “Little Dog” and “Dragon” briefly flirt with thrash and rock, but again the results are mixed and unnaturally awkward sounding.
Looking at the album for what it is and not any kind of metal record, it still fails on a lot of levels from what I think they were trying to accomplish. The sad part is that I am the typical fan (supporter of Lou’s, lover of poetry, still on the METALLI-bandwagon somewhat) they might have been trying to court. And I hate it. Personally, I never want to hear this album again, similar to how I felt about St. Anger. Perhaps they would have been better off with their original plan of the band backing the legendary singer on a revamped greatest hits collection rather than waste everybody’s time with this mess. No doubt the many sheeple among the newer fans of METALLICA Incorporated will run out and the first day/week numbers will be huge by today’s standards. Lars will talk in the media about how he was right again and we will all go on with our lives, not caring. The good news is that soon this will be in the rear-view and hopefully all of this pretentiousness will leave the band as they prepare a proper 10th Metallica album.
Hungary’s Thy Catafalque have remained a long suffering anomaly in the underground for quite some time now, their own avant-garde tendencies sometimes serving as their own worst enemy.
Whether it’s been their difficult band name, challenging album titles or even more challenging music, Thy Catafalque have nevertheless emerged as an inventive voice for weird, ‘out there’ extreme metal; a brand which combines disparate genres while pushing forth progressive boundaries at the same time.
Rengeteg (see what I mean about ‘challenging album titles?’ DAMN!) is the band’s fifth effort overall, and makes the black/death of their Sublunary Tragedies debut seem like a far away dream in comparison. Thy Catafalque 2011 is serviced by thick, heavy walls of riffage, complex-but-not-confusing drumming and a subtle sense of melody which creeps on in through the back door. Spearheaded by multi-instrumentalist and singer Tamás Kátai, Thy Catafalque blends in a bombastic pagan metal groove to the proceedings, as well, with Katai’s subliminally memorable clean voice serving as one of the band’s secret weapons in the end, creating a charismatic presence which leads the songs of Rengeteg onto the battlefield with convincing confidence.
Not for the weak of heart or those who like their metal placed in nice, convenient little genre boxes-Solefald fans should definitely apply-Thy Catafalque break on through to other side here with Rengeteg, proving there’s more than meets the eye here than just a weird little name.
