It has long been rumored that CRADLE OF FILTH frontman, Dani Filth, is a bit egocentric and difficult to deal with. This makes the fact that he got his ass kicked by security at France’s Lez’Arts Sceniques festival this past weekend. While Filth has not spoken about the circumstances of the event, the festival organizers posted the following message on their website explaining what happened.
“Faced with the aggressive and unmanageable Dani Filth, backstage and on stage, the organizers were forced to hire security of the festival and the police to control the individual who had become dangerous to himself and others.”
What this ultimately means, still a little up in the air. What happened next though included a scuffle between Filth and event security that left the CRADLE OF FILTH frontman injured enough that he announced today that the band will be forced to forego their appearance at the upcoming edition of WACKEN OPEN AIR. In the wake of this announcement, WACKEN organizers announced the addition of the mighty TRIPTYKON to this year’s lineup as well as rescheduled CRADLE OF FILTH’s WACKEN performance for the 2012 edition of the festival.
Two grainy and far-away videos have made it online that (supposedly) show the altercation taking place and Filth being restrained. Take a look for yourself below.
It’s one of the most maligned records from heavy metal’s 80s heyday; the album which singlehandedly changed the scope of Celtic Frost’s career from underground overlords to accused ‘sell outs’ in the blink of an eye.
Of course we’re talking about the infamous Cold Lake; Celtic Frost’s 1988 stylistic overhaul which left most of the legendary Swiss band’s fans angry, confused and more than a little butt-hurt by the whole charade.
Frost bandleader-and current Triptykon frontman-Tom G. Warrior has maintained a strict level of hatred for the album, decrying it publicly for many years within press and interviews, up to this very day.
Despite the thoughts of Fischer and most fans, however, I’m here to tell you that Cold Lake…is nowhere NEAR as bad as you’ve heard.
Sure, this album is no To Mega Therion or Morbid Tales, but what is, really? If anything, Cold Lake signified a simplified, more stripped down rock/metal attack when compared to its extravagant predecessor, 1987′s epically progressive and difficult Into the Pandemonium.
With this album doing so much to push Fischer and Frost over the edge with regards to their rampant ‘n rambling conceptual ambitions-for those who haven’t had the pleasure, Pandemonium is rife with electronic beats, female operatics, ethno-ambient sounds and an opening cover of Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio”-it actually makes sense that Celtic Frost might actually want to take a few atmospheric steps back from the whole process, and releasing a fun, energetic metal record.
This is exactly the spot hit by Cold Lake; an album full of memorable songs which possess strong choruses and deceptively simple riffing. Although the album certainly is glammed up and hair sprayed for the time-Fischer notoriously sported an L.A. Guns shirt for much of this period-the most common misconception about Cold Lake is that it isn’t heavy. This couldn’t be further from the truth, as anyone who has heard classic album cuts “Cherry Orchards” and the semi-speed metal jam “Juices Like Wine”: this is still the super-heavy, double-kicked Celtic Frost you all know and love…just under the influence of a lil’ Motley Crue, that’s all.
Looking back at the turbulent career arc endured by Frost and Hellhammer, could you really blame the band for the desire to lay back and cut loose? If anything, Cold Lake and its 1990 follow-up, Vanity/Nemesis are more than deserving of mention within the Celtic Frost canon; beyond-solid records whose time has finally come to be rediscovered and enjoyed.
If you consider yourself a Celtic Frost fan, and you haven’t heard these albums, you’re only hurting yourself. Don’t believe everything you hear, and take a listen: Cold Lake is an outing worthy of some serious reinvestigation.
Despite kicking black metal stalwart SATANIC WARMASTER to the curb, the event has brought forth a pretty impressive lineup of bands this year. The thing that baffles me though, is that the lineup is so cool until you get to the main stages and see the pure embarrassment that ends each night. I’ll break it down like this…
Awesome Bands: Architects (UK), The Cult, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Morbid Angel, Meshuggah, Coroner, The Haunted, Opeth, Anathema, Orphaned Land, Turisas, Atheist, Mayhem, Gorguts, Unleashed, Dodheimsgard, Bolt Thrower, Triptykon, 1349, Septic Flesh, Lock Up, Exhumed, Morgoth, Tsjuder, Corrosion of Conformity, Eyehategod, Converge, Terror, Comeback Kid, Deez Nuts, Kyuss, Goatsnake, Electric Wizard, Kylesa, BuzzOv-en, Knut, Red Fang, The Gates of Slumber, Ancestors, Morne
Leave it at that and you’ve got an awesome festival!
Watchable Bands: Iggy and the Stooges, Rob Zombie, Valient Thorr, Cavalera Conspiracy, Doro, Firewind, Angel Witch, Suicide Silence, Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, Municipal Waste, Therion, Pain of Salvation, Audrey Horne, Belphegor, Vader, Krisiun, Malevolent Creation, Skyforger, Skeletonwitch, Grave, Hail of Bullets, Monster Magnent, The Melvins, Clutch, In Solitude, Bad Brains, DRI, Times of Grace, Shai Huluud, Hawkwind, Grand Magus, Black Dahlia Murder
I don’t care about these, but I’ll watch who I can without feeling disappointed if I miss one.
Who Cares: Scorpions, Apocalyptica, Black Label Society, Hammerfall, The Exploited, Dagoba, The Dwarves, Svart Crown, Total Fuckin Destruction, Korpiklaani, Cradle of Filth, Your Demise, Nasty
I get why they’re on the bill, I just don’t care that they’re on the bill.
What the fuck?: Disturbed, Alter Bridge, Trust, UFO, Blackrain, Crucified Barbara, Mr. Big, SUP, Maximum The Horomone, Klone, Mekong Delta, Lyzanxia, Arkona, Impureza, The Young Gods, Karma to Burn, Masters of Reality, Church of Misery, Kruger, My Sleeping Karma, Hangman’s Chair, US Bombs, Raw Power, Arma Gathas
I don’t get why they’re on the bill and I don’t give a fuck that they’re there either. Seriously??? Disturbed, Alter Bridge and Mr. Big??? WHAT THE FUCK???
1. Agalloch – Marrow of the Spirit (Profound Lore): The choice popular amongst fans, critics, pundits and the general hiperati. In other words, you’re a dipshit if you don’t love this record. Chief ‘loch, John Haughm has delivered a haunting album of Black Metal informed Post-Rock, the scope of which stretches from Emperor to Godspeed You Black Emperor!. This year’s hands-down classic.
2. Letlive – Fake History (Tragic Hero): So-Cal’s letlive take the post-hardcore ball from the likes of Thursday and Glassjaw and run with it. They already signed to Epitaph, who will re-release this album in 2011. Simply, letlive dodge all the usual cliches on their way to household-name success. Mark my words!
3. Dillinger Escape Plan: – Option Paralysis (Season of Mist): Benjiman Weinman gets the Thurston Moore Lifetime Achievement Award for looking at chaos as a valid part of pop songwriting. Possibly their finest, angriest and most career-defining moment. I still hear stuff in this one that eluded me the first 25 listens or so.
4. Watain- Lawless Darkness (Season of Mist): With the power of their onstage stench and mighty death-riffs, these Swedes ascend to Black Metal’s highest peaks. Whether they take the throne from the commercially aspirant Dimmu or the crash n’ burnt Gorgoroth remains to be seen. At the rate they’re going…
5. Tryptkon – Esparistera Daimones and Shatter EP (Century Media): Tom Fischer picks up where Celtic Frost’s brilliant and final death-grunt, Monotheist left off. Then exceeds it. I’ve included the Shatter EP as it feels like a natural part of the proceedings.
6. Ghost – Opus Eponymous (Rise Above/Metal Blade) Jimmy Page bought Aleister Crowley’s house. The Stones came with Goat’s Head Soup. Now Ghost take on three decades of hard rock and metal, offer it up to Satan and come up with a record already set to be the first metal “name-drop” for 2011.
7. Bad Religion –The Dissent 0f Man (Epitaph): The SoCal punks continue to craft paeans for the intelligensia with three chords and amazing three part vocal harmonies.
8. Cradle of Filth – Darkly, Darkly Venus Aversa (Nuclear Blast): Oh, darker my love! Dani’s dark mob strips things down to basics and have made their most lethal concept record since Cruelty and the Beast.
9. Dimmu Borgir – Abrahadabra (Nuclear Blast): The equivalent of any Michael Bay movie with a dark metal soundtrack. It’s big, cinematic and has little to do with conveying anything like plot or storytelling (like Transformers). Dimmu have survived and surpassed recent lineup changes only to make an album that comes closest to a bit of semi-Black Metal for the mainstream.
10. Fear Factory – Mechanize (Candlelight): Dino and Burton kiss, make up and make a classic Fear Factory album. Easily the one that should have been slotted right between Demanufacture and Obsolete.
11. Enslaved -Axioma Ethica Odini (Nuclear Blast)
12. Shining – Blackjazz (Indie/The End)
13. Black Breath – Heavy Breathing (Southern Lord)
14. William Control-Noir (Victory)
15. Demiurg – Slakthus Gamleby (Cyclone Empire)
16. Underoath – Disambiguation (Solid State)
17. Deftones – Diamond Eyes (Warners)
18. Danzig – Deth Red Sabaoth (The End)
19. Overkill-Ironbound (E1)
20. Integrity-The Blackest Curse (Deathwish)
And a record I spent a ton of time working on that came out earlier this year….
Mutiny Within – Mutiny Within (Roadrunner): Dream Theater played by Killswitch Engage with a singer that stomps all over James LaBrie in the passion department. Why this New Jersey sextet (with a couple members by way of the UK) hasn’t connected yet is beyond me. Of course, the record is just a few months old. Popular opinion’s still out on this one.
And of course…..
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Def Jam): If you don’t like this, then you’re one of “douchebags” he sings about.
It’s definitely been a great year for heavy music, while there hasn’t been that many truly BIG name bands to put out albums this year (Slayer, Metallica, Mastodon, etc) and the ones that did put out high profile records didn’t really impress me (Iron Maiden), I feel like the underground reigned supreme this year. It has been a while since I got this excited about so many underground bands and also, for the first time, we’ve started to see the underground get mainstream respect.
This list started out as a ‘Top 10′, drifted outward to look like a ‘Top 50′ but ultimately settled for a ‘Top 20′. The ‘bottom ten’ got no explanations because this blog post would have been way too long under those circumstances, but my absolute favorites got words to back up their high placements. We will be largely on vacation from now until the new year, but keep checking back for more cool reviews, news pieces and even some other lists all next week.
TRIPTYKON has demolished audiences across the country as part of one of the most exciting tours of the fall – the Weltenbrand 2010 tour with 1349 and YAKUZA. Hopefully, you got out there to see them – otherwise, look at what you’re missing!
Who is the best black metal drummer? Hands down, it would have to be FROST (SATYRICON, 1349). He is simply a beast and one of the most interesting figures in the current Norwegian Black Metal Scene. Luckily, our friends at Sick Drummer Magazine were able to set up a Drum Cam at a recent stop on 1349′s co-headlining jaunt with TRIPTYKON and this was the outcome:
Apparently, I’m the only one out there who thought Celtic Frost’s 2006 Monotheist swansong was boringly dense and needlessly slow.
I’m also in the minority of those who didn’t fall down and worship Triptykon’s debut earlier this year, either, although I do feel that the album was a great sonic step forward, and was easily the effort Monotheist SHOULD have been, at the very least.
Tom G. Warrior’s track record with Triptykon looks to be more of the same here with the Shatter EP, providing two new songs which follow along the same lines as the Eparistera Daimones debut-which admittedly isn’t enough to judge any sort of progression leap or depth-alongside a reworked demo track and two live Frost covers, featuring Darkthrone’s Nocturno Culto on vocals.
Out of the two new tracks, “I Am the Twilight” is a forgettable exercise in the tedious and needless pondering which marred Monotheist and the otherwise solid Daimones. Apparently, Thomas Gabriel is still fixated on the ‘slow=heavy’ equation, which is fine…I just a’int buying it, ya dig?
It’s the EP’s self-titled opening track which provides the most curiosity here; a supremely moody, emotionally rich dirge which exemplifies the stylistic groove Fischer/Warrior is searching for, particularly within the song’s atmospheric female accompaniment. If Triptykon’s sophomore effort can combined a bit more speed with the best elements of ‘Shatter’ then we might finally have an album worth of all the hype and praise heaped upon it by the metal press.
It’s the absence of speed which mars the otherwise magical Frost covers, as well. I’m not quite sure why Warrior seems to have a fetish for playing Celtic Frost classics at half speed, but it just isn’t working at all–again, slow doesn’t always mean heavy, or even ‘doom’ people…it’s just slow. Elsewhere, ‘Crucifixus’ is a more fleshed out version of one of Triptykon’s earliest ideas: an interesting, but ultimately forgettable tune which reminds me all exactly why EPs are so useless a purchase.
Bottom line: wait for the next Triptykon album to see what Mr. Warrior does next, and only purchase this stop-gap if you absolutely need to hear Tom’s sonic pain to the tune of two new jams.
TRIPTYKON is on tour now with 1349 and YAKUZA on one of the greatest tours of the year!
TRIPTYKON w/ 1349 & Yakuza
10/19 – The Marquis Theater – Denver, CO
10/21 – El Corazon – Seattle, WA
10/22 – Hawthorne Theater – Portland, OR
10/23 – Slims – San Francisco, CA
10/24 – El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
10/25 – The Rock – Tucson, AZ
10/27 – The Marquee – Tulsa, OK
10/28 – Ridglea Theatre – Fort Worth, TX
10/29 – Emo’s – Dalls, TX
TRIPTYKON is currently on a co-headline tour with 1349 and support form YAKUZA. The band has also just released a really weird yet awesome teaser clip to promote the tour as well as their new EP. ‘Shatter’ will be released on October 25 exclusively through CMDistro.com physically and will be available via all digital outlets as well!
