BLACK METAL MONDAY

BLACK METAL MONDAY

BLACK METAL MONDAY

BLACK METAL MONDAY

BLACK METAL MONDAY

BLACK METAL MONDAY

BLACK METAL MONDAY

BLACK METAL MONDAY

BLACK METAL MONDAY

BLACK METAL MONDAY: BLACKDEATH

Y’know, I’m all for keeping black metal weird – sure, make it psychedelic, make it doomy, make it folky, whatever – but sometimes when it comes to the darkest form of metallic fury, I don’t want my balls tickled, I want my skull crushed. Problem is, a lot of the bands that go for the straightforward thing are more boring to listen to than watching corpsepaint dry.

That’s why it took me so long to check out Blackdeath, of Russia. For the longest time I assumed they were some kinda third-rate Judas Iscariot ripoff, which is therefore like a sixth-rate Darkthrone ripoff – who needs to waste their time with that but the most cloistered of cult-stacking teenagers? Their location didn’t endear me to them either; Russia is mostly known for lo-fi Nazi-sympathizing BM bands like Temnozor, Forest and Old Wainds, none of whom I am crazy about (although Old Wainds is OK). And then, there’s the name – Blackdeath. About as generic as it gets, that…

Well, imagine my surprise when I clapped my ears on Blackdeath’s newest album, Katharsis: Kalte Lieder Aus Der Holle. True, this three-piece is not reinventing the wheel, but as far as traditional, asskicking black metal this is pure headbanging satisfaction.

Clearly inspired by the Norwegian bands of yesteryear such as Burzum and Darkthrone, but not clones of said bands by any means, these warriors have been recording Satanic hymns since 1998. With quite a few releases under their belts including splits with SF one-man-band Leviathan, Finland’s Horna and France’s Mortifera, as well as several full-length albums, you can see Blackdeath is dedicated to their craft. Apparently, according the write-up for the album from their label’s website, this is one of their first releases with a real drummer, but I don’t know if that means they used a drum machine or just session drummers previously (luckily many of their previous recordings are available for free download on their website, so I can catch up!). Whatever the case, Blackdeath knows how to work as a finely tuned unit, with memorable riffs and vocal patterns, strong production and no lack of just plain killer metal songs.

The riffing has plenty of variety, going from strummed power chords to more dissonant, mangled riffs to melodic tremelo sections. The bass, like many black metal bands, is just kind of there, holding it down, and the drums pound away with suitable variety – nothing to showy but solid and strong as hell (the drummer, Maya, is female, too, for those keeping score of that kinda thing). The vocals bring the most spice to the proceedings. Taking cues, it seems, from the manic and unhinged style pioneered by Germany’s Bethlehem but not aping that style altogether like some bands do (ahem, Shining…), singer/bassist Para Bellum keeps it pretty intelligible the whole time while cultivating a rather psychotic approach.

Highlights include the opening track, “Licht Ist Mein Tod,” with its staccato vocal exclamations, “Die Verzweiflung der letzten Folter,” a long and riff-filled epic with a killer, swaying outro section, and “Die 666 Dimension,” the most melodic song musically on the album but the most obtuse vocally, with some weird chanting and intoning rather than the wild shouts and shrieks of the rest of record. The production is well balanced and surprisingly clean, in fact maybe a little too clean – a bit more grit might help make Katharsis even more crushing, but everything does sound pretty heavy and loud, so no complaints really.

For a dose of pure black metal, no frills, no keyboards, no pomposity, no bullshit, you can’t do much better than Blackdeath’s Katharsis. This album is a total banger, crusher, rager, ripper and all-around bomber. I’m really kicking myself for not getting around to checking these guys out; because “Blackdeath is black metal” indeed.

BLACK METAL MONDAY

BLACK METAL MONDAY: MEADS OF ASPHODEL

I can think of no better band for Black Metal Monday here on the Archers Guild than Meads of Asphodel. This is a Blog For Heads, right? Well this is some heady stuff, man! These British lunatics look like extras from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” at one point had a rabbi perform with the band, released a record with Doom, Conflict, Hellbastard, Skeptix and Kinks covers, use more keyboards than Yes, and play a totally schizophrenic and unconventional style of music that, while using black metal as a sonic keystone, is so twisted that it almost defies categorization. Oh yeah and their bass player is in HAWKWIND! Far out!

Their fourth and latest album, The Murder of Jesus the Jew, can be described as no less than a total mindfuck. As the album opens, a deep voice intones, “On a cold spring morning, around AD 30, a man was hung from a tree upon a mound of dirt. This is his story – of a man named God.” A couple of minutes of almost cheerful sythesizer-based classical music play, and then, BOOM, heavy black metal hysteria erupts. The Meads’ brand of black metal is in the chunky and chugging vein, maybe closer to Samael or Hellhammer with a distinctly punkish approach ala Amebix or Venom. Pretty cool, but what sets Meads apart from the pack is all the other madness they put in the mix. On The Murder of Jesus the Jew, you’ll also find folk, psychedelia, punk rock, shoegaze, dance beats, show tunes, dashes of Middle Eastern music, and LOTS of synthesizers. In fact, more often than not the non-metal elements dominate the songs, the raspy vocals, blasting drums and harsh distortion taking a back seat.

I know what you’re thinking: What a mess, right? Wrong! It RULES! Normally too many different ingredients ruin the recipe, so to speak, but the Meads dudes are actually really talented composers, knowing when to throw a curveball and when to play it relatively safe. They keep you guessing, but their genre-hopping seldom comes off as forced or merely for the sake of being wacky. They seem to have a firm grasp on playing and writing riffs for all the genres they have chosen to incorporate into the band’s music. While some listeners will doubtless be turned off by the scattershot songwriting, those who want something unique and outside of the norm will find some pretty awesome stuff here.

Bonus points: the lyrics are great. Like their countrymen Sabbat from back in the late 80s, they deal with provocative anti-religious, anti-Christian topics in a more intellectual and sensitive way than the typical “fuck God” fashion – there’s plenty of room for that in black metal too, of course, but it’s nice to see a band that values lyrics as much as riffs. Main lyricist Metatron seems to be a bit of an amateur Biblical scholar and The Murder of Jesus the Jew focuses on his personal take on the life and death of Jesus – both the historical figure and the Biblical character.

All in all if you’re looking for something within the realm of metal to scramble your brain like a fresh egg pick up some Meads. Bong loads and mushrooms are purely optional but probably would not hurt.

BLACK METAL MONDAY

BLACK METAL MONDAY

BLACK METAL MONDAY: BLACK METAL BATHROOM READING

What's more cult than reading a black metal-packed fanzine by candlelight while blasting a copy of the accompanying 12" of rehearsal-room deathrash from Norwegian legends Morbid? Why, taking an evil dump at the same time!

Yes, it's black metal bathroom reading time, with the latest (and according to the zine's introduction, possibly final) issue of Slayer Magazine, one of the longest-running publications to claw its way out of the bowels of the metal underground. Slayer XX is an incredible read, put together by Metalion, a long-time Norwegian metal maniac. First published in 1986, it's most famous for its early 90s issues, which documented the spectacular emergence of his country's groundbreaking black metal movement.

Issues of Slayer have become increasingly sporadic, released basically whenever Metalion feels like it rather than on a set schedule (issue 19 was published in 2004!), but issue XX makes up for the long wait by being more of a book than a fanzine. It's hardbound, with glossy, thick pages and professional print quality. However, despite the stunning presentation (including some awesome graphic design from Watain frontman Erik Danielsson) the writing style is totally in the style of a fanzine, with the editor interjecting his opinion and of course his unique sense of humor into each feature. The layout for many features is in the old-school cut and paste style -- you can even see razor marks on the pages.

This down and dirty approach befits the bands featured -- you will find no slick mainstream garbage here. There are interviews and articles about Watain, Destroyer 666, Pagan Altar, Sadus, Nifelheim, Funeral Mist, Whiplash, Sunn O))), Grotesque, Kreator and many more, including remembrances of dead black/death metal pioneers Quorthon of Bathory and Jon Nodtveidt of Dissection. The quality of the interviews is generally top-notch, with the bands really taking the questions seriously, something that you don't really find in some zines. Since Metalion is a die-hard death/black metal fanatic with roots stretching back to the very beginnings of the extreme metal movement, he garners a lot more respect for his subjects than some snot-nosed kid making fly-by-night zine in his bedroom. To top it all off, a 12" record of unreleased Morbid material from the mid-80s is included with each copy, Morbid of course being the first band of legendary black metal suicide Dead of Mayhem.

All in all, Slayer XX will keep your eyes glued to its pages while your ass is glued to the toilet seat for many, many BMs to come. Two plungers up!!!

(Apparently this is sold out from the publisher but poke around in distros in the coming weeks and you will probably will be able to find it -- 2,000 were printed so they should be around)

BLACK METAL MONDAY: MASTER'S HAMMER

So no review this week: just a couple of videos from Czech black metal legends Master's Hammer. Evil, occult and totally weird, these freakos puked out three albums in the early/mid 90s before reforming recently to release another disc... here's a couple of classic clips from their Ritual album (1991). Worship the Master...

BONUS: Curious about what their guitarist Necrocock is up to nowadays? Well, since I mentioned his name is Necrocock, I'm guessing you are. So here's a little treat... prepare to get a confusion boner.

BLACK METAL MONDAY

BLACK METAL MONDAY

BLACK METAL MONDAY: THE RUINS OF BEVERAST

In my Black Metal Monday segments for the mighty Archers’ Guild, I try to stay on top of shit; that is to say, I’d rather review/highlight recent releases than stuff that has been blogged to death by dozens of other metal websites/zines/message board warriors. However, this album slipped through the cracks for me, so here it is: The Ruins of Beverast, “Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite,” released in late 2009 on Ván Records.

A one-man army of darkness hailing from Germany, The Ruins of Beverast specialize in a very evocative, almost cinematic brand of black art. Long songs, meandering structures sometimes with repeating musical motifs, strange samples, choirs, pseudo-industrial “clangs” and “plonks” – these tools are all at Ruins mastermind Alexander von Meilenwald’s disposal. This is a very dense, very long record. The CD version tips the scales at around 80 minutes – the maximum amount of time the format can support – and the double LP is even longer thanks to a nine-minute Tiamat cover! (I would like to hear that cover, but I just have the CD…) Most of the songs are over 10 minutes, and this isn’t always Burzum-esque riff-repetition style black metal. There is a LOT going on in this record, which makes it pretty hard to fathom. I think that’s the idea however. This has the feeling of a musician’s magnum opus, a real labor of love (hate?) and intense creativity. That’s not to say it’s a perfect record, but it does have some pretty incredible and awesome moments.

The music on “Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite” – cool title, eh? – ranges from tremelo-picked blast fests ala old Mayhem, to doomic crawls along the sludgy pits of Hades, but definitely favors the slower tempos. I guess they give the music room to breathe a bit more, though with the claustrophobic atmosphere present here fresh air is a rarity. I find the slow pace pretty cool for the most part, but I wish it were broken up more regularly with faster sections a bit more often to keep it from getting monotonous. The middle of the album sure feels like a trudge with so much slow, doomy stuff, only picking up after about 20 minutes of constant pounding with the second to last track, “Blood Vaults II,” which throttles you with some wild thrash tempos for six minutes before slowing it down again.

The good news is, although the lack of speed is kind of a drag at times, there is always something interesting going on musically. Though the tempo remains in first gear most of the time, the riffing style changes up a lot with some death-doom stuff, some plain slow black metal and some more traditional doom riffs. This guy can really play, and spices things up with interesting leads, solos and guitar licks along with some tasteful drum patterns. The recording is not piss-raw, not too dense, but with enough gray areas to lose yourself in the kind of haze that good atmospheric black metal strives for; I would say the production job is just about perfect here.

The vocals favor low, almost death-metally rasps – not too much shrieking going on – with a lot of clean passages that recall Enslaved. You may notice I’ve been dropping a lot of old Norwegian names in this review, though don’t think this is just a ripoff of that all-too-aped style. Ruins of Beverast has its own thing going – professional, passionate, heavy as a bag of donkey balls (to quote Obituary), and DARK black metal. There are many layers to this record and I think I’ve only really scratched the surface.

BLACK METAL MONDAY