Wednesday, October 11, 2006
France, home of Europe’s new innovative black metal scene? Quite possibly. With bands such as black metal behemoths NEHEMAH, symphonic blasphemers Anorexia Nervosa and the rest of the glorious Black Legions of France, there’s a lot of untapped talent in this country world reknowned for its wine. French black metal labels are hard to come by but somehow, months ago, I found Occultum Productions who has been kind enough to send me just about everything they’ve ever put out. They do not scout out your typical by-the-book black metal bands who solely want to “keep it kvlt” and play black metal that was stylistic 10 years ago. This brings me to my latest review of something a little less metal, a lot more evil and depressing: VANNVIDD. A quaint one-man band side project of Svarthet of Hate Sanctuary.
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About a week and a half ago, I receive another box of black metal hate from my new favorite black metal label: Occultum Productions. Contained within this blasphemous box were the newest releases from TOTALER KRIEG, Sombre Presage, GRIMLAIR, and the newest split from Thanatos and HADAN DRAILH. I also received what I believe was the very last set of Sombre Presage’s Commémoration 2005 box set containing all of their releases of 2005 and early 2006. Each Sombre Presage disc came in a beautifully printed paper slip case and each one was hand numbered 72/111 (all of their discs have been in 111 disc print runs). Along with the CDs, I also received their demo tape from 2005 which is pro-pressed on a high quality tape. These discs also came in a nice black box with the Sombre Presage logo on the front with an incense burner inside. Talk about cult!
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Philadelphia pumps out another quality band in Subpoena. Signed to Tone Arm Records, the imprint label of Arm The Pit, they’re busy cranking out quality thrashcore on their debut EP Thrashimus Maximus. Why thrashcore? Well, to me it has many sensibilities of good ol’ thrash with a hardcore aesthetic and recording attitude. Obviously they’re doing something right since they recently got inked to play a show at the famed Trocadero with seminal thrashers Venom and make-your-ears-bleed death metallers Devildriver. I can only imagine what kind of hellacious show that will be!
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In these days of power metal, super fast riffs, and an upswing in the amounts of solos making it into songs, whatever happened to the virtuoso players of the old school? You know, those guys who play just to play and do it incredibly well. There are so many great axe wielders these days but few very of them release solo material displaying just how well they’ve honed their craft of ripping out sweeping solos or dizzying arpeggios. Is this an art that died in the 80s only to be slightly revived in the years after?
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Infernal hails to brother Voxum from Occultum Productions France for sending me my latest package of goodies. I got a special limited edition pack of Occultum’s four latest releases plus a limited edition box set from Praeter Hominem. The set includes this limited edition t-shirt (one of 25 in the whole world I believe, and it’s excellent quality), Praeter Hominem’s latest release, and their demo tape from 2005. The rest of the set includes Daedeloth’s demo CD, VANNVIDD’s newest comp, and the lastest CD from MANNAZ’s excellent new CD.
If you love black metal of all sorts (each CD is different and they range from raw black to pagan black and dark ambient black), I highly suggest you try and grab the last remaining discs left. Each copy of each album is limited to 111 copies except for VANNVIDD’s album, it’s only limited to 55 copies. Voxum and his bands deserve the support of the black metal hordes because they simply make awesome music.
At a recent BTA show, I was lucky enough to speak to Duck, the drummer, at some length. I asked him where BTA got their inspiration (other than from God) for their lyrics and he simply stated “Both from scripture and our personal experiences.” When asked about how they feel about their message and how Christiancore has only helped to further that message, Duck once again simply replied “It’s something we love so we decided to combine our faith with our other love. We’re really surprised at how well kids have taken to it.” I was amazed as well. During the interview, and throughout the rest of the concert, I was completely awe-struck at the number of people attending the show. Then I was even more amazed by the number of nuclear families at the show (yes, a mother, father, and at least two kids) with everyone headbanging and singing along. The last time my parents heard any metal, they cringed and cried but to see families out at a metal show is a true testament to the message these guys are putting out. “We’re glad to be using something we love to get our message out there and it’s amazing we’re at the forefront of our genre. I mean we covered one of those guys’ (talking about ZAO, who was currently playing during the interview) songs at our first show! We just had a minister from Canada contact us about using our music in his sermons, stuff like that blows my mind!” said Duck in response to my questions about them being the real forerunners of their genre and how it’s affecting them. Unfortunately, due to House of Blues’ rules, I was unable to even write down half of what was said or even record it so the entire 25 minute interview is not able to be fully transcribed.
At the end of every year, magazines and web sites alike compile their “Best of…” lists and every year, excellent albums get missed on the big lists. It’s just something that happens year after year, no matter what pundits are at the helm. Sadly, it occurs even more when there happen to be bands that release incredible albums outside the realm of “normal” metal. Case in point: Becoming The Archetype (herein referred to as BTA). Why are they outside the realm of “normal” metal (“normal” being highly subjective of course) you may ask? Well, take their label, Solid State Records, and what they typically release: cookie cutter metalcore. Then take BTA and their press release photos and album photo: regular looking guys who probably play metalcore on a metalcore label. So far, nothing fancy or eye-catching. However, pop their debut disc Terminate Damnation into your player, give it just a single spin, and you should realize why they’re not “normal” metal, or metalcore for that matter. They’re but five guys who play progressive metal a lot like another group of five dudes who just happen to be Swedish and are the current forerunners of progressive (death) metal. The comparison is very obvious: BTA’s progressive metal(core) versus Opeth’s progressive (death) metal. This is the first time I’ve used a direct reference to another band, for comparison’s sake, in my reviews but it cannot be helped whatsoever. The first time I ever listened to Terminate Damnation, I envisioned BTA lending support for Opeth on their next tour (take hint Roadrunner Records). Yeah, these young guys are that good.
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I got a fresh package in the mail yesterday from Bridgeport Entertainment containing a limited edition t-shirt from The Abattoir Murders and the debut EP from The Abattoir Murders. I love the tee, it fits great. Unfortunately, The Abattoir Murders broke up so no one will be seeing their grindcore blitz live any more.
See You Next Tuesday’s debut EP came in the same package.
All around, I got some good grind to bleed my ears with. I’ll have a picture of the shirt up soon.
On Saturday I received my newest press pack from Resuscitator. It includes a promo from their next album, Three Lords – Seven Days, which sounds excellent so far. I’m saddened that the release of two albums from Resuscitator will be delayed due to label issues but I know they’re already working on inking some deals, and this has me very excited.
I’ve also gotten word about a possible tour in the fall but details are scant.
Hails to Sacbe for getting this pack to me!
These days, it seems like everyone is making black metal. Whether they’re any good at it or not is a totally different story. Whenever one black metal horde dies, ten more pop up in its place. So how does one find quality stuff these days? Just like you used to in the old days: by reading zines, scoping out record shops, trading, and looking on MySpace. Wait, MySpace? We didn’t have that back in the old days! But believe it or not, the hulking monolith that is MySpace is an excellent way to find new music. That’s exactly how I found Lythos and I don’t regret it one bit. The band’s debut disc, Sadomass: the Forgotten Hymns, is being distributed by Arcturus Dementia Productions but I suspect that as soon as some labels hear the material, they’ll be on another label.
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