Tuesday's Metal Releases

AC/DC - Backtracks (Columbia)
Amon Amarth - Versus The World Re-Release (Metal Blade)
Anthrax - Among The Living CD/DVD Re-Release (Island)
Bon Jovi - The Circle (Island)
Coalesce - Ox EP (Relapse)
The Company Band - The Company Band (Red)
Dark Funeral - Angelus Exuro Pro Eternus (Regain)
Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - Licht (The End)
Gaza - He Is Never Coming Back (Metal Blade)
Gorgoroth - Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt (Regain)
Gwar - America Must Be Destroyed Re-Release (Metal Blade)
Jacobs Dream - Beneath The Shadows (Retroactive)
Katatonia - Night Is The New Day (Peaceville)
King Diamond - House Of God Re-Release (Metal Blade)
King Diamond - Voodoo (Metal Blade)
Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough (Profound Lore)
Outbreak - Outbreak (Trustkill)
These Are They - Who Linger (The End)
Throwdown - Deathless (E1)
Vampire Mooose - The Reel (Rotten)
Witchmaster - Trücizna (Ibex Moon)

THOUGHTS: Alright, Bon Jovi  is clearly the big deal of this weeks releases when it comes to actually selling albums.  I have to say that so far The Circle sounds a lot more rock then its predecessor Lost Highway, but it's still not the working class gritty Bon Jovi that most rock fans want. It's more of a happy medium between what Bon Jovi was and has became.  Housewives will still like to play the record while  prepping for spin class, but now their husbands won't want to hang themselves while it's on. How delightful!
Now, on to metal.... Krallice has got to be the pick of the week.  Experimental black metal.  Somewhat progressive, but this album seems to be more of a throw back to the mid 90s sound.  Sometimes all this black metal shit can sound the same (even to a fan like myself), but Krallice manages to hold their own.  They are playing this Friday with Malkuth and Liturgy, who both sound strongly influenced by Krallice. (side note - I actually think Malkuth  has taken influence from Krallice and made it sound even better).

Then of course there is the black metal tabloid angels, Gorgoroth.  Only it's not the Gorgoroth that we have finally got used to knowing (with King & Gaahl).... now it's only original member is Infernus and pest is on vocals.  it's not a bad record, but Gaahl & King are better song writers and players than Infernus, and this album doesn't really stand out.

Also, a quick mention to The Company Band, who are actually a super group made up by vocalist Neil Fallon (Clutch), drummer Jess Margera (CKY), guitarists Jim Rota (Fireball Ministry) and Dave Bone and bassist Brad Davis (Fu Manchu).  It definitely sounds the most like Clutch, but will do well with fans of Turbonegro and Queens of The Stone Age.

Time to up the metal to 11

I feel the need to metal-up my blog a little bit.  The last few posts have been about an American Idol contestant (granted a very rock one), and my Band of The Week was Richie Kotzen who is more blues rock than hard rock.  
Today I present you with a playlist of music by Satanists, in honor of Anton Laveys death, which was 12 years ago today.  Kinda sad that he died just 2 days before Halloween.....

This playlist was actually a lot harder to come up with than you would think.  I wanted to include metal bands that had actual links to Satanism, not just a few songs that mention the guy.  So, King Diamond was the obvious choice since he is so vocal about his beliefs.  Marilyn Manson of course has worked with teh Church of Satan, Marduk still claims their message is Satan, and early Gorgoroth, seemed to be fairly legit as well.  Deicide's Glen Benton won't shut the fuck up about Satan and his love for him, but something tells me this guy is all tongue in cheek.
As for Venom, I included them simply because so many people took them seriously even when they didn't.As far as bands accused of Satanism- the list is endless. Black Sabbath, Motley Crue, Judas Priest, Slayer, KISS (remember them being called Knights In Satans Service) and just about anyone else in metal... Tipper Gore even tried to claim Twisted Sister were Satanists!  Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page might have had a fascination with Aleister Crowley, but LZ is in no way a Satanic band. 

Gaahl/King update

A new band was announced today - Ov Hell . Well, it seems like this band spawned from the break up of God Seed  that happened when Gaahl announced his departure from metal.  Seeing as God Seed (which is just the new name for King and Gaahl's version of Gorgoroth) was King's main focus, then it makes sense for him to seek out another band.  King has been in so many bands at this point that I can hardly keep count- God Seed, Gorgoroth, Jotunspor, I, Sahg, Audrey Horne.... anything else I forgot?
  
Anyway, this is what King had to say: 

"The first Ov HELL release will contain music I've worked on in my Gorgoroth and God Seed years. It's been a little hell to actually see this music form into aband, so the name of the band is quite suitable. Through the first song I got from Shagrath I knew that he would be the perfect man to join forces with.  He has strong individual qualities and a strong will to power. I am very positive that when we finish up this album it will be an album that won't sound like anything we have done before, and with a quality that won't stand back from anything presented in black metal earlier!"

And Shagrath:

“ With both of our demanding music careers and other projects, timing was not on our side. After last years inferno festival, King and I yet again joined forces to brainstorm our need to collaborate our passion for dark art. Over the course of the past year, King sent me demo ideas that were so inspiring it made me put my skeptic feelings aside. I wasn't sure if I wanted to have another Black Metal project but my unquenchable thirst to explore my darkest beast, launched the birth Ov HELL. The majestic Ov HELL has become a band that reflects our roots, raw, ugly, arrogantly blasphemous with uncompromising truth from two influential Norwegian musicians needing to express our primitive side, straight out Ov HELL.”

Also, there are a couple songs already uploaded to the bands myspace page - "Devil's Harlot" and”Ghosting”.  I actually think I like it more than the Godseed stuff.
Studio Line-up:

Shagrath - vocals
King  - bass
Ice Dale - guitar
Frost - drums
Teloch – guitar

New Gorgoroth

So, Gorgoroth is now just Infernus, and Gaahl has dropped out of metal forever (doubtful that will stay true....).   Anyway, Infernus is actually getting his act together and has an album, "Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt" due out Oct 21st.  The track listing:

01. Aneuthanasia
02. Prayer
03. Rebirth
04. Building a Man
05. New Breed
06. Cleansing Fire
07. Human Sacrifice
08. Satan-Prometheus
09. Introibo ad Alatare Satanas

Mostly all english... Interesting.

You can here a clip of the song Prayer HERE.

Gaahl - Me no play metal no more!

Gaahl speaks about why he is giving up metal:

He did an interview with Terrorizer magazine, he shoulda done it with me.  Fool.

-So, we've all heard by now, officially, that you've left God Seed, after weeks of rumours, is that the truth?

“Yes, I would say that I've basically retired from metal, or at least metal appearances.”

-But not from music?
“Yes, I would exclude Trelldom since that I've never considered that metal either, but I guess for people it does fall into the same genre. Of course that's my lifetime project.”

-What was the impetus behind this decision, the happenings about the God Seed/Gorgoroth came that last year must have taken their toll?
“Well, it's been something I've worked on for quite a while in a way, already since the firing of Infernus basically. I did try to make it work but I just decided to obligate it [God Seed] I wasn't sure where it was going, but I decided basically to carry on then. I don't think that [the court case over the same for 'Gorgoroth'] has anything to do with that, it's just that for me it's not heartfelt any more and if it's not heartfelt you shouldn't do it. I could have done it and and achieved something that I myself wouldn't put myself into and that would be wrong. I wouldn't do anything half-hearted.”

-But will God Seed and King Ov Hell carry on regardless, without you?
“I don't know what he does [laughs]. I know that they came with a statement but I gave my interview to Rock Hard [French metal magazine] a month back so I don't know if that's been published yet, so I basically don't know, it's not like I check up anything on the internet or follow the media so...”

And here is a pretty good interview about Gaahl discussing his clothing line (it's not really his), and being gay and fabulous.

Me no like metal, no more!

Today is a sad day for metal! Gaahl, formerly of Gorgoroth (which then became God Seed) has announced his retirement from metal. I love Gaahl just as much as he loves young boys, so this news makes me very sad! He made a statement to blabbermouth earlier today. Its a little bit dramatic, but hey, maybe the new music just wasnt sounding good.

New Gorgoroth update

The ninth Gorgoroth album, Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt, has just been announced to have been complete as of this morning.  The album was recorded in Tomas Asklund's Monolith Studio and basically is an Infernus solo album.  Considering the last album released under the Gorgoroth name featured NO music written by Infernus (his guitars were featured but all music & lyrics were done by King and Gaahl), I bet we can expect a very different sounding album.

As for this return back to Infernus based Gorgoroth- we have Infernus on guitars, Frank Watkins on bass, Pest on vocals and Tomas Asklund on drums.  Since Infernus wrote all the music and because of all the rehearsals and pre-recording prior to the return of second guitarist Tormentor last year, Infernus decided that it would be more 'convenient' for him to record all guitar parts on the album.  Oh, and he co-produced the album with Tomas Asklund. Right now the album is still getting mastered but it's due to be released through Regain Records on October 21st in Europe and November 11th in the US.

Tentative Track Listing
1). "Introibo ad Alatare Satanas"
2). "Aneuthanasia"
3). "Building a Man"
4). "Prayer"
5). "Rebirth"
6). "Cleansing Fire"
7). "New Breed"
8). "Human Sacrifice"
9). "Satan-Prometheus"

...seems to be in english.  

Inferno Festival - Oslo, Norway

First, some Inferno ’08 slang to know…

• Inferno Festival: Oslo’s annual metal festival featuring three days of primarily Scandinavian Black Metal bands, with a few Death, Thrash and Doom foreigners scattered in. This year, there is an added Club day- featuring acts at numerous venues throughout the city.
• BM: For the sake of my review, BM will stand for Black Metal (not bowel movements).
  
• Niklas Kvarforth: BM’s new ‘it’ boy, and member of half the bands at Inferno, most notably the extreme Shining.
  
• Gaahl: The singer of one of Inferno’s headlining acts this year, Gorgoroth, as well as key member in Trelldom, and Gaahlskagg. He’s intimidating, and kind of a big deal. (sidenote: I almost crapped myself when I first met him.)
  

The festival began within hours of stepping off of my plane to Oslo. Half the shops were closed for Easter (which is apparently a weeklong event in Norway), it’s cold as hell, and a cheap beer costs 10 bucks. I hurried over to one of the metal pubs, where I met up with some friends and bought expensive drinks. I noticed Gaahl and King of Gorgoroth, sipping drinks at the other end of the bar. This was the moment when I realized Inferno Festival was about to begin.

Wednesday, March 19:

The Club day is the festival's kickoff and included 14 bands, at 6 different venues, essentially all playing at the same time. Basically, Oslo was sprinkled with crazies dressed in all black, running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to see different bands all playing at the same time. Because of this, I had to choose carefully. The first band up was Cor Scorpii, who, like Vreid, formed from the remains of seminal folk BM band, Windir. Having only released a demo (that kicked ass), Cor Scorpiiis was highly anticipated, and the crowd didn’t seem to know exactly what to expect. The show was packed, and although frontman Thomas S. Øvstedal seemed to have some stumbling moments, the band was tight, and seemed highly reminiscent of Windir.