Interview : Sean from Cult of Youth

It's a Cult of Youth week here at Abysmal Hymns , hitting you with an interview, review of their new album and by Saturday a review of their Friday night show. So here we go and I didn't even have to bring up King Diamond they did it for me.

Wil...I like the new album, compared to your previous releases it's more smoother songwriting in a more melodic yet darker direction what do you attribute this to?

Sean...It was just natural, this was the album I always wanted to make but it the past wasn't capable. The last one we recorded in a big studio and the money just ran. This time I built my own studio and allowed me to play more of the instruments , it just all developed on an emotional and spiritual level.

Wil...how did recording in this environment effect the lyrical themes?

Sean...life's influences, the process of opening a record store had me more engaged in community. It was inspirational and more uplifting . Early on when the band formed it was depressing days, I was in a dark place with a shit job and doing lots of drugs. Now I can enjoy things and make positive uplifting changes.

Wil...I found out about you guys from a friend on a metal board and metal tends to attract metal so what kind of metal past you do you have ?

Sean ... I totally have one, I use to work as an intern for earache in college. I quit a job once to go see King diamond and it was the best decision of my life. It was a road trip and I smoked pot all the way. We don't fit into any scene so it make sense there's a group of metal heads into one place then in another city it's a totally different crowd.

Wil... I'll wear my King Diamond shirt to the show tomorrow. it's from 88.

Sean...what tour is that ?

Wil...Them

Sean... I have one from conspiracy

Wil... Speaking early of dark places , one label that gets thrown around with you guys is goth, and while I can hear some Death in June in you guys what's your prespective on that?

Sean...we take it as neither a compliment or an insult. We are into Bauhaus and sisters of mercy and like going out and dancing at goth clubs. We are lovers of music. I own a record shop so I have all kinds of music and support and embrace goth music.

Wil... How's the tour been so far?

Sean...incredible , we did out record release show on sept. 7th , we went to Europe and have been on the road for two months now. There's been highs and lows. We played Warsaw, Poland, Italy, it was cool getting to meet people I've been talking to online for years now. As players tis much time playing you really find yourself able to try new things on stage and push the boundaries.

Wil...so how was the reception in Europe?

Sean...in main land Europe like France, Poland and Italy great. In the U.k, not so great it's like America but worse.

Wil... So what should people expect from the live show?

Sean ... It's more punk, people will be surprised how live and aggressive we are. Lately it's been very chaotic so I can imagine it will be that way when we play Atlanta . People already have the albums and it s great you know the songs but iPod have the album so why sound like the album why not take the songs you know and twist them into something different that's crazy and all about having fun Becuase that's why you go out to shows.

Deftones: Koi No Yokan

With there Bassist now awake from his long time coma but still recovering the band marches on. They find themselves men out of time, yet some how maintaining relevancy due to their once ground breaking output. Alongside Tool they are one of the few bands who the nineties spawned that was able to survive the vastly changing musical landscape , which burdened them by being thought of in the same breath as nu-metal. Sure their first two albums are dated by some of the rap rock moments, they escaped Limp Bizkit status with White pony and some unhindered Faith No More worship which was tempered with Pixie like sensibilities on some occasions and a more Radiohead vibe on others.

the albums opens with an almost Root Bloody Roots pulse, but they balance things back out "romantic dreams" to show they are not hot topic juggaloos in baggy bondage pants.The hook is smart and the production saves them from falling in with the current crop of idiotic radio rock.

Former Quicksand bassist Sergio Vega,retains his duties on the album in place of Cheng. His thump comes from a different place than Cheng's and while  its no secret Quicksand was an influence of the deftones, "romantic dreams " is the only song where this is really worn on their sleeves.

"Leathers" has one of the more jarring intros, but this smooths out and the chorus remins  as smooth as anything else on this album.  The screamed  vocals are a thing of the past and even on the heaviest moments it's still only in the "King for a day " territory when they launch into the punchy stacatto sections but more often than not they stick to being next  door neighbors to A Perfect Circle. Thankfully all traces that a hip hop element was every present back in the " Aderenaline" days are long gone.

they can no longer hand with today's definition of metal, nor do they really lean in that direction , perhaps its their age . there is a strong sense of the Faith No More influence , almost as strongly as it was present on their self titled fourth album, which along with Around the fur , i would say this one has the most in common with. There are moments like "Entombed" which remind me of Smashing Pumpkins in there almost depeche mode like period, but i think largely due to Chino's superior pipes this is pulled off much better. In fact with out Chinos personality inflected voice this song would bore me as its meandering wears thin as the build takes it time with little pay off.

"Graphic Nature" is one of my favorites on the album mainly due to its darker chord progression, but it leans heavily on ground it feels like the band has tread before along with a few riffs that give a sense of deja vu.

Moreno doesn't break any new ground here, his voice remains the most distinctive element to their sound.He does serve the songs more rather than over indulging his moans, which have in previous albums drifted south in a wall of effects. he really sells his melodies on songs like the " tempest " where they do the most justice to the sensual thump, similar to "Around the furs " better moments. He sticks to his midrange croon most of the time using more inflection in his voice rather than push it build intensity which brings more Depeche Mode comparisons, not an influence thats alien to the band.

The reason they have survived the nu-metal trend where most of their peers fell by the wayside lies in their songwriting, even when you start to think, well these guys are not metal any more those thoughts are generally bypassed because these are just good songs. the dreamier moments like "Rosemary" still retains enough of a pulse to bob your head to.

Is this 2003 ? is what I find myself thinking , like they played it very safe in regard to their identity and legacy being preserved. Will this sound like classic rock to a kid who grew up on bands like Periphery ? A song like "Gauze" starts off with the off time syncopation more than a few of the djent bands narrowed from when they weren't masturbating to Meshuggah, but the bulk of the song is laid back and simplistic when stacked against today's idea of mainstream metal and could be seen as boring.the swagger of "Goon squad" does have the last nineties skating at the mall feel to it that i can't help but wondering who hasn't grown out of it even in the suburbs where musical tastes tend to fall into arrested development.

Even on the bands stalest moments they are still more adept at their craft than an army of the alternative hard rock bands who have clamoured to take their place. They do play it really safe and stick close to what would now be seen as there classic sound, they did use some of the better pages from their own play book. Where "Diamond Eyes" might have been more experimental the song writing plays closer to their strengths. A song like " What happened to you" would have really impressed me ten years ago, it sounds like Mutemath dipping into the OxyContin to me now. So I'll give this album an 8 as it aims for the classic post Aderenaline sound and the song writing is more focused but feels a little nostalgic.

Dragged Into Sunlight: Widowmaker

I understand putting out an album of three epics all over ten minutes in length, what Idon't get is why you are Dragged into Sunlight and want to make the first and longest song an acoustic instrumental. Sure it had a somewhat drones quality to it and if compacted down into three minutes would have worked as an intro but it by and large bored me and seemed like a waste of time from a band capable of so much more.

Sure the snarl into a redemptive part two , which captures some to the nastiness they do best but not after I formed a prejudice against this album. because if you are going to only give me three songs make sure all three are with the wait. Part two has a pretty mean grind to its chugs, the vocals dipping into lower more death metal like grunts. The cleaner guitar sound leading into the eight minute market doesn't bother me, in fact it brings a needed dynamic, but is handled within the context of what they do best,and I am alwayss down for experimenting with new sounds as long as I 'm getting the rock inequal doses. The gloomy drone the second part settles into in the final minute and a half works well to drive the point home.

Part three is poured on thick with its volcanic sludge. It wasn't until repeat
Items thatmy ears detected their are screams coming for behind the wall of syrupy distortion. This part is very Eyehategod and lingers for the first three minutes turning the torture over to the bass.it rumbles to a crawls ragging the songs for a minute and a half to what seems a slow death until the drums come in a hammer it into shape. In short heavy as fuck. The pace begins to pick up until it is chugged to a pregnant pause of clean guitar where it is allowed to morbidly reflect for a minute of so, with tightly chugged guitar leading into the chaos the last minute and a half escalates into.

With "Hatred for Mankind" the pay off came quicker and more forcefully. Here the wait throught the tension of the drone and linger of anticipation often makes journey getting to the meat of the matter , fall into back ground music rather than grab your throat and demand your attention. I don't fault them for broadening there sonic range, the parts that hit you excel at doing that ,so despite the wasted first 14 minutes at the beginning which was purged from my iPod within 24 hours of having this one , I think the album earns a 7.5 as your attention span gets its endurance tested , though it is worth checking out as a whole for when the parts that rock, choose to do so they kick your teeth in.

Death Grips: No Love Deep Web

This might seem like an odd release for me to review, but this album is a lot more confrontational and darker than a lot of metal that came out this year...let's see the Faceless comes to find. And you ,might as well lump all the djent bands into that list as well. However initial listens seem to indicate this is not as abrasive as the "money store". With the accompaniment being Lo if electronics , though Hella drummer Zach Hill is a member of the band and his drumming can be heard on the album.

Ironically the day I sat down to write this review is the same day Death Grips were dropped from Epic Records, after the band intentionally leaked their album to torrent sites when a disagreement with the liable ensued about its release date.

The first three songs flow together with the angular bleep and booms not holding as much distinction as the previous . mc Ride doesn't employ the same militant chanting style that appeared on the Arlie's album though the ...beat down maddness part of "no love" comes close to recapturing this.

"Black dice" sees more unique verbiage which I appreciate , though the first few songs followed a more straight forward hip hop patten than mormal. The mix of this album sounds drier and more organic with less effects on M.c Ride's voice.

"World of dogs" is first song on this one that hits me as heavy or dark, this also happens to be the song for first video , there is are patting chant of ..." it's all suicide " the beats are bleeping chaos with the burp of bass underneath.

"lock your doors" keeps a similar shade bordering on what might be called witch house. the layers of non sensical rap pops out of the walls like a crackhead Freddy Krueger. The hook chant here is " I got some shit to say just for the fuck of it" which might be the lyrical theme of the album.

Things take a lighter shade on the weirder "Whammy" but not by much, his flow is more precise and enunciated here as well. There a bizarre looped female voice haunting the songs edges. For some reason I get a Dizze Rascal vibe of this one.

Capable of creating chaos even with minimalist beats, "Hunger Games" is like free form jazz of free styling . Is this a real song I'm not sure as nothing really holds it together. In some ways this song could be about illegal downloading I suppose, which would make sense considering the drama that followed its completion.

"Deep Web" has interesting tracks set against very effected wall of creeping distortion. The rap is yelled around the opaque backing, in juxtaposition to the following which has sparse that sound like bubble wrap popping underneath his rap. Maybe this is bubble rap. This almost accapella style doesn't do them any favors.

The pseudo witch house darkness returns for "Pop" , though the raps come in more relaxed against the very sluggish sci fi drone of these beats , I don't think the exercise in contrasts and confrontation is really realized on this one and it is mainly a collection of interesting sounds.

"Bass rattle stars out the sky" is not as bass heavy as you might expect from the title , the war chant is back and Ride is in a more comfortable zone with his flow here. the closer "Artifical death in the west" is more subdued , but still bleak enough to hold my attention despite is mellow glitch factor, hook like chant is the only redeemable factors here.


"the Money Store" came across as much more aggressive while this Blum might be a shade darker. I don't think this more minimalist style works for M.c. Ride. I'll round this up to a 5.5 for the very reason that they have the balls to try something different, this album is largely inferior to the superior "money store" maybe the reason for the delay is the label wanted them to revisit the give this some more love before it go deep on the web.

Cradle of Filth: the Manticore and Other Horrors

Cradle of Filth have always seemed more fashion then function, like a black metal band for juggaloos. In recent years I have tried to give them a fairer shot as they have become more proficient at the instruments and Dani Filth continues to branch out from his annoying squeal. So since its Halloween day I figured I would sit down and give their newest album which I have listened to maybe three times a more careful listen.

" the Abhorrent" Hammers into things and I'm sure by far the hardest thing your are going to find on Vampirefreaks.com profiles this fall. They have narrowed liberally from Dimmu's play book when it comes to militant break down sections and the orchestral keyboard parts are just as if not more sweeping. The middle section which Filth leads in with the goth book on tape voice he does , is pretty decent as is the thrash riff that follows and I find my self not at all annoyed with this song. It has more twists and turns than I remember from the first few listens and is pretty ambitious. The lyrics do seem like a grab bag of whatever pseudo satanic verbiage that can be crammed into one song.

"For your Vulgar Declectation" is more straight forward than the first song very thrash oriented. Well executed it doesn't really have any hooks to snare me into side from the break down the two minute mark. The female vocals chime in and some of the quirky vocal layering reminds me of Therion. The riff that ends this in the final minute get props as well.

"Illictus" from the get go no new ground is broken and they waste no time defaulting to the blasty. The lack of hooks seems to be falling on Dani who spits his vocals around the guitar parts, the drums arent doing anything particularly interesting on this song either. For being so straight forward I have had to listen to this one a few times for,y ears to make a judgement call. The boring drums on this seem to be the most hampering is what stands out. Overall I think the guitar and keyboards have shown improvement. The vocal arrangement towards the end improves but this is still one of the albums weaker tracks.

"Manticore" Very Dimmu from the get go, though the more misplaced riff age favors the lush layers of gothic trappings, not sure how tragic neromantic fits in with a manticore, but other wise this song is pretty decent as the punches give it hooks,despite Filth's odd word placement. The drums work here leading me to believe heis just inconsistent. There are some nice iron maiden harmony guitars rolling over some of the post chorus sections and the arrangement on these is all over the place so when I say chorus I mean where I am guessing one would be if it existed.

"Frost on her Pillow" This song seems to click together more than the others , in some ways it might be Becuase they are scaled back in tone to give everything more room, though this is middle of the road for Cradle of Filth. The guitars get the spotlight they have deserved and it's not all about the twists and turns of the fun ride this album likes to take.

"Huge Onyx Wings Behind Despair" it leads me to believe the faster they play the more cluttered things get as this song utilizes varied tempos and the more deliberate ones work best. The blast beat to squeal feels more liked cop out when they default to it than a dynamic device. When this songs is given breath it rocks. The mix on this could stand to have more separation as once again they have a lot going on at once here,but not in a symphonic manner unless your were trying to cram a symphony orchestra into an elevator.

"Pallid reflections " gets of to a decent start, then the drums begin to weight the song down , despite some light double bass followed by thrash groove riff that saves the song
The spoken wordy female vocals on the breakdown bridge thing is a nice touch, they take a lot of elements they have been toying with and make them work here.

"Siding with the titans" almost feels like frilly short power metal at the beginning, the Hammerfall gallop runs amok into blasts for a second or three here and there before some Dimmu punk riffs barge in, the riff slows down to let the keyboards drive but for all of this the song is boring me, the goth pageantry begins to sound formulaic at this point. By the last minute and a half it gives me a headache but that could be my coffee wearing off.

"Succumb to this" the riff overs into the song and the execution is well down Filth's vocals are in the pocket but not really that interesting this could very well be a more symphonic version of what Slipknot does. I begin to accept the fct I might just not like he very runof the mill blst beat patterns this drummer plays, the female vocals in the songs later half are a well distraction. The drum production on this album could be hlf the problem while the playing it t times precise they sound very thing lacking thunder.

"Sinfonia" the final fantasy soundtrack but covered in roses, is thier any one with a penis and no magic the gathering cards in their hand who sees the need to listen to this outro piece?

This album had potential blown more often than not on over the top production that mixed the menace or heaviness right out of the album making this sound like Nightwish without the vocals that redeem this sort of thing. It's not something I find myself returning to as Dimmu has the symphonic black metal thing covered with more conviction. This one has earned its 4.5, I think if e band got over themselves they could do better, I'd your a fan round it up a point Becuase no new ground is broken here and this band is just handing you slicker versions of more of the same.

An Autumn For Crippled Children: Only the Ocean Knows

So this is what happens when the whole post- rock shoe gaze black metal thing wanders out into the black yonder. Not only is this not black metal but it's almost not metal and the harsh vocals are apologetically mixed behind the swell of guitar. Did I come on to strong because none of these things are bad as much as I loved the last album, people change and artists progress. The band is still making interesting music just move out of the way to avoid lighting if the say this is our heaviest album yet.

The opening number sounds like Explosions in the Sky if the caught rabies. The song has enough movement and double bass, the most metal element present to avoid losing you in its drone. Gone are the very Cureish guitar parts, they are going for almost an A Place to Bury strangers attack.

"Yes, I know...love and death...always" start with a wall of fuzz on the guitar, and not in a stoner rock way it seems to be more of a production choice, based on the ebb and flow from the break down which uses a tone more typical for them, this song builds in intensity for sure and gets sonically heavy but not metal despite the wretched vocals being screamed down the hallway.

"This garden these trees" is murky shoe gaze affair the firt verse portion almost doesn't seem to have form except for the drums trying to make sense of it all and the bassist who is excellent for this style of music seem to be dog paddling in a whirlpool here. This is one of those I'm going to have to give multiple listens and see if it takes.

"in february" is a slower piece of melancholy, that builds into a heavier dynamic keeping the same pace allowing the vocals to set the intensity. They are masked behind a cloak of distortion, not varying much in pitch or agony level. This loud to soft thing is nothing new but works for this song.

The title track starts in a languid My Bloody Valentine sway, the brief keyboard wash is a cue for the predictable distortion to come in with screaming in tow.the bass punching punching under neath the subtle transition is a smart touch, since it's not my first rodeo with shoe gaze there are no surprises for me, though I would like to know if they are stil programming the drums, I like the obviously programmed that come in at the third break downand the piano part floating in a nice touch, a lot of attention to detail on this song.

"the first snow this year" has a sweet heroin shimmer not unlike something Sigur Rios do , until of course the streams and distortion come to melt the snow, fitting as this song has a feel of ice dripping for me. The tremolo picked part is subtle and not black metal but more Explosions in the Sky, in fact not a lot of metal could be referenced to this album.it more like they have taken a couple of metal elements primarily the vocals and some of the drum patterns and applied them to post rock rather than being a metal band who incorporates post rock elements.

"uncureable" starts with a bass line and delayed guitar and conceals into a very Slowdive drive on the verse. It struck me on this one that this is going to be the best post rock album that indie are going to miss out on this year. These guys have adopted perfect mastery of this style rather than dabbling in it. The melody that rises out of the final minute of this one is really cool and should be played I hipster coffee shops everywhere.

This bassist is basically the shit is what I'm thinking once it gets to "the rising tide" the vocal approach by the last song seems a little tired but due to the production it comes across more like layer of static you tune out. They snarl they slur into once the song kicks back in, is the only distinct trait I seem them having on the song s opposed to the rest of the album. By design they are recorded to ignore making this an easy fact to overlook unless you key in on them and they might be deal breaker for some despite the awesome dynamic build on this song.

So I can go ahead and score this one pretty, easy and avoid trying to sell myself on the whirlpool song,if this winds up on my top ten list it won't be on the metal list, while excellent in execution and the growth away from metal is handled respectably enough there are still some elements from their previous sounds I wish had been incorporated here rather than throwing the baby out with the bath water, so for this reason it gets rounded down to an 8.5, nothing to be ashamed of and worth a listen but I hope for them to bring back there more dismal side.

Atriarch : Ritual of Passing

Atriarch is one of my favorite new bands, I mentioned them in my death rock blog earlier in the year and they are really coming out of the coffin on their new album, though in my first few listens have not found "Ritual of Passing" to be as dark as their previous work. When it comes to bringing the darkness they have already set the bar pretty high for themselves as their music seeps from the shadows like the soundtrack so a horror movie so much so, that the past month while I have been working in a haunted house I have been using the first minute of of the song "Plague" as my background music to torture a nun to.

This full length kicks things off with "Parasite". This one has all the sleazy swank straight from 80s L.a., the sneer to the vocals seem to be more influenced by Snake of Voi Vod, particularly "Dimension Hatross" era, this gets no complaints from me. Things drop back down to a doom creep for a few bars and then the blasty kicks in. I have found their black metal leaning to be marginal in what they do and it seems more of a way here to cause the song to implode and bleed into the second song "Prayer"

When the band digs into the tombs and crawls around in the dirgey regions of what they do, it's preformed well with the needed drone, and really depends on my mood how receptive I am of it. It is not my favorite part of what they do and would get bored by an entire album of it. The song "Altars" following their descent into doom brings back a more death rock sound allowed to crescendo into metal that displays the conviction in the emotional connected invested in music, rather than just ...oh we have a quota of heavy to keep or we'll lose our metal cred.

They Flip the dynamics around on the song "Altruist" and while the verse drones at a slower pace the screamed vocals dance around it capturing a perfect blend of what they band does. One of those songs I would play if asked to introduce someone to the band. The blast exit resurfaces, but the vocals over it are at first a goth howl before going into the wretched tone and then they break down into a doom stroll.

While there is a certain old school Swans element to the last track subtitled lucifer speaks with death, it is more like performance art than a song so not something I would factor in when scoring then album as like most things along these lines could have just as easily been omitted from the album.

Vocalist Lenny Smith breaks out his best Rozz Williams for a moment on "Offerings" which aside from that section stays true to their blackened doom label. Not that its a bad thing but I wouldn't say holding to conventions makes for their best song writing. I know we have had some debate as to the band Evoken's influence on modern metal and i think it can be heard here. On a song like "Cursed" the doom stays intact but the goth vocals allow their morbid narration to wander. They more spectral guitar tone used here allows for more atmosphere. The dynamic outbursts later in the song are kept on a leash making the climax have a more apocalyptic pay off.

Overall this album sees growth in the band most notably as a song writer and Smith has really improved as a singer utilizing his voice above and beyond just going from harsh to moan, his vocal inflections reflect a passion for anguish. I found myself going back to the two track which had a much more traditional blackened doom slant and tried hammering them in my head to see if I didn't give them enough of a chance or if I just wasn't sold on the use of those dynamic. "Offerings" only took another listen to win me over,Even though I'm not sure if I'm sold on the default blasty at the songs second half which gets sloppy and keep the band form scoring a perfect ten as with "Prayer" the other song I was suspect of still drug a little for my ears, but the album has some really awesome moments that could have eclipsed this songs tedium, so I'll give this one a 9.5 as the marks it hits it really hammers.