Von : " Dark Gods-Seven Billion Slaves

Their " Satanic Blood" is an iconic and ground breaking album that influenced the genre, I think their new album ,might be better. From the first seconds of its opening I can tell the production is a vast improvement, this might sound like a catch 22 as the so called ...necro sound creates a certain ambiance with its rustic charm. I think that feel isn't forsaken with this album but a murky balance is reached.

This album is also darker and more sinister than Satanic Blood. Venien has perfected his craft the results were more than I had hoped for. This is the first of what if memory serves me correctly and thanks to the drugs I did in high school alone I might not be, will be a trilogy. There is going to be deluxe packaging with all the art Venien himself has done for the album and lyrics sheets to lay out the story.

There is almost more of a death metal feel here at times, though the blasting that occurs will be Cvlt enough for even listeners of the rawest black metal. The opener "They Have Come" is a eerie entrance it feels more like the intro of " Anicent Flesh of the Dark Goda". This is one of the albums most effective songs in how it sit faster tremolo picked guitar against a slower almost doom like tempo. From the get go "Hands of Black Death" has a more melodic sensibility , though it strikes me as being closer to death metal once it takes off.

The full on blasty of the mcnasty does flare up until the song "Dark Goda" it has that Sabbath tritons feel to it despite been on warp speed ahead, but like the first song there are the two different tempos layered atop one another.Even with the steps taken to push this project forward creatively from where they were back in 92 with Satanic Blood, I don't think this is going to be for every one, fans of black metal includes. I do think their is a black metal audience who wants less theatrics and more of the rawness , not just in production but intent like these guys are dishing out here. I sens there is something genuine going on here as the chords are left to hang on "Monster" have an airy evil to them. The sonic crescendo following is chaotic bliss and there is ain't of groove in the closing seconds.

Devil Whores must only jack hammer fuck from the get go as that's how the song starts out. The drumming is an improvement over the similar execution on Satanic Blood. "Iaminhuman" carries a similar place with the vocal at sub bass frequencies, they are more like vibrational frequencies , maybe this is the point and to be taken like the chant of Om. At the midway point the pace relents for a second . On the closer the vocals take on more of a chant. I really like the transition at the. Knute and a half mark on this one. The slower chug is immensely heavier than almost anything else on this album.

This album is dark and feel filthy, which to me is a good thing. the creepiness works for me and once again colors me a fan. Where Satanic Blood creates a drone that bled the songs into one another there is more definition leaving most songs to stand on their own. I will give this one an 8.5 , though it might grow on me and reach a nine, some of the more blasting moments mainly Devil Whore to Iaminhuman kind of run together in a blur and I think they have displayed this speed works best when set against other landscapes. This is not Behemoth mall metal here it's the real deal ns ugly for your ears to behold but a compelling listen .

Vreid: " Welcome Farewell"

Maybe I haven't listened to the "V" album in a minute but I'm surprised at how much heavier this album is. Fans of their old band Windir will want to raise their mead horns high as it feels like they are dipping back into those days. Where "V" gave a wink to their thrash influences, here they acknowledge them by galloping right over them so the bits of Slayer and Bathory only seen under hoof. At the same time I'm really sure I would consider this a black metal album, the blasts are subtle like in " The Reap" where it's played as an accent on the ride cymbal.

On first listen it trashes past me with a speed that requires a second to fully digest. The opening number fades into its forward charge that kicks after the first minute. The thrash vibe is up front, the vocals really the only thing blackened and their rasp is almost more of an Immortal croak on this one. The clean vocals are layered under the harsher main vocals and tend to take more of a back seat than they did on the previous release. By my second pass through this album this song clicked for me and I attribute that to the difference from what I expected after "V" . I went into this fearing something more along the lines of the last Enslaved.

"The Way of the Serpent" is full speed ahead, the drumming really shines here but a more furious performance through out. after the initial barrage one of the albums trends emerge which the fact there are a lot of just fun riffs, they merge midway through this song but establishes the statusnquo for the rest of the album. The guitar excesses of this album are all in good taste give. The context within which they are executed. This is by no means hipster metal but it still smartly written with no illusions to being post anything even in its more adventurous sections later on.www

Things get more retro on " The Devils hand" going back further into the early eighties where the punk rock influence in thrash is seem on the opening riff, though galloped riff is metal at its most definable.This is even less black metal than the last Goat Whore album, the blasts pop up here and there but are outnumbered by thrash groove which are often very bass driven. The break downs into half time don't really have the mosh feel. Ur are still effective in making things more epic.

The title track has the virtuosic thrash style guitar almost like something from Testament's "New Order" album. The gallop on this one is very powerful with the bass factoring heavily in the fray. The wretched vocals are almost more Kreator or even Sodom in delivery on this album as a whole, not as sonic a scream as black metal tends to be an more articulate. The clean guitar at the final moments of this song provide a nice jumping off point for th layered almost solo like quality the scone guitar part takes on.

Going into this I knew a video had been released which makes this the equivalent of a single if this sort of thing was going to get air play. The vocal delivery reminds me of Sentenced though in some instances the lower clean vocals make me think of a cross between Morbid Angel and Rotting Christ.So more accessible but far from being a grab for the dollars. This song is however very concise and gets in and out in under four minutes.

The more dynamic sonic explorations on the intro and second half of " Sights of Old" aren't likely to turn too many staunch metallars away as they are peppered with soloing and not loaded down with keyboards and clean vocals, both of which I'm a fan of but some metal minds are not as open. It creates a foreboding at the front end and more of a looser jam feel when it reappears. The meat in between is one of the grimmer moments though it alternates into a thrasher section. It shows it's personality more when it slows down into a stomp.

"Black Waves" is classic thrash mixtes with a little frost on the guitar the way the chords ring out. The vocals that remind me of Sentenced resurface, not really what I would call clean singing, the rapier vocal arrange,ent is syncopated around the riff Ina way that creates a hook while the bass melodically fluxuatea underneath. I think this is one of the best songs on the album as the twists and turns it takes while frequent are compressed into a solid
Punch.

The album closes with the bass heavy " At the brook" the guitar tones on this are an example of how while some of the Windir feel was recreated here this is a slicker effort, though not a fan of the cover art which looks fan drawn and not as cool as just the bands logo. The solo at the beginning could have almost been lifted from a Flotsam and Jetsam album. The bass crushes when it rumbles I at the one minute mark and I like the fact it really maintains a presence through out the album

Metal purists will fully embrace this album, as it it's the same sweet spot that sits along side the classics well in a similar fashion to Skeleton Witch. This album doesn't hold any faults, they some times regress back into the Windir speeds as an easier way out, but while it works and I'm impressed by the fact this is heavier than its predecessors I was hoping this would be coupled the more expansive sound they had on that album, so thir excellence is in execution and it's a lot of fun to listen ill give this album a 9 , I think it will recapture any of the old Windir fans they lost when they added more melodic vocals on the last album.

Grammys Your Anti-Metal

I originally wrote this blog for Hiplanta, a blog you can check out as I a, one of the staff writers and cover more than the darker fare I devote my attention to here, for Abysmal Hymns I can elaborate on a few things mainly the Lamentations of metal head who cry that metal doesn't get a fare shake at the Grammys for this I say ... Who cares

Being embraced by mainstream media is false. If you are concerned with how the public precieves metal...you are false , you are a poseur. Metal is about telegraphing your middle finger to the rest of the world because it's us against them. Does that mean we can't listen to other forms of music...of course not look at what I cover here, but it means you like metal no matter if it's in fashion or not and could care less about getting the approval of any one even your family. My family knows I love metal, it's just a fact like I have black hair and I'm six feet tall, just like my tattoos it's not going anywhere. So with that in mind proceed.

The Grammys' first rock category was in 1979 and Paul McCartney won, so it's a celebration of all the music I skip past on the radio. So it happened to be playing at a friend of mines house last night and I gave it a eye with the attitude of I'm watching all the people whose faces I see on the cover of the magazines while I'm in line at the grocery store. I had seen a memo went out to attendees that this years' dress code was no nip slips , side boobs or plumbers crack, though this left many with the hopes for a camel toe, which was sadly absent. So with that in mind the big winner of the evening for "Best pop duo " went to Katy Perry, if Kat Dennings hadn't been wrapped up like a Christmas present things might have been different.

The new trend on the red carpet was the Ms. Piggy , popularized by Adelle, Kelly Clarkston and half the blond female Country singers, So I was disappointed none of the acceptance speech did not start with a surprised, " Who muuuuaahhhh?" Though the purse did fall from from the mouth of Fun's singer and former Format vocalist upon the omens of their big win. The gay Freemasonry was in full effect, with most of the gangster rappers who took the stage looking to be the most criminally on the down, though I'm sure thre were aplenty of secret hand shakes administered to one another back stage. Before you get your drag pantis bunched up, I'm not a homophobe, I would be gay myself but every time I submit my application it gets rejected for having a long history of fisticuffs, dressing like a high school stoner at gym class and having sex with with women, but I feel every one should be true to themselves even if it means not selling albums to teenage girls in Iowa Becuase they are out.

Oh there was "music" being preformed, Justin Timberlake was the highlight which should tell you something asI prefer his work with Lonely Island to his own homo-erotic solo pop. Everything else was boring at best, Rhianna has a great weave but a little sparse in the diary section for me to be entertained . The only artists I give any credit who won or preformed are Gotye and Frank Ocean, the latter I hope gets more attention as he's the only person doing anything creative with R&B these days...see you thought I only knew about metal. Speaking of which Halestrom won best metal and they are basically a Flyleaf tribute band. Do I give a shit that they won, no Becuase the whole thing I a corporate joke that I wouldn't want bands I like to be affiliated with in the first place, though the ones who have seen fit to play this game to record label pressure I understand they have to pay the rent somehow.

I looked up a list of past rock winners and the only past winner I have like are Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Judas Preist,Ozzy/Sabbath and Slayer. I didn't see Iron Maiden's name on their though it looks like Zappa did winsomething for Studio Tan. So a note for next year throw away the dress code and replace e podium with a stripper pole. Also Neil Patrick Harris was the best singer in the building give him a song ...see told you next years application to the gay committee will be strong , now go down load that Frank Ocean, if you are into pop music and I won't begrudge you for it, in fact I plan on doing it , the fact he's a gay man who came out and was like its a lie to keep singing about women is cool to me Becuase , I think everyone must fearlessly follow their own path.

Batillus "Concrete Sustain"

This four piece from Mew York features live members of A Storm of Light and Jarboe's band, so that shuuld clue you in on what's to come some experimental industrial strength metal side a side of sludge. While the electronic elements lay beneath the stacatto sludge it has the militant feel of industrial more than the sonics of it. The production contributes to this feel, though there is a lot of space left between instruments which reminded me of Helmet, though they are much darker.

The first track "Concrete" leads of with tight off time drumming and lets the low tuned guitar get poured in for the corners to fuzz out the edges as the barked vocals take up the spaces the center. It manages to feel very organic while clunking a like a cyborg with a tank for legs. The " sustain and dominate" chant reminds me of Author & Punisher. It takes a few listens for this to all fall in place for me mainly the nuances of the production is where the attention to detail was placed, I am immediatly interested in seeing how this plays out live which I'm guessing is heavier.

The bass becomes more present in the second track "Cast". I couldn't hear where it was falling on the first one but it becomes a focal point here. The snare takes on a more metallic clang and the vocals have a more black metal rasp to them, though not far removed from Today is the Day either. One unique thing bout this band is for what they do you would expect the guitar to all the work but it's not the case as it just adds and erosive rust to the edges of the machine, so they found like aunt rather than he came up with these riffs so we are working off that. If you told me the drummer wrote all the songs I wouldn't be surprised.

"Beset" creep to life with a rattle of fuzz. The tempo is more of a doomy lethargy. Where the other songs felt like the were coiled tight this one has a looser feel. the lower growled vocal contributes to the doom comparisons. The glitches of back ground vocals brings the evil in. The vocal production on this is excellent. Around the five minute mark something like a solo rings into the picture, not shredding just a single note thing that's more atmospheric than anything. I know every one wants to throw a blackens label on everything but I don't hear it here except on the vocals at times.

"Mirrors" has some weird electronics fluttering over the slow introductory guitar which goes into a riff more typical for what I would consider "New York metal" but this transitioning into something darker when the bass picks up the slack. Maybe some old Neurosis influence comes into play, but nothing worn to blatantly on their sleeves like say early Isis. One of the more straight forward moments on the album, but highly effective and heavy as an elephant fuck.

On "Rust" the bass gets things going again, the guitar comes in with a cleaner tone and goes into an almost Fugazi like pattern. This alternates with the dark drift where they hang on the chords, then congeal into more of a riff with it, truth be told what they go into is hard to categorize and very original in the execution. The riff in the last two minutes does remind me of Bloodlet, but once again their influences remain obscured .

The closer " Thorns" has clean vocals which are a low Swans like tone doubled with growls, almost like the end of " God of Emptiness" you know the "Bow to me faithfully..." I can see where Neurosis comparisons could crop up here and the vocal does more for me than the surypy guitar parts which don't really congeal. Four and a half minutes of floating out the murk has a stagnant feel. At the five and a half minute mark I hear the first guitar melody that clicks for me. Maybe if I was on drugs the pacing here would work for me, I think any opiate or depressant would work, these guys are not a meth or coke band for sure, so tweakers beware. So aside for lazy paced sludge of this song everything else clicks perfectly into place for me , it fits and odd place on my taste buds similar to the on Tombs used to occupy. With the tempo metal I normally go for the more morose funeral doom, but the electronic under tones and originality should give this solid footing in the ever evolving landscape of my iPod so this gets a 9. So that colors me impressed, not what I thought I was getting into as I expected something more Godflesh, from what I had read of these guys before pressing play. Instead it's much more organic but still has a rustic grime to it.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Push the Sky Away

This is Nick Cave's 15th album with his post Birthday Party band. So there has been some time on this journey for the Goth sound of yesteryear to be transformed into something closer to a homage to Leonard Cohen, one of Cave's idol's. The idolatry is evident from the first song and the lead off single that was released back in December "We No Who U R". On this song and throughout the album Warren Ellis' loops give a slightly U2 feel to things. Cave said if this album is his Ghost baby these loops are the heart beat that keeps it going in the incubator. While mature and sedate , the song is well put together, Cave knows where he voice needs to go, there less crooning and more spoken word feel, though his vocal chords loosen a bit on "Wide Lovely Eyes". There is a smoothness to the songwriting which Cave has always excelled at but there is an extra slick sheen to it. I also here a little Neil Diamond here, which I have been accusing Brendan Perry of for years, but here it more in the phrasing, and it's not as bad as it sounds , in fact it leaves the song pretty flawless.

"Water's Edge" gives things a darker tone that it needed. Cave's voice dips down into his gravelly lower register here and sounds great down there. He said he wrote most of the lyrics after reading the most bizarre stories he could find on Wikipedia, here the story telling is as evident as it was back on "Murder Ballads". "Jubilee Street" relaxes after the tension of the song before it. There is some excellent guitar work on this song , which is fairly straight forward Americana. His lyrics are clever and well timed, they set up the string swell which ushers in the pace picking up, with the sort of cinematic dynamics Cave's dabbling in Hollywood might have aided the theater of his mind.

"Mermaids" which carries the line " fire up her snatch" is balance the elusive sexuality with a crudeness, though the tides ebb and flow wins out here. While a master song crafter, the lyrics continue to surprise me through out the album. There Bono like phrasing , makes me suspect he's been listening to more U2 than he should, the first time I heard I though it was just my ears, but it's more than coincidence. The fat bass line that winds up "We Real Cool" brings in a sense of danger, to the questions Cave's lyrics , which have a sense of confrontation like his is interrogating a lover. The bookish melody in the phrase which roughly serves as the chorus graces the song with a more multidimensional emotional context.

"Finishing Jubilee Street" is a narrative of a dream he had after writing the song. There is a certain dream like quality to if perhaps the dream was penned by William S Burroughs. The female vocals do soften the feel whe the come in midway. I do think it shines a light in the darkness that I would rather have left off so I can sulk in its gloom but hey that's me. The return of bassist Barry Adamson is really felt on this one.

"Higgs Boson Blues" has a smoky feel it , it has the feel of a languid afternoon drinking in New Orleans, which says something as Cave's songwriting invokes imagery of seedy bars and narcotic sluggishness. The build is very gradual I noticed it at about three minutes in. the drums start to solidify this after another minute. It's these layers that are eased in keep even my mind spoiled from too much progressive rock as there aren't any changes in riffing per se, until the release in the last two minutes of the rather ambitious album. If I didn't know that Bowie was releasing an album I would say this is the best songwriting you're going to hear all year, but Cave has raised the bar for him.

The title track closes the album. His voice against the keyboard swell is very cocoon like, the melody is very subtle and the female background vocals refrain from bringing that sunshine I complained about earlier, which is the only negative thing I have thought about this album and it's so brief it will more than likely grow on me so I'll go ahead and give this album a 10. At first I thought so thesis what adult contemporary is going to sound like the the next wave of aging goths who go over the hill, but Cave has aged gracefully on this, play on rainy morning with hangovers and on dark nights of the soul when farming said hang over while smoking a pack of cloves.

Weekly shuffle

Ok ...you know the drill, I give a click to shuffle Mose and review whatever tracks pop up.

"The Web" by Neurosis, Back when these guys were awesome and there songs crushed you rather than put you to sleep. "Souls at Zero" is my favorite album by them and if I was or when I do make a post about my favorite metal albums of all time this will be on it. I like the reverse delay on the vocals and here is a good example of how do drone with out being a pussy about it. Even though this came out in the nineties the production is great the bass tone is incredible. This is why it's hard for me to take their new stuff seriously.

"Bloodied Yet Unbowed" by Primordial, I'm glad we are getting a lot of metal on here as it seems like I haven't been able to review much of it lately as nothing has grabbed me. I think these guys have popped up on here before, I use to have their whole discography on my iPod and now just "Redemption at the Puritan's Hand". The vocals are a perfect blend of grit and melody here, he is a better singer than growler, his voice like Ics Vortex instantly makes things epic. The double bass build into the blast beat work and is good example of it being put to creative use rather than being a cop out.

"This Place is a Prison" by Postal Service, This song has great lyrics it describes how I feel on most days and it darker than most metal lyrics these days so headbangers set up your game. The vocal melody is subdued which is par for the course the , I like when the stronger beat and the lyric "what does it take to get a drink in this place " sits over it. It's like Death Cab Cab for Cuties album for goths.

"Cursed" by Atriarch, This was my metal album of the year last year, so you already know how I feel about this one , go check out my review for more info if you are unfamiliar them. It's a dark slab of doom, with all the ugliness of black metal you can want. The vocals here are more like old Swans, and the guitar creep in behind it like funeral doom, so everything I could want in one song, so any question as to why I would have set it on such a pedestal.

"Night Witches" by True Widow, These guys fall some where in the same realm as Jesus and the Mary Chain or a Place to Bury Strangers, this album is underrated. The bass player I think is a metal head at heart as he drives this thing harder than you think it would be in the opening strains. This is indie rock done right with some balls to the too hip for their own good attitude.

"Take it Easy" by Bright Eyes, Back in the early 2000s when Conner Oberest was poised to be the next Bob Dylan by hipsters at the time he put out two albums one was country ish the other kinda of dark wave electronica called Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, which was the better of the two any way this one who is Cure influence he could no longer hide, I saw him get blown off the stage by the Faint once so it soured the taste in my mouth I had for him, I think the Fevers and Mirrors album is incredible and he was a great songwriter who fell by the wayside.

"Inarborat" by Negura Bunget, A couple of years ago I was blown away by these guys but the last e.p they put out seemed like they were jumping on Enslaved's band wagon, who is jumping on Opeth's bandwagon.Never the less their older material is incredible . This song has legit pagan/ folk elements to it which darken things up like Dead can Dance rather than dance around the maypole. The use of clean vocals here works really well and this song works for every angle.

" A Mutiny" by Red Sparowes, While I can appreciate the whole post-rock instrumental thing the majority bores me after a while. This band is an exception to that rule as they make their guitars sing in a way that doesn't leave me looking forward to vocals that never come. Their guitar tones are close to perfect, maybe they even are perfect and I just don't want to say it. This song drifts around like something from Pink Floyd's Animals album. They go from more melody and dynamics than being content to drone which wins in my book, the build on this one has a very cinnamic feel.

"Die with Me" by Type O Negative, They got wrongly lumped in with mall metal bands after awhile, but this album is a ten with no question, their pinnacle they never touched this one afterwards. Sure it starts very lazily like Queensrcyhe wanting to be pink Floyd, but by the time their signature fuzz comes in ns the chorus hovers at the rain splatter window we are all...stoned ...I mean enthralled .

"Up Through the Ashes" by Kamelot, "Ghost Opera" would be on that top one hundred metal albums I mentioned earlier. It's too bad they are following NightWish into the where are they now files. The mid paced chug of this once balances it out for. Getting too melodramatic like bands of their ilk are prone to do, the thing I have have like about them is as pretentious as this sort of thing tends to be they darken it up, of the post nineties era bands like this these guys are pretty much the only one of their kind that I listen to , they were amazing live and heavier than you would suspect them to be, but Alas no Roy Khan and I think that intensity is diminished despite the new singer being better than I anticipated.

My Bloody Valentine : MBV

It's been a couple decades since the ground breaking "Loveless" album. Kevin Sheilds and company have returned and they were far from forgotten as shoe gaze has seen new life in the past five years... if it ever faded. It was one of those things where I had forgotten there was even talk of this coming out so it is a pleasent surprise rather than insurmountable walls of expectations. From the very first song " She Found Now " we get the dense drone and dreamlike murkiness you would want. they have returned to keep their legacy intact almost to the point that playing it so safe at first listen might sound like a sell out in and of its self as they are known for beiong innovaters. Thus brining up the point that this music is just what comes out of them naturally when they pick up their instruments rather than so called shoe gazers of today who gon into recreating thios sort of thing with preconcieved notions.

The album gets better with each track as only tomorrow has a defined melodic line to it no matter how spaciously it drifts away. the guitar plays a single note thing here that is fuzzed out and lazy but by some definitions be considered a solo. The layers of guitar also works really well. The production on this album seems on the bright side for these guys though key elements of their sound remain intact.

"Who see you" might as well be straight off " Loveless". The guitar has the sluggish drag to it , like it was recorded backwards underwater while tripping. But to say it sounds like it's off the 1991 album isnt to say that it sounds dated. The first new sounds from the band are on the song "Is this and Yes" which has keyboard swell and feels like the intro of Cocteau Twins song, though unlike Elizabeth Fraisers band it never develops into anything but sits like an interlude. I had to listen to it a few times as it serves best as an intro to the next song and I wanted to make sure in in fact does the same thing for all five minutes.

"If I am " has a more percussive sense of music to the swirl. I think it's in this sonics sphere what they do works it best. There are some really interesting guitar sounds, nothing out of left field from what's been heard before from them. The song defy the verse/chorus song structure and drone on one thing and add layers to that. "New you" does go in a different direction , more sixties psychedelic in feel, with the bass line thumping the song ahead. This is the first song I could hear on alternative radio from this one and feels the most accessible. The vocals can be understood, the beat can almost be danced toand has the most structured changes as well. You can see where Blonde Redhead was influenced by these guys here.

"In Another way" Has almost a heavy feel to it at first before the vocals come in, then it's drive turns an inverse slither, with sharp guitar lines coming out like bagpipes. This is one of the more abrasive portions of the album, but it's not boring noise,there is some melody laying back into the angular fuzz. This one must sound great through head phones as there is all kinds of crazying panning going on and every instrument bounces off the others. "Nothing Is" where the previous song almost had a heavy feel to it , this one actually does. While the guitars are fuzzed and club you like "Manic Depression" by Jimi Hendrix if Boyd Rice decided to set it on a loop. Is it respective , yes but that's the point and it doesn't bore,e like the five mins of keyboard swells earlier in the album did. Fans of the band get what they want from them hear so mission accomplished, the one song on here that I just mentioned that bored me is the only real mistep aside from some of this coming across like recycled Loveless, so they are damned if they do damned if they don't veer for that sound , so I will give this one an 8.5 though it might grow on me and make it to a nine before its all said and done.