A Quick Thunderstorm...

The Lord Of Entropy has a review to tide you over until the next full slab of destruction on Friday. Heres a new album I downloaded this week.



(V.E.G.A)- Cocaine


Located in Italy and Norway, (V.E.G.A) has released its only album "Cocaine" in 2002 and is composing new material for a 2008 album although no details exist yet. "Cocaine" was intended as a one off project, but evolved into a band after the sucess of their debut album.


Cocaine at its heart is a one shot album where the band gives its comment on Black Metal. Cocaine is a powerful, neck breakingly fast, trip through the dark places of yourself you don't want to see, and as the name suggests, addiction. The album starts ominously, a blood curdling screech of electronics that send a shiver down your spine. Most tracks are a swirling maelstrom of power and sound that drags you in against your will, much like being addicted to the drug the album is named for. Many tracks also contain a buildup from a slow beginning with doom metal influences to the chatic parts that threaten to careen off into oblivion. Songs like "Insex Infect" and "Kill Me" demonstrate this formula perfectly. This album is far from a one trick pony however as keyboards in the background enhance the mood of the album and tend to play along with the guitars note for note. Spoken word parts in "Beton #1" and "Burning In My Own Dream Of Life", the gloomy drone of "Vacuum Era Gellid Atmosphere" and "Beton #2" or the chanting of small children in "Lilja.." offer a break from the madness to catch your breath, only to hurl you into the darkening maelstrom once again. "Consumed Seclusion" moves from prog rock beginnings into a swirling kaleidescope of sound into the furious darkness and madness that consists of the Black Metal elements of the album. Cocaine ends on a strange note, after around 3 minutes of silence after the final track the ghost track "Cocaine" begins. The ghost track seems to be a giant middle finger at black metal as a whole starting with a few minutes of...Euro Techno beats. This shows a sense of humor if I have ever seen one. In summary "Cocaine" grabs and, holding you against your will, mercilessly subjects you to the pain, anguish and darkness of the human subconscious in thrall to addiction or obsession. Overall a great record from the Italian group.

I Had to include this quote from Metal Maniacs, it describes this album perfectly:

“A jackhammer mind-rape from black metal's parallel universe, as
belligerent as it is bizarre, as asylum-riot violent as it is mentally
intriguing”

Remember, Mayhem comes on friday, BE PREPARED!


The Lord Of Entropy

Storms From The Northern Wastelands #1

Infernal Hails fellow Creatures of the Satan, The Lord of Entropy welcomes you to “Storms From The Northern Wastelands” your newest source for the very best “kvlt” and “nekro” as fuck Black Metal Satan has ever spawned. Everything from the truest Black Metal demos to those who use Black metal as an inspiration will be profiled here. Hear the history of the genre of music closest to Satan himself. Let the Lord Of Entropy himself be your guide to the most infernal genre of music, the purest example of the inherent darkness of man.

Keeping it kvlt with my first review, a demo from a fantastic Norwegian band called Dies Irae. No one knows who was a part of the band as they only released one completely unknown demo in 1994 then the band split, but what a demo it was. Their demo entitled “Circle of Leth” is probably the best synthesis of low-fi black metal and classical music. Yes classical music, not cheesy symphonic bursts like Dimmu Borgir but beautiful sections of true classical music. The intro track is entirely instrumental with no guitars and is recorded on a synthesizer, or just so low quality we can’t tell, but the atmosphere is thick. A very brooding and almost creepy atmosphere, one of the tracks that, at night lying in your bed, you see shadows in you see shadows in your room conform into distorted evil shapes out of some evil dream. Yet at this same time there is a sense of beauty, these vast soundscapes of classical music not heard in the most fantastic of dreams. The rest of the tracks flawlessly combine the low-fi black metal aesthetics of Burzum with vocals similar to Attila Csihar, but the production focuses on the classical elements. The flutes and synths are at the forefront of the production and dominate the sound. Almost as if the stirring melodies of the classical section is underplayed by the filthy sludge of black metal. The black metal sections, while not at the forefront of the production are still noticeably capable, very impressive for how little the band did together. The production is black metal raw, down on the far end of the spectrum as in Burzum raw. It takes away from some of the technical showings of the band but it brings the focus to the atmosphere, one thing bands take years to find but Dies Irae have perfected in one demo.

As a little treat I am including a download link to this demo, its no longer in print so I don’t feel too bad giving it out for free, but music of this caliber needs to be heard. Theres also a Myspace page dedicated to the band with samples of 4 of the 5 tracks on it so have a listen.

Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/diesiraenorway

Download Link:
http://www.divshare.com/download/4545118-cee


Let’s shift to the more experimental regions of black metal, namely the band Blacklodge from France. From the cover you can see they play a very cold, mechanical industrial black metal, not with just a sample here or there but the music is more or less an industrial background with the black metal riffs and vocals over top of it, even with some techno beats thrown in for good measure. They’ve released two albums “Login:SataN” and “Solarkult”. Solarkult is a fantastic release but I will tell you it is not for every black metal fan. Electronics abound and there really is no organic drumming on the album, a drum machine is used on the entire album. It gives the album a wholly mechanized and icy cold feel, even more so then Aborym. The production is unusual in the sense that it is quite clean. The guitars still have that distinct ripping, heavy sound but the production is clean enough to allow the backing electronics to be very distinct, you never miss out on any of the sounds of the album. The electronics have an extremely caustic feel to them, they are not bouncy techno backing but sound like you are standing in an industrial factory and somehow a discernible beat materializes from the chaos around you. Throw in a guitarist and vocalist on top of that and you have Blacklodge.

They have a myspace with 2 samples from their two albums, all great examples of their industrial black metal style.

Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/loginsatan

Next week I’ll have a history and tribute to Mayhem, the band that defined “kvlt” and “nekro” aesthetics for a whole generation of Black Metal groups.

Infernal Tidings,

Lord Of Entropy

New regular feature

As I'm sure anyone who has read the blog knows, I had a regular column with the best reviews from Deutschemusik.net on here in the blog's early days, and while I'm still uncertain whether I will bring that back, contributor Lord of Entropy has decided to begin writing a weekly black/death metal review column, with a name and day of the week still to be determined. Seeing as I have only recently gotten into these subgenres of metal, I'm eagerly anticipating these reviews!

Turmion kätilöt - Minä määrään

Turmion kätilöt - Minä määrään
I expect this is a name that is familiar to most readers of this blog, but for those who aren't familiar with Turmion kätilöt (hereafter referred to as Tk for simplicity's sake) here's some basic information (for those familiar with the band, I'll provide a line break where the intro ends)
Tk are from Finland (their name translates to something like Midwives of Perdition, which gives you an idea of their basic concept) and they are one of those bands which I love, that sing (almost) exclusively in their own language. To date Tk have released two full length albums (2004's Hoitovirhe and 2006's Pirun nyrkki) and one EP (2005's Niuva 20) all of which were, in my opinion, excellent. The thing about Tk is that their albums are pretty drawn between really, really good songs and fairly mediocre ones. Case in point is Hoitovirhe, which has about 6 (7 if you count the minute long instrumental intro to Kärsi) incredible tracks and 5 mediocre ones.
The band plays a style of heavy metal that is extremely influenced by dance music, which of course is a fairly well known genre in North American heavy metal as well. The thing about Tk is that their music has elements of much heavier subgenres of heavy metal than generally surface in industrial metal. I read the term "blackened death metal" somewhere last year, and the first part of it stuck with me for just this band. There are elements of death and black metal in the band's sound, especially after their first album, both in the instruments (note especially the verses of the title track to Pirun nyrkki) and lead vocalist MC Raaka Pee has a very growled vocal style reminiscent of these extreme metal genres.
The "band" as such currently only really exists in the touring format, with Raaka Pee providing vocals, mixing and keyboards and DJ Vastapallo providing the rest of the instrumentation. Lyrically the band could be compared to earlier Rammstein lyrics, as much of them deal with violence and sex, which of course is the other element of the band, namely the live element. When performing live, the band members put on a show that is really in the vein of old school shock rock, with the band in S&M outfits or full body latex suits, or..you get the image...
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So why all this info? Because to appreciate the new single (which is all this is; two songs) one needs to know what the band is about.
I have to be honest, my first impression of the two new songs was not overly favourable. They were decent, but I figured they fit into the category of "4 or 5 songs that aren't that great." The thing is, my initial impression of Tk was overwhelmingly negative, to the point that I actually deleted the MP3s off my computer twice before I finally got into them on a trip to Toronto last year. The thing with this band is, once I got past my initial neutrality, they have become one of my all time favourite bands, so I kept playing the tracks.
It's pretty obvious from the first moments of Minä määrään that the band are continuing on the much heavier, extreme metal influenced style they started to adopt on Niuva 20, which I applaud. The problem with me lies more in the vocals, in that I'm about 90% certain Spellgoth (the second, live vocalist) has actually been singing in the studio. While I have nothing against the guy, frankly I findhis voice a little irritating at times, something in the slightly higher register of his growled vocals just don't work as well with the music. And if that is Raaka Pee, then he's using a different vocal style which I don't like so much. Thing is, I got used to it after a while, and I'm becoming increasingly okay with it. Especially since the vocals which I'm speaking of seem much less prevalent now than they did at first listen. Overall I'd say this is one the good tracks, like Pirun nyrkk's Eläköön!, but not one of the great tracks, like that same album's title track, or Hoitovirhe's Rautaketju.
I was really excited by the second track, because I leaned about a week ago that it was actually a cover of an old Finnish pop song. The reason why I was so excited is that, listening to his late '80s styled song, I could just imagine the guitars and electronics of the Tk version...and yet two things struck me when I first started listening to Shuttle to Venus. First, it's not the original Finnish song, since this one is in English. My guess is Tk are covering some English language release, which was a bad move because Raaka Pee has a very heavy accent, making it hard to tell at times whether the lyrics are actually in English. Second, somehow my expectations were leading me to expect something a little different. It's grown on me as well, but the heaviness of the accent on this track irritates me, it makes me wish the band had decided to bring in another vocalist, like on their only other non-Finnish language track, the cover of Deep Purple's Stormbringer from the Niuva 20 EP. Again, it's a decent track, but not one of the excellent ones.
I suppose the final question really has to be, does this single make me more or less excited about the new full length, USCH!, being released next month. And I suppose that's a divided question. On the one hand, I'm not blown away by the new songs. I think they're good, but they aren't the ones that make me think "Fuck these guys are good!" when I'm listening. On the other hand, Tk are my favourite industrial metal band, and they are (right now, anyways) also my premier head banging band, so the prospect of a new album still makes me drool and get all excited. I would say that in one very important way the single did increase my excitement level, in that I do think the band have better stuff still waiting, unheard, from the new album (for the most part, the singles aren't my favourite songs from Tk albums) and even if these are as good as it gets, they're still above the average. Much as I hate to be one of those reviewers, if it weren't for their earlier work I would have been fairly blown away by the new songs.
7.5/10

Hey all, been a long week for me, because a friend's in town next week I'm not working, so I'm doing something like 12 days in a row..only 3 more! So to explain the dearth of new reviews this week. On the plus side, I'm pleased to welcome another new contributor, Valtteri, whom many I'm sure will be familiar with from Greg's site Germaniac. Valtteri is an excellent writer, and I'm sure his take on music will be another great voice on the site!
I work most of tomorrow, and then I'm off for the night, but I hope to get a new review up sometime Sunday or Monday, so stay tuned.

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

I had originally planned to write a review of a Finnish album, Melkein vieraissa, as my first entry for the blog, but as a long-time fan of Nine Inch Nails, I thought this was a fitting place to start. (Hopefully I will get the other one written soon, though...)

Anyone who has not been living in a musical vacuum will have heard that on May 5, a scant two months after the surprise release of Ghosts I-IV, Nine Inch Nails have published yet another stealth album, this time as a completely free digital release (with the promise of a normal physical CD release available sometime in July) with multiple high quality audio formats available for download.

Stylistically, The Slip (or halo 27, for those who are keeping track) primarily fits somewhere between With Teeth and Year Zero, ranging from noisy electronic industrial anthems with frenetic beats through a delicate ballad into intricate ambient instrumentals. However, I find it feels overall more introspective and perhaps subtler than either of the aforementioned albums in spite of some serious aggression at the start, probably in part because the play order puts the faster, noisier songs early in the track list. The tempo slows in the middle and then more significantly in the second half of the album, and this slower pace in the latter half, especially "Corona Radiata" and "The Four Of Us Are Dying", seems to determine the general tone of the album for me.

Musically, the contrast between the distortion and melody, between the noisy, energetic industrial songs and the multi-layered instrumental soundscapes works very well for me, and the album has gotten better the more I have listened to it. While "Head Down" and "The Four Of Us Are Dying" were instantly addictive for me, the slow, organic build-up in the haunting "Corona Radiata" seemed out of place at first, yet the deliberate pacing and layering of the tones and the sometimes bizarre distorted samples intrigued me and drew me in. The vocals mesh well with the music, as do the lyrics, which deal with common themes for NIN such as isolation and disaffection, with a bit of social criticism thrown in. I also like the individual graphics for each track, quite stylish and eye-catching.

As I mentioned earlier, this album is something of a blend of the styles of With Teeth and Year Zero, leading some people to discount it as a collection of unused B-sides from those two albums. At 10 tracks, with a playtime of just under 44 minutes, the album is a little on the short side, but don't let that, the short lead time or the lack of a price tag fool you -- this is no throwaway. The Slip may not break any new musical ground, but fans of Reznor's recent offerings will not be disappointed, and if you haven't yet invested in Nine Inch Nails' recent albums, this is a good introduction. But honestly, anyone interested enough even to read this review should go download the album and give it a careful listen or three. It is definitely worth the time.

9/10

Audioslave - Revelations

Audioslave - Revelations

Audisolave are a somewhat controversial band, in that there are very divided opinions about them. Some feel that they were a worthy successor to the member's previous, incredibly succesful groups, while others feel that the band fell vastly short of the heights of Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden. Whatever one might feel about them, it is nearly impossible for most to separate them from these two bands, and during their time together they were usually only spoken of as the band that so-and-so from one of those earlier bands joined. It wasn't really fair, and I can't help but wonder if on some level this was a reason for the band's breakup last Spring, and I'm hoping tonight to try to deal objectively with the band's last album without invoking the others too often.

First, a little bit of background, which unfortunately is inevitable...

Audioslave are the result of a jam session between former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and the instrumental section of Rage Against the Machine, sans vocalist Zack de la Rocha. Because of the difference between these styles, the earlier work of Audioslave was often somewhat fragmented, as Chris Cornell's role as vocalist and front man often meant that the Rage boys' style was pushed to the back. Not to say that the more funk influenced work of Rage wasn't present in Audioslave's sound right from the beginning, but it was obvious that the Soundgarden influence was great.

I have been a fan of Audioslave since I first heard the single "Like a Stone." There, I've said it, I am among the group who enjoy Audioslave. To be quite honest, they have been one of my favourite bands since I first bought their self titled debut back in early 2003. While there were a few jagged edges, I was impressed with that album, and while I was not nearly so impressed with their second abum Out of Exile, I did feel as though most of those edges had been smoothed out. The band was finding its own unique sound, which they finally found on their third (and, sadly, their last) album, 2006's Revelations.

What is the sound that Audioslave found? Well, it has some relation to their earlier incarnations, but in the end it owed a great deal more to funk and soul from the 1970s then Rage ever had (which will hopefully be the last time I need to invoke that name until the end of this review) Before the album was released, guitarist Tom Morello made comparisons to the Motown era funk band Earth, Wind, and Fire, and after I first listened to the album the comparisons are apt. Excepting the first single, Original Fire, which is a complete throwback to Motown and feels slightly out of place on this album, the songs are bass heavy and bear a great debt to funk music in particular. While still bearing a recognisable connection to their first album, the music has evolved to the point that the instrumental influences of Rage (damn, I've had to mention them again) which were greatly those of the first wave of popularity of African-influenced musical styles, has fully meshed with the heavy metal of the 1970s. For once, I really can't say that there is any real level of conflict between these styles, and the band sounds relaxes and confident with what they're playing. When I first bought this album, I couldn't stop listening to it for two weeks, which with me is a mark of something special.

My only real complaint is that at times the album can sound a little too alike, as the style which was finally fully achieved with this album is still too limited. When I first listened to it, I kept thinking about how absolutely incredible the next album would be, since the band had achieved a new style with this album, one with which all the players felt comfortable and which was excellent. Unfortunately, within a few months of its release Chris Cornell announced that he was leaving to pursue his own directions, and since then the musicians have reunited with Zack de la Rocha to perform live as Rage Against the Machine, perhaps one day to record again. Had they not released this album first, I might have just been happy to have such a titan of the music world back, but having heard Revelations I'm very torn between joy at having Rage back and the simple fact that Audioslave will never be able to continue to perfect the wonderful sound they achieved with this album, and I suppose that is really the most fitting tribute to the band; that they could inspire regret despite the revival of one of the most popular and influential bands in modern rock music history.

8.5/10