INTERVIEWS:
CHEMLAB "East Side Militia" (Fifth Column Records) SCORE:37/100
I must say I'm rather disappointed in this follow up to the brilliant debut "Burn Out at the Hydrogen Bar." They have lost a lot of their edge and some of the harshness, though they have made a few good tracks. 'Pyromance' however is a good tune, though it is rather laid back and mellow. There isn't a whole lot of innovative guitar work here, there is still a strong industrial presence but it doesn't help much. 'Electric Molecular' and 'Exile on Mainline' have distorted guitar tracks but the songwriting quality isn't up to par. 'Jesus Christ Porno Star' is also a halfway decent tune, probably the only track on here that is up to Chemlab standards. 'Pink' can pretty much be ignored as a "song" that has lots of spoken samples. I have yet to see them live, but here's to hoping their third full length will be better.
CREMATORY "Crematory" (Massacre Records) SCORE: 86/100
Even though the U.S. distribution office for Massacre Records has closed, the German office was kind enough to send me this newest release by Crematory, who impressed me with last years' "Just Dreaming" album, which showcased some very strong instrumentation work matched with strong lyrics and a dominant presence. This time around all the lyrics are in German, and the vocals, for those unfamiliar with Crematory's style, is more on the harsh side as opposed to bands like Tiamat and the new Paradise Lost. Credit must be given to the keyboardist who has composed some amazing and symphonic pieces. Acoustic guitar pieces are used throughout, especially on a track like 'Trugbilder.' My only complaint is with the vocal arrangements on 'Istes Wahr,' they were a little weak. This style is tough to pull off, since the majority of the arrangements are meant more for an orchestrated and symphonically beautiful mood. However, this they do quite well, I am afraid however that the lyrics being in German may keep some from experiencing quite a powerfully written album.
DEARLY BEHEADED "Temptation" (Fierce Recordings) SCORE: 99/100
I must say that this CD came out of nowhere and struck me senseless! It's kinda old school thrash with a singer who actually sings in places, and the guitar work is nothing short of phenomenal! One can see the raw power of tracks like 'Behind the Sun, 'Temptation' and 'We Are Your Family.' Also, there are tracks that inject a bit of melody within the hard driving thrash edge, the best example of this is the track 'Witness.' These guys hail from England, and are relatively unknown here in the States, but what a solid release nonetheless! Heavy, heavy, heavy!
DIATRIBE "Diatribe" (Re-Constriction Records) SCORE: 96/100
After first hearing their kickass cover of 'Cold Sweat' on the Shut Up Kitty compilation, I was looking forward to hearing more, but unfortunately their two EP's were VERY disappointing. However, this release is EXACTLY what I expected from these guys, a kick ass four piece that uses a commercial sound inlaid with emotion and some brutal guitar riffs! 'Another Time' is easily the heaviest tracks and my personal favorite, however I have a hard time choosing favorites out of the others! Honorable mentions go to the track 'Four Fifty One' which has the group singing harmony at the beginning, kinda sounding like a psychedelic Beatles chant. 'Sister' is a rather slow, ballad style tune; very pretty and still danceable. Though this disc has a very mainstream sound, it's not overridden with cliche lyrics, sounds, or material, in fact, the only thing that kept me from giving it a 100 was the track 'The Son,' which could have been a little better. one HOT industrial club item, VERY good, and damnit I've been waiting for a good album from Diatribe and they had to go and blow me away! Marc has a great voice, do yerself a favor and listen to the sound clips to see what I mean! Oh, and before I forget, there's a hidden track on here (it's track 22) that is rather wierd!
EXIT 13 "Smoking Songs" (Relapse Records) SCORE: 91/100
All u stoners, listen up! This newest release from grindcore masters Exit 13 will definitely freak ya out, especially if ya partake before ya listen! It's not like anything else you've heard Exit 13 perform in full, but what we have here are mainly old jazz and blues numbers from the early 20's and 40's that all pay tribute to the greener pictures of life! The songs are quite a trip, especially the changing of the lyrics of an old Lou Rawls song 'Stormy Monday' which they call 'Stoney Monday.' Bliss Blood lends her beautiful vocals to such hemp-enlightening tracks as 'Jack I'm Mellow,' 'When I Get Low, I Get High,' and 'If You're a Viper' (which I hope you'ze all are!) 'Willie The Record Releaser' was a funny story, but sometimes got a little annoying, but overall it creates a mellow mood that ANY stoner should be able to appreciate. So laugh, like yer gonna do anyway with or without this disc, relax, space out and stay mellow, you vipers!
HACIENDA "Sunday Afternoon" (Eye-Q/Harthouse Records) SCORE: 100/100
I guess I need to relay the story behind this one. One day, a friend of mine and I were driving along, smoking a rather tasty joint, and needed something mellow and trippy to listen to for that ultimate chill out feeling. Usually, Hawkwind's "Warrior on the Edge of Time" is used for this purpose, but for some reason I had this CD in my car instead. Both of us were quite blown away! THIS is the ultimate stoner's disc, and it's obvious that the German pioneers behind this ambient, trippy trance piece have let the smoke flow through their creative veins. 'Nightmare of Max' starts out with sandpaper scraping sounds, to follow up with funky bass notes and cool little carnival organ sounds, man what a trip! We laughed our way through this one, and even 'Crazy Jason Spills My Bong' (told ya!) was a delight, with some wacky notations! For those who want to mellow out even further, check out 'Soho Dragee' which has some cool piano riffs flowing through, and the ultimate 'Plusch,' which incidentally, like most of the other tracks on this disc, make fantastic dance club tunez. 'Plusch' contains some cool saxophone riffs, the whole damn CD is just great! Next time you need something to relax and mellow out to, grab this one, if you don't you WILL be sorry!
INNER THOUGHT "Perspectives" (Dwell Records) SCORE: 88/100
First off, check out the track 'Tortured.' Women like that have a way of making you want to kill them, don't they? Well, here's yer chance with the second full length release from these death metal pioneers from Canada! There are lots of surprising twists this time around, and the female vocals are back in force! Check out 'Rack of Lethargy' which is, for all pratical purposes, a techno oriented song! They have the techno dance beats going for a couple of minutes before they break it down into a death metal tune. What surprises me most about this album is the use of dual style vox, one is low growling and kinda in the style of a band like Sinister, the other is very intense Lee Dorrian style but with longer duration, this Dennis guy is quite versatile! Listen to those double bass beats and overall execptional drumming that at times you would swear is electronically enhanced! (Hell it may be for all I know!) There is SOMEONE doing a Jamaican reggae style voice on the track 'Autodogmatic,' don't know who but it was very cool! The first few tracks, however, had rather standard arrangements, but I did like the guitar work throughout the rest of the disc! Very vicious, yet still finding a way to be a bit innovative!
NIGHTINGALE "The Closing Chronicles" (Black Mark Records) SCORE: 95/100
Dan Swano's side project (the mastermind behind Edge of Sanity) is quite different from what most E.O.S. fans may be expecting. It's a wonderful disc filled with emotion and gothic overtones at times. Tracks like 'Deep Inside of Nowhere' and 'Revival' are rather hard rock oriented and rather mellow, reminding me of styles presented by bands like Journey, Kansas, and such. One really has to hear the emotion and deep rooted feelings stirred throughout the disc to understand exactly what I'm referring to, so be sure and grab the two RealAudio files we clipped. One drawback to the album was the track 'Intermezzo,' while a good track it's a bit more downtempo from the rest, but does show Dan's ability to write music that is quite different and still retaining a certain atmosphere that is prevalent throughout the entire disc. 'Revival' as well is rather radio friendly, frankly the whole album is great! Hopefully we'll see more of this type of recording from Dan in the future.
NOSFERATU "Prince of Darkness" (Cleopatra Records) SCORE: 56/100
This newest release from English gothic rockers Nosferatu sounds quite a bit like a cross between Sisters of Mercy and Two Witches at times. The vocalist has a vocal style like that of the Sisters, but with a lower tone. He is able to express a good variety of vocal expressions, especially on tracks like 'The Passing,' and 'Uninvited Guest.' 'Eye of the Watcher' starts us out with a long but nice haunting piano tune with inlaid chanting style vocals. My three favorite tracks on here are 'The Hunger,' 'The Passing,' and 'Invocation,' the last one easily being the best track on here, and the three aforementioned tracks are easily great club favorites. Some songs did take some getting used to: I didn't like 'Graveyard Shift,' 'Into the Night,' or 'Ravage,' mainly due to the rough way in which the vocals are composed. 'Uninvited Guest' has a nice bass line, and the guitar work is often a highlight here, but some of their songs still need work. Club owners may be hard pressed to find a gothic CD with more dancefloor worthy tracks.
PAIN STATION "Anxiety" (Decibel Records) SCORE: 70/100
The best thing about the CD was listening to the first 5 tracks through headphones! Especially tracks 'Empty,' 'Alone,' and 'Perversion' showcase some great ambient landscapes interlaid with heavy industrial beats and distorted notations! For you "industrial fanatics," you may be surprised to hear that, with one exception, there are hardly any guitars presented! My personal favorite tracks are 'Empty' and 'Alone,' simply because they mix a heavy beat, dancefloor industrial riffs with melancholy, rather slow atmospherics. 'Alone' in particular is a rather moody song in itself. However, after track 5, the rest of the CD gets rather strange, mostly dealing with instrumental wierdness mixed with various vocal samples. Track 7, 'Hate,' is good though for it's overall heaviness. I rather liked most of what I heard, though they could be a bit more consistent throughout. Listen through headphones to wrap yourself in the ambience!
PRODIGY "Firestarter" (Mute Records) SCORE: 94/100
This is only the CD single, but I figured I should give it honorable mention because it is INCREDIBLE. When I first heard the title track on MTV, I must admit the change was rather a shock from their last CD (Personally, I haven't heard it all but I DID hear the title track, and saw them on MTV's "House of Fashion" and it's pretty much in the same vein as "Music for a Jilted generation." - Ed.) It has a fully distorted, heavy techno sound to it that will make your head explode into tiny bits of bloody goo. The first track is the radio/video edit of the song, full of groovy sonic blasts of pure energy, and the vocalist starts the fire with his psychotic chants of British fury. The second track, the Empirion mix, extends the song and warps it to a completely different dimension with more industrial overtones and fuzzboxes. The next two tracks lack the scathing, skin biting vocals. 'Molotov Bitch,' the last song, provides us with a break from the many versions of 'Firestarter,' (the instrumental version being my least favorite) and really slaps down in your face a heavy dance beat (not so fast though) similar to that of hip-hop with a slight industrial twist to make things more interesting. It's only a CD single, but it's worth it! This is indeed prime Prodigy! -- (Review by Chris J. Waters)
SAMAEL "Passage" (Century Media Records) SCORE: 78/100
Welp, it's no surprise that these Swiss black metal godz are heavily into the keyboard sound, but this time around I do mean HEAVILY! The first thing you notice when listening to this album is that the keyboards are WAAAAY out in front, and seem to be the dominant instrument. The songs still have some heavy guitar work, but it's not featured on every track, in fact, the tracks 'Rain,' 'Liquid Soul Dimension' and 'Born Under Saturn' probably have some of the best guitar riffs on the whole album. Fans of their last effort "Ceremony of Opposites" may be a little disappointed in their newest effort, however I did find much of their work innovative and far from boring. Some things that did annoy me, though: while the vocals are still raw and brutal, there were a couple of tracks, namely 'Angel's Decay' and 'Moonskin' that had piano notes in them, which I thought rather strange, since that was the only thing besides drums going in places. Also, 'Liquid Soul Dimension' had a very strange musical arrangement especially towards the beginning. Kinda freaked me out! But, they are proving that they have a mature sound, those of you who don't mind keyboard heavy material may find this new release a refreshing work, still others may feel that they have lost their heavier edge. I am somewhere caught in the middle, yet I do enjoy this release to a major degree.
STUCK MOJO "Pigwalk" (Century Media Records) SCORE: 94/100
This CD is Stuck Mojo's second release, and what an infectious blend of rap, hip-hop, thrash and even a slight industrial influence, which is evident by the fact that Strapping Young Lad's Devin Townsend had a hand in the production of this album. Most all of the songs have a very heavy set of thrashy riffs, very catchy and it's one of the first things you notice about the album. The vocals are thrown down in a groove oriented, rap style, except for the track 'Despise,' where he does a few verses singing. 'Violated' and 'Down Breeding' have heavy industrial influences, but still retain the heavy guitar work, and the title track 'Pigwalk' has some ultra distorted vocals. Check out 'The Sermon' as well, a funny spoken word track that has to be heard to be believed! These guys have put out one outstanding record, and they're right in my backyard too! (they're from Atlanta, Georgia.)
TEMPLEBEAT "Mediasickness" (21st Circuitry Records) SCORE: 35/100
I remember this band as an introduction to what the Dynamica label coined as "Metal-hacking industrial." Unfortunately, this release often drags itself down with droning riffs, and on 'Magick Patrol' and a few other places the vocalists' singing style gets annoying. 'Liberace' was rather enjoyable tho, it was upbeat and had really heavy guitar riffs and cool distorted vocals. 'Gone With the Mind' had a certain heaviness as well, though it did sound rather Swamp Terrorists'ish. 'Words in Motion' was an okay track as well, but most of the other tracks were rather poor and basic, especially 'Magick Patrol.' Not a lot of work went into most of this I'm afraid. The better cuts from here are digitized for you to check out, they may be club worthy but I wouldn't buy the CD just for them.
THE BLACK "The Priest of Satan" (Necropolis Records) SCORE: 92/100
Okay, so this release is a little old, lots of what I got from Necropolis was rather old but still worthy of review. This band has a new release out that hopefully I'll review next issue. Anyway, on to the tunes, I must say that this is one up and coming black metal band! What really impressed me is on tunez like 'Lady Lilith,' 'Black Blood,' and 'The Priest of Satan' there are so many killer old school thrash style riffs, and many of them slow paced as well! The intro to 'Lady Lilith' sounded a lot like Bulldozer's 'Heaven's Jail' from their "IX" album (though reworked to sound different) and I could hear definite influences from everything of Kreator, Voivod, Slayer, Venom and the like! Vocals are killer screams, 'Sign of the Evil Spirit' showcases some of Rietas' handiwork. 'The Black Opal Eye' started out slow with haunting keyboard overtones, and though they do use keyboards a little, the guitar work is THE dominant factor here! My one complaint, besides the track 'Book of Leviathan' being a little below par for a band of this caliber, is the cheesy wolf howls that were sampled. Other than that it was quite vicious, and I would have to brand this the black metal punk album, for the fact that the average length of a song is no more than 2 or 3 minutes! 38 minutes for 12 tracks, doesn't that beat Slayer's "Reign in Blood" time/track ratio?
THE EXPLOITED "Beat the Bastards" (Triple X Records) SCORE: 79/100
Here's the deal: they're not really the punk band you knew back in the 80's. In fact I really can't call their music punk anymore, this is more like hardcore. Their songs are much heavier, faster, and longer. Another change in the band is the lineup, which now brings in Wattie's brothers. There is a slight sign of wattie getting older, but I also think that a lot of the change in vocal style has to do with the musical progression to hardcore. One really cool addition to their music is guitar downtuning, probably to 'B' (Gee, you musical prodigy you! - Ed.) which is evident in 'Police TV' and 'If You're Sad.' Their lyrics still reflect the true style of British punk's rebellion against certain political parties and issues ('Beat the Tories!' or just plain anarchy.) "Beat the Bastards" is still a damn good CD, introducing a new, heavier side of the Exploited that is still filled with their trademark energy, however they've lost a lot of the punk edge that they are known to have in their extremely fast songs -- the edge that truly makes them the Exploited. -- (Review by Chris J. Waters)
THE MOOR "Flux" (Bishop Garden Records) SCORE: 41/100
A band that supposedly follows up the style of space rock pioneers Hawkwind and other space rock acts. On the plus side, they do have some interesting musical compositions, especially with flutes on the track 'Baby,' and the saxophone melodies on 'Suck.' The problem is that while they have some beautiful melodies, as well as aggressive guitar riffs (ultra distorted and warped like on 'Soon' and 'Stay') they are not consistent, and sometimes the unusual vocal style gets a tad annoying, especially on 'Suck.' While I appreciated much of their unique style (they even went so far as to do a rather techno-ish mood on 'Body') some of their lyrics were silly, and overall I see a good deal of innovation but needing a bit more work in the songwriting department.
VARIOUS ARTISTS "Operation Beatbox" (Re-Constriction Records) SCORE: 86/100
Ahhh, yeah! As you may have noticed, we've incorporated a bit of rap into our ever growing list of musical influences. This compilation really got me thinking about how most of us found our "roots." For me, rap and hip hop was one of the first genres I ever got heavily into before I found metal. Run D.M.C., Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, and others were faves of mine, and represented here by many hardcore industrial artists. The CD starts out very explosive with Christ Analogue's version of 'Natural Born Killaz,' and other vicious cuts here are Terminal 46's version of 'Night of the Living Bassheads' and 'Fight the Power' by D.C.K. The dumbest cut on here was Battery's cover of 'Gangsta's Paradise,' a rather 'wack' singing version of it. The two Run D.M.C. covers were rather cool, the best one being Institute of Technology's 'King of Rock.' Highly recommended, as I said most of these covers are electronically enhanced, and some bands here use distorted vocals to add a heavier punch to these tunez. Fresh as a mo-fo!
VOIVOD "Negatron" (Mausoleum Records) SCORE: 90/100
Hail the return of the kings! After Celtic Frost's downfall, Bathory's change in style (and I didn't say it was a BAD thing) and Kreator seeming to lean towards industrial tendencies, it's good to see Voivod herald a return to the brutality of their older days of "War and pain" and "RRROOOAAARRR" but this album still has all the technical intricacy of "Killing Technology" and beyond! Their new vocalist is very vicious, and believe it or not sounds very similar to their old vocalist! They ARE back down to a three piece, which they believe is the best format to present their style in. What can I say? Songs like 'Reality' and 'Insect' (you HAVE to see the full screen video for this song, included as a CD-Rom track on this CD) have heavy choppy riffs, and that singer dude Eric really has a lot of power. 'Nanoman' is a rather heavy sing along hit, and the title track is a creepily slow, but powerful track in it's own right! It gets rather wierd towards the end, but one cannot deny that Voivod have stayed true while still evolving in their own little universe. DO check out that CD-Rom video, it blew me away!
W.A.S.P. "Still Not Black Enough" (Castle Communications) SCORE: 89/100
Was wondering what happened to Blackie after the last WASP album "The Crimson Idol," and lemme say that WASP are back and strong as ever! Those of you that enjoyed such killer albums from the past like "The Last Command" and "WASP" as I did will find cuts like 'Still Not Black Enough,' 'Black Forever,' and 'Scared to Death' in that old school WASP style; heavy and this time around even injecting some melody throughout! On the downside, I thought there were just a bit too many cover tunes, though 'Whole Lotta Rosie' sounds very kickass, and I even enjoyed 'Somebody to Love.' 'Keep Holding On,' however, is a ballad that has Blackie and another female vocalist on piano, rather a weak link for a WASP album (but still mellow enough to be enjoyable.) The trippy highlight of this album was 'I Can't,' which starts off with Blackie singing along to an acoustic set of riffs, with a bluesy feel, but he gets quite vicious and intense midway through the song, with those trademark Blackie screams of his. Quite a kickass album, not quite perfect, but WASP fans will more than likely enjoy the power and intensity of this album, here's hoping for a full blown stage show and tour!
NOTEWORTHY ITEMS:
Now, as many of you know, the year's end is a SLOOOW time for record releases, so most of what ya read about here is what's making the rounds in 1997. Let's start off with some rather sad news: Rhys Fulber has left Front Line Assembly for good, but has been replaced. The split was a friendly one, with Rhys concentrating on more heavy metal oriented material. The label that supports them, Metropolis, has quite a few discs out for 97, look for things to come from Mentallo & the Fixer, Noise Unit, Terminal Sect (a new home for these guys) and Evil's Toy. Wumpscutt and Haujobb also have releases out, which didn't make deadline for this issue, hopefully a write up will be due for the next. Haujobb, incidentally, is now licensed through Metropolis instead of Pendragon, as I am told by Metropolis manager Mike.
Tours, tours, tours! 1997 hopefully will see LOTS of new tours commence. Right now we have word of a few shows happening in the U.S.: Type O Negative is taking the Electric Hellfire Club on the road with them, while Stuck Mojo returns to the U.S. in february with 24-7 Spyz as co-headliners. Vader and Monstrosity will hit the road as well, and we'll try and keep ya posted about the dates and routes for other bands, like Sister Machine Gun and Danzig.
Hold yer breath, Tiamat are in Woodhouse studios once again! Not much is being said about their newest effort, tenatively titled "A Deeper Kind of Slumber" except it has a spring release date. In otha Century media news, look out for reviews of the new Judas Priest Tribute album, featuring Fates Warning, Testament, Mercyful Fate, and other top metal acts (release date is January 28th), Strapping Young Lad, Morgoth, Nevermore, and others that arrived a bit late for presstime.
Through the official Moonspell webpage, here's EXACTLY what happened with the banning of their video "Opium" from a certain MTV Europe station in one country. Apparently, though the video was very well done and appreciated by many, one country said there were references to drug useage that were not acceptable, though the band did make an appearance on the show and even did a song from their sold out tour with Type O Negative. They plan to do another video soon, in the meantime check out their web page which gives even more info on the band.
Cleopatra, the label on the cutting edge of electronic music, has SO much planned for 1997 it will make yer L.E.D. stricken eyes and ears go into sonic overload! Here's a list of what you'll be wanting to spin:
Amon Duul 2 "The Best of 1969-1974"
V/A "Trancewerk Express Volume 2 - A trance tribute to Kraftwerk"
V/A "License 2 Rave"
Bypass Unit "Green Dreams" (On the Hypnotic Label)
V/A "Rocket Fuel" (on their new Jungle label)
Godheads "The Rush Inside (The Reshuffle)" (licensed from Hard Records)
Decoded Feedback "Overdosing" (Hard Records)
Decry "Complete Decry"
Also be on the lookout for compilation CD's from Zoth Ommog and Cleopatra's own Hypnotic Records subdivision, as well as Sci-Fi Cafe (a collection of film and TV science fiction theme songs) and a remix EP from Electric Hellfire Club!
We recently got in touch with Progress Records over in Denmark, and we will have reviews for you of the last Invocator record "Dying to Live." Sadly, they have broken up, but they left behind a pretty killer album. Dying Fetus and Centinex will also get reviewed, and look out for hardcore based Proboscis to release "Stalemate" on February 20th, 8-Red throws "Undervalued Feelings" at you on March 3rd, Exhumation, a melodic death metal unit from Greece will unleash "Seas of Eternal Silence" on March 10th, and also look out for new thingies from Blood of Christ, Grope, Black (From L.A.), Konkhr, and Barcode!
All things look quiet on the Roadrunner front with the exception of Coal Chamber's newest disc (which will get a mention next issue) which looks to me like a rather bizarre Marilyn Manson type heavy project, and Obituary is supposed to be working on a new disc along with Deicide.
Nuclear Blast, after having been dropped from Relapse's line of distribution, is back once again and relocated in Tampa, Florida. We hope to not only have a Sinister interview for next issue, but we will also review the newest release from Therion (which i must say is quite amazing), basic but bonecrunching death metal from Brutality, new Sinister "Bastard Saints," new Abyss, and In Flames.
BIRMINGHAM 6. Interview with Michael H. at the Cleopatra Offices.
Many of you may have heard some of Birmingham 6's hard edged industrial techno via their "Assassinate" album released domestically through Cleopatra. They were supposed to tour with Numb and Rorshach Test, but sadly, as Michael informs us, "the tour didn't go as planned, because CMR corporations was very incompetent. We did 4 shows and then we cancelled the rest of the dates. They promised us a full coast-to-coast tour with 26 of 30 dates, and everything was supposed to be set up like the acommodations, club fees, etc. We were told when we arrived in Seattle that Numb had cancelled out, and there was no tour bus for us, and also lots of other shows had been cancelled. We were told this not by the corporation, who didn't even seem to want to get involved, but by the supporting act." For those who might think this was about a money issue, remember these guys came over from Denmark for this tour, paid for out of their pockets, and they even had to pay for a van to go from town to town, pay for their food and lodging, and even their plane tickets to get here. On top of all of this, their singer Kim has left the band, even though he did the four shows and left in Phoenix.
"Assassinate" is their first full length album, American wise anyway, which is mostly a kind of 'best of' compilation album, which consists of 6 tracks from their "Mindhallucination" LP, and 5 remixes from "Contagious" EP. Mostly their lyrics deal with conspiracy type theories, the whole concept, as related by Michael, deals with "The side of people being used and abused and told in our own words. Many lyrics reflect stories we heard, read about or saw on the news. 'Policestate,' for example, deals with (from their EP of the same name) an incident in 1993 where a voting in Denmark took place for the joining of the European union. This voting was against the European union, but the government didn't want this to happen, and they even had a revoting process, for which finally the joining was agreed upon; however many citizens were very angry and started demonstrations. Police were put out upon the streets to handle this, and they were totally out of control, they started shooting at the people in the mob. One of the main streets in Copenhagen looked like a battlezone. 'Birmingham 6' deals with an incident in England that happened roughly 20 years ago, where these IRA attacks were occuring. They made some new laws against terrorism which allowed police in that area to arrest anyone they thought was suspicious and hold them for quite a long time while they were investigating and interrogating. The IRA group was against this of course and they did bombings all over England, in Birmingham and several other places. The English government took 6 people out one night (the night of the bombing) and singled them out because they were typical Irish working men on their way home that evening. They just sort of discriminated against them and every time the 6 men tried to get an appeal of this (there is a book written about this) the judge kept saying that they were the guilty party and they would never get out on the streets again. They were also beaten up by the police when they were interrogated, they were beaten yet again while in jail because they were made unpopular due to the feelings of the citizens of England as a whole. Finally, evidence came out that these 6 men were not guilty, and while they were in jail the guilty party was caught, and the police did everything but admit that they made a mistake." The song 'Contagious' is the one song that had me rather baffled, a few lines in the song seem to refer to a deadly disease that always 'gets his man.' The references for this song have to do with a book and Kim's theory, according to Michael, "This book puts a viewpoint that the Aids virus was a chemical weapon which was invented by rich governments to get rid of unwanted humans, like blacks, homosexuals, etc. It's a very strange sort of science fiction thing, one of the conspiracy things that we like to write about. It's been placed upon different minority groups, like people say 'Oh, it's only minorities that get aids, only queers get that disease,' just like another discrimination case."
Birmingham 6 is on a Danish label known as Hard Records, who I always associated with hard and heavy industrial and techno music through various compilations and licensing deals, but Michael laughs at this and says: "Do you really think they are hard? They have been very good to us, though they are a big label in Denmark, they have been supportive as far as they can even though they don't have a load of cash in reserve. They do the best they can to get us license deals around the world, in general they are very reliable. They have given us advances on our royalties even. The industrial scene is not going very well in Europe, and they are sort of closing down on the Industrial side of it; however they do have a side label called Out Loud which they have merged with the Hypnotic label of Cleopatra to do some ambient type stuff. Dozens of compilations have been released to date. There are only three bands left on Hard Records, the rest of the contracts have been cancelled. Godheads, Birmingham 6 and Lights of Euphoria are all that are left, and I have to say we are considered the head industrial act around here." I was into a band called Good Courage from Hard Records, who Michael says is "Acceptable. It's more like pop in the style of Depeche Mode, but their side project Neotek was really good. Their album 'Brain Over Muscle' was very dancelike but aggressive and I like that. Godheads is great too, it kinda reminds me of a cross between Die Krupps and Nitzer Ebb, but the remix version which is on Cleopatra is much better, but still great."
They do have a new album out which Cleopatra hasn't sent me yet entitled "The Error of Judgement." According to Michael this album features Jean Luc DeMeyer fron Front 242 fame, and Michael has this to say about the sound of the new album: "It is a completely different album, it has more dance influences, more synthesizer textures and sequencers, and more guitars, MUCH more guitars than the last album. Every song on this new album has guitars on it, and Jean Luc is singing on 7 tracks, Kim our old singer sings on 4 and there is one instrumental." This brings up to something I was curious about and that is the old debate over whether industrial should have guitars or not, and Michael's industrial preferences may surprise you, stating: "I don't like the old style of industrial at all, the thing is I always thought old style was lacking in catchiness and a certain groove, most of the old bands sound like noise in a way. We always wanted to blend different styles together, we like things from the industrial scene but most of the grooves were stiff and mechanic, very noisy and had very little melody. A lot of the dance songs we were used to in Europe had great dance grooves and catchy melody but absolutely no lyrics. We always wanted to blend those two things together (lyrics and groove, catchiness, or melody) and especially have some meaningful lyrics. This latest album is closer to the sound we have been looking for for quite some time."
Though the band is now completely broke, they had been saving all their money to come to the States and do the tour, there is talk of them doing another show, though it may not be for quite awhile. In the meantime, do yourself a favor and check out their "Assassinate" LP on Cleopatra, their "Policestate" EP (Which features them doing a cover of a KMFDM song,) and hopefully we'll be able to review and digitize their newest effort "The Error of Judgement" next issue!
HACIENDA. Interview with the band via email.
Hacienda, for those not in the know (and you REALLY should listen to the digitized music files on this one!) is an ambient/techno/trippy type of music that really impressed me. Hacienda consists of Jurgen Kadel and Marcus Finger, two artists who have extensive backgrounds in electronic music. On asking a bit more about their backgrounds, Marcus reveals: "I am a student of advertising psychology at the University of Frankfurt. Ths first time I was interested in electronic music was around 1987 or 1988. I was just getting into Front 242, Depeche Mode, Skinny Puppy and Nitzer Ebb. I also liked to skate and listened to punk (like Suicidal tendencies) and sometimes even Iron Maiden. I heard of the label +8 in 1991 (this label has artists like Speedy J and FUSE, who have been featured on Wax Trax's "Artificial Intelligence" series - Ed.) through a friend who worked in a record shop in Frankfurt. I liked these sounds almost instantly, because they were so cool and clean, but at the same time warm and powerful. I then started to go to clubs and buy lots of records, which prompted me to start work in a record distribution company to gain money and to get my records cheaper (I know how that is! - Ed.) I met Jurgen at this time, who was very sympathetic and later on we put our equipment together to make work more efficient. We liked the same minimalistic acid sound. Jurgen had already released some music on smaller labels, however by 1995 we were sick of the normal 'techno' and acid music and wanted to do something completely different. We both like downtempo music but also house as well. The beats were slowed down and we had fun connecting electronic and acoustic instruments within our tracks. This first album of ours is also influenced by Portishead, tricky and some old jazz and hammond records we sampled a lot." Some of these influences are VERY prominent in Hacienda, one can hear saxophone notes, piano notes, and several other instruments not often heard very much in the standard fare of techno and trance. I also found out, according to Marcus, "We do a LOT of sampling, if I didn't emphasize that before. About 60% of our music is made of filtered, stretched and reversed samples, like the saxophone line in the track 'Plusch,' but we also like to play realtime. I played the piano when I was 10 years old and I stopped when I was 14. Sometimes we are just improvising on the keyboards and we record the whole thing with our sequencer. A good mixture betwen both is okay."
After repeated listening, it's a bit obvious to me (and to my friend as well, see the review of their album for more info) that this band has created what I would term as "the stoner's groove," as this whole disc has some crazy notations and some laid back, mellow riffs. I had to ask how big an influence was marijuana on the music they make, especially after seeing song titles like "Crazy Jason Spills My Bong." The answer they gave me was quite surprising, and made me think they were a little paranoid about opening up on the subject: Nevertheless, Marcus relays his thoughts on the subject: "Believe it or not, we can't report about our thoughts and feelings while smoking marijuana because we don't smoke it. O.K., we think our minds have to be crazy enough that we can create such dope beat tracks without having smoked pot. I did try it a few times but it had no effect on me at all. While my friends smoke and feel good I take my normal Marlboro medium or Kool cigarettes and sit beside them. Our music is our only drug and we feel that it's a very good substitute to pot. A lot of people say they enjoy our music while high. This is not intentional on our part, and don't be irritated by the song title "Crazy Jason Spills My Bong." The title derives from Jason of the film Friday the 13th. We imagined if Jason entered a party, he comes in the room where the boys and girls sit, he has his mask on his face and nobody speaks. He grabs the bong, breathes in and out, everybody stares in fear, he leaves the room and then they see what happened: The bong has been spilled." (Whew! Cray-zee!) "We want the listener to relax, feel good, do whatever they want and listen to some nice music. Our intention is to go our own way with the Hacienda style. This is not the most popular way here in Germany, but it's the way that gives us the most satisfaction of all (Amen to that! Screw the trends! - Ed.) It's obvious that most of the German producers make this typically teutonic trance or techno music. That's just horrible!"
Speaking of Germany, as many of you are already aware, there of course is a huge techno scene over there, but many of our longtime readers think of Germany as the breeding ground of early 80's thrash and death metal. Though they are not big into heavy metal, Marcus admits that he does like some guitar oreinted music: "We both really do love crossover bands like Ministry, Nine Inch Nails (which Marcus says that 'Pretty Hate Machine' is their best album, which I kinda agree with - Ed.) or Rage Against the Machine. Jurgen does play in an independent guitar band and he enjoys bands like Live, Smashing Pumpkins and the sort. I have to admit, however that I don't really like bands like Smashing Pumpkins or R.E.M. so much even if they have a few great songs. Sometimes it's torture for me, if I really have no choice but to listen to rock music like U2, or Bon Jovi! What I really like are bands like Alice in Chains, Faith No More, Spookey Ruben and old Red Hot Chili Peppers albums. As for the techno scene itself it has grown faster and faster in Germany since 1994, which is really amazing to me. One reason why techno and house are so famous is the 'Love Parade' in the streets of Berlin in June every year. In 1996 there were about a 800,000 party people on the roads towards Berlin and the Love Parade itself nearly reached the million mark. The media reports about techno and of course drugs. There are tons of magazines for techno, house, and ambient lovers in Germany, the best ones are Front Page from Berlin and Groove from Frankfurt. In Frankfurt, there is a club located near the airport called the Dorian Gray, which plays hard techno and progressive pumpin' house. It's really nice and atmospheric, especially when someone plays live, like Speedy J who I saw three years ago. There's also a club called "Nachtleben" (It means Nightlife in English - Ed.) where my favorite DJ's Ata and Heiko play. During the week there are very good parties and the vibes really flow. Another great club was The Box, formerly called XS but the ownership changed hands two years ago. People in Frankfurt didn't know what a good club it had in this and so it had to close sometime for lack of guests, but the XS was famous for the ambient and chill out nights during the week and the awesome house weekends with famous DJ's like John Aquaviva, Joey Vasquez, and Laurent Gamier. The Omen is one other club I'd like to mention, this is the one where Sven Vath plays every week together with other famous DJ's and seems to me the club where the people had the most fun and biggest parties of all."
So, after all the good press reaction to their latest effort "Sunday Afternoon," where does Hacienda go next? "The next Hacienda record," Jurgen relates, "will be a bit more progressive, still downtempo (from 78 to 110 BPM) and will contain spanish trumpet samples, because Marcus' girlfriend is spanish and she gives him a lot of old spanish records, but there will be some tracks like 'Plusch' that maybe you will want to dance to as well. I will finish my studies this year and after that there will be a lot more time to tour or play live that now, though at the moment there are no concrete plans to tour with the group, just some live gigs here and there." And outside of Hacienda, Marcus has a little surprise in store for us as well: "I am working on a really nice progressive ambient album with a friend. The story is: We arrive on a new planet outside our galaxy and every sound that you hear stands for an animal or something else that we see or hear while exploring this new planet. We don't have any label support yet, though. Also I am doing some tracks for an ambient dub project that is as yet untitled and just beginning. It's a bit like Hacienda with dope beats and a nice grooving 303 sound." Eye-Q has been very supportive as a label to these young musical pioneers, however, even though Marcus' reply surprised me a bit: "Eye-Q was not our first thought when we wanted to release our music, but they liked it very much, especially in England, and so we have a two year contract. It is normal to release two 12 inch discs and one album in one year, but we have the opportunity to choose if we want to release more. Sometimes we get the impression that the people who buy the Harthouse records in Germany are not satisfied with Hacienda, because they want to have a straight bassdrum with the twittering 303 sound, claps and open hi-hat. They don't really expect music like Hacienda on Harthouse (formerly well known as a pure techno label.) They are not open minded enough, that's the only problem. We do like some releases Eye-Q has brought out, like Yokota, Alter Ego, and Freddy Fresh."
Before we wrap this interview up, let Marcus relate an interesting couple of viewpoints about the marijuanna issue over in Germany: "Since 1994 or 1995 (I'm not sure which) the government has released a new policy that you are allowed to carry up to 3 or 5 grams of pot with you but you are not allowed to smoke it. Otherwise the police can arrest you. Of course, no-one cares and as far as I know, the situation remains the same: You buy it if you want some, you carry it with you as long as you want, and smoke it whenever you like and as much as you like." And the perfect Sunday Afternoon? "It is in July when the hottest sun of the day is slowly leaving your veranda, you and your girlfriend lean back into the big comfortable (and soft but not too soft) chair on your veranda, listen to the birds and have some friends over for a chat, bring their latest records and to visit you. Nice and smooth music plays and there are enough cold drinks and cigarettes for all, and everybody just relaxes until the sun goes down in the distance. Try it out for yourself next summer!" (Sounds like a great chill party! - Ed.)
VOIVOD. Interview with "Away"
Yes, those technical Canadian metal masters are back, and armed with a brand new record and a new label, with Mausoleum Records here in the States. "What was appealing about Mausoleum," states Away "was all the tour support. We toured 4 different times with this album in the States, something we had never done before. We did tour for every album, but most of the times we only did once or twice for each album. We have to be in the face of the people quite a bit since our music is rather different." I then asked Away if he saw the label change and the long wait between albums as hurting them where fan support was concerned, and he replied: "It's like we have no choice sometimes, especially with the label change. Sometimes it's not working and it would hurt the band if we stayed with the label."
"Negatron," their newest release, is heralded by many as a hard and heavy return to the days of "War and Pain," "RRROOOAAARRR," and "Killing Technology" even while still keeping the technical sense of "Killing Technology" and their later releases. "It's definitely a 90's style record," says Away. "However it is true that we retained our aggressive style of the earlier times. Our next record, which we are working on right now, will have a new approach. We don't want it to be like another Negatron, but Negatron was consciously directed towards the Killing Technology era because we missed that style a lot, we kind of got away from it for a couple of albums where we went more for a space type approach. We wanted to bring the hardcore feel back to the music."
Getting back to the touring situation, Voivod has always been more popular in Europe, where they did a few tours. "We did more in store appearances in the European area, we definitely played bigger crowds in places like Italy and the Czech republic, but I will always want to play New York and San Fransisco and other big areas in the U.S. Heavy music is not as popular now as it was in the 80's unfortunately." Now for the big question, one I'm sure many longtime fans of the old Combat bands (Bathory, Celtic Frost, etc.) may be asking: If you had to compare your fanbase or the scene in general as it was in the 80's with the way it is today, or if you played a show tomorrow or another U.S. tour, which would you say would have brought or would bring you the most appeal? Enquiring minds had to ask, and Away responds in kind: "It's really hard to say, I mean even though the 80's were big for thrash metal, Voivod was always an underground band. Except for when we toured on 'Nothingface' with Soundgarden and Faith No More, we didn't ever really have a big crowd at our shows. Some people will say that 'Killing Technology' or 'Dimension Hatross' albums were the better days for Voivod, but the truth is sometimes we played shows in the U.S. and nobody would show up because it was so underground. We always sell around 100,000 copies of every album we put out, and everytime we tour it's always the same friends we meet, so it's allright. Most people would say that it sucks because it (the scene) doesn't grow, what I think is that every one of the bands that we have been lucky to tour with for the past 12 or 13 years is good for us. Some bands will do really good, and a year or two later they will only draw 10 people and that has never happened to us." This is definitely true, the show in Atlanta was great and quite a lot of people showed up even though the place wasn't packed.
Lyrical influences are pretty obvious for this new release, and according to Away, "The lyrics were written in 94-95, and back then we were really into the comspiracy theories (sound familiar?) a lot of these dealing with flying saucers, Area 51, and things like that. On a side note, when we played in Buffalo, Piggy and I saw, or thought we saw, U.F.O.'s in the skies over Buffalo. Even though I had drawn them all my life, it was the first time I saw something that was not normal in the sky. They looked like two triangles with lights on every edge moving in a very mechanical way. Suddenly it started moving in a random pattern and disappeared almost completely over the horizon. You just know what it feels like when you see these things happen, you can feel inside that this is not normal, not from earth. But, maybe it IS from earth, that's the whole idea behind the comspiracy theories!" I then had to ask him if he was familiar with the B1 Stealth Bomber, and he assured me he knew about these planes, adding "It couldn't have been that, because it moved in such an erratic fashion, it couldn't stay in place and move around like that."
As longtime fans know, since Snake's departure Eric has since been handling the vocal duties, and believe it or not, the sound of the new album and the singing style rather go hand in hand, and Away clarified for me just how things progressed, since it was my impression (as it will be yours) that it was the same singer from days of old: "When Eric came in he had his own distinctive voice, but as time progressed and we had to learn the older material, he started to learn the old songs and style of Voivod from earlier albums, about 16 or 17 tracks. It was right before we wrote the new album, and he seemed to pick up on the older style and sound that we had. When we started writing songs for the new album, he definitely kept much of what he had learned about our old sound, but even if he does sound like Snake it is not intentional, but it's wierd because sometimes he sounds like he has two tones. Right now we are writing some new stuff, and we hope to be recording in March for a new album to be released maybe around Spring. We also plan on touring for about a year and a half. There is also a live album that we recorded that we have to mix, this was done at the Dynamo Festival in 95 and 96, also in a club in Berlin and a club CBGB's in New York. Look out for those to be released as well."
Tales of Reefer Madness anyone? We weren't specifically trying to make it a theme throughout every issue, but it's interesting to note just how much it can enhance the creative process, as I well know and as Away is very in touch with: "Hashish and Marijuana was always a part of the writing process for Voivod. We don't do heroin, cocaine, or any hard drugs because that would destroy our creativity. I do think these 'soft' drugs that we indulge in sometimes help, but the one problem is that when you smoke marijuana, you tend to think that everything you do is good, and as soon as you straighten up and read the lyrics or listen to the songs you realize that there are some parts that are not that good, so we always try to do a bit of both to make sure that we're not completely overwhelmed by the feelings we get." Personally, I have done writings under the influence so to speak, and found that much of what I have written WAS great, and sometimes I cannot figure out where I got the input from this from, how I could have been so inspired. "I tend to think that if you abuse hashish and pot," continues Away, "you can lose your creative awareness. There's a certain line you should know not to cross, like if you smoke 20 joints a day, you couldn't get any more stoned, but we don't really promote this, it's just a way of working that we adapted for us. I do have to end this that whenever we write or record a song we intend to smoke beforehand and this also works well before going on stage." (This was obvious from the smell and smoke that followed them onstage during their last touring effort.) One positive thing to note was that neither one of us smoke cigarettes, as Away points out as I do that it's more harmful to a vocalist, however he does take a break for a few months sometimes just to clear out his lungs and get pure. So while many may disagree about the usefulness of Marijuana in society, think back on all the great albums Voivod has made before rendering final judgement. Look out for more stuff on Voivod in future issues.
EDITORIAL NOTATIONS:
We're glad you stuck with us for what has been nearly 4 long years. The TV show we have been talking about is tenatively titled "Doom TV" and has already started working on it's first episode, which we went all out for. There will be an interview and live footage from Stuck Mojo at the Masquerade in Atlanta. The show was quite insane, and you'll see from the footage that S.M. is INDEED Atlanta's hottest band right now, with over 1600 people packing the house and ensuring a sold out show. Those labels interested in having features on the show, PLEASE send us all you MTV style or live concert footage videos of your bands and we'll get them in! The master tapes should be ready in three to four weeks, and we will have at least 4 shows done and on videotape before we approach Channel 7 here in Savannah with the approval for a time slot.
Sorry for the extremely long delay with this issue, we look to rectify that in the near future. Be rest assured that we are constantly moving onward and upward, as the only internet magazine that brings you the music along with the print! As a final note, every stoner should have the following CD's in their rotation for relaxing, trippy mellow madness:
HAWKWIND "Warrior on the Edge of Time"
DARXTAR "Darker"
HACIENDA "Sunday Afternoon"
VARIOUS ARTISTS "Artificial Intelligence Volume II"
HAWKWIND "Hall of the Mountain Grill"
PINK FLOYD "Dark Side of the Moon" (Classic, but still good!)
Until the next issue, remember to support your local music scene if there is one, and keep an open mind!
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