Thought of the day

Tragedy strikes

Yesterday was a black day for hockey.
A plane, carrying the Russian hockey team Lokomotiv Jaroslavl, crashed on it's way to Minsk and the KHL premiere.
No one survived.
The whole team, dead.
And among them Stefan Liv, probably the best goalie in Sweden the last decade.

My thoughts go out to the families and friends of those who died, in all cases too early. And especially to Liv’s wife and two kids.

So tragic.

//Ravn

Note to self.

Note to self:

Working on several posts and reviews simultaneously lessens my productivity.

I will redress this asap.

Most frequently listened to since last time:

- Craft: ”Void”

- Falls of Rauros: ” The Light That Dwells in Rotten Wood”

- King Diamond: ”The Puppet Master”

- Wolves In the Throne Room: ”Malevolent Grain”

- Vomitory: ”Opus Mortis VIII”

- Passiv Dödshjälp: ”Häng Dom”

- Haemorrhage: ”Hospital Carnage”

- Nader Sadek: ”In the Flesh”

- Wormrot: ”Abuse”

Thumbs up and a death-grunt!

//Ravn

A mind and body divided, and things to look forward to.

So the vacation is over, and far to soon at that. Funny, but my mind and spirit is still in that blessed state, while my body is at work. But that’s ok, since things are really slow.

And while my mind and body slowly start to merge, I’m trying to contain my excitement and not bounce like a lemur on speed in my chair when pondering the upcoming releases that looms over the horizon.

Arckanum: ”Helvítismyrkr”

The news about this release came like a lighting bolt from a clear sky for me, and I had no idea that Arckanum’s mainman Shamaatae even had been in the studio. Well I’m totally chuffed by this record, and if the quality is anything close to the last three albums, I know this will be on this year’s top 10… probably higher.

Craft: ”Void”

Six years ago, Craft released ”Fuck the Universe”; one of the most shit kicking Black Metal albums ever to come out of Sweden, and I’ve been salivating for a follow-up for what seems like an eternity. And now the wait seems to be over (barring distribution fails). A greatly anticipated release.

Fleshgod Apocalypse: ”Agony”

According to the faceless voices of the internet, this second album from these Italians contains an abundance of clean vocals and more symphonic elements in their blasting Death Metal. Honestly, this could be a hit or miss… or rather; a cataclysmic disaster or something really cool. Regardless, the idea of symphonic elements together with Brutal Death Metal ™ leaves me a tad bit intrigued.

Pathology: ”Awaken to the Suffering”

The criminally underrated Pathology keeps spewing out guttural Death Metal with zombies, guts and violence. What’s not to like? A definite must-buy.

Old Silver Key: ”Tales of Wanderings”

Hhmmm… what would you get if you crossed Drudkh with Alcest? Old Silver Key. A no-brainer really, since this band basically is Drudkh with Neige from Alcest behind the microphone. Post-Black/Post-Rock, and since I really like what these musicians have created in their respective bands, the ”buy-factor” is a no-brainer as well.

Wolves In the Throne Room: ”Celestial Lineage”

When one of my favourite Black Metal bands release a new record, will I buy it? Do I anticipate it like a withering plant anticipates rain? Do I think that it will land on the top five albums of 2011? Hell yes on all accounts. I have insanely high expectations for this album, and I don’t think I will be disappointed.

Throne of Katarsis: ”Ved Graven”

True Norwegian Black Metal™ that for some reason is reviled by the internet warriors. But I like the band, and seeing that they are about to release their third album, summons the Funeral Fog™ to chill me and thrill me.

Blood of the Black Owl: ”Light the Fires!”

Ritualistic and shamanistic Drone/Doom at it’s best. I’ve loved the band’s earlier outputs and I suspect that this album will serve me well for moody, grey and introspective autumn days.

To quote the almighty Fenriz: "If you think that it's been a bad year in music, you just haven't dug deep enough."

//Ravn

Jex Thoth gig

Yesterday I attended what felt like the first gig in ages (can’t say that Stockholm has been graced with shitloads of them the last couple of months). But yesterday Jex Thoth played a free club gig. Yep, you read that right. Free. Not one penny to get in. As expected the little venue was packed like a can of sardines, but we got there early to avoid getting the cold hand in the door.

And the gig was good. They pulled forth material from both the self titled debut and last year’s e.p. Witness, and that without spacing out in any jam-sessions or instrumental detours (something that definitely isn’t my cup of tea).

given the lack of gigs recently, it’s going to be a blast to go to another one this Saturday, when amazing black/crust band Martyrdöd and the legendary outfit Doom will pulverize Stockholm.

Most frequently played since last time;

1- Alda: ”:Tahoma:”

2- Origin: ”Entity”

3- Seidr: ”For Winter Fire”

4- Seeds in Barren Fields: ”Sounding the Siren Song In Vain”

5- Abigor: ”Nachthymnen”

6- Martyrdöd: ”In Extremis”

7- Misery Index: ”Traitors”

8- Interment: ”Into the Crypts of Blasphemy”

9- Kroda: ”Schwarzpfad”

10- Agrimonia: ”Host of the Winged”

Cheers

//Ravn

Big Four

Yesterday the Swedish State Television (yup we have a state financed television) aired the Big Four gig in Gothenburg in all it's metal packed glory.

And even if I don't particularly care for any of these progenitors of thrash metal (Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica) I found the whole thing commendable.

Generally my feelings towards this subgenre of metal can be summarized in the typical Swedish way of pronouncing its name, "trash metal", but I can't help to be a bit enamored by the whole spectacle; prime time television filled with something that deffinitely can’t be categorized as mainstream culture. It might seem strange that a metal-head as myself don’t like any of these legends, and while I can think of a cazillion bands I’d rather listen to, I certainly acknowledge their importance and influence. Happy that my girlfriend feel the same about them, we had the TV going in the background and checking in now and then to see/hear how these old timers fared.

Sad to say, we missed 99% of Anthrax, and they were honestly the one band that I kind of like (after all, Among the Living IS a magnificent album) so that was a bit of a bummer. But seeing that Scott Ian was at home on parent leave, being replaced by Andreas Kisser of Sepultura fame, I shrugged it off. Anthrax without Scott Ian just isn’t Anthrax if you catch my drift (even if Caught In a Mosh is a song that makes me wanna stagedive from the nearest elevated surface).

What to say about Megadeth? I haven’t got the slightest clue to why anyone proudly would say that they like that atrocity of a band. I seriously thought that my brain was dislodged a bit from the horrible horrible vocals and uninspired riffing. And to give any attention to Dave Mustaine, the born-again Ted Nugent of metal, is just a waste of energy. Yeah I will continue to avoid this band like door-knocking, plague-smitten Jehova’s Witnesses.

Slayer; the band that everyone who’s into extreme music must adore. Well that’s according to the unwritten rules of underground etiquette at least. But when it comes to that sort of scene-policing and ”musts” I just simply shake my head and turn my back. That’s right, I don’t like Slayer. Or rather, to clarify myself, I like two or three songs from the band. But I’ll give it to them; they are a consistent live-band. Tight, aggressive and intense … and not to forget, full of stamina since it’s like they played the same song in the same high tempo over and over again from start to finish (with the possible exception of Mandatory Suicide). As with Anthrax, the lacked one original guitarist (Jeff Hanneman) who was replaced by Gary Holt from Exodus (who by the way should have been included on the bill… who says that the Big Four can’t be five?). If you like Slayer, I guess it was good, but to me it just sounded like a looooong song with some silence thrown in for good measure.

Metallica was like… well … Metallica. They presented a well put together set I guess, but the energy was dampened by overly many of their more mellow songs. There’s no question that they are accomplished showmen, but the whole thing was severly marred by Mr. Ulrich’s shoddy drumming. Or as my girlfriend commented; ”Even Rick Allen (drummer in Def Leppard) is better, and he’s only got one arm!”.

Well, even if I don’t like the bands that much (apart from the earlier mentioned Anthrax record and the three first Metallica albums in small doses), I must say that the whole thing was a well concieved spectacle with the airing on national television, and stand as a proof that metal as a genre really is respected and worthy of public attention in Sweden.

Highlights: James Hetfield wearing a Ghost-shirt, and the fact that E. of Watain fame was in the ”Metallica expert panel”.

10 records and...

Most frequently played the two weeks of June:


- Ascension: "Consolamentum"


- Darkthrone: "Soulside Journey"


- Autopsy: "Mental Funeral"


- Pestilential Shadows: "Depths"


- Peregrine: "The Agrarian Curse"


- King Diamond: "Give Me Your Soul ... Please"


- Jungle Rot: "Kill on Command"


- Skogen: "Svitjod"


- Stench: "In Putrescence"


- Nader Sadek: "In the Flesh"



Oh, and happy Canada Day to all the awesome people across the pond!

//Ravn

The sweltering heat of summer

Vacation must be one of the best concepts in the history of human thought. Too bad it doesn't apply to me for the moment. My co-workers are embraced by vacation's embrace though, which means more work for me, leaving me feeling like a wrung dishcloth at 4pm. That's why I haven't posted recently, but my vacation is looming closer like a semi-transparent mirage, and among other things (such as spending time with my wonderful girlfriend, and later her amazing parents) this will result in more reviews being posted here.

So peace out and have an icecream and a bucket of tea, and I'll be back. Now it's time for me to crawl down to the cool confines of the morgue's freezer.

Beast of the East takes it!

Just want to extend my congratulations to Boston Bruins for taking the Stanley Cup for the first time since '72. You're worth it. And yes; Thomas is the best goalie in the NHL. Hands down.

Five records

Most frequently played the second week of June:


- Darkthrone: "Transilvanian Hunger"


- Conjure One: "Exilarch"


- Haemorrhage: "Apology for Pathology"


- Dead Congregation: "Graves of the Archangels"


- Drudkh: "Handful of Stars"


//Ravn

Watain: "Rabid Death's Curse" (Drakkar Productions 2000)

When Swedish Black Metal band Watain released their debut album, Rabid Death's Curse, through Drakkar Productions in 2000, I had no idea that they would be one of the most polarizing bands in Black Metal in ten years time.
You see, there seems to be two camps when it comes to this band all in all: you either hate them, or feel that they are the one and only saviours of the genre and defend them with an almost religious fervor. Granted, the band's verbose rants through the vocalist E; and committed, and slightly beyond the ordinary, live shows since the founding of Watain are partly responsible for eliciting this kind of reactions, even with the release of the full-length debut you could see a pattern of staunch dismissal or ardent support of the band's work.

And listening to the album again 11 years after its release, I really can't see why.
Rabid Death's Curse is, as far as Black Metal goes, pretty inoffensive. At the time for the album's release, Swedish Black Metal pretty much was a blast-fest with bee-swarm riffing and machinegun drumming, superseding any notion of mood building and melodic sensibilities with an almost Death Metal-like brutality and aural assault, and Watain open up the album true to that zeitgeist with the song "The Limb Crucifix". But it doesn't take them long to break up the cannonade to add more melodic touches as they go along, not unlike the Dissection-esque harmonies that would become a solid part of the band's future repertoire -  and the band keep that pattern until the last song "Mortem Sibi Consciscere" to full effect. And therein lies a problem with the album: when I've spun it to the end I'm hard pressed to say how many songs I just listened to. Nothing sticks out or is especially memorable and everything kind of blends together into an indistinct experience. Some would certainly jot this down as a sign of consistency, but it's not.

There's two main parts in the cause for this: the first is the songwriting. While their craft in that area shows promise, in that they know what parts to include in a song to make it interesting, it's just that. Watain use the same schtick over and over again and while it works for a short while, the album, as a whole, suffers from it.
The second is the production. Black Metal isn't known for its hifi-production values, and well done in terms of production that doesn't matter the least, and can actually work in the band's advantage (Ulver's Nattens Madrigal or Darkthrone's output comes to mind as magnificent examples of this). The sound on Rabid Death's Curse, on the other hand, gets annoying in the long run. The mix is somewhat muddy and indistinct and quite laden with bass, and I, for one, really enjoy an audible bass in Black Metal (and Watain does make it work), but combined with the somewhat weak guitar and kind of muffled drums it gets aggravating after a while and I just zone out. At times the muddy sound landscape gives this listener a feeling that the performance is borderline sloppy, a bit like Dødheimsgard's debut Kronet til Konge (incidentally a cover version of a song from that album was included in the re-release of Rabid Death's Curse in 2004), and that is a bit unflattering and untrue since the performance is actually good. Perhaps not stellar, but good.

So all in all, what we have here is a decent debut album which suffers from unflattering production. The band, who's popularity only would rise after this, shows talent in the crafting of songs, and passion and conviction in the performance, but falls a bit short of being an excellent debut.


Final Verdict: 5

GO BEAST OF THE EAST!!!

Oh yeah... if you wondered; yes Vancouver Canucks got schooled.

Five records

Most frequently played the first week of June:


- Domgård: "Svartsejd"


- Cattle Decapitation: "Karma.Bloody.Karma"


- Watain: "Rabid Death's Curse"


- Grave Miasma: "Exalted Emanation"


- Immolation: "Majesty and Decay"


//Ravn

Cerebral Bore: ”Maniacal Miscreation” (GrindScene 2010, Rerelease; Earache 2011)

My Face Just Got Ripped Off

I’m not a guy who plays computer games, and my knowledge of said genre of entertainment borders  to the non-existant. In all honesty, I prefer to read books, write or doodle rather to subject myself to the ”deadeye”… it’s simply too boring.

So when I read about the Scottish band Cerebral Bore a couple of months ago the real meaning of the band name  totally escaped me (apparently it’s some ”amazing head exploding weapon” in the Turok game-series), and a snicker emerged from my lips; here we had something that was described as ”technical/brutal Death Metal” with the word ”Bore” in its name… how fitting. You see, me and tech-death have a somewhat iffy relationship. When seeing that a band is described as such, my hackles rise in defense, and make me think of bands like Braindrill and Necrophagist; bands that seem to indulge in fretboard acrobatics, mind-numbing note-sweeping and scale gymnastics, rather than writing good and coherent songs.

But these guys were supposed to be good, so I decided to check them out (albeit with low expectations and the same enthusiasm as a visit to the dentist entails). And damn, I’m happy I did.

Cerebral Bore doesn’t play ”tech-death” in its vile incarnation of mindless wankery, but rather modern Death Metal with Suffocation-esque brutality and more than a couple of nods to the ”None So Vile” era Cryptopsy and a splash of old school melodies to boot. And most important of all; it sounds fresh and interesting.

Cerebral Bore has a drive and groove that is hard to resist, and while many Death Metal fans abhor break-downs in this genre like it’s some kind of infectious disease, I certainly don’t mind them if they don’t take over completely, and Cerebral Bore place them with surgical precision. And this is a key element to this debut; the pacing and general feeling that the songs are thought through. The shower you in ferocious blastbeats when it’s called for and have the decency to throw in almost rocking parts that bludgeon you silly, like concrete fists to the chin.

The recording is balanced soundwise, and every instrument is allowed to shine in the performance. I love how bassist Kyle Rutherford throws in his signatures in contrast to Paul McGuire’s guitarplaying, while drummer Allan MacDonald acts like a spastic octopus behind the kit. And I know that the vocals will get mentioned in every review of Cerebral Bore. Why? Because this brutal Death Metal act has got a female vocalist. Without going into a rant how I absolutely loathe how some people judge females in extreme music on the basis that they are ”just girls” (the ”good for being a girl”-attitude pisses me off to no end) or how scantily clad they are, I’m just going to state that Simone Pluijmers out-growls many of her male collegues by light years; she growls, roars and grunts like some primordial cave-bear. And while I can see that some people thinks it’s too much of the ”pig-squeal” type of Death-grunts in some instances, it fits perfectly. The problem with this kind of thundering growls is that they easily become boring in their monotony, but Pluijmers get around that pitfall by utilizing rythmic phrasing and punctuation. While this doesn’t make the lyrics any more discernable, it makes the vocals feel more like a part of the whole performance instead of just being a cavernous background droning, as well as enhancing the aggression inherent in the music.

What makes this record stand out among its peers is the sense of balance, which in my humble opinion is quite rare when it comes to this kind of extreme metal. It’s too easy to just retort to either technical excercises (and by that forgeting the actual need for a song), or to just blast-blast-blast (in which case I’d rather listen to grind), two traps that Cerebral Bore skillfully avoids while obliterating everything in their way. Outstanding debut.

Verdict: 8

Five records

Most frequently played the last week of May:

- Cerebral Bore: "Maniacal Miscreation"

- ohGr: "unDeveloped"

- Watain: "Lawless Darkness"

- Bolt Thrower: Their entire discography actually.

- Primordial: "Redemption at the Puritan's Hand"

And I'm back on track

So, now the reviews are coming along and are in the pipeline, so what can be more appropriate than to post the review ratings for them? That being said, it can't be stressed enough that rating a record (or any piece of art for that matter) with a single number is both hard and somewhat misleading. That's why I see the actual rating as more of a guideline than a final judgement. And if you don't agree? Tough luck. Reviews are subjective, so feel free to post comments and feedback.
I'll also post  the ratings in the profile for future reference.

Time to sharpen the scalpel and head for the dissection.
Be seeing you in the mortuary...
// Ravn

---

Review Ratings:

+ 0: Abominable! A waste of time, resources and material. You have been warned, and I want my time back!!!

+ 1-2: Wtf!!! Really bad I will never listen to this again.

+ 3-4: Bad. One or two songs are worth listening to, and that's me being generous.

+ 5: Mediocre and somewhat bland. Not good, and not really bad... just lukewarm. Listenable depending on the circumstances.

+ 6-7: Good. Something to return to regularly.

+ 8-9: Very good! I love this!!!

+ 10: A timeless classic. Enough said.

A couple of words

I haven’t gotten this blog rolling as I intended, mostly due to the fact that I’ve been busy with the things in everyday life, and ”the man” demanding his due. But I’ll soon be able to shift some of my focus here. Be prepared for more stuff to be posted soon; things both small and big.

Untill then, send your thoughts to the people in Japan, and to those countries in the Middle East and North Africa, that go through more than we in the privilieged part of the world can imagine.

I know I do.

 With a free wandering mind. //Ravn

And the latest from Norway...

This Saturday it was time for the annual Spelleman Awards in Norway (the Norwegian equivalent to the Grammy Awards), and I'm happy to extend my congratulations to Kvelertak (who won "Best Rock" and "Best Newcomer") and Enslaved, who won the "Best Metal" award for their latest album "Axioma Ethica Odini". Both well deserved!

In other news, I stumbeled over this new clip from the upcoming album "War of Roses" by the Norwegian masterminds Ulver. Curveballs is the order of the day when it comes to this former Black Metal band, and February MMX is no exception. Surprisingly good, and if this song is anything to go by, the album will land high in my lists at the end of this year.
But knowing Ulver, you never know what you'll get in the end...

R.I.P.

Phil Vane, vocalist and founding member of  the legendary Extreme Noise Terror, passed away in his sleep the 17th of February, just 46 years old.

May he rest in peace.

Extreme Noise Terror: "Religion Is Fear"

´

Quote of the day.

"What an album! We can now act like six real rock stars and attention-seeking brats."
- Nocturno Culto, on the new album "Oldarhian" by Sarke.

Hole In the Sky

It's the beginning of a new year, and for many people that means sitting infront of the screen and go through the lists from different festivals and see what bands are playing this season.
As per usual there's your token moaning, and "trver than thou" diatribes, with some band not showing up that people have wanted to see.
As for myself, I'm having my sight locked on Hole In The Sky in Bergen, Norway. And things are looking good indeed, even though just three bands are announced this far.
As it stands today the line-up is Marduk, Ghost and Negative Plane. It's really hard to say what other bands I would like to see added to that bill though. It's totally a waste of time to speculate, but I would say that seeing Bolt Thrower play is something that would make this the best festival without competition.
Raising a cup of Early Grave - tea (yeah... Earl Grey) to that!

Welcome!

Welcome dear reader.
Before I get this blog rolling, it might be appropriate to say something about what you can expect from this little project of mine.
Here, I will mostly write about music; reviews, columns and reflections, but also comments about current events and other things I feel deeply about.
Feel free to be inspired and comment, but keep it civil.
With a free wandering mind
//Ravn