Ghost Cult Magazine Issue 15

Exploring The Boundaries of Heavy Music

February 2014 | Issue #15

BEHEMOTH Festival Reports

Eindhoven Metal Meeting & Damnation Fest Concert Reports 2013 Albums of The Year 2014 New Music Preview “Extreme art should be shocking and provoke a reaction. I really hope we are viewed as more than just a Black Metal band.”~Nergal

Ghost | A Storm of Light | Alcest | GWAR | Doyle | Tides From Nebula | Generation Kill | Helen Money | Monte Pittman | Entombed A.D. | Black Crown Initiate | Lamb of God | Slayer & Gojira | EyeHateGod | Norma Jean

CREW

Chief Editor Chief Editor Keith (Keefy) Chachkes Senior Editors Ross Baker Lynn Jordan Rei Nishimoto Content Editors Noel Oxford Pete Ringmaster Contributors Raymond Westland, Caitlin Smith, Sean Pierre-Antoine, Lynn Smith, Omar Cordy, Dan Bond, Dan Swinhoe, John Toolan, Ian Girlie, Jodi Mullen, Christine Hager, Sannette de Groes, Jonathan Keane, Emma Quinlan, Susanne Maathuis, Hillarie Jason, Lorraine Lysen, Kaat van Doremalen, Mat Davies, Sean M. Palfrey, Meg Loyal, Ryan Clark, Matt Ford, Matthew Tilt, Laetitia Abbenes, Leticia Mooney, Chris Tippell, Sarah Worsley, Steve Tovey, Tom Saunders, James Conway, Tim Ledin, Melissa Campbell, FalkHagen Bernshausen, Laurens Ruiter, Helena Rosendahl, Tiago Moreira, Gilbert Potts, Dane Prokofiev, Chris Small, Aleida La Llave, Ritchie HantonRutherford, Jenna Williams, Mark Mikkelsen, Paul Quinn, Stuart Alexander Rees, Wren Leader

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have never really been excited by the thought of New Year's Eve, resolutions, and all that comes with it. Don't get me wrong; it's not that I don't enjoy a raging party, and having some bacchanalian fun with friends and loved ones. I just feel that every New Year's Eve is pretty much the same experience every year with a different calendar date. That being said, a new year always brings a feeling of renewal, much more than a change of seasons do anymore. This is likely due to Mother Nature's recent bouts with schizophrenia across the globe. She needs better meds. But a “Tabula Rasa” – a clean slate can help drive the motion needed to find the next path in our journey.

Another year earned, for some of us, means a chance to look back and over-analyze if you like, a time to forgive and forget if that's your thing, but mainly to gaze forward at the possible. To feel more optimistic, or much more grim, depending on your station in life.

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Now if you are like our staff at Ghost Cult Magazine, you can feel more optimistic and more grim at the same time, when it comes to the heavy music outlook of the next year. 2013 left us as another high-water mark year, chock full of epic albums, sick chops, ground-breaking collaborations, and many stellar moments. This generation of music has its misses, just like any other. However, the last few years have also seen a rise in many new bands to get excited about. At the same time, there are still several legacy acts worth some of your attention, on record and on the stage. We pay tribute to last year and hail the new coming assault of releases that will have us wagging our tongues and oozing from our ears with two new features. The ebb and flow of what bands or sub-genre peeks out of the din, peaks, and then fades away is one of the reasons we still have a love affair with covering music.

We open Issue #15 with a story apropos of the metamorphosis theme, in our featured interview with Adam “Nergal” Darski of Behemoth.

Senior Editor Ross Baker not only delved into the story of the making of the most hotly anticipated album of 2014, The Satanist (Metal Blade), but touched on a few unexplored elements of the well documented Darski vs. cancer vs. political and religious oppressors that few know about.

Added to that mix are other interviews with Alcest, Ghost, Gwar, A Storm Of Light, Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, Generation Kill, Tides From Nebula, Helen Money, and Monte Pittman. We also have great reports on the Eindhoven Metal Meeting and Damnation Festival, a slew of album reviews, live reviews of Slayer/Gojira, Norma Jean, GWAR, Eyhategod tour stops, and much more. As always we would love to see your feedback, hate mail, and wild-eyed political manifestos you have to share. Send them into us at editor@ ghostcultmag.com and @GhostCultMag on Twitter. Thank you for supporting us!

Keith (@Keefy) Chachkes Chief Editor

GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 |1

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TABLE OF CONTENTS January's Five Albums That Changed My Life...by Andy Thomas of Black Crown Initiate Top Five FEATURED Summon the Antichrist,An Interview With Nergal of Behemoth

Ghost Cult Presents: Top 50 Albums of 2013 Albums to Watch of 2014 NTERVIEWS Beneath The Mask, An Interview With Ghost Portraits of an Artist, An Interview With A Storm of Light Beatiful Dreamer, An Interview With Alcest Your Daily Inspiration, An Interview With Gwar’s Dave Brockie Take a Bow, An Interview With Helen Money

32 34 38

Master Of Styles, An Interview With Monte Pittman

42

Changing Paths, An Interview With Entombed A.D.

44 46

Eternal Optimist, An Interview With Tides From Nebula

Still Fiendish After All These Years, An Interview With Doyle Old-School Vibes, An Interview With Gerneration Kill

Dying Arts, An Interview With Black Crown Initiate CONCERT REVIEWS

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48

Slayer/ Gojira/ 4ARM

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50

EyeHateGod/ Fistula/ Livver-Confrontation

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52

GWAR/ Battlecross/Iron Reagan

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54

Norma Jean/ Vanna/ KEN Mode/ The Greenery FESTIVAL REVIEWS

56 PAGE 61 PAGE

Eindhoven Metal Meeting Damnation Festival ALBUM REVIEWS

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66

Lamb of God reissue

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78

Collapse and Crush, Dave Brockie on Comedians

Rei Nishimoto- Senior Editor Iron Reagan - Worse Than Dead Red Fang - Whales and Leeches Corrections House - Last City Zero Within Temptation - Hydra The Bloodline – 'Midnight' (via Soundcloud) Emma Quinlan – Writer/Reviewer AC/DC – Back In Black Prong – Cleansing Alice In Chains – Dirt Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables Nirvana - Bleach Aleida Al Llave – Writer/Reviewer Peeping Tom – Peeping Tom Faith No More – The Real Thing King Crimson – Starless and Bible Black GWAR – Battle Maximus Red Fang – Whales and Leeches James Conway – Writer/Reviewer Behemoth - The Satanist Alcest - Shelter Corrections House - Last City Zero The Isolation Process - The Isolation Process Glittertind - Djevelsvart Christine Hager – Writer/Reviewer Chainbreaker - Constant Graving GOG - Ironworks Carcass - Surgical Steel Blut Aus Nord - What Once Was... Liber III Altar Of Plagues - Teethed Glory & Injury

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FIVE ALBUMS That Changed My Life ...

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By Andy Thomas of Black Crown Initiate

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland

My father played it for me as a child and it hit me immediately. I wanted to play guitar. I still think Hendrix is the greatest of all-time.

2 3 4 5 Meshuggah - Nothing

This album shattered my concept of heavy music. I didn't know that sounds THAT heavy could be made. I don't know if it can be stated with words just how important Meshuggah are in the lexicon of this racket we call "heavy metal."

Opeth - Blackwater Park

Strapping Young Lad - Alien In my opinion, this is one of the most extreme albums ever. It really is the soundtrack to someone losing his mind, and I love it. Devin Townsend, as a musician and person, is someone that I look up to a great deal. He is incredibly honest, and I strive for the same integrity.

This is another album that totally deconstructed my notions of heavy music. This was dynamic, emotional, devoid of filler, and incredibly well-executed.

I listened to it every day for about a year. We get compared to Opeth a all the time, and this album is why.

Tool- Lateralus Lateralus makes me feel like I am alright; like the universe truly is a huge place that I don't understand. The music is intelligent, the vocals are gorgeous, and Danny Carey is a fucking powerhouse. This album has gotten me through some terribly dark times.

GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 |5

ALBUM REVIEWS FESTIVAL REPORTS CONCERT REVIEWS INTERVIEWS

S U M M O N THE ANTICHRIST

An Interview With Nergal of Behemoth

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d am “Nergal” Darski is certainly an outspoken and often controversial figure, yet one thing that goes unnoticed about the front man of Poland’s most extreme band is his humanity and courage. Following the success of the band’s 2009 opus Evangelion Darski was diagnosed with Leukemia, yet following a successful bone marrow transplant and a few months of recovery Nergal was back on the road. Yet, his struggles where far from over, dogged by the ongoing court case concerning charges of “causing religious offence” it seems there were many distractions which delayed work on Behemoth’s tenth album The Satanist.

Ghost Cult caught up with Darski to discuss his health, celebrity status in his homeland, court cases and the band’s bold new album.

On the phone from his home town of Gdansk where he has been undergoing his routine check up and blood tests to ensure his cancer doesn’t attempt a comeback it seemed pertinent to enquire as to Darski’s health at this time. “I’ve just been for some routine checks and test at the hospital and I am happy to announce I am very much alive and well! The fact that I am healthy and I have the deadliest weapon that Behemoth has ever created in my hands makes my life complete. I definitely feel life has more meaning that it did before. I don’t spend my time over analysing things the way I used to. Life seems to be more joyful these days and I know it sounds like a cliché from a James Bond movie but tomorrow is a question mark and we need to embrace today.”

It is this "never give up" spirit which has driven Nergal throughout his professional life.

Unafraid to embrace new challenges it is little wonder the thirty-six year old is already the subject of an autobiography. “The English translation started a month ago and I will see them by February, but it won’t arrive till the fall of 2014. All I ask is that people stay patient because it will be worth the wait.”

The Satanist is indeed a bold statement, which retains all the hallmarks of the Behemoth sound while introducing some bold new elements.

In particular, the track 'The Absence Ov Light' features a saxophone and acoustic guitar. “The middle section was written spontaneously.

The other parts are very radical and extreme and I wanted to add something different to make it epic. I added this quotation from

Witold Gombrowicz, one of Poland’s greatest writers, who was persecuted for criticising Polish society during his life, but never compromised for anyone. It is a very personal song to me, which is hard to describe. It is about my interaction with the universe.”

The quote from Gombrowicz play “Ślub” (The Marriage in English) is certainly very powerful.

What begins as a critique of religion soon becomes a plea for companionship “Give me a man, let him be like me... Confused and immature, dark and unclear…That I could dance with him, play with him, fight with him,” Nergal’s narration in his native tongue becomes even more powerful when he explains the meaning behind it. “The quotation refers to a human being who is very lonely and fed up of God and religion and just craves the comfort of other human beings. It sounds very desperate and emotional and I love this work. I have to confess I listened to this song a few days ago and I had tears in my eyes. It is a very moving quote and it cuts me to my core.”

It is this raw emotion and very human nature that makes The Satanist a bold foray into new territory for Nergal and co. “Extreme art should be shocking and provoke a reaction. I really hope we are viewed as more than just a Black Metal band. We are an extreme band that can communicate our ideas on so many levels.

Extreme Metal music these days is often only extreme by definition. It is a never-ending process of striving for perfection. Too many bands are chasing this and the scene is becoming like the X-Factor for Black Metal.

There is no danger and unpredictability anymore. The majority of Death Metal bands from the U.S.A are so generic, they all sound perfect. It is fast and technical but there is no substance. Bands forget about emotion when they strive for perfection. You should be driven by your intuition and not just be concerned with shredding on your guitar. Perfection is boring and uninspiring. When people listen to The Satanist, it will stimulate them in many different ways. I saw Cabaret at the theatre recently and it was extremely moving. Extreme art must make people uncomfortable whether it is music, art or films. It has to be thought provoking. It takes a lot of energy for me to do this. I remember after my transplant when we started playing shows again. There was a time I thought I was going to pass out on-stage because it was so taxing playing the show and I did not have as much energy as before but now I am ready. I know I can give my all to this.”

Speaking of art, the album cover itself rendered

by Russian symbolist painter Denis Forkas features a very personal part of Darski. In the most literal sense. “The idea of using my GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 |7

own blood came after I was having my tests following the bone marrow transplant. It wasn’t some marketing plan. I did not want the logo or the album title on the cover it would distract people from the artwork.

Denis is an occultist and has a twisted mind, which I appreciate. I was looking for a real artist to create something very true and sincere. I just wanted to incorporate something of myself into the record so I was more connected with my art. I did not want to use a piece of my hair as I haven’t that much left but blood is a very strong symbol. The pact with the devil was signed with blood.

If you sign your name in blood, you become a part of that forever. I know it may sound pretentious and bands have done that before but I have my own reasons for doing this.”

During the long lay-off due to his illness, Darski found himself with time to kill. Months before Behemoth would resume touring, including a masterful headlining set at the U.K.’s Bloodstock Festival in 2010; Nergal was offered a place as a coach on X-Factor style talent show “The Voice Of Poland”. “I am nobody’s slave so I didn’t care about what people thought of me doing 8| GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15

the show.” He snorts when asked if he received a backlash from the metal community.

“I found it challenging. It was filmed right after I got out of hospital and I had not played live for six months and wanted to do something. A singer friend of mine suggested I get involved. Of course, there were financial considerations to take into account. When I left hospital, I was in debt so the cheque was also a convincing factor. If we are not touring we are not making money just spending it and our bills were mounting up. It was a chance to make an impact on this platform too. It was my contestant Damian Ukeje that won the series in 2010. He is a great male vocalist with a strong voice. I will be helping him make a record next year. He has a rock band it hasn’t got a proper name yet but we have done some demos. It’s like Foo Fighters or AC/DC meets Queens Of The Stone Age it’s going to be very cool.”

Clearly his own man, Darski takes the maxim of “Do what thou whilt” very seriously indeed.

Unafraid to challenge the preconceptions of his art by his own fans as much as self appointed authority figures. This belligerent attitude

A CHALLENGING

BIRTH Producing The Satanist

is admirable yet has drawn some very negative attention from the Polish authorities. Just after this interview was conducted Nergal would again attend court to answer the charges of “causing religious offense” which stem from an incident in 2010 when Darski from The Bible while onstage at a show in.

“For the majority of people my art is difficult and I am working in a niche environment I chose for myself and I want compromise that. My music can be loved and hated and polarize opinion. I am an open-minded individual; I believe in symbiosis in the world and do not force my values on anyone.

I understand some peoples' political and goals are to try and limit others but I decided to fight for my freedom of speech. I have the right to speak my mind because I live in a democratic country. The Bible case verdict is actually due this coming week (Editor's note: the verdict was still pending as of our deadline). Its not certain. Its not math. I feel really good about it. I have been found innocent twice so it would be very strange if I go sentenced but nothing is certain in court it is not maths. We have a very fresh history of democracy in Poland. I know I am a victim of time and space because of these outdated laws.

I hope that this court case will give the green light to other artists and we can bring down this law; paragraph 196. It is a relic from a hundred years ago before we were a democratic country!

I hope my case can help rid Poland of these outdated ideas that inhibit freedom of speech.”

–Ross Baker

It has been five arduous years since Behemoth’s towering Evangelion opus.

Having overcome a life threatening illness while fighting for his right to free speech in court having been charged with “Causing religious offence”, a crime in Poland; at least you would hope that Darski would find solace in the creative process free from more difficulties. Unfortunately, this was not the case. After four weeks of mixing the record with über producer Colin Richardson (the man behind Evangelion in addition to works by Carcass and Machine Head) Behemoth dispensed with Richardson’s services, electing Matt Hyde to mix instead, while Wojtek and Slawek Wieslawscy and Swede Daniel Bergstrand (Meshuggah) oversaw production. Nergal explained why The Satanist had been such a demanding record to make.

“Colin was bound to the studio he works at and he felt burnt out after working with us. We are very exacting musicians and even though the stuff he was sending us was of a high standard, it was not measuring up to what we had in mind.

Evangelion sounded amazing and it got us where we are today, but we wanted to have more of a rock production this time around. Colin is an great producer, but we did not want to have that death metal mix so we searched for someone else and we found Matt Hyde. I had to follow my intuition, we wanted to work with a guy who had done other styles of music before. It sounds full of life and very organic. We needed to move away from that typical death metal sound mix.”

As told to Ross Baker GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 |9

Ghost Cult Presents: THE TOP 50 ALBUMS OF Voted on by the global staff of Ghost Cult Magazine. Compiled by Steven Tovey

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here is an overwhelming feeling that 2013 was a “good year” and that the world of extreme and progressive music (the very areas of the musical spectrum that Ghost Cult revels in and focuses on) is in a state of rude health and the true core of what stimulates this publication; the experimental, the boundary pushing, the truly progressive, the interesting, the dynamic, the atmospheric and above all the out-of-or-above-the-ordinary, has risen like the proverbial cream.

The year started with Cult of Luna’s ‘Vertikal’ taking our first Album of the Month award, setting the tone for the year, before things really started to get going in February with veterans Darkthrone, a particularly visceral Suffocation, and Voivod, in their 31st year and on their 11th album, impressing, the Canadian thrashers being our flagship release.

March was a busy month. Though the award went to the prog-opus of

2013

Steven Wilson, it also saw excellent releases from Killswitch Engage, Wardruna, Clutch, Soilwork and Rotting Christ, while Portal took Death metal to new levels. The quarter ended with Steak Number 8 being our most acclaimed release, edging out Ghost, Cathedral’s farewell, The Ocean and Altar of Plagues.

Spring moved on, and The Dillinger Escape Plan took the coveted Album of the Month plaudits for May, in a month that also saw KEN Mode, Spiritual Beggars and Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats catch the ears of our writers. The summer brought us festival season, the new Black Sabbath, Alice In Chains and Amon Amarth albums. While Chthonic, Leprous, Phil Anselmo and Orphaned Land took home the plaudits, Deafheaven and Kylesa didn’t fare so well at the hands of our judges. Chimaera, Haken and Shining were our summer Album of the Month winners.

Heading into autumn and top quality albums were flying around thick and fast. Post-metal protagonists A Storm Of Light claimed September’s honours from Carcass and Gorguts, with Ulcerate, Vista Chino and Skeletonwitch releasing strong

albums in a month where Trent Reznor brought Nine Inch Nails out of retirement. The following month belonged to Ihsahn, who took the monthly award and the front cover, too, while notable releases included Alter Bridge, Trivium, Korn and Monster Magnet from the “big boys” as well surprise package of the year Beastmilk and a great year was brought to a close with Corrections House adorning the cover, and as our album of the month. 2013, was a year whereby both old and new acts helped make it a diverse, extremely progressive and enjoyable one.

And so to the Ghost Cult Staff Albums of Year for 2013 - our staff team have slaved over their personal Top 20’s, with over 220 albums were voted for covering an extremely diverse base. After a very hard fought contest, and a year overflowing with great albums, the final list has been pulled together and a deserving overall winner was decided upon.

1. Carcass – Surgical Steel (Nuclear Blast) British greats return after 17 years without skipping a beat with an amalgamation of all the best bits of their past. Kicking off with ‘Hellion’ tribute ‘1985’, ‘Surgical Steel’ then delves into the kind of grinding riffs that made Carcass one of the best groups to vomit forth from the UK. As the album progresses, it mirrors their career, moving from faster, sinewy, grind material at the outset to breathing, muscular riffage and quality melodic death metal songs, sitting somewhere between ‘Necroticism’ and ‘Heartwork’ this a truly special selection of pure, unadulterated Carcass, with a slew of new riffs, grooves and grinds to

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assuage even the most sceptical of beasts.

Issue 11: “They’re not the young, angry band they were back in early days, but this album proves they’ve still got what it takes to produce an organ crushingly heavy record.

Choosing not to copy their original sound is a bold move for the band, and Surgical Steel still packs the same aggressive force they always have. The bodies may have changed but the instrumentation is just as damaging.” Read the full review

The 2013 Heavy Music Album of the Year: 2. Cult of Luna – Vertikal (Indie) New leaders of the post-metal field show their class Issue 4: JANUARY ALBUM OF THE MONTH “Classic dystopian monstrosity… Records like Vertikal are why musicians continue to create – to grab the brass ring of meaningful art that endures like a scene from a memory. Cult of Luna have finally created a masterpiece.”

6. Ihsahn – Das Seelenbrechen (Candlelight)

3. Ghost – Infestissuman (Spinefarm/Loma Vista)

Progressive, extreme, inventive and avant-garde Issue 13: OCTOBER ALBUM OF THE MONTH “Das Seelenbrechen translating to “The Soul Breaking” in English, sees Ihsahn pushing further into the realms of Avant-Garde experimentalism. Aided by the fine gents in Leprous, Tveitan has crafted an increasingly bold complex concoction of intricate time changes, free jazz passages and snarling extreme metal.”

Read the full review

Surf-rock meets Hammer Horror, creating Simple Satanic lullabyes with hooks literally to die for “A graceful and grandiose affair which pushes their esoteric agenda together with sweeping and timeless melodies. A deliciously tuneful black-hearted affair, this sophomore effort shall see Ghost welcome many new parishioners to join their faithful congregation.”

Read the full review

4. Clutch – Earth Rocker (Weathermaker) Quirky rock anthems are evident throughout Clutch’s tenth, and perhaps best, release Focusing on delivering a leaner, rockier album, while retaining their idiosyncrasies, Clutch have hit the jackpot. Full of bravado, swagger, and high-octane charges, Maryland’s finest trim the fat and turn in a belter.

5. The Ocean – Pelagial (Metal Blade) Increasingly dark and claustrophobic Post-metal broodings “It’s far too often these days that albums are referred to as ‘a journey’, but in the case of Pelagial, it’s an epithet that’s more than justified. Featuring more twists and turns than a F1 racing track, and an abundance of melodic intuition and stellar songwriting chops, this is a more than worthy follow-up to previous material and a record that deserves to be explored and cherished.”

Read the full review

7. Kylesa – Ultraviolet (Season of Mist) Psychedelic sludgers bring the rock on their 6th album Issue 10: “Filtering a psychedelic and shoegaze like warmth and expression through their distinctive sonic mastery, the band has created an album (that) will enslave a new breath of fever fuelled recruits to their continuing artistry and imagination.” Read the full review

GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15|11

8. Gorguts – Colored Sands (Season of Mist) Discordant Death metal masterpiece Issue 12: “Gorguts are one of the best technical death metal bands out there, and Colored Sands is a very welcome return which easily measures up with other entries in their discography. The best thing about Colored Sands is that they haven’t attempted to recreate any part of their discography, yet it is still resolutely, undeniably, Gorguts.” Read the full review

10. Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals – Walk Through Exits Only (Housecore) Intelligent, difficult, challenging, aggressive, unique extremity from Big Phil.

Issue 10: “If you love the vitriolic harshness of classic middle-era Pantera albums, Superjoint Ritual and his other work, you will be thrilled to hear the sound of the Phil of old rise again. This album will speak to a primal place deep within you, and it will have you speaking in tongues.” Read the full review

9. Vista Chino – Peace (Napalm) Kyuss (minus Homme) return with a chilled out fuzzy purpose.

Issue 13: “Given that no other band of their ilk has ever come close to bettering the Kyuss sound, this was hardly ever likely to go wrong, and with the likes of Garcia and Bjork at the helm, Vista Chino are a blast from the past that are surely here to stay, and one that any self-respecting rock fan should thank his/her lucky stars for. Welcome back gentlemen!” Read the full review

11. Beastmilk – Climax (Svart) 80’s influenced death rock captures the imagination ‘Climax’ takes you back to the glory days of Joy Division, Killing Joke, Morrisey et al, with jagged and dreamy guitar lines. And songs. Proper ones, of the apocalyptic post-punk variety with rumbling bass, Danzig-ian vocals.

12. Deafheaven – Sunbather (Deathwish) Transcending black metal with unbridled optimistic swells battle blastbeats and beauty Issue 10: (We may have got this one wrong at the time, but still managed to say…) “Something mystical and transcendent, warm and alluring… upwardly spiralling melodies…. Captivating, intertwining lines weaving a seductive web” Read the full review

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13. Corrections House – Last City Zero (Neurot) Post-metal “supergroup” create something super Issue 14: NOVEMBER ALBUM OF THE MONTH Not only are these men masters of their own individual sounds, they have managed to create something together that is bigger than themselves. Like their main bands, there is no relegating this music to the background. It is so insidious, stark and sure of itself that it righteously demands your full attention. Read the full review

50. GWAR – Battle Maximus

14. Wardruna – Runaljod – Yggdrasil (Indie) Mesmerizing Norwegian ambient folk “The songs of Wardruna will provide insight into Norse mysticism and a peaceful respite from the pace of urban living. The band’s approach to their beliefs and ideas runs much deeper than the vast majority of other acts that share the same genre and it is because of this that the music holds such mesmerising power.” Read the full review

15. Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused To Sing (Kscope) Exquisite, melancholic prog from the mind of Porcupine Tree mainman Issue 6: MARCH ALBUM OF THE MONTH “Enigmatic, multi-layered and breathtakingly ambitious, unusual soundscapes, there is a brooding darkness in the light, definite grit in the oyster… Wilson is raging very brightly indeed.”

16. Soilwork – The Living Infinite (Nuclear Blast) Double-album of melodeath and pounding metal Issue 6: “A whopping two album assault on the neural system, the band’s most accomplished and ambitious work to date…Diversity and memorable songs are the two defining elements which make (this) truly captivating”

17. Killswitch Engage – Disarm The Descent (Roadrunner) Vibrant comeback for the metalcore kings.

Completely revitalised by the return of Jesse Leach, who turns in his best vocal performance to date, with the energy of a band just starting out rather than a seasoned veteran. Repeated short-sharp-shock treatment of the best order.

18. Altar of Plagues – Teethed Glory & Injury (Profound Lore) Much vaunted farewell from acclaimed Irish post-Black metal trio.

Shorter songs led to a greater diversity and focus of intensity in a dense and punishing album that moved away from AoP’s trademark sound too great, claustrophobic effect. Post-Black metal, but not as we know it.

(Metal Blade) 49. Motörhead – Aftershock (UDR) 48. Russian Circles – Memorial (Sargent House) 47. Boards of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest (Warp) 46. Rotting Christ – Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy (Season of Mist) 45. Pyres – Year of Sleep (selfreleased) 44. Protest The Hero – Volition (self-released/Razor & Tie) 43. Black Sabbath – 13 (Vertigo/ Universal) 42. Battlecross – War of Will (Metal Blade) 41. Trivium – Vengeance Falls (Roadrunner) 40. Riverside – Shrine of New Generation Slaves (Inside Out/ Century Media) 39. Helen Money – Arriving Angels (Profound Lore) 38. Darkthrone – The Underground Resistance (Peaceville) 37. Ulcerate – Vermis (Relapse) 36. Watain – The Wild Hunt (Century Media) 35. Alice in Chains – The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (Capitol) 34. Nine Inch Nails – Hesitation Marks (Columbia) 33. Voivod – Target Earth (Century Media) 32. TesseracT – Altered State (Century Media) 31. Queens of the Stone Age – Like Clockwork (Matador) 30. Kvelertak – Meir (Roadrunner) 29. Russkaja – Energia! (Napalm) 28. Amon Amarth – Deceiver of the Gods (Nuclear Blast) 27. Windhand – Soma (Relapse) 26. Shining – One One One (Indie Recordings) 25. Red Fang – Whales and Leeches (Relapse) 24. Intronaut – Habitual Levitations (Century Media) 23. Portal – Vexovoid (Profound Lore) 22. Alter Bridge – Fortress (Roadrunner) 21. Death Angel – The Dream Calls For Blood (Nuclear Blast) 20. Leprous – Coal (Inside Out/ Century Media) 19. Dillinger Escape Plan – One Of Us Is The Killer (Party Smasher) GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15|13

Albums To Watch of

2014

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he last few years have had all kinds of implications on the future of the heavy music scene. Trends come and go, but great music persists no matter falls out of favor. While the great bands more or less remain consistent from year to year, new bands come along to surprise you all the time too. Looking at the following list is not only a chance to get excited over what is to come, but a reminder to brush up on releases you might have missed the last few years. Without further ado, here are some of the albums highest on our radar heading into 2014.

Tombs - The Brooklyn based blackened post-metal inspired mad genius have just completed their new album.

Savage Gold is reportedly a double album's worth of material, and promises to build upon the masterwork the band plied with Path of Totality in 2012. Front man Mike Hill is one of the leading voices and lyrical conceptualists of the last few years in metal.

inspiration for Mike IX Williams and crew. Surely, the recent passing of drummer Joe LaCaze, stays close to their hearts, and might just floor you when they let it all out on wax.

Tryptykon – Like so many others on this list, Tom Gabriel Fischer rarely rests on his laurels. With new music on the way and many international shows already booked for 2014, this promises to be a tremendous year for the band.

The Atlas Moth – Brutal mid-western sludge killers, TAM never do anything in half measures. Their bowel assaulting sonic wave live must be felt in person to be believed. Only to be matched by their mature, cultivated writing style on record.

Behemoth – The Satanist is not just Ghost Cult's album of the month for February, but one of the most anticipated albums in many years due to getting pushed back several times. Not a drastic musical departure from their last few albums, but there are some surprises.

Things just got more epic in scope.

Gojira – News that Gojira was ready to come right back with a release following L'Enfant Sauvage in 2012, is more than welcome. Gojira is a band that strives for the zenith in everything they do. Who knows what lay ahead for them? They continue to make brutal music accessible, and not somehow not suck.

Eyehategod – Long in the works, a new Eyehategod album is less of a release and more of an momentous event. The bands' never ending tour schedule surely has fueled a lot of

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since the group rumbled back to life a few years ago. After some touring fell through last fall, the group completed their new album. Godflesh is one of those bands whose influence is cited by many, but their sound cannot be duplicated.

Origin – Origin is hard at work recording their follow-up to Entity, which was brilliant, and not even made by a completed line-up of the band. Jason Keyser's (ex-Skinless) first album writing and recording with the band promises an explosive mix of brains, and blazing technical brutal death metal excellence.

Fantomas – Expect the unexpected is a saying that has followed Mike Patton's entire career. Patton seems to parse out his time to one of his many projects each year, focusing a little more on the most currently active ones. Last year it was Tomahawk and his film scoring work. This year brings a Fantomas box set, and possibly some new music from arguably Patton's toughest to digest, yet most interesting main course.

Godflesh – Don't call it a comeback,

Machine Head – Of the bands on this list (or any list) how many can say of their last three albums, two reshaped the genre of modern American metal, and the third was the big hit they never had before commercially? Can Robb Flynn and company continue to push boundaries and crush the competition? Their expected first release for Nuclear Blast should unveil the answer to all by next fall.

Nachtmystium – Blake Judd's last hurrah under this moniker should be a killer affair. He has been much maligned and likely misunderstood for most of his career. He’s made

mistakes, sure. But he is also human too, so expect that paradox of extreme hatred/fragility to play a part in this album.

Animals As Leaders – Is djent dead?

Not likely. AAL has done as much to bring back good old fashioned shredding, and inventive guitar albums than the most most adept tech death, and thrash bands that used to dominate this landscape. In Tosin we trust.

Opeth – Was there any more divisive album in 2011 to metal fans than Heritage? Old-school Opeth fans need to accept that the band goes by Mikael Åkerfeldt's will and muse, and not by what the people want. Expect another brilliant album of prog-laden rock with some metal slipped in, and

perhaps a few more left-turns than before.

Thou – The Bayou bashers of Thou make sick, uncomfortable, music for people with a high tolerance for aural pain. They also rule so hard live. They are planning a busy year of touring, in which they will write and record a new album, partially from the road.

Because wood-shedding is for bitches.

Mastodon – Similar to Opeth, fans that cut their teeth on the bands' early repertoire hated losing Mastodon to the cult of mass appeal. Chances are no one outside of the band really knows what to expect from them on this new album, although recent interviews have promised a partial return to some noise and sludge type tracks ca. Remission-era albums.

Summer can't come fast enough.

Oxbow – As a credit to their pedigree, Oxbow is always growing and changing, even when they are not putting out release after release as some of their peers have done. News of a confirmed new album caused equal amounts of fear and joy around GC HQ ,who have followed the band since Fuckfest. Oxbow albums are mental terrorism for your soul. Re-

lease the Kracken!

Exodus – Their last two releases of original material were modern thrash masterpieces. While the band has been on hold while Gary Holt toured heavily with Slayer, the band stayed busy with side projects and writing.

Their legacy intact, they are one of the few bands today who might be better now than when they wrote their classic material thirty plus years ago.

Iced Earth – Plagues of Babylon marks the most consistent stretch in a long time for the power metal titans.

Jon Schaffer's deft writing and leading vision, coupled with Stu Block's pipes of gold make this “must listen metal”.

Napalm Death – Prolific grindcore legends come back with yet another new album.

Rather than try to re-invent the wheel each time, Barney Greenway and crew know what they are, and they know what they are not. There is a genuine power in that, and it's something many bands need to learn.

Wolves In The Throne Room – With the recent EP release of their 2011 BBC sessions, WITTR have come out of their slumber and begun writing a follow-up to the perhaps impossible to top Celestial Lineage. The Weaver Brothers don't care about joining the USBM elite, year end lists, or changing trends. Just their penchant for creating great albums with no filler.

Anthrax – The recurring theme when they talk about the hit that was Worship Music (Megaforce) in 2011, is still surprise, even from die-hard fans. The band hasn't been riding this high creatively and commercially since 1993's Sound of White Noise. Can the band top themselves and stay relevant? Stay tuned true believers!

Cynic – Sure, Cynic will never be the band people remember from 1993.

However, as Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert have proved over and over, it is unwise to doubt them. The fathers of modern progressive metal promise another challenging, technical album with album number three. Plus, you

never know if two years of shows on “The Death To All” tour ignited their taste for heavier stylings.

Devin Townsend Project – Uncle Devy, we'd just couldn't leave you out.

Riding high after years of constant recording and touring cycles, and massive performance art/concert project (The Retinal Circus), the next DTP album will be the Casualties of Cool (Inside Out) project collaboration with Ché Aimee Dorval. After that, the time will be nigh for Ziltoid to return on Z2.

Testament – Similar to Anthrax, Exodus, and Overkill, this is a classic band doing it right. Megadeth, take some notes. With Steve DiGiorgio back in the fold on bass, the next Testament album due later this year has a chance to harken back to the heaviness of Demonic and The Gathering.

Cannibal Corpse – Every Cannibal Corpse record seems more brutal and impressive than the last. The band seems intent on going as hard as they can, as long as they can since they have recently passed the 25-year mark as a band.

Killer Be Killed – Most of the time super-groups are lame failures. But Killer Be Killed reeks of potential greatness, since it has names like Max Cavalera, Greg Puciato, Troy Sanders attached. We feel all tingly like when we heard Nailbomb for the first time. This should be at least very good.

Tool – Tool makes this list every year, since it has been almost eight years since 10,000 Days came out. News of tour dated booked, plus looming Maynard James Keenan's 50th birthday bash this spring, in which every band he's in, save Tool, is on the bill. This makes us mad suspicious. Hmm...

–Keith (Keefy) Chachkes

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BENEATH THE MASK An Interview with Ghost A

s we sat in the upstairs bar of Manchester’s Academy, the venue which plays host to Grunge legends Alice In Chains and all-star Seattle outfit Walking Papers, Ghost Cult is greeted by a member of rock’s most mysterious and clandestine coven, namely Ghost.

What is so disarming about this interview is instead of a habit-wearing disciple of the dark order; we are greeted by a charming, smiling, diminutive yet handsome gentleman who introduces himself by a human name.

As the interview begins, fans are filing into the venue for a “meet and greet” session with the headliner completely oblivious to GC and our anonymous interviewee.

“We have found this is becoming easier,” the man tells us. “Anonymity is not all about wearing masks. If I was sat here in my stage attire we would not be able to have this conversation without being bothered.”

What unfolded is a revealing account from our nameless member of the unholy clergy.

What is it like touring with acts like Alice In 16|GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15

Chains and Walking Papers? They are great classic rock acts, but their show aspect is very stripped down compared to your own. How is it being the most theatrical act on this bill?

“We knew both of these bands before we toured together. They are very accommodating and supportive. We were specifically asked for, this was not a tour cobbled together by a record company. We try to play with bands that aren’t very theatrical because we want to be the odd band. It might be fun for punters if we did a package tour with Alice Cooper and King Diamond but that would not be so unique.”

Infestissumam is a much bolder record in some ways than Opus Eponymous in that you added new elements such as choral vocals. We have heard that you needed to record a choir in Los Angeles as when you were originally recording the album in Tennessee you could not find one who would sing the blasphemous lyrics! Is that the case?

“Yes that’s correct. Nashville is right in the middle of the “Bible Belt”. Even thought there are practioners who can play instruments, they play music styles that are very housebroken.

It was a hassle to find people so we recorded elsewhere. If we had the funds on the first album, we would have used the choir on ‘Con Clavi Con Dio’. That was supposed to have a

“Anonymity is not all about wearing masks. If I was sat here in my stage attire we would not be able to have this conversation without being bothered.” ~ A Nameless Ghoul

do two years ago that we haven’t done yet.”

How did you choose which songs to cover?

Obviously, Roky Erikson has his history with the devil but where does the Swedish pop band Army Of Lovers come in? Were the songs chosen just for the lyrics?

“Actually no, we are fans of that band. We always saw them live back in 1991. The persons in the band are very well known people in the media in Sweden. Their main songwriter Alexander Bard is a very well known public debater (Bard has been very outspoken regarding the rights of sex workers and gay people), there is a lot of substance to what he says even though it was presented in a very tongue in cheek way.“

choir. Much of what you see on the second record is the benefit of being on a bigger label (Spinefarm/Loma Vista) who could give us the funds to do this. That is why the first record had to be done in a more primitive manner.”

What are your plans for the next album? Can we expect a more lavish production and more sections that are orchestral or will it be more guitar-based?

“The new record we are working on will not be more orchestral because we plan on using more of that on the fourth album. We have it all planned out in terms of concept and theme, we just need to execute these ideas. I think we are clear on what will happen, at least two records ahead from now. We have ideas on changing the appearance and the thematics in order to make it interesting. We have painted ourselves into a corner in a sense that we will reinvent ourselves every time to keep this interesting. Papa will be reinvented each time too. He will evolve alongside our albums.”

You recently recorded a covers EP (If You Have Ghost) with Dave Grohl on drums.

How did you encounter him?

“We have many mutual friends in the business. Normally when musicians meet, they promise to collaborate and nothing materialises. However, this time Dave told us he was free and we worked on the EP for a month. There are still things we planned to

Considering the popularity of Ghost, it must be harder to remain anonymous. What is the most elaborate act you have committed to in order to maintain your identities?

“Everything is done on the premise that no one is allowed to take pictures. We do a lot of interviews unmasked as they turn out better that way. Eventually you have to go out. There is always some asshole that could take pictures without our consent but as long as we do not change the way the band is presented then it is ok. There will be no grand unveiling of our members. Whatever we are personally, I do not think it overshadows the concept of this band.”

Indeed your following shows their devotion much like the Kiss Army does. You also have made some very unusual merchandise such as sex toys. Why did you do that?

The dildo idea was spawned a year ago. We come up with ideas on the bus. You have to come up with stuff that is fun and people want.

We have several ideas for other items now we have access to ways of producing them.

Following this tour with Alice In Chains what is next for Ghost?

We will return to Europe in the spring for headline shows with a new stage set. We tour until the end of summer and then we will record the new record. From a guitarist’s point of view there will be more instrumental parts. This last record (Infestissumam) is very vocal. I am not saying Papa will not sing but there will be more instrumental parts which allow Papa to do more onstage.

It will be a more metal record. –Ross Baker

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PORTRAIT of an ARTIST

An Interview with A Storm Of Light

O

ne of the best releases of 2013 was A Storm of Light's Nations To Flames (Southern Lord). Led by multiinstrumentalist/visual artist Josh Graham (Neurosis, Red Sparowes, Battle of Mice) we have followed their quiet evolution over five releases. Perhaps equally well known as the long time artist in residence for Neurosis and other Neurot recording artists, he has also done an array of brilliant, genre defining artistic work that would have our attention, even if he didn't also make music.

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Nations To Flames is a departure of sorts stylistically from most of ASOL's previous work. The slow postmetal tracks are lessened, in favor of aggression and venom the tempos. The music has an urgency that matches the subject matter too. Graham expands on the genesis of creating his new opus: “The entire album took about ten months, maybe close to a year to write. We decided that we wanted to play faster music after we played with Slayer and Wormed last year. We got to watch Slayer at sound-check. I had seen Slayer a bunch of times, but never without an audience. Seeing like that was pretty cool. It really inspired me, the first spark to make a faster, heavier album. Then we started the writing process. We'd put together a rough song, guitars and some rough vocals. Then we sent the tracks to Billy. We all live in different places. Our bass player Dominic (Seita) lives in Rhode Island and Billy (Graves), our drummer lives in Knoxville, TN. I'm in New York. I'll send the tracks around to Billy and he will send back drums, and then we change the tracks around some more.

We've had days when I worked on and edited the songs. Dom adds bass, and we'll change them again.

We just kept rearranging tracks until we were happy with them. I think we've had a better response with the faster songs too. Our first record, (And We Wept) The Black Ocean (Within).... I mean I like it, and it's heavy, but some of it is so...slow. (laughs) There is so much stuff between guitar notes, that it is a little stagnant to play the songs over and over. Even when we are rehearsing, it's mind blowing how fun these new songs are to play. There is really no time to think about it. It's a really different way of playing together.”

Throughout his career, he has been a person sought out by others to collaborate with. How then does Graham choose his own band of conspirators when the stakes are high? Although names like producer/

engineer Travis Kammeyer and producer Matt Bayles, who mixed the new album, jump out at you, neither was chosen on their reputations alone. Rather, they were tasked to join up based on a trust of what they bring to the process: “Billy our drummer plays in Generation of Vipers with Travis. Being as how we are situated not living in the same state, we were struggling at first to figure out how to get the tracks we were recording back and forth. We did the official demos for the last two albums with Travis. Just basic stuff, with drums. They didn't even spend that much time on it. The sound they got, we were really blown away by it. For Valley... (As the Valley of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade) we already had the recording plans in place. We did the demos again with Travis for Nations.., and we just felt it was time to go with him for the entire album. We thought we would just track with him at last. He didn’t have a lot of outboard gear in the studio either. While we were very comfortable recording on our own, we felt it was important to have someone we really had the respect of, for his knowledge. And it's the same thing with Matt. Matt, I just know him for a long time. His work with the ISIS guys, who are friends of mine, and a bunch of other bands is well known. His work obviously speaks for itself. Our friends in KEN Mode just recorded and mixed their new album with Matt.

And the sound of that record, it was amazing at how different it sounded from anything they had done before. He's so versatile. He was able to get clarity out of all of the insane layering that we do, which we've never been

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“The lyrics capture this view of humanity leading a view of the climb in our inhumanity. The artwork itself is more of a focus on what might happen before and after that.” ~Josh Graham

able to get before. It was awesome!”

It would be an error to classify all of Graham's output as “conceptual”. Sometimes what that concept is is left to the listener's own interpretation as a teaching instrument, but sometimes people miss the point when everything is esoteric. Still, ASOL's albums are each a unique concept album in their own right. Nations To Flames tells a very specific tale. A dire warning of the eventual end of times for the human race, lest we fail to alter our course: “For the last two records we let the concepts be more loose and not defined. For the first two records, the concepts were so entirely adhered to, the sequencing of the songs, the concepts of the songs; because of the lyrics was a linear story across the entire record. I think it was keeping the records themselves from being as good as they could be.

After the second record we felt maybe that was too self-sacrificing to the songs to keep to this linear story. We are now approaching it better, and more loosely. As for the current album, overall lyrically, we are looking at the current state of humanity versus the environment and the potential of where these things might end up. The powers that be ignoring the larger issues: government, global warming, pollution, things like that. The lyrics capture this view of humanity leading a view of the climb in our inhumanity. The artwork itself is more of a focus on what might happen before and after that. The girl signifies some hope. Maybe someone younger will come along, spread some ideas and help change the path that we are on. It also of fits with kind of the fully destroyed environment, and surviving after this catastrophic event has happened. Just biding time until this environment reveals itself, or creates this non-friendly environment to people, and they just end up dying out. It's a multi-tierd story.”

True to the spirit of the bands' past body of work, Nations has some great guest turns such as Soundgarden's Kim Thayil and Wolves In The Throne Room axeman Will Lindsey.

Josh talks about working with both: “Actually we sent Kim the full record out and I just told him to pick out whatever he was feeling. The same with Will. We've known will forever. We've toured with Wolves In The Throne Room and he's toured with us as a second guitar player. So we've have a long term relationship with him, I'm sure he'll be back, touring with us again. I love what he brings to the table. The same thing with Kim. Having been with Soundgarden, as their art director, in a way, for over three years, I have gotten to do about four packages with them. I did the King Animal artwork, a few seven inches, several shirts, and a 20 | GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15

few videos. So I’ve gotten to know Kim well. He also played on the Valley... record. This one is way heavier, so when he heard, it threw him for a loop.

The stuff he ended up bringing to the table was amazing. The most important part of it for me was to have guitar input on the the record that isn’t me. I can layer stuff until the cows come home, but it's going to sound like me. So having Will and Kim on the album really completes the palette.”

Even the most talented and confident person in the world doesn't get up in the morning and proclaim that they are going to make a masterpiece happen on a given day. For the true artist, the creative process is not akin to turning a faucet on to high and waiting for brilliance to pour out. Josh talks about how he juggles music and design work without hurting the quality of either, by compartmentalizing each: “I have to shut down writing. I don't like doing that, but once we finish a record, I have to shut it down.

It just becomes too consuming. Then I will start it back up again more formerly when we need to start writing again. When we are actively writing, I am not doing any art yet. I am working on how the songs fit together. Eventually, I start arriving at a place where I am ready to start exploring visual ideas. I can think visually and figure out where the visual concepts tie back to the lyrics, tying them back into the whole concept. On this record, I actually re-wrote some of the songs three times. More so in the case of what I wanted the melodies to be. Some stuff ended up changing to fit better into the concept of what I wanted the record to be. It's definitely both. It's so hard to be focused on artwork and then break away and do music. I tend to work 10-12 hours at a time on whatever I am doing. So to split it up, I would just get derailed. It's not ideal, but that is what I do.”

At one point Josh was one of those artists as well known for the number of side projects he was in, as he was for his main proclivities.

Of late, he has dialed those distractions down a notch to focus on his main gigs.

“I'm working on a dark-folk thing called Crooked Sun, but it keeps getting side-tracked. My hope is that once we get touring I can dedicate more time to that. Other than that, I am trying to focus on the stuff at hand, and not trying to get side-tracked. A lot of the stuff I was doing before, I wasn't really interested in where it was taking me. I wasn't getting all that I needed out of it. That is why the side projects were happening. Right now, between ASOL and Crooked Sun, I am getting everything I need out creatively.

I am still definitely open to working with more people in the future.”–Keith (Keefy) Chachkes

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BEAUTIFUL DREAMER

An interview With Neige of Alcest

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We have not decided to do mainstream music; it is just about keeping us satisfied. If that means changing the music style we play then so be it.

– Neige on the change of direction Alcest has taken.

L

ike the visions of a mystical “fairyland” which visited him as a child, Stéphane Paut, a.k.a Neige, has always been a musician who let his imagination run riot. Driven by his own muse, Neige is not the type of musician who lets the expectations of his fan-base dictate the direction of his music. Catching up with Neige via Skype from his Paris home, the front man is a confident and driven, yet humble individual who embraces challenges and hopes that new record “Shelter” will be a watershed release for Alcest. “The concept of this album is very uplifting. It is about having a secret place to retreat to when we have difficulties in our lives. It is somewhere that can make us feel secure and stable. For me it was the sea. Now I live in Paris I see how stressed people are, always rushing around. It’s important to have that safe haven which reminds us of who we are.”

Neige may see “Shelter” as a comforting place where he is free to express himself creatively without restriction but just a cursory listen to the record will have many of the band’s fans being somewhat critical of the band’s new direction.

Choosing to discard their metal influences is a bold and risky move but one Paut felt was necessary.

“It was boring and very limiting for me.” Neige candidly admits. “I began writing metal when I was fourteen, half my life ago and I needed to explore other genres. Alcest will grow with me.

It is the band of my life and it must continue to evolve as I do. “Shelter” has taken a shoegazing and dream pop influenced direction on this album but in the future things may again be very different. I hope our fans will remain open minded when it comes to our music. We have not decided to do mainstream music; it is just about keeping us satisfied. If that means changing the music style we play then so be it!”

Dreamy and ethereal though it may be, “Shelter” has been shaped by an uncompromising stance, which Neige remains intensely proud of. “We didn’t want to make a tribute record to the shoegazing scene.

It still sounds like Alcest one hundred percent.

The music I make is purely for myself. I do not

make music to please the fans. wWhen we play live I want people to enjoy the concert and we will play the old songs for them but going forward I don’t see metal shaping the future of this band.”

This unwillingness to be pigeon-holed, along with a ravenous desire to challenge his own abilities, has created an album full of light and wonder. Choosing to record “Shelter” with Sigur Ros producer Birgir Jon Birgirson in Iceland really shaped the way the album was conceived.

“We wanted that dirty, grainy indie rock sound! Sigur Ros music has a lot of character and we wanted to switch from the cynical metal sound we had on the previous album.

Iceland was magical, like being on the moon. It exceeded my expectations. A truly life changing experience. It fits perfectly with the concept of “Shelter”. We spent time in our own creative bubble undisturbed by outside influences.”

As he alluded to earlier, Shelter was greatly inspired

by Neige’s love for the sea. Waxing lyrical upon his childhood visions and trips into a “fairyland” has been the chief inspiration for Alcest’s work.

It appears that a fondness for nature is now what comforts the twenty-nine year old musician. “My parents used to bring me to the seaside until I was a teenager. My father and I would go sailing in his boat very often. I guess it left a pretty big mark on me as I missed it greatly.

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I make sure I go at least once a year to the beach with friends near where I grew up. It is these precious moments and the most simple but the most special times of our lives.”

Shorn of the harsh metallic aspects of their sound and adopting a direction favouring light and atmosphere, has clearly been a breath of fresh air.

Shelter has also seen Neige realising another dream, that of working with one of his favourite musicians Neil Halstead of British shoegaze pioneers Slowdive.

It was truly touching to hear Neige’s gushing appreciation of Halstead’s work. “We have tried to contact him for a long time. I was not sure it would happen because he never got back to us. Finally he replied to me on Facebook saying he loved the music and was interested in working with us! He is one of my favourite musicians and having him in the studio with us was a dream come true.

We had to have the lyrics in English for him to sing and I think his performance is fantastic. The lyrics are about dreaming and escaping reality. It allows you to forget yourself and become lost in music.”

The cinematic feel of Alcest’s music is certainly an aspect that sets the Frenchmen apart from their peers. Neige may now disown the “fathers of blackgaze” tag and has set his sights on new creative pastures, with scoring music for film being high near the top of that list. “This is a dream of mine to make a classic soundtrack. I have achieved my dreams of playing in a touring band and making records and this is something I desperately want to do. My music is very sensitive and I would love to score the next American Beauty or Let The Right One In. That film is a masterpiece! Music is all about visions and images for me. I always have mental pictures of my music when I record it so this would come very naturally to me!”

Alcest’s music videos have been vivid journeys into the front man’s consciousness. The latest for the debut single 'Opale' contains much colourful and romantic imagery integral to the mood of the song itself. “The coloured smoke was my idea.

It is inspired by the Indian celebration 'Holi'. It makes for very otherworldly scenery with people throwing coloured powders at each other. In the beginning, the characters are cold and distant to one another but in the end, they find love and happiness. It fits the song quite well I think.”

Fans may miss the darker aspects of Alcest’s music moving forward but no doubt, this explosion of colour and change of direction has been good for the soul. While careful not to dismiss the band’s back catalogue in the live arena, there is one aspect of their music Neige was keen to leave behind. “We compose music only for ourselves and never think how others will react but when we perform it is for the people. I really don’t miss performing the harsh vocals but I love to hear classics from my favourite bands, so I will still be performing these types of vocals for sometime unfortunately!

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I want people who see us live to enjoy it and feel great so I will perform the old songs because I know they are special to the fans.”

Boldly stepping onto new ground while being eager to give the fans what they want live may prove distinctly challenging yet Neige has never been afraid of such things. Looking to the future, how does Neige see Alcest’s music shaping up? “I want to use strings and perhaps samples but the core of this band has always been the melodies. It is important to experiment and try new things. I am thinking of using electronic elements and seeing what may come of that. I feel at my best surrounded by nature. Paris has a lot of concrete and can be very claustrophobic at times but I suppose the fact I miss nature inspires me also.”

Softly spoken and polite, despite refusing to comprise the nature of his artistic vision, Neige remains a dreamer looking to a future of light filled with hope. Come what may, Shelter is a bold step into uncharted territory for an act hungry for adventure.

ROSS BAKER

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YOUR DAILY INSPIRATION An Interview with GWAR's Dave Brockie

W

hat is identity? What happens if the entire world knows your alter-ego, but for the most part only real real fans know who you are? Would you even care, or perhaps even prefer it to be this way? Are you more free to be as crazy as possible under a mask? These questions that have surely come across the brilliant, twisted mind of Dave Brockie from time to time. Dave is better known by his gregarious alter-ego, the mutant sex-slave master from another world, Oderus Urungus of the mighty GWAR. Hellbent

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on sex, blood, mass destruction, murdering celebrities, calling out hypocrisy, and spewing mass quantities fluids on crowds at shows for over thirty years, it's nice work if you can get it. Along the way Oderus has become an icon.

Ghost Cult's Omar Cordy was treated to a very different personality backstage in New York City recently, when Brockie as Brockie waxed on about his long career, his recent album Battle Maximus (Metal Blade), and dealing with the loss of a friend and band mate.

“No matter what kind of shit life takes on your fucking head, there is the strength within you to some how not only just carry on, but to actually turn it into a positive.” ~Dave Brockie GWAR has been a band for over thirty years and Dave Brockie is road warrior in every sense. Chatting with him before the show, he seems incredibly grounded and happy. He's also smarter than your typical guy that has slogged it our for this long playing in punk and metal bands. He talked first about juggling his personal life with the band: “Luckily I'm not married, I don’t have any significant others, I don’t have any children-that I know of (laughs). I think by know if I accidentally have procreated I would have known it. I’ve certainly been the center of a few paternity suits and I was always ready to do the right thing if truly that had happened. Luckily I've been smart or fortunate enough or perhaps I'm just sterile, I don’t know. But so far I have not reproduced myself accidentally.

Even when I fell down the stairs in LA on to that porn star. No, no kids. Ya know, the fact that my family all lives in England (also helped), so basically I've been able to put all my time and energy into this project.

So I don’t have a family I'm leaving behind. Which is difficult I know for most people in bands especially who have kids. So by design I decided if I'm gonna to be the lead singer and one of the leading guys to make this thing happen, I'm going to limit that as much as possible. Basically GWAR is my family and I take my family with me everywhere. It still will wreak havoc on anyone's life but ya know. That's what we do. If people start bitching about it I say to them: “Well how about if you were in the military and you had to leave for a year and a half to two years at a time?” Or even worst than that six months go by and your family doesn't even know where you are? You on a submarine or some special forces mission or whatever. Hardship and deprivation are things we have to go through to chase our dreams. And the crazier the dreams, probably the more you're going have to suffer in your personal life. So as long as you understand that from the get go then you don’t have anything to bitch about.”

When you have as long a career as GWAR does, it's easy to forget that they have had several distinct bodies of work musically. Brockie discusses paying tribute to all of GWAR history, every show, even though it is hard to pick a set list.

“It is tough because we want to play stuff that’s representative of the band from the many different styles we've gone through. We like to be able to play at least one song from every album and that doesn’t happen. So often we'll miss entire albums and we get “oh why didn’t you play 'Fish Fuck?'” or whatever. It's just like thirteen records, at least 10 songs a record, that’s a lot of freaking songs. Its hard to pick out the ones you want to play the best.

It's very hard, I mean all those lyrics!? I mean I’m

really good at remembering stuff. I have a terrible memory for remembering everything except paying bills or remembering someones phone number I mean forget about it. I can pull out stuff like Vicki Lawrence's 'The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia'. For some reason those lyrics will be burned into my brain forever. But even then most of the GWAR songs are so verbose, there's so many lyrics in them I have no idea what I was talking about. They'll be like “well this is what you were saying” and I'll be like “whoa, I wrote that?” So yeah, a lot of review is involved and a lot of rehearsal, that’s just what we do.”

“All GWAR fans have their favorite song, all GWAR fans have their favorite album, and at this point now some of those albums are twenty-five years old.

Which is absolutely freaking mind blowing to me.

When I was a kid, bands would come with a few good albums then a few crappy ones and they'd be done. The Beatles only played live for like six years or something like that and Hendrix, his whole career was over a four year period. Granted he was playing in a lot of bands up until The Experience, but his real time to shine was such a short period of time. Now bands led by The Rollings Stones and others can go on forever. So GWAR's had this get opportunity to continue to progress and evolve as musicians.

I always told a lot of people, that by design GWAR is a band meant to last a thousand years, and one of these days when I get to old to do this anymore I will hand pick and hand train my successor, and “The Son of Oderus” will be born. That way GWAR can continue on into the next century and beyond.”

That day isn't coming anytime soon, however.

Brockie still has a lot of fire left in him when it comes to his place in the world. Battle Maximus may be a humorous story, but couched inside of it is a blatant indictment of our times politically. It reminds us of the old Washington DC punk and hardcore days that Brockie came from with Death Piggy, the band that was a pre-cursor to GWAR: “I'll never forget where I came from. I was lucky enough to be around for the birth of punk rock. The hippie era and Woodstock era was dying out and I was right there for the birth of hardcore and the resurgence of metal. I remember being a fan at the Rock Against Reagan shows in 1989, 1990 and every punk band in the world was playing. They played the mall right in front The Lincoln Memorial. Dead Kennedys, Fear, Black Flag, Minor Threat, and the Bad Brains. It was like a who’s who of bands. It was such an energy and such a rebellion and wit it really had an amazing effect on me, that’s where my roots are.

I always felt like I was still in that same mindset and basically when I turned 18 I stayed the same person GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 | 27

and now I'm freaking 50 years old now ya know?

And I'm still doing the same thing. My enthusiasm is undimmed. If anything it's more vehement then ever. Because as my days as a human become more and more numbered, there's more I want to accomplish and I know that GWAR inspires people.

And as long as we can keep making great rebel music until the day that I die, I've accepted that's our role. Ya know a lot of artists work their whole lives and never get any kind of attention or backup.

So I've really been given an amazing opportunity and I never intend to squander a second of it.”

Switching gears, Dave talked about the lasting effect the death of Cory Smoot in November of 2011 had him and the band. Battle Maximus is dedicated to him. Dealing with loss and the healing process is ongoing: “Every year we will be doing The Cory Smoot Memorial Show down in Richmond (VA). The Smoot Family Fund will always be cranking, and through our fans and our efforts we basically raised enough money to put his daughter through school. It's like anything we do to honor his legacy, we always will.

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“We wrote this whole new album kind of about that. The Battle Maximus is not a battle against Mr. Perfect to save the human race against medical enslavement. It's really a metaphor for how anybody can deal with the worst life can throw at you. Now, finally after getting the record out and seeing that its critically acclaimed, the fans backed us completely, and the fans back Pustulus (Cory's replacement), I know that we've been successful. I hope that inspires people in their lives. No matter what kind of shit life takes on your fucking head, there is the strength within you to some how not only just carry on, but to actually turn it into a positive. I hope that's what we did.”

–Omar Cordy

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TAKE A

BOW

An Interview with Helen Money

C

ellists have rarely made a dent within the heavy metal world aside of being background players for darker acts. The few who participated on those records get far less recognition than they truly deserve and create some amazing sounding music. Then there is Allison Chesley aka Helen Money, a classically trained cellist who has drawn much attention for her work over the years in both the indie rock circles as well as the experimental rock and metal circles. She has released her third record titled Arriving Angels and continues to push the boundaries of dark, experimental music.

Chesley recently completed a show performing with Neurosis in Santa Ana, CA at the Observatory, where she performed her own set as well as with Neurosis.

“It was one of the best shows I’ve played. It was kind of a perfect show. It was me, YOB; B!last, this punk band from Santa Cruz who haven’t played together in a while; and Neurosis. It was at a good venue and the crowd was great.”

She credits her introduction to Neurosis to Steve Albini, someone she calls her friend and hero.

Plus he also produced her records as well. “I did some stuff with Shellac. I forgot about that. I thought about them because of Steve Albini.

Steve got me in touch with Jason. Jason Roeder was my connection to these dudes. He introduced my music to both of those guys.

They dug it and that’s how it happened.”

Chesley’s resume is quite extensive and impressive.

Classically trained since the age of eight, she moved 30 | GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15

from her hometown of Los Angeles to Chicago to attend Northwestern University, where she earned a Master’s Degree in Cello Performance. “I started cello when I was eight. I did classical through college and then in my twenties I discovered rock music. My brother and sister were way into music and he turned me onto The Who. Then I started going out to the clubs and way into listening to rock music.”

“But I never thought I’d play cello. I liked it.

Then I decided at some point I wanted to go back to grad school. I went to Northwestern and that’s where I met Jason. All the way until that time when I played with Jason I was practicing and playing Bach. I would say I have good technique is because I played classical.

I’m glad I did. I’ve got a strong foundation so I could do whatever I want. I don’t really play much classical now. I mostly do my own thing but that’s where I came from.”

“Neurosis incorporated song structure and composition into this dark metal sound. I feel my music does too. I don’t think I’m avant-garde. I feel I play songs that are really dark.” ~ Helen Money Her experience from that era introduced her to many people who inspired her music she is now creating in Helen Money. “I would say it is a logical progression because before I was playing in Verbow, I was playing with Jason Narducy, who is now playing (bass) with Bob Mould and Superchunk. When Jason and I got together, it was because we were big fans of The Who and we were also big fans of Bob Mould. Jason was doing some solo stuff and he was covering Bob’s material from Workbook. We got together and realized we wanted to start playing together. The two of us recorded a record and then we had some other songs, and Bob offered to produce it. That’s when Verbow started.”

“We were always around music that was dark and heavy. I feel what I’m doing now still has some that in it. Even the bands I’m playing in, even Neurosis and Sleep, they’re playing stuff that’s dark and dissonant but it’s got some structure to it. It’s not avant-garde or experimental. It goes back to song structure. Neurosis incorporated song structure and composition into this dark metal sound. I feel my music does too. I don’t think I’m avant-garde. I feel I play songs that are really dark.”

Killing Joke records, Dave Grohl does that. Some of the stuff like on ‘Schrapnel’ I think it’s just Jason. On the other two, it was a combination of Jason and the loop me and Mike [Friedman] came up with.”

Her latest album Arriving Angels took the next logical step forward by adding drums to her dark cello sound that she is known for.

Drums are not something many cello players incorporate into their music but she worked in that aspect well. “I felt like when I was writing this last record I was hearing another texture and drums just felt very logical. I feel what I do is very rhythmic and percussive in a way. I think the drums and the cello sound great together.

With my boyfriend he created some drum patterns and I screwed around with them.

I had these drum loops with a few songs.

When it came to recording, I wanted a live drummer to play it. I was talking with Steve Albini because I knew I wanted to record with him, and he suggested Jason [Roeder]. Jason had seen me play in Petaluma, CA once back when I was promoting my first record, like in 2007.

He knew my music. He was a fan. I had these loops already and particularly on ‘Radio Recorders’, it was ridiculously fast.

He came up with recording with the loop that was already there. He said one of the

She also recorded with Disturbed on their 2002 release Believe. “Yes I did. Maybe it was when I was still playing with Verbow.

I can’t remember the record I came in and played on one song. It was kind of a ballad. It was through a guy who was assistant engineering that album.

He asked me to come in and play.”

Outside of her Helen Money material, Chesley has quite the extensive resume of acts she has recorded with. Some of the people she has recorded with include Broken Social Scene, MONO, Poi Dog Pondering and Chris Connolly & the Bells.

One of her bigger credits includes Anthrax’s Worship Music (Megaforce), with whom she played cello on. “I recorded on Worship Music on two or three songs. That was when I was still living in Chicago. Charlie [Benante] the drummer got my name from the guy who was engineering the record.

I went over to his house and played on a few of the tracks. It makes sense. If you’ve got a cello playing eighth notes it sounds cool with the electric bass. The cello sounds rhythmic and dark. It didn’t sound too left field for me. Russian Circles has strings and I played on that one, and MONO. It didn’t sound too unusual to me.

It was an honor. I was kind of shocked. It was fun and Charlie had specific ideas.

I think it turned out really good.”

Lastly, with her highest of praises of Albini, the question of whether future music or a project with him would ever happen came up during the interview. While he is quite the busy person either producing or creating his own music, Chesley did entertain the idea.

“Oh I’d love to play with Steve. He’s one of my favorite guitarists. He’s got such a great sound. He’s a wonderful person too. I haven’t even thought about asking him. Even though he’s a friend he’s also a hero in a way. It hadn’t occurred to me yet. He’s pretty busy. He’s got his studio and his band.”–Rei Nishimoto

GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 | 31

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MASTER of STYLES

An Interview with Monte Pittman

M

onte Pittman is a guitarist who has consistently been a working musician over the years. Between his time touring with Madonna, he has also been working on his own solo career and recorded a few solo albums.

Pittman did a few acoustic shows this past summer in LA, including an appearance on one Warped Tour date in Ventura, CA. Little did the attendees know at the time that he had his newest release, The Power of Three recently drop from Metal Blade.

He explained about the making of the newest release and finding time to making his own music, including doing a brief run of acoustic shows.

“I have been working on my solo project for the last few years, which is what I initially when I moved out to LA to do. I grew up in Texas. I signed with Metal Blade Records so they’re going to be putting out my album. It’s heavy and I like being able to do all kinds of different styles. Like for Warped, I’m doing the Acoustic Basement stage. But these might be the last full acoustic shows I’ll do for a while.”

He spoke about his solo band. “I’ve got a band that plays with me – Max Whipple on bass and Kane Ritchotte on drums. Kane plays drums for Portugal, The Man so he’s out there.”

“I did this acoustic EP last year [M.P.3: The Power Of Three, Part 1 - 2012] so the first album I did was just acoustic guitar and vocals. I’ve been building it from the ground up. So with signing with Metal Blade, it’s like a new beginning…again…thinking I was getting to that next level to where I’m playing acoustic shows and then having a bass player and drummer play with me, and doing solos. That’s what led to my second album being a rock album.

It built up to this point working with Flemming Rasmussen. He produced the new album and the EP I did [in 2012]. I only had a day to work with him. So we did an EP. I gave him those demos.

I gave him the heavy stuff too and he’s like ‘we need to record that stuff.’ So we made plans in February [2013], I flew into Copenhagen and recorded it. We did it in ten days. We recorded it all live and analog, like you would an album we grew up listening to on tape. It’s got that signature 32 | GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15

Flemming Rasmussen sound, which I’m very excited about. He’s one of my favorite producers.

It’s the way he records it’s got that touch to it.”

Ironically, The Power of Three is Pittman’s third solo album, but the first on a record label.

“This is like my third album. In a way it’s like my first album. The first album is called The Deepest Dark [2009]. I’ve got a band page (www. montepittman.com) and you can listen to everything there. The second album Pain, Love & Destiny – it’s got the acoustic guitar, but with a band and guitar solos. I called the rock album. It’s a really stripped down EP of four songs I did [in 2012]. It’s called M.P.3: The Power Of Three, Part 1.”

He drew attention when he recorded his prior records

by raising funds via Kickstarter at a time prior to it becoming a common practice amongst musicians. He took advantage of this and found new ways to reach fans of his music and getting them involved with his project.

“It was still a new thing,” he explained. “I made the goal as low as I could make it. I made it for $5,000. I got that and I could at least take that and put it out myself. But a lot of people saw it was an easily attainable amount. So a lot of people got it for $25. Then it blew up the very first day.

They put it on the Most Popular page. Then other people were checking it out. This is when bands were curious to see if it would work. So in 2011 I had the most money that a rock group has made. Now people are making albums and movies. I wouldn’t do another one for an album. I would probably do one for a tour. The important thing is the incentives. One of the things that helped it was there were people teaching online.

I had people buying lessons for their kids for a whole year, which adds up. It was a huge help. I played house parties. That was a lot of fun too.”

He is also well known for his “day job” as Madonna’s guitarist since 2001 on her Drowned World Tour, as well as his stint as a guitarist (on 2000’s Scorpio Rising as well as a bassist (on 2007’s Power of the Damager) in Prong. While he has experienced many major moments with her, he has learned a lot about touring and performing in front of larger audiences, and has applied that to his solo career.

“I look at it as she pays attention to details,” he said. “When we go on tour, we’ll rehearse two to three months easily before playing the first show. There’s a lot of times before we play a

show, the band will get together and rehearse a week before the show. That’s one of the differences. She goes over every little detail. She knows how to get the best out of everybody.”

“What’s the best advice – pay attention to the details. I tell a lot of people what is good enough you have to go beyond that.”

From his time touring with Madonna, she has shown her appreciation towards a variety of music, and video clips of her playing metal riffs on a guitar live have popped up on YouTube.

“She likes a little bit of everything. Somebody showed me a video of Metallica from A Day In The Life, the video of them on tour from “The Black Album”. I think it’s from that where she’s at one of their shows. She told me she went to see them play one time.”

“I especially see this when she plays guitar. You see that she went to CBGB's and those places, and she was around there in New York in the 70s.

You see that in her playing. I see her as that type of artist. She could have become a Patti Smith or Blondie. She could have turned out that way, but it’s her dancing. She’s the best dancer in the world. That’s something that really stands out.

It’s the way she moves. Putting that together with performing and singing at the right time with everything happening, it’s history.”

Ironically, a video clip of her performing Pantera’s “A New Level” circulated around YouTube, which Pittman admitted showing her how to play the song. “We practiced it so much it’s not doctored,” he said. “I was teaching her something about focusing on right hand technique, and also experimenting with drop D tuning. Pantera does it tuned down. You can play it drop D and it’s easy to play with one finger.”

“Dime came to a Prong show one time. He was asking if we did the song ‘Cut-Rate’. He was talking about the rhythm part underneath Tommy’s solo.

The thing he was talking about, I was telling her, and it really helped her mentally. The next day at her guitar lesson she was showing me [the rhythm part]. Dimebag taught me something and I taught to her in a roundabout way.”

“It was easy to remember how the riff just builds up. Then she would just play that all the time.

We were doing the song 'Hung Up' and at the end, she would start playing that. You have to remember the rest of the guys in Madonna’s band – they don’t know much Pantera. They just took that music and started playing to it. There’s some people who’re like ‘ that’s not how the song goes…’ – that’s not what we were trying to do is be Pantera – just recognize it as an amazing piece of music, as it is.”–Rei Nishimoto

“What’s the best advice – pay attention to the details. I tell a lot of people what is good enough you have to go beyond that.” ~ Monte Pittman

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STILL FIENDISH After All These Years An Interview With Doyle

I

n the last four decades of music, few bands have invaded the popular consciousness the way the The Misfits have. The original group were only around for a relatively short time, but left an indelible mark on music with their angry, infections hardcore punk. They broke boundaries and helped define the genre of early East Coast, US hardcore, and along the way influenced many other genres too. It’s hard to see that in the sea of ubiquity that is their logo on shirts, patches, stickers, tattoos, and even songs heard in liquor commercials now (‘Where Eagles Dare’), but that is because their brand lives in people’s minds as much as the songs. Glenn Danzig branched off with his own legendary solo career, but his former band mates like Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, stayed in the life, and has played Misfits music non-stop since 1977. Armed with a new album, Abominator (Monsterman Records), we caught up with Doyle by phone while he was on the road as a special guest of the Danzig 25th Anniversary Tour, doing a set of songs from the band he and Glenn helped bring to life in the first place.

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“To me I wish those two would stop smashing their heads together, patch things up and reunite. Then we could make an album, go on tour and blow this motherfucker up! We could shove that shit down everybody's throats if we wanted to. “ - Doyle speaking of Jerry Only and Glenn Danzig

Doyle, who is still the same guy he always was, has changed little over the years in his demeanor and style. He tells it like it is when he speaks to you. While he has been happy to reunite with Danzig for these shows, as he has done over the last few years, he is far from sentimental about it. He talks about being a part of Glenn’s tour and fights about choosing the relatively small set list (7-8 per night) out of dozens of songs: “I’m the first one to complain! He don’t want to listen to nobody, man! I say “Let’s do this one”... “nope!” “Let’s do that one.” “nope!” “Let’s do this”“nope!” (laughs) There’s is no talking to him!”

“I have a real writing partner now, writing with me in Alex Story (Cancerslug). When I am done writing songs I give them to him. I write all the music, I write all the songs. It’s not all music, it’s called songs, because they are mostly complete.

He puts melodies and lyrics on them and they are done. That’s actually how he got the gig. I called him up and he was walking into a Danzig show in Houston. I said “hey man I have these twelve new musical compositions, I’d like you to work on with me.” He sent me back the songs in like two days and that is exactly how you hear them on the record. He’s great. He writes really killer lyrics.”

“To me it’s just like going to work. It’s like packing a lunch, and punching a clock. It’s exactly the same as it always was. To me it’s no big deal. I mean, it’s cool for me to hear Glenn sing them again, but to me it’s all the same. I could probably play all of these songs blindfolded and riding a unicycle, and I’ve never rode a unicycle before. (laughs)”

“See, I write all the music in my band. That is my rule in my band, I write all the music. If you come in to rehearsal with a song, you go home with that song. I write the riffs in my band. I write all the songs. I play all the guitars, drums and bass. I programed all the drums, before Dr. Chud came in and recorded them. I basically put it all together and hand it over to you. Here’s the blueprint of it! Then I tell Alex to do with it whatever the fuck he wants after that. I have it worked out how it should go in my mind, but I give it to him to finish because he’s a genius. He works at his house, I work at my house, and that is it!”

“I have a lot of fun on the road with these Danzig shows man. The crowds are great and we have a lot of fun. Of course, I’m on the road so much, I can’t remember where I was last night! (laughs) I am playing just with Danzig set for a Misfits set, only, on this tour. It’s a lot easier than playing with my old band. We have the new Doyle band now. We’ll plan a tour with my band, some place warm during the winter months. The big shows in Europe with Danzig were pretty cool. Like huge crowds of over 100,000 people. It’s insane!”

Speaking of the legendary strife and split that broke up The Misfits in 1983 and led Danzig to first form Samhain, and then his own band, Doyle is very candid when it comes to talk the prospects of his brother Jerry Only and Glenn someday patching things up.

“To me I wish those two would stop smashing their heads together, patch things up and reunite.

Then we could make an album, go on tour and blow this motherfucker up! We could shove that shit down everybody’s throats if we wanted to. “ Still, Doyle is focus on the present and future, as much as he protects his own history. He spoke at length between the difference between his past attempts at having a band and the current group comprising the Doyle band now, the process he goes through to create new music, and having to cut himself off from making too many new songs at once:

“We started writing in 2008 and we stopped in 2012. We actually recorded it ourselves, in our own studio. We went out and bought all the gear, learned how to use it all, learned Pro-Tools and everything. Chud did the drums. I did all the bass and guitars, and Alex did the vocals. We wrote 38 songs, and we have over three albums worth of material in the can. We’re back in the studio to go back to recording. They are just waiting on me to finish my tracks and then we will have the second album all done. Then when that is done, I might just do some more writing to give the third album to get more of a different vibe going. I kind of have to stop sometimes. I write all the time, so I really need to stop myself. I stopped, because I wanted to finish this new record first. It kind of drives me nuts, but I don’t like to start something else until I finish off the last thing. Once we get off the Danzig tour, I’m gonna map out the rest of the songs. We have four more new ones completed and a bunch of others ready to go.”

One thing Doyle takes great pride in, is that many have tried but few can replicate his classic guitar tone, that really, other than some volume and some improvements in EQ, hasn’t really changed much in all these years. The guitars on GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 | 35

Abominator sound as crisp and killer as ever. Of course, everyone in music that Doyle meets asks him how he does it. He shares his secret with us: “You know what it is? Everybody asks me how I get that sound. James Hetfield asked me. Scott Ian asked me, “what the fuck do you use?” It’s not what I use., it’s how I hold my guitar. If Eddie Van Halen played through my rig, he would sound like Eddie Van Halen. If I played through his rig, I would sound like me. Everybody holds the guitar the same way, but I hold the neck and my pick differently. I hold the guitar neck so high and so hard, my fucking left hand always bleeds. Whoever is playing it, that is how they sound if they hold it that way. One time Johnny Thunders plugged into my brother’s bass rig and he sounded like Johnny Thunders. He was like, “what the fuck!?!” But that is what it is. Most people just sound like themselves.”

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When discussing his decision to create his own record label, Monsterman Records, Doyle cuts right to the chase about why: “My theory is that everybody should be out for themselves when it comes to record labels.

You wind up making 7 cents a record for the whole band, for over ten years, until you recoup. You spend the rest of your life paying those guys back for nothing. Now you put it out by yourself, and you make seven dollars a record right now. You don’t even need to sell a bunch bunch of records to get paid. And that is why we put out the record ourselves.

And the labels did this to themselves. It’s their own fucking fault!”–Keith (Keefy) Chachkes

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OLDSCHOOL VIBES An Interview With Generation Kill 38 | GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15

R

ob Dukes is one of the more interesting guys in heavy music. Plucked from near obscurity to be the front man of the most influential thrash band ever, Exodus, he has never been one to boast about himself. In the ten years he has been in the band, they are bigger than they ever were, putting out new classics such as The Atrocity Exhibition, Exhibit A and Exhibit B: The Human Condition.

In the meantime since those albums were released, Dukes put together a side project, Generation Kill, which is not quite a super group, but does have a who’s who of New York state metal and hardcore talents (Meurarder, Pro-Pain, M.O.D., Mutilation). With a new album out, We’re All Gonna Die, and a new label (Nuclear Blast), Dukes chatted with Ghost Cult about the making of the new album, musical diversity, and a status update on the next Exodus record.

We caught up with Dukes from home on a quiet Sunday morning. He was really friendly and excited to talk about the differences between the first Generation Kill album Red, White, and Blood, and the new one: The first one, I look back on it now, the difference was I am more hands on now. The first one I was touring much more with Exodus at the time.

We recorded it over three different recording sessions. Three different spaces in time. On that one, I really only wrote three of the songs with the guys. And the rest they wrote, sent me the final product, I put vocals on it, and we were done. I had a hand in writing 'Red White, and Blood' and 'Dark Days' I wrote on the acoustic guitar. But for the most part I thought it was cool to have a group of friends get together. And at the time I had a nice recording studio with a sound booth in my house. I said “let's just start recording shit!” That's how this band started.

This album we were all together for all of it.

We wrote it all together at one time. We knew who was going to record it the whole time.

We worked really hard in the months leading up to the recording. We sent demos back and forth the entire time to the producer. I had a vision in my head of how I wanted it to go the entire time. Sometimes that vision doesn't add up. But it definitely exceeded my expectations for what I wanted to do.

There were some lineup changes in Generation Kill in the few years between albums. Now the it's a much tighter group of friends making music together and seems to be more like a band, rather than a side project.

We started off a little better this time around.

I changed drummers, because I know Jim (DeMaria) my entire life. He is one of my best friends. Sam (Inzerra) is great, but he is a death metal drummer who wanted to play fast all the time. And I'm from the old Cliff Burton school that says you don't have to play fast, to play heavy. Adding Jim in the band makes the band more dynamic and to be able to do the things we wanted to do. Sam is a great drummer, but I wanted Jim in the band. Jim was our original choice, but he couldn’t do it at the time As far as Velez, Velez is just a superior songwriter compared with the last guy. That guy was just kind of a mess personally. We wanted to go with someone more stable mentally.

Jason is another guy, I know most of my life, since high school. He has always been a good guy and a good guitar player. When he came back in the fold, I didn't know how much he had been playing or anything. We gave him a shot, and he came in and he killed it.

GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 | 39

The band definitely has an 80s/90s New York hardcore and metal pedigree with its members. Dukes dispels the idea that the band is a super group or that it is limited musically to the musical history of its members.

Moschetti, he gets the whole hardcore deal, because of the bands he was in. but I knew Rob before, when he was starting out, he was much more of a Metallica and Suicidal Tendencies guy.

He was playing in a band playing, Mutilation, at the time and he got a job playing for M.O.D. So he got the chance to join M.O.D. And to play music for a living, and not have a regular job.

That was awesome for him. So of course people are going to call us a hardcore band, because we are all bald because we've lost our hair. (laughs) Of course we are all from New York, so people will make that assumption. But we are all just old-school metalheads. One of the covers we were going to do for the album was 'Charlotte the Harlot'. Maiden and Priest always did a ton of mellow stuff. Listening to Sirius radio as often as I do; I am not taking anything away from the new bands, and a lot of them are great. But they all sound very similar. I thought let's just do what we like doing. So we not only wrote songs we like playing, but stuff we wanted to hear.”

Let me put it this way, I'm already in a thrash band. So if I was going to get some guys together, I wanted to do something different. Also the object of this band was this, I am already in Exodus. Let's do something different. I am an old-school doom fan. I'm a doom guy. I love bands like Kyuss, Clutch and Orange Goblin, old-school Sabbath, bands like that. When you hear a song like 'Death Comes Calling', I wrote that one on the guitar. I am not a very good guitar player, but everyone once in a while I come up with a riff the other guys like. We mixed a lot of different styles together and it shows.

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I just wanted to hear stuff like what I love. I even hear some Rush and Pink Floyd in there.

Rob's vocal performance on We're all Gonna Die, is nothing short of astounding to those who only know him screaming on Exodus albums, and his renditions of their thrash classics live. Able to explore different vocal styles and different types of songs was liberating to him:.

“You know exactly what Exodus is going to give you when you hear the record. It's the same thing with an AC/DC record or a Pennywise record.

When you get an Exodus record, you know it will be fast, crazy, and weird riffs. Gary is one of the most prolific songwriters in metal. Listen to the diversity in the riffs on the albums, it's not the same thing over and over again. But at the same time it's always thrash, and it's always full bore. With Generation Kill I want to do different things. Honestly thrash, that is part of my life, but not all of me. This band is part of the way I do. I didn’t plan on being on a label and making records. I was just hanging out with my friends in New York. None of us really party or drink and do drugs. Maybe just have some fun, play some songs and drink a couple of beers and smoke a little weed. How we got here today... we just said “let's do it, fuck it!” (laughs). To be even able to sing different styles, it's just what I do. I didn't know I could even be the singer of Exodus. I never did it before in my life really. I showed up, was given an audition, and made. it. But with this band I thought “let's do different things, experiment, and try stuff and see what works.”

Chris “Zeuss” Harris produced the album.

Even though he wasn't the original first choice for the job, her certainly delivered a great sound to match these fine songs: “He was amazing dude. Honestly, me and him

“I had a vision in my head of how I wanted it to go the entire time. Sometimes that vision doesn't add up. But it definitely exceeded my expectations for what I wanted to do.” ~ Rob Dukes have been friends for about ten years. When I first joined Exodus on the first tour, I met him.

We have always spoken periodically and stayed in touch. I had Peter Tägtgren all lined up to record this album. Peter was home, on a break from Hypocrisy. And we were all set for Peter and he had the time, but we just couldn’t afford him.

We had just opted out of our deal with Season of Mist. Anyway, it was really expensive to go to Sweden to do the record. I called him up and said, “Peter I can afford you man.” And I asked him what he thought of Zeuss, and he said oh, that guy is great, go for it. We paid for the recording ourselves. And having Zeuss on board was great.

He was a similar guy, the same age like us, who played guitar and had similar influences. We said let's write eight songs. We'll keep it short and to the point, and do the best eight songs we can do. Zeuss said he would help us trim the fat.

He was great a director for us get the record out we wanted to. He let me do whatever I wanted.

He let me do overdubs, and triple voices. I said hey I want to do something Beatles-esque, and he was all for it. Any idea I had in my head, he let me try it. And if it didn't work, he said so. But it was great to have that kind of freedom. We were stoked to do be doing a record together.”

The band spent some time last summer in Europe opening up for Heathen. We asked how will Generation Kill will find the time to tour extensively in the USA with Dukes and others so busy?

“I'm doing a new record with Exodus in February.

So it's going to be March or April, maybe next summer or next fall. This band will have to tour when Exodus is not on the road. One good thing about Gary, since Gary has been so busy with Slayer, there is a lot of free time now. I've been talking to to some bands, talking to Orange Goblin about doing a tour. I've been talking to Death Angel. I'm hoping to do a good 6-8 week tour of the U.S. and Canada. Do this small thing, do it in a van, and do it the old way.

Eventually talk of the status of Exodus, could not be avoided. When we last saw the band in person, on the 2013 Metal Alliance Tour, several members of the band expressed doubt as to when the next album from the venerable band would see the light of day. Now we have word of a confirmed writing, and recording sessions. A release is already planned for next summer/early fall: Absolutely. We have wanted to get back to the studio and write and record. They are doing that now. Rehearsing and working on shit, while Gary is on the road. We just built a new studio and they have been rehearsing.

They are writing and writing and writing, and I will join them in mid- January. And we'll record in February. I don't know who is producing, I don't know any information, but I know we'll be making a new record.

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CHANGING PATHS An Interview With Entombed A.D.

F

rom humble beginning as Nihilist to the mega band of today, Entombed have forged a place in the metal elite to an extent that most bands can barely dream of. Little did we know when conducting this interview, that Entombed founding member, vocalist Lars Petrov was about to announce stepping out of the band and reforming in a new guise, Entombed A.D. Their latest album Back to the Front will be released under Entombed A.D, leaving original members Alex Hellid and Ulf Cederlund the old name and old material. Chatting to Ghost Cult magazine, Petrov talks about 23 years of death metal and everything Entombed had come to be known for over the years: hate, killing, Satan, and more hate.

It’s been 23 years since the release of left hand path, where do you find the inspiration from to keep writing after all this time?

Life. That’s what we were born to do. Every song is a step forwards so for me that’s what keeps us going. After 23 years still seems fresh.

A newborn kid every day, every morning.

How do you keep your sound new with each album?

We don’t think that much about it, you do riffs and you put them together, your excited and you get goose bumps. That’s when you know it’s right; it sounds good. We just make it and record it. You can always do a song and then be picky and rearrange, you can do that for years without completing it so we just say ‘sounds fine, lets make it.’

Entombed is one of those bands that every death metal fan has heard of. How do you feel about your success over the years?

Yeah, it’s great. When we play shows there’s a lot of people turning up and they see that we have a 42 | GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15

good time on stage. We don’t see it as a routine.

Every show and every album we do is because we love it. If it becomes routine it gets boring, but it hasn’t happened yet so that’s a good sign.

We just do what we do, particularly now that it’s been 6 years between albums. I don’t know what we’ve been doing, we should have done one more album in between but we kept changing paths.

Despite being Swedish, you sing in English. Have you ever thought about doing an album in your native tongue?

No. I think that would sound ridiculous. Swedish doesn’t go well with death metal vocals. I’m going red just thinking about it actually.

You’ve just finished your 10th studio album, Back to the Front, how do you feel it turned out?

I think it turned out fucking great actually. When we started doing the songs that was about 5 or 6 months before we entered the studio. We were not distracted; we were just working fast and efficient.

I like the songs and the sound of the album.

The producer, Roberto Laghi, he didn’t want to change our sound drastically; he knew what we were after. He took the time to mix it his way but combine with the old school sound. I think it’s the perfect album for where we are right now.

Back to the front has obvious military connotations. Could you tell the readers what kind of lyrical ideas are running through this album?

Basically it’s the usual song ideas; killing with a little bit of Satan. There’s a great feeling of hate, positive hate, and there’s the total war theme. It’s up to the reader really, we can mean something with a lyric but it can mean something different to someone else. It’s a very open ended interpretation. It’s hard to say what the lyrics mean for the songs because there are so many other opinions, so we leave it up to the listener.

There’s been a 6-year gap since your last album.

Why such a long gap?

Yeah as I said this album is long overdue. We should have done at least one in between, but we’re actually getting older and time goes faster. Some members of the band have had kids so that’s why we’ve waited so many years, but we’ve been touring. Eventually we sat down and made a plan and just said ‘lets do this.’

The artwork for the album is very interesting. Tell us a little about it.

We found this great guy from Poland, Bielak, he’s done some previous artwork for Watain and Ghost so we asked him to do the album and he was really excited. We just gave him free reign basically. He came up with a drawing and we were like ‘OK, we’ll take it’. It looks good and that’s the cool thing about art, we don’t think about it that much, if it gets the result and we like it, we take it.–Caitlin Smith GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 | 43

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ETERNAL OPTIMISTS

An Interview with Tides From Nebula

P

oland has always been a country that favored the most extreme end of the metal spectrum.

Historically, you could not argue against this with some of the top luminaries in the genre claiming the motherland as their home. However, three albums into their career Tides From Nebula have become a postrock force to be reckoned with. Years from now we might be talking about how one band defined a generation of bands in this country. Drawing influence from and comparisons to ISIS, Jesu, and tour-mates The Ocean, the band has dropped one of the most impressive albums of the last year with Eternal Movement (Mystic/ SPV). Raymond Westland caught up with Maciej Karbowski from the road last fall to discuss the band.

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Tides From Nebula is currently touring with The Ocean, Hacride and Shining (NOR). How are things going so far and how it is like to be part of this brilliant touring package?

It's still a bit of an unknown, but we are pretty sure it's going to be a blast. We have a deep respect for all the bands involved, really looking forward to playing with these guys!

Earthshine is a tough act to follow in terms of overall quality. Was it difficult for you guys to come up with an equally high quality followup record? How did you work around this?

It was easier than it may seem. We've been quite relaxed and we only wanted to create some cool new music, no rules or deadlines. Actually it was a lot easier than it was with Earthshine.

What I really admire Eternal Movement is how do you manage to use so many layers and textures in your music, but it never gets overwhelming. What's your secret?

Thanks! Good to hear that man! We are demoing a lot to make things clear and to be sure that the recorded version is as good as the one in rehearsals, you know, the loud one. If it is, we're safe!

Can you take us through the motions of writing and recording Eternal Movement?

What were you guys aiming for?

We never plan anything when it comes to music.

We just tried to write the best songs we could and try to have the best feeling, that feeling that tells you these are the best so far. Our mood during the writing sessions was really positive, so we have most optimistic album to date, and we really love that. I can’t say we won't write something darker in the future.

Which other (instrumental) post rock/ metal bands do you admire and why?

Caspian, they are our friends, and their attitude

is just so perfect, do your best no matter what. if it's 20 people at the show or if it's 600. We call it the BOSTON ATTITUDE, haha. I kinda personally love 65daysofstatic, because of how they use electronic stuff in their music.

Poland is very well represented as far as extreme metal goes, but is there something of post rock/metal scene in your home country?

If so, what are the bands to look out for?

Probably we are one of the first bands here to make such music, but after us a lot more started to play instrumental stuff. We think that the Polish post-rock scene will grow and grow.

Your home country is fairly conservative and religion still has a massive influence in daily live. What experiences do you have with this and how does it influence the way Tides From Nebula and your music is perceived in Poland?

It does not, I hope. We have nothing against spirituality itself, but religion might be used for the wrong purposes. You should ask Behemoth, they've been in trouble several times, people just don't get it, it's ART man.

It was never easy to make a living as a musician, but it seems next to impossible nowadays. How do you guys get by and what is your opinion on the current state of the music industry?

I have nothing against the internet thing, sometimes it could help promote music and spread the word. We have a kinda comfortable situation, going around Europe means we are getting Euros, cool isn't it?

Besides the current tour what other touring plans do you have in support of the new album?

Our label outside Poland SPV is doing their best to promote our new child, I hope it's going to be alright. We will have our own headline tour next year.

–Raymond Westland

“ Our mood during the writing sessions was really positive, so we have most optimistic album to date, and we really love that. I can’t say we won't write something darker in the future.”

~Maciej Karbowski

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DYING ARTS An Interview With Black Crown Initiate

B

lack Crown Initiate is one of the most interesting stories in heavy music right now. On the strength of their impressive, self-released EP Song of the Crippled Bull, they have made serious waves in the underground. They aren’t going to be a secret anymore since they were added to The Metal Alliance Tour, which was just announced before this interview. Ghost Cult Chief Editor Keith Chachkes caught up with guitarist/vocalist Andy Thomas about the big news, the pressure of new challenges, and the upcoming next record from the band.

Congratulations on landing a spot on The Metal Alliance Tour! Tell us about how you got involved and why people should show up early to see you.

Thank you very much. This has all happened so quickly. We put out the EP, and it was received very well. Within a few months, some very notable people in the industry were reaching out to us, and the rest is history. We are beyond excited to hit the road with these amazing bands, many of which we have admired for years. People can expect an energetic live performance of our material; including a new song. We are hungry and completely ready for this opportunity. We also feel that, musically, we offer something a bit different from the rest of the bands on the tour. That being said, every band is different and awesome in their own way. If you like us already, you’ll have a great time. We also hope to make some new fans and friends.

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It seems like you guys have come out of nowhere in a short span of time. Do you mind walking us through a brief history of the band?

I know it seems that way from the outside, but to us it feels quite different. We have all been playing in bands, together and separately, for years. It took a long time for all of us to come together and form the lineup that we have, one that I am beyond stoked to have intact. Nick (Shaw, bass) and I have been playing together for about 5 years. Rik (Stelzpflug, guitar & vocals) and I basically taught each other to play guitar. We have played in bands together since like 2005 and have always pushed each other to go further on our instruments. I wouldn’t be half the player I am if I hadn’t met him. As a result, our writing styles are eerily similar. The same holds true for Nick. Our writing team is bulletproof, and we never run out of ideas. Speaking

“I was tired of playing in technical death metal bands, where musical and emotional quality was overshadowed by boneheaded technicality.” ~Andy Thomas, Black Crown Initiate

of experience, Jesse (Beahler, drums) has toured all over the place with Jungle Rot and Rings of Saturn, so he is DEFINITELY not new to this whole deal. He actually wrote the EP with us, even though we had another drummer for a bit. James (Dorton, vocals) has been singing and developing his incredible vocal skills for well over a decade, and he has been in multiple bands with all of us. The moral of the story is this: none of us are rookies, fate finally brought us together, we are hungry, and we are willing and able to destroy.

Even the name of the band evokes a mystery theme.

Care to elaborate?

The name of the band is completely intentional, and I actually had it when I brought up the idea to start the band with James and Nick. In Tibetan Buddhism, the Karmapa, a high ranking spiritual leader, wears the black crown as a symbol of light and compassion for humanity. Admittedly, I carry an incredibly bleak world-view. Musically and lyrically, the music is very personal to me; it comes from a very dark place. I believe that in our perverted “modern” world, the only hope for people to see any truth and therefore hold any hope of waking up, we must be shown how terrible the world we’ve helped create truly is. I meet people daily who live on clouds it seems, in a dream world where everything is beautiful and great, while our family members travel to other countries and slaughter innocent children. It sickens me.

For an EP release, Song Of The Crippled Bull, is remarkably complex and polished. How long did it take to write and record?

Honestly, I was tired of playing in technical death metal bands, where musical and emotional quality was overshadowed by boneheaded technicality. The EP was written with a certain amount of accessibility in mind, and we wanted it to be emotional before anything else. We wrote it over about 6 months and recorded in 3 days with Carson Slovak at Atrium Audio. We love Carson, and would surely recommend him to any band.

Rarely does our staff agree completely on new bands, but our reviewer glowed about you guys and another staffer called you one of the most important bands in 2014. Do you feel pressure to live up to the praise the band has been getting?

We are beyond thrilled that people enjoy our music. That being said, the EP is simply us doing what we know how to do. We wrote and recorded it without any expectations, and released it not know if anyone would give a shit. With Rik, Nick, and myself writing together, we are very

confident that the album will crush. The only pressure we feel is our own, and that is a very healthy thing. The material we have written so far, in our opinion, is even better than the EP. Just like the EP, once we release it, the reaction is out of our control.

The lyrics are also really impressive from an intellectual standpoint. Do you think great lyrics are a dying art in modern brutal music?

Again, thanks for the kind words. I feel that quality lyrics are a direct result of having something to say. I have a degree in history, not literature; and the lyrics on the album are pretty much me saying everything I wish to say to anyone and everyone. I think that the real dying arts are critical thought, truth seeking, and selfreflection.

How do you and James collaborate on the switching off with the vocal parts and patterns when writing?

Was Rik involved in this process, or did he come in after the recording?

For the EP, pretty much across the board, James screamed and I sang. James is a trained vocalist with incredible talent and range, so he will be doing a great deal more in the future. The same goes for Rik, even though he wasn’t involved with the EP at all. Vocally, our future releases are going to be insane, and I can’t wait to see what we come up with between the three of us.

Who are some of the bands’ main influences musically?

Every one of us has very different influences, so I can really only speak for myself. My biggest influences are Meshuggah, SYL/ Devin Townsend, Tool, Gojira, Opeth, Mastodon, Behemoth, Decapitated, King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Jimi Hendrix; although that only scratches the surface. I love pop, prog, jazz, world, and classical music. For writing, my main influence is really personal life, and all the negativity that comes with life in America; the supposed greatest country in the world.

What are your plans for a full length recording?

We will be entering the studio sooner than you think. Writing is full-on. Stay tuned.

Are you guys close to announcing a label signing yet?

We have some offers, but it is too early for us to decide or announce anything. We are focused on writing and preparing for Metal Alliance.–Keith (Keefy) Chachkes

GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 | 47

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Slayer / Gojira –/4ARM: Tsongas Center, Lowell, MA

48 | GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15

lthough Slayer has gone through a lot in the past year, they went on tour to prove that they still got it. The tour was pitched as being a bit of a throwback tour where classic tracks off of their first few albums would be played. Supporting Slayer were the French prog/death metallers Gorjia and the Australians 4ARM. 4ARM were the newest band on the bill and one that not many attendees knew of. The unsuspecting crowd was fairly blown away by them. They are the kind of band that is nothing, but pure thrash metal. 4ARM crushed all with songs like 'Submission for Liberty' and 'Raise a Fist'. At this point in time, the Tsongas Center was mostly empty but those on the floor were right against the stage and rocking out. Their set only lasted six songs; just enough to give the audience a taste of their potential and to make them interested.

Gojira is a name that has grown bigger over the past few years.

Those who are not familiar with

A

the music are at least familiar with the name and reputation as a great metal band. Although different in nature from 4ARM, Gojira was much more powerful.

They are less thrash and more technical. This showed in songs such as 'L’Enfant Sauvage' and 'The Axe'. People continued to trickle in but no one seemed in a rush to hear them which was a bit of a disappointment for such a great and talented band.

By the time Slayer came on stage, everyone was going wild. It was disheartening to see that much of the arena was still empty.

The venue had trouble selling tickets, but none could seem to pinpoint whether it had to do with the venue’s location, high ticket prices, or the band lineup changes. No matter. Those faithful fans who still believe in Slayer and their music despite all that had happened over the past year found a way to be there that night.

As promised, Slayer reached back into their history and started off their set by playing the title track off of 1985’s Hell Awaits. Gary

Holt and Paul Bostaph fit right in with Tom Araya and Kerry King, which comes as no surprise considering Gary's current stint in the band and Paul having been with the band in the past.

Such classic tracks included: 'Necrophiliac', 'The Antichrist', 'Die by the Sword', 'Seasons in the Abyss', and of course 'Raining Blood' were played. The only cover they played was Exodus’s 'Strike of the Beast', a nod to Holt being a member of the band.

Their encore consisted of 'South of Heaven' and 'Angel of Death', where a banner commemorating Jeff Hanneman was displayed.

The audience showed their love for the old music through the set by going as wildly as they could. There were even multiple instances of wheel chair bound crowd surfers! It just goes to show that true Slayer fans will always find a way to have a great time.

Words: Melissa Campbell Photos: Hillarie Jason Photography

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EyeHateGod / Fistula / Livver / The Confrontation:

Live At The Presidents Rock Club, Quincy, MA

've only been to the President's Rock Club thrice, and I can already say this venue has seen a lot of hilarious shit go down between patrons who are too drunk to care that they're too crazy to be allowed outside. And Quincy is such a sketchy (read: down-to-earth) place that one could (and did) spark up a fat blunt in front of the door. I met with Rob Williams, (in) famous for his drum talents in foundational Weymouth fastcore crew Siege (83-85), who is almost entirely insane and will forever remain in my mind the guy who was swinging like an enraged welterweight during Fistula.

I

Now may be a great time to mention that aside from The Confrontation, there was no other band that I had heard anything from that I had enjoyed. Fistula were surprisingly okay, but since local sludge bands aren't normally my bag (sorry, Grief), I just had to make do and bear, and also avoid being moshed upon. They were kind enough, however, to follow Buzzov*en's example and throw in some fast hardcore sections, so it was like a calming salve on a festering heroin needle wound.

So the main reason why I showed up was Eyehategod, and understandably, just about the entire audience was zooted in some way shape or form.

It was painfully apparent who wasn't by a complex equation factoring in how close they were standing to the band and how bored they still managed to look even though they were knee deep in ignorance. Mike IX Williams' first words to the crowd were, and I quote: "I'm fuckin' loaded".

A.A. isn't for everyone, see. So after making it plain that he hated the fact that there was "football on the 50 | GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15

thing" (a crowd member said Eyehatesports, ha), the band revved up the trademark ear-piercing feedback that whines miserably with the genre, and instantly a pit formed. Several minutes of this passed, and though pictures fail to capture how Williams truly appeared before the crowd, it was highly evocative of the image of a voodoo swamp priest on the outskirts of their hometown of NOLA, mixing up a foul concoction, awash in his own filth and spilled vodka, preparing for a ritual of bloodletting, sexual deviancy, and foul language. Joey LaCaze (RIP) should have been here to witness this spectacle of brutality and scoffed in the face of sobriety with a building full of people who reconstituted liquor for blood.

Oh, how beautiful the words 'White Nigger' sounded on Williams' foul tongue, and how frighteningly evil the guitars crunched and trudged through murky breakdowns and soggy blues-made-metal riffs, as the bass intros for 'Shop Lift', the 'Sister Fucker' duology, 'Dixie Whiskey', and a lot of other steaming, similarly fetid and feral creations for people who hate music with an ear for music sometimes. If The Melvins were Satanic instead of silly, this would be them. All that separates us from becoming animals is a thin veil of strong, cheap alcohol, recreational drugs, boredom, and 'Six Pack' by Black Flag.

Josh from Anal Cunt, however, has no such boundaries to keep himself from punching people in the head on slight provocation by a fellow degenerate (this being Mike IX himself), and I was (un)lucky enough to see this. From the creeping slums of Revere to the sickened wastes of Quincy, hang yourself.

Eyehategod doesn't care about your birthday.

Words by Sean Pierre-Antoine Photos by Chris Small

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GWAR /Battlecross / Iron Reagan: Live At Irving Plaza, New York New York

etween Christmas and New Year's Eve, GWAR invaded Irving Plaza in New York for “Madness at the Core of Time Tour”. Along for the ride was Michigan's Battlecross and Virginia's thrash/ punk crossover merchants, Iron Reagan. Not a bad way to end out the year of shows.

B

Not knowing anything about Iron Reagan other than some of the members are in Municipal Waste, I had no idea what to expect.

They come over abrasive and at first listen than after a few of their less than to two minute songs it all makes sense. Singer, Tony Foresta and company are an amazing combination of of oldschool punk mixed with various types of thrash. Their covers of Cannibal Corpse gem 'Skull Full of Maggots' and Slayer's 'Can't Stand You' was just extra icing 52 | GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15

on a cake of awesomeness.

Battlecross took the stage and blasted the crowd with a set of mostly from their newest album War of Will (Metal Blade). It didn’t hurt that filling in on the drums was Shannon Lucas, formerly of The Black Dahlia Murder fame.

It also helped that he did the drumming for said recent record.

For a young band, they have the hearts of veterans and a masterful stage show. Can't go wrong when singer Gumby Gunther decides to stage dive mid-song either.

I've seen GWAR many times for over a decade and they never have disappointed me. Their stage shows have gotten so refined and are always current. No one else can capture pop culture and still have such a kickass performance. GWAR's current lineup is a massive juggernaut of bloody talent. At thirteen

records in so far, they still manage to have a varied set list of new and old cuts. It's less a “best of set” and more of a “we'll play what fits the show set”. I wish a lot more bands would follow that motto. From decapitations of Justin Beiber, to alien battles from another world, blood arcs through the air leaving the crowd looking like a huge mixed mutt race of headbangers. Oderus and company are the only ones who could throw you the curveball of covering Billy Ocean's 'Get Outta My Dreams (Get Into My Car)' and blend it with The Who's 'Baba O'Riley'. There was a bunch of young kids at the show and you know they will be looking them both up. This tour was a great mash-up of bands with similar styles that all stand on their own, and sound fantastic together.

GWAR Set List: Madness at the Core of Time The Salaminizer I Hate Love Songs Hail Genocide!

Metal, Metal Land Bring back the Bomb Pre-skool Prostitute They Swallowed the Sun Ham on the Bone Jack the World Bloodbath Let us Slay Torture Battle Maximus Happy Death-Day Encore: Sick of You Get Outta My Dreams (Get Into My Car) (Billy Ocean cover) Baba O'Riley (The Who cover) Words and Photos by Omar Cordy GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 | 53

ALBUM REVIEWS FESTIVAL REPORTS CONCERT REVIEWS INTERVIEWS

he Greenery, hailing all the way from California, brought the Cali hardcore scene to Boston. With raw energy behind every song, Matt Lanners demanded everyone’s attention with every word he screamed.

What a great way to start off a show with such a killer lineup. Following closely was the noise/sludge group KEN Mode, who have been well-respected on the strength of their recent releases.

Having heard so much about this band, I was glad I was given the opportunity to review a show with them on it. The music was a bit slower than any of the other bands on the bill, but a great mix none the less. The drummer and bassist stole the show with not only being about to perform flawlessly, but the way they perform is entertaining in itself. Definitely a band worth checking out if they ever roll through your city!

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Boston's very own, Vanna took the stage with a sort of force to be reckoned with. The energy they have during the set from beginning to end never dropped and the crowd fed off every bit of it. Not one body was standing still. Vocalist Davey Muise was sharing the microphone with anyone who wanted to scream the lyrics with him.

He jumped into the middle of the floor into the crowd and had everyone swarm around him while he spoke heart felt words to everyone in the room. They always put on a great show regardless if it's a small intimate venue, or catering to thousands of kids every day at Warped Tour.

Norma Jean/ Vanna/ KEN Mode/ The Greenery: Live at TT The Bear's, Somerville MA

Ending this crazy night was Georgia's Norma Jean. Ever since the release of Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child, Norma Jean was one of those bands who perfected the metalcore genre.

From the moment they took the stage to the end was a non-stop shit show. The crowd was screaming along to songs such as 'Bastardizer' and 'Wrongdoers'.

The venue went nuts , with people crawling on stage and jumping on top of each other to get a chance at the microphone during 'Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste'. During the last song, vocalist Cory Brandan Putman was climbing on top of the side speakers, to jump off from, but was cut short due to the security not allowing such a move. Regardless, the show was what I expected it to be, not one disappointed face leaving the venue.

Words and Photos by Meg Loyal Photography

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ALBUM REVIEWS FESTIVAL REPORTS CONCERT REVIEWS INTERVIEWS

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indhoven Metal Meeting is quite the event in the southern Netherlands and even most of metal loving Europe by now.

This year the festivities were three nights starting Thursday 12th through Saturday 14th of December. Billing 40+ bands in various genres and a very restricted press list, Ghost Cult was more than happy to be their press partner this year. Being solo, our reporter and photographer decided to only follow the main stage, excepting the Thursday when the running order was a little more forgiving.

Eindhoven Metal Meeting Live At Effenaar, Eindhoven NL DAY ONE Thursday 12th the party begins. Sadly we missed the apparently brilliant set by Death Angel due to travel issues. Apparently these classic thrashers played a great deal of their newer work with verve and gave one hell of a show. Sadly, they didn’t play much of their older work in this set. Arriving just when Sabaton started playing the main stage, the power metal party was starting. Sabaton know how to engage an audience. They may be a bit over the top, although compared to the rest of the power metal genre, they’re pretty timid. Their show was bombastic and everyone in the room enjoyed them very much. There was a smaller crowd than you’d expect with a name like Sabaton, but maybe the variety of the lineup accounted for this. It seemed that the core of the audience came more for the thrash and death related acts. Sabaton decide to play a somewhat different set than they usually do, citing they know 56 | GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15

many fans at this gig have seen them many times before. The vocals and mix are a little off, but the solos and general mood were awesome. It’s clear though they were playing for a “home crowd.”

Next up in the small room downstairs was Izegrim, a local up and comer in death metal. These guys have been playing all over NL of late and personally I hadn’t caught them yet. Their female vocalist

promises to add a slightly different touch to a genre that is usually pretty conservative in its taste. When they started playing, inexperience, and possibly nerves showed. There are some good show elements (stepping forward to the edge of the stage to solo and such), but they last only a fraction of a second, giving their show a nervous feeling. The guitar solos sound a little patchy and the music in general is straight forward death metal as we know it. It’s well constructed though and while inexperience shows in the lie show, these guys could definitely grow bigger after they relax due to some more stage experience.

Finishing on the main stage is Accept. These hard rockers have been around for years, and experience showed. Their show is big and well executed, but carefree and relaxed at the same time. The best thing to see was that they really enjoy themselves. This infected the crowd who, even if it’s not their cup of tea musically, seemed to enjoy them. The sound too was exceptionally good too. Props to these guys for pulling off flawless solos and vocals, thundering drums and even slight improvisations while giving a great show, building a real party. Since I hadn’t seen Death Angel, they were my highlight of the night, but I heard Death Angel could rival them in excellence.

DAY TWO The next day we return to Eindhoven Effenaar for a second day of loud. This day had a distinctly less party feel with mostly death and black metal bands playing the main stage. No power metal, thrash, or hard rock today, but bleak, dark, aggressive metal. Because of the denser programming today we could only cover the main stage. When we arrived we found out Fleshgod Apocalypse sadly had cancelled due to travel problems. The fans who came especially for this band (and there was a few of them) milled about the main room and in front of the venue aimlessly.

Now opening on the main stage is Morgoth. This German death metal outfit’s name is so common as a metal band, it’s a bit of a search to know who you have in front of you. They make a very quick solo filled type of death metal, with a very tight drum base. Sadly, many of the songs sound very similar, with growling vocals, and loads and loads of shredded solos. They’re very good at what they do (even though the sound is a little off, with the bass drum being overly represented.), but not very special. Good, more traditional and solid death metal.

At the same time Dues Mortem are playing in the smaller room downstairs. Since Morgoth couldn’t keep my attention I decide to have a look there. The room is decently full, but it seems most of the crowd prefers Morgoth to Deus Mortems somewhat slower, more song structured and listenable black metal. The Polish

outfit is less black than some of the other billed bands, and doesn’t really use the more complex chord schemes and high vocals that normally characterize the genre, but pull off a good show.

After this we go to catch Belphegor. A quick discussion over genre-types with a clear black metal connoisseur in the press pit leads to the label of “Blackened Death”, who, while starting out as a black metal outfit, is moving more and more towards death metal. They still work with the wall of sound approach, but the vocals are lower and more growling, there are less dissonant in the guitar work and the song structure is simpler than most black metal. These guys also definitely know how to give a show, adorning the stage with some interesting bone sculptures. Melodies that almost float over the wall of noise created by blast beats, and quick guitar strokes are actually quite good and catchy. Definitely a very enjoyable band.

Napalm Death takes the stage next, and definitely show the punk roots in their hyperactive, aggressive grindcore and death metal. Running around the stage, vocalist Barney Greenway never leaves a dull moment in their 2-3 minute elapsing songs.

They get 50 minutes to completely annihilate the crowd. Sadly, the sound is poorer than usual with these guys, and it kind of muddles and confuses the more crisp sound they normally have. Everything was very loud, which is good for Napalm Death in general, but now gets a bit over the top, especially with the sloppiness in both the playing and the mix.

Definitely not a bad gig, but I’ve seen them do better.

The next band is one I’ve been looking forward to for some time; Carpathian Forest is, according to my black metal connoisseur, the only real black metal band on the bill. Being one of the relics from the old Norwegian scene, they should be exceptional.

Sadly, the mix is terrible, laying emphasis on the bass drum and low sounds, vocals strangely mixed, where‘s vocals drowned out whenever the second set came in. It almost felt like a death metal mix, and even then was very poor. A fan mentioned, flabbergasted, that he hardly recognized the songs they played. Definite disappointment, while from an engagement and visual point of view the show was exceptionally good.

Then it’s time for odd duck on today’s billing; Tiamat. The new wave/Goth metal band would have been in front of a better crowd had they been billed the next day, when there is more melodic metal booked. This means that the rather dull song structures and lethargic deliverance which works wonderfully for goth fans does nothing at all for the more death and black oriented crowd today.

Many trickle out or silently abide, waiting for whom they really came for to get on stage next, Watain.

Playing on Friday the 13th of the 13th year of their existence, the show doesn’t seem to hold much special value for Watain themselves. Having heard horror stories of the bands stage props and blood chucking habits, I was prepared for the worst, but didn’t get anything too bad. They left home their rotting sheep’s heads, only tossed one goblet of old blood into the awaiting crowd (which hit a very excited young man and his much less thrilled girlfriend), and had their fire rig set up flanking the drummer, accompanied by two huge screens made up of skin and bone panels. The band still has their own particular funk, but nothing too bad, and the sound was actually the best of the whole day in the much plagued room. I think the band has toned down the gore for a festival gig, where the next day the same room still has to be used for a full

DAY THREE Saturday 14th: After a fitful night of sleep and a late brunch we’re back in Eindhoven at two in the afternoon. Today’s program is a little more light hearted, mixing folk metal, some more experimental death metal, and symphonic metal. We start the day with The Monolith Deathcult, who gets to wake up the sparse and bleary eyed crowd with their a little more highbrow and complex death metal. The music and the show feel bigger than their slot suggests. The intros get a bit cheesy after the first few songs but the sound mix is excellent, though a little heavy on the double bass drums.

After a short respite we get treated to the old school trash-metallers of Destroyer 666. Sadly, their playing is a little sloppy and messy, possibly due to the inhumanly fast pace they keep it. The vocals seem pretty decent, but drown a little in

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day. The show was excellent and really engaging, even though the band is mostly interested in their own ritual performance, and not much in the ecstatic crowd.

Definitely worth waiting for the witching hour for them to start.

the pummeling heavy base mix that plagues the venue yesterday as well. They do give a good an energetic show and the room quickly fills up with happy metal heads finally woken up.

We travel shortly to the cold regions of Russia with Arkona taking the stage. Their folk infused metal is less happy and energetic than most folk metal, and a little more somber. The whole music feels Russian, even if the singing wasn’t in Russian. Sound-wise, the guitars are very, very low in the mix and the vocals very high, which means the drums and bass overpower the vocals quite often. Interestingly enough the folky whistles and the bagpipes are very well audible in the mix, while usually they’re the first things to die. The folk influences are a little more subtle and apparently with their newer music the band is moving more towards the back metal side, though their folk roots stay important to them.

We return to death metal with Hail of Bullets.

Normally death metal isn’t my cup of tea, but these guys are great and I find myself nodding along to the

beat. With a great songs and a nice little party vibe going on throughout, even for the non-death crowd that’s was there was into it. That it’s a great show however shouldn’t be surprising as this band shares a front man, Martin van Drunen, with the incredible Asphyx, and the rest of the all star line-up of the band. This may also be the reason the sound mix is very well balanced and crisp. All in all a great show.

In metal it’s not rare for a band to form a completely new band simply by addition of a different, usually more prominent, vocalist. The best known example probably is Ihsahn with Leprous. Elvenking and Martin Walkyier’s Skyclad are a similar story.

Elvenking played for forty minutes before being joined by Walkyier, and turning into Skyclad and playing another forty minutes. The music doesn’t change much between the vocalist addition (Elvenking’s somewhat emo styled vocalist stays on for the full eighty minutes, running around the stage behind Walkyier). It stays a sort of emofolk inspired metal. They have a pretty good sound mix and a good performance, but Davide "Damna" Moras’s vocals get on my nerves a little. The switch in the feeling of the music when Walkyier joins the band is amazing. The music, feeling a little more emo oriented at first suddenly gets a darker and more power metal feel when Walkyier’s vocals join in. Sadly, Walkyier’s grand entrance fell a little flat with the crowd, where he clearly expected a grand recognition only confusion shone on the crowds faces when Walkyier walked up, arms spread like a messiah.

It’s now time for one of my personal highlights of the day, Arcturus. I had no idea what to expect but the avant-garde metal troupe of masked entertainers is

incredibly good. Their music has so many influences it’s hard to really describe, but the vocals have a certain power metal/prog type feel and the music contains traces of black metal, but also power and symphonic. Simen Hestnæs’ vocals often drowned in the drum and bass parts, unless he belted, and the guitars ate the, quite atmospheric, keyboard additions. Still the show was incredibly good, and I hope to see them sometime with a better mix.

Coroner is described as the Rush of thrash metal.

Now I like thrash, especially the hyperactive, aggressive party vibe it seems to share with punk.

The more progressive and technical approach coroner has, while they do what they do very well, somehow just doesn’t connect with me. I have the feeling I’m not the only one, since the room is surprisingly empty for what basically is a headlining band. The feeling that if they were programmed in Tiamat’s slot yesterday GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 | 59

and Tiamat switched to this slot, both bands would have been in front of a better crowd crept up on me. Again, in the back of the room, Coroners music got lost in the thundering low regions.

The band does an energetic attempt to move the crowd, but people seem paralyzed in the sheer amount of sound coming their way. A real pity.

Finally we get to Therion, the proper headliner of the day. Being the symphonic-metal giant that they are, the stage feels a little small for them.

With three vocalists (who are also the main crowd entertainers) guitars, bass, drums, keys and a huge amount of razzle dazzle (including a belly dance act.) Very nice. This show cannot disappoint.

It’s magnificent to watch and, while softer than certain bands on today’s line-up, they certainly pack a pretty metal punch. The sound-mix is really well balanced, which is needed when you have such subtle vocal harmonies to balance against raging guitars. The soprano vocalist sometimes sound a little harsh and sharp in her high notes, but this is forgiven for the sheer amount of show this band puts out. Even is symphonic metal isn’t your thing remotely, you have to admire the enormity of the show. This was definitely the best band of the day, and rightful headliner.

Therion

Since this show cannot be topped by Gothminister and last train needed to be caught, we left Eindhoven Metal Meeting’s party awestruck, exhausted and satisfied. Though the venue was plagued by less than supreme sound, certain bands shone through, and especially the ambiance was magnificent. Eindhoven, thank you for the party! Until next year.

Therion

Written and photographed by Susanne A. Maathuis

Theri

on

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here is a subtle irony in catching the train directly opposite the site where this humbly began, nine years ago. My, young titan, how you've grown...the news of Mourning Beloveth's withdrawal was a bitter blow, but with Damnation's biggest bill sprawling ahead of us, there was plenty still to offer.

Live At Leeds University, Leeds UK I licked my lips in anticipation for French postprog openers Dirge, who opened us up with a downtuned rumble from hell. Front man Marc T., a slimmed-down Kurt Windstein, bellowed and hulked like a disturbed bear, the constant rumble of the bass frequently pierced by wailing leads.

The whole set, whilst not completely captivating visually, was a lumbering beast of tolling agony.

Competing with Dirge, Liverpool's Diamanthian were a hoarier, more fevered animal, the scratching riffs and blastbeats mixing with the scouring depth of bare-chested Hetfield-esque frontman Scott Linton. It was hardly a groundbreaking set but the blend of death brutality with the occasional doom riff and a little friendly banter was politely received.

The only band of the day with no competition, hostile crust-sludgers Iron Witch, had already gathered a sizeable following by the time those witnessing the first sets arrived. It was nice to see that their early nervousness has been replaced by a confident swagger accompanying the heavy, grinding riffs and snarling scream. One of the hardest working bands in the UK right now, this

NOLA-influenced mob are growing all the time, the penultimate Hangover Suicide introducing a whirling groove and no little invention. Local boys The Afternoon Gentlemen subsequently woke the nodding crowd with their brand of frenetic grindcore but despite the angry, frenetic sound, there was a certain indiscernibility about it, coupled with a workmanlike performance. Polish shoe gazers Tides From Nebula proved an amazingly effective and affecting live proposition, an agonised beauty which lifted the bewitched throng and carried us on a wave of euphoria, whilst the pounding rhythms whipped the sea into a maelstrom of emotion.

Six-string bassist Przemek Weglowski took centre stage, raising and flinging his instrument like the cheating lover he appeared keen on throttling, whilst the foppish lead guitarist wrought plaintive agonies and ended the set amongst the crowd. This mindblowing performance set the scene for the Alan Averill / Nick Barker supergroup Twilight of the Gods to open the main J채germeister stage. They hit it running, a menacing Nemtheanga hooded and baiting a crowd reaction, and on presence alone this was a winning performance, the experience of GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 | 61

the individual members shining through. Averill proved almost surprisingly adept, with Halfordstyle screams complementing those Dio roars, and a rollicking rhythm section galloped out maiden basslines and rolls for fun. The 'Manowar-dial' nickname also is most definitely not out of place; the riff to Children of Cain bruising the soul, and drama and humorous banter was abundant. Judging by the multitudinous goat-horn gestures, most loved it.

In contrast the set from former Akercocke members Peter Benjamin and David Gray, the progressive black metal of Voices, was a somewhat more debatable affair not aided by a strangely muffled sound quality. Benjamin played the set in a rather diverting black mask; indeed, the sound was dramatic but the cascading and complex rhythms governed all other aspects. Slashing, warped but largely unfathomable. Far less troubled by sound issues were the mesmerising French sextet Year of No Light: an oft-lonesome keyboard taking centre stage and hammered by enormous basslines, the rumbling thunder augmented by two bare chested drummers, often holding court with their metronomic, symmetrical actions, save when one emerges to caress the keys occasionally. Despite the colossal rhythm a lush yet spiked melody sprinkled over the massed hordes and the whole proved an enthralling if torturously slow set: a post-drone extravaganza which impressed far more than this year's abysmal Vampyr Soundtrack. The Gauls overran somewhat, which meant the next two bands were well into their respective performances by the time we reached them. London trio Slabdragger are pure molten lead, but today had added reverb which, bizarrely, gave extra clarity. The bunker was teeming with adoration, meaning they were out of sight visually as well as sonically, yet whilst Yusuf Tary’s bass kicked holes through the gut, the normally thundering drums were less sonorous than usual.

One One One is one of the year’s best releases and one which has given Norway’s Shining a wave of momentum building on the success their stunning ”Black Jazz” opus gained them. Jørgen Munkeby is incredible. Whither he is peeling off shredding saxophone parts or demonic guitar riffs this enfant terrible is a true star! ”My Dying Drive” and “The Needle And The Damage Done” are as warped and 62 |GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15

experimental yet there are some herculean pop hooks that hold these spellbinding compositions together. They hypnotise the main stage with their nightmarish John Zorn-isms blending with NIN’s hooks. An incendiary performance.

Well-respected Horsham death-heads Dyscarnate packed out their slot, purveying a piledriving death sound with equal physical muscle, and a much kinder mix than Voices received on the same stage.

Savage vocal performances from the string attack of Henry Bates and Tom Whitty scythed through the ubiquitous smoke machines, whilst technical structures varied the brutal, staccato assault. They received a very positive response which was well deserved. US post-metal quartet Rosetta were equally lauded, their mournful yet harsh tones augmented by the agonised scream of Michael Armine and no end of spiked, evocative melodies. A fervent crowd worshipped what was the most active and mobile band so far, bassist David Grossman dropping to one knee in delivering the rumble whilst the drifting leads leave tears in the heart. Meanwhile, more Liverpudlians in the huge frames of SSS produced an almost as sizeable sound. Also pulling a healthy throng, they proved a tight hardcore unit, although the hostile rasp and stilted banter of vocalist Foxy left a little to be desired. It was all Araya meets Black Flag, a little uninspiring but fiery all the same. Ugly, virulent thuggery is Palehorse’s stock in trade. An expression of barely repressed violence, the knife at the throat experience of dual bass doomcore is hideously savage. Monolithic slabs of noise over which Seedi screeches and yelps alarmingly provides a deeply unsettling experience. Indeed the moshpit has to be broken up by security when a couple of overzealous punters come to blows.

The drama, the eerie black folk, the wooden frame... it had to be Negura Bunget. With only drummer Negru remaining from their classic line-up, it seemed everybody wanted to see if their unique

the contrary. Even shorn of the trapping of naked crucified bodies adorning the stage, the band’s sonic abuse is harrowing enough. ‘Wound Upon Wound’ is as harsh and vicious as black metal gets.

brand of rustic horror had suffered as a result. The answer was a resounding 'No'. New mainman Vartan Garabedian eased between resonant depth and harsh growls, and those panpipes and bamboo horns duelled deliciously with sweeping riffs & cavernous double kicks. It's a harsher sound than before, yet the emotion and sheer ability onstage held the packed room in thrall. Meanwhile, moving pictures accompanied the prog-post swell of The Ocean. There's a harder edge to their live sound than many here expected, sometimes eclipsing the usual technical aspects of their music, but the crunching riffs and pounding drums don't drown the wistful melodies. The German collective's presence was often silhouetted by a strategic light show which added to the theatre, culminating in a dual leap from chilling heights by both Loïc Rossetti and Jona Nido to leave an enthralled crowd stunned and tingling. A similar effect was given by Londoners Serpent Venom, last-minute replacements for Mourning Beloveth, and all occult doom; vocalist Gaz Ricketts’ St Vitus t-shirt saying all we needed to know. The crunching Sabbath influence was undeniable yet the band still maintained a sense of identity, Ricketts’ semioperatic roar and the weight of the notes on the cavernous Four Walls of Solitude so sonorous as to induce stirrings in places not easily reached.

Opening with ‘Sign Of An Open Eye’ Godseed are initially hampered by a poor sound mix yet the raw brilliance of front man Gaahl shows that he and King Ov Hell have been the driving force behind Gorgoroth despite Infernus’ protests to

At the other end of the spectrum came the borderline rock of Crippled Black Phoenix. That this UK collective could have been spawned from the mordant sludge of Iron Monkey is almost inconceivable: Zeppelin-style riffs blended with heavy, somnolent rhythms and bluesy leads on a stage that was almost as packed out as the room.

Whether it was a desire for a change of pace that brought the crowd in or a display of real diversity in the metal public, CBP initially went down a storm. The occasional mid-rock pace, however, saw more and more room grow in the crowd.

Greg McIntosh is a great front man. Created to cope with the loss of his father, Vallenfyre is a beast with ‘Cathedrals Of Dread’ and ‘Humanity Wept’ commanding attention. Full of cynicism the vehement negativity spewing from the amplifiers threatened to crush you under the weight of filth, encrusted riffs. Inciting a chat of “Yorkshire, Yorkshire” for their effort from the assembled faithful this was a masterful performance which will have been a highlight for many.

Moss, however, were just plain derivative. Essentially Black Sabbath slowed to a drone. Front man Olly Pearson looked and sounded like Ozzy, even sporting the low-slung cross. It was an epic, ominous sound but incredibly generic all the same.

In Manchester the night before Damnation, Jonas Renkse had apparently seemed happy. ‘It’s taken long enough’, commented one wag. He didn’t seem too morose tonight either, possibly as the main stage’s apron was completely rammed for the first time. It showed in the might and superiority of Katatonia’s performance: playing, as they had throughout their mini-tour, much of their classic Viva Emptiness album, the undeniably shoegaze melancholia was augmented by a stoic power, Renkse’s husky tones lending the sad emotion of The Longest Year a real poignancy. Surely there’s no more emotive band than this right now: muscular GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 | 63

yet achingly beautiful, Jonas’ hand permanently fixed to his midriff and further conveying the heartfelt candour of the words. With one of us having to tear himself away in order to ensure entrance to the ever more problematic Terrorizer area, Rotting Christ set out to prove it was worth the sacrifice. A tolling intro opened out into a track so old it escaped the knowledge of even our two RC worshipping companions, followed by that Lamb of God groove and dragged into a unique sphere by eastern keyboard flurries, Greek bagpipes and all manner of indigenous influence. Sakis’ command of the Yorkshire brogue was both limited yet disarming and the crowd remained devoted to him to the end: his stuttering vocal delivery accompanied by roaring, occasionally rustic rhythms and crunching riffs. Early tracks such as ‘King of a Stellar Wall’ were delivered with a latter-day epic kitsch and no end of chest beating. There was gravity, humour and a quality of real metal in a stunning set which will go down in this year’s classics.

The gargantuan oppressive sounds of Cult Of Luna competed with RC across the hall in what has to be the worse stage time clash in the festival’s history. The Swedish outfit was not to be outdone however pulling in a large crowd in the main room who are captivated by the claustrophobic intensity and austere soundscapes. Towering numbers like ‘Adrift’marry sheer oppressive heaviness with a delicate morose beauty akin to Joy Division. This year’s Vertikal opus saw Cult Of Luna solidify their reputation as an unmissable act.

That the sonic might of Conan was required to close the day at the same time as the legends of Carcass is criminal. One of the heaviest bands in the world

right now were woefully underrepresented in the crowd, yet still proceeded to waste the room with a sludged-out assault made even more impressive by the fact that the physically imposing figures of Jon Davis and Paul O’Neill were laying this stuff down in thick hoodies. The few who did witness this mighty set lapped up every shuddering note, every droning, vibrating chord, and every bone-shattering beat of the drum. Davis’ high wail complimented Phil Coumbe’s demented roar perfectly, with Headless Hunter rattling the foundations of the earth. It was easy for the majority to opt for the big name, but their fellow Liverpudlians were the true epitome of this festival. Conan, like its namesake, fucking slew.

Cynically, Carcass dissects us with ‘No Love Lost’.

Jeff Walker is in fine form leading fans through ‘This Mortal Coil’ while Bill Steer and trade harmonies, which are greeted by a flurry of, devil horns.

‘Reek Of Putrefaction’ sounds as fresh as it did in 1987. Ken Owen’s obligatory guest drum solo is always a heart warmer before the coup de grace of ‘Keep On Rotting In The Free World’ brings the curtain down on the finest Damnation yet.

The undeniable plaudits for Damnation 2013 must be delivered with a hint of caution. Many revellers attempting to take in all of the bands complained of exhaustion and certain overlaps, which robbed fans of either the beginning or culmination of many sets – often the most dramatic areas of a live set. There may be an argument for a few less bands in future: overall, however, Gavin McNally and crew once again deserve high praise for a truly mammoth event.

Words: Paul Quinn & Ross Baker Photos by Stuart Alexander Rees

ALBUM REVIEWS FESTIVAL REPORTS CONCERT REVIEWS INTERVIEWS

ALBUM Lamb of God

As the Palaces Burn (Re-Issue)

My love for Lamb of God comes with one gripe - the production jobs on their first two records.

I spent a lot of time adjusting equalizer settings trying to round out the tinny guitar tones from Mark Morton and Willie Adler, find John Campbell’s bass while not upping the ante with Chris Adler’s thumping kick drums, and accepting the fact that Randy Blythe’s vocals were tucked a little too far back into the mix.

I was excited in 2003 when As the Palaces Burn (Prosthetic) came out as the production was handled by Devin Townsend, who I greatly admire as a writer, musician and producer.

Unfortunately, yet again, the production was a disappointment.

It sounded as though it was recorded under a blanket, with the drums too far upfront, the guitars sounding more colicky baby than crunching, vocals struggling to get on top, and the bass - yet again - getting the Jason Newsted circa ...And Justice for All treatment. Bummer.

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Thankfully, LoG has released a reissue of As the Palaces Burn (Prosthetic/ Razor & Tie) in November, 2013, and it is definitely an improvement. The tracks were remixed and remastered, resulting in a big, crisp overall sound.

The blanket has come off, so it sounds punchier and louder with a more balanced mix. It does not appear that the band members’ individual sounds have been tampered with very much.

However, the shrillness on the top end has been dialed back with a tad more mids, and volumewise they appear to have been kicked up in the mix. Blythe’s vocal placement in the mix is more forward as well. It is still a bit tucked, but definitely more upfront. The biggest change is

in the rhythm section. Bassist Campbell is easier to pick out than in the original recording, but he is still blotted out by the suns that are Chris Adler’s kick drums. I have always felt that the key to a great LoG production job was to find a tone and a frequency Campbell could exist in that would not clash with Adler’s bass drums, and they have seemed to have worked that out on later recordings. For

REVIEWS Assorted reviews

this reissue, though, it is as good as its going to get for Campbell sonically. Helping him be more of a presence is the scaling back of the drums in general, which are placed much better in the mix and sound tighter overall. I would say my only gripe with the remix is Adler’s snare sound, as it seems to be the one thing that was not improved with everything else. To this listener, it begs to be louder and with more snap, but at least the record sounds more like a band than a drum clinic with sidemen. I have to note that I was fortunate enough to go to

a Chris Adler drum clinic a few years back, and he admitted that during the band’s early recording days a combination of insecurity and ego got in the way and perhaps the production may have suffered. As a fan who sees Chris as the leader of LoG, hearing him say that made sense of some of the mixing decisions made, and may well have impacted Devin Townsend’s production job on the original ATPB recording.

Besides the remixing and the remastering there are three unreleased demo versions of ‘Ruin’, ‘As the Palaces Burn’ and ‘Blood Junkie’. Other than sounding like, well, demos, they really aren’t bringing much to the party, and none of them vary from the originals as far as arrangement.

Maybe the band felt they had to put other things on the release to make it special, but I would have been fine without them.

If you are a LoG fan that loves seeing their older releases get the remix and remaster treatment then you will enjoy this very much. It was great to listen to that album from front to back with a more sonically powerful mix and master, but with just enough polish to present the songs - and the band - as the top notch metal machine they are.–Lynn Jordan GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 | 67

Alcest Shelter

We all knew it was going to happen. Having hinted that the musical voyage of Alcest was likely to head into pastures new, 2014 sees Neige finally shed the last vestiges of metal, letalone any lingering black metal leanings from the two-piece band he has led since as far back as 1999, allowing Alcest to emerge, blinking into the light like a newborn butterfly. It’s a beautiful

transition and one that will be met by fans of the band with strong feelings of pride, akin to witnessing a loved one succeed against all odds.

Because feelings of love and pride are unavoidable when listening to Shelter (Prophecy Productions), Alcest’s fourth full length release.

Despite claiming never to have been a fan of shoegaze, the much maligned genre of music that saw acts such as My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive briefly gain prominence in the early 90s before being castigated and abandoned due to their impenetrable wall-of-sound approach and standstill stage performances, here Alcest have crafted the finest album

ever associated with the genre.

This is a record of shimmering chords, leisurely ambience and otherworldly, soaring vocals.

From the opening beauty of ‘Away’ featuring the calm and assured vocals of Neil Halstead of the aforementioned Slowdive through the fuzzy, gradually building distortion of ‘Deliverance’ to the mournful yet optimistic guitar lines of ‘Voix Sereines’, this is a record of indescribable elegance and grace, the kind of heavenly sounds that deserve to reach a much wider audience. Likely to leave some black metal purists scratching their greasy scalps in confusion if they’re allowed to like this, the truth is that everyone should embrace Shelter for what it is; a captivating and stunning piece of music poured straight from the heart.–James Conway

Death Ray Vision

We Ain’t Leavin’ til You’re Bleedin’

Fancy a bit of thrash, NYHC, Boston HC, Hard rock and American (proper) punk all balled into one and spat out via 12 no-nonsense songs in 29 minutes? Then We Ain’t Leavin’ til You’re Bleedin’ (Bullet Tooth) by Death Ray Vision could well be right up your darkened alley.

Led by Shadows Fall front man Brian Fair and backed by Killswitch Engage bassist Mike D’Antonio amongst a cast of long-term brothers in arms, WALTYB has the balls and confidence of a band who know what they’re doing but are doing it with the injection of energy of people with a passion and a love for the type of music they’re producing.

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Diesto

For Water or Blood

Some stoner rock sets itself up for the ‘pub rock’ comparisons, largely due to lumpen and basic structures led by portly, slovenly older gents who step up to the mic and produce even less tune and stamina than Lemmy with a chest infection. Not that there’s anything wrong with a bit of weight and and a chilled attitude of course: if there was, I for one would be in bother... step up Oregon’s Diesto, whose vocalist Chris Dunn sounds like Sons of Otis’ Ken Baluke, roaring along with less control than a man who’s just supped twenty pints of best.

Here, however, it fits, slipping in alongside a laconic yet fiendish groove and a bloody powerful rhythm section, allied to riffs of the suitable weight. For Water or Blood (Eolian Empire), the band’s fifth full-length, is chocfull of delightful cacophonies such as the climax to opener ‘Trail to the Sun’, whilst the pace occasionally slips into doom territory with the leaden drag and sleazy lead of ‘Edge of the World’, complete with a consumptive yet atmospheric chorus. ‘The Road’ takes a step further: the middle section dipping toes into the dropped-out sludge of Rwake before lifting to a stoner-blues

crash which will have the hinges of both necks and hips snapping.

The vocals do let proceedings down on occasions when they’re looked to for inspiration, such as the leaden elements of ‘Sirens’.

Indeed the whole ensemble seems to float astray on ‘Dirty River’ and the aptly-titled ‘Adrift at Sea’ before being brought back to life from their prosaic, repetitive stupor by electrifying leads and a reawakened sticksman, his hypnotic rhythms suddenly making perfect sense of it all.

Influences are worn high on the sleeve, but rather than there being one or two reference points for example ‘Over My Dead Body’ whirls by with nods to Discharge, Sick Of It All, Skid Row and Anthrax, while ‘Live Fast… Never Die’ tornados a punked up take on ‘Helpless’ (Metallica Garage Days version) and ‘Poison Was The Cure’ (Megadeth, but with the polish well and truly blowtorched off) before hitting a Pantera groove. Elsewhere Agnostic Front, Poison Idea and Terror spring to mind.

The thing is, though, this is no homage to a list of bands, or no retro-thrash/HC bandwagon jumpers, the above are just snippets of some of the influences to give you a flavour. ‘This is Progre$$’ stomps to the Boston beat, ‘Barfly’ kicks off with a rumbling bass

The thunderous staccato riffs and harrowing scream of ‘Arrows’ closes an album of real paradox: oft bereft of identity, but with enough excitement, weight and power to ultimately rescue its reputation. Plainly speaking stoner can be as dull as dishwater without that little spark, the grain of invention to twist it around. Or a little bit of sludge of course, the filth and gravity of which has served Diesto well on this occasion.–Paul Quinn

before launching into a mid-paced thrash lesson in violence and ‘Forest (of Kegs)’ brings things to a close with an Overkill doom-intro before letting loose the old skool thrash.

Riffs, breakdowns (the mid-section of ‘Your Shallow Grave’ is massive) and mosh-sections fly by in a flurry, with each track, despite their average 2 minute length, containing 3 or 4 strong parts. Fair’s vocals are aggressively delivered, but the right side of shouting rather than screaming, and backed up with a smattering of gang-vocal choruses.

This thrash/HC mutant is nothing new or innovative but is blisteringly collated and delivered and foretells live mosh-pit carnage.–Steve Tovey GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 |69

Beastmilk Climax

Let’s get this out the way; Climax (Svart) by Beastmilk is pure hero worship of a whole clutch of 80’s influences. I heard all the originals many times in between figure-of-eighting to ‘Temple of Love’ and ‘Moonchild’ at The Dungeon goth club in South-fucking-hampton and had long since moved on. Yet, hearing them now put together by a new, yet highly referential outfit, the interest is well and truly piqued, and got me in the mood to go back to the originals.

Can’t ask for more than that…

Beastmilk are one of those strange (milky) beasts that don’t play metal but have been embraced by the metal community. Whether that’s because vocalist Kvohst has history in blacker climes (Dødheimsgard and Code) or because it takes those us approaching middle age back to our youth and experiments in painting fingernails black (once!

I did it once! Same as the white silky frilly shirt! I’ll admit the leather trousers were worn until

they fell apart though), or because you can’t argue with really good songs, whatever the style.

Launching with the energetic punky trio of Cure meets The Smiths ‘Death Reflects Us’, standout track ‘The Wind Blows Through The Skulls’ and the catchy ‘Genocidal Crush’, memorable song after memorable song continues, with the exceptions of the maudlin (and frankly dreary) ‘Ghosts Out of Focus’ and perhaps ending downer ‘Strange Attractors’. From ‘Nuclear Winter’ to ‘Surf The Apocalypse’ to ‘Lost In A Cold World’ Climax is a series of strong deathrock anthems, all of them driven on by an energetic and strong production from Kurt Ballou and an 8th-note peddling gothpunk bassline (Arino)overlaid with the jangly and dreamy guitars of Goatspeed (WTF? – ST), while Kvohst switches from Morrissey to Glenn Danzig to Ian Curtis,

Deicide

In The Minds Of Evil

The death metal legends Deicide are back with their eleventh and newest album. Let’s cut the crap and go directly to the point: we never know what we will find with a new album of Deicide, since they have been so damn inconstant in these last twenty-five years of activity.

Yeah, they have pure classics like the self-titled debut album and 1992’s Legion under their belt, but they’re also the creators of the horrendous 2001’s In Torment In Hell album. It has never been easy to be a fan of Deicide because you never know.

70 | GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15

Look at 2006’s The Stench of Redemption. In 2006 the band delivers a record that is fantastic, but before that they had released In Torment In Hell, and after it the not really solid and good albums, 2008’s Till Death Do Us Part and 2011’s To Hell With God. So, what about this new one?

Well, they worked hard and finally, seven years after The Stench of

nailing the ideal style for the mood and section of the song.

As an added side-game you can play ‘spot-the-80’s’ reference as Bauhaus, Killing Joke and most prominently Joy Division (amongst others) raise their postpunk gothic-rock heads, but when the songs are this impressive, it matters not the amount of homage being paid, what matters is how good an album this is. And Climax is a very good album indeed. –Steve Tovey

Redemption, they come up with a good and solid album. That’s it. In The Minds Of Evil (Century Media) is what the Deicide’s hardcore fans were waiting for.

Opening with a Slayer-esque riff and an awesome vocal melody, on the title track, Deicide sent us in true evil trip where cool riffs and grooves hold hands. Yeah, like Glen Benton said, this new studio effort recaptures the vibe of their first album. Unfortunately it is far from being a classic like the 1990’s self-titled album. But in the end what matters is that Deicide has again created a good record, with the help of Jason Suecof. He’s responsible for the great production on album. Finally!–Tiago Moreira

Akris Akris

Well this is a real mixed bag of delights. Bet you never thought you’d see The Bangles mentioned in here eh? At its base this debut long-player from Virginian duo Akris is largely stoner-sludge, all leaden grooves and fuzzed notes, but there’s so much more in the mix here. Prince’s fave girl band is just one of the many outfits springing to mind upon listening to Akris (Domestic Genocide): the winsome pop-rock quartet linking with the dropped out occult stoner of Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats, especially on the doom-laden Riverbed and the second half of the mammoth Part of Me, with the psychedelic sludge of Kylesa and groovedout grunge of Nevermind-era Nirvana appearing frequently also. You befuddled yet?!

Oddly enough, given the guitardriven hooks of the bands mentioned above, there are no six-string flurries here; just the rumbling, fuzzed thunder of, apparently, the world’s most sonorous bass. Its mistress, Helena Goldberg, is also the

Kill Devil Hill Revolution Rise

reason for the Susanna Hoffs comparisons: her breezy, melodic tones blending right from the off with sleazy, almost progressive structures in the overtly-sexual Fighter Pilot. The heavy psychedelia of Hawkwind marries the atonal scream and almost spoken delivery of Laura Pleasants on Row of Lights; indeed, the Kylesa link is apparent in a glut of tracks, with Goldberg marrying the Pleasants harshness with a soulful sneer reminiscent of Kurt Cobain’s softer moments in Unidentified. Meanwhile the laconic drone of Vomit Within’s first section evokes comparisons with Undersmile, albeit with more mellifluous tendencies.

That the duo is just one big rhythm section with melodies is borne out by the relentless,

band to market themselves based only on name value but the album shows that they can play quality music too.

Singer Dewey Bragg gets right down to it with a take no prisoners style scream on “No Way Out”.

One can hear a bit of Phil Anselmo’s style in his vocals. Maybe it is the kind of vocals Brown likes to base his riffs off of or the style he likes in his bands but then again it could be a coincidence.

Although Revolution Rise is only Kill Devil Hill’s sophomore album, nearly all metalheads have heard of them. The band is a bit of a super group considering they have Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Dio) on drums and Rex Brown (Pantera, Down) on bass. Some may expect the

“Crown of Thorns” is a track where Bragg sounds particularly haunted. The album’s theme after all seems to be of a religious nature with allusions to Jesus Christ and lyrics about struggling with sin. The “oooo”s coming in the background give it an ominous yet beautiful and poignant feel.

pounding groove of closer Suffocate, alongside a throatripping scream that defies belief and the crushing bass work which is the underpin of the whole album. It is Goldberg’s delicious yet stark harmonies, however, which enliven the whole affair and give it an air of uniqueness; converting a merely intriguing album into one of real integrity and unidentifiable magnetism.

Urgent, throbbing, and sexy as fuck, despite what is in many respects a quite basic sound, I will most definitely be returning to this on a regular basis.

–Paul Quinn

A little past the half way point comes “Long Way From Home”.

It is a slightly slower jam with more of a Dirt or Jar of Flies era Alice In Chains feel to it. It is also the most heartfelt track on the album. “Stained Glass Sadness” sees Brown’s bass skills really coming out. Guitarist Mark Zavon also really lets loose at this point and it is for the better.

Things get a little more theatrical at the end with “Life Goes On”. It serves as the perfect ending to the album in terms of both sound and message. The hidden track after this one is even softer to the point where it may not seem to fit the metal genre but that is not Kill Devil Hill’s goal. Thank God for Kill Devil Hill looking to break the stale reputation of super groups.–Melissa Campbell GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 | 71

Hekseri Hekseri

Editor’s note: In Ghost Cult’s quest to bring you the best in heavy music journalism, we have left no stone unturned when it comes to underground artists to uncover, or just getting some new and unique writers in the fold. After a long time of begging, hounding and cajoling, we are proud to welcome Wren Leader into our ranks as an occasional contributor. In addition to running his long-time, highly influential music blog Bob Loves Music.

A few years ago I was offered a tremendous opportunity, the chance to write for a major newspaper. A local but heavily distributed and popular periodical was looking for a few metalheads to write about local and underground metal. Being a connoisseur of fine and exquisite heavy metal noise, I jumped at the chance to see my love of extreme music published. The first and only thing I wrote was a review of an album by one of my favorite local bands, the mighty black metal band Hekseri. While it wasn’t a Pulitzer Prize winning article, I thought it conveyed the beautiful brutality of this incredible band. You can imagine my excitement when I looked down at a newspaper that is read by thousands of people and see my name printed. Unfortunately, that excitement turned to disappointment. Somehow the review had been edited from what I had submitted. There were a few changed lines here and there (which bugged me a little), but the glaring errors included highlighting ex-members of the band that hadn’t been involved with the band for years nor were on the recording as well as misspelling current band members names. I was a bit embarrassed.

Even though the general population probably wouldn’t notice, I didn’t like that my name was associated with misinformation and it wasn’t fair to the two masterminds of Hekseri who created this labor of unholy love. Now I understand the need for editing, the newspaper

Grand Magus

Triumph and Power

MMXIII was a year with a dearth of proper Heavy Metal releases.

Death and post-metal dominated, but a horns in the air, involuntary neck-moving, fist-pumping classic metal was nary to be found.

The year turns and Grand Magus remind us all what we’ve been missing. Triumph And Power (Nuclear Blast) is as metal as they come.

It’s worth saying this may not be Grand Magus best album, that honour still belongs to Iron Will, but that is more testament to the high-quality outputs of a band that are criminally still the bridesmaid despite some excellent albums in their canon than any fault of this offering.

Pre-Turbo Judas Priest, Manowar (Ross The Boss-era) and Sabbath (all eras) are the predominant influences in an album and when your main sources of (Triumph and) Power are Vikings and classic metal it’s pretty difficult not to rule the waves, the land or the wind. ‘On Hooves Of Gold’ evokes

editor had been extremely helpful in fine tuning the piece with me into something that I was quite proud of. But then to see it edited even more with information I knew not to be correct. I probably should have messaged the editor and asked what had happened, but I kinda sucked it up and said “hey something I wrote was in the newspaper, that’s pretty darn cool!” Now Ghost Cult has offered me the chance for the original review to be published! I hope you enjoy it!

Since their beginning in 2004, Hekseri has been one of Boston’s loudest and most volatile black metal bands.

After releasing several demos and a split, and performing at such local hotspots as Allston’s O’Briens Pub and the long deceased Skybar of Somerville, this staple of the Boston metal scene has finally released onto the world their full-length self-titled

Gigan

Multi-Dimensional Fractal Sorcery & Super Science

the Valkyrie-epic of Manowar’s ‘Blood of My Enemies’, ‘Steel Versus Steel’ and ‘Fight’ stir the blood, simple galloping riffs over a driving drum beat and choruses that are crying to Asgaard to be belted out live after a few ales.

There is no let-up either, as the title-track a Battle Hymn of the highest order, swaggers in over a thunderous bass line ripped out

by Fox, the guitars stab in before we’re swept into a rousing callto-arms chorus that segues into a true metal solo via a Holy Diver middle eight. Exhausted yet? This is then followed by the Priest worshipping ‘Dominator’, a song that will bang the head that doesn’t bang. JB Christofferson owns this album, distinctive strong and gruffly velvet over the doomier ‘Holmgang’, dominant and rous-

ing on the air-guitar inducing ‘The Naked And The Dead’, owner of a great chorus before things are brought to a fitting close by the epic ‘The Hammer Will Bite’, a summation of all that has gone before.

Triumph And Power is a statement of vibrant classic metal intent, hosting a series of anthems strong and pure that if Viking justice be done will propel its’ creators to lead the great battle in the sky.

–Steve Tovey

debut. Taking their name from the Danish and Norwegian word for “witchcraft,” Hekseri are indeed a cold and dark conception. Founded by two occult women, this is an explosion of atrocious aggression, blasphemous bile and ear-piercing music that is sure to freeze the blood of all who listen. The guitarist known as Iron Meggido creates thin powerful distortion-filled riffs that are razor sharp and able to rip flesh from the bone. Thuringwethil supports the guitars with a merciless bass rumbling that permeates the record. The drums by pound the ground into submission. On top of this unforgiving sound, both sinister prophets spurt unholy lyrics of anti-religion, war, wrath and dark paganism, provided in shrill inhumanly harsh screams and growls that strike fear in all hearts. While there are no compromises in the brutality of Hekseri’s sound, there is still present a strangely melodic nature. Much like the album art which features gray deathly bodies surrounding a serene mountainous landscape, each devil song has its own memorable flavor; ‘Gods Of Rotting Death’ is a crushing dirge-like hymn whose simple but effective riff can engrave itself into anyone’s soul, ‘Bladefucker’ is relentless in its thrashing onslaught.

‘The Atrocity’ starts off with a haunting clean guitar before diving into a dissonant chaotic anthem, which showcase their breadth alongside the unapologetic blasts of blackness of ‘Invoking The War Goddess’ and the title track. It’s an exhausting listen, but there’s beauty to it.

A masterful tribute to the dark arts, this treacherous debut Hekseri record rewards those hardened enough to listen with a gorgeous and grim experience.–Wren Leader

When it comes to death metal, there are three options. You can play it straight and tread the mainstream festival stages like Hypocrisy, you can go back to the primitive and rot under the floorboards like Autopsy, or in the case of Florida natives Gigan you can blast off into a cold interstellar vortex at warp speed and leave much of the competition charred to ashes in your wake, as the they do on third album MultiDimensional Fractal Sorcery & Super Science (Willowtip).

Their name, taken from Kaiju, the Japanese giant monster best known for battling Godzilla is appropriate, for Gigan sound ready to take on just about anyone with their blistering tech-death assault on the senses.

Armed with more ideas than their rivals in the blasting stakes and an appreciation for mood and atmosphere that is often lacking when speed takes precedent, this is a record that should gain the band many admirers. The scope of their vision is demonstrated in the opening track ‘Beneath the Sea of Tranquillity’, a nine minute endurance test of fire-bomb riffing, scattergun percussion and furious vocal bellows that call to mind Ulcerate wrestling with Ufomammut in the midst of an exploding star.

The remaining tracks are shorter in length but equal in intensity, such as the punishing attack of ‘Influence through Ritualistic Perception’ and the whirlwind chaos of ‘Mother of Toads’, the latter of which features plenty of innovative drumming alongside the more standard blasts and fills. Comparisons to the likes of Origin are inevitable but Gigan have enough of their own identity to pull in those who couldn’t get enough of the latest Gorguts record; those who like their death metal to be uncertain and dangerous, the way it should be. They’ve certainly achieved that here.–James Conway GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 | 73

Kayo Dot Hubardo

Ten years into its uncompromising career Toby Driver has led Kayo Dot boldly through albums of intense complexity, raw aggression mixed with a delicate fragility which only heightens their ability to carve menacing abstract compositions that challenge attention span yet contain moments of jaw dropping high quality.

Urgent brass accompanied by tense fretwork and Driver’s deranged ranting makes discordant parts of ‘Vision Adjustment to Another Wavelength’ a harrowing cacophonous experience. The music is wantonly complex and overtly technical yet it is its ability to through curveball each time which makes you press on. The sweet flute playing of Daniel Meads gives the aforementioned number an elegance and grace many purveyors of extremity sorely lack.

Driver’s death grunt over opener ‘The Black Stone’ feels far too intense for the music it accompanies yet Kayo Dot’s arrangements flow very naturally for the most part. No mean feat considering the ninety plus minutes of chaos this meticulously crafted leviathan drags you through while referencing everyone from Gorguts to Talk Talk.

The sheer unpredictability of it all is a joy to revel in. With songs averaging a minimum of eight minutes, this is a dense and challenging journey into art-house macabre but there are moments of transcendent beauty like ‘The Second Operation (Lunar Water)’ which shatter that mould.

Desolate saxophone accompanies angelic voices and the eerie narrative of Driver. Shifting from crushing technicality to blissful indie rock within a blink of an eye isn’t easy.

Recalling the hazy jazz escapades of latter day Radiohead before ‘Floodgate’ pummels your brain with Keith Abrams visceral blasts and layer upon layer of vocal histrionics.

Always eclectic Kayo Dot succeeds in seamlessly blending the terrifying with the tranquil in a manner which almost defies description. The free jazz technicality prog rock ambience, fragile tenderness and vehement blasts of impenetrable art noise all flow throughout this often magnificent double album. There are moments of utter pretentiousness but it’s this resistance to conform which marks Kayo Dot out as a true maverick act who have finally produced a defining statement of their art.–Ross Baker

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Pelican

Forever Becoming

Chicago’s Pelican released their fifth studio album, Forever Becoming through Southern Lord Records. Recorded at Electrical Audio Studios with producer Chris Common, this is Pelican’s first studio album since 2001 to without founding guitarist Laurent SchroederLebec. Instead, after debating the thought of continuing as a three piece act, when Laurent decided to take more time out for his family, Dallas Thomas joined the band full time, adding his influence to the new album.

The album starts off airy and minimalist with ‘Terminal.’ The snare sound is unreal! So crisp and clear that I wonder what replacement sample they used, if indeed it’s not their own snare because I want it badly. If it is their snare, I bend on one knee before their engineer and lower my head in humble awe. Sound permeates the spread of mouldy mildew, crawling in ceiling crevices and encircling windowpanes.

Crisp but maintaining an air of dissonance, the bass grumbles in the background for balance. It’s a bit too careful in its emotions, holding back anger, lust, loss. More of a ballad for the falsely vacant soul.

With the second track ‘Deny The Absolute,’ I though I was getting handed a lead heavy dose of metal, only to have them pussy out in 20 second. I guess I’m just searching for something amidst my flu ridden headache to charge these bacteria out of my blood stream. This mid-

Entombed A.D Back to the Front

tempo post metal just isn’t cutting it. The riffs at the end held some interesting pattern and once again, the kit sounded incredible, not to mention Larry Herweg’s playing was spot on.

‘The Tundra;’ now here’s the downtrodden mammoth pull I was searching for. Unfortunately this track was far too repudiative to keep my interest without lyrical content. Not really sure who decided that was the right ending for that track either. A chaotic noise outro? Way to follow up a good ending on the last track with an abysmal one. This coming from the lady who loves noise.

The rest of the album is about the same. Melodic, calming and relatively mediocre. Pelican breeds interest to post-metal fans looking for an instrumental background piece to sooth out their mind from the underflow of downtime. I can’t shake the thought that they will always just be a a wannabe ISIS in my mind. Maybe just go listen to Oceanic instead. It would be time better spent but I guess this is okay too.-Christine Hager

Anybody who knows anything about death metal has heard of Entombed. Very few bands have broken out of the masses but this name has been propelled to legendary status. Despite maintaining an original lineup for almost 20 years, it’s been all change for Entombed recently. With a complete lineup revamp just two albums ago, and a split announced just before the release of their latest album leaving the original name to founding members Alex Hellid and Ulf Cederlund, the band is hardly recognizable from their original form. Rising from the ashes of Entombed, founding vocalist Lars (LG) Petrov has adopted the title of Entombed A.D., but the question remains; can he possibly put out the same quality that he has become known for over the years? The answer is a resounding yes.

Back to the Front (Century Media) may have been a long time coming with Petrov’s last release, Serpent Saints, six years previous, but they have finally returned and the wait has been more than worth it. Back to the Front is a polished entanglement of melody and brutality. The sound has mellowed from their previous albums; the vocals are less harsh, almost sung, but 26 years on Petrov still has the voice to carry this off. There’s also a marked difference in the guitarist style. Rather than Serpent Saints where guitarist and coproducer Nico Elgstrand seems intent of fitting in with the older musical style, in this album he seems to be making his own mark on the sound, adding a heavier dose of melody into the mix.

The music has come a long way from Entombed’s original release, Left Hand Path. They’re not the young angry guys they once were, ripping their way through albums with devastating speed and aggression, but this doesn’t mean they can’t still pull out an outstanding album.

I can’t say that initially I wasn’t disappointed by their lack of return to the old sound, but this album has forged its own distinct place.

Although it is distinctly catchier in nature and unlikely to be listed among the greats, it’s still enjoyable proving that once again they are still putting a bit of death back into metal.–Caitlin Smith GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 |75

Iced Earth

Plagues of Babylon

Sixteen years and five albums have passed since Iced Earth blew me away with Something Wicked This Way Comes, a tour de force that still serves as their defining moment. Since then, while it would be harsh to say Iced Earth have been undeserving of the loyalty their fan base has shown, it would be fair to say they’ve not reached the heights of their early days.

Horror Show was aptly named, Ripper Owens came in and found lightning does indeed strike twice, once again finding himself a great vocalist joining a band not at their creative peak (while not being “the guy”), “the guy” Matt Barlow re-joined to release an album that made everyone wish he hadn’t bothered, before 2011’s Dystopia saw the more-Barlow-than-Barlow Stu Block, take over the mic stand for a very credible return-to- form.

that metal ballads still exist, `Cthulu’ picks up the pace nicely, `Among The Living Dead’ could be lifted off the Anthrax album it’s title references with its lean riffage paying homage to `N.F.L., while `Peacemaker’ lifts the serious mask for a second, bringing a Wild West HM rompastomp to the table. `Resistance’ and `The End?’ could have been lifted straight from SWTWC, powerful and epic choruses sit in between crunchy, thrashy and powerful metal riffs, played out over classy melodic leads.

Full of excellent understated yet rousing choruses that stretch out over thrash-tinged heavy metal riffs and enmeshed with their traditional formula of Metallica, Priest and Maiden, on Plagues of Babylon Iced Earth relentlessly deliver powerful, convincing and epic songs throughout an album that more than picks up the baton from its predecessor.

–Steve Tovey

And the goodwill of the faithful continues to be rewarded as Plagues of Babylon (Century Media) picks up where Dystopia left off very nicely indeed; producing a slew of distinctive classic Iced Earth heavy metal tracks. Opening pairing of the title track and `Democide’ deliver chunky riffs, before The Culling raises the bar - all Disposable Heroes juddering staccato verse riff into trademark IE rousing chorus.

Elsewhere, `If I Could See You’ is the natural successor to `Watching Over Me’, and a great example

Truckfighters Universe

Hard working trio Truckfighters have made themselves a name on the live circuit, gaining critical praise from such luminaires’ as Queens Of The Stone Age head honcho Josh Homme in the process. Since last release 2009’s Mania there have been several changes. Most notably the departure of sticksman Oscar “Pezo” Johansson who opted to join retro rockers and fellow Swedes Witchcraft, there were certainly questions over what the next album of fuzzed up retro rock would match the power of its predecessor.

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The California desert can still be felt throughout this record with the growling basslines of ‘Prophet’ giving way to a hazy chorus recalling a more metallic Fu Manchu. Alternating between straight up driving rock like driving opener ‘Mind Control’ and the sprawling ‘Get Lifted’. Most intriguingly is closer ‘Mastodont’ not least for how the title references the Atlanta based quartet although it is unclear if the reference is intended to be received positively or negatively. At over thirteen minutes it takes up a third of the running time alone but manages to hold the attention with its subtle shifting dynamics. The spiralling guitar work is certainly more minimal in its approach that the Georgians stoner-prog emissions but the weight and power involved is definitely the direction the band should be steering towards. The acoustic section that ushers in the last two

minutes suggests great things if they are able to embrace these more progressive influences.

‘The Chairman’ also blends the low down grunt of prime desert rock. Oskar “Ozo” Cedrmalm pulling off a leather-lunged performance atop storming riffs.

‘Universe’ sees a gradual expansion of Truckfighters sound which holds much promise. Shedding the “baby QOTSA” tag, yet still having not wriggled free from the glut of Kyuss wanna-bees whose sickly sweet patchouli and hash sent lingers most unwelcomingly.

Some great hooks and clever riffing has stepped up Truckfighters game. If they can leave behind the more generic sections they could seriously be onto something. As it stands the gradual evolution of this Universe (Fuzzorama Records) remains a compelling one.–Ross Baker

Culted

Oblique To All Paths

As a knuckle-dragging Metaller, I’ve always thought of “background music” as a term of abuse – insipid, weak, unchallenging sounds for people who can’t take their music kicking them in the face. Culted, however, seem determined to reclaim this phrase, writing sinister, languid Doom that slips into the back of your mind and then proceeds to lay its rancid eggs there.

The basic sound of Oblique To All Paths (Relapse) is akin to Through Silver In Blood-era Neurosis stripped down to its bare skeleton, and then built back up into something very different with the use of ambient drones, atmospheric noise and sparse instrumentation.Opener ‘Brooding Hex’ charts out the shape of the whole album in

microcosm (although not that micro, at just over nineteen minutes long), leading us from whispered atmospherics into waves of dense, slow-motion riffing underscored with shifting, chittering electronic noises and distorted yelps. After nineteen minutes it fades out in a pulsing, irregular tattoo of drums and noises, and then the album goes back through the whole thing again, breaking it down and drawing it out to almost painful lengths. It’s not an easy listen, be prepared to invest three or four spins before you start getting any kind of attachment to it, and it is perhaps too long for what is essentially a one-dimensional affair, but it takes a distinctive, unsettling approach to an oversaturated genre and delivers something quite special.

a failure, but very much works in its favour. There are plenty of other bands ready to smash you in the face, or blast you with arcs of searing energy, or drown you in coils of writhing black tentacles if that’s what you really want (and you should, because it’s awesome), but Culted instead take you by the hand and lead you very gently, very calmly into a place filled with unspeakable horrors and then whisper terrible secrets sweetly into your ear. Or, you know, something.– Ritchie Hanton-Rutherford

There’s something oddly passive, something unconfrontational about Oblique To All Paths which for a Metal album seems as though it should be

Avichi

Cathawrsis Absolute

After being in the works for a long time, Avichi’s Catharsis Absolute (Profound Lore) has finally surfaced, and for the most part it’s been worth the wait. Piano interludes open and close the album, with 4 tracks of ferocious black metal packed in between. Whilst the album isn’t exactly accessible, the melodic undercurrent that runs throughout the album makes it slightly more welcoming than other obscure one man projects such as Fyrnask. The harsh, repetitive riff at the end of ‘Flames In My Eyes’ is reminiscent of Darkthrone’s classic era, although it doesn’t feel half as frosty given that this album actually has some production quality.

This is no bad thing though, as the production quality gives strength to ‘Lightweaver’, and heightens the anthemic qualities of ‘Voice of Intuition’. What is most noticeable about the album is the use of melody. This is particularly apparent on ‘Lightweaver’, where twisting black metal riffs, keyboards, and chanting intertwine to create a surprisingly catchy song. ‘Voice of Intuition’

is also surprisingly catchy, given the anthemic qualities of the song. A very audible vocal line of “SPEAK TO ME!” is bellowed out across a strong, almost black ‘n’ roll rhythm.

‘All Gods Fall’ is by far the longest track on the album, clocking in at 12 minutes. Here, Avichi slows things down, and gets atmospheric without ever falling into post-black metal tropes. Unfortunately though, it isn’t quite as memorable as the tracks that precede it, meaning that this otherwise great album goes out with a bit of a fizzle as opposed to a bang. It’s by no means a bad track, but the punchiness of the first 3 songs is sorely missed. The track is followed by the aforementioned piano outro, which at this point feels as if it drags, as opposed to adding any atmosphere to the album.

Whilst the album has undeniably strong moments, it is ultimately let down by ending on a meandering 12 minute track which feels lacking in focus, followed by a dull piano outro.

If it had ended with one of the middle 3 tracks, it would probably offer a lot more incentive for repeat listens. Despite these negative points, Catharsis Absolute is a decent album, as the tracks which are good, are very good indeed.

–Tom Saunders GHOST CULT MAGAZINE #15 | 77

COLLAPSE AND CRUSH Dave Brockie of GWAR Editor’s Note: As often as we can we here at Ghost Cult, we like to bring you guest editorials, unique stories, and mini-topic interviews from people in the world of heavy music. Band members and musicians with varying interests to share, delving deep into influence outside the musical, industry honchos breaking down what the numbers mean, or perhaps a music journalist with a new perspective. This month we ask one of the funniest people in the world, Dave Brockie, best known as his hilarious alterego Oderus Urungus of GWAR, about his many comedic influences.

“The first comic influence that really got me was the Monty Python guys.

My parents were English so when they started showing Monty Pythons' The Flying Circus I was just a little kid. It really had a huge impact on me. My parents understood the humor a lot better than most Americans would. I just reacted really strongly to to their completely absurd dada- esque way of making jokes the weren’t even funny, they were just weird, and obtuse, and awkward. Then they would throw totally over the too cartoon violence into it.”

“Then later, I was big Steve Martin fan from the very beginning. Guys like Andy Kaufman and then later a lot of those fat comedians; (John) Belushi was a huge influence on me. I remember going to see Animal House like 20 times in the theaters. That was such a big thing for me. Contemporary comedians; I like Doug Stanhope. I cant keep up with them there’s so many great ones. (Jim) Breuer's great, Louis C.K. is great. There's so many guys now and I have a tremendous amount of respect for comedians. I mean, that is like the hardest thing to do in the world. I try my hand at standup every now and then but its a lot easier with a band behind me. But when it's just you out there with a microphone, its just one of the hardest things to do in the world. Its not surprising a lot of them die well before their time is over because it's such an incredibly stressful way of living. I mean look at Lenny Bruce. He was hounded by the police until he died.”

As told to Omar Cordy