Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Playlist 10.31.07






















GLORIOR BELLI
- Manifesting the Raging Beast
HAEMOTH - Vice, Suffering and Destruction
BORIS - Boris at Last: Feedbacker
TRAP THEM - Sleepwell Deconstructor
BARONESS - First
DARKTHRONE - Ravishing Grimness
SUNN 0))) - Oracle
SIGH - Hangman's Hymn: Musikalische Exequien
GORGOROTH - Destroyer (or About How to Philosophize with the Hammer)
HIGH ON FIRE - Death is This Communion
STRIBORG - Nocturnal Emissions/Nyctophobia
REPULSION - Horrified
PELICAN - Pink Mammoth
MY DYING BRIDE - Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera
AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED - PCP Torpedo/ANbRX
GLORIOR BELLI - Ô Laudate Dominvs

Happy Hallowe'en! Oíche Shamhna!

(((03)))

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Death Rode Dallas

I remember seeing this band with my friend Jason Burris (Conniptionfit, Cult Ceavers, Protest) back in like '96 or '97 at Moon Tunes (this warehouse thing south of downtown Dallas). Burris told me that he wasn't even sure the band were gonna play that night because there had been so many incidents at their shows. They couldn't book under their actual name because no one wanted their venue fucked up. It turned out it was them, and the promotion was all done word of mouth (I'm not sure how Burris found out about the show, he always had a pretty good handle on the underground, but then again I'm sure Mike Wilshin told him about it). The show was supposed to start at like 9:00 so we got there at 8:30. Turns out the show was only $2 to get in because the kegs they were supposed to have got lifted en-route to the venue so we had to go get our own. By the time we got there...the band was about to go on but people were still yelling about how bad the opener sucked (don't even remember their name). Burris told me the farther away from the band itself the better so we camped around this old couch with some refer-stinkin' hippies (which seemed out of place, but then again there were a lot of different types of people there) and waited for the show. Out of fucking nowhere, the music started but it was behind us...turns out the band set up a fake set so they could play on wireless and fuck with the crowd. Awesome, except we lost about 5-6 beers out of our 12 right off the bat as a pit started. I have to admit...I was a little shaken...but I felt like it was cool...or at least that I should think it was. Anyway, the band only played a few songs when one of the guys singing (I wasn't even sure he was in the band) got into it with 4 guys and got bloodied pretty bad so the show didn't go on as they say. Everyone stood around for 20-30 minutes to see if they would come back or if another band would play but nothing came about. A few people through bottles at the walls of Moon Tunes (as if it was any help) but people pretty much just filtered out and left. I'd never really heard of the band since and too bad too because for all the drama...they were pretty fuckin' good.
(one of the very few pics that exist of a Death Rides show courtesy of J. Burris)
(((03)))

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Paul Raven 1961-2007

From the Killing Joke website:

Our beloved Paul Raven died unexpectedly of a heart attack in Geneva in the early hours of Saturday October 20th 2007. Paul went to bed and did not wake up.

All of Paul’s family and extended family are in a state of deep sadness and shock at Paul’s unexpected passing. Paul has been sadly taken from us early in his life and his passing will leave behind a void that only Paul’s amazing and unique character could fill. Paul was full of life and anyone that knew him well enough loved him deeply and admired him greatly.

Paul brought something special with him wherever he went and we will all miss him greatly. Rest in peace.

Jaz Coleman - Geordie Walker, front man and Guitarist of Killing Joke :

''We are all deeply stricken with grief at the unannounced departure of possibly the funniest man on planet Earth and a brother to us all. Paul Vincent Raven unimaginable sadness is felt by all''

*On a personal note, Killing Joke have been a massive influence on me since my first encounter with them in 1985 and Paul has been a driving force of that influence since day one. He will be missed and shall remain irreplaceable in the eyes of this writer. Rest in Peace.

Matt K. Amyx

(((03)))

Saturday, October 20, 2007

The Unsane Son's of New York

Filthy, dirty, violent and honest...just a few of the words I'd use to describe the brilliant (I know, another descriptive) UNSANE. Since laying my hands on a copy of the utterly amazing Total Destruction from 1994 on Matador/Atlantic (now way out of print), I've been a die hard fan following the band up to it's decline towards collapse starting in 1998 with the release of the jaw-dropping Occupational Hazard, which subsequently later that year saw band leader Chris Spencer nearly beaten to death in Vienna, Austria, to the formation of Chris' The Cutthroars 9, to UNSANE's triumphant return in 2003 to the release of 2005's Blood Run. Now, just two short years later and with a new home on Ipecac Recordings, UNSANE have risen from the harbor like an un-dead victim of a mob shooting and laid waste with Visqueen. I remember reading an early review of Visqueen that stated that it lacked the urgency of Blood Run...to which I say, bullshit. Nothing like a review from someone who knows nothing about music, anyway. Visqueen, I must say, is THE best of what makes UNSANE slay! Brutal, un-subtle...totally killer. I know, I'm pulling words from the past...but duder, this shit kills! Long story short, I am in fucking UNSANE HEAVEN (or...you know...the other place), I've even pulled all my old albums out, not just by them, but by (early) Today's the Day, Hammerhead and new-comers Rabies Caste and KEN Mode among others and have been having myself a Noise Rock fest. Back to Visqueen though...if this is the path UNSANE are to stay on...fuck, I can't wait for the next album. MUSIC AND DIE!!!

(((03)))

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Exalted is the Magic(k)




2007 sees the release of the first Equimanthorn album in 3 years. Exalted are the 7 throne bearers of Ninnkigal is a logical yet refreshing follow-up to 2004's Second Sephira Cella transcending as always any and all expectations of this enigmatic and genre-defying music(k) project.

My first experience with Equimanthorn was the purchase of a cassette copy of the bands second offering, Entrance to the Ancient Flame from the bands then contributer Black Massith (was also known as Black Mass Prayer or Brian Artwick) back in 1992 and I was also fortunate enough to see the band's only live performance at Trees in Dallas which made up the An Evening of Blasphemous Moon Worship demo which was later compiled along with the Entrance to the Ancient Flame demo onto Lectionum Antiquarum release in 1999.

Having been a fan of this band for such a long time, it was an honor to have been asked by Proscriptor to contribute a vocal performance to the first track on Exalted... called "Refulgent Splendour - Part I Three Fathers and Their Generations - Part III Twelve Bounds of Their Universe" performing under the name Amyxul.

(((03)))

Monday, October 15, 2007

Coming Soon to A Town Nowhere Near You...






















(((03)))

Friday, October 12, 2007

From Conqueror To Coward (or...From King To Kunt Nektar) albums that owned, followed by utter shitte.


Compiled by Matt K. Amyx and R. Randel Givens, 10.12.07:

MKA:

1. Venom – Possessed/Calm Before the Storm

2. Destruction – Release from Agony/Cracked Brain

3. Entombed – Clandestine/Wolverine Blues

4. Nocturnus – The Key/Thresholds

5. Meathook Seed – Embedded/B.I.B.L.E.

6. Cryptic Slaughter – Stream of Consciousness/Speak Your Peace

7. Celtic Frost – Into the Pandemonium/Cold Lake

8. Metallica – Master of Puppets/…and Justice for All

9. Exodus – Pleasures of the Flesh/Fabulous Disaster

10. The Damned – Anything/Not of this Earth

Honorable Mention:
Prince – Purple Rain/Around the World in a Day

RRG:

1. Def Leppard “Pyromania” Into “Hysteria”

2. Jefferson Starship “Nuclear Furniture” Into Starship “Knee Deep In The Hoopla”

3. Aerosmith “Done With Mirrors” Into “Permanent Vacation”

4. Whitesnake “Slide It In” Into “Whitesnake”

5. Van Halen “1984” Into Van Hagar “5150”

6. Sepultura “Beneath The Remains” Into “Arise”

7. Pyogenesis “Waves Of Erotasia” Into “Sweet X-Rated Nothings”

8. Genesis “Genesis” Into “Invisible Touch”

9. ZZ Top “Eliminator” Into “Afterburner”

10. Twisted Sister “Stay Hungry” Into “Come Out And Play”

Honorable Mention:
Anthrax “Among The Living” Into “I’m The Man/State Of Euphoria”

(((03 and 726)))

Monday, October 01, 2007

Vice, Suffering and Destruction via the French...again

What is it about the fucking French that has them churning out some of the fastest, loudest and most venom(ous) black metal the scene has witnessed since the days of De Mysteriis... and A Blaze...??? Search me...but along with Deathspell Omega, Glorior Belli and the newest addition to my personal collection of audio blasphemy Haemoth, I've been witness to some evil fucking music.

Formed in 1998 in the Vernouillet area of Paris, Haemoth proclaimed their lyrical them to encompass such broad black metal themes as...Satanism, occultism, misanthropy and pain. Their biography reads as such and is word for word.

"Haemoth support all that can contribute to the ruin of the human being, every form of vice, and don't give a fuck to the means used to reach that point.
Any form of vice, destruction and hate have to be preached.
Haemoth encourages every act, physical or spiritual which could carry to the declin, blasphemy or pain."

...how can you go wrong with a proclamation like that? There last full length, Vice, Suffering and Destruction delivers the darkness, evil and production you'd expect from a band touting such hatred. And if that wasn't enough, the CD is limited to 1,000 copies worldwide and the LP to 444 hand numbered copies, (why they didn't do 222 more and make it really "kvlt" we may never know).

It's about fucking time BM got hateful again...you see, for a while there, it seemed that all those veterans of the old school with very few exceptions were so busy creating "art" bands or making "progressive" statements with there music that all the hate was left out, all the satan...you know...all the elements that make black metal...black...and while we still have some great new albums by Mayhem and Darkthrone and even though you do get some "artsy" stuff from DsO, there is no denying that Glorior Belli, DsO and Haemoth are bringing the goat worship and spite back to those of us who my be weary from years of Arcturus cloning.

(((03)))