Tuesday, April 29, 2008

...it's what we've been waiting for

Voivod to complete Final Record:

There remain 13 songs that Denis D'Amour (Piggy) had written with the band that have yet to be recorded. Michel Langevin (Away) and Denis Belanger (Snake) will track the last songs this spring bringing all the past and present members together to participate in a homage to the guitar legend of Piggy and the legacy of 25 years of a brotherhood forged by exploring metal, rock and punk ethics with an other worldly premise.

Jean-Yves Theriault (Blacky) and Eric Forrest (E Force) have eagerly agreed to contribute bass tracks along with Jason Newsted (Jasonic).

The End records and Nuclear Blast will release this final record once completed. Voivod may play select shows after the release as a thank you to the fans and to bring closure to a great career.


(((03)))

Monday, April 28, 2008

Boris (花・太陽・雨)

Just in is the brand new album by the biggest main-stays in my CD player, Boris. Smile is everything I love about the soft-hard crunch and drone of these three brilliant musicians/artists from Japan.

From the cover of PYG's "Flower, Sun, Rain"
(花・太陽・雨), to the "Too Fast for Love"-esque "Statement" (or "Hante!" "放て!", "Shoot!" in Japan), this album covers all bases from Pink to Akuma No Uta and even hearkens back at times to the bottom-heavy days of Amplifier Worship, especially on the "Untitled" (bonus track, "You Put Up Your Umbrella Part 2") which features a guest appearance by the man who must have a guitar strapped on at all times, Stephen O'Malley.

Smile
is warm and inviting while playing the harsh and disturbing card in the same hand. And with the first 3,000 mail order versions containing a bonus DVD of the videos for "Pink", "Statement" and "My Neighbor Satan" (my copy is #1018), this is by far one of the best, most
entertaining and utterly rich Boris releases to date. Go to southernlord.com and grab one up along with other Boris releases and merch.

(((03)))

Friday, April 25, 2008

Vs.

"[I'm] very disappointed to see how closed-minded some of our fans are. We started extreme metal and now we are doing it even more then before, extreme dynamically. When you listen to the full album, you will understand or not. Never has CRYPTOPSY been soo fast and agressive and at the same time generated feel in metal songs, wow. Not an achievement to you, it seems, but something extremely hard to do. If you get it or not, that's up to you, but people judge fast and I can guarantee that if you open your mind a little, you'll understand and be in awe. No change, then just vote for Bush again while you're at it. You know, [I'm] not an angry person by nature, but god, open your ears."

-Flo Mounier

Flo Mounier,
it is no small stroke of good fortune that you happen to have found your calling as a drummer, because as a logician or a debater, you are an abject failure. Perhaps there are high school playgrounds, back alleys or political rallies where your brand of fallacious counterpoint is considered legitimate, but we will not be cowed by your indignation or persuaded by your knee-jerk accusations of intolerance.

Facts are pernicious things, never yielding to desire or popular opinion, no matter how widely held they might be to be true. And what could be more popular; at least among washed-up, myopic, uninspired and emotionally fragile musicians past their prime; than that most flaccid and pitiful of canards, that all-purpose excuse of "experimentation"....

In case you've been living under a rock or in a cave this past decade, which I know you haven't been and are simply being dishonest, allow me to fill you in; STACCATO BURSTS OF PALM-MUTED NOTES OF THE EXACT SAME PITCH ACCOMPANIED BY BLAST BEATS AND HOWLING INFANT-LIKE VOCALS HAS BEEN DONE TO DEATH THESE PAST FIVE YEARS.

"Experimentation" refers to trying NEW things. What YOU are doing is hopping on a band wagon and then pretending to be Colonel Klink when these ugly facts are raised to you, and all you can offer by way of defense to your loyal and patient fans is a supercilious, selfish rant about "close-mindedness". Absurd. Contemptible. Pathetic. I'm wracked with disgust, not only that you could release such nakedly derivative, mainstream putris and try to defend it as novel and inventive in the face of overwhelming evidence, but that you could then carry on to lash out in petulant indignation at your justly offended fanbase.

What would it take, sir, to entreat you to merely CONSIDER the possibility that you have stumbled and taken this band in a humiliating direction that shames it's reputation? Are you so far beyond reproach in your own mind that the very notion of finding yourself in error brings out the most dishonest and unflattering in you?

Your fans are not fickle people, Mr. Mounier. They have not come and gone with the trends, they have sought out venues and vendors well out of their way, beyond the reach of the mainstream. If they aren't geniuses, then they are not sheep either. They have the savvy to tell when they're hearing something new, and when they're simply hearing a new trend dressed up in hype.

They listened to the music and they heard the very trend-driven tripe they have been weathering for half a decade and had hoped to find refuge from in your canon, and YOU failed to reciprocate their support. Bands running aground and turning to the bandwagons of the day are nothing new, but then you lashed out at them and called them all obtuse for not heralding what you'd done as a work of high art without a second thought. It's one thing to exhibit skepticism about your criticisms, it's quite another to suggest your work is flawless and all of your critics are by default unthinking and backwards without even addressing their concerns.

- Joesph W

(((03))) (photo by frodo47)

Monday, April 21, 2008

Amyxul vs. the Weekend 04.08

Was able to hang out a lot this weekend and also managed to get a hold of some cool stuff.

First up, Friday night was drummer night at the Amyx Compound (the North Dallas Tower) with Russ "Proscriptor" Givens (Absu) and Dave Ybanez (Digibomb, ex-deadrightthere).

Russ brought along some excellent wax gems for me including Exploited, Death before Dishonor, Motorhead, Overkill and No Sleep 'til Hammersmith, Metal Church, Metal Church and several others including Minor Threat, Lizzy Borden, Helloween and Overkill (some old school shit, huh?).

Since I didn't have my ION plugged in we didn't jam any vinyl, but were able to fit in some Glorior Belli, Earth and Burning Witch along with some live DVD footage of Black Oak Arkansas Live at Royal Albert Hall and Pelican's After the Ceiling Cracked.

Saturday I awoke, checked my mail and got in Leviathan, Massive Conspiracy Against All Life and Torch, Meanderthal, both of which are fucking brilliant in their own rite.

I also got in a DVD of Hot Fuzz finally. Another Amazon find for next to nothing that I ordered on Thursday and got in Saturday. Score another one for Amazon. I have a copy of Big Nothing, also with Simon Pegg on the way as well that I got for $0.88, a DVD for less than a dbl. cheeseburger at McDonalds. Brilliant.

Later that day it was off to the pub to hang with my buddy Dave Powell (Zane Lewis, ex-deadrightthere) and ended up watching the UFC fight with Mike "the Poet" Neil. (thanks Mike!).

Sunday, I rested and caught up on BSG season IV and ended the day with River's Edge.

In the mail, on the way and highly anticipated are Smile from Boris and Ramton by Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine (I am aware I should have had that by now, but give me a break, there is TOO much stuff out there to get).

I'm pretty stoked about a lot of releases on the slate for '08, including Absu, Sunn 0))), Pentemple, Melvins and many more. I'm sure I left a lot out but it's Monday morning and it's not even 8 o'clock yet. I'm surprised I've written THIS much.

Mass congrats to art machine Justin Bartlett and his new wife/bride to be (not sure of when). Best of luck and all the happiness to you both!

(((03)))

Friday, April 18, 2008

Oak [Live in Baltimore] Thanks Slimm!


TorqueZine friend Scott Slimm of aRCHIVE recordings turned me on to some live tracks by a band called Oak. Great harsh dark drone that isn't exclusive to putting you out for 20 minutes at a time on the same note.

I'm waiting to hear back from him to see about finding more material but in the meantime, If you're privy to the Oak I'm talking about, please shoot me a line as I am MOST anxious to hear more!

As you are I'm sure aware, typing in "Oak" to find any information about a band leads you down the path of everything from "The Oak Ridge Boys" to "Black Oak Arkansas".

Swing by aRCHIVE and check it out as well. I own several items Slimm's put out and you can't believe how awesome his product is. The care put in to the packaging alone is second to NONE!

(((03)))

Thursday, April 17, 2008

The New (Old) Kings of Mail Order

Having become wildly disenchanted with pretty much EVERY aspect of doing mail order, I have finally found somewhere that I can get what I'm looking for, at more than fair prices without being ass-raped over shipping and without being screwed by a one-man mail room that might have forgotten to throw my fucking package in the mail (I'm talking to you, Southern Lord).

Amazon.com has millions of titles (hard to find stuff too) and they also outsource for used stuff as well. They QC what's going on UNLIKE eBay and they track your order, keeping you tuned in to exactly what is going on with it. And, GET THIS, the more you buy, the more you save. Not just on the items, but they clear you of shipping too! Try that with all the other fuck o's out there where it's $7 shipping for the first item, $7 for each additional item. Even if you do pay shipping when ordering through Amazon, it runs between $2-$4 dollars. Good idea huh?!?! And most often, it goes out next day as opposed to say, whenever they feel like it.

Another aspect I like is not having to do business with fucking PayPal when I don't have too. These people are crooks who, once they get their money, have no intention of looking out for you, the buyer. Since February, I placed my trust in PayPal twice only to be royally screwed with little or NO communication and ZERO satisfaction.

Now I will still have to use eBay for shirts and shit like that, but when it comes to tunes, I'm pretty much sticking with Amazon from here on out. I will be steering clear of the label-run mail order sites like Dry Run, Hydra Head, Southern Lord (if I can help it) and Robotic Empire (your new site and newly initiated shipping costs have lost this customer).

And if I can help it, I'm staying the hell away from eBay and their little buddy PayPal whom together where last seen in "Pulp Fiction" in the basement of a pawn shop about to give a little somethin' to Butch and Marcellus.

(((03)))

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Respekt


(((03)))

Monday, April 14, 2008

Playlist 04.14.08

















FRANK ZAPPA - Return of the Son of Kill Ugly Radio
SUNN 0))) - White 2
EARTH - Pentastar: In the Style of Demons
BURNING WITCH - Crippled Lucifer (Seven Psalms For Our Lord Of Light)
KILLING JOKE - Democracy
CRAFT - Fuck the Universe
KHANATE - Khanate
ISIS - In the Absence of Truth
BORIS - Statement & Heavy Rocks
MELVINS - Honky
GENESIS - Seconds Out

Literature:
"The Curse of Lono" - Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman

(((03)))

Friday, April 11, 2008

Frosted Flake

Everyone knows by now about Tom's little fit, and everyone also knows that this is nothing new. It's always fucking something with Frost and/or Tom and I for one am sick to death of this mellow dramatic shit. So I hereby refuse to acknowledge this, yet another in a long line of farces spewed forth by Mr. "Fischer" in an attempt to shine a light on his own need for attention. I will not be obtaining your "black metal" project, I will not be checking out your future "en devours" and you my friend can take your self-righteous whining and tell it people who don't care that you've shit on Frost's name...AGAIN.

(((03)))

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

KVLT vs. the Download

I see people all the time posting that they are currently listening to this or that, but when I ask about it they say "oh, I don't have the art or liner notes, it's on MP3, I downloaded it", and I think to myself, "I wonder if people look at my play lists and wonder if I do that too." Well I don't.

Everything I post is either a CD or LP of a release. Granted sometimes they are promo copies either that I got from my stints in radio or journalism or that I got from Russ, but they are actual, tangible copies of the music.

I don't have anything against people dealing in MP3 because I know what a test of your patience it can be to try to alphabetize 2 to 3 thousand CDs and to try to transport even just a few dozen LPs, but I think a definite distinction should be made when someone says "oh, I have that album" and what they mean is that they have downloaded it.

When I say I'm listening to De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, my copy is the 1994 Deathlike Silence Productions copy (w/correct purple coloring and lyrics). When I say I'm listening to Dog Days, I don't mean the Dog Days + 1 re-release and I most certainly don't mean that I have anything on MP3. In fact, I listen to .WAVs of my own collection... how kvlt is that..?!

I'm not trying to come off as elitist, I just like to collect, and I like tracking stuff down and I especially like it when I can find it at a bargain, I'm just one that thinks the distinctions should be made.

(((03)))

Friday, April 04, 2008

Hails and Respekt

Friends of TorqueZine and all around purveyors of tours, whores, and outstretched claws,
Thee Claw! Check it out and palm the evil grapefruit! Massive hails to Patchie! UKvlt!

(((03)))

(photo by josue.blanco)

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Kingdom of Whothefuckcares

Satisfaction is the Death of Desire was a colossally great album, ...11 years ago. It then took 5 years to come up with a "less-than-inspired" follow-up, and the mediocrity just seemed to flow after that. Album after album was a gigantic snooze-fest tethered with Jasta's stint on Horriblebanger's Ball, (yeah Jamey, Slipknot IS the bomb, huh?).

So why then am I even writing about a man who to me hasn't done a relevant thing since 1997? Because, I had to do a fucking double-take when I saw that he was collaborating with Kirk Windstein...WTF?!, why is this happening? What could Kirk possibly be fucking thinking? It's one thing that we have to constantly have every mention of Crowbar be followed with a dumb-fuck mention of Down (in fact I really have yet to see a write up of KOS that refers to Kirk as having been in any band except Down), but collaborating with a wash-up who felt the need to sit and tell emo bands how relevant their fag-alicious 3rd EP was?

I'm not saying that their will be anything wrong with this album musically, god knows that I am a fan of Crowbar, but what is the point of Kirk doing an album with a one-dimensional singer who's recently traded in his "God Forbid" shirts for some re-printed "Celtic Frost" shirts as to appear "with it" to all the now aged Hasbeenbreed fans. This isn't the first time some "hardcore" guy has switched sides and tried on his "metal" hat to distance himself from his dying genre. Give it up boys. For FUCK sake, let it die. See you at Burger King.

(((03)))