MAYHEM
"Life Eternal"
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
1994 Deathlike Silence
31 July 2015
28 July 2015
27 July 2015
24 July 2015
UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN/PENTAGRAM 7"
Iron Bonehead Records announced the upcoming release of a split 7" EP featuring chilean bands UNAUSSPRECHLICHEN KULTEN and the mighty and Cult PENTAGRAM. "La mujer, El Diablo y El Permiso de dios/ Ritual Human Sacrifice" will be released next October/Early November.
23 July 2015
21 July 2015
INTERVIEW with MASTER´S HAMMER
One of the greatest and most original bands
in metal scene keeps releasing their distinctive music over the years. I can´t
deny that as a fan every Master´s Hammer release is like a gift for me, and so
is “Kult mládí a mrazu”, the new 7”ep. Franta Storm kindly answered a few
questions about the latest activities and about the remarkable past of this Cult
band!
Hello Franta, thank you very much for your time, let´s
talk about your recent release, the 7”
EP, “Kult Mládí a Mrazu”. Can you tell us about the songs, sound
and concept? Is it a continuation of the work expressed on your previous
release “Vagus Vetus”?
Yes, everything is somewhat linked to a previous release, inspiration is a continuous flowing stream, but this holiday 7"SP is again some sort of diversion from our regular album line. It contains my winter sick impressions, the illustrations tell exactly what's in the lyrics and it's based on a real situation.
Like with all your releases, one element that really
surprises me is the artwork, not only the cover art, but the whole artwork
associated with each release is something I really praise and enjoy. What was
your role in generating the art? How is it related to the music and how should
one integrate the two?
I'd say the image comes first, then the text, followed by music. I wanted to have a break from my woodcutter's style so I made ink drawings. I believe it's not trendy, not aimed at immediate effect, it's just me and my world, my landscape visions. Music is very visual thing for me.
I could make the same question regarding “Vagus
Vetus”, which in my opinion was the best release of 2014. Would you say it is
your most mature work to date? How does it differ from your previous art?
I wouldn't say "mature" but maybe more independent, you might notice that MH rarely gave its fans exactly what they wanted nor met their expectations. People basically don't want new things and therefore musicians can't simply dare to risk. We can go more experimental because we're not dependent on music for living. The previous "Vracejte konve na místo" was more pure in style because of live drummer and specific mastering, that was positively appreciated by metal fans. “Vagus Vetus” is another step to diverse from metal and I believe this style is going to be developed further in MH.
You have released several 7”s lately, since your 7” in
2012, what is the best of releasing music under this format?
I'm doing it primarily for friends, all of the 7"SPs were quite limited editions [500 - 1000 copies]. The 7" square is a good size for creating some piece of art as present - not big to carry as an LP and not a pocket CD size, a timeless fetish, we all love it, including fans who don't own a turntable
Regarding the 7” of 2012, I really love the song
“Transgalaktický řezník”, how would you describe this song? You mentioned that
you will probably add the songs of this 7” on the next album but then you
changed your mind, will you re-record those songs to use them in future
releases or are you satisfied the way they are?
Transgalactic Butcher was my nickname given once by Martin Vrana (the painter) in an e-mail, I had to make a song immediately, I loved that idea. I think the 7"EP songs should remain apart from our serious line of albums. There is an idea to make a dedicated CD with all of the songs released on 7" so far, but now we're busy with new stuff. Anyway, the sound is just fine on the vinyls, the CD will probably need a special mastering, but nobody will hear a difference.
Will you release more splits wit Blackosh? How is the
relationship with him?
It's always been fun to work with him and we will make something together for sure - a beer, a joint, a song. Blackosh is an excellent musician in the black metal genre, but always able to bring something new.
On the last split with Blackosh last year you included
the song “Pod Vrstvou Prachu” that was also featured on “Vagus Vetus”, why did
you choose that song? What´s the meaning of the title? The promo says the song
is about two old letters…
"Under the Dust" is the name of the song in English, meaning I found the letters in the attic dusty. Two letters - one from Øystein - Euronymous, second from Count Grishnack. Interesting memories. The content of the letters was quite similar, both wanted to trade their records with some MH stuff in early 90s, and the song is moreorless about that.
I feel the need to ask you about “Jilemnický
Okultista”, one of my all-time fave…where did you find inspiration for such an
avant-garde album? Did you have the felling once the album was finished that it
was something “big” and “outstanding”? Just like “Into the Pandemonium” meant
to Celtic Frost? Do you still remember many details concerning that recording?
The Occultist is our first "digital" album, Mirek Valenta drumming on plywood pads, all recorded on Macintosh Quadra 650, 600MB hard drive, Ensoniq Mirage and Pro-One synthesizer, lot of fun and smoke in our cellar studio with Vlasta... I think it was our first artistic decline from pure metal regardless the technology.
btw. thanks for mentionig Celtic Frost: T G Warrior was one of my great idols
and still kicking.
What were the reactions from your fans, press and your
friends back then? How do you look back at the album nowadays, 23 years later?
Local press then and now is always the same - share readers' taste and preconceptions: complete opposite to creativity, I never made music for them. Real fans and friends are crazy enough to survive it.
Frankly, I don't listen to our old records, at least not very often. But I understand that the heritage of MH (so to speak) doesn't belong to us anymore, it's more or less the fans' property, including all the cult etc., I don't want to harm it at all. I'm just saying that it's history, and now we're here with new things. Some fans are still stuck with our demos and Ritual album - that's okay, but we love diversity and development whatever the cost.
Do you think that metal bands are too conservative
nowadays to take the risk to do an album such like JO?
Precisely, I think so, with all respect to those terrific, hard working bands who are faithful to the style, rehearsing and playing live, but that's not my way. I never learned the rules for running proper metal band.
The following album was Slágry and I remember it
received really bad critics, but they came from “metal journalist” so probably
you didn’t give a fuck, but did you ever received bad feedbacks from fans or
people close to you regarding “Slágry”?
What do you think about the whole underground reaction? And how did your
label back then (Osmose) react?
There is no bad review, the worst is no review at all. (At the moment we earned really mean and deprecatory critics from local writers on the new 7"SP, put in very long texts, over three pages or so, like ten times longer than my actual lyrics on it).
Back to Šlágry album: As you may remember, Osmose launched its branch named
Kron-H and we were leaning towards purely electronic project with Vlasta, so
the coincidence was rather lucky for such unusual album.
What memories
do you have of the days you released “Ritual” and started receiving attention
and doing interviews for zines from all parts of the world?
Jumping back in time, okay. But my memory is fading. For what I can say, Ritual is more popular nowadays than at the time of release. I was freshly graduated on the AAAD in Prague in 1991, doing decadent freelanced graphics, a very emotional part of my life in many ways...
Who designed your old logo and what did
inspire it? At the time It was something different and [still is] original, it
looks like the banner of an “ancient occult order”…
The design is my part. I don't like it much, but we keep it just for fans. It does not have any particular story behind, just simple symbols put in traditional heraldry aesthetics.
Some years ago and thanks to the “magic” of the
internet I discovered the video of Géniové recorded for a TV show, do you
remember how was it planned, arranged and performed? You had candles, statues
and even an altar with a naked woman…
That was directed by someone from Czech TV and the band had no influence on it and we never approved it, it's truly 80's design and production. Great fun, indeed.
What do you think of other black metal bands that
shared the black metal scene with you and like MH reached a Cult status, bands
such as Samael, Beherit, Rotting Christ, Blasphemy, Darkthrone…did you ever get
in touch with any of them?
Yes, we were in writing contact back then in the pre-internet age. I think it's great that most of them are still rocking.
Did you play any cover tunes in your early days? Was Bathory your main influence?
For some reason we never even try any cover song from anybody. But I admit we love Quorthon and you can hear its influence on our early records. Bathory was for me a synonymum of the northern dark music.
You decided to re record
Jama Pekel for the album Mantras, is there a special feeling for that song? In
my opinion, it is not a simply re-recorded song, as 2009 version differs quite
a lot from the original recording, can we say that it is “mature” MH
covering “primitive” MH?
If "mature" is a part of ageing, than one should be cautious and serious. We need to retain our primitivism and specific amateurism, but best is to not think such way, just make music and leave the theory on others. The particilar song was actually triggering the Mantras album, I told the story many times, but to put in short: when walking back from local pub with Vlasta in night on a path across a pond we heard a concert of frogs roaring a "refrain", we recorded them and used it for a re-make of Jáma Pekel, and we needed other songs to add on the atmosphere, that was our in summer 2009.
Ok, back to the present, you are releasing your work
through your own label Jihosound, and you said several times that working this
way gives you total freedom. Do you think that many bands will do the same in
the near future? Do you think that working this way needs to take some “Risks”
Absolutely, we all have to take some risk when creating something new. We don't need labels anymore, but what we need is a good producer or at least a person who is able to consider, to judge, advise to the band, a fresh pair of educated ears outside the band. Risk is needed, imperfection, dirty sound is fine, but we can't risk anything boring.
How is the current line-up of MH, and how is the work
of composition and recording?
In the second life of MH, I mean since "Mantras" album it's just me and Necrocock plus some guests on each of the albums. I do the songwriting, Necrocock is curating my ideas and adding his harmonies - sometimes just short parts, sometimes the whole melodic lines and lot of sick emotions and spirit.
What things influence you music and lyrics? Do you feel
influenced by music, places, movies, books… do you think you will write a lyric
about Satanism- occultism?
Not at all, we were influenced by satanism and occultism till 1991, since then we look for a broader inspiration. I like decadent poetry, painting, history, pseudoscience, heresy, halucination and real stories.
Nowadays I'm busy with some mortal-core music, Mortal Cabinet is the name of the new project so I have to listen to some Prodigy, Revolting Cocks, Butthole Surfers, Stereo MCs, Danzig and some Alabama 3 among many others...
What do you like to do when you are not working or
creating music?
Arts in general, casual work on my cottage or
travelling.
What would you submit as the proudest moment you've
had in MH thus far?
MH logo tattoed on a
beautiful back of a certain young lady.
What´s the strangest place and the most shocking place
you have been?
Varanasi and Girnar,
both in India.
Thanks for your time, Is there anything else you would
like to add?
Yes, look for Mortal
Cabinet project - it's coming this autumn.
20 July 2015
17 July 2015
SABBAT "Satansword"
Iron Pegasus Records releases SABBAT’s studio album from 2000 "Satansword" on Vinyl! Comes in high quality Gatefold Sleeve and features an exclusive Vinyl-only Bonus Studiotrack.
Available on the following formats:
Classic Black Vinyl [lim x 666]
Black with slight white marble effects [lim x 100]
Blue Vinyl with black marble effects [lim x 180]
Clear Vinyl [lim x 50]
SOUNDS FROM THE DARK PAST!
DISSECTION
"Thorns Of Crimson Death"
Storm Of The Light´s Bane
1995 Nuclear Blast
16 July 2015
SOUNDS FROM THE DARK PAST!
DEMOLITION HAMMER
"Skull Fracturing Nightmare"
Epidemic of Violence
1992 Century Media
15 July 2015
W.A.S.P. "Golgotha"
W.A.S.P. will release the new [15th studio album] "Golgotha" this October 2nd through Napalm Records. According to their label press release..."Golgotha will continue down the path that 2007's Dominator and 2009's Babylon started on, both in production style and theme"...
Golgotha Track Listing:
Scream
Last Runaway
Shotgun
Miss You
Fallen Under
Slaves of the New World Order
Eyes of My Maker
Hero of the World
Golgotha
14 July 2015
13 July 2015
10 July 2015
9 July 2015
7 July 2015
6 July 2015
INTERVIEW with MEGIDDO
A new dawn for
MEGIDDO could be a good sentence to introduce this interview, as this Canadian
force returns with a new album after 13 years…“The Holocaust Messiah”. Chorazaim
spoke about this new release and the obscure essence of MEGIDDO...
Ave
CTODP - It feels as if the albatross has finally been cut, and now comes the
burial.
You released a few splits in 2003, but after that what have you
been doing the last twelve years? How long did you worked in the creation of
“The Holocaust Messiah”?
After
2003, I no longer had the vitriol needed to continue with Megiddo, and so it
quietly slipped into oblivion, save for a moment here or there where I would
have enough bile to pen a song or two.
During that hiatus, I formed Sepulchre (in 2008) with the original
members from the full Megiddo line-up, and that continued until I decided to
once again fully resurrect Megiddo in 2013.
As
for “The Holocaust Messiah” - from the point of sifting through the 21 tracks I
had written over the last 13 years, to finalizing structure and lyrics, then
demo versions, mixing, layout etc, it took approximately 3 months to complete.
How
was the recording process like? Did you record all instruments except for the
drums as on your previous albums?
After
the initial groundwork, the final recoding itself was very quick, perhaps 10
hours over a handful of sessions, but unlike the previous 2 full lengths, this
album was performed strictly by myself without the assistance of others.
There
is a variety of tempos in the music of the album, fast parts, mid-paced tempo
as well as slow parts, all of them evoking the ancient gods of the 80s. How
would you describe the music on the album?
I
suppose stylistically the album (much as all other Megiddo material) would be
first wave black metal with a heavy dose of second wave trappings. And yes - a variety of tempos is always
important, otherwise songs become faceless and identities obscured.
Musically
speaking, how do you see the album in the context of your earlier releases? Would you say it is more “old school” than its predecessor
the Atavism Of Evil”
I’d
wager “The Holocaust Messiah” is closer to the cut-throat minimalism of the
demos more-so than having similarities to either “The Devil & The Whore” or
“The Atavism of Evil”. I actually see TAOE as being our most “old school”
album, at least as far as first wave black metal references, as it had the most
overt thrash elements of any of the albums.
What
would you name as the strongest points of each of the full lengths you released
so far?
It’s
difficult for me to view the albums in that sense and gauge them in the same
way an outside listener would – having said that, “Four Suns” and “The Oath”
have always been what I considered to be the strongest off TDATW, while it
would be “The Christwhore” and “The Atavism of Evil” from TAOE.
What
depends and what is important at the time of writing a fast or a slow song? Is
it in connection with a specific lyric written or still in your mind?
I
never set out to write a song to be specifically fast or slow - it almost
always begins with a distant melody, which I put through various tempos and
rhythms until it resonates with me. Lyrics
are always written afterwards, depending on the atmosphere and mood the song
conjures.
Titles
like Tombs, Walpurgisnacht or Onslaught Eternal might seem very descriptive,
but tell in your own words the meaning and the roots of your lyrics.
Most
lyrics are either hymns of misanthropy voicing disdain for humanity and
existence, or they are allegorical and steeped in the mythos of dark age
catholicism. I don’t think much more
needs to be said, and it’s better for people to draw from them what they will.
What
can you tell about the cover art of “THM”, what do you like about it? What
comes to your mind at the time of choosing the cover art?
I
forget the exact chain of events, but the front cover artwork (done by Nicola
Solieri) was originally commission by KK Warslut for a Megiddo EP that never
came to pass – when it came time to work on the layout for THM, I thought the
artwork quite fitting, so contacted and got the OK from the both of them to go
ahead with it – such is how it came to be.
I
like the promo pics for the album, Is the visual aspect important for you?
I think it has always been important to accompany music with dark/occult topics if you think
about Hellhammer, early Celtic Frost, Sarcófago…far better than the “modern”
black metal ala Immortal don’t you think?
The
visual aspect has always been very important to me, and I’m grateful to Annick
Giroux for her photography that was used on the album – and yes, occult
overtones fall heavily into the dark age catholicism I mentioned above, so they
fit in very well with what I’m attempting to convey, and indeed with what I
believe black metal should be representative of, so I completely agree with
your opinion on the matter.
Last
year Iron Pegasus reissued “The heretic” and “Hymns… demos on LP… were you
longing for a long time to see those demos released on vinyl? What are your memories concerning those demo
days?
I
was very pleased to finally see them released on LP, and Iron Pegasus did a
great job, as is standard for them really.
What I remember most about recording the demos (and that time in
general), was the intensity and drive to get things done – it was all piss and
vinegar with very little attention to the small details. Neither of those demos took more than 6 hours
to record and I think that comes across in the rawness of those recordings.
You
recorded several cover tunes of bands such as Sodom, Darkthrone Beherit,
Amebix, Hellhammer, Motorhead… is it right to assume that those bands
influenced Megiddo´s music? is it just
the way to pay tribute?
A
bit of both. Some, such as Amebix and Sodom, were very influential to Megiddo,
while the others like Beherit and Darkthrone were a case of me paying tribute
to bands that I admired.
What
about Canadian bands? Having great and influential bands like Voivod or
Blasphemy…are you proud of the Canadian scene and the Canadian metal tradition?
There
were (and still are) some great Canadian bands yes, such as those you’ve
mentioned, as well as Razor, Exciter, etc, and of course there’s an influence
from some of those older bands. But as to the rest…other than to reiterate the above and say there have been and continue
to be some great bands in Canada, I piss on the notion of a Canadian metal
tradition, identity or scene. If any of
that exists, I certainly feel no part of it.
Are
you concern about new and emerging bands of the worldwide underground? Are there new bands that have caught your
attention?
I
don’t keep up very much on new bands unless they’re brought to my attention by
someone who’s tastes I trust. I think
the last new band that stirred any sort of strong response in me was Bolzer,
who aren’t exactly anyone’s definition of new.
I could also menton Force of Darkness and Eurynomos, but being label
mates it almost seems incestuous to do so.
With
which bands active or inactive would you like to share stage?
In
the realm of the utterly impossible, absurd and never to be realized: Bathory, Hellhammer, Sodom, Destruction and
Venom, all circa 1982-84. As for
currently active bands, I’ll hold my tongue.
When and if we ever perform live again, it will be revealed then.
How
would you describe your shows to any who haven´t seen Megiddo onstage?
There
is no posturing, no masquerading - just pummelling rhythms and hypnotic
deathtrance communion, minimalistic yet all encompassing.
What
was the best show you played so far?
what exactly made it so special to you?
Our
first appearance was the best by far – a packed venue, rabid audience, and dark
atmosphere. I believe we managed to
exceeded both our expectations as well as those bearing witness, which was no
small feat considering a decade had gone by and I was never convinced of the
fact the material would come across appropriately live – but by all accounts it
did.
What´s
the strangest place and the most shocking place you have been?
None
as both performances to date took place in concert venues.
What
would you say are your current future plans? Any shows or even tours coming
up?
At
the moment I’m concentrating on further recordings to be released later this
year and early next. Apart from that, there
are no current plans for performances, although I’m certainly open to reviving our
previously aborted mini-tour now that I have all travel issues ironed out. Time will tell.
Thanks
for your time Chorazaim, is there anything else you would like to add?
Much appreciation for the
support. Long live death.
www.facebook.com/megiddo.ca
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