Friday 27 March 2009

Warrior

Seen on the blog of Tom Gabriel Fisher, aka Tom Gabriel Warrior, leader of Hellhammer and Celtic Frost (see previous post): The leader of an obscure and ridiculous American Rock Band threat to sue him for using the name "warrior", which was previously trademarked worldwide by this band !!!

This joke of a band should also trademark ridicule. They call themselves WARRIOR, America’s Rock Band, and their hit (hmm all is relative) seems to be called I Want a Walmart Girl. Judging by the small amount of friends they could gather on their (rather disgusting) myspace page, they only have this way to be known, even if it is only to be laughed at.

Thursday 19 March 2009

Triptykon

This is the last post in date from Tom Gabriel Fischer, leader of defunct Black / Doom bands Hellhammer and Celtic Frost, and now of the new Triptykon, which music seems to grow really really dark and morbid. Really interesting. Can't wait to see them on stage !!!

Of course my own opinion is biased, and of course I am not really entitled to rate the results of our own work. But it is difficult not to emerge from our sessions at Triptykon's rehearsal bunker deeply intoxicated by the heaviness of the dark, overwhelming, and morbid miasma that is the riffs of "The Prolonging". Although the path towards completion is still significant, be it for this new song, its title and lyrics, or the album proper it will appear on, it all transpires as it should. It is as it has to be.

Monday 16 March 2009

Gorgoroth is Infernus

You already know this: Infernus has won his trial against King and Gaahl for Gorgoroth name trademark. This is everywhere, but if you want the original, go there (sorry only in Norwegian, it is apparently the official result for this case given by the Oslo District Court.

I have no problem about Infernus gaining this fairly mundane trademark case, I am OK that he gain back the Gorgoroth name, but:

  • It does not erase the past, and the fact that the only performing band during all these troubled years was also named Gorgoroth (Gaahl and King after they fired Infernus), and in fact WAS Gorgoroth. During the same period Infernus band was in the process of constructing itself with new musicians - some coming from the first incarnation of the band, but it did not toured, did not perform in front of a public, and did not released any new material (Live in Grieghallen is a not so good hack on sessions that did not mean to be released, with Kings parts erased and replaced by Infernus)


So:

  • Infernus (I know you don't give a fuck about me, and you may be right), if you want to gain my approval, lets release Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt this year, and please start touring sometime this year too; I swear I will go to see and hear you and your forces. But if you don't... for what's worth all of this?

  • Gaahl and King (and whatever infernal new name you will give to your band now): You were right to refuse to indulge further into court action, which can be endless. And people who saw you on stage during these years reckoned that you were a force to see on stage.



And one last thing: I really don't understand why the court wrote (English translation): In addition, the Court found that Infernus, as founder of the band, in this case could not be excluded; Thus Gaahl and King must be regarded as excluded of the band. What's this judiciary bullshit? Again I have no problem with the trademark thing, but the history is full of band founders that have been expelled by members who came after them, so I think that maybe this court seem not to understand music, rather than Black Metal only, very much.

And contrary to what I seem, I am NOT against Infernus !!

Sunday 1 March 2009

Vorkreist Sublimation XXIX A

Vorkreist is an excellent Death / Black Metal band from Paris. Their last (very good) album, Sublimation XXIX A, is from 2006, and they are preparing a new one which should appear in the following months I think.

I was pleased to see a short review of this album on the Black Metal Owns You blog. It reviews only Black Metal albums and gives the link to buy them, and often also the links to sharing sites which allow to download them.

You may think that giving links to these sharing sites is bad (though the maintainers of the blog never upload the files themselves, and they will remove links in case bands ask them to do it), but considering that it's sometimes impossible to get Black Metal albums, they are also giving access to some music that would otherwise stay unheard.

That said, here is what they write about Sublimation XXIXA:
In the continuity of "Sabbathical Flesh Possession", it delivers 9 works of brutal Death-Black Metal inspired by revulsion and deviance, in criminal, demonic dedication to the destruction of obsolete and pernicious humane values. Structures have been developed and aggressiveness improved along these distinct but definitely coherent tracks, the whole serving Vorkreist's vision of Hell and reality, opposed and entangled in each other.

If you can, buy it, I swear you will not regret, and if not... well you know what you are doing ;)

Mnemonic Possession

Shining live tomorrow night ;) Beginning with two promising raw Norwegian Black Metal bands: and Koldbrann (the latter I'm listening in a loop for the moment).

But first let's say that I'm very happy with the live event on Friday. That was in the same venue as the one for Monday, the Glaz'art. There's only very few Metal shows there, but it's really OK, the sound is good, it's small but not too small, and the staff is friendly enough. One of my friends is a fan of the French Brutal Death band Kronos. I came there trusting his judgment and basically thinking "Why not ?". It was really a great set !! (apart from the bands coming before them, who were not bad, but neither were enthralling).
Kronos

Kronos

And now, what about some Black Metal news? I just stumbled today on the Averse Sefira "official" blog (I think it's mainly written by Wrath, but I'm not sure). The last December posts are about his/their trip to Scandinavia, meeting with such interesting people and bands as Gorgoroth, Pantheon I, Deströyer 666, and a memorable moment at Watain bunker in Stockholm.
Watain Bunker. Watain prepared for their 10th year anniversary show, and as a true raw Black Metal band, this preparation did involve very special treats (and not sweets): Friday, 12.5.08, Watain bunker, Stockholm – It smells bad down here. Really bad. Watain is gearing up for their 10th anniversary show tomorrow and they are stepping up the offal to match the occasion. They removed most of the actual offending pieces, but there's still a lot of grue-covered skulls everywhere, and there is no real ventilation at all..


And later: I smell. I smell like zombie vomit. I smell like I shit my pants and then died. I smell like Watain. The creeping red odor of the bunker has attached itself to my hair, skin, clothes, and everything else I own. (...). I have become an unwitting harbinger of Watain in my journey to Uppsala; (...). I think this is the true nature of death – alternately absurd and terrifying in equal measures. People on this train car are starting to freak out.


Maybe this is part of what motivates Watain; they come from a place where everyone is shiny, groomed, and good-looking, and they factor that into their rejection of the world at large. To be an odious freak in America is commonplace, but here it is a statement. All I know is that they are the antithesis of what I see in the people of Sweden.