1942

No I'm not blogging about WWII history. You just should check out Dead to this World, a really excellent Black / Death Metal band from Bergen, Norway (of course, what would you expect ?). And 1942, from their album First Strike For Spiritual Renewance is really a masterpiece (and it's available on streaming on their myspace page). Iscariah, the leader of the band, is a former member of Immortal.

And on WW II-related subjects, you should also check out the first album from Hail Of Bullets, a Dutch Death Metal band which shares a lot of members with Asphyx. They will tour in Europe and USA beginning on October, and I may go see them in London ;-)

As for my Scandinavian trip, it was very very very rainy but cool (and not only with the not-so-hot heat). I met the ultra-cool members from Blood Tsunami and saw them performing on the small but well-known Oslo venue Elm Street Bar. And talked with them, and shared a few beers - hmm more than a few, a Friday night in Oslo, just think about it !!!.


Also I was able to see the famous graffiti made by Euronymous, in the basement of the late Helvete record shop, which was in the 90s' one of the meeting places for the Black Metal scene in Norway (the so-called "Inner circle"). It has nothing to do with Black Metal anymore now, as it has become a bakery, amusingly called Var Daglige Brod (our daily bread). The owner was cool to allow me to see it, because of course normally you do NOT visit this place.


I also went to the Neseblöd records shop, which holds loads of extraordinary local or historic Black / Death Scandinavian metal stuff (which I'm sure you can only buy there), but unfortunately it did not accept credit card, and I did not have enough cash on me when I went there :-( I must go there another time (maybe for Inferno Festival, next April he he).

Of course as the average tourist I also visited some less-metal places like Fjords of course

BTW, you may be interested to know that the Bergen-Oslo railway line is a feast for the eyes for approx. 7 hours, so don't be afraid to take this by daylight if you are in Norway, and also it is not a tourist-specific line, you will not encounter a lot of tourists there).

But also random cool people, be it in Norway or Sweden.

Tattoed for ever

I bet you already know this, its everywhere on the web: A young Swiss sold a tattoo made on his back by a Belgian artist to a German art collector.

For 150 000 euros.

The owner has the right to exhibit this work of art three times a year, to sell it.

Oh and after the his death, the tattoo can be removed from his back and give back to its last owner. If I'm right, it is called a flayed ;-)

And yes I did not forget about my trip to Scandinavia, but all in due time ;-)

Off to Norway and Sweden

Yes, I'm going for vacations for two weeks in these countries of Northern Darkness, I name Sweden and Norway (hmm maybe more Norway than Sweden, but who knows ?).

I will land in Bergen, will most likely visit Oslo, and will take the plane back to Paris from Stockholm. And if I'm lucky I will maybe able to attend to the next Blood Tsunami show, he he.

Think that a lot of Norwegian Black Metal bands are heading from Bergen or Oslo, for example Gorgoroth (Gaahl lives in a small village in the north of Bergen), Immortal, 1349, Satyricon, Dimmu Borgir or Mayhem

Wow there's no way to be disappointed !!! The Converge show was really a killer !!







NO wonder that Jacob Bannon has to stretch himself before the show !! They are insanely fast and really, really "hard". Also it seems that they put all their life in the show. Of course they are not the only ones, but it's good to see that !!!

And it turns out that I will also see them Monday in Paris. Why ? Hmm, I had to go to the States by this time (for work), but it was canceled. The reason is entirely personal. I had problems with what could very much be a tampered cash machine on thursday. I then had no more credit card, no more cheques (what a coincidence), and approx. 20 euros of cash. Difficult to go to a country were you have to pay for your hotel, rental car, restaurants and stuff like that, considering that you can do nothing without a credit card, even if you had some cash...

However, I was able to secure some cash yesterday, but it was not easy... Enough to eat and drink for a few days, and even pay for the Converge show in Paris (which is not very expensive, as you could imagine).

Not failing

Tomorrow I'm off to London for the Converge show.

Why do you go to London to see them, when they are coming to Paris in one week ? No I'm not crazy (hmm maybe a little, but not so much). It turns out that I will be on a plane heading to the States on Monday 21st. And I only saw them on Hellfest last year. I want to see them performing once in a small venue, like the Underworld (Camden, of course). I want to see Jacob Bannon's Tattoos close. I want to go deaf by their raging hardcore (hmm no, maybe not this one).



More on that later folks.

Doomed to Walk the Earth as Slaves of the Living Dead

Last Saturday I came back home by foot, on a dark night, after having seen Night of the Living Dead, the matrix from where all horror films came out. There's funny stories about this movie. For example, their distributor forgot to put a copyright indication on the movie, and it soon fell in the public domain. You can download hordes of disgusting zombies for free, and more, you can do it legally !!! Or almost all the parts are played by pals of Romero. The little girl who (which ?) eat her father and stabs her mother to death was really their daughter in real-life. Some actors also were the producers of the movie, and they also performed the "special effects" (mortician wax for the zombies, etc...) themselves. etc...



Still... When returning home, I was listening to Carpathian Forest's Morbid Fascination of Death album. You already know the title of the song, and I swear it really was a coincidence.

Stop being so humble
Stop showing remorse
Cut it off
The hands that feed the blind
Can you move?
With those holy chains

Some Hellfest pictures

It was difficult to go back to reality after this ;-) Hope it was not too difficult for my Japanese (metalheads) friends Dai and Kyoko, who took the plane from Osaka to France (more than 12 hours, plus connexions) just for the festival (I don't forget Aki, who show me such evil pictures of her with Frost, Attila, Necrobutcher, or E). Dai also made amazing pictures from the main stage, he should put them on the net ;-) !!!!

Want some pictures now ?

Mortuus from Marduk, of course !! DOn't you think he announce times of Hell:

The duo with Allan from Primordial was amazing !!


Kvarforth (Shining) was scary !!

But as usual, the black legions of Watain spread so much evil.


(this is only some of the pictures I took there, the whole set is here)