Riiiiiiide Thhhhhhhhe Liiiiiiiiightniinnnnnnnnnnng

Check this out: METALLICA's Ride The Lightning, dronified. Get onto FADE TO BLACK - slowed the hell down it makes for the most awesome drone song never written!


I don't know who worked this out but it's fucking doom as hell.

(Link stolen from elsewhere by the way, so don't blame us for pirating your shit, okay Lars!)

Upcoming: Grief *AND* Ramesses To Play Korova Bar, Liverpool

You heard the man, there's a big gig coming to town.


Date:
23rd November 2008

City:
Liverpool.

Venue:
Korova Bar, Fleet Street, L1

Line-Up:
GRIEF
RAMESSES
TRAP THEM
THE FREEZING FOG
SEROTONAL
THEY ARE COWARDS
DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT
HAMMER ATTACK
GOATSPEED

THEE CLAW says:
Geg alert! Expect to see lots of faces come out to play that you haven't seen for years and years, all in a tiny windowless cellar, all at once! An actual bona-fide metal all-dayer in Liverpool. Expect lots of fringes and plaid shirts to be stood in your way. Yessiree.

Remembering...

David Gilmour appeared on the Later with Jools Holand show tonight on tv and played the Pink Floyd classic "Remember A Day", which of course was written and originally sung by Richard Wright on the 1968 album A Saucerful Of Secrets.
I'm sure any other proper Floyd fans had goosebumps while watching that!!!

Hiking Metal Punks

Taken from the latest edition of TERRORIZER MAGAZINE (October 2008):

While the world is still waiting to hear 'DARK THRONES AND BLACK FLAGS', the fourteenth full-length DARKTHRONE offering, due in October, our correspondent Paul Schwarz got to hear a sneak preview and discovered that the next Darkthrone album is already on the way, all while half-way up a mountain in Oslo with FENRIZ and his hiking-buddy Mikael.

"The first song on our next album - not 'Dark Thrones And Black Flags', that was finished in July - its title is based on a mantra that Gezol of Japan (Sabbat, Metalucifer) has been saying a lot lately, 'Too much black, too little metal.' That's been the problem ever since '93. But you know, people have been taking care of that since the start of the new decade. Since 2000, there's so many youngsters who are really into the barbaric stuff again."

The sloppy sound?

"Yeah, very sloppy. I haven't practised since '93, just to get that sloppy. So whenever I play a song now it's like I'm walking without a compass. Like the song I have been doing now, 70 per cent of it is ready. I've had that much ready now for two months. I mull it over, again and again. Daily, or a day inbetween. I think of the song and I know what kind of tempo the last part will have, I just mull it over and hum along to what I have in my head. At this point, I still haven't picked up a guitar to try to do the stuff, because when I first do that I know I will finish the song."

Fenriz lets that bombshell drop and then reveals that he has a surprise. He is now going to play the first three tracks from 'Dark Thrones And Black Flags' for us and his friend Mikael Ohlsson, Professor of Ecology at the Norwegian Institue Of Life Sciences. We are all ears, especially considering how quiet it is in the near-wilderness of the forests surrounding Oslo. Packing the same pleasingly unclean sort of kick as last year's 'FOAD', opener 'The Winds They Called The Dungeon Shaker' has that same irrestibly catchy, anthemic quality that possessed the excellent 'Raised On Rock' - and has comparably spot-on, speaking-from-personal-experience lyrics, too.

"From the depths of the underground/Through the nurseries of real metal sound," the vocals howl at us. "It's 'cos we are part of the new underground from the 2000s," Fenriz explains, adding with a smile, "Nowadays, I write street lyrics."

It's a style which suits him, as 'FOAD' proved. Indeed, it makes sense of the fact that Norturno Culto and Fenriz now rigidly divide vocal duties, each singing their own songs. As that first track finishes, Fenriz reflects that the drumming at the end had something of a His Hero Is Gone feel. We nod in agreement and strain our ears: Nocturno Culto's contribution to this mini-listening session is up next.

'Death Of All Oaths' has a dank, dragging feel. Its vocals moan like an evil wind. Though less sparkling, it fits snugly next to 'The Winds They Called the Dungeon Shaker'. "Cosmos watching," the lyrics shriek, and Fenriz quips that this is actually a reference to Cosmo Kramer, from the 'Seinfeld' TV series. Really? No, he was just pulling our leg

"So the first song was mine, and this is of course Ted's," Fenriz confirms. "And then song number three is of course my hit song, 'Hiking Metal Punks'."

After the Kramer gag, we have to ask if he's serious.

"Well, it kicks ass, so it's serious."

He's not wrong. 'Hiking Metal Punks' is another stone-cold, rehearsal room-raised thrash rocker - the kind of thing Darkthrone have got impressively good at delivering of late. Fenriz explains a little of the philosophy behind their deliberately underground sound.

"Things changed around 89/90 and especially in the mid '90s, where everyone could get, like, a pro sound. Our first album, we just paid 1,000 quid for that studio session, and then we had that Entombed sound: that was like being professional. In the '80s, you had underground sound until you 'made it'. That all changed when you could get good sound for very little money. Once that happened, overground and underground became a choice, like you would choose to have underground sound, or you would choose to have overground sound. Then everybody could choose to be underground or overground sound."

That's the beginning of the deliberate underground.

"Yes. We're deliberate underground now. Basically, we just record in the way a demo would have been recorded in the '80s. Our albums now are just 35 or 40 minute long demos."

Other bands took a different route, one for which Fenriz has little to no time.

"A lot of bands chose to think, 'Oh, Transilvanian Hunger! If you play that twice the speed, with synthesisers, and a professional sound, it will be three times as good!' They make Disney version. When I first heard 'In the Nightside Eclipse' I was just like, 'Turn this off!' Everyone else was just like, 'What!? Don't you like this?' And I was just thinking to myself, 'Okay, we're on a different ballpark here.' And I just stick to myself and listen to thrash."

Nile, Grave & Bal Belphagor @ Leeds Rios, 21st September 2008

Me and THEE DAWG went to see NILE in Leeds last night, great gig! It was absolutely jampacked with stinking sweaty death metal fans in the city's best rock venue, I haven't seen a gig there so full for quite a while. So much for the credit crunch! Neither of us had any clues about who was going to be supporting NILE before we arrived at the gig, so imagine our delight when we discovered it was GRAVE. They played a binder of a set, lots of old school death - they reminded me a lot of GOREFEST. The 1st act on, BELPHAGOR (called "Bal Belphagor" on the ticket) are an Austrian outfit, they were going for a VENOM kind of sound. All in all a great bill of death and sweat!

NILE, GRAVE and BELHEPGOR, Leeds Rios...

The mighty Nile played at Leeds Rios last night with support coming from austria's Belphegor and old school swedish death metal veterans, the most excellent Grave

All bands were on form, I got some pictures but they turned out shit, SJW got some cool pics though.
What can I say about Nile?, I've seen them before, they're amazing live and I'm glad I caught them last night cos I missed them this year at Graspop due to them clashing with Testament.
Leeds Rios is a great venue with good sound and it was packed in there for Nile, an excellent turn out.

Sunn 0))) - Dømkirke 2xLP (At Fucking Last!)

"Last year sunn 0))) was invited to perform at a ancient cathedral in Bergen Norway . The performance was captured via 24 track mobile recording and the resuluts were pressed onto double 180 gram vinyl. This recording will be available exclusively on vinyl only. There will not be a digital release (cd or downloads). Pure analog! The 0))) lineup for this performance includes Attila Csihar (Mayhem) on vocals, Steve Moore (Earth, Ascend) on the churchs' legendary pipe organ and Norwegian native Lasse Marhaug on electronics.

The packaging for "Dømkirke" was designed with the utmost attention to detail and quality that perfectly compliments the audio content. Each 180 gram vinyl comes in a heavy stock, full color inner sleeve that features stunning photographs from the performance. The cover of the gatefold jackets feature exclusive art by Tanya Stene (Burzum, Ulver, Darkthrone).

The jackets themselves are ultra-durable extra thick cardboard stock with thick, luxurious lamination. These were modeled after the Impulse! labels' LP jackets from the ‘60s. This package is durable, built to last and serves as the perfect shelter for this archival release.

Behold the glory!

Nicholas Mollerhaug, the festival curator, wrote these liner notes for the album:

"Our idea behind this concert was to commission a piece of music from Sunn O))) referring to the gothic gregorian hymns of the Late Middle Ages. Hymns that flourished Bergen Cathedral in its earliest years: The age of the Great Famine and The Black Plague. The gregorian hymns of this time reflected the despair, the terrors and darkness of the world. Musically the hymns consisted of long slow lines of unison melodies. The unisonity, the dark mood and the slow melodic development are all elements that also can be traced back to Sunn O)))'s musical universe. These parallells between Sunn O))) and the medieval times gave birth to this commission - premiered at the grand final of Borealis Festival 2007.

The Bergen Domkirke is dedicated to the Norwegian king and patron saint Olav (995-1030). The church was built around 1150. In the 1240s it was given to Fransiscan beggar munks. After fires in 1248 and 1270 the building was extended. With the financial help of king Magnus Lagabøte (1263-1280) the church got its present form and was finished in 1301. The very same king is buried in the chansel of the church. After the reformation the church became the cathedral of Bergen. It was then again struck by fire in 1463 and 1702. A cannon ball in the the church tower is a reminisence of the Battle of Bergen Bay in 1665.

This record documents what happens when aesthetic openness and lack of prejudice rules in a medieval cathedral.

Without these values inhabited in the legendary kantor of Bergen Cathedral- Magnar Mangersnes - this concert would never have been possible.

- Nicholas Mollerhaug"
SUNN O))) "Dømkirke" Live in Bergen Cathedral 031807

1) Why dost thou hide thyself in clouds? [15:08]
2) Cannon [18:05]
3) Cymatics [15:46]
4) Masks The Ætmospheres [15:15]

- All Gray Marble vinyl orders come with free sunn 0))-Dømkirke poster (while supplies last)

- Limit 2 lps per customer (per color)

- All orders will be shipping approximately Sep. 29th and 30th. All orders received before this date will receive a sunn 0))) - Grimm Robes/Shosin tour
2008 poster!

$17.77
***ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PACKAGE WITH THE SHIRT FOR A DISCOUNTED PRICE"

Ordered.

Gekfest

This name sounds a bit too much like "Gegfest" if you ask me, but a day of death metal is nothing to be sniffed at!


Date: Sunday 23rd November 2008
Venue: Satan's Hollow, Manchester, UK
Price: £10 on the door (that's £1 per band!)

Will Thee Claw be there? That remains to be seen!

At Last, A Fucking Gig

I am getting really sick of there being no gigs around here anymore. I am making it my one-man mission to get things back on track, Thee Tour is not dead yet!

Everyone's favourite Yorkshiremen CRAWE play The Retro bar in Manchester next Wednesday (September 24th 2008). Maybe we'll see you posers there.

Also on the horizon: Down-tempo giants GRIEF are in Europe mid-November. Thee Claw will be stinking things up at the Manchester date (at the Star & Garter, Wed 26th Nov). So should you... you know it makes sense.

New (old) jesu

new in the post this morning:

 

jesu - Why Are We Not Perfect? CDEP from Hydrahead (together with an amazingly tight t-shirt). This is basically the three tracks from the jesu/Eluvium split LP, with two new remixes.  My jesu collection is coming along pretty well now:

 

Missing are the CD version of Conqueror (I just never got around to buying it yet), the Hydrahead version of the Eluvium split, the split with Envy, the split with Battle of Mice, and the Daymare version of Why Are We Not Perfect? I'd like to have hold of all of these before next April, because I doubt I'm going to be able to afford to bid for out of print vinyl on ebay after that...unless I get a promotion in work or something!

This weeks earphone abuse...

courtesy of...

Being missed....

R.I.P.
Richard Wright
1943-2008

Road Music

I'm off on my travels again tomorrow, this time to the Germanic port city of Hamburg. Here's just a few of the albums I am gonna be taking along with me for company:












Also, Hamburg is the spiritual home of Power Metal, so you can be sure that I will be keeping a watchful eye out for tassled leather jackets and mullet hair-dos. No wonder Manowar love German crowds so much, right??

Motorheadbangers...

Patchie sort of beat me to it but here is my two cents, a few words on Motorhead's new album, MOTORIZER...

The Head have been on fire since the "Bastards" album came out in 1993, that personally for me is their career best, not only is it the most brutal, heaviest, fastest, metalest Motorhead album in existence but it's quite possibly thee best metal album I own, it's certainly up there with some of my all time favourites.
Not that the albums were bad before "Bastards", it's just that they had proper turned everything up on "Bastards", they upped the volume, the speed, the heaviness, the attitude, every song a classic along with its two follow ups, 1995's "Sacrifice" and 1996's "Overnight Sensation" a solid trio of albums to be reckoned with.
Motorhead never looked back after Bastards and each album they've brought out since '93 still maintained the heaviness, speed, attitude, the balls! (except the god awful depressing 2002 Hammered album which I think is the only bad motorhead album, it had the heaviness but lacked speed, attitude and balls)
The last 2 albums "Inferno" and "Kiss Of Death" were really amazing albums and this years new album "Motorizer" makes for yet another successful solid trio, good Motorhead albums come in three's, these current 3, the 3 that I mentioned earlier and the legendary trio of "Overkill", "Bomber" and "Ace Of Spades"
Motorizer is a great album with a lot of really cool songs, Mikkey Dee's drum sound is nice, Phil Campbells guitar sounds on top form and Lemmy's bass is turned right up and sounding as filthy as ever!
Can't wait to hear some of these songs live in november!!!

Motorizer, Track by Track...

Runaround Man...
Track One and Motorhead mean business, this tune is a right typical motorhead opening stomper, quick pace, catchy rythym, all the 'head trademarks including the classic lyricism that only Lemmy can get away with.
A short song at 2:55 which leaves me wanting more of the same for the rest of the album!!!

Teach You How To Sing The Blues...
Another catchy song, sort of fast paced but slower than track one which made me go for my guitar to have a sly jam along to some of them boss riffs!!!! The bass guitar is tured right up for this song as well!!!

When The Eagle Screams...
Can't make out the voice at the beginning but it sounds like it says Hermano which is spanish for Brother which I think is translated a bit later in the lyrics when Lemmy shouts "They will tell you brother, when the eagle screams, we die" followed by some heavy double bass drum riffage.
This is my favourite song on the album complete with a vintage Campbell solo.

Rock Out...
The classic Motorhead bass intro, we've heard it many times before, Ace Of Spades, Iron Fist, Nothing Up My Sleeve and We Are Motorhead, yeah now you get the idea what Rock Out is like!!!
Gotta love that "Rock Out, With Your Cock Out, Impress Your Lady Friends" lyric!!!

One Short Life...
That sleazy bass intro which leads into a pure filthy blues riff at the start is the kind of music I've been begging Motorhead to write for years, I love the lyric "Always mind your manners and don't you talk no trash, and if you get somebody dissing you, go over and kick his ass!"

Buried Alive...
Another Rock Out style song but more serious with better riffs, I really like it!

English Rose...
I thought Lemmy's singing at the beginning was a bit naff but when the song kicks in it's cool, sort of a cross between Going To Brazil and Born To Raise Hell, really good old rock n roll style and I liked Lemmy doing the backing vocals as well!!!

Back On The Chain...
I fucking love Back On The Chain, it's one of those songs with the old 70's style riffs I've been dying for them to play for so long, it reminds me a LOT of Damage Case.

Heroes...
Slow and Heavy! Nothing wrong with that, some of The Head's best songs are the slow to mid paced ones, Built For Speed from Orgasmatron came to mind at first but then the song came into its own and it rocks!

Time Is Right...
Another quick paced classic in the making, it's got a really good chorus and I liked the melodies on the chorus, a fucking really good tune!!!

The Thousand Names of God...
Most of the riffs reminded me of Built For Speed (again) but that's not a bad thing, i like the addition of the slide guitar on this song.

Motorhead are still hungry, no doubt about it, but I would like to see them get another guitarist or get one of the older guitarists to rejoin (ahem, wurzel!) another guitarist would boost the songwriting, make it sound a bit more fresh, I say this 'cos I don't think they could top Motorizer if the next album sounds the same as it, just a thought!

Fight...

One of those "A funny thing happened to me on the way to the gig" tales now...

I was on the train heading to Green Lane station in birkenhead to attend the Diamanthian/Neuroma gig at Hotel California and 3 lads tried to rob me with the old "Let's keep my hand held up in my pocket like I've got a knife" routine.
I heard "Giz ya money or I'll cut ya" so I turned around and stood up and they started to circle me like the fucking scumbags they are, I just thought if I die or get fucked tonight then these 3 cunts are coming to hell with me, so I went for the first punch right in the first face my arm could reach, busted his nose up good and he went flying to the ground, it was weird though cos they're supposed to have a knife but he took his hands out of his pocket to "Push" me, yeah you read that right Push me, not punch me or even give me a slap or a kick, so I lamped him in the face and got the other one by the scruff of his neck and threw him out the way to the floor because the first lad was just about to get up with his bloodied face and he was rooting around his pockets for something so I said "no you fucking dont" and booted him down again right in his side. It was very clear that these lads were doing this for the first time and it was obvious the were absolutely shitting themselves.
We came to a stop and I don't even know were we were, it all happened so fast, and keep in mind the train was pretty full of disgusted people not helping me or so I thought, the other 2 lads ran off the train and then police came out of nowhere, apparently they were in the drivers bit and someone alerted them so somebody did help me out a bit there, it turned out good in the end, all them witnesses there to say I was the victim, pity the lad was on the floor having really bad trouble breathing.
We got off at Green Lane station but obviously in no mood to watch any gig, the police sorted an ambulance out for him and gave me a lift home after I'd been to the police station to get a statement sorted out.

Got a call off the police today to update me that they think they've got the other 2 lads, the police say they were caught running away from other policemen just outside of the station where they got off, the police have been watching the recording off the cctv which apparently showed the whole thing so thank fuck for that, they told me that the injured lad has a broken nose, a broken rib and a punctured lung from that kick I gave him. I've got to go back to the police station to view that video on monday and go to an ID parade where I get to see if it is them two, I certainly won't forget what they look like.
If you get on any form of mass public transport in liverpool, you can always guarantee something will ruin your day.
It hasn't put me off getting on trains but I'll be fucking ready next time.

Total Metallica Bashing Tonight...

...maybe I'd go easier on them if their new album wasn't so shitty.....

 

Thanks to DFFD, thee place to be!

Metallica - Death Magnetic review.

New, Old, and a gig....

Well, there's the new and old, the arrivals this week - Top row left to right; jesu - Heart Ache, Lifeline and Pale Sketches (after all that moaning I'm finally happy), bottom row L-R; Raven - All For One, Onslaught - The Force, Witchfynde - Give 'Em Hell, Moss - Sub Templum.

Last weekend we went to a park in New Brighton to see a gig, the strangest venue I've ever been to, a park, on the waterfront, with a bandstand displaying the names of various composers:
The line up basically wouldn't have normally been deemed Claw-worthy, Nu-thrashers SSS were headlining, which isn't really our cup of tea (although the game of musical chairs they did for the children during their set was quite funny), but the highlight for us was the inclusion on the bill of Northern England's finest entertainer, Frank Sidebottom.

Sidebottom, or "Sidie", is a firm favourite of Thee Claw, and he loves us too.

For those of you not au fait with Frank, here's a little bit of info from his Wikipedia page:

Frank Sidebottom is the stage name and persona of the English comedian and musician Chris Sievey. The character is instantly recognisable by his spherical head (styled like an early Max Fleischer cartoon) - this was initially made from papier-mâché, but later rebuilt out of fibreglass.Frank, usually dressed in a 1950s-style sharp suit, is portrayed as an aspiring pop star from the village of Timperley near Altrincham, Greater Manchester. His character is optimistic, enthusiastic and seemingly unaware of his failings. Although seemingly middle-aged, he still lives at home with his mother, to whom he makes frequent references. His mother is apparently unaware of her son's popularity. Frank sometimes has a sidekick in the form of "Little Frank", a hand puppet who is otherwise a perfect copy of Frank.

I think it's a Northern thing, but he's hilarious.
He sang such fantastic covers as "Anarchy in the UK" (as Anarchy in Timperly) "Twist and Shout", "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?", "Hit The North", "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" and "Blitzkrieg Bop".
He sold raffle tickets that were drawn during SSS's set, and as he left the stage, he exclaimed that he was going to go and drink a six pack of Lucozade because he had "nothing to do", whilst his Oh Blimey Big Band played - you guessed it - "Six Pack" by Black Flag!!!
All in all, one of the best shows Thee Claw has been to all year!

Sidie Knows What His Claw Is For!

Thee Claw loves Frank Sidebottom. We really do!