Sunn 0))) - Europe, October 2009

17 oct. SUNN O))) @ LUFF / Lausanne
18 oct. SUNN O))) @ Feierwerk / Munich
19 oct. SUNN O))) @ Kantine / Koln
20 oct. SUNN O))) @ Tivoli / Utrecht
21 oct. SUNN O))) @ AB Box / Brussels
22 oct. SUNN O))) @ Manufaktur / Schorndorf
23 oct. SUNN O))) @ Berghain / Berlin
24 oct. SUNN O))) @ Ut Connewitz / Leipzig (w/ Daniel Higgs, James Blackshaw)
25 oct. SUNN O))) @ Unsound Festival / Krakow
27 oct. SUNN O))) @ A38 / Budapest
28 oct. SUNN O))) @ Teatar Ltd / Zagreb
29 oct. SUNN O))) @ Interzona / Verona

Unfortunately Dead.

Recently I have been rediscovering Czech death metal legends Krabathor, in particular 1993's Cool Mortification.
I used to be fascinated by the fact that there were bands coming out from behind the Iron Curtain playing gritty thrash and death metal at the end of the eighties, it's hard enough for bands to exist in an underground in a free country, it must have taken total dedication for bands like Tormentor, Krabathor etc to continue to perform and record under such oppressive regimes.
I think it's strange that there will not be a set of circumstances anywhere in Europe for the foreseeable future that will help mould aggressive metal in the way that Communism did during the eighties.
Formed as Krabator in 1984 and releasing three demos, Petr Krystof changed their name to Krabathor (I have no idea of the significance of the extra H) for the release of 1991's Pocity Detronizace demo.
Krabathor released six full length albums (from Only Our Death is Welcome in '92 through to Dissuade Truth in 2003) and were so consistently brutal that when Bruno Kovaric left, fucking Paul Speckmann joined. A good starting point for the uninitiated would be the 2005 best of 20 Years of Madness on Lava Productions.
My personal favourite is 1993's Cool Mortification, I love the drumming from Petr Kopecek on this one. Krabat(h)or's story features quite heavily in Albert Mundrian's book Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore, and you can find more information on the band at their official website.

Unfortunately, the band haven't recorded together after the release of 2003's Dissuade Truth, Paul Speckmann returning to Master.

Much Loved

Worship

«Hostile crossfire finished eight lives, bowels bury me alive, green hell swallows a silhouette...I could get away»

Mind Slip

Sad news recently that I completely forgot to mention on here.
English Doom titans Olde Crone are, sadly, no more. Their debut LP on psycheDOOMelic was one of the highlights of this year, and I'm a bit sad that I won't get to see the likes of Blue Iris or Norse Torch played live now. Ah well, I can always turn down the lights, turn up the death decks and enjoy with some Oktoberfestbier.

I'm sure Lyndon, Foxy and the lads have got something rotten planned for the future...

When Attention Just Isn't Enough

My goodness. I'm in danger of becoming a living, breathing, Justin broadrick fanpage.
Out now on Hydra Head Industries the Disconnected LP (and the Vultures Descend 12") from Greymachine.
Featuring current and ex-jesu members Justin Broadrick, Diarmuid Dalton and Dave Cochran, with Aaron Turner from Isis, this CD is not what I was expecting at all. Being as old and cynical as I am, I'd seen the promotional material from Hydra Head and thought they were trying to hard to give a late eighties industrial feel to it, a bit of Godflesh Spin.
As it turns out, on listening to the album, this was completely justified.
I expected some form of mix of Justin's more ethereal stuff (Sun Down/Sun Rise) and the more reflective passages of Isis, for some reason, and instead, it's a total late Eighties/early Nineties sludge bludgeon. A sludgeon if you like.
Think Love, Hate (Slugbaiting), and I'm really, really reminded of the version of Pulp from the 1989 Godflesh Peel Session that had Kevin Martin on saxophone.
This is material I would love to see played live.
A very interesting debut, looking forward to hearing more from Greymachine.
Get over to Avalanche Inc's Greymachine page and have a listen to Vultures Descend.

Simply Stunning

jesu return with the long awaited long player "Infinity", and it's a bit of a surprise.
Every bit as ethereal and beautiful as anything JKB has ever released, the hour and a half here sees a solo Justin playing all instruments and visit some quite aggressive places with the music. Some bits chug along in a (dare I say it) industrial style (think Swans) and the digital drums give it the feel of older, more harsh jesu releases; Heart Ache springs to mind immediately (check out the double kick pattern around 25 minutes in).
For me, personally, as a JKB obsessive, this is the kind of territory I've been waiting for him to revisit since before the release of Heart Ache.
Whilst it's still quite heavy, it still retains that organic, uplifting, downright hopeful feel that characterises jesu, especially the stuff that Justin produces alone.
The vocals are harsh, again Swans-esque, moving from the more familiar clean jesu vocals to a snarling, shouting mode.
A worthy addition to a varied and complex discography...up there as a contender for release of the year.

(I didn't mention the G-word once)
GET A COPY OR BE SQUARE AS.

Bloodstock 2009 - Live Report

Hello from Derbyshire!

How's the world treating you gang? SJW here, sitting in the media tent at Bloodstock with my lovely lady by my side... we're here checking out the cider in the VIP tent. Oh and there's some bands on here too, haha.

BLITZKRIEG


The weekend started off well... on Friday morning. Yes, we have 3 day weekends here in England. Blitzkrieg got the ball rolling good and proper with a wonderful set of 80s NWOBHM riffs. Indeed, they played *that* song.

MILLION DOLLAR RELOAD


Never heard these guys before, for my sins. A bit too "nu metal" for THEE CLAW, but I was impressed by their set. Think they are Irish maybe? I am ignorant as hell here, heh. Check Million $ Reload out, one for the future maybe.

ENTOMBED


Been waiting for a chance to see LG and the guys for some time now. They only had a 30 minute slot here (they played at about 3pm, such a waste of a great headline act!). Half way through the show LG threw his setlist out to the crowd and the wind blew it directly into my hand. It was as follows:

Satan (Intro)
Serpent Saints
Eye For An Eye
W.I.S.
D.D.D.
Like This w/ Devil
C.R.A.
Demon
Wolverine Blues
Out Of Hand
Masters Of Death

I'm reading that directly from the setlist, so see if you can work out what those shortened names mean for me ok!

I will post up a few more photos when I get back to Claw Towers ok.

We also checked out a fair few bands in the unsigned acts tent. The Bloodstock oraganisers have gone out of their way to promote a huge stack of new and upcoming talent at the 2009 B.O.A... good on em that's what we say! We were especially impressed by THE GODS OF HELLFIRE, a band from Bradford / Rochdale. They're a 5 piece act and I've got hold a copy of their demo here which I will review once back home. Great stuff, very high impact metal act.

Ok, today is the final day of bands so I better get out there and soak up the final few hours of heavy mattel that is on offer! Today's line-up includes BEHOLDER, SABATON, GIRLSCHOOL, EQUILIBRIUM, ANATHEMA, TURISAS, MOONSPELL, AMON AMARTH, SATYRICON and headliners EUROPE! Haha, that's is going to be so much fun, Europe showing the heavy rock world how it's done properly. Go on, Joey Tempest lad!!

This Bounty Hunter is Our Kind of Scum

SJW is our man on the spot again at the Bloodstock Open Air Festival in England.
Here he is with two people auditioning for places on the team of Thee Claw.
Sorry guys, but NO HANGERS ON!!! You can follow SJW's adventures, live, via our Twitter page.

UPDATE: Sodom played fucking Blasphemer(!) and Thee Claw is loved by all underground legends.

RIP Les Paul

Les Paul died today, at the age of 94.
I was going to do a big post about it, but instead, here is a photo of Øystein Aarseth (who is also dead, but not aged 94) playing a Les Paul.

Take it away, Euro!

Scorn 0)))

There was an interesting point in the Friday night schedule at this year's Supersonic Festival (Birmingham, UK) when SUNN 0))) and SCORN both played separate sets in different rooms, at the exact same time. I personally took the plunge and watched SUNN 0))) (my 8th time I think). But I really wish that I had taken the opportunity to check out SCORN... even if only for a few minutes... after all, anything involving Mick Harris has got to be worth checking out. Ah well, I made my choice and I will stick with it. SOMA & THEE LORD rarely fail to deliver and they didn't on this occassion either.

But.

I am hearing that there was a chance to experience a totally unique performance, by BOTH bands at once, at the same time, in one go. What?? Rumour has it that Birmingham was treated to a weird-yet-huge humming sound, across a half-mile radius of the inner city. However I imagine that there was also a small pocket of space in the Custard Factory complex, located somewhere between the 2 sets being played where, if you chose your positioning carefully, you had an opportunity to centre yourself on a patch of ground where the sounds of the 2 artists combined together to create a one-off, unrepeatable band - SCORN 0))).

The source of the legend is none other than Sir Walter Of Roadburn, who described hearing the event from afar as follows:

Another highlight was definitely Scorn 0))). It was incredible to hear Sunn 0)))'s low end assault and Scorn's industrial dub step on top of it. It was like seeing this imaginary band at the bar near stage 2. I went back early on Friday night, and while staying at the Paragon hotel (which was like a mile away) I could hear Sunn 0))) perfectly at my hotel room. What do you expect from 131 db's???? It was also utterly surreal when walking back, accompanied by Sunn 0))) and seeing some industrial wasteland in Birmingham by night. This had a profound impact on me.

What chance luck this man has! This is as rare as a solar eclipse landing on your doorstep. No wait, rarer still. At least you can predict solar eclipses, for Christ's sake.

The only thing that can possibly make me feel better (for being present but not witnessing this enormous yet unnoticed occurrence) is that I was at the THORR'S HAMMER / CORRUPTED show in London 2 days later to watch Runhild from TH crowd surfing during CORRUPTED'S set. But then, again, that also meant I wasn't back at the Custard Factory to see GOBLIN doing their thing.

Scheduling can be both the bane and the elixir of life. Your choice which way you see it folks!

Thorr's Hammer (Supersonic, Birmingham, UK)

Wish you were there.

Supersonic 2009

Hello from Birmingham!

Well, not Birmingham really - more like a motorway services just outside Brum. We're here on the road again, on our way from Superonic to London for tonight's show at Scala with The Accused, Thorr's Hammer and Corrupted. Right now everyone in our group is pretty hung over and needing more sleep. Rock and fucking Roll or what!

We've already been through 2 days of Supersonic, Fri & Sat, and it was a good event for sure. Lots of top bands played, and we were there to check em out on your behalf. That's what we're here for, after all. The first night (Friday) included performances from ATOMIZED, KYLIE MONOISE, SUNN 0))), VENTIAN SNARES and more. Yesterday (Saturday) we checked out ROSE KEMP, IRON LUNG, THE ACCUSED, THORR'S HAMMER, CORRUPTED and a whole host of other good shit that I can't recall right now (or can't spell even haha).

Really enjoyed catching up with all of of friends from around the UK, including the boys from BLACK SUN (Russell is a legend), THEY ARE COWARDS (all of them!), plus others.

We checked out a couple of Q&A sessions that were held in the Supersonic cinema space (perfomance space even), including one about the state of the independant music scene in the digital age. later on there was a great half-hour interview with the guys from Sunn 0))) and Nick Bullen (he of NAPALM DEATH and Grindcore renoun). A great excuse to sit down in a darkened room for 30 minutes and get an education about the roots of the music that we know and love, all being told in the home of metal, Brumingham.

Okay, time to get back on the road. Only 150 miles (or so) to London now, and guess what, I'm the damn chauffeur. Haha, big mistake! Once we get to the hotel down the The Smoke then I'm hoping they will have some in-room internet access. If so, photos to follow.

One last note - if you are a fan of cider, see if you can track down agreat brand called Hogans. Fucking lovely stuff.

Our Man On The Spot

SJW is living it up at Birmingham's Supersonic Festival, before heading off to London tomorrow for Corrupted and Thorr's Hammer.
Expect muchos photos when he gets back, and maybe some words too.

For now though, you can get regular updates on our Twitter Page.

Tom Gabriel Warrior Named As Curator For Roadburn 2010

Roadburn is very pleased to announce that Tom Gabriel Warrior, founder of the illustrious Hellhammer and Celtic Frost, has agreed to act as the curator for our festival on Friday, April 16th 2010, and host a special event at Roadburn, called Only Death Is Real.

Tom's duties as curator include personally selecting the bands that will play on Only Death Is Real, as well as to perform the first major headlining set with his latest incarnation, Triptykon. Tom will be Roadburn’s third curator, following up on David Tibet in 2008 and Neurosis earlier this year, and we would call his election a perfectly natural progression.


We are overjoyed to have secured Tom's involvement in Roadburn this year, as he stands as a truly groundbreaking artist, with his previous bands having been extremely divisive, as is often the case with truly unique and original works of art. Ultimately his canon of work would prove not only legendary but hugely inspirational for an entire generation of musicians in the metal, doom and dark psychedelic scenes.

Tom has always enjoyed pushing the envelope musically and challenging boundaries, and it was entirely that mindset that made him a perfect fit to act as our curator. It has been a constant goal of ours to keep Roadburn a festival that not only celebrates the established but charts new territory, and we could think of no better spirit guide than Tom Gabriel Warrior. We are looking forward to the new ideas that he will bring to our festival, as we feel that we are truly kindred spirits.

Tom Gabriel Warrior: "It is a surprise and an honor to be asked by Roadburn to act as a curator, and I am accepting this extraordinary opportunity with much gratitude and due humility. In my eyes, Roadburn is one of the most courageous and artistic festivals in existence, and its history is, in essence, a list of concerts by groups I deeply admire. It is quite a challenge to follow such footsteps, both as a curator and as a musician. I will try my very best to ensure that the groups I intend to propose to the organizers of Roadburn will be as ravishingly dark, unique, and exciting to the festival's visitors as they are to me."

Holland’s very own Roadburn Festival has become Europe’s leading underground festival for psychedelic, avant-garde, doom or any other variation of leftfield sonic pleasure at pushing the boundaries of music.

In addition to the music, Roadburn has earned a reputation as having a unique camaraderie between the festivalgoers, bands, organizers and staff, and ranks as one of the best and most laid-back festivals to be experienced.

Roadburn 2010, including Tom Gabriel Warrior's Only Death Is Real, will run for three days from Thursday, April 15 to Saturday, April 17 at the 013 venue and Midi Theatre in Tilburg, Holland. There will be an additional afterburner event on Sunday, April 18, 2010.

Next week...

 

Stay tuned for photos and reviews from the jewel in Birmingham's crown.

This week

LIFELOVER - Konkurs/Pulver MSG - The Micheal Schenker Group/MSG Darkthrone - Panzerfaust AC/DC - If You Want Blood You've Got It Mayhem - Life Eternal / Deathcrush jesu - Heart Ache Witch Cross - Fit For Fight

Lazy Youtube Post

Classic European heavy metal band from Denmark. Their only album was recorded by the same engineer of cult HM gems such as Mercyful Fate's "Melissa" and "Don't Break The Oath", Henrik Lund at Easy Sound Recordings, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Singer Alex Nyborg Madsen and Mike Wlad later turned up in Danish act Harlot, who released one album in 1989. Alex also became the singer of Led Zeppelin Jam. In 1993, the first album with his new band, Savage Affair, was released. He is also a well-known radio host and hosted a TV show in the late 90's.

Fuck

W O R S H I P

 

This week has seen lots of MSG, UFO and Scorpions worship at Claw Towers. I'd like to recommend it to all of you.