Random Bandcamp musings

Hello again, hello. Welcome to another post and another new band (for me at least) do rave about.

This post features a band I discovered  not on M-A (though they are featured) but on Bandcamp whilst listening to Mare Cognitum (see last post).

Hailing from Stuttgart, Germany the 5 piece band Schattenbrandung are a black/doom metal act that were formed in 2009 and have one release under their belts, the snappy titled I-Apophanie from this year.

Over 6 tracks this band explore a large range of styles and variety within the black/doom metal tag. The songwriting is very strong, the musicianship is very tight and the production is excellent. The standout track for me is 'VII' the sixth track which closes the album. Over the 16 minute finale, Schattenbrandung pull out all the stops and show off their talent as the songs flows from blastbeats, mid tempo bm, slow doom to an acoustic section which melds into an Enslaved-style guitar solo that merges into the sound of a thunder clap and falling rain leaving you wanting to hear the whole damn album again.

teaser for I-Apophanie by Schattenbrandung

Definitely an album and band to check out for fans of Enslaved, Cult of Luna and just plain damn good metal. Buy the album and t-shirt at the link below and support this great band.

http://schattenbrandung.bandcamp.com/

More Random Musings

"It's been a long time, been a long long wait" as a wise man once sang. I'm back and with 8 lives two spare. Rejoice! Rejoice! So bring out that fatted calf and put up that bunting gay, your bright and bonny plow boy will so be on his way!

Ahem, sorry bout that, just got a little carried away! After receiving some kind words from Alex Wyld from Morgawr about my post on his band, I've been re-invigorated to do more posts! Yay for kind words from a random stranger!

So to recap: I go onto the Metal-Archives website, push the 'random band' button and write about whichever current /active band appears. And as I've finally discovered Bandcamp , I'll be publishing the band's bandcamp page info (if they have one).

So first up in this brave, new, exciting world is Mare Cognitum

A one man black metal band from Santa Ana, California whose sole member is Jacob Buczarski (who plays all instruments) has released 2 albums so far: 2011's ' The Sea Which Has Become Known' and 2012's 'An Extraconscious Lucidity' both are available on his bandcamp page:

http://marecognitum.bandcamp.com/

The songs are atmospheric, progressive black metal with  plenty of variety (and great production) to elevate Mare Cognitum from the usual idea of what one-man-black-metal is.

Of the two albums, I find that 'An Extraconscious Lucidity' has more variety, different tempos and better songwriting than the 2011 debut. That's not to say that 'The Sea Which.....' is a bad album, it's not it's a great BM album and one you should check out; but the playing, songwriting and ideas are just more mature and fully realised on the second album making it (for me) a more satisfying listen and an album I go back to time and again. Which makes me even more excited for the third release from Mr. Buczarski, whenever that appears.

For fans of Krallice, Wolves In The Throne Room, Enslaved.

A Vain Lament from 2011 The Sea Which Has Become Known

Degeneracy Pressure from 2012 An Extraconscious Lucidity

a quick one while he's away

This video features two of my favourite bands when I was getting into music: The Beatles and Led Zeppelin.

Growing up on the Wirral (just across the water from Liverpool, in case you didn't know!) I was first aware of the Beatles from my family. My aunt had left her Beatles albums and singles in the house she and my mum grew up (and we subsequently grew up in) when she moved to New York to work as an au pair and so rifleing through her records was a journey of discovery to me.
To be fair, back in those days (late 70's) being from Merseyside/Liverpool and not liking the Beatles was tantamount to heresy and could result in being tarred and feathered and being run out of town on a a rail (whatever that means!). I do remember me and my brother listening to one of the local radio stations (either Radio City or Radio Merseyside) doing a weekly show called 'Beatles A-Z' where they played every Beatles song in alphabetical order. It was when they got to Revolution #9 that my brother had a little freak out and refused to listen to the song due to what he had read on the back cover sleevenotes of the 'Yellow Submarine' album! If I remember correctly my mum told me off for upsetting him and turned the radio off for 10 minutes until she was certain the song was over and my brother had calmed down! (I listened to the song some time later and really couldn't see what the fuss was about!)


Led Zeppelin was a different matter. One of my best friends (Lee) lived in the same street as me and we went to the same school (and our dads both worked on the railway) and so after school I would go round to his house and listen to the records that he and his older brother had. Bad Company, Free, Thin Lizzy, Rush, and of course Led Zeppelin. Most of the time it was 'Physical Graffiti' or 'Led Zeppelin III' (I was fascinated by the spinning wheel front cover!) that we listened to, and I remember that my first album I bought with my own money was Led Zeppelin I from John Menzies for the princely sum of  £2.99 (which back in 1980 was a lot of money for a 12 year old!)

Anyway, this preamble is just an excuse to play the Beatnix (from an Australian tv show) performing 'Stairway To Heaven in the style of the Beatles circa 1963/4.

Enjoy!

So, let's play a game!

So I recently got tagged by Intricate Knot (sounds a tad rude n'est pas?) over at My Blog and Role Fantasy to answer some questions she had devised ( as she had answered some questions that had been devised by another blogger, who had answered questions devised by another blogger, who......well you get the point).
So to continue this merry tradition of general nosiness (Hah!) here are the questions followed by my answers (well who's answers would they be followed by? The Pope's? Unlikely after that last incident we had with Red Bull, a paint gun and two hookers from Marmaris.........but that's another story for another time)

1. What are you OCD about? Come on, I know there must be something!
    Let's see...well..........
My cds have to be in alphabetical order (as did my albums, singles and tapes in my youth)
When I lived in the UK the kettle ALWAYS had to be filled with water but now I'm out here in L.A. there ALWAYS has to be water in the water jug and at least two bottles of water chilling in the fridge.

2. What's the most recent music/album you've purchased and would you recommend it?
I actually purchased 3 cds last month (I usually like to buy 3 or 4 in one go, when funds allow!) and I'd recommend all three!

Mourning Beloveth: A Murderous Circus-  lovely doom/death metal from Ireland

Sig:Ar:Tyr: Godsaga- Viking-inspired black metal (with a hint of folk) from Canada. Very epic!

Old Corpse Road/ The Meads of Asphodel: split ep-  UK black metal wonderfulness from OCR and inspired crust/punk covers from one of my favourite bands (the Meads, natch.)

3. Which fictional character would you like to interview and what is your first question?
Ferris Bueller and my first question is: 'Dude, where's my car?'


4. Cake or pie? And what flavour?
Cake! No..Pie!....No, Cake!.....No, pie! No, wait let me have a quick think............ARRRGHHHHHHHHHH! Way too complicated a question! Can't we just agree to have cake AND pie and let both sides live out the rest of their lives side by side in piece(s)? Oh and for flavour? Chocolate filled with chocolate with a chocolate layer in the middle, and on top........and around the edges......oooooh and sprinkles too!


5. What is your best quality?
My ability to laugh at myself frequently (usually when I'm naked) and to laugh at others more frequently (usually when they are clothed)

6.  What's your book or movie favourite: vampires, zombies or werewolves and why?
Not zombies. They're just a bunch of rotting, useless, stinky corpses..........eeeeeeeewwwwwwww!
I'm torn between werewolves and vampires. Both have really cool points:

Werewolf pros: killing and eating people; hot, hot, HOT outdoor animal sex; being naked; having Creedence Clearwater Revival play when you transform; heightened sense of smell-very important to sniff out all that hot animal sex; big, sharp teeth- very important during hot animal sex; being one with nature and mother earth while your having hot, outdoor, animal sex.
Werewolf cons: Fleas, bear traps.

Vampire pros: Living for eternity (give or take a few years); having a cool East European accent; living in a castle in the mountains; being able to command sensual, large busted ladies to frolic about with you and do naughty, rudey things with you, being able to fly (as a bat); having a servant; looking sexy in a black leather one-piece body suit
Vampire cons: pale complexion, having to drag a coffin filled with the earth of your homeland around with you, garlic; crosses; garlic bread, hot cross buns; hot cross garlic buns; sparkling; sunlight.

And the winner is............................................................hot, outdoor animal sex!


7. Do you have a junk drawer and what do you usually throw in it? Please be more specific than junk or more junk.
My junk drawer mainly contains papers, cards,  cords, bunny ears, bread, apples, very small rocks, cider, gravy, cherries, mud, churches, lead and a duck.


8. If could strike up a conversation with an inanimate object, what is the object and what are you talking about?
My brain and I'll be asking him where he's been hiding these last forty years or so!

All good, clean fun (whatever that means!) Hope you played along at home even if it's with yourself.

Random Musings

 Once again the 'random band' button has been pressed and it takes us from Falmouth in Cornwall all the way over to Dartmoor, South Devon!

The Wounded Kings were formed in 2005 and were originally a four piece doom metal band plying their listeners with heavy, heavy, slow riffs; ominous vocals and a sense of foreboding and dread. After members had left to pursue other careers or start families, founding member Steve Mills formed a new line up and kept the old name. The Wounded Kings are now a five piece group, the heavy, heavy riffs are still their, the dread and foreboding are still present as well but now they've added a female singer (Sharie Neyland) to the fold.
Whereas before they had a Sabbath/Electric Wizard feel to them (and original singer George Birch had a Bauhaus/Sisters of Mercy/80's Goth style to his voice) the female vocals add a more 'sinister' feel to the excellent music. The Wounded Kings' music conjures up (in my mind) the old, classic Hammer Horror films of the 60's and 70's and images of Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Ian Ogilvy and half naked, nubile young ladies (which is never a bad thing in my opinion!)

I do love doom music. Slow, heavy riffs, the slower-than-walking-pace tempo, the despair in the vocals, the lyrics, the whole atmosphere it conjures up. The Wounded Kings, for me, are an excellent example of doom and with new albums by Pilgrim, Pallbearer and Anguish to delight us then surely this is what the Mayans where on about when they talked of 2012 being the year of doom!

Their latest album, 'In The Chapel Of The Black Hand' is available on I Hate Records and the bands website/facebook page and is a must for fans of slow, doom metal.

The Wounded Kings on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thewoundedkings2/music/songs?filter=POPULAR

The Wounded Kings on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Wounded-Kings/225788354128336

Random Musings

After my hugely successful posting about Human Cometh (seriously check it out!) I've deceided to take a break from the foul Anglo-Saxon language and feature another random band from Metal Archives.

To recap: M-A (aka Encyclopedia Metallum) (metal-archives.com) has made it their mission to compile and collate every heavy metal that has ever existed into one easy-to-use website. They have a 'random band' button that when you press it, it takes you to a random band! And you can see all their information! Record releases! Band members! Where they came from! Whether or not they are still active! Facebook/Myspace/website links!

So I press a button, get taken to a band page and viola! another post for you all to enjoy!

Today's push of the button leads me to a band called Aesir from Cornwall in the UK.

Aesir were an unsigned/independent act who played symphonic folk metal, put out 2 self-released EP's and one split album in 2008 with Sons Of Apollyon ('Alliance' on Wyldstone). Then, after a few line-up and style changes, they began again as Morgawr and began to delve into Cornish and Celtic mythology and fuse it with black, folk, power and progressive metal. The result is an independent release in 2010 called 'Blood Saga'.

The name Morgawr is taken from a mythological sea creature that lives off the coast of Falmouth Bay in Cornwall, the band are a four piece and have had a song featured on Rock Band 2 and Rock Band 3.

After countless Pagan/Folk/Black metal bands from Europe (in particular Scandinavia) it's refreshing to hear a British band pull off this style of music successfully. Alongside Old Corpse Road, the Meads of Asphodel, Winterfylleth and Wodensthrone, Morgawr are one of the few UK bands (that I'm aware of) to sing about their Celtic/Briton heritage and the use of tin whistles and jew's harp in the songs add to the 'folk' feel.  The album is well worth seeking out and can be listened to here:
http://www.myspace.com/aesiruk

A band to watch.

WARNING: CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE!! Part Four

Welcome back, again, my friends to another filth-filled post!

More swearing song-related goodness ahoy!

1. Nine Inch Nails- Closer (The Downward Spiral)

I could have used quite a few Trent Reznor/NIN songs for this (particularly of the 'Pretty Hate Machine album) but none of those songs have such an awesome video as this one! Swearing and homo-erotic Star Trek clips? Yes please!

2. Dead Kennedys- Nazi Punks Fuck Off (In God We Trust)

Do this really need any introduction? I could have used a number of Dead Kennedys songs but this one has passion and venom and is a short, sharp poke in the eye to dumbfuck nazis (punks or otherwise)

3. Crass- Do They Owe Us A Living?

Another jolly punk song to all sing along to.

4. Ian Dury and the Blockheads- There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards

This was the b-side to his 1979 number one smash hit 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick' and was actually banned from being played in my household by my dad! I'm not sure what he most objected to, the continual use of the word bastard ( though not in any derogatory sense, more in awe and appreciation- which totally went over my head as an 10 year old!) or the word 'shitless'. Hard to say and even harder to ask as he's dead (both my dad and Ian Dury,  though not at the same time)
 This is a lovely, gentle palette cleanser of a song after all those loud, nasty louts shouting 'fuck'.
Go check out more Ian Dury songs a.s.a.p, you won't be disappointed.

Part five is slowly coming round the mountains.............................stay tuned

WARNING: CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE!! Part Three

Well hello kinder! Welcome back to another fun-tabulous, splendifferous, fucking brilliant blog post!

Part three takes a slight departure and features one of my favourite bands The Meads of Asphodel, an experimental, black-metal band from the UK which mixes black metal, punk, keyboards, Hawkwind, religion, fake newscasts, rants, the Crusades (both anicent and modern), Monty Python-inspired lunacy and the occasional Zorba The Greek reference into one huge delightful mess of noise. Oh and the odd swear word or 8 thrown in. There last album was a concept piece about the murder of Jesus the Jew and their next album is another concept album telling the Holocaust through the eyes of the Jewish Sonnerkommando [these were the unfortunate workers who removed the corpses from the gas chambers, and after removing teeth/hair and valuables, cremated them]. 


First up a little christmas music:

1. All Things Bright And Shit (Terrorizer Ear Candy 36)

My first introduction to the Meads was via Terrorizer magazine's free cd on their xmas issue. I listened to it and burst out laughing and haven't stopped since. I find the Meads capable of making me bang my head and laugh out loud at the same time, usually within the same verse! I love this band and have made it my intention to track down and enjoy all their releases.

2. Aborted Stygian Foetus (In The Name Of God, Welcome To Planet Genocide)

Not the whole song but the 8 minute or so speech at the end of the cd (fast forward past the end of ASF until you hear the bells)
This is another reason why I love the Meads. The rants, the use of the gospel choir, the passion in Metatron's voice as he rallies against everything that is dragging this world down into a mire of shite.
When I lived in Edinburgh, I had a radio show on Fresh Air (freshair.org.uk) and was lucky to do one of my shows just before christmas. I started the show with the Meads' "All Things Bright And Shit",played some nasty metal, put this speech towards the end of my show, signed off with "God bless us each and every one of us!" and ended with the Mothers of Invention track 'Weasels Ripped My Flesh' (go check the track out!)
Glorious days indeed!

3.On Graven Images I Glide Beyond the Monstrous Gates of Pandemonium to Face the Baptized Warriors of Yahweh in the Skull Littered Plain of Esdraelon

Now that's what I call a song title!

More or less everything you need to know about why I love the Meads is in this song. The drums, the Arabic sounding instruments, the voices, the cut-ups, the sound effects, the music, the dark humour.
I just wish I had found this album before I did my aforementioned radio show but oh well. :)

Check out their website at: http://www.themeadsofasphodel.com/

The Meads of Asphodel: There for the nasty things in life

WARNING: CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE!! Part two

Welcome back my friends to the blog that occasionally posts!

So, in part one we had three songs that contained swearing and in this post we have (drum roll please).............. three songs that have swearing in it! Cosmic!!

1. Dj Shadow: GDMFSOB (The Private Press)

I do like some dance and some old-school hip-hop/rap and so this track is one of my favourties and features my favourite hip-hop artist Roots Manuva.
I've no idea where the original swearing clips come from (I'm presuming they're from movies. I was under the impression some of them came from 'Play Misty For Me' but that's not been verified) but I love the way they mix into the song.
Another song with a chorus you can sing along too

2. Sex Pistols-Bodies (Never Mind The Bollocks)

Never mind all the hype, this is one of the best rock and roll records ever released and one of the best examples of swearing in music. Play loud and play often!

3. Rage Against The Machine- Killing In The Name Of (Rage Against The Machine)

Yeah, it's kind of an obvious choice but it's still a very effective use of  repetitive swearing. You can feel the anger build and simmer and when he first starts his rant, it sounds like a spoilt child throwing a tantrum and yet through repitition (and the ending scream of 'motherfucker') makes this a very effective and powerful song.


Stay tuned for part three children for more offensive fun

*reader's voice: "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!"*

WARNING: CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE!! Part One

Yes children, despite what your parents and elders told you, swearing is big and it is clever and when you combine swearing in music the results are almost magical! (Almost!)  There's something wonderful about hearing 'naughty' words in a song and it's even more fun to sing a long to them too!

For you delectation, I present to you some of my favourite songs with swearing in them. (in no particular order)

1. Manic Street Preachers: Yes (The Holy Bible)

A great way to kick off a very difficult album. The opening monologue is from a programme called 'Hookers, Hustlers, Pimps and their Johns' which was shown in the UK on Channel 4 sometime in the early 90's and was quite an eye-opening documentary (especially the scene where the hooker uses a cheese grater on the head of the guys cock! Nice!!!!) The casual, almost throwaway, use of 'cunts' in the opening line is brilliant and the lines "he's a boy, you want a girl so tear off his cock. Tie his her in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want" is one of the bleakest lines in music I've had the pleasure to hear.


2. Foetus: Bedrock (Foetus Inc.)

I was introduced to Foetus by my friend Iain, who lent me a Foetus double album compilation and I was struck by how much they sounded like Wiseblood (whose 'Dirtdish' album I owned) until I discovered that J.G.Thirlwell was the main man in both bands!

This song has a wonderful sleazy, jazzy-style beginning before turning into an almost Broadway-style musical number replete with trumpets and imaginary chorus girls.
Only one real swear word here (unless you count 'bastard son-of-a-bitch' as swearing, and I don't!) but the way he emphasises the word 'fucker' sends chills down my spine. Enjoy!


3. Darkthrone: F.O.A.D (F.O.A.D)

When I was a young lad, Kerrang! was a really great magazine (no honest, it was) and in the back page classified ads was a small advert for a record store called Shades in Wardour Street, London. (don't look for it, it isn't there any more) They would advertise all the latest independent and imported heavy metal releases and next to the ones they liked would be this legend "Buy or f.o.a.d!" It took me a while to work out what the "a.d" meant but I had no problems working out what "f.o." meant!
Sing that chorus out loud kiddywinks and I'll see you soon for part 2.

One Man And His Thought(s)

So, as I'm having difficulty in deciding how and what to do with this blog, I've come up with a stop-gap solution.

I visit a site called metal-archives.com (Encyclopaedia Metallum) which is devoted to chronicaling every heavy metal that has ever existed or will ever exist. It's a really good site and very useful as a tool to check out new bands, album reviews etc. Acts are listed alphabetically, by genre, country of origin and they always have a 'random band' link which (when clicked) will take you to.........a random band within their pages! So with that in mind I'll be logging onto the MA home page, pressing the random band link, finding a band listed as active, listening to said random band and posting my findings on here........ hopefully one band per day (provided my get up and go hasn't got up and went).

Today's band:  HUMAN COMETH        http://www.humancometh.com/

They're a 5 piece band from Orebro, Sweden with 2 self-released albums under their belt: 'Evolution' (2010) and 'HCII' (2011)

 Human Cometh play good old fashioned melodic heavy metal with a large dash of prog thrown in. The songs and the riffs are extremely catchy and the production on the tracks I've heard is top-notch. They have a new singer in Eric Johns (ex-Simple Aggression and David T.Chastain's group Southern Gentlemen) replacing the original guy Kaj Roth and the change in singers is noticeable but not a detriment, in fact Eric's vocals seem to add a little more 'roughness' to the band's sound. To my (old) ears, they sound like a heavier version of Magnum, early Marillion (a real heavy version) and 80's prog metal bands like Pallas and IO.

If you enjoy power metal, prog metal and good old fashioned heavy metal with great riffs, great songs and fantastic solos then check out Human Cometh asap!

new bands for me to check out in 2012

Mythological Cold Towers (from Brazil) taken from the album "Immemorial"