Last November, Voices released their second album, London. It took us (well, except me because my finger is totally on the pulse) completely by surprise, scoring a whopping 4.5/5 and storming the writers’ end-of-year lists. I moved back to the UK just in time to catch Voices supporting Anaal Nathrakh at Camden’s Black Heart in April, and was lucky enough to chat to Peter Benjamin (vocals, guitars) and Sam Loynes (guitars, backing vocals) before the show. An interview, you say? Well, goddamn!
“As an employee in a soul-sucking government bureaucracy, I’ve heard plenty of hollow buzzwords over the years. But amidst the ‘paradigm shifts’ and ‘synergy’ is a phrase I’ve always thought had actual merit: ‘disciplined initiative.’ Meaning: don’t be afraid to dream and try new things – but maintain quality control. Keep a grip on reality. Don’t fling a bunch of shit around in the name of innovation. It applies as much to the workplace as it does to music. Case in point: Canada’s Éohum.” Prepare to expand your bandwidth with this piece of educational mindshare.
“Never heard of Serdce? I can’t blame you. The Belarussian prog-death group has been tramping around the metalsphere in undeserved obscurity since 1997 and Timelessness is the fourth(!) LP to spill from their obscenely talented hands and the first to be released by the metal messiahs at Blood Music.” Did you miss this slab of prog-death in 2014? Well, fix that in 2015!
“If you’ve clicked on over to Angry Metal Guy and need an introduction to Venom, you’re probably at the wrong web site, lady. My obsession with this band started at the ripe old age of eight or so and has never really faltered….” The original Lords of Chaos are back to prove…something. Are they still at war with Satan, or just yelling at kids to get off their lawn?
“The Year of Our Angry Overlord 2014 has been a crazy ride. One year ago this week I was finishing up one of the most stressful terms of my entire life, and this year has been a rush of teaching prep, reading, researching, and “OMFG.” You have certainly noticed that AngryMetalGuy.com has been pretty short one Angry Metal Guy in 2014, and that’s been tough for everyone involved I’m sure.” In this massive post Angry Metal Guy reflects on 2014, ranks a bunch of records, and is waiting prepared with his flamethrower for when the whine hits the fan.
I don’t know about you, but Cynic’s 2008 record Traced in Air is one of my favorite records of the decade. I love Focus and think it’s one of the best records in the history of technical and progressive metal. However, I have previously expressed some skepticism as to the motives of this band. While the Re-Traced EP was an experimental take on the Traced in Air tracks and worked really, really well, I was less enthused with the band’s Carbon Based Lifeforms EP. During that one, I expressed some sentiments that have been floating around the underground in terms of quoting an acquaintance of mine:
“Guitarist Tymon Kruidenier and bassist Robin Zielhost were introduced to the metal masses as the new members of reactivated prog/death gods Cynic back in 2007, with Zielhost replacing bassist/Chapman wizard Sean Malone for live purposes, and Kruidenier handling both guitar and growling duties both live and on Cynic’s incredible comeback album, Traced in Air. Both members would end up departing after the subsequent tours for Traced in Air, instead working on their own muse, the all-instrumental Exivious.” Anytime someone mentions Cynic, metaldom gets all agog. Grymm boldly mentions them here in relation to an all instrumental, prog-metal monster. What comes after agog?
“33 COPIES. That’s the amount of copies pressed of the 2011 re-release of Noizemongers for Goatserpent, the seminal 2004 “classic” by California’s black/noise merchants, Enbilulugugal. On CDR, no less! This would cause the hearts of both hipsters and black metal elitists to flutter in obscure bliss and revel in the notion that, truly, you have never heard of this before. Sadly, for those (devil) horn-rimmed glasses-wearing folk, Crucial Blast is re-re-releasing Noizemongers for Goatserpent, this time on a two-disc digipak with beautiful art, liner notes… and two discs containing 79 FUCKING TRACKS (!!!) of some of the worst sounds ever put to record.” 79 tracks is a whole lot of bang for the buck. Who would complain about a bargain like that? Our man Grymm, that’s who!
“Nothing burns with the same intensity as hate born of a once great love. While I worshipped early Pestilence albums like Consuming Impulse and Testimony of the Ancients, I hated their Doctrine release with the white-hot passion of a scorned fanboy. The dramatic back story to this epic tale of spurned love is a simple one. Pestilence began life as a primitive, old school death outfit and really had a lot going for them, but they rapidly evolved into a weird, proggy entity, freely dabbling in jazz-fusion. I didn’t care for the paradigm shift and neither did many of their original fans. When the band reformed after 16 years in the ground, I hoped they would return to their roots…” Who doesn’t dig a good story about love turned to hate? But can that hate turn back to love? How about love peppered with hate?
If Anathema, Obscura and Cynic got stuck in an elevator, What would happen? Alex attempts to answer this and other existential questions as best he can while reviewing the new opus from The Contortionist. Is it progressive? Is it metalcore? Is there enough air in that damn elevator??? Read on.
