True to the word “wet”, Lament Cityscape use reverb and distortion to create a vast sonic pool out of simple influences and ideas. Building on various tropes associated with “atmospheric sludge”, the Oakland, CA duo create a pleasantly contrasting and intense dynamic throughout this three song EP.
Heavy bass guitar lines are the cement that binds all the other components together, made clear with catchy opener “Lustre”, whilst “Bleedback Loop” is more tense, grinding, and foreboding. Whilst stylistically in the same vein, closer “The Great Reveal” comes across as the most soothing of the three songs.
The melodic foundation are cemented in slow, heavy bass runs which are characteristic of classic sludge from Flipper, and percussion which evokes both the atavism of Neurosis and the urban dystopianism of Godflesh. Not unlike The Angelic Process, textures and layers have the uncanny quality of being rich in distortion yet lush and ethereal.
More than simply just being an outfit that set out to create an “ambience” or a “mood”, Lament Cityscape know how to build them, with an abundance of suspense. Like the best work of Jesu, The Pulsing Wet achieves a juxtaposed distinction of sounding viscerally warm, yet cohesive and endearing.
Finnish duo Circle Of Ouroborus have left an immense body of work behind them since forming in 2004. Amidst an abundance of splits, demos and EP’s, Viimeinen Jouksu is their 18th full length. With eight tracks spanning just over half an hour, and over an exhaustive discography, their most palatable and accessible material.
Whilst their aesthetic approach is immediately identifiable with black metal, they have brought the direct influence of post-punk and post-rock into their blend, with plenty of tonal experimentation. Rather than use these approaches in a manner that aims to come across as purposely crowd-pleasing and acceptable a la Deafheaven or Alcest, there is a genuine “outsider” character to Circle Of Ouroborus that distinguishes them from all other peers.
Melodic, hypnotic, tense and with a lo-fi, hallucinogenic production, Viimeinen Jouksu is somewhat more refined than on previous work, with a much sharper, less distant and “washed out” sound than on previous material by the Finns. Vocals are a cross between the shrieked standard of black metal and a half-sung wail with a “drowned” echo effect on the voice.
Guitars have a rugged atmospheric tone; and some of the more trebly riffs are typical of the more traditionally “black metal” themed aspect of the Circle Of Ouroborus approach. You could compare the sound to “Forgotten Legends” by Drudkh or the clean instrumental passages of Forest or Branikald re-imagined through a noise rock filter of harmonious distortion.
Catchy leads, harmonies and the occasional arpeggio are abundant, and each song has an essential component to it that makes it “click”, whilst a throbbing bass plays complimentary, fluid lines that create their own space beneath the hazy wave of guitar. The overall groove coupled with the production have plenty in common with the barren, oppressive and atavistic atmospheres that Killing Joke immortalized on What’s This For? through to Fire Dances.
The spatial qualities of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures are also a definite reference point, and one could easily imagine how a minimal, stripped down take on the Cure’s Disintegration might sound if it were approached with the same timbre that can be found on the Grymyrk and Trondertun demos of cult Norwegian act Thorns. Highlights are constant, especially on tracks such as “Irti”, “Varjonhauta”, which help make Viimeinen Juoksu an enthralling and engaging experience.
Degenerate sex rockers Shitfucker deliver their second full length after 2013’s Suck Cocks In Hell. They sport an appearance and aesthetic that resembles the New York Dolls if they were extras in the sleazy William Friedkin flick Cruising. True to this perverted and ugly facade, the Detroit trio play a style that would easily entertain those who happily digest anything that fits the “black thrash”, “black ‘n’ roll” or “black crust” milieu.
This is an area that has enjoyed a particular niche of popularity that corresponds with the increasingly punk influenced direction that Darkthrone took since the mid noughties. Emerging at the same time that the Norwegians took a more purposely “retro” turn, Shitfucker can be compared to fellow US outfit Midnight.
Often, I find very little depth in a lot of music that sounds like this, as it’s usually little more than a regurgitation of something that was already laid out by Motorhead and Venom, but lacking any real spark or inspiration. Shitfucker however manage to take something that’s derivative and use individual influences to make a good mark. There are marked changes since their debut full length Suck Cocks In Hell that develop from where they left off.
The musical influences on Sex With Dead Body are pretty much the same as they always have been, and their macabre, slimy, camp preoccupation with death, sex, torture and murder is true to form. The production is still primitive and raw, but individually each of the instruments have more a more sharp tonal clarity, all separate from each other in the mix. Amidst what is still a scuzzy yet more direct sound is a big emphasis on distortion and fuzz pedals with the guitars.
The change in production makes the songs stand out more clearly. Songs are rendered catchier as a result, as if Nunslaughter channeled KISS and the more “bubblegum” elements of GG Allin’s earlier career. The sense of technique is very much inspired by GISM, and the guitar technique and lead playing can be compared to Randy Uchida. Additionally the tonal progression between Suck Cocks In Hell is and Sex With Dead Body not unlike the jump in clarity made by the Japanese legends from Detestation to M.A.N.
The album is catchy for the most part, held together by an intro and outro titled “Naked Came The Strangler”, a blatant ode to the horror synth scores of John Carpenter and Dario Argento’s films. Songs such as “Rickys Dead” and “Serial Killer” are the highlights, and the most energetic tracks, whilst the likes of “Stab The Head” and “Skitzoid” are more straightforward and aggressive. “Leather Lady Lover” has the amusing honor of at times sounding like the result of Paul Stanley trying to sing GG Allin’s “Bite It You Scum”. In a thoroughly satisfying yet distasteful sophomore full-length, Shitfucker are catchier, have more clarity, but are still nonetheless unclean.
In the history of black metal, as with any area of music we can certainly point to pivotal moments in the genres history. These can all resemble crucial stylistic turning points, be it the beginning of a new “wave”, a “prototype”, a “sound” or a national “scene”. However, no figure has continuously shaped the developments, approaches, changes and ideas as much as Quorthorn (Thomas Forsberg), the mainman behind Swedish pioneers Bathory. Founded in 1983, the name is a reference to Erzsébet Báthory, a notorious Hungarian aristocrat said to have slain young woman and bathed in their blood.
Beginning with their self-titled 1984 debut, executing a dark, lo-fi hybrid between NWOBHM, speed metal and UK 82 hardcore, their early output can be compared to Slayer’s classic 1983 debut “Show No Mercy” or the early work of Venom, but with a more solid, ambient production that is given greater exploration on following works. It is also consistent with emergent extreme metal of the early 80’s, a catchy, memorable song-for-song effort. Whether or not Quorthorn had never really heard Venom at this time, a claim he denied remains to be seen, but for the majority of trained ears they remain an essential reference point in discerning the aesthetic of early Bathory recordings. That one of Venom’s signature songs is called “Countess Bathory” may lead many to believe that this is more than sheer coincidence.
With their sophomore “The Return” in 1985, stylistic changes are clear. Repetitive phrasing of riffs, influenced by hardcore become more prominent, songs tend to be longer, and production makes more prominent use of reverb and echo. Whilst headbangers like “Born For Burning” continue where the the debut left off, the general aura of their second album acts like an anti-rock take on Venom’s “Black Metal”. Where Sodom’s “Obsessed By Cruelty” accelerated brutality, “The Return” introduced a dark, hallowed atmosphere that would become a genre staple. The roots of what can be heard from the likes of Darkthrone, Burzum, Mayhem and Gorgoroth on their defining work is clearly evident here.
Recording “The Return”…
This is enhanced and given a deeper grandeur on 1986’s “Under The Sign Of The Black Mark”. Marked by a more immediate, speedier, pounding aggression, their third album builds on the dark ambiance of the second, and introduces more experimental production and aesthetics, with an added touch of dark keyboards and melodic riff playing. Whilst songs such as “Massacre”, “Equimanthorn” and“Chariots Of Fire” are more brutal takes of the more simplistic songs from “The Return”, the rest of the album oozes an epic theatricality, highlighted in songs such as “Call From The Grave”, “13 Candles” and the album highlight “Enter The Eternal Fire”. Solidifying and intensifying the base they had built on the second album, their third embodies the perfection of black metal’s “pre-second wave”. All the tropes, techniques and aesthetics that nourish the Nordic, Greek and wider European black metal scene of the late 80’s and early 90’s is on full display here.
A promo for “Under The Sign Of The Black Mark…”
The more epic components of Under The Sign... are expanded on more greatly on “Blood, Fire, Death”, in what is considered the last of the essential “black metal” works by Quorthorn. Embellished with choral synth and acoustic guitars, “A Fine Day To Die” and the closing title track show a Norse romanticism of Wagnerian proportions coming to the forefront, defining the dominant theme of much of Bathory’s essential work from then on. It also helps to accentuate the “symphonic” traits that ebb and flow within later black metal, as well as the “Viking” metal phenomena. With solid tracks such as “For All Those Who Died”, “Dies Irae” and “Holocaust”, the remainder of the album is a more extensive take on the more straight ahead aggression shown on “Under The Sign…”, and a definite template for much of the “black thrash” trend that would ebb and flow in decades to follow. “Blood, Fire, Death” is also the teaser to a trilogy in which the heathen sagas of the ancient Scandinavians become predominant.
Promotional shot for “Blood, Fire, Death”
It is important that in addressing what is called “Viking metal” that this is little more than an aestheticization, and not a genre in itself. It is like calling “gothic rock” its own genre when really, it is post-punk that overly tends to emphasize the “dark and gloomy”. With this comparison in mind, it is best to consider the monolithic, slow paced epic hymns that defines the best of post-“Blood Fire Death” Bathory more as epic heavy metal played at a doom tempo. Whilst their fellow countrymen Candlemass helped pioneer “epic doom” with virtuosity and funereal precision, Bathory’s later “Viking” themed output assesses a variety of moods; the triumphant and tragic, victory and defeat, life and death, the upbeat and the melancholic.
It is akin to a more conceptually realized, more self-aware take on the more epic, serious moments from the first four Manowar albums. Quorthorn’s shrieks give way to a mix of frail, airy balladry and barbaric, half sung, half-shouted vocals which are a perfect fit for slow, grinding, monumental anthems. Released in 1990 and 1991 respectively, Hammerheart and Twilight Of The Gods are unique in that they reinvigorate what had tired itself out in the best of 80’s mainstream heavy metal. Ushering in a decade when many heavyweights either grew tired and dull, became purposely commercial and watered down (Metallica, Pantera), or came to embody a millennial generation of irony and self-loathing (grunge), the more ‘ear-friendly’ Bathory was just as passionate as before.
They still conjured an esoteric weight that would make its mark on underground 90’s metal, through the more “pagan” themed elements of the black metal movement, and much of the “epic doom” that emerged in that decade since. As the onus on metal’s best output in the 1990’s switched indefinitely towards these underground channels, epics like “Shores In Flames”, “Baptized In Fire And Ice”, “One Rode To Asa Bay”, “Twilight Of The Gods”, “Blood And Iron” and “Under The Runes” were a remedy to the decay of metal’s mainstream. With the title of Twilight Of The Gods alluding to a Richard Wagner opera of the same name, the closing track “Hammerheart” also takes a melody from Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” as its lead.
Quorthorn (middle left) with Kerry King, Jeff Hannemann and Tom Araya of Slayer
When listening to the “lost album” Blood On Ice, recorded originally in the late 1980’s but only released in 1996, we can obviously sense the transitional period that lay between Blood, Fire, Death and Hammerheart. The speed metal influences are for the most part completely eschewed, though there is a more general variation in pace, with songs like “One Eyed Old Man” and “Gods Of Thunder, Wind and Rain” displaying that missing link. On the other hand, songs like “The Woodwoman” and “The Lake” are the true prescience of setting the tone, mood and style of their new direction. Whilst it has some small production flaws, largely being assembled from demos, it is still a very worthy archival release that is full of potential and clarity, and far from being a “completist” addition to a musical collection. If treated chronologically it makes the stylistic transfer between early to mid-period Bathory seem more obvious and less sudden.
After a series of largely uninspired albums, Requiem , Octagon and Destroyer Of Worlds, Quorthorn finally revisited the formula that was first laid out on Blood, Fire, Death and laid out across the remainder of his Viking themed material. Whilst epic in length and scope, the Nordland I (2002) and Nordland II (2003) albums were more matured and varied in technique, with speedier riffs sitting alongside the more pounding, slow tempos, interwoven with dark Nordic folk music. They make for a fitting epitaph just prior to Quorthorn’s untimely death at the age of 38, highlighted in songs such as “Nordland”, “Ring Of Gold”, “Foreverdark Woods” and “The Wheel Of Sun”.
Throughout a musical career spanning over 20 years, Bathory delivered a series of works that consistently broke new ground for underground metal. There was also a consistent stylistic evolution between each of his works, with a large body of acclaimed albums which consistently outweigh career “low points”. Amidst all of this, the music of Bathory was mastery of all formats, be they the infernal and the romantic, the simplistic and the epic. All of the ideas and themes that embody the history of metal as a genre are explored and in depth throughout this one man band’s canon.
Thomas Börje Forsberg AKA Quorthorn (17 February 1966 – 3 June 2004)
The following interview/conversation is with Finnish artist Mikko Aspa, who works within a number of mediums. Many readers may know him as the founder and owner of the record labels Northern Heritage and Freak Animal. In addition to this, he has a highly prolific musical output, with the black metal of Clandestine Blaze, the power electronics of Grunt, and the funeral doom project Stabat Mater, among many other ventures. He is also a prolific publisher, through the printed zine and online forum Special Interests. To say that his name is something of repute within contemporary underground music circles would be putting things lightly.
There has been a distinct maturation in the sound of Clandestine Blaze over the past few years, yet the musical expression and artistic intent is still the same, without compromise. Music is still raw, yet there are points on City Of Slaughter and Tranquility Of Death where songs are accentuated with layers of synth, or in the case of the title track from the latter, acoustic guitar passages.
In some respects this reminds me of the simple, yet sophisticated approach that Beherit made on Engram. Traditional black metal, well thought out, and not just “varied” for the sake of being “open-minded”. Would you care to tell us what brought these changes, or better to say developments in the musical direction of CB?
MA: Natural progression took me into making songs different than they had been in early days. It would be foolish to repeat exact same template over 20 years. In case of Clandestine Blaze, shift is slow. It can be seen happening between each album. To compare couple first ones with couple last ones, there may be drastic shift. To follow discography in chronological order, the transition is subtle and almost logical.
With new albums, my intent has been to make songs that are not following the absolutely simplest expected template known from pop/rock. They are not progressive or complex by any means, but often you can not guess what will be coming after next riff or song part. In early days vast majority of tracks were intentionally repeating most common type of template with no musical variation or display of musicianship.
I wanted music to be utterly monochrome, everything else than “fun” to listen to. Nowadays intent is that music is not totally predictable or mathematical. There are many other goals too. Certainly not to sound uplifting or joyful like a lot of contemporary Black Metal appears to be.
You have undertaken many other projects across the metal and noise spectrum, in a variety of different capacities, exploring different themes and concepts. Of all of these, your work as Clandestine Blaze and Grunt seem to be the most collectively representative of all these as a whole. Could you tell us how it came to be that these two projects ended up becoming the dominant projects in your portfolio, and giving a background to that?
MA: Bands where I work with other people, I am often in role of assistant or collaboration and role of leader is taken by someone else. A lot of projects are sort of spin-off from main works, that are Grunt and Clandestine Blaze. These two are the focus points. Both were the most important right from the start. They are expressions of myself in many ways.
Many of the spin-off projects have narrow and tightly framed singular artistic vision they are meant to fulfill. Approach of these projects may differ from what is done with my main works. Scope of Grunt and CB is not merely specific artistic vision, but they represent my worldview and approach to life in general.
Are there any direct or indirect means by which the other projects you have done influence the development of CB and Grunt, or vice versa?
MA: There is always crossover. Most of the other projects have been spawned as “spin-off” to explore specific sound or theme, had already been dealt in main work. Instead of giving one particular topic too much attention in Grunt, there are opened a path that took closer look into specific topic or sound, while Grunt continued to explore with wider scope.
Besides this, you can draw line from one to another and find the common topics and musical elements. During last decade, often Grunt and Clandestine Blaze albums sort of communicate with each other. They include similar topics, similar themes, but often discussed with different language – so to say.
Bands I play or have played as member, also may influence at least in ways of keeping musical skills developing more than bands that exists only in form of recordings.
Can you tell us about the history of Special Interests as a print and online publication, its various mediums and what you’ve set out to achieve with it?
MA: I have edited noise related zines since the 90’s. Freak Animal and Degenerate ‘zines most notable. At the time when first issue of Special Interests came out, print magazines that focused on industrial-noise and related genres were pretty much non-existent. Original aim was to publish ’zine 3 times a year.To preserve current moment of the genre to physical form, to distribute information and to give platform for artists that would never get covered in music press of magazines of other genres.
There was also seemingly futile attempt to resurrect the 80’s/90’s style of approach, where wide variety of experimental noise co-existed in same milieu. Reality is that subgenre mindset is so strong these days, that eventually it was best to conclude Special Interests has barely ambient, electro-acoustic and such material. Focus remains power electronics, noise and closely related material. Scope is still very broad, not being spokesman of one subgenre or even my own personal taste.
Out of all these aims, Special Interests paper fanzine exists. It is published less regular manner, but remains among very few print publications of the type. There are various attempts in creation of podcasts, documentaries, etc. It all remains limited by lack of time. There will be more, but there is also other things to be done. Big part of my activity is not visible to foreign people, as I have shifted major part of my writing to Finnish.
Most stable activity is Special Interests forum, that enables bands, labels, collectors, and so on, to discuss, promote, sell and trade their material. To do this without restrictions enforced by social media platforms and marketplaces. Due strong content of many industrial-noise releases, it appears good to have some true independent infrastructure left. It is unfortunate that so much of contemporary ”underground” relies purely on good will and platforms of multinational corporations.
The opening track from Terror And Degeneration features a quite prominent sample from the David Cronenberg film Videodrome, which asserts that “we’re entering savage times” and that one needs to be “pure, direct and strong” to survive them. The film had a lot to say in regard to the convergence of human destiny and ever advancing technology, which i noticed seemed to be present in themes explored in other Grunt material.
This seemed to inform particularly the “surveillance” elements of Someone Is Watching. If any, to what extent is this explored in the work of Clandestine Blaze? As an artist who has worked and performed in the audiovisual medium before, to what extent does cinema influence you on an individual level and in the sonic output of Grunt?
MA: Those works you mention are created back in 1997-1998. While subject matter is far more relevant now than over 20 years ago, it is also almost too banal and trivial to deal with it now. At least it should be looked from less obvious perspective. Things explored in those releases are just daily life now.
Clandestine Blaze does not observe this type of elements of society. Material is meant to be sort of beyond technology and timeless in many ways. Not bound to society and current daily reality in same ways as Grunt can do. Things Clandestine Blaze deals with, are more primal. It would never talk about tech of surveillance, how it happens in contemporary society.
CB work could of course touche the motivations and reasonings and the spirit what is behind the actual technical level. It could observe the shattered free will and the necessity of illusion of paradise where sheep and wolves co-exist in peace like in Watchtower magazine covers. Surveillance society has traits of this.
To return to question about movies. I do have plenty of movies in my collection and I respect the artform. However, it is far less important that music or books. I can live perfectly without having TV or watching movies. It is most of all prioritizing my time. I am not looking much of entertainment, but food for though. These days I watch way less movies than I used to.
Most of the time I am not even seeking to find any particular movie and most of my collection I have never actually watched. They remain there for sake of one day wanting to do so. It is unlikely those movies to be found in popular streaming services and after times of wide and easy availability. It’s been several years since I last time put movie dvd to player.
Black metal and power electronics are genres of extremes. The widely mythologized and eulogized Norwegian scene of the early 1990’s was extreme not only in musical and ideological intent, but in the sense that destructive and fatal actions arose from its “inner circle”, with similar and more widespread illegal acts taking place in its wake.
Consistent with tropes within the genre, it is something which reflects itself in the cryptic and occult lyrical content of Clandestine Blaze, which often tends to reflect and portray destructive forces and urges within the nature of man. Whether one could consider this as the Hobbesian war of all against all, the Darwinian survival of the fittest, or Nietzschean concepts of will to power or the overman.
Power electronics on the other hand is a subgenre of industrial where many practitioners, since the early 80’s tend to aestheticize various extremes, be they socio-political, ideological, sexual, criminal or otherwise into a format which is presented in a manner that is confrontational, impartial and lacking in irony to the extent that many of the tropes inevitably shock, alienate, and anger the untrained listener.
Whilst not a type of “propaganda” to those outsiders, it may be interpreted literally and thereby judged as such. What are your thoughts on this? In increasingly politically correct times, to what extent do you think that “elitism”, “extremism” or “extremity” such as the types described above are a fundamental prerequisite to these forms of music having their desired effect, or as a means to achieve a sense of ‘authenticity’?
MA: We would first have to consider what *is* the desired effect? Lets say, if you are looking for people to be offended. Of course, that is probably easier than it ever was. However, this doesn’t have any real level of achievement in adult life. It may have seemed good in adolescent perspective, …but now? If you know the triggers how people are outraged, and you know that this outrage leads nowhere, why bother?
Confrontation and provocation is valuable when target is advanced enough. Of course one can’t totally rule out of usefulness of sheer terror or even annoyance, but generally I feel the music and the message is not performed for the enemy, but yourself and for potential fruitful receiver.
The goals of old industrial to ”shock” live audience with ripping noise, is futile in situation where most of the audience comes to enjoy the ripping noise. People receiving splatters of blood and rotten meat from stage of Black Metal gigs, are not offended or disturbed by such actions. It leads to necessity to evaluate whether the ”shock” or ”extremism” has value, and if yes, then in what way.
We live in utterly different cultural milieu than in times when the underground was largely directed to an unprepared generic crowd. You know, the 90’s youth house gig collecting every kid from the town, vs. gig of devotees and veteran followers of music gathered from all around the world. It is totally different realm.
I believe that the most important factor is that the creator himself has genuine sense of importance of his work. That he feels and knows that work has both meaning and purpose. That this meaning is personal, and beyond. Transgressions that are personal, have a purpose, that is not linked to any goal that requires ”audience”. I feel that there needs to be real revolutionary element to it. That this process is about change and transgression, not about irritating some sensitive pussies.
One should approach it not as a lecturer, but really realize your own role in the process. Artist himself is also in process of learning and experiencing things and transforming. It should not be the tales of something, but the actual thing taking place. Meaning, in context of Black Metal, this is personal magical transformation, and not some foolish ”telling how it is” to bunch of listeners.
Same can be of course said in context of industrial-noise. I feel most of the music is aimed to enable elevated level or perception and cause change in reality. It is the real apocalyptic music, where world formerly taken granted in shattered and no longer existing. It is full re-evaluation of values and system of world that crumbles in front of you.
Most often my own works, for me, are the realization and illumination. It is the moment of certain era of process being summed up. Many things are already in your brain and character, but only articulated in form of art taking shape. It is the utmost opposition to entertainment and ”fun”. It is less about telling audience, and more about revealing to myself. It is the journey into darker consciousness.
Furthermore, as I mentioned above, it is not about ”telling how it is”, but album often can reveal itself to its creator AFTER it has been done. Unconscious decisions and seemingly well thought reasons may appear in different perspective in light of new look to it – especially when compared in synthesis with past works. Returning few albums backwards and seeing what you attempted to say, but could not fully articulate yet.
Fact that most people appear to be totally unable to handle even modest irritations and emotional challenges, rules them totally outside the scope any art should (or could) reach. It is ok for them to listen it as music. I think good bands work on that level too. I am fine with my work being treated pure as music, even if it is not that for me.
To separate people who “really get it” – that is of course elitist attitude, and therefore to reply your questions: Of course, elitism both necessary and mandatory and extremity is logical destination of path that is always willing to take the next step. It may only manifest itself in different forms than what people generally think when those words are being used. Many of the traits and symbols of “extremism” are now only decor and eye candy.
Whilst Clandestine Blaze releases have become more varied in a way that might appear to be more “ear-friendly” to the untrained listener, harsh noise elements seem to take a more upfront, abrasive position in more recent releases of Grunt. They come across as more directly rhythmic and not unlike Genocide Organ or Grey Wolves in this respect. The more prominent use of abrupt, chaotic feedback blasts and squelches recall 1980’s Whitehouse, and hark back to the origins of extreme electronic music.
Yet at times, tracks are shorter and resemble more “song-like” forms. Can you tell us about how you undertake the compositional process, and whether these “changes” were a conscious decision or “from the gut”, so to speak? In regards to both CB and Grunt, what are the most “fun” or enjoyable processes in recording, and the most frustrating or time-consuming processes?
MA: Both are designed to satisfy my urge as both creator and listener. Both have progressed during the years, based on shifts of my approach. As explained before, Clandestine Blaze has shifted to create musically more interesting pieces. It certainly does not aim to be easy listening or any sort of ear-candy, but there is elevated level of song writing and riff structures. Especially the next album will be another leap on that.
My biggest influence is, and often has been, to create opposition to stuff I dislike. I am not so much being influenced by my favorite albums, but the ongoing situation of not being able to find material that satisfies me. While I do not want to complain about situation in Black Metal, for me it is highly inspiring to be nearly antithesis of contemporary Black Metal of almost all kinds. This remark is not saying there would not be abundance of good bands too. I feel I am rather influenced by what I do not want to be associated with at all, on any level.
Process of Clandestine Blaze is accumulating ideas for couple of years and then regurgitating this in fairly fast process where the ideas – both music and lyrics, are articulated into concrete form. Recordings are usually very fast and when material has sort of ”created itself”. I am more in role of observing the mental state and absorbed ideas of last couple of years that come out in shape of CB. Moment of creation is fast, when it is only about making the idea happen. I usually do not “intend” to write album, but one day it happens in sudden urge of gathering all the ideas that have been emerging and see what it may result.
Grunt is actually quite versatile. Full length albums give you one view. Live shows give another. Small scale releases may be utterly different. Abundance of material that does not show itself to audience or exists within ”scene” per se, but are private sessions or public street actions or such – again Grunt takes very different forms. It is true, that large pressing full length albums have taken very song oriented form.
Most songs are 3-5 minutes at length what may be easier for listeners to grasp than 60 minutes non-stop abstract harsh noise. However, Grunt has that element as well. For example ”Kraniometria” cd that came out last year was pure instrumental harsh noise. There are hours of such material existing, but I have not felt the absolute need to make it public.
These days, most recordings I make, are studio-live recordings of raw, but fairly complex song cores. Usually one overdub and vocals are added. There are plenty of things that need to fall into right place that the song is ready to be published. It is hard to say what is the ”fun” in making, when most of it is basically challenging and consuming. There is the urge that material must be made, and it is satisfaction to get something meaningful completed. It may have not been really ”fun” at most stages of creation, but it is satisfying.
You have a track on “Myth Of Blood” entitled “Linkola Legacy”, which references the recently deceased Finnish ecologist and anti-humanist Pentti Linkola. Do you share any outlooks or worldviews similar to his?
MA: Although his ideology is unrealistic and in many ways flawed, I agree with several points of his conclusions and respect his life’s work and contributions to culture. His passion for nature was obsessive and most of all focused locally. He was more of almost poet, than ”political” or “philosophical” person. His approach changed over the decades. I prefer the later era, especially the outspoken Linkola who would not shy express his views in media.
Lyrics in this song, are well known quotes of Linkola. Till very end of his life, he was opposed by many, but also appreciated by many. Considering the loathsome state of contemporary media, it was unusual that Linkola could be sort of mainstream ”celebrity” and also given plenty opportunities to speak. He was able to express opinions and facts that normally would never be accepted to be voiced in mainstream media.
This is the notable example. To strive towards your goal and ideal, in hostile surrounding. Opposition or time and devotion in seemingly futile struggle.
Of course, most of the audience respect him in form of martyr. Never in form of leader. It was his stubborn and futile struggle, that has passionate religious fury, that makes people look at him in same kind of awe like for saints. Although process is there merely to justify themselves continue the ways of sin, if we use the religious terminology. Acceptance the true divine wrath is simply too much for a man.
Do you believe there is a “misanthropy” inherent in the Finnish subconsciousness that might contribute to the country’s fair share of talent within various subgenres of underground music? If otherwise, what do you think that is?
MA: It may be called that sometimes. Perhaps the specific kind of stubbornness combined to lack of universally acknowledged talent would be better. I would assume that a lot of Finnish music appears less focused on “PR” and “marketing tactics” and “trends” than in some other countries. As one can observe, Finland has very short history of producing “globally meaningful” culture. There are very few globally known masterminds.
Most of underground music used to be somewhat clumsy, noisy and raw. Be it early 80’s hardcore punk, late 80’s thrash, 90’s death and black metal. Finnish industrial-noise, even Finnish techno was known to be somewhat low-tech and primitive. Back then, when the idea of “what Finland sounds like” was establish, it can be actually that lack of talent contributed greatly to the sound. Instead of visionaries and geniuses, you got most of all: circumstances.
It is curious observation, that in these golden times of raw music, most relevant Black Metal and noise and such emerged from small towns. If there was meaningful and legendary bands from Finland, you can trust that almost without exception, they come from small towns and villages. At least they originate from there and later on moved to bigger cities.
In the 80’s and 90’s, basically before all devouring entertainment business and digital communication, people were most likely not predominantly “misanthropes”, but seekers of meaningful things to do. This drive and hunger to do something else than just vegetate and rot, will certainly cause misanthropic tone when you see the small town “normies” just be happy and content with… vegetate in apathy.
It is curious to see, what are the effects, of not having this type of environment. Of course we have had already 20 years to observe, and one can ask whether Finnish underground music still carries the same spirit? To certain extent it does, but when looked critically, one may see it has been largely tainted by same global flaws that plague underground music in general. Large part of its uniqueness is gone, in favor or “better quality” and “professionality”.
What lies next for Grunt and Clandestine Blaze? Is there any new material currently in the works?
MA: I just released new GRUNT album “Spiritual Eugenics”. That was major effort to get finished in a way it is. It is double LP / double CD format, consisting wide variety of tracks in 80 minutes duration. There is more Grunt material that is “under work”. I am not in hurry, so it is not decided when and how something comes out.
Clandestine Blaze next album is probably within 2020. It is recorded for most part, but like with Grunt, I am not in hurry with actual release. I’m more focusing on feeling the material is strong enough to survive test of time and my own critical evaluation.
Aside from a full-length, various splits and a recent compilation of said works, is there anything we can expect in the future from your doom project, Stabat Mater?
MA: Yes. There is completed new recordings, but I can not yet confirm when exactly those are being released. There will be more material recorded, which might be released even before formerly completed recordings are being published.
What upcoming releases, new, reissued or otherwise can be expected in the near future from your labels Northern Heritage and Freak Animal?
MA: There will be soon new albums of VIGILANTISM and BIZARRE UPROAR. More will follow.
Northern Heritage will have new material from unknown new names coming in 2020. However, reissues keep coming and next expected DIABOLI CD repressings of Kirous, The Antichrist and Wiking Division CD’s. Baptism repressings on vinyl.
COVID-19 has been all the hype, dominating all forms of media and cultural dissemination. This affects business and day-to day life too. Firstly, what are your observations on the mass media alarmism that has characterized the outbreak, taking into consideration past events in world history? How has this affected or challenged your running of Northern Heritage and Freak Animal, in terms of supply, distribution, international shipping, print press et al?
MA: There is barely effect for me, except that shipping is not possible to all countries. Also there are delays here and there.
For me, this appears as good opportunity to re-organization and prioritization of things. It proves that many things that were formerly considered out of questions and totally impossible to do, suddenly were very much doable. Whether these actions were good or not, is up to debate.
That concludes my questions. If you have any last words, please feel free…
Like their monochromatic black and white artwork, and their consistent use of three word album title prompts, Revenge are stark, punctual and monochromatic in their musical approach. The creation of J.Read, the former battering ram behind Conqueror and Axis Of Advance, Revenge’s aesthetic has a unique uniformity and consistency in approach. To call the content of these Canadians both relentless and inflexible would be an understatement. The printed lyrics to opening track “Reaper Abyss (Real Rain)” is an embodiment of their elitist, anti-human idealism;
“Earth’s cancer is mankind
Cockroach humans
Wasted lives”
That being said, there is a significant tonal shift on “Strike. Smother. Dehumanize” that sets the new Revenge album apart from its predecessors. The guitar tone is given much more clarity, rendering the riffs as more upfront, sharp and discernible than on previous outings. Considering that both Read and guitarist/vocalist Vermin are both former alumni of Axis Of Advance, this certainly demonstrates the influence of their previous project, particularly from albums such as “The List” and “Obey”.
The musical template is as always dominated and led by Read’s psychotic blasting and signature fills. They have a slightly more compact, less ‘boxy’ and “roomy’ sound than on previous albums, but have a far more muscular tone, with great accentuation on the clashing of cymbals amidst a performance completely bereft of respite. Vocals consist of visceral barks and shrieks, and occasional grunts, with lower end emissions often treated with various effects, echos and pitch shifting to create a savage, animalistic vocal tone.
Riffs contain a certain element of “groove” that usually follows the hammering charges of drums. These are a staple of Revenge’s riff writing; whilst not teetering on indiscernable in the way “War Cult Supremacy” did, the thick layer of fuzz from guitars and bass have a quality that is akin to the Napalm Death’s “Scum” trying to get used to early Beherit at machine gun pace. Along with their new shift towards a more “clear” production, there are moments that amount to Revenge coming close to “deviating” from their usual routine. There are breakdown moments that sound as if they could quickly turn into inverted variations on thuggish Oi!, whilst solos and the bass guitar are given more lenience in the mix.
For untrained ears, this will be a harsh and barbarous introduction to a band with a solid discography. For the seasoned listener this will be a breath of fresh air with a slight adjustment in terms of a more crisp “accessibility”, in which the band retains its pounding, organic core. In the generic malaise of war metal where the impetus is for so many bands to consistently “outgoat” one another, Revenge keep their own original mark, compromising nothing in what is their most streamlined effort to date.
The following interview/discussion is with Rob Miller. Readers may know of him through his work with the seminal crust-punk pioneers Amebix, as well as with Tau Cross. In additional to his musical output, Rob is also a globally renowned swordsmith, for some 30 years plying his craft through Castle Keep. This Q&A looks at the history of Amebix and the forthcoming Tau Cross album. Other questions concern the practice and wider meaning of swordsmithing to the modern world, as well as wider questions surrounding technology, mysticism and culture.
One of the great qualities about Amebix was that the atmospheres of post-punk, the visceral guitars of early heavy metal and the raw anger of anarcho-punk are merged together seamlessly into a tribal, ritualistic whole. Could you perhaps give us a quick chronology of Amebix? What got yourself and the other band members at the time to eventually mature and then achieve the sound that you’d commit to tape? Who and what influenced each of you individually?
Growing up in Rural Devon in the 60s and 70’s my brother and I started a band in 1979 after he returned from a stint working on the island of Jersey. I was still in school, and formed a couple of different incarnations of the first band “The Band With No Name’ playing in local village halls, having fun being a young bunch of kids messing around with this new idea called Punk Rock.
The darker side of things really began with our moving into Martin Bakers house on the edge of the moors, an old Manor House with ruins dating back to the Saxon era. His parents were living in London so he opened the place up to us without anyone knowing about it. We practiced at night,slept during the day, lived a nocturnal existence.
We moved to Bristol in 1981 just after the riots and started to live a life of Squats and general uselessness punctuated by the occasional foray into a studio to produce two singles, a 12” and eventually the defining album “Arise!”. Moving back to a more rural
setting in a small Somerset mining village we continued until 1987,when the final album “Monolith” was released.
Shortly after the band dissolved into different areas,to emerge again in 2009 for a
retrospective DVD project with the help of drummer Roy Mayorga (Stone Sour/Ministry/Nausea etc etc). This led to the triumphant “Sonic Mass” album in 2011, after which the familiar gremlins reared their ugly heads again and the band once more dissolved into a now unresolvable form.
I went on to start my own band called Tau Cross,releasing a first album to considerable praise, the second to a little less. The third album was due to be released last August but was shelved by Relapse records due to the reference I made to an author in the thanks list. I also lost my band and the entire catalog in production, received Worldwide opprobrium and some idle threats along the way. At this point in time I have started to re write and record that forbidden album, as I believe it is a good body of work that can only be improved on now.
The name Tau Cross comes from a variation of the crucifix, if I’m not right? Lyrically, songs seem to express ideas that could refer to states of affairs in the present day but are encoded in archaic language, lore and wisdom. Could you tell us more about the ideas and themes that are explored in your output?
I have generally been quite obscure in my lyrical approach,using mythological themes and strong images to allow the listener to develop an internal landscape,a sort of projected cinema for the songs. I have always been drawn by the visual side of music by which I mean the pictures it can conjure,and regard that as an essential part of the approach.
I have stayed clear of obvious Political or Social commentary because it is temporal, it has no lasting power. I want to write something that can be related to in any generation,although I admit that the musical style can hinder that. As for the themes,they change over the years, I have always been interested in the Occult,the hidden, in the Mystery traditions and the Esoteric generally. My most current preoccupation is with a variety of subjects, I have been looking for an over arching ‘theory’ of things I suppose.
This has led me into some darker areas that I could not avoid, and with that journey
comes a bagful of problems as well as startling discoveries too. I have tried to draw an arc through our History as a race and to define the points at which we have been ‘formed’ and manipulated to some extent.
“Messengers of Deception” was a tribute to the work of Jacques Valle and John Keel as well as an examination of the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Cosmology in the light of John Lash’s work. It is about the beginning of creation and the consequences of our consciousness here on this planet,what forces work on us behind the scenes.
A noticeable aspect of the music of Tau Cross is that the more diverse, experimental aspects of the last Amebix album “Sonic Mass” have been integrated into a more punchy, streamlined sound that is both aggressive and anthemic. This has been consistent for both the debut and “Pillar Of Fire”. How is the re-recording of the new album progressing? What can be expected from “Messengers Of Deception”, sonically and lyrically? Given that Relapse withdrew the original recording, can any significant changes be expected with this version?
The first Tau Cross album was my own work and my own material,with some help on one or two songs, whereas Amebix’ Sonic Mass was really the work of Roy Mayorga, who managed to rope us into making our familiar noises over his richly layered backgrounds. I wrote a few of the songs,and “Knights of the Black Sun” is perhaps one of the best tunes I have ever penned, but even that foreshadows the Tau Cross material when you realise that it is a very very simple song, not musically complex in any way.
That is because I am not really a musician, I am just someone who feels how a song should go rather than has any practical ability, it is instinctual and more primal. “Hangman’s Hyll” is another good song that has been slated for its simplicity by some people, but songs are not about how clever you can be, for me at least. It is all about how powerfully they can effect a person.
I have taken the songs apart on this new album and in some cases re written parts to help them flow better. I have disposed of the material that I did not write, and have permission to record one of the songs that Jon wrote which is superb and would be a crime to omit. The way it all sounds at this point is deeper and heavier than the first time around, I would like to spend some time on production to create a more lavish atmosphere over all, more in line with the more cinematic landscapes of Sonic Mass.
Before Amebix came into being you were in the Air Corps. Going from a martial life to a musical career and counterculture consisting of squatting and communes is quite a contrast, and would seem odd to an outsider. Could you explain what brought that to come about?
The ATC was a school cadets force for the RAF here. I was in that until I was 15 or so, I loved it, traveled all over, got to shout at other kids when I got my stripes and was happy to go on to a career in the Air Force, but punk happened and that put an end to that. There is a curious genetic predisposition in our family towards Military and Militaria which I seem to have unconsciously followed. I am glad of the experience.
Would you go as far to say that what brought you to come to the Isle Of Skye and become a swordsmith was an “epiphany”? Could you perhaps elaborate on what drove you to do this?
Well yes it was. I have talked about what should have been a more private matter in the past but a series of events took place synchronistically that shaped my life from 1991 to the present day, I was at a point very aware of an outside influence working on my life in a very specific way. I had come to a crossroads that required a radical change to happen in order to break out of my old cycle of behaviors. A motorcycle accident was the fulcrum of that change.
You were releasing music with Amebix in a time where Cold War paranoia and the broadcasting of films such as “Threads” and “The Day After” tapped into commonly held fears about our “civilization” falling apart. Domestically the UK was characterized by events such as the Falklands conflict and the Miner’s Strike of 1984-1985. How do you feel that the events, panics and subsequent global measures taken in the midst of COVID-19 compare to such prior experiences?
The Falklands War and also the first Gulf war were times that I remember well, but both of those still had a feeling of remoteness despite the propaganda being spread about WMD’s. This is very different. It has the appearance of a psyop to me, not purposefully engaged with by individual states or leaders, but definitely overseen and managed by more Globalist NGOs, much like the Migrant ‘crisis’ and several other initiatives designed to break and fracture traditional European cultural identities and make any form of protest far less coherent.
Given the events of the past Year in my own life I am not surprised but still shocked at how effortless it has been to corral everyone into an attitude of total Conformity. To hear the great and the good of the ‘Counter Culture’ begging to be locked into their own homes, slavering over a miraculous ‘vaccine’ that may save us all from this terrible yet unremarkable faux plague is embarrassing. And to see how they demonize anyone who does not agree sits very well with my own experiences.
I wonder how many people would say that it is legitimate to lock someone up under the Mental Health Act for refusing an untested vaccine? To separate families who refuse to comply and forcefully violate them..I can see this being the case in the future if this entrainment works successfully,and i think it has.
There seems to be a lot of explicit gatekeeping of late in the music industry/press for very implicit actions, statements and associations of artists deemed to have engaged in all manners of “wrongthink”. I most certainly sense this in the reactions to Tau Cross and their removal from Relapse…
There is no real counter culture,just a manufactured pastiche that has emanated from the same well as the Frankfurt School and what we refer to as Cultural Marxism today. Everything is controlled at a certain level, there are very specific ideas and talking points that are absolutely forbidden within the entertainment industry. To voice an opinion that is even slightly off message results in either expulsion or demotion/demonetization.
Society as a whole reflects exactly this message now,despite the vitriol hurled at the conveniently stupid Political leadership we have,they all tow the same line at one level and will enforce a doctrine that is designed to demoralize and destabilize the Natural Law. The search for Truth is not ‘Hate Speech’ or ‘Thought Crime’, these ideas are preposterous and toxic. My own journey into Heresy came about not through hatred or animosity for any particular person or group, but through reading about a woman called Ursula Haverbeck and following that, Sylvia Stolz.
I tried to reconcile the idea of sending a 90 year old to Prison for 4 years for
something she said,not something she did..just a question she raised and i could not think of anything that could justify that treatment, I was shocked at the ugliness of people who hate what they are told to hate without questioning for a moment the process of indoctrination we have all passed through. I was speaking to a friend about this the other day and we can agree that people tend to calcify in their opinions at various points in their lives.
But I have never felt the need to hammer a nail into the door and stop the questioning of all of this stuff we wade through year after year. You have to remain flexible,in the same way that a sword must be flexible to have the best properties, if you ‘lose the temper’ it becomes useless. Social Media of course is a massive contributor to the anti intellectualism of the Internet,we live in an Age where people are unable to debate at all, they simply take sides and throw shit at one another. Nothing will ever evolve from that apart from an increasing sense of division and isolation,until we are a broken people,unable to respond to the real threat, which is now very much in front of our faces.
In The Technological Society Jacques Ellul defined technique as “the totality of methods rationally arrived at and having absolute efficiency (for a given stage of development) in every field of human activity”. Do you believe that the general advancement of technology is a means of control and subjugation? If so, are there ways that this can be curtailed or kept in check?
I have watched my life become more busy, more hectic with the rise of the Internet in
particular. What was sold to us as a liberating blessing is very much a two edged Sword. We have become increasingly integrated into the operating systems, always on call and alert to the Pavlovian signals being sent out constantly. We can look at the benefits of this technological progress but i am not sure there are that many, are our lives enhanced in any way? Do we have better relationships with our World and one another? Can we appreciate our life more deeply?
In an increasingly interconnected world, Marshall McLuhan’s term “global village” couldn’t seem more real. As a swordsmith living in the relative tranquility of the Isle Of Skye, where Gaelic is still spoken as a first language, do you believe that encouraging a return to more archaic practices (such as your profession) and immersion in the natural world can serve a redemptive purpose to the chaotic, bustling modernity?
I absolutely agree. The only reality is Nature,simply taking time to observe the birds,the wind through the trees,the sea allows that essential part of us to drink in what we really need. When my World has been turned upside down i have found that shutting off all the outside noise and simply watching and listening is almost miraculous. There is a different heartbeat to Nature,one that we can clearly feel ourselves having stepped away from in our hurried slave culture,this is a living breathing Entity that we live on, reconnecting is imperative i feel.
Whilst technology might render the everyday use of the sword as obsolete, without the sword much of what we call “culture” would be equally obsolete. Swords and blades permeate all histories and civilizations, whether in their original practical use, or on a wider mythological, metaphorical level. What do they mean and symbolize to you, and to your client base?
I don’t know about my client base, but when I started on this journey of the Swordsmith it was at a time when I was more in tune to the esoteric, studying the Western mystery tradition as well as dipping into Jungian psychology and alchemy. My initial reason for starting this was as an enquiry, to try and connect to the elements at the level of Will.
I was in that zone for the first few years,but of course once the necessity for money comes into the equation we lose touch with the original source of the creativity in return for an income. I am still surprised at how people respond instinctively to the Sword, it is a very potent symbol on a spiritual/psychological level that acts as a kind of atavistic key.
You make swords according to a lot of different historical and cultural designs. What are the technicalities involved behind a certain pattern or design, and what level of research has to go into crafting a particular blade? What factors of modernity or “industrial technique” come to influence your everyday work in an otherwise ancient artform?
I encourage people to bring their own elements to a design idea,often working form Historical examples,but trying to make something very personal for the customer. Over the past 30 years of doing this I have had to assimilate and learn a number of different disciplines,and that is always ongoing, for instance I am currently trying to get my head around cloisonné garnet fittings such as the Sutton Hoo sword and hoard, when you actually look at the incredible workmanship of people living in what we term the Dark Ages it is apparent that we have lost a lot of skills and artistry. I am often stunned by the level of detail achieved by people working with only daylight and very simple tools. I use grinders, polishers all manner of modern tools to achieve what i can.
You’ve stated on previous occasions that you view yourself as a Gnostic. Considering world history, and the capacity for societies, civilizations, countries, kingdoms, empires and all minutiae humanity to destroy, conquer, annihilate and dissolve some way or another, do you think this seemingly unchangeable pattern of cycles validates views the Gnostics would have held about human nature and existence? More importantly, what does Gnosticism, or to hold a Gnostic worldview mean to you?
My references to Gnosticism are very much aligned with the work of John Lamb Lash, with whom i have been in brief correspondence. He was one of the first non religious people to interpret the Nag Hammadi texts and to make the connection with the vast cosmological outlook that seems to have been shared by these groups of Shamanic people.
It appears to have been a Pagan teaching system that was rooted in many cultures in the Ancient world, but with the advent and eventual domination of the Abrahamic perversion cults there was a concerted effort to almost completely eradicate any trace of exactly what it was that they ‘knew’ and shared.
1947 was a very odd year in many respects,the codices began to appear in the public arena ,Crowley died, the first popular UFO flap took place in the U.S and Jack Parsons had recently completed his Babalon working which some occultists credit with having created a hole in time/space which allowed the entry of what we term extra terrestrials, although that term is completely misleading in my opinion.
The Gnostics seem to have been familiar with a lot of the effects and consequences of Magick, and the Hierarchy of beings that comprise the otherworld part of the Messengers of Deception. They rely heavily on human agency in order to be able to interact and enter into our space,this is what i believe happened at the heart of our current World dominant Religion.
I have been attempting to bring together a variety of streams of thought which have not all been connected in sequence to my knowledge. I do realize that my preoccupations are a bit strange to most people,but i am just following a path that has always been before me, stumbling along and trying to gain a little insight here and there along the way.
Other than making swords and the upcoming Tau Cross, can anything else be expected from you in the near future?
I am aiming to continue playing music, generally i need to get one project completed before the substance for the next begins to present itself. I cannot sit down and write to order, it takes a period of calm and then trying to interpret whatever is coming through from the darker recesses of my Psyche. I enjoy the process of writing,but the manufacturing part does take far too long for an impatient person.
If there is anything that you’d like to add yourself, that ends my questions. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer them…
Thank you for your questions.I don’t really have much to add. You catch me emerging from a whole shitstorm that seemed likely to overwhelm me at one point, I am more wary of people now and their cowardice, more cynical perhaps, which is not how I would want to be. I wanted to stay true to my own principles, to question everything and fear neither God nor Master in this life, I thought that other people were tuned into that but regret to see that people are for the most part “religious’ on their opinions, unable to accommodate any other views than the prescribed ones.
On the other hand my journey has also allowed me to find a lot of new friends who have gradually come out of the shadows along the way. People who are concerned with the principles under which we live. I am thankful for that and also thankful for having passed through this Fire into a very different space, the ground has been cleared,the weeds pulled up and thrown aside. It is time to sow new seeds.
I have written about Joy Division before, in a prior analysis of their debut full length Unknown Pleasures. That being said, with 40 years having passed since Ian Curtis tragically died, it would be of no harm to elaborate somewhat on the greater breadth of Joy Division’s legacy.
The story begins in Manchester, and the Sex Pistols playing a concert at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall in mid-1976. A gig immersed in urban myth and legend, this was attended by Joy Division’s bass player Peter Hook and guitarist Bernard Sumner. Also purported to be in attendance were founding members of The Buzzcocks, The Smiths and The Fall. To say that this event was a watermark would be an understatement.
Whilst it was originally suggested they go with the moniker Stiff Kittens, the name “Warsaw” (apparently taken from the David Bowie instrumental “Warsawa”) would stick. Hiring Ian Curtis as vocalist, their sound would be a more raw, aggressive take on what would later solidify their sound. Rather than being “post-punk”, their unreleased debut album sounds like dark, nihilistic punk rock trying to escape the paradigms and trappings of the UK 77 sound.
Finally becoming Joy Division in early 1978, and with Stephen Morris now settled on drums, their debut EP “An Ideal For Living” would come with a more refined production, though their sound aesthetic was something that wasn’t fully realized. Though it impressed listeners, it still had more in common production-wise with the likes of Iggy & The Stooges “Raw Power” than it did with Brian Eno’s “Another Green World” or David Bowie’s “Low”.
Martin Hannett, producer of “Unknown Pleasures” and “Closer”
The sound of Joy Division really starts to find its dark oeuvre through their partnership with producer Martin Hannett, who would work with the band through the rest of their short career. Their sound design becomes considered and spacial, eschewing much of what Simon Reynolds referred to as the “sonically conservative” character of their punk origins, taking on some of the best qualities of Brian Eno or Conrad Plank (Kraftwerk, Neu!). The guitar becomes a more textured instrument that becomes increasingly separate from bass and drums, and the pitch of Ian Curtis’s vocal becomes lower in pitch, and helps dictate the downbeat and melancholic aura that would define their newfound ambient approach to recording.
By using the maximum potential of studio technology to cultivate sonic space, Joy Division fully cemented the aesthetics of post-punk, building on what subgenre pioneers such as Wire and Magazine were already exploring. In emphasizing, it would be valid to say that Hannett, whose approaches to production were both innovative and unorthodox, were essential to the band’s growth. He acted as an unofficial fifth member of Joy Division, and his innovations helped cultivate the aesthetics that would later become the sonic staples of post-punk.
This is first illustrated on their contributions to the compilation albums A Factory Sample (Glass, Digital) and Earcom 2: Contradiction”. These new explorations now became a fully fledged sonic canvas on Unknown Pleasures, where echo, reverb, synths, electronics and a plethora of studio trickery are used more liberally. Of the “catchier” songs such as “Day Of The Lords”, “New Dawn Fades” and “She’s Lost Control” the quartet offer torchlight anthems of gloom, and whilst tracks such as “Disorder”, “Shadowplay” and “Interzone” are comparatively speaking, a glimmer of hope, they do not quell the bleakness that the band have now made their own. Songs such as “Candidate”, “Insight” and the monumental closer “I Remember Nothing” are the most stark examples of this, a hint of what is to come on their epitaph, Closer.
Whilst opener “Atrocity Exhibition” is a percussive, textured teaser of what’s to come, “punchier” songs such as “Colony” and “A Means To An End” carry the baton from where their debut left off. The likes of “Passover” and “Twenty Four Hours” are deeply cathartic, with Hannett’s production emphasizing yet more effects, delay and echo on the guitars. The use of electronics is more pronounced than before through; with “Isolation” and “Heart And Soul” being dark, hypnotic synth led numbers that act as an early indicator as to the musical approach of the bands post-Curtis outfit, New Order. The final two songs, the piano-led “The Eternal” and string led “Decades” are funereal, ethereal epics that showcase the band at their most downbeat, and cement their sophomore album as a perfect career epitaph.
Joy Division, pictured from left to right (Peter Hook, Ian Curtis, Stephen Morris, Bernard Sumner)
The non-album material of Joy Division was also worthy of deep praise. Their best known singles “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and“Atmosphere”, perhaps their most widely known songs can be seen as beautifully uncanny attempts by a band with an unshakable sense of morbidity to come across as upbeat. Additionally, the first half of the B-sides compilation Still is a consistent display of leftovers that were recorded with Hannett, with highlights such as “Dead Souls”, “The Only Mistake” and “Something Must Break”.
It would be crude to end the article without some short testimony to Ian Curtis himself, whose tragic suicide was the end of the band. Though sadly idolized by nihilistic, self-loathing millennials and zoomers for the fate he chose, his lyrics and voice in which he delivered them are deeply poetic, and should be appreciated before the fact. Unlike the rock/pop star bravado that defined the likes of David Bowie or Bryan Ferry in the 1970’s there was a profound sense of introversion, an implicit desperation and deep torment.
Some might say this reflected itself in his shy yet chaotic stage presence, where prone to fits of epilepsy, audiences at times assumed that his convulsions were part of the show. Whilst the literary work of Nikolai Gogol (“Dead Souls”), JG Ballard (Atrocity Exhibition) and William Burroughs (“Interzone”) are points of reference, “Heart And Soul” display a deep existential despair that is solely in the authors domain;
“An abyss that laughs at creation,
A circus complete with all fools,
Foundations that lasted the ages,
Then ripped apart at their roots.
Beyond all this good is the terror,
The grip of a mercenary hand,
When savagery turns all good reason,
There’s no turning back, no last stand”
The very same can be said for “Decades”;
“Here are the young men, the weight on their shoulders,
Here are the young men, well, where have they been?
We knocked on the doors of hell’s darker chamber,
Pushed to the limit, we dragged ourselves in,
Watched from the wings as the scenes were replaying.
We saw ourselves now as we never had seen.
Portrayal of the trauma and degeneration,
The sorrows we suffered and never were free.”
Whilst it is up for debate whether the untimely passing of Ian Curtis was the cynical catalyst that led him and Joy Division to endure posthumous fame and critical acclaim, no one can deny that there is a profound weight to their body of work as a musical, aural and lyrical outlet. One that shaped and changed the history of popular music, the approach to musical production. The aestheticization of existential gloom in the wider pop culture, which become a staple for various avenues of post-punk and the soon to emerge “gothic rock” movement, along with the emergence of the “Manchester scene” would build itself largely on a reputation which Joy Division laid the seeds of.
It’s now 10 years since one of heavy metal’s most important and pivotal vocalists passed away. Ronnie James Dio’s voice was unique, characterized by a gravelly wail and all round powerful range, which would help shape the framework for the theatrical, operatic techniques that distinguish lead vocals in the genre. Involved with many projects, the most important work that he ought to be remembered for would be as the lead vocalist of Rainbow, Black Sabbath and a successful solo career with his own band Dio.
His career with Rainbow began after Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple, who recruited Dio from the band Elf, who had supported Blackmore’s previous outfit on tour. With their first three albums Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow (1975), Rising (1976) and Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll (1978), the proto-metal that defined Deep Purple would find itself stripped of some of its more overt blues influences, and a stronger neoclassical influence would take the forefront within the songwriting and Dio’s vocal talents would be able to thrive.
The desire of Blackmore to depart from the epic/fantasy themes that typified Rainbow was a catalyst in Dio’s departure, and subsequent remergence as Ozzy Osbourne’s successor in Black Sabbath for two albums, Heaven And Hell (1980) and Mob Rules (1981). Consistent with the emergent New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, Tony Iommi’s heavy riffs have a more consistent uptempo, and the pace is greatly suited to Dio’s agile, energetic range. Songs such as “Neon Knights”, “Lady Evil”, “Turn Up The Night” and “Sign Of The Southern Cross” are among classics put together during that short period.
Whilst some would deem this era of Black Sabbath’s discography stylistically less coherent than with their 1970’s output, it highlights all of the best qualities of all of the involved musicians and their myriad of prior influences. Dio’s time with Black Sabbath came at a crucial point where the NWOBHM had clearly established itself as a “foundational” musical movement. Heaven And Hell and Mob Rules proved successful and essential to a canon in which pivotal early works by Angel Witch, Diamond Head, Raven, Iron Maiden, Venom and Holocaust were released, to name but a few.
Since his days with Rainbow, Dio’s lyrical output constantly fixated on the mythical and magical. In a 1986 interview he emphasizes it as being essential for the genre, a form of escapism from everyday madness and an embodiment of what makes theatricality essential in musical and performance art, as well as affirming the positive, chivalric and heroic. This formula thrives in Dio albums such as Holy Diver (1983), The Last In Line (1984) and Dream Evil (1987), and the influence of his legacy can be clearly sensed in the emergent power metal scene of the 1980’s.
What was always apparent with his output is it that it symbolized a withdrawal from the notion of the love song, petty thrills or teenage hangups that continuously defines much counter-cultural and popular music. What would become the metal genre would follow suit from Dio, taking the aesthetic and lyrical content to more metaphorical, allegorical and abstract realms.
Bands such as Manowar, Helloween, Omen, Manilla Road, Crimson Glory, Queensryche, Savatage, Fates Warning, Riot, Running Wild, Cloven Hoof and many others would all find their crucial lineage in the music and lyrical themes of these aforementioned ventures. Black and death metal would then later take the fantasy element and hybridize it with the deeply macabre and eerie.
The tropes that we typically associate with these artists would be literally nothing if it were not for this greatly talented Italian-American. Ronnie James Dio was pivotal in conceptualizing what listeners now know to be metal, both as a singer, a lyricist and also as a songwriter. What the genre is, has been, and will continue to be known as will all will trace its heritage to his achievements and innovations.
Florian Schneider (front), founding member of electronic pioneers Kraftwerk.
We live in a postmodern, hyperreal age where the corporeal is becoming increasingly intertwined with the technological, to the extent of great interdependence. Regardless of whether you like that or not, it is what it is. Few musical artists could foreknowledge, anticipate and ambiguously represent this acceleration in the world more profoundly and beautifully than Dusseldorf’s electronic legends Kraftwerk. Their founding member, Florian Schneider, died yesterday at the age of 73.
Starting with krautrock origins, not far too removed from the likes of Can, Neu!, Faust and Amon Düül II, and working with renowned producer Konrad Plank, their transition to their signature sound began with 1973’s Ralf und Florian. What followed, withAutobahn(1974), Radioactivity (1975), Trans-Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978) and Computer World(1981) was a series of profound, high concept electronic records that utilized pop music’s capacity for simple hooks and melodies within contemplative, crystalline soundscapes and mechanical rhythms.
Kraftwerk (w/Schneider, centre top), Trans-Europe Express era.
Timeless and transcendental, they were futurists and romantics with an indisputably Teutonic soul. They were also highly influential on the producer/musician Brian Eno, whose solo work, productions and work with David Bowie (who named the song “V-2 Schneider” after Florian) would inspire the turn towards electronics that characterized the new wave split from the punk rock movement in the late 70’s. From this, all synthpop, post-punk, hip-hop, and all forms of subsequent electronic music to engage the mainstream consciousness would be influenced heavily by Kraftwerk.
In an ever-increasing virtual environment we are now repackaging nostalgia, or to paraphrase what Mark Fisher called “lost futures”. This comes particularly in the form of uber-aestheticized, often retrospective pseudo-genres that have emerged and trended in the last decade such as synthwave, witch-house and vapourwave, which are often characterized by a cut and paste nostalgia for the cultural utopianism of western society in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Kraftwerk channeled and prophesied these futures when they were yet to even manifest, albeit on a musical and thematic level that was entirely their own making. Without the input of one of their founding members, none of what is being referred to may ever have been possible.
Excuse The Blood 