V/A Schoolhouse Funk (Cali-Tex Records) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Vintage high school & college marching band versions of funk classics, from the '60s and '70s! "Chameleon", "Loose Booty", "Cisco Kid" (amazingly dirgey and gloomy sounding, like much of this disc--kind of a lonely-in-a-crowd feeling), etc. Fun/cked up. Compiled by the Quannum Projects guys, it seems, from old tapes or maybe thrift-store vanity LP pressing finds. Very cool.

AIHIYO Live (PSF) cd 22.00
This is the second and possibly last document of Keiji Haino's cover band, which mutates Japanese rock classics (as well as the Ronettes' "Be My Baby", and "Satisfaction" by the Stones) into free-floating garage. This Haino record is certainly the worst of his career... It's so bad that
you might be seeing my large collection of Fushitshusha / Haino records showing up in the used bin here at Aquarius really soon. Okay, I know that it's live and there is some "improvisation" that is going on here, but these are simplest blues based chords to ever be written, and Haino's band can't even figure out when to change chords. It's not hard to figure it out; the shittiest fraternity cover band could figure how to play a garage song - even after a few beers. And furthermore, Haino's voice is meant for the caterwaul and siren scream to accompany a furious guitar solo, not to limpwristedly sputter monosyllabic grunting over a blues band that would get booed off the stage anywhere else in America, but in San Francisco or New York, where a bunch of pseudo-intellectuals will be scratching their chins, chain-smoking Bebes, and sipping sludgy double espressos that have been cold for well over an hour and lost any flavor what-so-ever. When you listen to rock'n'roll, you should drink beer. Preferably, Pabst Blue Ribbon, but Schlitz or Olympia will do. Where was I... yeah this record sucks. I'm mad and Lincoln is the capital of Nebraska! [Note: Jim wrote this, not Allan or Jeff, who actually have big Keiji Haino collections, and beg to differ with Jim -- far from being the worst record of Haino's career, this in fact one of his best!! The cover of "Satisfaction" alone makes this worth the 21 bucks. Totally amazing, awesome album. Really. Or so WE think. And we drink PBR.]

THEORY IN PRACTICE The Armageddon Theories (Listenable) cd 16.98
Super technical death metal. For fans of Meshuggah and late Death. No jazz fusionisms, tho, just mindboggling speed and changes and general all-around instrumental rippin'. Very very good.

WEINSTEIN, DEENA Heavy Metal: The Music And Its Culture (Da Capo Press) book 17.00
Chicago university professor Deena Weinstein unleashes the revised edition of her 1991 scholarly study of heavy metal!! We loved her on NPR's Anthem talkshow, playing Emperor and other metal, and discussing the differences between speed metal, thrash metal, and black metal, in an intellectual, but genuinely enthusiastic manner, unlike some of the 'ironic' poseurs featured on the same show, who shall remain nameless.
Weinstein's book is a balanced and academic look at heavy metal music, its fans, and its role in society. This new edition adds a new 'Metal in the '90s' chapter, as well as an updated list of '100 Definitive Metal Albums' that now includes Arcturus and At The Gates, In Flames and Hammerfall, etc.
Essential for all serious fans of either cultural studies or heavy metal, preferably both!

EMPYRIUM Where At Night The Wood Grouse Plays (Prophecy) cd 14.98
All-acoustic, gloomy folk music from this German "black metal" band, who have abandoned the raspy vocals and distorted electric buzzsaw guitars of their previous releases (we're guessing, haven't heard 'em) for mournful string strum and doleful chant. Allan thinks this is beautiful, Andee considers it 'renaissance faire metal' without the metal. For fans of "Kveldsjanger", the acoustic masterpiece by Norwegian black metal eccentrics Ulver (I'm guessing that Empyrium are). And, c'mon, how can you resist a song (and album) title like "Where At Night The Wood Grouse Plays"??

SLOUGH FEG, THE LORD WEIRD Down Among The Deadmen (Dragonheart) cd 21.00
San Francisco's epic metal geniuses unleash their third opus. Sheer heavy metal mastery. Damn! If you like some real, melodic heavy metal once and while (instead of the "brutality" and "evil" of that ol' black metal/death metal stuff we love too) the way they used to do it back in the '70s and '80s, with all the crazy fantasy lyrics and shredding dual lead guitar solos you can handle, then you need to hear these guys. This is their best yet, really, with better production than their previous disc, "Twilight Of The Idols", but with equally wicked songs. This band is usually described as a mixture of Maiden, Lizzy, and Sabbath... That's true, they're all that, and not in just a wanna-be, "those are our influences" kinda way either -- 'cause after listening to "Down Among The Deadmen" you could imagine Slough Feg getting in the wayback machine and sharing the stage with any of 'em at Castle Donnington and holding their own just fine! This is one of the only bands I know of where the musicians started as punk/rockers but realized that instrumental virtuosity and compositional craft characteristic of their childhood/teenage metal heroes WERE valuable and could be put to non-ironic, non-lame use. And were talented enough to do it. So, inspired by the past they are, but they're also their own weird thing, a cult act if there ever was one. With songs about Roger Corman movies ("Death Machine" is based on motorcycles-in-the-future David Carridine flick "Death Sport"), fantasy Celtic mythology (the "Heavy Metal Monk/Fergus Mac Roich/Cauldron Of Blood" tryptych) and the classic science fiction roleplaying game Traveller ("Traders & Gunboats"), with Mike's decidedly unordinary (but great) deepvoiced vocal majesty, and the plethora of amazing RIFFS, these guys rule!
For those who need an obscure indie/metal reference, it's kind of like The Champs meet Cirith Ungol or something; bizarre, epic, baroque, proud, a bit silly, masterful, very metal. So worthy of the delightful cover painting by cult D&D illustrator Erol Otus. The true heavy metal record of the year. Unbelievable!
RealAudio clip: "Death Machine"
RealAudio clip: "Walls of Shame"
RealAudio clip: "Warriors Dawn"

WOLF s/t (No Fashion) cd 16.98
Young Swedes playing traditional heavy metal, a pretty great debut. No Hammerfall-like pop silliness, just heads-down, raised-fist, speedy Iron Maiden/Riot styled METAL with decent-enough (not too) high pitched vocals, and plenty of ripping guitar work. And the production, courtesy of Peter Tagtgren (Scandinavian metal producer of the moment), is super. Take the likes of In Flames or Soilwork, add real vocals and make the songs a bit more catchy, that's Wolf. And they should get props for the incredible Richard Scarey/children's book-like cover art (by famed European illustrator Hans Arnold), a cover which has been universally but unjustly slammed in all (otherwise positive) reviews that we've seen of this album. It's great, and it harkens back to the album covers of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal which weren't afraid to be weird and not-blatantly metal for metal's sake. Anyway, we applaud the band for their unafraid aesthetic choice. More importantly, we also salute them for making such a great record!!

JAMES GANG Rides Again (MCA) cd 11.98
Newly remastered and reissued, the James Gang indeed "Rides Again". "Yer Album" and "Thirds" have also received the same treatment, and we have 'em, but this is our favorite. Guitarist Joe Walsh (pre-Eagles, y'know) and his biker rock cronies Dale Peters and Jim Fox supply the famed '60s headbang "Funk #49" on this disc, along with extended musical suite "The Bomber" and some beautiful acoustic tunes mixed into the electric rawk. A classic.

LUCIFER'S FRIEND s/t (Repertoire) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Debut album (circa '70) of this krautrock band (one that started in a kinda hardrock vein, moved into more progressive realms, and thence to heavy metal, we're told)... This disc (with 5 bonus tracks from their early singles) is a great piece of proto-metal very similar to Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and (especially) Uriah Heep! A little psychedelic weirdness, lots of riffing and great vocals (courtesy British singer John Lawton, who later did join Uriah Heep). Current "stoner rock" fans (who dig Queens of the Stone Age, Monster Magnet, Nebula, etc.) should definitely delve into the work of past masters of the form, like Lucifer's Friend (and Captain Beyond, and Blues Creation, and Dust, etc. etc.). Another great band that we easily could have missed out on 'cause for some reason nobody grabbed us and said, check these guys out! So, that's our job now. Check 'em out.

NOKTURNAL MORTUM NeChrist (The End) cd 13.98
Imagine the Charlie Daniels Band jammin' with Emperor. Or rather, playing at the same time in adjoining practice rooms -- out in the forest. The ancient forests of the Ukraine, to be precise. That's where Nokturnal Mortum hail from. This is their third album. You may remember the big fuss we made over the amazing Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra disc last year? Well, Mr. Varggoth is the main guy in this band Nokturnal Mortum. With "NeChrist", he and his comrades have created a unique sound, one that combines a raw, roaring black metal attack with the pipes and fiddles and "yee-haws" of folk/country music, Ukrainian style. And, to make us AQ-ers enjoy this EVEN MORE, all of a sudden all the music will stop and the middle part of a track will be occupied by the croaking of frogs! And you know we like frogs and the noises they make. Similarily, the final song on the disc is preceded by 78 short (3 sec.) tracks of twittering birdsounds and forest ambience. Therefore, if you play the disc in "shuffle" mode, you get lots of cut-up bird calls mixed with the occasional actual fantastic Nokturnal Mortum song! The unanimous AQ black metal pick of this lunar month!! Brilliant. Yee-haw! (Recommended.)
RealAudio clip: "The Funeral Wind Born In Oriana"

GOBLIN Profondo Rosso (Cinevox) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Spooky '70s Italian prog rockers Goblin are known for their soundtracks to many famous Dario Argento horror films. Here's one of the best, newly reissued on lp. Deep red indeed. Includes the tracks "Death Dies", "Mad Puppet", and "School At Night" among others.

SACRED STEEL Bloodlust (Metal Blade) cd 16.98
These self-styled German "Wargods of Metal" return with their third album of pure, unrepentant, and ever-so-slightly ridiculous heavy metal. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that Allan has definitely acquired! Like their European brethren Hammerfall, these guys are all '80s and epic, but are a lot heavier and rawer. No keyboards, no ballads. Previously, most of their songs were not just metal, but ABOUT metal (as with this album's "Metal Is War" for instance). But with this release Sacred Steel have forged a concept album of sorts, the songs linking together to tell a story of an ancient empire and alien gods or something. Anyway, you'll either love them or hate them, and the main deciding factor is what you think of the singer's voice. He's no boring blond-tressed clone, but styles himself after the bizarre banshee wail of original Saint Vitus vocalist Scott Reagers. The result, however, sounds closer to what you might imagine (if you can) Jello Biafra would sound like singing power metal at a high pitch. In other words, warbly and weird. But I love it. He's got personality, a factor totally lacking in most metal "singers". He sounds a bit silly, and I think he knows it. But it's how he wants to sing, he's expressing the unbridled spirit of metal within himself and somehow it really works (for me anyway). Better than the smooth, generic croon of that Hammerfall dork!
RealAudio clip: "Master Of Thy Fate"
RealAudio clip: "Throne Of Metal"

VANDER / TOP / BLASQUIZ / GARBER Sons: Document 1973 Le Manor (Seventh / AKT) cd 16.98
Here's a pretty fantastic discovery we just made (although the disc was released a few years ago). It's a seventy-minute long single track entitled "Neheh", the result of four members of French prog-weirdos Magma jamming together one night in '73. We thought this would sound like a scaled down Magma, or some sort of jazz improv session. But, instead, this neither. It's absolutely unlike the jackboot precision of Magma circa '73's "Mechanik Destructiw Kommandoh" (which was in fact recorded, like, the next day!). Although this does share the esoteric spiritual aspects of Magma, there's none of Magma's grandiose rock/jazz/Wagner fusion here. Rather, it's a late-night excursion into kosmiche avant-hippy freakout realms, starting with unearthly vocal chant/drone and moving into percussion spasms, clarinet eruptions, and organ improv. So, instead of mother-band Magma, this should be compared to Amon Duul, the Sun City Girls, the No Neck Blues Band, Yahowah 13, and (closer to home) Thuja. Beautiful and wild, totally inspired. It's strange that this went unreleased until the '90s-- maybe Vander and Co. didn't want to dilute the Magma concept with something so loose and organic and, uh, 'of the times'. Still, it's one of our absolute favorite Magma-related documents, and should even appeal to those scared off by Magma's prog/fusion chops. Recommended!! (By the way, along with this, we've restocked a bunch of Magma classics, and we definitely have 'em at the best price you'll probably find anywhere.)

DEVO Pioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology (Rhino) 2cd 29.00
Impressive and all-encompassing anthology of Devo (only the best band of the late 20th century!!) spanning their inception in Akron, Ohio in the mid '70s all the way through "Smoothnoodlemaps" and then some (sigh... yeah, I know, they probably could have stopped after "Oh No! It's Devo"). All in all this is a nice set though, and includes plenty of "unreleased" tracks and rare songs recorded for soundtracks throughout the years (including a song that Mark Mothersbaugh recorded for the game Interstate '82). Comes with a 50 page color booklet with a history of Devo and lots of wonderful pictures. Cool 3-D cover effect as well.

WINDHAM HELL Reflective Depths Imbibe (Moribund) cd 13.98
Not Hill, Hell. The truest cult American black metal band we can think of. Windham Hell is the duo of Leland Windham and Eric Friesen, two guys, who when not scaling the glaciers near their small Washington town (where "Twin Peaks" was filmed, hence the song title "Glacier Walk In Me"!), hole up in a home studio and make unique, neo-classical black metal masterpieces. Dark, atmospheric, abyssic. Twisted obscure lyrics, cold soundscapes, and TONS of amazing lead guitar shredding from both band members. That's what really sets Windham Hell apart from their competition, why Allan's been a fan of 'em since the "Hell Is Here" demo way back in '89! An eccentric, homemade mixture of Bathory and Bach! Their third album in a decade. Recommended.

SOUND PROJECTOR, THE Seventh Issue magazine 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Magazine of the week, month, etc. Any new issue of Ed Pinsent's music 'zine The Sound Projector is a cause for joy. Anyone who buys and enjoys fellow UK music mag The Wire MUST pick this up, as it covers more-or-less the same range of musics (from electronics to avant-classical to dub to krautrock to drone to urban hip hop and more--avoiding metal tho, just like The Wire, that's both mags one main blindspot) and does it in a much more genuine, fannish way. It's not a slick mag with lots of ads and pretentious music journalists writing with hip, trendy agendas, faults The Wire sometimes falls prey to--although it's big (124 pages, squarebound) and nice looking (with a instantly recognizable and pleasant black-white-and-red design aesthetic). The magazine usually consists of mostly record reviews, and this issue is no exception, there's 163-or-so of 'em, in 22 eclectic, esoteric catagories: from Very Special Nothing Music (ultra-minimalism, reviews include Francisco Lopez and Bernard Gunter, of course) to Music From Japan (reviews of Tabata, Ground Zero, etc.) to Soundbombing (with reviews of the likes of Company Flow, Master P, Hot Boys, and an epitaph for Big Pun). And if you're reading our list, then you must like to read record reviews, eh? And one fo the nice things about the reviews is that they're not all of new stuff. The writers will go ahead and review something that they've been enjoying for a long time, or maybe recently discovered, even if it's a few years old, which is great 'cause that spotlights some otherwise forgotten gems. In addtion to the reviews, there's some indepth writing and interviews dealing with Van Dyke Parks, Otomo Yoshihide, People Like Us, Godspeed You Black Emperor, and more. Basically, a great magazine that more people (in the States) should find out about. Highly, highly recommended.

J.B.'S Pass The Peas: The Best of the J.B.'s (Polydor) cd 11.98
The best of the James Brown's J.B.'s, now available for a low price. If you're into the funk, you've gotta have some J.B.'s, and this is a nice collection of essentials.

V/A James Brown's Funky People Part 3 (Polydor) cd 11.98
The first two volumes of "James Brown's Funky People" (collecting tracks recorded for Brown's early '70s People Records imprint by his revue's various sidemen and associates) have long been essential funk must-haves, and now we get a surprise third volume! These tracks have never before been released on CD, it says here. Featuring the likes of Bobby Bird, Hank Ballard, The Believers, Sweet Charles, Beau Dollar, Fred Wesley & The J.B.'s, Lyn Collins, Vicki Anderson, Marva Whitney, Dee Felice Trio, and A.A.B.B.

LUCIFER WAS In Anadi's Bower (Record Heaven) cd 18.98
This mysterious Swedish band sounds kind of like a cross between Jethro Tull (but with not just one, but two duelling flutes!) and Black Sabbath (due to the heavy riffs and Gibson Les Paul guitar work)Š Although they're a current band, they began in the early '70s, but just hadn't record an album until recently!! (1998's "Underground And Beyond", on which the original band lineup used vintage equipment to record vintage written-in-'72 tunes... making for one of Allan's favorite records of that year, 'cause they really don't make 'em like that anymore!) Now, this, their second album, expands upon their Tull / Sabbath sound, becoming a little more prog rock, with the addition of the ultimate prog rock instrument, the mellotron (and not one, but two, of course!) and a new, more capable, vocalist. This goes straight into Allan's year 2000 top ten. There's one song that's a little too, uh, poppy that I tend to skip over, but the rest is amazing '70s style psych/metal/prog nirvana. Flutes! Riffs! Genius!

SCULPTURED Apollo Ends (The End) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Unclassifiable American metal experimentalists Sculptured present their second album. Their sound is a combination of epic Maidenesque guitar melodies, emotional vocals (cleanly sung and otherwise), progressive song structures, and unusual instrumentation, most notably the AMAZING use of trumpet and trombone throughout the album. Yeah, imagine a cross between (death/black/prog metal gods) Opeth and (Utah prog/fusion/improv former metalcore band) Iceburn, with a horn section. Unlike anything else in the metal realm at the moment, and recommended.

BANG s/t (Lizard Records) cd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Semi-legit reissue of this hard-to-find hard rock/metal rarity from '71. Back then it wasn't so common for bands to emulate Black Sabbath, but these guys sure did. Indeed, their vocalist could be mistaken for Ozzy at points on this disc. (Note: the band themselves have also reissued this and other Bang material but for some unknown reason made shoddy cd-r's inferior to this version!).

IRON MAIDEN Brave New World (Portrait/Columbia) cd 16.98
With the triumphant return of vocalist Bruce "the Human Air Raid Siren" Dickinson, as well as guitarist Adrian Smith (so now there's three guitarists in the band!), the reunited, rejuvenated Iron Maiden 2000 is all set to kick ass, and redeem themselves for their last few painfully bad outings (for which you can't entirely blame Bruce stand-in Blaze Bayley, although he really did suck). "Brave New World" is of course no "Piece of Mind" or "The Number of the Beast" but it's waayyy better than anything the band did in the '90s (with Bruce or without), and certainly has many moments of "Maiden-esque" glory as only Maiden themselves can deliver. Actually, it's refreshing that they didn't entirely try to go the retro-route and copy themselves wholesale, 'cause in addition to the several very satisfying numbers on here that timewarped in from '84 (like the storming "The Fallen Angel") there's also pieces that explore bassist/mastermind Steve Harris' obsession with '70s progressive rock a la Genesis and Nektar. Certainly metallic but not exactly super-heavy, much of "Brave New World" is mid-tempo and quite catchy, almost a prog-pop record in fact (not like Radiohead, though!). The mostly seven-minute-or-so long songs do take some bad turns upon occasion but also venture into areas new for Maiden, so no one can accuse them of playing it safe. Basically, this is a record that will definitely please Maiden and melodic metal fans. If your record collection does not already include "Killers" or "The Number of the Beast" then maybe you should pick those up first (although for some this new album would actually be a more accessible starting point), but everyone else can get this and enjoy not only Eddie-nostalgia but some fine new tunes, which I for one have found stuck in my head after only a few listens. Recommended. Up the Irons!
RealAudio clip: "The Fallen Angel"
RealAudio clip: "Ghost of the Navigator"

ASANO, KOJI Momentum (Solstice) cd 14.98
Here's another great release from one of our favorite sound artists, Japanese twenty-something Koji Asano, a fellow who really ought to be on the cover of The Wire sometime, in a just world. He is more deserving of that sort of coverage than, say, last issue's cover star Pole. Not that we don't like Pole, but c'mon, that guy has made more-or-less the same record three times in a row, and his work is not based on that original of an idea in the first place. However, Koji Asano has produced over a dozen creative albums, all of them excellent and inventive, in a variety of experimental subgenres, from piano-ambient to electro-noise to skronky guitar rock... but no hip hype for him.
Anyway, this newest effort from Asano deviates from his recent discs of piano improvisations and chamber music compositions with a collection of recordings that we've been told have been "created by two loudspeaker's woofers and the air pressure from the movement of them. Two microphones put inside of the speakers and directly touched on the woofers to make a sound of moving. Those movements were amplified again and again by controlling the mixer and changing the position of microphones." The result is a wash of crunchy, squealing and pulsing drones not all that far from some of Maurizio Bianchi's early power electronics, but without any of the doom 'n' gloom industrial-horror imagery. To go into more detail: the first of the three unamed tracks, is 10 and a half minutes based on a rhythmic helicoptering sound, a clipping rotor-like "whack whack whack" that modulates in tone, tempo, and volume over the length of the track. Also occuring is additional, carefully sculpted feedback noise. Very nice, really, sounding somewhat like a more "live air", electro-acoustic version of the sort of "clicks & cuts" music made by the likes of Noto, but more driving and organic and less sterile. The second, much longer (42'33") track has bursts of scratchy electronic hum forming interwoven patterns of drone. Static never sounded so good.
Eventually the "feedback" comes to the fore, rather like some impossibly precise, persistent, obsessive, repetitive guitar / amplifier battle session. Piercing sounds mix with deeper, hesitant drone-segments, eventually mutating into insect realms of buzzing whine. That segues into the final track, seventeen minutes that morph the insect-like sounds into something resembling some solo saxophone free improv I've heard, rather quiet and sparse, but with a bit of lawnmower-sounding blurt as well. The whole disc is always changing, always alive, and thus full of interest for the adventurous listener. Check out Koji's website at http://personal4.iddeo.es/koji for more info and sound samples of his stuff, most of which we have available at Aquarius.

FRIZZELL, REV. DWIGHT Natural Selection (Paradigm) cd 17.98
Rev. Dwight Frizzell has been a very prolific yet wholly overlooked multi-media artist based in Kansas City. His previously reissued art-damaged album with Anal Magic explored alot of the hallucinatory realms later mined by the likes of The Sun City Girls. "Natural Selection" is an anthology of seven of Frizzell's filmscores documenting expansive film events, performative actions, and dense experimental audio collages for Tesla coils, field recordings, shortwave radio, sax, guitar, and anything else that could possibly be coaxed into making noise. The standout track is the telephone & oscillator piece "First Painting" in which Frizzell calls people up on the phone and asks them to pick a number between 20 and 15,000 then shifts the oscillator frequencies accordingly. Funny and creepy.

VANDER, CHRISTIAN Korusz (Seventh) 2cd 28.00
Christian Vander = Magma. He's the mastermind behind the monumental music of spiritual prog/rock/jazz group Magma, one of the late twentieth century's (and now early 21st century's) obscure musical visionairies. Not, perhaps, in the godlike catagory with his hero John Coltrane, but a genius nonetheless. This double cd set is brand new on Magma's Seventh Records, but consists mostly of tracks recorded between 1972 and 1975, with a two minute piano/voice coda newly recorded this year. It's Vander solo, purely solo (live in concert), on his main instrument: the drums! Two discs's worth of epic, incredible drum soloing, yes! That might sound tedious and self-indulgent, but, if you're in the right frame of mind/soul, it's not. It's really a religious experience, as Vander turns his drum kit into a virtural orchestra for his personal spiritual celebration via percussion. Some vocals make an appearance, such as the bizarre high pitched yelps and low guttural proclamations at the start of the twenty-two minute "Korusz III" but mostly, it's drums, lots of drums...and some mysterious indeterminate noises...if there every was anybody who could coax 'feedback' out of an acoustic drum kit, I suppose Vander could... I haven't quite deciphered the French liner notes, but apparently the Korusz concept has something to do with the elements, with the cymbals symbolizing (cymbalizing?) fire, etc. There's also lots of great black & white pictures here of a seemingly-possessed Vander (who always looks a bit cave-man) behind his kit, wild hair flailing, beating the drums with abandon. In sum, true Magma fans (no, not fans--there must be a more appropriate word: followers? devotees? acolytes?) need this. Maybe not anybody else could handle it. You remember "Metallica Drummer"? Well, this is for the "Magma Drummer" in you... Amazing, exhausting, AND energizing.

WEAKLING Dead As Dreams (tUMULt) 2lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally, after countless setbacks and delays tUUMULt is finally ready to unleash the posthumous debut from (and, thus, swansong of) San Francisco's most cult black metal act, Weakling.
This record was cursed from day one, with the gods conspiring to keep it buried and forgotten (not to mention Weakling's initial insistance that only one copy be pressed, and that copy be given to some kid in Europe, and tUMULt's initial plan of burying all the copies, and selling maps, forcing customers to dig up their copy of the record...anyone who wants to get their copy this way can contact Andee here at the store and arrange something along those lines with him). However, we have overcome the production gremlins, and the record is now available!
Despite their local, non-forested, non-wintry origins, Weakling was a band capable of destroying the best Scandinavia has to offer (as this author witnessed upon two occasions, when Weakling had the honor of opening the San Francisco shows by Norwegians Mayhem and Enslaved, and proceeded to make both bands look like punk rockers in comparision!). All this without any of the ignorant posturing or hackneyed corpsepaint of their peers.
Ghastly, anguished vocals and bloodchilling keyboards combine with dual trebly buzzsaw guitars and inhuman trance inducing drumming to create an atmosphere of utter grinding grimness. Weakling draws upon 90's black metal in the Norwegian tradition (especially the raw and primitive likes of Darkthrone, Burzum and Immortal) and then creates uniquely fucked song structures of epic length (20 minutes per, in some cases).
And, like the best music, Weakling also transcends genre. In some ways, 'Dead as Dreams' possesses elements that can be considered akin to the avant garde, experimental creations of the Swans, Skullflower, Steve Reich, or even Yoko Ono. Imagine an extensive, utterly mesmerizing Hermann Nitsch piece, composed for black metal band.
It's a suffocating soundscape of riffing and drone. Subterranean satanic art rock that equals metal. Nihilistic, depressive and never ending.
Featuring Josh from The Champs (new record on Drag City in the fall) as well as drummer Lil' Sunshine from local death metallers Sangre Amado.
This is the super limited double lp version (the cd will be out in three or four weeks). It is a double lp on high quality black veined, red vinyl, housed in a breathtaking black and blood red gatefold. Everyone who bought that Earth LP off the last AQ List should seriously consider investing in this as well, that is if you think you are no weakling. We are not engaging in baseless hyperbole when we say: this should likely be crowned black metal album of the year.
Essential.

WANT, THE Greatest Hits Vol. 5 (Southern Lord) cd 13.98
From a label known for supreme downer doom dirge comes this surprise debut by a group of happy, heavy, hot-rockin' throwbacks called The Want, from Jersey. Playing it in the store had amazed customers asking if this was an obscure '70s hard rock reissue. It's not just the tunage that's retro, but the production is authentic '70s sounding too. Amazing. Channelled directly from the likes of Zep, Budgie, Captain Beyond, Free... Great stuff, recommended (despite their violation of two of Allan's many pet peeves: an album title like "Greatest Hits vol. 5", and the unnecessary use of the Greek alphabet on the packaging).
RealAudio clip: "Pass It On"
RealAudio clip: "Slight Of Hand"

BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE Sunset Mission (Wonder) cd 16.98
BACK IN STOCK! The second repressing of this AQ fave... here's what we said last time it came back into print...
After being out of print for almost FIVE years, Bohren's third album Sunset Mission finally gets re-released this time in a spiffy digipak!
Back when we first listed this (the first Bohren we'd managed to get a hold of for the store), this is what we said: Allan discovered Bohren on a trip to Germany in 1999, with their '95 double-cd Midnight Radio, an amazing extended late-night autobahn driving soundscape, slow, low, instrumental "lounge" music, utterly perfect for a mesmerizing midnight listen. Sunset Mission, their third album, was originally released in 2000 and is similar to Midnight Radio, more overtly "jazzy" perhaps, with the addition of smokey tenor saxophone to their piano/drums/bass lineup. Their original US distributor (electronica/techno label Studio K-7) labeled this ambient, but that's far from the mark. From the song titles ("Prowler", "On Demon Wings", "Black City Skyline", "Darkstalker") to the packaging (photos of nighttime Berlin and dangerous weaponry) to the music (a downtempo film noir soundtrack like the slowest, dirgiest Melvins played by Morphine, darker than Photek, moody and gorgeous) this is the nightmare "ambience" of a nowhere jazz-lounge you'll never leave alive.
By now, Bohren & Der Club Of Gore are a firm AQ favorite, with their recent album Geisterfaust sure to show up in a lot our our customers' year 2005 top-ten lists. Meanwhile Bohren's Black Earth, Gore Motel and Midnight Radio have always been steady sellers, so it's nice to have Sunset Mission back in the racks as well! Of the Bohren discography, Sunset Mission seems to be the jazziest (if indeed it's appropriate to use that term), definitely with the most sax of any of 'em, perhaps coming closest to its follow-up Black Earth in sound.
MPEG Stream: "Prowler"
MPEG Stream: "On Demon Wings"

LADDIO BOLOCKO Strange Warmings Of (Hungarian) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This record is one of the most amazing we have ever heard, and of course, it's been practically impossible to get back in stock. But now we have it, and you should buy it. It's pummelling and heavy and beautiful. Not sure how long we'll have this in stock.
An ex-Dazzling Killmen (Blake Fleming) takes his penchant for angular discordance a step further, forgoing the ferocious heaviosity of his former outfit, and instead, explores lengthy semi-improvisational psychedelic freakouts and repetetive hypno-krautrock instrumentals ala Circle. Post rock jamscapes littered with shrieking and droning Albert Ayler-ish sax, jabs of no wave guitar, an overwhelming over-saturated super-distorted production and absolutely crushing drumming. Totally essential.
RealAudio clip: "Nurser"

V/A Moonfog 2000: A Different Perspective (Moonfog) 2cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Norway's most advanced "black metal" label has released a fairly amazing compilation here. Moonfog's incredibly elite roster contributes exclusive material: from the blackened thrash of Eibon (the supergroup containing members of Darkthrone, Mayhem, Necrophagia, Pantera/Viking Crown, and Satyricon making their recorded debut), to Dodheimsgard's mutation into the black metal techno of their new incarnation DHG, to the primitive country/punk black metal of legends Darkthrone (recorded at Necrohell Studios, otherwise known as their 4-track machine), to intense death/black brutality from Gehenna and Thorns, and more. 25 minutes on the cutting edge of Moonfog's vision. Absolutely essential to dedicated fans and adventurous newcomers (as well as the other way around), as this comp really runs the spectrum from classic raw stuff to sacrilegious trip-hop "black metal" 2000.
And, as a kind of bonus, you also get a second disc collecting popular cuts by Moonfog bands, compiled by users of The Moonfog Dungeon (i.e. website). They're all previously released tracks, so this can be regarded as a handy mix of some black metal faves.

KOENJIHYAKKEI II (God Mountain) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY. NOW AVAILABLE ON THE SKIN GRAFT LABEL DOMSTICALLY, THOUGH, SEE ELSEWHERE ON OUR SITE!
Sometimes hard-to-find, now finally restocked: The second (1996) album from drummer Tatsuya Yoshida's Koenji-Hyakkei unit (aka Hundred Sights Of Koenji). Yoshida, if Allan hasn't yet indoctrinated you on this truth, is Japan's answer to Christian Vander (French drummer/musical mastermind behind the '70s prog band Magma). Yoshida's well-known main band Ruins is a drum and bass duo that is heavily influenced by Vander's band, but those influences become even more apparent with this project. Keyboards, operatic male and female vocals, guitar, bass, and drums expand the Ruins palette into a realm of almost symphonic "death progressive" madness. Crazed instrumental prowess, mindboggling changes, utterly heavy and amazing. Both Hundred Sights of Koenji albums are essential to all fans of Ruins or Magma, and certainly surpass both in some select ways! Third album upcoming, at last.

MASS s/t (Man's Ruin) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of the best new releases on Man's Ruin in a while! This debut cd by Germany's Mass will definitely appeal to fans of Melvins, Boris, and similar paragons of avant-metallic heaviness. The opening track "White Light Yellow Pt. One" establishes the band's inital juggernaut similarity to the Melvins, but as the album progresses, so does Mass, incorporating the judicious use of keyboards, non-distorted vocals, and other unusual moves -- really blossoming into something original, devastating, and addictive. The closing instrumental 'cover' of funkmaster Larry Graham's "Earthquake" puts the perfect finishing touch on this quality album. Featuring the former rhythm section of the underrated and unsung Nonoyesno (although the sound of Mass is very different). Recommended! Also, this disc's artwork, while simple, is a cut above what we have come to expect from Man's Ruin's usual 'I stole this off the net, and made it different colors' lazy artistic re-appropriation.

CROMAGNON Orgasm (ESP-Disk) cd 15.98
Yet another gem we somehow managed to miss, thankfully newly reissued to give us a second chance. (Well, not all of us missed it. Allan had the previously reissued version at one point, and got rid of it somehow. He just wasn't ready for it back then. Now he owns it again!) And a few of our customers have responded with the customary "Oh that record! I love that record. I've had that record for years." So for those of you, like us, managed to somehow miss it, we present to you Cromagnon.
An anomaly, even on the always far out ESP label, Cromagnon was the result of two top 40 songwriters (accustomed to producing bubblegum pop) who seemed to have completely lost their minds. I mean they must have, to produce something as wacked as this record. Austin Grasmere, Brian Elliot, and their mysterious 'Connecticut Tribe' spewed forth 50 minutes of primitive dada-ist folk psych.
Chanting, tribal percussion, short wave radio, maniacal, almost black metal vocals, hysterical laughter, bagpipes all coalesce into something ridiculous and amazing.
Track one "Caledonia" sounds like a strange hybrid of Comus and In Extremo, with bagpipes, jaw harp, crickets, raspy chants and teutonic percussion ("Caledonia" was even covered later by industrialists Test Department). Later on in the record is an alternate version of "Caledonia" from the b-side of the original lp, slowed down to a third of the speed, producing an impenetratable swampy murk. "Ritual Feast of The Libido" features a groaning and moaning vocal over whirring and rumbling machinery. Then comes "Fantasy", where a faux Beach Boys intro almost convinces us that Grasmere and Elliot have returned to their bubblegum roots, that is until it devolves into a messy seven minutes of garbled laughter and clattering percussion. Today this all still seems pretty damn crazy, so back in 1968 when it was recorded it must have really freaked people out, even despite the pervasive drug culture of the time...
So for those of you who aren't already veterans of the Cromagnon experience, and definitely for those of you who were blown away by the Comus, and for everyone who is in need of a new favorite fucked record, this is it. Now a unanimous AQ fave.
MPEG Stream: "Caledonia"
MPEG Stream: "First World Of Bronze"

ETERNAL ELYSIUM Spiritualized D (Meteor City) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Easily a shoo-in for heavy metal/stoner rock album of the month! The long-awaited domestic debut by this cult Japanese band of longhaired 70's Black Sabbath freaks. Although they actually sound less like the Sabs than fellow Sabs-worshippers Trouble. Some other influences that come through the pot haze include the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (this disc includes their cover of "Innocent Exile" from Meteor City's Iron Maiden tribute), '70s Japanese heavy psych bands like Blues Creation and Flower Travellin' Band, Thin Lizzy, Saint Vitus, Kyuss, and other heavies. Meaning, in addition to sheer psychedelic doom riffage (a la another Japanese band, Church of Misery) they really can write *songs* in the classic sense--one listen to, arguably, the album's highlight, "Easy Goin'" and you'll know. We didn't think they made 'em like that anymore. And stay tuned for the 'bonus track', an unlisted 15 minutes of improv hippie folk drone in the tradition of Japan's Taj Mahal Travellers. Very recommended indeed!!
RealAudio clip: "Easygoin'"

NOTRE DAME Vol. 1: Le Theatre Du Vampire (Osmose) cd 14.98
Absolutely one of our new favorite "black metal" bands! One of two recent full-length releases (the other being a Xmas album!). Masterminded by Snowy Shaw (ex-King Diamond, Memento Mori, etc.) with female vocalist/dancer "Vampirella" as well as the De Sade brothers (Jean Pierre and Mannequin). Yes, it's silly. But it's also weird, surprising, catchy, and really well-executed, right down to the horror comix artwork and clever graphic design. The music is best likened to an even more over the top, operatic Cradle of Filth, with influences from '70s Italian prog-horror bands like Devil Doll and Goblin. And, I suppose, a touch of White Zombie. If the Addams Family were a metal band, they'd be Notre Dame! We're not usually a fan of metal that's so obviously tongue in cheek, but this is so genuinely great we can't help but love it.

V/A I Love Metal (Triple Crown) cd 15.98
Simply put, this is a covers album by indie-kids of '80s metal classics... with Reggie & The Full Effect doing Slayer (imagine "Raining Blood" with zippy new wave keyboards--it's amazing!), The Get Up Kids reworking Motley Crue, Jejune covering the Scorpions, and the much sought-after really weirdo experimental acoustic country rendition of Slayer's "South of Heaven" by Modest Mouse + Califone! Electric Frankenstein, Supernova, Less Than Jake, and others also contribute. Yeah, it's basically a fun, joke record, yet at moments kind of incredible (like The Killingtons' strange, unrecognizably spaced out take on W.A.S.P.'s "F**k Like A Beast"). It makes me wish that there were bands that actually sounded like this all the time! Put it this way: Allan never ever thought he'd have any desire to own a record containing a track by Modest Mouse, let alone a band with a name like 'Mephiskapheles', until he heard this one. (Mephiskapheles do a horn-free version of Celtic Frost's "Necromatical Screams" by the way).

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY Sonic Brew (Spitfire) cd 15.98
Former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde (he of the trademark pick squeals) rocks with a brand of hard, dirgy rock. Southern-tinged (a la CoC) stoner metal? 'Cause it's Zakk the stoner metal contigent might not pick up on this, but it actually blows away most other efforts in the genre: it's super heavy, full of (of course) great guitar playing and some excellent songwriting. Zakk handles the vocals too, with a voice again reminescent of CoC's Pepper Keenan. For fans of Acid Bath, Alice in Chains, Down, etc.

OLD MAN GLOOM Meditation in B (Tortuga) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Awesome. Simply awesome. Subtitled "A Sound Wave Replication Dissertation On Alien Simian Technology in 13 Chapters", Old Man Gloom's album is a schizophonic album with ultra-heavy post-hardcore/grinding metal in the tradition of Cave-In or Cavity interspersed with deep dronological investigations that could have easily been an Organum or Jonathan Coleclough record. Hydrahead couldn't make this fit with the rest of their catalogue, but released it on their Tortuga subsidiary. Drones, metal, and monkeys... everything that Andee could ask for in an album.

IN EXTREMO Verehrt Und Angespien (Metal Blade) cd 16.98
Germany's In Extremo strikes again, bringing their unique medieval fire-breathing, costume-wearing, bagpipe-wielding folk-metal into our racks (and maybe your home), like a crazed cross between Rammstein, Comus, and Accept. Whoops, I may have just insured that no one will ever buy this record...but it's really pretty great, as was their debut. Electric guitar riffs borrowed from Sabbath meet flutes and lutes and Latin lyrics declaimed in a peculiar Popeye voice. And then they do a Sisters of Mercy cover to make it all even more ridiculous!

ELECTRIC WIZARD Supercoven (Southern Lord/MIA) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Reissued, remastered version of this psychedelic stoner doom metal classic, originally released in '98 on vinyl and cd in their native England by the Bad Acid label. Two bonus tracks have been added to the two from the original ep (one live, one demo). If you have any interest in the sludgy, the doomed, and, um, the super slow and heavy, check this out...

MORTE MACABRE Symphonic Holocaust (Mellotronen) cd 23.00
This Swedish progrock supergroup got together to interpret great horror film soundtracks, like Komeda's theme to "Rosemary's Baby" and Frizzi's music from "City Of The Living Dead" and "The Beyond". This should definitely appeal to fans of Goblin (who get covered here too, of course). Includes an amazing, epic 20-minute piece that will even satisfy Godspeed You Black Emperor fans looking for their filmic music fix.

RUSSELL, RAY Live at the I.C.A./Retrospective (Moikai) 2cd 18.98
British jazz guitarist Ray Russell has been having a renaissance of sorts, first with two albums early '70s albums reissued on import, now with this domestic double cd on Jim O'Rourke's Moikai label. Known for his guitar freakout on the Dr. No soundtrack album (?!), Russell has had a fairly low-profile career, but can count among his fans the likes of O'Rourke, Henry Kaiser, Rudolph Grey, and Alan Licht. The latter contributes very personal liner notes in which he compares Russell to Masayuki Takayanagi, Sonny Sharrock, Jimi Hendrix, and John McLaughlin, concluding that Russell is, for him, the ultimate free jazz/psychedelic rock fusion guitarist. Licht: "Heavy metal guitar heroes are getting harder and harder to find (after all, you don't see Brad Gillis on too many magazine covers these days), and free jazz can be a bore after awhile. This CD restores my faith in both."
Russell's band was definitely a jazz group, with sax, trumpet, piano, etc. appearing on most cuts, but with Russell's solid body guitar skree taking things into the realms of rock, psych, and beyond. Gorgeous stuff. This collection includes both live and studio versions of Russell's most killer composition, "Stained Angel Morning". Thanks, Jim, for making this stuff available!!

COUNT OSSIE & MYSTIC REVELATION OF RASTAFARI Tales of Mozambique (Creole Records) cd 16.98
"'Tales of Mozambique' by the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari deserves the kind of attention and reverence which some people have before a monument in a holy room. Above all, this album depends on specific approaches which take account of and analyse all the historic parameters of the displacement of African blacks to the West Indies coasts. It is a journey which takes in the Maroons, Pan-Africanism and all the international struggles for independance, to the spiritual meeting of Nanny (Burru Queen), Howell and Lumumbaba (African Revolutionary) in a musical structure encompassing Burru, Mento, Reggae and Jazz rhythms... 'Tales of Mozambique' came out in 1975 and was an hommage to the independence of this African state, a fusion of Jazz, Nyabhinghi and Calypso, punctuated with interventions by the speaker, Sam Clayton. This masterpiece was not inspired by commercial considerations, but was intended to be the expression of the specific cultural features of Rastafarianism." (From the liner notes.)

DEFLESHED Fast Forward (Pavement) cd 16.98
Swedish thrashers Defleshed, whose previous disc Under The Blade was one of the ragin'est, catchiest, most METAL releases of '98, return with an equally fierce followup, the aptly titled Fast Forward! Energetic speed/death metal with no guitar solos. Like a buzzsaw to your skull, guaranteed to induce violent headbanging. Great songtitles abound: "The Iron And The Maiden", "Feeding Fatal Fairies", "Domination Of The Sub-Queen", "Lightning Strikes Thrice", "Snowballing Blood"...
Also includes two bonus live cuts.

OVALKI Entfernen Tragen (Bad Vugum) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
These ex-members of Finnish AQ-faves Circle (and one of the guys from Tiermes) present their first full-length recording on the always weird and wonderful Bad Vugum label. This is (mostly) instrumental jazzy-rock hypnosis; repetitive, groovy, sparse. For the most part, rather downtempo, but with the occasional energetic saxophone-inspired outburst. Ovalki conjure up a somewhat noirish, psychedelic mood. Allan is especially addicted to track five, the dubby eight-minute "Medicine of Young Astronauts". Definitely for fans of Circle! Potentially for fans of Tortoise, Stereolab, Ui, Aavikko, and Can...recommended!

V/A Love, Peace & Poetry: Asian Psychedelic Music (Shadoks Music) lp 19.98
The Love, Peace & Poetry series compiles the obscurest of the obscure lost psychedelic music of the sixties, records that collectors spend vast sums of money on. Following the American and Latin American volumes, this long-awaited third volume brings together gems from Japan, Korea, India, Cambodia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Turkey, spanning the years 1967 to 1977. Authoritative liner notes from OR Records' Stan Denski round out the package. Get this and soon you too will be a fan of such artists as The Mops, Erkin Koray, Jung Hyun & the Men, Mogollar, and the unknown Cambodian combo that provides this disc's very rockin' track five. Recommended!

SCHICKERT, GUNTER Uberfallig (Green Tree) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is the cd reissue of Schickert's second album (following his Brain debut "Samtvogel") originally issued in 1980. It's hard to believe somebody this good didn't record more or with other people (if he did we'd like to know!). Schickert's exceptionally hypnotic space-echo guitar work similar to Manuel Gottsching is matched by fascinating rhytmic pulsations (at times recalling prime Can-like velocities or AR & the Machines circular bubbliness, and some Pink Floyd "Meddle" era pastoral psych as well). Guitar, drums, some voice, and nature sounds...Superb.

DICKMAN, STEPHEN Who Says Words (New World Records) cd 15.98
Here's a disc for fans of the cult pulp horror master H. P. Lovecraft. Composer Stephen Dickman's specialty is to "set" texts (poems, prayers, prose) by various authors into musical structures of his own design. In this case, the major work here is a performance of Lovecraft's short story "The Music Of Eric Zann" by baritone Thomas Bruckner (known for his work in Robert Ashley's operas). The avant-classical vocalist reads Lovecraft's tale of cosmic terror (about a musician opening a portal to another dimension) in a semi-sung, semi-spoken sort of hypnotic chant. It, at first, seems more comic than cosmic sounding, but eventually the mesmerizing rhythms of Bruckner's narration begin to have a more disturbing effect. At over twenty minutes, and with no instrumental accompaniment, it really starts to sound like Bruckner is losing his mind--the typical fate of all Lovecraft protagonists! Bizarre and ludicrous, perhaps, but pretty cool. The rest of the disc is great too, with one text-less piano piece of great beauty, as well as more singing by both Bruckner and soprano Elizabeth Farnum, of texts by Rumi, Milarepa, and Rabbi Nathan of Bratslav. These tracks feature either piano or violin accompaniment.

NORDIC VISION issue no. 15 magazine 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"Entertainment for Maniacs". Indeed. Here's the latest issue of Norway's slickest black-metal scene-zine. A must for all fans of the genre, also for fans of the totally ridiculous prose in their by now notorious review section (due not only to the English-as-a-second-language problem, but also to general weirdness on the part of the writers. A sample: "They went to Romania to record this record, when in reality they should have travelled to Mongoland. Extremely non-action music without highlights, just again and again showing us how little creativity the band have in each of two many songs." And that's one that actually makes a lot of sense...) This issue features interviews with Darkthrone, Satyricon, Angelcorpse, Dark Funeral, and more. The interviews with Norwegian bands like Darkthrone are always great 'cause the Nordic Vision guys are buddies with them and thus have some other-than-usual questions to ask. A final warning: the cheesecake "Sex & Satan" photo section is too dumb for words. Readers are invited to write in with suggestions about how the model should pose...Andee already emailed a request for her to dress up like a "Hot Dog On A Stick" girl. So if anyone wants to pre-order issue #16, let us know.

CORRUPTED Llenandose de Gusanos (HG Fact) 2cd 19.98
After being out of print for ages, this doom-drone-sludge-crust classic finally gets re-pressed! Everybody who picked up their more recent Se Hace album (reviewed on list #192 a few months back), and has yet to pick up this massive double disc set should do so IMMEDIATELY! And needless to say, all you dirge drone folks obsessed with the likes of Earth and Sunn 0))) and all things slow motion sludge, absolutely NEED this in your collection! Here's what we had to say about it the first time around:
Japanese sludge-core doom merchants Corrupted return with this monumental effort. Their previous album consisted of one long, crushing song. "Llenandose" improves upon that by taking TWO full discs for two tracks. WARNING: if you already intend to purchase this incredible album, read no further. Your enjoyment will be enhanced by not knowing the precise musical details that we are about to reveal...Disc one begins not with the expected wall of brutalizing guitar, but with quiet, hypnotic piano playing. An eerie voice begins to croak softly in Spanish (did we mention that for some reason Corrupted's lyrics are always in that language?) but the music is almost pretty, lulling the listener into a stupor that sets them up for the eventual entry (after 25 minutes or so!) of a slow-moving but awesomely heavy guitar/drums dirge. Eventually the piano re-enters and the disc comes full circle. Beauty and depression co-exist on this disc like none other, it's like George Winston at 16 rpm with Burning Witch playing in the background (and diabolical whispers in your head).. Disc two is the "ambient" disc, and is also really well done, a creepy quiet grey wash of sound, the sound left in the world AFTER its destruction... One of the best releases of 1999. Fans of Esoteric, recent Neurosis, Sleep, Earth, Skullflower, etc. should bow down to Corrupted. Additional information for Japanese-music-o-philes: Corrupted's drummer Chew used to play in Omoide Hatoba.
And here's a 'customer review' (which just happens to back up our claims above), emailed to us by recent purchaser-of-Corrupted and classical music fan John Botz: "The Corrupted album (Llen...Lleandos...uh...something about "Gusanos," i.e. "worms") absolutely kicks ass. It's hard to accurately describe just how far beyond my expectations this album is. I was totally willing to go with Andee's recommendation on this one, but I was half expecting the three main parts of the album to be: banal, new agey, minimalist piano followed by some fairly generic bongtar sludge riffs, followed by fifty minutes of gray-washed amp noise. Not Even, dudes! These guys have obviously had some classical training, and this album is further proof of how much more depth
ANY music acquires when there is some solid classical training behind it. The opening piano section, far from sounding like ambient/new age drivel, sounds like Rachmaninoff on codeine and muscle relaxers. The entry of the "metal section," with portentous feedback, makes a real impact, and the choral ambience of the keyboards at the end, added to the piano sound, sinister vocals, and distorted guitar makes for an even more ominous feeling at the apocalyptic conclusion of the first disc. Wow! But maybe disc two was the most pleasant surprise of all! This is genuinely atmospheric (and good) ambient drone, with enough variety and layering of sounds to keep one interested for the full 74 minutes. I kept thinking of the spacey, eth-eerie-al, sections of 2001: A Space Odyssey (one of my two favorite movies, by the way; and my favorite soundtrack: Kubrick's choice of Ligeti's otherworldly choral/orchestral music juxtaposed with the majesty of R. Strauss, the grace of J. Strauss, and the austerity of Khachaturian's adagio was truly an inspired stroke of genius). Perhaps the Corrupted is the REAL "Soundtrack of the Apocalypse." Anyway, your description was apt/excellent, and this album become one of my instant favorites, not just a curiosity. And, by the way, whoda thunk that the Spanish vocals would be so effective, adding an esoteric arcaneness to the album?"
MPEG Stream: "excerpt from disco primero"
MPEG Stream: "excerpt from disco segundo"