More grey and dim than long cold autumn rain
Just a little glimpse into the future… I’m certain I have won the $400,000,000 from the powerball drawing, so expect a lot more time dedicated to Worm Gear in the coming months and the drastic elevation of 2 dear record labels as I will promptly be leaving my job. Ah yes… the good life. Should this not pan out for some odd reason, aside from me being completely pissed and having to tell the real estate agent in England to nix the “castle hunting” plans, we’ll still be here toiling beneath a restrictive fraction of time in our complicated lives. But wait! What’s this? Interviews coming with Sacriphyx, Nhor and Feast Eternal? Indeed! The Worm keeps churning below the surface and will return next week again with something for you to chew upon. Until that glorious occasion, we’d love to gander at your listening habits and hear what has been troubling you. The Dr’s are “IN”. -Marty
Marty Rytkonen Playlist
Morticious – Genetic Blur Demo
Diskord – Diskord – Doomscapes/Aural Abjection
Summoning – Old Mornings Dawn
Caladan Brood – Echoes of Battle
Gorement – Darkness of the Dead
Nargaroth – Jahreszeiten
Thulcandra – Fallen Angels Dominion
Pungent Stench – For God Your Soul… For Me Your Flesh
Satanic Warmaster – Nachzehrer
Jim Clifton Playlist
Death – Scream Bloody Gore
Bolt Thrower – Warmaster
Ildjarn – s/t
Ildjarn – Strength and Anger
Summoning – Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Flame
Summoning – Dol Guldur
Chthe’ilist – Ve’coiitn’aphnat’smaalà
Darkthrone – Transylvanian Hunger
Thou Art Lord – The Regal Pulse of Lucifer
Cadaveric Fumes – Macabre Exaltation
Jake Moran Playlist
October Tide – Rain Without End
White Medal – Guthmers Hahl
Branikald – Stormheit
Reverorum ib Malacht – Urkaos
AnXpm / Symphonia Sacrosancta Phasmatum – Split
Joanna Newsom – What We Have Known
Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me
Erang – Another World Another Time
Erang – Tome II
Behemoth – …And The Forests Dream Eternally
Worm Gear 
I actually did live in (part of) a castle in England for thirteen years. It was wonderful, so I hope you win, but failing that, with a bit of patience, it’s still not impossible to wrangle. My parents paid about £50 a week for an enormous apartment with a corridor suitable for rollerblading down and a garden. This was in the 90s, but still!
You’ve all reminded me of bands I need to check out pronto, cheers.
A strangely unblack week in Zedland:
Chaos Echoes – Parisian Sessions Rehearsal I
Necrovorous – Promo 2013
Vitsaus – everything, yet again
Lantern – Below (can’t get enough of this)
Vlad Tepes – Anthologie Noire
Eternity / Luror / STMS / Darkmoon Warrior – We Walk The Infernal Path (finally tracked this down for a half-reasonable price)
Entrails – Raging Death
Exodus – Bonded By Blood
Hearse – Armageddon Mon Amour
Arch Enemy – Doomsday Machine (been a long time, but “Taking Back My Soul” was stuck in my head this morning)
Well of course we didn’t win, but at least I still have my gorgeous looks. Haha. And Zed! Glad you stopped by and decided to post. The more, the merrier!
Jim… great call on Death – Scream Bloody Gore! Everyone always touts Human or Individual Thought Patterns as the pinnacle for “Evil” Chuck, and yes, the talent and composition is legendary, but Scream Blood Gore is just so damn perfect. The vocals rip with bubbling sores and the riffs are so focused and blood thirsty. Chris Reifert on drums? Hell yes! Maybe because this was the first Death I ever heard, but it’s a magical album. MUTILATION!!! Zombie RItual!! “Ram an Axe into your mound!” Ha! Yes!
Every song on ‘Scream Bloody Gore’ is a fucking gem. If you won’t bang your head to the bridge/chorus of ‘Denial of Life’, you are not a death metal fan. Honestly, I love all Death albums in varying degrees, and always will. I can say that about very, very, few bands I enjoy.
Nothing like hearing Chuck roar “die … DIIIEEE … diiieee” on ‘Infernal Death’ after a bad day
Recently spun items:
New Thou Art Lord. Opinions varied regarding this one here, but a few spins in starting to like quite a bit.
Taake – Noregs Vaapen. Does anyone know the proper pronunciation of Taake? Seen a couple things online, but nothing definitive.
Afflictive Emasculation – Obscure Slam Vomition.
Leprous – Coal
Judas Priest – Unleashed in the East. I picked up the remaster pretty cheap as it had four extra songs that I didn’t have on the original CD.
Entombed – Clandestine
Coroner – Mental Vortex
Hoax – S/T
Order of the Solar Temple – S/t
AEvangetlist – 1st album
Temple Nightside – all
This new Ruins album has been dominating my ears for the better part of this week. Still managed to sneak some other stuff in.
The Ruins of Beverast – Blood Vaults – The Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer
Atlantean Kodex – The Golden Bough
Averse Sefira – Advent Parrallax
Gwar – Battle Maximus
Kreator – Coma of Souls
Sael – The Sixth Extinction
Darkthrone – The Underground Resistance
Dimmu Borgir – Death Cult Armageddon
Nasum – Shift
Tribulation – The Horror
Tribulation – The Formulas of Death
Vorum – Poisoned Void
Csejthe – Réminiscence
Vattnet Viskar – Sky Swallower
Vinterland – Welcome My Last Chapter
Abigor – Opus IV
Monster Magnet – Mastermind
Bathory – Twilight of the Gods
Re: Death – I’m with Clifton on Death, I like all of the Death albums. I find the evolution of the band to be pretty interesting. Each album sounds a little bit different, yet I feel the original integrity of the band was always intact. I don’t know if Chuck would still be cranking out Death albums if he were still alive today, but his presence in metal is very missed IMO. What does everyone think of the Control Denied album? I wasn’t overly excited about it when it first came out, but I started getting into it more a couple years ago and enjoy it now. Maybe it is just the nostalgia of hearing something by Chuck that I haven’t already listened to a million times.
I never heard Control Denied. Will check it out simply out of curiosity. Since Jim mentioned ‘Scream Bloody Gore’, I went to see if I had it in my collection still to take a listen. It has been so fucking long since I heard that, I don’t even have it anymore. I remember getting that CD in 1989 on one of those buy 1 Cd get 10 monthly club thing. That was one of my first DM albums. Listened to a little on youtube, and haven’t forgotten any of it. Well, there were a few parts that sounded fresh. Just historical stuff!
Kevin,
What do you think of the latest Tribulation album? Again another album that is way too long, but I think generally pretty awesome stuff, with the later half being better than the first. I was actually one of the lone people in the world that was just kinda ok on the “The Horror”. Just a little too much been there done that for me. Formulas on the other hand I will be listening to for quite awhile.
I agree that every Death album is great. I however, never got into Control Denied. I never found the vocals that memorable and the riffs never really hit me. Almost like they were leftovers from Sound of Perseverance. It’s been years since I listened to it and actually had to check to see if I had it in my collection. Didn’t Warrel Dane sing on some of the demo’s? I swear I had those on mp3’s many moons ago…
Cirkus-Lizard – I think your opinion on Control Denied is pretty accurate and I tend to agree with it for the most part. It sounds like The Sound of Perseverance (but not as good) with clean vocals. Like I said I never really got into it until the last couple years. I think I came to the conclusion that even second rate Chuck Schuldiner stuff is better than a lot of the other stuff out there. I think Warrel Dane would have been a better vocalist on the album. He would have brought a little more meat to the vocals.
Ah yes all hail Chuck Schuldiner and remember him in total awe! \m/ Every Death album is a favorite. No matter the line up, Chuck could do no wrong. No other extreme metal band evolved so much while maintaining their core sound. THE most original and individual musician in death metal ever in my opinion. Never heard Control Denied, I guess I should because I like Tim Aymar’s work with Pharaoh. Warrel Dane would kick his ass anytime though…
Oh, playlist:
Earlier this week…
Summoning – Old Mornings Dawn
Nhor – Within the Darkness between the Starlight
Lustre – Wonder
Lustre – Of Strength and Solace
Last couple of days…
Creedence Clearwater Revival – everything! I feel a 60’s/70’s rock revival coming up…
I greatly disliked the Control Denied album. Tim’s vocals didn’t sit well with me and like so many others have echoed here, the album sounded like it was comprised of throw away Sound of Perseverance riffs, which is my least favorite Death album. I did see them during that era though and they were great!
Playlist…. the new Zemial (NYKTA) is fantastic and I have spun is at least 5 times on friday at work. So creative. Review coming soon. Maybe an interview as well should the spirit move me.
Maybe someday I’ll give all the other Death albums a chance, but for now I’m content with being an intractable numskull and only ever listening to Scream Bloody Gore. Beyond the Unholy Grave!
@Zemial Interview: DO IT!
Zemial – yes! i heard a new 14 minute track on soundcloud. Fucking excellent!! Can’t wait to hear this album.
Re: Death- always interesting ro see how different people like different phases of Chuck’s career better than others. Personaly I like the Human-ITP-Symbolic era best.
Agreed that Tim’s vocals just didn’t work for Control Denied.
Hafta geek out for a minute about one item on this week’s playlist; 20+ years later Manowar’s ‘Sign of the hammer’ still kicks my ass. This gem seems to get overlooked in the Mnowar discography, but I’ve long considered it their best album. It combines some of the fun elements of ‘Battle Hymns’ with the graduer of ‘Hail to England’ and replaces the rather dull sound and pace of ‘Into Glory Ride’ with a healthy dose of speed instead (sorry, I’ve always thought that IGR is overrated). You get the fun (or cheesy, depending on your POV) ‘All Men Play on 10’, peed burners in ‘Animal’ and ‘The Oath’, epic balladeering in ‘Mountain’, and proto-Viking metal godliness in ‘Thor’ and the title track. Oh, and then there’s the closer, ‘Guyana, Cult of the Damned’. I still get chills listening to this monster. The epic yet funereal buildup, the slithering main riff, and the biting lyrical portrayal of a truly demented cult leader. I know many consider ‘Bridge of Death’ to be their greatest song, but I consider ‘Guyana’ to be their watershed moment.
Random SotH questions:
Q: did a young Quorthon hear this back in the day and did ‘Thor’ and ‘Sign of the Hammer’ help light the pagan fires within him?
Q:- what do the lyrics, ‘bigfoot, bigfoot, thrown i a well” reference, if anything? Been reading up on Jonestown some this weekend and I can’t quite figure that one out.
Playlist
Necros Christos- Doom of the Occult. One of my favorite DM bands currently active.
Evoken- Atra Mors. Still getting spins.
Manowar- Sign of the Hammer. Hail. And. Kill.
Cirkus: I enjoyed the new Tribulation album. You are right about the length but I think they keep it interesting for the most part. I actually only heard The Horror last week as well so the contrast between the two didn’t jar me as much as a longer fan might have been. They are on the Watain tour with In Solitude so that should be a good show when it rolls through my neck of the woods.
An interesting, well-written article that covers an area everyone into extreme metal has come to terms with in some way:
http://www.popmatters.com/column/a-very-dirty-lens/
It’s a little long, but if nothing else, I highly recommend the closing “Fuck You” section – the way Hayes brings it all together, I feel, is brilliant.
How do you guys deal – if at all – with offensive lyrics/viewpoints expressed in our music? I tend to not care as long as I enjoy the sound and their is a general darkness expressed, and also I do my best to separate the “art from the man”, but admittedly that can be quite difficult to do. Thoughts?
On Tribulation – i thought there 1st record was average, not excellent, but just good. there new one is great i think. at first i didn’t like it and thought it was way too long, but good ol’ Cliftonium convinced me to check it out again. It was a definite grower for me, and i throughly enjoy that album from start to finish now. Big thumbs up for me.
Cliftonium – i’ll read that article and respond or your inquiry. Intrigued
Great ending to that article, but it was way too long. I skimmed about 80% of it. There is some content I would find offensive, if i took the content seriously, that is. I am where you are Jim, i.e. if the music is legit, then the lyrical content comes 2nd. Most content is just silly and childish, so it never has any merit to actually give any attention to. Then there is some that has immense merit, but that never sways towards offensive, but more fantastical and thought provoking.
Some carefully considered thoughts:
metal transgressive instinctual edge-walking functionally a-social ritual celebration suppressed awareness inherent violence. healthy recognition. WE ARE DEATH… FUKK YOU
Addendum 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjY6CQp70NQ
Addendum 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxerm5Hiius
Nightsblood,
I actually just found both Sign of the Hammer and Into Glory Ride used a few weeks back and have been listening since then. I would agree on my first impressions that SotH is better than IGR. We’ll see how it fares to Kings of Metal over time. That is my favorite of the Manowar albums I own…which is not all of them.
So to summarize that article:
People write metal for different reasons, people listen to metal for different reasons, and everyone has their own likes and dislikes.
Brevity.
Jake & Nightsblood> Well said! \m/
I read some bits and pieces. When he addressed to Rob Darken and Varg Vikernes as supporting a certain system that already proved not to work 70 years ago I stopped taking the writer seriously.
Manowar! Now we´re talking! How about some politically very incorrect, misogynistic, violence promoting, right wing Heavy Metal!?!? Love it. If you’re not into metal… First four albums all slay in my opinion (yes, even Fighting the World) after that it’s too much hit and miss; great songs and awful stinkers back to back on most albums I’ve heard (those symphonic instrumentals and b-b-b-b-ballads ugh…). I couldn’t really pick a favorite among the first four. I do feel that Sign of the Hammer is underrated compared to Into Glory Ride and Hail to England though. I could pick a favorite track: Dark Avenger! Epic doom riffs and both the narration in the middle and the moment the uptempo riff kicks in are fucking godly!
Alright, off to work with some Manowar on the headphones… \m/
I’m intrigued that most responses appear to have more to do with critiques of the article rather than the topic I proposed, ie (How do you guys deal – if at all – with offensive lyrics/viewpoints expressed in our music?) Perhaps it was forgotten after the admittedly lengthy read, or too personal of a question for some, which I can understand. At any rate, thanks Patrick for sharing your thoughts (and Jake too … I think 😉
Aside from ‘Leprosy’, I visit those three Death albums the most as well, nightsblood. The level of musicianship Chuck attained on those albums would set the standard for mid-tempo progressive death metal to come, and while many have sought to recapture that energy (the band Obscura comes to mind), all fail without his soul behind it. Jake, if you’re currently only into ‘Scream Bloody Gore’, I do think you’ll enjoy ‘Leprosy’ quite a bit.
I hardly ever (maybe even never, can’t remember an instance I did) feel offended by the lyrics I hear/read in metal. The horror/violence/misogyny stuff is just wicked phantasies, doesn’t make me feel like these guys actually want to strip, rape and strangle. Their phantasies may not be mine but they suit the violent music. With these type of bands the content is of secondary importance anyway.
The stuff where there’s religion/ideology/politics involved; I can handle almost everything I guess. In fact I can take an “extreme” or “offensive” (however you define that) viewpoint more easy than opinions that are commonly accepted by the moral majority. Guess that’s why I’m into metal; its very nature is uncompromising and extreme. A metal band that preaches obedience to state and church and just be nice to each other, now that would offend me!
I’m asking myself now how I feel about so called national socialist black metal… Bands glorifying Hitler and the Aryan race don’t offend me either I guess. As far as I’m concerned they’re naive idiots who should look up what ‘aryan’ really means but they don’t piss me off. Antisemitism in lyrics? Why is that so different from lyrics about the slaughtering of christians which all extreme metalheads seem to find normal? Varg Vikernes expressing contempt for “the negro”? Yeah Varg they hate you right back so why should we be offended?
I think in some way extreme metal lyrics are the most true to how the world really seems to be (violent, full of people/peoples who can’t stand each other). Lyrics in pop, soul etc. seem to be more about how (very naive, imo) people WANT the world to be.
Ehm… What was the question again? 😉
Awesome response, Freek! I’m totally with you on the “true to the world” viewpoint. In the media and/or in public settings, humans like to pretend that they are ‘politically correct’, but behind closed doors, everyone has some sort of opinion or interest that would be considered by the so-called ‘moral majority’ offensive. Metal lifts the veil of hypocrisy. The evil uncovered wouldn’t exist if mankind hadn’t given metal the subject matter in the first place. So yes, for me as well, metal’s brutal honesty has always drawn me to the music, for if an universal, objective sense of ‘right and wrong’ actually ruled the minds of this world, the ‘pious’ and/or those considering themselves to be of a ‘higher moral caliber’ wouldn’t be killing one other over subjective-value belief and political systems.
Hell yes Jim, well put! And a wee bit more eloquent than I did hehehe… Lifting the Veil of Hypocrisy!!! \m/ \m/
Lyrical content used to be bit of a big deal to a teenage Marty as I searched to further identify with metal. Bands like Anacrusis, middle era Coroner and others that touted more of a personal message really did the trick for me. Years of demonic possession and lady defilement to fill the gut bucket really did nothing for me, nor did it ever offend me. The way the words interacted with the music is what spoke to me. Even to this day, I can appreciate a well written song lyrically, but honestly if a band is deficient in that dept, it is the music that contains the power to take my brain to other worlds. Having a fair amount of NSBM and all sorts of other things in my collection, I suppose it is a good thing that I’m not easily offended. Obviously I don’t identify with their message, but I let the music speak for itself. Arghoslent anyone? Heinously bigoted, but the riffs are mighty and superior! Over all the years, there was only 1 ever band that bothered me. Many years ago when Worm Gear was still a print zine, the band The Raucous Brothers sent in a CD for review. Dumbed down psuedo metal/hardcore/street metal/racist skinhead type stuff. Not only was the music horrible, so was the vocals and of course the over the top racist message. That sucker swirled around the circular file pretty quickly. Jewel case and all!
Other than that, lyrics have little impact on this jaded old fart. The extreme image in metal is being upheld and is largely utter bullshit anyway, by older dudes that know better.
wow man, all this shit is heavy….but why do we listen to this dark shit man? I mean, like, its fucking evil and dark man. What is wrong with us maaann.?? tok-tok ……….
In all seriousness though, i actually ask that of myself, just not in that context precisely, hehe. This question, I am sure, has lingered over the heads of others that like to do a little self-reflection every once and a while: “Why do I like such dark and evil sounds. Why does it bring me such joy, inspiration and excitement? What the fuck is wrong with me?” One reason would be paraphrasing Jim’s aforementioned statement – ‘its an honest reflection of the times vis-a-vis dark art’. 2nd, I am damaged goods, i.e., I come from a divorced broken family from a very young age. 3rd. Fuck it, all of the above, plus I am just a naturally born dark ass mutha fucka!
Actually, when I think about all the friends I know that like the same kinda of music I do, they all tend to come from broken homes or have had some type of trauma in their past. Now, before all you ‘exceptionalists’ fucking chime in and say ” NOT ME” (ya fucking cunts)’, know that this is a loose theory of mine. But so far, with the limited amount of friends I have, and especially that like similar music, this holds true, to date at least.