Ketchup Post Part Six - The Forever People

Alas, I have returned from my journey to Inter-dimensional Whorehouse of Pancakes and shall now proceed to clean house. Gone are the smooth sounds of German hard rock. Gone are the power metal excursions. Darkness returneth with full force and  resounding fury, but in a slow kind of way cuz my back hurts and I am old. Yup. We brunched the metal death/doom style!

Indeed, the mighty Bloodmace had returned from his adventure in the hell worlds of yon and just one short week later, we joined with Mistress Crowbastard and Vecton the Bard to explore metal from the Philippines. Not content to rest on our laurels with this task, we narrowed it down to the province of Cebu. A hot breeze blew into the sacred listening room and the skulls that festooned the walls began to glow and sing. Welcome to island hell, motherfuckers! 

First up was a motherfucking classic gothic sludge fest in the form of My Dying Bride's debut As The Flower's Wither. This is an epoch crushing sad fest, and one of the heaviest albums in existence. The riffs here laid the foundation for the entire genre. Violin is sparsely yet effectively used, adding an interesting contrast the death metal vocals(which spew college student level dark romantic poetry), as My Dying Bride had not ventured into goth warbling as yet. Fast death metal tempos are employed now and then, so that you may hasten your suicide. Certified classic and the Winner of the Night, cuz I am the Judgement 'n' shit.

A Hero For The World started us off with some competent power metal, although none of the members seem to be Filipino. Despite their dubious background, the music was decent enough, made even better by the incredible shit show that followed. Stallions Of The Burning Church have a name that made me think we were about to hear some faux black metal Hot Topic bullshit but instead tore our minds with their sub-Black Crowes christian hard rock.

Next, Paradise Lost laid down the thickness on their debut, Lost Paradise. This is meat and potatoes death doom.  Genre defining though it maybe, it lacks the elegance of the previous album, delivering old school death metal (with better lyrics than MDB) with slower tempos than usual. It's a great album, though, setting the riff style and basic grim atmosphere that Paradise Lost is known for and expended upon in subsequent albums.

Just when we started thinking there were no good bands in Cebu Province, a squall of feedback and gruff occult lyrics exploded from the speakers. The mighty Astrus came lurching out from the swampy depths of a diabolical marsh, demon swords blazing with impure fire. Things had started to look up for us, then Signos began to play. Fires exploded from the walls and the servants of twilight shambled out into view as the primitive death metal scorched our ears. Winner of the night!

And now for the dark horse. Mournful Congregation's Tears From A Grieving Heart is an elegant, well played funeral doom album that I really did not like. This was mainly because of the whisper vocals splattered through out the album, which I think is more lazy than atmospheric and simply annoys. If you are going to employ faggotty whispers on a fucking metal album, do so like Metallica did on Damage Inc, which was sparingly. Otherwise, you are just trying to be Marilyn Manson, resting your voice between screams because you just can't take it, because you'd rather be having sex with hamsters than laying down some mighty meaty metal vocals at full force and volume. Who cares if you get throat cancer!!!!!!!! Which is really disappointing because otherwise it's really good. But Demon Scourge digresses, and I must make mention that this was his winner of the night. And now I shall slay him with the tiny axe.

 Words of the Elders
On the western shore of Centon, near the kipet mines and the abandoned city, an old man wanders along the beach. His long robes make him seem a monk, but the icy madness behind his eyes shines like a warning beacon. When dusk settles over the ruins he begins to pipe his horrible tunes into the encroaching darkness. One night, as he was regaling the ocean with the lugubrious strains of an evil waltz, something flopped horribly on to the shore. It rolled toward him, a cloudy sac of organs and fluid motivating up from the water. The bizzare orginasim stopped before him and belched up a gilded box from a barely visible orifice on its side. Inside his head, the old man heard a deep voice, "The seven spikes of Necro Baby. You know what you must do." 

Until next week, highway hustlers, 









Horns 

Ketchup Post 3 - Two Headed, Six Armed Thrash Beast

 
The Denim Hordes arise from the Time Desert. In their war games, where thousands of innocents were casually slaughtered, a new music arose, imitating the rhythms of the wanton carnage perpetuated. In the temporal realms of Earth, this music manifested as............Thrash Metal!!!!!!!! Let's take a gander.

Infernal Majesty were one of those many great thrash bands from the 80's who for one reason or the other got lost in the shuffle. Actually, the reason this band is not as fondly remembered as, say, Dark Angel, or Forbidden, is that their second album plain sucked. Their entire reputation amongst 80's metal obsessives like myself and Demon rest on the merits of this awesome album, None Shall Defy. This is a technical riff smorgasbord in the vein of Slayer's Hell Awaits. There are several hundred thousand riffs, but a gloomy, Satanic atmosphere pervades. Tempo changes galore and a harsh rigidness of attack reminiscent of German thrash. Watch out for Skeletons In The Closet. Your head just may disconnect from your neck. This is a gleaming jewel in the pantheon of Canadian Metal. Winner of the motherfucking night, though by a mere pubic hair.

The next one we heard, Exodus's highly regarded thrashterpiece, Fabulous Disaster, is one of my personal favorite albums. Their first album gets the most attention as one of thrash's founding documents, but this is the album where they hone their sound to perfection, and utilize maximum musical brutality to its most logical extreme within the confines of the genre. The riffs slap your face with massive dicks, the time changes wrench your neck in several possible directions, and the guitar solos are delectable chaos nuggets. Even the sometimes gimmicky songs do not detract. Try listening while keeping your sanity intact. It's quite possible you might want to go beat up a fucking poser after listening to this album. You might go to jail, where they will stab you with knives.

All the albums we heard tonight were outstanding and really, any of these could have been the winner, though Infernal Majesty just a tad more evil than the other albums. Acrophet were another outstanding thrash band to get lost in the shuffle of 100's of band's thinking that they were going to be the big thing, a victim of the utter supersaturation of the thrash market that lead to its downfall in the early 90's, when you couldn't even play a backyard BBQ if you weren't down-tuned and whiny sounding. Too bad, because 1988's Corrupt Minds release is a solid album. This Midwestern band absorbed many, mostly American influence. Bay Area riffing meets New York style punk delivery with a grimy Chicago style street metal vibe. No epics and no song really stands out from the other; just an exercise in lively neck wrenching.

Aaah Teutonic thrash, is there anything that can take your place in this bleak and terrible world? Bloodmace and I have long shared a passion for Destruction, Sodom and Kreator. In the mid eighties, that triumvirate of titans revolutionized heavy music with sounds as daring as early Motorhead or Slayer. This was some of the heaviest music around and the lords of spikes and leather were rewarded with a loyal following among punkers as well as metalheads. What of the other bands though? Certainly there was more to explore on the the verdant plains of German thrash than just these three artists. On the night I speak of, we decided to take a closer look at this dark and satanic music 

Necronomicon-self titled
You can say they sounded too much like Destruction, you can say the rhythm section in this band would have benefited from a couple weeks in a room with a metronome, but I find the first full length by these German thrashers to be of considerable merit. The youthful energy of this quartet comes off with a sloppy intensity that extends to the album cover and press photos from the era. Highlights would be the incredible "Possessed by Evil" with it's inspiring chorus and "Magic Forest," a tune that never fails to make me cackle with delight at it's ragged blasphemies. This album remains in my playlist year after year because Necronomicon had a special flavor all their own. They weren't the most original band, or the most talented, but they are my favorite and at the end of the night that's what matters.

Exumer-   Possessed By Fire
After the blast of madness that was the Necronomicon album, Exumer sounded almost mainstream, but a couple tunes into our journey, it started to really gel with me. I appreciated the weird changes in "Sorrows of the Judgement" and the razor sharp riffing on the Slayer-like "Fallen Saint." Vocalist and bass player Mem Von Stein, has a great thrash bark that cuts through the molten riffery guitarists Ray Mench and Bernie slather on to this  forgotten classic. 

Iron Angel-Hellish Crossfire
So now we had seen a couple pretty great albums and the evening was really gettin' crazy, luckly for us, we had chosen to jam Iron Angel's great 1985 platter, Hellish Crossfire. I love this album for it's speed metal leanings and Dirk Schroder's unhinged vocals, for the great chorus on "Legions of Hell" and the unabashedly D&D album art. These guys, like Exumer, took some influence from American bands and mixed them with the game changing aggression of their countrymen. After a fierce battle, I declare Iron Angel to be the winners of German thrash night! Hail! 

Until next week, Invisible Invaders, 




Horns

Ketch-up Night Part Duex - Mosh Down Babylon

 

Once again, Demon Scourge and myself found ourselves on the vodka train to Hammersmith with Atomic Stief, we we really didn't have much time to bother writing the blog. So here is another catch up post; a reminisce through alcoholic haze of Metal Night's past. Demon Scourge takes some time out from his chronicle to review the last three albums, since I was way too drunk that night to even remember what they sounded like. 

Swedish Death Metal night
Dismember- Indecent and Obscene-This album is one of the classics of Swedish Death, if not one of the founding documents of the scene, then one of the quintessential. Brutal riffery, many twists and turns, but not without a bit of melody. Fucking classic. Winner

Amon Amarth - Versus the World - Workmanlike melodic death. Actually, the only thing about this band that is death metal are the vocals, otherwise, this is pretty traditional. Not to say that it doesn't have its moments. This band has a set formula, and when it works, it's crushing. When it doesn't, it's boring.

Hypocrisy - Abducted - Another Swede death classic; an expansive, rather experimental album, space rock meets death metal. They throw some clean but psychedelic vocals on some of the more subdued, experimental songs at the end of the album, finishing on a darkly trippy vibe. One of my favorites, but the Dismember album wins by one single charred ember.

 Mayhem Related Band Night

Mayhem-Wolf Lair Abyss-This Ep was the first release of new material by Mayhem after the famous stabbing that made the Norwegian black metal scene infamous around the world. The band is as dark and evil as ever, but sounding not so different than 1000 other black metal bands from the time. This is a band coasting on their reputation.

Merciless-The Awakening-The winner of the evening is this little blackened thrash ditty from Sweden. It's pretty uncomplicated but very unrelenting. It just kicks into high gear and blazes a trail of glory through the hinterlands. This album was the first release by Deathlike Silence Records, which was the label owned by Euronymous, and was very influential on the Scandinavian scene in general. Ok, no one in this band was ever actually in Mayhem, so maybe they are only spuriously related to that band, but blazing riffs and furious speed win the night!

Tormentor-The Seventh Day of Doom-Attila Csihar's first band is one of the most influential thrash bands to influence Mayhem. You can definitely hear the black metal riffs, but this is thrash, first and foremost, with lots of trad metal influence. It's just that the band was possessed by Satan, and listening to this demo will send you straight to hell. 

European Trad Metal Obscurities 
Aria - Meglomania - The first album by the long lived Russian metal stalwarts, Aria was most defiantly in the NWOBHM tradition, almost hard rock in parts. By 1985, when Meglomania came out, this kind of music was already being supplanted by the more extreme forms of metal  that were beginning to dominate tape decks everywhere (Slayer, Sodom, Bathory, Etc.) Everything you would expect is here, the galloping, maidenesque bass lines, harmonized twin guitars, crowd whoring sing-along choruses and of course the shitty Scorpions-style power ballad. They are, by all reports, revered in Russia and with good reason. These guys are pro, real pro. They play with conviction and though it’s easy to see this as an album that offers less to the average metal fan than their ’87 LP “Hero of Asphalt,” (I definitely prefer that one), This had to be the greatest Halloween gift ever to Russian Metalheads who never had a band to call their own.

Cobra-Warriors of the Dead-Again we encounter a band playing a more traditional style of metal in the mid eighties. Some of Warriors of the Dead is awesome, the title track, the cleverly named “Cobra” and the nuke-obsessed “China Syndrome” all display the band as an ass-kicking riff machine. The balance of this graveyard, however, is filled with stiffs that can barely open the coffin lid, much less go into battle and almost all of the songs have lyrics that fly like a ten pound brick. Vocalist Paul Edmonson doesn’t help the case with his Alice Cooper worship, but hell, you could do much worse. Defiantly a third-tier act, they still manage to eke out a few good neck snappers before the bonehead who wrote the lyrics drags the whole proceeding through the mud. I got some laughs out of their erotic jam, “Wildest Dreams” where Paul asserts that he will “make you feel”, again and again during the fadeout.

Axe Witch-Visions of the Past-Well, here’s our requisite Swedish band. Why the crap do the Swedes get all the good metal bands? Seriously though, even though this album has its flaws, it dominated the night (well what I can remember of it anyways.) As we have already seen, in the mid 80’s Maiden and Priest worship was the order of the day and Axe Witch oblige their audience with gusto, serving up riff after riff. Like the other albums we listened to these guys seem a little too eager to please, like they saw the success of the big acts of the day and were trying to ride the gravy train. This strategy worked out for Aria but not so much for Cobra and Axewitch. So even though Aria was more successful and Cobra was funnier, Axe Witch were winners simply for being harder than the competition.

Lords of Procrastination: The Ketchup Post

Metal Night has been going on successfully for a little over a year, just a couple of dudes getting together every Monday Night for a few drinks and heavy tunes. I started this blog in March of last year, writing down our(actually mine) observations about the albums. For a while, it was just a review blog, and about 6 months ago, Demon Scourge started the chronicle of our netherworld world adventures. Well, writing about all that is time consuming, so inevitably we got really behind, since we all have lives and actual girlfriends who need attention and at least one of us has a real job. But, being tired of procrastination purgatory, it's time to catch up, so we are just going to blurb a bit about all these albums we listened to in a the past few weeks.

Bands With Battle In Their Name by Demon Scourge

Battleroar- To Death and Beyond-This album was winner of the night. Greece was been home to a real power metal revival during the last decade and Battleroar were the leaders of the crusade. With song titles like “The Wrathforge” and “Warlord of Mars” you know right away what’s in store. From atmospheric intro to the last blast of power in the song “Death Before Disgrace”  Battleroar did not disappoint. Lyrically, all the PM bases are covered. Battle songs (the aforementioned album closer), paeans to metal brotherhood (Born in the 70’s, Metal from Hellas), and fantasy epics (Dragonhelm, every other song). Musically, they represent a heavy speed metal vibe with tons of dynamics and some nice violin during the quieter passages. Encyclopedia Metallum lists them as being active but this album, released in 2008, represents their last recorded output.


Battle Ram-Smash the Gates - Classic NWOBHM throwback metal. Think Priest and Dianno-era Maiden. Compentent, if a bit forgettable. I loved it but the less PM inclined (Bloodmace) found it to be lackluster.


Battlerage-Steel Supremacy-Orthodox trad metal from Chile. Good crunchy riffage and tasty dual guitar work made this one a contender. They have since gone on to put out three more well received full lengths
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Florida Death Metal Part 2 by Bloodmace

Nocturnus- The Key- One of the greatest death metal albums of all time, though atypical of the style, pre-dating symphonic black metal in its use of keyboards, but applied much more tastefully. A blistering speedball death metal album with a blasphemous sci-fi lyrical take. BC?AD is a nice little ditty about building a time machine to go back and kill the baby Jesus. My vote for the night.



Morbid Angel- Covenant My second favorite Morbid Angel album is also their most commercially successful. There are some surprisingly warm tones coming from the crushing guitar attack. The second half is when the album really destroys with doomy riffs and ambient passages.

Atheist- Unquestionable Presence-This album is the ground zero tech death album. Musicianly, jazzy without getting up its own ass, a little thrashy, the riffs confusing you as they rip you to shreds. Nearly perfect, but I voted for Nocturnus. Everyone else dug this album more. But I am the Judgement Of Metal Night, so fuck those bitches.
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Some Random Shit by Demon Scourge

Chastain-Ruler of the Wastelands- While they didn’t take home any prizes, I can find nothing wrong with Chastain’s brand of 80’s D&D metal. Great solos, great classic metal vocals by the underappreciated Leather Leone and tons of quality songwriting. If you have any interest in classic power metal, Chastain is an essential part of your education.

Agent Steel-Unstoppable Force - Yep. this is my jam. There will be no discussion about this album's merits or fawning prose praising its mighty metallic vision.Listen to it now. Agent Steel fucking rules, that is all.   

Stormwitch-Walpurgis Night-Great Running Wild-inspired heavy metal. Had these guys gone against anyone but the Agent, this would have been THE album that night.

Leatherwolf-S/T - Leather-fucking-wolf. That's a name. Famous for having a triple guitar attack, and the first riff of 'spitter' really jams the shit out of that three part harmony. Hard night to judge for me as I love some tough glam but, again, the Steel is a tough act to follow.
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DEATH DEATH DEATH by Bloodmace
Cryptopsy-Once was Not-One of the masterpieces of extreme blasting death metal. Almost a math metal album, but achieves its aims through alchemy instead of trigonometry. Once you make it through the din, this album just keeps rewarding, as you discover some new musical impossibility each time. This is a drummers band. Winner of the night.


Catacomb-In the Maze of Kadeth demo-Perfectly blasting French death metal. Nice doomy tones, reminicent of early Paradise Lost, . Good production for a demo. Many Lovecraft references. No distinctive songs, just good creepy grooves and atmosphere.


Bolt Thrower-The IVth Crusade-I love Bolthrower. I love bands who stay the same, whose musical rewards are subtlety devastating, whose only major stylistic change in 20 years is that they uptuned the guitars after their 5th or 6th album.. This is a band about tone and taste. You can taste the tone as the blood gurgles up from your spleen. Mammoth riff after mammoth riff bowl you over like Panzers, like war elephants. A very blunt instrument; almost a one trick pony, but what a mighty steed that pony is. This is just another one of their albums, though.
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More Random Shit by Bloodmace

Confessor's 1st-A true oddity from the early 90's. An off kilter doom prog concoction. Fate's Warning type vocal shrieks set to doom riffs, to the accompaniment of crazy, odd metered drumming that sometimes sounds like it was not even played in the same building as the rest of the band.

Death-Human-This is Demon Scourge's favorite Death album, and my 4th fav, one of my favorite bands. This album marks the beginning of their tech death phase. It is a jumble of difficult riffs mashed together with a vicious attack. The songs are not quite cohesive, though, which they perfected on the next album, Individual Though Patterns. But there are plenty of killer riffs and rhythms to delve into, making this a good album to come back to.

Forced Entry- As Above, So Below-One of the last great pure thrash albums of the original era. Released in the early 90's, this is a great collection of solid thrash. The guitar player shines above all else, soloing and riffing in the best Megadeth tradition, but retaining a sound all his own. Great album. Too bad this was released during the waning days of thrash, as it would have received much more attention 5 years earlier. Winner of the night, I think. We drank alot.