Lantlôs - Lantlôs

Genre(s) - Black metal
Origin - Rheda, Germany
Bitrate - 192-320 kbps
Size - 61.46 MB

Double-checking my information on this band at Metal Archives, I noticed a recent change in line-up in Lantlôs. Apparently the famous Neige has joined, replacing Alboîn on vocals. Might prove interesting, especially since the band covers the same kind of ground as Amesoeurs does. On this record, though, it's still Alboîn and we don't have to feel sorry about that, either. His vocals are fucking grim as well, and filled with some sense of authority that Neige doesn't have. But maybe you're also curious about the music behind the voice. It's melancholic black metal that is modern in sound but not futuristic. Indeed it borrows from the French band's approach to their blackest moments, but it has less foreign influences and keeps more to genre conventions. At the same time it is more focused and eerie, so it's no good calling this a clone, either. Actually, Lantlôs could grow out to be the band to take up where Amesoeurs left off, and fly the flag for "urban black metal".

1. þinaz Andawlitjam
2. Mittsommerregen
3. Ruinen
4. Kalte Tage
5. Ëin
   

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Iced Earth - Live in Montreal 14-04-2009 (bootleg)

Genre(s) - Heavy/power/thrash metal
Origin - Tampa, Florida
Year of release - Never released

The first concert I ever saw was Iced Earth on the 19th of Januari 2002 in Tilburg, during their tour for Horror Show. It was glorious: Matt was still singing and he still had long hair, they did three hour-long sets(!) representing the three "eras" the band had gone through. It was a spectacular experience not to be forgotten. So later, thinking back on that day the 15-year-old me was baptised in metal and beer, I decided to find as many bootlegs I could find (on the instawebs, at least) from this same tour especially. Horror Show had been my introduction to the band and I still consider it one of their best albums, so I also longed to hear Wolf, Dracula, Damien etc. in a live setting again, else I'd have been satisfied with just Alive in Athens. So here the first of the bootlegs I found. The American leg of the tour was not split up in sets and the concerts are shorter, by the way, including this one. Us Europeans have it all.

Disc 1 - Load it down
Size/bitrate - 73.38 MB/192 kbps

1. Violate
2. Pure evil
3. Wolf
4. Damien
5. The hunter
6. Melancholy (holy martyr)
7. Jack
8. Slave to the dark
9. A question of heaven

Disc 2 - Load it down
Size/bitrate - 62.34 MB/192 kbps

1. My own savior
2. Watching over me
3. Dracula
4. Prophecy
5. Birth of the wicked
6. The coming curse
7. Iced earth
   

My Dying Bride - The Angel and the Dark River

Genre(s) - Gothic doom metal
Origin - Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Year of release - 1995
Size/bitrate - 57.98 MB/128 kbps

My Dying Bride are bringing the drear with their esteemed third album. It's a stylistic move away from the death-doom they helped pioneer with the preceding albums, featuring only Aaron Stainthorpe's ultra-despondent clean vocals and not his formidable grunts. The production is better than before, though the somewhat turbid feeling of Turn Loose the Swans did add to the audial darkness. Repetitive minimalism with intricate violin lines alternate with grandiose moments of organ-grinding bombast. The opening track is a perennial classic, dirgelike and genuinely beautiful, and this is one of those rare occasions that a rerelease comes with a reccommendable bonus track. In fact, The Sexuality of Bereavement, which didn't make it onto the previous album, is even among the best tracks on the release even though it clashes with the main material. On the whole though it is the violin and the vocals which make the album.

1. The cry of mankind
2. From darkest skies
3. Black voyage
4. A sea to suffer in
5. Two winters only
6. Your shameful heaven
7. The sexuality of bereavement
   

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Jesus Christ Superstar OST

Band/artist - Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice (writers)
Genre(s) - Musical soundtrack, rock opera
Origin - United States of America
Album - Jesus Christ Superstar OST (film edition)
Year of release - 1973

Good Friday, that means It's Jesus Time! Jesus Christ Superstar is a well-known adaptation of the story of Jesus the Nazarene's last few days on earth, from his entry into Jerusalem to his crucifixion, as a rock opera. As a mortal, human man the J-dawg is quite a hero of mine and this film has been one of my staple favourites since early childhood. The soundtrack as well consists of some songs I've known for a very long time. Of course the rowdiest, most anthemic songs are the best, such as Heaven on Their Minds and Damned for All Time as sung by Judas (Carl Andersson) with his beautiful black voice. You also gotta love the jubilant and somewhat homoerotic Simon Zealotes and those evil but so understandable farizees Annas and Caiaphas' evil schemes in Then We Are Decided and This Jesus Must Die. If you're a fan of the musical you'll want this, if you're not (yet), then give it a chance; some solid rock music here.

Disc 1 - Touch me, Jesus (44.42 MB)

1. Overture
   
2. Heaven on their minds
3. What's the buzz?
4. Strange thing, mystifying
5. Then we are decided
6. Everything's alright
7. This Jesus must die
8. Hosanna
9. Simon Zealotes
10. Poor Jerusalem
11. Pilate's dream
12. The temple
13. I don't know how to love him
14. Damned for all time - blood money

Disc 2 - Kiss me, Jesus (42.28 MB)

1. The last supper
2. Gethsemane (I only want to say)
3. The arrest
4. Peter's denial
5. Pilate and Christ
6. King Herod's song
7. Could we start again please?
8. Judas' death
9. Trial before Pilate
10. Superstar
11. The crucifixion
12. John: 19-41

Siena Root - Kaleidoscope

Band/artist - Siena Root
Genre(s) - Psychedelic retro rock
Origin - Sweden
Album - Kaleidoscope
Year of release - 2006

Some genres of music are rooted in the past so much that it's impossible to escape from its history when applied in the present. Take Siena Root, for instance, revelling so obviously in the memory of the great bands of the sixties and seventies that Kaleidoscope may as well be an unreleased nugget that's been lying around in someone's cellar since 1971. Bluesy, sweaty retro rock borrowing in equal measures from swampy 60s acid rock (Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly...) and driving, anthemic blues rock from a few years later, such as Sabbath and Zeppelin. Add a pinch of Creedence, and a strong female voice and what you get is a truly kaleidoscopic album of sundrenched, doped up anachronisms with a vengeance.

1. Good and bad
2. Nightstalker
3. Blues 276
4. Bhairavi dhun
5. Crossing the stratosphere
6. There and back again
7. Ridin' slow
8. Reverberations
   

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Megadeth - Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?

Band/artist - Megadeth
Genre(s) - Thrash metal
Origin - L.A., United States of America
Album - Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?
Year of release - 1986

1986 was a great year for thrash metal with the release of many albums that are now seen as classics, among which Master of Puppets and Reign in Blood. Peace Sells... is another one of these releases and it probably won't require an extensive introduction. Bay Area thrash as it's supposed to be, from the punkishly ironic title track and the creepy Bad Omen to the thundering, homicidal adrenaline rush of Black Friday. Dave Mustaine's trademark snarl is a very effective vessel for the bleak lyrics. He's not half the singer James Hetfield is, but sounds twice as able and prepared to feed you your own balls.

1. Wake up dead
2. The conjuring
3. Peace sells
4. Devil's island
5. Good mourning/black friday
6. Bad omen
7. I ain't superstitious
8. My last words
   

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Time for a new blog header

RIP old banner, May 2008-April 2009

To those who've always wondered what the hell the previous banner was supposed to depict: it's one of the Meta-malevitch sculptures by Jean Tinguely. Tinguely (not the man in the picture) was a Swiss kinetic artist, sculpting all kinds of bizarre contraptions that move like a machine but serve no actual function. The Meta-malevitch series consisted of painting machines, which mechanically scratched full pieces of paper or canvas. Pieces of art that create pieces of art! For more works in this fascinating style, see the Wikimedia gallery here.

Definite proof I have not crossed into the brown camp ;)

Photo: Jos van Zetten. For more of his photos of the event: see here.

Me (second from Left) together with Dutch comrades protesting against the NATO war machine in Strasbourg, last weekend. Yes, I'm really that short. The scarf is not because we had any reason to keep our identities a secret - ours was a peaceful demonstration - but to protect against the copious amounts of teargas canisters we were welcomed with by the ever-so-friendly Gendarmerie Mobile. They tried to prevent us to make use of the universal democratic right to demonstrate by any means possible. Many buses full of French union protestors among others were halted and prohibited to participate. Despite this, tens of thousands of people managed to let their cry be heard against the Afghan and Iraq war, the political destabilisation of Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the widespread militarisation this organistation represents. Not all action was nonviolent though, a small minority of the protestors engaged in direct confrontation with the police force and vandalism, with the burning down of a hotel (50 people reported injured) as its saddest accomplishment. Obviously this sort of behaviour serves no political goal and can only hurt any protest - the idea is to win the hearts and minds to our cause against war and violence is not the way. Shame on those selfish bastards.

EDIT: despite violence on both sides, the actions were not unsuccesful. Our blockade attempts and entering the "red zone" at the break of dawn delayed the summit on saturday with over an hour. We heard there was considerable tension between the country's delegations made possible in part by our demonstration. There has been some good, reasonably accurate press coverage here in the Netherlands, including showing the protestors' side of the story that will garner attention to our cause and the unprovoked and disproportionate aggression displayed by the French police force present.

De Stem des Volks - De Rooden Roepen

Band/artist - De Stem des Volks
Genre(s) - Dutch socialist hymns
Origin - Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Album - De Rooden Roepen
Year of release - Early seventies, I'd guess

Okay, okay. Some more red tones for the masses of radicalised workers that quietly follow this blog. The Voice of the People, as the band name translates, was a choir based in Amsterdam that literally sung about nothing else but socialism. The tracklist of De Rooden Roepen ("The Reds are Calling"; I kid you not) alone seems ridiculously one-track-minded and humourless. Despite its subject matter and even though it's even in my native language, I can't say I really like it as I do equally single-issue artists as Knutna Nävar or Ernst Busch; I'm not so much for purely choral music and it sounds very boring to me. Oh well. If you don't care for instruments and stuff, if you're such a die-hard communist that you don't even care what the music sounds like as long as they propagate revolution, or if you collect the Internationale in every language, you may want to grab this. Makkers, ten laaste male/Tot de strijd ons geschaard/en de Internationale/zal morgen heersen op aard'!

1. Morgenrood (Morningred)
   
2. Strijdmars der arbeiders (Workers' battle march)
   
3. Broeders, verheft u ter vrijheid (Brothers, rise to freedom)
   
4. De eerste mei (The first of May)
   
5. Aan de strijders (To those who are fighting)
   
6. Stort, o arbeiders (Plunge, oh workers)
   
7. Strijdlied [mannenkoor] (Battlehymn [men's choir])
   
8. Socialistenmars (Socialists' march)
   
9. De strijders (Those that struggle)
   
10. De Internationale
    
11. Eens (One day)
    
12. Voor het socialisme (For socialism)
    
13. Op naar het licht (Onwards to the light)
    
14. Als wij schrijden (As we stride)
    
15. De rooden roepen (The reds are calling)
    

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Knutna Nävar - Vi Slåss för vår Framtid

Band/artist - Knutna Nävar
Genre(s) - Folk
Origin - Sweden
Album - Vi Slåss för vår Framtid
Year of release - 1972

To repent for the politically incorrect albums I can't help myself but posting sometimes, and to satisfy my most faithful and critical blog buddy (sounds dirty), here's an EP by a band whose antirevisionist ideology is true and free of Trotskyite impurities, etc. etc. The red rascals of Knutna Nävar know how to write a catchy tune even without borrowing melodies from the classic socialist chants, as the first track and the humourous Richard Dollarhjärta prove especially well. The latter song also has a surprisingly modern, rocky sound. The other two tracks are more traditional and would fit well on either of the band's full-lengths (like this one). I was asked for a streak of Marxist-Leninist music but this is the only such release I had previously uploaded and ready for posting. It's just a light snack but I hope you like it.

1. Det är något konstigt med friheten
2. Hallå där bonde
3. Richard Dollarhjärta
4. Vi slåss för vår framtid
   

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Ohtar - Petrified Breath of Hope

Band/artist - Ohtar
Genre(s) - Black metal
Origin - Poland
Album - Petrified Breath of Hope
Year of release - 2006

There's exactly one NSBM album in my physical record collection and well what do ya know, this one's it. Me actually spending money on this would mean it has to be pretty good stuff, right? Well, from the outside it seems like it could well be your regular, dime-a-dozen offering of Absurd-worshipping sieg-heiling black metal. This, Petrified Breath of Hope is not. Sure, you don't have to expect stretches of ambient or super-progressive guitar masturbation. What you do get are enigmatic riffs with a folkish aftertaste that seem specific to Eastern Europe, and are as mesmerising those found in the music of Drudkh, or especially the Farewell album by Infernum. This spiderlike yet corrosive guitar playing is the band's greatest asset, and lifts this band above most of their brownshirted, bone-headed brethren. Their political affiliation is barely noteicable from their lyrics, by the way, so it's all good, clean fun.

1. Poison me, Samaritan
2. Honour and faithfulness
3. Fog imbued with the smell of death
4. Elite? Dust (Sometime...)
5. Light manacled in shackles of ice
6. Insomnia
7. Petrified breath of hope
   

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Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane

Band/artist - Dissection
Genre(s) - Melodic black metal
Origin - Sweden
Album - Storm of the Light's Bane
Year of release - 1995

Groundbreaking piece of melodic black metal. The secret of this band and the key to their succes was that they achieved previously unheard of levels of accessibility while still retaining an icy, Northern sound, that was sorely missing after their "rebirth". What also helps is an keen sense of dynamics and flow in the individual songs. Where Dead Angels Lie is graceful as a waltz but broods with menace, and Retribution is a hateful tirade against the sun. I would have uploaded the Live Legacy album which consists of most of the songs and has a clearer sound, but it doesn't contain Soulreaper which is another jewel that can't be missed. Jon Nödtveidt has done a few naughty things but we may thank him for his music.

1. At the fathomless depths
2. Night's blood
3. Unhallowed
4. Where dead angels lie
5. Retribution - storm of the light's bane
6. Thorns of crimson death
7. Soulreaper
8. No dreams breed in breathless sleep
   

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