Don't Try #6

I’ve decided that it’s time for me to leave the Bay Area. As great a place as it is, I’ve been living here my whole damn life and the need for a major change of scenery has finally won out over all the things that have kept me here for too long. In early October I’m calling it quits on the Bay and in the spirit of immigration – I’m heading north.

So what lucky place gets to receive me as a new resident alien? For now it’s Olympia, Washington. It’s a completely different, and smaller scene there then what we have in the Oakland / San Francisco area, and that’s exactly what I’m looking for. Plus the dreary skies, tall trees and damp grounds appeal to my uber metal mentality. So, to the other 8 metal guys and gals residing in the more widely known indie/punk enclave; I say, let’s build a new scene and cross the triangle of flames.
What I’ll miss about the Bay is all the great shows we get on a regular basis, even just from the locals, as we have one of the best scenes in the country. I’ll miss many close friends and family as well. Things I won’t miss include the traffic, dense population, high crime, general paranoia, plenty of bad memories and assorted backstabbers and fakes (apologies for the semi 25 Ta Life style reference, bitch).

As for Olympia, it’s clear to me that they need a metal injection up there. Maybe running my label there will help with that. Hopefully I’ll be able to convince more of the dark lord’s bands to come to town. Instead of the International Pop Underground, we’ll try to create the International Harsh Underground, or something. The point is, the Bay Area doesn’t really need me the way Olympia so apparently does, you see? It’s not just about me – I go where I’m needed.

And it’s in Olympia that this month’s album reviews begin. Perhaps the bleakest thing to ever emerge from the city’s borders, Wolves In The Throne Room have seen to fit to bestow upon us their second full length record in the form of ‘Two Hunters’ for the Southern Lord label.

More fully produced and layered then the bands debut album ‘Diadem of 12 Stars’, ‘Two Hunters’ begins with an extended buzzing intro that recalls some of Burzum’s more guitar/ambient moments run through a sort of post-rockish filter. The band espouses anti-modernism and a return to the ways of nature, and even without lyrics, the track musically conveys those ideas effectively.

Things really get going once the second track gets underway as the Wolves kick things into black metal tempos and riff patterns. Clearly the band takes a large influence from some of their Norwegian forbears with early Emperor and Ulver coming particularly to mind. Songs tend to be of the more depressive, melancholy and epic variety. Those looking for raw, necro blackness in the Darkthrone vein should look elsewhere.

Operatic and ethereal female vocals are incorporated in certain places, not in a way that detracts from the music (a mistake many metal bands end up making in an effort to be somehow ‘progressive’ or ‘experimental’) but not necessarily adding a great deal either – it just further affirms the albums bleak mood. Overall a strong second effort from another unique west coast metal band and I look very forward to seeing what they do next time around.

Also coming from the Pacific Northwest, Portland to be exact, is Oakhelm, a band comprised of members of Fall of the Bastards and Wormwood among others. And once again, we have a record firmly rooted in some European metal subgenres but with enough to make it stand out from all the usual clichés that bands of this ilk fall prey to.

On their debut album ‘Betwixt & Between’ Oakhelm are dealing in a Viking metal style that incorporates elements of black metal and death metal, with riffs that could often be played either acoustically or in metallized form. “Of Wood & Blood” starts the proceedings with great, epic riffing straight from the mead hall, an effective memorable chorus and enough speed and vocal venom for those into more aggressive stuff.

It’s followed by the acoustic, female-vocal ‘Skal Shanty’ and then “As The Murder Flies” a tracks that brings to mind a band who trolled these landscapes years ago by the name of Mithotyn. Vocalist/bassist Pete Jay (also drums in Wormwood) has several alternating singing/screeching styles to compliment the different moods, tempos and arrangements. “Maybon Shore” is an acoustic downer complete with rain samples and great viking-folk melodies recalling again Ulver’s acoustic forays on the amazing ‘Kveldssanger’ LP.

‘Betwixt & Between’ is especially recommended to fans of Fall of the Bastards. While not sounding in any way identical to that now defunct band, some of the influence in riffs and drum patterns is there and anyone into the Fall of the Bastards stuff will undoubtedly find a lot to like here. On a label called Forest Moon Special Products.

A band that was before now unknown to me is Avichi whose ‘The Divine Tragedy’ album made its way to me courtesy of NMB Records of Dekalb, Illinois. This is totally premium black metal done in similar style to the stuff being released these days by Ajna except this is better and more effective. Strangely enough this was recorded at Steve Albini’s studio, though was not recorded by the man himself.

Still, this album has a great, dark production value up there with the big boys of the scene like Deathspell Omega, Watain and Glorior Belli. Titles like “Messianic Deliverance”, “Purification Within The Eighth Sphere” and “Taedium Vitae” give you some sense of what you’re dealing with here. The tempo is generally just below blastbeat speed, but with plenty of changes and riff variation to keep things interesting for the more seasoned black metal veteran. Whether or not Avichi will garner respect remains to be seen but this album stands as one of the best in the current crop of American and Euro black metal.

A band I didn’t really want to listen to because of their name, The Fucking Wrath, ponys up with ‘Season of Evil’ an album described by their label, Goodfellow, as a cross between Tragedy, Sabbath and ‘Kill Em All’ era Metallica. So I figured I’d check it out, since I like all that stuff. ‘To the Eels’ starts off sounding like a more polished Anti-Cimex tune then makes a fairly believable transition into a stoner rock style jam before heading back into Swedish Kang territory. The influences mentioned definitely shine through on most of these tracks and are given a modern polishing, and one could imagine these tracks coming off pretty killer in a live setting. With 11 songs in about 26 minutes the album doesn’t overstay its welcome, which after a half hour probably would have worn thin. Ultimately not something I’ll be listening to repeatedly but a lot of you will find something to like here.

That’s about all the new music I managed to get through this month that was actually worth writing about – however there’s still a few things to discuss.

A new issue of Oakenthrone Zine has been released. Oakenthrone is easily the best metal zine in existence right now. Not a glossy style rag at all, this is printed in a very classy style with a black and metallic silver cover, and good quality paper inside at the size of a 7 inch. Printed by 1984 printing in Oakland . Issue #5 has it all people. Sure it takes them the better part of a year to get these done, but what you get is 84 pages of top notch metal writing, illustrations done exclusively for the zine and amazing graphic design work by magazine co-principal Ben West. This new issue features extended interviews with Asunder, Archgoat, Coffins, Moss, Portal, Caina and Cult of Daath among several others. The album reviews are extensive and well-written. This issue also comes with a compilation CD that features all of the bands interviewed including an exclusive KFJC radio recording from Asunder. The magazine doesn’t sell copies direct but many underground metal distros are carrying this as well as some in the know stores so just search online if you can and you’ll find it. You won’t be disappointed.

Now, since we still have some time and space left to deal with here, and no new stuff worthy of getting it, let’s revisit a few overlooked classics from the vault that you may not be aware of, but definitely should be.

First up is Deathwitch from Sweden. Deathwitch began in the 90s and released a string of amazing gnarly Swedish death metal records on the Necropolis label. Band mainman Nicke Terror has also been involved with Runemagick, The Funeral Orchestra and Sacramentum among others – all totally awesome in their own right.

After the Necropolis label took a shit on the band like they did to all their bands, Deathwitch split for a time while Nicke concentrated on other shit, but eventually came back to do our album of choice today ‘Violence, Blasphemy, Sodomy’, the last in a string of cleverly-metal titled albums like “Deathfuck Rituals”, “The Ultimate Death” and “Monumental Mutilations”.
The style here is ultimately most steeply based in Swedeath, but there are occasional flourishes of thrashy black metal in a South American vein. Nihilistic metal mayhem ensues on opener “Flamethrower Carnival” and follows with the amazingly necro-raw “Total Morbid” which features the brilliant lyrical nugget I don’t give a fuck, fuck you fuckin’ retards, I hate you, I hate everything… call me Total Morbid. Songs like “Necrosodomizer” , “Coffin Fornicator” and “Death Maniac” at varying times recall names like Nifelheim, Repugnant, early Entombed, Sodom and Autopsy. Surprisingly enough this was released by Earache, a deviation from the usual horribleness they’ve released this century. Not surprisingly the band went permanently awol soon after. Seek this, or any of the other Deathwitch albums mentioned out immediately.

Another somewhat overlooked masterpiece is the first album by Sweden’s Bewitched, Diabolical Desecration – really their only truly worthwhile record. Bewitched originally started as a side project of members of Ancient Wisdom and Katatonia (specifically Anders ‘Blackheim’ Nystrom) as a project to just fuck around and play some killer old school euro thrash and metal riffs. After this record hit and they did a small amount of touring, they found themselves at the forefront of a brief revival movement termed “retro-thrash” at the time. Having no idea that the band would gain the amount of popularity it did, Blackheim quit as Katatonia was always his main band. Once he left, the band continued to release albums, but never as good as the debut.

It starts off with Hard As Steel (Hot As Hell) a black thrasher that cops a riff straight from Mercyful Fate’s “Curse of the Pharaohs” altering it only just slightly to meet their needs. Tracks like “Hellcult” and “Triumph of Evil” don’t hide their obvious appreciation of Venom and you can hear references to bands like Judas Priest, Accept, Bathory and Slayer throughout, in some cases the riffs sounding eerily similar. Vocally it’s a trade off between Blackheim and Vargher with not a lot of difference between the two – a pretty standard angry black thrash rasp.

Although a lot of metalheads might see this album as somewhat standard, for me it hit at the right time and place and along with Aura Noir’s “Black Thrash Attack” stands as one of the great “retro-thrash” records of the mid to late 90s that copiously copped the riffs of the ancient ones. Released by Osmose.

So that’s it for this time brethren and sisters of my circle. I’ll still be in the Bay Area for a few more months but then I’m headed North By Northwest. For now, the same old contact info still applies: Don’t Try, 2340 Powell Street, #117, Emeryville, CA 94608 USA. donttry@20buckspin.com