From Issue #300

In 1982 when Maximum Rock N Roll first appeared in print form I was five years old. In 2008, I’m nearly 31 and MRR has reached its mindblowing 300th issue. In a time when print mags with a far shorter lifespan have fallen by the wayside, reaching #300 really is a HUGE milestone and those who do far more for the magazine then I with this one brief column (the coordinators, the shitworkers, etc) should be praised by all who value what MRR continues to do.

Not only has MRR remained viable and ethical in the age of the interweblogosphere, but has done so since those ancient days of the early 1980s, when all that connected us were Xeroxed zines and tape trading. It’s continued mission to cover punk rock (and even a little metal, shhh don’t tell anyone) from all corners of the globe remains intact. There’s been evolution, of course. It’s not the 1980s anymore. We’re nearly 20 years on from that tumultuous decade, and into our own, possibly more tumultuous time. MRR has adapted accordingly but has always kept its focus.

Punk rock isn’t just youth music anymore, 300 issues in. It’s now a truly all ages show. Parents, kids, even some grandparents count themselves as punks. A vast array of sub-genres and micro-sub-genres make the punk underground as diverse as the many countries that it calls its home. The subculture has informed the lives of its inhabitants outside the music world. Many infuse the DIY ethic that is the subculture’s backbone into every facet of their lives, from diet to child-rearing to community service. This has arguably been punk rock’s greatest and most lasting contribution to society at large and MRR has been a huge part of that.

So as one who has never called himself a punk, just a lowly headbangin’ hesher, I raise my horned chalice of metallic mead to those punks who continue to spread the gospel of DIY, both within and without the punk scene, and to MRR for documenting it all with enthusiasm along the way.

One last sentimental reflection before we move forward to death. I first started checking out MRR when I was in high school, I guess around the age of 16 or so. The people I knew that weren’t mainstream dorks were into punk mostly. The only metalheads were me and my learning disabled buddy. They were all into AFI. I thought they sucked (we’re talkin’ 93-94 here, the band did get better). I saw them open a show for Ensign and Sick Of It All and thought, “This is what everyone is so stoked on?” How embarrassing for them.

But one thing that bothered me about the metal “scene” was that it lacked that DIY sensibility and sense of community. It lacked street cred and that bummed me out. At least in my relatively sheltered world in the eastern Bay Area, that was my perception. I started checkin’ out MRR, usually bought at Tower Books in Concord, to see if there was anything I could like about underground punk. I was into the standards of course, Minor Threat, DKs, etc., but that’s as far as it went.

Well a lot of the shit in there at the time, like Boris The Sprinkler and most of the Lookout bands, the garage-y shit, I knew that wasn’t for me, to put it nicely. But I did discover invaluable information on hardcore bands like Logical Nonsense and also on powerviolence, grindcore and sludge stuff. It wasn’t a lot of coverage but MRR was instrumental in helping me discover some of those bands, which led to hundreds of further discoveries on down the line. Powerviolence was really exactly what I wanted out of music at the time, it was extremely pissed off, but wasn’t overly simplistic and it had the punk idealism that metal lacked at the time. Being at Fiesta Grande, my first trip to Gilman Street, was an intense experience and one I’ve never forgotten. So for that discovery, even an old hesher is indebted to MRR.

And now that MRR is moving to Olympia as Justin promised in the last issue, I’ll be able to contribute oh so much more (wink, wink).

Moving into springtime now, emerging from the dreary winter months that usually lack a significant amount of records being released, I’ve been well inundated with new releases this month including a shitload of new black metal fury.

I think Moribund must release like 10 records every month. It seems like every other week I get an envelope with another 3 or so releases from these people. Luckily a decent percentage of them are worth mentioning, three of which I’ll cover this time around.
First, the long anticipated new devilry from the Bay Area’s own one-man destroyer, Leviathan. As most are aware by now Leviathan is Wrest, aka Jeff Whitehead, old school skater and acclaimed tattoo artist. For many years now he’s been doing the bedroom black metal blues better than just about everyone else. He recorded a ton of demos and then started releasing records through a label including two that are in regular rotation at Don’t Try Deadquarters, those being The Tenth Sublevel Of Suicide and Tentacles Of Whorror.

The new beast is called Massive Conspiracy Against All Life and it is the final Leviathan recording apparently, as Wrest is moving on to concentrate on his other project Lurker Of Chalice.

So does it live up to the hype and expectation? Well, that would have been difficult. This is a solid album that will stand well with the prior output. “Seamless Garment As The Morning” has a swirling, murky chaos not unlike the sound Australia’s Portal cultivates. “Last Breath Of Expiation” feels like the final minutes on a respirator before they pull the plug as the song slowly fades to black. Leviathan’s sound often moves between these more introverted moments of being caught in a vacuum of solitude, and then pissed off flashes of in your face bloodshed. Vocals seem less prominent and mixed lower than usual, less harsh even. 7 tracks over the course of an hour that will mix well with the older material but there’s not a song like The Tenth Sublevel’s… “The Idiot Sun” that really stands above as a track to remember. Leviathan will undoubtedly be recalled as one of the more unique entities spawned by the USBM scene. Lurking about if you can find it is a cover he did of Black Flag’s My War that is rather ripping.

Azaghal is a Finnish black metal horde that have been around for 10 years already. They’ve released 5 or 6 records in that time but their new album Omega is the first exposure I’ve had to them. I’m glad I caught this band already well into their lifetime because this is a totally colossal, experienced and rock solid assault of kold Scandinavian jawbreakers. I mean, all bangers and no mash. Azaghal does not fuck around and from the opening seconds it’s full on hyperblast warp speed now captain and it rarely eases up. Even during the more mid-paced moments this is violent as shit. “Pirun Verta”, the second track, registers a 9.5 on the air guitar body bang richter. Like if the Swedish band Setherial had actually written with songs in mind rather than just ripping your face off, it may have sounded like what Azaghal is doing on Omega. Should such a shameless display of ferocity make one happy? Azaghal might not like to hear it but black metal this good puts a smile on my face. Despite the occasional appearance of some keyboards there’s nothing light in the loafers going on here, total iron boots. “Quetzalcoatl” is a black metal blasterpiece, quite possibly the best track here even though I’d lose the keyboard break. Overall the tracks comprising Omega stand to be some of the best black metal storm-fucking-lieders of the year creating serious fire on the poop deck of destruction. And don’t worry Azaghal dudes, I won’t tell anyone that on the unpronounceable track “Kaikkinakevan Silman Alla” you copped a riff from Cannibal Corpse’s “Hammer Smashed Face” three minutes in. Oh, I will drink this milkshake, drink it up.

So I’ve never been particularly horny for Finland’s Horna but their latest mini-LP Pimeyden Hehku might convince me to get in bed with these brutes afterall. Unlike their countrymen in Azaghal, this one has got a little more of a messy punk rawness up its blackened sleeveless. Call it primitive and filthy perhaps. Opener “Nostalgiaa” (yep one A ain’t enough for the Finns, their nostalgic enough for two) spits forth rumbling bass driven speed leading to some bangable mid-paced Horna-havoc.

Sometimes Horna is reminiscent of the ugly Norsemen in Carpathian Forest and I’m reminded of that bands roughed up and bruised Black Shining Leather LP. Indeed the guy pictured from Horna has a nailed arm gauntlet the size of which would make the Forest’s Nattefrost green with envy. How can you get anything done walking around with 15-inch nails sticking out of your arm? No wonder his face looks all cut up. The mini-LP format works well for Horna. I haven’t been able to get through an entire Horna LP, but with Pimeyden Hehku’s four diseased songs in just 20 minutes it’s perfectly snortible. Good place to start if you’ve ever been interested in this fixture of the Finnish black empire.

A new split is out between Arizona’s The Landmine Marathon and the Bay Area’s own Scarecrow. Landmine Marathon get the A-side with their three tracks. A modern aggro beast with grind-tinged metal recalling 21st century Napalm Death in places along with some Bolt Thrower dual guitar epicness. I’d guess this band destroy live and they haven’t quite captured what I imagine to be that destructive force. And they have to know that the first part of their song “Rise With The Tide” is pretty much Bolt Thrower’s “Forever Fallen” with a few changed notes. Compare the two and tell me it’s not, it’s pretty blatant. No beef, just sayin’.

Been wishing Metallica sounded like 1986 again? Problem solved. Scarecrow is my old friend Matt Harvey’s baby, he of Exhumed and Dekapitator fame. It’s unashamed Metallica worship done better than just about anybody. I’m all for lack of originality when the imitation is convincing and this makes the grade easily. I don’t think Matt would deny it either as Metallica is his all time favorite band. The songwriting skill and musicianship with which Scarecrow works will keep them from being lumped in with the million man march of the thrashmania bummer currently happening. Muni Waste this ain’t. Seeing them live last year in Oakland was pretty revelatory. Bud Burke can rip through the classiest solo with a surgical speed and precision the likes of which are rarely seen. Matt’s vocals lack the power of Puppets-era Hetfield, but this is Scarecrow in their infancy and hopefully that aspect will be fine tuned to the extent necessary. Like their partners on the A-side, Scarecrow didn’t totally capture that absolute live magic on record, but hearing the songs this way first will make those who eventually check them out live that much more amazed. Can’t wait to hear what comes next. This band needs a $100,000 budget and a Flemming Rasmussen production. The split was released by the Level Plane label.

For a self-released CD Orgone’s “The Goliath” looks and sounds a lot better than most albums with label backing. Insane guitar playing that jumps all over the place, weird rhythms and a death metal backbone. Musically this is very calculated sounding stuff. People might be tempted to use the word “math” but that’s kind of a misnomer since I wouldn’t put Orgone into that irritating genre. This is more on the extreme tech death tip with a prog vibe. Typically I never listen to this kind of thing, but this album is really fucking great actually. The harsh vocals fit perfect. There appears to be an interesting concept lyrically that combined with the tunes give this a real connection to the Prog world, but this is still firmly entrenched in modern death metal. Amazing artwork courtesy of my friend David D’Andrea who has done covers for Graves At Sea, Ulver and Witchcraft among others. I was watching David put this art together months ago when we shared an office in Emeryville but regrettably never checked out the music until now, 8 months later. Why this band is not on Willowtip, Relapse or Deathwish is beyond me. If they have the ability to tour then this band will be picked up by one of those big labels any day now. In the meantime the CD can be got directly from the band for $9 US and $12 world to Stephen Jarrett, 2828 Mckelvey Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15221. Their webpage is myspace.com/orgoneus. Go check them out.

And now we take a trip back in time, only this time it makes sense for right now in 2008 as well. That’s because Displeased Records out of Holland has re-released the first two albums by the panzergodly Chicago death metal progenitors Master. Master was formed originally around 1983-84. Before doing anything substantial the band splintered with member Bill Schmidt moving on to Mayhem (US, not Norway) and band, uh, mastermind, Paul Speckmann forming the legendary demo only proto-death legends Death Strike (a full length with the demo ‘Fuckin Death’ plus other tracks emerged later). The Death Strike demo made a big impression in the underground and soon after that Schmidt and Speckmann reunited and went back to the name Master.

Lots of drama ensued during the rest of the 1980s that I won’t get into here, but eventually in 1990 the self-titled debut Master recording was finally released. It featured all four songs from the Death Strike demo re-recorded, those being “Mangled Dehumanization”, “Pay To Die”, “Funeral Bitch” and “Re-entry and Destruction”. Six other tracks made it on as well. The album is packed to the gills with deathrashin’ greatness taking influence from Venom, Motorhead and Slayer and infusing it with the more recent (for the time) sounds of Mantas/Death and Possessed. The title track is an anthem with its punk leaning lyrical cry “Stand back all you preachers, Stop looking to the skies, We are your Masters, We need no disguise.” After a bass-solo a 100mph version of Sabbath’s “Children Of The Grave” pays tribute to the masters of reality.

The second full length album “On The Seventh Day God Created… Master” was released just a year later in 1991. A collection of mostly new songs that hadn’t been circulating in the underground tape trading trenches for years before release. Again recorded by death metal legend Scott Burns at Morrisound Studios in Tampa, Florida the album also featured some guest vocal spots by John Tardy of Obituary on “Latitudinarian” and “Submerged In Sin”.

“Heathen” has a cruel bloodfiending Autopsy-esque death wreak in its slowed roll while “Judgment Of Will” is a personal favorite that was originally done for an album that Master recorded back in 1985 but never got released (more on that later). All in all “On The Seventh Day…” is another essential piece in the early American death metal pantheon.

One of Master’s more annoying habits was taking American patriotic songs like “The Pledge of Allegiance” and “American The Beautiful” renamed “America The Pitiful” and making them their own. The songs are interesting enough but at the same time have the effect of giving the albums a joke-ish quality that’s not appealing in an early death metal band. The songs make sense given Speckmann’s obvious, if rudimentary, lyrical leanings toward politics, war and religion.

These re-releases are the original mixes of the albums that Paul Speckmann was happier with than what was originally released by Nuclear Blast. I don’t have the originals anymore to compare with but the liner notes claim that Scott Burns triggered the drums and left off a bunch of solos unbeknownst to the band and that’s what got released. The drums still have somewhat of a machine-like quality even on these mixes however.

Displeased has also included a DVD with each release. Two live shows from the time period the albums were released are contained on each DVD. Now these DVDs are mostly of low, bootleg quality – it’s the early 90s afterall, and so they are not essential except for Master completists, but as a bonus they’re a welcome addition.

One final note on Master. In 1985 the band recorded an album for Combat Records, the label the released Death, Exodus, Possessed and a hundred other great bands. Unfortunately the band hooked up with a manager who demanded way more than Combat were willing to give and the label ripped up the contract and never released the recording. Displeased released the untitled 1985 album a few years back and it’s still available on CD. Many of the tracks ended up on the first Master full length in 1990, but these are different, and in my view rawer, uglier and hence, superior versions of many of those tracks; easily my favorite Master recording. All of these releases are worth getting but if you only seek out one, get the unreleased 1985 album. There’s a ton of Master info available at Speckmann’s website, www.master-speckmetal.com.

Finally, I want to dedicate my column in this 300th issue of Maximum Rock N Roll to my friend from Concord, California, David Plumb. David passed away on March 5th 2008 one day before his 35th birthday. Dave was a fan of punk, hardcore and metal going way back and I sat with him in his garage many times listening to and discussing some of our mutually favorite albums including Neurosis’ “Souls At Zero”, At The Gates’ “Slaughter Of The Soul” and The Cro-Mags “Age Of Quarrel”. Rest peacefully now brother. You will be missed by all that knew your one-of-a-kind character.

Dave, 120 State Ave NE #136, Olympia, WA 98501, dontfuckingtry.blogspot.com Beware The Iron Heel.