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Tourdates of the Tormentors

Death Metal has never been averse to tolling the end of our unsustainable, technocratic age by manipulating it’s very machinery against the system, for the purposes of pure electro-sonic destruction. In the same spirit of infiltration and warfare, we’ve upgraded our upcoming events list to a compact and calendrical crystal ball of future live underground Metal massacres!

New Year’s Incantation

Incantation will be raiding the eastern-most shores of Europe this January. Fellow Ibex Moon heathens Divine Eve will also be hitting the dates in England, Spain and then onwards to Italy, no doubt unleashing heavy doses of the old-school, cryptic language from the upcoming ‘Vengeful and Obstinate’ EP. The pan-European conglomerate of Hate, Nerve and Noctem will provide further support throughout the tour, with local bands intervening. A diabolical start to the year for European residents who can’t resist the infernal sound of northern USDM.

13/01/2010 – The Central – Nottingham, UK
14/01/2010 – Rio’s – Leeds, UK
15/01/2010 – Bannermans – Edinburgh, UK
16/01/2010 – The Elektrowerkz – London, UK
17/01/2010 – Den Eglantier – Antwerp, Belgium
21/01/2010 – Mephisto – Barcelona, Spain
22/01/2010 – Santana 27 – Bilbao, Spain
23/01/2010 – Grind In The Veins Metal Fest 2010 – Vigo, Spain
24/01/2010 – Ritmo & Compas – Madrid, Spain
30/01/2010 – Siddharta - Prato/Florence, Italy
31/01/2010 – Pieffe Factory – Gorizia, Italy

This is the latest tour schedule as of the date of posting, including the changes of venue that were made to the British leg.

Nile and Immolation go for a winter campaign

I don’t know if it’s the right season for war, but here’s a list of dates for you lucky Americans again. Go see them, as even the new Nile album “Those Whom the Gods Detest” has been growing on me, not the least because it has the best death metal use of the “allahu akbar“ phrase so far. Here’s the review by Mr. Stevens, for more information. Plus maybe Immolation will play something from the forthcoming album.

Jan. 15 – Baltimore, MD – Sonar
Jan. 16 – Worcester, MA – The Palladium (MA)
Jan. 17 – Philadelphia, PA – The Trocadero
Jan. 18 – New York, NY – The Blender Theatre
Jan. 20 – Cleveland, OH – Peabody’s
Jan. 21 – Chicago, IL – Metro/Smart Bar
Jan. 22 – Milwaukee, WI – Rave
Jan. 23 – St. Paul, MN – Station 4
Jan. 24 – Kansas City, MO – The Beaumont Club
Jan. 25 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theatre
Jan. 27 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
Jan. 28 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre
Jan. 29 – Orangevale, CA – The Boardwalk
Jan. 30 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
Jan. 31 – San Diego, CA – House Of Blues
Feb. 02 – Los Angeles, CA – Key Club
Feb. 03 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
Feb. 04 – Mesa, AZ – U.B.’s Bar
Feb. 05 – Tucson, AZ – The Rock
Feb. 06 – Farmington, NM – Gator’s
Feb. 08 – Corpus Christi, TX – House of Rock
Feb. 09 – San Antonio, TX – Scout Bar
Feb. 10 – Houston, TX – Scout Bar
Feb. 11 – Dallas, TX – Trees
Feb. 12 – Tulsa, OK – Marquee
Feb. 13 – Louisville, KY – Headliner’s Music Hall
Feb. 14 – West Springfield, VA – Jaxx
Feb. 16 – Virginia Beach, VA – Peppermint Beach
Feb. 17 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
Feb. 18 – Charlotte, NC – Amos Southend
Feb. 19 – Raleigh, NC – Volume 11
Feb. 20 – Charleston, SC – Music Farm

Incantations of death in New Jersey

We’ve been going on about the insane lineups of Maryland Deathfest for some time now, but it seems New Jersey a bit over 200 km away is rising to the challenge to cause some serious headbanging and contemplation of deathly things. New Jersey Death Fest is going to be held October 16th to 18th – probably worth attending if you’re in the vicinity.

Here’s the deal:

MORTICIAN
GOREAPHOBIA
PHLEGM
INCANTATION
EVOKEN
DISMA
GRAVEHILL
DRIPPING
PUTRID PILE
WAKING THE CADAVER
ACHERON
LIVIDITY
WOMB
DIGESTED FLESH
CRIMINAL ELEMENT
MALIGNANCY
MORTAL DECAY
MUTATED
INHUMAN DISSILIENCY
COMPOSTED
NJDOTS
MALAMOR
ABACINATE
HEINOUS KILLINGS
DYSENTERY
SEXCREMENT
CALL THE PARAMEDICS
BLESSED OFFAL
ABORTED EXISTENCE
VOMITOUS RECTUM
MERCILESS MUTILATION
WITHOUT REMORSE

Goreaphobia, Incantation and Acheron should be familiar. Plus there are lots of names there we haven’t heard before. Some of them are bound to be interesting, some crappy, but hey, it’s a big festival, what do you expect? Is nothing happening in Florida? When’s the next time there’s good death metal in Europe? Now we go to summon some Elder Gods to answer us these questions.

By the way, Incantation will also practice their art in South America soon, according to this kind of dates:

October 30th – TBA – Guatemala City, Guatemala
October 31st – Museo de Antropologia e Historia – San Pedro Sula, Honduras

The latter date receives the credit for one of the most inspiring and appropriate venue choices of the year! Prepare for the diabolical conquest…

Return of the Dutch deathmasters

This summer’s festival season of carnage is nearing its bloody end and while drinking beer from skullcaps we have been reading and writing reports, listening to albums and throwing the sign of the horns to all bands that still really understand what death metal is about. Maryland Deathfest 2009 was a success as were of course countless of smaller events in USA, Germany, wherever, and I myself attended the true-as-fuck Jalometalli 2009 in Oulu, Finland. It was truly a pleasure to see that this country still has a metal festival which is not totally invaded by metalcore people and hipsters. It has been getting worse, because metal is trendy now and even though that means more gigs, it also means that corporate rock bastards see the marketing potential.

While old school speed metal bands regenerated themselves with great force, the likes of Agent Steel, Death Angel and Whiplash riffing and headbanging like it was goddamned 1985, the band that really dominated the Oulu proceedings was the mighty Asphyx, always too underrated, always better than pretty much anything else from Netherlands, whose little brother Hail of Bullets didn’t fare that much worse with their Bolt Thrower impersonation. Despite the open air / big stage setup, the underground feeling of it was something that could have happened in one of those legendary “youth center” gigs of the early 90′s death metal scene in Scandinavia. No glamour, no gimmicks, some death metal possessed kids throwing a moshpit, and pure old school musical values dating even back to demo material (the legendary cut “Rite of Shades”).

So, forget the hippie Atheist, boring Pestilence and greedy Carcass, whomever else has made the comeback for all the wrong reasons. Asphyx is here to stay and crush.

Maryland madness, a new dimension

Only a few years ago it seemed that the ancient death cults were left as pickings for ravens and metal festivals were mostly interested in metalcore and other more marketable forms which, after a long resistance, invaded even Europe. For the first time in a wide scale since death metal left MTV and Billboard in mid-90′s, USA sees a new resurgence of brutal growls, chromatic riffs and obscure dialectics borne from studies of Sumerian myths, underground art and cemeteries by the light of a full moon.

Or what say you about this line-up of confirmed bands for Maryland Deathfest 2010:

AUTOPSY
GORGUTS (Canada)
OBITUARY
ENTOMBED (Sweden)
POSSESSED
PENTAGRAM
ASPHYX (Netherlands)
EYEHATEGOD
PESTILENCE (Netherlands)
NAGLFAR (Sweden)
MALEVOLENT CREATION
CONVERGE
NECROPHOBIC (Sweden)
MELECHESH (Netherlands)
SINISTER (Netherlands)
INCANTATION
PORTAL (Australia)
WOLFBRIGADE (Sweden)
HAEMORRHAGE (Spain)
THE CHASM
COFFINS (Japan)
IMPALED
DECEASED
SADISTIC INTENT
NAZXUL (Australia)
GRIDLINK
ROMPEPROP (Netherlands)
BIRDS OF PREY
STORMCROW
GRIDE (Czech Republic)
INGROWING (Czech Republic)
GOROD (France)
16
JESUS CRÖST (Netherlands)
MASSGRAVE (Canada)
FUCK THE FACTS (Canada)
TOMBS
HOWL

If you ask me, it’s nothing short of insane. First of all, there’s Autopsy, Entombed and Possessed, who are practically the founders of death metal as a phenomenon. I can confirm from their Tuska Festival appearance a couple of years ago that Entombed can still crank out vicious early Swedish sounds when they realize that’s what their setlist should be filled with. Possessed might be a living corpse but it has a historical purpose. Autopsy is a black horse. There are many other interesting cases such as the in-depth musical fusion of Gorguts (heirs of Voivod), almost everyone of note from Netherlands, one of the least devolved Swedish melodic death metallers Necrophobic, the ever-relevant Incantation, the weird Aussies Portal and Nazxul, The Chasm, Sadistic Intent, powerful stuff all around.

Go there if you can! Hell, I’m considering it even if it might mean economic disaster for a student from overseas.

Hvis Lyset Tour Oss

Successfully premiering last year at the AFI Film Festival in decadent Los Angeles following high anticipation and mixed expectations, Norwegian Black Metal documentary ‘Until The Light Takes Us‘ is now on tour around the United States, with the upcoming screenings scheduled below:

Early July – Carmike Cinema, Nashville, TN (being rescheduled)
09-11/07/2009 (9th, 7:30pm. 10th – 11th, 7:30pm and 9:30pm) – Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
11/07/2009 (6:30pm) – as220 Arts Center, Providence, RI
25/07/2009 (8:00pm) – Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL
01/08/2009 (7:30pm) – The Brattle Theater, Boston, MA
07/08/2009 (8:30pm) – Domy Books, Houston, TX
13/08/2009 (7:30pm) – Plaza Theater, Atlanta, GA
14-15/08/2009 (10:30pm) – Guild Cinema, Albuquerque, NM
20/08/2009 (9:30pm) – Nightlight Arts Space, Chapel Hill, NC
26/08/2009 (8:00pm) – The Loft Cinema, Tucson, AZ
02/09/2009 (7:30pm) – Ibrahim Theater at International House, Philadelphia, PA

The directors, Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites, will also be bringing the documentary movie back to Europe in the Autumn. London’s Raindance Film Festival that runs from the 30th September through to the 11th of October will be cursed by a screening, and a date later in October is planned for that infarcted heart of Europe: Belgium. The tour coincides well with the recent release of creative dissident Varg Vikernes from the very prison that he was interviewed in for this movie. Visit your local screening for a less sensationalist, but most inquisitve look of its kind into the infamous second wave since Moynihan’s Lords of Chaos.

Vi døde ikke
Vi har aldri levd

Clips
Trailer
Varg interview #1
Varg interview #2
Fenriz interview

Dawn of Demonaic Possession, London Will Burn

Following a performance over at the Maryland Deathfest that had several generations of Metalheads mesmerised by their energy and pervasive, irreligious spirit, the enduring Immolation will be voyaging across the Atlantic to headline the London Deathfest later this month. The line-up should be turned on it’s head by the veterans at the end of the night. I recommend any morbid souls in the area to get a ticket soon and pay their respects to one of the most dedicated bands in Death Metal history.

27/06/2009 – London Deathfest, Camden Underworld, London UK

Clips
Into Everlasting Fire
Harnessing Ruin

Late July, and the height of Summer will bring to London one of the southern hemisphere’s most legendary Satanic Death Metal bands, Pentagram. Not to be confused with the band from Virginia, Chile’s Pentagram are representatives of the raw and uncompromising South American old school, contemporaneous to the likes of Sarcofago, Vulcano, Mortem and Sepultura. The band have re-united for several shows, apparently leading up to Wacken, so this appearance in London will be something of a preview and a chance to be possessed by your primal self before the dark altar of the Underworld.

21/07/2009 – Pentagram, Camden Underworld, London, UK

Clips
Fatal Predictions
Demonaic Possession

Morbid Angel assaults Australia and South America

While we’re waiting for Morbid Angel‘s first new album since David Vincent joined the band again, there’s no better way to spend an evening than go see them creating new live mutations of “Chapel of Ghouls”, “Lord of All Fevers and Plague” and other classics once again. Last year Europeans were lucky to witness a series of their explosive live performances. Now it’s the turn of Australia and South America, with this bunch of dates.

2009/05/30 – Transmission Room, Auckland, New Zealand
2009/06/01 – Billboards Club, Melbourne, Australia
2009/06/03 – Capitol, Perth, Australia
2009/06/05 – The Metro, Sydney, Australia
2009/06/08 – The HiFi Brisbane, Brisbane, Australia
2009/06/20 – Guatemala City – Guatemala – Parque de la Industria
2009/06/21 – San Salvador – El Salvador – Centro de Ferias & Convenciones
2009/06/24 – Lima – Peru – VOCE
2009/06/26 – Quito – Ecuador – Estadio Chaupicruz
2009/06/27 – Bogota – Colombia – Parque Simon Bolivar – Rock al Parque Festival
2009/06/28 – Maracay – Venezuela – COMPLEJO FERIAL SAN JACINTO

Clips
God of Emptiness
Maze of Torment
Nevermore

Satanic skinheads blaspheme again

If there ever was a more extreme, violent and influential black metal phenomenon than the Canadian warlords of Blasphemy, well, I haven’t seen it. As if synchronized with this year’s attacks by the most influential Canadian band of the previous generation Voivod, R. Förster of Blasphemy and Conqueror has released this statement:

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the release of the now infamous “Blood Upon the Altar” demo tape (1989ce); BLASPHEMY will be preforming a few Live Rituals both local (Vancouver, Canada Rituals planned) and abroad (KRK Black Flames of Blasphemy Festival Helsinki, Finland October 23rd-24th 2009ce).

NOCTURNAL GRAVE DESECRATOR and BLACK WINDS: Vocals
CALLER OF THE STORMS: Lead Guitar
3 BLACK HEARTS OF DAMNATION and IMPURITY: Drums
DEATHLORD OF ABOMINATION AND WAR APOCALYPSE: Guitar
Unbaptised Prospect (Ritual Name revealed in time): Bass & Backing Vocals

Well, wouldn’t I be pissed off if I didn’t happen to live in one of those two countries scheduled for bömbing. Of course we hope this band will get more active in other respects also now, since their brand of combining grindcore sounds with the blasphemous ideologies of black metal influenced everyone from Beherit to practically the whole Australian black-thrash-war scene. Hail Blasphemy!

Ross Bay Cult
Kold Reso Kvlt ry

Clips
Blasphemy
Ritual

Reviews
Fallen Angel of Doom
Fallen Angel of Doom
Gods of War
Gods of War
Gods of War
Gods of War