Ooty

Ooty was good. The walk on Saturday was the longest in recent memory and the descent into wet clay the most exciting. The food was consistently bad but the company was consistently entertaining.

The International Youth Hostel turned out to be terrible. The rooms were dimly lit with bunk beds and no ventilation. The promised bonfire in the garden proved to be insufficient incentive for us to stay there and so after some lunch, much deliberation and fretting and fuming (which I slept through) we reached Moti Manor. Decent enough for the money we were paying.

Friday evening is where memory's playing a bit of a bastard. I had a terrible headache and for some reason didn't take a tablet. Basically i think everyone got drunk and went to bed. I got up a bit later and threw up. Three times.

Luckily by morning, the headache was gone and coffee had arrived. Terrible coffee. All over Ooty, just terrible coffee and tea. Why? It's a bloody tourist destination and they can;t get their fucking tea and coffee right? WTF! Also, it looks like every single government official in Tamil Nadu is out to fleece the tourist. The demands for ten rupees and fifty rupees seemed unending.

Day 2 was pretty much it. The definition of perfect. Morning coffee was fuck all but it didn't stop me from having two cups. We went to yet another fuck all restaurant for breakfast, ate bread omlette because it was the only breakfast food available and there were simply no sausages and bacon to be had. Who would have thought huh? A former destination of fat British bastards and sixty years after they've gone there's no sign of bacon and sausages and eggs for breakfast. Anyway, the omlette was all right and breakfast was done.

So anyway, Saturday morning we hit the lake and managed to find a half way secluded spot on the banks. It was awesome. The weather was perfect, the grass was green, there were ready mixes galore, wild litchis and all round good cheer and bonhomie.

After the lake and another shitty lunch in Hyderabad Biryani (Empire's very poor and very distant cousin) we set off once again. This time the mission was to find another place that was devoid of all human life. The Panaman mentioned a near mythical place called 7^th mile (probably

from the dark recesses of his childhood memory) and off we went looking. I'm not sure where we ended finally. A walk through the Hindustan Photo Films employee quarters (Indunagar) led us to this unbelievable place.

I know Ooty's filled with tourists and honeymooners and locals out to make a quick buck but the area still has some absolutely beautiful places. You just have to make the effort to look for it. Anyway, look at the pics and feel the splendor of this land. It was a long walk though and at times it became a bit of a trek but we climbed up a hill, came down a mountain, survived close encounters with some really wet clay and finally came to this place that was deemed perfect to sit and rest and recharge batteries. A plain grassy field stretched out before us with horses grazing, a cool breeze blowing and this thick pine tree forest beyond the plains. It was quite awesome.

It was a miracle that the weary travelers were still on their feet by the time they got back to the hotel and there really was only thing left to do on their last night in Ooty. Open that bottle and start drinking.

….we just slept but.

They were six and they were brave

Singular mission, no world to save

Search for the perfect holiday

That was their only aim.

To Ooty they set off, the hills were happening

Escaping the city, always a good thing

2 nights and 3 days the perfect vacation

Moti Manor was our final destination

The lake was great, the grass was green

The litchis were the reddest I'd ever seen

The Panaman and Keitho went fishing

Caught a few hats, and other dirty things

The food in Ooty deserves a stanza

Uniformly fuck all, even Bob's is better

Coffee and Tea, they taste the same

Our Biryanis and Burjis were utterly lame.

The 7^th mile was pretty funky

Long fucking walk but all was well

Didn't want to come back and be a desk monkey

I tell you! This holiday was swell.

nameless

I want to join the chorus
but my words are always wrong
I really want to scratch that itch
but my nails aren't sharp enough
I am the jester in life's court
and the King, he hates my guts
I'll never be the name on the marquee
yet I'll dance my lonely dance

The world spins like a merry go round
and I'm tired of standing still
Life's secrets stay that way
and I'm left holding the bill

I've danced and danced till my feet are sore
bruised, bleeding, numb
I stop to catch a breath
and then it's time to go on
The applause is missing
as is the adoring crowd
Takes a while for me to realize
that no one cares at all.

vampire

Fall into my arms and hold me tight

I feel your hatred shift at the speed of light

Sleep child and let me be

I’m just sucking you dry in the name of empathy

this is endgame

This is endgame.

I’m living it now.

I’m not crashing through roadblocks.

I’m staring at them in wonder.

How did they get here ?

Why now ? Why ever ?

This is endgame

Life as it is not as supposed

I’m weaving my last delicate lie

I’m dancing one last time

It doesn’t matter how I got here

Not now. Not ever.

This is endgame

Loaded dice and a rigged table

I’m done with the delicate dance

At one with the delicate dance

Failure is the only option

Now and forever

this and that

Hello again.
I’m undecided about a lot of things right now. Should I ? Shouldn’t I ? They’re all going to take severe effort on my side and some are things I must do while some are things I want to do. I’ll probably end up doing them all in a half assed way. Such is life.

The Monolith Deathcult have just delivered the sucker punch of the year. This album just completely came in from the cold and blew me away. Like Clint in High Plains Drifter. The band play a mix of old school Euro and American death but enhance the music with keyboards and electronics. The music sounds epic and raw in parts while being unpredictable in the best possible way. Trivmvirate is a fucking storm. \m/

This cricket series against South Africa was so boring. I hope we lose the third test. Then they can all go to IPL and redeem themselves. Make big scores on flat pitches, make tons of money, feel young and hard again and then move to the next failure. Indian cricket is becoming more entertainment than sport. A bunch of glorified models who walk on to the field when they don’t have to pose but continue to pose anyway. Wankers !

I saw Race recently. Akshay Khanna, Saif Ali Khan, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif, Samira Reddy and Anil Kapoor all act in it to varying degrees. I like Akshay Khanna, especially after Gandhi My Father which I thought was brilliant. The three ladies are completely gorgeous and Saif seems to be trying for some sort of rugged metrosexual look. The plot kind of went on and on with twists and turns and double and triple and a whole quartet of crosses and all this before the interval. Honestly, it was only Anil Kapoor as the fruit eating South African-Indian cop Robert D’Costa who saved this film with his completely outrageous one liners of the so bad they’re good variety. Much better than Welcome where he was just completely over the top.

Anyway, the ladies were gorgeous. It was a tie between Katrina Kaif and Bipasha Basu for almost the whole movie till a little red dress happened and then it was Bipasha all the way. Completely smoldering. Sameera Reddy looked good and was quite convincing in the dumb bimbo role.
Overall I had fun in the second half of the movie and while not quite paisa vasool, it was reasonable time pass.

Now, sit down and let me tell you a tale. There used to be this band from Norway called Atrox with a weird and wonderful sense of heavy metal and an equally weird and wonderful woman who sang and squealed and made effervescent noises. The last of all this though was a few good years ago and that weird and wonderful woman left the band. All was silent till suddenly a few days ago I came across a new Atrox album. They were back. This time with a weird and not very wonderful man singing for them. Still, the power of Atrox holds firm.

I’m surfing on the rings of Saturn
Nursing a drink and hoping to learn
I’m on the job, on the roll, on the money
On the sixth planet where it’s never sunny

The chick was hot, they all are
The job was easy, not all of them are
Find her little brother who ran away
No big deal, I’d make her day

I’m surfing on the rings of Saturn
Looking for a little lost kid
I’m surfing on the rings of Saturn
Someone please give me a tip

Dead ends ,no one knows nothing
Right time for the phone to ring
A whisper, a breath, an offer to meet
To learn of a little bloody boy with teeth

The whisper leads to darkness
All signs point to a complete mess
Run! Leave! The boy’s a fucking vampire
Never had my future seemed so dire

I’m surfing on the rings of Saturn
Looking for a little lost vampire
I’m surfing on the rings of Saturn
Drunk, nervous and not so sure

I know where he is and I’m on my way
Collect and deliver, like any other day
Tie that little sucker with a red ribbon
And mail him to his sister in Lisbon

I enter the dark, I’m so scared
Monkey on my back, teeth on neck
I never had a chance, die I shall
The boy’s a vampire after all

I was surfing on the rings of Saturn
And I found what I was looking for
I was surfing on the rings of Saturn
And it's left me bleeding to death now

Celluloid crimes

Dust Devil
I read about this one in an issue of Fangoria where some critic said that this movie was like Tarkovsky on acid. It isn’t. It doesn’t even come close to the power of the Russian. Still, it’s got it’s own style, it’s got some truly WTF moments, some terrific scenes and the myriad African accents are damn trippy. The story is incidental and the opening and closing shots seem like a tribute to High Plains Drifter but the movie’s worth watching at least once if you’re a horror fan.

Lord of War
Another movie that I read great reviews for. It’s a black comedy with Nicolas Cage as a Ukrainian immigrant in New York who makes his career in arms dealing, mostly illegally. It’s plays out like a more hardcore version of Thank You For Smoking with Cage taking the viewer on a tour of his life from helping out at his parent’s restaurant to becoming the Lord Of War. Ethan Hawke drops in every now and then as an Interpol agent on the trail and he’s as irritating as ever. While things do slow down in the middle, I loved the end. Surprisingly good and exceeded expectations.

The New York Ripper
I don’t like The Beyond. Now that that’s out of the way, this was yet another movie that I’d read about for a long time. It was supposed to be nasty, misogynistic and bloody. Well it’s all three. It’s a dark, cynical, angry film with no real redeeming qualities. There’s a serial killer, killing young women, there’s a sexually repressed woman who’s desperate for it, there’s lots of nudity, blood and gore and an ending that seems like an afterthought. Not all of it makes sense either. Works more as horror than a crime thriller.

The Gravedancers
3 friends dance on 3 graves and unleash 3 ghosts from the past. One for each of them. This low budget indie was supposedly a big hit at horror festivals and it has a terrific first half with some good tension build ups. It’s derivative of everything from The Grudge to Poltergeist and plays out every haunted house cliché but is still good fun. Then the paranormal investigators turn up and the movie just looses steam. Plus some really hokey effects come into the picture and the special effects in the climax are ridiculous. Could have been a much better movie.

10,000 BC
I don’t know why I went to the theatre to watch this. Luckily it was in Rex. We didn’t last the whole movie and left at the interval. This movie was so bad it made me angry. What the fuck were these people thinking? We’ll dress a few people up in furs, put dreadlocks on them, make them talk English with a vague Arabic/ Jamaican/ European accent and make believe it’s 10,000 BC. Let’s also make sure there are some landscape shots for that epic feel. The cherry on top though was the narrator. He sounded like Sean Connery being butt-raped and was incredibly irritating. Rubbish from start to interval. I hope it flops and Roland Emmerich won’t be able to make a movie ever again.

On my playlist

Sunday at Devil Dirt is the second album to come from the collaboration of Scottish songstress Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan who used to sing for the Screaming Trees. These two musicians first came together in 2006 for the good if overlong Ballad Of Broken Seas. This one sees them taking a much darker approach to songwriting and Lanegan’s whiskey and Marlboro voice sounds more and more like a somber Nick Cave. Still in the same folk music playground and I wish Isobel would sing a bit more but for now this one’s better than Ballad and a full review should be up shortly.

Puscifer’s V For Vagina seems a bit same throughout. Maynard James Keenan's vocals are very laidback and the music is a mild trip hop meets later NIN. Some good songs but also a little bleh. I had zero expectations from the new Meshuggah but obZen is proving to be quite kickass. It sounds like an interesting progression for the band. I like this. I’m also listening to some Red Harvest. Haven’t heard anything by this band but they got universal praise for their last album “A Greater Darkness” and it’s some more good extreme metal. Sounds like what might have happened if mid period Gorefest had found electronics instead of hard rock.

Type O Negative has been releasing quality albums for a while now. Last year’s Dead Again is a terrific follow up to Life Is Killing Me. They’ve shed most of the Goth rock trappings and are making music that sits somewhere between symphonic doom, Black Sabbath and The Misfits. This one might actually turn out to be better than both Life Is Killing Me and World Coming Down which is saying a lot.

the highway called

Don’t ask me how and don’t ask me why but last weekend I drove down to Suratkal with some friends to judge a rock competition in the engineering college there. It was a terrific holiday and surprisingly we saw a few good bands.

Slain won Strawberry Fields this year. I missed them there but heard they were this young band doing some really kickass hard rock. They were just that. Energetic, talented and very tight. The vocalist could sing and guitarist played some mean leads. Good stuff overall and then found out the drummer was in the 10th and the guitarist was in PU. The other kickass band was Fall Of Reason. They played a couple of own songs and covered Blood and Thunder by Mastodon. They were very heavy and the drummer was fucking mad. The vocalist impressed me with his energy but couldn’t hear the bass at all.

Might seem a tad unfair but we tied the bands to win. Metchul rules after all.

Another pretty cool band I saw was Theorized. Not sure were they were from but good stuff. Old school death metal with another good vocalist. Pappu’s New T-Shirt was pretty good fun as well in a power-prog way but let down a little by the guitarist’s refusal to play a solo.

The rest of the bands were varying degrees of shit.

I saw Bhoomi after ages at Rock Ethos and I was quite impressed with how tight they were with the new drummer. They played a few covers and moved away from the all original set-list of Rock Ethos but were good all the same.

We stayed there two nights and almost 3 days and didn’t go to the beach once. We did gorge on the seafood though. Anjal is such an easy fish to eat and these guys really know how to cook it. I swear the Anjal Rava Fry was heavenly. There was also some awesome Squid happening. All in all, terrific food.

Then there’s the place itself. It’s so laidback and peaceful that you can’t help feeling the same way when you’re there. The vibe I get here is better than any other place I’ve been to.

In other news I got the first mix of the Myndsnare album. Sounds pretty good and somewhere along the way KP’s found groove. Sandesh is playing some good shit too and the sound overall is pretty damn good. Myndsnare’s debut album. About damn time!

I finally got broadband btw. Funny thing is, I was getting more new music when I didn’t have broadband and simply burnt stuff from friends. Haven’t heard anything new in ages and currently tripping on Anathema, Ministry and Marduk.

2007 and extreme metal

2006, I thought was a terrific year for metal. 2007 turned out even better. This then is my top 50 from last year in order of preference. There is one dominant theme here. A lot of my favourite albums this year came from bands that had been releasing consistent quality albums but who then chose to up the ante this year and release their best work.

Orange Goblin – Healing Through Fire

I loved Thieving from the House Of God but Healing Through Fire tops that by a long way. Orange Goblin is poised to join the ranks of CoC and Clutch. They’re still stoner friendly but they’ve managed to transcend the genre to become a bit special.

High On Fire – Death Is This Communion

An incredibly powerful metal album and another case of an already great band just upping the ante to new levels. Like Slayer colliding with Black Sabbath, Death Is This Communion is epic powerful and incredibly heavy.

Neurosis – Given To The Rising

The founding fathers of a suddenly overcrowded genre, Neurosis sound like a band with a point to prove and Given to the Rising is a crushing testament to the power and dark passion of this band. Incredible.

Sigh – Hangman’s Hymn

After the slight disappointment of Gallows Gallery I wasn’t expecting much from Sigh but this one is brilliant. Mixing German classical music with German thrash metal ala early Sodom and Destruction sounds like a horrible idea but Sigh make it work. This is unique, memorable and completely over the top.

Earth – Hibernaculum
Reinterpretations of songs recorded previously, HIbernaculum sees the Earth sound at its most minimalist. Inspired by and going for the same feel as the soundtrack to Spaghetti westerns, this may not be for everybody but if you ever stood in front of the mirror and pretended to be “the man with no name” then you should check this out.

Monstrosity – Spiritual Apocalypse
Rise to Power was pretty awesome but again a case of a band taking the existing format and pushing all levels to overdrive. The death metal album of the year. Awesome.

Antimatter – Leaving Eden
Beautiful melancholic doom rock that echoes Anathema, Nick Drake and Pink Floyd and does it superbly. Mick Moss has become one of my favourite singer songwriter types and Leaving Eden will tell you exactly why.

Marduk – Rom 512
Sweden’s Marduk has been around for ages now and have always been a favourite. Rom 512 is the band’s best ever. It charts a new course for the band into slower, heavier and darker territory and surprised me quite a bit. If you like extreme metal and don’t mind the odd black metal band, then check this out.


The Ocean – Precambrian
Occasionally heavy, sometimes dense, mostly layered and always quite captivating. This is an album that’s grown on me with every listen and there’s so much stuff happening here that it’s a stoner’s dream. I think this band is going to be huge in a year’s time. Lets see.

Trouble – Simple Mind Condition
Trouble came back. The doom metal of yore was replaced by a rocking 70s stoner vibe and Eric Wagner sang his heart out to make Simple Mind Condition an album that’s been on my playlist all year round.

Hellborg, Johansson,Johansson, Eklundh – Art Metal
I don’t know how to describe this but it’s like four virtuosos playing rock music carnatic classical style. Sublime.

Immolation – Shadows In The Light
Any other year this would be a lot higher on the list. No other band sounds like Immolation and Shadows In The Light is another incredible exercise in sonic ass kicking.

Hidden Hand – The Resurrection Of Whiskey Foote
Scott "Wino" Weinrich is still at it after all these years and The Ressurection of Whiskey Foote is a worthy addition to his ever growing legacy in the stoner doom genre.

Alabama Thunderpussy – Open Fire

Southern fried stoner rock meets British heavy metal. Open Fire is heavy, melodic, catchy and rocks your socks off.

Rotting Christ – Theogonia
The Greeks have been quietly releasing quality albums for a while now and Theogonia is the distillation of everything that makes Rotting Christ such a terrific extreme metal band.
Electric Wizard – Witchcult Today
Finally, Jus Oborne has come up with a worthy companion piece to Dopethrone. The sound has been tweaked just a little and the music’s become a bit more accessible The band sound the better for it.

Anaal Nathrakh – Hell Is Empty and All the Devils Are Here / Mistress – The Glory Bitches of Doghead

It's been a terrific year for Mike Kenny and Dave Hunt as they had two terrific extreme metal releases. Firstly with the doom gone grindcore sounds of Mistress and then with the quasi black metal of Anaal Nathraakh. Awesome stuff.

Pelican – City Of Echoes

Another band that's been around for a while now and releasing instrumental rock albums but City Of Echoes just takes the existing format, tweaks it, distills it and comes out completely sublime. Awesome stoner friendly fare.

Middian – Age Eternal
Dark, incredibly dense doom metal. I don't know if there will be another Middian album but this band deserves your support. Awesome stuff.

Pro-Pain Age Of Tyranny - The Tenth Crusade

Gary Meskil and co. have been around for ages and just seem to get better and better. While not coming close to the career highpoint of Contents Under Pressure, this is still quality Pro-Pain.

Clutch From Beale Street To Oblivion

This is probably my least favourite of the last three Clutch albums but it still rocks out.

Deathspell Omega Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum

Complicated, intense and quite disconcerting at times, this band went from being a pet hate to complete ownage with their latest album.

sHeavy The Machine That Won The War

sHeavy does the whole retro rock vibe better than most bands and it helps that the vocalist sounds like a young and healthy Ozzy.

Alchemist Tripsis

Another band thats never been a big favourite but Tripsis was quite tripped out. Good stuff

Wolves In The Throne Room Two Hunters

Hippie black metal anyone ? This is lush wonderfully arranged black metal that's very stoner friendly. Much better than the over hyped Diadem Of 12 Stars, Wolves... will hopefully be around for a long while.

Boris / Merzbow Rock Dreams

I love these Japanese loonies. Last year had Boris teaming up with Sun O))) and this year it's a live collaboration with Japanese noise God Merzbow. Complete free flowing art.

Project: Failing Flesh - The Conjoined

Schizophrenic technical extreme metal with some awesome riffing and grooves. Another band that deserves some attention

Weedeater God Luck and Good Speed

Terrific stoner metal and the album title of the year.

Prong Return Of The Damager

Now this album should have been the follow up to Rude Awakening and not that Scorpio Sleeping album. Kickass return to form for Tommy Victor.

November's Doom The Novella Reservoir

Very impressive extreme metal band from America that just seems to get better and better.

Akercocke Antichrist

This is the band's best album yet and any other year would have been a lot higher on my list. Superb stuff.

Om Pilgrimage

The other half of Sleep turned in a terrific drum n bass doom album. Light a fatty, switch of the lights and go on this Pilgrimage.

Lesbian Power Hor

I don't know where these guys came from or even what they do but Power Hor is a terrific stoner doom album that has the ability to meld completely crushing doom metal with some intricate psychedelic rock.

Pig Destroyer Phantom Limb

This one's the list simply because it reminds me so much of Enemy Soil. There isn;t a lot new on this album but when it comes to face ripping grindcore there are few bands that do it better than Pig Destroyer these days.

Gorefest Rise To Ruin

A band that just refused to follow trends and did whatever they felt like, Gorefest was a sentimental favourite of mine and although their comeback La Muerte didn't do too much, this one was quite awesome.

Portal Outre

Wierdo Aussie extreme metal band that mixes some Celtic Frost and death metal with a really strong black metal vibe. Captivating stuff.

Blotted Science The Machinations Of Dementia

Instrumental metal trio who completely slay. This is awesome technical stuff from Ron Jarzombeck (Watchtower) Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse) and Charlie Zelany.

Abscess Horrorhammer

Old school bitch. Chris Riefert and Danny Coralles came back with this death metal album that was raw, sick and a whole lot of fun.

Aeon Rise To Dominate

Rise To Dominate kicks ass. That's all you really need to know.

Desaster 666 Satan's Soldiers Syndicate

Desaster has released their best album since Hellfire's Dominion and quite probably the best album of their career. The black thrash blueprint stays the same but the awesome headbanging grooves of Hellfire's Dominion are back. Stan's Soldiers indeed.

Dublin Death Patrol DDP For Life

Bay Area supergroup of sorts, this one has Chuck Billy and Steve Souza trading vocals and if you grew up with the whole Bay Area thrash thing then that is the stuff that wet dreams are made off.

Machine Head The Blackening

Machien Head finally made an album that could stand next to Burn My Eyes. A little trendy but these songs rocked. Can't wait for them to hit Bangalore.

Cephalic Carnage Xenosapien

All over the place tech-grind that went from irritating the fuck out of me to actually

Gallhammer Ill Innocence

3 piece all girl band from Japan that mixes crust punk with doom and comes across like all three of them are high on Corex and Spasmos. Fucked up but quite brilliant.

Dew Scented Incinerate

This one just rocks. Nothing new about it but every song has a killer riff and the whole death thrash ala The Haunted just completely appealed to me.

Sun O))) Oracle

Like Earth's ugly deformed brother.

Unsane Visqueen

Noise rock ala Helmet and Prong but with the band's own originality and some killer grooves. Comes across like a stoned Slayer at times so may not be for everybody.

Blood Red Throne Come Death

Tchort does the whole Floridan death metal thing to terrific effect. Not as crushing as Altered Genesis but more varied and all the better for it.

Of unrequited movie dreams

One fatty became two and two became two and a half and then only Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny made any sense. So much for everything else.

this and that

I've been on a Coen brothers trip for a while. After watching No Country For Old Men a while ago I revisited Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, and Blood Simple earlier today. Movies that range from pretty good to complete celluloid ownage. I've also been revisiting some old Meshuggah. Particularly Destroy Erase Improve and Chaosphere. Two albums that I think had a tremendous impact on extreme metal and they still sound completely pulverizing. Especially Destroy Erase Improve.

Today's been pretty boring. Woke up at 1 in the afternoon, had a good lunch and then saw Blood Simple. Following which i sent one fat fucker on the terrace and then saw Jogi. This movie is a bit melodramatic and a little over the top at times but there's something about it, the dialects, the street slang, Shivraj Kumar's performance (and he's the best at doing the naive village duffer) and all those punter boys who actually look like punter boys. There's something that's very real about Jogi. Maybe not as visceral and raw like Duniya, but this is the one movie that's responsible for creating the whole Kannada movie sub-genre of rowdies, longs and exploitation masqueraduing as realism.

So anyway, tonight I plan to watch either Tale Of Two Sisters which is supposed to be a terrific eerie Korean, horror but not horror film or I could watch Nosferatu with Klaus Kinski or State Of Grace with Sean Penn and Gary Oldman which happens to be one of my favourite gangster films ever. Tough tough choice.

Angel Pyre

My sweetest of whores. How are you ?

Me ? I’m all right. A lot has happened over the last few months though. Come a little closer so I can whisper in your ear. There.

Somewhere along that intro I forgot what I wanted to write about. I like bongs. Those that are made of glass and filled with water, incase of any confusion.

Totally forgot. Just totally fucking blank. Fuck! I don’t want to talk about the movies and books and music I saw, read and heard. I don’t want to talk politics or the state of the nation or even cricket. Where have all my deep thoughts gone ?
Where ?

The smoke goes up from the green city
To choke angels on the product of progress
The city thrives in a neon blitz
The city feeds on currency and myth

Liberty the whore, she was pushed off the fence
Bastard twins, technology; expedience
She lies raped, broken, cast aside
Her own fault, she refused to hide.
Father wisdom banished from our land
Young tolerance has removed his hand
The city cries, how everybody lied
We embrace chaos we hate with pride

Purple night sky starless and dark
Like hell looking down, waiting to collect
Apathy is a gift that few accept
Though she sits forever, legs spread
This city lives on the acrid fumes of greed
Delirium and despair ever ready to feed
A city of people who do not know
That they too are lost in the flow

Hope is a girl child locked away
Naked and alone she has no say
She’s let out at the whims and fancies
Of the starched, white elite
A city fucked, under siege from the inside
Like parasites we feed, nowhere to hide
The city chokes on it’s own excess
It died a while ago, I must confess

The smoke goes up from the dead city
To choke angels on the product of progress
The city thrived in a neon blitz
The city died became myth

Deathspell Omega – Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice

17.8.07

Black Metal for me is a unique experience. Something that I look forward to in small measures. Over the years I’ve found few bands from this genre that I liked.

Now, even if the genre once originated with Venom the bands today sounds nothing like them. Black Metal has undergone a tremendous change. From dirty Satan worshipping rock n roll to burning churches to meditations on existentialism and worshiping the self. The music too has undergone a sea change and with it, the tastes of the listening public. Not too many years ago, Ulver shocked the Black Metal horde by releasing an acoustic album. They were derided for straying and then cast aside. Last year Drudkh released an all acoustic album to universal acclaim. The music is changing, the themes are changing and it is becoming difficult for me to tell when something is Black Metal.

Still, I’m not reviewing Negura Bunget here. DsO, while a terrific black metal band are not particularly original. Deathspell Omega play a brand of black metal that is harsh and punishing to the ears. The music is complex, the songs veer this way and that and it is buried in the usual sludge of the kvlt Black Metal album. Make no mistake, my friends. You have been warned. This is as kvlt as it gets. Honestly. Kvlt Site should adopt this album as its mascot.

The band come from France and their lyrics supposedly deal with some musings on existentialism. I can almost picture them drinking their absinthe and exchanging thoughts on the matter. If I could paint, then that is the picture I would paint right now. Deathspell Omega sitting round a table, sipping absinthe and contemplating existentialism. I’ll even paint a copy of Sartre’s Nausea on the table. So you can just about see the title. Come to think of it, that could be their album cover.

But enough! I digress here. I should get back to the matter at hand but the album’s over and now I need to play it all over again.

The album starts with a slow foreboding intro. A doomy guitar riff and vocals that sound like some sort of chanting that you might even hear in one of our temples. Similar melodies anyway. The song goes through the same damn riff over and over with minor ebbs and flows till I’m dropped into an ambient soundscape with the same chanting type vocal line. First Prayer has passed and Sola Fide 1 is a raging death black beast. If these guys had a clean production… they’d sound a million times better. I mean this is the kind of song that Behemoth can only dream of writing. And the song’s barely started. Going of into a melodic section, a staccato riffing pattern and right back into this incredibly heavy death metal riff. The song proceeds to a melodic black metal vibe while sounding nothing like Dimmu. Two songs in, the band sound pretty damn impressive.

Ok, now, I can’t listen to this album twice in a row. I feel like I can’t breathe. Like there’s a pressure round my chest. My humble apologies. I will return.



18.08.07
I’m going to skip a couple of songs now. Not because they’re bad but because I can. In an unrelated aside half my comics seem to be missing.

The album moves on to Third Prayer. A mid tempo black metal song that brings to mind the work of Rob Darken. Perhaps not as militaristic but definitely some Graveland influences happening here. I have no problems with that. Graveland rule \m/.

The title song is pure Immortal. Hell, the vocalist even sounds like Abbath.

Okay, I think I’m getting the hang of this record now. DsO basically take the best bits from all my favourite Black Metal bands, be it Immortal, Emperor or Graveland and then add in death metal parts to keep things just off balance. Off course its all wrapped up in that kvlt production so it sounds like my favourite albums by those bands too. While I am referencing away to high heaven I may as well add this name. The Chasm. I think Daniel Corchado and his boys have had a bit of an unwitting influence on newer black metal bands coming from Central Europe and that bit at the end of the title song sounds like a Chasm song slowed down.

Look. I don’t have the bloody patience to sit through this album right now and really want to listen to the new Alabama Thunderpussy. So if you like all or any of the names that I’ve dropped in this entry and fancy listening to a band that can sound like all those bands in the same song and deal with some hi-funda lyrical concepts then check Deathspell Omega out. Or you could just listen to the other bands mentioned in this entry (excepting Behemoth).
Thank you for your time Dear Diary. I know you’re a busy woman.

this and that

Orange Goblin is kvlt. There's no better description for this British band. Formed in 1995, the band has over the last decade and more released 5 albums. Starting in the stoner doom tradition, the band evolved by their fourth album to become a noisy Motorhead meets Stoner meets blues rock kind of band. Very original and as can be heard on 2004s Thieving From The House Of God, quite captivating.

I would like to review the new Orange Goblin very much right now. Sadly, words are not happening.

India won today. Terrific victory. Robin Uthappa played a blinder and Sachin played a classic. I'm going to be glued to the telly on Saturday. Also, i have a strong suspicion that this series was fixed. I don't think this Indian Team is good enough to be beating England. That too in such dramatic fashion. Still, watching Sachin bat in the last two games was worth it. Like Sidhu said about Azhar, “ So what if he did it. Lets remember him for the joy he gave us with his batting.”

I don't know why i wrote about cricket. Still i guess its better than nothing.

The new Orange Goblin is fantastic. 5 on 5 for kicking some serious butt. Ben Ward's vocals have become a lot better and the band are just on top gear through the whole album. I think A Beginners Guide To Suicide is the song of the year so far. I still have to hear the new Down and the Deathspell Omega but something tells me Healing Through Fire is going to be as good as it gets for a while. Superb album.

I hope Monster Magnet get round to releasing an album this year. I'd like one. Anathema supposedly releasing a new album this year. I wonder if Mick Moss has collaborated on it.
I got a terrific Matter Of Life And Death poster from the beloved. Very nice. I also got a bunch of boxers. In fact every single boxer i use at this point is gifted by her. I swear, underwear shopping fucks my head.

I think i should sleep now. Tomorrow promises to be a long day. A long tiring day breaking backs and breaking hearts and sitting on the steps at the city's heart and baiting the policemen who beat the streets where south meets north and all is in flux and it is THE place to be.

In other news dear diary, I'm slowly trying to rebuild the collage on my cabinet. I'm off to a decent enough start so far. Still I can never replace the ad for Seventh Son from 1987, Henry Rollins during his Black Flag days and some insane blood smeared Misfits pics. Still, I managed to find a replacement for the Dark Angel Darkness Descends line up pic so all is well and good.

This has to be the most inane post in a while. I can feel Aunty Shame pointing her finger at me and mocking. Just like she did, the time i got out for a duck in the under 13 game against Josephs. Such is the bitch that is Aunty Shame.

I've listened to the new Orange Goblin album about a dozen times in the last 3 days. I can recognize it's brilliance but i cannot describe it. This band has pulled off an absolute blinder. The band has moved from the garage to the same rarefied atmosphere inhabited by the likes of Clutch and CoC. Healing Through Fire is godly.

hell again

Long time dear diary. How have you been ? Still whoring youself out to the highest bidder ? I thought so.

Life has become strangely apathetic. Or is that, I have become strangely apathetic to life ? I don't know.

I've been listening to some awesome music lately. I've also started writing reviews again. I think I'm better at it now. Check it out dear diary. www.kvltsite.com

Some amazing music that i've heard this year.....
1. Akercocke - Antichrist
2. Antimatter - Leaving Eden
3. Weedeater - God Luck And Good Speed
4. Gorefest - Rise To Ruin
5. Clutch - From Beale Street...
6. Extreme Noise Terror / Driller Killer - Split (Although i'm not sure if this came out this year or the last).
7. Disbelief - Navigator
8. Abscess - Horrorhammer
10. Project: Failing Flesh - The Conjoined
11. Nuerosis - Given To The Rising

I'm sure i've left a few albums out that should be there but this year is looking awesome. All i really need is a new Nevermore and I'm looking forward to the new Monster Magnet which will hopefully come out this year.

The biggest dissapointment this year has to be the new Ministry album. Way too much Tommy Victor in the mix and it just doesn't sound like a Ministry album. Left me completely unmoved and all the samples and anti-republican messages sound a little old on this one. The Last Sucker doesn't suck but its not all that good either. Feels like a very safe effort to go out on. But then I read somewhere that Jourgenson's planning on releasing a covers album sometime next year so in that case this won't be the last sucker at all.