currents ISSUE 9 · currents@currents-online.com · ESTABLISHED IN 2004
HOUR OF 13 RITUALIST REACHES THE CHILDREN OF TECHNOLOGY
Back when Hour of 13's debut album had just been released a huge rift was created when the label, Shadow Kingdom Records, apparently put the whole album on iTunes without the band's consent. With a new deal with Earache and their second album now available on iTunes Currents got in touch with Chad Davis, the mastermind behind Hour of 13, and got his view on things now a few years down the line. So, Chad, back when your debut was released on iTunes it did not go well with you. Was it because your previous label did it without asking you beforehand or were you against iTunes at the time? There is a huge difference between the situation of the debut release contract and the contract with Earache. Our initial contract with our label at that time did not include digital distribution and was also put online after our contract with them was void without our knowledge or permission. We have released many small press albums with many different projects and labels that we never allow digital distribution with due to the long term agreement of downloading rights verse the limited run of hard copies. Why take a 5-7 year digital agreement on a limited small run press with a micro label/distro that will sell product out within less than 2 years? Many of these releases we are looking into the future for rerelease on a larger scale, there is no possibility of this if these recordings are locked into a long-term digital agreement. The Earache agreement is a long-term worldwide large press release that will sell hard copies as long as digital and actually longer in our current agreement. There is also the process of moving forward as a band and the give and take relationship that you must sometimes face as a reality. We support the downloading of music and think it is a great and important way for underground bands to get heard. It is the equivalent of tape trading in the 80s which many bands and labels were against and many as well supporters of. The industry is adapting and as well so are bands like ours. There will never be a clear or definitive stance on either side and I think it is a pros verse cons situation but label and band have to be aware and in agreement to at least some small degree of understanding. The Ritualist Northern Silence 2010
Hour of 13 Shadow Kingdom 2007
Am I myself a fan of itunes? No I am not, but I am a fan of Amazon MP3 and CD Baby. I don't own an ipod or use itunes but download many releases from Amazon and CD Baby. This is of course a preference more then anything else because of the simplicity and user friendliness of Amazon and CD Baby. Ideally I think if labels were to put their bands up for digital download I would prefer it not be in a distro manner but only direct from the labels site itself like I see some smaller Euro labels do that I've used. That keeps the music under the labels control online rather then spreading it across the great miasma of the internet, but I cant change whats already in place. A priority for every band wanting to fight the downloading of music is to deliver a product so strong and important to its listener that they want a tangible piece of that to hold and posses. Its a very bizarre concept to me to sell code as some sort of product rather than a cd or lp. If your band is really, I mean really that good people will still buy your product and invest in you and want to show their support of what you do even if its an lp thats never played and displayed proudly on a bookshelf or framed on the wall. Maybe they will invest in your merchandise to show support and most importantly go to see your band live! That should be the goal of every band, not to worry about being one audio file on some obsessive downloaders megagig mp3 player who doesn't know what he's hearing half the time cuz his players on shuffle. myspace.com/hourof13doom
CURRENTS · POSTHOLF 666 · 121 REYKJAVIK · ICELAND
Crucifyre is full of guys with more experience under their belts than most would consider healthy. With their debut album "Infernal Earthly Divine" out via Singapore's Pulverised Records these Swedes have taken it upon themselves to show people how Deathrash should be properly performed! "Infernal…" is definitely a grower and although it didn't win me completely over the first time I heard it it's slowly found it's way to the regular playlist. With that in mind it's obvious that it was this infernal rag's sacred duty to get a few words from Yasse Hillborg, Crucifyre's drummer. Revel in the Deathrash! At first glance Crucifyre seem to pretty much capture the feeling of the early nineties with it's Deathrash and occult themes. Does the devil worship of Crucifyre run as deep as the time the members have spent sweaty in rehearsal rooms during the last two decades? I think I pretty much can speak for all of us in this question, but I won’t. I personally despise religion in the Judeo-Christian, Muslim and monotheistic tradition. I think it is something that belongs to the medieval ages. I do not engage in worship in the traditional sense of the word. If anything I worship our music and other bands, artists and arts with the same passion and sincerity that we put in to this band. The Devil is a vehicle for us that we use to spit in the eye of the fucked up values that are infesting our society. It’s our way of saying fuck you! We don’t agree! We are in opposition! We are the enemy as long as you subscribe to the values that run the world today. Also satanic and occult themes are amongst the themes that suite the music we play. There is no way we will have some fucking mundane lyrical themes to our songs. In "Hellish Sacrifice" you there are references to Asmodeus and Astaroth. Even narrations of their persons from Ars Goetia, me thinks. Why these two? Why is an hellish sacrifice offered unto them?
Infernal Earthly Divine Pulverised 2010
Thessalonian Death Cult Self released 2006
The lyrics to Hellish Sacrifice are true accounts of child sacrifice in 17 th century France. According to the legend/story Madame De Montespan who was Louis XIV’s Mistress sacrificed infants to Asmodeus and Astaroth to win the king’s heart. Asmodeus is a demon of wrath and lust and Astaroth is a demon of seduction. Hence these demons had the powers that best suited Madame De Montespan’s purposes and the ones she gave here sacrifices to. Anyone with a bit of knowledge of English proto-Black Metal will realize where the beginning of "…Of Hell" originates from. To me this beginning sums up, in a way, the being of Crucifyre. That is; Crucifyre seems to be about creating what was so common in the beginning of the nineties with a hint of the eighties. When men were young, Sunlight seemed to be Sweden's only studio, The Necronomicon wasn't a book written by H.P. Lovecraft and the Elohim might just have existed. Is Crucifyre at war with Satan? Will there be a return to the Eve? Is "Infernal Earthly Divine" a kick in the face of people that think that in order to sing about Satan or occult powers you have to be an occultist 25 hours a day? I wouldn’t call Venom proto. If anything they were the originators. I am not sure if what we are doing has so much to do with the beginning of the nineties, as one first might think, if you listen closely. In a way having that passage from At War With Satan pretty much sums up what we are about. At least when it comes to the attitude of the music and how it’s delivered. In my opinion we have more in common with the bands of the eighties, like Slayer, Possessed, Bathory, Mercyful Fate etc. than nineties bands. We have nothing to prove to some snotnosed 25 year old “Satanist”, who started to listen to Guns n’ Roses and then heard Darkthrone, or to any one else for that matter. I had to form this band and write these songs because no one else could or would. A lot of bands seem to think that it’s enough if they play as fast as they can or tune their guitars as low as possible. Well it’s not. I have listened to and played extreme music for almost 30 years. My first band’s name was Destruction (not the German band of course)! So believe me I know what I am talking about. myspace.com/crucifyre
CURRENTS · ISSUE 9 · NOVEMBER · 2010
Into the maws of death Sweden has a lot of hidden gems. Amongst them is Flagellant. Keeping to themselves. Not shy of letting people know they exist but at the same time not really trying to impress anyone. Only recently did the debut emerge after quite a few hassles. One can only be thankful for that. Here is a short chat Currents had with S of Flagellant.
Monuments World Terror Committee 2010
Morbus Nefastus Sigilia Malae 2009
The difference between the demo and the debut? There's been an naturally been an evolution since the demo. Where 'Morbus Nefastus' was more primal and firece, 'Monuments' is, simply put, more monumental. Of course, as it was captured in another studio and mixed/mastered by another person as well, it sounds different. The reason you went from Sigillum Malae to WTC? The summary of the story: He dissappeared. More in-depth, Sigilla was a good label per se, the quality of the 'Morbus Nefastus' MLP speaks for itself. However there was always delays, sometimes quite long ones. 'Morbus Nefastus' was for example recorded in the early stages of 2007.We believe it took him a good year and a half to finally get that album out on vinyl only, despite planning to do both LP and CD. There were mishaps with the test presses of the LP, but there were large periods where we didn't even know what the hell was going on. When 'Morbus Nefastus' was released, we were given assurance that it would not happend again with 'Monuments', however the album itself was recorded during summer 2009 and was scheduled and rescheduled for release several times. Eventually, our patience grew thin and we felt we'd given him more chances than we should have. We've not heard from him since february 2010 actually. We chose W.T.C due to its reputation as a high quality label and based on recommendations from some friends. We'd been in touch with them earlier during the period, and we're quite very pleased with how things have turned out now. The possibility of live performances? Never say never, but at the moment it is not planned at least. The reason of Flagellant? To express visions... ideas... impulses... myspace.com/flagellant
Sólstafr ins Europa! The supreme vikings of Iceland, Sólstafir, have once again gone in viking! Once again their aim is to plunder through Fortress Europa, leaving none behind uninfluenced! Look over the list below and see if they can't be found in a venue near you! 1.12. Steinbruch Theater, Darmstadt, Germany 2.12. Magnet, Berlin, Germany 3.12. Eastclub, Bischofswerda, Germany 4.12. Progresja, Warsaw, Poland 5.12. Exit Chmelnice, Prague, Czech Republic 6.12. Randal Club, Bratislava, Slovakia 7.12. Arena, Wien, Austria 8.12. Hirsch, Nürnberg, Germany 9.12. Kiff, Aarau, Switzerland 10.12 Parma, Italy 11.12. TBA, France 12.12. Be Cool, Barcelona, Spain 13.12. Ritmo y Compas, Madrid, Spain 14.12. Music Box, Lisboa, Portugal 15.12. Hard Club, Porto, Portugal 16.12. Tartufo, Bergara, Spain 17.12. Le Ferrailleur, Nantes, France 18.12. Glazart, Paris, France 19.12. Underworld, London, UK 20.12. Kade, Zaandam, Netherlands 21.12. Matrix, Bochum, Germany 22.12. Haus 11, Stuttgart, Germany myspace.com/solstafir
CURRENTS · ISSUE 9 · NOVEMBER · 2010
REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS The men have arrived! The big men have arrived! This, Inferno of Sacred Destruction, is the third deathstrike of the unholy trinity that is known as Black Witchery and consists of Impurath on bass & vocals, Tregenda on guitars & Vaz on drums. The main ingredients are all the same really but there are changes. Perhaps most notable right away are the vocals of Impurath. His screams are a bit more rough now than back on Desecration of the Holy Kingdom and Upheaval of Satanic Might. There's no power lost, far from it, perhaps even more power in it. It feels like he's right in your face, and there's a heavy "fuck you all!" feeling in it. BLACK WITCHERY Inferno of Sacred Destruction Hells Headbangers 2010
Before putting Inferno… on I was hoping it was a bit more like Desecration… than Upheaval… when it comes to the production and thankfully it is. Upheaval… was chaos whereas this is symmetric violence. There are changes here and there, small but noticeable, and the cover of Conqueror's "Kingdom Against Kingdom"… Well, it just seals the deal, really. Black Witchery has always been there continuing what bands like Conqueror, Blasphemy and Beherit began. On Inferno… its like there's a bit more Beherit than before, a bit of the ritual feeling one feels when listening to Drawing Down the Moon. It lies in the background, not upfront. It's in the details. What we have here is something I would have loved twenty years ago, 13 years old and just beginning to grasping the concept of Death Metal & all things devil worship. OK, I still like it but the love isn’t there. This is good stuff but... ...Crucifyre gives us thrashdeathmetal with enough occult references to catch the attention of the young and aimless. This music corrupts the young. Catchy enough to keep you interested and namedropping enough of the gods mentioned in “The Goetia” to get your riled up in all things black candles and altar.
CRUCIFYRE Infernal Earthly Divine Pulverised 2010
This band is armed to the teeth with guys that were there in the beginning! When the old gods were young and the Necronomicon had not been used to death in Death Metal! When Venom were one of a kind! Do you want devil worship Thrash Metal? If you are looking for the exact opposite of what Deathspell Omega seems to be all about then look no further. Horror Movie Satanic Metal ov Thrashing Death is here! HAIL SATAN! BELIAL PRAISE! Serpent Noir is an international conspiracy conspired by, amongst others, members of Embrace the Thorns & Ofermod. I can only imagine that their intention is to channel forth the Draconian Current through the medium of occult Black Metal. Serpent Noir is all about the mid paced madness. There are outbursts of high velocity like on "Invocation of Sorath" but most of the time it's rather laid back blackish Death Metal.
SERPENT NOIR Sanguis XI Daemon Worship 2010
Although Michayah of Ofermod handles the drums in Serpent Noir and both bands blend together Death Metal & Black Metal, I don't think he is responsible for the drums on "Sanguis XI". According to the band this release has been ready since 2006 and I believe Michayah joined later on. So, rest assured that Serpent Noir is in no way a copy, or a continuation, of Ofermod. I am sure, however, that the people that have been waiting anxiously for another release from Ofermod since 2008's "Tiamtü" will find the wait a bit easier as both bands seem to go down similar paths both musically and spiritually. When I first heard about Cough I was pretty sure this was some new wave indie stuff. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered the sludge and filth these guys are all about! Formed five years ago and already on their second album these guys really capture the drug-filled atmosphere bands like Electric Wizard have become known for. It's not surprising that some call Cough U.S.A.'s answer to Electric Wizard. There are striking similarities but in some parts Cough surpass Electric Wizard when it comes to the filth.
COUGH Ritual Abuse Relapse 2010
I reckon it's going to be a close call between Ritual Abuse and Black Masses who will get more teens to abuse narcotics while worshiping grim lords. Cough makes it clear that if Electric Wizard is going to keep it's ass on the drugthrone it's going to have to beef up the hits from the bong. Cough has a split with The Wounded Kings out next month through Forcefield Records. Cough’s side contains a single track lasting nineteen minutes. I’m pretty sure that might be just enough to send a few over the edge. Moon, like anything else the man behind it, Cezar, touches, becomes an institution. A legend of its own. For the last twenty years he has building a tower of blackdeath and with each release he has added a new brick. With Lucifer's Horns it's business as usual. Although eleven years have passed since Satan's Wept this album feels like a continuation of what already was in motion, not a new beginning. What Moon gives us here is a glimpse into quality Polish Blackdeath. Fans of Cezar's earlier work will not be disappointed and the newcomers will yearn to know more.
MOON Lucifer's Horns Witching Hour 2010
CURRENTS · ISSUE 9 · NOVEMBER · 2010