Sargeist is another musical endeavor of Shatraug of Horna and Behexen. According to the Encyclopaedia Metallum, the term "Sargeist" is derived from two German words, "Sarg" (coffin) and "Geist" (spirit).Unlike Horna, which I find more melodic and meditative, Sargeist seems to be a more traditional and much thrashier type of black metal. The production of Sargeist …
INTERVIEW: Jürgen Bartsch of Bethlehem
Bethlehem call themselves dark metal and I think it is appropriate moniker. It's kind of like black metal with the growling vocals and tremolo guitar picking. But there's something more: a haunting, echoey, dungeon-y elegance to this music. It's like 80's dark wave took a turn down the left hand path and never looked back. …
What Chuck Brown meant to me
Granted this is a blog mostly about heavy metal music. But that is certainly not the only type of music I have ever listened to and appreciated in my life. And one of my favorite and most beloved musicians, Chuck Brown, has died.Why do I care about Chuck Brown, the so-called Godfather of go-go? Well, …
INTERVIEW: "Scruff" Lewty of Hellbastard says crust punk label doesn’t apply
The group Hellbastard are among the pioneers of what is known as crust punk. Yet, they are much more than that, blending melodic metal guitar riffs with intelligent and intelligible lyrical content. As I mentioned in my previous band profile of Hellbastard for the 2012 Maryland Deathfest, I am somewhat smitten with the group. Their sound …
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INTERVIEW: Mortuary Drape want to know if US metals heads are as crazy as Watain claims
If you go to the 2012 Maryland Deathfest on Sunday, May 27 you must make one promise: that you will stay to the very end to hear and see Mortuary Drape. After all, they came all the way from Italy to play for you! But more than that, you will regret it if you miss …
Countdown to MDF X: (11) Disma
Think of something really heavy. Now think of something 10,000 times heavier than that and then make it music. That is Disma.Formed in New Jersey in 2007 with former members of Funebrarum, Assuck and Incantation, Disma plays death doom to the Nth degree of heaviness. Members include Bill Venner (Guitar), Daryl Kahan (Guitar), Shawn Eldridge (Drums), Craig Pillard …
Countdown to MDF X: (12) Demonical
With a playful name like Demonical, I wanted this band to be more of a lighthearted romp through death metal. I wanted them to be D' Monocle and play snooty gentlemen's death core.Well, Demonical is not playful and does not do such silly things. This is brutal, eviscerating Swedish death metal. They will obliterate their …
INTERVIEW with Tsjuder’s drummer Anti-Christian
Anti-Christian of TsjuderIn the quest to remain "trve kvlt," Norwegian black metal stalwarts Tsjuder have persevered since 1993. They will perform at the 2012 Maryland Deathfest on Saturday, May 26 in the main room following a string of other satanic black metal bands, making Saturday night something of a "ritual" kind of night for the festival.Tsjuder is …
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INTERVIEW: New Zealand’s Ulcerate
If music were a form of spiritual possession, then New Zealand's Ulcerate provides the incantation that provokes it. Dark, doom-laden, crushing and relentless, Ulcerate performs the death metal that makes the terms "death" and "metal" seem severely lacking in descriptive powers. Every metal band says they want to be brutal. Ulcerate deliver brutality in abundance. …
Countdown to MDF X: (14) Rwake
Rwake sounds like the sweet phrase you might mumble to your lover early in the morning, meaning something like, "Are you awake?" Rwake the sludge band from Arkansas, makes the R silent, and simply says it "wake." But this group is anything but silent, sounding more like a massive behemoth trudging through the swampy backwoods …
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