Baltic Thunder

One morning, just a little over a month ago I found myself swimming in the Baltic Sea at about 5 AM, completely wasted and not exactly sure what the hell was going on or about to happen. I figure its either a good or bad thing that I didn't have this one on hand. Nevertheless, I sip, drink and eventually chug this one for you today.

Baltic Thunder pours out as a dark mahogany shade, but eventually darkens, in less of course you hold it to the light. This porter has a thick head, which doesn't seem to be disappearing, but I think that's simply because I had it in the freezer cooling too long and looking into my glass I see slush, rather than liquid. Sticking my nose in the glass reveals a very sweet fruitiness with a slight roasty backing. The flavor is a bit on the roasty side, some chocolate and a berry taste to finish. Not bad at all! I'm also picking up on some sort of creamy bittersweetness with a pinch of spice somewhere in there. This is very good, definitely one to buy again!

Brewed by Victory Brewing Company in Pennsylvania, USA, Baltic Thunder is my first with these guys, but from the looks of things they have quite a few selections available. This particular one comes in a tall bottle with decent artwork that is 1 Pint and 6 Fl. Oz. with 8.5% alcohol by volume. This brew honors the Baltic God of Thunder, Perkūnas, one of the most important deities in the Baltic pantheon. In both Lithuanian and Latvian mythology, he is documented as the god of thunder, rain, mountains, oak trees, sky and now alcohol! The gods are happy... and drunk!

Flotsam and Jetsam - Doomsday for the Deceiver (1986)

'Doomsday for the Deceiver,' the debut record of Phoenix, Arizona power thrashers, Flotsam and Jetsam was one of many LPs I picked up years ago, mostly based off of the fact that it was the first band for future Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, but little did I know that this LP would completely pulverize everything Mr Newsted was a part of after its creation.

Doomsday is an interesting album since it sounds like a fair mix of West Coast thrashers, such as, Metallica or Megadeth with some NWOBHM influences from the likes of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Both Michael Gilbert and Edward Carlson were fantastic guitarists, truly shredding like maniacs as well even showing off with some seriously complex parts and some hands down killer fucking solos too. You'll be utterly amazed when you hear Mr Newsted's bass on the opening cut, 'Iron Tears' and then ask yourself why these vibrant technical bass lines were not on, '...And Justice for All' two years later or any of the Metallica records Jason played on for that matter. Meanwhile, vocalist, Eric A.K. used a high pitched frenzied voice, which seems a bit unique for its time and I suppose it may sound odd at first, but it grows on you really quick and fits in with the music perfectly in no time.

The aforementioned, 'Iron Tears' kicks the album off quite well, but the second song, 'Desecrator' just utterly rips. Eric sounds like a damn maniac on this one and the solos, oh man the solos are insanely awesome and frankly its pretty hard to resist headbangin' during this one. It seems odd that there would be a song titled, 'Fade to Black' considering Jason's future, but this is by no means a ballad here, but just a powerful hard hitting anthem that comes and destroys in just a few minutes. The title track is a monster nine minute epic, which opens with some acoustics as well as a really beautiful guitar solo, which eventually leads to speedier territory after a few minutes and after some singing the listener is treated to a seriously awesome instrumental part that has absolutely killer riffage all the way plus face melting solos and lets not forget the gang shouts, "DOOMSDAY" in this one either!

Flipping the LP over we come to, 'Metalshock,' which is one of the slower and again longer songs at over eight minutes, but it falls short compared to the previous song, while, 'She Took An Axe' & 'U.L.S.W.' are decent with a few intense moments but they seem not as exciting as the songs from the first half of the record. Moving to the last song, 'Der Führer' were once again treated to a stunning song to close this album out that's fast as fuck, rifftastic, solo crazy and gang shouts galore too, "Zeig Heil! All Hail! Zeig Heil!" Apparently some versions of the album also have a song called, 'Flotzilla,' which I'll assume is the creature on the cover laying waste to Satan and the underworld.

Personally I only own the original LP of the album, but a 3-disc re-release appeared back in '06, which has two different versions of the album plus a few demo tracks and a DVD from a live show in '85 that I'd kind of like to get my hands on now.

I'd imagine due to Jason's presence on this record many have investigated it, hell I can admit it, but as I said earlier I never guessed it to be a pretty damn good album. I could stop and think that it must have sucked for Jason to go from this frantic power thrash to unaudible bass lines and completely boring garbage with Metallica (Yes, I hate And Justice for All), but I'm sure massive world tours and big sacs with $ symbols on them probably cheered him up.

Besides this album the only other Flotsam record I've heard was, 'Unnatural Selection,' which was just awful, but I've been told the sophomore release, 'No Place for Disgrace' is great and in some fans eyes as being even better than the debut.

Curiously all these years later and 4/5's of the Doomsday line-up is still in Flotsam while Jason himself is unemployed and not doing a single band these days. Come on, man, let's get the classic line-up together and do this shit one more time!!

Changes / Cadaverous Condition - Time (2004)

The Changes & Cadaverous Condition split 10" commonly known as, 'Time' from '04 is one peculiar release. Its not that the material is especially weird, well sort of, but more so the fact that it pairs up the late 60's (later reformed in the 90's) American neo folk duo of Robert N. Taylor and Nicholas Tesluk collectively known as Changes with Austrian death folk (yes, you read that right) band Cadaverous Condition who were formerly a goregrind band.

Changes music is of exceptional beauty and very simple elegance; basically just a fast acoustic guitar and Robert's baritone voice on most songs, though the two sometimes sing together, and on one song a flute is briefly used as well. These two gentlemen know what balladry is all about; fast and catchy songs with tasteful lyrics and superb vocal performance, and although the songs are simple they really are memorable and effect me in a timeless way. It gives me this ancient vibe of sorts, almost like the two of them are playing right in front of me at night around a fire within a deep forest. Four of the five songs follow this path while, 'Universal Soldier' has an odd old school industrial undercurrent to it, but its still an interesting one.

Flipping the LP over we come to the collaborative song, 'Time,' which is an infinitely beautiful little number that features both Robert's voice and Wolfgang Weiss' death growls as well Matt Howden of Sol Invictus and Sieben adds violin to this piece. Cadaverous Condition's three songs follow and they write neo folk in a style similar to Death in June, perhaps the guitar work is slightly more elaborate, but what makes an eyebrow or two raise is the fact that Mr Weiss growls the lyrics. So, basically if you ever wondered what cookie monster folk sounded like CC provides a very clear answer for you. They definitely win points for being unique, additionally the lyrics are quite good, but the whole growled voice thing seems, well... I don't even really know what to say. One of the songs does feature some brief clean vocals as well as some completely misplaced electric guitar, which just makes it all the more eccentric.

Looking back to this year I remember I was obsessed with just about all things neo folk and Changes in particular was one of my favs. Limited to just 500 copies, I'd imagine this LP is long sold out, but if you fancy the genre its definitely worth hunting down for the Changes songs and if you want to hear something different the Cadaverous Condition songs are there too.

Satyricon - The Shadowthrone (1994)

Satyricon's second album, 'The Shadowthrone' released just a few months after the debut, 'Dark Medieval Times' is a curious album, mostly because its sandwiched between the debut and 'Nemesis Divina;' two albums considered by most to be of the utmost of the early Norwegian black metal movement, while this second album is often left in the slush. While Times had a cold and largely traditional black metal feel and Nemesis a chaotic and almost technical feel, The Shadowthrone has a ethereal, epic and flowing quality to the music with viking metal undertones.

Interestingly the synth and guitar fuzz is toned down a little on this album in favor of more clearly superior musicianship, especially Satyr's guitar work, which seethes with evil and grimness, but also occasionally takes on these majestic and folk-ish tones too. Frost's drumming is breathtaking to say the least; loud, explosive and always fascinating to listen to, while Samoth of Emperor fame contributes rhythm guitar and bass, though I guess you'd never know without his picture being in the booklet. Sverd of Arcturus also played the keyboards on this album, though they float eerily in the background, like an apparition amongst the mist, while the guitars, vocals and drums are upfront.

'Hvite Krists Død' masterfully opens the album with flowing cascading riffs that build up to an evil, yet stunning climax of epic extravagance and beautiful grand piano, while a song like, 'Vikingland' is one of the earliest examples of viking/folk metal out there and wouldn't have sounded out of place on Satyr's sideband Storm, which came the following year. 'Woods To Eternity' opens so powerfully before diving into a total blastfest of grimness, whereas, 'Dominions Of Satyricon' & 'The King of the Shadowthrone' hold some of the most beastly malevolent melodies and have always largely been my favorite songs from the album. 'In The Mist By The Hills' is one of the songs that flows entirely too well and although the main riff seems sort of happier its still got a rocking sort of vibe to it that makes it catchy, whilst the albums last song, 'I En Svart Kiste' is an instrumental synth piece, which sounds exactly like the music Satyr would compose for his Wongraven project.

Personally I've always been a bit on the fence about which early Satyricon release is best, especially since all three are fantastic in my own opinion and mean a lot to me. I do however have a special memory of listening to this album years and years ago while driving back home from somewhere during a snowstorm and I remember the landscapes and the relentless snowfall seemed to fit perfectly with this music. Few albums, even other black metal classics have compared since then.

If you've somehow not heard this album or perhaps dismissed it after an earlier listen do visit it again as its surely black metal at its finest.

The Stompcrash - Directions (2012)

Switching gears to something non-metal for today we have the second album from The Stompcrash called, 'Directions,' which I received a few months ago from their label DreamCell 11 Entertainment. I was already a fairly big fan of this bands debut, 'Requiem Rosa,' which was equal parts of classic 80’s English Gothic rock, post punk and some darkwave characteristics and all in all quite refreshing and more enjoyable than anything else the label sent me.

'Directions' carries onward in a very similar direction (no pun) as their debut, though the music tends to feature more keyboards and darkwave tendencies, which creates a very atmospheric and dreamy sort of quality, while the overall mood often feels rather melancholy during most of this record. Vocalist/guitarist Christian uses a bassy male voice that compliments backing vocalist/keyboardist Daniela's female voice, both of which show their Italian accents fairly well. The rest of the instruments seem to fall behind the vocals and keyboards a bit, but they do have some moments of brilliance where they really stick out.

Also much like the debut this album has some really memorable songs, such as, 'Black Dahlia,' 'Cat's Eyes,' 'Awoken From Uneasy Dream' and my personal favorite, 'Looking Eastward,' which I played multiple times in a row the first time I heard the album. The rest of the album is quite solid too, and I'm fairly positive that anyone that digs this sort of music will be hooked on the band and this album really easy.

There's probably a modern day artist to make a more precise comparison with, but since I don't spend much time with this sort of music normally I can't give you one. I can however tell you that I hear a lot of 80's music within this album, bands like The Cure, Joy Division, New Order, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy and Clan Of Xymox all seem like obvious influences to my ears, but then these are often abused metal ears and I may be slightly off.

Regardless, 'Directions' is a solid record, which I'll probably pull out for more plays in the colder months of the year since it just seems more appropriate for those times, but don't let me hold you back from checking them out.

Cultus Sanguine - The Sum of All Fears (1999)

Over the many years of listening to metal its been a habit of routinely selling albums, usually because they were bad from the start or simply because I got what I needed out of them and just wanted to trade them for something better. Therefore, when I pull an album off my shelf and stop and realize how long I've owned it I sometimes force myself to think back to my life at the time or what may have attracted my attention to the album in the first place. In the case of Italy's Cultus Sanguine I seem to remember seeing lots of adds for this record in magazines back in the day and I'm sure the fact that the word "depressing" was probably used to describe the record is also what ultimately lead to me purchasing it. I'm quite glad I did too, because all these years later and its still one of my favorite albums.

On 'The Sum of All Fears' traces of doom, black and gothic metal all come together to form a darkly depressive and richly evil release, which is utterly unique in my opinion, but unfortunately very underrated. Perhaps what makes it so special is Daniele's keyboard work, which is very eerie and atmospheric and maybe its just due to their location in the world, but to me the keyboards often times sound reminiscent of old Italian horror films to me. However this isn't simply a metal version of Goblin, no, this work is wrought with suffering and bleakness from start to finish.

Vocalist Joe F. screams, wails and nearly cries on various spots of this record, similarly comparable to vocalists, such as Marco Kehren (Deinonychus) or Aaron Stainthorpe (My Dying Bride), though I feel that's just a loose comparison since honestly few if any others have captured such agony within their voices and since his accent is obvious in his singing it makes for a special experience. He also used a whispered voice, which gave the music a more mysterious feeling, and his lyrics, fabulous, ”Life is senseless, it turns to grey, grey, is the colour of doubt, doubt for tomorrow, slowly I will depart, these grey days, aren't worth of my presence…” Of course the other member’s performance was just as stunning too. Guitarist Federico played some of the most sinister, spine tingling, hair on the back of your neck rising chilly riffs you’ll ever hear, while drummer Fabrizo was perfect, actually very technical sounding for a doom metal drummer.

The music itself mostly moves at a sluggish pace, though this is not ultra slow doom metal were talking about here, mid-paced mostly, whereas one song, 'Dominatress' is actually faster with some energy behind it, though still with the same dark feeling as all of the other songs. Favorites are hard to pick, but I'm quite passionate about the aforementioned song since it adds a little speed and extra diversity among the other tracks, while, 'A Grave Upon Mankind' is one of the songs where the keyboards really bring my mind to Italian horror films, but then again many of the songs have this effect. 'As a Funeral Inside' is probably the albums bleakest spot, in fact its just overwhelmingly sorrowful, but with still a sense of power behind it. You've just got to love a song titled, 'Highest Depression' too. Fantastic stuff.

Cultus Sanguine would go on to release a split with Seth in '00, but sometime after that the band was laid to rest, which is regrettable since they never seemed to find a large audience. Nevertheless, they left behind one EP, split and two stunning full-length albums that are ominous and hopeless works of dark metal, which are simply indescribable, but well worth hearing for this unique journey of misery.

Baphovomit - Defecating Upon the Holy Trinity (2009)

Baphovomit was a short lived black metal from Pohjanmaa, Finland, which I otherwise probably wouldn't have ever come across, but since a good friend of mine played guitar in the band and gave me this demo last month when I was over there I now know them and figured it be best to write a few words on this tape as well.

On 'Defecating Upon the Holy Trinity' these four Finns pound out nine minutes of ugly ancient sounding black/death metal in a style comparable to Beherit, Blasphemy, Profanatica and Black Witchery. The production is deliberately raw as fuck - totally rehearsal in style, the vocals are guttural and vicious and other than a few brief moments on, 'Lust & Blood' the band is mostly blasting away as fast as possible. There's also a cover of Beherit's, 'Gate of Nanna,' which is mostly spot on to the original, but just as wicked and evil as the version everyone knows.

The tape consists of just four songs, which is a fine, but I wish I could hear more since this band had a fairly good thing going on. Nothing original by any means, but certainly enjoyable for those that get into archaic blasphemous goat warshipping hymns like these. The tape was limited to just 200 copies, but may still be available. Check out Spread Evil Distribution if you are interested.

Ancient Rites - Fatherland (1998)

Back in '99 Metal Blade Records released a compilation titled, 'Blackened IV,' which was meant to be a black metal compilation, though some artists were not exactly that black in sound. I bought this comp. shortly after its release and it introduced me to bands, such as; Opeth, Thy Serpent, Thorns, Enslaved and Ancient Rites, all of whom I instantly adored and continue to do so even today.

Normally I'd probably review something older from a band that's been going at it since the 80's, but since I'm not a huge fan of Ancient Rites earlier material and since I don't own it anymore it would seem only logical to start with their third album, 'Fatherland.' The earlier material was fairly rough in character, a lot more black-ish, but generally a bit more simplistic and dull in my own opinion. On, 'Fatherland' the band seemed to finally find a style that worked for them.

Its a bit hard to exactly place Ancient Rites genre, but most people lump these guys into the viking or folk metal genre, which I suppose works since the music is epic and has many folk qualities, though these guys never sounded like any other band to me. Therefore, calling them something a bit more elusive and not clearly defined, such as, "Epic Metal" might work, but whatever.

'Avondland' opens the album with a short but mightily impressive symphonic intro that sounds like something taken straight from an epic film of some sort. This leads into the bands anthem, 'Mother Europe,' which is a stomping, fist pumping, head banging number with some seriously awesome vintage metal undertones. 'Aris' has numerous folky parts to it, while the title track is a massive seven minute epic for the ages and by far one of the best songs these guys have ever wrote. 'Season's Change (Solstice)' is another grandiose headbanger with some superb guitar work and catchiness throughout it, as well, '13th Of October 1307' is another folkier metal song with a flute running alongside the other instruments for most of its duration, while, 'Dying in a Moment of Splendour' is another colossal majestic metal masterpiece. 'Rise and Fall (Anno Satana)' & 'The Seducer' are two of my true favorites though since they are fast, powerful and hard hitting head banging songs, the latter of which features of Mika of Impaled Nazarene as guest vocalist. The album finally closes with another symphonic outro called, 'Cain.'

'Fatherland' is an album to own in physical format since the booklet has notes on every song from band mastermind, Gunther Theys concerning and lyrics and giving explanations on what inspired them and what they are about. In this case most of the songs are about European history/pride and ones homeland in some way or another, which marked a difference for the band at the time since previously they had just wrote about Satan, blasphemy and evil stuff on the earlier material.

I'd imagine some people would see this release as their sell out record since their style changed drastically, but as I already said this is where things got great and have been continually impressive through subsequent records, 'Dim Carcosa' & 'Rubicon.' If you've somehow never heard these guys and fancy epic, folky and tremendously awesome heavy metal then do spend some time with these guys releases.

"Hail to you... Death! Hail to you... Kuolema!"

Immortal - Blizzard Beasts (1997)

Immortal's fourth full-length, 'Blizzard Beasts' has always felt like the black sheep of their discography. It's not that its bad, because none of Immortal's records are, but I think it has more to do with the fact that it followed the undeniable masterpiece that was, 'Battles in the North' and it came prior to the more cleanly produced, melodic and death metal influenced, 'At the Heart of Winter,' which is also seen as a classic by most. Its also the last album to feature guitarist Demonaz as well its the first to feature drummer Horgh. Nevertheless, 'Blizzard Beasts' is a pretty damn good record.

While the album does tend to lack the stomping compositional excellence and frigid snowstorm aura of its predecessor it makes up for that with a bit more style and diversity. Running at just twenty eight minutes Immortal crams a lot into these nine songs; crunchier death-ish metal riffs played in a tremolo style, quick but massive solos and icy rich bridges in each song, as well Abbath's froggy grim voice leads the attack and occasionally some acoustics and keyboards are used too. Some songs hit hard and knock you out cold with their sheer force and power (Blizzard Beasts, Noctambulant and Frostdemonstorm), while others are just simply cold and a bit more diverse in their delivery and in the case of, 'Mountains Of Might' you've got one of the most epic Immortal tracks out there exploding out of your stereo.

Personally I own the original Osmose pressing and at least on this version the overall volume is lower than you'd want it to be plus the production is a bit more on the muddier side. While I do realize its black metal to me it always felt like this brand of it strived more so with loud and dynamic studio engineering, which it doesn't and that fact may be another reason why this one is overlooked.

As I said earlier this album is sort of in a gap between the new and the old and as such it seems forgotten, which is too bad since its a great offering of speedy and occasionally diverse blasting black metal.

Agalloch @ The Miramar Theatre 07.19.12

There's few things that top a night with one of your favorite bands and in the case of Agalloch you're talking about a band I've been following since the early days of, 'Pale Folklore.' This was my second time seeing the band as well the second time they've played at The Miramar Theatre here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and much to my delight there wasn't a boring moment the entire night.

This was somewhat of a strange night though as no local openers were hitting the stage first, which in all seriousness is a great thing, but still a strange occurrence. Therefore, up first was Taurus, who just like Agalloch happen to come from Portland, Oregon as well. This two-piece band, which consisted of drummer Ashley Spungin and guitarist/vocalist Stevie Floyd (also member of Dark Castle) played a sort of drone/doom metal similar to Sunn O))), though with perhaps more experimentation and vivid psychedlia to go with it. Taurus' music was exceedingly loud and nearly earth shaking with heaviness, while Stevie screamed and howled over these rapturous vibrations of doom. While the two gals jammed a large projection screen played out various odd scenes, which may or may not have been from a movie (I forget what Stevie told me when I talked to her later on), but apparently the duo plans to make their own movies for future use too. In any case, this was music to totally lose your mind to, perhaps several beers would have done the trick (I was only on #3 at the time), but psychedelic drugs of some sort sure would have been great too. Definitely not a band for everyone, but definitely a worthy and interesting band to open the night.

Taurus has recently released their debut, 'Life,' which can be purchased at http://taurusisdust.bandcamp.com/ in either mp3, CD, LP format or as a luxurious box set, which I plan to buy soon enough. And enjoy this short but interesting video I shot near the end of the bands set.



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With only one opening band Agalloch began to set up their gear and after maybe just thirty minutes they were ready to play. I should point out first though that while the Miramar is a decent venue, soundwise, appearance and all that, it is however ungodly warm during summer shows. So much so that its basically like being in a sauna (or on a Finnish bus ride). I think this sweltering feeling added to Taurus' earlier mentioned psychedelic vibes since we were all sweating, fatiguing and instead of drinking water were just buying more beer (come on, this is Milwaukee after all). So, buy the time Agalloch hit the stage I'd already put back a few and was feeling quite good already.

If I remember correctly (too much beer, man!) Agalloch opened with, 'Falling Snow' from, 'Ashes Against the Grain,' which sounded great right about then, but there wasn't anything chilly going on during this opening song. Nevertheless, this opening song was played with much conviction and although it seemed like not many were getting wild just yet, they would soon enough. 'The Watcher's Monolith' from, 'Marrow of the Spirit' would follow, much to my delight too since its one of my favs from their latest album.

'Faustian Echoes' the massive twenty minute epic from the brand new single of the same name came next. I first heard this song a few weeks ago when I was still in Finland on vacation and was quite pleased and surprised to hear such a song from Agalloch. Interestingly this is Agalloch at their blackest I'd say, but of course its not without the bands well known charm. At any rate they played the whole entire song, all of it, man, but I had to duck out for a few minutes to piss, take a breather outside and of course get more drinks for my comrades.

Tons of other great songs would succeed this monster, such as, 'I Am the Wooden Doors,' 'You Were but a Ghost in My Arms,' 'Hallways of Enchanted Ebony,' 'Our Fortress Is Burning... I & II,' 'In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion,' 'Ghosts of the Midwinter Fires' and they'd close the set perfectly with, 'Dead Winter Days' and 'Kneel to the Cross.' I'd hope to hear, 'Into the Painted Grey' since its one of their faster numbers, as well my personal Agalloch anthem, 'As Embers Dress the Sky' wasn't present, but they played it last time, anyway. There may have been one or two other songs that have skipped my memory, but all in all the band must have played nearly two hours, which is mightily impressive.

Earlier in the evening I purchased the, 'Faustian Echoes' LP, which looks and sounds amazing, as well I picked up the, 'Whitedivisiongrey' comp. for the exclusive songs, but oddly no shirts this time around. I guess sometimes even when you are nearly broke you just can't go all out.

After the show my friends and I would hang with drummer Aesop and found that he was an insanely awesome metal dude, likewise the Taurus gals were out there and it was fun talking to them about their performance as well as taking a silly photo together. Eventually Don would come outside and I got to chat with him and take a photo together. It was cool meeting him since we'd talked a bit in the past and he even helped Lunar Hypnosis out for a short period in 2005. A damn fine evening if I ever had one.

If there was anything to complain about I could have done without the moshers bashing into me (and now giving me a sore back/neck), but I guess that's even going to happen at shows where you don't expect it. Besides that not a whole lot more can be said other than the night was pretty much perfect and as far as the bands were concerned I feel charmed after seeing Agalloch again and feel that I appreciate their music even more so. Likewise I look forward to hearing and following Taurus in the years to come.

I'd originally considered going to the show tonight in Chicago, but between the ticket price, alcohol, gas for the car and the time on the road (over four there and back) I had to think differently. Plus I'm broke as hell and have to work tonight, anyway. However if you're in Chicago do the right thing and go check these two incredible bands out, as well enjoy them if they are coming to your city in the next couple days/weeks. A tip of the mug and thumbs up to Taurus and Agalloch.



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Black Breath - Sentenced to Life (2012)

Black Breath's debut, 'Heavy Breathing' was a random and different release for me which just sort of feel into my sight and ears after a friend gave it a positive review. Previewing a few songs on youtube convinced me to pick it up and a year and half later and I wouldn't hesitate to call it one of my favorite albums of the past several years.

So, how would the follow-up, 'Sentenced to Life' fair against this massive debut? Initially I thought less of this release, it seemed to lack the anger, energy, catchy riffs and killer solos the debut offered, but after seeing the band live last week and getting fucking wasted before hand and going completely batshit at the show I really started to feel differently. I'm not sure how that works exactly, but it might have something to do with screaming into the mic with singer Neil McAdams and moshing like a mother fucker while attending. Usually not my thing, but, ya know, sometimes reality hits hard and you got to let loose.

Anyway, 'Sentenced to Life' carries on the Black Breath tradition of mixing hardcore, crust punk and Swedish death metal, which results in a sound that reminds of old Entombed and Dismember, but its sort of a modern age reimagining of sorts. To me this album tends to lean more towards the hardcore side this time around though, whereas the debut often times just sounded like Swedish death metal with a loud throaty hoarse shouter at the mic. As such, I don't think the album is as catchy, but it certainly boasts the same levels of energy and pure anger from start to finish.

The guitars once again hold that buzzing SDM sound as well the bass is massive and the drums sound natural and explosive throughout the record. Songs like, 'Feast of the Damned' or 'Sentenced to Life' remind me the most of the debut, but I also dig the slower, 'Endless Corpse' and you've just gotta love the guitar work in the song, 'Obey.'

Depending on when you hear this album it might change your opinion entirely. I'm sure many of the reviews I've read for this album were from people that missed the first album entirely, or have just heard it recently. In the end this album doesn't top the debut, but its still pretty damn good. It runs for just a little over thirty two minutes, but that's more than enough time to get some frustrations out while head banging like a maniac to some Black Breath.

Scream Bloody... coffee?

An interesting item I picked up overseas while in Sweden recently is this Death, 'Scream Bloody Gore' mug. I figured since I tend to drink copious amounts of coffee it would only make sense to drink it in style. This one is obviously a bit more exciting than my old normal clay mug with nothing on it at all, but as it stands I actually haven't used this Death one just yet. More than likely it will just sit atop my CD shelf until I get really drunk some day and bump into and knock it off and break it...

... but it sure would go well with that Tankard coaster I found at a random bar in Helsinki... Hmmm...

Cuvée Des Trolls - Cuvée Spéciale

Its been a long time since I've done any beer reviews and considering how much alcohol I tend to drink that's a bit puzzling to me. Ideally after returning from Finland it would only make sense to do some sort of three part special on, Karhu, Koff and Lapin Kulta, but they're cruelly not available in the USA (or at least not where I live). Therefore, I found this strange Belgian troll ale today, which reminds me of the Finntroll performance at Tuska... and after all everyone knows trolls like to booze it up. I think.

'Cuvée Des Trolls' comes as a corked and caged 1 pint & 9.4 oz. bottle, which pours out a hazy piss yellow color with a foamy thick white head to it that lasts for a few minutes. The immediate smell I pick up on is an almost purely lemon scent, though some sweetness, yeast and hoppiness can be found too. The taste as well as is fairly lemony, but also some slightly green apple hints, as well as a bit bready and spicy hops are to be found. Sort of typical Belgian Pale Ale and a witbier is what it reminds of, therefore nothing special, but its decent. Nevertheless its a refreshing ale to drink, especially with this intense heat wave these past couple of weeks. The 7.5% alc. by Vol is decent too and by the time you finish off the bottle I'd imagine you'd be feeling just fine.

I haven't tried the original version of Cuvée Des Trolls, but apparently from what I've read this 10th anniversary edition isn't especially different. Still, curious to try the original now. However at almost $10 a bottle and the fact that its not radically different from some other Belgian ale's means I probably wont be buying this particular one again, but at least I'll enjoy what I have in this bottle and soon go to bed.

Dr. Shrinker - Grotesque Wedlock (2004)

Dr. Shrinker was a short lived ('87-'91) death metal band from my stomping ground here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. 'Grotesque Wedlock' is a now out of print compilation from Necroharmonic Productions that gathers together the, 'Wedding The Grotesque' demo from '89, 'The Eponym' demo from '90 and the, 'Recognition' demo from '88. The booklet contains lyrics, various horror and band shots, old flyers as well as a few words on the bands existence. Dr. Shrinker was the name of a 1970s TV show.

Probably a bit unknown nowadays due to this compilation being out of print and the demos being so old, Dr. Shrinker was one of many early and influential death metal bands who were hugely into the tape trading scene in the 80's/early 90's and were even thanked in the booklet of Entombed's, 'Left Hand Path.' Although at first not entirely different from many other death metal demos from the period, musically, Shrinker preferred the term, 'Gore Core,' and instead of growled/grunted vocals, Rich Noonan used this vile, raspy voice, which was totally his own thing. Jim Potter and Chad Hensel were fantastic, talented and to an extent very original sounding guitarists with a macabre twist in every riff and a keen sense for writing unique and catchy music. Matt Grassberger's bass added an extra dimension of thick heaviness to these recordings, as well drummer Dave Priem was just phenomenal blasting away behind the kit with break neck precision.

Lyrically Dr. Shrinker wrote a lot of songs about old horror movies as well as just the standard blood & guts sort of thing, but in the 80's, much like death metal itself, gore lyrics were a new thing. Since these our demos the sound quality is raw and underground all the way, but nevertheless all the instruments are audible and it just forces you to turn the volume up more while listening. I fucking love the song, 'Dead by Dawn,' which opens with a sample from, 'Evil Dead 2,' and then just bleeds perfectly into death metal chaos, 'Rawhead Rex' & 'Chunk Blower' are actually fairly catchy, and 'Germ Farm' is quite simply one of the best death metal songs ever! Collectively 19 face peeling songs are present on this compilation.

In the 80's and early 90's Milwaukee had some really great bands with Dr. Shrinker, Phantasm and Viogression leading the way, but by the late 90's things began to change and when Milwaukee Metalfest finally collapsed in the early part of the new millennium it seemed like the scene around here had fallen with it. Nevertheless I'm glad labels had the good sense to re-release these old gems for the world to hear again. As for Dr. Shrinker, they never got signed nor did they ever release a full-length album, which is truly a shame...

Gorephilia - Ascend To Chaos (2011)

Gorephilia are a new death metal band who come from Finland. They formed in 2006 under the name Goretex and released a couple of demos. In early 2007, after kicking out a member of the band, they changed their name to Gorephilia, put out a couple of more demos, which resulted in a deal with Dark Descent Records and this EP was born, which was released in May 2011.

I had seen this EP listed on the label's website as well as other distros, but I kept holding off on buying it for some strange reason. Despite my late arrival to the party, a lot of people in the media, plus general music fans were giving this band such high praise. After seeing it at a distro again, I finally bought it with a bunch of other things and I am glad I did, because this is a monster of an EP.

This band knows how to play heavy and craft songs that leave you coming back for more. You get six songs... Well, four complete songs and two instrumentals, but it is all good and well thought out. Despite being death metal, the songs do have an epic feel and it gets you sucked in. This band knows how to keep the listener interested for its duration. Like with "Tower Of Bones" for instance. Despite being nearly eight minutes long, it doesn't come off as a tedious ordeal as they weave your through an adventure with its haunting structure that when you get to the end, you feel a satisfaction of a journey. While the song "Give Into Madness" offers up one of the most heaviest guitar riffs I heard in 2011 and the song will send you into a realm of which you are likely never to return both musically and lyrically. "Death, Chaos, Doom" is a song that is the perfect soundtrack to such an incident as its heaviness and execution are enough to cause those three things and there is no way to stop it.

From top to bottom, this EP just has it all. Hard pounding drums, thick molting riffs, bass lines that can cause an earthquake and demonic vocals that just add to the horrors of Hell that have been summoned for this release. It leaves a lasting impression. The kind of impression that invokes fear, nightmares and the like. I really think this band has a long bright future ahead and can be a big force to be reckoned with as part of the new elite. When a band like Gorephilia comes along, then you know that death metal still has a long prosperous future ahead.

My Youtube channel

Back in August of 2010 I started making it a habit of filming bands at gigs/fests and uploading them on youtube. Nearly two years later and I've almost got 150 different vids on my channel, and although it could be A LOT more I insist on sticking with only the better quality ones and the ones where I wasn't completely wasted while filming. I figured I'd share it since I've seen some cool bands in the past couple of years and caught some cool moments onstage too. Most of the vids are from gigs around my stomping ground here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but there are a bunch from down in Chicago, Illinois as well as load from Bloodstock and both of my Tuska visits.

If that sounds interesting than visit my youtube channel and have a look see for yourself.

Slaughter - Strappado (1987/2012)

"Make way for the Incinerator!"

Back in the 80's warriors like Razor, Sacrifice and Slaughter reigned supreme and were at the front of the Canadian metal scene releasing some the most bad ass thrash metal imaginable. Slaughter in particular stands out more so for me since the band straddled the borders between extreme thrash and the early pioneering death metal sound. In fact, in 1986 Death's own Chuck "Evil" Schuldiner had a rehearsal with Slaughter, which proves that Florida wasn't the only place where death metal was being created.

The bands one and only record, 1987's, 'Strappado' is a record of legendary status, which has been re-released many times as well various compilations of demos, rehearsals and old live shows have also appeared in the past ten years. This particular version of the album I'm reviewing is the 25th anniversary edition, which is a 2CD set that includes both the LP and CD versions of Strappado (different running order plus additional songs on CD ver.) and live material from a show in '86 on disc one and on the second disc the, 'Meatcleaver', 'Bloody Karnage' and 'Surrender or Die' demo tapes, which makes a total of 55 songs and nearly three hours of music.

Recorded in February of '86, although not released until sometime in '87, 'Strappado' is a masterpiece of ripping thrashy early pioneering death metal played with a Celtic Frost and almost punk-ish sort of vibe, which although similar at times to South American bands like Sepultura, Sarcofago and Pentagram this one was conceived before all of those bands demos/albums and is generally faster and more barbarous too. The music itself is sort of simple, generally a single riff repeated several times over loud pounding drums and gruff shouted vocals and somewhat corny but fun lyrics with a totally underground production. What makes it really stand out is the music is quite fast, crazy and absolutely extreme for its time. There's barely any technical wizardry on display here, there's no face melting solos and all of the songs are fairly short too, but its just simply early youthful, maniacal, energetic extreme noise at its finest and as always I love stuff like this. There's just something about these crunchy raw riffs, insane vocals and the vicious hammering of the drums that I can't seem to get enough of!

The live songs, which close out the first disc of this set are as expected quite raw and full of emotion and from the sounds of things a totally crazy crowd too. Apparently Slaughter only played something like 15 shows during their lifespan and it seems the lack of shows just brought out more maniacs when they did perform. Nevertheless bootlegged live material is usually hit or miss with most people, but hearing these live cuts is always a fun way to experience these great songs.

The second disc kicks off with the, 'Meatcleaver' demo from August 31st, 1984. To me it sounds almost more like a rehearsal tape rather than an official demo due to the lo-fi and raw sound. Here the music is even more simple, not as fast and with a more obvious punk sound showing through, especially in the vocals. For the most part this demo is pretty goddamn funny to listen to, especially the title track, which has completely hilarious rhyming lyrics and in a funny sort of way it reminds me of these recordings my brother and I did when we were in our early teens. Basically we sang over rock/metal songs and added ridiculous parody lyrics and such, but that was probably just a result of listening to Weird Al too much from years earlier.

The 'Bloody Karnage' demo from December 31st 1984 follows and the months apart from these two demos shows some serious progression. The music is still quite raw and rehearsal with a thin drum and guitar sound, but the music is a lot faster and the seeds of what would become are starting to grow on this demo. Finally the, 'Surrender or Die' demo from April 1985 shows a Slaughter that's most comparable to what would soon be found on the full-length. The production is probably a little more crude here, but the compositions are spot on and this demo also offers a few songs that wouldn't be re-recorded, such as, 'Shadow of Death,' 'Eve of Darkness,' 'Cult of the Dead' and a cover of Hellhammer's, 'Massacra.'

Slaughter themselves would eventually break up in the late 80's, citing annoyance with the music business as the reason, although the band briefly reformed in the early 90's under the name Strappado and again in '94, another brief reunion as Slaughter the band recorded a Celtic Frost cover for the, 'In Memory of...' tribute CD. Bobby and Dave would also go on to play in a band named Inner Thought that had a few albums in the early to mid 90's and other than Dave's guest vocals on a recent Sacrifice record everyone else from the band has been done with music for many years now.

Many great bands came and went in the 80's, some just a few demos or some like Slaughter, which recorded a landmark early pioneering record of metal extremeness. 'Strappado' is surely an album that should be in every old school metal fanatics collection and with this ultimate edition now available you have no reason not too.

"1, 2, Fuck You!"

Shape of Despair - Shades of... (2000)

One of my better finds while over in Finland recently was the debut from Shape of Despair, which I've had downloaded for years, but just could never hunt down anywhere around where I live.

Originally formed in '95 as Raven, this Helsinki, Finland based band released three demos before changing to Shape of Despair in '98 and eventually recording their debut, 'Shades of...' in '00. Consisting of 4 re-recorded songs from the, 'Alone in the Mist' demo plus one new song, 'Shades of...' is a monumental release and one I'm quite glad to finally own.

Shape of Despair plays a sort of highly atmospheric funeral doom metal, which features lots backing symphonic keyboard orchestrations as well as a flute, which adds a completely unique and different twist to the genre's sound. The music itself is as expected tremendously plodding music with both growled and spoken male vocals as well as backing female vocals, which don't sound corny in any way at all, in fact they only enhance the ethereal nature of the music even further. The album carries a strange vibe to it, almost dreamlike in its delivery, and it creates this mental movie in my brain of a gal leading me through the mist, slowly, to some daintily lighted village shrouded in mystery where she both caress' and possess' me with depraved deeds.

Of course this is funeral doom, therefore the music is also quite depressive in its delivery, but its not really a break down and cry sort of effect, but just one that sort of ruins a good mood (if you happened to be having one). I also find that this album works best during the autumn or winter when its colder outside, personally the first time I heard the album was about nine years ago while driving during a heavy snowstorm and it worked perfectly amongst the snowy landscapes.

Shape of Despair would go on to record, 'Angels of Distress' in '01 and 'Illusion's Play' in '04, both great records too, but things have been slow ever since with just a compilation of demos, an EP and a split being released since, though the bands recent live activity may indicate that a new album is on the way.

If you are new however to Shape of Despair or funeral doom metal definitely start with, 'Shades of...,' because not only is it a classic in my opinion, but also a completely one of a kind album, which breathes atmosphere, mystery and sorrow like few other albums can.

From Hell to Helsinki, part II - An American at Tuska

For the second year in a row I made my way out to Helsinki, Finland for the 15th annual Tuska Open Air Metal Festival. Last year I found myself in an absolute paradise of great metal music, superb people and just fantastic fun from start to finish. However, colossal experiences rarely repeat themselves, so I really didn't know what to expect out of this year, especially with the line-up not being as exciting as last year. Little did I know that this Tuska would be an even bigger blast for me.

Not only was I looking forward to three days of metal music, but also seeing my friends from last year, which admittedly took sometime from viewing bands, but it was quite worth it since I made some new friends in the process and had some great times together with everyone. I should also point out that from the first day I arrived in Helsinki until the morning I was to leave I was drinking with friends. To me alcohol and metal go quite well together and I pretty much guarantee the high alcohol levels only made the experience more fun and exciting, though perhaps made some of it a blur to me in the end.

Day 1: After meeting a good friend (and his friend too) at the train station we had lunch and eventually made our way to Tuska, but we had to part ways since I needed to pick up my press pass. I walked in just as Exodus was hitting the Radio Rock Stage and quite early into their set a frantic mosh pit/chase began. Exodus mostly stuck to songs from their debut, 'Bonded by Blood,' and although the line-up is considerably different the band played the songs with the same level of intensity and fun as they did back in '85 when the album was originally released. It should be noted that Exodus did recently re-record that album and although I refuse to listen to it at least it sounded good live. A horde of young thrashers also rocked out to some of the bands newer songs, which I'm not familiar with, but at least I know, 'War is my Shepherd' from the, 'Tempo of the Damned' record. All in all I was surprised, especially since the last time I saw Exodus (around '06) at a small club back home they were kind of lame, but this gig made up for it.

I eventually found my friends again and having missed Alcest and not knowing what to watch next we made our way over to the Inferno Stage to watch Suidakra. I remember this tent was really, really warm last year, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it was quite different this time. I'd seen Suidakra about five years ago in Chicago and I guess back then I was more informed on what they were doing, but in recent years I've completely forgotten about the band. Although from Germany they play a sort of Celtic/folk melodic death metal, which is characterized by those sorts of influences plus highly melodious guitar riffs, which is hit or miss for most people. I remember really enjoying these guys the last time I saw them, but perhaps since I'd only been out of bed a few hours and perhaps because I had not drank much yet it really wasn't doing much for me. We moved on.

Around this time I met up with some more friends from last year and from a distance we drank, talked and watched Edguy, which is a largely hilarious power metal band from Germany, which never did a damn thing for me all these years that I've known them. A bit later and after much alcohol already it was time for doom legends, Saint Vitus, which I was thrilled to see. Saint Vitus played for a solid hour and honestly at the time their heavy traditional doom metal was just what I needed to finally really get me into the music. The band played a good selection of old material from as early as '85 and throughout the 80's when they reigned supreme as well I suspect some newer songs, which I didn't recognize since I haven't bought the new album just yet. The band was spot on and with Wino back at the vocal position after all these years they were absolutely colossal and as far as I'm concerned they were the best band that afternoon. Later on when Megadeth was playing I ran into Dave and Mark and was able to share a few words before taking a photo together. Thanks guys!

With sometime to kill before anything interesting was playing I met back up with friends for at least one more drink and eventually watched a little bit of the Finnish death metal band, Demigod, which has one classic album from the early 90's called, 'Slumber of Sullen Eyes,' but it seems the band broke up shortly after that and didn't reform until more recent years. Personally I never heard that album or even knew much about them, but from the couple songs I watched they seemed like your fairly standard death metal band with hard growls and some really good solos too. I'd probably try buying this old record, but it seems to be way out of print and going on eBay for ridiculous prices. Oh well.

Finally it was time for Arcturus and being a huge fan of the first three albums I was quite pumped, especially knowing that I'll never, ever get to see this in America. Unfortunately, Garm isn't a part of the reformed Arcturus, rather Vortex is, and although I enjoy the guys voice it was weird hearing him sing the songs I know so well with Garm at the mic. The band played songs like, 'Nightmare Heaven' & 'Master of Disguise' and thankfully my personal favorite, 'The Choas Path.' A few newer songs were within the setlist, which I'm really not familiar with, but the fact that they closed with, 'Raudt Og Svart' & 'Alone' left me with one huge smile on my face.

With really not much else to watch and wanting to be as far away as possible from the hopelessly awful Hatebreed I met back up with friends for more booze. Together we all watched Megadeth and since this was my 6th or 7th time seeing them there wasn't much to expect as far as surprises are concerned. Of course the band played a bunch of their classics from the 80's and early 90's, which I grew up with and know just about ever word too, and you know Megadeth is just never boring... as long you're properly intoxicated at least, which is the only way I've ever watched them. In any case my friends and I watched from a distance, acted like fools, sang the songs, feel all over the place and had a damn fine time together.

Later that evening a few friends and I made our way to The Virgin Oil Co. for Gaf, Ghoul Patrol and Moonsorrow. We missed the first band, heard about two songs of the second band, which was decent melodic death metal and then was completely blown over by Moonsorrow. Or at least I surely was. The band played an absolute first class set list with songs like, 'Kuin ikuinen,' 'Raunioilla,' 'Sankaritarina' and I went absolutely mad for my favorite song, 'Kylän päässä.' Earlier during, 'Huuto' however something happened and I can't even explain it. I cried. I had tears running down my face and I have no idea why. Looking back I was probably drunk, but I remember thinking about just how much fun I was having that day and how much I love being in Finland, but knowing that I'd have to go back to the slave grind that is America eventually I just couldn't hold it in. I can admit it and you can say whatever you want, but for some reason the melodies in this song and the experience of being in a real thriving metal scene where people actually understood me really got to me... The band would close their set with, 'Kivenkantaja,' which really hit the spot and made it the perfect evening.

From there it was more drinking and complete foolery until about 3:30 AM when we finally decided that sleep might not be such bad idea after all.

Day 2: We arrived on Saturday on time to catch Estonian folk metalers, Metsatöll just before they hit the stage and I have to admit after becoming a fan a few years ago I was quite excited to see them, especially knowing that they'll probably never tour the USA. The band played for less than an hour, but they ripped through a few songs I knew as well as a few I didn't which are probably from the new album or the earlier stuff I still haven't bought. In any case it was quite enjoyable, especially watching Varulven jump between various strange and interesting folk instruments. Right after that we watched Anaal Nathrakh, which I've been a fan of since their debut in 2001 and never really expecting them to play live I was quite happy to see them onstage in front of me. I can say that although the band really destroyed the Inferno stage it felt like something was missing that you can hear on the albums. I suppose the intensity of the albums would be hard to re-create live, but it seemed like the crowd was not entirely into it and they missed their role on, 'Submission is for the Weak.' That line again, people is, "Down on your knees!!!!"

Sometime would pass before I'd stand in front of any bands again, but meanwhile the drinking would continue as we watched Textures and Mokoma from a distance, and while Textures seemed entirely boring Mokoma was a bit different. I can't say I exactly enjoyed their set, but their strange mixture and jumping around of genres was interesting, plus since they sing in Finnish it made it me feel like I was really apart of this place while watching. I guess they played a fan voted album in its entirety, which must have been a lot of fun for those that knew it well. The drinking would continue with friends, a nice girl with big tits would sell me some condoms, I met Mika from Impaled Nazarene and enjoyed an interesting conversation with him and eventually it was time for Horna to take the stage. Argh! Talk about an awesome experience with these guys! The only black metal band on the festival and fortunately it happened to be one of my favorites from Finland. I can admit that I didn't seem to recognize many songs played, but this highly atmospheric and quite raw and evil performance was something to behold. Their seemed to be an aura of sorts surrounding the band and it totally engulfed everyone in front of the Inferno stage that afternoon. Definitely the feeling and look was spot on for Horna on this day.

Soon after that we walked to the Hellsinki Rock Shop Stage where we would watch Insomnium next. Although I'm only familiar with the bands first two albums I was still quite excited for their performance and I suppose my friend was really pumped since he knows all of their work well. As luck would have it no songs from those first two albums were played, but everything else sounded fantastic and it just reminded me that I really need to get my act together and buy the rest of these guys records. Sometime passed after that when I met up with friends again and from a distance we talked, drank and watched the ultra corny power metal band Sonata Arctica, but I can admit with the right level of alcohol in you stuff like this can be fun. Sabaton would prove that to be true soon enough. It was also around this time that it began to rain, a Tuska first I'm told, but hopefully not a curse upon all our heads. From there I watched Swallow the Sun, but was sometime disappointed since it was just songs from the new album, which I haven't heard and the last album, which I really didn't like much at all. Besides that there was one song from the debut, which saved their performance for me, but my friend and I decided to move on since the rain had passed and we caught the last few minutes of Behemoth, which is superb band to always see live.

The headliner that day, Swedish power metal band Sabaton took the stage soon afterwards and its a good thing I'd drank a lot and had friends who were really passionate about their music since it made for a really enjoyable and silly time, even though I'd probably never actually listen to such music at home. The rest of the night and early morning was spent drinking and doing a shit load of crazy things, which will remain unknown here. I seemed to remember finally getting back to my hotel around 6 AM. Thanks friends for a great night!

Day 3: With only a few hours of sleep we woke up, got food, hit a bar and eventually made it to Tuska for the final day. With not much of interest that day we were in no hurry, but when we arrived (already a little goofy from alcohol) Overkill was hitting the stage. I can't tell you much about what songs they played, but as we drank and thrashed around that afternoon I knew we were all having a total blast together. Also the weather was perfect, actually quite warm and beautiful so it made the whole day a heck of a lot better. Lamb of God was suppose to play this afternoon, but due to some sort of arrest they were fortunately replaced by Finland's own, Finntroll, and MY FUCKING GOD what an experience we had during this one. All I can say is I never, ever witnessed or was a part of something that was so much fun and weird all at once. I'm not sure if it was Finntroll or the fact that everyone was drunk, but during their set you could find moshing, conga lines, bunny hopping and even ballroom dancing going on. I kid you not. They even hosed us down when things got too hot. Need proof, well just WATCH THIS VIDEO I put up on youtube of this insanity.

I had intended on watching Jess & the Ancient Ones before the day ended, but none of my friends seemed to be into it and honestly I sort of completely forgot that they were even playing. So, the rest of the time was just spent being a damn crazy metal drunk and enjoying what little time I had left with my friends at Tuska. Ministry closed the festival out, though not really in any favorable manner. It seemed like as soon as they began to play people started piling out and frankly after about five songs my friends and I hit the road too. I was never a fan of Ministry and I'm really just confused as to why they were chosen as the headliners, especially since their years of fame are far beyond them now, but I guess someone thought it was a good idea.

Since the fest ends early on the final day some friends and I spent the remaining hours of lights drinking and I mean drinking like goddamn maniacs at a nearby pub. This all sounds fine and harmless, really, except for the fact that my friend and I had a flight to catch at 10:45 Monday morning, which we nearly missed. As far as I can remember we drank until about 1 AM, said our goodbyes, got some food, got lost, but eventually made out way back to the hotel. Hangovers were all over the place a few hours later, my friend especially, which made for a very unpleasant time at the airport, but in the end we made the flight. We ended up staying in Stockholm one day, which was mostly spent sleeping once we found out hotel, but I went out for a nature walk by myself later in the evening, which was relaxing and enjoyable for me.

And that pretty much concludes Tuska 2012. As I said at the beginning I didn't really know what to expect, but I guess with the right level of alcohol and some good friends by my side the whole three days and the Finnish experience in general was amazing again.

When I came back last year I was really miserable, I guess because I really missed Finland right away, and I can tell you I do long to be back there already, but I felt so satisfied with this trip that it didn't get me depressed in any way this time around.

I've said it once and I've said it again that after visiting Finland it feels really appealing to try and move there someday soon. Being somewhat familiar with how to do it I'm really up for the challenge and I think its time to finally get out of this lame and completely metal lacking city I've been stuck in my entire life. It would be a dream come true and not many people realize any of theirs, I guess I've got a few and going to Tuska both the first time and this time was one of them. Now, if I can just move to Finland, learn some of the language, get a job and find a girlfriend and actually be in a place where metal is embraced and not shunned, well, I think I might be pretty damn close to what we humans call happiness.

Finally I wanted to thank the Tuska organizers for allowing me to have the press pass to this event, which might I add got me in for free as well I must send an infinite amount of thanks to my friends whom I enjoyed the fest with. A friendly handshake and hug to you all! See you soon!!

From Hell to Helsinki, part I

On Wednesday June 27th, we arrived in Helsinki after an unsatisfied stay in Stockholm, Sweden. Since we arrived in the early morning hours and we couldn't check into our hotel (which we were sharing with a friend from France) until 4 PM we mostly just wandered the streets.

Besides the obvious and much needed food break we then made our way to the record stores. The first place we visited was, 'Levykauppa,' which we had also shopped at last year. At this place I picked up three CDs, namely Hexvessel's, 'Dawnbearer', Shape of Despair's, 'Shades of...' since I could never find it anywhere and replaced my once owned, but stupidly sold copy of Barathrum's, 'Legions of Perkele.' I should point out that there were several other albums I could and probably should have picked up, but I was just concerned about spending too much money on CDs. After all I had lots of drinking to be done. A fantastic store though that has quite a huge and diverse selection of metal as well as many other genres of music to be found.

From there we hunted and eventually found the, 'Kvlt Store,' which we missed last year. This small store mostly carried black and death metal and just in general totally underground and, well, cult stuff. I only picked up Behexen's, 'By the Blessing of Satan,' but really should have gotten more since a lot of the stuff I saw I'd only be able to order online anyway, such as Goatmoon, whom at the time I was planning on seeing on Saturday evening. The Kvlt Store also had a lot of vinyl, which was tempting, but I figured I'd never get it back home in one piece and decided to skip looking through it entirely. There were also some t-shirts somewhat hidden behind the door, but not a very diverse selection to choose from. Interestingly these guys also had a lot of demo tapes as well as bootleg gigs. Pretty interesting and again tempting, but I resisted the temptation. I think I also remember there being some VHS and DVDs too. Other than that a pretty cool place and the two guys that worked there were rather nice, but I think my friend made them feel weird since he was just pensively walking back and fourth through the shop not looking at anything, really... he's not much of a fan of the cult stuff.

We also went to, 'The Hellsinki Rock Shop,' which is a small but neat place for shirts and a few other cool things. I picked up an Amorphis, 'Tales from the Thousand Lakes' shirt as well as an Amorphis, 'Black Winter Day' backpatch, which I'll do something with, someday.

Eventually we met up with our French buddy, found our hotel, got some food and hit the bars that afternoon/evening. I remember we went to PRKL at first, but it was quiet for the most part and eventually made our way to Base where I made attempts to hit on the nice bar tender gal, but after a shot of fisu and some other evil shit I was getting drunk and spilled my beer... almost on her. From there we moved on to Praha, which was a little more lively since it was in the evening now, but generally I found this place to be a little dull. I think we eventually got back to PRKL that evening, but, ya know, you drink enough alcohol everything just kind of becomes a blur after a while.

On Thursday we went to Suomenlinna a sea fortress built in 1748, which I enjoyed greatly last year, but our French pal missed it and as such needed to see it. The weather was good on this day and I can't really put it into perspective for you, but really being out there on these island's is like a little piece of paradise for me. I got some great photos and videos and absolutely enjoyed the few hours we were there. It rained for a few minutes, but thankfully we were near shelter and didn't get wet. Otherwise it was perfect the whole time. For more on that feel free to read my writings on Suomenlinna from last year.

I tell ya a good portion of that afternoon has left me now, but eventually we made it to On The Rocks where Barren Earth was playing late that evening, thus making our Thursday remarkably similar to the one we had last year. Before the gig I met with a friend from last year that I was looking forward to seeing as well some Norwegians that seemed to fancy our presence, curiously one of them was Harald Helgeson whom played drums for Enslaved back in '97 as well more recently for Evig Natt and Thundra.

After quite a few drinks outside with friends we made our way downstairs around 11 PM. It was great to see Barren Earth onstage again since I really enjoyed their performance from last year and with their new album being fantastic it made it all the better. The band played new songs like, 'Passing of the Crimson Shadows,' 'Vintage Warlords' and my personal favs, 'The Rains Begin' & 'As it is Written,' which resulted in some serious 'metal moments' for me. Also from the first album, 'Forlorn Waves' & 'Flicker' and much to my delight since they didn't play it last year, 'The Ritual of Dawn.' Such a great song. There were a few others that escape me now as well as an interesting instrumental piece to close their set. The band was spot on, the sound was stunning, the crowd was enthusiastic and all in all just a perfect night.

Sometime during the bands set I noticed a friend from last year and needed to reunite with him. This of course resulted in more drinking at On The Rocks after the gig and all of us got pretty fucking toasted before heading over to PRKL, which was quite lively this time. The rest of that night was filled with booze, booze and more booze and I think we eventually bumbled home around 3AM. Good fucking night. Tuska in a few hours, but will save that for later.

The Swedish Adventure

On Saturday June 23rd my friend Mike and I boarded a plane down in Chicago destined for Stockholm, Sweden, which was to be the start of our Scandinavian Metal journey that would eventually end up in Helsinki, Finland for Tuska Open Air Metal Festival. However before we talk about Finland or Tuska we must discuss what happened in Sweden earlier.

As a starting point I have to say I had no idea what to expect out of Stockholm, but considering quite a few great bands had come out of the place and to think of all the amazing bands that have come out of Sweden in general I expected metal to be fairly popular here. It wasn't. Not at all. Not even... close. It seems Stockholm was a ridiculous fantasy world of high fashion, super models and extreme yuppie culture. Essentially it was one giant shopping mall where every single person was severely overdressed for the occasion. Now I'm a metalhead and for the most part I dress like a metalhead, which is a pretty simple wardrobe of metal band t-shirt and jeans. So, seeing how everyone was wearing top of line super expensive clothing both my friend and I felt out of place. We tried searching for some metalheads, but honestly during the three days we were there we only saw about ten obvious metalheads.

Basically right from the get go we felt like outcasts, which is exactly the way I feel living back home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the only difference being that most people here are obese and total white trash, while other people fall into social sub cultures such, 'bro douchebags,' 'White homies,' 'Jocks' or just complete fucking assholes. I cant help but admit that being in Stockholm I found people giving me looks and for the most part I found that a lot of people were not particularly fond of foreigners. At the airport we had to catch a bus down to the city, and once we found out bus, which appeared to be leaving, we began to waive at the driver to hold on. Instead he just waived back and drove off without us, making us have to wait 15-20 for the next one. A lot of other people just had extremely cold personalities and it seemed like they really, really hated speaking English with us. The only exception was the info girls who get paid to be helpful.

The experience was also ruined for us because the weather was just awful. Basically it was on and off rain for three days straight. Sometimes it would rain and be sunny and warm and then sometimes it would fiercely rain and be cold and windy. In any case, on numerous occasions my friend and I got totally soaked. I guess I was expecting warmth and sunshine, but it was so cold by the second day that I was forced to by a hoodie.

You can't help but wonder what there is to do in Stockholm then? Well, basically there's a fucking shit load of museums or shopping areas to go to and as far as I could tell that was all. I mean, maybe if I was into more normal things I would have found the whole place to be more interesting, but since I'm not I found it to be a bore. The museums were pretty cool, very informative and interesting, but most of the time we weren't allowed to take photos, which sucked and after all the boozing over in Finland a lot of these museums are just a blur in my mind now.

The Metal Stuff:
Metal was clearly not the thing in Stockholm, but we did manage to find a metal store called, 'Sound Polution,' which I believe is a fairly long running metal store, which I heard Mikael from Opeth once worked at. The store itself was decent and I found a few CDs that I wanted and I got the aforementioned hoodie here (A Deathspell Omega one), but all in all this place paled in comparison to any record store I'd been into in Helsinki, hell even our local metal store here in Milwaukee is on the same level.

We were also told to check out two bars; Pub Anchor & Medusa Rock Bar. Pub Anchor was anything but a metal bar, in fact the four hours we were there the only music that was played was U2, Guns N' Roses, Black & Load-era Metallica and Billy Idol. The bar tenders also clearly did not favor foreigners as we usually had to waive the guy down just to get another drink, otherwise we were ignored, completely. An attempt to talk to two metalheads that walked in fell short too. My friend felt so awkward that he even made some comment to the waitress about the service and while I have no idea what he said I'm sure it was something derogatory since that's the way he gets when drinking.

From there we walked some distance to a place called, 'The Medusa Rock Bar,' which had a more lively atmosphere and although smaller actually had a decent selection of metal and rock bands playing. I remember I ordered a few martini's and some shitty Swedish beer called Falcon. This place also had a downstairs area, which was fairly long, but I guess it was probably only open on the weekends. We went to one other bar that night, a rather interesting English looking pub, but of course not metal was to be found there. Were just alcoholics that needed one more fix before walking back to the hotel.

Our final day in Stockholm saw us heading to Skogskyrkogården, which is a cemetery in the south central area. The reasoning for going here is because back in 1990 Entombed shot an incredible promo photo in front of the gigantic cross near the entrance and I figured since I was never going to be back I'd better check it out. Its also worth mentioning that Tomas "Quorthon" Forsberg of Bathory fame and Per "Dead" Ohlin are buried here, but we weren't exactly interested in making it our lives work to find their gravestones. As soon as we got off the train and entered the nearby cemetery it, you know it, it started to rain, lightly. By the time we took a few photos by the cross it was completely pouring rain and we needed to seek shelter. Unfortunately the rain never really let up and we weren't able to explore the cemetery the same way we wanted too.

Later on that day we mostly just wandered around the city, often times taking shelter from the on/off rain and growing increasingly annoyed with the city. Of course there was more we could of seen, but the weather and the way people seemed to respond to our American-ness just really ruined Stockholm for me. Thankfully the next morning we were heading for Finland and that's where the journey gets interesting, finally! ...will save that for tomorrow though.