But… even when I always side with those who say that image and appearance is secondary to the music, I’ll admit that the bands look  seems a bit more fitting even some 3 years ago.. check their performance of Filthgrinder from 2006 below this recent one.

Filthgrinder

Filthgrinder 2006

One of the biggest metal festivals in Norway, Inferno was once again a success this year. Spanning over four days, the lineup included: Carpathian Forest, Earth, Kampfar, Koldbrann, Negura Bunget, Paradise Lost, Pestilence, Samael, Troll and many other great bands.

There is now a video report on NRK.no

One can only hope to see something similar in the US. But for now, all we can do is check out the videos of performances and learn something about organizing something of this scale from Lars Frode Hansen who talked about the festival with Imhotep’s Paul Kearns.

Part 1.

Part 2.

I always find it pretty awesome when metal musicians have enough confidence to explore different style and genres of music. This time around it’s Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik who used to drum for Gorgoroth that venturing out into something quite unique with Wardruna.

The style is not quite straight up folk, nor ambient, but more of mix of various genres. Started in 2002 it took about 6 years to complete the first album: “Runaljod - Gap Var Ginnunga“ released earlier in January on Indie Recordings. And now the project is picking up some speed with live performance in front of the Oseberg ship in the Viking Ship Museum at Bygdøy in Oslo, Norway.

Ex-GORGOROTH frontman Gaahl was out there (I’m not going into controversy discussion here) and provided some good support which will definitely help with spreading the news about Wardruna.

Anyway check out the project for yourself and watch the video below.

Links:
http://www.wardruna.com
http://www.myspace.com/wardruna

Source:
blabbermouth

Last couple days I have been following the supposed sale of a Semper Fidelis Box #98 on FMP board. For years now Nargaroth has been almost synonymous with drama. Having spent a few hours on reading the posts and watching videos, I aksed myself: “Why did I just spend all this time and about to spend more writing about it?”. Not sure how to answer, I’m siding with the fact that it’s simply amusing and semi-interesting on a Saturday morning. Another part of the answer would be trying to understand why quite a few people follow Kanwulfs travels through the scene and almost everyone has a definite side on where they stand. Some follow him as a Black Metal warrior, and some call him a pretentious asshole.

As for myself, I liked Rasluka Part II and was always bewildered by the prices of limited Nargaroth items on ebay. When Semper Fidelis box came out, I was once again sucked into ridiculousness that followed. A small limit, personal items, cumstained shirts? Sure some creativity is great when packaging limited releases, but “personal artifacts” like wedding rings or a birds foot? Why? If I thought that these guys are smart enough, I would say “Marketing”.

Marketing is key when creating interest in your band or any other product for that matter. Unfortunately we are talking about black metal, where most of the time marketing is a side product of wanting to create some controversy or be different which in turn results in interest.

Big labels spend millions of dollars trying to bring attention to artists, mainly the attention is focused on something not related to the music but instead something gossip-worthy. Now I’m not comparing Kanwulf to Britney Spears flashing her vag in front of paparazzi or 50Cent claiming to be shot 50 times, but  I personally don’t really want to hear about a band unless there’s a line-up change, a gig or an album coming out. And while I do pay attention to the ideology and statements of the bands, it’s so secondary to the music that I can live without it.

I remember getting Shinings album and having to listen to 45 seconds of Kvarforth talking about “who this record is for”, and all I could think is “Let me hear the fucking music already!”

So back to Nargaroth… check this site out: Lies and Half-Truths around “Kanwulf von Nargaroth”. Just like there are fan pages, so there are “anti” pages, this one goes in great detail to challenge many of the things that Kanwulf said over the years and band related dates and events that he apparently lied about. I read all of it. And in the end I said to myself this will not raise any curiosity or make anyone buy records… and this once again tells me this is not marketing this is simply unnecessary drama. I much more preferred Velvet Cacoon shenanigans. The “dieselharp” at least made me download (note: not buy) a V.C. track just to see what it might sound like. Hearing about boxsets with wedding rings in them makes me just think that the band is silly.

So what I am saying here? Artists are best when they stick to music, good or bad. Ideology statements should not be in-your-face but for those who are interested in finding them out. And I will leave you with these videos that are pure treasure, of which I have many opinions, but I’ll let you form your own. Many thanks to Procyon for uploading these.

Burning Leaf Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

As of writing this I believe the highest bit for the boxset #98 is 1 million euros made by Dr. Evil.

My own personally knowledge of the band goes back to when I was a wee lad just discovering BM and i found a copy of their “Hindentoni” (Finnish for “The Demon Tower) demo re-released on Solisitium Records in 1997 on cd and all i can remember was that it was way too extreme for me then. Remember 1996/1997 was just when the Scandinavian hordes had infiltrated the state-side shores and was laying waste to the Death Metal trend and everyone was just starting to being introduced to only the Norwegian acts such as Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone, emperor, etc. fast-forward to 2006-2007 where Horna is just a vague memory in my damaged mind from many nights of alcohol-induced dementia and narcotic schizophrenic states of thrashing the fuck out to my personal faves with my friends. All of a sudden Metal Maniacs and other publications are giving good reviews to them, along with advertisements by Moribund Records for their latest offering “Ääniä yössä.” I pick it up and am mesmerized by the simplistic approach to BM. Dark, hellish, simplistic, and FILTHY. Yes giving it an almost punk spirit. I must have had “Ääniä yössä” spinning in my stereo/discman months on end, but goddamn it was good.

So then, keeping up with the time, I added them to my friends list to my Myspace.com account and kept a close eye on upcoming material. one song “Baphometin Siunaus” was announced that is would be on the new double LP coming out in the fall of 2008. Just like waiting for Santa from the north pole to deliver the goodies, i waited, and waited and was a good boy….OK i take that back, I got into a few fist fights and snapped at a couple of people at work for being incompetent and lazy….but I waited and finally about 3 weeks ago, i scanned to isles at a local Mom & Pop record store and found the double cD digipack. Oh yes! I quickly purchased it and popped it into my truck’s CD player;

Disc 1 of “Sanojesi Äärelle” starts off  with the mid-paced “Muinaisten Alttarilta” with the lead singer Corvus screaming like a animal in torture which picks up the speed into various tempos. And for most of the 1st disc this is what you get; Corvus maintaining his tortured screams, Shatraug and Infection keeping the quality riffs bleeding like an ever flowing stream. You have your headbanging slowed-down parts, your slow breaks, growls, etc.etc. that whole 666 yards of ugly, dirty Finnish BM. Track No. 9 “Wikinger” is a cover version of German band PEST (ex-Nordlys….not to be confused with the same Pest that released the killer “Ara” on Full Moon Productions in ‘03). the cover itself sounds….well….exactly like Horna. I haven’t heard the original version so I cannot form an opinion on such, but is definitely one of the stand-outs on disc 1. Others includes the machine-like delivery intro riff to track 7 “ Orjaroihu” and the killer growl of Corvus on track 3 “ Mustan Kirkkauden Sarastus.”

Disc 2 of “Sanojesi Äärelle” finally offers up something completely different in sound production that could easily could have come from their 2006 offering “Ääniä yössä.” in the song “Liekki Ja Voima”. Riff-wise it’s more of a melancholic than the raging violent type on Disc 1. “Ruumisalttari” is mostly doomy with a noodle-like (ramien is kvlt?) melody mixed in. the last two tracks “Musta Rukous”, and  ”Baphometin Siunaus” are excellent examples of how Horna are able to slow down and show melody, they could have been easily been a 2 part song to a Double album.

In total, “Sanojesi Äärelle” is for more experienced Horna freaks. For new-comers to the filthy Finns I highly suggest either their 2004 split with Behexen or their 2006 LP “Ääniä yössä.” “Sanojesi Äärelle” is really a shining example of how a band can pull off a double LP after the passing of Bathory and truly blows most everything out of the muck that is considered these days. It’s well-paced out, on course, and doesn’t fucking let up until your ears have been scorched off by the fire and brimstone of the horned diety these maniacs worship. Must have BM album for 2008.

My opinion has changed. In this post I will tell you why it is a great tool for every band, label or anyone trying to produce or sell anything (especially related to music).

After years of getting chills every time somebody told me “check out my MySpace page”, I now see that I have simply used it for wrong purposes, and many continue to use it in an absolutely incorrect way. First thing that used to come to mind when I thought “MySpace” was 13 year old mall-goth kids with 1000s of “friends” and horrible layout pages that can send you into an epileptic coma from animated gifs and invasive backgrounds. Don’t get me wrong, this is still the case… most of the time. Recently I have come across some very well put together layouts, maintained information and most importantly a fast and easy way of checking out a band or a label. I will split this article into two parts. One for Labels and Bands, and another for Fans.

As I state in many of these posts, these are my opinions, from a side of a customer/user who is always making a decision on where to spend my hard earned money. On the other hand, this opinion should be very interesting to anyone who is creating or releasing products (music releases, merch, cds) since, in so many words, one way or another you want me to buy what you make!

Why Use MySpace?

1. It’s free and everyone know about it.
When you already spend so much money on buying equipment, paying for recordings, production and releases of your music last thing you want to do is pay more for promotion. And unfortunately promotion is the most important part. Some may argue that it’s the music that’s most important, and that’s true.. but even if you are an incredibly talented musician and nobody knows about you or your band you will not be able to spread your amazing releases. This is where sites like MySpace come in, it’s a great easy to use tool to make yourself heard.

2. It’s easy to use.
Most artists are not designers or coders, you don’t want to reply on others to build and update a website for you, and even if you are able to do it yourself, why spend time on it while you can be recording/releasing some great material.

3. It’s easy to maintain.
In addition to the previous point, once you have a site up you need to maintain it, to let people know what’s going on with you and what they should expect, this is very easy to do here, and I’ll go into detail how.

How To Use MySpace?

1. Information First, Presentation Second.
By looking at some MySpace profiles you will notice that they can look very different in terms of presentation, you can have different background, images, color of text and all that. Before you go on and look for ways to personalize your profile, make sure that you have taken care of all the critical information parts. Here’s the check list.

a. Full Songs or Samples.
This is key, if you are a band or have bands on your label you NEED people to be able to check them out. In our days of thousands of metal releases per year, very few people buy releases without hearing them first (even for some of the known bands!)

For a band, I would put a track from each album/demo, so people can check out what the overall sound is like and also, very important, keep the newest tracks on top.
For labels, same thing, just as many tracks per artist as you can. Give the fans a chance to check out what your releases are all about.

b. Maintain the Blog.

90% of all bands on MySpace do not maintain the blog that is give with the profile. That is plain retarded. This is the best and fastest way to keep your fans informed of what’s going on. Even if you don’t have too many news, just write something like “Still working on next demo”, or “Next album out in mid 2009″. This way your fans know that you are active and keep coming back to see what’s new with you. It’s very easy to use and needs only 5 minutes to do.
Some bands use the space very well letting people know about upcoming shows, releases or merchandise.

Example of good updates from profiles that I follow.

Big point here is people follow blogs. This means that they don’t have to keep coming back to your profile to see what’s new, but when something is new they get an email or notification, so this way you always keep in touch with fans. (For fans, in the 2nd part of this article I will tell you how to follow the blogs very effectively)

I advise that you do NOT keep changing “About” info to keep things current, since people will not be notified of changes.

2. Layout and Visuals.
Online presence is you digital face. It has to be pretty close to what you want people to see, while not beeing to distracted to hear what you are saying. In simple terms if you have blinking bleeding pentagrams on your face I will probably stare at them and not hear a fucking word of what you’re saying to me. So cut down on the bullshit. Have a clean, functional page where people are not too busy trying to find text among all the upside-down crosses. Do not use over-the-top scrolling backgrounds, crossed out text or transparency. All that shit just makes the information hard to read.

So that’s it for now, I’m not going to focus on adding friends or how big that list is, just keep in mind the more people know about you and are updated on your activities, the higher the chance that people will make orders. And the reason why you want this is so you can put out more releases.

There is nothing better then finding new bands and labels that produce some quality releases. That is why I continue to talk to the individuals behind these projects. And here we have a promising new label from Belgium. Let’s get right into it…

CM: So let’s start with the basics, let us know who you are, where you live and when and how did you start your label?
Hails, I’m Y. from Belgium and August ’08 I started the label Dismal Cursings. It carries that name because that’s simply what each release should be: a curse… it should leave a mark that never vanishes.
Its primary focus will be the tape format: both demos and albums. It’s such an important format for demos; the ones that already show a good share of potential at least. Also tape albums because they’re easy to acquire for little money in days that postage rates are getting higher and higher. Surely not to be too restrictive but what I’d like to be occupied with mainly musically is traditional or melancholic Black Metal and also some Doom Metal or maybe acoustic music.

CM: Did you first have a distro and then decided to start making releases?
Well I started out as a label but it was also necessary to do small distribution because of trading. It was/is not my intention to build up a big distro.. All time, energy and accessible means will be used for doing quality releases.

CM: So what have you released?
There’s only one release so far: TRIST (Cze) - Zjitrená bolest. It’s a compilation of 3 previously unrevealed demo recordings from 2005-2006, on pro-tape (only few copies left). Trist has ended and it’s mainly intended for fans of this melancholic project. Some more Trist releases will happen though (by other labels), check his website for information on that. He’ll possibly do some live gigs in the future too! They’ll be announced on the myspace page.

CM: With the metal scene expanding so fast, and so many new bands coming up, how do you go about choosing who you work with?
It’s indeed hard to keep up with all new bands. I see little point in supporting music that’s between bad and mediocre… The term “potential” is often misused.
I prefer to contact bands myself instead of the other way around. When you’ve spoken with a band member for a while, it usually becomes clear whether it’s just something that they do in their free time or something they’re really convicted to.

CM: Do you feel that some metal bands will prefer to release their music online and distribute through mp3s/myspace, or do you think that presentation and the actual physical releases are here to stay?
Some bands will probably start doing this but I don’t think underground music will be affected a lot. I presume that most serious people prefer a physical copy including artwork. It wouldn’t surprise me if CD pressings would get smaller though.

CM: Any particular best or worst experiences dealing with bands or labels?
It was a pleasure dealing with Trist, Nordkult Rituals, Rusty Axe Records, Tour De Garde, Problem Child Records and many others. No bad experiences so far.

CM: Are there some grand plans for the years to come? Are you looking to expand the label?
There are several (pro printed) tape releases planned and possibly also a couple of CD releases. Info in due time.

CM: I am assuming as it’s the case with many others you have a job aside from the label? You think you would ever go with some bigger name bands that sell well just so you can do the label full time?
Yes, I work as a Software Engineer. I’d rather have a job so I have both certainty and the means to have a label anyway.

CM: So what are some of the releases that we should look forward to?

ABSOLUTUS (Bel) “Pugnare In Iis, Quae Obtinere Non Possis” Tape (soon)
ELYSIAN BLAZE (Aus) “Blood Geometry” 2Tape Box (2009)

Absolutus’ second album belongs to the best albums coming from Belgium (think Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omega, Warloghe,…). We’ll try to make something special of it. It’s currently in recording process!
Elysian Blaze is some of the most obscure Black/Doom I know and I think “Blood Geometry” is going to be just massive, having a 02:14:15 playing time!

Link: Dismal Cursings
Contact: dismalcursings[AT]gmail.com

RSS: http://blog.cultmetal.com/feed/ - You can use any feed reader and be notified of new posts on CMN

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/joincultmetal - For all the underground myspace cult worship.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/CultMetalSerge - Follow me and my updates regarding all CultMetal activities.

Last.fm: http://www.last.fm/group/CultMetal - Join the new group and share your playlists.

That’s all for now. Support the Cult!

I am no art critic, but I can definitely appreciate some great looking pieces when I see them. The very first time I saw the drawings by Milovan, I knew there is something unique here. So I reached out to Milovan, who with great dedication keeps producing tons of logos, covers and designs that you will most likely see more and more on your favorite underground releases and zines.

CM: Tell us your name, where you’re from and what you do.
Bestialized vomits from Doclea! I’m Milovan Novakovic first of all underground metal fetishist and maniac, and second editor of Zapisnik fanzine and one of those who help to bands/label/zines/ with drawing of logos and artworks. I’m from Montenegro one weird country on Balkan (ex Yugoslavian country) and because of the fact that I live in such maniacal and hellish region I always have some satanic infernal ideas for artworks and logos. Just one more thing to attach is one more fact - I only draw for bands into real black/death/thrash cult and the ones only into the old satanic cult of metal!!!

CM: I understand that along with creating some metal-related artwork, you also paint outside of the metal realm? Tell me a little bit about that, how long have you been creating art?
Yes of course. I’m still on academy and all my days are full of painting, drawing and even chiseling of course listening of satanic metal music comes there very very often. That way will surely continue to my death. I’m painting and drawing for years, enough to create some nice pieces of it. The metal oriented artworks and logos for metal bands I started to create firstly for my own satisfaction and lately comes drawing for bands, labels and zines. Now because of my zine activities in Underground I have many contacts and many bands/personals into the underworld cult ask me to drawing for them.

CM: Initially finding your artwork on the NWN forum, I saw that you are very fast and free about creating logos and artwork for anyone who makes requests, how long does it usually take you to create the pieces?
Yes I’m very, very fast. Mostly I create metal pieces of blasphemy in free time, between the (short or long) pauses through my painting processes or when I’m listening some great old school albums from black/death/thrash genres. I draw the logos very, very fast, I don’t need more than a half of an hour for it and artworks use some more time because they need more dedication and more satanic ideas! Also as you said I’m doing the stuff for free. I will not say total free because I always search for band/label/zines to send me few copies of releases that include stuff I draw. But they still get review in my zine also..he,he..

CM: When did you get into metal and metal art?
Metal art comes with metal music very early, and years ago. I think that when metal drawings are in point on whole scene Chris Moyen make the biggest influence. He draws for cult acts like Incantation is, and the cover of Incantations Ep Deliverance of Horrific Prophesies might be my fave one ever and because of that I start to draw devilish and hellish works. Covers of old metal albums and especially demos (even flyers) make a big influence on my blasphemic works, but as with my own feel of course because all artist have it. It maybe strange I haven’t started to listen metal with heavy or speed, I start to listen with bootleg tapes from Poland that were here in Montenegro for sale and that my old brother have buy 15-20 years ago. These were bands like (only first album) Slayer and some, Cancer, very early Deicide and Benediction, Incantation which is still one of my favorite bands ever…and whole bunch of hellbastards… lately I got tapes of first two Bathory albums. Return is still in my opinion best black metal album ever…

CM: With your creations have a very unique and “primitive”, as you describe it, style - is there a certain time period or art movements that you feel influenced by?
I call it primitive becouse they really are in my opinion. Why primitive? Because usually they don’t have some classic artistic shits like perspective, natural illumination, and stuff. I really don’t know, I’m infomed in art history in details and cannot say which genre I like mostly or which one influneces my works. But some my underground brothers have said that I have influneces from surrealism and even from cubism. When you look better you will really seen such details in my works.

CM: Have you had any exhibits? If yes, where and how did those go?
I haven’t had exibits with my satanic metal artworks. I will probably go to prison or be prosecuted by Serbian Orthodox Church if I make exibit of such stuff…he,he.. Maybe strange for people who read this but Montenegro is very primitive region and you cannot do everything you want, unfortunately.

CM: What equipment do you use?
I use everything that I found in my studio, from one rotten pen to the acrylic or water-colours. For metal artworks both logos and artworks I mostly use ink or pencil that left black trail.. And of course I use in big quantity my rotten brain full of insane ideas..he,he

CM: Any current artists that you admire?
Total support to old maniac Chris Moyen of course and only one more artist that I absolutely support and respect is Daniel aka SelfDesecrator from amazing Chilean band Slaughtbbath! He is one of best satanic artists in Underground and he can with its dedication kill many of todays artists into metal! Hail to brothers! Probably there also some more mainiax into artistic shit but I don’t know them.

CM: Do you take any requests for artwork or logos from bands, labels and distros?
Yes of course. All bands, labels, zines, distos, can ask me for artworks/logos/flyer occult designs. Only satanic and old school black/death and thrash bands and only serious requests. I don’t have time to spend on shit eaters and wimps. (Editors Note: ways to contact Milovan are at end of the interview)

CM: Do you sell any of your art?
I’m seling my paintings but not blapshemic metal artworks but I thik that they arent interesting for maniax that read this.

CM: What’s your personal taste in music, and what are some of your current favorite bands/genres?
I have always been into cult of black death and thrash old school metal and mostly I’m into the underground bands! I’m into bands like early Beherit and Sarcofago, Von, Necro Shizma, Abhorer, Blasphemy, early Mystifier, Unholier, Death Yell , Gospel of the Horns, Grand Belials Key, and tons of other shits becouse I have large collection (thanx to tape-trade cult) of many Underground old school demos/albums. All of them I like becouse I never collect stuff I don’t listen to. From current, young and new bands…theres a lot of them but in last time am listening Nocturnal Graves, Proclamation, Malas, Heptameron etc..etc..many of them…

Contact: bogubitnjak@cg.yu

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As 2008 draws to a close, I thought I’d comment on ten of my favorite records this year. Here they are, in alphabetical order:

Absurd/Grand Belial’s Key/Sigrblot split
Whether or not you agree with their worldview, Sigrblot is among the best post-2000 metal bands, and this split has the first new stuff from them since the full-length. These tracks are even more inspiring and effective than before! The Absurd and GBK tracks are also surprisingly great. I like the GBK stuff much more than most of the tracks on Kosherat, and the Absurd side are among the best recordings I’ve heard from this band.

Anael - From Arcane Fires
This record is much more depressive and repetitive/ritualistic than Anael’s earlier efforts, yet the Samael influence can still be clearly heard. Epic, shifting riffs and intelligent lyrics make this a deep and intriguing black metal album.

Assaulter - Salvation Like Destruction
The band calls this “dark speed metal”, and I’m inclined to agree. Assaulter blends Australian black/thrash with heavy metal, creating something which is a bit more traditional sounding than most of the records in this vein. The songs range from epic to thrashing, and all are excellent. The guitar tone on this record takes some getting used to, though.

Dead Congregation - Graves of the Archangels
Twisted riffs, a crushingly heavy production, and a total refusal to go any faster than they have to: this is death metal. Dead Congregation takes disparate influences — old American death metal like Incantation and Immolation, along with death/doom bands like Asphyx and Winter — and makes something totally new out of them.

Denouncement Pyre/Diocletian - Chaos Rising
The Denouncement Pyre side is just a remastered version of their previously-released mCD, but it’s a great recording nonetheless, and is quite deserving of a vinyl release. The Diocletian side is also killer. The stuff on Chaos Rising is by far their best, and their earlier stuff was already pretty damn good! If you like violent and chaotic black/death metal, this split LP is for you.

Faustcoven - Rising From Below the Earth
Their last record was slow black metal, but this one is extremely heavy doom/death metal with echoing vocals that remind me of Necros Christos, along with just a touch of the first-wave black metal sound they had before. The atmosphere on this record is incredibly thick and oppressive, a great combination for the deeply Satanic lyrics. Those who like bassy, mid-paced metal will be well-pleased by this one.

Hail of Bullets - Of Frost and War
This is Martin van Drunen along with members of Thanatos, playing war-themed, old-sounding death metal. No need to waste words for this one: if you worship Asphyx and Bolt Thrower, you’ll certainly like this.

Mitochondrion - Archaeaeon
This blackened Canadian death metal band manages to be chaotic, technical, AND heavy, all without sacrificing catchiness. Fans of the Canadian black/death scene and/or old Cryptopsy and Morbid Angel should check this out.

Revenge - Infiltration.Downfall.Death
Everybody either loves or hates Revenge… you can count me in with the first bunch. The extra low-end and insane effect-laden vocals add a whole new dimension to this band’s non-stop black metal attack, making this their best release since their 7″ days.

Sanguis Imperem - The Stagnation of Centuries
Sanguis Imperem plays mid-paced, militant death metal with rousing dual-vocal parts. The songwriting on this record is quite impressive: catchy as hell, but with a good dash of chaos that rewards multiple listens. The lyrics are also quite impressive. Great stuff!

Please comment if you agree or disagree with my choices, or if you’d like to leave your own list of the best records of 2008!