WRITTEN BY – JJ

Hey there acoustic rock fans!!! Ancient Vvisdom (spell check is gonna love that) is set to release the title track from their upcoming release ‘Deathlike,” and you can check it out at metalhammer.co.uk. If you like what you hear, Prosthetic records is actually offering a pretty groovy deal at their webstore. You can preorder the release (physical and digital copies are due to hit the US Feb 5, 2013 and in Europe Feb 8) and save 10% of the purchase price before November 30 by using the discount code BF2012. In addition to the early release of the title track, AVV will be supporting Enslaved on their upcoming US tour to promote the new LP. If your dream is to see a black metal show with an acoustic rock opener, check out the tour dates at prostheticrecords.com/deathlike/Facebook.com/AVVFB

The dates, as posted by Lambgoat:

2/11 Orlando, FL @ Beacham Theatre
2/12 Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage
2/13 Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte
2/14 Philadelphia, PA @ Theater of Living Arts
2/15 New York, NY @ Roseland Ballroom
2/16 Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore Silver Spring
2/17 Boston, MA @ House of Blues
2/19 Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy
2/20 Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
2/21 Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s
2/22 Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
2/23 Sauget, IL @ Pop’s
2/24 Minneapolis, MN @ Mill City Nights
2/26 Edmonton, AB @ Union Hall
2/27 Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall Ballroom
3/1 Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades
3/2 Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern Theater
3/3 Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues – Mandalay Bay

1. Mystery Song 1 – (Katatonia – “Leaders“)  Yep. First song is Metal. One can tell by the drop-D tuning on guitar, heavy bass, and the sound of the drums.  Not bad though, the intro is pretty cool.  The singing just kicked in, and the guy has a really good voice, no pig squeals or annoying growling, just straight-up clean vocals.  I like it, however, despite good production, a good riff, and good vocals, I don’t hear anything extremely special in this song.  It’s solid, but I wouldn’t say it stands out too much.

2. Mystery Song 2 – (Morbid Angel – “Immortal Rites“)  This next one opens with what could be an ’80s metal guitar, a la Iron Maiden, only slightly heavier and devoid of the fun personality.  The vocals are growled whispers, which fit over the double-bass drums, but I think they’ll get annoying if they last the course of the entire song.  However, a short guitar solo followed by a theatric bridge amped the song up for me a bit.  This band sounds like they know how to write a cool Metal song, at least.  And yep, I was right — instead of these vocals, I’m just going to imagine Bruce Dickinson’s angelic tenor.

3. Mystery Song 3 – (Ancient VVisdom – “The Opposition“)  One minute in to this song, and it’s either Nick threw me off by sending a Folk/Acoustic song, or this is an annoyingly long intro to some B.S. Wannabe ’90s Metal.  Two minutes in and it changes to awesome dissonant open acoustic chords, could this actually be Fol — nope, nevermind, it’s Metal.  ”Hail to thee, Lord Lucifer,” the singer is saying, so, yes, I called that one.  In all fairness, this actually sounds cool — the vocals are clean and catchy, the drums emulate hand claps instead of revved-up engines, and the acoustic guitar is staying in the background.

Note by Nick:  Ryan is absolutely fucktarded if he thinks this is a Metal song.

4. Mystery Song 4 – (Bloodbath – “Eaten“)  This one opens with a heavy riff, powerful drums, and growling vocals (which I friggen’ hate already).  I can tell this is probably going to be my least favorite song, unless Nick throws in another one like this.  It’s pretty much exactly what I expect from Death Metal, including a breakdown section (complete with an annoyingly tinny-sounding acoustic guitar).

5. Mystery Song 5 – (Corrosion of Conformity – “Long Whip, Big America“)  Five opens with awesome psychedelic instruments.  The vocals energetic and aggressive, over a groovy rhythm. Man, this song just oozes cool.  It’s as if “Hush” from Deep Purple (yes, I know they covered it) was written fifty years later.

6. Mystery Song 6 – (Cephalic Carnage – “Ohrwurm“)  Opening with a really great bass, this one has me hopeful.  Aaaaaand, after a really cool intro, the band jumps into annoying Death Metal vocals with too much drums.  I was wishing the bass would stay the main instrument, but nope, the drums are overpowering everything except for the vomit-vocals.  Not that it matters, the guitar doesn’t sound like it’s doing too too much, just slow riffs and power chords.  Strangely, a horn is thrown into the mix later in the song.  I don’t know how I feel about that.

7. Mystery Song 7 – (Dog Fashion Disco – “Vertigo Motel“)  Piano arpeggios open Seven, and breathy, atmospheric singing comes in quick, too.  I assume this will be just another intro for Metal. God, it’s so predic — what the hell happened? Why is there a disco beat? Whoah, now changing between Rock and … clown music?  Now, screaming Metal.  Shit, this keeps changing.  This is either Faith No More or a similar band.  How am I supposed to review this? It’s awesome, really pushes the envelope, but hell if I know how to write about it.

8. Mystery Song 8 – (Cynic – “The Space For This“)  Nice guitar harmonics. Strange, ethereal vocals with interesting harmonies.  Subtle instruments.  The intro sounds awesome.  Let’s see how the song progresses… oh, look, into heavier, faster riffing.  More Metal.  I do like it, but the song would’ve really been cool if it followed the beginning into an Indie-folk genre.  But as a whole, this is a weirdish (not anywhere as weird as the last one, though) tune, with keyboards, an awesome guitar solo, a start/stopping arrangement.  It’s very cool.

9. Mystery Song 9 – (Nightwish – “Amaranth“)  I assume, this one is going to be more Metal, because it opens up with a really horrible piano sound.  And twenty seconds in, the distorted guitar jumps right in.  At least Nick’s sent me different kinds of Metal, otherwise I’d have no idea how to review each song.  Whoah, this one has a female singer, reminds me of Lita Ford or Ann Wilson if either were backed by even heavier bands.  This is pretty theatric, and you can tell this band is definitely influenced by ’80s Metal, so, that means it’s enjoyable.

10. Mystery Song 10 – (Sabbath Assembly – “Glory To The Gods in The Highest“)  Okay, last song.  Starts with a Capella female harmonies, singing Gospel lyrics.  Meaning this will turn into Metal in about, oh, thirty seconds.  Oh man, I’m close.  This is more just Hard Rock with a Bluesy streak.  I’m impressed.  Catchy and the female vocalist(s?) can definitely sing.  Reminds me a little bit of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

Second note by Nick:  Ryan doesn’t know the difference between Metal and Rock music.  Too much looking through the world in hipster thick-brimmed glasses.

Afterward: Nope, don’t care what Nick says — it’s Metal. Nine songs of Metal.  One of Hard Rock.  Nick is so damn predictable.  Eight of these are really awesome though.

Take a look and weight in on who should be the best new band of 2012. You know who I’m voting for. They have a wordpress blog too. Monster Truck

New album releases:
Mumford and Sons on Sept 25, Babel
Diana Krall on October 2, Glad Rag Doll
Green Day on Sept 25, Uno
Muse on Oct 2, The 2nd Law
Soundgarden on Nov 13, King Animal
Heart on Oct 2, Fanatic
Billy K Band already out, Outrun The Rain
Joe Bonamassa on Sept 25, Beacon Theatre: Live From New York
The WallFlowers on October 9, Glad All Over

Keep checking back from news and updates.

The Process Zine #4

The fourth issues of this Polish zine dedicated to the Process Church of the Final Judgement and a huge leap forward from the last issue. No excuse interviews with tuff guy bands, only interviews with evol hardcore and metal bands. Also Michal his own writings have progressed. There is an interesting feature on some Polish occult dude from the 19th century Stanislaw Przybyszewski and an cool article on The Process vs Charles Manson. Two of the others articles he is bashing the Christian church, which is easy and a bit a wast of time according to me. Why do you care?

Interviews with Ancient VVisom, Skinfather and Sabbath Assembly who put Process hymns into music. I never heard of them, it’s interesting concept, but when I looked up their music its a bit boring I think. My favorite interview is the on with the Irish Holy Terror band Cape of Bats.I only miss a question of how it is being from Nothern Ireland and on the Holy Terror label, growing up during the Troubles in fucking shizo Derry and then end up playing in a Holy Terror band.

Process Zine great zine pick it up! He only should do something on the lay out. It contains some evil imagery, but it’s made up with Word or something. The Table of Contents on the second page looks like a high school paper. I know it’s shitload of extra work, still DIY zines should be cut n paste!

Incidental Afterthought #15

Incidental Afterthough describes itself as “a personal music-fanatic zine” and I couldn’t say it better. It contains 19 interviews with heavy intense music from all over the place. Cut and paste layout. There are pretty cool writings, reviews and ramblings by Wordslinger. His most sincere piece of writing is a loveletter to Philippine actress Sam Pinto. My favorite interviews are with hardcore noize outfit Drainland from Ireland and Black Face. Black Face a band with Chuch Dukowski (Black Flag) and Eugene Robinson (Oxbow) who play some arrangements that never made it to some later Black Flag ep’s. That must be intense shit, can’t wait to get a hold of it. More bands interviewed are Anne, Baptists, Awaas, Children of God, Lesbian, Vile Intent, Dead in the Dirt, Column of heaven, Fatalist and The Serpentine Path and more and more. IA # 16 apparently is also out, hope Wordslinger survived the floodings in Manila. This is one best zines out here at the moment, make sure you get a copy!

D.usk

Horisont

Lord Vicar

Agalloch

Killing Joke

Michael Gira

Hammers Of Misfortune

Solstafir

Ancestors

Ulver

Saturnalia Temple

Ancient VVisdom

Red Fang

Chelsea Wolfe

Banner Pilot @ VLHS Warehouse
Mute Math, Cannon Blue @ Club Nokia
Gotye, Hot As Sun @ El Rey Theater
M. Ward @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Harriet, Thee Rain Cats @ Harvard & Stone
The Features, Dead Sara, Duniven @ Bootleg
Angels and Airwaves, Le Blorr @ The Glass House
Ghost, Blood Ceremony, Ancient VVisdom @ The Roxy
The 4onthefloor, The Alternates, Son Ark @ The Satellite
Black Bananas, Pink Mountaintops, Cold Showers @ The Echo
The Jayhawks, Abigail Washburn, Kai Welch @ Avalon Hollywood
Shapes Without Names, Black Lantern, The Blank Faces @ Detroit Bar
Rodney Dangerfield and Gilbert Mucus locked in Mortal Kombat @ Glens
News Of The Fire, Between The Cities & The Stars @ Silverlake Lounge
Fritz Sender, So Many Wizards, Grimble Grumble, Vinyl Williams @ The Smell

“The children are filled with religious ecstasy when the spirit of Lucifer sweeps through them upon initiation” Ave Satanas!

For a night of psychedelic rocking atmosphere with a 60′s vibe, satanic rituals, doom riffs, progressive instrumental bits, melodic vocal lines, organ and flutes, chanting, classic rock harmonies, hooded men in robes and pure satanic musical witchcraft, come and join the Nameless Ghouls and invoke the power of the Darklord. Here are the bands playing:

Ghost – melodic satanic 70′s style heavy metal from Sweden, live they are hypnotizing, dark and eerie, Blood Ceremony – occult inspired acid folk rock/metal from Toronto and Ancient VVisdom – satanic inspired occult metal from Texas. Hail Satan!

Alas, if Ghost is a Satanic version of Blue Oyster Cult, then I’d call opening act Ancient VVisdom Satan’s answer to Alice in Chains.  I guess I can see how they’d fit the bill–though many metal heads would probably have preferred the Swedish Ancient Wisdom…

I had the misfortune of standing next to a buncha drunks who were heckling Blood Ceremony throughout their set (no, the guy with the tattooed head wasn’t one of them).  Y’know, cuz their bands are all soooo much better.  Riiiiight.  For my money’s worth, I’d take BC over Ghost, any day.  Of course, their live show isn’t nearly as elaborate, though I thought they acquitted themselves well on the larger stage.  Afterwards, someone said Alia was like a female Bobby Liebling.  Not sure I’d agree, having seen the man in action a coupla times–but hey, take a look at my Pentagram pics from last summer and decide for yourself.

I’ll admit to not being Ghost’s biggest fan.  I don’t dislike them, but I wasn’t one of the kids who knew the words to every song, either.  I had come to see a show, and I’d say they were fairly entertaining.  And man, I gotta say, they do have some catchy tunes, too!  But you can’t really see that through all the stage fog…

Graveyard has caused quite a buzz in the underground rock world with their second album, Hisingen Blues. The album came out in the spring of 2011 but this is their first US tour supporting it. It’s full of catchy riffs and hooks and it should be pretty awesome getting to see some of these songs played live. They are also playing with Radio Moscow, a psychedelic blues band from Iowa and Daniel Davies who is the son of Dave Davies of the Kinks. This is his solo band but he has also been a member of Year Long Desaster and Karma To Burn. If you’re still not convinced to see this show, check out this video to hear the title track off of Graveyard’s second album:

Ghost is a mysterious band that took the underground metal world by storm when they released their first album, Opus Eponymous, in early 2011. They have a clean vocal delivery, something between Blue Oyster Cult and King Diamond, and they play a fairly simple, yet very catchy, style of music. The band members have never made public their true identities and always wear masks on stage with their singer, Papa Emeritus, in a full on evil pope costume. They are said to be working on a new album so maybe we’ll be lucky enough to hear some new material at this show. Ghost has only ever played two concerts in the US before this tour, one of which was their performance last year at Maryland Deathfest, and they had to drop off a tour with Enslaved and Alcest that came to Jaxx in September due to visa issues. Now they’re headlining this US tour and they’ve brought two good bands with them. Blood Ceremony is Toronto based doom band with a female vocalist who also plays flute in the band. The opening act is Ancient VVisdom (the W is really two letter V’s) from Austin, Texas and they play a very dark style of rock. Listen to the Ghost song Ritual if you haven’t heard them before (or even if you have!):

Occult Rock Bands BLOOD CEREMONY and ANCIENT VVISDOM to Support On Highly Anticipated Winter Tour!     

     
Mysterious Swedish buzz band GHOST has announced that it will embark on its first ever North American headlining tour in January, 2012.  GHOST cult leader “Papa Emeritus” (who takes the stage in the form of “a satanic pope”) and his anonymous ghouls will team up with doom rockers BLOOD CEREMONY and ANCIENT VVISDOM for a two week trek dubbed the “13 Dates of Doom” tour that will launch on January 18 in New York City.  GHOST continues to tour in support of its debut album Opus Eponymous, which has been called “amazing” by Stereogum and “a primer on the creation of melodic hard rock” by The Big Takeover.

    GHOST floored music fans with its first U.S. shows earlier this year and served notice that it is not only a “band to watch” but a force to be reckoned with for years to come.  In its live review of GHOST‘s NYC show, the Village Voice called the group’s performance “lurching and menacing”, saying “Ghost’s sound is like heavy metal trapped in a state of suspended animation since 1973″.  Check out the band performing the song “Satan Prayer” as part of its headlining set at the 2011 Maryland Deathfest at this location.

“It is with an evil haunting chuckle that we are announcing that we are finally coming to North America,” states GHOST‘s Papa Emeritus.  ”In the name of Satan, we will conduct thirteen rituals in thirteen different cities throughout the United States and Canada and now we are summoning all of our devotees to partake in these blasphemous eves of black magic.”

GHOST‘s Opus Eponymous is a daringly fascinating combination of satanic rock music merged with an almost unthinkable pop sensibility.  Enveloped in a shroud of mystery and standing anonymous beneath the painted faces, hoods and robes which their sect demand, the GHOST deliver litanies of pulsating heavy rock and stimulating lyrics which “glorify and glamorize the disgusting and sacrilegious”.  The music and philosophies of GHOST specifically target “individuals who have a void in their life perhaps caused by some form of emotional trauma or upset” (research suggests these are most likely adolescents); this dearth can then be alluringly filled by GHOST‘s music and philosophies.  LA WEEKLY recently tagged the band as part of a hot list of “Bands Bringing Rock Back To Metal” calling GHOST ”incredibly catchy dark-rock” with “Hooks and melodies that stay with you for days”.

 GHOST live at Getaway Rock Festival 2011, Gävle, Sweden.  

     BLOOD CEREMONY‘s distinct style of flute-tinged “witch rock” evolves from an infernal marriage of occult-inspired acid folk and vintage hard rock riffing.  Invoking the mischievous “Pipes of Pan“, BLOOD CEREMONY‘s songs are distinguished by singer Alia O’Brien‘s invoking flute solos, accenting an instrument long-associated with a list of devilish figures. BLOOD CEREMONY keeps it simple and heavy; their songs are tempered with strong, brooding melodies that could readily appeal to fans of Black Sabbath and Black Mountain alike.  SPIN described the quartet as “what early Jethro Tull would sound like if fronted by a sexy witch”, calling the band’s sound “skull-crushing blooze riffs and flute freak-outs will jurgle your nurgles.”Check out BLOOD CEREMONY performing live at the 2011 Roadburn Festival at this location.

BLOOD CEREMONY

ANCIENT VVISDOM

 ”(ANCIENT VVISDOM’s) ”A Godlike Inferno” is not intended to rock your world; only to blacken it. An album for a particular mood perhaps, but nonetheless one filled with songs of dark folk and bleak rock that hooks and a vibe that is, for lack of a better word, cool.” - BLABBERMOUTH

“harvesters of sorrow, casting pagan-folk and cemetery eulogies with restrained, ominous arrangements.” – AUSTIN CHRONICLE

A moment’s glance at the four scowling badasses on the band’s Shinebox Recordings page might lead you to believe we’re not dealing with anything more than just another Satan-worshipping doom metal group. On the contrary however, a moment’s listen to this year’s release of “A Godlike Inferno” will give you something distinctively different from what most doom acts are doing out there. The eight-song album demonstrates a unique acoustic-driven sound, which I can only be led to describe as “folk doom”, as Ancient VVisdom eschews bombastic riffing and pealing percussion to draw more focus on the substance behind all the cacophony of standard death metal.

There’s a good balance between acoustic and electric in Ancient VVisdom’s music. Acoustic guitar carries the rhythm while electric guitars and bass sit in the back to give the music some presence and weight. Frontman Nathan Opposition has a good, clear voice that fits well with this kind of music. The use of actual percussion very much compliments the melancholy atmosphere, as opposed to your standard drum kit having the hell being banged out of it with giant UFO-sized cymbals washing out nearly all the sound. I can tell that this band intentionally wants their listeners to appreciate the music for what it is, as opposed to bombarding them with over-distorted noise.

The songwriting and lyrical composition are superb… but the “verse-chorus-verse-chorus” formula becomes apparent about halfway through the album. You’ll seldom be left to wonder the title of a song, because several of them are repeated ad nauseum through almost every chorus line. It can get a little annoying, but on the other hand, I can’t say it’s not catchy, considering a lot of these songs were stuck in my head in the days after I listened to them.

What personally intrigues me about Ancient VVisdom is their choice at doing something that not everybody else is doing. They’ve got the talent and the creativity, so one would wonder why they just don’t do the regular band thing with blaring guitars and crashing drums. But this band sticks out from the pack by doing something different from what many other bands are doing. After all, it’s not often you find music with a beautifully melodic acoustic guitar backing vocals giving worship to Lucifer and foretelling descents into madness. It’s clear that they can write songs, but what I want to see in future releases is if they can compose something that goes a bit further than the regular A-B-A-B pattern that everybody else falls into.

In the final verdict, Ancient VVisdom’s “A Godlike Inferno” is a heavy and brutal message delivered in a soft and sincere package. Temperate enough that you could probably picture them in the back of a Starbucks jamming out these tunes at an easy volume, but disturbing enough that it would likely clear the place of all java-sipping hipsters. If you’re in the Austin area, keep an eye out for this band. Regardless of whether you like them or not, you probably won’t forget about them any time soon.

Ancient VVisdom on Facebook
Ancient VVisdom on Myspace
Ancient VVisdom on Shinebox Recordings