I’ll admit, I have completely neglected to update this blog in the last few weeks. I apologize!

Here’s the huge list of stuff I’ve written for Chart in the last few weeks, my favourite of which is the Bono article, which I will be using for my journalism portfolio.

Bono Admits He’s A Douche

Molina & Johnson Cancel Tour

Kataklysm Album Details Released

Neverending White Lights=Sad Panda

Sarah Harmer New Album?

The Whigs Announce New Album

All American Rejects on Soap Opera

Mudvayne (are still a band?)

KATAKLYSM is in full writing mode at the moment for the follow up to the “Prevail” album. The band has also confirmed the mixing duties for the next offering.

Comments guitarist J-f Dagenais:

“I’m really excited to be deep into the writing process for the new KATAKLYSM album, the band is more focused then ever: This album will be different then “Prevail”, but will still have the classic KATAKLYSM trademarks and hooks.

On the production end I will handle the recording as usual, but for the mix we have decided to enlist Tue Madsen from Denmark. We feel he captured best the band’s sound on “In the arms of devastation”. We feel it’s a winning team and we’re gonna make sure you have the best sounding record to date.”

On X-mas day on the band`s Facebook, Twitter and Myspace pages, KATAKLYSM vocalist Maurizio Iacono will reveal the band’s new album title. The album is scheduled for release late summer / early fall 2010.

www.myspace.com/kataklysm
www.kataklysm.swizcorp.com

Not easy waking up or stretching your bones after the night in the tent, but well, we managed to. We got at the festival ground before the gates were open for the crowd so we had the chance to see how those places look when CLEAN (yea, they cleaned all the mess during nighttime) and deserted. And experiened the birds who probably had a feast at night.

The day was opened by Inquest who had replaced Killswitch engage (due the death of one family member of one of the membewrs). Don’t remember anythign from them. So I went to meet Ron and his buddies at Metaldome and had a glance at Manic Movement, a female fronted band with good potential. But it’s one of the many. Later I stopped by Maruqee 1 to have a look at Keep of Kalessin. As I remember them, heavy fast black stuff with incredible head banging or actually head spinning skills. Moving along after like 1 song and since Mastodon got delayed I thought to pay a visit to Metaldome where Negura Bunget was playing. I stopped there for 2 minutes I think because on the way to the tent I heard some really nice music coming to my ears from the main stage. It was Black Stone Cherry so I walked out to see them. Now that had some pleasant tunes. The singer was also very entertaining, using the hose on the crowd and asking to be watered himself. Really nice solos, drummer used his drumsticks on the bass, the guitarists used his teeth or played behind his back  on Voodoo Chile. I should listem to them again.

Back to Marquee1 to see another heavy band, Kataklysm. I heard of them a very long time ago and it was obvious they have devoted fans who screamed their names and went mad during their performance. Really tough stuff, but not necesarily my taste, yet glad I saw them live. Then it was time for one of another favorite of mine. Mastodon, on the main stage. They placed a huge image of their last album cover as background of their stage and I don’t think they bothered with too many effects during the show. It was another one of the concerts based on quality of the music and I totally adored that and the switch between main vocals (not easy to copy on stage). Their playlist included songs like The Czar and Iron Tusk, and even Blood and Thunder but maybe due the heat, the energy was not extremly high. Yet, the bassist compensated as he was explosive. Other songs they played The Wolf Is Loose, Colony Of Birchmen and the crazy Bladecatcher.

A bit later on the main stage Hatebreed launched the madness with their totally hardcore punk style. There was a huge cloud of dust in front of the stage and the singer encouraged the crowd at some point to take off their tshirts, bras or anything else they have at hand and just spin them above their heads. Imagine the show offered by the crowd (besides the enormous moshpits). What was also nice of them was that they dedicated songs to the fans, to the organizers and to the guys from Killswitch engage who couldn’t make it.

I heard a big of Dagoba from France but I don’t remember being too impressed. And as Frenkie told me that Death Angel is an old school thrash band, I decided to go and check.  I was really happy with my decision. I don’t know how their music sounds on recordings, but live they made an incredible job seeming to play flawless. Energy, good vocals, lots of drums and bass and pure crazy music to heard and watch. Awesome. We later moved to Marquee 2 where we hadn’t been before. Duff McKagan’s Loaded  (Duff McKagan is an ex GunsNRoses member) was playing there. They played a lot of Guns covers, such as So Fine, Paradise City, but also from other bands such as Living after midnight, I wanna be your daddy. He dedicated the ‘So fine’ song to the chicks out there, and at some point a song about hate was dedicated to Mastodon and another band. Actaully his presence was kinda annoying so I didn’t bother watching all the concert.

Another legend was to start on the main stage: Journey. I knew they are quite an old band and I was so surprised to see how young the singer looked. And how powerful his voice was, although not the most pleasant ‘yellings’.  Their old fashioned guitar solos were quite delightful and of course the main hit ‘Don’t stop believing’. In between bands, there were two guys presenting the some news or the next bands. I’ll refer to them as the idiots, since they kept making jokes on MJ such as there is some sort of contest and the winner gets to play all London concerts with MJ cover band or MJ is alive and we can find him at the hot dog stand.

Two more bands left on the main stage. One crazier than another. First Korn with the new drummer in the band who actually seemed to fit in very well. I didn’t know many of the songs they played since I didn’t really listen to them, but they sounded good. They were very alive on the stage, sending very positive energy to the crowd who kept moving around. And they introduced bits of covers in their songs, such as Another brick in the wall, Enter sandman, we will rock you or Final countdown that thrilled the audience who was throwing more or less anything up in the air, including rolls of toilet paper.  Actually the crowd started singing quite loud before the band came on stage. I didn’t see this too often.

Before the last act, I went to see Volbeat. I got aquinted with them on the way from Eindhoven to Dessel since Frenkie keeps listening to them in the car and I was actually mad about their music. Was really looking forward for the concert and I didn’t get disappointed at all. They totally rocked and I am really considering to state that they were the best concert of the festival. Will keep thinking about it. They were supposed to play last year, but the singer’s father had passed away exactly on the same day so they had to cancel. Now, the singer said his father wouldn’t have wanted him to mourn, but to be where he was and rock the place. And hell yea they did. His Elvis like voice, accompanied by the rocknroll metal was a total blast. I think that even the tattoos on his body were jumping aroun as the perfectly entertained crowd did and they would have even went crowdsurfing if possible. Another cool surprise from them were playing covers like ‘Angelfuck’ from Misfits or Slayer’s ‘Raining blood’  I hope they will get on the main stage in the future. The small tent was too small for them.

Other went to Lacuna Coil and after reading another review on this page I can’t say I regret any bit not seeing them. The guy stated something like ‘After watching a few songs from Lacuna Coil (please Andrea Ferro, shut UP for the love of God you tone-deaf idiot) and getting bored’ Hihi.

Final band of the day and on the main stage, Slipknot. Can’t say they did anything out of the ordinary for a Slipknot show. Everyone had masks. Everyone ran around the stage, jumped on the drums while playing them, headbanged, you name the action. Total madness but it led to an awesome show. And I love Corey’s voice, even if not necesarily on Slipknot’s music.  They were excited to be headliners for the first time since they started playing at Graspop MM and stated that they believe in real music. I had fun watching the guys playing the drums as if they were part of a fanfare.  The next day I heard shared opinions about their performance, both of hate and of pleasure. I think that for a headliner, they did a good show druing nighttime.

Iowa (Intro)
742617000027
(sic)
Eyeless
Wait and Bleed
Get This
Before I Forget
Sulfur
The Blister Exists
Dead Memories
Left Behind
Disasterpiece
Psychosocial
Duality
People = Shit
Encore:
Surfacing
Spit It Out
Beat It (Michael Jackson cover)

I don’t think male metal fans understand how privileged there are. Let me explain. Conjure up a mental picture of your average common-or-garden I AM SO FUCKIN’ METAL female listener. Now, if we ignore the Avril nail varnish job, the Baby-Spice-in-97 platform heels and that weird shit they do where they seemingly take the inner tubing from washing machines, dye them purple, and weave them into their hair. If you ignore that, on the wholeal broads are usually pretty hot pieces of ass.

Now, the males, on the other hand, are the schlubbiest motherfuckers on the planet. I should know, for reasons explained later I recently spent four hours at a metal gig, and the male populace there looked like a Discworld convention gone feral. As a result, any male metal fan (henceforth referred to as “MMF”) who makes the slightest bit of effort suddenly becomes a dapper, Cary Grant-esque figure to the metal community. Washing your hair, cutting your nails, wearing a Kreator t-shirt that has less than four nacho cheese stains on it: this shit is peacocking to the metal community, and if you do this you will have crazy ladies in corset tops begging you to tie them up and rub a Ginsu across their cunnylips. There was a guy at this gig last night who was wearing a “khaki t-shirt and black tie” combo, a look last deemed acceptable to polite society back when Chad Hugo briefly achieved abdominal definition circa the release of “Lapdance”. They were around him like kohl-eyed flies around shit.

Anyway, metal. Long-time readers of ILB will recall some brief comments a few months back that we’d failed to lock down a female metal fan, despite the fact that said girl’s previous partner looked like Seth Rogen with progeria. However, you should also be hella aware that we stay representing for Duckies worldwide, so when the girl in question proffered up the chance to accompany her to a metal gig (Death Angel supported by Kataklysm and Keep of Kalessin), I threw on that mustard yellow jacket, quiffed up my hair, put “If You Leave” by OMD on my iPod, and made waves.

Before we get any further: yes I am aware that the “I have no sphere of reference for this cultural artefact, yet I am going to review it anyway” is the lowest form of criticism and one that shouldn’t really exist outside of freshman student newspaper features but… I dunno. I felt like 50% Bruce Parry, 50% Studs Terkel for the evening, which is a pretty good balance on the whole. Plus I know I could throw some cheap-ass zings at you people on here afterwards.

The main discovery of the evening is that, whereas I’ve spent the past decade of my life just assuming that all live sound engineers are incompetent, it’s just that they really don’t care about any form of music I listen to. Any of you who’ve struggled through a rap gig where the artistes appeared to be performing under eight feet of mud, or indie shows were the band sounded as if they were in another postcode district, would be stunned at the audio-cleanness of a live metal show, and without even 20 minutes of “Yeah, can we get this one turned down a bit… no, not that far” chat from the stage at all.

As for the music itself? It’s hard for me to judge, because I don’t have the faculties to earnestly tell the difference between various metal strands, which is probably why I found it hilarious to spend the build up to the gig going “So these guys will sound like Adema/Cold/Grand Theft Audio, right?” Anyway, Keep of Kalessin play black metal which is that “chugga chugga” stuff that sounds like the generic entrance music for minor WWE wrestlers. This led to me spending the first five minutes of the gig stoked up for the eventual appearance of Tommy Dreamer. He never came.

The band don’t really do much to help this confusion though, being as they are actually dressed like American independent circuit wrestlers circa 2001, swathes of limp blonde hair, sweat and pleather. Also, distractions are held heavily by the fact that their lead singer is apparently Annika Sorenstam with a hangover, and the way he decided that the best way to hold his pleather trousers up this evening would be to wear a belt from H&M’s S/S 05 range (like an ornate weightlifting belt with hella chintz on it. Remember when bitches were rocking those in Yates’ nationwide four summers back? Crazy, crazy times).

Gok Wanning aside, KoK get some vague ILB credit for, if not playing music we enjoy, at least music we can tolerate. To the untrained ear, the only way of enjoying this kind of met seems, to wank-hat wearing me, to treat it as a soundscape, like a kind of dubstep with 20,000 hammer-ons. Music that’s meant to wash over you rather than exhort you to jump around.

Which is basically why Kataklysm are a load of bullshit. Kataklysm are quite clearly a deeply insecure and scared band. Nobody really minds the occasional “ARE YOU READY TO TEAR THE ROOF OFF THIS PLACE” yell between tracks, but when one, and sometimes two or three, such screams bookend every single track played, the whole thing less resembles a clarion call for rocking out and more a girlfriend repeatedly asking you if the skirt length she opted for that day makes her look slutty. Their lead singer, who has the same haircut as fattey from Lost, should probably take notes from legendary PDC master of ceremonies Phil “Let’s… play… DARTS!” Jones to learn the correct way to gee a crowd up.

Death Angel are fronted by a guy who looks how, to me, metal musicians should look: cokey motherfuckers who resemble Daryl Palumbo if he took the wrong path on every single life decision. They then go on to play thrash metal and I briefly think about whether I classify as a thrash expert because my favourite Hold Steady song is the one that mentions The Locust. I’m probably not.

Look, I went into all of this with the openness of intentions, but the only possible summation of the whole evening is “lol white people”. I’m like 90% sure we can forget all about reparations if white people just agree to ban slamdancing from this planet. The guys doing it seem to be the sorts of kids who got beaten up at school enough anyway, why revisit it in later life? Or, alternately, wash their hair and get the metal girls from the second paragraph to live out their Suicide Girl fantasies with a switch and paddle. Everyone’s a winner…

Nie znam żadnej reguły debiutów. Nie wiem czy przychodzą z trudem, czy nie. Znając życie można tu wkleić klasyczne “to zależy” podpięte pod kolejny slogan pt. “cała masa czynników”.

Niektóre zespoły jak Metallica czy Iron Maiden już przy pierwszych krążkach wypłynęły na szerokie wody, a z kolei choćby taki polski Behemoth musiał trochę materiału wykuć by szerzej o nim usłyszano, o innych zespołach pewnie w ogóle nie usłyszymy. Jak będzie w przypadku Ex Deo?

Inaczej, bo sensu stricto to żaden debiut. Według mnie trudno tak nazywać pojawienie się Romulusa, pierwszego krążka Ex Deo bowiem jego pomysłodawca, szanowny Maurizio Iacono, działa już na scenie z dużym powodzeniem nieomal dwie dekady, w szeregach kanadyjskiej legendy – Kataklysm.

Pomijając jednak te i inne medialne łakocie otrzymujemy kawał dobrego grania. Nie abym z jakimś specjalnym entuzjazmem podchodził do zachodnich recenzji, w których Romulus okrzyknięty został opus magnum metalu, ale i moja słowiańska krew wielokrotnie została podgrzana dobrym kopytem tego albumu.

Romulus, mający pierwotnie nosić nazwę Rise of Rome, to opowieść z narracją Iacono o chwale dawnego Imperium Rzymskiego i kilku wątkach z jego historii. Opowieść pełna majestatu, podziwu, momentami wręcz pompatyczna i bezczelnie wyniosła. Zatem nie tylko fani ciężkich brzmień, ale i wszelcy pasjonaci historii odnajdą się w Romulusie. Ponoć frontman Kataklysm od dawna planował wprowadzenie tego projektu w życie, zdradzając tym samym swoją wielką pasję do historycznych klimatów.

Iacono na materiał zaprosił – zdaję się, że innego fana Imperium Cezara – Nergala (utwór Storm The Gates of Alesia), a ponadto Karla Sandersa z Nile (The Final War) i Obsidiana C. z Keep of Kalessin (Cruor Nostri Abbas). Całościowo to jednak szereg mniej lub bardziej (raczej to pierwsze) zaskakujących pomysłów samego autora.

Romulus od strony techniczniej prezentuje się w porządku: dopracowane brzmienie, świetne ciężkie gitary z wieloma, po prawdzie oklepanymi, ale dopracowanymi solówkami (Invictus, Legio XIII, Blood, Courage and The Gods That Walk The Earth czy Surrender the Sun) i całe to poczucie monumentu tworzą dobrą całość.  Poza tym akurat w tym wypadku dobre wrażenie czynią liczne wstawki jak choćby coś na kształt maszerującego w bój legionu z Legio XIII, a przyznać trzeba, że takie operacje w death metalu należą do ryzykownych. Ex Deo pod tym względem daje radę.

Reasumujac: fani Kataklysm powinni poczuć się jak na egzotycznych wczasach, fani historii w muzyce także. A pozostali? Mówiąc bez żadnej hiperboli jak i bez defetyzmu – jest nieźle.

Ave Caesar!

Werdykt: 7+/10

1. The Unholy Signature (Segment I, Utterly Significant) 06:19
2. Beckoning of the Xul (Segment II, In the Midst of the Azonei’s Dominion) 05:53
3. Point of Evanescence (Segment III, Of Sheer Perseverance) 03:41
4. Fathers From the Suns (Act I, The Occured Barrier) 04:23
5. Enhanced by the Lore (Act II, Scholarship Ordained) 03:41
6. In Parallel Horizons (Act III, Spontaneous Aura Projection) 04:01
7. The Awakener (Epoch I, Summon the Legends) 04:05
8. Maelstrom 2010 (Epoch II, Omens About the Great Infernos) 03:21
9. Exode of Evils (Epoch III, Ladder of Thousand Parsecs) 04:06
10. L’Odyssée… (Bonus Track) 03:15

Download

1. Like Angels Weeping (The Dark) 05:19
2. Where The Enemy Sleeps… 06:19
3. The Ressurected 04:39
4. Let Them Burn 04:26
5. As The Glorious Weep 04:51
6. As I Slither 03:20
7. Manipulator Of Souls 04:06
8. The Ambassador Of Pain 02:57
9. Crippled & Broken 04:59
10. In Shadows & Dust 02:42
11. Face The Face Of War 06:04
12. The Road To Devastation 07:30
13. Illuminati
14. To Reign Again
15. The Awakener 05:03
16. Sorcery
17. The Test Of Time (Documentary)
18. The Awakener (videoclip) 05:18
19. In Shadows & Dust (videoclip) 02:49
20. As I Slither (videoclip) 03:12
21. Crippled & Broken (videoclip) 04:50
22. To Reign Again (videoclip)

Download part 1

Download part 2

Download part 3

1. Sorcery (Kataklysm Part II) 04:56
2. Mould in a Breed (Chapter I, Bestial Propagation) 06:13
3. Whirlwind of Withered Blossoms (Chapter II, Forgotten Ancestors) 05:18
4. Feeling the Neverworld (Chapter III, An Infinite Transmigration) 05:54
5. Elder God 04:00
6. Garden of Dreams (Chapter I, Supernatural Appearance) 05:29
7. Once… Upon Possession (Chapter II, Legacy of Both Lores) 02:38
8. Dead Zygote (Chapter III, Dethroned Son) 05:07
9. World of Treason (Instrumental Vibrations) 06:36

Download

1. Maelstrom 2010 03:45
2. Exode Of Evils / Enhanced By The Lore 07:56
3. Sorcery 05:05
4. Elder God 04:11
5. Fathers From The Suns 04:43
6. Point Of Evanescence 04:16
7. Beckoning Of The Xul 06:01
8. The Awakener 04:30
9. Once… Upon Possession 03:06
10. The Unholy Signature 06:44
11. The Orb Of Uncreation 05:01
12. In Parallel Horizons 03:51
13. Vision The Chaos 06:19
14. Shrine Of Life 05:35

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1. Prevail 03:56
2. Taking the World by Storm 04:01
3. The Chains of Power 03:18
4. As Death Lingers 03:32
5. Blood in Heaven 05:18
6. To the Throne of Sorrow 04:52
7. Breathe to Dominate 04:02
8. Tear Down the Kingdom 04:23
9. The Vultures Are Watching 05:58
10. The Last Effort (Renaissance II) 05:02

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1. Like Angels Weeping (The Dark) 04:27
2. Let Them Burn 03:20
3. Crippled and Broken 04:32
4. To Reign Again 04:25
5. It Turns to Rust 04:04
6. Open Scars 04:06
7. Temptations Nest 03:46
8. In Words of Desperation 05:09
9. The Road to Devastation 07:14

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1. In Shadows and Dust 02:46
2. Beyond Salvation 04:10
3. Illuminati 04:59
4. Chronicles of the Damned 03:14
5. Bound in Chains 03:24
6. Where the Enemy Sleeps… 05:20
7. Centuries (Beneath the Dark Waters) 05:57
8. Face the Face of War 05:10
9. Years of Enlightment / Decades in Darkness 05:15
10. Inside the Material Flesh (bonus track on US-version) 03:44

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1. Il Diavolo in Me 03:25
2. Damnation is Here 04:34
3. Era of the Mercyless, Roma: Part 1 03:32
4. As the Glorious Weep, Roma: Part 2 04:12
5. Shivers of a New World 04:07
6. Manipulator of Souls 03:42
7. Wounds 04:54
8. What We Endure 04:57
9. When Time Stands Still 06:15

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1. 1999:6661:2000 03:52
2. Manifestation 03:58
3. Stormland 03:13
4. Breeding the Everlasting 03:54
5. Laments of Fear and Despair 04:14
6. Astral Empire 03:33
7. Gateway to Extinction 05:25
8. Machiavellian 03:45
9. The Renaissance 08:10

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1. As My World Burns 05:34
2. Imminent Downfall 04:51
3. Feared Resistance 03:55
4. Caged In 03:49
5. Portraits Of Anger 02:53
6. Extreme To The Core 02:49
7. Courage Through Hope 04:52
8. A View From Inside 05:15
9. (God) Head 04:45
10. Embracing Europa 03:45
11. I Remember 04:09
12. World of Treason II 05:32

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“The Ambassador of Pain” – 2:33
“The Resurrected” – 3:26
“As I Slither” – 2:57
“For All Our Sins” – 6:14
“The Night They Returned” – 3:53
“Serenity in Fire” 4:38
“Blood on the Swans” – 2:44
“10 Seconds from the End” – 2:46
“The Tragedy I Preach” – 4:43
“Under the Bleeding Sun” – 4:32

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Password: www.mediaportal.ru