of death, dying and the evil of all hallow’s eve… that probably just about says it all for you… The mix starts out innocuous enough and dissipates into some brutal listens that should really shake your spine and leave you quaking in your boots. Sadly, some band’s could be a complete catalog without much effort, making cutting it down to a track an artist interesting. Spook you if you don’t agree… feel free to add in the comments your faves for the list

“Black Sabbath” Black Sabbath from Black Sabbath
“Welcome To My Nightmare” Alice Cooper from Welcome to my Nightmare
“God Of Thunder” KISS
“Highway to Hell” AC/DC from Highway to Hell
“Halloween” The Misfits from ‘Halloween’ single
“Knife in your Guts” Gwar
“Dragula” Rob Zombie from Hellbilly Deluxe
“Nightmare Be Thy Name” Mercyful Fate
“Halloween” Helloween from Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. One
“Dungeons are Calling” Savatage
“Devils Child” by Judas Priest from Screaming for Vengance
“Halloween” King Diamond from Fatal Portrait
“Pure Evil” Iced Earth from Days of Purgatory
“The Haunting” Testament from the Legacy
“Am I Evil?” Metallica from Garage Days
“Belly of the Beast” Anthrax from the Persistence of Time
“Dead Skin Mask” Slayer from Seasons in the Abyss
“Scream Bloody Gore” Death from Scream Bloody Gore
“Death Certificate” Carcass from Heartwork
“Slaughter of the Soul” At the Gates from Slaughter the Soul
“Diva Satinaca” Arch Enemy from Dead Eyes See No Future
“a Devil in God’s Country” Lamb of God from as the Palaces Burn
“Bloodletting” the Haunted from One Kill Wonder
“the Devil has Risen” Unearth from III: in the Eyes of Fire
“No Sympathy (for the Devil)” Skinlab from Disembody: The New Flesh
“Like this with the Devil” by Entombed from To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth
“Blessed Black Wings” High on Fire from Blessed Black Wings
“Her Ghost in the Fog” Cradle of Filth
“Progenies of the Great Apocalypse” Dimmu Borgir from Death Cult Armageddon
“Demon of the Fall” Opeth from My Arms, Your Herse
“My Hope, the Destroyer” My Dying Bride from the Dreadful Hours
“You were but a Ghost in my Arms” Agalloch from the Mantle
“Fear of the Dark” Iron Maiden from Fear of the Dark
“Black Number One (the Little Miss Scare All)” Type O Negative from Bloody Kisses

and, although Diecide is WAY out of my listening, I’ll include the reference to them, if for no other reason than frontman Glen Benton might be a direct descendant of satan.

Did I miss anyone?

Då var den äntligen här! DARK TRANQUILLITYs Punish My Heaven, uppföljaren till AT THE GATES Blinded By Fear i bluegrass tappning. Det är en djävligt schysst version och man förstår att Punish My Heaven var mycket svårare än Blinded By Fear att transponera.
Förövrigt finns det en intervju gjord för Decibel Magazine med Peter Norlinder och Dan Norman att läsa här.

Kokosnötter is the shit!
//H

NP: Rosetta – Départe (Galilean Satellites, 2005)

Här kan Anders Lundin och Lasse BH slänga sig i väggen. Riktig allsång upplever man bäst i en trång konsertlokal full med hårdrockare och ett jäkligt taggat At The Gates på scenen. Galet klipp där publiken fullständigt överröstar Tomas Lindbergs sång. Man blir nästan tårögd.

At The Gates – “Slaughter Of The Soul”

Today’s my final listen to Slaughter of the Soul.  Overall it is a great album, probably a classic in its genre.  The songs are well-written, them boys sure do know how to play them thar instruments and listening to the album makes me feel like I’m 17 again, rebellious, distrustful and ready to face anything.

The problem is, I would have liked the album even more when I was 17.  At age 40 the lyrics just seem silly and I can’t see myself singing along to lyrics like “Degeneration tears your blackened eyes”.

This is an album I’d listened to quite a bit before it was my album of the week and I’ll keep listening to it a lot more.  It’s a great piece of musicianship.

My rating:  4/5

So there’s a lot to like about At the Gates.  I think I could listen to the guitar riffs and the pounding rhythms all day long.  It’s very intense music and late in the day when I’m doing paperwork it helps to keep me focused and energetic.  And, as I mentioned, I can even deal with the vocals.  But what about the lyrics?

I did a little poking around at LyricWiki to see what the band had to say (since I can only understand about 10% of what he’s “singing”).  How about this?

Utopia – lost in chaos
As the sky turns black
Suicidal legacy
There is no turning back

Retribution answers cold
Moving in for the kill
Deep hideous festering
Bestial epidemic, repulsive need

Control, control

Say what?  It’s like someone hit the Scandinavian Black Metal Lyric Generator and copied and pasted.  In fact, let’s do that.

We crossed the circle to the other bank,
As lower down my sight descended on them,
Prophesies And dealt so with them each exults thereat;

Their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together,
That I through him may issue from a doubt;
Of the first song, which is of the submerged.

So that the tail may have no power to harm thee.
And as the wings of starlings bear them on
Crushes Henceforth the time allotted us is brief,

The Cretin Smiles! !!!

I’m not seeing a huge difference between the two.  Sometimes it’s not a bad thing to just focus on the music and not the lyrics.

So my first random album of the week is Slaughter of the Soul by Swedish metal band At the Gates.  This came out in 1995, though I truly didn’t hear about it until a year ago and bought it shortly afterward.  I do tend to like harder music but I hadn’t really been exposed much to the more “extreme” forms of metal until I started listening to Opeth.  This is the only album I’ve ever heard by At the Gates.

And I really like it.

Which surprises me.  The music is incredible:  hard, fast, yet obviously well-written.  Songs that get stuck in my head.  But the problem I had initially were the vocals.  The lead singer (is that even an appropriate term?) screams out the lyrics and I feel sorry for the guy.  The wail at the beginning of “Nausea” makes the hair on my arms stand up.  I’d hate to pay his cough drop bill.

Förväntningarna var höga, och det ska väl inte stickas under stolen att man förmodligen hade varit lyrisk över att bara ha sett bandet tillsammans på en scen. Men risken finns alltid att man blir besviken när det är en återförening i göringen. Det kan vara att bandet inte ger hundra procent eller att de helt enkelt inte håller längre.

Tur att At the Gates på Debaser Medis inte blev en av de kvällarna. Betyget som sattes där och då var “förmodligen det bästa jag sett”, och jag står kvar vid det även ett par dagar efteråt.

Det börjar med Slaughter of the soul, sedan Cold och sen fortsätter det bara. Vad jag kan minnas körs hela Slaughter of the soul-plattan, därtill kommer Raped by the light of Christ (yes alltså!!), Windows, All life ends, Neverwhere och Kingdom Gone, har säkert missat nån och eventuellt blandat ihop något.

Debaser Medis var tjockt med folk, utsålt sedan länge natürlich, och Tompa Lindberg är värd entrépengen bara han. Jävlar vad skön han är, resten av bandet med för den delen iofs, och det känns lite sorgligt när man går därifrån, att veta att det inte blir någon mer gång. Då är man å andra sidan så klart ännu mer tacksam för att man de facto var där och tog chansen när den nu bjöds.

Svårt att skriva något vettigt om en spelning som känns så jävla viktig och bra på så många sätt att det liksom saknar proportioner.

So, I said that my first reviews would be book reviews (See previous posts). I must apologize. You can blame my wonderful girlfriend, Nancee. She suggested that I blog/review the barbeque (BBQ) “bastions” that we were visiting while on vacation. So, without further ceremony I will provide a breakdown of my (our) 2008 Summer Texas BBQ Tour. The book reviews will appear. I would say, “Scout’s honor,” but as Nancee always points out–I was never a Boy Scout. Also, I am not a food critic, but I do like to eat and I love to eat BBQ. If my vernacular is incorrect please let me know so that I may correct it.

I love to read, write and listen to extreme metal (among other things). Beyond that I love BBQ and beer. Typical, right? Wrong! I happen to love Lone Star & Shiner beers, both of which are brewed in Texas. Lone Star is my favorite “cheap” beer–screw Pabst–but you will find no finer beer than Shiner’s Hefeweizen (I am also partial to Shiner Blonde). I discovered Shiner, a much smaller brewery, strangely, before Lone Star, which happens to be “The National Beer of Texas.” Shiner is brewed in Shiner, Texas at the K. Spoetzl Brewery. I have never been on a brewery tour before, and told myself that I ever did make it to Texas, by hook or crook/hell or high water, I would visit the Shiner brewery. I have dreamed of visiting Shiner for years…

Several months ago Nancee and I were watching a Travel Channel show highlighting “Bastions of Barbeque.” From North Carolina and Tennessee through Texas and Arkansas all the way out to San Francisco! the narrator told of these legendary “Meccas of Meat” that locals all praised in one fashion or another [Note: The restaurant in San Francisco was owned/operated by a couple from Alabama who knew what REAL sweet tea was as well as the importance of rib-sticking mac-n-cheese for a side dish.]. Every bastion visited featured several vignettes appropriate for the art of good BBQing: the type of smoking pit, preparation, proper temperature, the type of wood used, rub or no rub and possibly the most important: sauce or no sauce, which in many cases featured “secret” ingredients or was a family (read “secret” again) recipe handed down through the generations.

Now Nancee & I are spoiled. 30 minutes to the south of Athens lies Madison, Georgia. And in Madison is Crowe’s BBQ. Crowe’s BBQ is run by Mr. Crowe who happens to be the cousin of one of my college friends. I have eaten BBQ in Virginia, North & South Carolina, Florida, Alabama (Dreamland in Tuscaloosa), Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida. And while I love Dreamland’s BBQ, no one, I repeat, NO ONE, has better BBQ than Crowe’s BBQ. (Crowe’s does not have a website so do not bother looking for it on the Internet. But if you ever find yourself in Georgia and wanting some of the most excellent BBQ you have ever put in your mouth then you should seek out Crowe’s.) Sauce or no sauce, Mr. Crowe’s BBQ has a perfect balance of flavor and smokiness. His BBQ is CONSISTENTLY moist and pulls right off the bone (if you eat ribs like I do then you know that this is an all-important gauge much like a moonshiner inspecting “the bead.”). Frankly, I’m salivating right now just thinking about his pork ribs and I’m sitting in a hotel in San Antonio!

As most BBQ enthusiasts know BBQ is different depending upon the region in which it is cooked. Same goes for the base that comprises the sauce. Pepper, vinegar or mustard base are the fingerprints that tell of a BBQ sauce’s origins. Beyond sauces we cannot forget the “dry rub”, which is popular in Memphis, St. Louis and in some parts of Texas. Dry rub is a meat rub, or seasoning, generally featuring a salt and pepper base with additional spices and/or herbs for flavor. The varieties are as varied and unique as those that create them. Meat-wise, in the southeast BBQ mostly consists of pork BBQ. In Texas, they have pork, but the Travel Channel narrators also told of the sausage and beef brisket, which comes either lean or moist (marbled). With a devilish look in my eye I asked Nancee what she thought about going to Texas to search out these places. She agreed that that might be fun.

Several weeks later, I learned that Swedens’ At The Gates was playing three shows in Texas one of which was to take place in San Antonio. These shows were the closest they were coming to Georgia and since this was not only their “reunion” tour, but also their FINAL tour (the band had been broken up for over a decade) I looked into flight prices and asked Nancee if she would like to ACTUALLY vacation in Texas so I could attend the show and on the side eat some BBQ, and if at all possible, visit the Shiner brewery. Neither her nor I had been to Texas so it made sense although one might ask why we would visit Texas in the summer? We have plenty of heat in Georgia, why vacation someplace that may be HOTTER? Well, I would say that “I’m crazy,” but that would be self-annihilating, so I will say that the real reasons were that I had seen At The Gates open for Napalm Death on At The Gates’ now-legendary “Slaughter Of The Soul” tour. To witness them again, and for the last time, was an event not to be missed. Additionally, I know Tomas Lindberg, At The Gate’s vocalist, whom I met while working at Relapse Records in 2004/5. He is one of the most genuine people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and I wanted very much to see him again. The icing on the proverbial cake came via personal friends Municipal Waste from Richmond, Virginia who were also on the bill. I try to see/visit them every chance I get. Darkest Hour, a band that I was not familiar with, was providing main support, and ultimately (and to my surprise), Toxic Holocaust was added as another opener to further bolster an already killer bill. 

After booking our flights I started to research BBQ joints from notes that I had taken after watching the Travel Channel’s “BBQ Bastions” show. Of all of the places they highlighted the two main BBQ restaurants  of interest in Texas were Kreuz Market in Lockhart and Stubb’s in Austin. Opened in 1900, Kreuz (pronounced “kr-ites”) was reputed to be the absolute best BBQ in Texas. Their brisket was said to be “divine.” I had to go. Nancee told me that she had always wanted to visit Stubb’s, which was also renowned for its live music venue. From this we worked out our trip itinerary. I did some further research online to find other well-known BBQ establishments with plans to try and visit as many as Nancee and my stomach would allow.

[TO BE CONTINUED...]

Venga, ya es lunes y voy a actualizar el blog haciendo un breve y, por supuesto, subjetivo repaso de lo que para mí fue el Eletric Weekend del pasado fin de semana. El viernes llegué a Cavalera Conspiracy y bueno, no había reparado en escuchar al grupo de los hermanos y no es que haga mucha falta. Lo mejor, como casi siempre, las versiones de Sepultura: Territory, Refuse/Resists, Roots y alguna más. Acto seguido Iggy Pop & the Stooges que, como es habitual, la liaron, bueno, la iguana la lio. Poco más o menos que lo esperado. Offspring pues ni fu ni fa, con problemas de sonido, y Rage Against the Machine pues también lo esperado, correctos, sin grandes alardes. Para cerrar, Queens of the Stones Age tocaban en la carpa y a penas se podía entrar, asi que seguí la actuación por pantallas. No puedo decir mucho de ellos, bueno sí, que cada vez pierden más gracia.

El sábado. The Haunted me dejaron un tanto helado, canciones viejas molonas, nuevas, poco convincentes. Soilwork pues no lo hicieron mal, todo lo contrario, pero nunca me han llamado tanto la atención como otros compatriotas suyos como, por ejemplo, Dark Tranquillity. Queenrÿche nunca fueron lo mío. La decepción me la llevé cuando adquirí Empire al poco tiempo de salir. No me resistiré a comentar una curiosidad para nostálgicos. Tocaron su mejor tema, bueno el único que me gusta, Best I Can dos canciones después de hacer una versión del Neon Knights de Black Sabbath. Y, para los más jóvenes, explicar que la curiosidad reside en que ambas fueron sintonías del mítico programa Disco Cross. La de los Sabbath fue la tradicional pero, durante unos meses, la de Queenrÿche sonó habitualmente. De ahí, mi gusto por esa canción.

Tras Queenrÿche en la carpa actuaron Machine Head. Soberbios. Volumen brutal, que dirían Barón Rojo. La gente entregadísima y la segunda vez que se me joden las gafas con Imperium. No pasa nada. Cuatro veces y las cuatro actuaciones, majestuosas. Bestias! Tras ver la actuación de Machine Head, uno se muda al escenario grande, ve a Metallica y piensa qué injusta es la vida. En fin, Metallica fueron grandes pero han envejecido mal y sus clásicos de los 80 también. No guardaba un tan mal recuerdo de cuando le vi hace nueve años y eso que, por entonces, no atravesaban su mejor momento ni de lejos. Pero el sábado fueron un desastre. No se salvan ni por empezar con Creeping Death, ni por tocarse el Battery, Wiplash, etc.

Pero, por fortuna, siempre hay actores secundarios que se convierten en los protagonistas de una noche. Esos fueron los suecos At The Gates. Elegidos para cerrar el festival, pusieron el broche de oro. Tan grandes como Machine Head. Tocaron casi entero esa joya llamada Slaughter of the Soul. Joya que, por cierto, hoy protagoniza la descarga. Y, por cierto de nuevo, el vídeo que acompaña el post es Blinded by Fear de su actuación en el Electric Weekend.  

At The Gates: Slaughter of the Soul [Earache, 1995]

1.   Blinded by Fear
2.   Slaughter of the Soul
3.   Cold
4.   Under a Serpent Sun
5.   Into the Dead Sky
6.   Suicide Nation
7.   World of Lies
8.   Unto Others
9.   Nausea
10. Need
11. The Flames of the End

Descarga/Download

“Never again, my tired eyes have seen enough of all your lies, my hate is blind.
There won’t be another dawn, we will reap as we have sown”

Το 1995 οι σουηδοί At The Gates, τα βάλαν κάτω και είπαν να αφήσουν τον progressive ήχο που ακολουθούσαν τα δυο πρώτα τους album, και να χτυπήσουν το mainstream.
Τα όπλα τους ήταν τρία. Πρώτον, τέσσερεις μουσικοί με άπειρες δυνατότητες, που κατάλαβαν ότι δεν πετυχαίνεις με την τεχνική αλλά με την ταχύτητα. Δεύτερον, ένας μανιακός τραγουδιστής με ακόμα πιο μανιακή φωνή. Τελευταίο και σημαντικότερο όπλο, ο Μισανθρωπισμος και γενικότερα το μίσος.

To Slaughter Of The Soul, των At The Gates είναι το album που δίνει τον ορισμό της λέξης μίσους. Έχοντας το cd στα χέρια σου για πρώτη φορά παρατηρείς τον χριστό στο εξώφυλλο, και κάτι καμμένους μαλλιάδες. Βάζοντας το να παίξει υπάρχουν δυο περιπτώσεις. Η θα πατήσεις το Stop στα πρώτα 40 δευτερόλεπτα (μόλις τελειώσει η εισαγωγή), η θα το ακούσεις ολόκληρο και λογικά θα αποκτήσεις αρκετές θλάσεις στον λαιμό σου.

Ο Thomas Lindberg ήταν μόλις 22 χρονών όταν κυκλοφόρησε το SotS. Ίσως για αυτό καταφέρνει να βγάζει τέτοιο μίσος. Το SotS το χαρακτηρίζω σαν το Nevermind The Bollocks συνδυασμένο με το London Calling για το metal. Πρώτον έχει κοφτά τραγούδια, με άρρωστους ρυθμούς, δεύτερον έχει κάτι σαν πολιτικό στίχο (δεν είναι ακριβώς πολιτικός ο στίχος “Now burn the face of earth, purgatory unleashed”) και τρίτον επηρρέασε οτιδήποτε κυκλοφόρησε μετα το 1996.

Άμα δεν έχετε ιδέα από metal, οι At The Gates ήταν για το metal ότι ο Smiths για την pop/rock μουσική. Και όπως κάθε μεγάλοι μουσικοί αναγνωριστήκαν αφου διαλυθήκαν. Και επειδή μια εικόνα αξίζει όσο χίλιες λέξεις… :

(1995, Earache)

“Slaughter of The Soul” è sicuramente il disco che consiglierei a un teenager desideroso di misurarsi per la prima volta con la musica estrema. Immediato, melodico, potente, ben prodotto, disperato e longevo; “Slaughter of The Soul” sembra un manuale su come scrivere il disco perfetto, quello che può stravolgere in meglio una carriera, quello che può rendere la tua band un culto, una leggenda.

Il death svedese, il cosiddetto “Gotheborg sound” è tutto qui, non è possibile o pensabile fare meglio, un canto del cigno (gli At The Gates si sciolsero subito dopo) che è stato un vero e proprio “asso pigliatutto”; non si contano infatti le “cover” non ufficiali di capolavori come “Blinded by Fear” o “Under A Serpent Sun” magari ad opera di ragazzotti americani con l’eyeliner e il ritornellone facile. Mi piace porre l’attenzione anche sulla voce di Tompa Lindberg, un urlo, anzi un grido dalla presenza e dalla carica emotiva unica, un modo rabbioso di interpretare la voce nella musica estrema, anni luce dalla quasi totalità dei vocalist metal contemporanei, eccessivamente impostati su modelli poco personali e standardizzati.

Non mi resta che aggiungere che l’invito è quello di rivederci tutti sotto il palco per celebrare degnamente la tanto attesa e inaspettata reunion che avverà quest’estate. La mia riluttanza nel presenziare alle reunion per una volta può andare a farsi benedire, anzi, facciamo il paio con i Carcass e non se ne parla più.

Tracklist:
1. Blinded By Fear
2. Slaughter Of The Soul
3. Cold
4. Under A Serpent Sun
5. Into The Dead Sky
6. Suicide Nation
7. World Of Lies
8. Unto Others
9. Nausea
10. Need
11. The Flames Of The End

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