VaccZine #9: Interview w/ Shadowland
NWOTHM, Tales of Medusa, Puke
I love it when a band gives you that aural secret handshake that tells you, "Okay, these people get it." The New York, New York, New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal band Shadowland extends its sound-hand for that in-the-know dap at precisely 1:13 on "Ligeia," the opener to the quintet's full-length debut, The Necromancer's Castle. After a promising section of true-meets-punk power chords, it's then that Shadowland fires off some Killers-era leads. Flash. BOOM. The guitar flourish explodes like fireworks and lights up the track. Shadowland gets it. It rules.
This isn't an isolated moment of rules-ness for Shadowland. Since forming in 2018, the band hasn't stopped freshening up NWOTHM without severing that all-important link to the past. Fittingly, Shadowland feels as though it exists out of time, equally 1981 and 2021, as the players themselves noted to me.
Let's talk 1981 first. Tanya Finder has that voice: punked-up and powerful with hints of metallic melancholy. Guitarists Al Bulmer and Jeff Saint Filmer have that tone: authentically analog and electric, like someone yanking the down the switch on Old Sparky. Bassist Cedric Obando and drummer Dave Hawk have that interplay: laying down potent struts with a bluesy swing.
But, when these elements unite, the songs sound fresh. Not unlike its speedier peers in Seattle's Sölicitör, you can tell that Shadowland has been listening to music made since 1981. Obando and Hawk have a certain crispness to their playing that would've set them apart during the days of hamfisted bashers and eighth-note pluckers. Bulmer and Saint Filmer peppy shred is augmented by an added heaviness. Finder's vocals are always slightly ahead of the beat in a way that hits the modern ear just right. And that's a good enough descriptor as any: The Necromancer's Castle is just right, nailing the old and new in a way that fans of either would find agreeable and fans of both will love.
I've talked to Shadowland twice this year, first for a piece on New York's premier heavy metal documentarian Frank Huang and second for a deep dive into the speed metal score of Dario Argento's Opera. The following interview is from the latter, offering an extended version of our conversation over email.
Soooooo, since we last talked, you announced The Necromancer's Castle out on No Remorse Records. How did the deal come about?
We had actually been sending out the LP demo for a while before No Remorse contacted us, which we were very happy about. They have a great line up and our music fits in well. We still have full creative control of the band, which was very important to us.
What was it like recording your debut LP during...all of this? Did that affect the songwriting in any way?
It definitely slowed the process down a lot for us. We took COVID and quarantine very seriously and didn't play together for a few months. We'd have Zoom happy hours from our respective homes and talk about the record and new songs, amongst other shenanigans. Jeff was writing a lot in his cellar, so when we finally all came back to the practice space, we had a lot to work with. There were COVID scares that forced us to take breaks; it was up and down for sure. But it also allowed us to concentrate more on writing the record since no gigs were on the foreseeable horizon. We really punished ourselves by playing these songs over and over and tweaking them constantly. We also had the luxury of taking our time in the studio and not being rushed by major deadlines or our personal work schedules.
The PR copy notes that your brand of trad is "in the vein of early Iron Maiden, Riot, Saxon, Judas Priest and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal!" I think you carried that forward from the "Lost City" single. Like, you have that streetwise strut down on songs like "Remains" that new bands don't usually nail. But, to my ear, The Necromancer's Castle also sounds a lot tougher to me, like you're often entering that Hellion space of no-bullshit heavy, heavy metal. Was it a conscious choice to add a bit more heft, and, if so, what inspires that?
We are a bunch of punks playing metal, so it's natural for us to boost the gain knob up a bit. We used multiple guitar amps all cranked high. Sasha Stroud, who recorded us, is an amazing drummer and she really took her time to make the drums sound fucking huge.
We wanted this record to sound bigger than the last one, but didn't want it to sound like most metal bands these days with triggered drums and digital sound. We aren't shooting for nostalgia or vintage, but we aren't really trying to bury the music in modern production. Some metal fans and reviewers have knocked us for being too low-fi, but it's okay with us if you can't tell whether the record came out in 1981 or 2021. We're making the kind of music we want to listen to.
Artwork by Tanya Finder
I don't think I even asked this last time, which is bad writing on my part, but how did the band get started? What was the catalyst?
Dave, Al, and Cedric started a band called Chain back in 2015/2016 with Johnny Halliday (Blazon Rite) and Nick Washkin (Filth Hound, Savage Pleasure). We recorded a demo then Nick left the band. We immediately thought of asking Jeff to fill his shoes cuz we knew he could shred and he wasn't currently playing in a band. He said yes, and we started writing new material. Chain started as a sleazy metal punk band, and with Jeff, we started writing a weird mix of thrashy and heavy metal songs. Johnny, our singer, moved to Philly soon after and it became super difficult for us to make any progress. So Johnny left the band, and before we even started talking about who should replace him, Tanya hit up Cedric. She was thirsty for a new band and liked what Chain was doing, for the most part. She came to a practice and we were all blown away. We had always considered ourselves NWOTHM, but with Tanya's amazing pipes, we shifted our songwriting to be more that style. Took us a while and a bunch of scrapped songs for us to find our own sound. With Tanya and Jeff solidifying the new lineup, a new band name was needed. We went through a couple and even played our first show under the name Beldam (the doom band of the same name posted some not-so-nice words online about that). Tanya came in with a list of names and Shadowland was the one that felt right for us.
I feel like we're in a new renaissance of trad. NWOTHM Full Albums, the YouTube channel, is a force, debuting tons of quality bands every month. Even dormant styles like speed metal are making a big comeback. Why do you think this is happening? Why now?
Well, there is always a push towards the extreme in heavy music, to see how big, how vicious, how fast you can get. No harm in that, but there's no replacement for solid melody and songwriting. NWOTHM is great because you get that songwriting and melody combined with the influence of punk as well. We can't speak for others, perhaps it's just a typical cycle of nostalgia, but we love NWOTHM for the songwriting, the riffs, the pacing, the lyrics, and the energy. It feels very free. Bands, like Diamond Head, are practically playing funk at times or bordering on full-on punk like Tank. I don't think we personally said, "Okay, we are going to write NWOTHM," we just make the music we like. But we are glad other folks are coming back around to it!
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. Shadowland's new album, The Necromancer's Castle, is out now on No Remorse Records.
NEW ARRIVALS
SPOTLIGHT
Tales of Medusa - Antiquity (Lycanthropy)
Everything you need to know about Tales of Medusa is contained in this note on the Vancouver heavy metal band’s Encyclopaedia Metallum profile:
There is very little known about the band, factually speaking, including when they formed and who exactly is in the band. What is known is that the band presses and releases their own albums and have thus far only had them distributed through themselves, sending their material out free of charge to the buyer. As a result of this, the pressings are very limited.
Here's what you need to know: There's not much to know. That's it.
Intrigued? Congratulations, you've now taken the trad pill. All of this feels like a heavy metal version of "The Game," a thing you're amazed you didn't know about until after you know about it. But that's the thing! Tales of Medusa isn't making the pages of Decibel (...yet, my bad if I started the ball rolling). It hasn't been adopted as the "mysterious heavy metal band," it's not kicking off Revolver listicles of "bands that don't care that you don't know," and it's not getting colored waxed pressed to sell on news aggregator sites to build its kvlt brand. No, as far as I can tell, no one knows who or even what Tales of Medusa is outside of maybe 1,000 plugged-in trad listeners. So, you still need an idiot like me to drop a breadcrumb trail that you'll follow until you trip and smack your head on a moss-hidden monolith to real heavy metal...and then you'll tell everyone about the cool-ass band you found. That is to say, no matter how much I write about it, Tales of Medusa is a band you need to discover for yourself. The music just feels too personal...too nakedly heavy metal in all of its awesomely, embarrassingly, unselfconscious glory. Like, Tales of Medusa is 100 percent Tales of Medusa, and you have to be a little Tales of Medusa yourself to even hear it. That's what has kept it, and will keep it, insulated from popularity.
The maybe-trio has released two highly regarded albums of epic heavy metal via the band's own Lycanthropy label, 2007's Triumphant Serenade and 2010's The Fatal Wounding Gaze. Both of those albums, plus a slew of demos and singles, have built a cult around the band that, let me reiterate, doesn't care to be known. Like, to even get those records when they're hot off the presses, you have to somehow…contact the band…the band that has zero internet presence. How? Do you find a Vancouver phone book, flip to a random page, and hope you reach one of the better NWOTHM bands going? Absurd. Do you put an order slip in a bottle and chuck it into the Pacific? What the fuck! Maybe the members are actual medusas (medusi?) and this is the only way they can communicate with the outside world without turning normal heshers into stone. Whatever the case, even if you manage to figure out the Last Starfighter-ass distribution model, forget getting any of those records now. The cheapest Tales of Medusa release in the Discogs marketplace, a cassette of Into the Undergloom, is priced at €300.
Anyway, Antiquity is Tales of Medusa's newest demo and its first piece of released music in 11 years, pressed on a limited-run cassette to 80 copies. A few rips have made it to the internet so terminally uncool people like me can hear it. It's great. Steve Dave compares them favorably to Pagan Altar, and I think that's a pretty great comparison. Brocas Helm is another. It fits well with those bands with boundless ambition that have been left alone to brine in their idiosyncrasies. While it ain’t doom, you can catch a whiff of early Warning in that respect. And, since Tales of Medusa's logo is by Martin Hanford, you could draw comparisons to the other bands Hanford has worked with, too, namely The Lord Weird Slough Feg, Twisted Tower Dire, The Lamp of Thoth, and Isen Torr. (Also…Isen Torr has apparently been reformed by Richard M. Walker with a bunch of no-names? Weird!) 30 minutes of early '80s metal, complete with soaring, still-punky vox, Into Glory Ride dun-da-da-da riffs, and sword-swinging solos. Just some true souls hanging out and making metal, as openly, shamelessly metal as a dad wearing a battle vest to their kid’s recital. Now you know!
HIGHLIGHTS
Abhorration - After Winter Comes War (Invictus Productions)
Of all of the killer new-school thrash that Norway has produced, my absolute, hands-down favorite was Condor. The Kolbotn trio set the bar in the stratosphere with its sophomore album, 2017's Unstoppable Power. Needless to say, it still goes. On that one, it's like Condor welded together a frame of thrash, black metal, and speed metal, dropped in a funny car engine, and stomped the gas until the songs either fell apart or exploded. Sadly, the band also fell apart and exploded. Unstoppable Power was the last one.
With Condor cooked, guitarist Magnus Garathun started Hecatomb with Aussie Rick Warkill and issued a four-song crusher of a demo last year that subbed out thrash for the same kind of blackened infernal furnace that powers Concrete Winds' death metal. It rips. I love it. Probably my favorite demo of that year. That said, I missed the thrash. Enter Abhorration.
After Winter Comes War's four tracks fucking thrash. When this was recorded, Abhorration was a trio: Garathun on guitars and vox, old Condor and current Purple Hill Witch skinsman Øyvind Kvam on drums, and ex-Black Magic, Sadhak dude Andreas Hagen on bass. (The band has since added Nekromantheon's Arild Myren Torp on lead guitars and I CANNOT FUCKING WAIT.) The trio lock-in and aim a mortar towards the war-torn no-mans-land between ramshackle Teutonic clatterers like Poison and not-quite-death US gnarliness like Morbid Saint. Bullseye. Kaboom.
"Desecrate the Exploits of God," especially its chunkier middle, is like something that would've lit up the tape trade, inundating post offices with cassettes. It just sounds so classic, and what makes it classic is that it rages relentlessly, exuding that kind of fuck-it energy that only young bands seem to possess when they first form. It’s a giddy sort of brutality, a holy-shit-we're-doing-it type of carnage. But that's just it: Garathun has proven that he can bring that energy to every project. I still miss Condor, but, because of that live-wire intensity, Abhorration and Hecatomb are making it easier to live in these trying, post-Condor times.
Arkhtinn - 二度目の災害 (Amor Fati Productions)
Atmo black Mysticum is such a simple concept you'd figure that a ton of bands would've gotten to it already. Maybe they have. I don't know. I don't listen to much atmo black. Even if they have, surely no one is doing this better than Arkhtinn, the space-based project that's part of the Prava Kollektiv, the premier purveyors of wind-tunnel metal. The year-end-list-wrecking Prava offerings this round are 二度目の災害 and Voidsphere's To Overtake | To Overcome. Both kinda sound like Darkspace, but Arkhtinn is the more progressive of the two, sprinkling on all kinds of bloops and bleeps and Lustmord-y dark matter wooshes. It's a hell of a ride. But, since we’re talking atmo black, this is super important: It also goes super hard.
The thing that usually keeps me at bay with atmo black is...how to phrase this...a lot of it is limp and boring as shit. As soon as the blasts and coruscating riffs kick in on "一番," it's like...well, I guess I didn't need this face anyway. But, if this were nothing but brutal, Funeral Mist-ass blasts for 20-minute stretches, that would be boring, too! Instead, 二度目の災害 is so damn cinematic, covering more space than a multi-season space opera. Check out the martial, symphonic weirdness that's whipped up around the eight-minute mark of the opener. It's like if Mayhem's Grand Declaration of War weren't made by idiots. Sure, liking Arkhtinn's all-layers all-the-time approach hinges on whether you like related forms such as bvdub's deep house RAM killers. But I want to note that, stripped of the atmo, this is metal as hell. That's why it works.
Carthage - Sicilian Wars (Amputated Vein Records)
"Sicilian Wars is the second album of Carthage," the band writes in a message it has sent out on Bandcamp with the regularity of the sun rising and setting. "The title represents the uniqueness of this release: it's not just a history lesson, that covers the bloody conflict between Carthage and the Greek city-states over Sicily. It's a Brutal Death Metal record, with violent and catchy riffs, crushing guitars, dirty bass, extremely fast drums and aggressive vocals." Honestly, if more history lessons sounded like this, I would've gone to grad school. This Greek duo does a good Brodequin across Sicilian Wars, entering the same brutish battle as Servants of the Sword, the similarly all-out steel swinger. What makes these two bands different than other blast-and-figure-it-out-later types is that they're subtly dynamic, shifting tempos and volumes to give their assaults a push and pull that keeps you actively listening. Not to mention, it seems like Carthage has more going on under the hood. I particularly love the bass tone that's atypically chrome-y and sproingy, like someone firing a rubber band off a Cyberman. Sort of Godflesh-y and post-punk! Still, this is plenty BDM, tearing through a ton of techy parts and knuckle-skinning groove sections.
Inhuman Architects - Paradoxus (Vicious Instinct Records)
I'm not a deathcore person. Just not. By the time the style was rolling, really coming into its own, it was so far beyond something I could comprehend. I had zero inroads because it just wasn't my scene. I could get down with the proto stuff, your Embodyments and Deadwater Drownings, because I was around for those bands and thus had some context. "Oh, it's like death metal and metalcore." But, like staying home from school one day and coming back to discover everyone has learned trigonometry, I blinked and deathcore became...something else.
For me, the modern deathcore dealbreaker is a matter of pacing. Deathcore always seems to herk and jerk itself out of a good flow, prioritizing the leaden thwump of a beatdown over any kind of sustained momentum. Kids raised on that stuff probably get it and can easily connect point A to point B. But, in the same way Marvel movies confuse me, I cannot. It just doesn't make sense to my old-ass brain.
SO, long intro to say that Inhuman Architects makes sense to my old-ass brain. Like Rendered Helpless, the last deathcore-ish band I liked, the Portuguese five-piece filters its deathcore predilections through brutal death metal's indefatigable propulsion. Take "Behold The Creator." It has all of the midpaced big chungus juds of a deathcore song (not to mention a perfectly timed BLECH!), but it also has a consistent pulse, stringing together riffs that build off each other. The riff sequencing is less "FILL THIS BODYBAG RIGHT NOW" mosh calls to action and more the mounting tension of a good DJ set. Even when the band slows down for the beatdown, it still feels like it's going somewhere. In other words, you can throw it on and be confident that the next 43 minutes are going to whip ass.
Siderean - Lost on Void's Horizon (Edged Circle Productions)
Sat on this one for a bit to see if it would still do it for me months later. This is a thing I do because I am evidently concerned that an unworthy album will sneak into a newsletter that no one reads. This probably says a lot about me. And it should say something about Siderean because this is real good. Still. Months later. Why am I like this.
If 2002 Opeth were more Morbus Chron, that's Lost on Void's Horizon. The Slovenian band once known as Teleport has all kinds of slick riffs on this Edged Circle stunner, really utilizing its twin guitars to shred melo-ly through proggy peregrinations. The thing that makes this album this album, though, is the spacey sweep of interlocking arpeggios that unfurl over really neat and creative drumming. (That drumming comes courtesy of Darian Kocmur, who also plays in the Chinese Mefitis, aka the proggy death/black one that isn’t sketchy.) If you’re wondering if there's life out there in the universe, yes, and it sounds like when Siderean slides up the fretboard during a trem.
It has been a hell of a year for extreme metal on the prog spectrum. If anyone has the extra time, drop "Eolith" on a mixtape with selections from the other prog death standouts. That could make a new metal fan a fan for life. Maybe don't sit on that.
Sněť - Mokvání V Okovech (Blood Harvest / Nihil)
Sněť, Prague's answer to Autopsy. Undergang is probably a more modern comparison. That one makes more sense since David Torturdød, of the aforementioned and Phrenelith, guests on track 5. But hey, I am old and this sounds like Mental Funeral to me. In my defense, Mokvání V Okovech, this quintet's LP debut, does sound suitably ancient. Thanks to the full Greg Wilkinson mix/master, it also sounds suitably awesome. So, if you're into OSDM that's not murk-muck, here's your album.
Not to get too completely off topic — and it's hilarious that I'm writing this now considering the rest of these discursive blurbs — but I ran the lyrics through Google Translate and...well...can someone from Czechia tell me if this is a common saying? "The stench reminds you of giving birth to cows." Christ on a bike, it smells like someone gave birth to cows in here! I love it. Going to wager that Google Translate ain't up to snuff. A+ mistranslation if so.
Spastic Tumor - I'd Like to Kill Somebody (self-released)
Spastic Tumor is "d-beat raw gore!" from Toronto. Since surfacing earlier this year, the duo has been on a heater, releasing three short albums of ceaselessly driving depravity. I'd Like to Kill Somebody is the best of the three, sewing the limbs from blown-out goregrind, piss-soaked d-beat, and chainsaw Swedeath riffs onto a mangled, maggot-eaten torso. For real, this is the most uncomfortable I've felt listening to a metal album in...years. For anything to elicit this kind of sick-to-my-stomach blergs in 2021 is saying something, taking me back to when young Wolf saw the art for Matando güeros for the first time and processed what, exactly, that was.
Understandably, it's not going to be for everyone. I'd Like to Kill Somebody feels more real and authentically scuzzier than your typical Monster Mash band, porno Obscene Extreme party, or death fetish edgelord. Whatever you thought about Miscarriage is ultimately what you're going to think about Spastic Tumor. (RIP, Miscarriage, btw.) But, if that's not a put-off, there's some divine degeneracy to enjoy throughout. Ultimately, what makes I'd Like to Kill Somebody work over similar slime is that the riffs are good. Consistently propulsive and even downright hummable, Spastic Tumor nails some headbangers that even sound like Nihilist. That real riffs make goregrind great is…an indictment of the general quality of the genre. Yeah. Perhaps that is why I couldn't stop listening to this one this year, thus ensuring my enduring singledom. Gross. Irredeemable. Good.
Tantric Bile - Seminal Baptism (self-released)
Alright. You're here for the title track. Fifteen minutes of clattering, squealing nonsense that sounds like Peter Brötzmann scoring a Roger Corman flick about a possessed glockenspiel that eats customers in a drum store. Holy hell.
California's Tantric Bile is the newest band in the slowly growing "brutal free jazz" tag that also contains such kitchen-sink exploders like Effluence and, perhaps the progenitor of this brand of mania, Encenathrakh. (If I had the clout to make this a "scene," I'd also include Potion. You should be happy I do not have clout.) The rest of Seminal Baptism, Tantric Bile's debut full-length until I'm told otherwise, is similarly inspired, taking brutal death metal's sonic oppressiveness and hyperactive shred and replacing all of that with jazz. Oh, but there's goregrind vox. And noise parts ("Abrahamic Desiccation" rules). And Mats/Morgan fusion burbles. And flashes of Zappa-y musique concrete. And hilarious samples like Spinal Tap on jazz. (To that end, one of my writer buds is particularly tickled by the other tag on this: "extremely hard bop.")
Seminal Baptism is a hell of a racket, destined to be one of those "just wait until you hear this" records that becomes a music school dorm staple. Here's the thing, though...it's also rewarding and legit good. At first, you're like, lol, an Albert Ayler song??? But Tantric Bile's take on Albert Ayler's "Prophet" is good! Like, no-bullshit good! Come for the involuntary laughs this inspires because it's so over the top. Stay because it's no-bullshit good.
Thanatotheristes - Harvester (self-released)
Sounds like someone swinging a club at a woolly mammoth. Thanatotheristes, then, has positioned itself as the aural successor for the sadly departed Massive Retaliation. Wil, previously of the banging Phthisis and currently of the equally banging Cronos Compulsion, plays a midpaced, grunt-heavy variant of pre-B DM on this solo project. It doesn't set out to reinvent the wheel mainly because this harkens back to when the wheel wasn't invented yet. Primal, chugging nastiness that will appeal to Undergang fans wishing that band was less evolved.
Vulnificus - Innomination (self-released)
Well damn! Eston Browne on vox, Wilson Sherels on everything else. Remember the names.
Browne has been around for a bit and is probably best known for his four-year run in Gigan. Lately, he's been tearing it up in Abolishing the Ignominious, the Pittsburgh BDM outfit he voices with Joseph Lusciano on the instruments. That band released one of the best singles of the year, Forged by Inherent Debauchery. It sounds like a shipment of Disgorge records rolled down a hill.
Sherels is new to me, having leveled up recently by releasing a slew of BDM records over the past two years, notably Daraku Shita Kanjo's Necessitated Depravity Of Denouements and Epidermolysis's ultra-blasting Promo 2021. (The latter fucking riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiips.)
Anyway, worry not, Vulnificus will be the namemaker if you're unfamiliar. Innomination, the duo's three-track demo debut, smokes, doing a nuttier, more American spin on the sick-shit-for-true-sickos BDM of Cerebral Effusion. A real squelch bazooka, it also has a distinctly old-school flare, fitting in with that growing group of bands stripping away adornments and letting BDM grime be pure BDM grime. To wit, listen to the title track. It's so forceful and guttural and chaotic. Even when it opens an Artificial Brain rift in the heavens with pick scrapes and wobbly Wormed weirdness, it's still subterranean, raging away sweatily in a basement during a house show. Hard to think of a better how-do-you-do. Looks like it got Vulnificus over to New Standard Elite, too.
Want to keep up with what I think is good this year? Follow my lists on RateYourMusic: 2020, 2021.
FROM THE VAULTS
Puke - Back to the Stoneage (1987)
Artwork by Danne-Manne-Krampan
The first and last thing that anyone mentions about Puke is that the leads rip. Not wrong. Melodic and blazing, they're something you'd expect more from NWOBHM, not necessarily a raw Swedish hardcore/punk band. The only other band of this period that I can think of that's this flush with shred is Rich Kids on LSD, and those Canadians have a way bigger cult around them.
So, by all means, stand in awe and make the Spielberg face at these leads. But Puke isn't only leads. The songwriting is neat, nailing a sort of anthemic disaffection that will play well with jangle and power pop people. "Älskling, Kan du inne stanna" — "Honey, can you stay inside?," per Google Translate — even has a solo that kind of reminds me of the Replacements or Hüsker Dü if those Minnesotans were tasked with rewriting smokin' valves-era Holocaust. That song is followed by "Käka Gröt" — "Jaw Porridge"? Less sure about that one. It's like Planes Mistaken For Stars years before that band hit its stride. You probably don't care about that as a metal reader, but someone who reads this will, and to that person I want to say, hey, check this out.
Anyway, it will not surprise you that Fenriz is a fan of this band. When asked about his favorite record by Dorfdisco, Fenriz answered:
Well, my record collection is pretty extensive. My motto is the one who's heard the most music wins. And I haven't met anyone who can beat me yet, unless, well, maybe people who are 90 who listen to the radio all the time. Okay, I can mention a favorite, but it would be ultra obscure and you wouldn't know it. It's a Swedish hardcore punk band from '86, '85 called Puke and a 7-inch called Back to the '30s. That's one of the first things I would save if my apartment were on fire or something like that.
From what I can find, mainly because the Swedish Punk wiki died a death some years ago, Höör's Puke formed in 1983, cut two EPs, 1984's Ställd Mot En Vägg and 1985's Back To The 30:s, then this monster of an LP, and then… that's it. Judging by Discogs, some of the members remained active in music, landing in the melodic punk band Identity and the groove metal outfit Lisa Gives Head, the latter perhaps best known as the second-worst-named band on Metal Militia: A Tribute To Metallica II, losing out pretty handily to…
…wait for it…
… I'm going to put this in all caps to drive it home…
…here we go, no turning back…
…BUTTFUCK.
You know, Buttfuck, not to be confused with Celtic Buttfuck.
Back to the Stoneage got a repress a few years ago and is now up on Spotify under the corrected name Back to the Stone Age. I'll agree with Fenriz that Back To The 30:s is "the one," as that one has a clarity and ferocity that the fuzzier Back to the Stoneage doesn't really attempt to tackle. That said, something about the wild-eyed, shotgunned-my-third-cup-of-coffee loopiness of Puke's lone LP does it for me. LEADS!
BUT I GOT ONE THING LEFT TO SAY
ROLLING THOSE LOGS: NITE, featuring Steve Dave on bass, released a video for "Kronian Moon." It's from NITE's forthcoming album, Voices of the Kronian Moon, out 3/1 via Season of Mist.
If you missed the first bonus episode of the Plague Rages podcast, check that transmission out for a bonus news dump. Anything you could possibly want to know about the near-future or future-future of Plague Rages is in there.
VaccZine #10 is going to be my Top 50. I didn't really want to make a list this year, but when I was picking through releases for my other year-end obligations, there were a ton of smaller bands that could use the exposure.
Included in that Top 50 is the debut of Sketch Watch. Have I been burned by some bands this year that turned out to be sketchy? Yep. Should you know about them? Yep. I already hinted at one. This might be an enduring feature, too. A real 'tell me you write about metal without telling me you write about metal' bummer.
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