Well. This is late, and it’s late because I was busy being the birthday girl, something I don’t get to do very often because for some reason I’m always out of town on my birthday. But this year I wasn’t, and I spent a glorious evening with A at the HammerHeart Brewery followed by more hangs the next day with coworkers. And then I’ve been in Chicago, seeing Behexen (!) and Sargeist (!), which I will rave about soon enough.
However, here it is. My gratuitous birthday playlist for 2014!
***
1. Behemoth- O Father, O Satan, O Sun
I really love Behemoth’s new album, and I’m going to be working up a review for it soon. Suffice it to say for now that this song hits me right in the feels.
2. Iron Maiden- The Evil That Men Do
I kind of skipped Iron Maiden, having plummeted face first into symphonic black metal (I grew up on classical music. It was a natural progression). However, countless hours of listening to Maiden at DJ night over the past year has shown me the error of my ways, and I’m devouring this stuff like candy lately.
3. Behexen- Death’s Black Light
Behexen is on here because holy crap I got to see them the other night. That’s nuts. I never thought that would happen. They played this song too…
4. Sargeist- Let the Devil In
Also Sargeist. In terms of things I never thought I’d see live, they rank slightly higher than Behexen.
5. Arckanum- Þjóbaugvittr
I’ve been listening to a lot of Arckanum lately too. I love how meditative it is- the music is atmospheric and repetitive, but the subtleties in the melodies ensure that it never gets boring. Plus, Shamaatae is one of the most interesting figures in black metal to me, and I feel like Arckanum often gets overlooked.
6. Mayhem- Watchers
Y’all know already about me and Mayhem. Just like any long-time fan, I held my breath until I heard their new album, and was pleased to find that I loved it. Especially this song. Those riffs.
7. King Diamond- A Mansion in Darkness
Having secured my King Diamond ticket for St. Louis (!!!), I have also been listening to a lot of his solo work recently. I know Mercyful Fate much better, and I decided that it was nigh time I made myself more familiar with the King himself. This is probably my favorite track on Abigail– I love haunted houses.
8. Sleep- Dragonaut
My all-time favorite Sleep song. Dat bass. Dat doom.
9. Teitanblood- Silence of the Great Martyrs
We’re only halfway through, so I have yet to know for sure, but Teitanblood’s new one, Death, just might be my favorite album this year.
10. House of Atreus- Bastards on the Hillside
I’ve also been jamming out a lot to local legends (and good friends of mine) House of Atreus. Their new EP is brilliant stuff, and I have a review lying around here somewhere that I need to get edited…
11. Dissection- Dark Mother Divine
Shut up. I like this album.
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So that’s it. My birfday playlist for THIS year. Watch this space- like I said, I’m in the editing stages of my House of Atreus review, and about to start on one for the new Behemoth. I got bit by the black metal bug BAD this past weekend, so I’m probably going to be churning out stuff more frequently again (also I will try to get up a review for the shows I saw in Chi-Town last week).
Ave!
-Hagalaz
This petition came to my attention the other day via a friend on Facebook, and I wanted to post it here so that you could sign it if you haven’t. The Canadian government apparently wants to drastically increase the amount of money that musicians have to pay to tour there, which will not only cut down on the amount of live music that Canadians will get to see, but will also be very harmful to small venues and businesses. I don’t think I need to go far towards explaining that for metal bands other than, say, Metallica and their ilk, this legislation is very bad news- any smaller metal bands will be right out of the running for getting to tour Canada. As I am now living in a routine stop on the way to Winnipeg, I can assure you, Canadian metal fans, you don’t want this thing to pass. Marduk and Inquisition are just a couple of bands in the past year that have come up your way. And of course, that is not to mention the smaller bands trying to get off the ground; False just played in Canada, for instance. This cost increase passes and they won’t be able to again.
So please consider adding your signature to the petition if you haven’t already. I did, and I hate signing up for things on the internet. And tell your friends, too, because this is an issue that affects ALL music genres.
(I am going to start linking to bandcamp in here when I can, so that you can listen to more music and buy more music and support more of these guys. OK? You’re welcome.)
Last Friday I was hanging out at Into the Void when my friend M called me to see if I wanted to go with him, his girlfriend, and a mutual friend to see Sadgiqacea, his friend’s black metal band, play with local legends Ambassador Gun. So of course I said yes, because I love me some live music. The show was at Nomad’s World Pub, a small venue that seemed mostly populated, at least this time, by hipsters and crustpunks. Though small, it was a nice place, and they had a huge tap list as well if that is your thing. The patios, I thought, were particularly nice, especially on a balmy summer night. The sound was good as far as I could tell, but it was insanely loud as well, so
Poney from Madison, WI started off the night with a set of psychedelic/stoner inspired hardcore. They played all the material from their new record as well as several other songs. I really enjoyed their set, and thought that the interchanging vocals were really a cool effect, if not always in tune. Probably my favorite aspect of the music was the percussion; along with a drummer, Poney has another percussionist who uses mallets and other techniques with his drumkit. Looking forward to hopefully seeing these guys again soon.
[Two drummers. Rad.]
Hivelords was up next, and they completely destroyed. After their set, I went to fetch extra earplugs for my friends from the car because the noise levels were pretty much devastating. Hailing from Philadelphia, PA, Hivelords plays crushing, doom-saturated black metal, with the vocalist using the old grindcore two-mic technique and echo sound effects. The result is deafening and incredible. I was completely blown away by these guys, and have been pushing them on my friends since.
[Hivelords is devastating in the best way possible.]
Unfortunately I missed most of Sadgiqacea’s set. I was absolutely famished, and skipped over to grab a burrito at Hard Times. I did manage to catch most of the last song, however, and what I heard I really liked. Sadgiqacea also plays a mix of sludge, doom, and psychedelic black metal (and are also, incidentally from Philly). I am going to have to spend some more time with their catalog as I really like what I did hear, and I’m bummed that I missed out on their set.
[I will never stop being impressed by how well you can make incredible black metal with just two dedicated dudes.]
After getting my face obliterated by some of the most crushing live black metal I’ve ever witnessed, Ambassador Gun was unfortunately kind of a letdown. M has seen them before and says that he felt like they were definitely having an off night; one of the vocalists was not in his normal register, he said, so he could tell something was wrong. Even the crowd seemed to have a little trouble getting into the music. Nevertheless, Ambassador Gun’s blend of grind, punk, and metal was enjoyable enough to me. I had come to hear some noise and screaming, and they made sure I did not go home disappointed. I know these guys are a Minneapolis staple and I’d like to see them again sometime when they are having a better night. I also remembered that they played at Maryland Deathfest this year; another indication that I really ought to pick up tickets for the punk stage next time as well.
[Noisy noise.]
I like to support touring bands, and when they are friends or friends of friends I like it even more, so I gave Sadgiqacea and Hivelords the rest of the money in my pocket for gas and took home a sweet Hivelords patch for the old battle jacket. I also picked up a flier and sticker for FTG Illustrations, the work of Sadgiqacea’s drummer (he did their album artwork), in case anyone is looking for album art. After the show, I spent some time hanging out with M and company as well as Hivelords and Sadgiqacea, who were crashing at his place. I am now even more convinced that I need a house so I can put people up, because I love cooking for people and because, as I have bemoaned before, metal bands don’t typically have the support in the underground that the punks do.
I had a really good time for a show I decided to go to on a sudden invite, and I’m really, really glad I went. Poney was excellent, and Hivelords completely destroyed, as did Sadgiqacea, the small part I saw of their set. I’m looking forward to seeing Ambassador Gun on a better night, as I know they are a big deal, and unfortunately theirs was the weakest set of the night. More reviews coming soon, as I can’t not go to things, including the not-Castle show that took place on Tuesday and the Maledicere show tomorrow (it’s going to be awesome. Stoked).
This was my first year going to Maryland Deathfest, and I learned that it is a metal WONDERLAND. Literally just about any merch you could possibly want you can find, including stuff from Deathspell Omega (if you were looking for Lifelover you were out of luck, however. I didn’t see any of their stuff- I was looking for a patch). And for a girl working on her battle jacket, it was a veritable treasure trove. I bought a ton of patches, many of them from my friend, who I tried to buy from as much as I could.
Yeah, that’s a Dimmu Borgir patch. They were my first black metal band, and their old stuff is awesome, don’t pretend like it’s not.
I also got several shirts, but not as many as I probably would have gotten if I had bought all my stuff early (lesson learned. I would have a Candlemass patch too if I’d done that). Nevertheless, I found stuff I couldn’t find easily, like a rad Teitanblood shirt, a TDB shirt (orders from the Netherlands are not cheap), and special edition MDF Antaeus and Aosoth shirts. And Morbid. Always more Morbid.
Teitanblood
I love the back of this thing.
Antaeus special print for MDF.
Noevdia. ❤
More Dead.
Aosoth special MDF shirt. This thing is gorgeous. Also I am trying to buy more not-black shirts.
The back has the Order of the Nine Angles sigil.
The Devil’s Blood. I love their artwork.
I promised musings too, so I will give that. I think the weekend overall went really well, minus the drive back (coffee+convenience store fare+no sleep= H feeling like she is strung out on something). I did have a few observations though. First of all, the festival really needs to be organized a little better. Vinterland had to be pushed back, and Pentagram and Venom getting cut off- I understand that there was nothing that could have been done about these things, but I think some kind of announcement might have mitigated the frustration a bit, especially in the case of the latter, in which people rioted. The lines going into and out of the festival could have been handled a little better, and considering that I heard/saw lots of complaints about gate security inappropriately frisking some of the girls (never happened to me or A, by the way), and harassing people, I would suggest screening the people they have working the gates a little better. (The guys in the festival were awesome, on the contrary. Especially the dude playing air-bass and helping people crowdsurf. That guy deserves an award for best security dude ever.)
I also heard rumors that this might be the last year at that venue, and that might be okay. I liked the smallness of the festival, especially considering that I get freaked out in really huge crowds sometimes, but it really might have outgrown itself this time. Especially with having to wait in line for over an hour for re-entry on Sunday. Also, I didn’t have tickets to the punk stage this year (I need to do that next time), but my understanding was that it was about .5 miles away. That’s a little far, especially if you are trying to run back and forth a lot, so making the venues closer would be really beneficial.
The music was awesome. Needs more thrash; needs more grindcore. That is all. Of course, with all the doom and black metal it was theoretically my year.
Here are some more miscellaneous pics of me and my pals showing off our MPLS/St. Paul related digs and general tomfoolery.
The poster from this year was pretty freaking sweet.
I don’t know if you can tell from the pin, but we are big Devil’s Blood fans around here.
\m/
Me looking like a big ol’ dweeby fangirl in my False shirt. MPLS metal is my fave.
Chicks dig Into the Void.
Next, Kylesa, before I forget my commentary on that. Then Aosoth, I promise. I have been running around watching friends’ bands all weekend, but I am home with some spare time for a while.
The lines outside of the festival Sunday provided another instance of the poor organization that seemed to plague the festival all weekend, or at least concerning entering and exiting the venue. We left the hotel a little after 2p because we wanted to see Glorior Belli at 3:30, and were hoping to mill around and buy merch beforehand. We waited over an hour in a huge line, all full of people there for re-entry. It was really frustrating. After about 45 minutes they opened a second line, and then things moved a little more swiftly. It actually worked out fine for us- we got there just in time to catch all of Glorior Belli’s set- but there were a lot of people really excited to see Speedwolf and Cruciamentum who missed them because of the line.
Glorior Belli’s set was really good; their later, more experimental bluesy black metal is sometimes hit or miss for me, although I do find it interesting. It was very good live, however, and even though I still got hints of their vocalist’s smugness during the set (which rubs me the wrong way a bit), he more than made up for it by climbing down in front of the stage and shaking people’s hands, giving hugs, etc. during the last song. They played a fine set, despite the fact that teatime is really not ideal for black metal.
Glorior Belli
Next we caught a little bit of Midnight’s set while mingling and shopping. I have seen their shirts everywhere recently, but I haven’t ever really paid that much attention to them. They were a lot of fun, however (I LOVE the blackened thrash thing), and I found their executioner’s hoods endearing. Pagan Altar was our next big set, and I sat for part of it to rest my legs (that concrete is a bitch). They were fantastic and a fun throwback. It was really great to see that they are still doing so well; J said that Sabbath should fire Ozzy and hire Terry Jones instead.
[I didn’t get pics of them. Too short. Sorry.]
We shopped and ate during the next set, and then went to get in line for Sleep, who J was really excited about seeing. I was excited too, as I know what a big deal it is to see Sleep right now, but I would not have needed to be up front for it. There was, as expected, a LOT of smoke, which, by this point, was starting to wear on me a little (I don’t smoke, and although a lot of my friends do, three days of inhaling other people’s weed and cigarettes was beginning to make me a little crazy). Also, for some bizarre reason, people started shoving and actually getting kind of violent when the band started playing. Someone really ought to explain stoner metal to those kids. I had just bought a special edition double LP and had thought that during Sleep’s set I wouldn’t be hard pressed to protect it, but people in the crowd where we were standing were being really douchy and shoving, and I was just about at the end of my rope. Couple that with my frustrations over something that is neither here nor there (Internets, you don’t need to know about my personal life), and A dragged me to the back of the crowd before I fucking killed someone. Which is good. That would have been a real buzzkill.
So I saw Sleep, and I was so angry I barely digested any of it. I tried, once I was out of the crush, to focus really hard on enjoying it, however, and I really loved the parts of the set for which I was able to relax a little. I’m really grateful I got to see Sleep perform, and I wish it had been under a little better circumstances.
Sleep. Downtown Baltimore gets a contact high.
[Part of Dragonaut. But you can see, I think, why I was upset with the crowd.]
Matt Pike, incidentally, stayed in our hotel and glowered at me in the coffee shop.
Pentagram was up next, and their set was going fine. J and I didn’t stay for the whole thing, but A did and said that it was really good; Bobby Liebling was… standing and singing okay, and is in better shape, I would say, than Ozzy, but the heroin years have not been kind. J said he thought it was depressing, and I said that I was still a little pissy and wanted to watch a dude drenched in blood screaming to me about Satan, so we went to catch Ascension’s set across the way.
Pentagram.
Am I glad we did. Ascension is from Germany, and I didn’t know that, nor did I know who they were at all, really. They were my diamond in the rough. Ascension is relatively new, and only has one album out, but they play really good black metal and are extremely charismatic onstage. We wandered over there in hopes for something that was going to be a little more lively than Pentagram (who I am still glad I watched a couple of songs of), and they were easily my best whim of the weekend. Maybe I should do a post for them?
Ascension
I liked their stage decor.
[Surprise! awesome black metal.]
As the night started to wind down, we went to hunt down a good place to watch Venom. Basically there was none; EVERYONE was there to see Venom (obviously). I did manage to get a spot on a curb though, where I could see Cronos well, and since he is the founding member who is left, that was the important part to me. I am amazed by how bulky he is; I always thought he was little but his biceps are tremendous! They played a mix of old and new stuff, but we got to hear Warhead and Black Metal and Live Like an Angel, which I guess is the best bit (although I had desperately hoped for Rip Ride. Sigh). Things were going fine and dandy right up until 11p sharp, when all of a sudden there was no sound.
Venom!
Alright. So I couldn’t see much other than Cronos, but he’s the important part, right?
Apparently there was a new city ordinance or something that said that the music had to stop at 11p, as in AT 11 seriously we aren’t kidding, and so they stopped it. (A told me later that Pentagram’s set was cut a little short too; I saw somewhere else that Sleep went over 20 minutes and that was what backed things up. I have no idea what happened. I was just watching Venom, minding my own business.) Either way, the crowd was incredibly upset, because Venom, and then there was a bottle neck in the gate on the way out (the fest is over. Open more gates), and then when we got to the front of the gate there was a scuffle, and some security dudes throwing some crust punk kid against the pavement, and screaming and yelling. I was running to the side to get away from… whatever was happening, and I kid you not, a beer bottle shattered about three feet from my head. So A, J, and I took off to get to the other side of the wall (so we could gawk at what was happening, of course), but a security guard told us to go away. And on the way back to the hotel, like 8 or 10 cop cars passed us, so it must have turned into quite the kerfluffle.
We made it back to the hotel safely, however, and drove back the next day. 24 hours. With me going 30 hours without sleep which, I learned, is something I should never, ever, do again (sleep deprivation makes me paranoid and weepy).
One more post of this, with more pictures and people and merch, and then I promise I’ll talk about Kylesa.
blackmetallurgy 