phantom hymns
“The ghost in you, she don’t fade.” THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS
For this special 100th issue (yea us!) I wanted to pick something es-
pecially heavenly to share with you. But, to be perfectly honest, my head has been stuck way deep in Dani Filth and Gavin Baddeley’s The Gospel of Filth book (see RM#99) and I’ve only been listening to the devil’s music. This obsession with wicked songs led me to a strange and rare beast of a record about the occult, though, and it’s too good to keep to myself. The band is called The Ghost. In 1970, this five-piece from Birm-
ingham, UK released its debut, When You’re Dead. It’s a psych/prog/folk rock record, the kind of hybrid (or is that high-brid?) thing that was going ’round in those days, thanks to Jefferson Air- plane and the brown acid at Woodstock. With its turbulent blues rhythms, trippy organ solos and sweet “summer of love” boy/girl har- monies, it’s sonically pretty standard stuff. But, the lyrical themes were… far out. The opening track “When You’re
Dead” starts off with “So now you’re dead…” then goes on about children and dogs and ashes and late nights and more things one can’t quite make out in singer Paul Eastment’s howl. (Eastment was also in another ob- scure band of the day, Velvett Fogg,
which once included Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath.) The song ends with “No one will remember you…” and since that single went ex- actly nowhere and the band broke up shortly after, it was kind of a self-fulfilling prophesy. However, the album contains another track that really blows my mind. “Night of the Warlock” is essentially a horror movie script. Act one:
“Witches and demons start to crawl/Climbing up the garden wall.” Act two: “Lightning strikes but there’s no rain/Virgins come to life again.” Act three: “Please save me Christ!” Okay, so maybe it’s more of a warning against dabbling in black magick, but with Eastment at times channelling Native American chanting and pagan incantations, and the band rocking out in a way that foreshadows demon-obsessed heavy metal, it’s a bewitching bit of proto-shock rock. You can hear The Ghost at
myspace.com/theghostuk. And if you can actually find a copy of the original vinyl, it’s worth ap- proximately $1000. Good luck!
SOUND BITE: Hey kids….Hot Topic poster boys
The Murderdolls have reunited. Joey Jordison and Wednesday 13 are back in the studio, promising to “fuck formula, fuck the norm.” Hey, there’s a first time for everything. LIISA LADOUCEUR
THE BLOOD SPATTERED GUIDE CAN BE HEARD WEEKLY ON
RUEMORGUERADIO.COM RM 09 A U D I O D R O M E
DARKTHRONE Circle the Wagons
METAL
PEACEVILLE RECORDS It’s not like Darkthrone has any- thing to prove – as any black metal fan will attest, the genre wouldn’t really be the genre without this duo. Instead of resting on their lau- rels though, the Norwegians con- tinue to exhibit admirable disdain for stylistic complacency on Circle the Wagons, a rousing war cry of a title meant as a warning to “in- vaders of [their] metal domain.” Exploring the punk and thrash in- fluences of their recent work, this fourteenth album sounds both ugly and refreshingly to-the-point. Gui- tarist Nocturno Culto replaces his trademark buzz-saw tone with a thick, almost sludgy wall of distor- tion, while contributing histrionic vocals (alongside drummer Fenriz) that range from vomitous retches (“Stylized Corpse”) to the droning baritones of the title track. It’s hard to imagine that Darkthrone actually gives a shit what we think, but that’s what makes the music so engaging: it’s bereft of pretension and brimming with vitriol and mis- anthropy. ED 0000
“Blood Stigmata” coming off as eerily brooding lamentations that sound like they should be playing in the background as you and a couple of friends explore that abandoned mental asylum down the street. The moaning Exorcist samples are a nice touch and are guaranteed to send shivers down your spine. The black mascara- wearing club crowd won’t be dis- appointed either, as this Bavarian band’s unique blend of power dance, industrial, techno noise and experimental distortion reaches dangerous new heights with “Boneshaker Baybee,” “Bam Bam” and “Loyal to my Hate,” all des- tined for regular rotation in the world’s scariest goth bars. Just tell
’em Chang and Eng sent you. LCL 0000
PSYCHO The Grind Years
METAL
SELFMADEGOD RECORDS One of grind-punk’s forgotten heroes, Boston’s Psycho finally receives some overdue appreciation via this vicious 52-track onslaught of songs culled from its many releases between 1990 and 1994. Slowly transitioning from punk/thrash to outright deathgrind, the selections feature crossover thrash akin to D.R.I. and Cryptic Slaughter, coupled with heavy inspi- ration from the relentless barrage/ex- treme tempo shifts of early Napalm Death and the apocalyptic atmos- phere of death metal luminaries Celtic Frost. Despite the advanced age of the material, The Grind Years is still a stunning blast of extremity coupled with Accused-worthy lyrics heavy on tongue-in-cheek gory fun as exem- plified on numbskull blasts such as “Chainsaw Priest.” KC 000
THE VISION BLEAK Set Sail to Mystery
METAL
PROPHECY PRODUCTIONS The Vision Bleak is a German horror metal duo that trades in goth metal with its heavy use of orchestral synths, crunchy yet melodic guitars and pretentious baritone vocals. The band’s history of complex concept al- bums continues with its fourth one, Set Sail to Mystery, which returns to the “Deathship” story upon which the debut album, The Deathship Has a New Captain, was based. TVB has a very specific sound, meaning death and black metal dudes will likely hate it, while those with a taste for epic concept metal (as well as D&D, likely) will find it more appealing. The ac- companying horror vibe is both ro- mantic and classic, including an intro (“A Curse of the Grandest Kind”) that
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100