One of the bands I do a bit of publicity for, Taiwanese brutal metallers REVILEMENT, were recently interviewed by Six Noises (NZ).

Here’s a snapshot. For the full interview GO HERE. And you should, it’s a fucking good read.

Click the pic to go to the full article.

Past posts you might dig:

1. Oh hello REVILEMENT… temporarily
2. ANOTHER HELL feature appears today at Air Guitar
3. SANITY OF IMPIETY interviewed by Sweden Rock Magazine

In the last week, my music collection is the most organised it’s ever been. And I’ve only now realised how important this is.

For years (actually, nearly all my adult life, to be exact), I have existed in a sea of hardcopy music: music I’ve bought, music I’ve got in promo format. While my jewel-case CD collection has, for the most part, been 75% in order, I’ve never known exactly what I have.

Now, I have all of my hardcopy music in order. That is, in artist order, and in release-date order (god bless Encyclopaedia Metallum!). This week, I separated all my jewel-case and box-set CDs from my promo CDs, put my tapes in order, and so on.

The hard work was in cataloguing every single release in a spreadsheet, which I then swiftly turned into a functional database in FileMaker. Only after every item was appropriately catalogued did I put them on my shelves. Pre-existing databases didn’t work for me, as good as they are. So I built one. I have the skills, so why not do the damn thing the way I want it?

What this exercise taught me is that I have almost an equal number of jewel-case CDs and promos; and while the CDs fill something like five and a half shelves, the promos (of course, being caseless) all fit on one shelf. All 300+ of them. The second thing that this exercise taught me is that I have releases I never knew I had, that I have multiples of many releases, and in some cases have multiple promos of releases.

My catalogue is organised by artist, then by title, then by format. I didn’t bother putting genres, or release dates, or labels into it, because if I want to find something, I’m going to want to find it by artist or by title. I’m not enough of a geek to go the distance with the remainder.

The best thing about all of this is that now I know what I actually have!! I won’t go and buy things I wasn’t sure whether I had or not, thus ending up with multiple copies in some cases. And the wankiest (read: coolest) thing about it is that now I know exactly how many discs I actually have. It’s not bad, really, considering how many releases I wish I had. It’s over 700.

What about you? How does your music collection look?

Past posts you might dig:

1. SPUNC: A national organisation with a local focus

No Regrets by Ace Frehley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had heard many, many good things about Ace’s book prior to actually getting around to it myself. My other half, a *massive* KISS fan, devoured it as soon as it arrived on my doorstep. His nonchalant “excellent book” was kind of neither here nor there.

What you discover, with No Regrets, is that Ace Frehley is an honest, forthright, downright funny dude. The book traces Frehley’s journey into rock’n'roll, his foray into what became KISS, what it turned into, and the hows and whys and wherefores of his multiple departures from that band.

Given all of the bad press that Gene Simmons in particular has given Ace, the lack of malevolence in this book is striking. Frehley lives out a ‘no regrets’ perspective; he lives and lets live; so if you expect any bombastic argument against KISS from him, you will be disappointed.

Instead, what you find is a simple, yet brutally honest point of view about his life: from his addiction, to his dealings with the band and other people. It’s completely refreshing.

My only misgivings are that some of the more personal stories are missing from this text. Ace’s first wife, Jeanette “decided to move on”; we can infer the reasons why, and we have to, because none are proferred. After such detail about his family in the early chapters, they drop out of all existence until deaths occur. And Ace never dwells on his daughter’s wellbeing; she herself was an addict, and this we only hear about in passing.

The inclusion of such stories would have taken away from the book’s focus on the Rock, but it would have given it slightly more depth. For while No Regrets is an intriguing, beautifully written work, in the reading one feels like the story ‘skims’, without going into the deeper waters.

Nevertheless, outstanding book. I highly recommend it to everyone; even those who have no idea of who the hell Ace Frehley even is.

View all my reviews

Past posts you might dig:

1. BOOK REVIEW: Day Watch – Sergei Lukyanenko (Miramax Books)
2. [Book Review] RealmShift, by Alan Baxter (independent)
3. Watch this space for serialised book – coming soon

This interview recently appeared in Sweden Rock Magazine. Click it to go to the band's official website, sanityofimpiety.se

Past posts you might dig:

1. SANITY OF IMPIETY Press Kit now available
2. Cauldron Black Ram Official Website Launched
3. REBLOGGED: The Graduate School of Rock: Scholars sculpting rock into art

Old-school Swedish death metallers SANITY OF IMPIETY play vicious depth-driven death metal.

These guys have been compared to Hail of Bullets, Hypocrisy, and early Bloodbath.

For all you media cats, their press kit is now available. You can check it out here. And if you want more info, recordings, or interviews, best thing to do is drop me an email.

Past posts you might dig:

1. Want uber-cheap street-press ad space?

“There are metal bands and there’s Lamb Of God” … “In 2012, Lamb of God remain the pre-eminent metal band and not by default”… “Everyone else is left to watch and marvel, and choke on their dust”. This is just a random selection of quotes from the enclosed biography for Resolution, the latest LAMB OF GOD album. Talk about bloated mindless PR banter.

On to the music then. Wrath, the previous LOG album, left me pretty cold. It was aggressive and full of the usual vim and vigour, but the lack of dynamics and depth made it a fairly one-dimensional listening adventure. This time around, the guys from Richmond decided on a slightly more varied and experimental approach, just as they did on Sacrament. Don’t expect any frolics in vein of King Crimson, Cynic or Mastodon, but just enough nifty details to keep the music fresh and exciting.

The doom metal references in “Straight For The Sun”, the blues/southern rock-styled intro of “Ghost Walking”, the creepy atmosphere on “The Number Six” and the accentuated bass-lines in “Invictus” are all examples of why Resolution has more to offer than its rather one-dimensional predecesor. The punk rock oannotations on “Cheated” and the use of female opera vocals on “King Me” are further indications that Blyth and Co aren’t afraid to look past their musical boundaries from time to time. Don’t worry, Resolution still has enough typical LOG stompers to offer in the form of “Desolation”, “Guilty”, “Insurrection” and “Terminally Unique”.

The wolverine-styled vocals by Randy Blythe and the impeccable drumming by Chris Adler are once again the main attractions. Mark Morton and Willie Adler still showcase their guitar prowess from time to time, but it doesn’t get quite to the level of Ashes In Their Wake or Sacrament. A shame really. Another point of critique is the relatively long length of the album. With fourteen(!) tracks covering almost an hour worth of music it takes a lot from the attention span of the listener, especially with this type of engaging and ferocious style of metal. Perhaps cutting back to 45 or 50 minutes would have been a smarter idea.

Despite this, I do consider Resolution to be one of the finer moments in the LOG catalogue. It showcases enough new elements to keep the album fresh and exciting, yet retains the trademark aggression and blue collar working ethic to keep the core fan-base happy.

Whether this album justifies the ridiculously bloated statements in the PR material remains to be seen. Regardless, Blythe and Co are still the real deal and Resolution is a clear sign that they won’t slow down any time soon.

About the Author

Raymond is an occasional contributor and guest blogger here. He heads up the Dutch magazine Alternative Matter, which is growing in leaps and bounds and makes me all excited about the future of rock journalism. You can find him on Twitter @HomeNucleonics.

Past posts you might dig:

1. GUEST REVIEW: Trivium – In Waves (Roadrunner)
2. [Release Review] DAWN OF RETRIBUTION – The Plan to End Humanity (independent)
3. [RELEASE REVIEW] Astriaal – Anatomy of the Infinite (Obsidian Records)

This is one of those GO READ THIS OTHER SITE things.

The very lovely, super talented critic Natalie Zed, has a new column over at Canada Arts Connect. She’s called it Girls Don’t Like Metal. Wondering where the title comes from? Go read this piece.

In her first column, Natalie has interviewed one of my most favourite female metallers, Kim Kelly. Known as “Grim Kim”, this gorgeous young woman is actually an old, snarling black metaller reincarnated. Her knowledge is phenomenal, her writerly skills fantastic, and her love of metal unsurpassable. She is also one of the very best publicists I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.

Here’s a bit of a taster for you:

How would you define your role/job/niche within the context of heavy metal music?

Some heretical amalgamation of scribe, entrepreneur, road warrior, merry blasphemer, masochist, blue-eyed devil woman, mercenary and firebrand, if I were one to wax poetic. More tangentially speaking, I am an opinionated extreme metal journalist and writer for a number of print and online publications (Terrorizer, Invisible Oranges, The Atlantic, NPR, Metalsucks, Hails & Horns, Loud! and lots more).

I’m also the publicist and sole owner/operator of my company, Catharsis PR, an occasional blogger, NYC gig promoter and merch slingin’ road dog for Corrosion of Conformity, Black Tusk and Saint Vitus (to name a few). I was 15 when my first piece of metal-related writing was published, and in the ensuing almost-decade, I’ve fought tooth and nail to make that scrawny, Bathory-obsessed kid’s dreams come true. So far, so good.

YOU SHOULD GO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE. Now. It’s well worth your time. And keep your eye on it, because Natalie is going to bring us the goods. I’d put money on it.

Past posts you might dig:

1. Metal as Fuck: the world’s most obliterating metal mag. Coming Feb 2009

I’ve been asked to write an article about Australia’s best metal acts. Best, mind you. Not the most notorious, not the most signed to major labels. But the best. I take this to include pioneers of genres, too.

It’s a right tough gig, doing this. So what I’ve done is write a list; ask the biggest metal geeks in my life for input; and then file them down into genres. Before I go any further than this, I wanted to share it, because it is well impressive! Please note that bands like Mortal Sin, Destroyer 666, and Sadistik Exekution are on a previous article written by someone else, so they aren’t included here.

Enjoy!

HARD ROCK
AC/DC : metal pioneers, super influential. Can’t not be on the list!

THRASH
Hobbs Angel of Death
Armored Angel
Bezerker (not The Berzerker, very different band)

BLACK/THRASH
Gospel of the Horns

DEATH/THRASH
Vomitor
Sacriphyx

DEATH METAL
Acheron/Abramelin
Corpse Molestation
Necrotomy
Innsmouth
Impetuous Ritual
Grave Upheaval

DEATH/GRIND
Blood Duster

AVANT-GARDE/PROGRESSIVE DEATH
Alchemist

EXPERIMENTAL DEATH/BLACK
Portal

BLACK METAL
Woods of Desolation
Ruins

BLACK/DEATH
Stargazer
Cauldron Black Ram
Martire
Anatomy
Destruktor
Bestial Warlust
Grenade

PROGRESSIVE BLACK/DOOM
Misery’s Omen

FUNERAL DOOM
Mournful Congregation

DOOM/DEATH
Disembowelment

DOOM/HEAVY METAL
Demon’s Gate

Past posts you might dig:

1. INTERVIEW: Australian Heavy Metal Awards – supporting local metal
2. Release Review: DEATH ANGEL – Sonic German Beatdown: Live in Germany (Nuclear Blast/Riot)
3. Morbid Angel Australian Tour – June 2009

The Another Hell boys recently had a chat to Lav at Air Guitar – a South African metal site – about their music, their fans, and their forthcoming release.

Here’s a sample.

Although, Another Hell, are not new on the block – they have been perfecting their instrumental techniques since the early ‘90’s under a different name. After a hiatus, the band reformed, reshuffled and re-collected their thoughts in northern Sweden as Another Hell.

“We are very satisfied with the EP,” says bass player, Jim Edström. “We kind of just play what we think sounds good and I personally don’t think about what it sounds like.” Play what sounds good indeed! Another Hell tracks don’t just ride on the composition of rhythm but also contain a strong lyrical message. As Edström elaborates, “It is about environmental issues, political issues and injustice issues too but there is so much more than that; like greed and power.”

Another Hell at AIR GUITAR

Past posts you might dig:

1. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: ANOTHER HELL offers fans secret material
2. The Feej Q&A with ANOTHER HELL… is the world fucked?
3. ThrashHead magazine ranks ANOTHER HELL’s Drowning in Dirt 4.5/5