On Thursday May 2nd, 2013, Slayer had released the unfortunate news via their official Twitter and Facebook pages that their guitarist and songwriter Jeff Hanneman had passed away.

Following on from a tentative absence from the band’s live shows due to extensive recovery from a bacterial infection of necrotizing fasciitis in 2011, Hanneman died in a Southern Californian hospital, where the cause of death was put down to liver failure. It is currently unknown whether this was related to the fact of his infection, thought to have been contracted from a spider bite during an Australian tour, though the possibility of a connection has not been entirely ruled out by various media networks.

One of Slayer’s original members since their beginnings in 1981, Hanneman was noted by fans and peers to be the “quieter” one of the group, in contrast to singer Tom Araya and band leader Kerry King. However, despite his reserved nature, he was also  one of the key driving forces behind the band’s notoriety and critical success; his song and lyric-writing credits include many of Slayer’s most well-known songs, not least of all “Raining Blood”, “Angel of Death”, “Behind the Crooked Cross” and “Tormentor”.

Since the news of his death had broken through online, various bands and musicians came forth via Facebook, Twitter and their own websites to express their condolences and share what they knew of Hanneman.

Rob Flynn of Machine Head, noted for a past feud with Kerry King, wrote up an honest account of his memories on Jeff, which can be read here

http://www.machinehead1.com/board_posts/jeff-hanneman

A tribute by King, performed live at the Revolver Golden Gods show on Thursday night, can be seen over here

The internet seems to be riled up by the fact that the band Ghost, or rather Ghost B.C., has released a dildo as part of their merchandise.

Once more – just who is surprised by this, I ask you?

(And how long before I get sued for this picture?)

A cold wind blew across Camden, as a long queue of fans, newcomers and hipsters lined up outside the Underworld venue on Thursday night. While not unheard of for the venue to accommodate large crowds, this was however an issue for the night, as the rising popularity of Winterfylleth (added to the pre-existing, mainstream notoriety of Enslaved) made for an audience atmosphere akin to a sardine tin effect for much of the show, later on.

Following a change in the gig’s line up with the departure of Dutch metalcore act Magnacult, Reading-based Ancient Ascendant were first on the bill, when they came up just fifteen minutes after the Underworld opened its doors that night. The group began with the entirety of their latest EP release “Into The Dark”. It reflected the record’s own linear growth from clean, technically played guitar riffs (likely an influence from the modern trend of “technical” death metal) with opening track ‘The Veil‘, onwards to the sudden change in atmosphere by ‘Under Ancient Stone‘; a song which sounds as if it would sit perfectly well in fellow supporting act Winterfylleth’s own discography as any other current “English heritage black metal” band’s material. This isn’t to dismiss Ancient Ascendant’s skills at all, in that by the time they reach this particular song, the better of their musical abilities come to play, as a raw energy finally takes place for the remainder of their set and the band leave the previously clinical route behind for one of emotion and intensely strung melodies.
    It’s only fitting that they also chose this point to perform a cover of Bathory’s ‘Flash of the Silver Hammer‘.

Yet in contrast to the inclusive mood for Ancient Ascendant, the mood for the eagerly awaited Winterfylleth changed as many people were unable to even see the band play from their own respective releases. Likely due to the fact of “atmospheric black metal” (or as some would argue, “post-black metal”) music finding unexpected audiences amoung the hipster crowd, this meant that several people were blocked from the balconies of the venue, as well as the (immense enough) pit before the stage itself. Catching even a glimpse in person of frontman Chris Naughton howling along ‘The Fields of Reckoning‘, ‘The Threnody of Triumph‘ and relatively controversial track ‘Defending the Realm‘ was largely impossible, owing to this audience’s thick entrapment of each potential viewing spot.

Mercifully, this did change soon before the headliners of the evening, Enslaved, finally came onstage to an excited crowd. Chanting in tune with recorded lines of old Norse, lead singer and bassist Grutle Kjellson gave a welcoming flourish to everyone who came to watch the band in London, which he openly declared to be Enslaved’s “second home”. The combination of quasi-rituals and outright friendliness helped set the mood for what was to be a thoroughly fun, engaged performance to come from the band, particularly in starting with the title track of their latest effort, ‘Riitir‘. Showcasing the greater progressive (rock) side of their sound, the song’s dark funk lines helped offer newcomers a prime example of the band’s current stage of their musical evolution.  
    With the ongoing success of their recent albums in the public eye, not of least recent awards in the wider music scene of their native Norway, Enslaved didn’t exactly let this success get to their heads at the Underworld. In between a slew of good-humoured banter between themselves and the crowd, Kjellson and co-founder Ivar Bjørnson exchanged jokes and gleeful remarks from the stage, while occasionally expressing their fondness of British culture (namely Welsh jokes, and the historical comedy “Blackadder”). For those who came along to watch the band for the first time, this lent to a very fun, laid back atmosphere through the final hours of the show. Add to the fact that the first half of the setlist featured recent songs from their back catalogue, such as ‘Ruun‘, ‘The Watcher‘ and ‘Ethica Odini‘, and it was clear that Enslaved chose to be as accessible as possible to potential newcomers to their fanbase.
    When bands rise to gain more mainstream recognition and acclaim, it’s not unheard of for them to completely ignore their older material in favour of more “acceptable” sounds. Yet in the case for Enslaved, tonight was declared a special occasion for the group based on their return to London. Reiterating the claim that the city was their “second home”, Kjellson announced that he and his cohorts would reach far back into their discography to play a song from one of their first demos – ‘Allffa∂r O∂inn‘. It was a reminder that, for Grutle and Ivar (if not their newer bandmates), Enslaved was such an involved part of their lives that it would have been unfair to brush over their own musical beginnings. Even more so than to ignore their own influences, as this raw, intense style was then used to help close the show with Led Zeppelin’s ‘Immigrant Song‘.

         Soon, the well known track ‘Isa‘ was aired out to keep not just the crowd at the Underworld – but also the likes of Winterfylleth and Ancient Ascendant involved with the good spirits of the hour, with the instruction to raise up their arms for the chorus of the song. 
    
If there was one true negative, however, it came not from either of the bands that played but – yet again – the audience themselves. Namely, younger members of the crowd who stood out from seasoned concertgoers and metalheads in their naive eagerness to slamdance throughout Enslaved’s entire setlist that night. Bizarreness aside, since atmospheric black metal mixed with Pink Floyd riffs is hardly ideal for stereotypical “nu metal” behaviour, it also made for an immense lack of consideration and knowledge about what was actually acceptable in the pit section at most metal shows.

Photo taken by Susanne “Sinmara” Erbida, 2013

A couple of years have passed since their last demo release and some line-up changes, and Dublin-based Celtachor have finally released their full-length debut, ‘Nine Waves From the Shore‘. While it doesn’t necessarily reinvent anything within the formula of extreme metal and Celtic folk melodies that’s been coming out of Ireland since the early 1990′s, the album in itself is testament to a young band becoming more focused and stronger in the early stages of their career.

The riffs are tighter, the drum syncopation more muscular (thanks to the addition of new drummer Anaïs Chareyre) and the traditional Irish folk side of Celtachor‘s sound has a more prominent role than previously, where it had largely been more as a trace on their demos.
Case in point, the tin whistle leaves a melancholic tune as it plays behind the raw, static tremolo of black metal notes on first track ‘The Landing of Amergin‘, whereas the following song ‘The Battle of Taitlin‘ opens up unexpectedly with the timed, solemn beats of the bodhran just before launching into the excited, frenzied notes of electric guitars. This pairing between traditional and modern music isn’t anything out of the ordinary as far as the microgenre of “extreme folk metal” is concerned, yet it often tends to be ignored as a contrast in its own right. By pitting the old against the (relatively) new, the band not only hold up the audience’s attention; they exploit it for their own means without a misstep out of place throughout the album.

Celtachor are not necessarily creating anything totally unique in their niche part of the Irish metal scene, the likes of Cruachan and Waylander come to mind, with their similar use of Celtic mythology and influences from second wave black metal; ‘Nine Waves...’ shows that they are sturdy enough to have a margin of difference apart from their aforementioned peers.

8/10

I have no idea what’s become of the contest, though hopefully whatever has happened is for the best. However, I won’t forget that it allowed me to spread my silliness out into the wider world – through the means of random shit going on.

You can check out past examples of the contest
here

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2011/05/metal-cartoon-caption-contest-1/

here

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2011/10/metal-cartoon-caption-contest-5-struck-by-lightning/

and here

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2011/08/metal-cartoon-caption-contest-4-ghost-morbid-angel/

to give an example of some of the madness I exposed people to.

While I’m a bit pressed for time, I remembered that I have this on hand, which didn’t seem to make it into the contest as far as I know.

The caption contest winner would come up with a band for me to draw in the next cartoon, so you can see the likes of Vektor, Absu, and (as above) Morbid Angel and Ghost B.C. together.

One person who had won, chose a band which I knew (and admittedly still do) very little about – Kowloon Walled City. While I searched what I could for decent enough photos of the band, I ended coming up short at the time, but since a cartoon had to be done, I still had to do it.

Due to schedule confusion (of which I’m not entirely guilty, with respect to the long-suffering Kelly Kettering), it didn’t get featured in Invisible Oranges’ caption contest. As far as I know, anyway.

Without further ado – Kowloon Walled City, ladies and germs.

In a turn of events that bears an eerily resemblance to the ongoing dispute between Black Sabbath and original drummer Bill Ward, it has been recently announced that esteemed, long-term musician Dave Lombardo was replaced by his bandmates in Slayer for their previous Australian shows.

Lombardo had publicly stated that he received the news of his dismissal prior to the band’s February tour in Australia this year, adding that financial matters were mainly to blame:

“Last year, I discovered 90% of Slayer’s tour income was being deducted as expenses, including the professional fees paid to management, costing the band millions of dollars and leaving 10% or less to split amongst the four of us. In my opinion, this is not the way a band’s business should operate. I tried rectifying it by letting my bandmates know, and Tom [Araya, bass/vocals] and I hired auditors to figure out what happened, but I was denied access to detailed information and the necessary backup documents.

…I sat down with Kerry [King, guitar] and Tom to rehearse for Australia and to propose a new business model that I felt was the best way forward for Slayer to confidently protect itself so we could do what we do best . . . play for the fans. Kerry made it clear he wasn’t interested in making changes and said if I wanted to argue the point, he would find another drummer. On Thursday, I arrived at rehearsals at 1 p.m. as scheduled, but Kerry did not show. Rather, at 6:24 p.m. I received an email from the lawyers saying I was being replaced for the Australian dates.”

Slayer meanwhile, had issued out their own statement on the matter, least of which:

“…Slayer does not agree with Mr. Lombardo‘s substance or the timeline of the events, except to acknowledge that Mr. Lombardo came to the band less than a week before their scheduled departure for Australia to present an entirely new set of terms for his engagement that were contrary to those that had been previously agreed upon.

The band was unable to reach an agreement on these new demands in the short amount of time available prior to leaving for Australia. There is more to the account than what Mr. Lombardo has offered, but out of respect to him, Slayer will not be commenting further.”

Following guitarist Jeff Hannemann’s departure from Slayer due to having contracted a rare, flesh-eating virus in 2011 while on tour down under, Lombardo’s dismissal means that out of the original line-up, only lead guitarist (and band leader) Kerry King and frontman Tom Araya are still around.

Although it hasn’t been officially declared whether this means that Lombardo has actually been fired from Slayer by King, fans remain curious as to how this will affect the thrash legends’ upcoming shows in 2013, including an appearance at Bloodstock Open Air festival in the UK.

I’m getting damn tired of the constant cycle of academic research that goes either in favour or against heavy metal and its fans, as well as the need of metalheads to constantly defend it in he case of the former.

It’s not that I don’t think the defenders have a point – on the contrary, I feel that many of the issues raised in favour of heavy metal music are valid and more or less spot on. (Coming from a geeky fangirl background, the literary references were one of the reasons why I fell in love with the music to start off with). What I do take umbrage with, is the fact that this contributes to a never-ending pattern where mainstream society keeps looking for ways to deride something enjoyed by a particular subculture (or “folk devil”, to paraphrase a term I came across in my own academic years) and legitimise that derision so that other people can either use that to inform their own opinions on said subculture (if they don’t already have a negative one, by which case it just adds fuel to the fire).

Perhaps this is partly to do with my own experiences, where before I knew of a world outside of Iron Maiden, Metallica and Theatre of Tragedy (whom registered in my mind as “goth” rather than “metal”) I had to put up with my classmates continuously viewing me with suspicion for being into rock music of any sort. Or, more recently, it could have something to do with the rudeness I’ve received from people upon their discovery of what my favourite music is.

Redundant, but so far some of the nastiest people that I have encountered (in relation to this issue) were so-called professionals who presented themselves as open-minded and multicultural.. before laughing right in my face, when they found out what I love to listen to.

Some of the most condescending have been people who thought that because they read about metal shows and drugs, that they knew more about their atmosphere than I do despite said people admitting that they had never been to a gig.

It just gets old. Non-metalheads will look for any excuse to go on about their disdain for metal music and all its subgenres, as well as any supposed reason to lash out against all metalheads. Not one or two metalheads; all metalheads.

I don’t want to hear again about how death metal is inherently dangerous because of a case where serial killers in Italy were death metalheads. I don’t want to hear you rant and rave about how much you despite metal music, in response to me saying that I’m a fan of it. (That behaviour also shows a distinct lack of manners, but let’s talk about that another time.) I most certainly do not want to see you present yet another headline that says, “Scientists have found a link between this/that problem and metal”.

I’ve had enough. I won’t even get into other issues I have with academia’s apparent obsession with treating metal bands from countries outside of Europe and the North Americas as museum-like relics or missing links that supposedly need to be over-analysed despite the reasonings often being more simple than they care to acknowledge. So metalheads exist in Botswana and India – so what, academics? Not every instance of “globalisation”, however you define it, is a sign of people selling out to “Western” forces and ditching their own, native cultures. Not every folk metal band from Asia must be read into as an example of defiance or wholesale purchase of “Western” culture by default.

Do I think that it’s wrong for professors or academics in Europe and the North Americas to take an interest in phenomena outside their own countries? No. I do however, feel that the ones who choose metal scenes in Asia and Africa (to name a few) often do so without even a basic love or understanding of heavy metal music (Mark LeVine, this means you).

But again, that one is a vent for another time, when I’m likely more coherent.

Right now, I’m just tired. Literally, rather than psychologically.

Good night.

Seventeen years since their last LP, the tentatively named ‘Swansong‘, Liverpudlian act Carcass have declared that they are currently at work on a new record.

Often credited with helping to nurture grindcore’s crossover influence into the European death metal sound, the band had taken a break between 1996 (the year of their previous album’s release) and 2007; the following year seeing a reunion tour, before eventual appearances at festivals like Tuska 2008 in Finland.

2013 is currently booked to be a busy year for Carcass, since the news of the upcoming album follows up to a small succession of announcements of a few shows at London’s Underworld venue in March, before a performance across the pond at Maryland Deathfest in May and then later starring as headliners at Damnation Festival in Leeds, UK in November.

While this does bode as exciting news for extreme metal enthusiasts, at the same time some will be left to wonder as to the actual direction that the new record will take. ‘Swansong‘s attempts to delve into a “rock and roll” sound (through the boundaries of the group’s own established, grindcore notes) brought on a mixed reception from fans, as well as the observation that it mainly lacked the raw energy and tight songwriting of the group’s earlier works, save for moments on songs like ‘Child’s Play‘ and ‘Don’t Believe A Word‘.

Though some saw the record as a fitting farewell for what was thought to be the end of their career; a number of people felt that this took Carcass away from what worked for them, and towards a generic sound with little to set the band apart from melodic death metal acts around the mid to late 1990′s.

Carcass have promised via their official FaceBook page to eventually release more information surrounding the impending album, it remains to be seen whether this seventeen year gap in recording fresh material was indeed useful in re-vitalising the harder, faster punched riffs that have earned the band their stripes and loyal fanbase, or whether it will lead to mild or even strong disappointment.

Carcass play The Underworld venue in Camden, London from

March 26th (support from Age of Taurus)

March 27th (support from Asomvel)

March 28th (support from Black Magician)

In this corner, we have the original song from Japanese old school heavy metallers, Metalucifer, fronted by Gezolucifer (Masaki Tachi):

And in this corner, a cover of their song from fellow heavy metalheads (and friends) Crystal Viper, which is fronted by Marta Gabriel

(Interesting how she also tries to mimic Masaki’s Japanese accent, too… )

Happy??

I don’t know about you, but England is currently in chaos due to heavy snow showers this time of year. Faced with circumstances that would make the average Scandinavian, Latvian, Russian or Canadian shrug and carry on, the country is struggling to continue life with snow affecting the roads and whole towns to the point of near lockdown (if you will). There are even some reports that there’ll be a few miniature blizzards, around the southern regions.

Albion isn’t as savvy with this weather as it used to be a century ago, and it shows.

It’s even pushed me to that special, idle space of curiosity, where one can’t seem to resist the urge to google up song names with the word ‘blizzard’, ‘ice’ or ‘frost’. Well, not exactly… in my case, I do what everyone else does and use Metal-Archives.

Let’s pick one of these words, though… how about ‘blizzard’?

(Not quite what I had in mind, but pretty fun.)

I’m sorry… I had to.

Thrash/speed isn’t always centred onthe heat of the 1980′s, but you knew that already.

These were just a few of the many songs I found, in relation to the word “blizzard”. It’s not a surprise to see even the Italian band Abgott in its earlier years reference the term, especially with their much stronger influence from the second wave of black metal that came along from Northern Europe, since this style had inspired many other musicians in more commonly warmer climates to play “frostier” notes for themselves before mostly moving on to find their own sound (case in point, Astarte from Greece).

However, I can’t help but feel sad right now, at the thought of my fellow Brits being irritated to read yet another post of writing out there in cyberspace about the cold. We don’t like the cold – why else do you think we keep flocking off to Spain and Thailand??

I can imagine my countrymen right now, struggling to get their engine started, slipping on the ice, finding themselves still stuck in the traffic crawl after the last two hours… unable to find any respite even online from the weather outside.

So in the name of goodwill and charity, I owe it to my friends and family in Albion (and Eire, and… um, that other one, with all the thistles, and that one in the corner with the sheep) to give them a moment of blissful escapism once and a while from such a bizarre weekend.

Here you go: