You fear tomorrow...

 With Megaupload down and some real 1984 shit going down, it seems that we are in the end times. And my computer is on the fritz. Eventually we're either gotta buy our music or start mailing burned CD's. Fortunately some bands put their shit out for free...

Metal and hardcore have had a long relationship, interbreeding on may occasions (crust, crossover, grind, sludge, powerviolence, metallic hardcore, 90s metalcore, etc.) Each fusion style bring something to the table, combining different aspects of the genres and creating something new.

But few bands have combined both genres as perfectly as Integrity. Utilizing the simplicity and visceral impact of hardcore and fusing it to the darkness of metal, they are the forerunners of metallic hardcore and, along with Ringworm, the inventors of "Holy Terror" style played by bands like Pale Creation, Rot In Hell, Withdrawal, among many others. Consisting of dark, brooding hardcore songs are interspersed with abstract acoustic or noise parts, holy terror is as much of a cultural aesthetic as musical style. With extensive use of dark imagery and symbols, most notably the process cross, also known as the "holy terror symbol". Hell, as long as you spell your Ws as 2 Vs you can be holy terror too. And everybody seems to have a thing for Charles Manson:

In a fuck you to their former label, Victory, Integrity mainman Dwid Hellion has put up their early albums up for free download on the website for his label, aptly named Holy Terror, right HERE.

Of the albums available I would say the best is Those Who Fear Tomorrow. Very hardcore and less abstract then most of their other stuff, though it spreads out near the end. It also has their most famous song: "Micha (Those Who Fear Tomorrow)", "Judgment Day" which was covered by Dying Fetus and "Harder They Fall" which has one of my favorite guitar harmoneez in the intro.

On the more metallic side is Humanity is the Devil. HitD is probably the best starter record for the metalhead, and at 15 minutes of actual music what do you got to loose?

All the other bands up for download are good as well, especially Pale Creation. See yall in prison!

MONDAY MORNING SCIENCE CORNER: Ichneumonidae

 Ichneumonidae are a large family of wasps in the order Hymenoptera (wasps, bees and ants), They are identifiable because of their antennae-which have more segments most other wasps, extremely long ovipositors(egg laying structures)-often longer than their body, and their wing structure is different than other families if you want to get technical about it. They often have long cigar shaped abdomen, but not in all species.
Ichneumonidae is my favorite family of insects and a strong contender for Most Metal Organism. They earn my vote for this honor with: 1. sheer brutality, 2: literal metal and 3. a Christopher Hitchens-like disdain for god and religion. And they just look fucking cool:

1. Sheer Brutality

Most ichneumon species are parasitoids, the adult laying eggs in the host and the larvae developing within the host's body, often killing it. The main hosts for ichneumons are larvae of other insects. The female injects the eggs with her ovipositor(s), sometimes drilling into the tree that the host is living in. By sensing vibrations made by the host, she can locate it, drill into the tree and lay her eggs in it, through sometimes inches of wood.

Here is the process step by step: (from Wikipedia [check it out because the pic is much bigger])

1. Tapping with her antennae, the wasp detects and localizes scent and vibrations that indicate a host is present.
2. With the longer ovipositor, the wasp drills a hole through the bark.
3. The wasp inserts the ovipositor into the cavity which contains the host larva.
4. Making corrections.
5. Depositing her eggs.
6. Depositing her eggs.

Some species inject venom along with the eggs. The eggs hatch and the larvae develop in the host, feeding off it and killing it before emerging as an adult.

Here's a cool vid from the excellent Life in Undergrowth series on the BBC about an ichneumon that parasitizes caterpillars that live inside ant's nests:

Pretty brutal lifestyle or what?

2. Actually Metal

How do ichneumonids drill into the tree that the host lives in with just a thin ovipositor? How do the adults get out of the tree when they emerge from the host? The tip of the females ovipositor and the adults' mandibles in some species are tipped with actual METAL (zinc or maganese).

3. Disdain for Religion

Philosophers, theologians and naturalists were troubled by the cruelty and br00tality exhibited by organisms such as ichneumonid wasps and cuckoos. How could god create creatures that are so cruel if he is benevolent? Charles Darwin himself wrote:

I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice.

Parasites like ichneumonids and cuckoos are and excellent challenge to the benevolence of god and creationism. In real life, shit like "cruelty" and "kindness" don't factor into survival, which is all that matters. As Darwin put it: "Let the strong survive and the weak perish."

All in all pretty fucking metal, and certainly at the top of my list for Most Metal Organism. And before yall get any ideas, I got dibs on writing a song about these sexy hellbeasts.

Lets Go Trippin: Intro to surf rock

 so jealous...

Yes, this post is about surf rock, by that I mean Surf Rock and not that Beach Boys crap. Fuck that shit. That is "rock about surf" and not surf rock proper.

Surf rock is a mostly instrumental guitar driven music (except in the early days it was fairly common for surf bands to shit out a pop single with a vocalist). It places great importance on melodic guitar lines played with heavy reverb. Reverb is key to surf rock. Surf bands use reverb the way death metal bands use distortion. It is hard to make the case that something is surf if it doesn't have tons of reverb. Also tremelo picking, whammy dips and palm muting are vary common techniques. Since it is instrumental for the most part there is less standard song structure than the other music of its day, though certain lines or themes are often repeated.

Surf originated in the late 50's by artists like Link Wray and the Ventures. But it was Dick Dale that made it is what it is today. He used a clean guitar tone with maximum reverb, tremelo riffs and heavy use of the whammy bar. His style included melodious guitar lines and incorporated elements from Middle Eastern and Mexican music. Sometimes a saxophone would carry the melody; an electric bass and drums made up the rhythm section.

The first true surf hit was his "Lets go Trippin'" from 1961 which became a regional hit in SoCal. Soon the trend became a national fad with both The Chantays and The Surfaris making the top 10 in 1963 with "Pipeline" and Wipe Out" respectively. Soon surf bands started popping up around the country in such as the quiet beachside communities of Boulder, Colorado (The Astronauts) Minneapolis, Minnestota (The Trashmen) Baltimore, Maryland (The Fender IV, featuring future Blue Cheer guitarist Randy Holden) and Sydney, Australia (The Atlantics). There was also a surf scene in Japan.

Surf rock began to decline in poularity in the mid-60's with the rise of the Beatles and other British invasion crap. But it never really died in the hearts of the true fans, and guys like Dick Dale managed to hold on in the Dark Ages.
More recently with the release of Pulp Fiction and the internets surf rock is experiencing something of a revival, much like psychobilly and kiddie thrash. Much like psychobilly and kiddie thrash there is some element of dressing up, but fortunately surf rock fashion isn't nearly as bad as those genres, mostly just Hawaiian shirts. The clean cut look has died along with shitting out a pop song with a singer.

Heres a list of some of my favorite current surf bands:

The Aqua Velvets

One of the first surf revival bands, the Aqua Velvets have stuck with the genre since the 80's and are still kicking.

Man or Astro-Man?

One of the higher profile revival bands, they started off as fairly trad surf, but gradually became more abstract.

Gary Hoey

Not exactly a true surf rocker, he started out as a heavy metal shredder. He tried out for Ozzy in 88 but lost to Zakk Wylde. He did some solo type shred stuff in the 90's. In 2005 he released Monster Surf, a collection of hard rock covers of classic surf songs, pretty fuckin rad if you ask me, even if he is an Affliction tool now.

The Madeira

Very progressive surf with heavy middle eastern influences. They display more dynamics than the average surf band, with acoustic passages and brooding intros.

Secret Samurai

In my opinion the best of the modern surf rockers. They play a progressive style of surf with influences from exotica and spaghetti western soundtracks. No fucking around with samples and intros, just rippin surf.

There are plenty of other good surf bands out there, just search myspace, youtube and bandcamp.

Unfortunately, the surf rock community has not figured out MediaFire and stuff like that, and there is almost nothing out there to download, and no surf mp3 blogs. Anyhoo, here's The Secret Samurai's first album, Gun Sho Gun:

Download/Buy

Metal and surf rarely come into contact, but it does happen. Examples: the aforementioned Gary Hoey, Satch's Surfing With the Alien (not metal, but close enough), the intro to "Craving Illness" by Deceased and Agalloch's "Our Fortress is Burning... I" sounds pretty surftastic to me.

Warning - Watching From A Distance (2006)

The new year is traditionally a time for optimism for the year to come, a time for starting anew. Fuck that shit.

Here is some slow, ultra depressing cult doom from England's Warning. Anchored by Solstice and Sore Throat's Rich Walker's cousin Patrick Walker, who plays guitar and sings. They did a couple of demos in the 90s and a full-length in 1999, The Strength to Dream. It's Ok but your better off spending time listening to Watching From a Distance again. They put out Watching From a Distance on Rich's Miskatonic Foundation in 2006. It is their finest hour, and also their swan song.

Tempo change is a foreign concept to these guys. Never getting above a slow crawl, this album could be monotonous if it weren't so good. They have a penchant for Revelation-style arpeggiated chords in addition to the standard doom power chord riffs. Bass: non-existant. Drumming: slow and slower.

Did I mention these guys are sad. They are, or at least Patrick Walker is. He weaves with his Ozzyish voice tales of love lost, regret and plain old loss. And the music reflects it. This album is one blob of negative emotions, real Ghostbusters 2 shit. These guys make Crowbar seem like Blink-182 or some pussy shit like that. Real touchy feely, but still killer, and one of the best post-millenial doom performances.

Warning split in 2009, but it's OK, cuz Walker started 40 Watt Sun, and they sound just like Warning. Except that the drumming on The Inside Room was a little too fast at times. Maybe Christian "Commando" Leitch will slow it the fuck down for the next album. This is doom metal for fucks sake.

 Side note: isn't it strange how many doom dudes were in death metal/grind bands before going doom? Must be growing up, cuz it sure aint selling out. Ex: Patrick Walker, Rich Walker, Lee Dorrian, Jus Oborn, Fernando Opazo of Marchefunebre, My Dying Bride, etc.

Blistering Anal Skin

Wartorn - Tainting Tomorrow With the Blood of Yesterday (2008)

I kinda got into punk accidentally, and this is the album that did it. Eight months ago I was on the internets looking for the Wartorn from England, the one with Rich Walker from Solstice and Jim Whitley from Napalm Death as I recall. I never found the English guys but I did find the the vid for "Aftermath of a Severed World" by Wisconsin crusties Wartorn:

This band alone changed my mind on punk. The good music and competent musicianship clashed with my ideas of what punk was. Growing up what passed for "punk" was Green Day and Hatebreed and I instinctively stayed away from that Hot Topic shit and until about eight months ago that was still my opinion of punk. After this album I see that punk is not a shitty half-ass genre created to sell clothing and let middle schoolers think that they are rebellious. Now I know that punk is vibrant and legitimate genre that's worth some of my precious time and hardrive space.

Musically crust as fuck, with plenty of d-beats, some Sabbathy riffs and some killer leads in the vein of Japanese bands like Aggressive Dogs and Enslave. Nothing gets me pumped like a good guitar harmony. Excellent drumming throughout, and there's some decent acoustic/soft stuff goin on as well. Vocals are standard shouts with the standard liberal arts blah blah #politics. Their first album had better song titles like "Wal-Martyr" and "Stillborn Again Christian." but the music is way better on this one. Two steppin is still retarded though.

Government funded privilege should be a human right/Intolerance for pre-existing condition, bleeds life dry

Anybody know anything about the British ones?

Seance - Saltrubbed Eyes (1993)

A sort of white elephant in the Swedish death metal scene, Seance didn't seem to fit in with the rest of their countrymen. While the rest of the country was turning all the knobs on their HM-2s all the way up, Seance were aping Deicide. Their debut, Fornever Laid to Rest, though decent, is just not as good as Glenn n crew.

Seance must have realized this cuz one year later they came out with this filthy beast of an album. The first thing you notice about Saltrubbed Eyes is the bass sound. It's phat az phuk. Since everybody likes to use weapon analogies to describe the guitar sounds like "buzzsaw," "chainsaw" or "laser beam," I'll say that it sounds like a baseball bat covered in razor blades, because it does as much damage by cutting as crushing. It has a perfect combination of  low end, treble and distortion, the closest comparison I can think of is the bass sound on The Erosion of Sanity, but better. On top of that it's LOUD in the mix, so much that it dominates the album. The bass sound on Saltrubbed Eyes becomes its defining feature. It's like the whole album is a sick bass drop.

Which isn't to say the music isn't good, it is. Still heavily Deicide influenced but slower and groovier. The band is branching out, evidenced on the menacing "Angelmeat pt II" and "Hidden Under Scars." Also since the bass sound is so strong, the mix doesn't need the guitars to support it, allowing the guitars to do their own thing now and then. Some times they drop in and out of a riff, do an open chord while the bass plays the riff or go for their own leads in addition to the bass part. Drums are well played, with a great sound: nice and loud bass drums with enough pop to stand out but not klickety-klakety.

Seance broke up a couple of years later, and members went on to form Witchery,Satanic Slaughter and The Haunted. They got back together a few years back, and recorded a new album Awakening of the Gods, which is surprisingly good, but not as good as this.

Chopped up and desecrated/Severed and mutilated/Bone grinding and death machine/Skin peeled and left to bleed

Red Dwarf - Between the Wall (1990)

A few months ago I ran into a post on Epicus Doomicus Metallicus about Red Dwarf's Behind the Wall. The only information offered was that it was trad doom, a "Real underground project from USA" and a tracklist. Fortunately there was a download link. After listening I became intrigued by its music and did a little "research". Red Dwarf is not on Metal Archives, and the only other thing I could find was the whole demo on the youtube, posted by the creator. During the early 90s he made several demos under the title of in his garage.

Musically it's fuzzed out trad doom with low, heavily reverbed out clean vocals of the "wizard" variety. The production is definitely of demo quality, but does not detract from its quality. There is a certain quality of "ritual" to the demo, maybe due to the steady throb of the drums, the drone of the vocals or the production. Bonus points for weird ass acoustic piece "The 9th Key:" 

 Shame this band get lost the way it did. This band coulda been a major doom game changer in the early 90's if they got more exposure. They totally predated E-Wiz's steez by a couple of years. Forgotten is an understatement.

His wings are of wormwood and of the marrow of salt

Da mystery of Sokushinbutsu

The Sokushinbutsu were Japanese monks of the Shingon sect who committed suicide in a manner that caused them to become mummified.

The process to almost 9 years and much hardship. The monks that tried this were Shingon Buddhists, a major Japanese sect. It is believed that many hundred of monks tried this but only a few succeeded.

First let's discuss the why. The Sokushinbutsu and other Shingon Buddhists believed that life is an illusion and if you do not break from the illusion you will continue to be reincarnated  in it. If you do break from the illusion you will become one with the enlightened being or Buddha. I have been taught that only death is real, different strokes I guess. An important aspect of the Shingon sect is the denial of the importance of their physical selves, often by physical degradation. It is common for Shingon monks to meditate under freezing waterfalls. The Sokushinbutsu achieved this by undergoing the long an difficult suicide process.I'd just shoot myself in the head and have a friend take pictures.
Or at least that's what I can get from reading a couple of websites. There's a lot I don't know about Buddhism, like how can a peaceful religion justify killing the shit out of people with their bare hands, death point strikes and whatnot? I really don't know or care much about any religions, but I hope I didn't offend any Buddhists reading this.

Now for the how. From start to end the entire process of mummification took 3000 days or almost 9 years. It was undertaken by elderly monks near the end of their lives anyways.
For the first 1000 days the monk would only eat nuts and seeds and subject himself to a very strenuous exercise regime. This reduced the monks fat deposits, and fat is easily decomposed.
The next 1000 the monk only ate bark and roots of pine trees. Near the end of this stage he began drinking tea made from the sap of the usrushi tree (Toxicodendron verniciflum), a poisonous sap usually used to lacquer bowls and furniture. The tea would induce vomiting, sweating and urination  reducing his body moisture. It also made his body so poisonous that maggots couldn't eat it. By the end of the first 2000 days he had almost no body fat from the exercise and diet,  was chronically dehydrated and poisonous from the urushi.
He would then be entombed in an airtight chamber with just enough room for him to sit in the lotus position. There was an airhole and a string tied to a bell outside. Everyday he would ring the bell to tell his crew that he was still alive. When the bell stopped ringing they would seal the airhole, leaving the monk to desiccate for another 1000 days. At the end they would unseal the tomb. Most of the they found a rotted body because of the bacteria that lives inside of humans. But every once in a while the monk would be successful in his mummification. The mummy would then be removed from the tomb and placed on display in the temple and viewed as a Buddha. Those that failed would be admired for their determination and endurance and retombed (dibs on band name).

Unfortunately the Japanese government pussied out and outlawed the practice in the 19th century. While suicide remains legal to this day there, assisted suicide and exhumation are not. There are about 16-24 known Sokushinbutsu in Japan and several can be seen to this day at various temples.

Here is a site with more information about the subject: http://www.sonic.net/~anomaly/japan/dbuddha.htm

All this talk about the far east is getting me even more pumped up for the new DIM MAK

Scald - Will of the Gods is Great Power(1996)

A fine example of epic doom of the Bathory school from Russia's premier purveyors of White Tiger: Scald. Slow riffs, with melodic leads and soloz and a ton of keyboards. 

two kilos of your finest белый тигр please

After the Iron Curtain dropped these dudes didn't wast any time: formed in 1993 they cranked out a demo in 1994 and put out Will of the Gods is Great Power (originally Will of Gods is a Great Power) in 96 on MetalAgen. Slow, epic riffs drive onwards like longships towards a monastery, soloz and harmonies fly over it all like the diseased heads of mine enemies and leading it all is the one and only Maxim "Agyl" Adrianov. He displays a wide range of clean vocals, from low croons to high screams. Though the album make heavy use of keyboards, they never take the lead or get ridiculous.

The downside is this album has a terrible production; despite being reissued twice, nobody has really given then their sonic due. Cymbals often overdrive, guitars often sound blown out and Agyl often sounds like his mouth is full, especially on the lower registers. Despite the shoddy production Will of the Gods is Great Power succeeds on musical merit alone. 

Unfortunately Agyl died in 1997 in a train accident, which isn't even that cool way to die, like a fucking tsunami or getting caught in a snowstorm and dying of hypothermia. His bandmates decided not to go on as Scald and formed Tumulus, which in my opinion is an inferior product.

Воля богов великой державы

Divine Empire - Doomed to Inherit (2000)

I came across this thrashy slab of Floridian death at Bookmans about two years ago. I didn't know that it was a Malevolent Creation offshoot. I didn't even know it was death metal, I surmised as such from the cover, but didn't know for sure. I bought it cuz it had a cool cover, which is a pretty good shopping method for death metal. I figured it would be some C grade death from Poland or whatever. While it loaded on my computer it checked it out on Metal Archives, and found out they're made up of ex members of Malevolent Creation. Once I gave it a listen, it turned out it was not C grade death but solid B grade death/thrash.

Malevolent Creation is one of my favorite Floridian death metal bands, haven't listened to much of their newer stuff, but fuck me if Retribution don't kick a ton of ass.

Divine Empire may not be Malevolent C back in '92, but then again no one is. Doomed to Inherit is an adequate substitute. Its not as good as the Pepsi to Malevolent's Coke, but it ain't Diet Malevolent Creation either. Divine Empire is a bit thrashier, has some cool melodic leads and some groovy parts. But still, they are never gonna live down their roots in Malevolent Creation.  Jason Blachowicz's vocals are deeper than Brett Hoffman's and a little bit growlier but still he sounds like a human. Lyrically its just as tarded as you would expect a Malevolent Creation offshoot to be. Production is decent, with pretty loud kick drums. 

Bottom line: Doomed to Inherit is some decent and entertaining thrashy death that is able to stand on its own merits. Sure to please, but not to impress

You stay classy, Divine Empire 

Bred and trained to kill, hate begins to grow/No more Mr. Nice Guy, no mercy on your soul

Frozen by Icewinds-Danzig III: How the Gods Kill

Cryptic Winterstroms have enshrouded The North Abyss (Flagstaff) in The Winter of the Ages (about three inches of snow). That means I have to do my legally required "winter" post, as stipulated in the Blogger Terms and Conditions.
I could easily shit out a review of an Immortal, Ulver, Dissection, Old Wainds or almost any other black metal album and fulfill my legal duties. But I'm not gonna do that this year. I'm gonna do a post on the album that most represents cold, freezing and winter to me: Danzig III: How the Gods Kill.

Danzig III doesn't have any songs about winter, coldness or freezing; and its production is quite warm, so why does it make icy shivers run down my back and my hands numb just thinking about it?

For the past two summers I've worked at the campground in the Grand Canyon National Park. I spend most of my time sitting on my ass, taking tourists money and yelling at French "people." It's nice because I get to flirt with hot European chicks and get paid a ton of fuckin money. It sucks because it seems that every hot Euro chick has a faggy Eurotrash boyfriend, I have to talk with fat Americans and French "people".

Last fall I stayed on during the school year and worked weekends at the canyon. Minus "start up costs:" gas, coffee, lunch and Taco Bell, I still had a take home of about $100 a week. The downside? I had to get there. The Grand Canyon is about 75 miles from Flag on US 180 and SR 64, and I figured out I could get from my dorm, gas up and to work in and hour and a half including gassing up and going through the south entrance. That means I was driving at about 80-90mph almost the whole time. At this time my whip was missing a driver's side window. Why didn't I get it fixxxed with the insane $$$ I was earning at the time or with the savings from the summer? Cuz I spent it all on an half stack and a 42" TV and I spent most of my weekly earnings on booze and Mexican food, and I'm a cheap motherfucker.
September and early October weren't so bad, but once it started getting cold round late October it started getting pretty rough. 25°F at 90mph is pretty cold even with the heat cranked in my car; some days I'd have to wait in the office for 30min until my hands were warm enough to type. Couple this with a screaming hangover almost every day and 5 hours of sleep on a good day or 2 hours on a bad one and you got a pretty rough commute.

Where does Danzig III fit in? I can distinctly remember the five cd's I had in the car: Danzig II: Lucifuge, Danzig III, Beheaded-Ominous Bloodline, Kataplexia-Supreme Authority and Thin Lizzy-Jailbreak. Brutal death gets muffled by 90mph wind through the window, I'd listened to Danzig II too many times by the time it started getting cold and I was getting tired of skipping all the crappy tracks on Jailbreak. That meant I was listening to Danzig III a lot, and singing along to keep myself awake. So from now on Danzig III will always be linked with ball shrinking coldness and Icewinds.

Music? Sounds like Danzig, and III is my favorite. If you like him, you already have the album; if you don't like him then you aren't gonna download it.

kinda like a dog w/ seven pupils in its eye/kinda like a madness that refuses to subside

The Hellstrom Chronicle: BOW TO YOUR INSECT OVERLORDS!

Exognathous hexapods, or insects (class Insecta), are natures most successful animals. There are by far the most numerous of all animal classes, both in number of species and individuals.
Their success has been due to a myriad of adaptions that allow them to occupy every single terrestrial niche: highly variable mouthparts, protective exoskeleton, wings, complete metamorphosis, adaptive feet and  rapid reproduction. Insects are fungovores, detritovores, herbivores, carnivores and both ecto- and endoparasites. Some have several feeding strategies at different stages  their lifespan. In a way insects mastery of the earth makes them the ultimate life forms. Think your some hot shit as a human? Look to the insects...

Such is the premise of my favorite sci-fi/psuedodocumentary: 1971s The Hellstrom Chronicle.

Let me explain: this is basically your standard nature documentary like BBC's Life in the Undergrowth, but instead of David Attenborough we have the fictional Dr. Nils Hellstrom (played by Lawrence Pressman): a Lovecraftian prophet of man's doom at the hands of insects. Imagine old HP was asked to write the script for a Discovery Channel nature special on insects, and you have The Hellstrom Chronicle. Through the film he elaborates on insects adaption to their environment, claiming that they will inherit the earth from humans once we finally do ourselves in. Sometimes his narration will border philosophy, but its not so bad and I'm pretty sure Travis Ryan approves.


Coupled with the bleak narration the films has some incredible close photography of insects. Battle scenes, feeding, birth, pupating and mating are shown with brilliant detail (as much as youtube allows). Fortunately the entire film is on the youtube, enjoy:

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9, 10, 11

Best parts: ant (Formicidae) vs. termite (Isoptera) battle, retarded fake hidden camera footage, locusts swarming (locusts are actually the same as grasshoppers [Acrididae], the difference is in behavior and many locusts have solitary phases in addition to gregarious ones), insects mating to easy listening music, closeups of termite queens, beewolfs (Philanthus) killing bees (Anthophila) and driver ants (Dorylus) killing a chameleon (Chameleonidae).

Though some of the conclusions are pretty hokey, this film is very interesting and will give you a new perspective on things. Just take everything with a grain of salt. This is still a very fun and interesting film, worth many repeat views. 

This film had such an effect on writer Frank Herbert (of Dune fame) that he was inspired to  write Hellstrom's Hive after seeing it. Its about a secret government agency investigating Dr. Nils Hellstrom, gradually it is revealed that Hellstrom leads a group of humans who model their society after social insects... Great read, probably Herbert's best after the Dune series.

I tried to find a insect themed metal band and the best I could think of was Ash Borer. Named after Podosesia syringae, a clearwing moth that is a serious plant pest in the eastern US. There is also a beetle called the Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis), but if that's what they wanted to be named after they should have been more specific or used the scientific name. They play a typically Cascadian brand of melodic and doomy black metal.

"...lean the inevitable destiny of ignorance."

Beheaded-Ominous Bloodline (2005)

I remember when St. Anger came out back in '03 everyone complained about the snare sound. They said it sounded like a tin can or whatever. 12 year old me said that it sounded pretty cool. At 12 I was listening pretty much exclusively to Metallica; fast forward a couple of years and I was listening to death, grind and some doom here and there, and I discovered the magickal world known as brutal death metal. In this world the snares sound like St. Anger and the kick drums sound like Vulgar Display of Power. I knew I had found the genre for me. In recent years producers have learned how to record brutal death metal, which is a good thing, but the crappy drum sound still gets me all nostalgic.

No record exemplifies what I love about brutal death metal more than Beheaded from Malta's Ominous Bloodline. Clackety kick drums? Check. Tin can snare? Check. Spikey logo? Check. Space battle between a giant ass lightening monster and smaller monsters over what appears to be Trantor? Muthafucking check!

 How could this not be good?

Enough of the superficial aspects: lets get down to the sweet, sweet music. If I ever had to pick the archetype of brutal death, this would probably what I would choose. The blasts are fast, slamz are brutal and the vocalist sounds like Frank Mullen.

The guitars have an awesome dry buzzsaw sound, similar to a clearer, more midrangey Dismember, and the bass is audible. But the real hero on this album is the drummer, Chris Brincat. His drumlines propel and invigorate the riffage; a couple of times a riff is repeated too many times but he switches up his beat and keeps it from getting stale. Compositionally, Bloodline is more complex than its predecessors with many more riffs per song than the previous albums. The songs grab hold of you and accelerate until massive slams drop like a cluster bomb. There's a few weird riffs in there to keep you on your toes and some pretty killer soloz too. In the middle of they album they give us an interlude in the form of Engrish champion "Depths of Sore," a Bolt Throwerish samplefest.

This album if one of the finest in all of brutal death, a masterpiece up there with Effigy of the Forgotten and Path of the Weakening in my book. This CD stayed in my car for several years and only got taken out because I had a broken window and it snowed on my "drivin muzak". If you like brutal fucking death metal then give this a spin.

"Cuz you're Unforgiven threee-eee"

England Prevails: Solstice "mega" post

I know what you’re thinking, not this Solstice:

Not this Solstice either:

This is about the epic doom metal Solstice from the UK. 

They (in my opinion) are the pinnacle of epic metal, be that doom or otherwise. No one has managed to pull of unironic yet not ridiculous epic metal nearly as good as they have. They are the Conan the Barbarian of metal. They are so epic they make Candlemass Conan the Destroyer. ManOwaR, in this paradigm, are Red Sonja. Sorry bros, but yall just aint got shit on Solstice.

Solstice is the brainchild of ex Sore Throat vocalist Rich Walker, cousin of Patrick Walker (formerly of the excellent Warning and currently the almost exact same sounding 40 Watt Sun). Rich also played in Pagan Altar and Isen Torr, did live vocals for Napalm Death. He also runs The Miskatonic Foundation. Starting off in the punk scene, Rich eventually moved on to doom, paralleling the career arc of Lee Dorian, but with less dancing. The band has at various time included current or former members of: Dragonforce, My Dying Bride, Cradle of Filth, While Heaven Wept, Twisted Tower Dire Mourn and others.

Solstice put out 5 demos between forming in 1990 and 1994. They are mostly slow to mid paced trad doom in the vein of Candlemass, with hints of the epicness that would follow. Some good harmonies, but overall the songwriting is lacking, although many of the songs would reappear on later albums.

Lamentations (1994)

Solstice's debut full length on Candlelight, released in 1994 shows them progressing from their demo days, but still rooted in Candlemass/Bathory territory. Almost every song was previously recorded on one of the demos. They do get up and gallop a few times and "Wintermoon Rapture" has some cool stuff going on. They show a knack for harmonized leads and the songwriting is much improved. Overall this is a very good album but doesn't separate them from the pack.
There is also a song called "Only the Strong." I don't know if they are Thor fans or aficionados of Capoeria. I'm 99.99% sure that they're Thor fans though. Fun Fact: Only the Strong stars Mark Dacascos, better known as The Chairman on Iron Chef America.

Each dawn I die, at dusk we pray

Halycon EP (1996)

This album seems like an odds-n-ends deal: 3 new songs (two of them being a throwaway keyboard piece and a spoken word intro), a song from the demo days and a cover of ManOwaR’s “Gloves of Metal.” Despite being a scrap pile of sorts it’s also a transitional piece: the only new metal song, “To Ride with Tyr” is an upbeat ManOwaR type crusher with a slower doomy part in the middle similar to the early days. The ManOwaR influence is key here. This EP was remastered in 2000 with 3 bonus tracks, 2 songs from Lamentations and a bizarre bonus track.

We die as brothers, and ride with Tyr

New Dark Age (1998)

This is by far Solstice’s finest moment. This is what makes them A Number One in my book. This is the ultimate in epic doom. It starts off strong with galloping monk impalers "The Sleeping Tyrant" and "Cimmerian Codex" and ends with the dungeon funeral dirge of  "New Dark Age II."

Massive riffs pass like torches through church windows. Epic leads soar like arrows into the hearts of their enemies. This album has more of a ManOwaR influence than the earlier works, but fortunately doesn't sound like the "Kings of Metal". Vocals are good, whereas earlier albums and demos had vocalists that sometimes couldn't hold their notes long enough, Morris Ingram is pro at epic doom vocals. Everyone else on the album gets kudos to, especially the guitarists Rich Walker and Hamish Glencross for their excellent leads, harmonies and soloz.
To be honest, this album is not flawless. It is long- the 1 hour 6 minutes runtime (even longer with bonus tracks) stretches my 35 minute brutal death metal attention span to the limit. It also has quite a bit of fat: 6 of the 11 tracks are acoustic/noise/spoken word/not metal which, though they help to  break up the album and serve as a break, putting three of them in a row right in the middle of the album is just poor album pacing and unnescesary. Other than those missteps this album is a masterpiece. If you only download one album from this post, let this be it. If epic doom is your thing, you'll enjoy:

Ice locked the nexus, an empire awaits

Other than two splits and some demos and compilations, that is Solstice's discog. Fortunately the band is active and is writing new material.


BONUS: Isen Torr-Mighty and Superior (2003)

DO YOU WANNA HEAR A FUCKING FAST ONE????

Yall like Deeds of Flesh but wish they were FUCKING FASTER? I know I do. So you can only imagine my delight to find a band that sounds an awful lot like Deeds but even FUCKING FASTER. You probably know this band but if one person is introduced to them by this post it will be worth it. I am speaking of Pereira, Columbia's finest: Internal Suffering.

Not a whole lot to say about them except they sound like Deeds of Flesh played at 1.5x SPEED with bits of weirder atonal stuff. Brutal death at SPEEDS that PUSH THE LIMIT of mammalian nerve conduction VELOCITY. No demyelination here folks.

And man do these guys have some bomb ass lyrics. They read like a Thelemic self help book:

"Transformed into a higher spiritual Being
Capable of mastering the unbalanced forces of the lower worlds
Chosen to attain personal spiritual guidance...
By the only reliable source in the universe... Myself!"

From: "Transfiguration of the Devotee (Reborn Within the Womb of Babylon)"

"I AM AN UNIQUE SOUL IN THE INFINITE SPACE!
I AM IN ALL AND... ALL IN ME!
I AM A GOD!, I AM... OMNIPOTENT!
I AM THE ALL!, I AM THE NONE!
I AM THE ONE!!!"

From: "Arrival of a New Aeon (New Equinox of the Gods)"

"AKOLASIA!
AKRASIA!
EPIKRANTHEN!
EAEIDELOS!"

 From "Ascension to Immortality (Apotheosis of Freedom)"

 (by the way the all caps are theirs, not mine)
I fucking scream this shit into the mirror to get pumped up for job interviews. These guys are the Phil Lynott of brutal death, though it can get a little too "Sedona-ish" for me but man with music like this I forgive them.

Awakening of the Rebel (2006)

 

 Enjoy:

 Thou Art IA-APOPHRASZ!

Wicked Innocence- Omnipotence (1995)

Seems that everybody else is doing a thing on mid-90's DM post so I figured I oughta hop on the bandwagon. And I gotta quit the dolphins: the gayest cetaceans known to man. Plus my metal was challenged. I give you Salt Lake City, Utah's Wicked Innocence.





They are one of the first bands to inject a special kind of weird to their music, and not just regular weird, like say, Atheist or even Demilich do but the kind of abstract, bizarrist weird that Cephalic Carnage or Dripping would come to do.



The foundation is 90's death metal: Suffocation, bits of Atheist and hints of what Brutal Truth was doing then. But what they do with the influences is what makes them so weird. They don't rely on extraneous effects or carnival music. It's all songwriting, arranging the riffs in such a way as to give the whole thing a surrealist vibe:

Slam riffs give way to lurchy tech-ish parts then to melodic solos then to lilting twisted blasts. Riffs stop and start then start again. Sometimes they never go anywhere. This is all put together for maximum unpredictability and top awesomeness. Abstract bits of clean, droning vocals, jazzy fills, and spoken word are mixed in to keep it even weirder. Sometimes it becomes unwieldy, buy they always redeem themselves quickly. Atmospheric Death Metal this ain't. Unless the atmosphere is Suffocation peaking on mushrooms. If that's what these guys were going for they got it right on the mark.

This all combines for a masterpiece of surrealist brutal death, so hop on the crazy train. Here's their second Album, 1995s Omnipotence:

Where do you buy acid in Utah?

BONUS:

Wicked Innocence-Worship

Fuckin Dolphins. How do they work?

I'm another of Shelby's new hacks. I'm holed up in Flagstaff, AZ studying biology, droppin mad science wif defiance. Here's some crazy developments in the wild world of biology: Dolphins have electroreception.


Absolutely necessary for living in space.
 

Electroreception is the ability to sense electrical fields in animals. Humans don’t really have this without the use of a fork in a wall socket (please don't try this). Sharks famously do, as do rays, electric eels some other Gymnotiformes and Monotremes (primitive egg laying mammals: platypus and echidnas) recently it has been discovered in dolphins. Sharks and other fish use the Ampullae of Lorenzini, gel filled pores derived from their lateral line. Monotremes use free nerve endings on their snout. Dolphins use what remains of their whiskers, left over from their terrestrial days.

Soon to come again…

It has been suspected that Guyana dolphins (Sotalia guianensis) have the ability to sense electrical fields because they hunt on the seafloor where sediment can cloud the water, obscuring sight and echolocation. Additionally they have unusually large vibrissal cysts (modified whisker clusters) on their snout. If these were useless they would have withered in a similar fashion to what’s left of your tail. German researchers dissected vibrissal cysts in a dead (of natural causes, so they didn’t piss off PETA and Travis Ryan) Guyana dolphin. They found that the vibrissal cysts were not only surrounded by a capillary mesh instead of the blood sinus found in the whiskers of normal mammals, they also had a large amount of nerve endings: about 300 (in other mammals the number is about 80-200)

Closeup of vibrissal cysts

They also trained a captive dolphin to hold its head between two electrodes and react if a current passed through them. They found that the dolphin could react to stimuli of 4.6 µV cm⁻¹ (much smaller to the field generated by a small fish)

This is a prime example of convergent evolution. This sense has been evolved separately at least 3 times by different groups of animals (fish, Monotremes and dolphins), each using different anatomical structures to accomplish the same task, like birds, bats and insects evolving flight separately. This study was published July 2011 and it appears that electroreception in dolphins and other cetaceans has not been studied further than the Guyana dolphins; perhaps your good old fashioned bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) have this sense? How does this affect us? Not at all.
If you have any questions please put them in the comment and ill try to answer them the best I can. Hope you learned something.

-Judge Shredd

Get cited (you probobally will not be able to read the article without a liscence):

Czech-Damal, N. U., Liebschner, A., Miersch, L., Klauer, G., Hanke, F. D., Marshall, C., et al. (2011). Electroreception in the Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) . Proceedings of the Royal Society of Biological Sciences , doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.1127.


 

Dang, three days in a row of new writers! More on the way, too... Anyhow, The Judge is pretty smart about science and whatnot, but don't worry, he likes metal, too. We look forward to his future contributions, whether they be based in biology or crippling shred. HAIL.

- Cobras