Artist: Various Artists
Title: “This Is Black Metal”
Label: MVD Entertainment
Release Date: 10/9/2007
Genre: Black Metal
Rating: 2/5
“This Is Black Metal” is quite simply a DVD that features a total of seven professional videos and live performance clips and the same number in interview footage segments from a good sampling of Black Metal’s elite. Yet while these bands are true luminaries in the genre most of the videos presented were available on deluxe editions of their individual CD’s and why only seven when it comes down to it? Was it a cost factor or due to licensing and permission perhaps – but either way there is not truly enough to sink your fangs into for this aspect of it and it will leave you saying “well, what else do you have for me”. When you watch the main program as one single view, you will notice that the videos are interspaced by interview segments with the band and all of these portions are conducted by former Adult Film Star Jasmin St. Claire. There are many who know that Jasmin is the hostess of her own straight-to-video DVD series called “Metal’s Darkside” and while this particular release was met with a very mixed opinion (including my own) I had to say that the interview segments seemed to be a little more on a par of getting something good out of the band as opposed to sitting there and shooting the shit inanely. Of the interview segments I found that the best one was with the Mighty Emperor and Satyr for those featured more insight into what Black Metal is about and aimed at than the others. Celtic Frosts interview seemed to show some promise but it was a very bad audio mix during it which made it arduous to listen to. The guys in Venom were more comical to watch than anything else and I felt that the Morbid Angel one was just ill-used space for a band of their caliber. We also get an interview with Ms. St. Claire but it is more focused on her background and life than digging deeper into her own Metal interests to an analytical end. I admit that I remain on the fence about her work in this area but I am happy to see some improvement from the last time that I saw some of her adventuring in this regard. I think that the fans of JSC will enjoy this the most since they get to see her continuing to do that which they love her doing.
Continue reading “This Is Black Metal” by Various Artists →
Artist: Morbid Angel
Title: “Altars Of Madness”
Label: Earache Records
Release Date: 3/14/2006
Genre: Death Metal
Rating: 4/5
In honor of their legendary debut release “Altars Of Madness”, Florida’s Morbid Angel has issued a remastered edition of the album that includes a live concert DVD from the same year of the albums birth. “AOM” was not just a debut album but is one that is considered a legendary piece of music from the Death Metal genres early years. Morbid Angel were not a band that sounded like the Death Metal bands of today in any fashion and when they began had a very strong Thrash Metal undertone to them. There was blast beat drumming and dark vocals but when it came to the guitar one would find that there was also a tremendous amount of technical skills placed in to the tunes with careful and stylish riffing. This ended up presenting a band that had much more musical approach to them and showed signs that the genre had a lot more going for it than many would have allowed to accept. It was definitely extreme and not your brothers NWOBHM when it needed comparison. The members of the band at their earliest time was David Vincent (bass, vocals), Trey Azagthoth (guitar), Richard Brunelle (guitar) and Pete Sandoval (drums) and like most of the bands that would follow in their footsteps the lyrical composition was rife with strong Satanic and Anti-Christian beliefs. It held some similarities to Black Metal but Death Metal was not quite as underground as that genre would be at this time. While it was still growing and had some serious momentum in the European countries, there was no one as influential to the form in the US as Morbid Angel would end up being.
Continue reading “Altars Of Madness” (remaster) by Morbid Angel →
Artist: Morbid Angel
Venue: B.B. King Blues Club (New York, NY)
Opener: Behemoth, Krisium
Date: 4/9//2006
Label: Earache Records
This was going to be a concert for the record books for not only would we be finding ourselves in a sold out room for Morbid Angel, one of the true legends of Death Metal; but we would also be finding the appearance of the devastating Behemoth from Poland and the skull-crushing power of Krisium. I remember seeing many of these bands on their own and feeling my bones shake in my skin so I was not sure that I would be able to handle the three of them together in one sitting. Given each group is of some note I wanted to give a little commentary on each individually for maximum metal effect. Read on if you dare – you know you want to.
Continue reading Morbid Angel @ B.B. King Blues Club (4/9/2006) →
Where Heavy Music & Pop Culture Collide
