Metal NEWS for New Year's EVE (end of 2004!)
Ring out the old -- Bring out 'yer dead! *(Metal News!)
~ Lawyer: SATYRICON Guitarists Will 'Vigorously Defend Themselves' Against Rape Charges ~
Betsy Powell of the Toronto Star has issued the following report:
Two touring musicians with the Norwegian black metal band SATYRICON are scheduled to make a Christmas Eve appearance at Old City Hall via video after being charged with giving a fan a date-rape drug and sexually assaulting her in a tour bus following a Dec. 15 concert.
Steinar Gundersen, 34, and Arnt Gronbech, 27, have each been charged with administering a stupefying drug and sexual assault, Constable Kristine Bacharach said yesterday. A woman contacted police at 4:30 a.m., hours after the show at the FunHaus at 526 Queen St. W. Bacharach did not know the age of the complainant. The two men have already appeared in court and were ordered detained pending a bail review or preliminary hearing, a court official said.
"They intend to vigourously defend themselves on this, and they look forward to the opportunity to present all the relevant facts at the appropriate time in the appropriate forum," said Toronto defence lawyer Jody Berkes. Norway's ambassador to Canada, Ingvard Havnen, said yesterday the two men have received help through diplomatic channels. "We provide assistance to Norwegians in Canada and we are assisting in providing them (the two accused) with a lawyer," he said yesterday.
"This thing will have to take its regular turn through the Canadian judicial system and we will provide any help needed." While he had never heard of SATYRICON before the arrests, the incident has generated headlines in some Norwegian media outlets.
"Norway is a small country and they are very well-known among heavy-metal fans," said a journalist for the Norwegian afternoon newspaper Aftenposten in Oslo, the country's capital. The two guitarists are session/touring musicians and not full-time members of the band. SATYRICON is made up of duo Sigurd Wongraven (Satyr) and Kjetil Haraldstad (Frost), veterans of the Scandinavian black metal music scene.
"They would be part of an extreme metal sub-genre called black metal ... it's very fast, very violent," said Albert Mudrian, editor of Philadelphia-based Decibel magazine, a publication covering "extreme" music. Mudrian said he believes the group has evolved from the early 1990s, when black metal bands were a media sensation in Norway, known for inspiring outrageous acts like burning churches.
"These bands have really done their best to shed all of that stuff and it really seemed that they were making progress. They were making better records, they were getting international distribution," he said.
"It's a strange thing to see happen in light of all the things that scene has attempted to overcome in the past five years."
SATYRICON was about two-thirds through a North American "Return Of The Antichrist tour" in support of the U.S. release of their 2002 CD "Volcano", a chart-topping, award-winning album in Norway. It has been released in North America on the EatURmusic imprint headed up by SYSTEM OF A DOWN guitarist Daron Malakian and distributed by Columbia, a division of Sony Music. The CD has sold fewer than 10,000 copies in the U.S. and no figures could be obtained for Canada. The band was on their first headlining North American tour with the backing of a label, Mudrian said. SATYRICON's only other scheduled Canadian date, Dec. 17 in Montreal, was cancelled, as was the rest of the tour. One Chicago music critic recently described SATYRICON "as straight-forwardly evil as artists come.
"The band's 'Volcano' (CD) eschews visual shtick and concentrates on mud-shovelling riffs, savage percussion, intestine-shredding vocals and demon-spawn themes.
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~ KREATOR's PETROZZA Says New Album Is More Brutal Than 'Violent Revolution' ~
KREATOR frontman Mille Petrozza recently spoke to the Antenna webzine about the group's new abum, "Enemy of God", and their upcoming tour. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow:
Antenna: You have experimented quite a bit in the later years. Do you feel you have found the right formula by now?
Mille Petrozza: "I think as a band you should never say you have found any formula. I mean it's always about writing stuff and going to your limit as a band. As soon as you think you have arrived anywhere you should stop [laughs]. So I think the formula we have now is rather a way of expressing ourselves where we can be creative and experiment within the universe of the band."
Antenna: Your music sounds far more melodic today as opposite to what it did earlier on.
Mille Petrozza: "Yeah, I mean it should be. To me extreme music doesn't necessary have to be unmelodic so we are exploring the possibilities of creating music that is just as melodic as it is aggressive."
Antenna: It sounds like you may be a little inspired by a band like, for instance, IRON MAIDEN!
Mille Petrozza: "Yeah definitely. I mean they were one of the first bands that we got into. I mean any metal band was an inspiration really and also our old stuff. This is like the 11th record that we have released and of course some of the stuff you'll hear on the record is inspired by something we already have played in the past and of course also old metal and new metal bands. So basically everything."
Antenna: If you should put "Enemy of God" up against "Violent Revolution" what would you then say are the biggest difference between the two?
Mille Petrozza: "I think that this is something that people should figure out for themselves. I think 'Enemy of God' is a little more direct, a little more brutal and 'Violent Revolution' is a bit more focused but I couldn't really analyze it right now. I think the production is different. We have only used two guitars instead of four for the sound. We were very prepared and we had a long tour to back us up so the band is tighter nowadays and I think that's the difference. It's of course also a different album, different songs [laughs]."
Antenna: How come it has taken so long to record the follow-up to "Violent Revolution"?
Mille Petrozza: "We have toured a lot and we didn't want to jump out of the tourbus and into the studio. We needed some time to get inspired again so we took some time off to do normal things. Stuff that hasn't anything to do with music and then we went back into rehearsal again. I mean you can't be inspired by being on a tour bus all day; it's not the real world. Going out into the real world gives your inspiration everything else is just fake."
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~ NAPALM DEATH Singer Wants To Take FINNTROLL Home To Meet His Parents ~
Birmingham's NAPALM DEATH wrapped up the 15-day European X-Mass Festivals tour with MARDUK, FINNTROLL, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and BELPHEGOR Sunday, Dec. 19. Vocalist Barney Greenway sends everyone from the tour and the band's loyal fans this holiday message: "What a great way to finish the year in the company of some dear bands and people out in Europe on the X-Mass Fests. NAPALM now has some amusing new friends in the shape of the young-and-chunky BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, and the guys from FINNTROLL are such darlings, I would take them home to meet my parents...
"I hope everyone has a good holiday. I'll be having a good one in the non-religious sense and just enjoying the fact that people-who-would-be-assholes at least attempt to not be assholes for at least, ooh, five days or so. I raise a glass to all you guys and gals who have supported NAPALM during this special year, and hope that life gets better for those infinitely less fortunate than me. I hope that the forthcoming year exposes and takes to task those who suppress and take away human rights in the civil and bodily sense. Truly, fuck 'em.
"Hopefully you guys will have heard a few select chunks about our forthcoming album 'The Code Is Red...Long Live the Code' (street date: April 22). What more can I tell you? Well, it's a ripper — fast, progressive and a nice bit of art-noise. With Jello Biafra, Jamey Jasta and Jeff Carcass along for the ride, we hope it'll take your heads off — or at least get you thinking with them. Cheers.”
The band will be performing two shows in England in January 2005. Century Media released NAPALM DEATH's record label debut, "Leaders Not Followers: Part 2", in Oct. 2004. The band followed its release with an extensive North American tour supporting CANNIBAL CORPSE.
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~ THE HAUNTED Frontman Doesn't Rule Out AT THE GATES Reunion ~
THE HAUNTED frontman Peter Dolving recently spoke to the Fourteen G E-zine about the group's new album, "rEVOLVEr", the music business and the possibility of an AT THE GATES reunion (the much-missed pre-THE HAUNTED outfit that is considered to be among Sweden's most influential extreme metal acts). A couple of excerpts from the interview follow:
Fourteen G: When do you think an AT THE GATES reunion will occur?
Peter Dolving: "I think it's not impossible, they were talking about doing something like a one show [gig] in London but it still needs to be worked out. I think the initiative has to come from outside; someone else has to take the initiative for them. It would take a sound financial situation to make it whole!
Fourteen G: Coming from thee latest hotbed of death metal, how is the scene evolving in Sweden?
Peter Dolving: "In a way, it's a really hard question. Musically I think it's getting a lot more technical and for a while there. There were a lot of bands that were being inspired by bands like AT THE GATES and THE HAUNTED and a lot of them were going in that direction of sound or looking for that same kind of energy. But I think finally that it's occurring to a lot of those kids that it's more about trying to find your own expression, you know. The originality level is really going up actually. Getting more weird stuff, I don't know if that's directly better. In the long run, yeah, it's better because it will spur people to do something they might not have done before."
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~ INVOCATOR: Drum Tracks For Four New Songs Completed ~
Danish thashers INVOCATOR have posted the following message at their official web site:
"The drums for four new tracks was recorded a month ago in Jacob Hansen's Hansen Studios, and Gundel once again did a total kick-ass job! The new tracks sound really promissing! Next up is the recording of the rhythm guitar, leads and vocals, which we hope to be able to do during January.
"So what's going to happen in the INVOCATOR camp in 2005? After having completed the four new songs we will continue to write and rehearse new material, and hopefully sometime during summer we will have enough new material to record a new full-length. In support of the new album we plan to do some gigs around the country, although not as many as we did during our last 2003 winter tour with our mates MERCENARY. But we really look forward to hitting the road again and play the old as well as the new stuff.
"On another note, we are still a three-piece. We have chosen not to look for a new bassist just yet, since a bass players duties isn't required at the moment anyway. But when we find the right guy, you'll know!
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~ BLOODBATH: U.S. Release Of 'Nightmares Made Flesh' Pushed Back To March ~
Century Media Records has pushed back the release date of the new BLOODBATH album, "Nightmares Made Flesh" to March 8 from the previously announced February 8. No reason was given for the delay. Due to the long gap between the European and North American release dates, the American version will be enhanced with two bonus songs taken from a previously unreleased demo recording of "Breeding Death" EP, as well as a different front cover, featuring artwork by Wes Benscoter.
BLOODBATH is the Swedish death metal supergroup featuring Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström (KATATONIA, DIABOLICAL MASQUERADE, BEWITCHED), Peter Tägtgren (HYPOCRISY, PAIN), Jonas Renkse (KATATONIA, OCTOBER TIDE) and Dan Swanö (NIGHTINGALE, DAN SWANÖ, UNICORN, EDGE OF SANITY, INFESTDEAD, ODYSSEY, PAN-THY-MONIUM).
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~ WINDIR To Release Posthumous DVD ~
Norwegian black metallers WINDIR have posted the following message on their official web site:
"After the tragic death of WINDIR frontman and founder Valfar in January 2004, the rest of the band decided to bury WINDIR with Valfar. But after encouragement from Valfar's family, the remaining members decided to do one last WINDIR concert. The concert took place at Rockefeller auditorium in Oslo at the 3th of September 2004, which is the day that would have been Valfar's 26th birthday. Rockefeller was sold out, and over 1200 people took a final farewell with WINDIR.
"This DVD contains the complete WINDIR concert from the 3rd of September 2004. WINDIR guitarist Sture did most of the vocals at this concert, but it also includes guest vocals from Cosmocrator (MINDGINDER) and Valfar's brother Vegard.
"Besides the last concert, the DVD includes WINDIR liveclips from Gaupne (1996), Sogndal (2001 and 2002) and the Inferno Festival in Oslo 2002 to name a few.
"It also includes some backstage material, an interview with Valfar from Norwegian national TV and a photo gallery. VREID guitarist Ese has produced the DVD at Hváll's Studio 1184 this autumn. The WINDIR DVD is entitled 'SognaMetal' and will be available through Tabu Recordings in February 2005.
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antinome666 on 12.31.04 @ 01:29 AM PST [link]
