Victhor The Viking

Positiva is an incredible bad from Spain.  Their new album Prodigal Songs is an incredible musical masterpiece.  From start to finish it is nonstop rock ‘n’ roll.  Below is a excerpt of a review of the album at the Obelisk:

For the most part, Prodigal Songs stays well within the realm of revivalist ‘70s-style guitar-led rock. Guitarist/vocalist Miguel Moral is a former member of Bilbao crushers Rhino, though if anyone comes into Positiva expecting that same kind of metal destruction, they’re going to be in for a big surprise. The vibes are immediately, well, positive, with opening cuts “Brother Eagle” and “Undying Shore” losing none of their rock edge for the good times they incite. When the band delves into Grand Funkery, they earn a comparison to Blood of the Sun or Firebird, but the double guitars of Moral and guitarist/vocalist Julio Ruiz set them apart from their American and British sonic compatriots. Still, there’s a good amount of rock and roll shuffling going on through “Waiting in Vain,” “Catch the Fire,” and “Groupiedom,” and that’s got to come from somewhere.

Read the rest at The Obelisk.

Enslaved is another band that came out of the second wave of black metal that has gone beyond the standard black metal riffs and add something more to their music.  If you listen to a their older albums, there has been an evolution to a more progressive song structure and sound and lyrical content.  Where the songs on their earlier albums were straight forward telling of the Norse mythology, the later albums are a more inner search and understanding of it’s meaning of the mythology.

2001’s Monumension in my opinion is one of Enslaved’s finest albums to date.  I feel that this one was the first of there albums that is straight ahead prog metal.  The mellotron is one of the highpoints to this album.  The sound on this album could have easily come from a Led Zeppelin/King Crimson era band.  The first song, Convoys to Nothingness starts with a rockin’ and ends with a 4 minute meditation in time and space.  I have had to pleasure of hearing track 2, The Voices, live and I would have to say it is one of my favorite songs of all time.  Three major highlights of this album are Hollow Inside and the bonus track Sigmundskvadet.  Hollow inside is just a spaced out truely unique song that takes you on a trip across the cosmos.  Hollow Inside along with Sigmundskvadet feature vocals by Norwegian punk rock pioneer Trygve Mathisesen.  Sigmundskvadet is an actually old Norse chant that Trygve learned word for word from a Norse tribe that live on an island off the cost of Norway.   What a way to start of a decade of metal for Enslaved.

Vertebrae is a perfect way to close out a decade worth of music.  The production alone is incredible!  Cato Bekkevold’s drumming is superb.  It adds so much dimension to each track.  Vertebrae has a great balance between Herbrand Larsen’s clean vocals and Grutle Kjellson’s growl.  Herbrand has a Eric Woolfson (Alan Parsons Project) feel to it.  Vertebrae also takes the listener on a journey.  But this journey is more of an adventure.  From the start the listener travels on fast pasted romp through the elements. My favorite song on the album is New Dawn.  Cato’s ride on that is spastic and unique.

What a way to begin a decade and end it.  Thank you Enslaved!

From avant jazz to avant metal, if you do not have Trinacria’s Travel Now Journey Infinitely, then you are missing out on something unique and spectacular. Trinacria was originally a composition by Ivar Bjørnson of Enslaved and Maja S. K. Ratkje and Hils Sofie Tafjord, commissioned by Rikskonsertene for a concert series. It is a pleasant cacophony of metal, doom, and industry.

I personally think it is stands out in the because it has quite a mix of music on it. Part I: Turn-Away is colossally doom. Iver Sandøy’s blast beats and the sound effects add volume and weight to Part II: The Silence. Grutle’s vocals on are perfectly grim as always. I think the highlight of the album for me is Part IV: Endless Roads. A 10:00 minute doom masterpiece!

Great album all around. Hail to Trinacria.

Lucker of Chalice is the shit. Period! Wrest (Jef Whitehead) is one of the best all around musicians in extreme metal. He is one of the best drummer out there. His blast beats are fucking insane! His guitar work is chaotic and beautiful. As for vocals, creepy as fuck!

This self titled album is one of my favorite albums of all time. It so melancholy and creepy I can listen to it every day and not get tired of it. The album starts off with the funeral march I, and quickly moves into hypnotic drone of Piercing Where They Might, but my favorite song on the album has got to be the 10 minute epic This Blood Falls As Mortal Part III. The samples add so much dimension that I could meditate with this song on repeat for hours.

This album and the Leviathan album A Silhouette in Splinters go hand in hand even though the Lurker of Chalice album is a little more metal.

If you are looking for another The Tenth Sub Level of Suicide this is not it. But if you are in the mood for some misanthropic meditation, then Lucker of Chalice is your album.

Two members of the Witchcraft performing at Roadburn this year.  Roadburn sez…

We are very pleased to announce that Witchcraft vocalist Magnus Pelander will be part of the Roadburn festival lineup on Thursday, 15 April 2010.

Magnus will perform some very personal songs on acoustic guitar that will be recorded sometime next year for a full-length record. According to Magnus, “the record will include a lot of different instrumentation but the whole idea is that the songs can be perfomed solo as well as with 4 or even more people.”

Also look for Witchcraft members John Hoyles and Ola Henriksson at  Roadburn 2010, as they are teaming up with Örebro legend and rocker Martin Heppich to play in his band Troubled Horse. The band sports a distinctive, sinister, 60’s sounding garage rock vibe, combined with a taste of 70’s psych-doom, creating music that evokes The Kinks, Pentagram and Roky Erickson.

via Witchcraft’s Magnus Pelander to perform acoustic set at Roadburn 2010. |.

This is too awesome!  The first 3 bands have been announced for Hole in the Sky and it is already looking full on righteous; Cathedral, The Devil’s Blood, and Dead Congregation.  I am not a fan of Dead Congregation, but Cathedral and The Devil’s Blood incrediable!  If you are planning on going you better get your tickets now!  They go on sail December 4th, this Friday!  Here is what the HITS website says about Cathedral:

We’ve been eager to book the mighty hard hitters Cathedral for quite some time and this time we finally made the schedule work.

Cathedral have been pioneers within the legendary British doom scene for almost 20 years now, never afraid to explore new territories and always coming across as fresh and revitalizing.

Tickets goes on sale today, Friday, the 4th of December, 2009.This includes a limited number of 4-day passes only available until the 24th of December, 2009.

via Hole In The Sky – Bergen Metal Festival XI – Impending Doom.

Salvador is force to be reckoned with.   Their new 10 inch EP “Cleansed Through Fire and Blood” is incredible!  Some of the Heaviest Shit to come out of the Pacific Northwest since, dare I say, the YOB. The only negitive thing I can say about the EP is that it is only 3 songs.

The opening riff of “Shaman of UR” is thunderous and doom crushing.  But about 4 minutes guitarist Aaron Lum hits you with this melancholy solo that is behind Singer/Bassist Kirk Evans’ epic screams that made me feel that the 4 horsemen were at my door.  Throughout all three songs Ryan McPhaill’s drumming drives the sonic powerhouse that is Salvador.

I highly recommend you taking a cosmic trip to Salvador.

Great Interview with Scott Kelly and Wino of doom supergroup Shrinebuilder.

Shrinebuilder interview

This past Wednesday I witnessed the first ever live gig by Shrinebuilder, the heavy metal supergroup featuring Scott Kelly of Neurosis, Wino of St. Vitus/The Obsessed, Dale Crover of The Melvins and Al Cisneros of Om/Sleep. As if we doubted the integrity of any of those guys, they played a nearly hour-long set at the tiny Viper Room in Hollywood for a way over capacity crowd, then did it again fifteen minutes later for whomever didn’t believe they would really begin at 10:45pm. Their self-titled debut, out now on Neurot, nearly fulfills Shrinebuilder’s astronomic promise. But live’s where it matters. We all know these four can play — they’re each musical figureheads in their other bands. But do they have chemistry? Hell yes. On stage they’re four bandmates, riffing off each other, following one another’s grooves, soaking it all in. Dale Crover reminded me that he’s one of the best drummers in rock music. If I had only been able to hear his cymbal work, it still would have been a great night. He should record an album with just cymbals.

I had the opportunity to interview Scott Kelly and Wino about Shrinebuilder for a short piece in Decibel magazine, published here. Here’s the full transcript of what they had to say.

//////////////////////////

SCOTT KELLY

Rumors have been floating around since ‘07 about Shrinebuilder’s existence. Did the expectation ever get to you? Did you think about how mammoth this band could possibly be?

I don’t know what you mean by “get to me.” Not really. I knew before I was a part of it that it was going to be something great. When they asked me to be a part of it, I felt confident that my input would be significant. There’s a real belief and trust in the visions in this band, you know? We’ve all known each other, and known who each other were, forever. And been big fans of each other’s work. So there was never any doubt in my mind that what we would do would be exactly what we wanted to do. And therefore fine, whether people like it or not. I don’t care. Never been a concern of mine whether people like what I do. I just gotta feel satisfied with it, you know? Not to say it’s not nice when people like it, but it doesn’t affect the bottom line at all.

On the blog you kept during the album’s recording process, you described the first night of playing with Shrinebuilder as “immediate thunder.” Can you describe in a little more detail what it was like to all jam in the same room at the same time for the first time?

Well, the expectation and the anticipation of the whole event was pretty strong amongst the four of us. Al and Wino and I had jammed together, Al and Wino and Dale had jammed together, but we hadn’t all four been in the same room. We were wondering, “is this gonna gel? Is the chemistry gonna be there naturally? Is that gonna take time, ‘cuz often times things like that take time?” And it just blew up. The first song that we played was “Solar Benediction,” the first song on the record. And it just…instantly was right there, you know? I dunno man! Water, man. Just flow. Perfect. No hitch. It just happens. And it was strong, you know? It was like we were able to step right into it.

On a personal level, playing with Jason (Roeder, Neurosis drummer) for 25 years, I’ve been basically ruined for playing with any other drummers. I mean every time I play with another drummer I’m sorely missing him. Dale’s really the only guy in the world other than…maybe Dave Lombardo that I would really want to play with. Because I knew that he had that same fire, that same reckless drive that Jason has. So I was really excited about that. In fact I remember calling Jason right before and being like “I get to play with Dale Crover tomorrow.” That was really great, you know?

I’ve always found – I’ve found so much between the three of those guys, over the years. I mean it’s really like – I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent listening to Wino’s music. His guitars, the tones and textures, and his really unique voice. I can’t tell you the hours that I’ve spent listening to Al’s music. Om is one of my very favorite bands ever. If I had to choose one, that might be it. It just works with every part of my being. And the Melvins changed the face of everything. They’re one of the deepest, most inspirational influences in music in my life. It’s fucking amazing! I don’t think I could pick three other guys that I’d rather play with than those three.

Read the Rest of the Interview At Cerebral Metalhead

This is so bad ass!  I wish I could be there!  Ivar and Inge on the same stage!  If y’all haven’t heard of Inge Rypdal, you have to check out Emmerhoff & The Melancholy Babies,  great stuff.  Inge also played lead guitar on A Darker Place on Below the Lights.  

Posted via email from victhortheviking’s posterous