REVIEW "INTO EVERLASTING FIRE -THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF IMMOLATION"

With “Into everlasting fire”, Kevin Stewart-Panko presents the official 450 pages long band biography of Immolation, one of the longest-serving and for many probably one of the best death metal bands on the planet. First of all, it should be mentioned that this work is one of the best, if not the best and most interesting band biography I have read, and I have read quite a few, such as those of Obituary, Paradise Lost, Necromantia, Rotting Christ, Hellhammer / Celtic Frost, Behemoth, Kreator or Tankard to name but a few.

First of all, let me mention my personal connection to the band; the first album I bought was the “Here in After” album (which I remember scoring just 6 out of 10 in the German Rock Hard magazine, but more on that topic later), which I bought during my civilian service in the former German capital Bonn as an adolescenct. A year later, in 1999, I went to Wacken for the first (and last) time and as the author describes, Immolation were supposed to play in Wacken in 1999, but due to visa issues this didn't happen until 2016, 17 years later; the band was also in muddy Wacken in 2023. So unfortunately I've never seen the band live, more on the band's live presence later. 

REVIEW PENTAGRAM (CHILE) "ETERNAL LIFE OF MADNESS"

The announcement of a new album by Pentagram Chile, the band around the charismatic cosmopolitan Anton Reisenegger, who should also be known from bands like Criminal, Lock Up or Brujeria, came to me out of nowhere. This is only the second album by the band, which was founded back in 1985 and has been on ice for a long time in the meantime, changing its name because of the namesake doomers from the USA around Bobby Liebling and forming the ominous triumvirate of Chilean death metal together with Atomic Aggressor and Sadism.

Just how influential the Chileans have been in the past can be seen from the fact that bands like Dismember have been seen wearing Pentagram shirts on promo photos or Napalm Death have covered “Demoniac Possession”, a track by the South Americans.

INTERVIEW WITH KJETIL MANHEIM (ORDER / EX-MAYHEM) PART I

"Being a human is a very lonesome journey."

Here is the promised interview with Kjetil Manheim, the drummer of Order, who released their new strong album "The Gospel" these days. Kjetil had a lot to say, so I divided the interview, which took almost two hours on Skype, into two parts. In the first part you can read what Kjetil has to say about the new album in musical and lyrical terms - we talked about the fragility of human life, buddhism, Aleister Crowley and organized religions, the (im)possibility of life after death but also about Emperor. In the second part we will talk about Kjetil's other musical playgrounds in the field of noise music, but also about the transfiguration of Norwegian black metal and the movie "Lords of chaos". We talked about his departure from Mayhem and former singer Dead as well as Kjetil's fondness for Berlin.

Hi Kjetil, more or less coincidentally, Norwegian weeks are upon me. A few hours ago I did an interview with Mortiis and an interview with Jørn Steen, the maker of "Saga", a movie including a wild mix of black metal, vikings, bikers and zombies, featuring Sarke and also Ted from Darkthrone, is also in the making. Has somehow unplanned so emerged....

Yeah, Maybe this is a coincidence. Or maybe something happens in Norway these days?

Haha, maybe, I don´t know…

Yeah, that movie sounds interesting.

I would say it is something like a horror comedy. Not not to be taken too serious. According to that, I want to ask, did you maybe watch the 30th anniversary Emperor livestream ?

No, I didn’t. I saw that board, which was announcing it, and I thought I was going to watch it, but I haven't yet. So, I have it still in front of me. Did you watch it?

REVIEW ORDER "THE GOSPEL"

Order from Norway are at the start with their now more second album called "The Gospel". The band, which consists of such well-deserved veterans as drummer Manheim (drummed on Mayhem's legendary "Deathcrush" EP), vocalist Messiah (also ex-Mayhem), guitarist Anders Odden (Cadaver, Satyricon) and bassist Stu Manx (ex-Gluecifer), and this name-dropping is in no way necessary regarding the musical quality, however, live up to its members previous musical legacy. Order manage in a very impressive and intense way to mix old black and death metal with faster eruptive parts to a flowing melange, which in contrast to the debut "Lex Amentiae" goes noticeably deeper and also hits the listener where it hurts.