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. 

INTERVIEW A HOAGASCHT / ARAN (EX-LUNAR AURORA)

 

A few days ago I saw an announcement on a social network about a band called A Hoagascht. There was an immediate connection to Bavarian black metal band Lunar Aurora latest work, and indeed it turned out to be an announcement of a live performance of this exact album. Aran, founding member of Lunar Aurora and composer of the awesome "Hoagascht" album, is the initiator and main driving force behind this issue and answered my questions.

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Hello Aran, I can still remember buying the Lunar Aurora debut “Weltengänger” shortly after it was released at Saturn record store in Cologne. That was almost 30 years ago. And strangely enough, I also remembered that I ordered the farewell album “Hoagascht” online during a visit to Augsburg in 2012. I've long forgotten how I got hold of the other albums... How quickly time flies - is that something you often realize with some regret?

In many situations in life, I actually tend to look ahead. When it comes to Lunar Aurora, many memories become blurred. Some remain, but many things also become vague. In general, I can answer that by saying that I only regret the fast or slow passage of time in a few situations.

INTERVIEW UDÅD

When I listened to Udåd 's debut album, I was immediately hooked. I hadn't been so enchanted by a piece of music for a long time. This piece of raw, dark, but also partly very melancholic black metal is a reminder of long-forgotten times. During the creation of the album, factotum Thomas Eriksen, known as the protagonist behind Norwegian band Mork, was inspired by the 1989 cult movie “Der Todesking” by Jörg Buttgereit from Berlin, who is well-known in horror film circles. So read what Thomas has to say about the making of Udåd's debut album, among other things...

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Hello Thomas, the Udåd debut is really phenomenal, I haven't been so fascinated by a black metal album for a long time. The album also brings back memories. Tell us, when did it first occur to you to release black metal apart from Mork? And how long did it actually take you to write and record the songs?

REVIEW SOULSTORM "DARKNESS VISIBLE"

This time I'm presenting an album that I discovered by chance while on vacation in Tenerife at the local record store called Rock Shop in Santa Cruz, a remarkable little store by the way. It's about the Canadian Soulstorm, more precisely from Toronto, who celebrate an absolutely outstanding mixture of industrial and death metal on their debut album from 1992 called “Darkness visible”, so a band member wore Grave shirts in band photos. Of course, Pitch Shifter and Godflesh and the early Fear Factory were the main inspiration here, but the band around mastermind, guitarist, bassist and singer Nick Sagias really didn't have to hide behind their quality and compositional skills in any way. However, because of the vocals, the pendulum often swings more in the direction of death metal, although there are also one or two clean vocal parts that bring back memories of Fear Factory.

FILMREZENSION "THE WICKER MAN"

An dieser Stelle soll es um einen Film gehen, der als Klassiker der Filmgeschichte gilt, nämlich „The Wicker Man“ aus dem Jahre 1973. Oftmals in die Gattung des Horrorfilms einsortiert, trifft es dies doch nicht ganz. „The Wicker Man“ ist vielschichtiger, Elemente von Gewalt, Blut und Tod gibt es kaum -auch wenn diese natürlich kein zwingendes Merkmal für die Definition eines Horrorfilms darstellen. Gerade zu Beginn kann die Handlung vielmehr dem Schema des Krimis zugeordnet werden, bevor es immer verworrener wird, was auch den absoluten Reiz des Filmes ausmacht, in dem u. a. auch Christopher Lee mitwirkte und der vom British Film Institute auf Platz 96 in die Liste der besten britischen Filme aller Zeiten aufgenommen wurde. 1973 erschien übrigens auch ein weiterer britisch-(italienischer) Kultfilm namens „Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen“, aber das nur am Rande…

REZENSION DR. HARTMUT ROSA "WHEN MONSTERS ROAR AND ANGELS SING"

Dr. Hartmut Rosa, Professor für Soziologe an der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena und Direktor des Max-Weber-Kollegs an der Universität Erfurt hat ein Buch über Metal geschrieben, genauer gesagt trägt das Werk den Untertitel "Eine kleine Soziologie des Heavy Metal". Dieses Werk ist das erste der "Metalbook"-Reihe, unter anderem hat in diesem Rahmen auch Manuel Trummer, Professor für vergleichende Kulturwissenschaften an der Universität Regensburg und wahrscheinlich den meisten eher bekannt als Gitarrist von Antlantean Kodex, eine Publikation namens "Highway to Hell" herausgebracht.

Nun sind gerade in den letzten Jahrzehnten Unmengen von Büchern erschienen, deren Autoren sich mit Heavy Metal, seinen Subgenres, bestimmten nationalen bzw. regionalen Szenen und / oder bestimmten Epochen beschäftigten, sei es aus Fansicht oder auch aus wissenschaftlicher Perspektive. Wobei bei letzterem angemerkt werden muss, dass auch in diesen Fällen die Verfasser selbst fast immer aus der Szene selbst kamen, ich erwähne hier beispielsweise-wenn auch länger zurückliegend- Bettina Roccor, die 1996 mit  „Heavy Metal – Kunst, Kommerz. Ketzerei“ promovierte oder auch Sarah Chaker, die 2014 mit "Schwarzmetall und Todesblei- über den Umgang mit Musik in den Black- und Death-Metal-Szenen Deutschlands" den Doktortitel erlangte. Der Psychologe Dr. Nico Rose, der es in jüngster Vergangenheit mit seinem Buch "Hard, Heavy & Happy" sogar bis in die Spiegel-Bestseller-Liste schaffte, und auf den sich Rosa in seiner Publikation des Öfteren bezieht, ist ebenfalls passionierter Metalfan. So auch Rosa, der sich nebenbei noch als Hobby-Keyboarder diverser Bands "outet" und - sehr sympathisch - das Buch seinen folgend namentlich genannten "Metal-Brüdern" und Mitmusikern widmet. 

INTERVIEW TOMBTHROAT

"This omnipresent arrogance is the reason for all the shit that happens in this world."

Here is an old interview with the death metal band Tombthroat from Ludwigshafen am Rhein in Rhineland-Palatinate. The band was founded in 1996, it took them four albums, two EPs and the obligatory demo at the beginning and disbanded after almost two decades in 2015. Back then I organized a concert with the band in my hometown of Brühl (Rhineland), shortly after which this interview took place in the summer of 2007. Band founder Björn, who I'm sure some people know from his band Maladie (look for an interview in German here) and who recorded a really great, recommendable death / grind album with (ex-) members of Misery Index and Dying Fetus under the name God Enslavement in 2016, talked about the then newly released album "Blood red history", live gigs, the tour with Vital Remains and also about somewhat different topics such as his beard. In 2012, the band released what I consider to be thier best work, the truly exceptional album "Eden apoacalypse". Now reading the interview,  it's also interesting how time flies, 17 years later, many of the bands mentioned, such as Necrophagist, Veneral Disease and Lifthrasil have since passed away.  But read for yourself what Björn had to say back then...