Essay: Artificial intelligence leads to decline

Thats why artifical intelligence sucks - because sooner or later we will lose what defines us as human beings

Since artificial intelligence - in the following shortened to AI - is now being used in almost all areas of our society (one example related to the topics discussed here is the shitstorm that broke out over the Dutch band Pestilence when they used cover artwork created by artificial intelligence), I am taking this as an opportunity to express my very critical and yet predominantly negative attitude towards it. Of course, humanity has always continued to evolve. Human labor has been replaced by machines, technical programs replace and/or support people at work or in performing everyday tasks, or even in hobbies or leisure activities. We edit photos with image editing programs and let our cars be guided by navigation devices, use apps for hiking and cycling. We monitor our health data with wearables. The list of these aids, which I also use often and find very useful for the most part, is long. The key difference between this and the use of artificial intelligence is that the aforementioned applications often assist humans, who still do most of the work, as in the case of image editing software. In other areas, machines take over most or (almost) all of the work previously done by humans, but not creative or artistic activities. I admit that the distinction between physical/technical work and intellectual/creative work may be a weak point in my argument, but so be it.

Review Azath "Through a Warren of Shadow"

At this point, I would like to introduce the 2020 debut album by Azath, a US-Canadian collaboration, which in my opinion did not receive enough attention. The album was released by Pulverised Records, which is already a certain seal of quality. The band, which has been around since 2018 and released a demo before the album came out, as well as a 7" with the Americans from Nucleus in 2023 as their last sign of life, plays fast, mangy death metal, somewhere between old school heroes like Incantation or Dead Congregation, or, for that matter, like playing an Autopsy LP at 45 rpm.

Review Runemagick "Last skull of humanity"

As the Swedish doom / death metal act Runemagick led by the energetic Nicklas Rudolfsson is currently releasing its 14th studio album, entitled “Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Realms)”, the band actually came back to my mind after I had already interviewed Nicklas in 2018. How time flies....read the interview on the occasion of the release of "Evoked from abysmal Sleep" here.

At this point, however, I would like to mention the brilliant gem of an EP called “Last Skull of Humanity” from 2023, which unfortunately has only now received my full and well-deserved attention. 

Interview Graceless

"In all the years that I have been playing in bands I have learned one thing, there is nothing more important than having the right group of people around you."

With diligence, perseverance and their fourth album “Icons of Ruin”, Dutch band Graceless have earned themselves a firm place in the Dutch and international scene as well as a place in the hearts of many fans. I spoke to founder, singer and guitarist Remco Kreft about the new album, the band's history, upcoming live activities with Asphyx and Sinister, the importance of a good social structure in the band and about the hopefully soon to be released new album by Soulburn, which also features Graceless' drummer Marc Verhaar alongside Remco.

------------------------------------------------

Hello, how is the new album "Icons of Ruin" going, what do you think of it now that it's finally out?

This is the best feeling ever! The album was already finished in December last year and we really had to be so patient. It's really a great feeling that we can now share it with everyone. The reviews are also amazing and we are of course super happy with that! We worked so hard on this.

Review Discography Equinox (Florida, USA)

This time I would like to introduce you to a band that unfortunately never received the attention it deserved and which has long since been shrouded in a gray veil of oblivion. In order to revive the band a little, so to speak, I'd like to do my bit: I'm talking about the US-American Equinox (not to be confused with numerous other metal bands worldwide as well as in the USA with the same name) from sunny Florida, who play great and not quite so US-typical death/black metal, although I would assign the band mainly to the first mentioned subgenre. But more on that later. Over the course of the band's history from 1992-2009, they released two demos, a 7" single, two albums and an EP, featuring musicians who were or are known from such illustrious names as Acheron, Incubus, the Incubus successor band Opprobrium, Possessed, Massacre, Diabolic, Angelcorpse, Amon and Druid Lord. 

At this point, I will limit myself to the two albums and the EP. So let's start with the 1996 debut album "Return to Mystery", which was released on CD by the long-defunct Greek cult label Unisound and re-released on CD and vinyl in 2024 by Dutch Vic Records with a completely new cover artwork that many people consider to be better than the original one. The almost 48-minute album, which consists of nine tracks, begins with ominously dark synthesizer sounds before brute riffs and throaty, screeching vocals kick in. It is maybe these vocals that are responsible as well for the categorization as black metal, and both this and other tracks feature very atmospheric mid-tempo parts accompanied by dark synthesizer sounds in  best Rotting Christ style. In general, the band always varies very well with different tempos, so that the album is highly dynamic. 

Interview Svartsyn

"I rather like the images of bands in the early days who hardly took any pictures and didn't expose themselves as much as they do nowadays on social media and without corpse paint."

Svartsyn are a jewel of Swedish black metal and stand on equal footing with such illustrious names as Arckanum, Sorhin, Grafvitnir, Setherial or Ofermod. Five years after the great “Requiem” album, the band recently released a new album via Norma Evangelium Diaboli.  In the interview with Ornias, who has been living in Belgium for several years now, you can find out to what extent this work also closes a circle to the beginnings of the (predecessor) band and why there will  be no more live performances by Svartsyn (unfortunately I missed the band in Cologne on the joint tour with Behemoth and Desaster in the distant year 1997). But read for yourself...

-------------------------------------------------

Hello Ornias, welcome to the interview.  The new album “Vortex of the destroyer” has been out for a few weeks now, how do you rate the album with a little distance and how have the reactions been so far?

Hello and thanks for getting in touch for the interview. I haven't read that many or seen any reviews. But it seems that people enjoy the album very much. For myself I think the album is very strong but how it stand against all the other albums its too early to say. Since everything is new and fresh I would say in about a year when the recording process and the hard work behind it all is out of the system, than I can judge it a little bit better. But ranking your own albums is hard of course, since every album is taking a piece of flesh from your soul. At least I think all the albums contain high quality material.

Filmrezension "Des Teufels Bad"

"Und weil ich vor Verdruß recht müde war dieses Lebens, so kam mir in den Sinn, begehe einen Mord." -Zitat zu Filmbeginn

"Des Teufels Bad" ist ein österreichisch-deutscher Spielfilm des Regisseuren-Duos Veronika Franz und Severin Fiala aus dem Jahr 2024, der diverse Filmpreise, u.a. den Silbernen Bären der Berlinale, gewinnen konnte und als österreichischer Beitrag für die Oscarverleihung 2025 ausgewählt wurde. Der Film thematisiert ein wohl den meisten bisher unbekanntes Phänomen der Neuzeit, und zwar den quasi-Suizid über den Umweg Mord. Diese meist von Frauen an Kindern begangene Taten resultierten aus der damaligen Haltung der Kirche, dass Selbstmord ein unverzeihliches Verbrechen sei, welches per se den "Weg in den Himmel" versperre und den Lebensmüden insofern ewige Höllenqualen drohten. So fanden hier einige Menschen die "kreative" Lösung, einen Mord zu begehen, um an ihr Ziel zu gelangen: dies gipfelte zum einen so gut wie immer mit der Hinrichtung der Delinquenten, zum anderen konnten die geständigen und reuigen Sünder nach der Absolution durch einen Geistlichen als geläuterte Seelen in den Himmel gelangen. 

So spielt auch der zweistündige Spielfilm, dessen Handlung in diesem Sinne lose auf historischen Gerichtsprotokollen beruht, in der Zeit um 1750 in einer ländlich-bäuerlichen Gegend in Oberösterreich. Die frischverheiratete Agnes (sehr gut gespielt von Anja Plaschg, die unter dem Namen Soap&Skin Musik kreiert, u.a. auch den Soundtrack zu diesem Film), eine sensible und hochreligiöse junge Frau, fühlt sich in ihrer neuen Umgebung fremd und nicht angenommen, leidet unter der strengen Arbeitsmoral der Schwiegermutter und der Gefühlskälte ihres Mannes. Als ihre Depressionen (damals eben als "Des Teufels Bad" bezeichnet) immer stärker werden und Agnes "fort von dieser Welt" will, sieht sie nur noch einen Ausweg, den des mittelbaren Suizids. Einen wesentlichen Beitrag zu Agnes Entscheidung für diesen Weg liefert unfreiwillig der örtliche Pfarrer, als dieser in einer Messe der anwesenden Gemeinde aufgrund eines kürzlich begangenen Suizids erklärt, dass Selbstmord schlimmer als Mord sei und der Leichnam nicht begraben werden könne.