Total Negation - Zeitenwende (Review)

At first this review was planned as a part of some kind of "best of 2009" thing I wanted to do, but I decided that those lists kinda suck, because you get bombed by them in every TV show and magazine around this time of the year. But since I have the opinion that this IS one of the best records of 2009, I'll review it.

"Zeitenwende" was released in I think April 2009, and the first time I listened to it (or to a CD-R, because it wasn't avaible in January, obviously) was while we drove to a show we had to play, and outside the sun was setting, and there was snow, and everything looked quite empty, calm and cold, and now everytime I listen to those four songs (with a total length of about 40 minutes all together) I think of that situation, because it all fit so well. So this is some totally misantropic, cold and depressing piece of Black Metal art. There’s only one guy behind the band, who played all the instruments and recorded and mixed everything by himself. But don’t expect some basement-sounding, raw and numb (and boring) shit, this record is really fucking epic. Besides the excellent, diversified drumming I really love the many different effects and sounds Wiedergänger (that's the alias of the guy) used for the guitars, everytime there is some athmospheric, long part and you think, "shit, this is atmospheric and intense as fuck" the guitar sound changes a little bit, or some chorus-like effect hits, or the guitar starts to „cry“ (I don’t know how to express it any other way, I’ve never heard anything like that), so that everything gets even more intense. But don't get me wrong, this isn't some shoegazing influenced easy listening (and boring) Black Metal, it's still heavy, with loads of double bass and mostly fast as hell, the difference to many one-man Black Metal projects is, that this record is perfectly composed. The lyrics are in German, and I really think they are like poems. Although they're written in simple words, they have such a heavy meaning, and you really realize that there was put a lot of time into them. If you read them while listening to the record, you kinda get sucked in by the athmosphere and darkness, and you could be in a room full of people, you'd feel desperate and lonely anyway. Even though Wiedergänger probably hates the comparison, if you dig Black Metal like Wolves In The Throne Room (music wise) there's quite a big chance you'll like Total Negation. But basically I just don’t know any band that sounds like this, it's really outstanding, intense athmospheric and thrilling music that demands your attention and is, like mentioned at the beginning, one of my favourite records released this year.

Total Negation on myspace.com

Temple Of Torturous (the label that put "Zeitenwende" out)

Juggernaut Demo (Review)

Austria, the second! At the beginning of December 09 we played a show in Wermelskirchen, Germany, and besides playing with this really, really aweful Metalcore band (fuck DON'T ask how much they sucked...) we got to know this new band from Vienna, Juggernaut. The guys of Mind Trap mentioned their name a few times, so I was curious to see them, and now I wonder if somebody dropped a talent bomb on Vienna. First thing, those guys are really chill, it was cool to hang out with and talk to them, it was kinda like as if we knew each other already for a while (this kinda sounds like a real romance haha). Second thing, although they had some bad luck with the PA sound, they were hard and awesome live. Third, their demo rules. I think everybody in Goldust bought or traded one haha, and that definetly means something. It starts off with a really hard, mid-tempo drum intro, evolving into the first mosh part (and there are loads to follow). On some songs (I think there are five all together) you'll get awesome guitar leads, and all in all this shit just rules. It's kinda like in between hard, grooving NYHC and Cleveland Hardcore, so you know that you have to expect some heavy shit. What I really like about their songs is that they get a hard and brutal sound just by writing hard and brutal songs, unlike so many bands these days that try to sound heavy by tuning down to dropped C and drowning in mid-tempo bullshit. Juggernaut definetly have this regular, fast Hardcore riffs, good breakdowns and moshparts, so what more can you ask for? I always like it when bands have moshparts that allow you to bang your head and/or smash the dude standing next to you, and Juggernaut have loads of these moshparts. I guess if this demo would have been released by some Belgian or Dutch band 5 years ago, they'd be on Reflections now, no shit. If they manage to keep up delivering the goods, this is gonna be big. The sound of the demo is quite raw, and sometimes you can hear some strange interference from the metronome or something, but whatever, it's a demo so it doesn't have to sound like recorded at Godcity. File under "must have".

Juggernaut on myspace.com

Juggernaut's blog

Mind Trap Demo (Review)

When we played in Linz (Austria) at mid-November 09, we played with this really young Austrian band from Vienna called Mind Trap. The first thing I saw were their shirt designs, and they used a font very similar to that of Mind Eraser, so I was hoping for something similar awesome. And what can I say, I wasn't disappointed! Imagine four really young kids (well, at least in comparison to old farts like us) blasting out some seriously ripping, hard and brutal as fuck Hardcore not unlike your favourite 90ies Powerviolence band or, if you're born after let's say 1990, not unlike bands like Trash Talk. They played so out of control, so wild and with such an fucked up attitude, imagine a glue sniffin' version of Infest and you'll get the picture. Their demo was already sold out, but they handed out sheets of paper with the download adress on it, so I downloaded it as soon as we were home again, and fuck man, the demo blew me of my chair, no shit. The songs are really powerful, well played and the production really kicks ass, I wonder if anybody will put this out on a 7", because the quality of the recording and the sound are so awesome. And what I think is so refreshing about Mind Trap, they don't seem to be like those suck ass trendy kids who are into Ceremony and Trash Talk but know shit about the roots of this kind of Hardcore, just the opposite. They've definetly done their homework and know how to deliver some raw, fast and brutal shit. You'll find the download link to their demo on their myspace page, so check that ouououot!

Mind Trap on myspace.com

Mind Trap's blog

Damnation A.D. - st EP

I guess I have mentioned often enough how much I love Damnation A.D. So no more talk about that. What I've uploaded here is Damnation's self titled 7" (at least I think it's self titled, since the cover only says "3:59/3:54", which are the durations of the two songs). This 7" was recorded in September/October 97, so I guess it was probably released in late 97/early 98, and that means in between the Misericordia 10" and the Kingdom of Lost Souls full length.
What's god about this 7": the little picture on the cover of Hillel playing his Flying V and wearing a gasmask (click on the picture to get the full resolution), the two songs ("The Mortal" and "Hasn't happened yet"), which are nearly as rough as the ones on Misericordia, but bringing up the heaviness of the "Kingdom" material, and the pessimistic lyrics. What sucks about this 7": Like of most releases on Victory records at that time, the artwork of this one's a fucking joke. Besides the picture of Hillel. 

Ok, the lyrics:

Eyelid - Bleeding Through EP

Sometimes I wonder why there are so many good Hardcore bands from the 90ies that are mostly ignored or forgotten today. I mean every band that recorded a shitty demo in a basement, even it is the worst shit you've ever heard, is considered cult and a "must-know", just because it's from the 80ies.

Eyelid is one of those forgotten bands from the 90ies; the strange thing is that they had the best chances to be remebered: former members of Strife, records on Indecision and a quite unique sound.
On this 7" (released by Phyte Records) you'll find three tracks that were also released on their 1995 demo. The songs are a lot more straight forward then the stuff they did later on, especially on their "If it kills" full length, and they're really damn good. You'll get grooving 90ies Hardcore, not unlike early Earth Crisis for example, but with that certain "westcoast-vibe".

One funny thing about that 7": as you can see on the backcover it says: "available only on summer tour 1996", but in fact that tour (which should have been with Strife) never happened, so the 7" wasn't avaible until Eyelid toured in 1997.