Finnish black-metal legends Beherit have just put out their first new album in 14 years (since their two, excellent ambient-electronic releases in ’94 and ’95) and their first new metal album in 16. The record, Engram (Spinefarm), recalls the raw crunch of their now-classic demos comp, 1991’s The Oath of Black Blood, as well as the avant-garde melodies of 1993’s Drawing Down the Moon. We contacted frontman Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance to find out how the last decade and a half fueled his decision to reunite with drummer Sodomatic Slaughter, draft two new members, and create such a terrifying-sounding album.
 

Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance in Brisbane, Australia, February 2009
 

REVOLVER Why have you re-formed Beherit after all these years?
NUCLEAR HOLOCAUSTO VENGEANCE I didn’t have any particular reason or master plan for this so-called comeback. After years of working alone in my home studio, it was inspiring to play again with real musicians.
 

Why, after Electric Doom Synthesis, did you wish to return to a more traditional black-metal sound on Engram?
It’s a real band recording. I’m able to produce electronic music myself on a computer, but I’m not good in playing drums. On Engram, we focused the time and spirit of “The Lord Diabolus,” which was the last studio session I had with Sodomatic, our original drummer. After such a long silence, we thought it’s better to keep things simple.
 

Engram’s final song, “Demon Advance,” is very different from the others. Why is that?
Yes, it has slower tempo and runs longer than a typical Beherit song. It was composed from never-ending loops during weeks of insomnia. It was the first demo recording [for the album] and it made me think about a possible comeback. At some early point, I was thinking of a concept album based on that style, but I chose to skip the idea for later use. In our rehearsal room, it was more natural to play faster stuff.
 

How does a typical Beherit song come together?
I have couple of riffs on the guitar and some words to create the atmosphere. I usually record the first demo version myself, with written tablatures and give the other members a short explanation of the original idea before we go to rehearse song together. Later there come more variation in rhythms and necessary changes for the final composition.
 

How did you spend your time during your absence from Beherit?
I have been busy with various internet projects, working as a webmaster for hotel and restaurant. I have a small recording studio for electronic music. I also had an ambient-music radio show for six years, specializing in drones and dark ambient. I have traveled quite a lot, mostly in Southeast Asia.
 

From left: Sodomatic Slaughter and Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance, in 1991
 

After our recent all-star Mayhem Fest cover shoot, we found a few seconds to chat with a few of our cover boys, including All That Remains' Phil Labonte, Job for a Cowboy's Jonny Davy, and Trivium's Matt Heafy. Watch the clips below, and make sure and pick up a copy of the issue, on newsstands now. We'll see y'all out on Mayhem Fest this summer.
 

While big-media news outlets continue to parse Michael Jackson’s successes and scandals, we here at Revolver want to commemorate why we loved the Gloved One through the years: Dude was metal. Sure, Jackson could be pretty off-putting to headbangers—he helped popularize disco music, wore Mickey Mouse T-shirts, and fed starving kids—but let’s look past all that. Here’s Revolver’s 10-horn salute…

10. His first solo No. 1 was about a murderous, telepathic rat

Jackson’s first hit, “Ben,” was the theme song for the 1972 movie of the same name, the sequel to the horror movie Willard. In the movie, a boy befriends one of the evil rats (Ben) trained by the titular character in the original; the rat then starts controlling the boy and Ben’s rat buddies get violent. “Ben, most people would turn you away… They don’t see you as I do.” ’Nuff said.



9. Jackson hung out with Ronald Reagan

It may have been only once, but just palling around with the dude who carried out such malfeasance as quadrupling the United States’ national debt, trading weapons with Iran, and helping launch a war on drugs sounds like the basis of an S.O.D. song.



8. He caught on fire

In 1984, Jackson filmed a Pepsi commercial. At one point, he got too close to the pyrotechnics and ended up suffering second-degree burns to his scalp…in front of a stand-in audience. Only Metallica’s James Hetfield, who himself was burned in a pyro mishap onstage, could relate.



7. Jackson smashed stuff

At the end of Jackson’s “Black or White” video (viewable here), he transforms into a black panther then back into himself, after which he smashes car windows and blows up a building. When this sequence was met with controversy and protests, MJ explained that that’s what a panther would do. MTV removed the part of the clip, and since his death, has restored it to include racist epithets on the windows Jackson smashes. (Aside: It was in the promotion for this video that Jackson decided he should be called the "King of Pop" and made everyone call him that—that's metal!) With no blood spilt, we challenge any metal band to replicate the video’s menace on a worldwide scale.



6. He dangled a baby over a balcony

In 2002, Jackson held his 9-month-old son over his hotel balcony in Berlin, Germany, holding a towel over the child’s head. Hell, we can’t defend that one, but check out the video.

5. He hired guitarists Eddie Van Halen, Steve Stevens, and Slash

Jackson’s metal pedigree included his music. “Beat It” is inarguably one of the biggest metal songs of the ’80s (maybe not in the vocals, but definitely in the guitar riff), and it featured a guest solo by Eddie Van Halen. Jackson would go on to record two other metal-tinged hits, including one with Billy Idol and Vince Neil guitarist Steve Stevens (“Dirty Diana,” which went to No. 1) and one with Slash (the highly underrated “Give Into Me,” below). Plus, Jackson was kind enough to share his wind machine in videos with the latter two.

4. Jackson owned a fucking monkey

Remember when the oddest thing about Michael was when he bought a monkey named Bubbles? Then he taught it to moonwalk? Well, it turns out the monkey was even more awesome, as it reportedly threw feces at children, too, not unlike G.G. Allin. Even more metal: Bubbles has officially outlived his master. You can fund the primate’s care here.



3. Jackson had three pod babies

According to recent reports, Jackson supposedly is not the father of his three children, named Michael Joseph Jr. (age 12), Paris Michael Katherine (11), and Prince “Blanket” Michael II (7). They were “conceived in vitro—outside the womb,” if you believe TMZ. Not even the Elephant Man’s skeleton, which Jackson once attempted to buy (according to legend), is as metal an image as that.



2. He became Skeletor

Surgery, schmurgery—Skeletor kicks ass.

1. The “Thriller” video

Jackson asked John Landis to direct the short film, a 14-minute whopper that redefined the art of music videos, after he saw the indisputably metal An American Werewolf in London. Plus, it's got Jackson as a wolfman, a zombie, and, perhaps most frightening, a boyfriend.

Horns up!

Rocking out, pissing off the industry, fighting the undead—it’s all in a day’s work for CKY. The members of the Pennsylvania muscle-rock band have just become characters in their own one-shot comic book from Devil's Due Publishing, set to be released this August. Written by Dave Mowery and illustrated by Josh Emerick, the comic features the quartet blowing away wave after wave of zombies and giving a hefty finger to corporate scumbags. So how does one transform four guys from West Chester into unholy killing machines? Artist Joshua Emerick and CKY singer-guitarist Deron Miller filled Revolver in on how to reign in ink…after this five page sample.

REVOLVER Josh, what’s your artistic background? What comics did you like growing up? How'd you get into drawing comic books?
JOSH EMERICK I was self-taught from day one. I grew up with Batman, X-Men, Punisher, Spiderman, Werewolf By Night, and Tomb Of Dracula. I got into drawing the books by admiring great artists like Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Mark Texeira, and so on.

How was the concept of the comic presented to you? How'd the comic come about?
EMERICK I did a freelance interview with Deron Miller back in ‘06 We talked about a lot of things, and one of them was comics. I said that I would do a book for them. The rest is CKY history. I got a good friend of mine to write it, sent the guys the script, they liked it, and 48 pages later it was completed.

How much contact did you have with the CKY guys? Are you a CKY fan? If so, what songs/albums are your favorites?
EMERICK I had a lot of contact with the guys in the beginning. I kept a close working relationship with Deron. I am a huge fan. They are one of my favorite bands. Their first two albums hold a very strong place with me in my life. Their music is so awesome. They have such a gift at making you feel great and carefree while listening to the music. They have a sound like no other band out there. Thank God for them.

REVOLVER So Deron, how does it feel to be comic book characters? Are you comic readers?
DERON MILLER I read some horror comics sometimes, but I’m not an aficionado…I don’t think anyone in the band is. So what, though, this shit is cool!

When the concept of the comic book was told to you, what was your initial response?
MILLER My first feeling was like, ‘Wow, this is something that Kiss did!’ It’s very rare that a band be interesting enough to have a comic book made of them. Like Paul Stanley said, you’ll never see Marvel Comics Presents The Eagles. An updated version of that might be Marvel Comics Presents Shinedown!

Was there anything that had to be/not be featured in the comic? How closely, if at all, is the comic tied to Carver City?
MILLER It’s not about Carver City at all. That’s an idea for the next comic. This one focuses on our attitude toward the music industry.

Josh, how long did drawing the comic take? Was there a particular member of the band you like drawing the most?
EMERICK The book itself took almost a year. I had another kid while it was being done. It took a lot of time with a lot of disappointment as well. Thank God for my Golden Lobster team and Devil's Due picking this book up. I had a lot of fun drawing Chad—it was always loose and free drawing that man. Hope he likes it. Deron was a lot of fun too, but only because of my secret crush on him.

Uh, OK. So Deron, did you ever have to model for Josh? Who in the band has the most superhero-like physique?
MILLER He asked me to come over and strip down for him, but it got awkward when I realized it had nothing to do with the comic.

Who in the band has the most superhero-like physique?
MILLER I guess I would have the closest physique to a superhero if I was Slightly Out Of Shape Man.

Is it hard to turn a band into a comic book? How closely did you work with the writers, if at all?
EMERICK Not hard at all, as long as you’re a big fan. I can't imagine me doing a Fall Out Boy comic. I love these guys. It was easy. As far as the writers, Dave Mowery and I worked together on underground comics in the early ‘90's. This was an easy job together as well as a reunion. We talked a lot about the book while it was going on.

Josh, is drawing zombies as fun as it seems?
EMERICK Hell yeah. I loved drawing the zombies. My wife and I are huge Romero fans. This gave me a chance to do some justice to that line.

Who, in your estimation, is the most metal comic book character of all
time? What other band should have a comic made of them?
EMERICK Wolverine, the Punisher, Gene Simmons, any Frank Frazetta character. The Beatles and Elvis. Oh, also Social D.

Deron, if you could each have a super-power, what would it be?
MILLER I’d fly and shoot lasers out of my hands. The lasers would sound exactly like they do in the movie V.

If you could do a comic book team-up with another band, who would you want it to be?
MILLER The All-American Rejects. It could be a “comic leaflet”…they’d be a flaming pile of flesh at the bottom of Page 2.

Interview by Chris Krovatin

Pre-fest:
I am here in wonderful Baltimore, Maryland, preparing for a weekend of debauchery and blood that is known as the Maryland Deathfest. I'm helping David Hall, who has a production company called Handshake Inc. (handshakeinc.com) that has made videos for Fuck the Facts, Today is the Day, Jucifer, and Sigh. He is going to be here this weekend to work on a project called Maryland Deathfest: The Movie. It will capture the awesomeness of the weekend that features a cross section of all that is great in metal at the moment.

Where do I start...? Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, Mayhem, Napalm Death, Pestilence, Misery Index, Rotten Sound, Trap Them, Hail of Bullets, and a bunch of other serious motherfuckers shitting themselves for the sake of all that is brutal. I will be hosting features and interviews, but mostly I'll be drinking and crushing skulls. I am so excited for this. You should be, too, and if you aren't, you're a bullshit puncher who doesn't know goddamn about fuck'll.

Anyway, I arrived in Baltimore a day ahead of the rest of the crew and have been trying to find ways to entertain myself. Last night I was craving some potato chips, maybe Funions, so I decided to explore Baltimore at night on foot. I ended up on one of the sketchiest streets I have ever been on, but came out with chips in hand triumphantly. Still, a bad idea. Today I ventured into the heart of touristy Baltimore, some annoying shit called The Harbor...where believe it or not there is a harbor! This bat-shit crazy lady convinced me to get a pedicure (a foot massage without, unfortunately, a happy ending) for the first time ever. I didn't warn them that I don't wear socks and my shoes smell like Al Pacino's breath after a Mexican hotdog.

Pretty sure I caught her gag and throw up in her mouth a few times, but she swallowed it because in Vietnam, vurps are a delicacy. "Too buku!" she said, so I slapped her with my left and told her to start grinding at my toenails. She cried, but she knew I did it because I love her and kept working at my feet. I'll miss you Ming, you beautiful bitch.

So now it's time for a pre-party featuring Ghoul, Pulling Teeth, Lethal Agression, and others. More shit happened, some totally fucked-up shit involving decapitated goat heads and swine after-births, but I don't feel like recounting all that. The things I have seen here so far cannot be unseen. If Deathfest can continue the depravity, we should all have a good fucking time.

P.S. My band is trying to think of a name for the tour we're setting up in August. My suggestions have been: Get Fresh 69 Blast Bonanza, Balls Deep Tour, Dylan May Get Raped Tour, Tour de France en Estados Unidos, Party Party Party Bushy Balls Tour, or the I'm Lost, Call Ho Jack Tour... They were all turned down!?

Post-fest:
Ever since Maryland Deathfest I’ve been on a psychedelic journey through time, space, and gas stations. Seeing Bolt Thrower twice was too much for my measly woman brain to handle; afterwards I felt the need to bake cupcakes and feed them to diabetic children.

The metal gods reached into their godly bags of brutality and handed me the chance to be a part of a documentary entitled MDF: The Movie (Maryland Deathfest, you idiot, I know you looked back to find what the acronym was for. FUCK). A Canadian production company called Handshake Inc. asked me to “host” the thing. Until I got out there I had no idea what that meant and I'm still not really sure. Apparently, it means drunkenly wandering around and making awkward dudes who happen to be in insanely good bands answer questions like, "What do you think of Maryland Deathfest... so far?" and "Want to be BFFs for life?" and "Hey! Do you know how good you are? Because OMFG you're sooooo great!" I was told I'm a natural.

Canadians from The Canada or somewhere brought satchels of weed and pills and other things for happy-making. Four long days of a binge unlike any other... It’s been weeks and I’m still recovering. I found a broken needle between my toes yesterday. Or, I should say, my pedicurist did. Got to keep them feet looking fucking fine. Speaking of that, my feet were bleeding by the last day so I resorted to crowd-surfing during Bolt Thrower in flip-flops, which was bad idea. Came home barefoot bloody and thoroughly fondled. Joke's on them because I loved it.

Let's get real for a second. I was able to interview Brutal Truth, Rotten Sound, Sigh, Trap Them, Misery Index, Pig Destroyer, and any band I could get my greedy little hands on. Let's just say next year I have no idea how they are going to top themselves... Maybe Landmine Marathon will be able to play. We will devour Baltimore with all our giant mouths that devour cities sometimes but mostly burritos—and vegan burritos at that. Vegans don't eat any animal products so swallowing Baltimore might create some ethical conflicts, most of which can be solved by the realization that the citizens of that city and all its inhabitants, human and otherwise, are sub-animal, suitable for any vegan. Eating Baltimorians or whatever the fuck is a favor to all mankind, and any less should be considered non-vegan. Stop farting in my van!

xo
Grace

Omar Rodríguez-López is a busy man. Not only is the guitarist releasing Octahedron, the new record from his award-winning experimental rock band the Mars Volta, but he also recently dropped Cryptonesia, the first of three albums recorded in 2004 by side project El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Top that all off with multiples high profile tours and production jobs, and you’ve got one full plate. Somehow Rodríguez-López found a few minutes to talk to Revolver about his forthcoming projects and his band’s rabid fan base.

REVOLVER How was touring in March with the Omar Rodríguez-López group?
OMAR RODRÍGUEZ-LÓPEZ The tour was great. I got to go to Athens and Moscow for the first time—in 15 years of touring, I’ve never been there. Moscow was incredible! They’re a very passionate people. It’s something both very similar and different to playing for Latin countries—very loud, very excited, very passionate. It felt like people there absorbing every moment of music they could, which, nowadays, is a very rare thing.

El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodríguez-López just released Cryptonesia, which was part of a triptych recorded in 2004. Why release it now?
If you look at any of the releases that I have, none of them are current. I make a lot of music, and a lot of it ends up on my drive closet. I’m not thinking about a record as a means to an end, you know? And once I’m done, I’m chasing the next high—“That was that, now something new!” And then there comes a time where I want to put out a record, and then I go and dig it up and put it out. A great example is last year: I started having a lot of nostalgia for Jeremy [Michael Ward, the late Mars Volta sound tech]. I thought, Whatever happened to that record he and I made together? It’d be really nice to put that out. So I had to look in the closet and look all the way to where the stuff from 2001 is and find the record, and looking there, I see this whole other record that I’d completely forgotten about, and while Jeremy didn’t play on it, I remember that he was in the studio the whole time—the experience, the problems, where we ate when we were done at 3 in the morning. It’s a reliving experience, because it’s the other parts of making a record—putting together a lyrics sheet, making the artwork, that type of stuff.

What, then, were/are you trying to get out with Cryptonesia that you weren’t getting out in your other projects?
…I don’t know! For me, it was sort of like a little vacation. At that time, I had just released Amputechture [the Mars Volta’s 2006 album] and I had just begun working on the music that would eventually become Bedlam, and I just had this primordial urge to take it away from that… I sort of consider Cryptonesia my “punk record.” It’s a very generic term, but I wanted to get away from writing horn sections, string sections, all these different parts, and get back to this guttural, aggressive thing with just guitars. I wanted to strip things down for myself and write very simply. Plus, I was dying to play with Zach [Hill of Hella and Team Sleep]; I really wanted to do a lot of collaborations together.

The Cryptonesia press release says you’re “quick to point out that the Mars Volta is your top priority.” Do you ever feel like other projects might encroach on the Mars Volta?
No, not at all, but I think when you work a certain way, people start to create hysteria, like this swine flu bullshit. If you show someone that you have a new group, they’re like, “OhmygodtheMarsVoltaisbreakingup!” and they run away with their imagination and project everything on you that they want to. So this was me saying, “Look, let’s make it clear, so there’s no room for your fantasies: the Mars Volta is my baby and my pride and joy. And nothing will tear me away from it beside the point where I lose interest in it.”

Are your fans the rabid, rumor-prone type?
Yeah, they’re completely fucking insane. I think it’s really great—I remember being 15 and being completely obsessed, so I understand that aspect of it. But it’s really insane how much they read into things. And it wouldn’t effect me ’cause I don’t read reviews or what people are saying, but it effects me in that I’m walking around in Los Angeles and someone comes up to me and says, “Hey, I love your music.” Oh, great! ‘So is it true that…” For me, it’s just coming out of left field because I don’t live in that world, and so when I hear some of the insane perceptions people have, you have to sort of sift through them.

Do you ever feel a reluctance to take part in the press side of being in the Mars Volta?
…I see it as part of the equation. We are a band on a major label that’s in the public eye, and we’re touring, and…I get to do this for a living. I don’t take that for granted. You can either say, “Fuck the press! How uncool! How un-rock and roll!” Or you can say, “Fuck, man, I make music for a living! I don’t have to make pizzas anymore! All I gotta do is talk to somebody about what I’m doing? Hook me up!”

After 2008’s The Bedlam in Goliath was so well-received, how are you feeling about Octahedron? What can we expect from it?
You can expect that it’s different. That’s always a problem with music—everyone loves your first record? Good! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! For me, it doesn’t work that way. You made it, now destroy it and start over. Bedlam was the most violent record we’d made to date. When I think of it, I think of fire, claustrophobia, asphyxiation, darkness, no space—when I think of making that record, I think of a small crawlspace. So when I got out of that and life started changing, I looked to the polar opposites. Water, light, big open spaces, sky, these kind of elements. That’s what Octahedron is to me. It feels so good to be in a different space like that.

Interview by Chris Krovatin