Chris “Cheese Dog” Krovatin is the author of two young adult novels, Heavy Metal & You and Venomous. He is currently working on multiple new writing projects, as well as new material with his local New York metal band Flaming Tusk. He is a contributing writer for Revolver and generally comes off as a good-natured pain in everyone’s collective ass.
On June 3, I saw Marduk with Aura Noir, Black Anvil, Hod, Panzerfaust, and Natur at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in NYC. Here’s what I witnessed.
Number of hours spent being tattooed before the show: Three.- General feeling: Just…just a little woozy.
- General feeling about the tattoo: Hail!
- Easiest way to find the Williamsburg Music Hall: Follow the guy in the Nunslaughter T-shirt!
- Disheartening sight of the night: The sheer lack of Aura Noir merch available. I wanted an “Ugliest Band In Metal” shirt!
- Onstage when I arrive at Williamsburg Music Hall: Natur from Brooklyn.
- Sounds like: Blackened thrash with over-the-top power-metal moments. Pretty entertaining overall.
- Happy time fun fact: The cover of Natur’s Spider Baby EP is preeeetty fucking cool.
- Number of people in corpse paint present: So far only one, and his is pretty low key.
- Thoughts on this: Marduk is just a little too militant and nihilistic for people to dress up in full black-metal costume for.
- Unlike: When I saw Immortal in February: Half the crowd wore corpse paint.
- Next up: Panzerfaust from Ontario.
- Sounds like: Really raw, acidic black metal powered by thrashing rage and morbid chugs.
- Overall opinion: Any band that turns their mic stand into a chain-and-skull-covered inverted cross is OK by me.
- Rainbow puppy good time fact: The band’s name is taken either from the Darkthrone album of that title or a German anti-tank weapon whose name means “armor fist.”
- Hope for the night: That some corset-wearing black-metal chick will notice my awesome new tattoo and swoon over me.
- Only people who notice my awesome new tattoo: Two Mexican black-metal dudes, in the bathroom.
- Sustenance consumed: A cheese dog and a Lone Star over at the Levee on North 3rd Street.
- Now, we have: Hod from San Antonio, Texas.
- Sounds like: Unrelenting death-march black metal instilled with a weirdly American sense of groove and sweep.
- Number of leather/denim vests onstage: 4.
- Number of members in Hod: 4.
- Diagnosis: True.
- “Say No To Drugs” fact: Hod’s first demo is named Cry And Piss Yourself. You only wish you could come up with such an awesome title.
- Weirdest merch: Thin metal shields and blasphemous art prints by Remi from Light’s Eclipse Productions. (Check his shit out at remiart.carbonmade.com).
- Other random items sold: A whole bunch of rare patches, sold, I think, by the dudes from Warhemic in Flushing.
- Patches include: A Raped God 666 patch! Holy shit, I just got a Raped God 666 patch! MEXICAN METAL DEATH SQUAD ARISE!
- On that note: Black Anvil from Brooklyn.
- Sounds like: Shred-heavy thrash with holocaustic black-metal overtones and brilliantly dark lyrics.
- Favorite song of the evening: The cunt-punching declaration of “Angels To Dust.”
- Explanation: It’s not a song about cunt-punching; it just feels like some huge unholy necrospirit has uppercutted you clean in your cunt.
- Members of the Metal Press Class Of 2009 present: Two that I’ve run into—Henry Yuan and “Grim” Kim Kelly.
- Members of the local Brooklyn metal militia present: At least six, including Lucky 13’s Melody Henry, Ralph from Demilitia, and a slew of others.
- Shout outs: Done and done, son.
- Second to last: Aura Noir from Oslo, Norway.
- Sounds like: Furious black metal-inspired thrash putridity.
- Personal response: AURA FUCKING NOOOOOIR!
- Standout track of the night: “Unleash The Demon.” What lyrics.
- “Unleash the demon!”: “Come satisfy my need!”
- “Release the semen!”: ….uuuuh…
- Aura Noir songs to look up when you get home: “Death Mask,” “The Pest,” “Blood Unity,” “South American Death.”
- Physical state at this point: Semi-conscious.
- State of my tattoo: Officially starting to throb like a bastard.
- Finally: Marduk, from Norrkøping, Sweden.
- Sounds like: Steel-plated occult war brigade marching across a field of desecrated coffins and burnt church remains.
- Peace love and happiness fact: Marduk’s lead singer Mortuus studies Judo (I believe) and threw a drunken fan over his shoulder at a show.
- Performance observation: Man, these guys are killing it, much more so than the last time I saw them.
- Favorite track: “Burn My Coffin.”
- Wave of nausea and exhaustion: Sudden and jarring.
- Number of times I’ve missed “Panzer Division Marduk” encore: Twice, once due to excessive drunkenness, once due to tattoo-inspired blood loss.
- Diagnosis: False.
- But guess what: No one really gives a shit.
Brandon Geist
Editor in Chief
Quicksand, Slip
“One of my favorite albums ever, Slip is pretty much always in my listening rotation. Come on, Walter Schreifels, forget Rivals Schools and get these guys back together!”
Morbid Angel, Illus Divinum Insanus
“Still rocking the new Morbid Angel, which is out June 7, and still enjoying it—even the almost audaciously dumb techno-industrial numbers like ‘Destructos Vs the Earth-Attack.’ ‘I Am Morbid’ might be my favorite song of the year so far.”
Decapitated, Carnival Is Forever
“The Polish death metallers have finally returned with a new album—out on July 12—their first since the tragic van accident that severely injured then-vocalist Covan and killed drummer Vitek. Nothing on here is as catchy, focused, and undeniably awesome as ‘Spheres of Madness,’ but there are plenty of the band’s signature twisty tech riffs, manic polyrhythms, and general brutality. Good to have you back, guys.”
Kory Grow
Senior Editor
WhoCares, “Out of My Mind”/“Holy Water”
“New music by a supergroup consisting of Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi, Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan, Jason Newsted formerly of Metallica, and Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain, among others? Count me in! I’ve been listening to the clips since they leaked, and I now have the full songs and can’t stop listening to them. They were written by Iommi and definitely sound more like his solo album than anything he’s done with Sabbath or Heaven & Hell. Gillan sounds great, too. Best part of it all is, proceeds from the tracks go to rebuilding a music school in Armenia.”
Marduk, Iron Dawn EP
“After Marduk’s ridiculously disappointing 2007 album, Rom 5:12, the Swedish black-metal group got my attention again on 2009’s Wormwood. The new EP, containing three songs that apparently don’t relate to the concept the band have for the next album, due in 2012, has the same aggression as Wormwood—and it’s even produced a little better (guitarist Evil sounds evil again)—but vocalist Mortuus’s gurgle-voice is noticeably more off-putting now that you can hear it better.”
Endstille, Infektion 1813
“This German black-metal group has never innovated much, and they don’t create anything new on this, their seventh full-length, which comes out Tuesday. What they do well, however, is create a tense, dark, unpleasant mood that occasionally complements my day. The guitar tone reminds me of prime-era Dissection, and frontman Zingultus’s pained screams, specifically on ‘The Deepest Place on Earth,’ remind me of the frustrated complaints Peter Steele yelped out in Carnviore. For a bad time, call these guys.”
Josh Bernstein
Creative Director
Danzig, Danzig
“It’s funny how you start listening to a record as a joke and then end up not only liking it, but falling in love with it. Case in point, Glenn Danzig. When I first heard that the dude from the Misfits had his own band, I was very excited, but thought the artwork, videos, and Jim Morrison impressions were a goof. Happily, the joke was on me.”
Stiff Little Fingers, Inflammable Material
“The Scottish Clash never got their due, but this disc rocks socks from start to finish. ‘Barbed-Wire Love’ and ‘Alternative Ulster’ are great tracks, and ‘Suspect Device’ is just as mean and gnarly as anything on the first Sex Pistols record.”
Volture, Shocking Its Prey
“I’ve been digging the new project Volture, which is a great side project from Municipal Waste’s Ryan Waste. What the Waste did to salute and honor crossover, Volture does that for the NWOBHM in spades. Check ‘em out!”
Josh Hart
Web Producer
Russian Circles, Geneva
“I have a weird habit of listening to new albums once or twice and then shelving them for a year before I come back to them and listen to them for months on end. This is one of those. I’m hoping now that Explosions in the Sky have a Top 20 album, these guys will get their dues as well.”
Skinny Puppy, Too Dark Park
“The best industrial album (not involving Trent Reznor) ever.”
Novembers Doom, Aphotic
I, like a lot of fans, was skeptical after Into Night’s Requiem Infernal saw the band trying everything they could not to be labeled as doom metal. Thankfully, this is a strong return to form. Check out the track ‘What Could Have Been,’ featuring ex-Gathering vocalist Anneke Van Giersbergen.”
Stephen Goggi
Art Director
Face to Face, Big Choice
“I’m going to see these duders with a bunch of friends from back in the day who I haven’t seen in a while. Trying to relive high school.”
Converge, Petitioning an Empty Sky
“Still my favorite Converge album. Give me sing-alongs and finger points in a song and I am a happy camper.”
Junip, Fields
“I’m down with Jose Gonzalez, so I’m down with this.”
Jimmy Hubbard
Photography Director
Agoraphobic Nosebleed/Despise You, And On And On… split EP
“Man, I love Agoraphobic Nosebleed! Last years Agorapocalypse was easily one of my favorite albums of 2010! This has a bit more of the classic power violence you expect from ANB and it destroys. I love listening to Scott Hull riff out. He is a total riff master. The Despise You stuff is great as well, their first material in 10 years.”
Decapitated, Carnival Is Forever
“Man, I have been waiting to hear the new record from Poland’s Decapitated ever since I heard they had entered the studio with a new lineup. After the untimely passing of drum powerhouse Witold ‘Vitek’ Kieltyka, I was curious to hear what guitarist (and Vitek’s brother) Waclaw ‘Vogg’ Kieltyka was going to come out with. Man, it’s great! Easily the most complicated and mature Decapitated music I have heard! Great stuff, more hardcore, less death, and just plain awesome!”
The Austerity Program, Black Madonna
“I love this band! A lot like a modern Big Black and a very snide Godflesh, awesome heavy bass and angular guitar backed by a Boss DR660 drum machine. 2007’s Black Madonna is a record I played a lot when it came out, and I have been listening to it nonstop this week for some reason…”
Swedish black metal commandos Marduk have just announced that they’ll be releasing their new three-song EP, Iron Dawn, in conjunction with the band’s appearance at Maryland Deathfest, which is taking place in Baltimore from May 26 – 29 (Marduk is set to perform on May 27). Regain Records will release the EP worldwide on May 30.
The songs included on Iron Dawn differ from the concept that is being created for the next full-length album. Therefore this EP will be made available as a special treat for all Marduk legionaries out there. In addition, it will only be available for a certain time period and will be unleashed as digipak CD and also on 12-inch vinyl limited to 500 copies worldwide.
Marduk will celebrate its 20th anniversary by releasing a strictly limited-edition, “marvelous box set” in early 2011. According to the band, “This fabulous release will be a monument of the first two decades of Marduk.”
Iron Dawn track listing:
1. Warschau 2: Headhunter Halfmoon
2. Wacht am Rhein: Drumbeats of Death
3. Prochorovka: Blood and Sunflowers
70,000 Tons just got heavier! The metal cruise festival just added black metallers Marduk to its lineup, which also includes Amon Amarth, Obituary, and more! Click here for more details!
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