Artist

On May 14, 2007, MetalKult caught the Watain/Nachtmystium show at BB King's in New York City. After we conducted an interview with Nachtmystium singer/guitarist Blake Judd, we caught the Chicago band's set.

Check out the following clip from that show of the black metallers tearing through "Chosen By No One," from 2006's Instinct: Decay.

Also, check out "My Vengeance" from that same night.

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On June 16, 2007, Pig Destroyer played a show at Club Europa in Brooklyn, NY, to celebrate the release of their latest album, Phantom Limb (Relapse).

After openers Total Fucking Destruction, Car Bomb and Genghis Tron whipped the crowd into a frenzy, MetalKult aimed our cameras on the ensuing madness that occured when Virginia grindcore band Pig Destroyer—guitarist Scott Hull, vocalist J.R. Hayes, drummer Brian Harvey and sampler Blake Harrison—hit the stage. Check out the following clip of "Heathen Temple" off of Phantom Limb) from that brutal show.

Also, check out the video Q&A we did with the band that same night, as well as live footage of "Piss Angel".

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Photo by Josh Sisk.

Scorching the earth with their fourth full-length studio album Death Is This Communion (Relapse Records), High On Fire reaffirm, yet again, that certain blazes are meant to last. From the album's gripping start to its epic finish, this Cali power trio—made up of guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike, drummer Des Kensel and new bassist Jeff Matz (formerly of Zeke)—never stop fanning the flames.

Opener "Fury Whip" is an instant classic and rages like the best High On Fire burners of old. Imagine if 2000's The Art of Self Defense was crushed into one single song, only then are you approaching the furious realm of "Fury Whip." And thanks to legendary grunge producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Mudhoney), the sound mix is clear, while still staying true to High On Fire's brutal, thrashing vision. [Check out MetalKult's in-the-studio footage of High On Fire here.]

"Fury Whip" begins with Pike's atmospheric octave riffing, which soon twists into a knotted line that nods to Jeff Hanneman's notorious intro on Slayer's "Raining Blood." The song really unleashes when Kensel assumes a galloping rhythm while Pike and Matz lock into a beefy guitar/bass assault. The trio pummels along until Pike steps to the forefront and carves out a sloppy, murderous solo. This is supreme, brazen metal that lashes the backs of those unfortunate enough to cross its path.

High On Fire also explore some truly exotic sounds on Death Is This Communion. The neo-Babylonian homage "Waste of Tiamat" includes what sounds like a Turkish ud before it erupts into a full-scale nuclear assault of electric guitar. The Matz-composed "Khanrad's Wall" is a bewitching Arabic-tinged romp, replete with tambour and 12-string acoustic guitar that conjures up ancient, enticing images of turbaned warriors gnawing on lamb's shanks as they watch belly dancers swiveling their hips.

But "Khanrad's Wall" is also the primer for battle, a prelude to one of High On Fire's gnarliest songs ever, which appears in the form of "Turk." A blitzkrieg sandstorm of drums, bass and guitar, "Turk" sharpens into a fiercely pointed riff over which Pike gruffly bemoans, "The violence lives in me and will not leave." The barbaric crown jewel of the album, "Turk" incites one to bash their head repeatedly on the closest surface available: wall, desk, steering wheel, bar top...or your best friend's face.

High On Fire continue the rampage with "Headhunter," where drummer Kensel pounds out a tribal solo fit for the clan of hungry natives in Cannibal Holocaust. "This evil never sleeps," growls Pike on follow-up song "Rumors of War," which grooves with all the menace of HoF's stellar head-cutter "Baghdad" from The Art of Self Defense.

The band even delivers a killer melodic instrumental with the oddly Beatle-esque mellotron/guitar lines on "DII," before rocketing into a black hole of cosmic hell on "Cyclopian Scape," where alien gods reign supreme. "Sing the psalms of the wailing winds" Pike snarls, heralding the end of the album on the hypnotic "Return to NOD," on which Pike launches outro riffs like rocket shells bursting into the night sky.

If it was ever in question, the institution that is High On Fire is secured with this overwhelming release. And the sensation you get from listening to this record is one of being slowly ripped limb from limb...and loving every minute of it. This violent, primal connection between listener and High On Fire may be best summed up in Pike's snarling lines from the title track, "Now you realize, Death Is This Communion." – Ian Caskey

The Pacific Northwestern black metal eco-terrorists Wolves In the Throne Room's first full US tour is underway this week, in support of their new full length, Two Hunters.

WITTR will be playing with such acts as Ludicra, It's Casual, Jesu, Witchcraft and more along the way. Check out the following dates:

10/02/07 Slim's - San Francisco, CA w/Ludicra, Graves At Sea
10/03/07 Paul Sweet House (3950 Paul sweet road) - Santa Cruz, CA
10/04/07 The Casbah - San Diego, CA w/Jesu, Earthless
10/05/07 Relax Bar - Los Angeles, CA w/Ludicra, Manslaughter, It's Casual
10/06/07 The Sets - Tempe, AZ w/Jesu
10/07/07 Launchpad - Albuquerque NM w/Jesu
10/09/07 Hailey's - Denton TX w/Jesu, USSA
10/10/07 The Mohawk - Austin, TX w/Jesu, Weedeater, USSA
10/11/07 Walter's - Houston, TX w/Jesu
10/12/07 Spanish Moon - Baton Rouge, LA w/Jesu
10/13/07 Club Downunder - Tallahassee, FL w/Jesu
10/15/07 The Social - Orlando, FL w/Jesu
10/16/07 The Earl - Atlanta, GA w/Jesu
10/17/07 Cat's Cradle - Carrboro, NC w/Jesu
10/18/07 Carnegie Mellon University - Pittsburgh, PA
10/19/07 Death By Audio - Brooklyn, NY - w/Witchcraft, Danava, Steve Moore
10/20/07 The Union - Athens, OH w/Skeletonwitch
10/21/07 Mac's Bar - Lansing, MI
10/22/07 In-store at Restless Records-Chicago, IL
10/22/07 Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL w/Lair of the Minotaur, Indian
10/23/07 Vaudeville Mews - Des Moines, IA w/Black Market Fetus
10/24/07 Box Awesome - Lincoln, NE
10/25/07 3 Kings - Denver, CO
10/26/07 Broken Record Bar - Salt Lake City, UT
10/27/07 TBA Boise, ID
10/28/07 Ground Kontrol - Portland, OR w/Walken, Floating Goat, DJ Nate C

On May 7, 2007, MetalKult met Celtic Frost guitarist/vocalist Thomas Gabriel Fischer and bassist Martin Eric Ain at their hotel near The Fillmore East at Irving Plaza in NYC. Frost were on the third leg of their international tour behind 2006's brutal return to form Monotheist, this time in support of headliners Type O Negative.

After arriving at Ain's room—and enduring a tense moment when we had to rouse the sleeping metal giant from his pre-show slumber—Fischer showed up and the two extreme metal pioneers soon warmed to our cameras and revealed the events that surrounded the creation of arguably one of extreme metal's most influential records, 1984's Morbid Tales.

In this four-part, 25 minute interview, Fischer and Ain talk about their formation in the cold-war Eighties, the gear they used to conjure Morbid Tales' "inhuman" sounds and how they inadvertently created one of the one of extreme metal's most influential albums.

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On August 15, 2007, when Behemoth were in the area to play Ozzfest at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ, guitarist/singer Nergal stopped by MetalKult's New York City headquarters.

In the following riff lesson, Nergal sheds light on the core elements of Behemoth's signature blackened death metal sound, and shows you how to play classic riffs from "Summoning of the Ancient Ones," "Conquer All," "Demigod" and more.

Check out the video below:

And after you're finished, have a look at this insightful Q&A with Nergal.

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When legendary Norwegian black metallers Immortal—guitarist Abbath, drummer Horgh, and Aura Noir's Apollyon on bass—announced that they had reformed and would play a handful of live dates across the globe, we here at MetalKult (along with legions of fans worldwide) were obviously stoked.

So when their 7 Dates of Blashyrkh tour came through New York City on July 13, 2007, we weren't going to miss it. To our delight, Abbath and company enthusiastically granted our request to film the show.

Check out the following two videos of Immortal playing "Solarfall" and "Withstand the Fall of Time," from their 1999 album At the Heart of Winter.

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Thank you to photographer Angela Boatwright for providing her ace video camera skills.

Continuing to walk one of the saddest, most disfigured and truly isolated paths in today's black metal scene, Xasthur excretes another slime drenched trail of moribund hits with his latest full-length, Defective Epitaph (Hydra Head Records).

Entrenched in the desolate outer edge of L.A., Malefic, the black metal isolationist (and modern day cave dweller?) behind Xasthur, has, since 1995, been a veritable factory of grim metal (he's released six full-lengths, eight splits, and various other 12 inches and demos). And with his latest, Defective Epitaph, Xasthur shows no signs of ceasing the bleak, seething ambience he's refined since his first split with Orosius in 1999.

Taken as a whole, the twelve songs on Defective Epitaph are muddied and warped, a masterwork of black garbled madness. Upon first listen there is an eerie repetitiveness to each song, but upon closer examination each track glistens uniquely, be it like an obsidian jewel or a freshly popped bubonic

blister. A thick layer of stifling riffs sits like black dross on top of these songs, which are accented by beautifully wilted guitar leads, weary drumming, unsettling keyboards and charred vocals.

Where the production on last year's Subliminal Genocide sounded somewhat more barren (though still quite filthy), Defective Epitaph's lo-fi quality is closer to the raw sound quality of earlier Xasthur releases like Nocturnal Poisoning and The Funeral of Being.

"Purgatory Spiral" ambles along sickly, huffing with asthmatic keystrokes while the guitar weeps and the drums clunk with slothful disdain. This song is plagued with lethargy, and sets the tone for the entire release. This quality-this persistence towards lethargy-is what ultimately defines Defective Epitaph and distinguishes it from previous Xasthur releases.

On "A Memorial to the Waste of Life" the thrash and fury of the guitars warp into an abusive, seasick assault. The ambient "Dehumanizing Procession" stands out as an oddly hopeful track, where something that sounds like drowned tubular bells merges with Malefic's palsy-afflicted guitar and muted shrieks.

Defective Epitaph terminates with the ambient dirge "Unblessed Be." It is mid-way into this track that you'll be struck with the surreal, sinking feeling that Xasthur has slowly led you down a long, dark corridor towards an unknown room (the room with the noose from his press photograph?). Defective Epitaph is the suffocating sound of that descent into darkness. Bang your head metal? This is bag your head metal. – Ian Caskey

On May 14, 2007, MetalKult hit the Watain/Nachtmystium show at BB King's in New York City. After we conducted an enlightening interview with Nachtmystium singer/guitarist Blake Judd, we caught the Chicago band's set.

Check out the following clip from that show of the black metallers tearing through "My Vengeance," which originally appeared on the 2004 Eulogy IV EP.

Photos by Jay Valena.

Municipal Waste is taking the party to you! Today marks the first day of their U.S. headlining tour. Do you have what it takes to face the inebriator? The come and see them on these dates:

9/21/07 - Kingston, Pennsylvania @ Backstage
9/22/07 - Trenton, NJ @ The Championship
9/23/07 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
9/25/07 - Brooklyn, NY @ Europa
9/26/07 - Providence, RI @ The Living Room
9/27/07 - Worcester, MA @ The Palladium (upstairs)
9/28/07 - Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Loft
9/29/07 - Buffalo, NY @ Showplace Theatre
9/30/07 - Cleveland, Ohio @ Now Thats Class
10/2/07 - Minneapolis, Minnesota @ Triple Rock Social Club
10/3/07 - Arlington, Illinois @ Arlington Heights K Od C Hall
10/5/07 - Detroit, MI @ Harpo's
10/6/07 - Toronto, ON @ Metal Bar
10/7/07 - Springfield, MA @ The Waterfront
10/9/07 - Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
10/10/07 - Harrisonburg, Virginia @ Guzmans
11/3/07 - Asbury Park, NJ @ Convention Hall Complex

Municipal Waste is featured on the first episode of a new metal DVD series from the mind of Matt Zane called Radium. As described by director, Zane, Radium is a mixture of the latest metal videos, band interviews, and "loads of hot and heavy porn."

Check out the trailer below:

Photo by twentyvolume