Releasing only one album, Death, Pierce Me, Silencer achieved notoriety for the fact that its vocalist was clinically insane. According to “official” sources (read: the black metal rumour mill), soon after the recording of the album, Nattramn was institutionalised for attacking two girls in a park and then attempting suicide-by-cop. Given this information and a rather disturbing picture of the vocalist/lyricist in question, I had to hear this band!

The first thing that sets Silencer apart from most black metal is the vocals. Compared to everything from a dying cat to Yoda, Nattramn howls and squawks rather than the typical black metal rasps and screaming. It puts many people off the album, which, aside from the vocals is traditional, yet proficient black metal. Personally, I find the vocals help with the depressing, suicidal atmosphere of the music. Nattramn not only is insane, but he sounds it and you, as the listener, are forced to feel it. The desperate sounds are barely human, which gives a very eerie atmosphere to the proceedings.

Even though I can’t even type the name with a straight face, Sterile Nails and Thunderbowels is definitely the standout track on this 6 part opus. Mixing fast-paced black metal passages over ambient interludes punctuated by Nattramn’s croaking sobs, the lyrics are definitely the ramblings of a madman at the end of his tether.

Every track on this album creates the atmosphere that DSBM requires, drawing you into Nattramn’s consciousness and looming over the frightened figure shrieking in the corner. While I would say it lacks the melancholic atmosphere of Forgotten Tomb, Death, Pierce Me manages to creep you out in all the right places, and if you can get over the unorthodox vocal style, Silencer is a truly incredible band.

While I can’t say I’m disappointed, this certainly was not what I was expecting. For a band where the vocalist advocates suicide and once disappeared (presumed dead), the lyrical delivery (and music in general) is incredibly, for want of a better word, happy… Well, happy by black metal standards; these guys aren’t Dragonforce.
The album begins with a very groove oriented, intricately composed track, which is where I was first caught off guard. Having first experienced DSBM through the excellent “Songs to Leave”, I was expecting atmosphere and a sense of desolation created by repetitive, simple, but emotionally charged riffs. Instead, it’s party music, the third track being the main “offender” in this respect. Presenting very energetic riffing and soloing split up by Swallow the Sun-like, doom-infused passages, topped off by a monster of a solo from the song is extreme metal by the book, albeit shrouded in pitch-black darkness.

I suppose the crux of the matter is that VI – Klagopsalmer feels more like a doom record than anything close to black metal but putting genre aside, it has to be said that this is a damn good album. The production is top-notch; the guitars and riffing are solid; the bass is ever present, doing exactly what it should and the drumming backs everything up perfectly. Kvaforth’s vocals are solid as well, although they feel pretty standard by black metal conventions – there is even some clean singing here and there.

I don’t know if Shining are moving towards eventual salvation (even with song titles like Totally Fucking Dead Inside or Crushed Dreams and Broken Promises) with this album, since the band has stated that it should be considered an “experimental interlude”, because there is very little depressing about it. I want to try and get hold of their back catalog to validate this, or maybe it’s just because I’m not Swedish and do not understand the lyrics. VI – Klagopsalmer is a great album, but (and I’ve always wanted to say this) it’s just not depressing enough.

Monoliths & Dimensions is Sunn O)))’s 7th full-length and features four tracks, the shortest of which clocks in at just under ten minutes. The entire album lasts a little less than an hour, so brace yourself for some good, honest ear-canal abuse.
Opening the album is Aghartha, a typical example of a Sunn O))) track, yet different from their usual offerings through the addition of discernable, spoken-word vocals from long-time session vocalist, Attila Csihar (of Mayhem fame). The sense of dread and looming horror is made even worse through the sounds of thick, harbour ropes straining against some unknown force. This is most-certainly uneasy listening. The track finally fades with the sound of oars in water, a fitting end to a truly epic opener.
The following two tracks again conform to the Sunn O))) formula of positively demonic frequencies coupled with equally unnerving lyrical content. The chants in Big Church are positively chilling.

The closing track, Alice, feels like a nod to fellow doomsters Earth’s most recent effort, The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull, by going a far more subtle route in how they dispense their doom. A lone guitar meanders over orchestral chords and typical Sunn O))) axework and finally gives way to an (almost) Sigur Rós inspired horn and strings riff to wrap up the whole experience. Are Greg and Steve losing their mettle? Of course not, it is the perfect way to emerge from the hellish underworld of Monoliths & Dimensions.

And this entertainment is ultimately what Dr. Steel is all about. According to the good doctor, the best way to get people to support your beliefs is to entertain them. And what better form of entertainment than music?
Creating a strange fusion of industrial, hip-hop and rockabilly, Dr. Steel waxes philosophical about the mechanical day-to-day drudgery of office work, Fibonacci numbers, consumerism and human singularity on People of Earth, as well as entertaining more fantastical ideas like atom bombs destroying cities and cheesy, Twilight Zone-esque space exploration. Each track is memorable in one way or another, be it through the lyrical delivery or a catchy hook, most apparent in the flagship track, Back and Forth.

The only thing that may put new listeners off is the steampunk aesthetic that seems to incorporate everything from heavily distorted guitars to steel piano and music-box sounds. However, despite the varying presentation of tracks, the uniqueness remains; each track is instantly recognisable as a Dr. Steel track. The lyrical delivery is akin to KMFDM’s rapid fire lyrical wordplay, often with very simple riffs in the background.

With People of Earth, Dr. Steel achieves what his philosophy sets out to do – the album is simply Fun! It is the perfect music for a productive day at home and is most certainly a soundtrack with which to take over the world!

Death Metal certainly doesn’t pull any punches, it contains exactly what’s on the box. Rapid fire riffs, growled vocals (well, closer to thrashy, shouted) and a very good display of musicianship and adherence to the genre.
Highlights include the very triumphant opening track, the born-and-bred-in-Gothenburg Misanthropic and the decidedly down-tempo Stillborn Ways which has a very Hypocrisy feel to it. Each track is solid and well structured; there is groove aplenty and die-hard fans of melodic death will not go away unpleased.

The low production quality on the album is very noticeable. Everything sounds quite fuzzy, and compared to the albums that similar bands were putting out at roughly the same time (i.e. In Flames’ Whoracle) it is frankly quite shoddy. For a genre that breeds tonechasers like no other, it is quite frustrating to be faced with such poor recording quality. The other major issue I have with the album is that it is nothing new. By the release of this album, Dismember was on their fourth release, and it does not feel like it takes the genre any further. I do not have enough knowledge of their previous albums to determine whether it was a progression for the band, but it is frustrating when everyone is producing exactly the same music.

Ultimately Death Metal, despite delivering exactly what it says on the cover did not impress me much. But that is most probably because I have become distanced from the melodic death metal genre; if you’re a die-hard fan, pick this one up!

The purpose of this blog is twofold:

To provide and share helpful web programming skills that I have picked up in my work and to keep track of all of the new music that I listen to.

The programming tips will cover PHP, CSS, MySQL, XHTML and other related technologies. I’ll also delve into Photoshop and other relevant skills and resources that are imperative to being a good web designer.  I will try to update these as regularly as possible; as an avid blog reader, I know how annoying infrequent updates are.

The music side is mostly to keep track of the new albums I listen to (mostly metal, alternative, industrial and rock, as well as smatterings of folk and generally unclassifiable stuff) . I try to listen to as much new and interesting music as possible, and would like to know exactly how much; so I will write reviews of albums as I listen to them (or soon after). I will only ever mention albums I have never heard before. New albums by bands, exploring back-catalogues and hunting down rarities of favourites is all fair game. Remember, all of the albums I list will have graced virginal ears.

I’ve also decided to put this up on “free” hosting because I can’t afford anything else at the moment, I don’t have the time to build a fuly functional blogging system from scratch and would much rather focus on content that fiddling with the nitty gritty (I do enough of that each day at work).

So onward and upward! Huzzah and tally ho! Let the nonsense commence.