Samael - Worship Him (1991)

 

Samael awakened on the 14th of July 1988 when brothers Xytraguptor and Vorphalack loaded their musical gear into an atomic bunker.

Samael's initial influences were Slayer, Bathory, Venom and early Possessed, plus NWOBHM acts Motörhead and Iron Maiden. Hellhammer were also hugely inspirational.

Rehearsing seven days a week, they soon recorded a couple of tracks and released their self- financed 7''EP ''Medieval Prophecy'' which infiltrated the underground scene through mail and small independant distributors.

Two years later, the duet moved to Geneva to record what would become Samael's first album. Facing refusal from the established recordindustry, the brothers finally inked a deal with the freshly started label Osmose Production, which released ''Worship Him'' in April 1991. With the addition of Masmiseîm on bass, the band played shows in France, Germany, Holland, Poland, Russia and Switzerland before heading back to studio to record ''Blood Ritual'' . Their second album became the first collaboration with Waldemar Sorychta and their first release on the German ever-growing inprint Century Media.

-Tracklist:

Side A:
1. Sleep of Death
2. Worship Him     06:30
3. Knowledge of the Ancient Kingdom     05:05
4. Morbid Metal     04:55
5. Rite of Cthulhu     02:02

Side B:
6. The Black Face     03:30
7. Into the Pentagram     06:47
8. Messenger of the Light     02:42
9. Last Benediction     01:23
10. The Dark     04:29

 

-Line up:

  ⛧Vorphalack: Guitars, vocals
  ⛧Xytraguptor: Drums, percussion, keyboards.

   ⛧Masmiseîm: Bass.

 

 

 Label: Osmose Productions.

 Worship Him was the first Osmose Productions release ever.

First press comes in black vinyl, regular LP jacket and printed insert.

At the bottom in the back cover, there´s a dedication note in memory of Vorphalack & Xytraguptor's father.

Although Masmiseîm appears on the back cover´s picture as the bass player, on the credits there´s a note indicating that the bass for this album, was played by Vorphalack.

Recorded at Taurus Studio, Switzerland, March 1990.
Produced by Samael.

Venereal Disease - Mondo Macabro (2003) Reissue [2004]

 

Formed in 2001 by Iker Núñez (Vocals also in Necrolust, Kangrena Vaginal, Bilis and Drummer Christian Impaler. The band mix grindcore with many other genres including death, crust, punk and hardcore. This leads to a fascinating gritty agressive listen, with vocals sprung from the gut which lyrics are describing humor, terror, horror and splatter. The drums are simple but effective with blast beats and 4/4 time signiture which is well excuted by Christian. The guitars are fast, agressive and twist sometimes, mostly sticking to the same riff all the way through the short busts that they have. Iker and Christian began writing some material in late 2001, getting a heads up from bassist Moreta and two guitarists, Jorge Rivas (Forensick, Necrolust (Esp)) and Grindfection. This lead to recordings first a promo with five fast tracks totalling to a 10 minutes. Then this hit Tobacco Shit Records with a split with Gorehog which was recieved well by the scene. The band in between 2002-2003, then came up with two demos, one split and one promo. The demos were released entitled "Nekrogrind" which was released by "Genital Herpess Records" in 2002 and another entitled "Venereal disease and the human flesh eaters" by "Brute! Records" in 2003. The promo was released in 2002, which was self-released and an split with Agathocles was also released in 2002. These were again tightening up the bands sound and giving them a cult following in the undergroung scene across the globe. This was when the band came into line up changes with both guitarists leaving, then this was replaced by GutsChrusher bringing in a new feel to the VD camp. This lead to their debut album called "Mondo Macrabe" which was co-issued by "Basque Grind Foundation", "Gential Herpess Records", "Victimas Del Progreso", "Eguzki Bannaketak", "Hormigonera Prod." and "Anarko Records" in 2003. This release was highly reviewed and distributed by these very underground labels, fanzines, etc. The band then tightened up and did five splits with various bands between 2004-2006. These were the split with Mixomatosis which was released in spring 2004 by co-issued record companies such as Hormigonera Productions . Lunatic Asylum split released in June 2005 which were released by various record companies aswell, the Agathocles split released in december 2005 by various labels most notable was Humildad y Honestidad Records. Bunder Nekromunda split released by Brute! Productions on christmas day, 2005. Finally, a three way split with Mixomatosis and Poisoned Skrotum released by Coyote Records in 2006. The band have done another split with Ruido de Rabia in 2008 by Reek Of Putrefaction Records, which has two newly recorded songs by the band. This is to get ready for their second full-length album later in 2009.

-Tracklist:

01. Un cadáver troceado en el frigorífico     00:54
02. Virginal Necro-puss     02:23
03. Aortical Aneurism (Degenrative Process of Syphilis)     01:17
04. La invasión de los zombies sistemáticamente controlados     01:24
05. Grind Vaginal-feetion (O la forma más fácil de ser un falso de mierda)     01:52
06. Asesinos en la noche (Radikal H.C. cover)     02:49    
07. Annie Chapman     01:29
08. Torturado hasta la muerte     01:31
09. Ofreceis paz, vendeis guerra (Ruido de Rabia cover)     01:36
10. The Quarter of Despenaperros     02:41
11. Doctor Orloff     03:13
12. Ministerio de injusticia (HHH cover)     01:04
13. Violating a Dead Child Cadaver Run Over by a Bus     02:19
14. Giallo     02:50
15. Postmortal Ejaculation     02:09
16. Kaixo (Delirium Tremens cover)     02:30

 

 

-Line up:

• Christian Impaler: Drums
• Guts Crusher: Guitars, Bass
• Coprophagus (R.I.P. 2008): Vocals.

 

 

Label: Victim Records.

Limited to 1500 copies.

 Co-released with Genital Herpess Records, Pozoin Banaketak, Fragment Music (Spain), Magnicidio Records, Anti-Corpos D.I.Y. and Hecatombe Records.

Recorded at Tala studios in Bermeo in May 31, 2003 except "Postmortal eyaculation" it was recorded in July 2001 with the help of Jorge Rivas as second guitar player.

Mixed at Tala studios in Bermeo between June 1-6, 2003.

 First edition July 2003.
Second edition March 2004.

 

 

Iker Núñez ''Coprophagus'' (1979-2008)

Carcass - Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious (1991)

Carcass was first formed as a school band by Bill Steer and Ken Owen that soon after disbanded. Steer then joined the D-beat band Disattack with drummer Middie, Paul on bass and Pek on vocals. After releasing a four track demo entitled A Bomb Drops ... in 1986, the bass player left the band and was replaced by Jeff Walker, formerly guitarist and vocalist of the Electro Hippies. Vocalist Andrew Pek changed his name to Sanjiv after a visit to India. At about the same time, Bill Steer joined Napalm Death (replacing Justin Broadrick) and recorded the second side of what became Napalm Death's first album, Scum. Walker also designed the cover art for Scum.

Disattack then changed its name to Carcass as the group changed musical direction. This led to a change in drummer and saw Ken Owen join the band. In April 1987, they recorded the Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment demo, the only Carcass recording featuring vocalist Sanjiv, who left shortly after. Walker, Steer and Owen shared vocal duties for the debut album, which was done in only four days. Despite the primitive production values of Carcass's debut Reek of Putrefaction (1988), with which the band was very displeased, it became a favourite of Radio 1 DJ John Peel. Due to his interest, they were asked to participate in their first Peel Session in 1989, where they debuted new material for their second album. The Peel Session was released as an EP with the band members adopting pseudonyms: K. Grumegargler, J. Offalmangler, and W.G. Thorax Embalmer. Also that year, Steer and Walker appeared as members of Lister's fictional band Smeg and the Heads in an episode of Red Dwarf.

Necroticism was originally released on 21 October 1991 through Earache Records.

 This album is the first to feature guitarist Michael Amott. Many of the tracks describe economical ways to dispose of dead bodies . Necroticism continues the move towards a predominant death metal sound which was started in Symphonies of Sickness, featuring songs with longer sections and complex structures, more akin to the then-burgeoning technical death metal subgenre.

 Ken Owen and Jeff Walker said during The Pathologist's Report Part III: Mass Infection that they rejected the descriptions of Carcass's music on this album being grindcore. While Owen acknowledges its death metal characteristics, both he and Walker expressed that they are more inclined towards calling their music on this album "progressive".

-Tracklist:

Side A:
1. Inpropagation     07:07
2. Corporal Jigsore Quandary     05:48
3. Symposium of Sickness     06:56
4. Pedigree Butchery     05:16

Side B:
5. Incarnated Solvent Abuse     05:00
6. Carneous Cacoffiny     06:43
7. Lavaging Expectorate of Lysergide Composition     04:03
8. Forensic Clinicism / The Sanguine Article     07:10

-Line up:

• Jeff Walker: Bass, Vocals, Lyrics
• Michael Amott: Guitars, Vocals (additional), Songwriting (tracks 2, 5)
• Bill Steer: Guitars, Vocals, Songwriting (tracks 1, 2, 4-8)
• Ken Owen: Drums, Vocals (additional), Songwriting (tracks 1-3).

 

Label: Earache Records.

 

 Recorded at Amazon Studios, Simonswood, UK.

 

 Mixed by Carcass & Colin Richardson.
Photography: Ian Tilton.
Producer: Colin Richardson.

 

Sepultura - Chaos A.D. (1993)

 

The band considered a number of producers, including avant-garde jazz composer John Zorn and Al Jourgensen of industrial metal pioneers Ministry. They ultimately chose Andy Wallace, who had previously mixed Arise. Sepultura wanted isolation, and for that Andy Wallace suggested Rockfield Studios, located in South Wales.

"Kaiowas" was recorded live among the ruins of the medieval castle of Chepstow. It was an entirely acoustic track, with Andreas Kisser and Max Cavalera on the guitars and brother-drummer Igor Cavalera and bassist Paulo Jr. handling the percussion duties. When they recorded "Kaiowas", the quartet never even considered playing the track live, because they thought it would be too difficult to recreate the drumming on stage. They changed their minds after seeing a video of the American band Neurosis: "We saw in that live video that the Neurosis guys put down their guitars and everybody started to play the drums on stage", lead guitarist Andreas remembers. "We decided to try the same thing. We rehearsed it once and it was wonderful. We haven't stopped playing the song live since.

During Chaos A.D. recording sessions, Sepultura recorded a number of covers: "The Hunt", from New Model Army, "Polícia", from Titãs, "Inhuman Nature", from the American hardcore punk band Final Conflict, and "Crucificados pelo Sistema", from Brazilian Ratos de Porão. Igor, a New Model Army fan, convinced the other band members to include "The Hunt" on the record. Paulo joked that the money of the LP would go straight to new dentures for Justin Sullivan, the toothless singer of New Model Army. The latter 3 covers would be included as B-sides and also on the compilation Blood-Rooted. "Polícia" is also included as a bonus track on the Brazilian edition of the album.
Musical style

Out of the boredom of playing the Arise songs for two years straight and concerned about the threat of musically stagnating, Sepultura pushed the envelope on Chaos A.D. The first track, "Refuse/Resist", revealed the band's new musical direction: slower, with more emphasis on groove than speed. The song starts with the heartbeat of Max's then-unborn first son, Zyon, followed by some Afro-Brazilian drumming reminiscent of Salvador, Bahia samba-reggae group Olodum. About the track's introductory guitar riff, Max acknowledged that it "could have been created by a death metal band." Chaos A.D. was their first record to utilize some lower guitar tunings. Half of the songs in the album are tuned down to D standard, except for "Kaiowas" which is in drop C# tuning.

Diversity was the key to Chaos A.D., revealed Max Cavalera. "Biotech Is Godzilla" was "pure hardcore", according to the elder Cavalera. "Nomad", with its characteristically slow riffs, was described by lead guitarist Andreas Kisser as their answer to Metallica's "Sad but True". The album also featured Sepultura's first all-acoustic incursion, "Kaiowas". "It's like a mixture of Led Zeppelin, Sonic Youth and Olodum", said Max of that particular song. Dazed & Confused magazine stated the album "signalled a move away from the Sepultura's thrash roots, focusing on slower, industrial grooves." In the book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists, author Joel McIver stated the album showed a "movement away from extreme metal to a more punk sound" with a stronger focus on "feel and groove". McIver went on to state that the album showed the first signs of the groove metal genre that Sepultura would apply by the mid-1990s. In Ian Christe's book Sound of the Beast, he credits Chaos A.D., along with American heavy metal band Pantera for developing the death metal-influenced music of groove metal that would later influence other artists in the 90s.

-Tracklist:

Side A:
1. Refuse/Resist     03:19
2. Territory     04:47
3. Slave New World     02:54
4. Amen     04:27
5. Kaiowas     03:43
6. Propaganda     03:32

Side B:
7. Biotech Is Godzilla     01:52
8. Nomad     04:58
9. We Who Are Not as Others     03:42
10. Manifest     04:46
11. The Hunt (New Model Army cover)     03:59
12. Clenched Fist     04:57

 

-Line up:

• Max Cavalera : Vocals, guitars (rhythm, acoustic)
• Andreas Kisser : Guitars (lead, 12-string acoustic), viola caipira
• Paulo Jr. : Bass, floor tom
• Igor Cavalera : Drums, percussion.

 

 

 

Label: Roadrunner Records.

Includes an inner sleeve with lyrics & credits.
"The Hunt" originally performed by New Model Army.
Recorded at Rockfield Studios, S. Wales, England.
"Kaiowas" recorded at Chepstow Castle, S. Wales, England.
Mixed at The Wool Hall Recording Studios, Bath, England.
Mastered at Sterling Sound, New York, NY. 

 Management by Gloria Cavalera, Oasis Management.

Mastered by George Marino.

 Cover: Michael R. Whelan.

 The intro to Refuse/Resist is an in utero recording of Zyon Cavalera's heartbeat.
 Chaos A.D. means Chaos Anno Domini. 

 Acoustic version of Kaiowas, recorded live at MTV studios was released only on MTV's Headbanger's Ball 1995 compilation under the name Kaiowas (Para MTVE Most Wanted) (03:08).

  Kaiowas is inspired by a Brazilian Indian tribe called Kaiowas who lived in the rain forest. 

The original version included a hidden bonus at the end of Clenched Fist in the form of laughter outtakes from We Who Are Not as Others, increasing the length of track 12 to 8:01.

An American pressing on Epic separates the laughter outtakes to a 13th track lasting 2:01.

 
 

The Last Twilight - Final Holocaust: The River of Christian Blood [demo] (2004)

 

The Last Twilight was born as an entity in MMIII with the aim of announcing the apocryphal revelations, spreading the seeds of unholy chaos and promoting the beginning of the tribulationist era.

Discography:

- In the Roar of the Battle [Demo] (2003)
- Final Holocaust: The River of Christian Blood [Demo] (2004)
- Morbid Path [EP] (2005)
- Hell Bestial Conjuration [Split] (2007)
- Unholy Terror Assault [Live](2008)
- Eternal Tribulation [EP] (2010)
- La Octava Copa de Ira (2011)
- XI et Ω [Video] (2014).

 

 

-Tracklist:

1. Christian Massacre     01:54
2. The Black Knight     02:30
3. Call of the Abyss     01:03
4. The Last Twilight     01:32
5. Behind the Infernal Gate   03:22
6. The Fight for Satan's Empire   02:31

 

-Line up: 

- Todesking: Guitars, drum programming
- Blunier: Vocals, guitars
- Mordher: Bass.

Label: Final Embrace Records.

Recorded at Speedy Songs Studios at the beginning of 2004.

 

Tankard - Alien [EP] (1989)

 

The story of Tankard is an exceptional one: the Thrash Metal force from Frankfurt, Germany is around since the early 80s already, spearheading a wave of German Thrash bands who became successful worldwide (Kreator, Destruction, Sodom a.o.). And while a lot of other bands struggled, split up or came back with reunions, Tankard never had these problems. They have always been there.

And they kept their worldwide fanbase for all these years, delivering one strong album after another. When you think of beer and Thrash Metal the name Tankard is the first that will pop up for sure.

Founded in 1982 in Frankfurt, Germany their first sign of life was recorded in 1986 and indicated that not only the Ruhr district is the home of the growing German thrash metal scene. 

At first they were known under the names Avenger and Vortex before settling on Tankard in 1983.

Formed in 1982 by three classmates, bassist Andreas "Gerre" Geremia, guitarist Axel Katzmann and vocalist Frank Thorwarth. Thorwarth and Gerre soon switched roles; at the same time the trio added drummer Oliver Werner and second guitarist Bernhard Rapprich.

The band chose their name after looking through a dictionary and seeing a word defined as "beer mug."

Their earliest written song was called "Ray Death", a song about nuclear war and their first gig was played in a local classroom in 1983. As drinking alcohol in the school was banned, they smuggled their beer in with milk cartons. Soon after, Bernhard Rapprich left the band as his conservative father did not want him "hanging around with a bunch of drunks" and he was replaced by Andy Bulgaropoulos.

With the lineup now stabilised, the band released their first demo, titled Heavy Metal Vanguard, in 1984. After this, the band toured with fellow German thrashers Sodom. SPV were interested in signing both bands, but allegedly SPV retracted a deal after seeing the band perform live. In 1985 they released a second demo, Alcoholic Metal, which cemented their thrash metal style and lyrical themes. Both of these demos were very popular in the underground, and on the strength of this demo they signed with Noise Records. The eight-track demo also features rough versions of four songs that would later appear on their debut album, Zombie Attack.

Zombie Attack was released in July 1986. In October 1987 their sophomore album, Chemical Invasion, was released, with the album art being the first of eight done for the band by artist Sebastian Krüger, followed a year later by The Morning After. Both of these albums were produced by Harris Johns, who would go on to produce all of the band's albums up to 2000. However, shortly after the release of compilation Hair of the Dog, original drummer Oliver Werner quit the band to be replaced by Arnulf Tunn, and the band released three albums with this lineup: The Meaning of Life, Stone Cold Sober and Two-Faced. They also recorded the live album Fat, Ugly and Live during this time. This lineup then folded when Tunn was replaced by Olaf Zissel, who remains in the band to this day, in May 1994 and the next year founding member Katzmann was forced to leave due to osteoarthritis in the wrist. That year the band released The Tankard, which is widely viewed as a very good album by fans and critics alike, and is their final album with Noise.

-Tracklist:

Side A:
1. Alien     03:09
2. 666 Packs     04:53

Side B:
3. Live to Dive     03:09
4. Remedy (Rose Tattoo cover)     02:49
5. (Empty) Tankard     04:43

 

-Line up:

❌ Gerre: Vocals
❌ Axel Katzmann: Guitars
❌ Andy Boulgaropoulos: Guitars
❌ Frank Thorwarth: Bass
❌Oliver Werner: Drums.

Label: Noise Records.

 

 Re-released together with "The Morning After" in 2005.

Backing vocals performed by Midas Touch.

 

 Recorded at MusicLab/Berlin in August 88 & January 89.

Mixed at MusicLab/Berlin in January 89 by Harris John & Tankard.

 

 Cover artwork: Becker-Derouet, Sebastian Krüger.

 

 "Remedy" originally performed by Rose Tattoo.

Issued with a printed inner sleeve including lyrics on one side, and tour dates on the other. Also includes a merchandise insert.