Halloween Goodies

So Halloween is upon us once again. As a Romanian, it means next to nothing for me, but any holiday that celebrates creepy shit with enormous quantities of alcohol is fine by me. I wasn't going to post anything to mark the occasion - in fact, I was planning on doing some homework LOL NERD - but thanks to some nice people putting in some effort and allowing me to leech off their work, we are going to celebrate Halloween on TZEEEAC after all.

How? With great music, obviously. Our special Halloween features two awesome mixtapes full of horrific, atmospheric music to chase away the ghouls and ghosts and one free EP from a sweet band we've talked about before. I've listened to all of these and I can think of no better soundtracks for Halloween. Here they are!

Headcheese's Halloween Mixtape - tunes to drink pumpkin vodka in the darkness to.

Side Horror

INTRO: The Shining OST - Rocky Mountains

01. Texas Chain Saw Massacre' Soundtrack (1974) - Opening Titles

02. Electric Wizard - Night of the Shape

03. Anima Morte - He Who Dwells in Darkness

04. Satan's Satyrs - Belly Dancer's Delight

05. MurkRat - I, Rodent

06. Abysmal Grief - Creatures from the Grave

07. Goblin - Tenebre theme

08. Paul Roland - Nosferatu

09. Sister Irene O'Connor - Fire of Gods Love

10. Beherit - Sadomatic Rites

11. Necrophagia - The Fog

12. Phantasm Theme Song

13. Entombed - Hellraiser

Side Dread

INTERMISSION: Acid Witch - Satanic Faith

01. The Omen OST - Ave Satani

02. Morbosidad - Altar de Sangre Negra

03. Blood Freak - Awakening The Beast

04. Impetigo - Unadultered Brutality

05. Necrophagia - The Divine Art of Torture

06. Faustcoven - At Night They Rise From Below The Earth

07. Roky Erickson - Night of the Vampire

08. Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Hear Voices

09. Urfaust - Verflucht das Blenden der Erscheinung

10. Paul Chain Violet Theatre - Occultism

11. Sam Gopal - Season of the Witch

12. Paul Roland - Cthulhu

13. Death Breath - Cthulhu Fhtagn

OUTRO: Fabio Frizzi - The Beyond: Voci Dal Nulla

PART 1 -> http://depositfiles.com/files/swjku4s2l

PART 2 -> http://depositfiles.com/files/bqjo8uerf

OMINOUS ULULATIONS Halloween Mixtape

DJ Radu Reckless bringing you a savory platter of splatter to start off your Samhain Feast! Hold on tight to your Silver Key as you travel to the land of the OMINOUS ULULATIONS.

Side SHRIEK

INTRO Jay Chattaway - Maniac's Theme (Main Titles)
1. TSOL - Code Blue
2. UK Decay - Werewolf
3. Burning Image - Gargoyles
4. Rudimentary Peni - Radio Schizo
5. The Birthday Party - Dull Day
6. 1919 - Cry Wolf
7. 45 Grave - Evil
8. The Coffinshakers - Halloween
9. The Soft Moon - Tiny Spiders
10. The Southern Death Cult - Vivisection
11. Part 1 - Ghost
12. The Cure - 100 Years
13. Mighty Sphincter - Hitler Painted Roses
OUTRO Coil - The Golden Section

http://dl.transfer.ro/Shriek-transfer_ro-25oct-920299.rar

OR

http://depositfiles.com/files/1i83sneh0


Side HEARSE

INTRO John Zorn - Necronomicon: Conjurations
1. Grave Miasma - Ritual Lair
2. Death SS - Vampire
3. Sempiternal Deathreign - Creep-O-Rama
4. Jacula - Trumphatus Sad
5. Muknal - Cruciation
6. Black Hole - Blind Men and Occult Forces
7. Grotesque - Incantation
8. Mortuary Drape - My Soul - Primordial
9. Impetuous Ritual - Ceremonial Disembowelment
10. Paul Chain Violet Theatre - In the Darkness
11. Innsmouth - Thrice Blessed Shub-Niggurath
12. Abysmal Grief - The Samhain Feast
13. Grave Upheaval - Impetuous Black Hunger
OUTRO Camille Saint-Saens - Danse Macabre

http://dl.transfer.ro/Hearse-transfer_ro-28oct-bd9cee.rar

OR

http://depositfiles.com/files/72hcjmxmn


What's that? Want more? Well here's a list of classic cuts that no Halloween should be without!

1. Aphrodite's Child - The Four Horsemen
2. Zemial - Full Moon Necrophilia
3. Hellwitch - Nosferatu
4. The Conspirators of the Occult - The Thing on the Doorstep
5. Black Sabbath - Gypsy
6. Coven - Black Sabbath
7. Black Widow - Come to the Sabbat
8. Candlemass - Bewitched
9. Reverend Bizarre - Doom Over The World
10. Cathedral - Hopkins
11. Deadbolt - Hank Watson Stalks The Earth
12. Kadavar - Creature of the Demon
13. Current 93 - Lucifer Over London

http://dl.transfer.ro/Cuts-transfer_ro-28oct-780ff6.rar

OR

http://depositfiles.com/files/t1ue01mxe

Gore Obsessed - Halloween Massacre 2012 EP

1. I, Zombi
2. Gut Munching Cannibal
3. Sacrificial Zombie (Nunslaughter Cover)
4. You're Old (Fuck You) (Anal Cunt Cover)
5. Sleaze-O-Rama (Bonus Track)


Listen / Download

Haiduk - Spellbook (2012)

Starting your day with some great metal is always nice, and it's even nicer when said metal comes directly into your email inbox. That's right, this is another music submission, this time from Haiduk, a solo-project of Luka Milojika from Calgary, Canada.

Haiduk's specialty is super fast, shred-intensive death/thrash metal and there's a metric fuckton of that to be found on his debut album, Spellbook. Each of the album's 10 songs is a blistering storm of raw thrashing death metal that practically begs you to headbang until you pass out from exaustion. The album just blasts off with no atmospheric keyboard intros or whatever - it's straight up thrashing from the get-go and it doesn't take any breaks. Luka's guitar skills are impressive indeed, as he shreds away and creates whirlwinds of sweet, sharp riffs that could be used to strip paint off of decomissioned tanks. As good as the guitar parts are, though, what the album lacks in is drumming and vocals. The drumming bit is somewhat understandable - drum machines aren't notorious for sounding realistic - but the lack of vocals stumps me, because this guy's got a pretty nice growl. Why he decided to use it so scarcely remains a mistery.

All in all, Spellbook sounds like a technical demo to display a guitarist's proficiency. Right now, Haiduk doesn't have what it takes to become a name that makes people cower in fear. I would be very interested to see him recruit and form a proper band around him, with a real drummer and a hulking beast of a vocalist, to give the music the push it needs and help it reach its true potential. Spellbook is a diamond in the rough but, with the right craftsmen, I think it could turn into a pretty kickass band. This doesn't mean I haven't been listening to it every day for the past week, though. It's pretty addictive.

http://www.facebook.com/haidukmetal

Uaral - Sounds of Pain... (2005)

Adding to this year's GETY awards is yet another band (a duo, actually) I've just come upon (really, less than an hour ago). Hailing from Chile and playing a mind-fuckery of part acoustic/part doom metal, they have taken away all my capacity for writing something intelligible to share with y'all. 

So I just want to point you in the general direction, one in which guttural beast-like vocals are put over eccentric acoustic guitars in ways I never thought it was possible, where manly sobbing and paper tearing is right at home and where distortion and solos are rarely heard, but when they appear, well...

That's it. I swear, I am not capable of anything else. Please, just listen to this song.

Bloc Party - Four (2012)

I'm going to admit it, I wasn't a big fan of Bloc Party until I heard this record. Sure, 2004's Silent Alarm, their debut album, was pretty cool. Catchy, fast-paced, indie as fuck, these guys really knew what they were doing. But I just didn't enjoy it that much.

After Silent Alarm, they started experimenting - pretentious term used for bands that start adding electronic stuff to their music until it starts putting off the fanbase. I mean yeah, experimentation is almost always a good idea, but I don't think they did it that well on Intimacy, where the guitar riffs were drenched in synth riffs and it was all quite disappointing. After Intimacy, they announced a hiatus, and four years later they released...well...Four.

This beast of a record is the perfect example of how a band can go back on track after fucking up. Just to make sure, they added a bit of everything. At one point they sound like Foo Fighters. Then it's like your typical indie-rock band that sings about love. At some other point they sound like a stoner rock band gone wild. Know what I mean? Fast-paced drumming, fabulous guitar riffs, acoustic bits and fucking epic vocal delivery is what this record is all about. And fuck you, Maddox.

Yes, I said it. Kele Okereke is one awesome motherfucker, and his singing skills are amazing. Great job, man.

Overall, this album is really good and I recommend it to you indie posers. Props to Bloc Party for regaining their awesomeness. Welcome back, fuckers.

Muse - The 2nd Law (2012)

Oh my fucking god, what a piece of shit this album is. I’m sorry, but I can’t help myself, I hate Muse and everything that they stand for. It’s just depressing seeing 70 % of music listeners buying their every single album and attending every concert, supporting their crusade for total blandness and useless noise. I know I’m repeating myself like an old record, and I realize that you’re sick of my constant blabbering.  But hey, you know what? I don’t give a fuck. They suck. Big time. So here’s yet another hate article dedicated to my eternal arch nemesis.

The 2^nd Law is, by far, their most ridiculous attempt at sounding… you know, like a good band. With this new record, Muse managed to somehow escape from the universe of mediocrity where they’ve been lurking for what looks like to have been a fucking eternity and reach Michael Bayesque proportions of bad taste. It’s like a really, really, really crappy action movie filled with gratuitous violence, sports cars, painfully unfunny yo momma jokes, out of place pop-culture/media/tabloid references and obscenely objectified dumb party bimbos for horny 13 year old boys.  And for hell’s sake, it isn’t even the kind of thing for which you’d have to shut your brain off to fully enjoy its ‘’so bad that it’s good’’ charm. No, it’s insulting and demeaning to intelligent people in particular and music in general. Now, bear in mind, I didn’t make that comparison to the excruciating decline in quality of contemporary  Hollywood productions just for the sake of it -  I always believed that all forms of entertainment are somehow linked to each other. For example, an untalented movie director will definitely not put good tracks on his movie’s soundtrack, for obvious reasons. 

 

Wooooa duuuude, like, check out the paint-job on that car, man!

Consequently, Muse couldn’t help themselves but adopt the fine rhythms of dubstep for their new album, because why the hell not, it’s popular, every kid goes crazy while that musical diahreea is playing on the background, so it must be good, right? Well, no. It’s not. Frankly, even I was surprised by this bold move.  I knew they sold their souls both to the Devil of Bad Music and Daedric Prince of Selling Out a long time ago, but fuuuuuuuuuck me. This is the death of Ned Stark kind of stuff.  The dubstep element sounds out of place even for a band like Muse, who has mastered the art of whoring to every popular trend that’s been around for more than 5 seconds. I don’t care if they used instruments to recreate the dubstep sound – it sounds horrible and they should be ashamed of themselves. 

 Not that they’ve done the ‘’progressive rock’’ thing better. It’s still as bombastic as before, and even more.  Survival sounds like an early scratch of a Queen track, Supremacy is so repetitive that I checked my winamp if I didin’t accidentally download only a certain portion of the song that I’ve put on repeat, and Animals bored the hell out of me. I’m not sure if I was really bored or if I suffered the musical equivalent of a lobotomy but nevertheless, my life will never be the same. Oh, and let’s not forget about their now classic piano oriented ballads… which I will totally not talk about, because I’ve ran out of inventive ways to bash them.  4443242fdakfdsojfhsho8fhs98f4298y4yf3yf3.

 

Oh,  there’s also that ‘’we’re all gonna be dead blahblahblah nuclear wasteland yadda yadda Illuminati is watching you masturbating yodabadoo’’ nonsense that Matthew Bellamy has always used as an excuse to express his political views and yell mobilizing slogans in order to lead the people towards a revolution against the corrupt  governments who have been ruthlessly oppressing the people and violating their rights. A pretty nice thing coming from an upper class Caucasian male, huh? He understands us, man. When the time comes, be sure he’ll be joining our noble cause. Fuck you.     

So what’s more to say but avoid The 2^nd Law like it’s the Devil, and Muse like they’re your annoying cousin who constantly spams your Facebook news feeds with their terrible music created in Fruityloops.

Encoffination - Elegant Funerals for the Unknown Dead (2012)

I've posted about this on TZEEEAC's Facebook page, but all of you primitive, luddite, behind the times folk need to hear this too. Encoffination have just released a new EP and it's fucking great. If  you're not familiar with them, all you need to know is that it's funeral doom/death metal and that the vocals sound like a huge granite slab being dragged across a concrete floor.  

Eyes and Teeth - MIND CONTROL (2012)

So, uh, this thing came in the mail about a month ago. I've been putting off writing about it, but I feel like a total jerk and decided to JUST DO IT.

The reason why I've been having a hard time with this is because it's really difficult trying to describe this music. I'm not the most versed electronica-fan in the world, so this is just impossible for me. Anyway, Eyes and Teeth is the musical alter-ego of Matthew Jaworski. The music is some sort of weird, schizofrenic electronic mash-up of a buttload of different sounds, beats and vocal samples that doesn't really ever go anywhere. It's just sort of... there. It's like every song on this album is a microcosmos which you observe under the microscope. Every song is different than the last, yet they're somehow related. Warped out vocals move alongside keyboard notes and simple beats and nothing makes sense. It all sounds like a nightmarish fever dream - you know, the awful ones when you dream the same thing over and over again throughout the night.

The closest musical comparison I can make is the general idea of PUSSIUSIC - only without the pornographic samples - mixed with the paranoid dementia of Gigantic Brain. Except Eyes and Teeth doesn't deal with alien genocide and there is no hyperblasting to be found.

That's it, I'm done. I'm sorry, Matthew, but I don't know what else to say. I am so out of my element, it's crazy. Maybe this was the whole point - to confront me with something unimaginable, like some twisted musical version of Saw. If this is the case, then kudos to you. I feel lost and confused. Thanks for being a bro and for reading our blog, though.

HARRY POTTER HATE MACHINE

RIP The Living Doorway :(

Today is a sad day. The internet's best death metal/skateboarding/dog photos/fitness blog has finally succumbed at the hands of the DMCA. I'm going to spend the rest of the day eating and crying in the memory of the blog that has inspired and continues to inspire TZEEEAC. Hopefully, The Living Doorway will come back, stronger and better than ever before. Until then...

Good night, sweet prince!

ATHENS METAL BLOWOUT: Rotting Christ / Necromantia / Nocternity / Dead Congregation / Embrace of Thorns / Necrovorous / Resurgency / Inveracity / Birth of Depravity / Planet of Zeus

Pic taken at Meteora monastery aka TOTAL FUKKIN DEATH

Since I will be (hopefully) living in Greece at least until October 2013, I figured I'd be a diligent young man and brush up on my Greek metal knowledge - when I'm not busy studying operations management, obviously. As I was walking to school a few days ago, I was listening to Resurgency's False Enlightment and I was pretty much digging it, but wasn't having any other thoughts. After coming home, I went on the Googles and what do you know? Resurgency hailed from Athens. This sparked my interest so I did a quick search on Encyclopedia Metallum for more Athens-based bands and was surprised to find that quite a few bands I liked were from the glorious Greek capital city. Hence, this article. After Zulu's massive soul wandering (great read, bro!), I thought it would be nice to wash it off with some horrific Greek metal.

Sounds good? Great, we'll get started in a moment. Not before letting you know that, as you may suspect, one city can only host so many talented individuals with a total distaste for life and gods. Thus, many of these bands share one or more common members and I will be happy to point out the relationships between them. Also, I am going to pick out an album from each band to feature and, if you like what you hear, it'll be your job to dig for more. GO!

Rotting Christ - Triarchy of the Lost Lovers (1996)

Well, let's get the obvious out of the way. Rotting Christ are one of Greece's premier metal exports and Sakis Tollis and his crew have definitely made a name for themselves, playing great black metal and trucking on since 1987 to present. They've shared members with the mighty Varathron (sadly, they're not from Athens, so I couldn't include them in this post) and Necromantia. I've picked Triarchy of the Lost Lovers because I can't deny the massive appeal tracks like King of a Stellar War, Archon or Snowing Still have. Just brilliant. 

Necromantia - Crossing the Fiery Path (1993)

Necromantia are another cult band from the 90s black metal Hellenic scene. They are best known for using an 8-string bass instead of a guitar, giving their songs a thick extra layer of heaviness. Plus, I still can't get over that yellow goth Spiderman vampire dude with a goatee. He's fucking hilarious. 

Nocternity - Onyx (2003)

Nocternity are responsible for one of my all-time favorite cover artworks. EVER. I fucking love this armor clad, sword-wielding warrior with his awesome helmet. They've used him on several of their albums and I love it every time. Onyx is a stormy, emotional album that's heavily inspired by Burzum's early work. Fuzzy, ambient guitar riffs float and engulf you while the simplistic drumming conveys a solemn atmosphere that's easy to get lost into. Also, these guys are total dorks, as evidenced by the fact that they have a song called Valyrian Steel (Blood of the Dragon) that's about Daenerys Targaryen. Oh, and one of the guitarists calls himself Khal Drogo. LOL. Game of Thrones bros 4 lyfe!! xoxoxo

Nocternity have shared members in the past with Varathron, Limbonic Art and Dead Congregation.

Speaking of which...

Dead Congregation - Graves of the Archangels (2008)

Dead Congregation are one of the best Greek bands around, and that's not just my opinion - it's general consensus. Graves of the Archangels is an insanely heavy masterpiece of swirling doom/death riffs and thundering drumming. The guitars have a really chunky tone which creates a dense, suffocating atmosphere in conjunction with the low growling vocals. Dead Congregations's bassist and drummer also play in Inveracity and guitarist/vocalist A.V. plays in Embrace of Thorns. Pretty sweet incestuous relationships here, if you ask me. 

Still, 4 years have passed since Graves of the Archangels. It's a long time and I really hope these guys put forth some new material. One album is too little material for such a great band. 

Embrace of Thorns - Praying for Absolution (2011)

You only really need to see this band's logo and artwork to get a sense of the kind of music they play. If I tell you that they share the same label as Dead Congregation, namely Nuclear War Now! Productions, it all becomes clear. Or rather, murky and horrific. Embrace of Thorns are one of my favorite bands from NWN's roster and their primitive, occult and thick brand of blackened death metal satisfies me in ways I thought were unimaginable. They share band members with Necrovorous, Dead Congregation and Resurgency and they've adopted stage names like Archfiend DevilPig, Necromancer666 aka Christ Molester or Nuctemeron Bestial Ravisher of the Divine Harmony. SICK NAMES, BROS! 

I might give these guys an email and ask them if they still have some shirts available for purchase. They slay.

Necrovorous - Abhorrent Decay (2009)

This band is sort of a new find, but I really like them. I'm usually not the kind of guy who constantly says ”Yeah, this album is pretty good, but the demo was better”, but in the case of Necrovorous, this statement holds true. Their full-length album Funeral for the Sane is pretty good, but it doesn't hold a candle to the band's previous output. If you're into groovy, diseased, foul Autopsy-worship, step right up and have some fucking oldschool death metal. This material is from a split with Meathole Infection and it kills, but I've  been told that their early demos are the shit, too. I haven't been able to find any of them on the internets, unfortunately. The band features members of Embrace of Thorns and Resurgency and it churns out some totally putrid songs. Highly recommended. 

Resurgency - False Enlightenment (2012)

Resurgency (the band I mentioned at the beginning of this post, for you ADD-types) have released their first album, False Enlightenment, this summer. It's a pretty enjoyable record, conjuring some devastating oldschool death metal sounds that mix brutality with melody and offering enough of a reason to bang your head. The production is pretty clean, the songwriting is good, the riffing is heavy and varied, the drumming is intense and dynamic and the vocals are pretty much spot on. Also, I love the creamy colors on the cover. 

Inveracity - Extermination of Millions (2007)

I guess only playing cavernous, chaotic death metal becomes too much to handle at some point, which is why you need to shut off your brain every once in a while and go to something a bit more fun. Cue Inveracity, a band featuring three members from Dead Congregation who only focuses on churning out sick-ass brutal death metal tunes. It's certainly a departure in sound from the swirling mass of unearthly chaos these guys usually play, but you won't find me complaining. In fact, Extermination of Millions is a pretty solid brutal death metal record, so if you're into heavy chugging, blastbeats and vocals that sound like a dozen chainsaws inside a cement tumbler, go right ahead and give this a try. 

Birth of Depravity - The Coming of the Ineffable (2012)

Next up we have another slamming brutal death metal band called Birth of Depravity. I'm going to be honest here and admit that I have no idea what the sing about. I don't understand any of their lyrics, but I can only assume they deal with disease, sickness, aliens impregnating humans, genital mutilation and so forth. Still, The Coming of the Ineffable is a pretty cool album, despite the rather thin production. I wish there was more meat on those guitars. Oh well. 

Planet of Zeus - Macho Libre (2011)

FINALLY, there's Planet of Zeus, a totally sweet band who plays stoner/southern rock in the vein of Clutch, Orange Goblin, Unida or Hermano. Macho Libre is the soundtrack of a crazy, dangerous, alcohol-fueled race through the desert - the insanely catchy riffs, blazing solos, soaring vocals and reckless drumming turn every song into a stunning party anthem. My only gripe with this album is that the vocalist sometimes uses a Southern accent, trying to sound like a redneck car mechanic or something, which is unnecessary and annoying. Other than that, 9/10 would bang my head. I'll be seeing them live tomorrow night, along with some metalcore bands I've never heard of. Should be a fun night.

This is it, for the time being. Hopefully we can agree that there's a shitload of amazing metal coming from Athens and we can look with hope to the future. A future where each of these bands keeps on truckin' and continues to insult the tastes of normal people with their horrifying music. Comments and inane thoughts are welcome, but I probably won't be reading them. I did promise a massive junk food post, after all.

Valerinne - Kunstformen der natur (2012)

Well oh well, I fucking knew this day would come. In my brief career as an internet music critic, I’ve written about almost every genre possible (including some ridiculously obscure ones, like this gipsy-electro-jazz-dubstep monstrosity). Except post-rock. Yep, this is my milestone. My Communion.  My fucking Bar Mitzvah.  

Valerinne is a post-rock/alternative band hailing from Bucharest, Romania, which apparently is the place where all the good music is born. It would be really easy for me to say that it’s a basic post-rock record and call it a day,  but it isn’t , because it takes from so many genres that It’s really hard to label it. Their debut album, Kunstformen der Natur, contains hints of alternative, indie, electronic music an even stoner rock. I might be wrong about the latter, but my ignorance dictates that every piece of music that trips the fuck out me is to be associated with stoner, so lets just leave it at that.

Though lacking lyrics (obviously), the songs are very expressive and they burst of countless negative emotions, like depression, desperation and loneliness. It’s  like walking alone through an endless nuclear wasteland, contemplating on the destruction surrounding you and being torn by a ruthless feeling of anxiety.  More so, Kunstformen der Natur has the quality of sucking you in its grim universe, making you realize the futility of life and how fragile it really is. One misplaced step and bam, it’s over. Though this is the very purpose of post-rock  - expressing various things and sending a strong message without using lyrics- I still find it  admirable,  like it’s a new, revolutionary idea.  I can’t even imagine the effort and hours post-rock bands have to invest in order to express themselves purely by sound.

Further on, the instrumental work is top notch, like it should be, considering that the instrumentals are the very basis of this genre.  The guitar, drums and bass and very well glued together, making for some ridiculously natural, unpredictable and complex song-progressions. Not once did my false superior, know-how-this-song-will-progress attitude got bashed in its face by a sudden change of rhythm.  Now, just to be clear, this is not your standard mellow and slow post-rock album;  no,  the band goes craaaazy right after the song intros (which are like over 8 minutes long, by the way), unlike a few famous post-rock bands, which bore the hell out of me (Ok, I get how post-rock  music works, but DUDES, holding a single chord for 8 minutes doesn’t make your music special  or elitist). But put Valerinne on Wembley stadium, add some cool lighting effects and they’re ready to rock your world. Colossal guitar solos accompanied by killer riffs, hypnotic drumming, mesmerizing bass lines and deep, philosophical lyri--- Oh, wait. Shit.

In conclusion, there’s not really anything more to say about it because it’s more of a cerebral album rather than a tangible one.  Be sure to check it out, otherwise you’ll be missing on one hell of an experience. 

http://valerinne.bandcamp.com

http://valerinne.tumblr.com

http://www.facebook.com/valerinneofficial

http://www.asiluum.com