Avenged Sevenfold - Waking the Fallen

It's been ten years since the release of this beast (and just a little less since I got into this band) and I feel it's necessary to bring it up here on Tzeeeac, so the total of 0.0005% maggotheads that don't know what this is about have a chance to redeem themselves and sacrifice a virgin on the altar of A7X.

While I don't care much for their other LP's (maybe just a tiny bit for City of Evil), I can't but only recognize how 'Waking the Fallen' has stood the test of time and became one of the best metal albums to hit the record stores in the last decade.

Rejoice, minions, and may you bang you heads until they compulsively implode!

Relentless reveals new album 'Souls of Charon'

Newly formed Heavy/Doom Metal band RELENTLESS will release their debut album "Souls of Charon" via Do Or Die Records sometime in the following couple of weeks. Meanwhile, you better familiarize yourself with how they sound with a brand new promo video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aWHYEnQLr90

Infectious, right?

And a complete tracklist:

1. Trapped Underground
2. Better off Dead
3. United By Darkness
4. Final Wishes
5. Forever Damned
6. Souls of Charon

I’m happy to say it sounds stupidly amazing and I cannot wait to indulge in the whole pie. For more info check their facebook page or the DoOrDieRecords page.

Rock on!

About ELECTRIC WIZARD

Well, I have descended to talk a little about heavy overlords Electric Wizard's popularity. They have stretched out riffs, some not quite good, some eerie vocals and occult themes.. kind of a deja vu when it comes to metal... But oh they are so awesome, not only for being the best at this shit, but for being the first to do this!

Don't get me wrong, I am an Electric Wizard fan and have been for quite some time, precisely, since I first listened to "Night Of The Shape" back in 2007 and was completely blown away, it was the creepiest shit I have ever heard. And yes, they might actually be the heaviest band I know, and that is something very admirable (No, I don't listen to Sunn O))), thank you very much ). But there's something that bothers me, Electric Wizard have a damn huge fanbase, tens of thousands of people know about EW only on facebook, and I'm cool with the fact that they are popular, but they're not THAT good, seriously. And the thing that bothers me is that most of their fans are silly stoners, that use them the same way we use Pornhub, because it pleasures us in that dirty, dirty way.

For example, "Dopethrone" and "Funerapolis" are EW's most popular songs, they're just an orgy of heavy riffs and whatnot, and both have over one milion views on Youtube, yet this band has waaaay better songs, that are more awesome riffs and creativeness, and less drone-doom-bass-420, but are leeeeesss popular. So it's pretty obvious which kind of fans are dominating here. Let's compare "Funeralopolis" to, say, "Come To The Sabbath" by Mercyful Fate, the latter one has almost as many views (give or take a couple of hundred thousand views, what) and is one of the best heavy metal songs in history, it has all sorts of cool shit, includin maestro King Diamond's amazing vocals, yet the Electric Wizard song is just there so that silly silly stoners can get their kicks... it's a damn shame.

Tl;Dr: No, it's not about the popularity and mainstream-ness, just about quantity of fans over quality of fans.

One Man Metal (2012)

Maintaining the trend of writing about other stuff than strictly music on TZEEEAC (and Marco copying my every move the next day because he's an awful Italian scumbag), I've seen One Man Metal some weeks ago and I've woken up today at 6.30 thinking "Hey, maybe I could write about that!". I'm not sure how many people care about metal documentaries but what the hell, I've got nothing better to do.

One Man Metal is a three-part documentary presented by Vice and Noisey that centers on three reclusive black metal musicians who have never before appeared or talked in front of a camera, much less give detailed interviews about their work, creation process, early life and so an. As you may gather from the poster, these one-man bands are Leviathan, Striborg and Xasthur. That dude had to travel to Oakland, LA and fucking Tasmania in order to track down these solitary artists and get them to confess in front of the lens, so it was a pretty difficult effort to shoot this thing. At one point, the presenter mentions that he had to get a Leviathan tattoo at Jef Whitehead's (known as Wrest) tattoo shop so he'd agree to appear in the documentary, which was pretty funny.

Jef Whitehead / Wrest (Leviathan)

If you're into any of  these bands, you've probably always secretly wished to get to know the guys behind the music. Given the type of music they play, I don't think it'll come as a surprise to anyone that these dudes are pretty fucked-up, miserable, lonely human beings who loathe social contact and would rather just spend their time indoors, away from people. The most "normal" of the bunch would probably be Sin Nanna of Striborg, just because he mentions he has a wife and kids, but then he puts on corpsepaint and a cape and goes to the woods, where he starts screaming inside a candle-lit cave, which was goofy as all hell. So obviously you have to take One Man Metal with a big pinch of salt.

Sin Nanna (Striborg)

Aside from all the inherently funny black metal staples, I thought the documentary did a pretty good job on shedding some light on these obscure bands. There are plenty of stories about Wrest's childhood and teenage years (and also the reason why there will never be another Lurker of Chalice record, which blows, since I have hoped for a new album for the past 4 years) and a part where he complains that he sold a logo to a company for 50 bucks and that 20 years later they're not giving him millions of dollars. The guy from Striborg has an Australian accent that's just impossible to associate with black metal, but at least he seems to be an okay dude and not totally insufferable to be around and talk to, so I guess that's okay. There are lots of shots of him walking through the jungle, which is pretty metal. Scott Conner from Xasthur comes off as a really harmless but hopelessly depressed guy who just wants to be left alone and create his music in peace and solitude, and I can definitely respect that. There's one moment where a cat enters his apartment and he's like "Oh gosh!" and there's this glimpse of joy on his face that's really genuine, so I think that's a very nice shot. There are also insights into each of them's recording space, creative process, influences and so on, so there's plenty of technical details that you've probably been interested in knowing.

Scott Conner / Malefic (Xasthur)

The entire thing is shot in black-and-white and it's very nicely edited and put together, with well-chosen music and a well structured narrative that focuses entirely on the musicians, without any filler. So yeah, I would recommend this to anyone who has even a passing interest in black metal. It's a pretty interesting watch and it only lasts for 45 minutes, so there are definitely worse ways to spend this time. I am also going to watch Until the Light Takes Us these days, although I have the feeling it will not be as tight as this. If you know of any other documentaries that are worth checking out, let me know in the comments or whatever.

You can watch One Man Metal in its entirety on YouTube, starting with Part 1. Don't get too suicidal.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call Of Pripyat

When taking a break from my music, steampunk literature and artsy European cinematography, I enjoy the fine polygonal madness of videogames. It’s surely a deadly habit, because it contributed to my slow transformation from the handsome high –school quarterback to the chubby 19-year-old chain-smoking misanthrope that I am today. Anyway, since Chester had the guts to break the ice and post a videogame review,  I might as well do the same. It’s not that I admire my fellow critic wannabe to such an extent that I follow and copy his every move, but I felt the need to try something different. So here it is, folks. Hope you enjoy it and expect more randomness in the future, because I have some pretty good books I wanna share with ya guys.

I was in rare form.

 S.T.A.L.K.E.R., as a series, is a rare gem.  The first installment, Shadow of Chernobyl, was called by the videogame community a ‘’flawed masterpiece’’ : great setting,  intriguing storyline, a well crafted atmosphere and majestic post-apocalyptic landscapes, sadly overshadowed by the countless glitches and bugs, retarded enemy A.I.  and  klunky weapon mechanics.  I felt content with it, but not fully satisfied.  The second installment in the series, Clear Sky, fixed the afore mentioned issues but lacked story and depth, which was a real bummer for me because it basically exchanged one problem with another.  Then Call of Pripyat was released, and boy was I fucking happy with it.  

Call of Pripyat takes place in and around the deserted city of Pripyat, which was evacuated after the first explosion of the Cernobyl nuclear plant. Yep, you heard me right. During the epilogue of Clear Sky (which is a prequel to Shadow Of Cernobyl), we learn that a second explosion has occurred which turned the whole area surrounding the plant into an endless wasteland plagued by  aggressive mutants and dangerous anomalies which, oddly enough, spawn valuable highly-radioactive artifacts that are in high demand all around the world.  No one knows what actually happened, but no sooner than later, the newly born Zone quickly drew the attention of scientists, government and military officials and, the main focus of the games, the stalkers.  Every stalker has his own purpose of coming to this dangerous area, be it in search of adventure, to escape the authorities or to pursue their get rich fast schemes.   

Gotta pick up some milk on my way back home or my wife will kill me.

This time around  you play as Major Alexander Degtyarev, an agent for the Ukraine Security Service and, supposedly,  a former experienced stalker, explaining his above average knowledge of the Zone. You are sent undecover  to the plagued wasteland to investigate the dubious crashes of five STINGRAY military helicopters and find out what caused the said malfunctions.  At the start of the mission, you are dropped near a stalker camp with a basic stalker suit, a poorly maintained AK-47, a weak and ridiculous looking pistol which is as threatening as a chopstick-wielding midget and a few cartridges of ammunition in order to prevent you from being singled out as a goverment operative.  Obviously, during the course of the game you can go from being dog food to the fucking baws of the Zone, but that takes patience and a careful management of resources.  Unlike its older brothers, CoP benefits from giving you a wide range of decisions to make, all leading to one of the multiple endings.  Listening to the epilogue at the ending telling you how one decision or the other affected the Zone and the people you encountered will make you feel proud or ashamed, depending on how lawfully good or ruthless and mischevious you have been. It’s all up to you.

Being an (sortakinda) open-ended FPS, you have the whole Zone at your will to explore, admire and,  eventually, fill up with piles of dead bandits, stalkers, soldiers and mutans who had the guts to cross you.  The area divided  into three major playable areas (hubs) known as Zaton, Yanov , and the city of Pripyat itself, each with its own surroundigs and shit to do. While Zaton and Yanov are large rural/industrial/portuar areas and are, consequently, more open and relatively safer, making your task of escaping angry hoardes of mutants easier, Pripyat is more a of a closed area, giving you a feeling of claustrophobia and suffocation.  How can you feel safe from those horrible radioactive shitheads when you’re surrounded by tall buildings with smashed windows and open sewer entrances? Shiiiit, man. 

The Zone itself offers some of the most impressive and absolutely beautiful landscapes in videogame history – endless steppes with lonely, crooked trees in the distance, abandoned factories, partially demolished houses,  empty gas stations who haven’t enjoyed the company of a car for a long time, shadowy apartment blocks whose only friends are the piles of concrete that have fallen near them due to their advanced state of degradation, empty infirmeries and so on. It’s a shattering and heartbreaking simphony of desperation, loneliness and uglyness. It shows what horrors man is capable of and it is even more shocking since the game is set in a near future.  The stunning lightning effects, carefully paced ambiental music and weather dynamics all make for an eerie and mysterious atmosphere, encouraging you to explore the Zone and unravel all of its secrets.

 The game world isin’t that hard to traverse, and it usually won’t take you long to get from one end of the map to the other... if you ignore all the bloodthirsty mutants and don’t get easily distracted by the surroundings, like me.  Once you do that, you can seek shelter in one of the three major stalker camps. Before taking a well deserved rest, you can stick around and admire how natural and realistic the place feels.  Stalkers are people first and treasure-seaking maniacs second, so you’ll often see them enjoy a warm camp fire, drinking at the bar, sharing stories, eating, telling jokes or playing the guitar ( I once heard a stalker playing Smoke on the Water :) ) .  

The camps, besides being a safe haven for traumatized stalkers, provide you with medical kits, ammunition, anti-radiation drugs and food.  A new addition CoP brings the ability to customize and upgrade your weapons or armor at the local technicians.  The upgrades can vary from increasing the weapon’s accuracy, firing rate, and how much damage your armor can take from bullets or enviromental hazards before it degrades. You’ll have some tough decisions to make, and choosing between an armor that provides protection against radiation but is weak in combat or viceversa will influence the game experience.  You’ll also find out that not all upgrades are available from the start, some taking different kinds of tools (or loads of vodka, dependending on the technician J ) which are pretty hard to find. The gunplay is, well, satisying for those who seek realism in combat.  You’ll find out that the guns empty really fast, so you’ll have to preserve your ammunition and resources. Of course, nothing comes cheap in the Zone, so in order to obtain even the slighest sense of safety you’ll have to invest loads of cash. One way of obtaining money is to search for arctifacts in anomalies using your detector and sell them to the local trader. It’s not as easy as it sounds because, hey, there are three or four types of detectors and they don’t come cheap either.  Make sure to buy a good artifact dector early on, otherwise you’re fucked.  Also, take food with you on long raids. Stalkers are people too, you fucking bastard.

Did I tell you that hilaaaaaarious story when I almost got killed by a bunch of mutant dogs?

GSC managed to create a great game, with superb atmosphere, story and gameplay. Sadly, all good things come to an end and I almost cried when I found out that the studio closed its doors and canceled the much anticipated S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.  On the bright side, they left us three masterpieces and gave me hope in the dying game industry which has been in the past few years overloaded with mediocre pieces of shit that lack depth and passion. Thanks a bunch, guys.  You are my heroes.

Hotline Miami aka GOTY 2012

No, this is not an album cover, and Hotline Miami isn't a deathcore band. It's a 2D top-down action game created by just two guys. I know we've never posted about video games before so some of you may not care, but whatever. We do play video games on our massive expensive rigs (that we can afford by writing on this dumb blog), but I've never felt the need to write anything about them here - until now.

That's because Hotline Miami is one of those precious few games that instantly grips me and doesn't let go until I finish it 10 hours later with bloodshot eyes and drool dripping out of the corner of my mouth. Hotline Miami is like an 80s retro flavored fever dream, in which you play a nameless, faceless assassin who goes around performing various jobs given to him by anonymous phone messages. All the jobs are the same: go into a house and brutally murder everyone.

Maybe leave just one guy crawling on the floor for added effect.

While you may think the game looks similar to Grand Theft Auto, it has more in common with another Rockstar masterpiece, namely Manhunt. Every level requires you to use stealth, brute force, careful planning and a varied arsenal of melee weapons and guns in order to carefully maneuver around the rooms and take out every single enemy. Hotline Miami is bloody and gruesome and doesn't apologize for it. Every death, whether by crowbar, lead pipe, baseball bat, knife, broken bottle or shotgun ends in blood and guts splattered everywhere, and by the final brutal killing, each level ends up looking like a bloodbath.

Almost had it.

The difficulty of the game lies somewhere around Super Meat Boy levels, so be prepared to die A LOT. Every shot or blow is an instant-kill in Hotline Miami, which means that you can massacre every enemy in a level in a matter of seconds, if you're smart and time your movements correctly. It also means that there's an equal chance of an enemy spotting you and killing you in the split second between pointing the cursor at him and clicking. The game mechanics are solid and involve a lot of decision making. Will you risk going head to head with a foe, trying to score a silent kill with your melee weapon, or will you just fire your machine gun at him and risk his friends swarming on you upon hearing the gun shot? Will you carefully plan your every move, stalking around corners or just go crazy and burst in a room full of enemies, slamming one of them with the door, smashing his three friend's faces before they realize what's going on, then slashing the downed opponent's throat before he's even had a chance to get off the floor? Should you try to avoid the patrolling guard dog or should you cave his fucking skull in with a baseball bat? Annoying mutt...

Casual Friday at the office.

Further decision making regards the different masks your character can choose to wear at the beginning of each mission. There's a ton of different rubber animal masks to be unlocked (monkey, horse, frog, owl, unicorn, panther, pig, etc) with each of them giving you a certain perk: faster walking, the ability to survive one bullet, not being attacked by dogs, instant executions, lethal door slams and so on. For most of the game, I only played with the one that awarded me fast walking, since I loved blitzing in and out of rooms, killing enemies without them realizing it. MAAAAN, THERE AIN'T NOTHING THAT CAN COMPARE TO THE FEELING  YOU GET WHEN YOU'RE KILLING SOMEBODY, MAN. IT'S POWER, YOU KNOW?!

My only gripe with the game is the lacking AI of the enemies. Hotline Miami is basically a gory puzzle that you solve by performing horrific acts of brutality and I don't expect much from enemies aside from walking around in various patters that I have to figure out. But I do expect them to react when one of them crawls around every room leaving a trail of blood behind him, which does not happen - his mates just stand around doing nothing, oblivious to the unfortunate chap who just had half his face blown off and is scrambling about in tortured agony.

There's Joe with his brains splattered all over the floor. Hmm, I wonder what's on the TV in the other room.

Iffy AI aside, I really enjoyed  the fantastic gameplay, psychedelic storyline, stunning 80s neon visuals and awesome electronic soundtrack of Hotline Miami and it's definitely one of the best releases of 2012. Not that I have played more than few of them, but I'll take a well-made bloody pixelated fuck'em-up over any over-polished sack of dicks rolling out of the giant development studios these days.

Head over to Good Old Games and buy this game, you piece of shit.

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

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!

Happy Birthday Zulu!

Today is our esteemed colleague's Zulu birthday. Allegedly. We really don't know that much about him yet, all we know is that every once in a while he swoops in, drops a totally sweet review that puts Marco and I to shame, then disappears in a cloak of shadows. His identity, whereabouts and personal details are as unknown to us as they are to you. Maybe he could become our version of The Stig.

Some say he actually wrote all of Opeth's songs, he was Darkthrone's drummer before being replaced by Fenriz and he auditioned for GWAR, but got rejected for being grossed out by huge alien dongs. All we know is, he's called Zulu. 

But in the off-chance that it is, in fact, his birthday today, we just wanted to congratulate him and wish him many years of tinkering with his car and writing great reviews. Have a good one, buddy!