Tag Archives: Guido Rants

Periodic Table of Metal

Somebody shared the above image on my Facebook news feed today and I think it’s pretty cool. I can’t give you a source right now, but feel free to let me know where this picture came from and I’ll update this article with the source.

Either way, it’s a pretty sweet idea and nicely done. If you’re into metal and chemistry, this should give you wet dreams. Click the above image to see the full picture.

SOPA – We asked for opinions

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a very controversial subject. We found that out when we asked 20 musicians, 3 artists, 1 band manager and 1 PR agent for their opinion on the matter, and only 6 of them finally sent us a statement.

We do understand that some people don’t want to comment on the bill though. Not everyone is going to understand and agree with what these people think. They are musicians after all, not average internet users. So their opinion on the matter might split their fanbase into two camps, and we can definitely understand why they don’t want to risk that.

With that being said, with this article we’re trying to give those people a chance to speak on the matter, since they would be affected by it in different ways than most people. Five musicians (including one who is also the director of an independent record label), one artist and finally the writers of this website speak out on the Stop Online Piracy Act and piracy in general right after the jump.

Now, why would our opinion really matter? Dose of Metal and other similar music blogs rely heavily on Youtube and PR agencies distributing music for promotion purposes through one-click hosts. Without that, this site would barely be able to exist in its current form.

Musicians and other artists would face an even bigger challenge, if this bill went through. Just think of all the internet promotion they couldn’t count on anymore.

Keep all that in mind when you’re reading the rest of this story after the jump.

Slamming Beatdown Death live… wait what?

I’m a Death Metal guy. Everybody who knows me, knows that I love Death Metal. I’m mainly into classic Death, but also enjoy quite a few Melodic, Brutal, Progressive and Blackened Death Metal bands, and in some cases even Deathgrind. I’m saying that to let you know that I’m open-minded when it comes to Death Metal. I even thought I knew quite a bit about the genre but I have never heard of Slamming Beatdown Death before.

So now I’m posting a live performance of Begging For Incest. I’ll be honest, I’m partly posting this because their vocalist Meik is a buddy of mine. But I’m mainly posting this because of how fascinating I find it that this actually appeals to me. It goes exactly against what I usually enjoy. It’s simple, it pretty much only consists of breakdowns and the vocals are mainly pig squeals.

It’s similiar to my fascination with Mortician. Dumbed down, braindead but fun Death Metal. Don’t watch it if you’re expecting something technical and challenging. If you’re able to turn off your brain and just want to have a good time with some really heavy music, watch the video above.

Thursday Dose: This Is Turin

Writing for Dose of Metal gave me the opportunity to check out bands, I probably wouldn’t have heard of otherwise. Of all the great bands I got to check out, one stood out.

In May of last year, I reviewed Condate Records’ Split Roast sampler. The review didn’t go over well with some of the bands included on the sampler, but it never really bothered me what people thought about my writing. You just have to take it with a grain of salt, when a band, that you wrote negatively about, criticizes your work.

One band included on the Split Roast sampler was Colonel Blast. They got the best rating from me, with a 4-and-a-half skull rating for their two songs included. I really wanted to get their debut album next to review. I wrote to Condate Records, I wrote to their PR agency and I wrote to the band, to no success. It may be speculation on my part, but I felt like they didn’t want to cooperate with us, because of my negative reviews of some of their fellow bands.

Here is the catch, I’m a stubborn motherfucker. If you don’t give me your album for review purposes, I’ll just buy it and then review it. Obviously, as a reviewer for a metal blog, you can’t buy each and every album you want to review. You’d be broke within weeks. I bought Colonel Blast’s For The Greater Good anyhow and gave it a 5 skull review.

Following that review, the band apologized to me for not sending me their album and thanked me for the review. Maybe I was wrong, and the band simply overlooked my inquiry by mistake. To leave it all behind, I offered them an interview. I wanted to do a joint interview with their previous singer Matt Bolton and their current singer Darryl Jones. I never got an answer and was finally fed up with their unprofessionalism.

It’s pretty simple. I don’t have to write about your band. If I like your band, I’m writing about it to make other people, who read our site, check out your band. To me that’s a very positive thing. If I like your band, write positively about it and you simply don’t want to cooperate with me… well… fuck you. There’s not a better way to put it. If you don’t want the promotion, I won’t force it upon you.

More than half a year later, I find out about This Is Turin. This Is Turin is Darryl Jones’ original band, and guess what. I like them. So, even after the two dumps Colonel Blast took on us, I’m again swallowing my pride and going out of my way to write about their singer’s work. This time I’m not doing it because I think they deserve the promotion. I’m doing it because this is what Dose of Metal is designed to do; write about good music.

This Is Turin certainly do play great music and I’d like our readers to listen to them. After all, this should be about the appreciation of music, and not personal feelings towards their creators. I just want you, the readers, to understand that it wasn’t an easy decision for me to write about This Is Turin. But I want you to check them out either way. You can do that on Soundcloud or simply click the play button below. While you do that, I will keep on questioning my decision to write about them.

Death ’til Death – Day 7: Obituary

Our Death Metal week is coming to an end. With six bands already having been covered over the course of the past six days, some Death Metalheads might have been missing Obituary. I did not forget about this Florida Death Metal giant, and saved the last spot for them.

Obituary was formed, under the name of Executioner (and shortly after that Xecutioner), in 1984. The name-change to Obituary came in 1988, after they released four demos — with one interestingly named Metal Up Your Ass, the original title for Metallica’s debut album Kill ‘Em All. Their first three albums; Slowly We Rot, Cause Of Death and The End Complete; are considered not only Death Metal classics but pioneering works of the scene.

In 1997, the band had grown tired of touring and decided to split up. During their downtime, Allen West, Obituary lead guitarist, famously spend his time playing with Six Feet Under. Their drummer, and brother of vocalist John Tardy, Donald Tardy played with Andrew W.K., including playing on W.K.’s hit album I Get Wet.

The band reformed in 2003, and released three albums since. Obituary still stay true to their roots with their newer material. With their impressive catalogue, they have proved again and again that they’re one of the most important bands of the genre. They have achieved legendary status a long time ago and should never be missed when Death Metal is being discussed.

Obituary – Cause Of Death

Death ’til Death introduction – Day 1: Death – Day 2: Possessed – Day 3: Morbid Angel
Day 4: Cannibal Corpse – Day 5: Nile – Day 6: Hypocrisy – Day 7: Obituary

Death ’til Death – Day 6: Hypocrisy

When I originally came up with a list for the Death ’til Death feature, I wanted to include at least one Melodic Death Metal band. Since then, I’ve written down a few that I’ve considered for this place and crossed them out again. Amon Amarth were considered, because of how big they are nowadays and by getting more fans, they might lead them to more Death Metal. But I decided not to go with them. In Flames were also considered, because they were one of the first Melodic Death Metal bands around and released some of the most groundbreaking work of the genre. I didn’t go with them because of their recent output. At The Gates were next to not be featured, because even though they released some of the most archetypal Melo Death, they mostly inspired upcoming Metalcore bands. And this is not a feature about Metalcore. So who else could be featured on Day 6? Fucking Hypocrisy. Why? Well, because they own and released some of the best Melodic Death Metal ever.

In the late 80′s, Peter Tägtgren lived in Florida for three years — where he was active in the rising Death Metal scene, and played with people like Malevolent Creation’s Phil Fasciana. He returned to Sweden in 1990 and formed Hypocrisy. They released their debut album Penetralia in 1992, with Masse Broberg (later Dark Funeral vocalist) on vocals. They released one more album with Broberg, until Tägtgren took over vocal duties.

With the change in vocal position, Hypocrisy also started to change musically and lyrically. While their earlier output was executed well, it wasn’t very innovative. That changed with their next album Fourth Dimension, and even more so with their classic Abducted. The band shifted from Death Metal, to atmospheric Melodic Death Metal. Lyrically Tägtgren didn’t sing much about usual Death Metal themes, but his lyrics mostly dealt with extraterrestrial and paranormal topics.

Mainman Peter Tägtgren is not only the guitarist, vocalist and producer of Hypocrisy, but also of his side-project Pain. He also produced the likes of Dark Funeral, Marduk, Dimmu Borgir, Amon Amarth, Immortal, Children Of Bodom, Shining and Sabaton. As if that wasn’t enough, Tägtgren not only owns a recording studio in Pärlby, but also the entire village it’s placed in. That’s right, Peter Tägtgren owns a village.

After the critical flop of Catch 22 in 2002, when Hypocrisy flirted with Nu-Metal, they made an impressive return with Virus and the massively underrated A Taste Of Extreme Divinity. The band is now, maybe more than ever before, one of the most respected Extreme Metal bands. Deservingly so.

Hypocrisy – Buried

Death ’til Death introduction – Day 1: Death – Day 2: Possessed – Day 3: Morbid Angel
Day 4: Cannibal Corpse – Day 5: Nile – Day 6: Hypocrisy – Day 7: Obituary

Death ’til Death – Day 5: Nile

Despite being pretty late to the party (no other band in this list released their debut album as late as they did), Nile changed the game and quickly became one of the most respected artists of the scene.

Nile formed in 1993 and released their debut album Among The Catacombs Of Nephren-Ka in 1998. Between 93 and 98, the band recorded two demos, one EP and one single, and toured relentlessly.

Most Death Metal artists lyrically deal with gruesome themes, such as murder, torture, cannibalism or necrophilia. Nile are a notable exception of that, as their lyrics mostly deal with Egyptian themes, Eastern mysticism and religion. Nile therefore categorize their music as “Ithyphallic Metal.”

Nile’s music could be labelled either traditional Death Metal or Technical Death Metal, as their music combines the groove and heaviness of traditional Death and the speed and complexity of Technical Death.

Despite only releasing six albums since their formation 18 years ago, Nile have never released an album that was considered a critical flop. That is a feature Nile do not share with a lot of their peers, just take a look at Morbid Angel, Possessed or Cryptopsy. Nile therefore are considered a band who might take a lot of time to release an album but always feature constant high-quality output.

Nile – The Howling Of The Jinn

Death ’til Death introduction – Day 1: Death – Day 2: Possessed – Day 3: Morbid Angel
Day 4: Cannibal Corpse – Day 5: Nile – Day 6: Hypocrisy – Day 7: Obituary

Death ’til Death – Day 4: Cannibal Corpse

Cannibal Corpse. Not just one of the most controversial Death Metal acts of all time, but also one of the most successful. We get it, mainstream audiences don’t like lyrics about stripping, raping and strangling. Most death metalheads do though, and Cannibal Corpse are the number 1 act to feature such lyrics.

Formed in 1988, Cannibal Corpse rose to the top of the genre in a matter of years. They played their first gig in 1989, shortly after finishing their self-titled demo. One year later, they were signed to Metal Blade Records and released their debut album Eaten Back To Life — a Death Metal classic.

Chris Barnes’ gruesome lyrics attracted the attention of people who usually can’t be found in metal clubs. Bob Dole accused them of “undermining the national character of the United States,” and numerous senators and conservative activists tried to get them dumped from their record label. Up until 2006, all Cannibal Corpse albums were banned in Australia, and the first three albums were banned in Germany.

Not everybody strongly disliked Cannibal though. Jim Carrey insisted that they make an appearance in his film ‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,’ where they performed their underground hit ‘Hammer Smashed Face.’

While yesterday’s featured artist Morbid Angel (see link below) released the commercially most successful Death Metal album of all time, Cannibal Corpse are the Death Metal act to sell the most albums overall.

23 years after forming, Cannibal Corpse are still going strong. With a slightly different lineup, but still as brutal as ever. To many they are the biggest Death Metal band of all time, and I can’t say I disagree. It’s debatable whether they are the greatest Death Metal band or not, but there is no question that they have left their bloody mark on Death Metal.

Cannibal Corpse – Fucked With A Knife

Death ’til Death introduction – Day 1: Death – Day 2: Possessed – Day 3: Morbid Angel
Day 4: Cannibal Corpse – Day 5: Nile – Day 6: Hypocrisy – Day 7: Obituary

Death ’til Death – Day 3: Morbid Angel

The picture I posted in the announcement of our Death Metal week (link below) was a big hint, which some of you might have gotten. It was a picture of Trey Azagthoth, guitarist of Morbid Angel, so it was obvious to some that these Death Metal heavyweights would be included in my list of the most important Death Metal bands sooner or later.

Morbid Angel were formed in 1984, but didn’t release their debut album Altars Of Madness until 1989. The band originally recorded an album, Abominations Of Desolation, in 1986 but they were dissatisfied with the final product and later stated it was supposed to be a demo album. It was released in 1991 at the decision of Earache Records.

Morbid Angel were the first band of the rising Death Metal scene to have significant commercial success and to sign with a major record label. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Covenant — Morbid Angel’s third studio album, excluding Abominations Of Desolation — is the best selling Death Metal album of all time.

Despite the universal acclaim Morbid Angel achieved, they were not free from controversy. Their latest album Illud Divinum Insanus received very negative reactions from fans and critics alike. To call the reception mixed would be an understatement. Their debut album Altars Of Madness remains one of the most influential Death Metal releases of all time though.

Morbid Angel were ahead of their time, and their influence on the Death Metal scene can still be felt today. Especially the Florida Death Metal scene, which includes Obituary and Deicide, was practically built around Morbid Angel. Extreme music for extreme people.

Morbid Angel – Immortal Rites

Death ’til Death introduction – Day 1: Death – Day 2: Possessed – Day 3: Morbid Angel
Day 4: Cannibal Corpse – Day 5: Nile – Day 6: Hypocrisy – Day 7: Obituary

Death ’til Death – Day 2: Possessed

Yesterday Death were my first pick in our Death Metal week. When someone’s talking about archetypal Death Metal and mentions Death, you’ve also got to acknowledge Possessed’s legacy. Arguably the very first band to play the genre, known as Death Metal nowadays, Possessed influenced countless bands.

Possessed, just like Death, were formed in 1983. Their first lineup included Barry Fisk on vocals, but his time in the band was cut short when he committed suicide by gunshot in front of his girlfriend. Shortly after that Jeff Becerra joined the band handling vocal and bass duties.

Yesterday in my post about Death, I argued that the term “death metal” was coined by Death, or rather people referring to them. That was just one theory though. There are a bunch of theories about who came up with the term. In 1984, for example, Possessed recorded a demo called Death Metal. Jeff Becerra himself claimed to have come up with the term. After all, it’s up to debate, and it’s not really that important either way.

What’s important though, is the music Possessed created. Their debut album Seven Churches, released in 1985, further pushed Slayer-esque Thrash Metal into a heavier direction and remains a classic of the scene. Their second album Beyond The Gates couldn’t match the overwhelming reaction Churches received, mostly due to poor production and a change in direction. The band only released one EP after that, The Eyes Of Horror — which was produced by none other than guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani. Shortly after that, the band disbanded.

Even though Possessed only released two studio albums and one EP, the band had left a huge mark on the early Death Metal scene. Seven Churches remains one of the most important releases of the genre, and Possessed remain one of the most important bands of the genre.

Possessed – The Exorcist

Death ’til Death introduction – Day 1: Death – Day 2: Possessed – Day 3: Morbid Angel
Day 4: Cannibal Corpse – Day 5: Nile – Day 6: Hypocrisy – Day 7: Obituary