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CARPATHIAN SPLENDOUR: NEGURA BUNGET TALK NEW ALBUM AND OLD WOUNDS

Jimmy Christ — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:57:59 +0000

Teaser:

Negura Bunget spokesman and drummer Negru speaks about the new album, new line-up, the folk metal explosion and the far right intrusion into the world of folkloric black metal.

As you should already know, from having read the studio report latest issue of the world's baddest assest extreme metal magazine, I travelled to the Romanian capital of Bucharest at the end of January to spend some quality time with wild dogs, indoor smoking, curiously polite mosh pits, antisemetic taxi drivers, flights full of gypsies, and most importantly, drummer/percussionist NEGRU and NEGURA BUNGET's glorious new album, 'VIRSTELE PAMINTULUI', which while no massive departure from its critically spaffed predecessor 'OM', takes the four-wheel drive to the very top of the proverbial mountain instead of meandering up dirt path and stopping at the first picnic area.

How did all the new members come on board?

“Two people were already playing with us for quite a while; the percussionist guy, he's been doing some vocals, has been with us for five years, and the keyboard player, she was playing with us for two years. The singer played with us once live for a special DVD recording, so I know him, and I actually started working with him first on my other project, Din Brad, so I was talking with him when this thing [being, of course, the messy split of the band's two other core members from Negru] happened so I said, 'Lets come together as Negura'. The bass player, who's also the panpipe player, I knew him as well. I knew everybody and I felt, knowing them so deeply, that they could work together with us.”

Do you think it's brought something different?

“I wouldn't say it's completely different, it's just that for old Negura albums we tried to do different things – we never wanted to do an album just like the previous one, we tried to explore new things and it was always about the balance between the atmospheric and the aggressive.”

Has the drama died down?

“After that decision, everything was great for me. I didn’t care what they said. It’s their job and they’ll have to handle all of that. I think they feel bad for what they said.”

Have you kept in touch with Hupogrammos Disciple's and Sol Faur?

“Not really. Even after all they said, I don’t have any [beef] with them. But I’m not sure it’s the same vice versa.”

It made you look better by not getting involved.

“'It was not like that, it was not like this'. This does not help, because if one says, ‘You did this’, and you said, ‘No, you did it’, everything washes together and nothing good comes out of this. Again, we just wanted to focus on the music and have nothing to do with that.”

Do you still handle all of the band's business yourself?

“It seems like it, but we work together with different people, if we have a good booking agency we let them do it, but all the time I've felt that I could do it, not more professionally, but more our way because we don't want to do the 'business' kind of music and do the 'business tours', we want to do things well. It's difficult because we have a lot of people in the band and a lot of different instruments and stuff, we have to bring them. When we went to Hole In The Sky, we had to go by bus, everybody else was flying and we were on a bus! But for us it was more important because we could bring everything we needed to have on stage, so again I do the kind of work that I feel has to be done.”

What comes first in the writing process usually, the music or the concept?

“We had the general idea about the concept, we already had a few songs with the concept in them and it somehow grew together. We tried to keep all the tracks going so they were different, the concept influenced the music and the music influenced the concept.”

Do you think the music is more inclusive through using more general spiritual themes than actual history?

“I think some people are looking into these kind of things, they can be into the music or sometimes the music, it’s no necessarily about everything. That’s why we do it our way and let everybody understand it and read it there way. We don’t try to change people. It’s there doing. We throw in some ideas, but that’s all, the rest is up to them.”

Do you feel as though you’ve inspired people?

“A few people explored Romanian folklore because they got in contact with our music, yes, again, nothing major, just some people and for that I am also really happy. People write to me and ask me about certain books or something, and it's quite nice.”

How do you feel about tradition being abused by the far right?

“In the end, people do things for various reasons. And sometimes they know they are breaking with the right way and try to present something for what it is not. They have no other way to sell their ideas so they try to make a nice cover for it. It's a shame that some people don't see through that because it's very shallow. Even here in Romania there are some right wing movements who have a connection, maybe not with Romanian folklore so much, but more ancient spirituality. How could there have been any far right political movement a thousand years ago? How could you make the connection between these things? It goes beyond me.

“I don't have any problems with what people choose to do, that is their doing. I think that sometimes people try to see themselves as a part of that type of group. So even if I am not a Roman, maybe I would like to be and learn a bit more and sing about the Romans. But I'm not a Roman. I do have some understanding of that because sometimes there are people who actually have a connection and they try to explore it, and sometimes people don't have anything, they try to make something because they see it's interesting and nobody did it before, so lets do it and try to come up with a new kind of musical genre. For me there's no point, in the end everyone will describe the music in their own way.”

Do you feel part of the larger folk metal thing?

“We sometimes come close to this kind of movement, it's quite popular nowadays, but we don't really belong to that. If people try to put us there I don't have a problem with that, because some of those bands are really good bands and I'd like to see them live and play with them more often if possible.”

Enslaved have certainly managed to get a few fans from it while charting their own path.

“When I said there were some good bands, I was especially talking about Enslaved. They're not really that kind of band but they are somehow on the same level as the others, if we could somehow be associated like Enslaved are I'd have no problem!”

Links:

Negura Bunget myspace

THE SWORD START WORK ON NEW RECORD

Jimmy Christ — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:40:13 +0000

Teaser:

Mainstream friendly riffmonsters The Sword are currently in the studio working on their third full-length, drummer Trivett Wingo commented, "Sword fans everywhere, since you wouldn't stop asking for a new album, we figured we'd write some songs and give you what you deserve. Last week we started recording our as yet untitled third full length with producer and engineer Matt Bayles here in Austin. We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves and of course you'll be the judge, but let's say we have a strong intuition that this will be our best release to date.”

Links:

The Sword myspace

AMPUTATED AND ABGOTT ADDED TO DEATHFEST

Jimmy Christ — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:11:43 +0000

Teaser:

UK brutal deathsters Amputated and slick Anglo-Italian black metallers Abgott have been added to the line-up of the second Terrorizer-endorsed Deathfest at Leeds University, May 2.

UK brutal deathsters Amputated and slick Anglo-Italian black metallers Abgott have been added to the line-up of the second Terrorizer-endorsed Deathfest at Leeds University, May 2, joining Wormrot, Negura Bunget, Hour Of Penance, Immolation, Brujeria and more. Get your tickets from the link below:

Links:

Get Deathfest tickets here

BRIT EXPERIMENTALISTS JAIRUS WRITE NEW MATERIAL

Jimmy Christ — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:55:04 +0000

Teaser:

Kent-based experimental hardcore outfit Jairus, who originally broke up in 2007, and announced their return in 2009 saying "we all miss the band so much"

Kent-based experimental hardcore outfit Jairus, who originally broke up in 2007, and announced their return in 2009 saying "we all miss the band so much", have a four track EP on the way, featuring new keyboard/synth-ist Alex Cocks. You can check out some of the songs on their myspace at the link below:

Links:

Jairus myspace

DORIS YEH'S MOVIE DEBUT RELEASED TOMORROW IN TAIWAN

Jimmy Christ — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:40:53 +0000

Teaser:

Gritty Taiwanese police drama 'Tears', featuring bassist Doris Yeh of symphonic black metallers Chthonic is released tomorrow in Taiwan. Check out a behind the scenes video below:

Gritty Taiwanese police drama 'Tears', featuring bassist Doris Yeh of symphonic black metallers Chthonic, is released tomorrow in Taiwan. Check out a behind the scenes video below:

Links:

Chthonic myspace

PENTAGRAM RECORD FIRST SONG IN TWENTY YEARS

Jimmy Christ — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:30:28 +0000

Teaser:

Cult Chilean proto-death metallers have recorded their first new song in twenty years, 'Demented' was written in the '80s but didn't make it onto any of the band's recorded output.

Cult Chilean proto-death metallers have recorded their first new song in twenty years, 'Demented' was written in the '80s but didn't make it onto any of the band's recorded output. Captured on their 2009 European tour, the song is going to see release on a split 7" later in the year. Guitarist/vocalist Anton Reisenegger commented, "When we started writing, the idea was obviously to preserve the spirit of our 80s material, but, to be honest, we didn't have to try very hard. It all started flowing naturally, and it was all there: the dark vibe, the weird time changes, the 'spider' riffs... We are having a great time writing new music, but it's going to take some time to complete an album's worth of material due to the logistical difficulties. But we don't want to rush things anyway, and this way we can make sure what we put out really lives up to the legend that Pentagram represents for so many people."

Links:

Pentagram myspace

HIGH ON FIRE POST 'FROSTHAMMER' VIDEO

Jimmy Christ — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:05:42 +0000

Teaser:

Hard rocking post-sludge power trio High On Fire have posted their video for 'Frosthammer', a song-title which delivers instant erections, taken from their recent Century Media album 'Snakes For The Divine'. The video features “the epic tale of a warrior’s sojourn to the cold and barren Plateau of Leng where he secures the fabled Frost Hammer that will be used to enact the final rites and complete the dark rebirth and reign of the Frost Child.” Check that out below:

Links:

High On Fire website

RISING DOOMSTERS ZOROASTER ENTER STUDIO

Jimmy Christ — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:55:39 +0000

Teaser:

Psychedelic doomsters Zoroaster have entered the studio to work on their new album 'Matador' in Atlanta's Living Room Studios, which they promise will be “more direct, more intense and absolutely enveloping.” A July release is expected through E1 Music.

Guitarist/vocalist Will Fiore added, “As a whole, these are the strongest songs we've ever put together and they really encompass everything we've done until now as a band. There are some really heavy, slow creepers and some of the faster, more driving songs. The new material ranges from really aggressive to more melodic and trippy."

Links:

Zoroaster myspace

Evile infecting Nations Tour 2010.Vosselaar, Belgium

Merchgirl — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:54:09 +0000

Teaser:

Oh boy last night was crazy. A night with my buddies in Nashville Pussy saw drunkenness and debauchery all over the shop! Lyall and me were the only ones to trek to the venue they were playing at to begin with. We had hit up Nettos across the street for copious amounts of cheap European booze and were drunk before we got there. After hanging with the band for a bit, we went back to the bus and continued drinking in it and at the bar of The Bastard club, where we were last night. I was in my element , surrounded by punks, but at 10 pm we took off back to Nashville pussy, this time with Arie and Laux in tow. Arie puked down the side of the bus when we got back, Lyall wrestled him and Laux in the snow, we all ate the best kebabs in the world from a kebab shop in a bus and this morning the pink puke, pink from the cherry liqueur Lyall made him drink, had turned in to icicles. Chop initially thought it was me, seems I got me a rep! I remember watching some of Taxi Driver at like 7am ‘cause I was too drunk to sleep, and then going back to bunk as the bus drove off to Belgium.

At the venue, I wash, eat and set up my stand and then go hang in the dressing room for a bit. There is a ton of band graffiti, a really impressive amount of bands who are now a big deal, and even some who are friends of ours, so of course it gets added to. I have done all I can to drop hints about the fact that today, is Valentines Day. Oh who am I kidding, I’m still banging on about it.

I have a great merch area today, it’s right next to the front door, opposite the bar, so lots of opportunities for people to be around the merch and therefore more likely to buy. At said bar, is Kevill, gripped to his laptop playing some online fantasy war game. Doors open and he’s still there, totally engrossed. There is a man who has toured so much he is completely capable of switching off and not giving a fuck.

A good, strong sales start and a great turn out makes for a happy vibe all round, and the next time I see Kevill, he is at my stand and on his 4th beer. We discuss how beer 1 and 2 are warms up, 3 and 4 are the ones that count. He is getting quite drunk and I love this ‘cause it means for an even funnier Kevill on stage. He is super funny at the best of times, but drunk, he is on fire. He makes up lyrics to The Fading’s songs and generally plays the fool, me laughing like an idiot all the while. We talk about last night and he informs me that I was both loud and obnoxious in my drunken post Nashville Pussy state. I mind a bit, and apologise, but honestly, Kevill is always drunk and obnoxious so I don’t care that much.

I get told off by the venue manager for taking up too much space, and promptly have to reign in my tables to suit him, which leaves me with a little slither of foot room. After cussing him under my breath for half an hour I stop acting like a teenager and admit that he is right, which kills me. I don’t admit that to him of course. Laux got to go to Europe’s biggest metal store and has a pile of C.D’s that he is showing kevill, which totally makes me jealous. Even if I had got to go I wouldn’t have been able to buy anything, I have spent all my money on booze. Tut.

Lyall brings himself and his laptop over to the stand and sets up camp for the night. I am stoked to have constant company and pretend that he is doing it because he likes my company and it’s Valentines day rather than the actual reason which is you can’t get to and from backstage without going on to the stage, which obviously is out of the question during show time. Still, we drink some beers together but mainly he is working or on facebook. We talk about how this epic tour is almost over, everyone is so bummed out by it, there’s a real family unit going on here and although everyone is up for getting on with it so they can do the next thing, it’s hard not to get attached and sentimental.

So I have most the guys with me throughout the night due to the back stage restrictions, which is awesome except for two gripes. One, they block the merch area and therefore, I worry, get in the way of me making merch sales. Two, they keep putting their fucking drinks on top of the merch that is displayed on top of the tables. Some of which is their own, idiots. Other than telling them off for this repeatedly, I get to spend my Valentines Day with 15 of my favourite men. Lucky me.

Kevill is getting loads of drinks bought for him and for sure is going to end up super duper trashed tonight! He gets up on stage for Shark attack time during Evile’s set, which I’m over the moon about because so far I’ve missed it when he does this. And soon enough, there is an almighty run of stage invasions as kids stage dive repeatedly. I look back down over all my displayed stock to check on it and would you believe it, some cheeky little beggar has nicked a sticker. I reckon I can live with that, fuck it.

Hanging at the stand, I also get to meet all sorts of cool people, one of the many perks to the job. And tonight I get to meet a Brazilian chick called Lucy! She is awesome and we chat for a while over drinks and swap details. Yet another new friend I hope I hear from but probably never will! Before we know it, the night is over and its time to pack up. As I do so, I have a fan club of young metal boys sitting at the bar watching, turning away every time I look at them the little cuties. I finish up and head back stage to find the best Valentines gift to date! All the guys have signed a drum skin with the message ‘To our hot merch girl, we loves ya!’ Awwww bless them, they were listening!

Back to the bus of love, back to we love drinking, and on to the next spot! Love it!

Evile infecting Nations Tour 2010.Osnabruck, Germany

Merchgirl — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:05:07 +0000

Teaser:

Not again. seriously, I cannot be here again. I’m freezing, I’m dying with a hangover and I’m pretty sure that Aunt Flo’s just come to town. Oh, and get this. It’s so cold that the water in the venue has frozen and so we have two port-a-loos outside instead. Festival ones. The really shitty ones with just a bucket and a seat. The ones with no flush? Yep. Fuck my life.

And I was so super stoked to be coming back here, this venue is awesome, it’s got a live music area, connected to that a bar and a massive indoors skate park. And the manager, Schnarly, is awesome. I have quite possibly totally spelt his name wrong there, I’m spelling it out in my head and that’s what came out. On the down side, or weird side, is that this is the only venue on this tour that we last played on the tour that Mike died. So last time we were all here, was with him.

First off, Ben and Matt look to see if Mike or indeed any of them, ever graffitied the dressing room walls. After a disappointing find of nothing, I feel a decision has been made to always vandalise in future. Imagine if we had found a ‘Mikeism’ on the wall there. It would have been awesome and surely bought a tear to all our eyes.

Back to the cold. This building is basically a massive warehouse, sectioned off with plywood walls. It is freezing, absolutely fucking freezing. Hands are numb and stiff, breath is easily seen and toes and noses are hurting. I mean, the water has frozen type freezing, not some poxy U.K type ‘Ooh isn’t it cold’ type freezing. This is like survivalist stuff. Which makes setting up the merch stand really hard work, it makes everything really hard work. Little tasks become proper heavy duty.

Evile’s sound check is pure magic because of the cold. They are shivering under their scarves and hoods up coats. They can’t play fast enough because their fingers are too cold. Basically the sound check becomes even more redundant than it normally is. The guys are taking it well, laughing about it and all, but you can tell that this is going to be quite a massive fucking problem. Thrash being thrash, kind of need to be quite dextrous on the old’ strings eh. And the guitars are cold. They are playing badly for it.

I lost my gloves and my hands have gone purple. Dinner doesn’t even warm us up. I’m all over excited about the venue still though and up in the dressing room I say so. The response is, am I mad, it’s freezing and I’m like whatev’s still love the venue. I get quickly cut down by Andy who is like’ not whatev’s, how the fuck are we supposed to play in this?’ Which is a valid point and leaves me feeling like a total wanker. I slope off back to my stand in time for doors and wish the cold away. As I leave, the boys are all trying to warm their hands up on the little plug in heater.

A few of my first visitors turn out to be total winners, I end up chatting with them loads throughout the evening and even swap emails with the girl to stay in touch. They were a cool as fuck couple that loved metal and I thoroughly enjoyed hanging with them, talking gigs and travelling while drinking beer. Chop comes up to me and gives me my first valentine day’s gift. Yes, I get to spend that day with 15 men and you better believe I let them all know about it! I don’t even care for it really, but may as well make the most of the situation.

So Chop has given me the best gift. A toilet roll squished in to the shape of a heart! You have to understand that bog roll is at a minimum. And I am on. God bless that man, he really knows how to treat a woman. Note to self, remember to give him a gift back.

Elad comes and hangs out with me after an unfortunate stalker moment concludes in me giving the desperate help me eyes to far too many of the guys before Elad gets the hint. Him and Steve the driver. My heroes. See, earlier on in the night, some dude came over and saw me shivering so gave me a sip of his Whiskey, very nice of him. Then, about half an hour later, he bought me over a coffee. Again, very nice of him. With the second coffee however, he sat himself down, too closely and began an awkward ‘conversation’ with me. Awkward because he can’t talk English and I can’t talk German, although I probably would have pretended I couldn’t even if I could. He was basically a creep, trying to pick me up, paying no attention to the bands, why the fuck pay to get in if your just going to sleaze over girls? I cannot get over how Laux came over, asked me for his baccy, and walked off with it, the whole while I’m pleading with my eyes for him to cock black away! God dammit.

So there I sit on the steps that are behind the stand leading up to the t-shirt display, Steve on one side and Elad on the other, all trying to stay warm. Elad lends me his gloves bless him and we watch as Kevill dedicates a song to Chop the driver, who it turns out is down at the front with a beer, since he doesn’t have to drive tomorrow. He staggers out shortly after this and according to some of the others, stacks it. That is even funnier because his dedication from Kevill was to ‘the Lord and master’.

It’s too damn cold to write, I’m having a tough time even drawing tally lines down on the sale sheet so I can only imagine what it’s like playing guitar. It even gives me a headache.

Once off stage, Kevill heads over to the merch stand. With a bloody nose. This is how a good Thrash show should end eh! Apparently some kid down the front punched him in the nose by accident. Kevill is pretty fucked off until he realises that his Thrash points have just gone up and we take a photo. He then spits on one of my boxes and I slap him on the arm and tell him to stop bleeding and seating and snotting on the stand. In true comedy timing, at that exact minute, a fan comes up with his denim-patched jacket and asks Kevill to sign it and spit on where he signed it.

The crowd are fantastic for Evile, there a lot of people here who were here last time when Mike was with them and the support is phenomenal. By midway through there is a guy hanging off the rigging and mosh pits and stage diving and crowd surfing ahoy. The drunken guy hanging off the rigging becomes a problem and Lyall and Steve go get him off Joel’s mic, before his friend comes and takes him away. And guess who his friend is? My stalker rape ferry man! Ha.

Soon as the gig is done, it’s all about sales and packing up quickly so that I can get back to the heater. The Evile guys are in good spirits and end up getting told off for fucking about on the ramps in the skate park, chucking themselves at them at the top, and sliding back down like a rag doll.

Tonight, I am staying in. A lot of the other guys hit the town, different bars with the fans to get trashed and party ‘cause tomorrow is a day off and for once, not a travel day. I am filled with dread that we have to spend another day using the port-a-loos but have a big party to look forward to tomorrow night. There’s a punk night at this venue, and 10 minutes walk away, my old friends, Nashville Pussy are playing. And I shall be there to surprise them with a bottle of Bourbon and my drunken self! If they are anywhere near as cold as us, they will need it!