11.02.2010 Edition

Part one of a two part series this week: the way WHUS' schedule rolls over makes it so I'm the very last show of the fall roster, and my new time slot happens to be one day later in the week, so I'll be on tomorrow evening as well. This is the test of my dynamic programming skills, and rather than sending four hours of similar sounding metal over our big antenna, I've decided to update the format of the program: 1.) There is now no genre-grouping. Grindcore and black metal selections will be interspersed as they choose to be amongst the pantheon we hear from. 2.) There is now a wider selection of acceptable genres. There will be avant-garde classical, IDM and noise, but none so characteristic of any of those genres that it will be jarring. Well, only as non-offensive as six minutes of static and shrieking can be I suppose.
On to the show.

(Format goes ARIST - TRACK - ALBUM - COUNTRY OF ORIGIN - YEAR - RELEVANT INFO.)

0.) Lustmord - Compassion - Rising - Wales - 2006 - Live performance for 6/6/06.

1.) 21st Century Schizoid Man - Shining - Blackjazz - Norway - 2010 - The furious, metal child of ELP and Mahavishnu Orchestra, covering a King Crimson track. Highly recommended progressive listening. If conservative or concerned about aging, this will be frightening.

2.) Cannibal Corpse - The Spine Splitter - Bloodthirst - USA - 1999 - Post-Barnes era, (nothing wrong with either dynasty, but my preference is the higher production values of later works, which coincide with Corpsegrinder's performances), with particularly wild sections of tapping or arpeggiation action.

3.) The County Medical Examiners - Kaleidoscopic Malacia - Olidous Operettas - USA - 2007 - Particularly disgusting title from the album released as a fragrant, specifically after applied friction, record stinking of rotten meat. As it goes for the late-comers, my edition smells fine. Lyrics recount the varying colors of decomposing tissue.

4.) Dark Fortress - Ylem - Ylem - Germany - 2010 - Eidolon seemed to be the midpoint fans desired between large-sounding symphonic metal and the mildly uninformed black metal production particular to northwestern Europe. Ylem is a bit more electronic, but no less loud, malicious and fun.

5.) Darkthrone - Hanging out in Haiger - Dark Thrones and Black Flags - Norway - 2008 - As far as I can tell, that is Haiger in Germany. This has the punk-style I think they think they meant to be all along.

6.) Drawn and Quartered - Bind, Torture, Kill - Hail Infernal Darkness - USA - 2006 - Besides sharing a title with a Suffocation track, I included this because I remember being under the mistaken impression when I was younger that the BTK man was living and "working" in my home state. Psychopathy has always been a reading interest of mine, because of what Hervey Cleckley, M.D. called "The Mask of Sanity," that is, the high-functioning nature of a psychopath in social settings. I never wondered how many people around me were robots so much as psychopaths.

7.) Dying Fetus - Unadulterated Hatred - War of Attrition - USA - 2007 - Yet another exhibit in my case indicting these guys as those responsible for the epitome of hyper-technicality.

8.) Exhumed - Dinnertime in the Morgue - Slaughtercult - USA - 2000 - Demonstrative of the gore genres.

9.) Goatwhore - Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult - A Hunting Curse - USA - 2006 - A live favorite of mine, though I've never seen them perform with a bassist.

10.) Gorgoroth - Unchain My Heart!!! - Incipit Satan - Norway - 2000 - What I've come to understand is a fan-favorite for Gorgoroth.

11.) Graveworm - Vengeance is Sworn - Diabolical Figures - Italy - 2009 - Opening track from a band I consider to be rather hit-or-miss. "Legions Unleashed" from Engraved in Black is the single best symphonic metal song I've ever heard. Unfortunately, outside of that, I don't really understand most of their other work.

12.) Hate Eternal - Hell Envenom - Fury & Flames - USA - 2008 - I tend to follow Alex Webster. This record is mixed almost like a Belphegor track, were the syncopation is so loud and accurate that it sounds like quick waves of sound, with clear crests and troughs.

13.) Immortal - Eternal Years on the Path to the Cemetery Gates - Pure Holocaust - Norway - 1993 - Yet another debateable NSBM affiliation. My understanding is that they are not national socialists, and the record title is not anti-semitic, but refers to an event like Ragnarok.

14.) Charles Ives - From the Steeples and the Mountains - An American Journey - USA - 1901 - From Ives' series of short instrumental songs. He seemed to be particular to writing very quiet songs around this time.

15.) Bach, J.S. - Du Lieber Heiland, Du - Matthaus Passion - Germany - 1727 - A randomly chosen piece from the middle of the first part of the composition.

16.) Boris with Merzbow - Nothing Special - Rock Dream - Japan - 2007 - The occasional punk-rage of non-drone-or-calm Boris, with Merzbow lining everything through noise machines.

17.) Anaal Nathrakh - The Yellow King - Eschaton - UK - 2006 - Contains a sample from the splatter film "Saw."

18.) Altar of Plagues - Through the Collapse II - Watchers Restrained - White Tomb - Ireland - 2009 - A more active incarnation of what is normally called atmospheric black metal.

19.) Abruptum - Icendio Fulminis Tecis - Evil Genius - Sweden - 1995 - Because I can't play the Vi Sonus Veris Nigrae Malitiaes record.

20.) Aborted - Threading on Vermillion Deception - The Archaic Abattoir - Belgium - 2005 - I visited a hospital during the day before this show, and it got me thinking about the imagery or bands like Aborted, General Surgery, TCME, all that business. It's not as bad, I think, to see a lifeless human, as it is to see an elderly person, unable to speak, persisting in agony. I wasn't nervous thinking about the morgue, but everytime a bed wheeled by with someone drooling down their own shirt, looking terribly depressed, I wanted to eat my shirt.

21.) Gravetemple - III - Ambient/Ruin Demo - USA - 2008 - I also follow Atilla Csihar.

22.) Velvet Cacoon - Chapelflames - Northsuite - USA - 2005 - Search through the catalog of a label Southern Lord, and you'll find needles like this in the haystack of metal.

23.) Wardruna - Dagr - Runaljod - Norway - 2009 - I thought the non-agressive instrumental would be appropriate to include.

24.) Xasthur - May Your Void Become As Deep As My Hate! - Telepathic with the Deceased - USA - The one-man USBM thing has always been an attractive idea. This is our own Striborg.

25.) Mutiny Within - Awake - Mutiny Within - USA - 2010 - I'm not a fan of the delicate, clean vocals juxtaposed with metal structures. I come to metal to be immersed in it completely. With that said, eyes should be kept on these kids.

26.) Freya - Sons of Yamir - All Hail the End - USA - 2010 - For my love of runes.

27.) The Kandidate - In Hell - Until We Are Outnumbered - Denmark - 2010 - Might be a down-tuned punk outfit. Hard to say. They're Danish though, I can't ignore it.

28.) Troll - Age of Satan - Neo-Satanic Supremacy - Norway - 2010 - Imagine Dimmu Borgir without internal drama and other distractions. Evil intent, evil execution. Like the position of the Eidolon record by Dark Fortress.

Submit your own analysis of what's happened in full or for any particular part as a comment. Internet streaming made possible by WHUS 91.7FM at www.whus.org