Author Archives: Harry Keogh

Enter Slipknot

I buy CDs on the basis that I know I’ll want to listen to them at some point in the future. That point may be the day of purchase or it may be days, weeks, or even years in the future. With that in mind, I just decided that now is the right time to discover Slipknot. I bought the first 3 albums when they were released but until this week I haven’t heard any of them (I haven’t picked up the fourth one yet).

I read the metal press and esteemed metal websites, natch, but by listening to music in my own time I find myself well removed from any hype, allowing me to appreciate (judge ?) the music solely on its own merits. But hang on I’ve seen them play live thrice, and I’ve seen the Disasterpieces DVD too so what the fuck am I talking about ? Well yeah okay, but I still haven’t heard the first three albums until this week.

So now I presumably know what everyone else knows, The first album is good, the second is better and the third is the weakest. A most enjoyable week and well worth the wait as far as i’m concerned, in fact I’m playing Iowanow as I type.

Maybe soon I’ll be in the mood to listen to The Hellacopters, I’ve got their first 6 albums but as yet I’ve heard nothing by them, or maybe I should dig out some vinyl I have yet to play ? I know I haven’t played MC5’s Kick Out the Jams yet and I’ve had that in my collection for many years. Still, there’s no rush is there?

Drugs R Us

It matters not one whit if people want to face up to it or not, the truth is that drugs and metal have gone hand in hand since way before metal was called metal – but if you’re going to a gig which drug should you take to maximize/enhance your experience to the max and what should you avoid?

Weed/Hash – The metalhead’s staple diet. Virtually all of existence is better lived whilst stoned but in this day and age the Smoking Nazi’s pounce like hungry lions if you light up at a gig, so smoking a whole spliff in peace is tricky, you can grab a few quick hits off a bowl but again if you’re spotted you’ll have to waste time fighting security and you miss the show. Presumably you could ingest your herb but then it’s all in the lap of the gods as far as timing goes and you’re bound to fuck it up. My advice is to cane the bong mercilessly before the gig, then top yourself up with alcohol at the venue.

Ecstasy – An unbelievably good drug to consume at a rave, or even at a metal gig if you’re going to stand at the back, but if you want to be in more of a crush nearer the stage ecstasy doesn’t really fit – it’s hard to feel euphoric when dozens of people are pushing and shoving and treading all over your feet. Though it does work well with the volume.

Whizz – Personally I have no time for amphetamine sulphate, it gives a weak dirty little buzz. The only reason to take whizz at a metal gig or anywhere else for that matter is if you want to drink your body weight in Special Brew without getting pissed, or if you want to stay awake for a few days.

Shrooms – An excellent concert buzz, but not for the inexperienced – taking shrooms at a gig can be overwhelming if you’re not head-strong, plus it’s easy to vomit if your stomach wants to get in on the action too.

Coke – Not a good concert drug, metal or otherwise (not a good rave drug either but that’s another story). Okay you may have ground up a load prior to the event so you could stick it in a bullet in your pocket so you have no problems with consumption, but the buzz, although fantastic if you’ve got good product just doesn’t sit well with extreme volume. Fuck knows how Sabbath et al used to play off their nuts on it night after night; I think it says more about their addictions than their enjoyment of coke.

Angel Dust – Fuel for the mosh if you know what you’re doing, but like shrooms it shouldn’t be considered unless you have ample experience.

Acid – And so to the greatest concert drug ever made, there really isn’t anything else quite like it. If you’re never taken acid at a gig before and you’re planning on giving it a try go easy. There will be other gigs, other nights; there is no need to go banzai your first time out. Depending on your physicality maybe take it easy the next time too, there really is no rush. But eventually you’ll be able to sit in the pub a couple of hours before the gig and drop 4 or 5 hits, and then you’ll be in the best possible head space for the ensuing evening. The first time I took acid at a gig was to see Motörhead on the Overkill tour, and it was transcendent. Here’s hoping this Saturday’s gig goes ahead at Hammersmith, if it does look out for me – I’ll be the bloke smiling.

Disclaimer: This article is obviously a joke, if you’re straight-edge and suddenly felt the need to do drugs because of this article, you are an idiot. We don’t really condone the use of drugs, we just seriously encourage alcohol consumption.

Dose of Krisiun

What with Guido’s excellent Death Metal onslaught stomping on our eyeballs this week, I think now is as good a time as any to review Krisiun‘s new magnum opus – The Great Execution.

Even though executed superbly, is it possible for a death metal album to have too many slow tracks? Yes it is. Does The Great Execution have too many slow tracks? No. But if the fence were any narrower opinion wouldn’t be able to straddle it.

So is it any good? Yep it’s excellent, in my humble opinion, if you like death metal there is no reason why you won’t like this, although to be fair in a couple of places it’s more metal than death metal — but the Kolesne brothers are playing with such conviction it’s hard not to be swept away.

I dunno if different releases will contain different content but track 11 on my copy is a re-recording of ‘Black Force Domain’ from their first album released back in ’95. Personally I liked the original fine as it was but there’s nothing wrong with this re-recording either.

Excellent going to work sitting on the bus/tube music, and certainly worth 4.5 skulls out of 5.

Nektromantheon – Divinity of Death

Nekromantheon were formed in 2005 in some dismal corner of Norway, so I apologize for jumping on their bandwagon this late in the day, however I saw them play at the Live Evil bash at The Underworld in Camden (organized by Fenriz) and they absolutely blasted, so since then I’ve been meaning to pick up their debut album Divinity of Death, and now I finally have it.

When Slayer changed my musical perceptions all those years ago, showing me that there is indeed beauty in brutality I fell in love with thrash – it just seemed to tickle a part of my brain which is rarely tickled by any other form of music. But that was eons ago and over the years Decent thrash has become harder to find than rocking horse shit. Until now.

Divinity of Death really is rather good, and for a debut album it’s even better – yes I know they’ve had an EP and a couple of splits out, but I never heard them and this is their first full length product. Needless to say if you like thrash, you will like this album.

I don’t want to sound picky, but if Divinity of Death has one teensy weensy fault it’s that the singer has a very… Shall we say unvaried approach to his art. Doesn’t really matter as the album is only like 30 minutes longn and what he does he does really well, but it would be nice if he varied his approach just a tad, if only to prove that he can.

A jolly fine album, which easily warrants:

Reading material for metalheads

Sabbath’s music was a cornerstone of my existence growing up, so reading Tony Iommi’s autobiography as soon as it came out was a no brainer.

Overall it’s a pretty entertaining read, and I would recommend it to other like minded metalheads, even though in places it has rather scant detail. However, considering the Vast quantity of Charlie consumed by Tony over the years perhaps it’s understandable that his memory is a tad vague.

Obviously we all love the classic lineup, but Tony Martin was in Sabbath for 10 years (the same length of time as Ozzy’s first stint) so it would have been nice to read more about his involvement, unfortunately his tenure in the band coincided with a lot of hassles and even more drug use so I guess from Tony’s perspective what he’s written is all he can recount.

I remember seeing Jasper Carrot singing in a band on a TV clip once, and as the camera panned round I could have sworn I saw Bev Bevan playing drums and Tony on guitar, but the clip ended and I guessed I was imagining it, so it was nice to read in the book that they were indeed in a band (called Belch) and that they did play on TV.

So as the Ayatollah Khomeini said after reviewing The Satanic Verses, “A thundering good read.”