MOMM (45)

I don't enjoy LIVE music till I bought Slayer's Decade of Agression (1991). At that point in time, my ears were attuned to music production; clarity, balance, etc. You can tell if a band is worth its salt when they play live. You can cheat in so many ways in the studio but live, there's no technology to fall back on. For Mayhem especially, I make it a point to listen to their live music. Before the Teloch / Ghul duo, the band had only one guitarist & it's interesting how things panned out on live shows, especially when the guitarist did the solos; it educated me on the importance of having a competent bassist in the band to patch the 'emptiness' when this happens. 

Mayhem's Daemonic Rites you see above has 17 tracks with over an hour's worth of music but the Intro (1) & Sylvester Anfang (13) aren't exactly songs per se. The rest of the numbers consist of songs from their latest album, Daemon, De Mysteriis..., Grand Declaration & surprise, surprise... Chimera. Since Atilla is fronting the band, we get stellar performances for Daemon & De Mysteriis numbers. The Grand Declaration & Chimera songs, at best, are the band's re-interpretation of how Atilla interpreted the songs. For this live adventure, all I can say here is that the current line-up had become very coherent as a unit & hope they stay together for a good while. 

Last 3

Welcome, folks, to another instalment of my last 3 CDs purchase. I am extreme by nature & this interest in all things heavy metal is unrelenting as the years go by. As I am also a guitar-inclined individual, I pay special attention to extreme bands with meaningful guitar inclusions. That's right. meaningful & nothing too devotional towards shred guitar. In the case of serious technicalities manifesting in heavy music, to me, these are a real bonus. Song focus is first & foremost.

1. Enslaved- Roadburn Live

I'm not too big a fan when it comes to live recordings because chances are, the songs covered were stuff I've heard before. Also, live recordings are mostly tampered with in terms of production to cover up imperfections before selling them off thus defeating the purpose of capturing live performances. Nevertheless, I do keep a lookout for bands with exceptional live vibes & Enslaved is one of them. This collection of tunes were from, you guessed it, the band's live performance in 2015's Roadburn festival. The thing with Enslaved is, they have this prog twist in their metal since 2004's Isa & it makes listening to them very enjoyable in a live context. The highlight of this release is the concluding number which is a Led Zappelin cover, Immigrant Song, which will surely become a hit come Thor's Ragnarok movie (November 2017). Sadly, this release is also the final performance for Herbrand Larsen (keyboards) who is responsible for the band's clean vocals. As at time of posting, the band has yet to find a deserving replacement. 

2. Firespawn- The Reprobate

A meeting of potent characters- Firespawn in a nutshell. I was thinking, a supergroup like this might call it off after a spectacular debut but 18 months ahead, The Reprobate proved to be another lethal collection of songs. You might be thinking that this band is an opportunity for the members of Entombed AD/ Necrophobic/ Skin Eater/ Unleashed to further their respective band's agenda but it's simply a sum greater than its parts. To note- more lead fills heard here, guitar-wise.

3. Suffocation- ...of The Dark Light

A rather defining moment for the band with two new members Moratti (drums) & Errigo (guitars) who proved second to none in terms of expectations & technicalities. There was no pressure to outperform their respective predecessors, of course. The primary interest here, as presented by long time member, Hobbs (guitars) was whether this duo could keep up with the Suffocation philosophy. In any band context, song priority should precede other intrinsic issues. If the band gets this right, regardless of the line up changes, there will be no drastic turnover. Maybe Gilmour's role in Pink Floyd might ring a bell. After this exploit, it's good to know that Suffocation is still in tact & as coherent as ever.

RIP: Allan Holdsworth (2)

It's a little eerie but I bought this a day before his passing. Despite the current Kiesel deal, Holdsworth did play an Ibanez & had an endorsement deal which lasted for two years. 

One of my favourite Allan Holdsworth video is this one captured live in 1974. He played a Gibson SG & it's simply amazing how the volume induced drive gave him adequate gain for the job; we know there's no distortion pedal going back then so players have to crank it way up to get the drive going. Watch how he retuned one of the strings during play like it's nothing. Also, most of the time, he wasn't looking at what he's playing; it's already embedded in his mind, he just manifested it there & then. 👍

Live listening

For the entire week, I've been listening to live albums. I've limited liking for live releases because the tracks are re-hashing what was recorded before but with a perspective of that 'raw' take from live feeds. 

Slayer's Decade of Aggression was my first live purchase & it was overplayed & both the cassette tapes died. That's right, they were on cassette tape version. In my opinion, this was the standard to beat in terms of live releases as the production was clear, all instruments could be heard distinctly. 

Then came Emperor's Emperial Live Ceremony which was bought because I wanted to hear more bass from the Emperor tracks. Tyr played bass on this one & the production did justice to his efforts. Also, I wanted to hear how Ihsan's Rob Halford-esque shrieks fare in live situations & it was beyond doubt, top notch. 

Mayhem's live albums are gems. You can really hear the horror from each track's delivery because Maniac's vocals were uncompromising. The live tracks also made me listen to Blasphemer's guitar tracks closely as the studio versions were full of overdubbed fills so in live applications, one got to hear what Blasphemer chose to play so that the tracks would not sound empty.

ND: Explosive

The Brummies were here & they delivered loads. It was such a competent performance by Mr. Greenway & company, committing such presence to memory was rather easy. I was also very glad to hear some of the clearest guitar tones (despite the heavyweight presence of the lower frequencies) by arguably one of the most intense music performers this side of aggressive music. The down-side of it all was the delayed entry; the ticket clearly stated a 7.00pm entrance but we only managed to tread the performance ground some 90min later. I last heard it was an equipment-related issue, somehting to do with the drums.

Knowing Mitch Harris (& the late Jesse Pintado) to be a minimalistic player when it comes to gear, the use of Peavey amps (Triple XXX/ 5150) was the right pick; great note separation throughout the performance.

The 7th Day

Fresh catch: Immortal- The Seventh Day of Blashyrkh. It's the limited edition version, hand numbered & poster inclusive.

A Decade of Aggression

I'm still digging into my 'forgotten' collection, this group of CDs are packed into a box & tucked away in the common store room. Slayer's A Decade of Aggression was my first live album as I'm not a fan of live releases; I don't enjoy listening to songs rehashed in a live context but this release was different- there were no overdubs to polish the final output. That's a bold step & a real statement of self-belief. Unlike other Slayer releases where the bass was notoriously buried & inaudible, Araya's finger works here are present & commanding. I'm still not a fan of live releases, though.