Below the Radar June 2009
BELOW THE RADAR
We begin again with a few bands if given the chance will have much bigger following and interest... This edition is a dark more extreme Path...
CODE (UK)
http://www.myspace.com/codeblackmetal
http://www.codeblackmetal.co.uk/
The band's original line-up consisted of Aort on guitars, Viper aka Vicotnik from the bands Ved Buens Ende and Dødheimsgard on bass guitar and Kvohst from the bands Void and Dødheimsgard on vocals. They were joined later on by Vyttra on Guitar and AiwarikiaR, former drummer of Ulver, on drums. Aort wrote all of the music and Kvohst co-wrote the lyrics with an English writer called Andrew Nicol, and the band released their first demo, entitled Neurotransmissions: Amplified Thought Chemistry, on March 15th, 2002. The band was eventually signed to Spikefarm Records an imprint record label of Spinefarm Records. Through Spikefarm, they released their first full-length, entitled Nouveau Gloaming on June 13th, 2005. After the album's release Kvohst went on to replace the departed Aldrahn on vocals in Dødheimsgard to record the album Supervillain Outcast in 2007. Kvohst, Vyttra and AiwarikiaR had all left the band for unspecified reasons in late 2006. A few months later it was announced that ICS Vortex (of Arcturus, Dimmu Borgir, and Lamented Souls) had been in talks to be recruited as the vocalist of the band but in the end he never joined the band nor wrote, performed or rehearsed with them. In September 2008, the band announced that they would not be working with Vortex after all and that Kvohst had returned to do the vocals on the new album.[1] On 4. November 2008 the title for the new album was announced: "Resplendent Grotesque". [2] The new album features the original core lineup of Kvohst, Aort and Vicotnik and the drums were performed by Adrian Erlandsson from At The Gates and ex-Cradle Of Filth.
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Bethlehem (Germany)
http://www.myspace.com/bethlehemasylum
Many of Bethlehem's songs have morbid lyrics, which may, for the most part, be personal to the band. On Dictius Te Necare (Latin: You must/should kill yourself) Rainer Landfermann, well-known from the German death metal band Pavor, is the vocalist. His voice is described as "one of the sickest and most extreme voices you'll ever hear from a human being".[1] On S.U.I.Z.I.D. his place is taken by Marco Kehren from the band Deinonychus. Guido Meyer de Voltaire, the vocalist from Schatten aus der Alexanderwelt and Mein Weg, is also well-known with his band Aardvarks. His vocal performance is equally extreme, though more varied, and most of the time he sounds like a distressed feline receiving unwanted fellatio. Andreas Classen, vocalist on Dark Metal also did vocals for Paragon Belial, a German black metal band.
Over the years Bethlehem modernized their style and so the early black and doom metal influences are now hardly present, the band favouring a more Neue Deutsche Härte (New German Hardness) and electronic approach. In 1998 Bethlehem collaborated on the soundtrack for the American underground movie Gummo with the tracks "Schuld Uns'res Knöcherigen Faltpferds" and "Verschleierte Irreligiösität".
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Virus (Norway)
Virus rose out of the ashes of avant-garde black metal innovators VED BUENS ENDE in the year 2000. VBE founding member, songwriter and vocalist/drummer Carl-Michael “Czral” Eide wished to further explore the more outlandish terrains of his former band and asked bass player extraordinaire Petter “Plenum” Berntsen (of AUDIOPAIN fame) and versatile drummer Einar “Einz” Sjursø (BEYOND DAWN, INFERNÖ, LAMENTED SOULS) to join him.
The debut album ‘Carheart’ was released by Jester Records in 2003. It combined the off the wall riffing of Eide with an almost post-rock (sometimes bordering on jazz) rhythmic foundation, and topped it off with totally absurd lyrical and visual imagery. Most reviewers hailed it as a masterpiece while a few didn’t get it all.
After the debut, Virus went off the radar for several years, not least because of Eide’s 2005 accident, falling five stories and making a two year-recovery. But, as they say, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, and never has this been more apt.
THE BLACK FLUX
If ‘Carheart’ was the “Monty Python” album of Virus, ‘The Black Flux’ is definitely the “David Lynch” one.
Like a constantly shifting torrent, Virus anno 2008 is as unpredictable as it is addictive. The riffs flow back and forth like waves, the bass undercurrents adding the illusion that there’s a lot more going on here than just three men playing their instruments. The drums keep a steady beat, keeping it all cohesive, yet don’t shy away from the occasional swirly fill. The vocals of Carl-Michael are a story of their own, picking up where he left off on VED BUENS ENDE’s ‘Written In Waters’, taking it to an all new level. Whether it’s the robotic authority of ‘Lost Peacocks’ or the almost-Bowie crooning of ‘Inward Bound’, Eide’s voice has finally become that vital fourth element of Virus, completing a whole that wasn’t quite achieved on the debut.
‘The Black Flux’ is a statement of intent, to say the least. The songwriting is more focused, the music more twisted and hypnotic, and the vocal delivery more poignant than ever. Not to mention the top-notch sound, produced in Amper Tone Studios (ENSLAVED, MADRUGADA, SERENA MANEESH, AURA NOIR etc.) under the helm of Bård Ingebrigtsen.
Overwhelming without being pompous, dark but not difficult, The Black Flux is easily the most important step yet in the careers of its creators. A maelstrom of creativity, and a flux of musical ambition. Now please dive in.
Virus announced their second album "The Black Flux" release on November 10, 2008 through Season of Mist recording label
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