Negură Bunget... on MTV?!

Browsing through YouTube I came across something I never expected to see... Negură Bunget (performing Vazduh) live on MTV!

Ascendance To The Pacific Metal Throne Begins...

On a global scale, Australia has been home to mostly lacklustre bands in recent years who offer little considerably unique in the metal field, with the exception of a handful of bands such as The Amenta, Elysian Blaze and a few others. This period may be drawing to a close, for a new band has emerged quite unlike any other before it from Australia or anywhere else in the world.

Gathering a cult following before even releasing this, their first demo (initially slated to be their debut EP), Ne Obliviscaris hail from Melbourne, a city renowned for its deep culture of music and the arts. Such a rich environment provides a natural backdrop for the short history of these young highly talented musicians.

"The Aurora Veil" opens with explosive drumming courtesy of Daniel 'Mortuary' Presland, and tightly executed Black Metal, puncutated with Xenoyr's slicing, sharp snarls. Don't become too too comfortable with this - only a handful of bars in, there is an unexpected turn: blossoming colours of timechanging and arpeggiated structures arrive akin to the heralding of a new Spring season, accentuated by a Pizzicato (plucking of a violin), before taking a short return to the frenzied Black Metal basis, however this time framed by Xenoyr's Death Metal growls and a strong falsetto (executed so beautifully that one could mistake it for a female midrange register) by violinist and clean vocalist Tim Charles.

Only one and a half minutes into one song, and already the band has combined three different styles into their composition while firmly providing strong colours throughout their delivery. This very trait provides a (paradoxically) simple, basic expression to the Ne Obliviscaris musical character, for what is to come is unique in Black Metal, or any style of metal for that matter.

Movements of almost Bach-like nature (think along the lines of "Works for Lute BWV 995-997"), voiced with a flamenco tongue herald sweeping violin bowstrokes, evoking a weeping, emotionally saturated dirge. It's difficult trying to keep your eyes dry during these sections of the recording. The technique is a powerful emotional tool, executed like few bands have the capability to do. When one expects to hear it again in another song, it is perhaps voiced through a blend of almost gypsy-like folk, which melds into metal. Truly ingenious, highly creative and unpredictable.

These movements, however, unveil the definitive and unqiue character of Ne Obliviscaris' music: the inclusion of violin is nothing new in Metal: one of the most famous bands to use violins was none other than My Dying Bride, and the instrument has since been taken up by countless cloned gothic doom bands since. None however, have used the instrument's voice in its true virtuosic form and this is exactly what Ne Obliviscaris have achieved here, and for what could be the first time in Metal history. Instead of the two virtuso being guitarists, one is instead a violinist. The result is a beautiful and vibrant spectra of pale colours, combined with a powerful shift back and forth between virtuoso violin and guitars. It is mindnumbing at how effective this method is, how natural it sounds.

A wise young friend said to me recently, that most bands, especially at their humble beginnings, have a weak link - be it songwriting, musicianship, or dedication. With Ne Obliviscaris there is truly none. The only thing which can possibly come close is the (barely) audible trait of a bands' youth but that is all. Given their upcoming album, it is highly conceivable that any trace of youthful songwriting will disappear quickly, to be replaced by the more evolved version of the already powerful maturity and depth that the band exhudes.

Each member of the band is a master of their instrument. Both guitarists, Matt Klavins and Corey King, play emotionally, aggressively, and classically. Bassist Brendan 'Cygnus' Brown's playing covers a large range of his fretboard, evident in diverse structures throughout the songs, and he also plays with blistering speed in the opening song "Tapestry Of The Starless Abstract". Drummer Daniel 'Mortuary' Presland's playing is perhaps the most solid Black Metal styled drumming heard yet from an Australian band, he handles timechanges and consistency of speed with great confidence. These musicians, along with Xenoyr and Tim Charles, combine to form a band of formidable unity and strength, and the best part of their journey is that it has only just begun.

"The Aurora Veil" is a stunning commencement to what will surely be an amazing forthcoming career. There is no doubt that Ne Obliviscaris will lead Australia's metal reputation to great heights in the coming years, and I, among many others, will watch with wide eyes for this band to ascend to the Pacific metal throne on the back of this stunning and beautiful debut release.

Official Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/neobliviscaris

Rise of the locals!

Over the years I have been quite unimpressed with the lacklustre state of not only Australian metal, but with Australian indie music as well.

The glory days of the early nineties came and went, and seemingly with it, any hope of excellent songwriting not aimed at the dumbified mainstream. The last few years have seen me hanging onto the remains of my old beloved bands from the glory days who still play every now and then. Their magic has not faded, but in the back of my mind, I have felt worried that I'm starting to live in the past, and this of course isn't a good thing.

In recent times I've discovered some excellent local bands, thanks to friends Mike and Tom: Ne Obliviscaris promises to crush every other Australian Metal band of the last decade effortlessly with their first demo alone (I can't wait to see them live), and Tom's own band, sleepmakeswaves takes a beautiful, spacial and atmospheric trajectory on instrumental post-rock.

Both bands have released only their first demos, yet both promise so much. The oncoming ride of seeing both bands mature is going to be sheer delight to behold, as both exhibit mature songwriting and down to earth approaches in their work.

For these two local bands, 2007 is going to be an extremely exciting year as they both increase gigging and continue to release material. Slowly but surely, each have respective followings building, heralding the promise of great times ahead.

Stupid Insecure Racialists!

I love the way racialists try to justify their racism by speaking about the grey race theory (a result of all races mixing over generations to create a so-called faceless race).

By the time any such phenomenon truly occurs, the human race will be truly dead and gone anyway. Not only that, but change creates culture, it creates art, it cuts paths to new ways of thinking, to new languages, to advancement. Thus, evolution. However, a grey race will never exist, there is too much difference with politics and morals across the world for this to be realistic, and plus, as has before, geographic effects will provide characteristics to make races different again anyway, but again, the time line for all of this will be so long that its unlikely we will still be the dominant animal on this planet by that time as it is.

How fucking stupid can some of you immature brats be as to resist change? You want to go back to fucking your sisters and having deformed babies? Spearing your dinner? Wearing pig skin as underwear? Some of you people are so fucking dumb you'll believe anything anyone tells you, you're like horses with those leather caps on their eyes, only seeing in one direction!

Fucking wake up, it's the twenty-first century. Whether or not you like it, mixed race is the new race, mixed culture is the new culture. Get used to it, you're not going to be able to stop it and the whole world will move on while you try to continue being pseudo-intellectual trend setting racialists.

The most ironic thing is that those of you who proclaim how bad multiculturalism is are probably of mixed background anyway you fucking hypocrites, get over your insecurities. You're the fucking laughing stock of society and I for one am busting with mirth. I'd love to slap every single one of you narrow-minded cunts but in all honesty its not worth my time. As I advance and rise to new heights through acceptance, you will be sitting around with your speared boar, trying to figure out how to fucking light a fire without matches and cook it without a stove. Wow, that's hell fucking Viking. Stupid fucks.

Bells In The Cold Mountains

Well I'm pretty excited today. I've been harping on about cow bells lately, and thanks to Linda's good memory, I got a Yak bell.

For those of you who don't know what a Yak is, it's a cowlike animal found in the Tibetan mountains, used for herding and travel over the course of time.

I love the sounds of the bells they have around their necks (it's totally Negură Bunget by the way, anyone who's listened properly to "Primul Om" will know what I'm talking about).

So anyhow, I love the sound these bells make. A dull-ish sound, but one which sounds old, ancient. You can imagine a cold mountainside, covered in fog, with a yak walking up it on an old dirt road, no other life around and the patter of soft rain from the grey blankets of clouds around the peaks above.

I love my yak bell. I hang it with red ribbon, as red is a symbolic colour in Buddhism, the sound is a peaceful one, so I thought it fitting to use a colour from such a peaceful teaching faith.

Decline of Creativity, Rise of Slavery. Thanks Mr Howard!

A few weeks ago, on 4 Corners I think it was, I saw an article regarding Melbourne University, and how it aimed to align itself more closely to American universities.

I do think that this kind of move in the Tertiary Education sector was somewhat unavoidable, it has in fact been coming for some years.

However, a second glance will reveal something which has been right under the noses of the public for many years now (probably around 12, if memory serves me correctly in regards to how long The Howard REGIME has been in power).

Over the last decade or so, funding for the Arts itself (e.g. dance or ballet companies, opera, our film and record industries) and related arts courses have dramatically dropped. So much so, that the Arts has become now a dismal and almost forgotten part of Australian modern society, and survives, by a very thin thread, on private funding.

Kids at school are aiming for corporate jobs: lawyers, I.T, engineers, accountants, the list goes on. It seems that slowly and surely, the generations following Generation X have been raised and shaped to become slaves to the money churn machine, drones to the corporations: unthinking and undeciding, yet high earning, empty shells.

In my opinion, we can thank no other than the Howard Government for this development. Creativity, the Arts, has been all but shut down. Practically ignored in our society, the media cries when many of our best leave our shores, embarking on successful careers overseas (Nicole Kidman, Heath Ledger etc). After all, what reason have they to stay here? What can a stagnating and rotting industry here do to help them put food on the table? Nothing. A creative, independent thinking Australian is not what this ultra-conservative government approves of it would seem.

It is almost a paradox in a sense - these Liberals seem to strive for an aristocracy, yet in hindsight through the previous centuries, what is aristocracy without Art?

A life without Art is a life without meaning, without expression. This is a hard reality that many students at Melbourne University are now having to deal with. It is a sad, sad reality, and only mirrors what is happening to our decaying modern culture in Australia.

Already, our culture, no longer effected by Arts, is slowly grinding to a halt, to stagnation. Feminism is dead. Shivalry is dead. Romance is dead. Domination is in. Mysogeny is in. Destruction of your enemies, as opposed to working with your enemies, is in. In short, absolutist thinking for absolutist, uncreative culture.

Goodbye, Individuality, goodbye Expression. And welcome, Unthinking Drone.

Stop Making Excuses, He Should Be Out Of This Country!

Returned from his overseas trips of late, Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly has been interviewed by the Herald, desperately trying to ward himself away from some of the most stupid, vile and discriminatory comments we've seen come out of Australia for many decades. On the Herald's article, a photo shows Hilaly with a warm smile on his face, cooking in his suburban home as if he was a simple, respectable citizen.

It couldn't be further from the truth. This despicable bastard should be booted out of the country as soon as possible. As far as I am concerned, if you compare women to pieces of meat, you simply DO NOT belong in this country. Fuck you, you Neanderthal prick - not only do you CLEARLY exhibit extremist thinking, you're kicking the good Muslims of Australia in the guts.

The Disease that is Crapspace.

I've resisted as long as I can. Now it looks like I can do so no longer: I've done what I said I would never do, make a shitspace page. Who knows what purpose it will serve, but well, it's there. ** groan **