Filed under: death metal, horror literature, Is this where I came from? | Tags: album covers, Cancer, death breath, Deceased, Dreadful pleasures, Haunted, horror cinema, Humanoids from the deep, Luck of the corpse, Revolting, six feet under, Stinking up the night, The haunting of Morella, The plague of the zombies, To the gory end
The relationship between horror cinema and death metal is a complicated one.The orthodox and not particularly critical way to approach this relationship is to resort to the so-called birth of heavy metal in the late 1960s. If Black Sabbath is the band that captured the imaginations of musicians, music journalists, and fans who co-created the genre we know as heavy metal, then it makes sense to argue that horror cinema is a cornerstone of the genre. Black Sabbath got its name from the Mario Bava classic horror anthology from 1963. Moreover, the band supposedly made the conscious decision to write songs that would constitute the equivalent of horror cinema in the music industry.
In line with this tradition, horror cinema has been an integral part of death metal lyrically, visually, and musically. Some of the seminal musical and lyrical death metal texts reference horror cinema directly. Possessed‘s influential debut Seven churches from 1985 kicks off with the song “The Exorcist“, incorporating both the title and theme tune of the groundbreaking horror film from 1973, albeit slightly altered presumably to avoid copyright issues. Another foundational death metal album, Death‘s debut Scream bloody gore (1987) includes the song “Evil dead“, whose title refers to the cult horror by Sam Raimi, and the intro melody is a cover of the theme tune of Zombi, the cult zombie-gory-horror film by Lucio Fulci. Deicide‘s debut (1990) also references Evil Dead in the song “Dead by dawn“. The homonymous song off Entombed‘s debut, Left hand path (1990), concludes with a version of the theme tune from Phantasm (Entombed has used dialogue samples from horror cinema in many other albums, including on Clandestine (1991), Wolverine blues (1993) and Morning star (2001)). It could be argued that horror cinema references were early on established as canonical for new occupants/creators of the death metal genre.
Many death metal bands have used the imagery of horror films in their album artworks. Cancer‘s awesome debut, To the gory end (1990), a cornerstone of British death metal, references the gory and influential sequel to Night of the living dead (1968), Dawn of the dead (1978), with its cover artwork which depicts the famous zombie with a machete slicing its head, making it one of the most identifiable death metal covers of all time.
Deceased‘s supercharged debut album, Luck of the corpse (1991), portrays on its cover the corpse of the medium from “The drop of water”, one of the tales from Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath (1963). The terrifying dead medium is one of the most nightmarish characters in the history of horror films, and in my opinion does not fit the intense death-thrash of the album. I would expect something much darker and claustrophobic from an album with this cover, something more akin to early Asphyx or early Benediction.
Six Feet Under‘s classic now debut from 1995 is full of references to murder and classic horror themes, such as zombies (“Torn to the bone”, “Still alive”) and werewolves (“Lycanthropy”). The cover of the album has been taken from the poster of the 1990 Gothic horror The haunting of Morella, a film loosely based on a story by Edgar Alan Poe. In spite of what I thought were silly performances, awkward sound and editing, and messy direction it is a wildly entertaining movie. The cover is a brilliant painting that fits the style of the album well; I truly feel haunted when I’m listening to it. Obviously, the title of the album, Haunted, also alludes to the film.
Death Breath was a breath of fresh stinking air in the early days of the somewhat mediocre resurgence of old-school Swedish death metal. What better way to celebrate Nicke Andersson’s return to death metal than to reference some old-school horror cinema! Death Breath’s self-titled EP and debut album from 2006 reference the classic Hammer horror The plague of the zombies (1966). The iconic zombie with the empty eyes and the grotesque snarl is to this day one of the most terrifying monsters in film, and stands in sharp contrast to the rest of the film, which is not particularly frightening in my opinion. By the way, if you haven’t seen the video that the band made for the homonymous song do yourselves a favour and watch it; pure Night of the living dead worship!
Revolting is another new “old school death metal” band par excellence. Accordingly in its debut titled Dreadful pleasures (2009) it references an old school horror film titled Monster, also known as Humanoids from the deep (1980). Revolting might not be of the order of old school death metal bands like Death, Deicide, Cancer, and Entombed, but Humanoids from the deep is a great movie that truly stands out. Alongside the usual horror tropes (stalking, people murdered one after the other, gore, nudity) this movie has great cinematography and an interesting plot. The artwork is pretty cool too.
Filed under: death metal, sweden | Tags: Afflicted, Arch enemy, At the Gates, best of, Carnage, Comecon, Dark tranquility, death breath, Dismember, Edge of Sanity, Entombed, Furbowl, Grave, Hypocrisy, Merciless, swedish death metal, Tiamat, Unanimated, Unleashed
Five and a half years ago I published a post in which I presented my 10 all-time favorite Swedish death metal albums. This post turned out to be the most popular one I have written so far. There have only been a few days since it was published that it did not bring in traffic. About three people read this post on an average day and it has been read 6,005 times in total.
Swedish death metal is gonna get you, no matter how far
However, given that writings are just snapshots in time, many times I feel weird when people read today things that I wrote a long time ago. That is why I decided to revisit this list and see whether I still agree with my choices five and a half years later. I decided that I agree with at least seven of my ten choices. Back in 2008, when the post was published, I had already been listening every single record on that list for more than a decade. This meant that I had a long time to reflect and settle on my tastes. Since 2008, however, several things happened which made me re-evaluate some of my choices. First of all, I discovered some Swedish death metal albums that I did not know back then. Secondly, I simply got over some records that I held in high regard in the past and appreciated more some others. Finally, even the first time around I was faced with several dilemmas regarding which records I should include in the list over others. Of course, I also discovered that certain things don’t change with time.
Seven records from the original list retain their status as all time favorite Swedish death metal albums of all time:
1. Dismember – Indecent and Obscene (1993)
Dismember’s second full length album maintains is position as my all time favorite Swedish death metal album. For almost two decades now I have not changed my mind once about the absolute perfection of this album. There is literally not one single moment in this album that is not brilliant. Every song in this album contains riffs that other bands have not managed to match in their entire careers. As much as it is true that Skogsberg was responsible for homogenising the Swedish death sound, this album sounds different from others. By Skogsberg’s standards Indecent and obscene sounds bad, but this is the beauty of it. The bass-drum on this album is the most satisfying I ever heard in my life. In any case, the band is on fire. This is a time when there was no shortage of ideas. The built-up of songs like “Case#obscene”, “Reborn in blasphemy”, “Dreaming in red” is mind-blowing and the way all of the songs develop is orgasmic. Every time you think that a song cannot get any better something extra-ordinary happens which leaves you speechless, be it a new riff, an amazing tempo change or a vocal pattern. I am so happy this album exists…
2. Entombed – Clandestine (1991)
As with Indecent and obscene, Clandestine never fails to amaze me every time I listen to it, although I know by heart each single moment. The last few years, Entombed themselves seem to have re-evaluated this masterpiece (it has been documented in Ekeroth’s book that neither Nicke nor Uffe particularly liked it back in the day). I personally could not understand how anybody cannot find this album brilliant. I would love to know what was going on in the minds of Nicke and the rest of the band when they were putting these songs together; to be able to experience their unrestrained inspiration running rampant.
3. At The Gates – With fear I kiss the burning darkness (1993)
Their first album is a masterpiece of death metal with which they set the standard for the extreme musical interpretation of painful emotions such as fear of mortality and suffering. And they set the bar really high. Almost everything that happened in extreme metal since then pales in comparison, with the exception of this, their second album. This album is surreal. Each song in this album contains more ideas than entire albums by most bands. At the gates at this point look down upon the popular music canon that wants musicians to compose songs around standardised and easily identifiable structures. Instead, they write melodies which are dynamic and develop and constitute part of a coherent whole (rather than a series of individual melodies glued together). Every musical development cannot be disconnected and understood individually. An album that is one of a kind.
4. Grave – You’ll never see (1992)
You’ll never see is another masterpiece that never gets old. Grave is known for playing pretty stripped down and brutal death metal. Jorgen’s voice is considerably more brutal than those of most of his contemporaries. The sound overall is extremely heavy. Songs stand out due to the catchiness of their lyrical ideas and the vocal patterns. How can anyone forget lyrics like “I wanna die a brutal way, instead of just fade away”, “You make me sick – chosen one”, or “oh my savior set me free, release me from my agony, grant me your eternal reich, take me to where corpses lie”. The groove of the eponymous song is out of this world and the way “Severing flesh” develops is mindbogglingly awesome!
5. Unleashed – Shadows in the deep (1992)
Another album to which I will always be loyal. I love every single second on this album. It’s the epitome of darkness and brutality. It has some of the best compositions by Fredrik. Fredrik was a genius of Swedish death metal, among the very few who have been true geniuses and it’s a shame he never got the recognition that he deserved. I cannot think of any other of their contemporaries for whom it could be argued that every single song they wrote was absolutely perfect. But Fredrik wrote consistently perfect songs, which were at the same time extremely personal and unique (I think he perfected his craft on Victory. It’s a shame he left the band after that album). This album also has some of Johnny’s best moments. The passion with which Johnny utters every single line of “Land of ice” has never been achieved in extreme music again. The massive riff and tempo of “Onward…” is also unparalleled in music history. The slow part on “Final silence” followed by the fast break and Johnny’s scream are one of the moments that define intensity. The eponymous song is the one that could qualify as the best song ever recorded. Simple as that.
6. Edge of Sanity – The spectral sorrows (1993)
This album has always been one of my favorite and at the same time always felt a bit awkward. The reason behind this latter feeling is that this album is one of the first “classic” Swedish death albums that challenged the generic conformity of death metal. The more traditional death songs are some of the best ever recorded, each one could easily be considered the best song if they were in most death albums ever recorded. For example, imagine any album by any band that included a song like “Jesus cries”, “The masque”, “Across the fields…”, “On the other side” or “Lost”. Any one of these songs would instantly stick out from the rest! However, as I said earlier, there are some other songs which are also amazing yet play with other generic rules, such as “Feeding the charlatan”, a hardcore-punk song given a death metal twist and “Sacrificed”, an all-out gothic/new wave song. In any case, this album is God.
7. Comecon – Megatrends in brutality (1992)
My appreciation for this album, and band overall, will never wane. The power of this album is unique, and I still think that they achieved a rare blend of Swedish death and grindcore. Also, having Petrov singing on your album is already a big plus. Having him singing some brilliantly penned lyrics along really inspired vocal patterns can lift an album to outer space. There are some amazing choruses and some amazing riffs, more akin to hardcore than death metal, but the fast slayer beat and grind throughout the album add considerably to its death metal character. Every single death metal mix-tape should include at least one of the following songs: “Wash away the filth”, “Teuton tantrums”, “Slope” and “Conductor of ashes”.
The remaining three albums (Hypocrisy‘s Final chapter, Tiamat‘s clouds and Desultory‘s Bitterness) would not necessarily be in that list. I still consider them monumental albums but not on the same league as the rest. Instead of suggesting three other albums to complete the original list I will instead suggest 10 albums, any of which could take the part of any of the previous three. Again, I will not include on purpose any other album by bands that have already been mentioned in the list. If I did that I have to confess that the list of best death metal albums would be monopolised by bands like Entombed, Dismember, At The Gates and Unleashed. In an effort to be fair to all those bands that have given us awesome music no band can be represented with more than one album in the list. So, here are the next 10 bands that I feel should be represented in a Swedish death metal “best of” list:
1. Furbowl – The autumn years (1994)
I never heard Furbowl when I was young. I discovered them through Daniel Ekeroth’s book Swedish Death Metal. Today it is hard to believe that this band never became popular. With their debut (Those shredded dreams) they paved the way for Entombed to evolve into the brilliant band that created Wolverine blues. (I imagine that when Andersson first heard “Damaged done” at once got goosebumps and cried for not coming up with it first.) On their second album, it was Furbowl’s time to be influenced by Entombed and particular L.G. Petrov’s style of singing. This album pushes the envelope even further than Entombed though, by incorporating in a marvelous way middle-eastern melodies, clean vocals and acoustic guitars in the mix of brilliance. The album kicks off with a pretty straight-forward song (“Bury the hatchet”) that effectively sets the death ‘n’ roll mood of the album. It then moves on to the more up-beat yet with a dose of sadness “Cold world“, from that to the soulful “Dead and gone“, and to the more driven pissed off D-beat of “The needle” (with a mid-section that punches you in the face), to straight on rock ‘n’ roll (“Baby Burn”). How can words describe the desperation on the chorus of “Weakened”? Pure genius! With the acoustic “Road less traveled” the band paves the way for the melancholic ending with a monumental song (“Still breathing“) about the will to resist and the suffering this entails. Liiva’s vocal performance is one of the very best, and not exclusively in the death metal genre.
2. Tiamat – The astral sleep (1991)
Clouds has always been an all time favorite. I know all the lyrics by heart since high-school and every single note and drum-beat on it. However, even the first time around I was torn between Clouds and The Astral sleep. The latter is a more obvious choice for a death metal list, because it is simply more brutal than Clouds. So, today I would go with The astral sleep, because it matches all the atmospheric excellence of Clouds, with songs like “Dead boys choir” and “The southernmost voyage”, but also contains dark claustrophobic hymns of desperation like “The mountain of doom” and “Ancient entity” (fucking masterpiece! That melody in the middle of the song always makes my skin crawl), as well as more up-tempo horror tales such as “I am the king of dreams”, “Sumerian cry (part III)” and “Lady temptress”.
3. Dark Tranquility – The mind’s I (1997)
I bought this album when it first came out and I loved it since the first time I listened to it. I think that it has some of the best songs I have ever heard, some of the most inventive riffs ever, some excellent lyrics and brilliant performances. The drum sound and style (basically a very fast Slayer bass-snare drum beat with minimal use of fills throughout the faster songs) was obviously inspired from At The Gates‘ break-through album that came out a couple of years earlier. This more straight forward and in-your-face approach that Dark Tranquility took on this record appealed to me more than anything else they ever did (I also liked a lot Fiction which also had a very similar approach). The power in the beginning of songs like “Jodijackyl light” and “Scythe, rage and roses” is unparalleled. The amazing textures of songs like “Hedon” and the unique use of arpeggiated chords and harmonised melodies on top of muted, chunky riffs, have been genre-defining. Finally, the way most songs develop – like in the brilliant “Tongues”from Celtic-sounding tunes, slowly building up to a furious Slayer beat, on top of a sequence of awesome trademark triplets-riffs – is jaw-dropping.
4. Unanimated – Ancient god of evil (1995)
This is an album that I came to appreciate the last couple of years. I first listened to it around 1997. That proved to be an unfortunate time to listen to this particular album. By 1997, Swedish death metal had become saturated with countless At The Gates and Dark Tranquility wannabes, which were of far inferior quality (some, like Ablaze my sorrow disappeared, while others, like Soilwork, became quite popular). Anything melodic that I heard at that time was instantly rejected. Ancient god of evil was one of those albums, despite the fact that Rickard Cabeza and Peter Stjarnvind were in the band. Luckily, I recently decided to give it a listen and I was blown away. Now I consider it a masterpiece among classic Swedish albums. The trademark drumming of Peter Stjarnvind and the vocals of Micke Jansson bring into mind the mighty Merciless, while some of the fast tremolo-picking riffs bring into mind Dismember‘s and Desultory‘s more melodic moments. All the songs are built according to very simple structures (verse-chorus-verse-chorus) but are nevertheless very refreshing, owing much to the majestic and dark choruses and the singer’s soulful screams (listen for example, the “Eye of the greyhound“, the brilliant “Ruins” and “Dying emotions domain“). The textures are also quite lean. The rhythm guitar and the bass usually have the leading role, playing the same melody line. Many times rhythm guitar and bass are used to give color to the minimal melodies played by the lead guitar, a technique very common to the Swedish death metal genre. Harmonic progressions that would not be normally “accepted” early on in the genre – such as the “happy” i – VII – V used throughout “Life demise” or the i – VI – VII resolving back on home chord throughout “Oceans of time” – are quite common. Keyboards are also tactfully placed here and there to the effect of atmosphere without ever assuming a leading role. The background percussion bit halfway through “Ruins” sounds like something influenced by Rotting Christ‘s “Non serviam”.
5. Arch Enemy – Black earth (1996)
Arch Enemy’s first album is nothing short of a Swedish death masterpiece. Most death metal fans, myself included, would consider Michael Amott’s career a disgrace after Burning bridges (1999), but I don’t think there are a lot of people who would not acknowledge the brilliance of this first album. The big advantage of this album is Liiva’s powerful and emotional vocals. Liiva gives a truly unique performance. The album kicks off in a massive way with “Bury me an angel“, a song that successfully establishes the mood of the album as at once devastating and melodic. “Dark insanity‘s” furious D-Beat and Slayer-like melody after the chorus are astonishing. “Eureka” is a slow, unusual song built around a super heavy “pull-off” riff and a gratifying chorus. All songs are fucking amazing and I cannot even begin to think about which ones are my favorite. Special reference should be made, though, to the frantic “Transmigration macabre“, which starts with one of the heaviest riffs on earth, the also speedy “Cosmic retribution” which has an amazing clean-guitar passage near the end, and the melancholic and majestic “Fields of desolation” that closes the album, one of the best songs ever written.
6. Afflicted – Prodigal sun (1992)
Afflicted evolved from being a brutal band in the style of early Entombed/Carnage/Grave in their demos/first E.P., to an uncompromising band that pushed the barriers of the genre in this, their first, album. With the exception of songs like “The empty word”, “In years to come” and “Consumed in flames”, where the D-Beat fury, grind and sheer brutality tend to be more prominent, the rest of the songs retain the extremity yet go down more technical/progressive paths previously explored by bands like Atheist, Atrocity (Germany) and Entombed to a new level and play with crazy structures and vocal ideas (the vocals are brilliantly insane), resulting in a thickly textured album with a very chaotic atmosphere. Especially the theatrical and flexible vocal delivery bring into mind Nicke Andersson on Clandestine and Alex Krull on Hallucinations. The beginning of “Spirit spectrum” sounds like something you could find in Atheist’s second album. Despite the inevitable influences, this album has a unique character and such variety that no matter how many years one listens to it there’s always new things to be discovered. The song “Ivory tower” closes the album in an unbelievable way! For those who love this album, make sure you check out Morbus Chron (they’ve got a new album coming up), a young Swedish band that sounds a lot like Afflicted.
7. Carnage – Dark recollections (1990)
The reason I did not include this album in the initial list was that I always considered Carnage the early incarnation of Dismember. That is not entirely inaccurate, however Carnage was primarily Amott’s project (although I think that the band became a force to be reckoned with after Estby joined). In any case, it is such a fantastic album that I cannot just ignore it altogether. Dark recollections is about claustrophobic down-tuned insanity, sickly composed minor melodies, furious beating (that constantly shifts from Slayer-beat, to D-beat, to grind) while Karki vomits his guts screaming about horror and humanity’s demise. The lyric “In a century of darkness, the horror spreads within, when the planet stops to turn, all hope is lost for man”, off “Infestation of evil”, was used by Arch Enemy on their Stigmata album. (on “Infestation of evil” there is also the hilarious misheard lyric “trapped in the place, of no escape, eternally you are lost, you are eating FRIES!”.) The intro riff of “Deranged from blood” is classic Swedish death, as it was and as it was always supposed to be.
8. Death Breath – Stinking up the night (2006)
Andersson’s return to death metal happened in a big way. Enveloped by Robert Pehrsson on guitar and vocals, Magnus Hedquist on bass, Scott Carlson (Repulsion!) on vocals, Jorgen Sandstrom (ex-Grave, ex-Entombed) on vocals and Nicke on drums Death Breath could only be fantastic. Nicke’s genius shines through in compositions of unique inspiration such as the infectious groove of “Chopping spree” and “Christ all fucking mighty”, and the sheer power of “Heading for decapitation” and “Coffins…”. The times when Pehrsson gets the upper hand on composition the results are also excellent, especially in the mind-blowing “Flabby little things…” and “Reduced to ashes”. The Autopsy-inspired “Dragged through the mud” is somewhat less fascinating and “Morbid mind” is cool, but the Birdflesh-sounding chorus feels a bit out-of-place to me. The days when Nicke took death metal too seriously have been long gone. The lyrics on the album are a testament to this. Don’t get me wrong, the lyrics are phenomenal, better than most bands can imagine. However, they are brilliant in a Pungent Stench kind of way, clever but funny. “Christ all fucking mighty” is one of the best songs ever recorded.
9. Merciless – Unbound (1994)
My first contact with Merciless happened through this album. I was hanging out to this friend’s house (who introduced me to some of my all time favorite bands, like Sinister, Altar, Desultory, Vader) and he put on the album. When the acoustic intro part of “Unbound” was over and the manic drumming on top of simple power-chords started, my friend started headbanging like crazy, as if he was about to jump out of his body (typical of him), a spectacle which actually increased the intensity of the music! From that moment on I was hooked on Merciless. I cannot think of many bands that can achieve this degree of intensity. Ridiculously fast riffing, Maidenesque melodies, insane screams and some folk tunes make up an amazing opening song. “The land I used to walk” is one of the most bad-ass songs ever to come out of Sweden; its rhythmic changes and the chorus are just brilliant. “Feebleminded” is an awesome in-your-face song typical of the style of music Merciless became known for. Their fast bass-snare drum beat is faster than most Death metal bands (maybe with the exception of Unleashed); some times it’s actually on the verge of becoming a blastbeat, and reminds a lot of Sadus. Peter Stjarnvind’s super tight drumming has never fitted equally perfectly in any of the other bands he played with. The slower songs on the album are also excellent. “Back to north” and especially “Lost eternally” are two gems of Swedish death.
10. Hypocrisy – The fourth dimension (1994)
Hypocrisy’s Fourth dimension is probably the first album I heard from them, so it has a special place in my heart. It has an amazing atmosphere appropriately represented on the fascinating album cover art. Lyrically, this album moves away from satanic themes towards topics such as alien life, murder, religion and metaphysics. “Apocalypse”, the song with which the album kicks off, is an undisputed Epic, a unique homage to Eloy and Bathory, two diametrically opposite influences that only Tagtgren could combine with such astonishing results! Songs like this one, as well as “Fourth dimension” defined Hypocrisy’s trademark sound. “Reincarnation” is another brilliant, melancholic song that established Hypocrisy as the pioneers of atmospheric death metal. The awesomeness of some of the lyrics should also be pointed out: “Silence, the only sound is the knife through the air – Hell, is where I’ll be when I’m through with you”. The more up-tempo songs like “Mind corruption” (this song has an awesome tempo, riffs and vocal patters, I love it!), “Orgy in Blood” and “Reborn” showcase Hypocrisy’s thrash influences, especially in the case of intro-riffs. Each single song (maybe with the exception of “Slaughtered) is a masterpiece.
On the original post I once received a comment from a guy who decided that my choices were irrelevant and that I was not a “true old-school death metaler”. Back then, I explained that I did not pretend to be an old-school death metaler, whatever that means. I started listening to death metal in the mid-90s and my tastes were to a large extent shaped by the first death metal albums I heard (The dreams you dread by Benediction, Slaughter of the soul by At the gates, Victory by Unleashed, Massive killing by Dismember, Spiritual healing by Death) by the tastes of friends (Sarcofago, Dismember, Massacra, Carcass) and the suggestions of the Greek magazine Metal Hammer (Morbid Angel, Pestilence, Asphyx, Bolt Thrower, Massacre, Napalm Death, Entombed). That is why I always loved both the early brutal phase of Swedish death metal along with the later more melodic and experimental phase. I once again run the risk of being accused of being a wimp by including Dark Tranquility, Unanimated, Arch Enemy and Furbowl (four quite melodic bands), but that’s fine. If I had to make another list of Swedish death masterpieces I would include even more melodic albums, such as Massive killing capacity (Dismember), but also some brutal masterpieces, such as Therion‘s second album and Carbonized‘s For the security. Finally, from both lists I created, a specific type of Swedish death is missing, the more “Americanised” brutal Swedish death. Some of the best ambassadors of this style are the awesome Deranged, Seance and Vomitory. Although I have loved these bands since the late nineties, I always thought that they cannot compete with the traditional Swedish death sound.
Filed under: people, popular music | Tags: army dreamers, death breath, drean theater, hounds of love, Kate Bush, never for ever, the kick inside
I’ve been listening to Kate Bush only since 2007. From the first few months, though, she earned a place among my favorite artists. She is one of the artists I both adore and envy, because her compositions are so beyond me! I could never write songs like Kate Bush does! I have never heard of anyone else writing songs like she does. I surely have never listened to anyone singing like she does. I only have Bush’s five first albums, but I think that they are enough to write a small oblation for her.
The first album I listened to was “Never Forever” (1980). I primarily got drawn by the picture in the cover of the album. It is definetely one of the best covers ever. I am also sure that it is where Nicke Andersson borrowed the concept for the first “Death Breath” album. I was familiar with the song ‘Babooshka’. However, when I carefully listened to it I realised that it resembled a lot one song from Dream Theater’s ‘Images and Words’ album. The song was ‘wait for sleep’, writen by Kevin Moore. I only like this album from dream theater, and from other albums I only liked the songs Moore had written. However, to my surprise I realised that the style of Moore is similar to that of Bush. I don’t know whether he copies Bush or anything, I just point out the resemblance. The song that amazed me was ‘Army Dreamers’, because of Bush’s 
beautiful singing, the orchestration, the lyrics and the amazing chorus.
The second album I bought from Bush was her first one (i.e. The kick inside, 1978). An amazing album written when Bush was a teenager(!), contains some of the best songs ever. Inspired compositions and dreaming melodies like ‘moving, ‘the saxophone song’, ‘wuthering heights‘ and more rock oriented songs like ‘James and the cold Gun’ or ‘Kite’. From the fabulous opening track, one comes across Bush’s extremely flexible voice, weaving its way through the complex theatrical melody. Throughout this album, strange and unconventional melodies render the listener unable to grasp its beauty with the first hearing. On the contrary, it requires attention and intentness.
Next, I bought ‘The Hounds of Love’, considered by many as her best album. It has a more pop production
and is less complex than her previous works. However, it contains some phenomenal songs such as ‘Cloudbusting’, ‘Running up that hill‘, ‘Mother stands for comfort, and so on’. The second side of the album has a different style than the first one, a more instrumental and theatrical one. A greek composer has stolen one of the melodies off the song ‘Cloudbusting‘. The song is “moira mou egines” sung by Andrianna Mpampali, and you can check the resemblance yourselves here.
The other two albums, ‘Lionheart’ (1978) and the weird and wicked ‘The Dreaming’ (1982), are the ones I have listened to less. Unfortunatelly, due to my superficial relationship with pop music, I have no idea to what extent she has influenced her peers, or any female artists who continued her legacy.
Filed under: death metal, horror literature, people | Tags: Dan Seagrave, death breath, death metal, Entombed, H.P.Lovecraft, Iron Maiden, Massacre, Metallica, Morbid Angel, Morbus Chron, Morgoth, Nile, Septic Flesh, Sinister, therion, Tiamat
After a long time I decided to revise this post about the influence of H.P. Lovecraft’s body of works on the Death Metal genre. When I first wrote it back in 2009 I had just started delving into the wonders of Horror literature. I rediscovered Stephen King, some of whose works I read back in the 1990s, and I quickly found books by Clive Barker and H.P.Lovecraft, two other great figures of Horror literature. My interest in the horror genre was not accidental. Having grown up listening to Heavy metal, I was inadvertently exposed to horror literature references. My first Heavy metal CD ever was Iron Maiden‘s Live after death. The thing that first mesmerised me before even listening to the music, was the amazing cover. On the tombstone, a quote from Lovecraft’s Call of Cthulhu is inscribed: “That is not dead which can eternal lie, yet with strange aeons even death may die”. Part of my interest in exploring those references in more detail stemmed from my desire to understand my favourite musicians a bit better, and connect with them on an abstract cultural plane. Another factor that enabled this obsession with horror literature is the availability of extremely cheap books in England. I have bought almost all my books from local charity shops, and each book has cost me between 50p and £2. Finally, my interest in horror literature can also be linked to my fascination with horror movies, which goes back to my early childhood. I remember being in the early grades of primary school and watching The Hand (1981), together with my mom, or The Blob (1986) without my parents knowing, or Poltergeist III (1989) and not being able to sleep, or being 9-10 years old and looking forward to Friday night to watch the new episode of Friday the 13th the TV series (and talk about it with my cousin George next time we’d meet).
As Roland Barthes has pointed out, all texts refer only to other texts. This post is about Lovecraft’s influence on various texts (i.e. lyrics and images) associated with the Death metal genre.
Nile‘s first full length, Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka (1998), is my personal favourite Nile album and a true gem of mid- to late 1990s American brutal death metal. Both the words “Nile” and the title of the album can be found in the same sentence at the end of the haunting short story by Lovecraft, “The Outsider”. The catacombs are the home of the deformed creature which has dwelled there mummified for centuries, before it ventured to visit the outside world. The catacombs are the place where the creature returns after realising its abominable existence. Another noteworthy example, as pointed out by one of the readers of the blog, of Lovecraft’s influence on Nile’s music is the monumental “4th Arra of Dagon” off Those whom the gods detest (2009).
Morbid Angel, the cornerstone of American brutal death metal, is clearly guided by Lovecraft. References to the Ancient Ones and Yog-Sothoth, characters built around the Cthulhu mythos, are ubiquitous in all Morbid Angel discography, especially in albums Blessed are the sick (1991) and Formulas fatal to the flesh (1998). Morbid Angel not only write lyrics inspired by Lovecraft, but also their philosophical explorations draw on the mystical cosmos created by Lovecraft; what constitutes reality; which part of reality the human mind can perceive and what its limitations are; how the human mind is bound by social and cultural norms prohibiting us from accessing other realities, and so forth.
Entombed‘s masterpiece Clandestine (1991) contains the song “stranger aeons“. The lyrics are written by Kenny Hakansson. Phrases like “stranger aeons” and “Stranger things that eternal lie” point towards the Cthulhu mythos once again. Other phrases like “lurking at the threshold” also point to other Lovecraft tales like the Thing at the Doorstep, or The Lurker at the Threshold (mainly written by August Derleth). The painting by Nicke Andersson at the back cover of the album, depicts a head with frightening hollow eyes and tentacles, reminiscent of Lovecraft’s ancient God Cthulhu.
In 2006 Death Breath from Sweden released the excellent album Stinking up the night. The album closes with a haunting instrumental titled “Cthulhu Fthagn”. The song is apparently a tribute both to Lovecraft and Metallica, who had recorded the instrumental “The call of Ktulu” in their Ride the lightning (1984) album. These words (cthulu fthagn) are what Wilcox the sculptor heard, during his horrifying dreams of the city where Cthulhu slept. In the same album, the song “A morbid mind” also refers to the Lovecraftian mythology, and ”Flabby Little things from Beyond” refers to the short story From Beyond where a scientist creates a device that allows people to perceive hidden dimensions. Massacre‘s first album From Beyond (1991), one of the ultimate Death Metal albums, is dedicated to this story as well. What I have identified as Lovecraftian references in Tiamat‘s work, are a bit more obscure. The title “In the shrines of the kingly dead”, off Tiamat’s debut album, alludes to the terrifying story The hound, where the phrase “the narcotic incense of imagined Eastern shrines of the kingly dead” can be found. The story Celephais includes the recurring phrase “where the sea meets the sky”, and a similar phrase is also found in Tiamat’s “A caress of stars” off Clouds (1992).
Other references to Lovecraft come from bands like Therion, and their song “Cthulu“, off their fantastic second album, Gutted‘s “Nailed to the cross”, a strange blend of Lovecraft and anti-christian lyrics off their debut album Bleed for us to live (1994), and Sinister‘s “Awaiting the Absu”, from their masterpiece Hate (1995). In the eponymous track of Septic Flesh‘s first album (i.e. Mystic places of dawn (1994), one of the superior albums in death metal history, or even music history overall), there is the lyric “… Sarnath the doomed, and names that echo in the labyrinths and the cavernous depths of chaos”. This is a reference to the short story “The doom that came to Sarnath”, which talks about an imaginary city that prospered after ravaging an ancient alien race, which eventually returned to take revenge. The song “Lovecraft’s death” off Communion (2008) is full of references to stories such as The rats in the walls, The whisperer in darkness, and The music of Erich Zann, among others.
Another amazing song coming from recent years, is Morgoth‘s “Nemesis” off their awesome comeback album Ungod (2015). The lyrics of “Nemesis” come from Lovecraft’s homonymous poem, and I cannot imagine a better soundscape for it. Another relatively recent example of Lovecraftian death metal comes from Morbus Chron. Their first album includes the brilliant song “Red Hook horror“, which references The horror at Red Hook, one of the most talked-about Lovecraft stories. It is one of the stories that have been identified as an example of Lovecraft’s xenophobic and far right beliefs, as it is laden with derogatory epithets and imagery about US immigrants and the economically deprived. Morbus Chron have borrowed minor elements of the story and created their own vague, gruesome narrative.
The art of Dan Seagrave, one of the most important painters-cover artists of the death metal genre, clearly draws on Lovecraft’s imagination. Much of his more recent work, finds the artist obsessed with bizarre architecture (i.e. “non Euclidian geometry”), of the kind mentioned in the dreams of Lovecraft’s characters of the city R’lyeh. Looking at covers like Morbid Angel‘s Gateways to Annihilation (2000) or Suffocation‘s Souls to Deny (2004), can only bring into mind descriptions from the Call of Cthulhu like, “…great Cyclopean cities of Titan blocks and sky-flung monoliths…”.
Some of the readers of this blog have made some contributions in the comment section, so please read on for more Lovecraft influences! To be continued…
overground scene 