Category Archives: music

They scoffed!…at the feast of the Lord and now they will be made to drink of their due deserts. Those of you that are away from God, I’m warning you, there’s coming a time, you would give anything for the cup of salvation, you would give anything to follow in the Lord’s steps and take up your cup and drink it whenever he calls you to do with the Christians; but it’s too late! So you were an angry man on the Earth? I’m an angry god in heaven.

Don’t forget our test tonight, for in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture and he poureth out of the same. But the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them. (Psalm 75:8)

Friends, the judgment. The punishment of the wicked is prepared, God holds it in his hand, in the chalice of his wrath he holds it.

…The wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and the presence of God.** (Revelation 14:10)

Take the wine cup of the fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me. (Jeremiah 25:15-17)

Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body,
And cursed shall be the fruit of thy land,
Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in,
And cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. (Deuteronomy 28:18-19)

I gave you everything —-. He will force you as a parent forces a child to take medicine, he’s gonna force you to take the cup of the Lord…The wine is red! That signifies, my friends, the retribution! The payment! Vengeance! Blood for blood!

And thou shalt grope at noon-day, as the blind gropeth in darkness,
And thou shalt not prosper in thy ways:
And thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore,
And no man shall save thee. (Deuteronomy 28:29)

The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high;
And thou shalt come down very low.
He shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. (Deuteronomy 28:43-44)

And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass,
And the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust:
From heaven shall it come down upon thee,
Until thou be destroyed (Deuteronomy 28:23-24)

You’ll cry! You’ll cough! You’ll choke! And you will be…trapped. You’ll see the dregs, you’ll see the bottom of the cup, you’ll see the soupy mixture but you’ll keep drinking it and drinking it and drinking it and drinking it; my friends, Hell is forever! Damnation is forever!

It’s not a day in Hell, it’s eternity. When the Rapture takes place all hell is gonna explode. Then you will be within the sodomite hordes, when the Rapture takes place, you will not make it…you’re not going up. Why? You made a choice. You made a choice. It’s a horrible tempest! This shall be the cup, the portent of their cup. Death! Every last sin —. Don’t hold back at me; ‘cause when you hold back, friend, you’re dropping into the cup, it’s being stored up. And you will be forced to drink it, it will stand over you. And judge you.

The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee,
Until he have consumed thee from off the land,
Whither thou goest to possess it.
The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption,
And with a fever; and with an inflammation and with an extreme burning,
And with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew;
And they shall pursue thee until thou perish,
Because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God. (Deuteronomy 28:21-22, 62)

— It sayeth in the — saying with a loud voice: If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or his hand, the same shall drink of the cup… (Revelation 14:9-10) …It is full of mixture, and this represents, friends: spices of anger, justice and repeated rejections of mercy. How many times has God tried to warn you?

You’re mixing the cup! You’re the ones dropping every ingredient in! You’ve stirred up wrath! And if you don’t believe what I’m speaking then you read the word! You’ve mixed his wrath! And it’s poisonous. It’s not the church that is causing the wrath to come down, it’s you! Drink it! Drink it! Not only will you have no choice, you’ll never reach the —.

You won’t — to do it. He will —-

—

*The first four paragraphs of the sample are partly from the exposition by Charles H. Spurgeon of Psalm 75:8 in the book The Treasury of David.
** It’s “presence of the Lamb” in the original verse.

—

All the dirty work done by Aceres, used with kind permission. Thank you!

music

Betraying the call of continued creation

September 22, 2012 Indy Leave a comment

Here, in fact, we may be in the presence of one of the most necessary of all Devils: the Ecumenical Unifier, champion of all efforts to remove invidious distinctions between nature and nurture, body and spirit, interdiction and impulse, time and eternity, individual and community, male and female, Hell and Heaven – and ultimately, of course, between man and God.

With their appearance on the Crushing the Holy Trinity compilation (2005), Poland’s Mgla established themselves as one of the most interesting bands around. Seven years later they are at the forefront of music. Groza was the best black metal album of 2008, and With Hearts Toward None has been on almost constant repeat in my world since its’ release seven months ago.

I’ll be in Berlin on October 10th at the Fog Over Berlin fest featuring Mgla, Furia, Blaze of Perdition and Mordhell – the Polish invasion of Germany! A revaluation of values, sort of.

And as the light embraces the wanderer,
as knees bend, as thought is obliterated,
with the very moment that resistance has ceased,
now, I am become death, the enemy of man.

Let the children drink freely
from these rivers of grace
And let there come the rain,
let there come the rain
And may it wash away the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit, the whores, the junk, the trash, the worms, the freaks, the rot, the plague, the grime, the smut, the waste, the pigs, the slime, the mud, the vermin of every shape and size…

No golden thrones to follow
No shrines of solace to be found
And only the locusts shall sing
at the end of the day

movies, music, philosophy, religion

Lucifer Rising – A Love Vision

April 18, 2012 Indy Leave a comment

Kenneth Anger‘s Lucifer Rising (1972) must be one of the most ambitious independent films made to date. It took over eleven years to complete, with locations spanning the temples of Karnak and the pyramids of Giza in Egypt to Germany’s Black Forest to Stonehenge, as well as India, Iceland, and lots of locations in the United States. Knowing that Anger chose to work mostly by himself, controlling all aspects of film production (his ability to direct, light, photograph, costume, create props, edit and produce is legendary) and working with an extremely modest budget, most of it self-financed, the end result is nothing but astonishing.

The visual inspiration must be traced to Aleister Crowley‘s poem Hymn to Lucifer, which in turn recalls John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost (1667). Lucifer is, in both Milton’s, Crowley’s and Anger’s eyes, the representation of beauty and light, the light bearer, the morning star, and so forth… In Gnostic myth, Lucifer was/is a pre-Judeo-Christian deity, identified with the fallen angel cast out of Heaven. The Gnostics worshipped Lucifer as the Herald of the Dawn, the light preceding the sun. This myth was then suppressed by the Catholic Church.

Marquis de Sade held that it was evil that was man’s prime motivation toward pleasure. Baudelaire tried to ”extract beauty from evil”, as did Milton in Paradise Lost and Dante in The Divine Comedy. It was in this symbolic context that Kenneth Anger found inspiration, and as early as 1954, in Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, Anger explored different psychedelic states of consciousness. In a way, Lucifer Rising is ”with its themes of demonic possession expressed through the loss and recovery of psychic and physical power” (Alice L. Hutchison, Kenneth Anger) the ultimate of Anger’s manifestations, sort of stating that all these themes – the journey, the quest, the beauty, the darkness, the sublime and the psychedelic experience – are related. It’s the perfect combination of everything and nothing – showing another existence different from rational awareness. It’s like dreams that ”attempt to bring order to the unruly emotions and desires repressed by the social constraints of everyday life” (Hutchison). Anger himself consider Lucifer Rising to be the one film, alongside Scorpio Rising (1964), that came closest to his vision.

Robert Haller: ”To watch the film is to become intensely aware of the kinds and qualities of light, of its presence and absence, of its force.”

Before the film’s completion, Anger had this to say:
”The film Lucifer Rising is my answer to Scorpio Rising – which was a death mirror held up to American Culture. […] I call it a love vision, and it’s about love – the violence as well as the tenderness… […] Lucifer is the Rebel Angel behind what’s happening in the world today. His message is that the ‘Key of Joy is Disobedience’.”

When done filming, but not editing:
”Frankly, it’s taken me into some very strange corners… You see, I didn’t think it was about demons or hell, really. I was trying to make a film about the Angel of Light. That was his first name. The Son of the Morning, you see. But now I almost believe what the Bible says.”

Kenneth Anger’s interest in sound led to experimental collaborations with Mick Jagger (creator of the soundtrack for Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969)), Marianne Faithfull (who starred in Lucifer Rising), Jimmy Page (who began composing for Lucifer Rising, but got fired) and the infamous Bobby Beausoleil (whose music appeared in the final re-edited version of Lucifer Rising). Anger argued that rock’n’roll embodied the rebellious spirit of the times.

As for Lucifer Rising, Anger had 17 hours of film and had been using the film-editing facilities in the basement of Jimmy Page’s Victorian mansion in London to trim it down. One night Anger was ordered by Page’s girlfriend to leave the house. No reason was given for his eviction, and his work was terminated, and so was Jimmy Page’s work on the soundtrack. The media reports of these events led to Beausoleil contacting Anger about making music for the film. Since Beausoleil was held captive in prison for his involvement with the Charles Manson murders, the instruments were delivered by mail order and Anger provided him with the time-sheet for the film. The result is amazing. That Bobby Beausoleil’s last name is roughly translated to ”beautiful sun” is yet another detail related to the concept of light.

Kenneth Anger made his first movie when he was nine years old. When Scorpio Rising was released in 1963 it became the most viewed underground film in history. Anger still didn’t have enough money to truly realize his grand visions, and was unable to complete most of them. ”Money has always been a problem, and it made me give up on a lot of projects”. One of these movies that to my knowledge is still unfinished is a portrait if his friend Elliot Smith. He also made plans for a documentary about the German colony Nueva Germania in Paraguay, which was founded by Nietzsche‘s sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. According to Anger the place holds a lot of inbreds…

Still to this day, at the age of 85, Anger refers to himself as a thelemite, a follower of the spiritual philosophy Thelema developed by Aleister Crowley. In the 1940’s, Anger started to collect Crowley books and manuscripts, and obviously his collection is huge (probably not as huge as that of Jimmy Page, though, whose collection is rumoured to be the second largest in the world. Page also owns Crowley’s former residence at Boleskin, Loch Ness).

By the way, the Jimmy Page soundtrack is available again, remixed and all that, along with other soundtracks on this beautiful album:

This article is inspired by Alice L. Hutchinson’s book Kenneth Anger, as well as the interview with Kenneth Anger by Carl Abrahamsson.

literature, movies, music

>The books, movies and music of 2011

January 12, 2012 Indy Leave a comment

BOOKS

Volumes 1–3 of Karl Ove Knausgård’s Min kamp (My Struggle) were the most crushing, honest and valuable books for me last year. Good thing there are three more volumes to read. Holy shit. I can’t wait.

So, the list of good books I read from 2011’s batch goes like this (mostly Swedish stuff):

Tomas Bannerhed – Korparna (Weyler förlag)
Roberto Bolaño – Amulett (Albert Bonniers förlag)
Mircea Cărtărescu – Dagbok. 1994–2003 (Albert Bonniers förlag)
Jacques Cazotte – Den förälskade djävulen (Malört förlag)
Noam Chomsky – Hopes and Prospects (Haymarket Books)
Magnus Dahlström – Spådom (Albert Bonniers förlag)
Crister Enander – Skiftande speglar (Bokförlaget h:ström – Text & Kultur)
Daniel Goldberg & Linus Larsson – Svenska hackare (Norstedts)
Ted Goldberg – Legalisera narkotika? Ett diskussionsunderlag (Academic Publishing of Sweden)
Michel Houellebecq – Kartan och landskapet (Albert Bonniers förlag)
Ika Johannesson & Jon Jefferson Klingberg – Blod Eld Död (Alfabeta förlag)
Karl Ove Knausgård – Min kamp 1–3 (Norstedts)
Jon Kristiansen – Metalion: The Slayer Mag Diaries (Brazillion Points)
H.P. Lovecraft – Cthulhu vaknar och andra ohyggligheter (Hastur förlag)
H.P. Lovecraft – Skräcknoveller (Vertigo förlag)
Kristian Lundberg – Och allt skall vara kärlek (Ordfront förlag)
Arthur Machen – Den röda handen (Hastur förlag)
Markis de Sade – Juliette del 5–6 (Vertigo förlag)

———–

MOVIES

To begin with, four movies that I haven’t seen yet. I believe they are more than ok:
Le Havre (Ari Kaurismäki), Play (Ruben Östlund), Shame (Steve McQueen), The Adventures of Tintin (Steven Spielberg) and Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine). I need to check these out ASAP.

My favourite movies of 2011:

The Sunset Limited (Tommy Lee Jones) [blog post]

1UP – One United Power

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson)

Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin)

I Love Trains – The Movie

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Bobby Fischer Against The World
Jens Pulver: Driven
Kill List
Margin Call
Pearl Jam Twenty
Rango
Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts
Zeitgeist: Moving Forward [blog posts]

Some truly great movies unleashed in 2010 that I saw later on in 2011:
Biutiful, Black Swan, Blue Valentine, Incendies, Inside Job, Into Eternity [blog post], Senna.

———–

MUSIC

40 Watt Sun
The Inside Room
Cyclone Empire

This is THE album of 2011 for me. Total bölfezt.
The lyrics are truly soul crushing and the music is overwhelming. I ain’t got much more to say, but if you like this one you need to check out all releases by Warning as well. Pretty much the same band.

Restless, the opening song of The Inside Room, is available here (original version) and here (acoustic version). They are both equally amazing.

40 Watt Sun is playing the Roadburn festival in Tilburg this year. I’m gonna hide in the back and probably cry my eyes out.

———–

Counterblast

Nothingness
Alerta Antifascista

This is – by far – one of the very best bands ever. Inspired by Neurosis and Amebix, rising from the ashes of the unparalleled grindcore band G-Anx, these dudes and their music are unique in a world of conformity. All of their stuff is top notch, their old songs having more of a crust edge to them (listen to Prospects (1995)).

They’re getting slower and more powerful for every album, and on Nothingness I can feel the vibes of the mighty Wovenhand and Morte Macabre, so you better start drooling. This is their most consistent release to date.

It’s hard to describe their style, but apocalyptic beauty, darkness and melancholy might say something about the atmosphere. Just listen to The Truth Will Remain and bend over.

———–

In Solitude
The World. The Flesh. The Devil.
Metal Blade

I couldn’t wrap my head around In Solitude’s debut album. I wanted to worship, but I just couldn’t do it. I really can’t put my finger on what was keeping me away. It’s far from bad, but I just didn’t get it. Great lyrics, ok songs and such, but not as good as I wanted it to be.

Everything, and I mean everything, changed when I got a hold of this masterpiece. This is the essence of occult heavy metal darkness. It’s like a sinister and dense version of the kings of the genre (Mercyful Fate), performed by highly dedicated freaks. And this time the songwriting is nothing but flawless, it’s just fucking epic.

Their upcoming tour with Watain, The Devil’s Blood and Behemoth should be killer.

———-

Looking For An Answer
Eterno Treblinka
Relapse Records

I can’t even remember the last time I heard a seriously good grindcore record. As I write this I’ve just heard a couple of songs off the new albums by Napalm Death and Terrorizer – bands who once were gods of grindcore. That was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, and now they aren’t really that interesting. The new songs may be good, but they sound like shit. Modern day metal production was what made grindcore so terribly boring in the first place, and these guys haven’t learned a thing since 1990 (Napalm Death) and 1989 (Terrorizer) respectively. In my mind, grindcore should sound like Napalm Death’s Peel sessions, Arsedestroyer’s Teen Ass Revolt, or when it gets technical and/or metallized, like Assück’s masterpiece Misery Index (listen to the whole album here).

Lo and behold! In 2011 God gave us the new Looking For An Answer assault, and holy shit, this one is a killer! Hail to Spain! Mixing the finest bits of grindcore, crust punk and old school death metal, Eterno Treblinka rocks all the way through. Great hooks, quite memorable songs, awesome production (punkish, but yet with a thick wall of sound) and funky nods to what once was (Running Through The Blood is a Fear of God cover (the great band from Switzerland), and starts off just like the old Master song by Master – awesome! Original live version here and LFAA cover here). The vocals could use some variation in style, maybe, but what the heck… I like it raw and brutal, and I got all hyped up about this release, so if you once enjoyed old school crunchy grindcore back in the day, you might want to give this one a couple of spins.

I had the chance to check out LFFA on stage once, and they were awesome live as well.

If you’ve got Spotify you’ll find it here.

———-

Rite
Lie In Wait For Blood
EEE Recordings

The best black metal release 2011 – alongside Burzum – was executed by two unknown personas hailing from Sweden. I posted an article about them here and wrote a piece for Sweden Rock Magazine #89 (the massive Ronnie James Dio tribute issue). Listen to the demo on the bandcamp site or log on to Spotify.

I’m listening to a new song right now, Juridical Doctrine, and it fucking slays! One riff running for 8 minutes. Sheer brilliance. If you’ve got the slightest interest in Deathspell Omega, Ofermod, Malign, Negative Plane, Mgła, Funeral Mist and the likes, you need to check out Rite. Now.

———-

Roffe Ruff
Barrabas
Download here

Two years ago I declared Roffe’s debut Ormar i gräset the number one album of 2009. With Barrabas, his third and final statement, his career is over. At least for now. And by the way he’s saying it in the last song, I think he really means it. Whatever happens, this album is as solid as it gets, and – to quote the UFC – as real as it gets. People cry when they listen to Fröken Anderberg, because this is stuff everyone can relate to. It’s about life, and life pretty much sucks, so of course it’s depressing. If you’re not affected by this, your life is too good.
However, Mr. Rolf’s got the humour and wits to back it all up and make this a true feast. Roffe’s a truth-teller of epic proportions (L.I.M.B.O.).
Of all three albums, this one is easily the best, although all of them must be downloaded and worshipped. He’s really that good, so do believe the hype. I’d say even if you don’t understand Swedish, this gem is worth the download. The production is crisp as fuck, and I believe you can hear this dude’s honesty just by listening to his voice.
R.I.P.

———-

Additional good stuff

Anima Morte – The Nightmare Becomes Reality
Arckanum – Helvítismyrkr
Autopsy – Macabre Eternal
Nicklas Barker – El Último Fin de Semana
Barn Owl – Lost In The Glare
Björk – Biophilia
Blodigt Allvar – Promo 2011
Bohren Und Der Club of Gore – Beileid
Bong – Beyond Ancient Space
Bonnie Prince Billy – Wolfroy Goes To Town
Brighter Death Now – Very Little Fun
Burzum – Fallen
Craft – Void
Deutsch Nepal – Amygdala
Erik Enocksson – Apan
The Giesagöebbels – Demo 2011
Gösta Berlings Saga – Glue Works
Hell – Human Remains
Hills – Master Sleeps
Invidious – In Death
Krux – He Who Sleeps Amongst The Stars
Macabre – Grim Scary Tales
J. Mascis – Several Shades of Why
Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Morbus Chron – Sleepers In The Rift
Necros Christos – Doom of The Occult
Opeth – Heritage
Pentagram – Last Rites
Plastikman – Arkives 1993 – 2010
Portrait – Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae
Primordial – Redemption At The Puritan’s Hand
Primus – Green Naugahyde
Pyramido – Salt
Ravencult – Morbid Blood
Reveal – Nocturne of Eyes And Teeth
Swarm – 2011
Teitanblood – Purging Tounges
Terra Tenebrosa – The Tunnels
Today Is The Day – Pain Is A Warning
Tormented / Bombs of Hades – Split
Undergång – The Mother of Armageddon
US Christmas – The Valley Path
Usurpress – In Permanent Twilight
Vanhelgd – Church of Death
Victims – A Dissident
White Hills – H-p1
Year of The Goat – Lucem Ferre
Yob – Atma