INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (about mortgage law)

Dreaming Dead

You may have read about these guys on City of Devils (here and here) or maybe you remember something Cosmo wrote over at his Pulitzer worthy fanzine (maybe here or here). Or if you don't read, maybe you have a bro who's lookin out and dropped some DreamyD into a flash drive when you guys were exchanging four gigs of obscure blackened death metal the other day. Or, maybe I'm that bro.






Dreaming Dead evolved out of a band called Manslaughter (terrible name, right?) and shares members with Exhausted Prayer (an LA based NWOABM band you will learn more about in a future post). Guitars and vocals are handled by Elizabeth Schall and the band just added another female guitar shredder to the line up which is a totally unfair monopoly on local talent. They have a new album coming out this year and I'm expecting some extra tasty blackened death metal with a lot of melody, a lot of absurd blasting and a ton of harmonized leads. And even though I know they just added the second guitar in order to keep up with another certain female fronted LA metal band I wont name (cough, cough) I can't stay mad at them. Dreaming Dead is easily one of my favorite bands to share a stage with and I'm genuinely stoked about their new record. Here's the first one, it'll keep you warm till the new one gets here.



HERE

TEST PATTERN

Apologies to the faithful, but a slew of technical difficulties--paired with an imminent trip to internet-free mountain regions--forced me to abandon ICHQ, Mubarak-style, and put posting on hold until at least the beginning of next week. Get out and enjoy some sunlight, you pasty fuck.

Written in Blood Volume 5

HERE

I Would Rather Be the Devil - Skip James

There is something profoundly true but not immediately obvious in Kurt Cobain's lyric "I miss the comfort in being sad" (Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle). The sense of being victimized, of being the wronged party is very validating because it is self-vindicating. But the sadness of commercial pop-music stems from the narcissistic self-pity of a people who are used to getting what they want, an expression of loss from the privileged. I don't mean to discredit anyone's feelings here, but for more profound and immediate content, I find that there is no better place to look than the Blues, especially from the Pre-War period (after all, it is called the Great Depression) before the genre became commercially viable.

I'll save you the long history of Skip James because I'm not a music historian and I would just be repeating a lot of what you can find at the Skip Wiki, but here is an abridged version to pique your interest. Even non-fans of the Blues have frequently heard of Robert Johnson whom, while amazing to hear and incredibly influential, was predated by Skip. Johnson even got some of his licks from his predecessor, adapting some of the latter's songs for his own use.

These early recordings are entirely unique. Skip plays both guitar and piano and sings in a voice almost unnatural, unlike anything you've ever heard. Easily my top Pre-War Blues album of all time.

The Complete Early Recordings

Like many of the early bluesmen, Skip recorded a few songs when he was young and then disappeared for several decades until he was "re-discovered" in the 1960's by a bunch of white kids who were making some racket called rock "music". Although he generally disdained attention and publicity, he was in financial need, and recorded a number of albums in the late 60's just before his death. While cleaner production-wise for obvious reasons, they feature the same trademark Skip sound as before, only with a little more God thrown in.

 
Devil Got My Woman 
1968

Studio Sessions
1967

Between 1962 and 1966 as Skip was dying of cancer he toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival to play shows with other now legendary Blues and Jazz performers. A number of the performances in Germany have been compiled onto a DVD set which features some amazing performances both on and "off" stage by Skip and other greats. Above Skip performs for Howlin' Wolf (far right foreground) and Son House among others. Below is an onstage performance of Crow Jane.



You're welcome.

GRANICUS - SELF-TITLED (1973)

You may or may not be aware of my extreme dislike for Led Zeppelin at this point, but I actually have nothing against early 70's Zeppelin clones. Like Cleveland, Ohio's Granicus, for instance.
Granicus belts out the bell-bottom arena rock with a fury, custom-wizard-van style. Long story short, dude's doing a pretty decent Robert Plant impersonation, and the band rocks really hard, then goes all outer-space-acoustic for like 20 minutes, then rocks really hard again. This was their only album.
I dunno. Look at the band photo.

I mean, come on.

dl: LET ME DROP MY LOAD ON YOU, AMERICA


Manslaughter has a HUGE boner right now

Granicus/Last.FM

Written in Blood Volume 4

HERE

$cientology Space Jazz - SUN RA THIS AIN'T

Everyone is going bonkers over The New Yorkers' epic 26 page expose of The Church of Scientology this week. A sordid tale of slaves building magic motorcycles for Tom Cruise, brainwashing, multiple beatings by the president of the church himself and a game of bloody musical chairs (really). It's totally worth the read if you haven't dug in yet. A lot of the material isn't new for those of us that grew up around the church and their influence in Hollywood, but for the uninitated it's pretty shocking stuff. Now here is something that is pretty rare and weird, even with those way too familiar with the Scienos and their bull crap.

By the mid Seventies Scientology was in full effect and gaining power. Dianetics was on the NYT Best Sellers list and the myth (lies) that made the bulk of L Ron Hubbard's legend were still being created. This dude was said to be a war hero, an amazing chef, a master scientist, accomplished physicist, inventor of the Les Paul guitar, creator of sexting, etc. YOU NAME IT HE DID IT, and according to the church, WAS THE BEST!

One of the things he claimed to be incredible at was the art of music and sound. Just check out this page on his musical accomplishments. Wow! You would think he was a regular Miles Davis or something! No seriously.. go look at that page for a second. They claim his album "Scientology: The Road To Freedom" actually made gold status. I don't even...

Aaaanyway... there is no mention anywhere on that page or on any official Scientology page of the abomination in audio that I'm about to drop upon you. Here's a little background I found on The Ex-Scientologists Message Board from someone that actually worked on the album. The story goes like this: L. Ron put together a group of young freaky jazz musicians to get his message out. He also wanted to record them himself with a custom made mixing board that was THE FUTURE OF SOUND. The album was to be called THE POWER OF SOURCE by THE APOLLO STARS. From the guy that actually worked on the album (please excuse the Scino jargon):

" EL Ron was in the midst of making another “Technical Breakthrough” regarding sound recording! El Ron knew better than anyone! El Ron was certain! El Ron was giving Earth (within the limits of the woeful, inept and SP/DB Earthlings and their extant technology) a “new and brilliant” sound that, upon the hearing of, all civilization would piss its’ Thetan Pants!"

L. Ron Hubbard & The Apollo Stars

I guess the recording session was a complete disaster full of Hubbard's temper tantrums due to his unwillingness to take advice from actual sound engineers that knew how to work the equipment. Once it was released everyone in the church was told to pr the hell out of it. Amazing stories on the Ex-Scientologists thread if you want to read further.

The album came out to hilarious critical results. Hubbard claimed "The vinyl technology couldn't do justice to the advanced sound." From the same poster (please excuse more Scino jargon):

"The reason “the vinyl didn’t do justice to their sound” is not because they had some incredible sound that couldn’t be captured on vinyl…it was because El Ron was:
1. Incompetent as a sound engineer
2. Borderline tone deaf
3. Musically sophomoric
4. Artistically juvenile
5. Intellectually and emotionally disingenuous
6. "Victimized" by the "willful incompetence" and "ev purps" of others
7. Unable to listen to sincere advice from professionals and bona fide experts
8. Unwilling to accept help Hisself did not select, direct or control
9. Always riding one of Hisself’s hobbyhorses
10. Never uncertain, knew everything and was never ultimately wrong.

I knew the man; I had “face time” with the man. "

The music itself is seriously some of the corniest shit I've ever heard. The Power Of Source being abbreviated to POS is totally appropriate. And just look at the excitement going on in this cover art:

WOOOO ARE Y'ALL READY FOR SOME BIO-DIGITAL JAZZ, MAN?!

Download Here

There's a million more wacky things we can write about the church. Hopefully Cobras can delve into the pre-Scino black majik sex parties L. Ron had with Jack Parsons! (A boy can dream, right?) BUT.. here is a bonus Scientology music video starring Frank Stallone, Chick Corea, Karen Black and Leif Garrett. A MUST SEE BY ALL MEANS. ENJOY!

OK, JUST LET ME GET THIS OUT OF MY SYSTEM...

Ah, Finland. Eastern Europe's hanging scrote, land of snow and wolves, land of reindeer and Santa Claus, land of plenty, home of the Dudesons.

Finland was historically a part of Sweden and from 1809 on, an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire. Finnish Declaration of Independence from Russia in 1917 was followed by a civil war, wars against the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and a period of official neutrality during the Cold War. Finland joined the United Nations in 1955, the OECD in 1969, the European Union in 1995, and the eurozone since its inception.

Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialisation, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. Thereafter, economic development was rapid, Finland built an extensive welfare state and balanced between the East and the West in global economics and politics. The country tops continuously the international comparisons of national performance. Finland ranks the best country in the world in the 2010 Newsweek survey based on health, economic dynamism, education, political environment and quality of life. Finland has also been ranked the second most stable country in the world and the first in the 2009 Legatum Prosperity rating. In 2010, the World Economic Forum deemed Finland the 7th most competitive country in the world. Finland is currently ranked as having the 3rd highest graduation rate, percentage of graduates to the population at the typical age of graduation, in the OECD Factbook 2010.

Somehow, all of this information translates to really awesome metal.

You guys know I've been on a major Finnish DM bender, and I apologize for pounding the fact into your heads so incessantly. Please allow me to purge just one last time today, and then I swear I'll take a little break. Really. I promise.
A half dozen more records should do it...


ABHORRENCE - SELF-TITLED EP (1990)


Contained herein are the earliest rumblings of Finnish death metal, poorly recorded and shoddily distributed, but nonetheless full of passion, malice, and evil. 4 songs of pure malevolence, all of them displaying the pratfalls of The Late 80's/Early 90's Demo--wobbly, overdriven guitars, tinny drums, recorded-in-a-toilet vocals--but this thing still CRUSHES, and acts as a place-marker for all good things to come. Abhorrence only managed to produce this and one other demo (Vulgar Necrolatry), but their legacy endures to this day. One listen to this 7" will confirm why.

Download HERE

Metallum/Last.FM


FUNEBRE - CHILDREN OF THE SCORN (1991)


Another early mission statement from the Finnish underground, Funebre's uh... cleverly? named Children of The Scorn also suffers from a slight case of under-production, but ups the bar on weirdness and composition, surpassing Abhorrence in the Guitar Wizardry Department but still remaining grounded and pleasantly filthy. These guys actually split up shortly after the release of this album (their only full-length), but also left a short trail of demos and an EP (going back to '89) before it. A brief run, but a fucking solid one, to be sure.

Download HERE

Metallum/Last.FM


THERGOTHON - FHTAGN-NAGH YOG-SOTHOTH Demo (1991)

Above: Re-issue cover art. Below right: Original demo artwork.

Thergothon is definitely the "odd man out" in this post, as their pioneering brand of funeral doom shares only a few common elements with the "death metal" genre: the guttural vocals, the crushing, down-tuned guitars, the murk, the anguish... But I felt compelled to include it anyhow. Fhtagn-Nagh Yog-Sothoth is an article of pure pain and depression, garnished with delicious slices of Lovecraftian concepts and imagery. My pre-emptive apologies to Mr. Abdul Alhazred (who I'm almost positive has posted this demo in the past) for trodding ground firmly established as his, as Thergothon is first and foremost Swamp-Fodder that I have no business toying with. But hey, we've gotta cross swords every now and then, right?

Download HERE

Metallum/Last.FM


CONVULSE - WORLD WITHOUT GOD (1992)


Convulse's World Without God is an undeniable classic, an album that, along with Demilich's Nespithe and Demigod's Slumber of Sullen Eyes, formed the unholy tripod that all Finnish metal would build upon in the future. It's dirtier and grind-ier than Sullen Eyes, it's a little more straightforward than Nespithe, it's the middle ground--the peanut butter to Demigod's whitebread stomp and Demilich's psychedelic jelly. I've used the term before, but World Without God truly is chicken soup for the Hessian soul: warm, chunky, and nourishing in every way.

Download HERE
Purchase HERE

Metallum/Last.FM


SENTENCED - NORTH FROM HERE (1993)


Probably my favorite album out of the six posted here today, Sentenced's North From Here expands on the classic Finnish DM formula by adding a healthy dose of progged-up techical thrash, creating and end product both viscerally crushing and cerebrally challenging. Impressive structures and twisted riffs, definitely a formidable statement for any band circa 1993. Sentenced, of course, went downhill from here on out, but I'll be GODDAMNED if this fucker doesn't withstand the test of time.

Download HERE
Purchase HERE

Metallum/Last.FM


DEPRAVITY - SILENCE OF THE CENTURIES EP (1993)


Sounds exactly like the cover looks.

Download HERE

Metallum/Last.FM

Ouch.

Thanks, Manslaughter

ENNIO MORRICONE & BRUNO NICOLAI - L'ANTICRISTO SOUNDTRACK (1974)

Ask and ye shall receive.

I asked of our readership just yesterday, in regards to the elusive L'Anticristo soundtrack, product of the brilliant minds of spaghetti Gods Bruno Nicolai (right) and Ennio Morricone (below).
BAM! Within an hour, our very own Brother Cory stepped up with a bootleg version from his very own private collection, a rare and creepy masterpiece which I now intend on sharing with all of you lucky fuckers.
Cory, you rule. Good lookin' out.

I can't say enough good shit about this soundtrack, but rather than talk your ear off about all the mind-bending minutiae herein, I will highlight just a few details and leave it up to you to fill in the blanks.
- This is a definite "bootleg" version, and contains all the pros and cons as such. There's a little bit of hiss and a weirdly scrambled track ("Ippolita's Past Revealed"), but there's also a shitload of Satanic dialogue and ambient noise, which, for me at least, is a major bonus.
- HOLY SHIT this fucking thing is an atonal cacophony of caterwauling violins and haunting organ, THIS is what a horror soundtrack should be, FUCK this rules HARD. Morricone should go "Satanic" more often.
- Morricone & Nicolai's L'Anticristo puts all those Written In Blood compilations that Seanford has been posting to SHAME (JK Bro, post the last 2 please).
- If this soundtrack doesn't give your brain a boner then your brain is mostly likely malfunctioning and you should apply to have it replaced immediately.

Download HERE

Morricone Wiki/Last.FM---Nicolai Wiki/Last.FM




Speaking of Brother Cory...



I should mention that our female-fronted Manowar cover band (said female being Illogical She-Bro Manslaughter) is playing at Eli's Mile High Club in Oakland this Saturday.
IC Drumbro Mike J will be sitting in on the skins for this set, so be prepared for complete double-bass annihilation, blastbeats during the chorus of "Carry On", and the stunning spectacle of Cory DiMaio's hulking physique (right). His body is indeed a wonderland.

Thanks, Corn Dog!

Off Parole

A new Motorhead album just came out. It’s not that sweet. As a friend pointed out last night, it’ll probably win a Grammy (new dumbed down record + sentimental documentary + nearing 70 = bullet belt on a tuxedo). I didn’t actually make it all the way through the album but it did get me reminiscing about some fond lemmories.



I know posting a Motorhead album on IC is like asking Chuck Eddy if he’s ever heard of Iron Maiden but this ones no Ace of Spades and if you’ve slept on it this long I’m thinking today is the day. It’s a got a great story too, just let me open my limited edition collection of heavy metal fables and short stories which is bound in human skin:



On display at One Eyed Jacks


In 1975 the original Motorhead line up went into the studio with Lemmy on bass and vocals, Larry Wallis on guitar and vocals and this dude named Lucas Fox on drums. During the session the original producer and Lucas Fox walked out of the studio. Fox was immediately replaced by Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor who was just a casual acquaintance of Lemmy’s who had been persuaded to drive him to Rockfield Studios. Phil then overdubbed all of Fox’s tracks except for “Lost Johnny” because he was IN JAIL for drunk and disorderly conduct when that session was scheduled. They said fuck it, roll with the original.



actual mug shot


Three of the songs on the record were songs Lemmy wrote for Hawkwind, one was a Wallis track he had already written and recorded for The Pink Fairies and one was a Motown song Lemmy learnt while roadying for The Birds.

At the time they a had a deal with United Artists who refused to release the record citing a lack of commercial potential. Two years of fighting and BS label nonsense went down and in 1977 Chiswick Records decided to give Motorhead another shot at making their debut album. Now with Eddie Clarke on guitar, they rerecorded almost the entire album over again (barring two songs) and finally put out their now self titled debut record that same year.



compromised second draft


Later on as the now famous Motorhead enjoyed some success with Overkill and Bomber, United Artist remembered they owned the original first record from ’75. Four years after it was recorded and in the face of much protest from the band, UA finally released On Parole in 1979. At the time Motorhead thoroughly disapproved of this belated release as the silly and sarcastic rock n roll record they made in ‘75 sounded nothing like the tough and gristled Motorhead of ’79. Fuck, there’s even a song written in the first person perspective of being a vibrator.



HERE




I get off in 12 days.

EGYPT (THE CHAINS ARE ON)

With all the focus on Egypt in the last two weeks or so, I figured now would be as good a time as any to do an Egypt-themed post. But I'm not just gonna throw up an obscure Nile demo or anything like that--today we're going in depth: exploring the ancient Egyptian pantheon and its strange connections to our modern-day world. And these strange connections run a lot deeper than you think...

Could it be that the pharoahs of old are somehow controlling our modern society? That the rumored intergalactic connections between the pyramids in Giza and ancient races of deep space Gods might somehow be implicated in the conspiracies that rule modern-day American government?

Read on, my friends...

The Freeman Perspective (that's Freeman over there) has been a favorite occult/conspiracy source of mine for awhile, and was the first place that I read the truth about the Obama family--they're clones, long story short, revived pharoahs of royal Egyptian bloodlines, created from the well-preserved DNA of mummies. Consulting the image above (also courtesy of The Freeman Perspective), undeniable evidence can be gleaned at a glance: Barack Obama is Akhenaten, Michelle Obama is his MOTHER (!) Tiye, and Sasha and Malia are Akhenaten's daughters (by Nefertiti). Nefertiti was known to have six daughters (Meketaten, Meritaten, Setepenre, Ankhesenpaaten, Neferneferuaten Tasherit, and Neferneferure), two of whom became queens. It was all so simple, I can't believe I managed to overlook these obvious connections for so long!

Anyone who hasn't been swayed by the concrete evidence currently on display here needs to consider another set of facts: Akhenhaten (who, by the way, is considered the "Father of monotheism" = NWO ANYONE?) and his royal family were thoroughly committed to sun worship and also very fond of flowers and the mystical powers they supposedly contained. What are the code names the Secret Service use for the Obamas? That's right: Renegade, Renaissance, Radiance, and Rosebud.

Oh shit. It just got real up in here.

Boo-yah, bitchez.

If you desire an extremely lengthy and detailed explanation (I know you do), go ahead and let Freeman himself break it down for you:


2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Freeman visits Red Ice Radio for another take on the Obama Mummy Clone discussion:


2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

But why put an Egyptian pharoah in the highest government position in the world? To what end, this nefarious, science fiction gambit?
Easy: INTERGALACTIC WAR.

We've talked at length about inter-dimensional travel via CERN/LHC here on IC in the past, but Freeman has effectively closed the gap by a few more inches. One quick visit to the SPACE WAR section of The Freeman Perspective will explain how the Norway Spiral, HAARP, CERN, and CARE fit into this picture, and also how the Apophis asteroid (also known as 99942), visiting Earth orbit in 2029 and 2036, is a key factor.
How did Apophis get its name? Easy. It's a Greek bastardization of "Apep", who was an Egyptian deification of darkness and sorrow. Apep was also the traditional adversary of... You guessed it... AKHENATEN.

I know what you're thinking. This whole thing is starting to sound a whole Hell of a lot like the plot of Stargate, isn't it?

Lengthy summarization of the 1994 film (and its resulting franchise) via Wikipedia: "Stargate productions center on the premise of a "Stargate", a ring-shaped alien device that creates a wormhole enabling personal transportation to complementary devices located cosmic distances away. Under the control of the United States government, the Stargate discovered on Earth is kept a secret from the public. This allows for storylines to present no contradiction between depicted events and reality, an effect compounded by setting Stargate in the present day, and depicting Earth accurately, with any unrealistic technology originating solely from alien civilizations. These extraterrestrial civilizations are typically more pre-industrial than scientifically advanced, and are almost always human. Together, this allows for stories predominated by human interaction in Earth-like environments, an unusual feature for a science fiction franchise focused on exploration of other worlds.
In the story, this is explained as being the result of alien interference in Earth's distant past - the concept influenced by the theories of Erich von Däniken. Many ancient mythologies are shown to be the result of aliens who had visited Earth posing as gods by using their technology to give the impression of deific power. While some of these aliens had benign intentions, a race later known in Stargate SG-1 as the "Goa'uld" used Stargates to move slaves from Ancient Egypt to other habitable planets, simultaneously being responsible for the Egyptian religion and culture. Following a successful rebellion, they fled Earth, and the Stargate was buried and forgotten until modern times, when the United States acquired it following an archaeological dig. With the rediscovery of the function of the Stargate, the galaxy becomes a source of knowledge, as well as threats, and the attention of the Goa'uld is drawn once more to Earth..."

But Freeman (right) is no Stargate fanboy. Just an American freedom fighter searching for the truth. Of course, the fact that Obama's origins lie in ancient Egypt explain 100% his lack of a birth certificate (a point that Freeman drives home repeatedly), but I myself find that when my own conspiracy research starts running parallel to the beliefs of the Tea Party, it might be time to take a break.

Feel free to investigate The Obama Mummy Clone Apophis Space War Conspiracy in further detail via an extensive mini-series on Freeman Radio:

-The Obama Chronicles-

Inauguration
Obama Lucifer
Obama Nation Part 1
Obama Nation Part 2
Obama Apophis
Obama Space Wars
American Awakening
Obama, Akhenaten, And The Bible
Obama Alien Invasion
Are You Adaptable?
Obama Cloning And The Project Bluebeam

AHA! Of course it all comes back to PROJECT BLUEBEAM and the Nasa deception!

Further observations on Egypt's intergalactic heritage can be obtained in books like The Stargate Conspiracy (right) by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince, The Sirius Mystery by Robert Temple, or, of course, the aforementioned works of Erich von Däniken (who figured all this shit out back in the 60's). Once you've read and digested all these books, may I suggest returning to The Freeman Perspective? Because Freeman was just getting started with all this Obama/Akhenaten stuff. Below, find a whole shitload of further Radio Freeman conspiracy explorations:

Thought and Behavior of Extraterrestrials (with George LoBuono)
Orbs Over Jerusalem, Space War & the Exopolitical Influence (with Alfred Webre)
Benefits and Perils of Time Control Technologies (with Dr. David Anderson)
The Psycho-Active Elite (with Dr. John Coleman)
Saving The World With Hemp (with Rick Simpson)
Get Off Your Asses (with Bob Dean)
Alien Watchers and a Message from Heaven (with LA Marzulli)
The SS Brotherhood of the Bell: Nasa’s Nazis (with Joseph Farrell)
Chemtrails – Geo-Engineering and the Global State (with Mike Murphy)
Lunar Bases and the Deep Underground (with John Lear)
UFOs and the National Security State (with Richard Dolan)
Inter-Dimensional Entity Contact – Who’s Leading Your Leaders (with Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Hour 1)
Aliens and Egypt – New Secrets from Giza (with Kerry Cassidy, Hour 2)
From Nazis to Roswell – Our UFO History (with Jim Marrs and Jesse Marcel Jr.)

HOT DAMN!

"Parallel universes, unknown forms of matter, extra dimensions... These are not the stuff of cheap science fiction but very concrete physics theories that scientists are trying to confirm with the LHC and other experiments."

- From a recent CERN employee bulletin. Read more about science fiction becoming science fact HERE.



Right: OK great. But what does the EGYPTIAN LOVER have to say about all this?

SING IT WITH ME:

In the land of the lost horizon
Where the queen lies dark and cold
When the stars won't shine, then the story's told

When the world was milk and honey
And the magic was strong and true
Then the strange ones came and the people knew

That the chains are on

In the land of no tomorrow
Where you pray just to end each day
And your life just slowly melts away

Each day you hear the sand as it moves and whispers
Come and sail on my golden sea
Maybe one day you'll be just like me...and that's free

But still your chains are on

You've seen them walking on the water
You've seen flying through the sky
They were frightening in the darkness
They had rainbows in their eyes

When the world was milk and honey
And the magic was strong and true
The the strange ones came and the people knew

That the chains are on...