But Viren, you’re 27, you should stop listening to this #$@&^#!@ and cut your hair and get a real job.

Death, needs no introduction.

The Philosopher

Lack of Comprehension

Symbolic, live in Los Angeles

The mighty Nile, which is not Egyptian for “lame”.

Execration Text

Sarcophagus, look for the sweet, gentle riff around 3:05

Nasum, Swedish grindcore, political in the vein of good ol’ Napalm Death.

Wrath

Napalm Death, the true masters of political rage themselves.

Silence is Deafening

Nazi Punks Fuck Off, not as good as the studio version but still a lot better than the Dead Kennedys original, in my humble opinion.

I saw Freddy Kempf at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra on Monday, the 19th. It was a memorable introduction to some new music.

Pechenyuk’s Parallax started off with some chicanery, but evolved into something meaningful by the end. Pechenyuk himself came out to bow at the end, which was a bit surprising for some of the patrons who hadn’t been paying attention to Tovey earlier.

Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor was masterfully done. 3 movements of exhilarating grace, accompanied by Kempf’s Jerry lee Lewis-like hair bobbing head movements! Definitely the highlight of the evening.

Finally finishing off with Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony in B minor, a piece that was a bit tedious at times, but achieved its climax with much fanfare and brass gnashing, we left the confines of the Orpheum and made our way home. What can I say? A great night and definitely a must-see for all you fans of the Russian Romantics.

Was this a good idea for a date with a new girlfriend? It seemed like it, despite the barrage of yawns at the end. Next stop: Cryptopsy!

on the History channel, no less! Unexpected but funny.

[qt:http://www.viren.ca/images/dark_ages_metal.mov 480 286]

Taken from here and the mighty Suffo resides here.

listen to extreme metal? This is a question I’ve been asked quite often, of late, sometimes prefaced with ‘You don’t look like a metalhead’, or ‘Really, I would have never guessed!’.

To reply to the first comment, maybe the fact that I look like an unprepossessing banker in the city has something to do with the fact that I don’t look like the typical metalhead.

To answer the question, I must say that I do because it is strangely soothing. It is gloriously cathartic to have someone growl and scream on my behalf while the music rages on. I suppose one has to be able to identify with the basic emotion in death metal. Some might say it’s anger, others power, others yet aggression. Like most forms of art, it becomes a Rorschach for the observer. The listener in this case simple hears whatever they want to hear.

The average person probably gives death metal a wide berth because of the imagery and the undecipherable vocals. These are the two most standard complaints. I like to think that the imagery is just a rock n roll gimmick. After all, no normal person, one would hope, cavorts around in graveyards frolicking in necrophiliac ecstasies with the dead. The imagery is also a refutation to a lot of what mainstream society stands for. The average person does not want to be reminded of the darker side of man all the time. The average person would rather drink beer and discuss last night’s sports game or some other such endeavour.

Before you think I’m trying to conclude that death metal afficionados are evolved humans who can discern between complex philiosophical ideologies while holding discourses on the evils of globalization, let me assure you that this is most certainly not the case. Most metalheads are little better than semi-literate apes who can barely comprehend the writing on the next band poster. One only has to actually go to a death metal concert to see this.

As for the vocals, it’s a bit like classical music. No one listens to classical music, with the exception of Opera, for the vocals and it’s a similar case with extreme metal. The lyrics in most extreme metal songs are complete rubbish anyway.

So, in the end, like most forms of art, it boils down to being a purely subjective matter. If you like heavy rock n roll and want to try something a wee bit heavier, there is always death metal. Otherwise, no harm done.