IN ROTATION: Our most played albums in June 2019

GOTH MARK’S MAY IN ROTATION LIST

Oh bugger, it’s that time of the month where we all yabber on about what we’ve been listening to? When the hell did that happen? This month, my fingers were less on the pulse than ever and people are already yabbering on about “Half Year Lists”, when I’m struggling
to think of 10 albums – never mind 20, 30, or even 40 albums. How the hell do you lot get the time to do this? After the typical monthly head scratching, and back stalking my own social media posts I managed to pull some metal albums I’ve been listening to. Be warned, there’s a short version and a big ramble about my dark and murky past. So, for the latter I’d suggest you’d better put the kettle on and make a brew.

Short version:
Forbidden – Forbidden Evil, Death Angel – Humanicide, Blood Red Throne – Altered Genesis, Pissgrave – Posthumous Humiliation, Cocteau Twins, and The Chemical Brothers – No Geography(?!)

LONG VERSION:

Forbidden – Forbidden Evil (1988)
Combat Records

My album of choice for the ‘In Rotation’ 1988, Forbidden made one of the best AND one of the most criminally underrated thrash metal albums of all time. Which I feel was overshadowed by a certain large Bay Area thrash metal band making a return after the unfortunate death of their bass guitarist, that probably stole most of the metal scene’s thunder. An unpopular opinion? Yeah? Meanwhile?…

Death Angel – Humanicide (2019)
Nuclear Blast

One of the many NWORM bands of yore (New Wave Of Resurrected Metal), the lads at Death Angel decided they wanted a slice of the 21 st century metal pie, strutted back through the hall as if nothing happened, slapped their biker jackets on the table whilst the rest of the metal scene spat their pints out in astonishment as they wielded ‘The Art of Dying’ album above their heads triumphantly in 2004. Ever since, they’ve consistently released albums and gave the new wave of thrash metal bands something to worry about – with the ‘Humanicide’ album showing zero dips in quality. Good on ‘em.

Blood Red Throne – Altered Genesis (2005)
Earache Records

Formed by original members Daniel “Død” Olaisen and Terje “Tchort” Vik Schei, Blood Red Throne was forged by a love of death metal from their usual black metal band day jobs, with a revolving door policy going on since formation where Død has remained the only original member. Blood Red Throne’s albums are highly consistent in quality, but ‘Altered Genesis’ is the crown jewel. Sounding alarmingly like a Florida death metal band, they created an album as nasty as a triple cholera and anthrax coated tapeworm that took a wrong turn in your circulatory system, nestling in your brain with rampant moshing, flailing arms, and frothing of the trouser department – resulting in the listener making a violent circle pit wherever they stood. Excellent.

Pissgrave – Posthumous Humiliation (2019)
Profound Lore Records

Pissgrave burst onto the scene with the ‘Suicide Euphoria’ album in 2015 like an festering corpse; making everybody blow chunks in a 3 mile radius with their particularly filthy brand of death metal fun. Like a PVC clad sexual orgy with ‘Butchered at Birth’ era Cannibal Corpse meets ‘Symphonies of Sickness’ era Carcass, whilst Brutal Truth records the results with its hands down its pants snorting poppers – ‘Posthumous Humiliation’ leaves you feeling satisfied, but dirty. Like being on massive drugs and waking up in the wrong house, in the wrong bed, with the wrong person, with disturbing flashbacks whilst you’re trying to process the time sheets for Carol in accounts a couple of days later. Meanwhile, on your lunch hour – you opened your Tupperware container to find a pair of rubber pants with suspicious stains and smells, where you sandwiches should normally be. Disturbing…

Cocteau Twins – Discography
The Cocteau Twins were a well known post punk band that formed in 1979, known for the dreamy ethereal soundscapes and the strange warbling vocals of Elizabeth Frazer that sound as if she’s sang lyrics translated from the Voynich Script. Their albums have remained in constant rotation with ‘Garlands’, ‘Victorialand’, ‘Head Over Heels’, and ‘Heaven or Las Vegas’ being the default albums I played the most. They create sonic images that are distinctly British, like roaming through green fields on a summer’s morning with apple trees; a soundscape that is vastly removed from their heavily industrialised home town of Grangemouth, in Scotland – where rumour has it the town shares more in common with Pripyat than being as picturesque as their music would otherwise imply.

Wildcard album of the month:

Chemical Brothers – No Geography (2019)
Virgin EMI Records

Well, dear readers. Here’s something of a confession. This is generally only known to friends in person, and close online friends:

I’m a “secret” Techno, House, and Electronica fan.

A fair percentage of you may have spat your drinks out in horror, some of you have rolled your eyes and said “Dude, tell us something we don’t know!”. Whilst I was in secondary school from the very late 1980s until ‘93, the dance music scenes were massive in the UK and I happened to be an adolescent/teenager when it all kicked off. The cool kids in year 10 and 11 sneaked into illegal warehouse raves with older friends,
siblings and cousins in disused factories, hangars, and anywhere large enough and abandoned connecting to main motorway arteries leading in and out of cities; organised with military precision and “word of mouth” – all without the internet. In my final year of school, I shifted towards metal and mostly forgotten about the dance scenes and the somewhat draconian Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994 spelled the death knell for it. Alas, I missed the boat before I was vaguely old enough to sneak into such places. Arse!!

In the late ‘90s, I started my first job and lost many friends due to them going to Uni whilst I was more concerned with folding money, buying nice things, and getting smashed. However, making new friends when you’re someone with suspected Aspergers was a ballsy monumental challenge; thankfully aided by drink and “other things” occasionally. This resulted in a weird ‘chameleon persona’, attending rock nights on Fridays and hanging out in ‘Trendie-Ville’ on Saturday. One side of the wardrobe had band merch shirts and Doc Martens with a biker jacket, whilst the other contained Ben Sherman shirts, Ellesse polo shirts, Rockport shoes, and Reebok Classic trainers. As a consequence, I got back into the dance side of things whilst The Chemical Brothers were throwing aural carpet bombs with hugely addictive phat beats, and crunchy warbling synths along with The Prodigy. Similarly, nights out such as Cream and Ministry of Sound were a rip roaring success too.

This phase ended in 2002, where an ex brought me back into the metal/goth scenes and subsequently met J later on in that year, drawing the ‘Trendie Days’ to a close. Nevertheless, the memories live on and I occasionally make a visit to such music. The Chemical Brothers made a triumphant return to their roots, blending ‘90s techno/house influences into modern day EDM in one of the best dance music album’s I’ve heard for some time. Their Glastonbury appearance blew the place apart, and has gone down in history as one of the festival’s best bands along with The Cure. As a consequence, seeing “The Chemmies” is now a bucket list thing, and I make no apologies for it.

Until next time.

Regards:

Goth Mark