As Timothy told us: “…the love of
money is the root of all evil…”. Well, when I was looking for musick from the
tiny (second smallest area in Europe, yet the most densely populated in the
world) principality of Monaco,
all I could find was that evil ole death metal. In a country of casinos &
grand hotels, of Chemin de Fer & le Grand Prix, there
probably aren’t a lot of jive dive bars for punk (or other up & coming)
bands to hone their chops. Most of the musickians feeling themselves outside
the ‘norm’ would obviously see easy opposition in the cult of wealth &
corruption surrounding them. I’m not a huge fan of metal, but I’ve been coming
to appreciate subtle (or not so subtle) distinctions within the wide genre.
I think this Monacan metal sounds really fine. Perhaps some of my
favorite so far. I didn’t really feature any French black metal, which is a
flavor all its own & I haven’t hit Italy
or Greece
yet, both bastions of large metal movements.
First up are two projects by Benjamin Labarrère or Duke
Satanaël. The first is the Total Extermination demo EP from Uranium 235.
This was released in 1995 ( the same year as the Zyklon-B’s Blood Must Be
Shed EP & both haunt similar
ground…wonder what was in the water???). This is a blend of hyperspeed black
metal, ambient guitars, vocals spewing echoed venom & a full-on martial
feel. All instruments & vocals are by Nuclear Extermination (Duke’s nom
d’demo).
Uranium 235 - Total Extermination demo, self-released, 1995.
decryption code in comments
Tracks -
Nuclear Satan
A New Order, a New World
Sodom
1999
The Third World War
Next is the first album release by Duke’s main project,
Godkiller. Titled The End of the World, it was released in 1998 on Wounded Love
in a limited run of 500 hand numbered records. Once again, Duke plays all
instruments & does all the vocals. This is metal, but it’s also electronic
& rock. Awfully tastee.
*A note on why I try to only put up out of print,
unavailable, freely offered or hard to find music & then why it pisses me
off so much when the Sherriff of Interweb decides Metallica or Van Morison are
losing 23 cents because someone posted up some song or album of theirs. There
are real criminals out in the Net ripping off artists by illegally selling material that is not theirs.
Godkiller left this note on his website:
“I come out of my shell to issue a warning against a rip-off. Recently, a so-called label released the two first demos of Godkiller, Ad majorem Satanae gloriam (1994) and The Warlord (1995) on CD, without any permission, without any consent, without even informing me about this. I discovered this swindle quite by chance while surfing Internet.
This is an absolutely non-authorized version.
The guy behind this rip-off had even the impudence to
present the CD as a “remastered” version. Given that these two demos have only
been released on cassette some 15 years ago, the sound is inevitably bad and
even worse as ever.
Needless to say, this guy sells the CD and all the money
will go directly to him.
So please do not buy this CD.
Instead, I am very pleased to propose here a free download
of the two demos, from the original recordings that I am the only one to have.”
If you enjoy this album, check out the demos & if you
aren’t lazy as usual, you can drop Duke a line.
Godkiller – The End of the World, Wounded Love Records –
WLR 014LP, 1998.
decryption code in comments
Side 1 –
The End of the World
The Inner Pain
Down Under Ground
Following the Funeral Path
Side 2 –
Day of Suffering
Nothing Left but Silence
Still Alive
Waste of Time
De Profundis
###########################################
Now I’ll switch to a
much newer group from Monaca, Black Knight Symfonia. The group was started in
January 2008 by Michael “Saga” Fiori - guitar with his childhood friend Julien
“Siegfried“ – piano & other keyboards. They began as an instrumental unit, adapting
classical music tunes (some Bach, Beethoven etc.) into a more neoclassical
& symphonic metal way. They soon had written new original material &
decided they wanted a female vocalist. They advertised in local ‘zines &
put up flyers in local shops. Two weeks later they auditioned Anaïs
“Nymphadora”. They immediately loved her powerful & pure heavy/rock voice.
In June Adélaïde (Arya) was introduced to the band by a friend of Michael’s.
After teaming up with Anaïs, the three were looking to add some operatic vocals
to their music. Adélaïde had studied operatic singing many years in the
conservatory of Nice & she is also fond of metal, so she was a perfect fit.
In July Julien left the band to focus on his day job & personal life.
Michael was already writing all the music & had played keyboards in
previous bands, so he took over the duty of all instuments. The alchemy between
Nymphadora, Arya & Michael was so evident and strong that he composed their
entire debut album, Heavenly Chaos, during the rest of July. They entered
the Harkam studio at the end of July for the “preproduction phase”. They began
recording the final album version in September 2008. They finished the
recording mix & mastering by the end of December 2008 with the aid of
Leviathan as studio drummer.
Heavenly Chaos
blends lots of different types of vocals: female rock vocals, female operatic
vocals; male rock vocals; black metal vocals, death metal vocals). Add this to
a style of music containing: classical music; opera; epic soundtrack; &
metal. Very original sounding.
I’ve posted an interview
with the band from Chazz & Marian from Sounds of the Underworld recorded in
2009. I’ve also included several songs from Heavenly Chaos & a tune
from their upcoming as yet to be released Ancestral Torments. If you like this,
checkout their myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/bksymfonia) & buy
their musick.
Black Knight Symfonia –Various Items, 2008 – 2013.
decryption code in comments
Emission09Sfuw - #08 Monaco nos
presenta a "Black Knight
Symfonia"
Dragonland
Emerald Kingdom
Voyage Initiatique
Eternal Life
Hell on Earth – from Heavenly
Chaos
Hell’s Gate from
upcoming Ancestral Torments
Enjoy,
NØ
Uranium 235
ReplyDeletebVPApCY4e91UhO9MRa2qXQK87NwuXLhNDd_kUg1ldoo
Godkiller
XJ0eEC4Ef-lE5SRObXhE3QqfeCMFgCIkJvPpRGHQjaM
Black Knight Symfonia
Ln-nbDupMTQxRd3NEUhQol9ET745UBydUgl6j3zewY4
Thanks for these!
ReplyDeleteto Christopher,
DeleteMy pleasure. I think the Godkiller stuff is great. If you are the same
Christopher that commented about Roman Sidorov & Der Golem, I have most of his stuff, with Sedativ, Старуха Мха, Fatal, Der Golem's Дисциплина взорванных мостов. If you are looking for any of this, let me know & I'll put it up somewhere for you to snag.
Thanks again.
Hello there...
ReplyDeleteI am Aggelos from Greece...
I hope it is ok to write to you though...
For many years I am searching for the two albums of the band Black Knight Symfonia ...
Unfortunately such albums are not available in Greece ...and apart from that I alrady contacted the badn through the youtube page but I haven't got any response...probably cause the band is now inactive :(
So I am writing to you to ask you if you happen to have the albums in your collection and if it would be possible to send me any files and scans of these two albums...
here is my e-mail in case you can help out: aggelosk1978@yahoo.gr
I can send some thing equally rare for review if needed...
All the best and I hope I read from you soon
Regards