Midnite Madness CIII—Sean Mhiotail

2017 show on December 13th, see you then...

A Fist In The Face Of God presents... The Initiation—Carefully Compiled By Janny Ratten

Image by Jan Utecht

Jan from Occvlta is one those multi-talented people who, no matter what he seems to try his hand at (his artwork for a recent mix still kills me every time I see it), is perpetually great. I first heard his band, Occvlta, in the lead up to the very first Live Festival back in 2009, where legend has it he basically told the former organiser that they were playing the festival, no questions asked. I was helping out with interviews for the zine to accompany the festival, but finding them was tough, as, back then they weren't even listed on Encyclopaedia Metallum (Wikipedia for metal-nerds, basically), such was their relative newness.
So we got to the interview eventually, and Jan was the ideal interviewee. His confidence in getting a place at the festival (their first show, if I'm not mistaken, and first-up on the bill of what would be a legendary festival) wasn't unfounded. They fucking slayed.
Then, when VICE's music site Noisey was launched, I travelled to an Occvlta show in -16° Berlin, in December of 2010, to see them desecrate White Trash alongside infernal death-bangers, Deathhammer, and 80s Italian speed metallers, Fingernails. This performance was captured and features in their Noisey show. Jan had just had his first-born around he that time (hey, Grimur!), but as his lady and offspring were out of town for a few days, he put me and few other beer/weed/sweat-stinking metalheads up in his ludicrously cheap Kreuzberg apartment for a few nights, and the allegiance formed.

Jan (middle) in Berlin, 2010

Anyways, recent-ish-ly he did a mix for the prestigious Lodown Magazine, which is mostly made up of just weird stuff and no metal, and it reminded me, 'Hey, wasn't he supposed to do me a mix?' So here it is, all ready to be devoured, below a few words from Jan himself.

Well, this mix. What to say about it. In a way, it's a mirror of the metal I listen to and how I feel at the moment. Which is mostly black and heavy, haha. You'll find obscure stuff and songs you've probably known for ages, but I think that makes the MIX. Actually, I don't listen to "Life Eternal" that often, but it really is one of my absolute favourites. And then there is Winterhawk. Also a true masterpiece. I thought it sucks, when hearing it for the first time. Too much guitar. But I let time decide what I like, if I don't feel in the mood for something new, well, if the gods want, we are gonna meet again. There is so many great bands it took years for me to like/understand, and it feels so good to know that there is no hurry and a lot more. So who cares. A lot of the songs I was introduced to by friends or my brother. Hanging out with cool people listening to cool music ... on facebook, haha.

"Devil Eyes" and "Princess of the Night" I owe to my brother, Torm [Occvlta drummer]; Sapphire I owe to Tooth [drummer of New York band Natur], "Lady of Mars" to Marcelo [Evil Spirits], and Winterhawk I think was originally introduced to me by Henry [Yuan of Electric Assault Records], but it took a few years until Torben played it and then BOOM. There you go.

TRACKLIST:

1. Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind (USA) - "Main Title 'The Shining'" [1980]
2. Aura Noir (Norway) - "Towers of Limbs and Fevers (Original Version)" [1994]
3. Mighty Sphincter (USA) - "Ghost Walking" [1985]
4. Isengard (Norway) - "Our Lord Will Come" [1991]
5. Darkthrone (Norway) - "As Flittermice as Satans Spys" [1994]
6. Kringa (Austria) - "Pearly Gates, Abhorrent Ascent (Unreleased)" [2015]
7. Mayhem (Norway) - "Life Eternal" [1994]
8. Mercyful Fate (Denmark) - "Devil Eyes" [1982]
9. Sapphire (England) - "Encounter" [1982]
10. Dark Star (England) - "Lady of Mars" [1981]
11. Saxon (England) - "Princess of the Night" [1981]
12. Winterhawk (USA) - "Free to Live" [1982]

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Midnite Madness LXXIII—Metal Gods Set Me Free

AL-FUCKIN-RIGHT. Show 73 sees Jan Utecht aka Janny Ratten of black metal band Occvlta open the show and almost finish it with a near-30-minute excerpt from his brand-new mix, featured in the post above.
I shall return next month on July 28th for more Midnite Madness. Stay clean!

Btw, the intro is—
1. Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind (USA) - "Main Title 'The Shining'" [1980]
—and the tracks where it just says "Die Today [Cropped] are—
22. Sapphire (England) - "Encounter" [1982]
23. Dark Star (England) - "Lady of Mars" [1981]
24. Saxon (England) - "Princess of the Night" [1981]
25. Winterhawk (USA) - "Free to Live" [1982]

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Midnite Madness LXV - Unholy Norwegian Forces of Evil IV

Here it is, finally, the long-awaited Norwegian-only edition of the Unholy Forces of Evil franchise is GO. Again, this is not a definitive compendium as such, more a ripping collection of tracks from the golden era of Norwegian metal—the mid-80s to the mid-90s. Well, it is still exporting many greats, but it was then that it all started, and this show is just giving props to those bands who, like or not (Emperor!), changed the sound of so-called "extreme metal".
Also, I wanted to use my outlet to showcase the actual music from two of the scene's pioneers whose myth and legend has somewhat obscured what should be their musical legacy. I am of course talking about Mayhem and Burzum, so hour two is almost fully occupied by tracks from their best (my favourite) releases, with a couple of Darkthrone tracks in-between. Refer back to the all-DT show for further listening on them, should you need it.
Midnite Madness will return for its final show of the year on December 9th with the 2014 show. There may be a new version of the show for 2015, but that has yet to be decided. SOON!

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Maniac Monday XLIX - Unholy Forces of Evil II

UGHHH. A week into the new year and we have maybe one of the grimmest shows to ever play out on NTS, for sure, if not my own. There will be another black metal show comprised of only Norwegian bands/1994 releases soon, so hold tight for that if you liked this one.
Was cool to play some stuff I admittedly used to be very into in the mid-00s mainly, and of course some new discoveries, as always. That Vemod LP has been soundtracking my winter, thus far.
The next show is the official 50th MM, so I might do a kind of a best of so far show, or maybe not. Tune in January 20th to find out, fellow pilgrim.

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Interview with Attila Csihar

Here is an interview from Vice with Attila Csihar, who of course has laid down vocals for Tormentor, Mayhem, Aborym, and Sunn O))), among others. As regular AFITFOG readers will know, I am a big, big fan of Attila, and his stage performances. For me, he is Mayhem's best ever vocalist. Both times I saw them on the Ordo Ad Chao tour he took showmanship to new heights. Here's what Julien Morel at the French Vice office and Mr. Csihar spoke about...

Where do your costumes come from?
Attila Csihar: Most of the costumes I wear are actually designed by me or are collaborations. A lot of my masks were made by Nader Sadek in New York, and most of my clothes by my friend Mate Benyovszky in Budapest. The last costume I wore with Mayhem was actually a real priest’s funeral outfit. It was like 70 years old and was handmade by nuns. The costume was worn at hundreds, maybe thousands of funerals through the years. I bought it in a Christian store - it was kind of expensive, but it was worth it since it's really beautiful. Of course, I didn’t say why I was buying it. I had to lie and say I was working on a film. But I think the church lies to us too, so it’s alright.
Over the years you’ve worn a lot of costumes. How many do you have?
I've never counted. Making the costumes happen is a crazy amount of work. My live concept for the latest Mayhem record, Ordo Ad Chao, was to use different costumes and outfits for each show. It was an almost impossible task. I had to think about it all in advance and make a lot of plans and preparations for the daily shows. I really do like challenges so it was worth it, but I’m not doing it anymore.

Of all your costumes, which is your favourite?
Well, there were so many favourites. There was Dr. Pig - a scalped pig’s face I wore over my own face. It was a huge scandal in Sweden. The Mummy - that went with an onstage time machine. The Pimp was good, and the Slavetrader, I had a black guy on a leash for that. He was a bit worried when I tried to sell him during the show, but he was cool really - he knew it wasn’t a racist thing. People in Tel Aviv and Moscow really loved The Dictator, and there were others too: De Gaulle and Alien. I rose from an onstage coffin for Satan Klaus, and there was also Quasimodo.

The spookiest?
The Invisible Man.

 The most expensive?
Most expensive was maybe The Broken-Mirror Man, and the funeral priest costume.

The worst?
I like to challenge the audience, so the worst thing for me is going on stage with something that has been seen a million times before, like corpse paint. Actually, the first time I wore corpse paint was in 1987 with my band Tormentor. Alien Sex Fiend were using white make-up, so I started to wear a white base and put black make-up on top, around the eyes and the mouth. When Dead did a similar thing in the early 90s, he was the first to label that make-up technique "corpse paint". It was cool then.

I read somewhere that as a vegetarian you were grossed out by the dead pig’s face.
No, we were supposed to be forcing the public to look death in the face.

 What about the incredible frozen tree costume?
When Sunn O))) saw my costumes they were really impressed. For their tour, the concepts behind the costumes had to have a totally different meaning. The tree was about transformation. During the show, I gradually transform from a human into a plant.

What's the most money you've ever spent on a costume?
I would like to keep that secret, but some costumes were expensive. However, I think the idea behind them is much more important than the money.
Is it all about costumes with you, or do you like mainstream fashion. Do you do casual?
I do like fashion. For normal everyday wear, I like some of the Cyberdog clothes, but not everything they do.
Is there a costume you’d like to wear but which is just too expensive, or made out of something too rare, or is one that somebody has worn already?
Yes, of course. I talked to Banks Violette about making something that would make me look like I was performing in another dimension. I wanted to levitate in a huge, on-stage aquarium filled with liquid, wearing deep-diving gear. We planned to have strange or weird sea animals swimming around, like ink fishes, octopuses and horseshoe crabs, for instance. I wanted a spacesuit but they are extremely expensive. Huge crystals could be good too for appearing as a fossil. The ideas are endless, but the costumes have to have meaning. Recently people started to expect the costumes and my main philosophy in music and art is freedom. When I feel any force or pressure to do something, I move on to the next thing. The music is the most important part for me.

INTERVIEW JULIAN MOREL

Interview with Until The Light Takes Us Directors, Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites

Until The Light Takes Us is a new movie chronicling Norway's genre-defining black metal scene from the early 90s. It features Varg Vikernes, Fenriz, Hellhammer and many more black metal musicians. It is making its premiere here in London next Wednesday, October 7th, 2009.

This finally looks like the real-deal in terms of a decent movie/docu focusing on black metal, and I've been pretty psyched to see it since I saw the trailer a year or so ago. I caught up with Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites, the movies directors, albeit briefly, before they flew out to Greece last week. Here's some of what we spoke about...

So, having read an interview on ANUS, you proclaimed to have little prior knowledge on black metal until you decided to do the movie, how long ago was this and what drew you to black metal?
Audrey: That's not quite it. We were introduced to black metal by our friend Andee Connors who runs Aquarius Records in San Francisco, he had also put out Aaron's first record and knew that we were really into experimental and lo-fi music, and knew that we would be into it. So, we ended up amassing a huge black metal collection and were drawn more than anything to the sense of honesty in the music. At the same time, everything that we'd read about it was sort of breathless, so there was a schism. We assumed that there was a good documentary about it and went looking for that, just because we wanted to see it. But there wasn't. So, one thing led to another, and after doing really exhaustive research, made the doc we wanted to see.

How long ago was this?
Audrey: Well, we researched the film for a year, filmed for two years in Norway, and came back to the states with 350+ hours, a lot of debt, and a lack of funds to finish. So, we took a break to clear our heads, spent a good chunk of time raising funds, then started logging and editing. Then our system crashed. Which, just is a devastating thing to have happen. We regrouped, raised more money, got a new system and editor, and spent the next year editing. We premiered the film at AFI in L.A. on Oct 31, 2008. So....it feels like my whole life.

Ha ha, I bet. Man, that must've really hit you both hard when you lost everything, was there a point where you thought 'this project is doomed, let's go make a piece on blah blah blah instead'?
Aaron: Well, it was definitely a dark moment in our lives, but we were committed to finishing the film. You don't get very far in these things without a superhuman level of commitment.

I think the only semi-decent documentary I've seen is the Satan Rides The Media one, even though all it does again is focus on the church burnings, violence etc. and has very little focus on the actual music. Is Until The Light Takes Us more music oriented?
Aaron: Well, first of all it's not about being a music documentary or an expose or journalism etc. It's a film. And to give you some reference points, we take more from filmmakers like Godard, Von Trier, Chris Marker, and Lynch than we do from other documentary makers etc. I would say the film has many focuses including music, post-modernism and global culture.

Was it the music or the allure of black metal that you think convinced you to make the film? Or was it like Audrey said, to 'make the doc we wanted to see'?
Aaron: I would like to think that all filmmakers stick to making films they want to see first and foremost. We certainly do. It was the music that first drew us to the subject though.

Which albums/artists in particular?
Aaron: Darkthrone (Transilvanian Hunger, A Blaze In The Northern Sky, Goatlord Tape) Burzum (the first four), Immortal (up through Blizzard Beasts), Emperor (All), Mayhem (Everything up through De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas), The early Thorns Demos, Enslaved, Gorgoroth etc. That's where we started, then we worked our way both backwards (through Bathory, Celtic Frost, Venom etc.) and forwards (still finding new stuff all the time), lately Drudkh etc. I think our path was pretty typical for a music fan. We weren't planning a doc when we got into it. Just huge music fans working our way through a huge genre that was new to us.
Audrey: When we first got to Norway we had really bad jet lag, and I swear the only thing that we could go to sleep to was Blizzard Beasts. I'm sure a lot of people have had that experience...

Ha, I gotta say Burzum has always gotten me off to sleep nicely. Would you agree that black metal is musically diverse (often contradictory perhaps) from band to band? Out of the four original 'big bands' (Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal & Mayhem), none sound too alike
Audrey: Yes, it's a good point, and a point we get at in the film is that these people are individuals with different goals. There's always some cohesiveness within a scene, but if you look at early Darkthrone and early Emperor, there's certainly room to say that they had different things that they were working toward. And then there are bands like Thorns, who are amazing, but the boundaries of what black metal is or was or could be has always been a slippery slope. To us, so much of it is about intention, ideology.

Tickets for the screening next Wednesday, October 7th, are available here. I am also dj'ing the after party (which is free). Flyer below...

The Origin of the True Thumbs Down, One Year On...

So it was this time last year, in the unholy year of 2007, that the true meaning of thumbs down became apparent in a place called the Button Factory (not very nekro) in Dublin. The deliverer of such an evangelical revelation was none other than Attila Csihar, Mayhem's enigmatic Hungarian frontman. We all know what thumbs down means as a general, worldwide rule, up for good, down for bad. Atilla somehow managed to redefine thumbs down and give it a completely new meaning. His onstage 'altar' comprised of two pigs heads, two candlesticks and a plug-in globe that he would spin maniacally, stop at a random part of the world and give it the unholy thumbs down. It was at that point that I knew...



If you can't be bothered to watch the below in its entirity go to about 4:50 to witness the most unholy, double-thumbs-down-in-a-candle mankind has ever seen...


Original tour poster


Apparently he was dressing as different people throughout history on the Ordo Ad Chao tour, here's a few of the most thumbs down ones I found here




'Darkness will show us the way...'