IDLES today announce a short tour for December – including their biggest headlining date yet on Saturday, 7th December at London’s Alexandra Palace.

Tue 3 Dec Glasgow, Barrowland Ballroom
Wed 4 Dec Manchester, Academy
Thu 5 Dec Leeds, O2 Academy
Sat 7 Dec London, Alexandra Palace

Tickets will go on sale this Friday 28th June at 9:30 AM BST but fans can gain access to artist pre-sale on Wednesday 26th June 9:30 AM BST by signing up at https://www.idlesband.com

 


Tickets will go on sale this Friday 28th June at 9:30 AM BST but fans can gain access to artist pre-sale on Wednesday 26th June 9:30 AM BST by signing up at https://www.idlesband.com

With their last shows selling out in minutes IDLES wanted to give as many fans as possible an opportunity to acquire tickets to celebrate what has been an incredible year. Tickets will be limited to 4 per person.

The band will also be working with Big Green Coach to provide a return coach service for fans to travel safely to and from the Alexandra Palace show. There will be services ran from Bristol, Bournemouth, Reading, Southampton and Swindon and tickets will be available direct from: https://www.biggreencoach.co.uk/idles

The band’s latest release “Mercedes Marxist” is currently A-listed at 6 Music and will be released physically on August 2nd as a 7″. The single will include another new song on its B-side, entitled “I Dream Guillotine.” Both tracks were written and recorded during the band’s sessions for “Joy as an Act of Resistance.” and pre-orders are available HERE.

 

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THE LIBERTINES 
9 UK SHOWS IN DECEMBER
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France/Germany/Luxembourg/Belgium/Netherlands
(OCTOBER & NOVEMBER)
The Libertines are very happy to announce a nine-date Christmas jaunt across the UK in December, along with shows in France, Germany, Luxembourg, Brussels and The Netherlands in October and November. Tickets, for what is The Libertines first headline tour in over two years, go on sale at 9:00 am on Friday 28th June and are available from www.gigsandtours.com & www.ticketmaster.co.uk  The full dates are:
OCTOBER
27th Sunday Paris Olympia
NOVEMBER
2nd Saturday Cologne Carlswerk
4th Monday Munich Tonhalle
5th Tuesday Berlin Columbiahalle
17th Sunday Luxembourg Den Atelier
18th Monday Brussels Cirque Royale
20th Wednesday Utrecht Tivoli Vrendenburg
21st ThursdayUtrechtTivoli Vredenburg
DECEMBER
3rd Tuesday Bournemouth  O2 Academy
4th Wednesday Leeds  O2 Academy
6th Friday        Dundee  Caird Hall
7th Saturday Glasgow  Barrowland Ballroom
10th Tuesday      Manchester  O2 Victoria Warehouse
12th Thursday     Nottingham  Rock City
14th Saturday     Birmingham  O2 Academy
16th Monday      Bristol  O2 Academy
18th Wednesday    London  O2 Academy Brixton
The Libertines bar ‘The Waste Land’ and recording studio, at‘The Albion Rooms’ in Margate, open on the 16th August. More details on the opening celebrations of the bar and studio to follow shortly.

As previously announced Peter Doherty and Carl Barât play two acoustic shows at London’s Hackney Empire on Thursday 5th September and Friday 6th September, as part of Somewhere Festival, which sold-out within minutes of going on sale.

Peter Doherty recently released his acclaimed new album ‘Peter Doherty &  The Puta Madres’ and toured the UK and Europe. Carl Barât latterly returned from a sold-out tour of the far East. The Libertines are currently working on their fourth album, the followup to the No.3 UK charting album ’Anthems For Doomed Youth’ (2015), which spawned the hits ‘Gunga Din,’ ‘Heart Of The Matter’ and ‘You’re My Waterloo.’

THE MURDER CAPITAL ANNOUNCE SERIES OF IN-STORES

DEBUT ALBUM “WHEN I HAVE FEARS” OUT 16TH AUGUST ON HUMAN SEASON RECORDS

PRE-ORDER HERE

Mon 19th Aug – GLASGOW – Monorail – performance + signing
Tues 20th Aug – MANCHESTER – FOPP (afternoon show) – performance + signing
Wed 21st Aug – LEEDS – Crash – signing
Thurs 22nd Aug – LONDON – Rough Trade East (afternoon show) – performance + signing
Thurs 22nd Aug – BRIGHTON – Resident Music (evening) – performance + signing

The signings and in-stores are in support of their much-anticipated debut album, “When I Have Fears”, set for release on August 16th through Human Season Records.

The album will be available on gatefold colour LP, black LP, as part of a limited bundle (gatefold colour LP, t-shirt, pin & journal), CD and as a digital download.

You can pre-order HERE

Produced by Flood (PJ Harvey, New Order, Foals) the album features both singles from the band so far, “Feeling Fades” and “Green & Blue”, as well as the first studio recording of breakthrough track “More Is Less”.

An exercise in both darkness and light, “When I Have Fears” only serves to highlight the early ambition in the band’s sound. From the post-rock build and breakdowns of the two-part “Slowdance” to the tender, bruised confessional of “On Twisted Ground” and industrial pulse of closer “Love, Love, Love”, there’s a consistent intensity throughout that marks out The Murder Capital as a band arriving fully formed on their debut album.

As well as festival dates across the summer, the band will head out on two headline tours – once in July and again in October / November.

Full dates below with tickets available from  Website

You can catch the band live on the following dates:

29th June – Rock Werchter – Werchter, BE
30th June – Metropolis Festival – Rotterdam, NL
13th July – Heartbreakers – Southampton, UK
14th July – Citadel Festival – London, UK
15th July – The Portland Arms – Cambridge, UK
16th July – The Boiler Room – Guildford, UK
18th July – Valkhof Festival – Nijmegen, NL
19th July – Latitude Festival – Beccles, UK
20th July – The Independent – Sunderland, UK
21st July – Doune The Rabbit Hole – Port of Meredith, UK
23rd July – The Crescent – York, UK
24th July – The Cookie – Leicester, UK
25th July – The Arts Club – Liverpool, UK
16th August – The Button Factory – Dublin, IRE

7th October – The Exchange – Bristol, UK
8th October – Bodega Social Club – Nottingham, UK

10th October – Dome, Tuffnell Park – London, UK
11th October – The Haunt – Brighton, UK
12th October – Castle & Falcon – Birmingham, UK
14th October – Brudenell Social Club – Leeds, UK
15th October – The Mash House – Edinburgh, UK
16th October – King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut – Glasgow, UK
18th October – YES (The Pink Room) – Manchester, UK
26th October – V11 – Rotterdam, NL
28th October – Le Grand Mix – Tourcoing, FR
29th October – Portobello – Caen, FR
31st October – Le Rocher de Palmer – Bordeaux, FR
1st November – La Rex – Toulouse, FR
2nd November – La Paloma – Nimes, FR
4th November – Joker’s Pub – Angers, FR
6th November – Nouveau Casino – Paris, FR
8th November – L’Autre Canal – Nancy, FR
9th November – La Poudriere – Belfort, FR
12th November – Molotow Musikclub – Hamburg, DE
13th November – Music und Frieden – Berlin, DE
14th November – Artheater – Cologne, DE

Seeing as we’re at the movies today we indulged in a couple of releases firstly the Cleopatra double of Johnny Thunders ‘Madrid Memory’ that’s a special edition audio Cd and DVD is taken from when Johnny played Spain in 94 at La Edad De Oro with his band of capable players Sylvain, Rath, and Nolan (not a bad bunch to have playing with you I’m sure you’ll agree)

Firstly this seventeen track show isn’t surround sound crystal clear quality some might expect and the mix right from the start goes from bootleg quality to poor desk mix as Raths bass thumps through the mix on pipeline maybe its an idea to get in the mood first by downing a bottle of jager and jumpin’ up and down just for old times sake.

Right sorted, we can begin. slamming into a chaotic ‘Personality Crisis’ the mix doesn’t improve much but that was always part of the reason we got into this pirate Rock and Roll and then thunders vocals booms into the mix over the skin tight beat of Nolan who really was the glue that held it all together and I guess Thunders knew that – as out of it he might have got Jerry always held it together and it was always a credible sound coming from the band Rath and Nolan were a formidable rhythm section and by the time they ripped into ‘Junkie Business’ they were firing on all cylinders.  Hearing Johnnys guitar wail out of tune might be funny now and quite endearing looking back but fuck me Johnny sort it out fella.

The set is excellent and the inclusion of Sylvains ’14th Street Beat’ is most welcome.  Having three Dolls playing or three Heartbreakers, either way, it still excites me and my God I wish I paid more attention to what was happening in front of me at the time and I had taken more notice when seeing these guys play all those years ago.  When this band were in sync they were breathtaking and when they were a little sloppy (cough cough) (‘Don’t Mess With Cupid’) they were exhilarating and the air of danger was evident – real Rock and Roll played by real Rock and Rollers God I miss them.

To finish off there are four tracks of Johnny playing with an unnamed flamenco player and rehearsals were clearly not on the agenda and the car crash makes me smile unlike the amount of reverb Johnny has on his vocal ‘Eve Of Destruction’ makes this worth buying on its own.  Not just for the shambles but when Johnny’s voice cracks its hilarious and Johnny acknowledging that it can only get better shows he wasn’t a total fuck up – God bless him. things do improve (slightly) for ‘Diary Of A Lover’ I emphasize Slightly. as for the echo on the closer ‘Memory’ maybe it’s not reverb and Johnny has left the building.  God loves a trier and trying with flamenco was admirable one of the weirder recording no question about that.  Completists will be all over this – the curious will also check it out. Like or loath all the posthumous releases at times they are bloody good and this is no exception.  As for the video, the intro being left in shows its age with the presenter yapping for four minutes whilst the camera roams the room it’s a bit weird.

As for the video performance Man, this line up would have been something had they gotten into the studio and Jerry looks dashing in his hat bullfighting get up as does Johnny.  So the picture quality isn’t 4K but who’d want to see what Syl is wearing in 4K anyway it looks like he just left his painting and decorating crew round the corner whilst he held down this moonlighting job with his old pals.  Listen it is what it is and considering its been saved from a mid 80s tv recording in Spain I’ll take it every day of the week.  Bollocks to smooth transitions between the songs when Rock and Rollers looked this cool even when they were off their tits isn’t something everyone could do.  God bless the three Heartbreakers here for they inherited the earth or something like that. I hope they keep uncovering shit like this for the next twenty years I’ll never ever get tired of it – Just buy it!

Buy Madrid Memory Here

Author: Dom Daley

 

Room 37 the Mysterious Death Of Johnny Thunders (MVD Visual)  We all know what happened but really nobody knows what happened. Well, Johnny knew but he can’t say.

The movie begins with ‘Alone In A Crowd’ blasting as Johnny turns up saddlebags n all wandering into St Peters Guest House room 37.  The film portrays Johnny as a shaking jittering jaundice junkie on his last legs.  whilst he’s talking business with Sylvain on the blower then taking his medicine.  the bar band is none other than Kevin Preston then playing on the jukebox is Walter Lure wow it’s making me smile as I nerd out. Johnny telling his own story about why he was in New Orleans stressing he’s clean then getting up to play ‘Born To Lose’ yeah right. The collapse n all that follows is weird and about to get a whole lot weirder.  Leo Ramsey does a decent enough job as Johnny but how accurate this is we’ll never know.

Johnny looks unwell from either the comedown or leukemia (most probably both) we’ll never get the truth the Police fucked that up in their investigation but the shamanic beast that follows Johnny through his jibbering last days is hard as is his wheezing sweating shaking demise.  It’s sad to see and for a fan, a massive fan to think he spent his last days alone suffering in pain and traumatized and when he was robbed it’s tough to take.  I believe Johnny had good intentions when he went to New Orleans and knew he was ill.  Johnny took the secrets to his grave of what happened in his final days/hours sadly we’ll never know the truth – the whole truth and whilst films like this keep the memory of Johnny alive for us its far fetched and a sad dramatisation of his last days.

 

The throw away comments like too much junkie business’ are a bit cringy when he’s trying to buy some methadone in his dreams it portrays well his state of mind and how troubled he might have been the studio hallucinations are disturbing and quite a good horror jump scare. The vomiting isn’t nice and the tone is dark as fuck as he vanishes down that wormhole inside the hospital those scenes are disturbed.  All I can think of is poor Johnny I just wanted to hug the guy.  I still find myself thinking he was way too young and illness or not he went way too young and in such tragic circumstances.

 

The film seemed keen to push the leukemia angle and Johnny carries himself around on pure momentum and a will not to die rather than being able to move and walk normally.  It’s certainly a trip of a movie at times really hard viewing it doesn’t really offer much in a way of explaining what really happened just gives a very dark drug-addled view as to what could have happened.  Poor Johnny I miss the guy’s music but felt after watching this that I’d rather he was still alive and well more than anything.  His friend Iris is the main character who spent time with him before his death before his horrible tragic death.  This isn’t a film to put a smile across your face that’s for sure, you won’t remember him because of his music if this were your introduction to the world of JT – Me I’d take Looking For Johnny and remember his fantastic musical legacy.  No matter how he finally passed away New Orleans was his resting place and a dark horror flick that passes for entertainment makes me sad, poor Johnny he never got the justice he deserved.  I’m not even sure I enjoyed the film perhaps I’ll watch it again when it doesn’t leave me so cold.

Buy Room 37 Here 

Author: Dom Daley

“‘In The Dark We Dwell’ is about gravitating towards self-destruction,” explains frontman Scott Picking. “It’s an insight into the past. It’s about who we used to be and who we are now.”

The video directed by the band is a respectful nod to Keith Flint and anyone suffering from their own internal darkness.

‘In The Dark We Dwell’ and the new album ‘Body Bag Your Scene’ is out this Friday from Bomber Music.

Buy the album Here

While it seems like every week or two, we learn of some new musical genre, there are still bands who recognize some fundamental elements that make the overwhelming power of rock ‘n’ roll so irresistible.   Rokets hail from Helsinki and have channeled the Hellacopters (around the ‘Payin the Dues’ days), Motorhead, and other action rock forefathers so convincingly that this EP needs to be heard. While they are not reinventing the wheel, they are taking the template that comes with a fistful of rock ‘n’ roll and giving us 5 reasons to celebrate the power of rock ’n’ roll. I think it is impossible to not be smiling when this EP ends, which is also why you hit the play button again so you can hear it all over again.

‘Speed & Sound’ revs up the engine and then storms out of the gate with some excellent guitar riffs by Sakke Vanttinen as Jaani Kaukonen lays down the rhythm guitar. Sami Mustonen possesses an awesome vocal tone that fits this style perfectly. There is an edge to it but also an ability to create some really good vocal hooks. Not to be outdone, the rhythm section of Georgios Aspetakis (drums) and Heikki Nyman (bass) gets plenty of room in the mix and will get your body moving. It is no secret that I am a huge Electric Frankenstein fan, and this EP constantly gives me the same kind of rush their EP’s and albums do. ‘Burn to Death’ may initially feel like a little bit more of the same approach as the tempo feels like being shot out of the cannon, but the verses give the vocals a little more space, and there is more meat on the bone of the chorus here. The magical moment for me though follows the second chorus where there is a breakdown to a quieter interlude, and Vanttinen lays down an awesome solo that finds me in air guitar heaven each and every time I play it.

‘Rest in Beast’ lays down some thick rhythm guitar while the riffs fall a little bit lower in the mix. While this would seem to be counterproductive, it works extremely well as it gives the lead guitar even more authority when it gets turned up in the mix around the guitar solo. If there is a fault in the song, it is that the two minutes fly by too fast. My possible favorite from the EP follows in ‘Loose Cannon’ which initially with the bass and drums reminds me a bit of an AC/DC beginning before the guitar riffs let loose and take us from 0-70 mph in an instant. The riffs recall the likes of the Hurriganes or Chuck Berry if he had been exposed to the joy of action rock. The hooks are huge here, and my whole body is compelled to move every time it plays. Final track ‘Lost Control’ slows the tempo down a notch with a great staggered beat giving the band a different feel, and I love the section where Nyman gets to really let the focus be on the bass before some more great riffage by Vanttinen gets an extended solo section in this three minute epic. One final chorus bashes in our heads and leaves us craving more.

While the Rokets do not do anything new here, they have clearly identified their sound since forming back in 2017 and do it extraordinarily well. If you enjoy a fistful of powerful rock ‘n’ roll, the Rokets should hit the sweet spot just like they did for me. You might want to make sure anything that’s breakable is out of the room though because these songs will get your body moving. The EP even has a really friendly digital price so get this one in your rotation now, and let’s play the crap out of it.

‘Speed & Sound’ is available now.

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Author: Gerald Stansbury

It takes something of grave importance for my nomadic self to make a guest appearance from its self-imposed limbo (think Van Helsing at the end of classic Eighties flick, The Monster Squad), and that something today is the new five-track extended player from nefarious noiseniks, Grandmother Suplex.

 

I’ll make my writings on the history of this band as quick as the quintet of lowbrow yet high-quality tunes on offer: loitering around Derbyshire venues since 2015, Grandmother Suplex now finds itself pared down from a four- to a three-piece (with two of those three former members of infamous troublemakers, Scutty Neighbours) yet the would-be numerical disadvantage couldn’t be further from the truth as this now-six-legged monstrosity has fashioned its best output to date.

 

Did I mention quick? The five songs on this self-titled EP have a combined playing time of around nine minutes, and, if you’re one of the cool kids who will trouble your ears with this highly-recommended noise (via all major digital streaming platforms from June 28th, limited compact disc directly from the band, with vinyl release to follow), it’ll be one of the most frenetic, fucked-up, yet friggin’ glorious nine minutes of your recent history.

 

Like a crazed dark alley dust-up between Wounds and Cancer Bats, Grandmother Suplex spits out (a self-described) “trashy, thrashy punk” of a kind that always sounds great in a sweaty club full of ne’er-do-wells yet doesn’t always translate to the recording studio. Well, scrub that thought because this five-tracker (recorded at JT Soar in Nottingham by Phil Booth, and mastered by Daniel Husayn of North London Bomb Factory Mastering) sounds as diabolically wicked as anyone with a keen ear for extreme music would hope for.

 

Fear not, though; the music might be the best that this band has ever produced, but the lyrics and their subject matter are still as ludicrous and of the lowest common denominator as expected. Songs about the presidential man-baby’s absurd Space Force and, of course, kicking other people’s bags of shopping, make for a perfectly preposterous listening experience. Sure, listeners may find themselves observing concussion protocols after this nine-minute ear clobbering, but it’ll be worth it, trust me.

 

The decision to self-title this essential EP, I hear, came as a result of the band members believing that this new release provided the strongest point of the Grandmother Suplex legend to date and wanting to honour it so. Now, after listening,

 

I’m a believer too. I’m off to kick some fucker’s shopping… with Grandmother Suplex on my Walkman. Join me!

Author: Gaz Tidey

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What could be better than a new Spunk Volcano album to help cheer us all up during this rain-drenched summer we’re having here in the UK? Well, how about two Spunk Volcano albums?

That’s right folks ‘Double Bastard’ is not only Spunk Volcano And The Eruptions fourth studio album to date but it’s also a double (bastard) album.

Containing twenty five tracks of pure Spunk Rock ‘Double Bastard’ flips effortlessly from punk to metal to Oi! to some good old mondo bongo rock ‘n’ roll (more of this later) whilst never once straying too far from the semi-legendary SAW (Spunk’s Anthem Writing) formula we have all come to revere the masked madman for.

Of course, a lot has happened in the Eruptions camp since 2017’s excellent (and Ginger Wildheart endorsed) ‘Not Wired Up Right’ album, for starters they’ve changed record labels, then came the shortening of their name (to S.V. And The Eruptions) after some venues refused to book them, and most recently the acquisition of both ex-FDC Joey Strange on bass and rabid Faxe drinker Scott Russell on guitar – makes this line up perhaps the band’s most insanely perfect yet.

‘Double Bastard’ then is the larger than life sound of this loveable bunch of antiheroes captured in the studio, and before I delve into the nitty gritty of the album I’d just like to say “if there’s anyone out there right now who is writing more memorable punk rock hymns dedicated to this disaffected country of ours I’d certainly like you to point them in my direction.”

Away from the constraints of Dirtbox Disco’s “swing your pants” feelgood punk rock the darker more introverted side of Spunk Volcano has always been where I’ve found some of his most interesting work and here tracks like ‘Road Rage’, ‘You Think Your Rock N Roll But You’re Not’, ‘Independent Fire’ and ‘Personality Black Hole’ turn the noise levels up way past critical with the first three tunes having more than just a hint of Motorhead about them and the latter thrashing away like an in their prime Slayer.

Ole Spunk chops has certainly not forgotten his punk rock roots though and tracks like the Pistols meets Sparrer riot that is ‘Sucking Up’, the whoa-oh-waddytastic ‘TCP’ ‘and the infectious genius of ‘Scared Of Needles’ are some of the very best tunes the masked marauder and his mob of misfits have ever committed to CD.

Elsewhere the dissonantly melancholic pop of ‘Red Rings’, ‘99%’ and ‘Shit Excuse’ provide an almost sugar free alternative to the full on assault of their surroundings and in ‘Old Wives Tales’ you have the band’s most bongo-bonkers tune to date somewhere where the true genius of what makes Spunk Volcano such an amazingly prolific songwriter is condensed into 2 minutes of 30 seconds of….well, you have to hear it for yourselves.

At 25 tracks long ‘Double Bastard’ could perhaps be accused of being Spunk Volcano’s very own ‘(Ab)Use Your Illusion’, however unlike those overblown pieces of GN’R released stadium rock bollocks where you could have made one decent album out of the two, nothing could be further from the truth here. Although I must admit the idea of the Eruptions spunking a ‘November Rain’ sized budget on a video for the stupendously silly ‘Sooper Dooper’ (a song with one of the very best opening lines of all time) certainly wouldn’t be without its charms.

Released on 21st of June 2019 ‘Double Bastard’ is an expansive (not expensive) celebration of gloriously catchy potty-mouthed punk rock ‘n’ roll, providing the perfect pick me up to our depressing UK summer.

Author: Johnny Hayward

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Buy Double Bastard Here

Wow, maybe one of the most contentious movies associated with rock/metal ever. If you only have a passing interest you will be familiar with Norweigan Black Metal that came to prominence in the early ’90s and what went down. well, music fans, ‘Lords of Chaos: Truth And Lies’ is really gonna split the audience (those who know and those who don’t give two shits). It’s dark, It’s goofy, it’s horrific but most shockingly it was real.

Sure from a movie perspective, it’s Hollywood and glossy and slick which is everything that Norweigan Black Metal wasn’t. It’s not the kind of movie you would want to take that girl on a first date. You wouldn’t want to put on your best Waynes world baseball cap and those high tops and go with your mates to watch a Metal movie especially if they’re true Black Metal and to be honest, it doesn’t paint the community in a very good light at all not to the uninitiated it doesn’t – No sir.

There is a certain authenticity with this move in some of the cast are fans of the genre and knew the story and the Director was an original member of first wave pioneers Bathory so they know their shit before the purists jump on it.

Casting Varg as a larger Jewish actor couldn’t have been a coincidence, Whilst in the main, the acting is excellent its not the most PC of communities to begin with (tolerance wasn’t exactly a motivator) and they generally lived by their own rules (or so they thought) It mostly focusses around Øystein Aarseth otherwise known as Euronymous the leader of Mayhem one of the forerunners of the second wave of Black Metal and the people who circled around his orbit.

Right enough of the back story. One thing I struggled to get my head around was the Americanisation and the accents, that was a shame, seeing as they were Norwegians no attempt to even put an accent on was made which might have added to the whole Bill and Ted goofy-ness of parts of the film. I thought the writers made a good fist of making it unglamorous and painting the main baddie (Varg) in a suitably bad light. The guys political beliefs are extreme as are a lot of the people in this genre they don’t come across as welcoming – accepting people and the whole church burning is dangerous criminality.

There is very little that was cool about what happened back in the early 90s especially to four of these people (one suicide, two murders and a firefighter who died trying to clean up their handiwork) The film doesn’t cover him (Varg) in glory at all and he comes across as an unstable loser and help was what he really needed not women feeding his narcism. The scorpions patch made me giggle as did the fact that one of the most Black Metallers real names is Kristian – and not The Count – perfect. Not the nicest of people and that really comes across in the movie. I also think that needed to be the case you couldn’t make what these guys were doing acceptable and paint them as victims I do think a lot of the time it was one-upmanship that got out of hand and they aren’t really full-on criminals just a bunch of sheep being led by a few truly dark characters and it got way out of hand. If it were a made up story from start to end you’d be commending the writer on such a twisted dark story but the fact that it’s based around true stories is staggering.

The casting is engaging (that’s not to say likable) there is a certain amount of Goofy Bill and Ted about the whole thing (the way its narrated) but that’s the point – its not gone down well within the metal community (was it ever going to?) The thing is there doesn’t seem much inward reflecting going on in extreme metal, quite the narcissists I mean c’mon, to the man on the street kids running round in corpse paint is gonna look a bit goofy and dorkish – its cosplay for extremists isn’t it? Venom took the piss people didn’t really think their misogynist ways were real and they didn’t sleep in coffins and I don’t think they ate sacrificial virgins either.   If you can’t see the humour and piss-taking then you’re maybe a bit of a lost cause. Sometimes its good to take time to have a bit of a laugh at ones self isn’t it?

The church burnings look convincing and the bloody scenes are hard to watch.  It has to be said that the Director has gone the extra mile in the attention to detail especially on things like the record shop ‘Hellvete’ time period t-shirts, patches, the transition from famous pictures from the scene cutting to real-time acting is excellent.  As for the cast,  Rory Culkin is spot on and his portrayal of Euronymous and is really watchable as is Dead and he does make the character engaging and believable.

 

The thing with ‘Lords Of Chaos’ is I can’t say I enjoyed watching it but did find it well done and captivating.  I kept having to remind myself that it’s real and these things did happen. My God (sorry satan or Odin), they barely touched upon the horror of Faust’s murder of an innocent man in Olympic Park and it seemed like it was added as an afterthought and what went down is truly shocking. I find myself questioning whether I should be listening to their music  I know they were kids when all these things happen and you’d like to think that what they did in their teens they’ve learned the lesson that it isn’t acceptable and you hope they are sorry for their crimes and today they are decent humans who aren’t just nice to their mams.

I think since the early ’90s there has been an amount of the rewriting of history and revising of beliefs and the whys and wherefores to justify what happened but at no time does Lords Of Chaos glorify what happened.

The one thing this movie does is it manages to make the main players in the scene look daft as brushes (albeit sinister and unrepentant cold-blooded dangerous people)  They started out a bit childish none of the people come out of it in a good light and there isn’t any back-patting going on in the writing and performing.

Years in the making its a shame that the bands didn’t sign off their music except for the opening bit of ‘Deathcrush’.  Take care kids – treat Black Metal with care and continue dissecting genres into subgenres then subgenres of the subgenres and making the metal more extreme than before but remember, the general public is indeed sniggering behind your backs. and why not look in the mirror laugh at yourself it’s not the be all end all (all the time) so for now party on dudes!

Now let the metalheads bicker over the shape of the actors -the music genre labels and how authentic the metal is. but if you haven’t got a clue about the detail and took the movie for being just a movie as an uninitiated then it makes for a great Horror flick based around a music scene in a beautiful yet dark part of the world – hail Santa! it is Santa isn’t it?  Christmas metal now that’s a genre not investigated.  shockin?  You bet. To unravel what went on is mindblowing for some quite literally – Prepare to be shocked.

Buy the DVD ‘Lords Of Chaos’: Here

Author: Dom Daley