SEEN AND HEARD: GHOST’S ALBUM DELAYED BY TIGHTASS CD MAKERS, PANDEMONIUM CELEBRATE “EVERLASTING OPPOSITION”, AND I DISCOVER ARKHON INFAUSTUS

On this lazy Saturday morning, I found these items of interest while surfing the waves of our metallic ocean.

GHOST B.C.

I’m still having trouble typing “Ghost B.C.” instead of “Ghost”. And as if legal problems with their original name weren’t enough bullshit to endure, this Swedish band seem to have encountered fresh new bullshit in getting the CDs produced for their new album, Infestissumam.

According to Spin.com, release of the album has been delayed from April 9 to April 16 because four different U.S. compact disc manufacturers have refused to print a piece of artwork (shown above) that was destined for the deluxe version of the album. More from Spin.com:

“We kept on getting turned down because of the CD art, which is basically a 16th century illustration of an orgy,” a source close to the band told SPIN. The NSFW illustration, inspired by the work of Gustave Dore, showcases what looks like a forest nymph orgy, but it’s the religious iconography at the top that convinced manufacturers to turn off the printing press.

“Even though the Infestissumam booklets had all been printed, the band struggled to find anyone in the States to print the CD for them. “They weren’t surprised. The comment was ‘Well, I thought this would have happened sooner,'” the source said. “The artwork was meant to provoke some sort of thought, but it’s been one obstacle after another.”

Spin.com reports that to avoid delaying the album release any longer, Ghost B.C. is reusing the CD art that will appear on the standard edition of their album. “The artwork, a collaboration between Polish artist Zbignew Bielak II and a Nameless Ghoul, is key to an elaborate deluxe package that features each song’s lyrics accompanied by a illustration to form a narrative within the music.”

The “offensive” art will still appear on both the vinyl and European copies of the Infestissuman CD. According to the band’s spokesperson, “Vinyl manufacturers don’t have a problem with the artwork. Neither does Europe.”

I’m guessing Ghost B.C.’s label didn’t try to hire the kind of label manufacturers that make most of the CDs I buy. Then again, they’re probably planning on selling more than 100 copies.

(via Lambgoat)

 

PANDEMONIUM

Pandemonium have been a long-running fixture of the Polish metal underground; their first demo dates back to 1991. They’ve played hundreds of concerts with big-names such as Slayer, Celtic Frost, Morbid Angel, Behemoth, Cannibal Corpse, Vader, Samael, Unleashed, and Asphyx. Their last album, Misanthropy, was released by Pagan Records in the spring of 2012, and this morning they unveiled an official video for one of its songs, “Everlasting Opposition”.

The song kills. It’s a ravenous, howling beast, a cross-bred mutation of black metal and death metal with grooves that punch like cannonballs and an eerie melody that flits through the music like a wraith. There’s also a breakdown in the song that got my head banging so vigorously I nearly smashed my keyboard to pieces.

The video kills, too. It’s a montage of live performance shots, with the visuals altered in various ways to enhance their occult feel. Enjoy:

http://www.pandemonium.metal.pl/
http://www.facebook.com/pandemoniumpl
http://www.facebook.com/paganrecords

 

ARKHON INFAUSTUS

I have a lot of Facebook friends (as well as bands I follow) who post about music they’re listening to. I don’t have time to check out much of it, but this morning I randomly listened to a track that a friend posted by a French band named Arkhon Infaustus. It blew me to smithereens. I immediately began hunting for a digital copy of the album — 2007’s Orthodoxyn — and downloaded it from Amazon mp3.

Orthodoxyn is the band’s latest album; unfortunately, Archon Infaustus have been “on hold” since two of the members left the band in 2009. But Orthodoxyn has been a great discovery for me.

I’ve developed a strong taste for blackened death metal over the last two years, and these guys fully satisfy that hunger. They unleash a warlike onslaught of blasting percussion and ripping guitars, with a tremendously powerful grinding low end and a bestial vocal tandem that takes turns going from bearlike lows to banshee highs.

But there’s more to the music than a mauling sonic attack — lots of tempo dynamics, riveting rhythms, ghoulish melodies, crazy guitar and bass work, and a creative drummer. Think evil, blackened death metal with progressive and even experimental touches.

Here’s the song that hooked me this morning on Arkhon Infaustus — “Behind the Husk of Faith” — plus one more, “Anunciation to the Holy Ghost”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAMZ6nTRn68