I'm Back!

Hello planet earth! I have returned!

I know it’s been a very long time since my last blog post but I have been occupied with many educational or business ventures. Some of them have been paid, others have been voluntary – but the good side is, my scribbling has been seen around the world, some pieces by over 20,000 people as far and wide as New Zealand. But I am back on blogging soil once again and I have finally revived this old outlet, which I promise I’ll be updating regularly.

Where Have I Been?

Over the past few months I’ve been interning at Gay StarNews in London Bridge. They are the leading LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) news group and directed by the former editor of The Pink Paper, Tris Reid-Smith, who, incidentally, made it into the Independent’s Pink List this week – well done there.

At GSN I was writing articles focusing on LGBT news around the globe. If you’re interested, everything I scribbled for them can be found here.

Keep up the good work guys, you were the best job I’ve ever had.

And on the more artistic side of things, I’ve been writing album reviews for Metal-Rules.com. This is one of the most popular Heavy Metal news websites which I managed to secure an unpaid writer’s position with simply because I had the UK editor in my Facebook friends list.

Every month I post reviews of new albums. Just go to the homepage here, and select the month you are looking for. I’ll post as any links to these ASAP.

On the day job side: I’m still working as a shop assistant at Stansted Airport’s Duty Free shop. This isn’t my type of career venture but it pays well for a student job. Through it I’ve become well acquainted with the manufacturing, marketing and tasting of whisky. I have made it my goal to try as many different whiskies from around the world and review them – which you can find here if you stay tuned.

What’s New Around Here?

Well as you can see, the backdrop hasn’t changed nor has my blogger profile, but there will be plenty of new segments for this blog. Here are just a few titles to expect in the coming weeks:

-         This Week In Weird = Where I share the weirdest videos/pictures/stories I have come across in my weekly internet browsing.

-          Sci-Fi Time = Reviews of any science fiction films, games or novels I’ve read.

-         Comment = My opinion on any current affairs or news stories that are plaguing the general public’s interests.

-         Flash = Any improvised ‘flash fiction’ I have made up and written down on the spot as a creative exercise.

-        Whisky Rambles = Reviews and opinion of any new whiskies I have tried.

There will also be stand alone articles about anything that’s on my mind or has been happening lately. 

Thanks for reading and I’ll get the first post up soon.

Dimmu Wulfenhume

 

Self Music Promotion: Trolls In The Mist

My Black Metal band, Trolls In The Mist, live at the Boston Music Rooms, London.

I'm on drums.

Dimmu Wulfenhume

A Little More Music Promotion

Seeing as i haven't done any promotions of my friends' bands in the past few months, here's a little bit of gig footage promoting London based Black/Death Metal band: Premature Birth. They currently have their debut album in the pipeline and so far have had me blown away on many an occasion with their sheer distorted putrefaction.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUVtX2acbBg&feature=youtu.be

Check them out here at their most recent gig at The Monarch, London.

Their agenda covers topics of murder, rape, religion, gore and all out evil with song titles like: "World Domination," "You Should Have Been Aborted," and "Wondering in the Night." Typical grusomeness for those many lovers of plain evil put to music.

Upcoming gigs: 8/8/12, Nambucca, Holloway Road, London, N7 6LB.

Note: Their bassist Simon is the bass player for my band, Trolls in the Mist, whom I shall talk about later. Also their guitarist/vocalist Dev plays with us as a session musician too.

Review: Kreator - Phantom Antichrist.

Once again the godfathers of Teutonic Thrash Metal bring us yet another beautiful onslaught of bone crushing blasts. Having been on the world’s stage for nearly 30 years, Kreator certainly haven’t mellowed – even in their mid period of experimentation they have stayed true to their agenda of making the miseries of modern life into some of the greatest Metal ever conceived.

Phantom Antichrist is Kreator’s 13^th studio album and follow up to the misanthropic awesomeness that was 2009’s Hordes of Chaos. Opening this gem is the beautiful Iron Maiden-esque instrumental: “Mars Mantra,” then the chaos is unleashed with the violent title track. What made this album stand out for me was the sheer diversity of the openings which include a set of tribal war drums and high pitched tremolo picking. I found such an approach spine tingling as it reminded me of the experimental days when Kreator used Gothic and Industrial influences on releases such as “Outcast” and “Cause for Conflict.” But this time, the thrash fathers have pulled out all the stops to give us some of the most technical thrash metal I’ve heard in years.

The agenda of the album remains true to its roots. Topics covered include the oppressive omnipresence of organised religion in “United in Hate;” apocalyptic visions of the future: “Civilisation Collapse;” but most importantly – a truly Germanic anti-fascist anthem of “The Few, The Proud, The Broken.” A perfect combination of Punk Rock style politics with traditional metallic nihilism and delusion.

The songs are anthemic and capable of blowing your mind enough times to give your walls a “hint of brain” redecoration (thank you Lord Flasheart). With summer brewing, this is certainly a release you will hear blasted from speakers at every festival, picnic, barbecue or whatever drunken gathering you’ll embrace in the time you’ve got to spare. Kreator earned their place as the idol of European thrash metal and they certainly haven’t been lagging behind on the job these past few years.

Rating: 4/5

 

Punk Problems

Greetings. I know it's been a long whilse since my last post but my studying has taken over most of my time to rant about the world and the idiocies of people accepted as everyday life. But for the moment I am back in the green and unpleasant land that is home and here is the latest from within.

I recently got into an argument with a friend about the attitude carried by Punk Rock music. It came after another friend posted a picture on facebook depciting a severely disfigured war veteran and his new bride. This friend showed his apatheticness towards the welfare this picture was depicting, stated the world and its problems can fuck off and "i'm off to listen to some punk music."

First of all, that statement is both null and void due to how many areas of music and their topics fall under the concept of "Punk." If Punk is nothing more than all out nihilism and simply yelling "fuck everything" over a power chord then you've got the dismal racket that is the Sex Pistols et al. First wave Punk was not overtly political until The Clash released their first single "White Riot" concerning police brutality and racial stereotyping on the streets of London. Then came the secondary waves of Punk music with American bands such as the Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion and the father figures of Hardcore, Black Flag.

What makes the point made by my friend null and void is that he obviously doesn't pay attention to the topics covered by Punk music, or his taste in Punk is not as wide and diverse as his love for Thrash Metal. (Note: thrash metal was influenced heavily by punk music-particularly the hardcore punk of america and the street punk of the UK.) Which does sadden me a great deal as music is meant to inform as well as entertain.

The point of this posting is to remind people of the numerous kinds of music that fall under punk music and what topics they concern-not all punk is about studs, spikes and sniffing glue. One excellent example of overtly political punk music and the concern for the suffering of society is the band Conflict. And here is their concern for those affected by war and militarism with: "The Serenade is Dead" a classic Anarcho Punk track.

As well as those promoting Anarchism, there is Crust Punk, a music genre which fuses early extreme metal with the loud, snotty growls of Hardcore/Street Punk:

Thrashcore: an early form of thrash metal music which is characterised for its minature songs with early blast beat drumming and metallic power chords-very popular amongst skateboarders before skating became a mainstream pasttime:

D-Beat, very simple stripped down three chord blasts with minimal vocals and a very basic but frightening drum technique which got its name from the band Discharge, who took a great deal of influence from Motorhead:

And finally: Street Punk, punk music concerning the working classes of society and the everyday suffering they have such as living on the dole, drinking, drugs, poverty, degredation, prostitution, homelessness and other social problems.