Music of the future..music of the past...Play it!

In the last few months these are the most played albums from my private collection. When it comes to me, usually it means played over and over again for days… If you already know them, play them again and give them some new place in your life. Those you still don’t know, check them maybe you find something you’re going to like.

Fields Of The Nephilim ‘Earth Inferno’ 1990 -  DLP vinyl

An amazing live expression of their superior sound. I like many albums of the band but this live one is something so strong and so unique that simply stand above all of their studio recordings. Earth Inferno is a perfect example that studio can’t offer us complete atmosphere of a great band as Fields of the Nephilim are. Studio cut some very important moments and somehow compress them. This live recording can totally take you back in 1990 and feel you surrounded by hundreds of Fields’ worshipers. Strongly suggested!

Broken Hope ‘The Bowels Of Repugnance’ 1993 - LP vinyl

I really don’t understand why the hell they waited for so long ( almost 20 fucking years!) to release this killer recording on vinyl format? Nothing but brutally great Death Metal art. Yes, I must call it art of the genre as they found out a perfect balances between brutal, technical, oldschool and even grind sounds. Everything is where it should be and everything works as well constructed machine. One of these great milestones of Death Metal and definitely something that 95% of the bands after them tried to reach…without success unfortunately…What was their secret formula for creating such a unique and wicked creation maybe we will never reveal, but the album is here to full-fill our needs…

Agent Side Grinder ‘Hardware’  2012 - mp3

New band in my “collection”. Saw them live in Wroclaw last month and really got more than pleasantly surprised by what they had to offer there. Strange mixture of old Joy Division legacy, Industrial sound of 80’s and some very modern Dark wave touches. Band spread some nasty dark energy on the stage and goes straight in the head with their powerful expression. The main force there definitely is vocalist and his superior ruling of the entire stage and show in general. It was very interesting to see him together with the others in the band as it was complete concert of course, but in the same time it was like watching him in his own performance as well totally separated from the band. Really, amazing band and a huge refreshment in extreme sounds. Hardware is their latest studio full-length and sounds almost as good as their live ceremony. Album is still just on mp3 here but will try to change it’s status asap, on vinyl of course…

Jex Thoth ‘Blood Moon Rise’ 2013 - mp3

Ok, band is among these nowadays very popular retro dirty occult Rock likes mixed with some Stoner and even Doom. Some could say it’s nothing new but what impressed me the most is a perfect combination of the main vocal lines (female ones in this case) and the rest of the instruments, ideas and arrangements. Really, thy knew what they wanted to create. So easy to listed album full of very touchy parts. I strongly recommend this one and if someone got it on vinyl and maybe don’t share my opinion and want to get ride of it, I’m interested to buy one :)

Carcass ‘Symphonies Of Sickness’ 1989 - LP vinyl

Up to me, the best Carcass album ever. After these symphonies they jumped to more melodic and polished sound. I don’t say these late album are bad but, this one got all necessary rawness and brutality Death Metal record should have. It’s truly enjoyable to have your own moment with this piece of brutal art pressed on vinyl back in times…

Morbid Angel ‘Blessed Are The Sick’ 1991 - LP vinyl

Very, very often played album in my collection. I don’t know how about anyone else but that’s something what makes me proud on being part of the Metal scene and follower of brutal sounds. ‘Blessed Are The Sick’ spread real magic all around the place when ever I play it. It’s the same since my very first try. It’s always the same and still it’s always brand new and stronger than ever. Always speaks so many different stories and offer so many new dimensions. One of THE albums! A real superior creation and as one of my friends said lately, “this vinyl should be placed in some time capsule and  launched to the space!” And I can just agree with him.

King Diamond ‘Them’ 1988 - LP vinyl

If I start to write about King and his works it could turn to small novel definitely so…really, no need to say more but that I’m totally fascinated by all of his spells but ‘Them’ is let’s say my favorite album among the others. Still, it’s not completely correct as I adore all of them. But ‘Them’, man…gave me real hell once I played it for the first time and take me deeper and deeper every next time we join…and trust me countless times we met!

Hobbs’ Angel Of Death ‘Hobbs’ Angel Of Death’ 1988 - LP vinyl

For many metalheads totally unknown album and I must say one of the most under-rated albums ever. A perfect Thrash Metal fisting, so strong and so direct that now 25 years after it’s recorded still spread the same fresh bloody energy that 90% of Thrash albums simply don’t have. Try Hobbs and you will never regret! 

David Lynch ‘Crazy Clown Time’ 2011 - DLP vinyl

Mastermind of psycho movies and one of the greatest dark artists globally. I was so amazed by this album starting from the very first moment I heard it. It’s was real connection after just a few seconds of the first song and knew immediately that I will have it on vinyl. What Lynch offered us here is audio continuation of his video works. I still can’t believe how fresh and young spirit he have and you can feel it in every moment of this brilliant album. A must, really a must.

Cathedral ‘Forest of Equilibrium’ 1991 - LP vinyl

Doom! No more words needed indeed…but just to add that I still can’t get it after all these years how the hell crazy Lee and crew made it? How the hell they’ve managed to create so obscure, so deep, so strong and so daaaaaaark album…There is Doom Metal, there is Doom Metal scene but, there is ‘Forest of Equilibrium’ , one and only…Really, I still not get it…Darkness of all times…

Napalm Death ‘Scum’ 1987 - LP vinyl

There was music, classical one and then Rock came, soon after many different genres and then Punk and then those maniacs gave birth to ‘Scum’ and nothing was the same after that, never… ‘Scum’ is mostly unexplainable happening of all times. That was something what music needed to go totally different way and it happened definitely as after ‘Scum’ everything was possible. Extreme music was never so raw and brutal before, but also unfortunately not even after this one. What happened back in 1987 when these Punks created the album I don’t know, but I’m very thanx-full for that!

And these are the most played albums in the last couple of months here…Will update with the next list after some time…Until then, give a try to these…one more time, or for the first one. Doesn’t matter, just play it.

Dig deeper #1, Spirits of the past...

Dig deeper #1, Spirits of the past...

So, after some time spent on thinking what to write here, I simply came up with general conclusion, conclusion that clearly showed me that there is no any sense of planning something like that…it will strike me, hit me sooner or later and it surely is!

Map of ex Yugoslavia

It was somewhere back in time, I think something like 1990. Year deeply fucked up for 95% of people living in ex Yugoslavia, as back then this miserable and brainless war was about to start between people here, and everything that was known, daily life etc, goes very wrong way. All values, habits were deleted and people just followed grim and weird way of survival games, games that mostly had just one rule: Let’s see what will happen tomorrow, let’s survive. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to start any political  topics here, but these were the facts of the time I’m about to write here so, I had to mention what was all about back then.

Atomsko Sklonište

And, in such a surrounding and rather gloomy times, I started with discovering Heavy Metal, as something unique and something that lead me to, for me, undiscovered dimensions. Metal was some logical continuation for me after I learned Rock and Punk sounds of, mostly, Yugoslavian bands as: Atomsko Sklonište, Pekinška Patka, Pantkri, Osmi Putnik, Divlje Jagode and many, many others. These were the times with no internet, no CD’s in Jugoslavia, and very young shithead as I was, didn’t got so many chances to learn about bands and music in general. Everything was based on connections you must make with older metalheads and on their mercy, will they share anything with you or not. Times were very hard and paths between generations were not so often crossed and we as younger ones couldn’t reach older ones easily. So, all in all, you was condemned on yourself and your own chances. I grew up in rather small town, where all information and trends arrived with delay, and I couldn’t get updates very often. My music knowledge was built on something like a couple of dubbed tapes, with various songs and artists and for bigger part of them I even didn’t know the titles, so you can guess how “well” I was informed back then. 

Polish bootleg tapes

After some time spent in all these blind walks and attempts to find any particular path of Heavy Metal sound and all miracles of it’s magic, one day on my way to school I saw the car parked in front of the local bakery and car was surrounded by some older metalheads. Of course, I was like “what the hell?!”  but right after, I jumped straight there. Since all the guys were older and bigger than me, I needed some time to find my way through them. Then, after I finally stopped in front of the car, what I saw was close to the biggest shock of my childhood. On the hood of the car I saw hundreds of different tapes with all these front covers (it was very first time that I even saw tapes with front covers), colorful pictures of Heavy Metal iconography and I was like frozen in the moment. I really couldn’t believe to my eyes and what I saw was too much for me, too much like too much information to process in my mind. I just stood there and stared to all those tapes and since there was no money in my pockets I tried, at least, to remember all these titles, pictures and moment in general. No need to mention that whole day in the school passed just in my dreaming about this shocking moment. The day after, I was better prepared, got some money from my mom and I ran there to see if the car is still there (later found out that these were Polish citizens who are selling bootlegs and I just can say, thanx guys!!!). After short time spent in fear that maybe they will not be there I saw them and my happiness was on the highest level. And that’s how all this started. It started with tapes on the car coming from far, far away. Since I didn’t had even basic information abut the bands, except some known names as: Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Alice Cooper etc that we could see in mayor teenage press, I was totally blind on what to buy, what to have. So, like the bigger part of Metal beginners I choose bands after being attracted by the front covers and all these brutal paintings they offered to me. And that’s how we’re coming to the main idea that moved me to write this post #1 on my blog. When you don’t know the names of the bands you also can’t know their quality and their status on the scene (scene was term that came way, way later to me) and you’re buying what you can see as the most brutal front cover. That’s how I personally discovered some almost totally unknown bands for many fans, way earlier than I’ve discovered many known names, and that’s the magic of these blind times. Since Polish (later Czechoslovachian came as well) sellers continuously were selling their tapes there, I became very frequent customer and my collection (also another term that I learned way later) of unknown bands started to grow. Grow, but not so fast since economical situation in our country went close to disaster, and my mom, back then a teacher with very low incomes, couldn’t supply me with endless cash but periodically when and how it was possible. 

Hobbs Angel Of Death

Anyway,  I’ve discovered many bands back then and bigger part of them I like to listen even nowadays, but one stayed as something very unique and later during all the years of my Metal devotion, this one followed me constantly. It was Hobbs’ Angel Of Death and his first full-length. Hobbs jumped in my life together with another album bought the same day, Re-Animator’s “Condemned to Eternity”  and since then it’s here, first on simple bootleg tape, later on CD and finally on almighty LP. In the following years I slowly discovered all the other bands, got magazines and met meatlheads and fans, so the doors of entire Metal world were opened for me, but thanx to my first steps in all this and buying music without any knowledge, Hobbs was very first in extreme Metal, first among Thrash, Death bands way before many much known acts back then. All of them came and stayed as well, but Hobbs’ album was always in the collection and always among top 10 played and never forgotten. Years passed and thanx to my active life on the scene and concert organizations I’m involved in, I’ve managed to meet many of musicians who were heroes of my childhood and life in general and I fulfilled almost all my wishes in meeting bigger part of them. Met many of them but all these years Hobbs stayed as one of the biggest wishes. Still, since he almost disappeared from the scene for so long somehow, I gave up from the chance to see him alive and meet him. But these last few years the old goat re-filled his engines and started with the band again. Finally, after some missed chances, now we are 2 weeks far from his show in the capital of my country, and of course I’m the one who is responsible for the concert organization and all this simply gave me the sign to write this first post here. This show for me will be like meeting with long time lost friend, as Hobbs is here with me for more than 20 years now. Many questions and answers are in between these lines. Deep devotion to what you once discovered and felt, connections with innocence first steps in discovering something that totally became your life, passion and partly job as well. Memories or spirits of the past, we can call it as we like, but what moved me to write about all that is that magical moment of keeping something with you for so long, keep it and love it all the time, just as it’s something that makes you what you are. Same as all the things and moments that I found and had during the life, Hobbs’ album is one of them that create my life’s path, one brick in the construction of my life… I don’t know how many of you are deeply connected with those facts that music (or something else) you like for 20 or more years  really makes you what you are and having some of the albums, listen to them, posses them, makes you totally connected with what you once was, and link your past with present but, that’s the way I feel all this and I’m sure it’s going to stay that way for ever. Call me too emotional, but that’s the way it is and I think not so many people can be so lucky to live with their spirits from the past, live with them and join them when ever you want. It’s enough just to choose which one you want, and play it…just like that, and let them make you look in the past, open your book of innocent memories and move you to write something like these lines I’m about to finish just now.

Keep your spirits of the past, don’t let them go. Never!

Maybe you can ask why the hell he wrote all that here? And I say, why not?

Milan Rakić

05.12.2013.