Metal
Corrosion of Conformity
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We really try hard to be true to what our hearts tell us to do," says New Orleans-bred Pepper Keenan, guitarist and songwriter for the band. "We do what we feel and we don't want to get caught up in any '90s-style production bullshit, 'cause when we look back at what we've done we want it to sound timeless. So many bands are gonna laugh at themselves in ten years. We don't want that."
COC has been hurtling towards a "timeless" rock sound since their humble-but-turbulent beginning as a hardcore band way back in 1982. Back then, the band -- guitarist Woody Weatherman, bassist Mike Dean and drummer Reed Mullin (Keenan didn't join until 1990) -- searched desperately for a voice, an identifiable way to vent the spleen that has continued to haunt them through a full six records: 1983's vociferous Eye For An Eye, '85's phlegmatic rant Animosity, '87's drop D-tuned barrage Technocracy, '91's awesome, menacing Blind, and the album that serves as WISEBLOOD's most direct sonic ancestor: '94's breakthrough platter, Deliverance.
"We began carving our niche with Deliverance," says Keenan with a hint of the South in his voice. "Now that we have that niche we should stay in it. I often wonder what makes good bands take sudden left turns. Why would you work hard to develop a sound and then just abandon it? It makes no sense."
"We've always tried to make albums that have highs and lows and midpoints," says Keenan, "records that you can listen to from beginning to end. We've got no interest in ramming ten songs in the same key down your throat.
Down
Most typical southern band bios start with the cliché and overused phrase "from the murky swamps" or "bayou born and bred". Those sentiments, while holding some air of truth, are too redundant for Down. Down isn't your typical 'Southern' band. This is a band, however, molded and twisted by their environment. Passionate, focused, hanging on to their NOLA pride and upbringing, much like Louisiana's Spanish moss drifting and swaying from hurricane and termite damaged Magnolia trees. The war torn history of the brotherhood is a tribute to stubbornness and retribution that belies all combined groups before and concerns an introspection in rock, blues and metal as an inspiration/instigation for the ages. Down has risen a certain flag high for every piss poor jealous fool to see. They wear their influences on their ragged sleeves as well as personify despair and display agony very accurately. Imagine early Southern Rock squeezing through a Geezer Butler strainer in these post punk modern days. There is no label for what Down does, as are there no labels for the "thousand miles from New York" bands that share members with them; Crowbar, Corrosion of Conformity, EyeHateGod, and Pantera. This is chemistry. This is the solution. This is the band people will lie about and say that they were into from the beginning. I don't know if anyone remembers there's a war going on in Iraq, but there's a war going on here on the home front, in your head, with late night reconnaissance missions called "Temptation's Wings" and "Losing All". The southern hemisphere, primarily New Orleans, has much to offer by way of paralyzing roots music these days. In these dark times of cookie cutter paint-by-numbers wastes of recording contracts, an air of originality unseen anywhere else lives below the Mason-Dixon line. This is post-Katrina New Orleans. Through the wreckage and wretchedness, the third Down--Over The Under is poised fanatically on the edge.
Hallucen
Visit HomepageA while back in November of 2007, Andrew Rauch (bassist) and Ben Greenberg (guitarist), began casual jam sessions. Sometime in December, they decided that they should take this jamming thing a bit more seriously and form a band. Andrew got the school directory and started looking for guitarists, when the idea of inviting Joel Ruhlman into the band popped into their heads. For a while, the three jammed and just clicked. It was settled, Joel was the new rhythm guitarist. Next month, the three decided it was time to look for a drummer. Matt Keegan (now of Liquid Peace Revolution) was considered, but was crossed of the list due to being in another band at the time (the now inactive Wild Licks). The second suggestion was Kevin Mesa, Ben's friend and hockey teammate. Kevin was a bit skeptical about joining, but was soon persuaded to give it a shot. He showed up to practice, and the four clicked. It was settled, Kevin was the drummer. Soon they began looking for a singer, and Sean Moore was chosen. The band, then known as No Pun Intended, played one show. After said show, things started going downhill. Sean left the band due to creative differences, and the band was left without a singer. No Pun Intented disbanded following Sean's departure. In May, the guys started up again, going under the newly decided name: Hallucen. But, they were still left with a void at the vocal spot. After numerous, futile attempts at finding another vocalist, the band decided that Ben would take the lead vocal duties, and he and Joel would share solos. Everything was steady for awhile, and the band had a set just about ready. Just before they started booking shows, Andrew Rauch left the band due to creative differences also. A couple weeks later, the band found Nathan Walker to fill the abscense in the bass position. Hallucen is now booking shows and eager to play."
Pantera
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by Don Kaye
"The thing about us is that we always stayed on the ground level with the fans," proclaims Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell in his proud Texas twang. "We never rode above the fans - I'm a fuckin' fan myself - and we always had great interaction with them. They're us, we're them, we're all for one and stronger than all."
Of course, it took the Dallas-based Pantera time to find their groove, shape their sound, and harness the right mix of combustible personalities. The band emerged in the early Eighties, when drummer Vinnie Paul and his guitarist brother Dimebag Darrell put Pantera together with bassist Rex Brown and vocalist T Lee. After three self-released albums, it was clear that a remarkably different heavier sound was evolving. Enter new frontman and New Orleans native Philip Anselmo, , on a fourth independant release. The collaboration with the heavy trio and explosive singer was about to set the stage for a harder, more damaging, trademark Pantera.
After being turned down "twenty-eight times by every major label on the face of the earth," an Atco Records A&R rep named Mark Ross saw the band when Hurricane Hugo stranded him in Texas. The long-sought record deal finally arrived, and with it, Pantera's "official" 1990 debut, titled Cowboys From Hell. Co-produced by the band and Terry Date (Max Norman turned the project down in favor of Lynch Mob), Cowboys From Hell took Pantera's evolution to the next level. Darrell's chugging, jagged guitars, Vinnie's machine-gun, darting drums, and Philip's collection of harsh screams, clenched-fist roars, and eerie melodies, all fused together into a sound they called "power groove."
"Cowboys is where everybody came into their own, along with the full-blown Pantera sound," says Vinnie. "That was actually the first song we wrote for the record. Basically it was about us coming out of Texas and being out of place. People don't think of Texas as being a hot spot for heavy metal, they think of New York or L.A. or something like that, so it just seemed like an obvious concept for us."
Cowboys From Hell spawned several other unquestionable classics, including the moody, morbid epic, "Cemetery Gates." "We've always done a bunch of musically diverse things," says Dime. "I'm a big fan of King's X and bands like that. I was just showing a broader side of the band, the more melodic stuff we can do."
Months of solid touring molded the band into an even more lethal live act than they had been before, and two years after the release of Cowboys, the band reconvened to lay down what many fans consider their masterpiece: Vulgar Display Of Power. Working with Date again, the band carved out an even more incendiary sonic assault on an album that truly lived up to its monicker with frightening intensity.
The disc yielded, among others, the awesomely heavy shuffle, "Walk," the pummeling, warped riffage of "Mouth For War," and the disturbing, bitter "This Love." Vinnie: "If there's one thing that Philip did the very best, it's that he always wrote straight from the heart. He never candy-coated anything or had a bullshit way of saying anything in his lyrics. ‘This Love' was pretty much the story of a relationship that he had been in, that just didn't work out, and he was fuckin' pissed about it!"
More endless roadwork followed the release of Vulgar Display, elevating the band into bigger venues and drawing larger audiences all the time. By the time 1994 and Far Beyond Driven rolled around, Pantera was established as the metal act to beat in terms of heaviness, sheer power, and slavish allegiance to the metal lifestyle.
"We drove ourselves, that's for sure," says Vinnie about the album, which remains the most extreme disc to ever debut at Number One on the Billboard Top 200. "We didn't debut at Number One for any other reason than all the fans we had made on tour. We still weren't a radio band or anything like that, so it was strictly word-of-mouth and the live show that did it."
"We couldn't get airplay and nobody gave a fuck about it, but the fans damn sure did," agrees Dime. "We wrote that record for them."
The first single from the album, "I'm Broken," was "a soundcheck riff - one of them ones where I'd walk in with a hangover from ripping it up night after night with everyone in every town," chuckles Dime. "That's where a lot of the best riffs I ever wrote came from. I just played the first riff I thought of, Vinnie started kickin' in on it, Rex joined in, we didn't write the entire song on the spot, but we kept toying with it and finally worked on it once we got into the studio."
And then there's "Five Minutes Alone," which crystallized the band's "take no shit" attitude, as Vinnie explains: "There was a guy in the front row at Pine Knob in Detroit who was heckling Phil. Finally, several people in the crowd just jumped this guy's ass and beat the shit out of him on the spot, so he sued us. And when his dad called our manager, his exact quote was, ‘you just give me five minutes along with that Phil Anselmo guy and I'll show him who's big daddy around here.' Phil's response was, ‘You just give me five minutes along with that cat's dad and I'll whoop his ass.' That's where that song came from."
As brutal as Far Beyond Driven was, it ended on an uncharacteristically quiet note with the band's cover of Black Sabbath's dreamlike "Planet Caravan." "Black Sabbath's one of our all-time favorite groups," says Vinnie. "We got asked to be a part of the first Sabbath tribute record, Nativity In Black, and we were thinkin' about what song to do, and we just suddenly decided that "Planet Caravan" was a cool song, plus nobody would even expect it. It turned out great, but due to legal circumstances, we ended up not being on Nativity In Black, so we added it to the end of Far Beyond Driven. We thought it was the perfect way to end the record."
The Great Southern Trendkill, released in 1996, is now considered Pantera's "overlooked" album, coming out as rap-metal was hitting its stride and temporarily drowning out the mighty Pantera roar. Trendkill did, in fact, find Pantera adding some different spices to their corrosive metallic stew, but the chilling "Drag The Waters" best represents the album. "That song is about a lifetime of dealing with people that you can't tell what they're really comin' at you for, or what their motives really are," snarls Dime. "You've got to drag the waters to get to the bottom and find out the truth."
It was four years before Pantera released their next full-length studio effort, but the band was far from inactive. Touring nonstop, the boys still managed to find time to release a live album, Official Live: 101 Proof, featuring the ominous studio bonus track, "Where We Come From," and a scalding cover of Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever" for the soundtrack of the Kiss-themed movie, Detroit Rock City. "Gene Simmons actually approached us to be a part of that," remembers Vinnie. "And we were like, ‘we're old Ted fans, let's see if we can do a throwdown version of it.' To this day, I probably still hear our version in titty bars more than I hear his."
Dimebag Darrell calls the band's most recent studio album, 2000's Reinventing The Steel, a "best-of in its own right," a mix of elements from the albums that had preceded it. Even the closing epic, "I'll Cast A Shadow," was a monster. "Usually when we write, the songs come together really fast," says Dime. "But sometimes, you'll be drilling at one for hours before you realize it ain't workin'. This was one of those. So we put it on the back burner, finished up all the other tunes, then went back to give it one more pull. We rearranged it, throw a few new parts in, and it really brought it to life. I think it ended up being the baddest-ass song on the whole record."
"Goddamn Electric," a tribute to metal itself, was another bad-ass anthem, and warranted a special guest appearance. "We thought, ‘this song just gives so much respect to these other bands like Black Sabbath and Slayer, we've just gotta get Kerry King down here to put a lead on the motherfucker,'" relates Vinnie. "We went and met him at the Starplex in Dallas when Slayer was on Ozzfest. I took some portable recording gear, and we recorded that lead - first take, one take only, backstage in the bathroom at the Starplex. And it's awesome."
As one of metal's most ferocious acts, with one of its most insanely devoted audiences, it's clear as an empty whiskey bottle that Pantera's impact and influence on heavy music is still being felt. "Every time I hear a kick drum with that extra slap on top, or that chainsaw sound on the guitar, I know where it came from," concludes Dime. "We're just glad we can hand it down and see everyone else bring some new shit to the table and keep passing it on. I'm glad we could actually put a stamp out there that everybody could get a pull off of."
Slow The Knife
Visit HomepageSlow The Knife started in the summer of 2003 with one thing in mind, to create a sound that would penetrate the listeners mind, demanding that it be heard repeatedly until nothing else remained. For the past three and a half years, Slow The Knife has been playing and writing music with such an effect on the listener that their fan base continues to grow with every live show.
Based in South Louisiana, Slow The Knife includes musical veterans John Lee (vocals), Carl Hebert (guitar) , former members of Fractured as well as Chet Clement(Drums) of Disaster 540, and Keith Blalock ( Bass ) formerly of Drone and God’s Little Toy . The combination of influences from each member, ranging from Black Sabbath and The Misfits to Quicksand, has given the music of Slow The Knife a certain style that cannot be distinguished. Powered by bone crunching guitar and bass set to head pounding drums, it leaves the listener battered and bruised. The vocals then bring it to its peak; soft, almost soothing at times, then in an instant becomes guttural and enraged.
The live performances by Slow The Knife are a must see, with an energy and force that has captivated audiences all along the Gulf Coast, leaving one critic for Baton Rouges Rhythm City Magazine to write, "It is not an easy thing to have a live show blow me away. That is exactly what this group did, and did it well". SLOWTHEKNIFE has had the oppurtunity to share the stage with such acts as Drowning Pool (Wind Up Records), as well as emrging artists like Bleed the Sky and In this Moment (Century Media), The Murdered (Tribunal Records), My Ruin (Rovena Recordings) and Deconstruct (Apocalypse Records).
Slow The Knife are currently signed to Set X records (Texas) and released their first EP entitled The Rhetoric’s Guide to Self Infliction in August.
Truth In Flames
Visit HomepageHailing from south Louisiana, Truth In Flames is showing the South metal in their eyes. There form of metal incorporates all styles due to their wide array of influences. Their music ranges from death metal blast beats to melodic choruses back to straight double bass shredding in your face.
The band originally got its start during the summer of 2006. They hit the streets with there first show in April of 2007 as Empire of the Fallen King. It became apparent quickly that Louisiana was not used to this style of music and it kept the people eager to hear more. Empire of the Fallen King traveled all over Louisiana playing with many known bands such as : Choke, Vertigo Sun, Slow the Knife, Aurora Black, Southern Whiskey Rebellion, as well as many others. Up until December of 2007 the band appeared to be well on their way to becoming a major contender in the Louisiana metal scene until internal conflicts forced Empire of the Fallen King to cease.
The remaining band members decided that they couldn’t stop their and reunited immediately after Empire of the Fallen Kings demise under the name Truth In Flames. Since Truth In Flames creation the guys have been pushing to get their sound out to the people of Louisiana. Those they have reached are definitely affected by their music. Every venue that they have played always resulted in an invite to return to that venue and number of new friends and fans. With responses like these the band pushes harder and harder to be heard. Metal in Louisiana will never be the same again.
