update
15/07/10 - radio section updated
07/07/10 - mailorder section
08/06/10 - radio section updated
02/06/10 - mailorder section
26/05/10 - int18 - reviews add
26/05/10 - int08 - reviews add
discovery
the compromise is not possible
is the title of an hour-long composition written for female voice, drums, electric guitar and organ by Slobodan Kajkut, an independent contemporary composer from Serbia. It premiered in 2005 in Graz as a commissioned piece for "Hörfest", a festival for contemporary music.
Written to be performed at churches only, it is a combination of traditional contemporary composition techniques with Rock and Heavy Metal: Harmonies, rythmic changes and silence meets distorted guitars, feedback orgies and drums inspired by Speed and Death Metal.
Three years after its premiere at St. Andrä Church in Graz, it was reperfomed by the same musicians at the same location and recorded and released as a double LP by the austrian independent label Wire Globe Recordings.
For all of you, who wonder who Slobodan is: "The Striggles" - rings a bell? he's part of them, among other bands like "Jubbooko sa Negrass", "Mizar" and "Betty Blue".
On november 4th 2009 "the compromise is not possible" will be performed at the parish church (Stadtpfarrkirche) of Linz at 20:30.
line-up:
Robert Lepenik - guitar
Christine Scherzer - voice
Hannes Kerschbaumer - organ
Wolfgang Eichinger - drums
new mp3s
BULBULTUMIDO
herbst [
mp3]
METALYCEE
mad tom song [
mp3]
FLU.ID
enthymen [
mp3]
MENKILLINGMEN
der unendliche Mangel [
mp3]
INT011 - CHANG FFOS
INT 011 | LP
CHANG FFOS trust this arcane device
release date: may 12th, 2006
CHANG FFOS are heavy. not the kinda heavy you're used to. they're heavier than that. period.
"trust this arcane device" is their debut full length after a couple of demos, quite extensive touring and such. and we're psyched to do the vinyl edition for this album (go and check
moonlee rec. for the CD version)!
recorded on 2" tape at kozmo studios in zagreb, mastered by the master himself: steve austin from TODAYISTHEDAY - a good 45 minute assault of dark, energetic, mind-crushing heavy punk-rock-metal. 9 songs of sheer brutal beauty.
/1 thy doom ape
/2 zen rock majik
/3 iron icon [
mp3]
/4 the throne of sasquatch ascending [
mp3]
/5 ...and all the things, either good or ungood
/6 jethro
/7 bowels of the beast of the matriarchate
/8 le charmeur de sepents
/9 ondjage
line-up:
ashas (guit)
alen (bass)
nikola (dr)
ivan (voc)
mario kovac (theremin on track /8)
recorded at: jomiajjomi at kozmo studio (zagreb)
mastering by: steve austin at austin enterprise (usa)
artwork by: ivan eror
reviews:
Even though these guys have been around for over a decade, I wasn't yet familiar with their work because "Trust This Arcane Device" is actually their first full-length. The label describes the band's material as "Neurosis' heaviness, Converge's energy, Today is the Day's craziness, and the atmosphere provided by Kyuss", which does give you somewhat of a hint as to where they're coming from, though I'd leave Converge and Today is the Day out of it myself. Vocally and in terms of the density they're shooting for with the natural warmth of the recording I can definitely pick out a Neurosis influence; and I could see the pulsing, fuzzy grit of the textures and the subtly rocked out vibe of some of the riffs tied to a Kyuss sort of sound; but they're tossing around so many influences that it's not that simple - which is of course a good thing. It's not that rocked out, for example, and the moody heaviness isn't particularly over the top - it's the kind of "heavy" that's both sonic and suggested, as far as the overall aesthetic of the album's concerned. There's a good dose of relatively straightforward rhythmic pounding and repetition, with ample shifts within the compositions that do at times roam into slightly more discordant or chaotic territories, but the end result feels quite unified. Much of the explosive energy comes from the drumming, which I have to mention is absolutely badass - the dude just thunders away and cuts loose into wicked fills and grooves all over the place, so you can tell he plays based solely on the feel of the surrounding elements. I dig that cover art as well: I can barely read that fuckin' text and it still looks totally rad!
[AVERSIONLINE.COM andrew]
CHANG FFOS mögen es mystisch. Dieses Konzept beginnt beim Bandnamen, wird beim Artwork fortgesetzt und macht keinesfalls vor der Musik halt. Midtempo-Doom-Riffs schweben über einem verzerrten Bass und werden zum Teil von flehenden Vocals, aber auch von gequältem Gebrüll gekrönt. Gemastert wurde "Trust Tis Arcane Device" von keinem geringerem als Steve Austin von TODAY IS THE DAY. Stilistisch passt diese Wahl völlig ins Konzept, auch wenn CHANG FFOS etwas verträglicher zu Werke gehen als dessen Band. Ebenfalls beliebt sind Vergleiche mit NEUROSIS und durch die atmosphärische Ader, die das Quartett hat, darf man diesen gerne bemühen. Kryptische Titel wie "The Throne Of Sasquatch Ascending" und eine unheimliche Heavyness jenseits von Metalriffs machen "Trust This Arcane Device" zu einem fantastischen Album, welches von einer besonderen Melodik geprägt ist, aber dennoch Durchschlagskraft besitzt. Ich hätte gerne noch mehr Druck hinter den Gitarren gehabt, aber die Bassfraktion wird dieses Album trotzdem lieben. Ein absolut stimmiges Gesamtkunstwerk.
[WITH LOVE thomas eberhardt]
Ce disque vinyle LP est sortis en mai 2006 sur le label autrichien Interstellar Records. Label spécialisé dans la noise au gros son, aux ambiances bétonnées coulées sur une chape de plomb.
CHANG FFOS a déjà joué à Liège apparemment. Bon, pas de chance j'ai raté cela. En tout c'est une découverte pour moi. Une bonne découverte, mais il m'a néanmoins falu un bon moment avant de réussir à chroniquer ce disque. Je sais pas pourquoi. Peut-être que n'étant pas un spécialiste du style, je préférais m'occuper d'autres disques avant celui-là. D'autres disques plus faciles à chroniquer. Cependant le disque de CHANG FFOS reste un bon disque. Ce n'est pas parce que j'ai eu du mal à le chroniquer que je ne l'aime pas!
Retour au groupe.
CHANG FFOS c'est du lourd. De la noise, du stoner, du sludge,... Je sais pas très bien quoi leur collé comme étiquette. Cependant chacune de celles-ci semblent leur coller à un moment ou l'autre. Une comparaison simple mais direct me vient cependant à l'esprit : NEUROSIS . Mais CHANG FFOS c'est plus que juste un Xème groupe à la NEUROSIS évidement. D'autres ont dit TODAY IS THE DAY, mais ne connaissant pas le son de TODAY IS THE DAY (il va être temps de ratrapper cela d'ailleurs!).
De plus pour peaufiner leur son, les gars gars de CHANG FFOS sont allé enregistré à Zagreb et ont ensuite envoyé leur disque à Steve Austin de TODAY IS THE DAY pour le mastering. Ça en jette du coup!
« Trust this arcane device » est un album qui se décline en 9 titres pour 45 minutes. Sortis en LP sur Interstellar Records comme je l'ai déjà signalé mais également en CD via Moonlee Records. Evoluant dans un style que je nommerai basiquement noisecore pour me facilité la vie, CHANG FFOS évolue dans un style qui commence à marcher. Un style qui semble être bien maîtrisé dans les pays de l'est de l'Europe d'où vient le groupe.
Un bon disque qui se laisse écouter d'un bout à l'autre via les différentes ambiances, lourdes et sombres, accalmies et plombages en règle. Tout y est pour plaire au fan du genre.
Chang Foss is one of those bands that is hard to pin down to one category.
[SHOOTMEAGAIN.COM julien]
The first impression is that they're nothing more than a sludge band with some Black Sabbath influences, but as you listen more carefully "trust this arcane device" is much more. the dragging and evil sounding sludgecore accompanied by noise and hardcore elements makes this band sound a lot like Today is the Day. Just as uncompromisingly heavy without taking notice of the accessability. At times Chang Foss slows down to a post-rock vibe, but without losing the disturbing metal and the overdose of bass. Take "iron icon" for example. A calm before the storm you hadn't seen coming and they proceed the same in the next song with the title "the throne of sasquatch ascending": a rumbling thunder. If I had to pick a movie scene for this music, it would be the coming of an entire army of monsters ten times as scary as those from Lord of the Rings. Solid shit.
[MASHNOTE.NET rik peeters]
In the last issue of BigLoad magazine Peter Balon and me in parallel but unconnected action within our articles about Todd and Monno respectively asked the question as to why there is, once again, a small but noticeable trend amongst alternative music listeners towards noise rock and really heavy, sometimes mushy and unidentifiable guitar distortion. For one we both obviously ignored the fact that there always was heavily distorted and pounding guitar music all the time, even after AmRep-Records closed their doors and Killdozer stopped touring. For second, if you add early Neurosis into a matrix with the other two bands mentioned above you'll get a pretty close picture of what Chang Ffos are about. (Actually, one should always write "the mighty Chang Ffos", to keep things in the right perspective). There always was an important and interesting strand of noise rock that was heavily influenced by metal and psychotic drugs, turned into sludge core and from there laid down the basis for SunnO))). Thrones and what else. I remember names like Lvmen (who are still around), Christdriver and Counterblast, who a mile below Neurosis in the realms of the global DIY-hardcorepunkscene carved a testament of a very special kind of noisecore into stone. Now the mighty Chang Ffos are here to revive, relive and enlarge that vision. Especially when Hydrahead is turning more and more wimpy, but that is of no interest here. Well, maybe it is. We'll see when that new record by Jesu (which I keep reading about but see nowhere) hits my turntable.
If you dared to view "trust this arcane device" simply as a metal records, you'd really have to reach out and include doom-rock into your equation of metal as well as dark amient noise. A hard task for any decent reviewer in Rock Hard, Metal Hammer or any other guardians of generic factors in a certain genre. The simple and everlasting definition of "everything that is 100% metal, is metal. Everything that isn't 100%, isn't" is of course still true. We at Cracked have a special place in our heart for all bands that deftly decide to sit between the stools and instead of deciding for one of two sides opt to go for kicking both against the head. Figurally or verbally. Therefore this album has a lot of parts where apocalyptic riffs and demonic screaming work out a fiery hellstorm of noise, but there are also tranceinducing dark passages of pure noise and some straight forward heavy riffage as well that accounts for the noise rock in big letters. This band spawns over the boundaries of metal and noise rock with the ease of a giant bomber aeroplane, but the mixture is so well balanced that no ingredience sticks out unwelcome and that the slower, less intense (in relation only!) parts are welcome breathing moments for the listener.
Maybe this record after all is too big and heavy for regular metal. (Those dudes with the leather and spikes and make up always seemed like a parade of sissy masketeers to me anyway). It has this double bass drum, demonic screaming, fine subsonic bass harmonies appeal, where a song changes in tone and speed quite quickly if necessary and wallowing in big blasts of distorted sound and clean noise is always a welcome excuse for not doing something else. Any blast to the rotten, stagnating corpse of metal and heavy music in general is a good thing, if we don't want to be flooded with more boring and generic records.
Finally, the wonderful interstellar records crew once again proves their magic hands for picking out the most daring interesting and energetic noise rock this side of the big white line.
[CRACKED georg]
