Top 5 2012 by Eric

Hey folks. Long time no see. I’ve been quite lazy over the last months, I have to admit but fortunately I’ve got a few aces up my sleeve for 2012, even though I have to say that this year was quite a bummer to satisfy my high demands on new and noteworthy music / movies.

#5 Beak> – >>

If you know Portishead you probably have heard the name Geoff Barrow before. This creative wunderkind is responsible for 3 great albums with his main project, yet he somehow manages to have enough spare time for his other bands, Beak> and Drokk. Beak>’s second release is simply captivating, a psychedelic-influenced kraut rock bastard which unfolds its hypnotic effect from the first track to the last one! Well done, sir!

Support Beak> on bandcamp, thank you!

#4 Food For Your Senses Festival 2012

I have to admit that I never used to be a huge fan of the Food For Your Senses festival, mainly because the attitude was “quantity over quality” for the first years. But fortunately this festival changed in a very positive way, with a plethora of different styles and artists and specially this year I discovered some gems, like Fights & Fires, Dub Trio or The Intersphere (though my best moment was filming Scarred live on stage, hearing loss was iminent!) Considering how this whole festival started a few years ago, as a 1 day concert in a small stuffy basement I’m glad to see what the organizers managed to build up: Luxembourg’s best festival. Sorry Atelier, money can’t buy you this amazing atmosphere.

#3 Spotify comes to Luxembourg

Finally! I mean, for heaven’s sake, why on earth must we always have to wait for ages to get such services to Luxembourg? It’s no secret that most companies do have an address here for administrative purposes, so why should we be excluded from the services? Back to topic, I am the only one at El Gore who’s a big fan of digital distribution in general and thanks to Spotify I have discovered lots of good music and artists worth my time. Is 9,99€ enough to support art? Surely not, but this is the consequence of our consumer-oriented society, which downloads music illegally with no remorse, so I rather pay 9,99€ / month for a mind-boggling music library than harm the artist with piracy.

#2 Amour

This movie was a must for 2012! Michael Haneke has taken up a difficult topic that STILL is a taboo in our society: becoming old and sick and having to rely on third party assistance. Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva are the perfect match for their roles and leave a remarkable performance. Haneke knows which toggles to press at the right moment and the movie is one thing sure: bitter reality.

#1 Death Grips vs Epic

THIS! MADE! MY! YEAR!

What do you do in case your label is not willing to publish your album when you want it to? Correct; you leak it on the internet and use a rather concrete statement, which in this case is Zach Hill’s erect penis with the album title written on it! Death Grips ain’t nothing to fuck with!

Top 5 2012 by Luc

What an amazing year 2012 was! I rediscovered my love for Heavy Metal, I saw a lot of interesting flicks, travelled a lot, met the coolest people and made the best experiences. As you can imagine it was quite difficult to make a Top 5 and I probably forgot a lot of things but who cares,  it is just a blog post. Nevertheless here are some things which are/were quite important for me. Have fun reading:

#5 Aluk Todolo – Occult Rock

A French band I recently discovered and I have to say that they are sick as hell! How can I best describe the sound? Mmmh, I think this is pretty difficult because Aluk Todolo is very unique but I for sure recognnize some psychedelic/krautrock and black metal influences under the drony ambient construction of noise.

#4 Terrifier

Everything is said in my REVIEW.  Best Clown movie I have seen so far, even though it is a short film. Also read the interview with director Damien Leone.

#3 Postmodern Japanese punk movies
I have been into Asian horror movies for over a decade now and I know Tokyo Gore Police for many years but it only was until  this year when the whole Japanese fun splatter flicks or how I call them: postmodern Japanese punk movies got my attention. None of these flicks are a masterpiece (beside the fantastic Tokyo Gore Police) but they are fun to watch and make you shake your head in disbelief. It is simply hilarious how the directors, which seem to be good friends and help each other out on every movie, try to outperform one another in fulsomeness.  Thanks for the great time: Yoshihiro Nishimura, Noboru Iguchi, Tak Sakaguchi, Naoyuki Tomomatsu and Yudai Yamaguchi. Check out some of the reviews I wrote on El Gore:
– Gothic & Lolita Psycho
– Attack Girls’ Swimteam Vs. The Undead
– Vampire Girl Vs. Frankenstein Girl
– Tokyo Gore Police

#2 My DVD Collection upgrade
2012 was a fantastic movie year and I saw a lot of great stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I am not talking about movies being released in 2012 (I only saw Cosmopolis and Argo this year) but I am talking about movies I discovered or re-watched for the 100th time and in addition, finally bought the DVD.  As I already mentioned above, I bought a lot of those weird Japanese flicks but also a lot other great art. I am not going to enumerate them all but simply show you the ones I am the most happy of.

#1 Dirty Crows video clip
In 2012 Daniel Carneiro and I did our first video clip for the Luxembourgish band Dirty Crows. I had a lot of fun and learned so much about writing, directing and  filming. We were limited in money (60 euros were invested), time (+/-10 hours of filming), actors (friends of the band) and locations but we did our best. Also the pre- and post-production were very productive and life-enhancing experiences.  Check out the video and a happy new year to all of you.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaB0cJQBP5A]

I am really looking forward to 2013, to more music, movies and gore!

Top 5 2012 by Denis

So, as I’m way more into music than into movies, my top 5 will contain only albums of 2012.

#5 Rival Sons – Head Down (review)

Back to the past, swing to the future! Rival Sons play music that has been played for the last four decades and which had its climax in the seventies. Still, the band from LA never sounds old and provided my personal favourite classic rock moment in 2012! Keep on swinging!

#4 Dirty Crows – Got No Chance Against Rock’N’Roll (review)

Luxembourg didn’t know it before, but it needed a kick-ass desert band which perpetuates the stereotype as much as possible and which doesn’t give a damn. Don’t miss this band live when you’re around the Grand Duchy. More broken guitars please!

#3 John Coffey – Bright Companions (review)

Sheer brutality made in Holland! This year’s best coffee substitute was delivered by John Coffey. Lay back, get bashed, enjoy!

#2 The Sword – Apocryphon (review)

The Sword are back, the concept album is gone and the songs are huger than ever! A perfect symbiosis between stoner and metal, although the thrash had to vanish a bit. Nevertheless this is one of the strongest albums of 2012, combining the best of the last four decades.

#1 Wo Fat – The Black Code (review)

A new planet has been discovered in the stoner rock galaxy, widening the style until it is all-embracing. Wo Fat have taught us that everything can be combined with raw music and supply us with huge stoner operas.

I’m really looking forward to the new Queens Of The Stone Age album in 2013, as well as to the Food For Your Senses festival and the very promising festival season in general. See you there!

Top 5 2012 by Yannick

As this year is coming to an end it’s time to look back on what has happened in the musical world, which is why I’ve decided to put together my top 5 albums of 2012! So if you have some spare Christmas cash, you know what to spend it on!

#5 Lamb Of God – Resolution

Even though I didn’t write a review for it, Lamb Of God‘s seventh album has definitely earned its spot in my list since it managed to surpass its 2009 predecessor Wrath which I listened to a lot of times back when it came out. The record adds quite a few interesting new aspects to LoG‘s sound and is totally worth checking out.

#4 Crown The Empire – The Fallout (review)

Probably my biggest surprise this year since it’s a brand new band who managed to distinguish themselves from the other newcomers this year. Strongly recommended to people who want a change from the usual post-hardcore.

#3 Stone Sour – House Of Gold & Bones Part 1 (review)

What can I say? If a record featuring Corey Taylor comes out it’s pretty much bound to end up in my top 5. But even without being a fanboy like me, this record is a definite grower. The first time you might be a bit put off, but after two or three listening sessions you’ll want to listen…to…just…one…more…song again. Can’t wait for Part 2 next year!

#2 In Fear And Faith – In Fear And Faith (review)

It was a close decision but the second place goes to In Fear And Faith’s self-titled release. This album just has everything you can wish for: melody, epicness, great vocals, amazing production and a nice concept to top it all off. What are you waiting for? Go buy it!

#1 Pierce The Veil – Collide With The Sky (review)

The record of the year goes to Pierce The Veil‘s third album, which still doesn’t leave my playlist for more than a week. A post-hardcore collection without this CD is definitely missing a great piece! But just see for yourself…you will not regret it.

As I said earlier, this musical year was quite a treat already…but 2013 is shaping up to be just as amazing. There will be new albums by at least the following bands: A Day To Remember, Bring Me The Horizon, Asking Alexandria, More Than A Thousand and Killswitch Engage. And I’m putting money on new records by: Chiodos and Devildriver.
Furthermore, a handful of local bands are also supposed to release new stuff: Scarred, Arkaeon, Falling Promises and Lifefight.

I guess I’ll end this by thanking my El Gore mates for the warm welcome earlier this year and I hope that, dear readers, will come back to read our ramblings in 2013! Until then: party hard.

Top 5 2012 by Dave

Sadly I do not feel the same as my buddies, to me 2012 was rather boring. Sure there was enough out there to keep you from throwing yourself into a volcano, however, the mere fact that some porn parodies were more entertaining than actual big budget movies should leave you speechless.

Musicwise I bought a lot, but most were either re-releases or stuff I had missed out on. 2012 to me meant buying singles and EPs from new bands. Not many LPs blew me away.

Here the 5 LPs that really stood out for me (I only picked stuff I did not review).

N.B.: I recently bought a couple LPs that were released in the last 45 days. If you ask me in January, some of them might end up in my top 5.

In no particular order:

#5 Hellwell – Beyond the Boundaries of Sin

Very interesting band with the release of the year when it comes to packaging. This Lovecraftian concept album was released as a limited edition with a 60 page story book. Hellwell is of course the sideproject of Mark “The Shark” Shelton of the godly Manilla Road epic Metal legends.

#4 Bedemon – Symphony of Shadows

It says a lot about a band when their legendary (demo) releases are good but do not really blow you away. After 30 years they finally release their first LP, exactly 10 years after Randy (main songwriter and heart of the band) passed away and… it is the greatest thing you have heard from the band! Heck, this was probably the best Doom LP in a long time. Probably the number 1 spot in my top 5 if I had to pick one.

#3 Sigh – In Somniphobia

Just another Sigh release really. These guys never disappoint. From primitive Black Metal to some of the weirdest progressive jazz-infused 70’s Hardrock out there, they evolved like no other band, yet the philosophy of the band was always Black Metal, thus never alienating open-minded fans. This newest release is similar to the last one but, to me, the songs are catchier. You know you are listening to something special when the music is complicated as hell, yet you remember every song afterwards.

#2 Mpire Of Evil – Hell to the Holy

After the last disappointing Venom LPs, I pretty much had given up hope. I worship the heck out of the first 4 Venom LPs and really enjoyed the rest of their discography, eventhough it was different.

In comes Mantas who had been touring with Scooter and playing Industrial music since he left Venom after the awesome Resurrection LP. After a fun EP they released their first LP. This is the real Venom in my book and the band is already done with their 3rd release. More power to them!

#1 Corrosion of Conformity

I am talking about the comeback here. After Pepper left for good (to join the almighty $… Oops, I mean Down) the band was on ice for too long. The Animosity line-up reunited, released two singles and then the eponymous LP. I enjoyed the LP but was not blown away mainly because it didn’t have an organic flow between the songs as they mixed too many genres. Fastforward 6 months and they release the Megalodon EP as a free download. That EP is some of the best stoner/hardcore (may I go as far as inventing a new genre in stonercore?) I have heard in a long time. The band is back on track, recording and releasing without wasting too much time and it is just fun to be a fan of this legendary band. Can’t wait to see what C.O.C. will be up to in 2013!

Honorary mention: Nekromantheon released their 2nd LP. Probably the best Thrash Metal release of 2012, but nowhere near as good as the first LP, thus why I did not include it on my list.

Trash Monday XLVIII


I am speechless…

I wasn’t sure if I should post this video. Honestly, hearing news of Chris’ suicide would not surprise me at this point. It is out of synch (on purpose, according to an interview with Chris), the guitar sounds out of tune, the drums are… well everything about it sucks. No wonder Philthy Animal Taylor did not show up for the video, who could blame him?

Judge for yourself!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qNOWn4wYCs]

Next week on El Gore


It’s that time of the year again. And instead of providing you with new reviews we here at El Gore decided to post our personal Top 5 of the year 2012! So you will find a new post each weekday with each member’s personal Top 5, beginning with Dave tomorrow! Trash Monday will, of course, also happen tomorrow!

-El Gore team-

Sssssss

As the music was kind of special during the disco epoche, filmmakers tried to save whole generation by making some of the best and memorable monster/horror flicks like Jaws, The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dawn of the Dead and I could go on like that forever.

Today I want to present to you a rather unknown but not less interesting flick. Sssssss (1973)  is one of those movies which have been on my watch-list for ages and the day before yesterday I finally ended up watching it for the first time. I am not quite sure if I should categorize it as a mad-scientist or animal horror movie  but in the end this doesn’t really matter.  Sssssss, or Sssssnake Kobra how it was called in France and the UK,  is a low-budget B-movie starring Strother Martin, Dirk Benedict (probably better known as “Faceman”) and Heather Menzies. It was directed by Bernard L. Kowalski and the make-up effects were done by Nick Marcellino and the great John Chambers, best known for helping to set up the Canadian Caper story (if you have seen Argo, you know what I am talking about).

To resume, Sssssss has everything a good trash movie needs to have. There is the mad scientist, a rather atypical and “nice” villain, whose plan is it to create a perfect creature , a good-looking woman aka the doctor’s daughter and a naïve student, who falls in love with the woman, and slowly but surely turns into a snake (!!!). You, for sure, can argue that nothing really happens and that it is a really slow movie (although the ending comes a bit too quick and seems to leave the movie unfinished). Furthermore, especially the snake sound effects really get on one’s nerves, but you can’t deny that the movie is really enjoyable and even though the story has a low arc of suspense, Sssssss is really sympathetic and a recommendable goofy flick for genre fans.

To conclude I wanted to state that it is a shame that the oldschool, cheesy, vintage low-budget horror flicks are nowadays replaced by the cheap Syfy CGI infected shitmovies like 2-Headed Shark Attack, Dinocroc Vs. Supergator and co.

I thought about what else I could say about the movie other than what I did it but I am honest, I simply can’t! If you are a B-Movie monster fan, watch it. If not, just leave it but in the end the movie is just cool as shit!

Interview with Arkaeon


Arkaeon are a Luxembourgish technical death metal band that most people from the “scene” know. Recently we conducted an interview with their lead singer Rosh. Here’s the result! Enjoy!

El Gore: After the release of your EP New Level Of Inhumanity in 2011, 2012 marked a big year for Arkaeon. You played many shows with quite a few big names from the genre. How was that experience for you?
Arkaeon: 2012 has been amazing for us, we’ve had the chance to play with some of our favorite bands and at places that we didn’t imagine to play in that short time that our band existed. For us every show is something special, we don’t care if we play in front of 5 or 500 people, we always have our fun and we hope the people that watch us also enjoy it.

EG: I read on your Facebook profile that you are planning to release a new song around Christmas. Can you give us more information about that?
A: Yes, we will release a new promo song that is called The Illuminated on the 26th of December. This song will give our fans a little preview of our EP that we will record next year in March. The song is as you can already guess about the Illuminati cult, but it also has a more general sense, that people should not always believe what they hear and that they should believe in results and actions and less in talking and promises.

EG: The general consensus is that the EP was a very good start, what can we expect from Arkaeon in 2013 in terms of recordings?
A: Like I already mentioned before we will again record an EP in March 2013 at the Ear We Go Studios with our best man Doudin, this is the same studio where we recorded the New Level Of Inhumanity EP and where we are currently recording our promo song. Maybe we’ll go again intto the studio in late 2013, who knows…

EG: How about shows in 2013? Maybe Food For Your Senses again? Or maybe a tour?
A: We have a lot of shows already planned for next year in Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, France and so on and we are also doing some tours in April and May 2013, in May we’re also going to the UK for the first time. We are more than excited for this, since it’s something that we always dreamed about. Food For Your Senses is definitely an option for us next year, even though I had my little accident last year, I am still a little unsure about this, but as long as there is no strobe, we will play every show we can! [laughs]

EG: You started a new band, Lifefight, not too long ago. Can you tell us a bit more about that project?
A: I always wanted to sing in a hardcore band since I’m into this music, but it was difficult to find other musicians that share the same interest, because hardcore wasn’t really big at all here; until a year ago the whole scene went more into hardcore and beatdown. So then Jones, Kai and I decided to start with Lifefight, we already have some songs written, which we will also record in early 2013. Then we will also start with some shows, but Arkaeon will always be the main band for us.

EG: I know you, Rosh, have mostly retired from organizing gigs but instead decided to do an annual concert. Can you give us any more information? A date or what to expect maybe?
A: Yes since the music business can really kick you in the ass financially I decided to stop organizing regularly shows here, but instead continue with one festival which I already did this year in Trier: the Bring Back The Passion Fest. The name is program, this festival is not there to make money, gain fame or whatever, it’s all about the music and the people. That’s why all the benefit of this show will go to a foundation that helps people that really need the money. Next year the Bring Back The Passion Fest will take place at the Kulturfabrik in Esch/Alzette on the 6th of July 2013. You can expect a mix of international and local hardcore and metal bands for a quite cheap price, more details will follow in the next weeks/months.

EG: By the way, what is the reasoning behind offering your EP completely free of charge? Because I think it’s a great idea for a new band.
A: We are not a band that cares about money, this doesn’t mean that we’re rich or whatever, this is not at all the case unfortunately [laughs], but for us it’s important that as many people as possible are able to hear our music and for free always sells better. We also play shows for a minimum wage, as long as we get a good show, we’re more than happy. So book us, we’re cheaper than a prostitute! [laughs]

EG: Last but not least, if you had to eat one dish for the rest of your life…what would it be?
A: That’s a really hard question, does Jack-Cola count as a meal?

EG: I lied. One more: anything you would like to add?
A: www.facebook.com/ARKAEONOFFICIAL
HAIL SATAN!
HAIL JACK DANIELS!
HAIL DEATH METAL!
HAIL ARKAEON!

We’d like to thank Rosh for taking the time to do this interview and we’re all looking forward to their new song and most of all the year 2013!

Crown The Empire – The Fallout


It’s almost the end of the year and yet I’ve managed to be surprised by another record: Crown The Empire‘s The Fallout. In line with the last three reviews it’s metalcore, yet again; but this time of the finest kind. So sit back and enjoy the read!

When you first put on this new band’s debut record, you might think that it’s very similar to bands like My Chemical Romance…which it is, but at the same time isn’t. Meaning that, after about a minute or two, screams will hit your ears with full force. The reason why it could be compared to bands like that lies in the super catchy melodies and chorusses that will come your way.

The guitars will you make you want to hum along to their tunes almost immediately and the drums make sure you’ll tap along right away to them. On the production level it is rather modern but yet not overproduced, so you won’t feel like you’re listening to same alien instruments.

The vocals, and the lyrics, are the main seller to this eleven track endeavor however. The two singers both have highly enjoyable voices, with the screamer taking the cake for me: because even though they will knock you off your feet at some points, they’re far from being monotonous. The only minor complaint I have is that they use the probably most over-used tool in the genre this year at some points: distorted vocals and “scratch” vocals. Don’t get me wrong: it fits nicely into the ensemble but almost every single record that I’ve reviewed in 2012 has featured them so they don’t come across as much of a surprise anymore…but I guess the band isn’t to blame for that.

One thing that does score extra points in my books is that some songs, namely Johnny’s Revenge, feature true “what the…” moments like the use of accordions, which makes this song sounds almost like polka metal. A huge thumbs up for that.

All in all, I consider these forty minutes as a great way to finish off this musical year and I’m very much looking forward to what next year will hold in stores. But more about that next week. Be sure to check out the band on Facebook and listen to the song below in order to get an idea what I mean.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoMJ0VkGG1c]