Evile - 2nd October - 2011

                            http://www.flickr.com/photos/snap-your-neck/sets/72157629101783583/

Evile Interview - Holmfirth - 02.10.2011

            Due to the unexpected success of my Bloodstock report, I've been recieving a number of prestigious and flattering oppertunities.

            Here's the first treat. Enjoy!





Questions:

 Hello and welcome to another installment of the Snap-Your-Neck metal blog. Today we have a very special treat for you, in the form of a rare opportunity to question Ol Drake and Joel Graham from the thrash metal band Evile, prior to tonight’s show in Holmfirth.

0.1 Alright lads, how are you?

0.2 Alright, so can you firstly introduce yourselves, and tell us a little bit about your role in the band?

0.3 How’s the tour been going so far?

0.4 Any shows in particular that stand out?

The new album Five Serpent’s Teeth is fantastic, and is my personal favourite out of the three released. It seems to be getting outstanding reviews and is being received very positively.

1. The songs seem a little more accessible and melodic than their predecessors. Was this a conscious decision, or just the natural direction in which the album followed?

2. The production of the album is something that really stands out for me; very clean and crisp, whilst retaining a thick overall sound. What has it been like working with Russ Russell on your past two albums?

2.1 How does he compare with Flemming Rasmussen?

3. Do you have any personal favourites off the new album?

4. What was it like having you dad record a solo on the Mike Alexander tribute track In Memoriam?

5. Do you have any funny stories, strange occurrences, or frustrations to tell us about, whilst you were writing/recording FST?

6. The instrumental accuracy of this album appears to be faultless. One major advantage that today’s thrash albums have over ones released in the 80’s and early 90’s, is the evolution of the recording process. Do you ever utilize modern technology’s facility to tighten instrumental tracks in post production?

7. I’ve noticed that the artwork for each album is very different, though Enter the Grave remains my personal favourite, as it reminds me of the thrash album covers from the 1980’s. Can you tell us a little bit about what influenced the artwork for this album?

8. I hear a lot of different styles and influences within the songs on this album. Could you tell us where the main drive and inspiration came from, and if any specific bands helped motivate the record?

9. My favourite songs off the album are Origin of Oblivion and Xaraya. Could you tell us a little bit about how those songs were written, and what they are about?

10. Long Live the New Flesh, is an iconic piece of dialogue from the horror film Videodrome. I haven’t had chance to properly analyze the lyrics, but I was wondering if the song is in anyway inspired by the film?

11. What kind of crowd reaction are the new songs receiving?

12. Evile have supported a wide array of thrash legends, such as Exodus, Megadeth, Overkill and Kreator. Which band were you most excited about sharing a show with?

Note: Ol played with Destruction whilst their guitarist was recovering from an injured finger.

13. Are there any up and coming thrash metal bands you would recommend looking out for?

14. What’s next?

OK. Thanks very much for your time, and I hope you have a great show!

Bloodstock - Sunday 14.08.2011 - Part 11 - Final Chapter - Burnin' 'Till The End

After Morbid Angel had finished their set, I looked at my phone and found five missed calls and three text messages, all from SP.

“Ere geeze, I couldn’t take it anymore, my eyes were burning. I’ve gone back to the car.”

Burning is a term me and my friend Sam Clayton use to describe someone who blasts out metal at high volumes on their own, sweating profusely from the struggle of sheer intensity attacking them. But then SP went and brought a whole new meaning to the word. The metal was so forceful and complicated, it was actually burning his eyes, to the point where the mere sight of Morbid Angel was too much for him to take.

I’ve already seen Motorhead twice, and the last time was very disappointing. I was knackered and somewhat unenthused, so I decided to call it and day and go back to the car. SP wasn’t joking about his eyes of fire, but he put it down to a combination of lack of sleep, and hay fever. I secretly suspected that Morbid Angel had somehow infected his retinas.

I could have stayed to watch Motorhead, but I wanted to leave the festival on a high, and Lemmy’s unpredictable can’t be arsed attitude, could have spoilt that. Apparently they were shit anyway.

Here's a few more photographs:

            Friday Crowd:
            http://www.flickr.com/photos/snap-your-neck/sets/72157627671678670/

Friday Denim:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/snap-your-neck/sets/72157627547646475/

Friday Misc (there's some brilliant pitures of the serious security gaurds in this set):

            http://www.flickr.com/photos/snap-your-neck/sets/72157627547652689/

            Saturday Misc:
            http://www.flickr.com/photos/snap-your-neck/sets/72157627547697551/

            Saturday Crowd:
            http://www.flickr.com/photos/snap-your-neck/sets/72157627672434678/

            Saturday Denim:
            http://www.flickr.com/photos/snap-your-neck/sets/72157627704127674/

Bloodstock was immense.

Thank you so much!

9.9/10  

Bloodstock – Sunday 14.08.2011 – Part 10 – Morbid Angel

            Photos:

            http://www.flickr.com/photos/snap-your-neck/sets/72157627333285589/

Morbid Angel are another band I discovered through a car boot sale gamble. After judging their LP through the connotations brought to mind when seeing its cover art, I assumed the odds of Altars of Madness sounding brutal were quite high. I knew that record belonged in my collection, and what a good gamble it was. Years later, whilst studying at university, this record was used as an example of atonal music, which is music without a sense of key signature. I was the only person in the room to have even heard of the band, and I remember feeling a little bit smug about the situation.

            Morbid Angel’s most recent release Illud Divinum Insanus, wasn’t exactly greeted with the five star response they’d been hoping for. The album takes a turn in a new direction, one which even surprised their solid fan base of followers. It wasn’t what they were expecting and so they slated it, but fuckinhell, you only get one life, you may as well try something a bit different every now and again. The negative attention the band received due to their stylistic departure, could have affected their position on the bill, and even the size of their crowd, but it didn’t. It just didn’t.

            A gigantic horde had amassed and joined forces, impatiently awaiting the rare opportunity to see four legends of metal do what they do. Chants of Morbid, Morbid began circulating around the huge mob of misfits, like a disease spreading claiming more and more victims for singer David Vincent.

The band entered the stage to an uproar of applause and rapturous shouts, which only got louder when they began to play Immortal Rites off Altars of Madness. I had my camera out ready for one of its last stints, but during that first number, it did not get used once, for my duties were distracted when my head started banging to one of my favourite songs.

Their sound engineer quite clearly knew his shit, as the overall mix of their show far surpassed the quality of any others who tried before. This level of professionalism seemed consistent throughout the camp, for the band did not miss a note.

A truly enjoyable experience was had for all. Morbid Angel didn’t disappoint a single member of the audience.

8/10

Bloodstock - Sunday 14.08.2011 - Part 9 - Amaranthe - Full Band

It was almost time to see that sexy bitch from Amaranthe again, so I headed towards the Sophie Lancaster stage early to get a good spot before the other photographers.

The band walked on stage and started to play their first song. After analyzing their image, I began to question their authenticity and background. Their songs were very poppy aimed at the radio, but sneakily wrapped in a mask of metal clichés, fooling their innocent unsuspecting prey. All members of the band had individual dress codes that covered different demographics and areas of cultural acceptance. None of them are ugly (sounds a bit gay), and one bloke looked as if he could have been in a boy band. Is this the metal equivalent of Take That? I thought. My concerns were further strengthened upon returning home and looking at their website; they were being marketed just like a manufactured band would. And how the fuck would all those totally different people meet each other? Elize fits the bill perfectly; a decent voice, but with the looks of a goddess.

I then forgot about my purist morals, and started staring at Elize’s arse, getting as many pictures of her tight body as I could. I think (hope) she recognized me from the acoustic tent, because she smiled and knelt down in front of my camera giving me my own personal pose. I got some great shots and the beginnings of a hard-on.

I didn’t really listen to the music after I lost interest in it, and placed my efforts and concentration on the photos. I think it would be unfair to give Amaranthe a rating out of ten, because in a musical sense, I wasn’t really there, so I’ll leave you with some pictures that will make you want to fuck Elize. Enjoy!

Photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/snap-your-neck/sets/72157627457644520/

Bloodstock - Sunday 14.08.2011 - Part 8 - Missing At The Gates

After Exodus finished, I went back to the tent and shoved the last two Strongbow’s into my inside pocket. On the way back to the main stage, I noticed a second queue developing outside the signing tent. This surely can’t be a queue for the queue I thought. My fears were confirmed after asking an excited man wearing an Exodus t-shirt and childish grin. He was tightly grasping the booklet of the album Pleasures of the Flesh in one hand, whilst nervously clicking the lid of a Sharpie marker pen in the other. Apparently, the expected turn out for the Exodus signing was unusually large, which had encouraged punters to form a pre line, whilst the signing prior, was still active. I really wanted to watch At The Gates, who were five minutes away from playing the main stage, but if meant getting my copy of Tempo of the Damned signed, missing ten minutes or so of their set was a small price to pay. I got in the pre queue, which eventually turned into the queue, which didn’t move for a very long time. It was too late to turn back, but my hopes of watching At The Gates were quickly fading, as was my moral. By the time At The Gates had finished their set I was at the front of the queue feeling a little bit stupid. I got my CD signed, asked an unenthusiastic Gary Holt how he was coping with playing with Slayer as well as Exodus, and left a little bit disappointed.

Bloodstock – Sunday 14.08.2011 – Part 7 – Exodus

            Photos:

            http://www.flickr.com/photos/snap-your-neck/sets/72157627447829180/

 

Exodus, the band that could and should have been, the band other bands feared, the instigators of style and scene, the band banned by most venues on the early 80’s thrash circuit, the band that should be recognized as part of the big four, are now only five minutes away from gracing us with their presence on the Bloodstock stage floor. I’d pay the price the £105 Bloodstock price tag just to see Gary Holt tune his guitar, I’d pay £50 to see him tune it badly….. but hold on a minute, I didn’t pay anything for this festival, I very craftily managed to get in for free, but Exodus were worth every second of the time spent on those painstaking emails I sent, and the VIP treatment did help ease my tired email fingers.

I got my spot early near the front, well as close to the front as I could manage anyway, for eager thrashers had my idea first without letting me know about it. Time passed by slowly as I eagerly awaited some kind of introductory sign, it passed by even more slowly while technical difficulties prevented the band from playing on schedule, subsequently eating up a stammering fifteen minutes of their allocated time slot. Eventually though, the originators of thrash metal strutted out to the stage to a thunderous applause, and then my frustration subsided.

This is the first time I have seen Exodus with vocalist Rob Dukes, the last time I saw them back in 2004 while touring “Tempo of the Damned”, Steve “Zetro” Souza was singing. In my opinion Zetro gets way too much negative press, but the first Exodus album I bought was “Pleasures of the Flesh”, and it was Zetro’s vocals that initially won me over. Rob Dukes sings in a different style than Steve Souza, though he is very flexible and capable of quite convincingly emulated vocals from the albums that came before he did.

They kicked in at 100mph, the crowd went crazy, a circle pit of destruction spread like a disease as it recruited more and more members, taking out the weak and the posers. Names were added to Rob Duke’s “Black List”, garments were removed, tits were exposed, crowd surfers rode a heavy metal wave, a guitar was played by a singer to free up a guitarists beer drinking arm, risky opinions were spoken but not all agreed, my camera survived but by the skin of it’s teeth.

 

What? Already? Toxic Waltz? But that can mean only one thing, our Exodus experience is about to be drawn to a close, but 30 minutes isn’t enough.

Exodus played a fantastic set but it was way too short. The band cannot be blamed for the technical issues that caused the premature pull of the plug; these problems are unpredictable and cannot efficiently be prepared for. Overall though, I had a great time and will watch Exodus whenever possible.

8/10