Slag-Town Slays FEST er tilbage! Få passet katten, gro håret ud og læg nakken i blød 🤘🏻
Du skal nemlig til maraton. Bare rolig, ikke sådan et man løber, men et heavy et af slagsen…
D. 27. april byder nemlig på hele 8(!) bands, når Slag-Town Slays vender tilbage med kæmpe fest!
SLAG-TOWN SLAYS FEST – d. 27. april 2024
Same procedure as last april… 8 metal-bands og gode bartilbud til en gennemsmadrende fed dag!
Hold øje med vores facebook side Slag-Town Slays, der vil vi løbende poste information om eventet.
HATE:
No one combines death and black metal quite like Poland’s Hate. With unflinching viciousness and a sense of atmosphere unique to the band, on Rugia, their twelfth full-length, they push the boundaries of their craft even further. “It was clear to me that it should build upon and evolve from our previous record ‘Auric Gates Of Veles’ (2019) both musically and lyrically. However, every Hate record stands as a separate journey, and never twice to the same place. You never know exactly where it will lead you” states vocalist/guitarist ATF Sinner, who has led the band since 1991. Fresh blood in the band’s lineup also helped contribute to Rugia‘s unique sound. Pavulon (drums), who had played with the band since 2014, was forced to step down from the band due to serious health issues. The band tapped Nar-Sil (Neolith, Virgin Snatch, Embrional) to take his place. “Working with a new drummer this time around was a fascinating experience for me. Nar-Sil’s technique and presence are quite different from Pavulon’s and that definitely comes across. I believe we managed to construct a refreshing new chapter to our discography, composing nine truly sinister onslaughts of pure rage.”
The band elected to once again track the album in the Hertz Recording Studio in Poland, and it was recorded, mixed and mastered by the Wiesłaski Brothers (Behemoth, Decapitated). Everything was laid down over about two to three weeks, with longtime collaborator Michał Staczkun providing the ambient elements of the band’s sound. The only struggle came about at the mixing stage, where the final character of the record emerges. “Here we encountered many problems, contradictory visions too. The producers had their own idea for the overall sound, which differed from what I had in mind, so we were trying to find a good compromise and it took us a few months.” Given how strongly the personality of the record shines through it is safe to say that the compromise reached was definitely in its best interest, standing as perhaps the best sounding record in the band’s long career. Hate is also celebrating thirty years of activity with Rugia, Sinner affirming he is as driven as ever. “Well, the fire is still burning! I’m proud that I have built a band with such strong energy, that’s lasted for a long time in spite of numerous lineup changes and obstacles in our way. We are still here and we create with ever growing consciousness and dedication. The energy speaks through us. Honestly, I think of the band as something much bigger and more profound than the individual people involved in it over any given period of time. I believe we create a channel for energies that surpass us.“
Keep Of Kalessin:
Keep of Kalessin spawned back in 1994, under the name Ildskjaer, by hand of Ghash and Obsidian C. , later joined by Vyl and Warach. The band´s violent yet dark and epic Black metal as well as the somewhat mysterious monicker and lyrics, are inspired by the work of fantasy of the American writer U. Le Guin ´The Earthsea Quartet´.With this concept in mind, the guys recorded the first demo ´ Skygger av Sorg´ in the Fall of 1996, though several problems in finding a proper rehearsal room made this task rather difficult and as a matter of fact the lack of practice resulted in an untight performance on tape and a consequent limited spreading of it. Only some ten labels and magazines received it and the response was surprisingly positive, gracing the band with a contract from Italy’s Avantgarde Music. The debut album ´Through Times Of War´ was recorded in summer 1997 in Brygga studios, Trondheim and presented the band with a crystal clear yet heavy production on some ear-blasting music which has been often compared to Mayhem‘s opus ´The mysteriis´. A couple of years later, after some pretty successful gigs played around Norway together with Bloodthorn, the quartet returned with ´Agnen. A journey through the dark´, again recorded in the much appreciated Brygga studio.With this second album the band actually took much distance from the now trendy Norwegian Black metal style, picking up influences from the Thrash and Death metal genres thus establishing a rather Swedish oriented sound. But the guys did not forget their roots and therefore they took part in the much anticipated Mayhem tribute album released by Avantgarde itself. Their superb interpretation of ´Buried by Time and Dust´ put them right up there with the likes of Emperor, Gorgoroth, Dark Funeral, just to name a few of the top class bands also appeared on this ambitious project.
In the year 2000 the line-up split due to personal reasons, but guitarist and songwriter Obsidian C. wouldn’t let that stop him. He continued to make Kalessin-style music and developed his own style even more. This ultra-fast, brutal and yet melodic style needed a drummer, but in the small town of Trondheim he was unable to find one that could keep up with his riffing. Almost three years would pass and then he was offered the job in Satyricon after he had auditioned and played the ass off some 30 other guitarists from all over the world who had applied for the job. As soon as he was a part of Satyricon he was also in contact with one of black metal´s fastest and most brutal drummers, Frost!
Frost heard the new Keep Of Kalessin material and immediately said yes when Obsidian C. asked him to do the drumming on his new EP. Touring with Satyricon also made it possible for Obsidian C. to recruit the legendary Attila Csihar who did the vocals on Mayhem´s ´De Mysteriis dom Sathanas´. The three piece line-up recorded the “Reclaim” EP, released in 2004 and put the band into the Elite black metal scene of Norway, but due to the distance between Frost, Attila and Obsidian C. this line-up couldn’t last. Obsidian C. is determined to bring Keep Of Kalessin to the masses and has seen that live performances is a must for doing that. He has teamed up with early Kalessin drummer Vyl and found a perfect replacement for Attila as well as a new bassplayer.
ORM:
ORMs popularitet i det danske metalmiljø er ikke til at tage fejl af, og deres tidligere udgivelser; albummet ‘Ir’ fra 2019 og EP’en ’Mit Blod’ fra 2020, er blevet skamrost af anmeldere fra blandt andet Politiken, Information og GAFFA. Musikalsk bliver man blæst omkuld af ORMs omskiftelige og dragende univers, hvor mytiske fortællinger om menneske og natur går i symbiose med storslået, melodisk og samtidigt rå og direkte black metal.
Efter udgivelsen af 2019-mesterværket ‘Ir’ og EP’en ‘Mit Blod stod det metalliske 2020 i ORMs tegn. Pandemien gjorde dog, at bandet måtte aflyse alle sine koncerter dette år, bortset fra to udsolgte pandemi-regulerede oktober-koncerter i Pumpehuset, København. En af de aflyste shows var på ORMs fødeø Bornholm, hvor bandet planlagde en afslutning af ‘Ir-cyklussen med en stort anlagt koncert på Rønne Theater d. 10 oktober 2020 med inddragelse af andre musikere, scenekunstnere og ekstraordinære visuelle elementer. På trods af aflysningen valgte ORM at tage til øen i dagene omkring koncerten for at optage en liveudgave af ‘Mit Blod’ uden publikum på teatret. Live-optagelsen fra Danmarks ældste fungerende teater garneres yderligere med smukke optagelser fra Bornholms landskaber, der således indrammer ORMs nære forhold til øens historie, sagn og natur på konkret vis.
The Arcane Order:
Det danske ekstrem metal-band THE ARCANE ORDER blev startet af guitarist og komponist Flemming C. Lund (Invocator, Autumn Leaves, Temple of Scorn) i 00’erne med det mål at skrive episk og melodisk ekstrem-metal, der rykkede grænserne for, hvad metal kunne være og udtrykke. Bandet blev herefter signet til Metal Blade, der udsendte ‘The Machinery of Oblivion’ (2006) og ‘In the Wake of Collisions’ (2008), og efter en længere udgivelses-pause udkom tredje album “Cult of None” på tyske Massacre Records (2015). Undervejs spillede THE ARCANE ORDER en række profilerede hjemlige shows, og bandet har gang på gang vist sig som et af Danmarks mest spændende metal-orkestre.
I løbet af karrieren har THE ARCANE ORDER været udfordret af line-up ændringer, men er fortløbende vendt tilbage i en styrket form med kunstnerisk vilje og vision. I 2017 blev Bastian Thusgaard (Soilwork) bandets nye trommeslager og slog dermed følge med Lund og langtids-medlem og guitarist Kasper Kirkegaard (HateSphere). I 2019 begyndte arbejdet med album fire, men processen skulle blive udfordret af både udskiftning af medlemmer og en pandemi og kom i alt til at tage tre år. I den sidste indspilnings-fase fik bandet endelig en ny forsanger i form af Kim Song Sternkopf (Møl), og med bassist Anders Frodo S. Mikkelsens indtræden i 2022 blev bandets nuværende lineup komplet.
Horned Almighty:
Horned Almighty blev skabt af Hellpig og S. i starten af 2002, som begge har været aktive i den ekstreme metal undergrund siden de tidlige halvfemsere (I bands som Exmortem, Koldborn, Lustration mm.). De startede dette beskidte ækle bæst, kastet op fra Helvedes kloakker, som en duo. Først tiltænkt som et sideprojekt, blev Horned Almighty siden hen hurtigt første prioritet og kort tid efter indspilningen af et primitivt demo, blev tronen bag trommerne indtaget af Harm.
Siden den uhellige undfangelse, er det blevet til 5 studie albums, diverse split udgivelser, samt en live udgivelse. Med det sjette album ”To Fathom the Masters Grand Design”, som udkommer i 2019, kan Horned Almighty fejre 17 år med død, elendighed og dommedagshymner! Det nye album byder på det mest varierede materiale i bandets historie, dog uden at fornægte dets karakteristiske lyd og formel. Et konceptalbum om evidensen af ondskab, baseret på historisk fakta. Fra den menneskelige psyke til naturens kræfter, som er ubarmhjertig, uden anger og medfølelse.
Horned Almighty’s stil kan bedst beskrives som en blanding af det primitive fra Celtic Frost, agressionen fra Discharge og det ækle fra Autopsy – alt sammen indsmurt i råddenskaben af tidligt halvfemser black metal! Horned Almighty har bevist at de ikke er noget søndagskor på en scene og har spillet adskillige koncerter og på flere festivaller herhjemme, såsom Metal Royale, Metal Magic og Copenhell, United Metal Maniacs i Tyskland og været på europatour med Glorior Belli i 2011. Musikken er bevidst skrevet for at ødelægge alle grænser på en scene, knuse alle doktriner og regler med deres “Don’t give a shit” udgave af black metallens ækle kunst og som et bevis på alt hvad der er ekstremt!
Plaguemace:
Plaguemace er et riff-fyldt, nakkebrækkene og energifyldt band fra hjertet af Danmark. Kvintetten spiller thrashet death’n’roll man kunne måske godt komme i tanke om bands som Grave, High On Fire, Entombed eller Obituary krydret med et touch af bombastiske melodier, brutale breakdowns og smittende grooves. Deres vilde energi og beskidte riffs bliver om noget forstærket på scenen i en voldsom hvirvelvind af guitar, headbanging og ren galskab.
I sommeren 2019 i en støvet gammel kælder i Horsens skrev brødrene Andreas og Simon de første riffs som senere ville udvikle sig til at blive dødsmetal bandet ‚Plaguemace‘. Da Simon rejste i 6 måneder samlede Andreas resten af kvintetten og i november 2020 udkom deres EP ‘Primal Priest‘. 6 sange med old school death metal leveret med en rock’n’roll attiude og en motorsavs lyd.
Lotan:
Lotan bringer aggression tilbage i black metallen og har høstet stor ros for deres live optræden og for den voldsomme energi og rå professionalisme, der rammer publikum. Lotan leverer et show, der er nærværende og inddrager publikum.
Bandet mixer mesopotansk mystisk med spirituelle sataniske anekdoter og filosofiske budskaber om ligeværd, frihed og død. Alt dette bindes sammen med et mix af melodiøs black og traditionel rå black som hvis Rotting Christ og Marduk fik en horeunge.
Lotan har siden 2020 udgivet 2 EPer, et anmelderroste debutalbum i 23 og er allerede igang med at skrive opfølgeren til debuten.
Afdød:
Et døds metallisk jerngreb fra det mørkeste øvelokale i Slagelse. Med et væld af inspiration inden for metallens verden gør dette nye band på metalscenen deres bedste for at blæse publikum bagover. De unge gutter har spillet med andre danske navne som Plaguemace, Crocell, The vision ablaze, Black Tritonus og Wayward Dawn. De har også spillet på Copenhells Pre-event med Swartzheim. Derudover kan du blandt andet finde dem på Copenhagen metalfest 2023. Vi spår dem en stor fremtid!