Former HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST mainman Tom Gabriel Fischer and Bazillion Points Books have announced November 2009 as the publication date for ‘Only Death Is Real: An Illustrated History of Hellhammer and Early Celtic Frost.” Authored by Fischer with cooperation from HELLHAMMER/FROST partner Martin Eric Ain, the deluxe large-format 288pp hardcover will feature over 300 astonishing high-quality photos by Csaba Kézér, Martin Kyburz, and Andreas Schwarber documenting the very dawn of death metal and black metal.

Five years in the making, this extraordinary artifact sets an audacious new historical standard in heavy metal literature. Further information and sample photos are available RIGHT HERE.

HELLHAMMER’s adolescent hardships were played out in dramatic and sometimes violent episodes set in small villages around Zurich, Switzerland, during 1983 and 1984. The ultimate insider document of the earliest era of death metal and black metal, ‘Only Death Is Real’ documents this unique and cataclysmic moment in modern music history with hundreds of never-seen vintage images, classic artwork reprinted by kind permission of HR Giger, a full visual reference to HELLHAMMER promotional material, flyers, and memorabilia documenting the birth and evolution of extreme metal—all supported by sharp-tongued oral accounts direct from Tom Gabriel Fischer, Martin Ain, Stephen Priestly, Steve Warrior, and other members of the HELLHAMMER inner circle.

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Last weekend I was digging out Hanoi Rocks articles from old Kerrang!s to include as  backstory with Bazillion Points’ upcoming press mailing  of Andy McCoy’s autobiography. I got sidetracked looking for this long-lost photocomic battle between Cronos and Thor, the historic details of which must now immediately be brought to light.

Firstly, this bout ‘tween the “God of Thunder” and “Venom’s Black Metal King” leaves no question about the show business side of heavy metal in its peak years. Cronos looks evil as ever crawling over a castle ruin in his leather underwear—but he’s battling a force of good in a Crazy magazine-style realm laced with bad puns and fake blood! That the battle is waged over Thor’s wife Pantera reminds me that she was the most famous Pantera in heavy metal until about 1991.

Read ‘em and weep with laughter. Courtesy of Kerrang! #68, May 17-30, 1984.

Here’s a video of Michael Jackson with his brothers on the Jacksons Victory tour in 1984, joined onstage by Eddie Van Halen to play the guitar solo in “Beat It.” This is the best tribute this death metal demo blog can muster — and why not, it’s public shred and excess at its finest! Rest in peace, zombie king.

I’m stunned at how well this video delineates our relationship, myself and each and every one of you anonymous blog surfers on an individual basis, and also the relationships of our forefathers and foremothers before us. Play this almost-soundless video on endless repeat while listening to these demos!

Thanks Jack Drury!

Sweet, sweet Napoli—home of pizza, Italian organized crime, and back in 1986 a devilish quintet of molten Italian metal mongers called Hell’s. Their sole symbol of existence is a well-done three song demo that would have made an excellent NWOBHM 7″. The whole shebang is charming, from the hand-drawn machine screws on the front cover to the entirely unnecessary copyright symbol to the way the chorus of “Revenge” sounds like ripping—a favorite pastime of all children of giallo films. They are Hell’s!

Musically, the band is rockin’ metal in the vein of demo-era Anthrax or Metallica. Think of a toned-down Fistful of Metal, or maybe Satan’s Court in the Act. They borrowed from Kill ‘Em All but ignored the faster thrash parts and just recycled some of the songwriting, if you can believe that. Hey, these guys are from Naples, Italy—way too All in all, here’s a nice clean blast of proficent heavy metal with some weird surprises.

HELL’S * “Breathless Midnite” 3-song demo 1986 [40.4MB .rar]

Here’s a link (through Google Translate) to a short RockItaly.com profile on Hell’s which claims they signed to King Klassic Records in Illinois, though nothing ever came of it.

I’ll admit it, the demo queue is very, very long around here—I’m always glad to knock one off the stack when a high-quality reissue comes along. Considering the abundance of metal bands named Enforcer these days (nine at last count), this high-quality mid-80s Chicago band is never more than one blink of mistaken identity away from my mind.

Turns out I’m not the only one, as Stormspell Records has dressed up the 1984 demo by Enforcer [IL] with a befitting new cover, a truck of rehearsal cuts, and a bonus DVD. That’s a great idea, considering how this well this classed-up warhorse of a band fits with newcomers like The Gates of Slumber and old favorites like Count Raven. They don’t make rolling drums, tremolo dives, and dramatic vocals like this anymore—though more and more seem willing to try.

Here’s the opening track, the mid-tempo “High Treason,” from my tape. And yes, that’s my 14-year old scribbling in the cassette cover scan. Lots of C+ grades in handwriting class, big whup.

ENFORCER * “High Treason” from 1984 demo [10.3MB MP3]

CLASSIC CHICAGO METAL CD/DVD info at Stormspell Records

Wow, Chthonic has a weird new look. Did the Taiwanese black metal band play a show with Australia’s furnitureheads Portal or something? Just reminds me of a comical Asian horror film I just saw about out-of-control hair extensions. Yes, in fact it’s called Exte: Hair Extensions, have a good time watching the trailer.

The decadent autobiography of HANOI ROCKS co-founder Andy McCoy, “Sheriff McCoy: Legend of Hanoi Rocks”, will soon be available in English for the first time in a deluxe hardcover edition through North American publisher Bazillion Points. Pre-orders are being taken now for books shipping on July 31.

Touted as “the last great rock ‘n’ roll memoir,” McCoy’s autobiography covers the legendary guitarist’s life and exploits from childhood through the early 2000s rekindling of HANOI ROCKS. Growing up in Sweden and Finland, McCoy helped introduce punk to Finland with his teenaged band Briard before befriending glamorous Michael Monroe and forming HANOI ROCKS. After living in a Stockholm subway station, the band embarked on wild life-changing and death-defying thrill ride around the world, touring not just Europe, London, and America, but also Israel, Brazil, Thailand, and Japan. After HANOI ROCKS dissolved following the death of drummer Nicholas “Razzle” Dingley in Hollywood in December 1984, McCoy carried on with SUICIDE TWINS, CHERRY BOMBZ, a successful solo career, and a stint as a sideman to IGGY POP.

A national icon in his native Finland, McCoy has been called the Finnish Keith Richards — except Richards only fell out of a coconut tree; Andy McCoy fell from a fourth-story balcony and lived to tell the tale. His over-the-top image and streetwise bending of punk, glam, and old-fashioned rock n’ roll inspired a generation of platinum-selling bands—rock authors Slash of GUNS N’ ROSES and Nikki Sixx of MOTLEY CRUE have already admitted their musical and stylistic debts. Now the real McCoy speaks from the heart on subjects including rock stardom, true love, his arsenal of vintage guitars, and surviving every imaginable variety of intoxication.

According to McCoy: “This book is entertainment for entertainment’s sake, for lovers of rock ‘n’ roll history and people who have a taste for the macabre.”

The 204pp hardcover English edition of “Sheriff McCoy: Legend of Hanoi Rocks” by Andy McCoy from Bazillion Points includes dozens of rare candid photos, a deluxe embossed cover, a lengthy select discography spanning three decades of rarities, and a new 2009 preface written by McCoy after the final breakup of HANOI ROCKS.

BAZILLION POINTS BOOKS

Considering that every film directed by Takeshi Miike is better than 98% of anything else, and that Deadly Outlaw Rekka is one of his best five movies, I’m surprised that his cinematic homage to Japanese proto-metal freaks Flower Travellin’ Band isn’t better known. Here’s a clip of the first five minutes of the film, set entirely to FTB’s eerie “Satori Pt. I.” I always describe this song as King Diamond singing for Slayer in 1971. Joe Yamanaka and Yuya Ichida from FTB also appear as gangsters in the movie.

I tried to see the reunited Flower Travellin’ Band in New York last winter, but they didn’t show. I guess I’ll catch them on the spritual plane.

What can I tell you about the eerie, hooded Australian phenomenon Portal? Their cosmic puddle of death metal sounds to me like Morbid Angel with all the bones removed, like the spinal columns were stripped so the nervous virtuoso flesh could find some kind of awkward new balance. The bizarre occult spirit borders on the ridiculous, but for now it’s mysterious, complete with furniture installed as headgear and at least one frayed and severed noose worn around the neck. I never expected the band to be so good live, either.

The door is open—walk through.

Thanks, Drassogh.