Following our appetizer post featuring Chris Reifert of Autopsy’s Mummified Jalapeño Bacon Bombs, this sample recipe from Annick Giroux’s beloved Hellbent for Cooking: The Heavy Metal Cookbook arrives just in time for all kinds of religious spring holidays. No matter your stance on crucifixion, only the strict vegans among us can resist seeking salivation at the hands of Hellhammer from MAYHEM’s deceptively simple traditional Norwegian Fårikål. A few slices, a few minutes on the stove, and the keys to all seven gates of taste will open wide.

As Hellhammer explains: “This is the Norwegian national dish, and of course it’s my fuckin’ favorite food in the world. Want some real black metal food—you try this! It’s not for wimps!”

Click above to enlarge, expand, print, duplicate, share, and serve. For full info on Annick’s book, with its 101 recipes from 32 countries, including bands like Thin Lizzy, Trouble, Mayhem, Gorgoroth, Accept, Slough Feg, The Gates of Slumber, Anthrax, Sepultura, Gwar, Sigh, and many many more… CLICK HERE

And if you’re any kind of fan of Mayhem or Norway’s metal scene at all, you’ve probably already preordered METALION: The Slayer Mag Diaries, by Jon Kristiansen. If not, HERE’S YOUR CHANCE.

UPDATE: Bazillion Points offers 15% off the book through the end of Easter Monday 2011 using discount code BLOODYLAMB

TESCO VEE TALK BY DAY / TOUCH AND GO BOOK IN-STORE DATES

Chances are in recent years that right around the time you’ve heard of a promising new band like Ghost, The Devil’s Blood, Christian Mistress, Sonic Ritual, Tyrant SE, Iron Lamb, or Midnight, you’ve also heard whispers that they’ve been named “Band of the Week” by Fenriz of Darkthrone on his MySpace blog. This has been going on for some time now, throwing heaps of credit on tiny deserving seedling bands and nourishing their dark and often unusual efforts at the very beginning, when they need it most.

Well, with eyeballs fleeing MySpace faster than beads of sweat flying from Paul Baloff’s forehead, the time has come for Fenriz to take his impeccable and well-seasoned taste to the real Internet, and with the help of collaborator Arjan that’s just what he’s doing at BANDOFTHEWEEK.NET.

Says Uncle Fen:

In this vast metal world we are with this new website starting a new country (or county, we’ll see, haha). Today. It is, finally our very own BAND OF THE WEEK website/blogsite, with more and more essential links for real metal freaks and maniacs that believe in the sounds of the past right here and right now.

It is a continuation of the DARKTHRONE MYSPACE BAND OF THE WEEK BLOG, BAND OF THE WEEK myspace page and BAND OF THE WEEK on Facebook – all rolled into one, so to speak. This page brought many recording deals to the bands given BOTW status, and even a festival in London (LIVE EVIL) and also, it seems, a forthcoming string of VINYL releases.

I don’t want to take up more of your time, as I know most real metallers are busy as hell. But consider finding it in your hearts to spread the word and webadress-link, link us to your pages if you find us worthy…our page won’t have an adolescent over-stashed and pimped layout. We keep it real and simple.

Music, sweet music is the name of the game, and that means “the heavier sounding music in life.” So do it!

http://www.bandoftheweek.net

A lot of people around here have been very busy for the past several years with a lot of things, and a very large part of that has been METALION: The Slayer Mag Diaries. Well, huge lakes of ink are now being drained and vast forests of trees felled in order to create the heaviest metal book of all time. There’s the cover above—here’s the sweet talk below. If you’ve been waiting patiently or impatiently for this, then thanks and go ahead and declare all of June as a reading holiday.

Here’s the scoop:

Bazillion Points Books has revealed the final cover artwork for METALION: The Slayer Mag Diaries, a mammoth 744-page hardcover journey into black metal, death metal, and beyond by Norway’s metal godfather Jon Kristiansen. “The greatest heavy metal story ever told” will be available June 6, 2011, wherever books are sold, and is available for preorder now with two bonus limited patches at this location:

METALION at BAZILLION POINTS

Part anthology, part memoir, and years in the making, METALION includes over 600 reproduction pages from every issue of Slayer Mag, spanning from the early 1980s through 2010. In addition, author Jon Kristiansen recounts his life’s story, from alienated outsider to central figure in Norwegian black metal to world-weary metal survivor. The book also features over 100 rare photographs, including two color sections and a portrait gallery of photographs taken by Kristiansen himself.

The astonishing combination of archival material includes scores of key historic interviews with the most revered  figures in extreme metal, including Mayhem, Emperor, Slayer, Kreator, Nihilist, Celtic Frost, Bathory, Cathedral, Entombed, Morbid, Napalm Death, Metallica, Opeth, Cradle of Filth, Sadistik Execution, Usurper, Nifelheim, Darkthrone, Sodom, Destruction, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Exodus, Dissection, Candlemass, Carcass, Sepultura, Gorgoroth, Death, Watain, Sadus, Satyricon, Enslaved, Pentagram, Jarboe, Immortal, Possessed, Overkill, Ulver, Dark Angel, and countless others.

“From the start, I made Slayer Mag as honestly and as well as I could,” says Kristiansen. “I never knew any other way. I hope that I have produced something that will stand the test of time.”

When Florida weekly magazine Folio needed sage perspective and insight on Abba for a local concert preview, of course they turned to Meatmen mainman and punk pioneer Tesco Vee. He’s also the celebrated coauthor of Touch and Go: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine ’79–’83, after all so he’s eminently qualified to weigh in on every inch of Agnetha, Annfrid, and the B-boys. Somehow the article digresses totally into Tesco’s orbit, as he gleefully reveals the extent of his Abba collection. It goes way beyond the clogs.

[click above to expand to full-size]

Here’s a look at the new book by Swedish Death Metal author Daniel Ekeroth:

Coming April 2011: ‘Swedish Sensationsfilms’ Book Reveals
Naked Glory of Pioneering Exploitation Cinema

Available April 1 in bookstores everywhere, Bazillion Points Books presents SWEDISH SENSATIONSFILMS: A Clandestine History of Sex, Thrillers, and Kicker Cinema (ISBN 978-09796163-6-5 US$19.95), a lavish and fiery 328pp retrospective of over 200 banned and cut films produced during the golden age of Swedish sin. “I was born into a rising whirlwind of madness,” says author Daniel Ekeroth. “As the ’70s came along, all limits were forgotten. Sweden was flooded with sexually explicit and violent films of every kind, and all morals were gone.”

Sweden’s sexy reputation was sealed the moment Ulla Jacobsson bared her breasts for One Summer of Happiness in 1951, crushing the Hays Code and igniting a mad race to make sensationsfilms! Produced in the backyard of the Swedish film industry, these sexually daring films form a canon of countless movies dealing with shocking or taboo subjects: street punks, sadistic mobsters, space aliens, unruly housewives, ruthless drug pushers, bloodthirsty ninjas, teen temptresses, lingonberry cowboys, bearded perverts, and drunken vikings.

Working far from the confines of Hollywood, the exploits of young director Ingmar Bergman, actress Christina Lindberg, ultra-villain Heinz Hopf, free-spirited Stellan Skarsgård, and American expats like Dennis Hopper, David Carradine, and Troy Donahue have spawned a legacy that inspired Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left, and Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill.

With dark humor and an eye for cultural quirks that will leave readers wondering whether these films are even real, Ekeroth paints the portrait of a national cinema run amok. Special sections include two historical overviews, a recollection by starlet Christina Lindberg, a list of essential sensationsfilms, a rogues gallery of directors and cast, and a hilarious guide to curious Swedish customs.

Why does John Waters cite Ingmar Bergman as a role model? What are raggare, and why do they hate punk rockers? Can taking the name “Marquis de Sade” really change a bachelor’s luck with women instantly? Why won’t France or Germany make films with Sweden any more? Ekeroth reveals all… in Swedish Sensationsfilms.

For more information, page samples, and to view film trailers, visit this location: http://www.sensationsfilm.com

This is the first in a series of 2,112 blogs by Jeff Wagner regarding all things related to the peculiar subject of his book, Mean Deviation – Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal.

German magazine Der Spiegel recently ran an interview with author and all-around intellectual smartypants Umberto Eco. His current exhibition at the Louvre (never heard of it) focuses on the nature of lists in human history and what list-making means. The headline to the article quotes the man: “We like lists because we don’t want to die.” Early in the interview, Eco asks “What does culture want?,” answering his own question with: “To make infinity comprehensible.”

I like that.

I like it because, sometimes, when I’m nestled in the dark of my music room (colloquially dubbed a “mancave”), inescapably tuned into a  particular album, that’s exactly what I feel like I’m doing: comprehending infinity. Or getting close. It doesn’t happen often, but the albums below helped me almost get there. The Anathema actually landed me right on Planet Infinity a few times.

I’d like to see your year-end album list. Here’s mine:

10. Cynic – Re-Traced — It may be an EP, and 4 of the 5 songs are re-imaginings of Traced in Air songs. Maybe that’s why I like this so much: Cynic moves everything forward and further (not just Aeon Spoke-izing these songs, as some critics have suggested), making old material seem completely brand new. Truly new song, “Wheels Within Wheels,” is great promise of future Cynicisms.

9. Canvas Solaris – Irradiance — From what I understand, this may be the final Canvas Solaris album. If so, they’ve gone out in a blaze of, well, irradiance. Forget Scale The Summit, this is where it’s at.

8. Dax Riggs – Say Goodnight to the World — Slicker and more produced than previous Dax material, including his pre-solo Deadboy & the Elephantmen stuff. Still think this guy should be Johnny Cash-huge…or at least Ryan Adams-huge.

7. Enslaved – Axioma Ethica Odini — Despite my feeling that Enslaved have outgrown harsh vocals, and my hunch that they’re utilizing them only because they feel expected to, this album is one of the strongest in their huge discography. Its second half is the best group of songs in their catalog.

6. Deathspell Omega – Paracletus – Still cannot imagine how mere human beings can come up with music like this. Truly progressive metal. A little less dissonant than their previous album, the songs are shorter, but no less epic. Mindblowing.

5. Deftones – Diamond Eyes — Never  had much use for nu-metal, but then Deftones haven’t been nu-metal for well over a decade. Got into 2000′s White Pony, then, for some dumb reason, didn’t pay attention to successive albums until this year, when a friend turned me onto this and the insanely brilliant Saturday Night Wrist. I am hooked.

4. Circa Survive – Blue Sky Noise — The almost psychedelic wash of guitars, commanding voice (as long as you like high-pitched male vocals, and goddamit I do), and ferociously infectious melodies on this album are undeniable. I’ve been interested since their first album, and they just keep getting better and better.

3. Atheist – Jupiter — You have to keep expectations low when any metal band from the old days returns, but Jupiter sounds to me like the fourth Atheist album might have done had it come out in 1995 instead of 2010. Of course, its production is modern, maybe too much so, but that doesn’t disguise the fact that this is 100% Atheist. I hope they add more dynamics and textures next album, because it’s almost too intense.

2. Solefald – Norron Livskunst — Although the preceding album, Black for Death, was fine, it seemed to signal that Solefald were running out of ideas. Not so. This, their seventh album, comes from a re-inspired duo who have written and recorded an album as vital and interesting as their lauded debut of so long ago. I’ve even been wondering if this might just be the best Solefald of ‘em all. Crazy…

1. Anathema – We’re Here Because We’re Here — Right up there with the band’s Eternity and Judgement albums. I didn’t think they still had this kind of album in them, but they do. Far and away my favorite album of 2010.

But the problem with lists is they’re arbitrary. They can and will change. This one already has, in a way, because I’ve recently gotten very much into Minus the Bear’s Omni. And if Ihsahn’s After isn’t on the list, does that mean I didn’t like it? Nope. And maybe that Atheist album will lose some luster over time. These things happen. Stranger things…stranger things.

Next post: My unpublished interview with Nunslaughter’s Don of the Dead on the worth—or worthlessness?—of progressive metal… Or a list of my favorite Umberto Eco writings.

Feel free to comment below! —Jeff Wagner

After 100 years of film censorship, on Jan. 1, 2011, Sweden’s National Board of Film Classification officially disbanded, surrendering all hope of controlling the country’s cinema screens. In celebration, Daniel Ekeroth, author of the acclaimed Swedish Death Metal (Bazillion Points, 2008), declares victory with his scandalous new book Swedish Sensationsfilms: A Clandestine History of Sex, Thrillers, and Kicker Cinema.

Coming this March to bookstores everywhere, this lavish 328pp paperback offers a fiery retrospective of over 200 banned and cut films produced during the golden age of Swedish sin. “Into a rising whirlwind of madness I was born,” says Ekeroth (also known as bassist of Iron Lamb, Tyrant, and Insision). “As the ’70s came along, all limits were forgotten. Sweden was flooded with sexually explicit and violent films of every kind, and all morals were gone.”

Featuring a blockbuster cover painting by Wes Benscoter (Slayer, Black Sabbath), Swedish Sensationsfilms offers accounts by starlet Christina Lindberg (Thriller – En Grym Film, Maid in Sweden); scores of rare exhibition posters from works by Ingmar Bergman, Arne Mattson, and others; a glossary of curious Swedish customs; and an uninhibited cast of thousands, including: Stellan Skarsgård, Pernilla August, Lee Hazlewood, Dennis Hopper, Max von Sydow, David Carradine, Heinz Hopf, Harry Reems, Noomi Rapace, Marie Forså, Troy Donahue, Zinny Zan, and Ludde the dog.

Before Let the Right One In and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, daring Swedish films in the 1950s helped break down censorship in Hollywood, and the country’s exploitation classics are praised to this day by directors like Quentin Tarantino. “I look back with genuine joy,” says celebrated cover girl Christine Lindberg. “I am so very happy I could be a part of the ’70s. I would never deny being in those movies. I know that a lot of people do so, but I just had a blast.

For more information, page samples, and to view film trailers, visit this location:

http://www.sensationsfilm.com

I think it’s worth mentioning that a wax museum exists in this world where within ten feet of each other stand life-sized statues of Robert Fripp of King Crimson, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, and James Hetfield of Metallica. This heartwarming tableau brought to mind Jeff Wagner, author of the Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal. I mean, isn’t this a prog metal man’s wet dream?

“Wax museums are creepy,” replied spoilsport Wagner.

Well, to learn Jeff’s more advanced and eloquent views on the progressive rock and heavy metal sexmash as witnessed in the music of Rush, Cynic, and Celtic Frost, read his Invisible Oranges interview. And keep paying attention to right here, as Wagner joins several other Bazillion Points authors in beginning to post regularly to this blog.

(And you should really see the wax statue of Guru Guru’s Mani Neumeier!)

It’s been a couple years since I worshipped at the altar of Corrupted’s intense Llenandose de Gusanos, but I was craving a bit of that solemn ritual lately, particularly the stark piano stabs that lead the final twenty minutes of the procession towards a final resting place. I’m also way out of touch with my favorite Painkiller release, Execution Ground, where metal mists and avant garde atmosphere mingle in long form. So the Australian piano and drums duo PIVIXKI is sweeping over these shores like a tsunami. This is way better than Tori Amos’ version of “Raining Blood”! Piano tuners rejoice, there’s much work for you yet.

PIVIXKI on MySpace