Tonight at Burt’s Tiki Lounge, Comcast hosts, Truce, Breaux and Muckracker. $5 gets you in, tunes underway around 9 p.m.

Friday night the Shred Shed will be getting its heavy on with Gaza, Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire, Transient and Elitist. If you need to figure out where the Shred Shed is jump on the ole internet and look it up on Facebook.

Saturday at Club Vegas get a fix of local metal from Epsilon Minus, Blessed of Sin, Visions of Decay, Reaction Effect and Face the Tempest. $5 gets you in, music underway around 8 p.m.

Monday night Feb. 28, Club Vegas (21+) is hosting one massive night of metal. Old school American death metal stalwarts Malevolent Creation are headlining with support from Full Blown Chaos, The Absence, Havok, Beyond Terror Beyond Grace. Also returning after a long absence are locals Cave of Roses as well as Red Locust opening up the show. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door, and music should be underway early around 8 p.m.

Season of Mist is offering a free download of The Southern Cross’ EP I Carry the Fire as a nice little preview of their upcoming full-length album.

 

Moon of Delirium Interview

SLUG: How would you best describe the sound of your band to someone who has never heard it before?

Alex Jorgenson: Well, I came to the conclusion recently that sub-genres are a bit boring, so I feel it is accurate to describe it as “Dark Metal” even though it may even go beyond that. So with the term Dark Metal it can describe multiple influences such as doom metal, black metal, drone, post rock, prog, or whatever else we come up with. We are also very open to doing weirder stuff in the future like Dead Can Dance or even obscure folk music. As long as the music is good, why not?

The goal is for the music to be as limitless as possible. I think music and art should be without limits, so that is the general idea. I don’t see any other point in doing it otherwise. It’s somewhat challenging keeping that uniqueness with all the millions of bands out there, but it can be done. That’s what we’re hoping to do with this band.


SLUG: Do you have any recorded material available to buy/purchase/listen to? If so where can people pick it up/hear it? Do you have any recording plans?

Jorgenson: We posted some rehearsal tracks online recently as a preview of our debut album. Recording for the debut album is planned for early spring.

 

SLUG: What is the mental mindset of your band? Basically, what is your band trying to convey to listeners?

Jorgenson: Moon of Delirium is partial reflection of myself and the path I have walked through life. It is also focused on subjects relating to the paranormal, occult, and mysteries that are still unanswered. For about the last 5 to 10 years I have been extremely fascinated in these subjects and have studied many different areas in this field. A lot of people are waking up to the more obscure things out there which is really cool.

The future is crazy shit I mean hell, I remember in the ‘80s as a kid all these sci-fi films and now it seems a lot of that is coming true in the world. New discoveries are starting to reveal that the ancient past and our history is not what we were taught to believe. We also have some songs relating to life and death, inner struggles, and all that weird stuff. Inspirations comes in many forms. I don’t see the inspiration running out anytime soon.


SLUG: How do you feel about being part of the metal scene of Utah? If there’s anything you’d like to see change in the local “scene” what would it be?

Jorgenson: Well I have been a part of the SLC scene for about 10 years or so in various metal bands, but I see myself moving on somewhere else in the near future. Moon Of Delirium will be continuing wherever it ends up. Salt Lake just seems to have this strange stagnant energy that I have been fed up with the last few years. Perhaps I have just lived here too long.
I would like to see the SLC metal scene get more recognition because it has some very good potential. Instead it seems we get lumped into the norm of everyone assuming it’s just Mormons around here trying to bump up the family numbers.

There are followers and leaders in every scene and the ones who strive to do something different and unique seem to appeal a lot more to the music scene. Whatever the rest is trying to do jumping on the latest bandwagon will naturally fade away like whatever is hip at the time seems to do eventually. That’s been my observation anyway. I think there are a lot of really great bands here in the metal scene, but I think the scene is really bizarre also.

Some years it’s really dead and then sometimes there is a ton of good bands and supporters everywhere. Nowadays it seems to be a lot stronger with more bands standing out, which is great. The support comes and goes for the bands here, which is probably due to several different reasons, but overall it is not too bad. There certainly is no shortage of shitbag promoters just looking to screw over bands and capitalize on the next big thing around here—that shit needs to be exposed immediately.


SLUG: What do you think makes your band unique not just to locals, but the metal scene entirely?

Jorgenson: I have noticed what we are doing sounds a lot different than the most of the stuff from Salt Lake. Its still very much heavy music, but it has something different altogether. All of us in the band have a pretty good background with sick music and have at the same time managed to come up with a unique beast with this one. We also don’t abide by the rules.

We have no intention of applying to the scenester kiddies, having limits, or belonging to this or that scene. The main focus is to be putting out sick and weird dark music and hopefully we can encourage people to open their minds more and de-program the brain hard drive a bit.

 

Evoken/Beneath the Frozen Soil

Split

I Hate Records

Street: 11.01.10

Evoken/Beneath the Frozen Soil = Grief + Encoffination + Anathema (old)

Pick your doomed death here either by way of Evoken’s buried-alive aesthetic or Beneath the Frozen Soil’s slow incineration method. Evoken are well known for their devastating atrocities over the last 13-years. Sweden’s Beneath Frozen Soil have yet to unleash a full-length but when they do it’s going to be a nasty foul and rotten beast.

The depth in sound of Evoken on this split EP is just outright massive. Not many funeral doom/death bands utilize three guitarists, but pump these tracks though a stereo with a decent subwoofer you get your own personal earthquake. Evoken open up the split with four tracks all quite akin to what the band is known for: great quality in the way they mix their harsh, syrupy-slow guitars, bashing drums and rolling death growls with complex and beautiful melodies.

Beneath the Frozen Soil’s three songs offer an oppressive feel and three tracks that build off each other well, enough so that the three songs could’ve been their own EP. Extreme doom, funeral doom, and death/doom fans take heed: if you haven’t already snatched this up, by all means bring the black abyss home with this split. –Bryer Wharton

 

Necronoclast

Ashes

Moribund

Street: 02.22

Necronoclast = Xasthur + Krohm + Hypothermia

Necronoclast’s Ashes album isn’t one that you can pop in and play anytime you’d like. It’s definitely mood music in its atmospheres and textures—If you’re feeling rather depraved and pissed, it would make good background music. Its mostly mid-paced tracks have the ability to calm and sedate anger in a nice fashion.

If you’re ears are willing, high volume is definitely recommended to get fully immersed in some audio pain. The production lends itself well to what this solo Scottish one man act: it’s fuzzed enough to induce some foggy atmospheres of dreariness but unlike the almost to fuzzed out Xasthur the tremolo riffing and other portions of guitar riffing play out as razor sharp—sharp enough to inflict damage on an emo teen cutting themselves up for attention just at the sound of it.

Initially the album may not jive, but a few spins will get you noticing the layered portions be it atmospheric or in small musical nuances. The vocals also save this album from being too mediocre, as the voice screams for attention and yells out in what feels like earnest pain. Ashes is a good choice if you’re looking for some mid-paced madness. –Bryer Wharton

 

Tankard

Vol(l)ume 14

AFM

Street: 02.22

Tankard = Destruction + Artillery + Sodom + Kreator

Kings of beer, thrash and party metal Tankard have returned to kick some ass further and kick all the retro-thrashers that think they’re Satan’s gift to metal right smack in the balls. The aptly titled Vol(l)ume 14 is the Frankfurt, Germany-based band’s … well, 14th album. Tankard’s been thrashing shit up since 1982 and their last album, Thirst, ruled and this one kicks the shit out of Thirst.

Seriously, fuck retro anything, listen to the real shit instead of silly imitators. Vol. 14 offers such lyrical insights as: rules are lame, dieting is stupid, dissing on BP’s oil spill mess, band fan boy morons, thrash-metal speed-dating and other great topics; they’re actually fun as hell and the songs immediately stick in your head. “Weekend Warriors,” is my thrash anthem as of late and I don’t anticipate it changing.

There was a time when bands made records where just about every song had its quality and stood memorable; that’s exactly where Tankard’s new record lies for me—it includes great thrash riffing, some terrific guitar melodies and vocals and lyrics that get you singing in the shower after a huge hangover. I reiterate, fuck retro thrash in its lame orifices, Tankard just pissed in an empty Beck’s bottle and handed it to the retro scene. –Bryer Wharton

 

Woebegone Obscured

Deathstination

I Voidhanger/ATMF

Street: 01.24

Woebegone Obscured = Evoken + Disembowelment + Esoteric

Originally released in 2007 after vocalist/drummer D Woe spent time in a mental hospital, this release from Denmark’s Woebegone Obscured is getting a deservedly wider release. “Extreme doom” is the categorization because Woebegone use death, black, melodic, funeral elements to their madness the opening track “A Gust of Demention,” gets the harsh rolling out quick then quickly subdues with some transfixing and intriguing melodic semblances striking an initiation of the more maddening and depressed sounds to come.

With about 45-minutes worth of music and five tracks the album is built to tear at your sanity but also keep you intrigued and hanging on every not and the songs/albums many transitions. This really isn’t worth slapping any sort of label on it, Woebegone Obscured offer an album of madness, anger, depression, confusion and frustration, close the blinds and share the pains suffered in the creation of this music. Only after we go through pain do we become stronger. –Bryer Wharton