Mnemonic Possession

The clarion calls to battle

2011-12-04T19:32:00.003-06:00

What you just read above is not of our doing. In fact, I forgot the actual release date of Battle's Clarion some time ago (2001, that is all), and we've allowed the 10th anniversary to arrive without any proper commemoration, much like we did with Homecoming's March in 2009. The fact that anyone remembered is flattering. Battle's... was not an easy album for us; it was The Carcass' first effort with the band, there was some disarray in terms of the composition, and more than anything we were trying to reintroduce ourselves to the world as a fully-realized unit and fend off the dreaded "sophomore slump" in the process.

The final result was that the album put us on the map officially, and we toured on those songs for almost 4 years before creating Tetragrammatical Astygmata. Since then, Candlelight re-editioned it (without following my simple and specific directions regarding the layout), more people have heard it, but it has always remained a difficult and somewhat misunderstood entry in our catalog.

Recently, I heard Battle's... for the first time in over three years, and it sounded grand and triumphant the way we intended it. Perhaps it was the setting, or maybe even the remastering we did for the re-release, but it rekindled my love for those songs and the era in which we regularly performed them.

Given our current state of inactivity, I am sorry to say that we have nothing prepared to help our dedicated fans commemorate our efforts. The album is widely available in physical and digital form, so if you passed it by in favor of our newer albums, give it a try. A huge part of what makes us AVRS is mapped out upon that war torn recording.

Mail bag

2011-08-26T18:57:00.006-05:00

above: Feeling it.

This is the first and perhaps only time I will share a conversation from my email, but Dhr. Bosch brought up some excellent points regarding my last post. His questions are followed by my response.

However, it did raise a question I hope you can answer - you mention corpse paint and spikes, connecting to the peak of the genre, and how (I assume mostly younger/teenage) "Kurts" try to recreate the days of old while stripping it of it's essence. (thus creating something that is not, and will not, be (black) metal). What do you think of newer bands incorporating spikes and paint though? I'm well aware this very much depends on the band in question, but overall speaking, wouldn't a new band (trying to) using this, be nothing more than what Municipal Waste is to thrash? Attempted "retro" and not that relevant at all?

While mentioning teenagers anyway, what about them? They were not there or were too young when black metal originated, they couldn't have witnessed the "glorious" days. Without becoming a "post" band, how do they become relevant to black metal, if that's possible at all?

Mind you - the new generation will be the next one carrying the torch, no matter how cliché it might sound and how saddening it may be. If not, actual black (or death, for that matter) metal might die out... That would be a real pity.

You raise some interesting questions that I have considered in the past. I think the only internally consistent answer, however draconian, is that with few exceptions there should be no new entries in black metal. Once a genre has amassed a set of long-running and reliable bands, there need only be sporadic entries to keep things moving. If you look at death metal, it's still mostly the "big name" players from pre-2000 era who are still making anything worth talking about. Disma is a new entry, but they're all veterans regardless. I've always been an advocate of a simple model for paint and spikes, which we call "feeling it/not feeling it". Bands that "feel it" are the ones who should bear the mark (e.g. Dead/Euronymous, early Emperor, Sarcofago, Watain), while bands who don't should recognize this and not pursue the style in any manner. "Understanding" black metal is a concept thrown around by weekenders, but in my experience there is a huge gulf between those who truly understand it, and those who do not.

So back to the dilemma of being new to black metal, I'd say the current climate demands that aspiring black metal acts work harder than ever before to refine their message, their craft, and their presentation. Averse Sefira did not present itself to the world on day one, and in some ways I almost wish we had waited a little longer, though I wouldn't change the results for anything.

And finally, I agree that there may come a time where black metal and death metal as we know it might die out. That's to be expected though - we've effectively had 40 years strong with metal in general. Losing Dio really raised a red flag for the future of the genre, as there are also no replacements for Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, or Slayer. Even with this gloomy prognosis, we shouldn't forget that a lifetime's worth of output already exists to explore. I have met younger fans who have the same wide-eyed mania we all once had as they dig through decades of incredible recordings. Perhaps we don't really need any new bands after a point, but when we reach that point remains to be seen. In the meantime, I don't want to see any newcomers led astray by the dog and pony show that typifies "post" metal acts. Good bands don't need manifestos; their significance is self-evident.

Pretenders

2011-08-05T16:13:00.001-05:00

The lesser arrive/Pretenders... to fortify ego/To devour and prolong...

I hate giving space and energy to anything I deem substandard, but I've been asked repeatedly to weigh in on Liturgy, so let's get it over with. First, I don't consider "post-metal" and particularly "post-black metal" to be much more than imaginary. The "post" label implies that these bands have moved past metal, so they are no longer actually METAL and therefore of no concern to me. I'm forced to take notice, however, when a pseudo-intellectual who looks like Kurt Cobain tries to write himself into the pages of black metal history by adulterating its meaning to fit the non-agenda of his shrill little band. It is revisionism at its most transparent and a weak display of narcissism besides.

Averse Sefira formed in 1996, and even then we considered ourselves something of a fringe act, mainly because we hadn't been present for the flashpoint that became the movement as we know it. The idea that some novice would come along a solid decade later and try to co-opt an entire cultural phenomenon for his own transient ends is laughable. This same novice never had the guts to truly become a bearer of darkness, and yet he wants to inherit black metal? The ink on those pages is already dry, and it cannot be altered or erased. "Kurt" and his kind will continue to try, but the joke is on them. With each misguided album, with every pretentious word, these pretenders succeed in putting even more distance between them and the source. They don't like black metal past what they think it will get them, and they certainly don't understand it.

As I've said before, there was a reason for corpse paint and spikes at the height of the genre. They not only created the personas necessary to carry out the mission, but they also signaled that the rest of the world should look elsewhere for pandering entertainment. Now Liturgy, along with a slew of equally ridiculous entries, have attempted to strip black metal bare. Their version is comparable to a newborn infant - naked, struggling, and unable to survive on its own. The pretenders need black metal as it was originally intended in order to create false mystique and apply a fancy label to their squalling, but they also want it to become something that it simply is not, and they will not succeed.

So keep lying to yourself, you hipster pixie. Your "manifesto" is nothing more than a dorm-room fantasy. Your hands are clean, your will is soft, and you will find no home among us.

Overwhelmed

2011-05-09T23:40:00.001-05:00

The past months have been full of action, though admittedly not much of it is tied to AVRS at the moment. Once again this blog has gone quiet, and once again I will resolve to remedy that as much as I can. In the meantime, an Averse Sefira webstore finally exists, so feel free to run wild with that.

While you're waiting, here is my favorite image from a Google search of Tetragrammatical Astygmata:

Never speak the names

2011-02-03T02:36:00.003-06:00

Just minutes ago, I said the word "Shemhamphorash" aloud in the darkness of my room. I don't know what compelled me. In that moment, the wheel of my consciousness was temporarily grasped by an "other" who looked through my eyes, flexed the fingers of my left hand like it was a new glove, and intoned, "I must affect a voice," through my mouth. It took intense concentration to bid him away long enough for me to quickly perform a banishing ritual. No way would I go to sleep without being sure.

A weary mind is a fertile ground for dangerous energies. I'm not pleased to say that my workings have been clumsier in recent times; I am often impatient, and I have forced the issue more than once with threatening results. Hygiene and discipline are universally important, and it is clear that I must redouble these standards. Never speak the names unless you desire them to visit.

Crush, kill, destroy

2011-01-22T02:20:00.000-06:00

It is not always possible to pinpoint the finest moment of a band, but this performance remains a strong candidate.

Set Tighten

2011-01-02T13:37:00.008-06:00

As I slept, a voice cried out, "Inverted Christ in a black Heaven!" It was going to be that kind of day.

November 23 - I was up far too early this morning, and it never agrees with me. Averse Sefira was invited as a special guest on Watain's Austin date, and with Goatwhore also on the bill it felt like a full circle in many ways. I showed up early at the venue to receive our Swedish cohorts and grabbed an item or two to haul inside. As Watain's production has grown, so has the size of the odor that follows them. They brought in an oozing backdrop bag that attracted flies like magnets and a rubber tub that was full of props but looked and smelled like it contained a dismembered corpse instead. It was unseasonably hot, which may be needless to say since Texas is always fucking unseasonably hot, so it didn't help the accelerated rot amongst the band's implements.

After Watain's soundcheck there was time to spare, so we decided to investigate the neighboring hot sauce outlet. While many of these establishments are for tourists, there are actually a lot of tasty and serious hot sauces to be had. Once inside, the Cajun proprietor gave Watain the full treatment regarding recommended sauces and their relative degrees of severity. With the panache of a carnival showman, he pointed us to a small black vial seated in a Halloween-prop skull goblet. The vial contained capsaicin oil, a concentrated extract from the hottest part of the chili pepper, and the owner enthusiastically told us about its potency. He used a toothpick to draw out a pinhead-sized bead of the greasy black liquid and said that while this was a normal dose, a visiting skeptic tasted a whole toothpick's worth and left the store on his hands and knees. We all chuckled with some incredulity but as the toothpick was offered around, all eyes drifted my direction. As a local I felt like I needed to stand up to the challenge, so I took the pick and rubbed it over the center of my tongue as instructed.

While I certainly expected to feel something, I didn't anticipate just how intense the effects would be. After about 20 seconds, I broke into sweats and my eyes and nose started to gush uncontrollably. Erik began choking with laughter at my appearance; I've been pepper sprayed before (wrong place, wrong time - different story) but it was like a bouquet of roses by comparison. This was a genuine chemical burn taking place, and I tried to avoid screaming as I cast about for an antidote. The store had a cooler of soft drinks, and I grabbed a Dr. Pepper even though it wouldn't really help. I started to gulp it down and then Håkan came up to me sputtering, "Can I have... some of that... Pepper?!" He had taken the plunge too, and now we were both in spice hell. I started to worry as the burn spread down my throat with equal vigor; airway issues would be a handicap tonight, so I marched out of the store and stiff-legged it down to a corner gas station. They had bottles of whole milk, and I drank half of it on my way back to the shop. Once there, the still suffering Mr. H gratefully sucked down the other half. The discomfort slowly abated, and ultimately the whole thing was some good slapstick for the weary headliners. Still, the strength of that stuff was shocking and my mouth waters uncontrollably just thinking about it. A vial of black evil lives at the Tears of Joy Hot Sauce Shop on 6th Street.

A little later, Pelle and I continued our tradition of sitting down for a meal together (sushi tastes odd with an excoriated tongue). He reminded me that Watain has toured a huge amount in the last two years, more than I even realized. It's still incredible to me how big they've become since our first tour together along with Secrets of the Moon in 2003. It's also weird to consider that they're all just now the age I was when we made that outing. Even then, it was clear that the band was bound for glory. They were relatively green, but their performances were ferocious; at the time, it was just a couple of inverted crosses, some goat's blood, and soon a few acquired bird carcasses, but they made it cyclopean and deadly by force of will.

from the vault - Averse Sefira & Watain, Budapest, 2003

At showtime, we were plenty prepared but I was nervous. It's rare, but sometimes it happens for no reason, and other times it seems to be my intuition sending up a red flag. Tonight, unfortunately, was the latter as we made it through our opener, "Vomitorium Angelis", and then Sanguine's amplifier suddenly burned out. We were using the tour backline which included Sammy Goatwhore's speakers, and apparently they had variable wattage settings. It was dark at the back of the stage, and we clearly chose the wrong input. We tried to make a show of being unbothered, but it started to evaporate when it was clear the amp was inoperable.

During the lull, I made the mistake of dedicating the performance to the absent Set Teitan, and I ultimately regretted it. After a short huddle we plugged into one of Watain's amps and kept going. The crowd cheered when Sanguine's guitar came back to life, but the mics weren't yet placed correctly on Watain's cabs so the sound was weak and quiet. Carcass and I held it down and we all played well, but it was one of my least favorite sets in a long time. At least our audience was understanding and gave us a warm reception. We dropped two songs at the end and left the stage promptly. It was not the worst experience, but it was disappointing all the same. Fans wanted photos after, and I obliged even though it felt like I hadn't done anything to warrant it. The mostly incompetent house sound man came up after and asked if the monitors had sounded all right, and I said, "Actually, no," to which he snapped, "Well then you should have said something!". As a matter of fact I had, but to no avail. Jackass. I never understand why people ask questions if they don't want anything other than an affirmative. Die.

Goatwhore came on next and did their job without fail. They know how to whip up an audience, and they sound exactly the same whether they're playing an arena or a hole in the wall. Effective bastards, the lot of them. Watain came next after a relatively long intermission. Crewman Johan has more to do than ever these days with all the festooning of bloody chains, lighting of candles, and handling of instruments, so the protracted changeover made it easier to visit with everyone backstage. As Erik prepared, we talked about the evolution of black metal's presentation, including the ongoing shift in his own persona as a quest to find the truest version of it. It dovetailed with my recent impressions of Frost and reinforced much of what I had gleaned. I acknowledged that my persona has remained relatively fixed since inception, but Erik pointed out that a fixed and immutable form is every bit as genuine. If nothing else, one of the best parts of being in a black metal band is exchanging ideas with other like minds and gaining validation and fresh perspectives in the process. When Watain loaded in earlier, their gear had a green stench as opposed to the orange one I had come to know. As Erik finished donning his gear, the orange was on him in full force, and I was back on the road in 2003 and sleeping in the Stockholm bunker two years prior all at once. I've been accused of fawning over Watain in these pages, but the fact is that they have been great friends to us, and they are tied to many critical experiences for AVRS over the years. Fuck yourself if you don't like it.

As for the performance itself, Watain always goes for the throat, and tonight was no different. The band was energized and Erik, sans bass for a change, affected a witching posture as he moved around the stage that recalled the early days of Alice Cooper. At times, he looked like he was picking things out of the air, perhaps whiffs of brimstone that only he could detect. It was the full ritual as expected, though nobody was assaulted except for the club's stage manager when he put out the top tier candles on the stage. They were threatening to set the roof aflame, but a move like that is a violation of the rite as well. Erik responded accordingly by attacking the guy and chasing him off stage.

The odd thing was that the overall PA volume felt too low and the larger impact was somewhat undermined as a result. The venue was mostly full, but past the first couple of rows the crowd seemed a little more disconnected then they should have been. It was still a good response overall, but it was muted compared to Watain's frightening appearance at Red 7 almost two years before. Maybe Emo's is becoming paranoid about noise ordinances. In any event, the show was good and the band played almost an hour and a half. It's hard to imagine doing that- I would be tired out and sick of it by the one-hour mark. Erik baptized the faithful in blood during the closing hymnal, the 14-minute "Waters of Ain", which was particularly exciting to the novice fans in the audience.

At the end, we all shook hands and said farewell once more. It's a strange reality in metal how sometimes you see close friends for an evening or maybe a weekend about every six months. This makes the time all the more valuable, though one day I hope to find myself closer to the source. Sorry that the conclusion wasn't more explosive, but even a night out with Watain isn't always guaranteed chaos. Sometimes a show is just a show, and sometimes it's better that way.

Effigies - Artifaction II

2010-11-29T15:47:00.002-06:00

I first acquired Celtic Frost's To Mega Therion in 1987, as I was simply too young to buy it when it was originally released. Like many nascent metalheads, the forbidding cover image ignited my fascination with the work of HR Giger. In short order, I managed to acquire several of his books despite the pain of scrambling for money at every turn to do so. As I became engrossed in the nameless realms and striated landscapes of Giger's paintings, I felt ever more envious of Tom and Celtic Frost for having access to such an incredible artist. I quietly promised myself that one day my band would find a master of our own to help bring our presentation to new heights.

Two decades later, I found myself speaking enthusiastically with an artist named Jos A. Smith about licensing his artwork for our upcoming album, Advent Parallax. Jos was a contemporary of Giger, and they had actually collaborated together on designs for an unmade film called "The Tourist". That aside, Jos' work was just as captivating and massive as his Swiss counterpart, and before long we were actively collaborating on new commissions for Averse Sefira. The results can be seen in the Advent Parallax booklet, but until now the original drawings have not been published. To wit:

Sanguine Mapsama

The Carcass

Wrath - original version, unused

Wrath - 2nd version

It is difficult to describe the sense of accomplishment and pride that comes from working with such a talented and unique fine artist. Moreover, it is almost impossible to describe how it feels to have a life-long aspiration become reality.

And Sanguine recently found this tribute:

This was painted by Tom Neely as part of a series of black metal Post-It note art. It is striking that such a simple format can capture so much, and that our work speaks to so many gifted individuals. We are honored and humbled.

Frost and the dilemma of black metal

2010-11-13T18:31:00.004-06:00

I hate the word 'dilemma'. It looks remedial with the double "m", as if it is misspelled. I also hate it because it rarely describes a situation with favorable choices. Perhaps it is a fittingly undesirable word in the end.

After a couple of seasons worth of select screenings, Until the Light Takes Us finally made it out to DVD last week. While I appraised it almost two years ago, it bears repeating that I support the film and the messages within. Get the 2-disc version if you can, as the extra content is almost a second movie unto itself. Since it hit the shelves, several people have surprised me by saying, "Frost seems like a fag".

Let's rewind the world about fifteen years and re-examine that statement - time was, right after the explosion (or implosion, perhaps) of True Norwegian Black Metal™, Frost was one of the few who kept the fires burning. Not only was he a remarkable drummer, but he donned bizarre, non-standard corpse paint and wore enough leather and spikes to outfit three bands. Here was someone who wanted to push the envelope, to manifest the idea of black metal as a tangible, physical presence. I always found it inspiring, and clearly I was not the only one.

As Satyricon transformed into a rock band, Frost toned down the presentation accordingly. Left to his own devices, however, he owned his image and lived in it the way most people live in jeans and t-shirts. 1349 became the outlet for these projections, but even as a solitary figure it was rare to catch him in public without the full gamut of black metal regalia. It never seemed like a question of impressing anyone; it was merely his way of facing the world.

He addresses this manner very eloquently on the bonus disc of Until the Light Takes Us (this is partly why the 2-DVD set is recommended), and I experienced it firsthand at the conclusion of 1349's US tour. I found myself awestruck and even envious that he could be that entity without exception. This is something that cannot be learned any more than one could learn to be taller. It is strictly inherent, and no amount of skepticism or naysaying can change it. In many interviews, I have stated that nobody came out of the womb wearing corpse paint and spikes, but maybe Frost is an exception. His avatar was probably there from the beginning, and it was simply waiting for the right moment to manifest.

Here, finally, is the dilemma. As the documentary illustrated, black metal has been available for public consumption for quite a while, and for the most part it is aped, misappropriated, and then discarded. This means that a dedicated figure like Frost will always be misunderstood. On one hand, onlookers get the impression that he lives by candlelight and wears armor to the grocery store and see it as novel and funny. When it becomes clear that his way is actually close to that perception, the same people chortle and dismiss him as some kind of fruitcake.

So, dear weekenders, how are we supposed to act? These personas are emblematic of who we are. They must exist because our conventional selves cannot make the journey to the dark reaches that we seek. The paint binds us to death and demonism, and the spikes and armor hearken back to a time when land was won by fire and steel. Black metal is a form of music, first and foremost, but its trappings say, "We are not of you. Stay out."

Ultimately, this didn't stop the rest of the world from barging in, but at its core the message remains unchanged. For all the artistic significance of the movement, it could not have existed without the emblematic figures. This is why Frost is important; he proves that the image is as real as he wants it to be, and it isn't just a Halloween costume or a shock tactic. Call him names all you like - he clearly couldn't care less. His life is an extension of his art, and his conviction and talent have afforded him the chance to exist in this mode on his own terms. Can you say the same?

Infringement

2010-11-08T01:12:00.000-06:00


Unknown Finnish black metal band shirt

It seems like an obvious statement, but our visages are not public domain. Our paint is designed and worn for specific reasons that belong to us alone. Do not presume to treat it like a style option. This also applies to all the arrivists who co-opt Abbath's black diamond paint. Just stick with the 'panda bear' look - it says everything about your mediocrity.

Breath of life - Delineated, pt II

2010-11-05T02:11:00.001-05:00

Beaten again by inches. Damn your tenacity. I had better make this count.

I awoke laying on my back in the white space. Here again. It was only my third visit. She leaned into my view, inverted as she knelt by the top of my head. She smiled, said hello, and then asked me how I had been feeling. I told her that things had been difficult, but I was trying to work it out. She said she knew, and that she had something that might help. When she leaned over and kissed me, it tasted like rain and the earth. It was life, thriving and fresh, a kiss of salvation. I realized in that moment that this was no mortal who was extending her favor to me. She leaned back again and assured me with a shimmering smile that I would feel better. When I awoke, things were different.

***

This year has been one of many great experiences, but it has often been undercut with worry and doubt. I stopped writing here as much because I don't like to talk about defeating moments or the fears and agonies that come with keeping a dream alive. Last weekend, a certain friend whom I respect immeasurably insisted that I should not allow this space to become derelict, and despite my weak excuses I realized he was right.

Averse Sefira has always been its own creature, and it does what it wants in its own time. Fortunately, that time is coming again after a spate of relative silence. Many of you have seen me out on the desolate roads of America in other capacities, and your praise of our work has been a great solace and inspiration. Nevertheless, it is incumbent on us to make good on your expectations and honor your dedication with more and better. I am sorry I have to dangle the promise of album 5 over everyone's heads, but it is either that or remain silent, and clearly nobody prefers this option.

In the wake of our reignition, Triptykon and 1349 played Austin last Friday. It was exhilarating to see our friends all but tear down the venue with their mastery. It was also a strange feeling to not have been a part of the show. Granted, Sanguine and I enjoy being spectators as well, but there were lingering regrets that we couldn't have pursued being on the lineup.

It was Triptykon's first time in Austin, and they introduced themselves with a degree of darkness and fury that continues to reverberate in my mind. As a unit they were fantastic, and Tom's command presence signaled a mighty return to his fans, skeptics, and the uninitiated. When Celtic Frost disbanded, I bemoaned the idea of losing connection with such an important elder statesman, but now he is back and more powerful than ever before. His choices of Vanja, V. Santura, and Norman were impeccable; not only are they dedicated and strong performers, but as individuals they are brilliant, genuine, and an absolute pleasure to know. They are collaborators and believers in Tom's vision, and it seems that they will succeed in taking Triptykon to realms that Celtic Frost could not explore. It is exciting to consider the possibilities, and I hope to witness as much of it as I can in the years ahead.

After working as stage manager for the recent Immolation/Vader tour, I found that the regular rigors of the live circuit were still there, and that we hadn't missed much in that regard. But then there were those singular moments, the ones that keep all bands on the road like deluded gamblers looking for that next big score; the great shows and transcendent performances. It was hard to watch them pass us by.

So what I learned in the last month is that metal is still the best thing on earth, watching friends triumph is almost as great as doing it yourself, and our fifth album is going to be a strong one because in many ways it is in the name of rejoining the greatness around us. It would have happened regardless, but I particularly owe a huge vote of thanks to many of my peers who counseled and encouraged me to keep the faith even at the most challenging moments. It made all the difference. And to the one in white space - thank you, too.

Artifaction

2010-09-19T00:09:00.000-05:00

draft of artwork for 'Tetragrammatical Astygmata', 2005 by Joe Kennett.

The above sketch was discovered earlier this evening, just as the artwork for the 5th effort made it to me in its fully realized and perfect form (and countless voices demand to know what and when - as stated many times before, be patient). Right now an old song is coming alive in my hands again, just as the words to unborn ones continue to whisper their presence in the peripheries. One more monument at least, ye mighty, before we are released from your thrall.

The visual condition of AVRS has always been an essential component of our message. The next release will be no different . Here is a small but crucial detail - the executors of the masterful Advent Parallax art and layout are again standing with us to ensure that "5" is every bit as grand. We are very grateful, and we are further obligated to create new music that will measure up to these artisans and their incredible efforts.

From embers to flames

2010-04-14T01:26:00.002-05:00

This one is for TGW - sorry I kept you waiting. It was not as if Averse Sefira was asleep these past few months, but we weren't exactly awake either. Lovecraft has whole stories based on this premise. Sometimes a small hiatus is needed in order to regroup and attack with new vigor. We are starting to do this again. Our first performance of 2010 was in support of Inquisition and Order From Chaos in Houston. We did very well even though we hadn't performed since our appearance with Marduk last November. The crowd was smaller than I would have expected, and it didn't grow as the night went on. Still it was another good set for us and an agreeable return to form. There were a couple of people up front who knew the words to everything we played, even the nine-minute "Vomitorium Angelis". It seems like Advent Parallax has finally made a home in many minds over the last two years. We are a slow burn, and I would not change it for anything. I am satisfied that we have given our name a lasting reverence, and that our work will endure over time. This is additionally guaranteed by the continued (and sometimes overwhelming) tributes from our supporters.

I've said this before, but the idea that anyone would want to carry our name with them all the way to the grave is a genuine honor, but it's also hard to believe. Regardless, it obligates us to continue with the same degree of dedication and vision that we had even before anyone cared.

The single most popular question these days is "When is the next album?" The good news is that album 5 is beginning to take root, but we are not going to rush it. Traditionally, we've only issued a new album every three years so by our reckoning we are on schedule. It has to be right, now more than ever. Black metal is effectively in zombie-mode now; all the bands who staked their claim early on continue to have the last word on it. Consider any band that formed past 1998 and look at where they are now, or perhaps what they've become since black metal stopped offering superficial fame. It's nothing to be proud of, and it certainly didn't bring any additional prestige to the movement.

Thus, we will not rush. A misstep now would be a terrible move, as the transitional scenesters and media want us to fail. They want black metal to go away. They don't understand why we can't change into some pre-stressed jeans and do something vague and inflated like all the new bands. They will try to pick us apart with their smugness and snark if we offer anything less than our boldest statement. The wait will be worth it.

In the meantime, we have a headlining appearance in Portland, Oregon, on May 22 as part of the Northwestern Black Circle Festival. We are rehearsing new material from Advent Parallax that has yet to be performed on stage. It feels good to finally break those seals, and it will make for a singular event. There will be more to read here in the days after, and in the creation of the next album. As always, keep watching.

To the Death!

2010-03-21T23:11:00.003-05:00

Sometimes you get exactly what you want in a particular instance and then realize you got more than expected.

Rites of Spring

2010-03-08T22:28:00.005-06:00

Finally, some movement. Averse Sefira has two shows coming up - one in Houston, Texas and one in Portland, Oregon. Both will likely be excellent. Our live agenda remains thin for now so if you want to see us in the immediacy, these are your options. See you there.

April 3 - Order from Chaos, Inquisition, Averse Sefira, Toxodeath
www.myspace.com/destroyingtexasfest

May 21-22 - Northwestern Black Circle Festival - Averse Sefira, Inquisition, In Memorium Ceremonial Castings, and more
http://www.myspace.com/northwesterndarkness

Silent Running

2009-11-04T00:42:00.007-06:00

click for the full version. Photo by Valnoir/Metastazis

This blog still lives, as does the band behind it. There is a small intermission between events. We are all busy and a new album awaits its birth. 2010 will reveal more. I will be attached to the Marduk US tour as a crew member, effective November 21. Come say hello if you care to.

Central American dates postponed/Las fechas Centroamericanas retrasaron

2009-07-31T09:18:00.001-05:00

Due to scheduling issues on behalf of the band, Averse Sefira must postpone their performances in Central America. We hope our supporters in the region will not be too disappointed. We appreciate the efforts of the promoters of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador in working with us, and we are sorry that we could not honor the original dates as planned. Averse Sefira will endeavor to come to return to the region in early 2010!

Lamentamos comunicarles, que por motivos de programacion, el grupo Averse Sefira se ve forzado a postponer las funciones en America Central. Esperamos y deseamos que nuestros supporters en le region no se desilusionen. Agradesemos los efuerzos demostrados de Guatemala, Honduras y El Salvador. Averse Sefira planea continuar la relaccion y presentar el espectaculo en la primera parte de 2010.

Hoist the black flag

2009-07-21T00:44:00.004-05:00

ATTENTION: To all weekenders, hipsters, novelty seekers, scenesters, and assorted parasites of the underground – we, the purveyors and fans of metal pre-1990 are taking back our music from you scum. It was never yours, you don't understand it, and we don't need your permission, approval, or support to continue. You idiots have done nothing but bastardize and trivialize it for almost a decade and we are sick of it. You allowed nu-metal and metalcore to happen. You allowed a cartoon band to release the “biggest selling death metal album of all time”. You take from us and offer nothing in return other than complaining and self-impressed criticism. The veterans are coming back in droves, and their music is not for you. Everything you think you know is once again irrelevant. You are irrelevant. Prepare to be marginalized like the non-people you are. Find a different genre to exercise your neuroses. There is no place for you at this table any longer. Fuck you. We're taking it back.

Reconstitution

2009-06-05T00:43:00.012-05:00

A two-headed monster comes to Texas in the form of two shows. These are but a sampling of what is to come in the months ahead. Hail death.

Heart of Darkness

2009-04-16T00:59:00.002-05:00

"Everything belonged to him--but that was a trifle. The thing to know was what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own... It was impossible--not good for one either--trying to imagine. He had taken a high seat amongst the devils of the land--I mean literally. You can't understand--how could you?"

Extracted

2009-03-31T22:58:00.003-05:00

"Absu announced their upcoming US tour prior to Christmas and are now preparing for the nationwide trek. The tour, set to kick off June 6th in San Marcos, California and wrap up June 29th in the band’s hometown of Dallas, Texas was originally noted to feature support from labelmates GLORIOR BELLI, AVERSE SEFIRA and SOTHIS. The lineup has had a recent change with Philadelphia-based RUMPELSTILTSKIN GRINDER replacing Averse Sefira. Guitarist Matt Moore comments,"Rumplestiltskin Grinder is excited to steal all hope from the holy along with Absu, Glorior Belli and Sothis as part of the ultimate black-thrash campaign for North American annihilation."

This information is indeed correct. The reasons behind it are tedious and unimportant and do not change the outcome, but rest assured the band did everything it could to avoid this. Averse Sefira extends its gratitude to Sothis, Glorior Belli, and particularly ABSU for their support in this disappointing development. Averse Sefira will still appear in Houston and Austin dates with Sothis at the end of June. In the meantime, support this tour and the bands in their trek across North America!

Gestalt

2008-12-15T03:25:00.013-06:00

My journey through Scandinavia is coming to a close. It was memorable, to say the least. At this point it is easier to let the photos tell the story.

The owner's identity should be obvious - Oslo, Dec.2.08

Neseblod Records, Oslo, Dec.3.08

Watain - Uppsala, Dec.6.08

KK of Destroyer 666 at Necromorbus Studio, Dec.7.08

Pantheon I rehearsal, Dec.9.08

Proper use for a church - Dante's Metal Bar, Helsinki, Dec.13.08

Antti Boman - Helsinki, Dec.14.08

Early Mourning

2008-12-06T10:00:00.008-06:00

I smell. I smell like zombie vomit. I smell like I shit my pants and then died. I smell like Watain. The creeping red odor of the bunker has attached itself to my hair, skin, clothes, and everything else I own. I'm not sure if Ravn will let me back into his place when I return to Oslo. I made my bed and agreed to lay in it, but I really cannot believe how bad I smell right now. It's the worst I've ever smelled in my life. Everyone who caught a whiff of me on the city train reacted with distaste or upset and some confusion as to the odor's origin. Someone had a dog on there and it wouldn't leave me alone. I have become an unwitting harbinger of Watain in my journey to Uppsala; I am now their stench-bearer and I leave a trail of olfactory evil behind me. I have to admit that being caught in this miasma has been giving me alternate waves of amusement and an unease that could pave the way to panic. I think this is the true nature of death – alternately absurd and terrifying in equal measures. People on this train car are starting to freak out. Good thing I'm getting off.

Now at the central station. I tried to look around for some dryer sheets, Febreez, or something else to stem the putrescence but the grocery stores here don't seem to carry anything like that. I hope I don't get kicked off the train. I am actually feeling a bit self-conscious; back home, this would be totally hilarious but here I feel like a scumbag amongst all these well-dressed and well-bred people. Even the Mcdonald's servers are slender blond angels sent from Heaven to serve us our Big Macs.

Maybe this is part of what motivates Watain; they come from a place where everyone is shiny, groomed, and good-looking, and they factor that into their rejection of the world at large. To be an odious freak in America is commonplace, but here it is a statement. All I know is that they are the antithesis of what I see in the people of Sweden.

5pm. I got a nice hotel room up the street from the venue and took a shower. I couldn't take it any more. I also got a bottle of Oust and sprayed it liberally on my clothes. The thermals are toast. I have to rinse them out. I have another clean shirt but that's it. We'll see if the Indian restaurant across the street can stand me. The show starts in 3 hours. It promises to be great and insane, and I am looking forward to seeing a lot of friends. More tomorrow.

To Sleep With Evil

2008-12-06T09:45:00.004-06:00

Friday, 12.5.08, Watain bunker, Stockholm – It smells bad down here. Really bad. Watain is gearing up for their 10th anniversary show tomorrow and they are stepping up the offal to match the occasion. They removed most of the actual offending pieces, but there's still a lot of grue-covered skulls everywhere, and there is no real ventilation at all. Erik warned me that he woke up vomiting this morning but I decided to stay here anyway. I am tired of moving from place to place for the moment and I have been supplied with a comfortable bed so it is fine for now. This is a special day for Watain and since they went so far as to include me I might as well embrace the entire experience from start to finish. Maybe I'll wake up to a breakfast of vomit myself, but so far so good. I will breathe deep of death and see where it takes me in my sleep tonight.

Belfast Outrage

2008-12-05T06:10:00.003-06:00

Teloch is sneaky with the camera. So much the better.

Simulacrum

2008-12-04T12:56:00.013-06:00

Recent remnants:

Wrath - Austin, Tx, 10.11.08

Sanguine has a drink - London, 11.1.08

Gaahl sends the horns, Newport 11.22.08

Read this to summon Cthulhu.

Today's Black Metal concert comes with a salad and soup of the day.

King ov Hell - Birmingham, 11.30.08

Londone

2008-12-03T13:35:00.003-06:00

Late on this; I spent the last day getting settled in here in Oslo. London was a long day but proved to be a good time. We got into town from Birmingham late Saturday night and then were out to Camden Town by noon. This wasn't really ideal as we ended up having to stash our gear and sit on it at the Camden Underworld for almost four hours. Sanguine and I took turns watching the pile of bags and guitars. When I ventured out I mostly saw endless stores piled high with vinyl trenchcoats, pre-fab punk gear, and New Rock boots. Anyone looking to pose out on short notice would be all set in this neighborhood. The street market was actually quite an experience with exotic cuisines served by every stripe of Asian mainlander imaginable. The gray and rain did much to reinforce the Blade Runner feeling of it all. Eventually we were met by Paul of Arcane Productions and trekked down to the Purple Turtle. It was a longer walk than we expected, and it meant having to set down our gear and rest periodically, which was sort of comical (in retrospect). The venue was a nice place and the opening bands of Niroth, Eastern Front, and Skaldic Curse were all agreeable. We ended up with 75 people in attendance, which was to our satisfaction considering Satyricon played two nights before and the Cradle of Filth/Gorgoroth show was the next evening. We played well and even ran into a couple of people we met at the Arnhem Metal Meeting exactly a year before. It was a fine way to close the tour. Sanguine and I stayed at a hostel down the street and were kept awake by another guest who moaned and talked in his sleep. Irritating to say the least. We parted ways at the tube station and I went to the airport to go to Oslo. The weird and funny part of that ride was that there were (predictably) many Norwegians on the flight. It was general seating and while I was in the 3^rd row by myself I was categorically avoided. They wouldn't even look at me. I can't know for certain but I was still dressed in tour mode and it seemed like they knew what I was about. Either way, I got the extra space.

Ravn and Seidemann of 1349 are graciously hosting me during my time in Norway and I then I will go to Stockholm for Watain's 10^th anniversary show at week's end. There may be no time for further entries but some additional photos will be forthcoming. Thanks to all who came to the shows and to Gorgoroth and their outstanding crew. We will return to finish the job on the mainland dates as soon as we can.

In Longing Spirit

2008-12-03T13:23:00.003-06:00

Oof. I am tired. I was up until 7am talking with Gaahl. He kept pouring me wine through the course of our conversation and I ended up drinking a lot more than I had planned (which started out as not at all). Gaahl was very complimentary to Sanguine about his vocal performance last night, and King pointed out that these sorts of compliments were rare. It was nice to hear his efforts praised in that fashion. I finally slept and had a lot of weird dreams and woke up at 1:30pm feeling very unrested. Birmingham is a tough looking city and it was again cold and wet when we arrived. The venue was called The Asylum and it was actually a really nice place with an adjoining rehearsal space building that set us up with coffee, tea, and a place to hang out for a little while. The show felt very anti-climactic in a lot of ways; it was nothing compared to the raw electricity of Leeds the night before, and the turn-out was not as big. It was the standard 100 heads, give or take, but the room was large and it made the crowd seem thin. We played a razor-sharp set to a moderately good response, a lot of people were taking photos. When Gorgoroth went on the room ignited and they owned the crowd from beginning to end. It was a good time. Then came the part we always hate- the farewells. We had just gotten to know this band and its crew, all of whom we enjoyed thoroughly. There was the shared sentiment that it was too soon for us to leave and that it felt strange that we would not continue with them on their tour with Cradle of Filth. Once again, I am pleased to say that this tour, while short, was another great experience for AVRS. We presented well on all fronts and made a lot of new friends in the process. As I have affirmed many times before, I wouldn't trade this for anything.

Coda- we received a lot of email leading up to this tour regarding our opinions of Gorgoroth and Gaahl. While I still decline to comment on any of that directly, I will say that Gaahl, King, and the band as a whole were professional, dedicated, and they treated us with respect and esteem. We are not taking sides on their legal situation, but it would be very disingenuous of me to say that we did not enjoy our time on the road. If we have the chance, we will appear with them again regardless of the disputed name.

If It's Leeds, We Can Kill It

2008-11-29T09:29:00.005-06:00

There was nothing to indicate that tonight's show was going to be anything other than a nightmare. It was mean cold from the time of our arrival and the club management at Rio's were real scumbags and basically attempted to extort money from the tour package for standard amenities. They didn't have anyone present to help cart all the gear up the stairs and they jerked us around about just about everything. Combined with another night of low presales, we weren't looking forward to the show in any respect. Gorgoroth had a lot of problems with sound check so the whole show started almost an hour late and we all had to cut our sets shorter. Rio's is one of those clubs that turns into a disco room the minute the live show is over, so we had a tight cut off time. We were feeling hurried and reticent to face what we expected would be a thin audience. Imagine my surprise when we marched out on stage to a full house. We ended up bashing out a superb set and the crowd carried our energy with no reservations. It was brilliant, plain and simple. Gaahl said that he enjoyed the particularly angry sound we had tonight. I cannot count the times we came into a situation like this where we were expecting nothing but letdowns and it turned into an excellent evening. All the same, it's not a lot of fun getting to that point. Gorgoroth went over huge but due to the time constraints of the club they had to play a truncated set. This went over badly with some punters in attendance and they gathered outside in an angry cluster demanding answers. They finally realized Gorgoroth wasn't about to answer for it and took off.Take it up with Rio's, kiddos. We're in the center of a large club district so I wandered up the street and ended up being stopped here and there by random folks who wanted to quiz me about where I was from and the like. I'm always wary in places like this; it's hard to tell if it is a ruse for a mugging or some other hooliganism. I ended up getting some of the most disgusting kebab ever and then hung out on the icy bus with various band personnel. It was not an easy night, but it was a good one in the end.

PS We ended up trapped in front of the venue by a car parked to close to the bus' front end. Iain of Artisian and The Carcass went out and tried to wrench it out of the way. The fact that they even managed to hoist it on their own was impressive. It still didn't grant us passage but finally the bemused owner showed up to move it. Not a moment too soon. This bus is getting pretty zoological with drunks now.

Alive With Utter Contempt

2008-11-27T19:48:00.002-06:00

Newport was a more of what I was expecting from Nottingham in terms of grime and drabness. The swampy rain didn't help things much, and I broke my promise to myself regarding going to sleep earlier as it was King's birthday and we ended staying up and listening to the brand new unfinished Gorgoroth album. So after a night of uneven sleep and anxious tour-related nightmares I woke up feeling pretty rotten. Fortunately there was a very good cafe next to the venue with a wide array of food. The Carcass, King, and I all had chocolate shakes. The backstage was truly weird- it was up two flights of stairs that looked like a set up for a Chevy Chase pratfall; the staircase was utterly dark until the second landing was reached at which time a motion sensitive light came on. I was expecting someone to fall in the course of the night but it didn't happen. The stairs led to a rooftop patio that was covered in a mess of tarps that recalled “28 Days Later” (much like the town itself), and then led into a second floor kitchen and sitting room. the whole place struck me like a squat. It was musty and cold. There was also an unattended dark bedroom on the third floor that had no working light and seemed to resonate with some sort of unnameable menace. I stepped into the center of the room, closed my eyes, and was overtaken by a dark vibration that made the floor seem to shift and gave me vertigo. I stumbled out with a terrible nausea that did not abate until I made it back down to the kitchen. No vacancy.

The turnout was actually just fine despite the low presales. I wish I could say the same about our set. I don't like to be one of those musicians who forever bemoans performances but in this case we had a hard time in large part due to the overloud drum monitor. The Carcass couldn't hear anything because his ear was being blasted apart by the volume so we had a few moments where we felt completely lost in the weeds. The audience wasn't bothered by it so in the end it mattered little. We signed a few posters and met even more adherents of “Homecoming's March”. It seems we need to think about reincorporating some of those songs back into our set. Gorgoroth was good tonight, but they remain pretty consistent from one night to the next. Back on the bus now. Everyone has their laptops out because we're still getting a signal from the club. Sleeping soon- the jet lag doesn't want to let go.

Knotted Ham

2008-11-26T18:50:00.003-06:00

Despite the descriptions of Nottingham being a post-nuclear version of Sao Paulo populated exclusively by chuds, I found the city center to be vibrant and well-appointed. I wish more American cities had town squares flanked with venerable buildings; it is a great way to get an impression of a place. The Rock Bar was actually a huge and good-looking establishment with I think 3 venues of various sizes inside. There were service tunnels and hallways that connected everything so it was easy to move around from room to room. The attendance for the show was actually just fine- over 100 people. However, they were one of those odd crowds that mostly stand there and stare and then give a cheer at the end of each song as if there was a lit “applause” sign on the wall. No matter- they were all up front and watched us play a good set so it is not as if our time was wasted. I am not staying up until morning again tonight. It's hard not to want to stay up in the front of the bus and talk to Gaahl. His life has been interesting to say the least. The Carcass seems to be completely healthy again, which gives us all the idea that something in his house is the cause of his illness. He'll have a lot of investigating to do when he gets home. We have our London transportation secured so finally I can stop making frantic phone calls and emails. We did not want to have to spend the night in a train station with a pile of gear. My lower back is on fire. My bunk and I cannot reach accord for whatever reason and I awaken with knots in my spine that show me no quarter come show time or load out.

Redeemed

2008-11-26T11:06:00.000-06:00

Glasgow turned out to be a great show. We ended up doing “Vomitorium Angelis” with no vocals due to a technical issue with the microphone but then went on to play an otherwise vicious set to a very good crowd. This was a well-needed win on our part. The first three shows are usually somewhat hectic for us because we are still warming to our set and there are so many new variables to absorb. This club should have been called Sweaty's Room of Sticky and Wet Surfaces; loading out was gross. In any case, I was glad for tonight. We enjoyed having the people of Glasgow yelling at us instead of nearby us. It seems like the 3-day doldrums are just a fact of life at the start of any tour, but I'm glad they are behind us.

Scottish Hell (?)

2008-11-24T15:13:00.003-06:00

We got across on the ferry to Scotland with no trouble. Leading up to that Sanguine, Paul of Zeb Crowe and I stayed up until 6am talking with Gaahl again. He has a sage and almost shamanic countenance that make time slip by in the course of the conversation. I am starting to realize why bands on tour tend to drink so much- there are intervals where everyone is packed on the bus for hours at a time with nowhere to go and the imperative to keep one's wits drops to nothing. I'm fine with good conversation and sleep myself. The brakes on the bus weren't working right so we ended up in a garage to have them adjusted. We grabbed a dubious burger at a neighboring stand served by a friendly Scotsman and now we are headed in to Glasgow to park at the club. The sun went down at 3:45pm so I guess I have a lot more of that to anticipate in Scandinavia. I think I'm still on a US sleeping schedule so I'll have to break it once I hit Oslo. Now in Glasgow - Merel, Garguf, Sanguine, and I decided to check out the city and have some dinner. It was a good time out and nice to have a chance to walk around. This seems like a nice city, though I'm told Edinburgh is even better. It definitely has more of a pulse compared to the post-combat austerity of Belfast. This tour is a sacrifice for us in some ways in that there is very little money in it. We are glad for the opportunity and experience of it all but this type of outing is not without its challenges and the price of even simple sundries is really expensive at the moment.

Now- stayed near the bus all night. People in Glasgow tend to yell a lot. Gaahl drank four bottles of champagne and six tall cans of beer and was still standing. We're in the club in Glasgow now, no idea how it will go. I had to rearrange our passage to London and it is kind of a mess at the moment. The uncertainty is unwelcome.

Protest and Survive

2008-11-24T14:57:00.006-06:00

Belfast turned out to be a good show despite the disgusting wet weather. I came into the venue desperate for food and Jennifer the promoter was kind enough to drive me into town to McDonald's (this is desperation in a nutshell). On the way in she pointed out many sites of “the troubles” in Belfast and as we arrive in the city center I learned that the main open air market used to have armed guards and security checkpoints just to go shopping. The tension of those years was not evident as I went in to order food, but it is hard to imagine living like that for any reason, much less because of internecine Christian fanaticism. Speaking of which, we did indeed see the promised protesters with their signs and bullhorns across the street from the venue. I went out to take a photo but the promoters asked me not to engage them in any fashion. I was disappointed, but I supposed it did seem ill-advised to stir up that kind of craziness. Luckily Teloch was sneakier than I and got a shot of them. They sang, they chanted, they prayed, and then they vanished in the painfully cold rain. It seemed that God had better things to do tonight. This was underlined by the fact that as one of the congregation attempted to leave on his bike he completely wiped out on the wet pavement.

The show itself was well-attended, we were well received, and our sound and performance was easily the best so far. Gorgoroth had a good night too, but we were all surprised at the lack of sales despite all the positive response. The rest of the evening went smoothly and we're once again ensconced on the bus and hanging out. We have a day off tomorrow in order to ferry the bus to Scotland. It is just as well, as a Monday night show in Glasgow sounds like an abysmal proposition. Truth be told, our tour manager Jay advised that while the Ireland shows had strong presales the UK dates are pretty soft thus far. I hope that doesn't remain the case as the only thing worse than playing total shitholes (as I have been warned is the case) is playing empty total shitholes.

Later - a friend of the opening band Zebadiah Crowe helped us load out and for his trouble managed to slash his thumb wide open. He was taken onto the bus and Gaahl ended up attending to him with bandages and black pepper. I think it made the kid's night to have the front man of Gorgoroth serving as the attending physician. On to Scotland tomorrow. Posting is hard to do at the moment so it looks like I will be a day behind going forward.

Wine and Death

2008-11-23T10:15:00.005-06:00

Cork was more locked in than Dublin. We were playing a much smaller venue with a smaller stage, but this inevitably suits us much better. I don't know why this is the case, but so be it. I slept pretty terribly. The bus bunks are actually something to get used to (they are much like coffins), and a water bottle in mine ended up leaking on my bed in the night and I woke to a cold dampness that left me uncomfortable. Before the show started we endeavored to put up our banner, which ended up meaning we had to get Gorgoroth's banner first. The stage was small and the only ladder was like something out of the Flintstones. It was a struggle but finally they went up. We dragged our banner across the ocean so we might as well use it. We sold a fair amount of merchandise and this time we started later and had more time to properly prepare so the stress levels were far less. The set was good I suppose; about halfway through The Carcass had no monitors and we ended up getting severely lost in the middle of 'Serpent Recoil' and mangling it beyond recognition. The crowd was forgiving, however, and we ended up finishing well despite flying without radar. One guy came over and said he found out about us because Ross of Immolation wore our shirt on the new Cannibal Corpse DVD. That's another one we owe him. Gorgoroth was of course well-liked and I had to laugh when the audience chanted “GAR-GER-OTH! GAR-GER-OTH!” in true Irish glory.

Afterwards, it got claustrophobic and hectic as the backstage room got jammed up with fans and promoter friends. Ultimately I went ahead and took a shower in the adjoining bathroom and for a moment I was away in the temple of my head again. This district is full of chavs and we were accosted by a couple who blathered to us about copping drugs. We remained aloof and they moved on. Horrid people. Not much else of interest happened as of this writing. We're on the bus and will remain so until morning. There's a lot of intermittent shouting along this street, and I want no part of it. It seems knifey and stabby around here and the only people I want to talk to are in here anyway. The lack of wireless access is irritating though.

Sanguine and I stayed up late talking with Gaahl. He is a wine connoisseur and discussed the fine points of wine making and matching wine to meals. We also got into talking about how paganism and Satanism reconcile and the traditions of death in Viking culture. Morning now (or 1pm actually), and we are in Belfast. Apparently the concert was mentioned on the local news and much was made about the tour package's lack of Christian convictions. Belfast is the home of religious violence for Europe, and while their rage between each other seems to have quieted as of late we could easily serve as a common enemy. We'll find out soon enough.

Into the Black Pool

2008-11-21T19:24:00.007-06:00

The stakes of this tour are already higher than usual. The Carcass has been fighting a persistent and grievous intestinal infection that has plagued him since before we performed in Los Angeles (which, if you refer back, was not all that recently). We weren't even sure if he was going to be able to board the plane, as a visit to the emergency room seemed possible. This problem seems to hit him in waves; he will feel fine then awful, then fine again. The vector is still unknown but it does not seem to be contagious as no one around him is sick. Suffice it to say this is of great concern to us. I think he will be able to perform with no problem as our sets are short, but it is not a good tiding for the start of a tour.

We stayed with Darragh Invictus and Alan of Primordial's house. They set us up well in the den and we ended up sleeping the better part of yesterday away. Darragh took us into town for a drink and then I tried to eat a Shepherd's pie in a hurry and scorched the inside of my mouth. We got back and stayed up late with Alan and talked about the fading health of metal and its implications. The exchange rate for us is already proving to be murderous, Effectively we have to operate on a standard where everything costs double and just in cab transport from the airport and to the venue we have been all but skinned alive. Tonight we will be on the bus and the plan is to avoid any extra expenditures until tour's end. I will still have two weeks vacation in Scandinavia post tour and I must conserve funds as much as possible. Still, it was frustrating to go to two record stores here in Dublin and not really even be able to look at anything due to the cost. A Brazilian friend Tiago is currently living in Dublin and he took us around a bit.. It is great to see him and as of tonight he will be the first person to see us perform on three continents. Right now we're at the venue. The Carcass is sleeping and Sanguine and I are getting ready for a sound check. The Gorgoroth crew seems accommodating and I expect we'll all get along well. My right knee has been inflamed and all the stairs here at the Button Factory are not offering any help. Am I the only one who feels anxious the first night of a tour? We've done this enough times now but it never changes. I tend to overthink the details and get caught up in minutia. I supposed it is better than being caught unprepared, but still I'd like to be able to breathe easier. I'm sure that will come about two days from the end.

Later- the show went well overall. The whole thing started ridiculously early so we felt a bit hurried putting on our gear. We got the usual reaction from the crowd where they were attentive but mostly new to us so they mostly stood up front and stared. Still, it was not a bad show by any means. The Carcass did fine and the set itself was solid. We thankfully sold a respectable amount of merchandise which will help us keep moving in the days ahead. After our set we were met by a guy who had been a fan of ours since our proper inception. He pulled up his shirt to display his dedication:

It is very difficult to explain what it means to know that your work reached someone so completely that he wants to carry it around for the rest of his life. The photo speaks for itself but it goes without saying we were honored. Homecoming's March has left its stain.

Edit: 4/2/10 - I usually never do this, but I don't want to forget it one day: The back stage at the Button Factory was underneath the main room and it had a bathroom that was directly one floor below the stage. It was a unique experience to shower while Gorgoroth performed a song from Pentagram right over my head. This is the kind of experience only a tour can offer.

Now- in a truck stop outside of Dublin with Gaahl and the Gorgoroth guitarists. The bus is very nice and a novel experience for us as until now we have always used vans (or planes) to get around. We're already enjoying the band's company; it's a good sign when you're having a laugh with people you met only hours before.

Carnage in the Temple of the Damned

2008-11-15T12:01:00.010-06:00

"Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball." - Herman Melville, Moby Dick

I am pleased to be unfettered once more. No obligations except the days ahead, which even at their most trying moments will outshine any day of prosaic "real life" that remains difficult to escape altogether.

The Jonestown mass suicide happened 30 years ago today. Pity that such events are so infrequent. Reverend Jones had it all figured out - make yourself God and then slay the faithful. It is straight out of the Septuagint. Soon we will bring the same threats of fire and damnation to many new congregations, but there will be no salvation.

Exhibit A

2008-10-13T12:59:00.006-05:00

Averse Sefira - live in Austin Oct.11.08

Thanks to Head ov Metal for the images.

ADESTE FIDELIS - Live in TX/UK

2008-09-27T15:15:00.009-05:00

Two more propaganda pieces:

Saturday, October 11th
AVERSE SEFIRA
HOD
NODENS
Bat Castle,
Mortality
Room 710- Austin, Tx.

This is the last US show for Averse Sefira in 2008. This will also be the last Texas show for many moons, so to everyone local who asked when the band is playing again- THIS IS IT. Come witness a blistering lineup replete with AVRS as the worship-made-weapon, whetted and deadly in anticipation of their tour with Gorgoroth!

Also...
Sunday, November 30th
Arcane Promotions presents:
AVERSE SEFIRA
Skaldic Curse
Eastern Front
Niroth
The Purple Turtle- Camden, London UK
Tickets are on sale now through Ticketweb.uk

Under the Sign of Hell Revisited

2008-09-18T10:30:00.003-05:00

Along with the current UK incursion, Averse Sefira will strike London in a headlining appearance. Here is the updated listing:

November
21 - (IE) Button Factory Dublin
22 - (IE) An Cuiscin Cork
23 - (IE) The Limelight Belfast
25 - (UK) Ivory Black Glasgow
26 - (UK) Rock city Nottingham
27 - (UK) TJ's Live music Newport
28 - (UK) Rio's Leeds
29 - (UK) Thr Asylum Birmingham
30 - (UK) The Purple Turtle, London (Averse Sefira headlining date, support bands TBA)

These are 100% confirmed, do not heed any cancellation rumors.

Vomitorium Los Angelis

2008-09-10T11:43:00.059-05:00

Friday - As expected, our expedition to The Angels was an improvement over our previous experiences; the weird curse it seemed to visit on us was lifted. The flight out was without incident, and we were met by Sherman of the long-running thrash band Insecticide at the airport. He had a converted short bus (insert the obvious "how appropriate" joke here) that had been stripped of its seats and replaced with easy chairs and a couch. It reminded me of The Road Warrior with Sherman in the role of the Gyro Captain and it was strangely reassuring. We went on to collect our rented gear and then proceeded on a protracted Friday afternoon drive from El Segundo to Pomona. LA is second only to Sao Paulo in terms of gridlock and the length of time it take to get from one place to another. The ride seemed like it took forever.

Once in Pomona, we checked into the hotel and rested while listening to a stray copy of the new Metallica album. It's terrible. They recycle riffs from as far back as Master of Puppets and then meander through the rest with Hetfield's tone-deaf wailing and Lynard Skynard parroting. I haven't liked that band since 1989, so there's no love lost. We then went to the venue, which was basically a strip mall moose lodge with a bar and dance floor. Our new label-mates Sothis were there, and they assisted by lending us their amps for our set. I could lie and say that the turnout was great but unfortunately it was thin. The LA suburbs are basically remote outposts where only the locals show up, and our show was no exception. Those in attendance were enthusiastic, so it was not a total loss. The bigger problem was the PA and stage mix which turned our performance into an aural abbattoir with the three of us butchering the songs due to a complete inability to hear one another. That might be overstating it a bit; we played reasonably well given the circumstances but despite our best efforts it still sounded like shit. Vlad the promoter was unhappy with the PA situation as well but we had higher hopes for the Black Castle the following night. In any event, we talked to people afterward and they were downright charitable about the set so we took it in stride. Sherman drove us back to the hotel and was in general very accommodating in serving as our driver and self-appointed roadie.

Saturday - The next day we slept in late as none of us had any sleep on Thursday night in preparation for the very early morning flight. Vlad drove us to our hotel in West Hollywood (The Saharan, which is next to the notorious Seventh Veil strip club - both are featured in the video for Mötley Crüe's "Girls Girls Girls"). It sounds more dangerous than it is- the room was clean and comfortable and the surrounding area was relatively stable. I took the walk down to In-N-Out for my beloved "animal style" burger, and I was struck to see that neighboring Hollywood High School was taken over by local teens who were thrashing like crazy with their skateboards all over the landings and stairs. It looked like something out of a Tony Hawk game, and it was hard to believe that the cops would not chase them off due to property damage or potential lawsuits. It was something of a throwback to better times in America - thin, active kids and a permissive place for them to have some fun without being yelled at and driven back to their homes to play Xbox forever after.

We went to a grocery store across the street from the hotel, and the city did not fail to put on a show for us. As we came outside, three police cars were blocking up the lane and we quickly realized that the officers were out with guns drawn on a large Hummer. The driver exited gingerly with his hands up while the cops screamed, "GITONNAGROUN! GITONNAGROUN!" in tandem. LAPD lives for this moment. The whole thing seemed so much like a television show that we glanced around to see if there was a film crew present (there wasn't). Later, Sherman and the Gyrobus arrived to take us to the show. He declined to take the highway for fear of more traffic snarls, so we drove down the whole of La Brea Boulevard and actually saw quite a wide sampling of the city. Sherman has lived in LA all his life so he pointed out many places of interest from where famous people lived and movies were filmed. There were sites like the tattoo shop where that semi-fat rocker chick hosts a television show and the Jim Henson studios featuring a giant Kermit the Frog statue, and then we blasted through a panoply of neighborhoods that featured a variety of ethnicities, interesting landmarks, and varying degrees of urban decay until we finally arrived at the club deep in the heart of the dreaded South Central LA.The Black Castle itself was a perfectly fine venue with plenty of space and a good sized stage. It would be an ideal metal venue anywhere else, but the common refrain of the attendees was that the area was extremely dangerous. Sanguine and I could not really figure that out, since we stood out in front of the club throughout the night and the street itself was just a low-end shithole commercial district like every other low-end shithole commercial district that we've played in any number of major US cities. There were no signs of violence or apparent gang activity at all, but it seems like the location was a deterrent for some as the turnout again was below expectation (though not like Pomona by any stretch). Interestingly, many people who showed up weren't even from Los Angeles but from the San Diego area where we had that crushingly awesome show last February. It was validating to think that we made enough of an impression that anyone would drive two hours into an urban war zone to see us. Our friends Morgan (whose photos appear below) and Jessica of Nuclear Blast (and also of Texas) showed up and we were pleased to see them. We sold some merchandise though it seems that bootleg shirt penetration is total in this region; I'd never seen so many Finnish black metal shirts in one place.

We finally moved to the back stage to prepare for the show and about half the people in attendance were back there as well, which is true to form for this town. There was one guy who had a black gym bag full of LPs for sale or trade and he was also sporting a monstrous and bloody razor gash down his arm that looked like a diagram of the San Andreas fault (as The Carcass described it). Chris Hatewar was also present and he gave us some DVDs of live footage from our previous California appearances. We finally took the stage under a phalanx of well-applied red lights that were tempered with white ones for a somber effect. We launched into "Vomitorum Angelis" as our opener and from there we did not miss a note. The stage sound was completely coherent, and we were able to perform with full force unto a willing audience. The Carcass also pulled some wild stunts including accidentally breaking a stick and then continuing to play the blast beat with the broken handle end. His performance was bestial and flashy, and before long many up front were chanting his praises. Sanguine and I were in the perfect mode where our minds are tethered and we can anticipate each other with utter clarity. This is when the entity called Averse Sefira manifests and rises like a black shadow over us, and in these moments we do not falter. When it was over we were met with praise and a few overwhelming hosannas but soon enough everyone seemed to scatter. Nobody wants to hang around South Central after midnight I guess. We packed up into the Gyrobus and saw the glitz and excess of a Saturday night in LA while bathed in the bus' dreamy blue interior lights.

Sunday- The Carcass was tired and stayed in while Sanguine and I decided to explore West Hollywood. We ended up walking many blocks up Hollywood Boulevard and checked out the myriad rock shops along with the endless parade of nubile girls armed with warhead tits and armor-piercing nipples. This town has truly cornered that market. We made it over to the well-stocked Amoeba records and furrowed our brows at much of what passes for extreme metal these days. I found a used and seldom-seen copy of Mercyless' Coloured Funeral on CD as well as the original soundtrack to Apocalypse Now. I also managed to find a great leather vest on the boulevard, which for some reason is not easy to do in Texas. Despite a pleasant breeze, the sun started to have its way with us by 4pm so we took a short rest and then proceeded down La Brea for more browsing. At some point we came across a small, 1950s-era garden apartment complex that I was sure was the residence of James Ellroy when he was a child. We had no way to be certain, but Sanguine and I are both avid fans of his books so we strolled through just in case. We finally decided that we needed to see the Sunset Strip proper, so after some deliberation we waited until nightfall and set out for the Rainbow Room. As promised by the doorman of one of a dozen strip clubs we passed, it was almost an hour walk. We also ended up passing a lot of cool stores we would have liked to visit including a dedicated Mesa/Boogie dealership, and we cursed ourselves for walking the wrong direction earlier in the day. Despite the ever-present smog there was an almost ominous looking mansion in the hills above us with spot lights and purple and red underlighting that made it look as though it was suspended in the night sky like some kind of wizard's castle. Nobody we asked had any idea what it was. One random guy we asked was walking the same direction and he ended up latching onto us. It was a little odd, and I thought before long he would ask for money or drugs but he ultimately did neither. We passed the Chateau Marmonde that Jim Morrison helped make famous, and there was some big time celebrity junket going on. The amusing part was that an older couple stepped out of a car at the entrance and had dozens of photographers shooting them, and we couldn't begin to guess who they were. They looked wealthy so that was probably sufficient to be a big deal around there.

Many paces later we arrived at the Rainbow Room, which among other things is Lemmy Kilmeister's home away from home, but we decided not to go in. Five dollars just to cross the threshold? Go to hell. I think Motorhead is still on tour anyway. We grabbed a cab for the ride back and laughed at ourselves when it took the driver seven minutes to get us back to the Saharan. The hotel itself was leaking stuck-up looking club chicks from its rooms as we walked up the stairs. Women like that all look like robots to me - generic and manufactured. The next morning Sherman came out to get us and took us over to his neck of the woods in Manhattan Beach. It was well kept and pretty, and it seemed a world away from the rest of the city. We had a hearty meal of Mexican food at a local favorite walk-in diner and then walked out onto the beach at the bottom of the hill. It was nice to visit a beach that wasn't jammed with idiots and for the first time ever I touched the waters of the Pacific Ocean. It was somewhat undercut by the fact that I managed to step in some well-hidden tar that embedded itself in the track of my boot like the most noxious hellborn chewing gum ever. From there, we went straight to the airport and returned home without notable issues.

So to the curious- we liked Los Angeles this time. It wasn't as aupicious as our high-profile package tours but at the same time we still enjoyed ourselves, the city, and the people we met. Everyone was very good to us and we will not forget it. Thanks to Vlad, Jose, and Absolute Void, Chris and IIKRANEOS, Chris Hatewar, bands Necrite & Ent, and a huge vote of thanks to Sherman Insecticide for making the entire thing go. As always, see you next time.

The Forest for the Trees

2008-07-24T15:23:00.005-05:00

The above video is an excerpt from an upcoming film project called "A Year at the Wheel". It reached a lot of people in a short amount of time, and it has also generated many comments and questions. A recurring observation was that we seem to have a binary outlook of the nature of Christianity. I responded to this in a different forum, but it seemed worth posting here as well. It is true that many Christians in the past (and the present) have contributed to the world. The difference is that these people are/were smart and talented regardless of their religious leanings. Christianity in the 21st century has, by and large, continued to be a default ad hominem mechanism for people who are neither smart nor talented. And historically, now and as always, Christianity has been the impetus for the destruction of reason and culture in the west. It encourages war, overpopulation, fear, and a consumptive brand of commerce. Most people subscribe to this religion because they are afraid of death (and life as well). It is sometimes hard to face the idea that we may well be alone, or that there is no grandfatherly figure in the clouds who watches out for us and wants us to win the lottery or survive cancer.

People are increasingly threatened by strong opinions and straight talk, but we see little point in choosing our words based on whether or not anyone agrees or if it means one less person might buy our albums. Safe and crowd-pleasing outlooks are for politicians.

Anticipation & Hindsight

2008-07-19T19:43:00.006-05:00

I was asked today why Averse Sefira agreed to return to Los Angeles for two shows in light of my indictment of the city in previous entries. I write this journal as a record of events at the time of their occurrence, which to me is the only way to convey my perceptions in an honest fashion. As such, I do not retract anything I have said in that regard but that does not mean I am unwilling to revisit the city under different circumstances and have my mind changed in the process. If anything, I should acknowledge that I have painted Los Angeles with a broad brush and perhaps that was unfair; my only real impression of LA is the Sunset Strip, a place that has nothing in common with our interests. Previously we performed in large commercial venues that were glitzy and expensive and not appropriate for bands like ours. This isn't a comment on anyone's efforts in terms of booking, but sometimes what is good for the whole of a tour package is not ideal for a band alone and this cannot always be remedied. This time we will perform on our own terms in dedicated venues. We expect it to be a completely different scenario, and it seems certain that we will come away with better impressions overall. In any event, we chose to do these shows in good faith and we are looking forward to them.

Stand Up For Art

2008-07-14T14:50:00.003-05:00

I usually avoid topics of conventional politics, but this issue came to me by Jos A. Smith and it is of great importance to anyone who creates art or cares about protecting it. You can read about it here but in short:

The Orphan Works Act of 2008 defines an 'orphan work' as any copyrighted work whose author any infringer says he is unable to locate with what the infringer himself decides has been a 'reasonably diligent search.' In a radical departure from existing copyright law and business practice, the U.S. Copyright Office has proposed that Congress grant such infringers freedom to ignore the rights of the author and use the work for any purpose, including commercial usage. In the case of visual art, the word 'author' means 'artist.'

The bill would substantially limit the copyright holder's ability to recover financially or protect the work, even if the work was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office prior to infringement.

The bill has a disproportionate impact on visual artists because it is common for an artist's work to be published without credit lines or because credit lines can be removed by others for feckless or unscrupulous reasons. This is especially true of art published in the Internet Age.

The Orphan Works Act would force artists to risk their lives' work to subsidize the start-up ventures of private, profit making registries, using untested image recognition technology and untried business models. These models would inevitably favor the aggregation of images into corporate databases over the licensing of copyrights by the lone artists who create the art.

So basically this means that any dishonest sleaze can knowingly steal an image from the internet or wherever else and claim that, duh, he couldn't find any name or proof of ownership so that's why he should have the legal right to use the collected paintings of the Renaissance on the vinyl version of his rehearsal demo (limited to 200 copies! KVLT!). This is basically good news for thieves and bootleggers, and a nightmare for everyone who produces visual art of any kind. I'm not a big believer in petitions since I think politicians do whatever they like and would prefer that we all die of cancer (but still pay taxes in the meantime, of course) but in this case I would like to invite you to please sign one of the many petitions listed here, or if you're in Europe go here.

There are ones for visual artists, illustrators, and photographers, among others. Sign one even if you don't fit a specific category- it still matters.

The Language of Sigils

2008-06-13T15:10:00.008-05:00

Averse Sefira is mentioned in the unlikely venue of the MTV Newroom as part of a promotional entry entitled Top 10 Most Illegible Metal Logos, which is far from the first time our insignia has been the object of curiosity. It is interesting that anyone would think Sanguine designed it for any sort of practical readability. The words are there for those who wish to see them, but the intention was to have a battle standard and an representative mark that embodies our work. Sigils are concise ways to bind meaning, and often they are keys to realms in which their creators marshal energy and inspiration. Witnesses of death metal's heyday know what the Trifixion means when they see it; our logo is no different. This is why no matter how many times the name of Averse Sefira is printed in a conventional form, this logo will always be present. The meaning and the mantle are one and the same - a matrix for form and chaos.

Indelible

2008-06-08T22:06:00.005-05:00

In the course of our travels, we have met a small but dedicated selection of fans who feel that Homecoming's March will always stand as our single best effort. Apparently there are some who feel especially strongly in this belief. Hail.

Incestuous

2008-05-06T19:28:00.010-05:00

As some of you have noticed, this blog is often a vehicle for the endeavors of friends and peers as much as it is one for AVRS. Accordingly, I would like to call attention to Seldon Hunt's work and his blog that resides here. Seldon is responsible for the new Averse Sefira shirt and a ton of other fantastic eye-killing efforts. And to help with the repeated, "Where did you get that?" question, the Warrior death masks can be found at this location. Both sites are also linked for easy reference.

PS I initially neglected to include our masterful album designer Valnoir in this entry. He is the part of the dangerous terrorist outfit Metastazis and his work is here.

A Familiar Visage

2008-04-24T22:32:00.003-05:00

This arrived yesterday, shrouded in cerecloth. It is an effigy amidst the ashes; a dying god coming into human flesh. I will wait patiently for the eyes to open.

Epitaph

2008-04-09T15:34:00.021-05:00

And like a thunderclap it was over. Tom G. Fischer's departure/disbanding of Celtic Frost has reverberated through the metal community, and though it is already "old news" it still merits attention. While I want to believe that declaring them officially dead is premature I can only rely on the regrettable facts as presented. Much like life itself, a band can end suddenly and without a sense of closure. It could be argued that Frost's departure yielded a satisfactory denouement by redeeming their controversial legacy with a truly strong album. Monotheist was what most everyone (including Tom, per his own journal) expected to be a new monument rather than the final cenotaph.

It is not my place to speculate on the reasons why Celtic Frost fractured once again, but let us not forget that the band was always fraught with adversity from its inception. Tom's efforts to propel the band forward often struck me as Melvillian; he was another Ahab hunting his own elusive white whale. Thus it is all the more poignant to think that he had finally captured the beast through Monotheist, but only then to see it fall back into the cold darkness. I enjoyed having elder statesmen among us again; for too long we have endured something of a headless movement with many of the old guard selling out, walking away, or leaving this world altogether. It was galvanizing to have Celtic Frost step forth and take up the flag once more and on their own terms no less. The fact that they did it at all is amazing given the way it ended the first time around. Moreover, Tom in particular deserves all the credit in the world for embracing so many of the bands that grew out of his legacy. Try giving your album to someone like Kerry King and see how well it goes.

The short version is that I wish it did not have to be this way. And maybe it won't be forever. I get no sense that Tom is going to summarily abandon metal in the wake of this, so it seems that waiting patiently is the only choice we have. Still, I was ready for more from the mighty Frost and it seems that this day may never arrive.

For the Record

2008-04-01T13:37:00.008-05:00

The fact that this entry is even necessary is outrageous but somehow my previous entry drew the ire of Terese of Scarab Productions and she has since been stoking internet gossip against Averse Sefira and Watain in an attempt to make us look bad. I stand by my writing as an accurate and reasonably objective account of the event, and every effort was made to prevent the airing of dirty laundry or unfavorable portrayals of anyone involved. On the contrary, I meant the whole of the article as a positive appraisal. This was unfortunately lost on Terese due to some circumstances during the show for which she felt aggrieved and it seems that my estimation of the situation was not slanted sufficiently in her favor (i.e. I did not editorialize either way and I will not do so at this point either). I am disgusted to think that a promoter would be so unprofessional in venting these complaints on a message board aimed at teenagers rather than taking it up with the bands directly. At this point the issues in question are now mired in hearsay, gossip, and distortion of facts:

For the record we are not at odds with Cephalic Carnage and we never were. The bad exchange I described earlier was an isolated incident not even connected to our band, and as I also mentioned the issue was dropped. They kept in the spirit of competing with us and Watain, as I have since heard that they lampooned both of us on stage during their set. We take no exception to that, in part because it seems they saw the line-up situation for what it was and answered to it in their own fashion. People love conflict, and while I know it would be more exciting to think that we are now arch-enemies this is simply not the case.

This is the only time I will ever use this space for rebuttals or clarifications but when we and our friends are facing slander that is in part based on something that was featured in these pages, I think it is only appropriate to keep a response close to the source.

Old friends & new wounds

2008-03-27T21:34:00.026-05:00

Last Friday we were flown in to Calgary, Alberta, to play an exclusive engagement with Watain and Cephalic Carnage. Despite the dubious nature of this combination we were pleased to be reunited with Watain. I myself had seen them on various occasions over the last couple of years but we had not performed with them since our now infamous Stellar Descension Infernal tour of 2003. The flight was uneventful though it dragged a bit but we were literally waved through customs (ruefully so, as we would have brought more merchandise had we known) and soon acquired by Terese from Scarab Productions. She took us to a four-star hotel in the center of the city and I confess we were taken aback by the accommodations. We are not exactly strangers to nice hotels, but to have a promoter provide us with such luxury was definitely a first. Watain had arrived earlier that day, which we discovered since every airport security agent we met had commented on them. They tend to attract attention wherever they go. After a savory meal in Chinatown, we discovered that the band had the room adjacent to ours so before long we were in their suite and catching up. Soon after there was a knock at the door and guitarist Set answered to find the lead singer of Cephalic Carnage and a roadie. They invited themselves in and began making overtures to us about partying and smoking pot with them. Mere minutes before they arrived we had all been discussing the incongruous choice of this act as the other headliner, and we also wondered why they were set to go on last. We also resolved that since we and Watain played back to back, we would deliver a unified front on stage and leave Cephalic with no way to compete. With that in mind, Watain politely declined the offer of drugs and invited the duo to leave but they did not seem to take a hint and seemed puzzled at the idea that people might actually be tired and want to go to bed. Guitarist P. of Watain, ever the diplomat, stood up and stated that he'd smoke with them even though he did not like their band. Instantly the mood changed and our festive new friends were suddenly not interested in a good time. "Well fuck you then," snapped the singer, "I don't like your band either!" They left the room and P. followed them in an attempt to explain that there was not a problem but that he was just being honest, etc. The Cephalic people weren't having it as most Americans are deeply threatened by directness, particularly the European variety. Set became agitated and also walked into the hall and for a moment I expected beatings to commence. More fuck-you-mans mingled with Set's sharp and snakelike tone but no violence occured. Set and P. returned to the room with many choice comments about "life metal" bands.

The Carcass had his own room and had gone straight to bed upon arrival and soon a very drunk P. insisted to see him. It was 3am but Sanguine and I felt that an ambush was in order so we led the sotted Swede down to his room and let him announce himself first with tentative knocking, and then with punches and kicks that we feared would raise alarm. Finally the door was opened a crack and P. burst into the room and grappled wildly with a startled and bleary Carcass. This is how he says hello. They are both large men, and as they pitched about the room we laughed but also wondered if all the expensive furniture would survive. Ultimately order was restored and more proper greetings were proffered. Generally everything P. says is offensive and hilarious, and his deadpan delivery only furthers this so we were sufficiently amused by the time we led him back to his room and then promptly passed out in ours.

Saturday - we slept in late and took our time getting ready. After a hearty meal at the downstairs Irish pub, Terese arrived and drove us to the venue which was a ballroom on the University of Calgary campus. The night before there had been some predictions on whether or not Cephalic Carnage would attempt to sabotage Watain or simply start a fight. Based on what I knew of that band's reputation, I advised that nothing like that would likely happen. Sound check was a bit rocky as the ballroom (as usual) was a mess of booming sound, and despite our best efforts to communicate our needs with the monitor levels nothing sounded right when we left the stage. From there we mostly stayed in the backstage area with Watain and talked while E. Watain and roadie Johan assembled a bone mic stand from the bones of local roadkill. Watain's bassist had been detained in Germany so once again E. would be handling bass and vocal duties.

Everyone in the Swedish outfit was jetlagged, so drummer H. slept on a couch and P. ended up repeatedly vomiting in the adjacent restroom with accompanying heaves that sounded like they were coming from the very depths of his soul. The show had been on for a couple of hours at this point and I stuck my head out to get a new Watain shirt among other things. I was surprised to find that all of the shirts they printed were already sold out, save for the display shirt which I promptly grabbed. It turns out we did almost as well with our shirts and CDs, with only a couple of size XLs left over at the end (only Americans seem to need that size). I also managed to locate our old ally Sabazios Diabolus of Lust and the guys from Weapon, with whom I was until then unacquainted. The promoter had ordained that no animal matter would be allowed in the venue due to insurance reasons, so Watain would have their most sanitary show in some time (relatively speaking, anyway- all of their gear and guitars were encased in dried and scabrous blood from many previous performances). Cephalic Carnage also arrived and were not confrontational with anyone, so the unpleasantness of the previous evening was left behind.

After the local support acts had finished I and my bandmates headed to the stage only to find that the stage crew was moving and all but disassembling the drum kit to center it on the large rear riser. The Carcass had to intervene before his trigger module was damaged, and the whole ordeal set us back on on schedule by almost twenty minutes. We finally took the stage as the first of the headliners and were met with much headbanging and pit acrobatics upon commencement. The audience was great throughout, though our sound was still strange and uncomfortable and we simply could not hear each other. There were a couple of near-miss moments that we soldiered through, and while it was not anything discernible to the audience it hampered our ability to go full-throttle at points. Nevertheless, the set was a success despite the extra work it demanded.

Watain hit the stage with full regalia including banners with attached chains and their famous inverted crosses. Their sound was as odd as ours, and it seemed that they had to approach the lack of audible drums with a similar degree of caution. There were a few places early on where it seemed like the performance was about to slip off the rails, but they quickly got things back under control. Their response was predictably great and they played well overall. E. actually tossed the bass aside on the closing song and his subsequent attack of the microphone injected a more venomous energy into the performance. I see now why he prefers to perform this way. Earlier we had all been discussing how sometimes when the circumstances leading up to a performance are too comfortable it leads to a degree of malaise. We are all used to having to drag gear around and sit in a van or an alley waiting to play, and the quality of our current surroundings may have disarmed us. I also cannot discount the inherent exhaustion of international travel and P.'s green-faced discomfort leading up to their set. The fact that they still presented with their usual degree of conviction was admirable indeed. The other strange aspect of both sets was that we all felt like we were playing on an unmoored boat. I cannot better describe this except that Sanguine and Set both complained of dizziness as they moved about the stage, and H. and The Carcass were both made nauseous from the wobbly instability of the drum riser. In any event, the final outcome was still a positive one for both bands.

The end of the evening was not the outrageous finale I expected; Watain was very tired and E. stated that while he was fine to spend more time with us he wanted to otherwise be out of reach. There was a small party for the bands and crew down the hall from our respective rooms and while Sanguine and I visited briefly with the guys from Warmarch, The Carcass and the Scandis stayed out of sight. We joined them presently and ended up staying up almost until dawn despite our blistering fatigue. It had been five years since my bandmates had seen anyone in Watain, so we were anxious to log a few hours together before leaving the next morning. We did exactly that at 10am and unfortunately missed Sabazios Diabolus' offer of meeting for breakfast as well. Once again we feel the sting of a one-off show in that we have to leave too quickly and there is so little time to spend with friends.

The past couple of months have felt like another period of growth for me in terms of my passion for metal in general. It is barely April and already it has been a fantastic year for Averse Sefira. To commemorate this, I decided to once again make my flesh a panegyric to our work and enlisted the help of the masterful Jonzig to this end.

The Body says, 'It is only through Me that you are realized. I am that which makes you known...' -Sanguine Mapsama

Block not my path! You futile walls of flesh and blood. For I have seen your structure clear and I know where to stab. - E. Watain

One Thousand Three Hundred and Forty-nine

2008-03-18T17:14:00.017-05:00

So I did something I never thought I would ever do, which is to attend the South by Southwest music conference (SXSW for those “in the know”). This is a huge event for Austin, and we in AVRS have categorically avoided it as it is crowded, expensive, and mostly designed for industry folks and hipster parasites. However, 1349 was slated to fly in from Norway to play two shows over the weekend so we were not about to miss out on their performances or company. Things started off a bit rocky as only Chris, the band's sound engineer, arrived on the expected day. Through a flurry of text messages we discovered that the band had been delayed in Holland. Sanguine and The Carcass were also out of pocket at this interval so Chris and I decided to venture over to the free afternoon showcase with Enslaved and Motorhead. We arrived at 11:30am to a line of people that stretched around the block. Put a sign up that says “Motorhead” and “free” on it, and hordes of punkers, rockers, bikers, burnouts, and skeezy already drunk chicks will beat a path to your door. Chris and I marched past everyone and got our VIP passes at the front gates. Membership has its privileges. The temperature was a convenient record high of 90 degrees so we sat at a picnic table in the rear of the open-air venue and talked for a while. Then the first band came on with a terrible and booming stage mix and played unintelligibly for twenty minutes. Enslaved was supposed to be next so I walked up to the front only to see the band striking their gear. It turns out they had just performed, though the sound rendered them unrecognizable. No matter, they would play two more shows tomorrow.

Napalm Death was up next and I have decided that this band is like finding something long rotten in the back of your refrigerator- once it was good, but it then becomes forgotten and then an unpleasant surprise when you next encounter it. The band's sound was even more horrid than Enslaved's (I guess this is what a free show sounds like) and their performance was stale and tired. Barney Greenway gimped around the stage like a doofus and Mitch and Shane look like they stood too close to an open flame. I was wondering how old the band was when Barney answered my question in his slurry Birmingham accent- 27 years old. That's awful. They don't have a single founding member left in the band so does that even count? And the last time I liked anything they did was 17 years ago. They went on to illustrate my point by crash-landing their tiresome cover of “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” as their closer and left the stage to a smattering of applause. By the time Motorhead came on Chris and I were melting and the sound had not improved at all. We ended up with Jessica from Nuclear Blast and decided to walk over to the Metal Maniacs party in a club on Sixth Street. It was dark and cool and there were plenty of refreshing beverages, though not much else in the way of anything interesting. Some people came up and said hello, though generally I go undetected when I am in street clothes. I picked up multiple free copies of the new Metal Maniacs which features an Averse Sefira interview. I get sick of buying magazines that feature us so it was a nice change to get a handful of them for nothing.

Chris and I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and then we were joined by my wife Erika for dinner. Finally we got confirmation of 1349's arrival. They missed their connecting flight in Houston as well so they had to be rerouted up to Dallas and then to Austin. Sanguine and their SXSW host Renee went to get them at the airport and brought them to the festival registration office five minutes before it closed. The guys looked obliterated from their thirty hours of travel, so we managed to find a club that served food and got them some dinner. A few people recognized them and said hello but we were mostly incognito. More amusing was how many times I was mistaken for a member of the band as well. Afterwards we went over to the Relapse showcase and Erika and I sat on the curb because we did not want to pay to see High on Fire (painfully boring) or Municipal Waste (a party band cash-in for kids too young to remember DRI). We ultimately got the band over to Renee's house and then went home for a few hours of sleep.

1349 was set to play both an afternoon and evening showcase with Enslaved so I caught up with the guys at the dubious looking Vice Magazine venue, which was a vacant lot in an east side ghetto. We stood around talking and watching the stage be built while trying to grab as much shade as possible. I talked a bit with Ivar from Enslaved and told him about how early on his band helped convince my band that longer songs were the way to go. So you can blame them for that. Sound checks did not seem to be on the menu so I took the band over to the Averse Sefira practice space so they could have a proper rehearsal with their relatively new session drummer Madz. It was low-key but a good time. I joked about how we could now brag that we had a Norwegian black metal act in our room, and Archaeon commented on how he felt that the fixation on their nationality with US fans was really strange and awkward to him. I found this interesting and wondered if this perception was widely held among the Scandi bands. We closed out the session with an impromptu version of Celtic Frost's “The Usurper” with Ravn on drums and myself doing vocals; it was fun and I wish we had recorded it but such is the double-edged sword of spontaneity.

Afterwards, we went back to the walk-in kiln that was the Vice venue along with Sanguine and The Carcass. When we arrived it was still about 4pm (1349 was slated to play at 7) and a repulsive and noisy ensemble band was on stage. There were at least fifteen idiots up there with random instruments, all of whom were wearing hippie face paint, ridiculous outfits, and porno mustaches (except for the girls who were just sallow and asexually ugly). It looked like “Up With People” except with hepatitus C. It did not bode well that the crowd was eating it up. The audience was mostly comprised of random losers who look like they stole their clothes out of Goodwill dumpsters, so my expectations for Enslaved and 1349's sets were low. I hoped a regiment of black-shirted hessians would roll in like a thunderhead but the chances seemed remote as the second show of the night was downtown at a dedicated metal venue. There was not much impetus for a self-respecting metalhead to come to the shit side of town and bake his brain while standing amongst pop culture run-off. Herein is the great danger that black metal faces circa 2008- hipsters have discovered us. They think what we do is novel and “crazy” and being able to tell people that they listen to “church-burning Norwegian Black Metal” is another way for them to show off just how different and radical they are from the mainstream. They do not care about our message or motives, but rather how evil we are and how many people we might have killed. These people are the worst thing to happen to the underground in years, even moreso than Cradle of Filth or Dimmu Borgir. They want to co-opt black metal and make it just another brand of alternative music. They want to wear our scary looking t-shirts with their horn-rimmed glasses and skateboarding shoes. They want to use us as a conversation piece and a fashion statement. We cannot allow this. I want to encourage all who read this to take action against these useless sacks of shit. Do not let them in. If they try to talk to you about metal, ignore them, spit on them, or tell them to fuck themselves. If you see them at a show, especially in the pit, then hit them as hard as you can. Hurt them. Let them know they are hated and unwelcome. Make it clear that we are not here to be a punchline or a fucking cartoon. We need to get hard on the outside world again, and these fools are an easy target. They cannot fight back and they don't have money for lawsuits, so harm them with impunity. We are evil indeed, and we should show them what it truly means.

Diatribes aside, Ravn was anxious and disarmed because his stage bag had been lost in the midst of the band's multiple airline reroutes. His spikes, paint, and boots were all in his luggage so he only had the clothes he wore on the plane. We remedied this with my lending him all of my gear, and fortunately we are the same relative size so everything fit pretty well. I was planning on watching Enslaved's set, but Ravn bade me to come into the dressing room with the band to assist him so I proceeded inside. The backstage was a small alcove off an indoor stage and it was steamy and unventilated. There was another extremely obnoxious hipster band performing just on the other side of the curtain; it seems the current big thing in indie music is to have a band made up of a keyboardist, a very gay and nasal vocalist, and a remedial drummer. Seidemann made repeated chair-throwing gestures at the stage, and the band was collectively imbued with a contentious air for the coming set. The heat of the room required several reapplications of corpse paint as it was melting off like cake frosting in an oven, but finally the band was ready for battle. It was humorous because Ravn paints his arms and hands as well so by the time I had finished assisting him, everything I owned had smears of white and black on them. It was not unlike dealing with the tar baby of southern mythology. They took the stage at dusk to a handful of stalwarts and then a scattered yard of the aforementioned hated. I stayed behind the barricade as I was planning to assist Archaeon with his torch for firebreathing, but I watched as the moron contingent ran around the audience like monkeys and continually threw half empty cans of beer into the air and a couple at the stage. I wanted very much to run out and start hitting people but security for this show was supplied by the Austin police department, and assault charges do not appeal to me. Aside from the relatively dismal crowd the stage sound was once again a nightmare despite Chris' best efforts and the band was hard-pressed to wring anything good out of it. Ravn demonstrated command presence as always, though it was obvious that he was not pleased with the circumstances. A further insult came when they played through the 8pm neighborhood curfew and then suddenly the stage volume was cut in half by the police. Ultimately the whole thing was a fiasco and I was furious to think that our friends had half-killed themselves to come here for this lunacy. Archaeon also passed on the fire-breathing, and I was glad because it would have been to an undeserving audience.

We went into the backstage and everyone sat quietly for some time. The next show at Red 7 was in two hours and only about five blocks away so there was no reason to hurry. Also, the band decided to not remove their paint since the other venue had no backstage at all. Ravn drank his usual bottle of Jagermeister which not only helps his voice but seems to add to the darkness in his eyes, but he was noticeably sagging from jet-lag and perhaps some frustration over the show. After a time we shuttled everyone down to the next gig, and Erika's car ended up with Ravn's paint all over the armrests, dashboard, and passenger door (she has since decided she is going to leave it there). I went in ahead of the band along with Sanguine and Chris and was relieved to see that the club was full and a majority of those in attendance were actual metal fans. I went back out to the car and rousted a now-sleeping Ravn and led the band through the back door and onto the stage. I am pleased to say that this performance obliterated any memory of the previous show, as 1349 reacted to the receptive crowd with fury and conviction. Ravn in particular delivered one of his most feral performances to date as he wheeled around the stage and all but attacked the audience. He also reached into the crowd to grab various hands and ended up thrashing one kid around like a piñata. He also did the same thing to me and nearly dislocated my arm with a devil's strength. It was a caustic combination of barbarism and Morrisonian (as in Jim) dramatism that set the room ablaze and scored many points for the case of black metal. I more or less missed Enslaved for a third time when I left to let 1349 into the car, but I caught the last of their set and it paled in comparison to the onslaught that preceded it. Once it was over and the troupe had all but entombed our car in makeup wipes (Ravn tried to wipe a smear of his paint from my forehead and ended up adding another couple of layers to it) we then stood in back of the club while they talked to fans and industry people. A few individuals also approached Sanguine and myself with praise for our new album, which was of course appreciated.

Four hours of sleep later we rendezvoused with the band again and took them out for breakfast at a good local Mexican place called Polvo's. We talked and joked, and I was glad to see that the guys were satisfied with how things turned out. It was a shame that they had to leave so quickly though, as they were only in country for a day and a half. Ravn graciously bought everyone's breakfast, and then we fruitlessly helped them shop for boots at a few local western outlets. They required the extremely pointy style of cowboy boot and it seems that those are not in demand these days. They had better luck at Guitar Center since European money is so painfully strong against the US dollar. We then took everyone to the airport and said our reluctant farewells with the consolation that we will inevitably meet again in the months to come since being labelmates helps insure such things.

Once again there was triumph in the face of adversity, and once again I find myself restless and excited about performing. It is a good thing that we have a show with Watain this weekend to scratch that itch. With every show and the surrounding experiences I feel that I come away with a better understanding of what it is I am doing in metal. This time I was reminded that this music is a force unto itself that cannot be stymied by bad luck or bad people. We all share this fire and it would take the world's end to extinguish it. Also I still like being a fan and a confidante of other bands as much as I enjoy having my own band, so I was grateful for the opportunity to assist 1349 in their quixotic journey to play one of the most ghastly festivals I have ever witnessed. I am glad it happened but I also hope they and other friends of ours come to Austin under other circumstances in the future, because I really do not want to do SXSW again.

Echoes of Death

2008-03-09T19:02:00.008-05:00

More entries will be forthcoming with our Canada and Mexico dates. Here are a few items salvaged from the wreckage that did not make it to the original pages of the current journal.

Cool flyer for the Hartford show that did not happen:

File under "that's not quite right":

This as well:
Averse Sefira and Jos A. Smith - New York, 2/10/08

Sanguine makes headlines in Cleveland:

Into Everlasting Fire (what else could it have been?)

2008-03-03T18:01:00.011-06:00

Houston was the ending every tour hopes for. The audience treated each band well and the energy was intense and poignant as we entered the home stretch. I enjoyed our performance and we once again crushed the room with "Helix in Audience". It was a proud way to signal the finale. The completion of our set was bittersweet since it meant our stint on this tour was officially done. Belphegor was hellish as always, and Immolation once again gave rise to a throbbing pulse of chaos that ensorcelled us completely. Ross honored us with a dedication of "Nailed to Gold" and it was an odd feeling to be a bit misty while I was headbanging my brains out. The highlight of their set was a surprise visit from South Park's Terrence and Phillip, who are Ross and Bob's favorite characters. I will have to let the photo do most of the talking, but watching them laugh hysterically while trying to complete "Bring them Down" was a classic moment for all involved.

Rotting Christ closed the night with conviction and an exciting atmosphere that could not have been more fitting for this, the end of Lucifer Over America. We and the other bands cheered them on from the side of the stage and helped keep the crowd at a fever pitch. Finally the band signed off with the ethereal choral strains of "Under the Sign of Legion", where they each leave the stage one by one. It is the perfect closing song that generates an implacable sense of magic and finality, and we all looked at each other with some regret in knowing the tour was officially done. The band did come back out to bash in everyone's heads with "Non Serviam" though, so we were able to hold onto the moment for just a little longer.

After load out, all the cameras came out and hilarious photos were taken left and right. Hands were shaken and backs were clapped heartily. We all shared in the esteem of a truly excellent tour package and I reflected on what a privilege it was to tour with three venerable and proven acts. Saying goodbye to Immolation was not easy for many reasons. Their support and guidance has been crucial to us over the years and on this tour, and to have to part ways again was not without its regrets. Right as we were finishing all the photos an ice cream truck rolled up and everyone bolted to it to buy things. I'm not kidding. So we stood around eating bomb pops and ice cream sandwiches and feeling pretty satisfied with ourselves. It was like something out of a movie where everything happens on cue and the lasting memory is picture perfect.

My summation: this was a great tour. We had rough spots here and there, but think about the last 30 days of your life and you'll find that no matter what you do with your time some days are going to be challenging. It was a unique experience to go out with these bands, and looking back on this tour it is clear to me that we are at a point where our lives are exceeding our dreams. I do not take this lightly as I know few people can truly say that. This tour also reinforced the idea of the intrinsic kindredness that exists between all the "lifers" of metal. We do not get rich in this genre. We do not become the darlings of the media or the idols of the clueless masses. We do this because it calls us and because we answer. We do this because there are few greater validations than to stand together with our peers and allies against a world that does not and cannot understand us. We are gods unto ourselves, and through these journeys we render ourselves immortal. Thanks for coming. See you next time.

After My Prayers

2008-03-01T23:59:00.003-06:00

San Antonio landed somewhere in the middle as far as shows go. The PA was sub-par and so we experienced some of the weakest sound of the tour. The club was a punked-out hellhole and they were not prepared for a tour package of this magnitude. Even Belphegor sounded clanging and anemic. The crowd was all right, and our performance was fittingly all right as well. I still cannot help but shake my head when I think of all the amazing shows I saw here in the late 80s and early 90s. The fire has definitely been reduced to embers since those golden years. The most enjoyable part was to meet with many friends from Austin and do some catching up. It is getting to the point where I am getting bored talking about the run of the mill shows. We play, the crowd starts to figure us out on the last song, we leave and drive for a long time to the next show- wash, rinse, repeat. Still, what else would this journal be for if not for capturing some of the repetitive aspects of touring?

Later: Mission, Texas. Smoking Aces is a much nicer club against all expectations. The promoter Jay was cordial and gave us a lot of food and drinks on our arrival. There was a punching bag strength test game that we all got into, and it was almost terrifying to watch Tormentor of Belphegor set a high score on the thing. The Carcass then laid into the bag with a blow he reserves for punching through doors and his score buried everyone else. The lineup threatened to be a clusterfuck with four opening bands, none of whom showed up in a timely fashion. Finally it was whittled down to two, which was good since our friends in Disfigured still got to play. They are maniacal on stage, and we enjoyed watching them. We ended up having a great set with excellent sound and a willing audience. It was somewhat amusing since everyone was up front but still a few paces back from the stage when we began. Before we began the second song Sanguine admonished the crowd to step up to the stage and to my surprise they complied immediately. From there the show was high-octane and caustic. We always try to give a solid performance every time but when we connect with the audience it is so much easier to make it brilliant. It is amazing that a matter of a few feet can become a chasm between us and them, but fortunately that was not an issue tonight. I watched Belphegor turn in a blistering set and on the last song some kid fell in the pit and folded his leg under himself. When people tried to hoist him up he desperately waved them off. Security intervened and got him to his feet and I could not help but cringe when I saw the foot on his injured leg pointing in the wrong direction. He should see about getting Belphegor to sign his cast. Immolation killed as always though I left after two-thirds of their set to come write this. Rotting Christ is on soon and I will go back in to watch them. Once again we are all bemoaning the end of another great tour. This process is so much work and it is draining on countless levels, yet it is still some of the best time I've ever had. Bill from Immolation said that the worst day on tour is better than the best day at a job and I think of this every day when we are on the road. Houston will be a great time even if nobody shows up; it will still prove to be one hell of a wrap party.

Burial Ground

2008-02-29T15:22:00.001-06:00

My predictions of a good day ahead were well founded. We caught up with Ross, Bob, and Steve of Immolation and ended up going to see “There Will Be Blood” at a local theater. The whole story struck me as a Faustian parable in many ways, and I find it is now integrated into the fabric of the tour. We enjoyed it, though it was somewhat comical how we were all coughing in tandem throughout the film. I am not officially sick anymore but I am still coughing up wads of phlegm and producing copious mucous besides. Back to a more savory topic, our party finished out the night at a good local Mexican food restaurant where we swapped funny tour stories and discussed some of the more hilarious idiosyncrasies of some of our other tour mates.

Around midnight we reluctantly bid everyone goodbye and set out towards Texas. I always do the night driving, and this time it was more interesting than usual because we were on a secondary highway that did not feature another car or dwelling once we left Roswell. The road itself was completely unlit save for our headlights, so the effect was that of traveling down a long dark tunnel. There was an abundance of wildlife as well; I ran over a skunk and then successfully avoided hitting two more of them along with a fox and dozens of jackrabbits who scurried across the road in endless numbers like some sort of “Watership Down” revival. Once we got close to the border a large and baleful half moon peered down past a veil of clouds and the atmosphere became ominous. This is Richard Ramirez country, or at least the area that helped shape him into the fiend he became.

Later: We have arrived in San Antonio without incident. Sanguine and I grew up here and Averse Sefira's first show ever in 1997 was here as well. We haven't played here since, and looking at the puny so-called club we're playing tonight this show could be either a total barn-burner or a reason to never play here again.

Unsaved

2008-02-28T23:54:00.006-06:00

Phoenix was fun, more in spite of the show than anything else. The Brickhouse was a nicely appointed club with a full kitchen and even a makeshift basketball court. Before long we had a two-on-two game going with me and Andreas of Rotting Christ versus Ross and Steve of Immolation. It was hotly contested though we lost 6 to 10 in the end (Steve was something of a ringer). This is always when tours are the most fun and in some ways the most surreal. As for the show, the sound man was a useless waste of skin who left the bands to fend for themselves so our set featured some of the worst sound of the tour. The drum triggers were pushed as loud as possible into the front monitor so Sanguine and I spent thirty minutes being punched in the face by what felt like artillery fire and we couldn't hear anything else. Somehow we stayed together and pulled it off, but it was not the most fun I have ever had on stage. The crowd was decent for the most part, though right before Belphegor played some drunk homonculoid came up front and started screaming relentlessly for Rotting Christ. He continued to heckle them throughout the set and started up again when Immolation hit the stage. There was finally retribution when he lurched into the back of some fans up front and one guy turned around and laid him out with repeated blows to the face. Then security threw the heckler out. Ross sent a song out to the punchy guy and we all had a good laugh. All the bands sounded pretty terrible and the trigger sounds were a nightmare. Only Belphegor was unfazed by the mess of it all, and Ras stated that he gauges the show only by crowd reaction (they had the best response of the night, of course). I would like our band needs to cultivate more of this kind of untouchable mindset, thought I think a fair amount of that comes from tight touring revolutions, which is what those guys have been doing for about eight years now.

There were some weird and obnoxious people at the show so I mostly stayed in the backstage and hung out on the bus with Immolation. I've known Ross and Bob for over fifteen years and this is the most time I've ever spent with them at once. We resolved last night that in the end the shows may be good or bad but the reliable constant is each other's company.

And now, bad news. We got a call that the Launchpad in Albuquerque is closed due to a fire in the adjacent building. We are all very disappointed as it seemed certain that this would be a good show. We also lose the entire tour payout so that is not a good thing for anyone. We will most certainly play there again but it is still unfortunate to miss it. Since we are now free to make our way to Texas at our leisure, we contacted the tour bus and agreed to meet in Roswell for some good old fashioned weirdness. The day may still prove to be a good one.

The Weight of Devotion

2008-02-27T14:30:00.004-06:00

Flagstaff is a surprisingly pretty ski town that looks a lot more like Utah than anything I think of as Arizona. It is also held hostage by the non-stop freight trains that travel endlessly through the town. We arrived at a very small venue that had apparently been forsaken by previous management so not only was there a huge leak in the roof right over the stage (of course) but the PA system was a meager set-up that only facilitated vocals and nothing else. The local support Astaroth were there to greet us and we quickly discovered that they were already fans of our work. They also handled ticket presales for the whole of the audience in attendance (about 80 people), so it was an insult and an outrage when their set ended up getting cut. The house sound man had to drive up from Phoenix and he was painfully late, and then the other band on the bill which looked and sounded like a pack of retards took their sweet time getting set up and starting. Astaroth did the wise thing and bowed out, but we were irritated that they had done so much to help this show (including help with loading in our equipment) and ended up losing out to that loser band.

The show itself was the most commando one we have played in some time. Since there were no monitors we were relying on stage volume to carry us. My SansAmp decided to stop working right when we got on stage so I had to line in directly and I found the pluckiness of the sound to be very distracting. After our opening song it was obvious that only drums were discernible, so we cranked the volume and finally got the impact we needed. The crowd, while small, was enthusiastic and we ultimately came away with satisfaction despite the fact that we could scarcely hear each other and the sound was truly weird.

Since we were in the mountains the cold of night came back at us and set off everyone's coughs again. I finally crawled into the back and went to sleep. We have a horridly long drive from Albuquerque to San Antonio coming up so the more rest we get, the better. Not much else to report for now, but sometimes an uneventful day is welcome.

March of Dimes (another departure)

2008-02-27T14:27:00.000-06:00

I have consistently forgotten to mention the odd presence of dimes at every show we have played on the tour. It is always one dime in an obtrusive location like on the stage or in the sink of the backstage, etc. We have yet to determine the meaning but if there was any doubt of it being a coincidence the fact that Sanguine promptly found a single peso (value: 10 cents) at the Mexicali venue last night points to some sort of signal. It could be anything from signifying our ten years as a band to the amount of net profit we stand to make on this tour. Maybe it will be clearer at tour's end.

The Stench of High Heaven

2008-02-26T18:00:00.006-06:00

thanks to Shiloh for the photo

After finally emerging from the traffic-clogged rectum that is Los Angeles we made our way to the US border without incident. We met the tour bus in Calexico and offloaded the merchandise into a hotel room as we had no interest in paying massive tariffs or making sales in pesos. The border crossing itself was not a problem as we were guided in by the promoter, and we arrived plenty early to the venue in Mexicali. It was a small place not unlike the Jumping turtle in San Marcos, but it was also a well-appointed metal bar complete with a “Show No Mercy”-era Kerry King poster that we would have liked to steal. Speaking of stealing, Immolation were particularly vigilant regarding the trailer and gear as they had previous bad experiences with theft at Mexico shows. As people arrived and the show began it became apparent that we were at no worse risk than at any other show. Some kid managed to steal some Immolation shirts out of a merch bin in L.A., for instance. Fuck you, L.A., fuck you. The night became enjoyable early on when the manager of the adjacent taqueria came over and invited the bands to eat. The promoter footed the bill so all of us went over and feasted on homemade quesedillas and pork tacos. Afterwards the management invited us behind the grill to take photos that will be framed and put up on the wall. Add another notch towards our immortality.

The show itself turned out well; there was no opening band so it was the usual scenario where we had to take the stage and warm up the audience. It was sort of amusing because the start of the set looked more like a press conference with everyone standing there with cameras and video recorders as we played. Once we got to “The Nascent Ones” three songs in the audience moved from observation to participation and we finally got the room moving. “Battle's Clarion” caused the eruption we sought and since we had sailed through the set without intermission we unleashed “Plagabraha” for the first time on the tour. We hadn't played that in many months but we nailed it to the appreciation of the thrashing mavens up front.

Right as we stepped off the stage we took dozens of photos and signed many autographs so we felt plenty appreciated by the time we went to remove the paint. Belphegor was once again the band of the night and the bus was all but mobbed by fans after their set. Ras kept them waiting for quite a while. He operates on his own schedule and it would take a cattle prod to motivate him otherwise (though something tells me that the presence of a cattle prod would arouse him in some fashion).

This morning was rather unpleasant. We made it back through the border at 2am without any trouble and pulled over to sleep outside of Yuma. Once we resumed driving we came across a border patrol checkpoint and we were summarily pulled over. They did the full routine where we were made to get out and had to answer a bunch of leading and abrupt questions. The patrolmen were predictably accusatory and kept trying to get us to admit we were in possession of drugs. We of course were not and we simply answered their questions truthfully. The drug/wetback smelling dog found something in the van it did not like, so our bags were rummaged through and we sat in the stark Arizona sun for over half an hour while the van was all but rearranged. In the end the only thing they discovered was the grossness of three two-week old bananas that ended up trapped under the mattress we had in the back. I am guessing that this is what the dog found but it could have just been the odor of unwashed black metal personnel. We were free to go but it created a sullen atmosphere in the van until now. We are tired and the Flagstaff show does not feel very exciting at the moment, to say nothing of the fact that we are now very late to the show thanks to the delay and the loss of an hour in crossing over to mountain time. The Flagstaff venue has been moved and it is a Tuesday night so it seems like our only salvation is to presume the worst and hope for the best.

Fall From a High Place

2008-02-26T17:19:00.007-06:00

Los Angeles was the antithesis of San Marcos. We do not like it there to begin with; most everyone there are self-serving, pretentious shitheads who work hard at acting like they are unimpressed by everything they see. This show was no exception. We played the House of Blues, which is an over-large, sterile, and Disneyified venue that has no business hosting a metal show. The day started off badly when one of the locks on the trailer was jammed and we could not open the hatch to load in. We tried the key over and over but it would not budge. We then acquired a hammer and Carcass and Ross whaled on it until Steve from Immolation marched up and announced we were using the wrong key and quickly opened the lock to a chorus of our groans.As for the show, the tickets were overpriced so the turnout was thin (I heard 350 but it did not look like it), and once again we were disarmed by technical problems at the start of our set just like last time we were here. Sanguine has some kind of short with his guitar or cables that we have not been able to isolate, and he had to pull out his wireless pack and plug in with a cable right as we got on stage. The intro music already ended so it was an awkward way to start, and then we were unable to hear each other so we mangled the opening song pretty severely. I do not think it would have made any difference, since with the exception of two kids wearing Averse Sefira shirts the rest of the crowd just stood there impassively like we were wasting their time. The confusing part was that they were all doing this right in front of the stage, so I do not know what that is supposed to signify. We did not waste any time blitzing through the set and getting off the stage, and as we passed Ras of Belphegor he shook his head and muttered, “Unbelievable, these people.” The Immolation guys went on to tell us that the show they played here with Suffocation a few months ago was even worse in terms of turnout and response. I do not know what the fuck is wrong with people here and I do not really want to know. Later we heard that someone threw a soda can at Ross when Immolation started their set. Whoever did that is very lucky we had not come downstairs to watch or he would have been one badly beaten L.A. idiot. Do not read this missive as sour grapes; even if the show had been another San Marcos it would not change our utter contempt for this city. Die.

Son of Iniquity

2008-02-25T03:28:00.004-06:00

thanks to Morgan for the photo

San Marcos rocketed to the best show of the tour thus far, and it is probably among the best shows we've ever played anywhere. The audience, as Ross would say, was on fire. The venue was relatively small and it was jammed with people who seemed to think that it was 1991 based on their reaction. We hit the stage and it was bedlam from the first note. You'll remember my mention of the non-stop pit for Immolation; we got ours tonight too. The whole thing was pretty unbelievable. Those who weren't in the pit (which was also full of good looking girls who were hitting just as hard as the guys) were up front headbanging and spilling all over the low slung stage. We played a flawless set, in large part because there was no way we could bungle it with that kind of energy behind us. These are the times when true communion is achieved- when the performance becomes a ritual and a bridge between band and audience. There is nothing quite like it and it is exactly why so many bands play lousy show after lousy show because they know somewhere this inimitable experience is waiting for them.

I am pleased to say that all the bands turned in amazing sets to the same kind of mania that greeted us. Rotting Christ was fantastic and I liked seeing them in commando mode with some of their normal polish removed by the intensity of the room. The Carcass was in the pit by this point and he was an ambulatory wrecking ball that could not be stopped. Afterwards, the show turned into a party with all the bands and fans carousing and having a good time. Ras of Belphegor was in a rather untoward mode and aside from dry-humping everything that was vertical (including yours truly) he ended up trying to perform oral sex on a girl right through her pants. It was bizarre to begin with as he dropped to his knees and began rubbing his face in her crotch and she responded with somewhat confused laughter. He must have somehow gotten somewhere critical as her face suddenly showed alarm and she abruptly broke free of him. Down, boy. We finally took the party onto the tour bus where it ended up being just the bands again. We blasted Slayer and had a lot of laughs. This was an absolutely perfect night, and to anyone reading this who attended the show we thank you profusely for your contribution. This was a show I think all of the bands really needed after such a cold and long trek through the north. LA is tomorrow, and I'm holding my breath as to how it will go. A three night winning streak is a lot to ask for, but with any luck we will have it.

The Devil I Know

2008-02-23T15:30:00.002-06:00

The In 'n Out Double Double combo with Animal style burger, Animal style fries, and Neopolitan shake had no prayer against us. We devoured them with impunity. The drive itself was punctuated by rain and the hellish traffic as we skirted Los Angeles, and the van roared with Beethoven and The Doors (which is a more fitting combination than one might expect). Load in turned out to be noon and we made it in at 3pm. Whoops. The Galaxy Theater is another ballroom but at least this time the floor area is cordoned off by tiers of seating so the issue will be forced somewhat.

Later: The venue was packed and all the bands joined in a full-court press that turned the room into a pressure cooker. We had a strong showing and we were also galvanized by the fact that several of our shirts were floating around throughout the audience. Belphegor had a maniac response, though Immolation once again shined as the elder statesmen as they delivered a set that kept the room a swirling mass of colliding bodies. It is rare that you see a pit from the beginning to the end of a set. It was incredible. I was so agitated by the end that when George from Rotting Christ found that his guitar was locked in a dressing room where Serpent was fucking his nightly groupie, I reared back to kick the door in before George implored me to stop. This is one of those nights that make me wish tours would last forever, that our band and our friends bands would never stop, that moments like this could be the only moments that matter. I have to confess the thought of Averse Sefira and Immolation inevitably ceasing to exist one day is almost painfully poignant, but I cannot allow it to overshadow the occasion. Its greatness will always remain.

Failures for Gods

2008-02-23T15:28:00.000-06:00

Apparently some people do not respond well to change. Transmission to the Averse Sefira email address:

Re: You fail

What the hell were you guys smoking? Advent Parallax is weak, weak!!!!!!!!!! The production is piss and there is no emotion whatsoever.

My suggestions on the next album,

1. fix the fucking production
2. drop the norsecore blasting
3. spend more time developing song structure
4. reduce the length in songs (it makes it feel restrained and it drags)
5. quit trying to be epic it just makes it feel happy
6. stop listening to modern black metal i.e. Deathspell Omega, Antaeus, MGLA, Funeral Mist etc.
7. go back and see why candlelight signed you
8. listen to your old albums
9. quit touring
10. stop whatever behavior that led to your conception of Advent Parallax

thank you.

Once Ordained

2008-02-22T17:50:00.002-06:00

Oakland would have been great had we been playing in a 200 capacity venue instead of a 1400 capacity ballroom. I hate playing ballrooms unless they are full. This tour is simply not big enough to pull those numbers so the crowd ends up spread out and the sound in the room is booming and awful. Still, the reaction was good and I approved of our performance. We seem to have it locked in now, and the slight adjustment we made to the set list have made all the difference in terms of flow and dynamic. I was feeling poorly after the long drive from Portland, and even though my head was swimming it still felt comfortable and coherent on stage. My voice is still wrecked and it wasn't helped by the two back-to-back interviews I did afterwards. Even on the ground floor I had to shout over the din of Belphegor and Immolation and now my throat is tired. On the other hand it was massively cool to walk out onto the street and hear “Internal Decacence” raging and booming through the neighboring buildings. We found out tonight that we are selling the most CDs of all the bands on the tour. That bodes well for the success of “Advent Parallax”, and it was also encouraging to know that we are holding our own with the other bands in that regard. An odd moment occurred when Sanguine and I discovered a portal independently of one another. Old ballrooms seem to be clearinghouses for paranormal energy, so I was not totally surprised. There was an unlit black painted hallway connecting two dressing rooms and as I walked between them I noticed another room to my left. It was pitch dark and I peered into the inkiness and tried to discern what was in there. For some reason I felt like I was supposed to enter, so I stepped forward and bounced off the wall. I then came back into the dressing room and told Sanguine I needed to get more sleep because I was hallucinating. He smiled and said he had done the exact same thing a few minutes earlier. We walked back down the hall together and studied the wall, and there was clearly nothing there. Hello from the other side.

Now: We have showered and rediscovered our human selves. We are on the way to Santa Ana and we feel revitalized from the night of good sleep. The climate is finally mild and relaxing and the upcoming travel legs are short so we are looking forward to more leisure in the days ahead. Right now we are blasting towards Los Angeles with In'n'Out Burger at the top of the agenda. The Double Animal is mandatory.

Dawn of Possession

2008-02-22T17:40:00.005-06:00

We arrived early in Portland and The Carcass arranged a tattoo appointment for himself to get another tour souvenir. Bill from Immolation, Sanguine, and I went to Powell's which is allegedly the largest used book store on earth. Once we were done we desperately attempted to get back to the club with limited success since Portland was clearly laid out by those guys in wool hats who smoke a lot of dope and say “It's all good, man” a lot. Finally we returned and were greeted by Bane of the Ajna Offensive. We got some dinner and chatted with him about the tour and book publishing. He collaborated with T. Ketola on a new book called Qabalah, Qliphoth, and Goetic Magic. It looks like it will be excellent, and I will purchase one of the limited editions despite the fact that I am functionally broke. We are also discussing the ins and outs of getting Jos A. Smith to come on board with Ajna to publish a book of his art, and I am excited at the prospect of this coming to fore.

In the evening we were greeted by a full lunar eclipse, which we took as good tiding for the night ahead. The show itself was really quite good, which was a pleasant surprise since were expecting the worst when we first hit the stage. The crowd started off very quiet and clearly ambivalent but it only took a minute or two into “A Shower of Idols” to thaw them out. From there it got more animated, including a pit by the end of the set. Sometimes there is almost more reward in winning over an audience than playing to one that is already yours for the taking. Sometimes. In any event we felt like we conquered another city and then we hurriedly packed and vacated in the interest of getting out to Oakland. The sick has its claws in me now, along with everyone else on the tour. We are all standing around coughing up stuff that looks like the color scheme of an Overkill album, and as of today my voice is completely shot. Sanguine is holding up fairly well so we have that at least. I am ready to just get to Oakland and get out of the van.

Rival the Eminent

2008-02-20T15:37:00.005-06:00

For once it seems like we were the only band on the tour that really enjoyed the show. Seattle was ready for us and we laid down a spotless performance in response. The sound on stage was ghastly but we stayed tight and did not let it stop us. We met Paul from the band Alchemy, and if he is not our biggest fan he at least makes the top five. I don't think I've ever received so many fervent bear hugs in my life. It is validating to meet people for whom our work much holds so much value. Rotting Christ seemed to be unhappy with their set, but it is hard to tell since they virtually always communicate in raised voices regardless of the situation. Bob was also unhappy as he is drained by illness, which is understandable. I still thought they sounded great regardless. We also bid a reluctant goodbye to our friend Jme; ten hours does not really make up for nine years of separation and I once again found myself wishing that everyone important to me lived in the same place.

After the show we put Immolation in our van and went to an all-night diner called Hurricane. As we pulled out we saw Ras of Belphegor shaking his fist at us for leaving him behind. Sorry chief. Over an excess of food (one of the restaurant's specialties is a 12-egg omelet) we joked and griped and got a show of hands as to who has yet to walk in on Serpent from Belphegor during one of his sexual escapades. It was my turn tonight since he had apparently holed up in the only backstage bathroom. Ross was irately trying the door and suddenly it pulled open with Serpent peering out at us questioningly. In the mirror behind him we saw his paramour fully naked up against the wall. The man is an operator, there can be no debate. We are on to Portland now, which is a short and relatively painless drive compared to the ten hour hell we will experience tonight in order to get to Oakland.

The Restaurant at the Center of the Universe (a departure)

2008-02-19T21:02:00.002-06:00

The sun was out and the roads were clear through the west end of Montana and into Idaho. This did not stop a half a dozen people from wiping out on the winding roads. Gigantic car accidents have been a theme of this tour; we have been detoured by several, many involving jackknifed semi trucks, and one in Ohio featured a truck cab that had been peeled open like a can of tuna with the top half of it thrown about three hundred feet back on the road. No doubt it was a fatality. We managed to make it through all of this unscathed and once in Idaho we stopped in a town called Wallace, which was basically a late 1800's main street that once hosted a bordello on the second floor of every building. It also happens that Wallace is the center of the universe. There are even municipal signs on the signposts to prove it. We found a great diner whose cook knew the whole history of the town. It was refreshing to be in a place that was still virtually untouched by the gaudy corporate world outside. I enjoy visiting places that seem frozen in time. From there we floored it all the way to Seattle which was a grueling and overlong ride, but we finally made it to our friend Jme's house. It was remote in the woods but we were happy to be there as we had not seen her since our Rochester days nine years before. It feels like the sick that has been permeating the tour now wants me too so I am concentrating on staying warm, staying rested, and staying well-fed. Bob is now full-blown ill and he was one of the last holdouts so I may not get any say in the matter.

Away From God

2008-02-19T20:56:00.002-06:00

This is the part I was dreading. We are now proceeding through North Dakota and while there is no snow or storm in the region the forty mile an hour winds are buffeting the van and creating intermittent white-out conditions that are fairly scary. There is literally nothing out here- no cell phone reception, few exits, no people, and potentially no help if something goes wrong. Once again I have to question why it was decided that this package should travel through the northernmost parts of the US in the most brutal month of the year. I suppose one might ask why we agreed to do it (hint: the answer begins with 'I' and ends with '-ation'). Regardless, I just want us to get through here as quickly and safely as possible and the problem is that we may be forced to choose one over the other, ideally the latter.

Later: After about 100 miles the wind died down and the going was easier. It was still deadly cold though, and even leaving the van for more than a couple of minutes was excruciating. This is not just a Texan's estimation, mind you; below zero is cold, period. Once we entered Montana we discovered that the roads had not been sufficiently cleared and once we started skidding we had to slow down significantly. Finally the roads dried up and we were able to make much better time to the point where we even passed up the tour bus. North Dakota is desolate and harsh. I recently read about the massive depopulation that has occurred in this region, but it is hard to imagine that such a cruel place would ever have been teeming with people. We are now in the center of Montana and it is nice to see mountains again. Nevertheless, we are anxious to make it to Seattle as we have friends there and we'd like a day off somewhere other than a truck stop or a motel in the middle of nowhere.

Under the Supreme

2008-02-19T20:19:00.004-06:00

Minneapolis exceeded my guarded expectations by miles. We played the 7th Street Entry which is part of the 1st Avenue club that Prince made famous in the film “Purple Rain”, so it was a special honor to get to wash my hair in the ladies' room sink. The room in which we played was extremely small at only 200 person capacity and it was also sold out so people were packed in very tightly. This was actually an ideal scenario for us as we enjoy playing in intimate settings and connecting head-on with the audience. We had a great set and the response was fantastic. This show, along with New York and Poughkeepsie, was probably the best of the tour so far and it was a badly needed recovery from the disappointments of the previous two. Our friends Neil and Tanner came out and I enjoyed watching Immolation and going crazy with them up front. All the bands had a good night, and if every show was like this one I would never want to leave the road. Afterwards we went to an Irish pub across the street and had some drinks and a very delicious shepherd's pie.

We did ourselves a favor and got three separate hotel rooms for the night and this morning is the first time I've felt like something other than a homeless person in about a week. We have the two day drive to Seattle ahead of us and it is something of a relief to know that my morning shower will not be summarily undone within a handful of hours. Bob suggested that we rendezvous somewhere along the road and all have a meal together. We'll see if we can meet the pacing demands but I would indeed like more chances to socialize with the other bands.

The guys in Rotting Christ and Belphegor are cool people and they have been very accommodating and supportive of us, but as they are on the bus and we are in the van we have not had as much time to bond with them as we did with the bands on our previous tour. We still have almost two and a half weeks to go so there is still more time, but the sad thing is that it is usually the last third of the tour where everyone gets to be proper friends and then it is all over too soon.

Put My Hand in the Fire – When the burn sets in, part II

2008-02-17T00:08:00.003-06:00

Being the opening band on the tour is as hard as it looks. It often means going on early to a half-full room and not being the band everyone is there to see. It means less money, less sales, less hospitality, less of everything. We knew this would be the case of course, but we are tired and this feels difficult right now. We played well in Chicago despite an absurd stage mix but despite an overall good response it felt like we were reintroducing ourselves. It is also daunting to be followed by Belphegor who seem to be a fan favorite on this tour. Their reaction makes ours feel muted by comparison even when the show was otherwise a good one. We knew we were in for this when we agreed to start touring nationally; we are no longer a big fish in a small pond, and we are also having to quickly develop chitinous protection to our collective ego in order to see things for what they are. All that aside, we are glad to have a couple of days off after Minneapolis as Sanguine and The Carcass are both sick and we will need a rest. We have 24 hours worth of driving to do to get to Seattle but not having to perform makes it easier. The rest of the Chicago show was a success, particularly for Immolation who set the room on fire and inspired a violent pit. Our friend Tammy came out as well and it was good to see her. At the end of the night I had a very late dinner with Ross and Bob and they counseled me on the nature of uphill battles with a band. They certainly have had their share of them, and I always appreciate their practical and earnest advice.

We finally cleared out from the venue and cursed the steep flights of stairs that we had tackled earlier. I like old buildings but loading a four-band backline up three flights of steep stairs is not my idea of a good time.

I Feel Nothing

2008-02-15T13:57:00.002-06:00

Nashville was bad. Every band has their off nights and this one was definitely ours. The room and stage were unusually dark so I got caught in some unsecured cables and nearly fell while taking my position, the stage sound was impossibly bad and we could not hear one another, and none of this did anything to win over the static audience who attended the set. Sanguine is still struggling with his illness and his voice, so we ended up paring the set down to four songs. We debated this wisdom of this after the fact but I doubt it would have improved the situation to play the full set. We cut “Vomitorium Angelis”, which is the closing track off the new album, as it is the longest song we have on this tour and while we like performing it is starting to feel unwieldy and as it is new it is also a lot for an audience to absorb. We will likely perform other tracks in its stead for the remaining dates. We left early from Nashville to get to Chicago in plenty of time. I was fine to go and allow the bad show cloud to dissipate but it meant having to walk away from an Immolation set so our departure was not without regret.

Despondent Souls

2008-02-15T13:48:00.004-06:00

Louisville was a good show but the circumstances surrounding it definitely could have been better. We nearly died of exposure in the van during our meager four hours of sleep and when I pulled the van up to parallel park in front of the club I failed to see the tiny Ford Focus parked on our right and sideswiped it. Fortunately the owner was a nice college girl in a neighboring coffee shop who was ambivalent about the damage but I was mad at myself all the same. This is why you always purchase the insurance coverage on rental vehicles. The coffee shop itself was a comfortable place to relax and recharge, and the management even allowed us to use their bathroom to change into our gear. Bob and Steve from Immolation broke into uproarious laughter when they saw us emerging from the shop in full regalia. It is an understatement to say that we would have a much easier time if we decided to stop wearing the corpse paint, but that will never happen so we have no choice but to take advantage of any mirrors and lockable doors that are offered to us.

The show itself was well-attended and we were greeted with another fervent crowd. For some reason my wireless unit died during “Battle's Clarion”, I had no vocals in the mix, and the stage levels were horrendous, but we were still given horns and hails throughout. Sanguine gave a monstrous performance despite the fact that he is now (almost like clockwork) sick and losing his voice. The entire tour bus is a hive of road-AIDS now, with members of all the bands coughing, snorting, and generally laying around and looking haggard. I am doing my best to stay well, but it may be a losing battle in the end. The climate is not helping in the least, but mercifully Nashville is about twenty degrees warmer than our last stop. We have been mining for reviews for “Advent Parallax” and they range from glowing to hilariously muddled. We have no problem with legitimate criticism but it seems like the naysayers are too busy complaining about how they don't understand the album to offer a proper review. As far as I am concerned this proves we have succeeded in our mission once again. We are not seeking approval in every corner, as this demands compromises we do not wish to make.

Unholy cult

2008-02-13T16:34:00.004-06:00

Somehow, despite lethal temperatures and the accompanying snow storm, Detroit managed to be another good show. As mentioned earlier we had to organize the merchandise ourselves, and there were very few people when the doors opened so it was assumed by all that the evening would prove a fiasco. At the last minute we were informed that the opening band was not to play and suddenly we were expected to go on before we had applied paint or even changed into our stage gear. We managed to assemble a stripped down but suitable visage and took the stage to a somewhat small but very eager audience. I felt we played well and the set was fluid and dynamic. Sometimes going in with low expectations removes the urgency in a way that allows a freeness to shine through. We need to continue in cultivating this sensibility regardless of the size or prestige of the show in question. It can only serve us well. By the time Belphegor hit the stage the room had filled, which was great for the shows overall success though it is also one of the downsides for us in that we have to go on early even if the crowd capacity has not yet been met. Immolation was, as always, simply amazing and they once again played songs from every album with mastery. If you haven't realized it by now Immolation is my all time favorite band, and if you find my fervent admiration of them to be tiresome then you are out of luck.

As the night went on we were approached by more and more people who wanted autographs and photos and complained about how the road conditions made them miss our set. It was a shame to think that we could have been playing to a bigger audience but it was still good to know that we were anticipated. We also signed the torsos of two attractive girls with an oversized black magic marker. Incantations were scrawled across their chests, arms, and backs, and it looked pretty arcane when we were done.

The I-Rock has quite a bit of history attached to it, judging by all the rock and metal memorabilia on the walls, many of which are signed by the respective artists. The club owner honored us by requesting an artifact of ours to add to the gallery and we obliged with a battered cymbal that was personally destroyed by The Carcass. Another first for the cabal, and a fitting tribute to a tumultuous but ultimately triumphant night.

Close to a world below

2008-02-13T15:08:00.008-06:00

Both Immolation and Rotting Christ are 20 years old this year. That is pretty amazing, especially when I consider that I've been listening to Immolation since their inception. It is impossible for me to know if we will last that long, but we have no planned termination point so who can say? If we end up as revered as either band then I will be more than satisfied regardless of where it ends. Cleveland was good, particularly for a Monday night. I finally watched a Belphegor set and was struck by Ras' chokehold approach to playing guitar. His presence is brutish and imposing and it is not hard to figure why so many girls tend to approach him with doe-eyed and tentative demeanors. I have now missed two Immolation sets so I plan to get caught up tonight. Other than that it was just cold and uncomfortable weather that made load out a bracing experience. We played at Peabody's this time and this served to purge my bad memories of the execrable Jigsaw show from last year.

Now in Detroit: Sara the merch girl has presented with the flu and as usual BB King's completely messed up all the band shirt counts, so we were forced to bring in every last box and recount all of the shirts and CDs. It was tedious, but then again there is absolutely no place to go in this area and it is still blisteringly cold so it isn't as if we had plenty of other things to do. I am curious to see if anyone shows up tonight. I hear a lot of people cross here from Canada so perhaps it will be another respectable showing. We got a hotel last night and are rested enough so the upcoming drive to Louisville, KY, will hopefully not be too arduous. Perhaps it will be a bit warmer as well.

Nailed to gold

2008-02-11T22:40:00.000-06:00

New York could not have gone any better. We arrived in plenty of time to be buffeted by arctic winds that blasted down the chasm of 42^nd street like the blizzard beasts of Immortal lore, but we had little trouble in loading and parking the van. A masseuse was on hand downstairs and we all partook of her alarmingly strong hands. I was in dire need of the attention as my neck and left shoulder were a network of burning knots. Just as I emerged from my lactic acid trip I was greeted by Jos Smith and Charissa. There was concern that the oncoming snow would prevent them from coming but thankfully this was not the case. Soon after we turned in an electric performance to a full room. We had a couple of technical outages with our pedals but they were quickly remedied and did not undermine the impact. Jos was pleased with all the merchandise and posters and he enthused about our performance. The prestige of the evening was compounded by the fulfillment of a very long-standing aspiration of mine, which was to play a show with Immolation in New York. I have been waiting to do that since 1991, though I never imagined that we would not only play in New York with them but 24 other dates as well. This will not be the last time either, as they are already looking into taking us to Europe by year's end.

A couple of young girls found their way backstage and they excitedly told us how much they enjoyed our set before being hustled into the dressing room by Belphegor members. Those guys are a randy crew, indeed, and they are not shy about taking what they want. In the meantime, we stayed in the back and talked to many of our friends from the city, along with a seemingly deep-fried Dani Filth. Random. It speaks a lot of the great time we were having that we did not actually go out front to watch Immolation tonight.

The end of the night brought more terrifyingly cold winds and then a visit to the world famous Gray's Papaya. $4.50 for a great meal in downtown New York is an unbeatable deal. The only down side to an otherwise perfect evening was that our favorite jewelry store, C'est Magnifique, was closed on Sundays. Last time we were here with Emperor, Sanguine trumped me mightily with the purchase of an octopus ring and I was anxious to find something comparable. We will return sooner than later, so there will be other opportunities.

We slept at a truck stop in six degree weather which was not comfortable at all. I expect we will have to splurge on a hotel tonight as we left the van running for a couple of hours and nearly ran out of gas in the process. Cleveland is tonight, and I hope it will be better than last time as I really cannot tolerate that town.

Passion Kill

2008-02-10T14:56:00.000-06:00

Mark's Place fucking sucks, and I hope we do not play there again any time soon. The growing snow storm kept the audience relatively small (though I say relatively as it is clear that we will not play to any empty rooms on this tour), and while the attendant were sufficiently roused by the set I could not hear myself very well and did not like my performance. Mark's Place has a trillion rules for entry and crowd conduct, all of which are asinine and designed to discourage anyone from attending. I think this is likely because the whole operation is clearly a front for hookers, drugs, and whatever else, so they don't really care if the shows are well-attended. We make it a point of not ever taking out these kinds of frustrations on our fans as we always appreciate their support, but all the same, fuck that place.

Later: onward to NYC. We beat the snow storm by inches and now drive on a clear road. We should get there plenty early so lunch and a good parking spot are the two priorities. Jos A. Smith and his wife Charissa are to be present tonight, and I am excited to show him all the shirts and posters that feature his amazing work. As I write this, however, a blizzard is setting in on the city and it is possible he may not make it from Pennsylvania. I can only hope for the best.

Bring them down

2008-02-09T18:04:00.000-06:00

It is rare that you'll read the words “excellent” and “Poughkeepsie” in the same sentence, but that is the only fair description of last night's show. We were greeted by a host of enthusiastically headbanging maniacs who made the show a great one for us. We also received our superb-looking new hooded sweatshirts from Blunt Force Graphics and finally our advance copies of “Advent Parallax” which sold briskly. All the bands had great reactions and great performances. Another addition to the flavor of the evening is that the Chance Theater is clearly haunted. When I was in the upper mezzanine before show time, the floorboards creaked with footsteps behind me and I turned to see nobody at all. Sanguine reported a similar situation as he went up the stairs to the dressing rooms. It was intriguing up until the point when I went back into the venue at the end of the night and found a darkened stairwell actively staring back at me. I decided I had intruded enough. We slept surprisingly well in our van despite the cold and now we are at Mark's Place in New Hampshire- you know, the venue that's attached to a strip club that's attached to a building that is definitely not a hotel? That's the one.

Not everything is bigger in Texas...

2008-02-08T23:00:00.001-06:00

D'oh.

No Jesus, No Beast

2008-02-08T17:27:00.001-06:00

Rochester was exactly how we remembered it- grey, dreary, and encased in ice and stale snow. Fortunately the bad weather blew past us quickly and the roads were clear. We were very pleased to have the hotel and I ended up sleeping for almost 12 hours after we arrived. It turns out the Hartford show was canceled because the promoter drowned while visiting the Virgin Islands. Apparently his body was only recently discovered and he was missing since Xmas. Grim. The strange part for me was that in charting the maps between venues I routed us straight from Springfield to Rochester and completely skipped Hartford. I was planning on correcting it but something told me not to bother. I did the same thing with Nashville, so if this show is also canceled then I will take it as one of my random echoes of divination at work. As for the Rochester show, the turnout was about as good as it could be for this town; nobody has any money and the weather is not an additional incentive. Still, I should not complain as the crowds have been responsive and attentive regardless of their size, We experienced several technical problems attached to the drum kit and triggers that forced us to start, abort, and reattempt our opening song, “Descension”. That is never a good thing, but luckily the audience was accommodating about it. Overall the stage sound was awful for all the bands, but we managed to pull off a good showing. Immolation was great as usual, and I'm trying to log more time watching Belphegor and Rotting Christ. It is difficult since we invariably miss any band that immediately follows us as we are usually packing our gear and cleaning up. Still, it would be a pity to not actually see the bands with whom we share the stage. Merchandise sales have not been terribly good for any of the bands so far from what I can tell. Hopefully we will see an upswing in the bigger market. I hope that the shadow of the recession is not a factor in this, as it is merch sales that keep us and our tour mates afloat.

On to Poughkeepsie. We got a bit of a late start but the thruway is a straight show across the state and the roads are clear, so we should arrive on time without incident. We play a large and venerable theater called the Chance, so I hope the show will prove memorable.

Those Left Behind

2008-02-07T12:27:00.002-06:00

Jaxx had a relatively lean turnout, which I suppose should be expected on a Tuesday night. Still, over 200 people is not a shameful showing. Immolation was once again incredible and they added “Those Left Behind” to the set which was a real triumph of the night. Their current lineup is definitely my favorite to date. Steve and Bill back Bob and Ross seamlessly and do justice to both new and classic material. We are tired already, as our initial drive from Texas to North Carolina was compressed into a day due to my illness. Fortunately our show in Hartford was canceled so we have a day off and plenty of time to drive to Rochester. I will not further speculate on what shows will be good as it seems that it is anyone's guess, but I am indeed excited to see many old friends we haven't seen since 1999 when Averse Sefira operated out of western New York. We did not successfully sleep in the van last night as we seem to be in the mode where we are too exhausted to sleep. Also, I seem to have pinched some nerves in my left leg that is making it seem like my foot is being held to a low flame. We will take advantage of the free time and get a hotel tonight in order to rest sufficiently. The Rotting Christ/Immolation/Belphegor bus apparently died about an hour south of Rochester and they will have to remain there until a replacement bus arrives. In the meantime we are wending our way through the back roads of Pennsylvania as those are the only roads there are in this state. We'll arrive in New York in a few hours and several ugly little townships later.

Here in After, VA

2008-02-05T15:37:00.000-06:00

Charlotte was well-attended and well-behaved (which is sometimes a double-edged sword). I managed to break free of the flu's grip to help turn in a very satisfactory performance with the band, which was a good omen since often times the first show is invariably one of the worst. I am donning quite a bit more armor than before and between the newness of it and my lingering fatigue it felt like I was performing on Jupiter. No matter; it will all lock into place soon as it always does. Everyone in the bands are agreeable people, and I look forward to getting to know them more in the days ahead. Immolation in particular was amazing, and watching them play was exhilarating as usual. I've seen them perform since 1991 and I think they are truly at the top of their game. There are no other remarkable events to report at this time. We are here in Springfield at Jaxx and I expect a good show tonight. The sound at this venue is massive, and there are plenty of AVRS adherents in the area. I have to begin answering interviews for magazines while on the road, and it is already mildly irritated due to the patent nature of many of the questions. It is a real chore to have to try and turn a one-note question into something of substance as if I am some kind of hostage negotiator. Yes, yes, fame is a burden.

Photos should be forthcoming as soon as I figure out a reliable way to resize them.

Fall in Disease

2008-02-04T14:46:00.000-06:00

Touring by definition means to forgo many comforts and guarantees, including a regular wage, a warm bed, decent food, or enough sleep. This life isn't for everyone and it never surprises me when even members of successful touring bands suddenly panic and abandon their comrades at the end (or sometimes in the middle) of a tour. I walked away from a job that was going well and could still become a productive career for the sake of this tour, never mind the fact that I also came down with the flu less than forty-eight hours before we were due to embark. Yet here I am again along with my band mates who share in my situation. We have no certainties as to whether or not we'll see any success or money at the end of this run, though I'd like to think that based on the standing response to the new material we will hold our own. In any case, there's no place I'd rather be. Money and jobs come and go, but these experiences will echo through eternity.

For those of you keeping score, here are the dates for the tour:

04 Feb 2008 USA Charlotte, NC @ Tremont Music Hall
05 Feb 2008 USA West Springfield, VA @ Jaxx
06 Feb 2008 USA Hartford, CT @ Webster Theater
07 Feb 2008 USA Rochester, NY @ Penny Arcade
08 Feb 2008 USA Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance
09 Feb 2008 USA Bedford, NH @ Mark�s Place
10 Feb 2008 USA New York City, NY @ B.B. Kings Blues Club
11 Feb 2008 USA Cleveland, OH @ Peabody�s
12 Feb 2008 USA Detroit, MI @ I-Rock
13 Feb 2008 USA Louisville KY @ Uncle Pleasants
14 Feb 2008 USA Nashville, TN @ The Muse
15 Feb 2008 USA Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium
16 Feb 2008 USA Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
19 Feb 2008 USA Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
20 Feb 2008 USA Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
21 Feb 2008 USA Oakland, CA @ Oakland Metro
22 Feb 2008 USA Santa Ana, CA @ Galaxy Theater
23 Feb 2008 USA San Marcos, CA @ Jumping Turtle
24 Feb 2008 USA West Hollywood, CA @ House of Blues
25 Feb 2008 MEX Mexicali @ El Jardin del Silencio Extreme Rock Bar
26 Feb 2008 USA Flagstaff, AZ @ Orpheum Theater
27 Feb 2008 USA Tempe, AZ @ The Sets
28 Feb 2008 USA Albuquerque, NM @ Launch Pad
29 Feb 2008 USA San Antonio, TX @ Rock Bottom Bar
01 Mar 2008 USA Mc Allen, TX @ Cine El Rey
02 Mar 2008 USA Houston, TX @ Meridian

The Approaching Advent

2008-01-18T19:34:00.000-06:00

So here we are once more, preparing for yet another assault of the USA. This journal will once again come active and will be duly chronicled as before, though with any luck the entries will not feature any outages. The format has also been adjusted for better legibility. As for our cabal, we are now fully prepared. The featured tracks off of our new "Advent Parallax" are now whetted and deadly and shall lacerate the psyches of new initiates. More soon.

So it is written

2007-10-10T21:34:00.000-05:00

And thus a new page in our history is written. The fourth album by Averse Sefira is complete and now coiled to strike at the dawning of 2008. Additional information will remain withheld for the time being. There will be no samples or leaks. In the meantime, I can confirm that this is our best work to date in terms of both material and sound. February looms as the anti-empyreal and the physical collide in deadly unison. Prepare.

Dawn of Possession

2007-09-23T15:06:00.000-05:00

Week 3 of the Process: Much ground has been covered in a short time and thus my earlier optimism remains founded. Sanguine and The Carcass have turned in proficient performances that will ensure triumph for the album. Many have asked, "What will it sound like?" and "What is the title?" All I can offer is that the release will speak for itself, while the title will be announced in about two more weeks. In the meantime, Ross Dolan of Immolation was present on Saturday to contribute vocals to one of the songs. It was both exciting and an honor to have him contribute, as Immolation is among our all-time favorite bands and they have influenced the work of AVRS since its inception. Sanguine and I were admittedly sheepish when it came to directing him on ways to approach the lyrics. Who are we to tell one of the most enduring voices in Death Metal how to perform? The gravity of this was mitigated by the fact that Ross is also a close friend and an affable person in any case. He did very well with the material and at the same time fulfilled my long standing aspiration to feature him on a recording.

As I write, Sanguine is diligently recording additional guitars. I am particularly impressed with his efforts on this record as he is performing with a degree of surety and ease that I have never seen before, though it is still coupled with his usual intense workmanship. While I hesitate to curse us with any grandiose statements, if this album failed to sell a single copy I would be completely satisfied in knowing we did something great. In the end this must be the reason to pursue the art. All other motivations are merely afterthoughts.

Breech Birth

2007-09-13T00:50:00.001-05:00

As is true with all expectant parents, the commencement of birthing the new album felt like a surprise despite many months of preparation. We are on day four now, and the first week is usually the most worrisome in that it takes time to set up and mic the drums and prepare the studio equipment in general. It invariably seems that time is slipping away and that not enough is being accomplished, but then all at once there is material committed to tape and the album is officially underway. The period of time to write our fourth album was about nine months, which is about thirteen months less than what we prefer. Then again, about two thirds of our usual schedule is used up with Sanguine writing and ruminating over the work. Our actual official writing time was about the same, but the difference is that this is the first time we do not have complete lyrics to dictate the course of the music. Nevertheless, the process has begun and while we can steer it we cannot stop it. Tore Stjerna is producing for us once again, and as usual his ideas are sage and his methods are studied. This will be another success for Averse Sefira, and it will also prove to us that we can rise to the demands of less time and more output. We shall not fail.

A Paean to a Weapon

2007-08-13T22:19:00.000-05:00

Today is the 60th Anniversary of the Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle. A reliable weapon is sometimes the only arbiter of victory or defeat. I know this well. For seven years (effectively the whole of Averse Sefira's tour history) I wielded a BC Rich Beast called Stormbringer and in that time I abused it far more than it deserved. It got slammed in a door before I had ever laid hands upon it. I sheared off the bottom edge of it leaping off a PA speaker in the Czech Republic. I have inadvertently (and sometimes purposely) drawn the blood of my band mates and or audience members with its headstock. It has met with repeated and relentless spiked assaults that left a maze of scratches and the need for repeated applications of wood putty and glue. Its scars are testimonies to the distances it traveled and the violence it sustained. Stormbringer served me well indeed, and it was in dire need of retirement though I will miss it. It helped shape the visual assault of our unit, and it is hard to put it aside in favor of a newer model.

Fortunately a worthy replacement came to me in the form of a Moser Arachnid Ultra. Adherents of Altars of Madness will note the significance of the color scheme. It will take some time for the black magick to be imbued into this new device, but in keeping with tradition the mongoloid enclave known as DHL succeeded in breaking off the bottom horns during shipping so I take this as a sign that we were meant to do battle together.

Delineated

2007-07-27T17:56:00.002-05:00

If there is any single person to thank for the existence of this journal, it would be Tom Gabriel Fischer (or as I and countless thousands still know him, Tom G. Warrior). His writings can be found under the mantle, “Delineation”, and it has served as an impetus for me to take the time to properly document the occurrences and wanderings of the AVRS triumvirate.

With this in mind, I find myself reflecting on my first proper encounter with Herr Warrior a few months prior when we performed in Illinois. I mentioned this in a previous entry, but upon retrospect it is remarkable that our brief meeting left such a lasting impression upon me. Tom has a disarmingly gracious manner that seems directly proportional to his near-mythological status. When I escorted him and his fiancé to the backstage of the venue, he was (naturally) accosted by fans about every ten steps. He would shake hands and greet all who approached and then apologize repeatedly for making me wait. It was all I could do to not react with slack-jawed disbelief. A friend of mine commented that meeting Tom Warrior is the Metal equivalent of meeting Thomas Jefferson, and I heartily agree. Celtic Frost is effectively the flash point for this genre as we know it, and yet here was the man before me who remained unaffected by his own persona and was offering apologies on account of it no less!

More striking, however, was the way in which he quietly broadcasted his deeper presence. Certain people have minds that, when a receptive person is engaged, function like windows to the observer in question. I have seen this before, but the intriguing nature of Tom is that I felt as if I was peering through the window and into an unnavigable realm. There were several visible pieces that overlapped and seemed too confounding to identify or describe. I could also sense many tiers within him but they mostly obscured one another (which also lent a personal significance to the song “Obscured”). The most remarkable aspect was that I could practically see the thin dark shroud over him that manifests as kind humility and secludes his deeper greatness from the world outside. It was not unlike glimpsing the edge of the sun before it is swallowed by an eclipse. It also seems like he prefers it this way. I think to truly know such a person means to gain access to a vast hold of genius and poetry, though more likely it is telegraphed through words and gestures that are nearly invisible to anyone unequipped to receive them. Ultimately this encounter further justified my long-standing admiration of Celtic Frost, and it galvanized my outlook that people who are quick to judge Tom and his work based on perceived missteps are ingrates who do not see that his contributions far outweigh any transgressions. In the meantime, I am anxious to cross paths with him again as I would like to have another chance to talk and perhaps gain further insight into what drives the entity we have all long revered as Warrior. Perhaps he would read this and chuckle, and then tell me that I’ve got him all wrong. I look forward to stand corrected.

They Am the Black Wizards

2007-06-05T17:03:00.000-05:00

Performing with Emperor was one of the most difficult feats in our decade of existence. We've played with many "big names" in the past and I've never felt intimidated in the least. Then again we've never played with one of the single most influential bands of a genre, never mind their high degree of musicianship. The situation was not helped when the entire show schedule was pushed back by an hour and a half which meant our stage time was 7:45 instead of 9pm, and we were notified of this mere minutes before the doors opened. The main problem in these situations is a question of mental preparedness; once we are aware of a timetable, we then slowly move towards the point when we stop being mortal individuals and become Averse Sefira as an entity unto itself. A sudden change in plans can be jarring and lead to distraction or anxiety. Despite these pitfalls we are, like any seasoned unit, adaptable and I do not think our performance suffered. Our intrepid French visualist Valnoir was on hand to take live photos (as shown here) as well as some compelling candid shots that will likely not surface until long after the band is dead and gone.

Back to the challenging nature of Emperor- in the last handful of years the band has cultivated a more discerning and often less metal fan base and with this in mind we were expecting an uphill battle and potentially a room full of crossed arms and furrowed brows while we performed. I am pleased to say that New York did not let us down and our reception was positive, though maybe not as manic as our last appearance. We were informed later that the last time Emperor played here the opening acts were all but booed off the stage, so it seems that we managed to hold our own against the Norwegian juggernaut. The band members themselves were cordial, and before long I found myself in a conversation with Ihsahn about our respective bands and our convergent histories. I respect Emperor greatly for their contributions and talent, but it was also interesting to see first-hand how divorced they are from the movement they helped to forge. These days, Ihsahn is a pure musician and not a Black Metal maven in the least. The band's performance underlined this reality in that it was note-perfect, laden with virtuosity, and not in the least bit dark or threatening. It was telling that one of the show's highlights was Ihsahn's singing at the end of the song "Thus Spake the Nightspirit". Again, there was immense talent on display, but only a small amount of Black Metal to be culled from the experience.

In any event, I am still impelled to finish this entry with the requisite humbleness by stating that it was a rare honor to meet and perform with Emperor. I doubt we (or any band, for that matter) will have another opportunity like this. Their legacy is the Black Wizards indeed.

P.S. This was Averse Sefira's last performance for the season, as we are now endeavoring to prepare the new album for recording in September. There will be related reports coming soon.

D'enouement - One last triumph

2007-04-17T13:14:00.000-05:00

Albuquerque could not have been a better send-off. There were almost 200 in attendance, on a Monday night no less, and it was one of the best audiences of the tour. There is no greater sense of validation than to play your music and have an entire room headbanging in unison. The rest of the show was excellent as well, with each band garnering cheers and horns held high. Goatwhore laid down a massive set, which was punctuated by the requisite end of the tour prank. Blake, Sanguine, The Carcass, and I entombed Ben in silly string on Goatwhore's last song. The crowd loved it, and the ever-professional Ben didn't miss a beat and kept on screaming while looking like the bride of Swamp Thing (NOTE: if you were at this show and have pictures, please contact us). He is a wily bastard, though, and apparently got wind of our plot beforehand. After our set he managed to break into our van, thanks in part to us foolishly leaving a window cracked, and spent half an hour rifling through our gear looking for the string cans. When he could not find them, he took our guitars and hid them in his trailer instead. Sanguine and I realized this at the end of the night when we noticed the large unoccupied space in the back of our van. We didn't panic, but we walked in and out of the club for a few minutes in confusion while trying to locate the missing cases. Ben finally came laughing and admonishing us that we shouldn't leave our windows open. Lesson learned - Ben Goatwhore is not someone with whom to mess. It was worth it any case.

1349's set was the final, fatal blow that signalled the end of the tour like a massive black flag. They were clearly enjoying the response, as Ravn was more outgoing with the audience than usual and the entire unit played especially hard. They also made a good show of ignoring the gay beefcake photos that Chris taped to their monitors. Averse Sefira and Nachtmystium were out in force in the pit and occasionally on the heads and shoulders of the crowd. And then it was over. The Hellfire Revival Tour (as I've chosen to call it) is now at a close, and we are sad to see it go. We couldn't have asked for a better maiden voyage of the US - a proper Black Metal tour, and a successful one at that. Everyone involved agrees that we couldn't have had a better lineup in terms of bands and the people behind them. We will be fortunate to have a strong dynamic like this again, though we will make a point of playing with all three bands whenever a new opportunity arises.

So for now we bid farewell to the Numbers, the Whores, and the Mysties, and in the meantime we will be grateful for the experience and the new alliances. As for this blog, it will remain intact with new entries attached to events of interest surrounding Averse Sefira. Keep watching.

Thanks to everyone who attended the shows and made this tour such a triumph. We will meet again.

Finale- the pain of disengagement

2007-04-16T13:43:00.000-05:00

Tempe was a good show. There were plenty of people, as well as friends with exciting names like Jenocide, Nuclear Blaash, and The Fatherland Almighty. We sounded and played much better than the previous couple of nights thanks in part to an intelligible stage sound, and I've decided that Californians are the only ones who don't understand that concept. We spent time afterwards with aforementioned comrades, as well as many gracious attendees who offered praise and congratulations. Tempe seems to be a friendly place, and we look forward to returning again.

The pangs of the impending end of the tour seem to be setting in amongst us all, as there was even more camaraderie between the bands than usual (or "bro-mance" as Nathan Goatwhore puts it). There will be madness tonight for certain, regardless of how the show itself goes. We had just enough time to forge bonds and friendships, and it makes our separation more poignant. Fortunately, we are assured to see 1349 again as we are label mates and very interested in further outings together, and Nachtmystium and Goatwhore are active as well so I do not doubt that our paths will cross again. Come to think of it, I don't think we could avoid playing more shows with Goatwhore if we tried. They are literally on every tour there is at the moment.

More on Tempe- it was another night that belonged to Goatwhore. Ben and Sammy were in rare form, and they admonished the crowd with vitriolic statements about the old ways of metal and the failings of the new bands and their fans. Damn right. They pummelled the crowd with their onslaught and left everyone breathless and tired. The downside was that 1349's subsequent performance hemorhaged attendees until a rather sparse group of fans remained. It was no fault of the band, and being that it was a Sunday night people likely needed to get home for work the next day, but how often does a town get a show from a good Norwegian Black Metal band? Please refer to my previous entry about Americans being slaves for more on this topic.

We are still a few hours away from Albuquerque. I expect there will be much to report tomorrow. The claws of the dreaded "Road AIDS" are digging into me rather hard at the moment. I would very much like to stop coughing up radioactive green phlegm.

The meditation of water

2007-04-15T15:49:00.000-05:00

My divinations regarding Corona served me well, as it was indeed a better night for us than L.A. The sound on stage was still lousy, and we could not hear our vocals at all. What does a sound man think it means when we say, "More vocals in the monitor," three times? In any case, the audience was great; it is always a good sign when people call out song titles they want to hear. Afterwards, we were met by our friends Nadja and Heather who had recently defected from Texas to California. It had been a while, and we ended up spending the rest of the show talking outside, though a persistent and growing smell of death in the parking lot forced us to relocate to the confines of our van. It was a nice change of pace, however, with friendly and relaxed conversation replacing a noisy and crowded room.

This morning- we awoke in Palm Springs after fleeing the exterior of the LA sprawl and went to a truck stop to clean up. Showers actually hold a great deal of ritual significance for me, as they are meditative and allow me to readily acheive the alpha state. The hot water rushing over the top of my head creates a sense of doors opening in my mind, and my creative thinking is often at its peak in these moments. Many elements featured in our music and visuals were born in this sanctum, the place of white noise and warmth. The reason I discuss this here is because many have asked us what methods or rituals we use in the creation of our music. There are many, of course, but I find this to be the most direct and immediate method, one that anyone can easily engage. It is surprisingly easy to begin, and even small measures may yield large results. Find something that allows you to roam and banish the left side of your mind for a moment, something that distracts just enough that you unwittingly find yourself keenly focused. You may be surprised at the results.

Two shows left and we are not anxious to see it end. It feels like we needed more, perhaps an additional week or so. Then again, if all goes according to plan we may find ourselves on the road far more than we ever expected or even wanted. Bring forth that day, we are ready.

Hollywood Babylon

2007-04-14T17:46:00.000-05:00

Los Angeles comes at you fast. It is ground zero for the industry side of American heavy metal, and it is also a place of insular, self congratulating pretentiousness mixed with an utter lack of shame and a desperate craving for debauchery. Even if you are not using drugs, the sheer volume of people and excess will make it seem so. Motley Crue were not exaggerating.

We started the day early, having driven through eye-wreckingly bright Las Vegas and the subsequent wastes of Death Valley the night before. Manson country. Cool. Earlier, we stopped about 45 miles before Las Vegas in the blackness of the unlit interstate and marvelled at the stars covering the vault of the sky. Then Sanguine pointed southward towards the orange glow on the horizon and referred to it as the Mordor-like lights of Vegas. It was fitting indeed. Once we reunited with Goatwhore in Barstow, we then followed them out through Pasadena to visit the Moser Custom Shop. Neal Moser and his wife Earleen cordially received us, and Neal showed us around his workshop and let us ogle the several body blanks he had prepared for production. It wasn't too long before we found ourselves sitting down with Earleen to set up an endorsement for new guitars. We were excited as we had been interested in Mosers for some time and it is also our first proper endorsement ever. Sanguine left with a vicious-looking red and black Bastard V, and I put in an order for an Arachnid bass that will arrive at month's end. L.A. proved to be the land of milk and honey for 1349 and Goatwhore as well, as Sammy Goatwhore came to the evening's show with sharp looking new Coffin Cases and some Framus amplifiers. Archaeon of 1349 went out to the Jackson custom shop and came back with a very nice Jackson V via his artist's discount, and we all stood around congratulating each other and celebrating our spoils of the day.

There was an air of high energy surrounding the show. The Knitting Factory was one block away from Grauman's Chinese Theater and there were throngs of people on the streets. The Carcass and I walked over to look at the theater and I got mistaken for Alexi Laiho (as usual). By the time we had finished milling around there was a long line of black tshirts snaking around the side of the mall. Dozens of people were waiting to see the show, and the word later was that the show had in fact sold out. All the bands were excited at the prospect of a packed house, but Friday the 13th apparently did not wish to let us pass unhindered. When Averse Sefira hit the stage there were several techincal problems including a failure with our intro music, a hideous stage sound, and random things like the stage curtain accidentally being lowered in the middle of a song. By all accounts we did well and the response from the crowd was good, but distractions like that make a set into work and we felt like we could have done much better. It was also maddening to think that Topeka, Kansas, had a superior monitoring system than one at a high-end Los Angeles venue. Past that, the rest of the show was fun, wild and nearly overwhelming in places. There were industry people all over the backstage along with many random and sometimes irritating hangers-on, and we talked to those of interest to us and ignored the rest. Akhenaten of Judas Iscariot made a surprise appearance, and we were glad to see him again. We met a porn starlet named Tera Wray who was eagerly flashing her breasts at everyone and in the interim stopped to tell me that she liked my eyes. Oases of niceties in a desert of iniquity, I suppose. In the meantime Jasmin St. Clair (of Coffin Cases and also of the infamy of having fucked 400 guys in one day on film) got into some kind of altercation with Nathan Goatwhore and ended up slapping him. Things were about to boil over between Goatwhore and the LA contingents but clearer heads finally prevailed, though the twitching in Ben's neck afterwards pointed towards the subverting of considerable anger.

1349 destroyed tonight. They had the audience whipped into a frenzy throughout, and the final bringdown was when they played an encore in true LA fashion. The truth is that they actually forgot to play one song so returned to the stage to peform it, because in point of fact they have been militant about not doing encores. Regardless, it was fitting for the occasion and even I could not resist rushing across the stage and leaping into the crowd to bathe in the chaos.

Three more shows to go. We are in Corona now, I think this one will be a better one for us. I do not know why it seems so, but I have long given up on questioning such things.

Long live the Pandemonium Empire

2007-04-12T20:25:00.000-05:00

Denver was not particularly good for us. We were very distracted due to the fact that our roadie left the tour abruptly and without warning. His only explanation was that he "wasn't having any fun". Touring is not a vacation, and I am endlessly confounded by the indolence I see in some people on the road. We certainly are not the first band to have a crew member abandon a tour, but this is a lesson to us. We will not count on anyone offering to go with us as a favor. From here on, it will be all business wherein we will pay someone for the work and hopefully have less worries. As it stands this is but a small impediment. We will not be stopped. The agenda is all, this is not about fun, and anyone who cannot understand that should get out of our way. A better turn of events came when we ended up staying in 1349's motel room and talking about the nature of Black Metal until 4am. I hate to overstate it, but getting to know this band has been immensely rewarding for us. I think in the end the biggest allure of touring for us is meeting other bands and forging new alliances. We are very fortunate indeed.

Now- heading towards Las Vegas to catch up with Goatwhore. We have an audience with Neal Moser in California tomorrow, so we cannot tarry. The drive through Colorado and Utah was a feast for the eyes, with the snowcapped mountains and painted canyons. Sanguine put it best when he said that America is a pretty country, it is just the people who ruin it.

Need I remind you who the headliner is?

2007-04-11T16:15:00.000-05:00

We have grown considerably in the course of this tour. 1349 and Goatwhore in particular have been good teachers and we in turn have been willing students. It is rarely a question of being sat down and told how to do something, but rather a holistic exchange of ideas and methods. There are already plans in our cabal to upgrade equipment now that we will have a touring schedule that demands it and the means to acquire the ordinance, and I am particularly pleased with Stormbringer's new tone which I have dubbed the "Seidemann sound" after the man himself. It served me well last night; we sound far more massive than ever before. None of this means we could not fend for ourselves before. On the contrary, we've done just that for a solid decade with notable success. But we would be foolish to ignore the chance to expand on our approach and become more competetive in the process. Also, this tour has given us much to consider in terms of where we are and what we wish to make of ourselves as we go forward. Watching 1349's masterful performance every night is definitely food for thought. Their presence on stage is practiced and effective, as well as convincingly grim (there's that word again, and yes it is appropriate). With just a week left on the road, I am already not looking forward to saying goodbye.

In the heart of the enemy

2007-04-11T11:51:00.001-05:00

Kansas is wretched. It is flat, featureless, and worst of all deeply Christian. Topeka was a grudging journey in the interest of not having to drive straight to Denver and lose a payday in the process. However, I am finally learning that when it comes to touring there is no telling how good or bad a show will be, and Topeka proved to be full of surprises. There were only about sixty people but their reaction made it feel like the room was packed. Everyone was up front with fists in the air and remarkably our performance was one of the best of the tour. This is the kind of communion we seek with every audience - message sent, message received. One unexpected consequence was being approached by a rather attractive girl who took my arm and began licking and sucking the spikes on my gauntlet. That was a new one for me, and I was so surprised that I didn't quite know what to do. As she took a particularly sharp spine into her mouth I became alarmed and warned her to be careful. She snapped her head up with a fiery look and pulled me forward by my shirt. "You're the one who needs to be careful," she said with a lacivious snarl. She roughly clasped my head in both hands, pushed her body against me, pressed her forehead to mine and hissed, "Welcome to the Bible Belt, baby." Then she walked away. For all the dogma, self-righteousness, and insane moral standards of this region, they cannot protect their daughters from us. We are the slow acting poison, the enemy within. We achieve victory, one soul at a time.

It takes a tour package to tune a bass amp

2007-04-10T13:57:00.000-05:00

I was the unwitting center of attention during the St. Paul soundcheck. Since I can no longer adjust my bass amplifier properly I am utilizing my SansAmp DI box instead of my normal Line 6 stompbox. I never used this device for a live performance before, so I resorted to reading the instruction manual and hooking it up during 1349's sound check. Ravn shot me sneering grins while the band ran through the song. "You have to read those," he jeered. However, once the sound check was over a spontaenous round table occured around me. Nate Goatwhore, Seidemann, and Ravn all poked at the buttons and turned the knobs while I played my bass. There was a lot of "No, no, it needs to be this way," and the like. We ultimately got a good sound that worked surprisingly well for me when we hit the stage that night. Thanks guys.

As for the show itself, St. Paul was a northern inferno. Various friends were in attendance and I was pleased that we turned in a good performance for them. Tonight's highlight was an attendee who began shouting for our song Deathymn two songs into the set. When we initally planned our set list for this tour, The Carcass made a case for having alternates ready, since he was sure somebody would want to hear Deathymn among others. A point in his favor, and we grimly obliged the request last night. It was a fiery version of the song, and the crowd responded in kind, wih lots of Norse hair flying in all directions. It was an excellent time, I hope we return to the area soon.

Today we finally broke our bad habit of tardiness. It is 2pm and we are in Topeka on schedule.

Among Godz

2007-04-09T16:16:00.000-05:00

We performed in the presence of a titan last night. Tom G. Fischer (nee Warrior) and his fiance Tammy made a surprise appearance at the show in Mokena last night. Celtic Frost is set to embark on another US tour and Tom was already in the area. At the end of the night I went over to say hello as we had met before, however briefly, in San Antonio a few months back. He was cordial and friendly, but he also radiated an etherial presence that was both fascinating and intimidating. I walked the couple up to our well-guarded backstage area, and at the door the security guard hedged on allowing them in. It was somewhat surreal to hear myself saying, "This is Tom from Celtic Frost, I assure you it's ok!" The guard relented and we proceeded to 1349's room. Before I left the friends to their revelry, I took a moment to tell Tom how I held Monotheist in the highest regard and that his detractors were idiots. He seemed genuinely touched and shook my hand, and I went on my way. In the end, I and my band mates are still fans ourselves. I can't imagine performing in a band such as this if the music was no longer exciting to me. The show itself was good, with the exception of my awful bass sound on stage. Through some still undetermined mishap, all the tuning knobs on my bass amplifier were sheared off and now I cannot adjust the tones to any real degree. I will have to do some emergency surgery on it tonight, though that will once again be rushed as we are late in arriving as before. That needs to stop.

Haste

2007-04-08T12:33:00.000-05:00

Running late today. It is five hours to Mokena and we woke up late. Apparently the doors are at 5pm for this show, and as of this writing it is 1:20pm. I hope we make it. We finally escaped the clutches of the snow, so we can now resume driving at unsafe speeds.

One forgotten detail from last post- all the cops in Rouyn Nouranda are hessians. They came to check on the party at the bar that night, and it turns out they had a band of their own. Goatwhore sold them shirts. Goatwhore sells everyone shirts. The next morning we were blasting out of the city and were stopped by a highway patrolman. It was a 50km zone and I was going 100. He asked us our business and we identified the band. After he returned my ID he told us he had a doom/death band as well, though sadly the name escapes me. He let us go without any fuss. Quebec is a utopia.