Diminishment

Interim Album Announcement

2012-01-01T23:57:00.000-08:00

1/25/2012 "Born Unto Darkness" The instrumental Ambient version of Diminishment is released, with reviews comming in from the states and Hungary, along with radioplay this album is available through many distros as mp3s,(CDbaby, Napster, Amazon, Tradebit, GreatIndieMusic, Zune, Itunes, Emusic, Medianet, Deezer, Nokia Music and more to follow!) also a highly limited edition of cds only 100! will be released through cdbaby.com. in several weeks. NOTE: This is a one time deal for this kinda release, Diminishment will be returning with their 3rd album a more visceral Grave work of darkness in Echelon 666 next year!

1/25/2012 #1 question, will "Echelon 666" bear any semblance to "Born Unto Darkness" You will hear some similarities ais Born Unto Darkness, as it originaly was it, but there will be so many more changes that only a few riffs may sound similiar, in a sense Echelon 666 is the Head on the coin, where as Born Unto Darkness is the Tails, either way it will get you across the river Styx. Besides dont you ussually hear the echoes reverberating first before you hear the full onslaught of the music when you actually arriv eoutside the venue; then it is a full onslaught when your in front of the stage when you get in. You go from obscure to clarity, the only difference is our venue is hell.

Postponement

2011-08-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

In recent Months I cathaoir have been having lots of bloodwork, a severe infection, oral surgery and on Tichondrius status, he had an accident involving a pipe saw, and injured his back while working as well, thus we have been trying to get back to our 100%, all that is left is bass and vocals, we already know what were going to do for the mastering, the artwork and all of that. Rest assured we will be continuing and Echelon 666 shall be released, so far its atmospheric, eiree, moments of shredding, frantic solos, fast paced drums, imagine early bathory type of sound and musicaly like a cross between Emperor and Dark Funeral blended through currents of the river Styx.

Metal Underground Interview With Ipsissimus

2011-05-27T06:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=68377&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

and kudos to my vocalist for the Diminishment mention

New Merch

2011-05-09T21:56:00.000-07:00

Now Available Diminishment Vinyl Stickers, t shirts, and we still have a very limited amount of "Brimstone Demise cds' once they sell out only mp3s will be available for purchase.

CD's available through:
http://www.cdbaby.com/diminishment

All other media
diminishment@gmail.com

Ipsissimus Way of Descent on sale soon

2011-05-09T21:50:00.001-07:00

Ipsissimus Way of Descent on sale soon, the debut album on Metal Blade Records, featuring Diminishment's Vocalist/bassist Tichondrius

www.metalblade.com

Cathaoir Involved in Car Accident

2011-02-09T21:48:00.000-08:00

Cathaoir while driving home from work winter morning was struck ie side swiped by a CT Transit bus, he's expected to make a full recover in a month.

Evolution in Hell's Embrace

2010-12-26T01:32:00.000-08:00

Update:

Studio been upgraded;(added a new controller, new synth, digital eq, db meters, sd recorders, a 12 string acoutic, 6 string acoustic, 6 string classical, numerous software plugins, metronome) Cathaoir added a new Custom Agile V, to his guitar Arsenal as well as a Morley Countour Wah, MXR Phase, and Eventide Pitchfactor.

Echelon 666 update:
We have been having alot of changes in our lives with work schedules, Tichondrius' Metal Blade necessities, shows, and we have finaly gotten into a practice routine, a premix before the bass and vocals are being finished, and we may play show(s) in the new year as well. Time will tell.

statement from Cathaoir:
"It's been a long process but we have let the album naturally evolve during this year and its a new plateau of Diminishment's Music. Relentless, Dark, Obscure and Lyriccaly powerfall, it will be a tale lending to the oblivion of hope itself."

At this time the album is T.B.A. 2011

Tichondrius' Ipsissimus signs to Metal Blade

2010-10-28T00:57:00.000-07:00

I cathaoir am with honour to annouce that Tichondrius' black metal band IPSISSIMUS is now part of the Metal Blade Records Artist Roster!

I have personally worked with the band mastering several releases including the famed 3 secrets of Fatima EP which was also mixed by the legendary Jeff Weed, and may also do a website for the band. I am also quite happy that Jeff and I's combined audio skills made a very unique and inspiring release when combined by the talents of Ipsissimus. This audio experience has also been brought to the media's attention in several well known magazines.

IPSISSIMUS is:
Tichondrius: Bass / Vocals
Haimatokharmes: Drums
His Emissary: Guitar

About the band:
IPSISSIMUS was founded when His Emissary (guitars) and Haimatokharmes (drums) met by providence on 6/6/06 in New Haven, CT, and found in one another worthy vessels of channeling the occult philosophies into ritual Black Metal. In November of that year, Tichondrius (bass/vocals) completed the trinity. Within a month they were playing concerts and released the demo Trampling the Host, a potent exercise in raw, blasting Black Metal. Over the following years, they established a reputation across New England for technical yet raw live performances, sharing the stage with both local and established Black Metal groups, such as Nachtmystium, Enslaved, Dark Funeral, Krallice, and Watain. In February 2008, IPSISSIMUS independently released the Three Secrets of Fatima EP, a complex and melodic triptych that thrust them to the forefront of the burgeoning American Black Metal scene. In June, IPSISSIMUS played the Three Secrets of Fatima EP start to finish to a very enthusiastic crowd when the band opened up for legendary EYEHATEGOD and Nachtmystium. Matching their music to orations of black piety that draw from esoteric traditions antique and modern, often composed in the dead tongues of the ancients themselves, IPSISSIMUS initiates the listener to a Left-Hand Gnosis with a unique and irrefutable statement of American Black Metal.

http://www.myspace.com/ipsissimususbm
http://www.facebook.com/ipsissimususbm

Raw Underground True Black Metal

2010-10-28T00:38:00.000-07:00

##FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE##

The Legion Of TchorT” Compilation – WebZine - Radio Samples more of 200 Bands. That send to more of 45,000 Headbangers. If you like the song, please contact with the bands for Buy your original CD and Merchandise.

This compilation is launched! Editions goes out in Sweden, Usa, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Italy, Brasil, Colombia, Venezuela, Uk, México... and more countries for Spread your Music . Also In Radios, Magazines, Webzines and more.

!Let's kill The Rip Off! ! !Not Ghost Zines! !Not Posers! ! Only Support The Metal Underground !

Compilation # 10 The Legion Of TchorT

Aasverus - Intro - Beginning (Brasil) (3:18)
Elderhead - Hevn Av Presten Impaler (Usa) (3:58)
Airlines Of Terror - Carpet of Larvas (Italy) (2:43)
Verdelt - Sword Silver Shining (Finland) (3:10)
Sonneillon - Into the Unknown (Poland) (4:26)
Diabolical Demon Director - Funeral hearse (Australia) (3:58)
Diminishment - Mallus Ater (Usa) (5:08)Damnatur - Valkoisen kynttilän himmenevä hehku (Finland) (3:39)
Warcrown - Corpskill (Germany) (2:46)
Existence - Dark Forces (France) (3:49)
Khashm - Flames of Death (Russia) (5:12)
Netharious - Under The Satan Sun (Usa) (4:16)
Cryphtex - Oblivion (Italy) (2:42)
Sombras Nefastas - Clamor de Sangue (Brasil) (2:58)
Coprolith - Death Only (Finland) (2:22)
Illness - Devilish Stigmata (Poland) (3:37)
Monday With A Bullet - Reagan (Usa) (3:00)
Infernal Scourge - The Frozen 25th Hour (Usa) (5:17)
Plague Anthem - Darkness Breeds Immortality (France) (3:40)
Winterblood - Massengrab (Germany) (5:12)
Valkyrian - Rain around (Italy) (4:26)

MYSPACE: http://www.myspace.com/leo_tchort
OFFICIAL BLOG: http://thelegionoftchortzine.blogspot.com
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/TchorTLeo

Pest Webzine Interview of Cathaoir

2010-07-24T05:46:00.000-07:00

Pest Webzine Interview of Cathaoir

Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
DIMINISHMENT was formed in mid 2008 in the Tri-state Area USA, as a 4 piece consisting of: Heretic on Death Vocals (Earlier in Noktorn, Angelus Infernus, Phasmatis, What Weapons Bring War whom Released Ep and Albums on Ferox, UK, Ancient Records, USA.) Ixion on Black Metal Vocals (earlier in NatterVrede as Vocalist which released several EP’s, and albums in US, and compilation on Soyuz Records, Russia.) Cathaoir on Guitars (Earlier in Noktorn, Phasmatis, NatterVrede as guitarist whom released Eps, Albums on Ferox Inc, UK, Ancient Records USA, and Soyuz Records Russia.) Tichondrius on Vocals and Bass. (earlier as Bassist/ Vocalist in Tyrant, Ipsissimus whom released Eps, and Albums.) ,All whom have received reviews and along with constant radio play worldwide in the underground.
The 4 set forth to the studio to record the debut album entitled "Brimstone Demise." 2 band members being Cathaoir and Tichondrius were left standing in the wake of the recordings. The album was released under Ancient Records USA in 2009 and the retailers being, CDbaby, Itunes, Tradebit, Great Indie Music, Napster and more!
Radio play ensued worldwide among the greats of Manchester England's Autopsy Report, Raven's Eggs and Kegs Radio Show in the states,
The Track "Mallus Ater" was featured on several compilations: "The Legion of Tchort Underground Compilation" in South America, and The Canadian Label of NHR Records "Voices of the Underground 6."
Along with the first official interview through USBMS Europe, Reviews by Black Belle Music in Australia, Metal Monthly in the United States and Obliveon Metal and Gothic Magazine in Germany, among others.
DIMINISHMENT is first and foremost a studio band/project whom currently released their debut album entitled "Brimstone Demise.” in 2009. The 2nd album "Echelon 666" is tentatively to be released early 2011.

How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
Our style falls under Black Metal, Extreme Music, the nuances also hit ambient and at times experimental areas as well. As for bands that have influenced us, I would say we actually listen to little music at all during the times we create our nocturnal art so to speak, but if we have to really think of it; Emperor, Bathory, Venom

Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
Well we do not follow and set way to do music, we created quite an original style within the black metal genre (if we do say so our self, and we do). The music creates an uneasy feeling of rampant chaos barely held together, and cause of this it will fit in just about any where on your extreme music play lists, we kinda give a break in the stagnation that occurs due to an lack of originality.

What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
This is our first band Working together (Tichondrius and I (Cathaoir). So this is our first album which is entitled "Brimstone Demise. Which we released in mid 2009 " We are also working on our 2nd album as we speak which will is entitled "Echelon 666." Which will be tentatively released early 2011.
Prior to these, We have both had around 6-12 releases each in several genres over the last 15 years: Black Metal, Death Metal, Thrash, Doom.Under Band Names of Phasmatis, Noktorn, NatterVrede (Cathaoir) and Tyrant, Ipsissimus, Sea of Bones (Tichondrius).
With this new Incarnation of Diminishment, the first album of "Brimstone Demise" Recieved good feedback from such media as Black Belle (Australia), Michael's Metal Monthly (USA), Obliveon (germany) among other zines were quite favorable, even radio play on Raven's Eggs n Kegs in the USA, The Autopsy Report in England and several more, including an interview with USBMS Europe; but all and all quite positive feedback. We also have been asked and contributed tracks to The Legion of Tchort World Wide Metal Compilation (South America), and NHR Records'Voices of the Underground Volume 6 (Canada)

Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
At this time we do studio work alone, in the near future we may have a live lineup for touring purposes.

What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
We always do what is right by us regardless of consequences. We have been quite active in the Extreme music Scene for over 10 years, and will never change for anyone. In past shows we have had a riot break out, been kicked out due to actual religious protesters, and quite frankly when it comes to fans, friends etc your either with us or not... it's that simple really. We never got into this for money or fame or anything other than making music that reflected ourselves in the natural sense, our outlook on life is basically "do what thought will" cause to us when its over, any so called heaven or hell or anything that you may experience is simply the rotting out of your body interpreted before the brain finally falls out your skull.

What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
More Albums, maybe some shows, hell why not a video for the hell of it.

Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
MYSPACE - www.myspace.com/diminishmentband
OUR PERSONAL LABEL SITE - www.ancientrecords.us
MAIN BAND SITE - www.ancientrecords.us/diminishment
SALES WORLDWIDE - www.cdbaby.com/cd/diminishment

July 2010

Origional found at http://www.pestwebzine...ucoz.com/index/diminishment/0-..192

Read more: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=377213785&blogId=537483372#ixzz0ubToKpkE

South American Burnt Offerings!

2010-07-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

COMMING SOON!
SOUTH AMERICAN RELEASE (Lima, Peru)

FEATURED BANDS:
Aasverus (Bra)
Airlines Of Terror (Italy)
Coprolith (Finland)
Cryphtex (Italy)
Damnatur (Finland)
Diabolical Demon Director (Australia)
Diminishment (Usa)
Elderhead (Usa)
Existence (France)
Illness (Pol)
Infernal Scourge (Usa)
Khashm (Russia)
Monday With A Bullet (Usa)
Netharious (Usa)
Plague Anthene (France)
Sombras Nefastas (Brasil)
Sonneillon (Poland)
Valkyria (Italia)
Verdelt (Finland)
Warcrown (Germany)
Winterblood (Germany)

It's finished and will be out soon, World Wide Black Metal Undergound Compilation.

For more details:

MYSPACE: http://www.myspace.com/leo_tchort
OFFICIAL BLOG: http://thelegionoftchortzine.blogspot.com
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/TchorTLeo

100k

2010-06-21T03:31:00.000-07:00

Well Been hard at work on the new album, hopefully will have everything but the bass and vocals for half the album done by the end of this month, also we would like to say thanks for all the plays for our first album Brimstone Demise, in black metal and as an independant band we would never have thought that in a little over a year and with our first album, we would get 100,000 plays!! SO thank you very much! If you liked the last album, wait till you hear the 2nd its black metal, its thrashy at times and even ...experimental but all under the main theme of extreme music that is Black Metal

Echelon 666 Happenings

2010-05-03T05:11:00.000-07:00

After lengthy upgrades to..well everything, all the drums are done for the album half the guitars for Rhythm and Lead, and some songs rewritten, just need 2 more pieces of equiptment for the guitars and in the near future bass and vocals shall be done, this one will be a long one comming but in the event of this 2nd album's release being pushed till later on this year, it will be well worth it!

Echelon 666 Lyrics

2010-02-02T06:26:00.000-08:00

DIMINISHMENT"Echelon 666"

Daemonium Conjury
By Cathaoir

Woe to you in defiance, By my tongue may it get you ,
May you be broken over the masons cliff
the world will be forced into ethereal darkness,
and pagan blood will emerge as a river ,

Evil,death short life, Derangement and madness on the fragile minds,
the curse of curses in sorrow beset,
Scorn disgrace malediction by churches and bells,
Your old frame dead and, lifeless will never a stir.

With none to wake your corpse, your limbs without a shroud!
The lying despoiler, into hell to be tormented,
In the depths of the whirlpool blowing,
twenty-one demons each tearing you asunder,

Where Fire and brimstone never fail to fall,
Your soul to Satan!

May Malphus make you,
I give you to Lucifer,

May Astaroth damn you to the stone of dirges,
to the well of ashes seven miles below hell,
and which they may break your bones.

In hell may you be
I bind you by grave injunctions of magic
from the river, back to the river.

Thy Kingdom Infernal
By Cathaoir

Dies, Ave, glacialis, Conjurio ave deity
Liber, Sanctum ,Glorio anno Pro ephesia ov aeternum
Infernis, Abbatial, Cedo, Blaspheme abyssus
Ave, Requie, Inno a satanae

Dreaded morning star that came amid a night of earth
Thine eyes eternal hate enshrined, thy heart diminished
There is no place for god in my funeral mind of thorns
For there is little of earth for sorrow and fate.

With breath taken away from pale faces
They writhe and burn in a labyrinth deep within tempests.
From unquivering wings, one who dwells in lonely places
Never contemplated things have brought forth eternal shadow.

With ravenous hate my every word
Taught from tomes a forbidden language
In the wild wood I die
Cast me into they kingdom infernal
On later eternal raven years
My spirit flings down the begotten words of hell.
Enshrined in un holy bliss ave des nostrie satanas
Bring forth thy kingdom infernal.

Ars Notoria
By Cathaoir

Black Souls on the path to an endless kingdom
the past of which all is forever mortal
the funeral anthem brings the infinite cold
Under a black horizon,
the celebration of armageddic allegiance

Fools of the past who form weak circles
you seek to gain wisdom and power
under the guise of the conjuror
you seek fortune but only will find infinite death
upon thy old hands of blasphemy
ars notoria

At the witching hour,
an answer to the forbidden calls
the moment of Armageddon is here
the night sky burns forever with darkness
reflected in the deepest waters
the dark arts eternal.

In Eternal Death
By Cathaoir

Spirit that dwellest where
Beyond the tides that boundary life & death
The terrible eternity which we feel
Thy messenger is known to me
But what shadows of spirit?
Too soon ascend thy empire
As in winged blasphemy
the secrecy of knowledge be thy embassy

The immoral ambition,
all destinies cast aside the masons cliff
Stand alone and upon chaotically placed stepping stones
Above all the Gomorrah,
the sovereign that which the world wished to never know
He who strides the diadem left by those left behind thy gates.

Now are thoughts that shall not banish,

Those awaiting their judgment

Mocked by the wraparounds of the beasts curling tails
Thrown asunder into the depths of seven possible hells
The crown under the darkness filled with power and pride
Of no glory the world wishes ever to know.

Silence Accursed
By Cathaoir

Let the rocks of brimstone burnt roar
Loudly and fearfully beneath this sanguine moon
And then man trembled in the solitude of its wake
Fearfully awaiting the waning of the moon
Watching hell itself sit upon its accursed rock of burnt earth

Chorus
Down into the recesses of the moor
Waded afar amongst the wilderness
Under the call of he who drove it in silence
Heed my call and come Behemoth

Tempests gathered under the heavens
Where the winds tormented the seas once calm
And under fallen darkness clouds of torrent forever block heavens path
And thus forth all those who dwelled below the earth
And blackened skies are not called the accursed

Solo

bridge
By the borders of mans feeble will
There is no quiet silence of tormented thoughts
For condemned souls across eternity cannot
Fathom the remembrance of the end of days
And with loss of divinity all is accursed

Chorus
Chorus

Maelstrom
By Cathaoir

Not long ago deadly terror which broken up body and soul
In danger of the furies of the wind,
as desolate as no human imagination can conceive
Whose character of gloom against its ghastly grave
Howling and shrieking forever
Lashing into ungovernable fury
Sending forth to the winds
an appalling voice ever spoken in agony to the heavens
an abyss penetrating unforgiving depths

Pathway behind time and eternity
Blood its avatar and seal
Dominions summoned to his presence
An assembly of phantasms
Fallen upon this spectral image
This grave and corpselike mask
Darkness decay illimitable dominion

Under December s’ snow
Came a dull voice of scorn
Each word burning deed and thought
The eclipse drowning out the stars
The flaming forge of life and death
In life’s oblivion
Cast asunder a chasm whose shadows deep

Conjuring of the Flame (Demonolatry)
By Cathaoir

The crowning of evil,
the miseries and calamities in which our times has fallen,
Fallen to their persistent and over curious temerity.
They set their course from the light into whirlpools of darkest blasphemy

Inducements of man first led astray by demons,
and so falling become the dealers of magick.
Marked by talons as an enduring witness of their servitude
Under the fallacy of perpetuating righteousness.

As witches travel to their nocturnal synagogues
As such journeying are but an empty imagination
Begotten dreams of equal cruelty
Demonolatry their infinite damnation

The transvection of men ,the air by good angels
In times past were calm free from ardors
That which witches transported by demons
If full of pain and weariness,
Run in hailstorms, brooding tempests

Nox Noctis Aeternus
By Cathaoir

Watch me as I fade away into ethereal darkness,
And in hell I shall reign forever, and though I wander still

Prudence, and though I wander amidst streams of forgotten souls,
that not even a hundred miles would suffice,
their judging between appropriate and action a lie.
There upon do I this body bring,
to tell you who I am is to lay words of since in the rain,
As of yet my name makes no great noise,
Though I under many legions rise Rofacole am I.

Justice, An Allegoric Lie,
Let faces of purity be twisted backwards
and since humanity wishes to only look forward,
their faces twisted towards the backward path like gnarled oaks.

Temperance, When the sea is silent,
in awe of the pollution they call light, now a fading dissident.

Courage, Halfway along the path of life,
righteousness, they good always falter into madness,
lay a waste most humankind in ill-gotten suicide.

Born Unto Darkness
By Cathaoir

Instramental

Prepare for Dissection

2010-01-26T05:17:00.000-08:00

Well its 2010, were slowly but surely making progress with the album, but hey how about some nostalgia. The Autopsy Report in wonderful Manchester UK is featuring us this Janiary 26th-30th on their radio show. Details below, show some support.

The Autopsy Report Metal Radio Show 25th - 31st January 2010
It couldn't be done, they said. Impossible, they said. A million to one chance, they said. And they were right, so we just did this instead. Tune in to another predictable yet reliable edition of the Autopsy Report. At least you know what you're letting yourselves in for. This week featured artist: DIMINISHMENT

This week's playlist:

Troll - Alt For Satan
Mechanical God Creation - Project Kill
Unleash The Archers - Tied To A Stag
Shredding The Envelope - Standstill And Scream
Shackles - Orgy Of Corpses
Rest In Silence - The Call Of Nemesis
The Devize - Heavens Gate
Serpent Underground - Wish
Coprolith - Other Me
Necrodemon - Brothers in Blood
Condition Black - Bored
Travia - Misery
Angels Of Nightfall - Whisper
Diminishment - Diadem
The Crossing - Genie
Queens of the Stone Age - 3's & 7's
Benediction - The Grand Leveller
Bolt Thrower - War Master

The Autopsy Report website.
www.autopsyreport.co.uk

The Autopsy Report MySpace page.
www.myspace.com/autopsyreport

Last week's show is on line RIGHT NOW at www.myspace.com/autopsyreport
Alternatively you can go to www.viciousenterprises.net and download it.

Cheers,
Gramie

& Here We Go Again

2009-11-30T07:18:00.001-08:00

Well it's time again! That's right we've finished writing the second album and have entered the studio for another hellish attempt at the black metal masterwork.

The first genuine Opus "Brimstone Demise" faired well in the underground, recieved good reviews in underground zines like, The Black Belle in Australia, Obliveon in Germany, Michael;s Metal Monthly in the states, and also featured in UK's brilliant Autopsy Report, and the Track Mallus Ater faired well to do on a Canadian Magazine sampler as well as the Legion of Tchort Sampler in South America. There are a few limited hard copies still left at cdbaby.com/diminishment as well as we always have mp3s of the entire album available as well.

So as of today, the drums have been finished, were going for a more mid 90s black metal sound and feeling as opposed to a late 80s sound of the brimstone demise album. should be another work of nocturnal art so stay tuned for updates!

NHR Records Canada Voices of the Underground Compilation

2009-10-15T06:08:00.000-07:00

NHR Records Canada Presents Voices of the Underground 6 includes Diminishment's Mallus Ater

NHR Records Canada Presents Voices of the Underground ECD free compilation, thats right its free to download, features over twenty extreme underground bands, including us DIMINISHMENT and our track "Mallus Ater" From our debut album "Brimstone Demise"

Hey check it out, its free and you get one of our fan favorite tracks at no cost! Support the Underground and check this shit out here at

http://www.vftu-magazine.com/

Michael;'s Metal Monthly USA Reviews Diminishment "Brimstone Demise"

2009-10-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

Missouri USA

Original Version found here:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=10157833&blogID=513343759

Diminishment review !!!
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Music
Diminishment " Brimstone Demise "
1- Midnight Reverence
2- Mallus Ater
3- Diadem
4- Phasmatis
5- Of Immortality and Spirit Shed
6- Malediction
7- Mournful
8- Praise Death Eternal
Cathaoir: Guitars, Effects, Drums
Tichondrius: Vocals, Bass

www.myspace.com/diminishmentband

Here we have the band Diminishment. And, while this cd is a bit slow to get started, once it gets going its pretty hard to stop the insanity from flowing from your speakers !!! This band uses a broad range of influences from all over the metal spectrum to create what is sure to be one of many classic releases this year. There are hints of Thrash, Progressive, and Classic metal here and it wraps around the main Black Metal ideology rather nicely to create a rather nice addition to a stagnating genre that seems to be churning out one copycat after another. Well, you don't have to worry about that here. Diminishment are 100% original in their presentation and delivery. Lyrics and music aren't just thrown together here. Everything seems to be well thought out and planned in order to get this rather pleasant result. I especially like the style in which the lyrics were writtten. Definitely not run of the mill lyrics and they are even a tad bit on the abstract side. IMO, that just adds to the aura and intensity of the music and the band themselves. The style of riffing here seems to be a bit old school somewhere in the late 80's or early 90's era. This really works for the band. Add to that some semi-technical drumwork and you have a nice little taste of what TRUE METAL is all about. It's hard to pick out a favorite track on this cd as they are all equally as good. If you like bands such as Morbid Angel, Abigor, Behemoth, Emperor, then Diminishment is a band for you. Everything is done to perfection here. There are absolutely no complaints. Contact this band and get a copy of this cd as soon as possible !!!!! If you don't then you're missing out on a damn fine release !!!

Diminishment Interview by USBMS EUROPE

2009-09-24T15:29:00.001-07:00

XASTUR: How would you describe Diminishments sound?

CATHAOIR: Enigmatic and Brooding

XASTUR: What influences your music and the subjects of your lyrics? Do you have beliefs or Spiritual leanings which play a part in your music?

CATHAOIR: This is a good one, the music of Diminishment follows a tale basicaly, the tale of the aftermath of a war between heaven and hell, which hell won, light has essentialy ceased to exist for quite sometime and only stories of light or good is all that remains, in its wake eternal damnation, diminishment of all that is good or god, totality in futility, all under eternal diminishment. A near perfect world, a nocturnal eutopia. As for the second part I personaly can attest for some very close feelings for leveyan satanism, but i pull form here or there in the pagan spectrum, Tichdondrius believes in nothing. So when both of these come together it makes for more desolate works, as for the part they play in music, it drives a bit but isnt the coffin nail to our music, The coffin nail is all that we aforemeantioned plus our personal experiences.

XASTUR: Are you influenced by any other bands or musicians Cathaoir? Which bands do you currently listen to? Do you have any old and enduring favourites?

CATHAOIR: Venom, Bathory, Emperor, Dark Funeral, influence my music, I am currently listening to Nokturnal Mortum, Mithras, Emperor, Ruins of Beverast, and the classics of Venom and Bathory.

XASTUR: After the demise of your former band Nattervrede was it always your intention to form a new band? How would you say Diminishment differs from Nattervrede?

CATHAOIR: After NatterVrede ended I wanted to reaffirm some old attributes and move towards a more "organic sound" more true to the old roots, Nattervrede we used tons of compression and large expansive gear setups, while with Diminshment we keep it simpe. Straight forward with a single amp, a mic, a cab and as little compression. And in Diminishment we really try to just let the music develop into its own sound, I guess Nattervrede was a stepping stone in one direction, while Diminishment is more on a personal path to fullfilment of what I always wanted to accomplish sonicaly.

XASTUR: How did you choose the bands name? Does it have any particular meaning or association for you?

CATHAOIR: Diminshment as in the name of band formed right from a talk with Tichondrius on the pondering of existence in which I stated "All we could know is we die then all these delusions of heaven or hell or what have you can very well be the parts of the brain malfunctioning till your brain rots out, then there would be nothing, just everything diminished''; Tichondrius said ''dude thats the most depressing thing I have heard in a long time, I have to be in your band" so thats how it came to be.

XASTUR: What roles do you take in the band?

CATHAOIR: Well I wanted to just focus on lead guitar, but that fell through big time like always...so I do all rhythm, lead guitars, drums (programing), keys for background, then all the mixing mastering, promotion, all that, Tichondrius does all the bass, vocals, and helps with some of the mixing and mastering as well.

XASTUR: Tell me bout the rest of the band Cathaoir. There have been a few line-up changes during the recording of the album. Why was this?

CATHAOIR: Well origionaly it was me on guitars, Tichondrius on bass guitars, but then Ixion my older band mate Heretic from the Phasmatis days in the mid 90's and they both fell through due to one being shipped out to sea in Heretics case, and in Ixion, he was given an ultimatum of either go back to college or live on the streets. so they left the band out of necessity.

XASTUR: How did you come by Tichondrius and has he, like yourself, been involved in any other projects before Diminishment?

CATHAOIR: Tichondrius and I have known each other for over 10 years lol, we were always in different bands doing shows all over the place, but he was in Sea of Bones, Tyrant, Ipsissimus which he still does now amongst several others. Plus we ended up working at the same job for a bit so we were like, hey its about fucking time we did a band together.

XASTUR: The new album 'Brimstone Demise' is now ready to be unleashed. Would you like to talk a little about the tracks? Also tell me about the recording process. A lot of the bands I know record D.I Y. so what is it like working under the rigours of a studio schedule?

CATHAOIR: The tracks I wrote just about all the songs back in 1999, but when I got diagnosed with carpal tunnel I had to hold them to the side and work with what I was capable of doing, Then after time got back up to speed and technical aspects and wrote a few newer ones such as Diadem, and Praise Death Eternal. The tracks lyricaly and musicaly are kinda classical in approach it has buildups, continuity and yet origionaly in each piece which makes interesting and also at the same time of what i would hope be considered a classic piece of black metal music.

The recording we're almost veterans at since we both have about 9 releases each over the last 15 years, But we researched, bought the right gear and it worked out well, we did everything ourselves, and constantly checked up on different approaches and only kept what worked. We wanted a classic sound so we picked up a Universal Audio Channel, kept it clean and just used like an API eq, then added unique items like a Lexicon Vortex, and plugins based on old 1980s hardware like Lexicion 84,42, API 550A,B eqs, and did more towards a vintage tube mastering. All and all I would say rather right on what we wanted. But there is also room for improvement.

Scheduling went without a problem the first 4 months, but then it was whenever we got a chance get as much as possible done cause of work conflicts. But after 8 months we got it all done.

XASTUR: When will the album be available and on which formats? Where will people be able to get a hold of it?

CATHAOIR: We are primarily focusing on the mp3 formats, which the whole album will be available through, Cdbaby.com, amazon.com, Napster, Apple Itunes, Rhapsody, Verizon Vcast and several more to come for the mp3 sales, but to my knowledge will be available in most countries.. as for CD sales we do not have much money to put to it so if we get any we will get a third party sales company maybe we will try blackmetal.com and try to work out some sort of small and I mean small relase of cds but that will be a while from now.

XASTUR: You mentioned problems in the past with tendonitus and carpal tunnel syndrome, obviously disastrous problems for a musician. How did you overcome this? Was there ever a time when you thought your days of performing were over?

CATHAOIR: From the moment I came down with it, it killed a record deal and we were going to tour with Nunslaughter, and a few others back in 2003, The doctors were like yea your never going to play again and I was depressed, I started drinking really heavy like 18 drinks a few nights a week and then I said to myself fuck this I will do this again and started practicing till I could again, but it was rough cause at first, it was like having knives through your forearms and wrists and pulling through your flesh till it came out the fingers. But I dealt with it and here I am and can play pretty okay now.

XASTUR: What are your experiences of playing live? On your profile page it's stated that Diminishment are 'first and foremost a studio band'. Can you see a time when you may want to take the band to the stage?

CATHAOIR: In the past bands both Tichondrius and I have played in and opened with and for Wolves in the Throne Room, Dark Funeral, a ton at New England Metal Festival, Slayer, Morbid Angel, Dimmu Borgir, Enslaved, Decapitated, Hypocrisy, and of course lots of local bands. Live is good but it costs alot to tour and in the United States the scene is few and far inbetween in attendance. With this band just cause of time restraints and committments we're keeping it as being a recording artist, kinda like Darkthrone we write a bunch of music then once a month or so come and work it out and record.

XASTUR: Any last words to close the interview Cathaoir?

CATHAOIR: Never aspire to be like someone else, only be yourself and put yourself and true feelings uninhibited out in your music, that way its personal and no one can take that away from you.

Thank you for the time and consideration for this interview.

Thanks to Cathaoir for taking time out to answer these questions. If you would like to take a listen to Diminishment visit their myspace page at:

www.myspace.com/diminishmentband

Diminishment Brimstone Demise Reviewed in Obliveon

2009-09-24T15:20:00.000-07:00

We have been Reviewed in Germany's Obliveon Magazine

Our English Translation:

The founder Cathaoir, the combo with Tichonrdius made new album 2008 entitled Diminishment, Eight pieces of primitive old school black metal becomes 8 snatched up commandments of Metal with scratchy and extremely creshendos of song as well as – and here is established possibly the difference to NatterVrede –some discreet Ambient influences. I shortly want to make it: "Brimstone Demise" contains after my for that non stop of highpoints and is rustled past during the complete running time. Even BM fans of the entirely old school should listen before a purchase sample.

German Version found here:
http://www.obliveon.de/pn-om/modules.php?op=modload&name=tplcdimport&file=index&req=showcontent&id=13964&cfletter=D

DIMINISHMENT IN JAPAN

2009-09-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

Hey Fuckers, into metal and our music in Japan you can now purchase the debut album "Brimstone Demise" from Itunes.com in Japan, and we are very thankful that yahoo music Japan Featured us!

Diminishment on Autopsy Report Radio Show UK

2009-09-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

The Autopsy Report Metal Radio Show 17th - 23rd August 2009
Here it is, the Autopsy Report in it's new two hour format. Can you sit still for that long? Only one way to find out... Tune in!!!

This week's playlist featuring Diminishment:

Ravage - The Shredder
Gate Of Sorrow - Behind The Mirror
Painting In Negative - Inertia
Grace Will Fall - Heroine
The Cruxvoid - Empty Hallway
Thrillrazr - All Comes Down
Glass Wolfe - Rise Above
I Alive - Sinner I Am
Sons Of Rage - Insights Into Dementia
Holy Rage - Give Them Hell
DimmZ - So Easy
Diminishment - Mallus Ater
Sirkus - Bruder
Decay of Apathy - A Fallen Angel
Slave To The Darkness - Black Rain
Chainsawtan - Hungry Ghoul
Bodies In Wake - Feast Of Plagues
Les Paul - Dream Dust
Budgie - Napoleon Bona Parts 1 & 2

The Autopsy Report website.
www.autopsyreport.co.uk

The Autopsy Report MySpace page.
www.myspace.com/autopsyreport

Last week's show is on line RIGHT NOW at www.myspace.com/autopsyreport
Alternatively you can go to www.viciousenterprises.net and download it.

Cheers,
Gramie, The Autopsy Report
Cathaoir, Diminishment

PURCHASE BRIMSTONE DEMISE

2009-09-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - MAY 25TH, 2009

ANCIENT RECORDS
sets release date for debut album of

DIMINISHMENTS “Brimstone Demise”;
New mp3s posted online!

ANCIENT RECORDS have set a release date of July 25th, 2009 for the North American
release of Brimstone Demise from United States Black Metal band duo DIMINISHMENT.
The band -- Cathaoir (guitars, effects, drums) and Tichondrius (bass, vocals) --
entered Vortex Studio Last October 2008 to record the album, originally
released in a limited edition CD run, the album will be available first to North America in May 2009 and the world by June 2009 on the underground label Ancient Records.

About the recording, Cathaoir says, "We tried for a bit of a rawer, rougher production so that tracks have a bit more traditional late 80’s mid 90’s analog sound. There are still lots of layering, as on our other records, but the sound is not quite as compressed as some of our other releases. We maintained our originality again, the album is full with ambient and interesting passages and change ups that might be a bit of a surprise..."

You can hear the entire album 'Brimstone Demise' at the DIMINISHMENT official

MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/diminishmentband

DIMINISHMENT – Brimstone Demise
ANC007 / Ancient Records / 05/25/09

1. Midnight Reverence
2. Mallus Ater
3. Diadem
4. Phasmatis
5. Of Immortality and Spirit Shed
6. Malediction
7. Mournful
8. Praise Death Eternal (Brimstone Demise)

BIO:
DIMINISHMENT (Noun)
a. To make smaller or less or to cause to appear so. b. To detract from the authority, reputation, or prestige of. C. To detract from the authority, reputation of light, so that only the horrors and utter darkness is realized and felt by the music evoking dread, mystery and despair through the movements of each piece.
DIMINISHMENT was formed in mid 2008 in the Tri-state Area USA, and as a 4 piece set out to record an black metal masterwork in the old school tradition.
At the formation DIMINISHMENT Consisted of: Heretic on Vocals (earlier in What Weapons Bring War, Angelus Infernus, Phasmatis, Noktorn), Ixion on Vocals (earlier in NatterVrede as Vocalist which released several EP’s, and albums in US, and compilation on Soyuz Records, Russia.) Cathaoir on Guitars, Drums, Effects (Earlier in Noktorn, Phasmatis, NatterVrede whom released EPs, Albums on Ferox Inc, UK, Ancient Records USA, and Soyuz Records Russia.) Tichondrius (earlier as Bassist/ Vocalist in Tyrant, Ipsissimus whom released EPs, and Albums.) ,All whom have received reviews and constant radio play worldwide in the underground.

Cathaoir recorded and released the first EP Entitled “Diminishment” in the winter of 2008 as a strict limited edition, which favored well and garnished the listeners with their first dose of eternal Diminishment.
Later on in the fall of 2008, the four went forth in blasphemy into infernal masquerades of the long process of recording the debut album “Brimstone Demise.” Half way through the recording this debut album, both Ixion and Heretic opted to end their diminishment and pursue another path. With Tichondrius covering all the bass guitars and vocals, and Cathaoir handling all the rhythm and lead guitars, ambient effects and drums, the long invocation finally took place.
“Brimstone Demise” consisting of 8 tracks of Enigmatic Infernal Ambiance was released on Ancient Records USA. with the distribution being through the likes of Cdbaby. Napster, Rhapsody, Itunes, Tradebit, Shockhound and more in May of 2009 as mp3s.

But the story does not end here! Leaving the wake of brooding diminishment the two-piece with ambitions realized now continued. The favorite track of Mallus Ater will be used on several compilations in Canada, and in South America. With reviews and interview requests pouring into the well of human destitution, the rise of eternal diminishment now continues with greater force.
DIMINISHMENT is first and foremost a studio band/project whom has currently released their debut album entitled “Brimstone Demise.”

More:
Official Diminishment website: http://Diminishement.ancientrecords.us
Diminishment @ MySpace: www.myspace.com/diminishmentband

to Purchase the album as digital or hard copy go to

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/diminishment

Debut Album Brimstone Demise Lyrics

2009-09-24T14:11:00.001-07:00

Brimstone Demise Lyrics
DIMINISHMENT LYRICS

1. MIDNIGHT REVERENCE
2. MALLUS ATER
3. DIADEM
4. PHASMATIS
5. OF IMMORTALITY AND SPIRIT SHED
6. MALEDICTION
7. MOURNFUL
8. PRAISE DEATH ETERNAL

All lyrics, tablature, names, created by Robert Stilwell, © 2008 Under No Circumstances may this confidential document be duplicated, publicly displayed. Or derivative works assimilated from without express written consent.

1. MIDNIGHT REVERENCE

Disheveled mourning star,
Withering in this nocturnal existence
Ave Omega, Ave Mortuus,
Bloodstain lands tell of eternal lineage.
The tragedy that is the plight that is man,
The truth sealed to be lost and forever gone.

2. MALLUS ATER

Drowning in darkness i died yet emerged
From fates ill warning obscure not absurd
Like the mist cloaking guise in darkness
Death not under turn]
Releasing foul treasure, aetheticus returned

We sat in abysmal blackened void
The requiem of unholy innocence
The conjuring of daemons joy
The wretched without limits

As it was done the ceremony conducted
They sat in ecstasy of pleasure
Black metal resurrected

En nomine mallus ater
En nomine mallus ater

3. DIADEM

Silence breaks as sullen bereavement.
In ages of quiescence
Not a caliginous soul outspoken
Words of sereninity.
Admonished by the one

Amergin the wizard
I berate thee
Foretell your prophecy
Disimprison your words of power.

Those who dwell deep within forbidden crypts,
A lost soul who wanders mist-shrouded cemeteries,
Chaos infused in ceremonious azure
Join the witching hour.

The wind which blows over the sea
The wave of the ocean
In the murmur that billows
The seven combats
I am the god who creates
In the head of man the fire of thought.

Who tells the ages of the moon
The enchantment of battle
And the wind of change

4. PHASMATIS

This body is a disease
Waking to give way and crumble to let us out.
In the underground realm
Where there are no lies just pain,

Eluding the keepers of earthly passage.
The light blinds and steals our memory,
And makes us forget our pagan past
Water is said to be the life,
But is merely what holds us to his will.

When the woods were young,
And protected by the ancients of the underworld,
With branches soon to die
And then they dry and disappear made to be forgotten
To lacerate the relation of earth and man.

Thorns full of poison talking to themselves
About their own death causing cure.
Forever alone, until the end of time.
The growling beset from the mighty throne of forgotten truth,
Echoes of thunder hurled from the east
With an eagles cry the call resounded
No more slaves to the house of death

Those of whom without comparable measure
Those who ride the whirlwinds,
Our flesh shall live forever.

5. OF IMMORTALITY AND THE SPIRIT SHED

Henceforth the sky dwindles into mires of blackened velour
As the sun retired to shallow grave around him they stood

Guises depraved, emotions, humanity and spirit shook

The necromancy resurrected there the devil stood

Time spent with laughter, the presence shed
Green fires dwindled from foot to head
The crimson of blood scorched bone dry
The return to ashes a distant cry

The nights sky tumbles into circular whim
The earth's fine ashes wrenched from within
Lightning separates the ungodly realm
The maleficent chaos immortally held.

6. MALEDICTION

Palpable by none, yet with the visage of moonlit waters
Scarcely transparent
Unwavering, unrelenting, born of ill father

Embracement of lost souls
The source of antiquity
Remorse long forgotten, death eternity

A guise of haze and piety forgotten
Harbored for eternity, remorse gone rotten
Accursed benevolence, the coffer of the one
Disillusion of mortality
Grave less they come

Surreal malediction awakened in night
Crossing by latency to bring fright
Oh accursed ashes burned out in flight
Harbored within darkness
The moonlit night

7. MOURNFUL

In here I see the carcasses of damned
Forced to rot in open graves, there
Souls still so depraved, what burning grace
Stand tall you may never bleed
Foreword in your eternal damnation
Your unmistakable visage from whence was
Hollowed earth, which you were
Laid to rest you matter not
They speak of purity, so lifeless all
Walking around as hollow shells
Lacking own thoughts, in guises they call humanity
My ever looming chaos embraces my soul,
The night within my heart the cold my everlasting breath
The ice shattering pain so far from my grasp
Yet instilled within me.

Oh sightless shadows
I await thee in pain
For so long it seams
I've been punished by the essence called light.
What ominous primordial chaos awaits thee,
With so many blinded by such.
The veil of society, I am forced to live
In my melancholy satires, which guides me to
To distant myself from those I despise.

Oh come envelop the sky wondrous night
Cloak all that is in your moonlit sorrow
So I may walk and lie in the ambiance of your domain,
Let me fall deeper, deeper into your sightless shadows.

8. PRAISE DEATH ETERNAL

Resistance is overcome.
Not contentment, but more power still
War; not virtue
The weak shall perish;
This is first principle of our charity

A concept of morality,
Of virtue,
Of holiness
Upon this realm
Is the unfathomable false?
This View of all things;

They ground good conscience
Upon faulty vision;
There is no salvation
Only infinite death;
That is the revolution of mankind!

The downward path
Has been the one
Set in front of us
At the birth
Of our personal usury
There is no value of a god;
He who knew nothing of anger,
Revenge, envy, scorn.
Who can say they know humankind
Ands never have experienced the
Rapturous ardeurs of victory and
Blessed destruction?

Enomine Sancti Mortuus
At the darkest corners of earth
Do the angels reap the coming of dark
Of what innocence does one seek other from death

As midnights eternal silence
Souls of lost nature seek
The night's requiem of eternal death.

Brimstone Demise on Sale soon

2009-07-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

Well, we have worked with out distro's to bring you the debut album as mp3s on sale through the following: Cdbaby, Amazon, Napster, ITunes, Spotify, Didiom, Nokia Music, Tradebit, Lala, Shockhound, Isound, Great Indie Music. So all things should be up for sale as of (blast beat drum roll) August 1st, 2009! In regards to CDs, we may in the future also have very limited cds for sale later on through a notable third party distro, stay tuned for more.

Brimstone Demise Completion

2009-04-22T09:20:00.001-07:00

Well, tomorow should hopefuly mark the end of the recording, mixing and mastering for my album "Brimstone Demise" by my band DIMINISHMENT, though i really stucked to my roots of this genre of black metal i feel its sound quality and universe it creates is that of the early and i mean early BM Genre like the greats of Bathory's 1st album, and Venoms 1980s qualities, yet maintaining our own sonic signature and feeling, A majority of the work encompasses a vision i had started back in 2001 but when igot carpal tunnel it prevented me from doing so, but at an almost complete recovery i set out once again to finish what i started, and can finaly move on with my black metal projects into some newer material, The original echelon i recruited almost 9 years ago i asked to aid me on this quest, but as times change so do people and they faltered and had to withdraw, BUT i did give them the chance so alls well that ends well, and when the mixing and mastering is done tomorow , and i send it out to my distrubutor I will finaly have what i wanted accomplished done with a classic black metal album and people if they like it can buy the mp3s off of tons of sites. I hope i get lots of plays but if not, i never really started black metal trying to impress anyone, it was always your either with us or against us. and thats that, we didnt make this music to make money or impress te masses we made this vision in music for ourselves. and just decided eh why not share it.

update

2009-03-26T18:02:00.000-07:00

So we are now cutting out the middle man when it comes to production, we are investing in the cd duplication and printing devices ourselves and hope to have both the origional demo that Cathaoir did everything and the first album with cathaoir and tichondrius out around august.

Amps

2009-03-09T11:36:00.000-07:00

So from doing music over 15 years now, we went through alot of gear, i mean a real lot. So here are some of Cathaoir's Picks of amps/ amp heads he feels are quite good. All shown are amps he actually used through the years.

The Laney AOR50, great head, powerful, full sounding, with low, mid, high and gain boosts via pull knobs on each!

The peavey ultra, was great for recording but not so great live as not that loud, but great tone if you use active pickups

The marshall jcm2000 100 watt, Cathaoir Still uses and had a nice full tone, responsive controls and good effects loop, a standard to use in the studio or the road.

Lab seris L5 combo?
Yes very old solid state, huge transitor amp combo, good dark sound, the open back gives a bit more color to the sound, very nice solid amp.

Most Frequent Question thus far

2009-02-16T07:52:00.000-08:00

Question: I see your almost done with your first album, But is it not tradtional for a black metal band to release a demo or EP first?

Answer: Yes we are almost done with the first Album, and it is traditional especially in black metal music to release a demo or EP first, and yes we have a demo. We are not going to make the physical demo available anymore, but may allow for the Demo to be bought as MP3's through our retailers online. So without further a do, below is the details of our Demo.

DIMINISHMENT
Diminishment

Tracklisting:
1.Macrocosm (Instramental)
2.Opus Magnum
3.Mourning Star
4.Tomb

Recorded 2007, Vortex Studios
Cathaoir- All Guitars, Effects, Drums

Getting there

2009-02-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

Well all the black metal vocals are done just bass guitar and the lower vocals, mixing is going well otherwise and the mastering solution is being worked out as well, We all can not wait to finish and have the work published.

Continuity

2008-12-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

Well between working out the mastering solution for the first album, and recording the last of the vocals and bass, we already have half the music written for the 2nd album. So cheers to a new year full of blackened music of the endtime!

So Close but Not Close Enough

2008-12-07T15:14:00.000-08:00

Well with a mixing, mastering solution already figured out and all the rhythm, lead, solo guitar, some ambient effects and all drums done, its just down to the vocals and bass, now only if we can get the guys in to work on this.... With constantly conflicting schedules, things are admist a stand still.. a ceasefire of diminishment..... So we anxiously await the ability to get those last 3 things done for the album.

Therefore, even on this cold grim frostbitten night in New England... the stillness needs to be broken with unholy black metal....

Gear used on Brimstone Demise Album

2008-12-01T11:31:00.000-08:00

So here's the list of gear used for the last album.

Cathaoir's Guitar Rig
- B.C. Rich KKV Signature
-Custom Audio Boost pedal
- Roger Linn Custom Preamp
-Marshall JCM2000 Head
-Marshall 1960A 4x12

Tichondrius Bass Rig
-Fender Jazz Bass
- Behringer combo

Recording Gear
-Shure sm57 center of speaker for all instruments
-Audio Technica 4050 studio condenser for all vocals
-Universal Audio Solo mic preamps
-Yamaha S03 keyboard for effects
-Lexicon Vortex for effects
-EMU 1212m soundcard

Software
-Cakewalk Sonar 6 for tracking
- Magix Samplitude pro 7 for mastering
- Waves diamond bundle
- BBE 482
- Lexicon psp 42, 84
- Trax

Cathaoir Interview by Phantasmagoria zine

2008-11-12T12:18:00.000-08:00

#1. PZ: What type of band are you?
~Answer: An Black Metal band, and or a form of extreme.

#2. PZ: Tell us the brief history of your band.
~Answer: DIMINISHMENT formed under the ideology of a world devoid of light and what was considered good, dreams gone, hope denied, and the fact that heaven shall burn, and god shall fall, has already occurred. The result is the total diminishment of good and light, and the assorted maelstrom of chaos whether an controlled chaos or chaos beyond measure, is represented by the movements within the music and lyrical subject matter. Total Diminishment.
Diminishment as a band was founded by myself in early 2008, I asked the four compatriots I have worked with in previous bands to come together to form this composite set of ideas and outlook.

Though the band is new, the members are no stranger, I (Cathaoir) was in Phasmatis from 95-03, Noktorn 96-01, NatterVrede from 01-08. Heretic was also in Phasmatis, and Noktorn in addition to What Weapons Bring War from 04-06 and Angelus Infernis from 03-05, and now has going his side project Kveldskog. Ixion has been with NatterVrede from the get go and naturally came into Diminishment. Tichondrius, though a close friend to all these bands was in Tyrant, Ipsissimus, Pathos, Sea of Bones and followed our idealology.

#3. PZ: Who are your musical and non-musical influences?
~Answer: Life’s darkest areas, the lack of hope, total nihilism, a degree of demonology and satanism as found in old texts. Musically we feel that certain bands have a unique aura to their musical output. But each member has their own bands they feel are inspiring, but none of us are trying to sound like another band.

#4. PZ: What are your dreams and goals?
~Answer: We do not believe in dreams and goals, we ride out with our music as a whisper hoping to take hold as something personal to individuals who identify with these darker aspects.
Black Metal is individualistic; its not all for one and one for all, its rugged individualists whom make connections to those they feel are on the same thought pattern.

#5. PZ: Who writes the songs, what are they about?
~Answer: I (Cathaoir) do, they are in accordance to our ideaology. a world devoid of light and what was considered good, dreams gone, hope denied, and the fact that heaven shall burn, and god shall fall, has already occurred. The result is the total diminishment of good and light, and the assorted maelstrom of chaos whether an controlled chaos or chaos beyond measure, is represented by the movements within the music and lyrical subject matter. Total Diminishment. By the Way, I don’t like reapting myself twice. Let alone more than twice.

#6. PZ: What's your opinion of George Bush?
~Answer: I don’t believe in politics end of story.

#7. PZ: How do you promote your band and shows?
~Answer: By traditional means.

#8. PZ: Describe your show, visual and musically
~Answer: We rarely will do a show; when we do come to one and you will see.

#9. PZ: What do you think about downloading music online?
~Answer: Its very convenient, we can have those whom are interested in our genre on a global level, be able to through an online retailer that handles their countries transaction receive music that is special to them.

#10. PZ: What's your outlook on the record industry today?
~Answer: All for money and none for the true nature of dark music. They seek to merely make a profit and that is why we do everything ourselves under the "Ancient Records" name. Which is our own label as for our releases alone.

#11. PZ: What's your claim to fame?
~Answer: We are not looking for that.

Endorsement of History (Black Metal, US Sector)

2008-11-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

Few articles I (Cathaoir) have read, really has done justice to a fairly complete depiction of the history moving from the Norwegian Style of Black Metal, to the US Black Metal Style, below is an exerpt of this history.

BRANDON STOSUY

AN BLAZE IN THE NORTH AMERICAN SKY

AMERICAN BLACK METAL BANDS SPECIALIZE IN A UNIQUELY BRUTAL, HOMEGROWN SOUND, BUT THEY DON’T ACTUALLY KILL PEOPLE. SO WHY SHOULD THEY BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY?

DISCUSSED: Multiple Stab Wounds, Inner-Scene Power Struggles, The Suicide of a Man Named Dead, Untitled Salt Sculptures, Japanese Literature, Pretzels, Hash, Necklaces Made of Teeth and Bones, The Common Conflation of Two Different Metals, Corpse Paint, Dude-ish Tracksuits, Illinois, The Sound of the Ghost of a Strangulated Raven, How Dreaming About Killing People Is More Radical Than Killing People

A little over a year ago I went to the Norwegian city of Trondheim to attend a mostly indie rock, non–heavy metal festival so I could meet Snorre Ruch, a.k.a. Blackthorn, a black-metal musician likely best known for his connection to the murder of another black metaller, Øystein Aarseth, a.k.a. Euronymous, on August 10, 1993. While Ruch didn’t actively participate in the murder, he knew the general idea when he helped the killer, Kristian “Varg” Vikernes, drive east from Bergen to Aarseth’s apartment in Oslo.

As the story goes, Aarseth answered the door in his underwear, Vikernes confronted him, chased him through the hall and down a flight of stairs, and ultimately stabbed him a total of twenty-three times with a dull knife. The final deathblow was a wound through Aarseth’s forehead. When Vikernes removed the blade, Aarseth fell down another flight of stairs, in Varg’s words, “like a sack of potatoes.” Also according to Vikernes, Ruch was shocked when he came upon the carnage. As Ruch put it in an interview in the book Lords of Chaos: “When I stood outside Øystein’s door I heard noise inside and Øystein came out, with [Vikernes] on his heels, covered in blood, rushing down the stairway… I realized that this was going to hell. We had intended this to happen in the apartment, and fast—no big, dramatic thing with a hundred knife-stabs or something. So I ran down the stairs, past them, and into the square outside the building.” Ruch drove the car from the immediate scene, but was so rattled by what had taken place that he circled listlessly around Oslo for twenty-some minutes. Vikernes took the wheel after removing his bloodstained clothes, which he later dumped into a lake. Ruch was twenty-one at the time. The murdered Aarseth was twenty-five. Vikernes, twenty.

Vikernes remains in Tromsø Prison, serving a twenty-one-year sentence for the killing, as well as several counts of arson (specifically, church burnings). He tried escaping while on leave in 2003, which added to the previously reduced sentence, and was denied parole in 2006 (he was up for parole again in April 2008, but as of May, no actions have been taken). Ruch served eight years and was released in the late ’90s.

The gossipy he said/she said stories surrounding the Varg-Euronymous debacle, which was covered extensively by the Norwegian media and in the British metal magazine Kerrang! as it unfolded (and somewhat later in SPIN, etc.), continues to this day, primarily due to the media—and the fans’—enduring fascination with the case, a fascination flamed by Vikernes’s willingness to give incendiary interviews and maintain a personal website that asserts his (sort of) innocence.

It’s become a pretty lucrative business: In 2007, Vice produced True Norwegian Black Metal, a five-part web TV series. This year, the director of the project, Brooklyn-based photographer Peter Beste, published a large monograph, True Norwegian Black Metal. And there’s a forthcoming documentary, Until the Light Takes Us, that focuses on Vikernes and other early Norwegian black metallers. Subsequently, through the various (cartoonish, incomplete, or incorrectly angled) retellings and Vikernes’s own shifting storyline, it’s difficult to establish an exact motive for the killing. It’s been said that Vikernes was angry with Aarseth over contracts and royalties owed to him (at the Burzum website Varg claims he gained entrance into Aarseth’s apartment building by telling him “I got the contract. Let me in” when he buzzed up), but the killing could just as easily have been inspired by an inner-scene power struggle between Aarseth and Vikernes.

Aarseth, a major force in establishing the early Norwegian black-metal scene, ran an underground metal store in Oslo called Helvete (“Hell”) and operated Deathlike Silence Productions, the black-metal label to which Vikernes’s one-man Tolkien-referencing band Burzum was signed. In 1984, Aarseth also cofounded the black-metal band Mayhem, in which Ruch played guitar briefly, and Vikernes (then called Count Grishnackh) also briefly played bass. Aarseth initially sang and played guitar, but quickly passed along vocal duties to a series of singers. (Aarseth wasn’t the first member of Mayhem to die: The band’s most infamous vocalist, the Swede Per Yngve Ohlin, a.k.a. Dead, shot himself in the head in 1991 at the age of twenty-two.)

In January 1993, a few months before Aarseth’s death, the Bergens Tidende ran a story called “We Lit the Fires” on the scene and its alleged criminality: church burnings, Satanism, the participants’ shadowy appearances, etc. Vikernes was interviewed anonymously for the piece, at his apartment, by the journalist Finn Bjørn Tønder. Over the years, the burnings would be explained as a way of removing the Christian invaders from Norway, returning the grounds to their pagan roots, but in the story, never identified, Vikernes talks about the burnings in terms of spreading fear and honoring the Devil. (In the article, he rejects the term “Satanism” as a word used by “foolish groups of poseurs.”)

Vikernes was arrested soon thereafter (even though, in his own words, he’d “exaggerated” a bit). He alleges that he only agreed to do the interview after he and Aarseth decided it would be a good way to bring attention to the scene. As he explains at his website, Varg thought of it, too, as a way “to help Euronymous get some customers for a change.” Aarseth closed shop temporarily, which angered Vikernes, who interpreted it as a sign of Aarseth’s weakness (the store closed for good later in 1993, shortly before Euronymous was killed).
And, as Vikernes wrote at his site in December 2004: “[W]hen the media wrote all that crap about me it made him feel less important. Suddenly he was no longer the ‘main character’ in the hardcore metal scene.”

To this day, Vikernes maintains that he didn’t murder Aarseth. He’s stated, more than once, that he stabbed Aarseth in self defense, after learning that Aarseth had allegedly wanted to kill him. Again, as Vikernes writes at burzum.org: “His problem was that he included a few of the metal people in his plot to kill me, and they told me. He had told them because he trusted them, but obviously they had warmer feelings for me than for him, so to speak. At one point he phoned Snorre, who lived in my apartment, and Snorre let me listen to what Euronymous had to say. He told Snorre that ‘Varg must disappear for good’ and similar, confirming the plans others had told me about earlier.”

For his part, the more understated Ruch is no longer interested in discussing the events. As he told me, “There are enough silly speculations, personal opinions, and fantastic versions without me feeding the curiosity and gossip… The incidents might have given our music publicity, but not good [publicity]. Most Norwegian mass media is tabloid and they helped feed the fire with sensationalistic headlines. It just becomes boring that [this story] always turns up, as one has moved on for so long. One will always end up pigeonholed and misunderstood when trying to do something different.”

Since being imprisoned for murder, Vikernes has grown more outspoken and radically minded, long ago graduating from his early Satanist leanings to right-wing, anti-Semitic, and racialist views. He brushes off the accusations of Nazism, preferring to term himself an Odalist (though the Bergens Tidende does describe Nazi paraphernalia in Vikernes’s apartment back in 1993, during his Devil-worshipping phase). He’s also continued to occasionally release Burzum music, though the albums he’s recorded in prison tend to be more darkly ambient than marked by the explicit brutality of black metal. They’re also not that great.
*

Snorre Ruch and I met in a bar. He was with two of his friends. I was with one of mine. Before meeting, Snorre and I had corresponded via email, and he’d suggested this crowded corner pub close to his house. We each had a beer and discussed a mutual acquaintance as well as his collaborations with the artist Banks Violette (a collaboration that culminated in 2005 with an untitled salt sculpture representing a burnt church at the Whitney museum) before he said it was too loud in the bar—I agreed—and suggested we go back to his apartment. So we all bundled up and walked out into the snow.

As we trudged along the pathway, I started thinking about the gruesome stories in which he played supporting roles. Stories that the media fueled, yes, but that the Norwegian scene musicians have also willingly kept alive for years. Though I trusted Snorre, a part of me started wondering if we were suckers for accepting the invitation to his house. I knew he was a nice guy via our talks, and that he had been young (and somewhat clueless) when the murder happened, but still: You’re in Norway with an infamous ex-con black-metal musician who was present that bloody night when the myth of Norwegian black metal was born. (Also, I didn’t want to extend Vikernes’s anti-Semitism to the rest of the black-metal scene, but it should be mentioned that my cohort, another writer, was Jewish.)

Then again, Snorre seemed reformed. As he later told me: “I mostly get my kicks from the music, and as we are getting better at it, the need to go smearing cat blood on the local Christian community house is even less existent.” He also claimed that “black metal… is a true blessing for a fiery heart! It touches a universal nerve of spite. It is empowering, dark, destructive, and creative.” Yeah, we were sorta nervous.

After a ten-minute walk, we arrived at Snorre’s apartment. We entered, took off our shoes. It was a cozy, well-kept space with a couple Violette pieces on the wall, well-stocked bookshelves (Japanese lit, philosophy), and an intense home-studio computer setup. Snorre had already laid out various snacks for us (peanuts, pretzels, crackers), along with hash, red wine, and other drinks.

We listened to the British electronic band Nitzer Ebb awhile and then he played us the new—and at that time unreleased—Mayhem album Ordo Ad Chao.[1] We spent the night talking about the weather (cold), the past (only in general, hard-to-pin-down terms), and Ruch’s current project, Thorns, which he started in 1989. He’s released only one proper full-length album (self-titled, 2001), but it’s considered a seminal effort—an all-consuming, industrial-tinged, and claustrophobic slice of latter-day black metal. (I heard from him recently, and he said to expect the new, much-delayed Thorns album in 2009.)

Given how sweetly un-evil Snorre appeared to be, I found myself querying the infamous (and implicit) bad-assedness of Norwegian black-metal musicians. The murder of Aarseth, the aforementioned suicide of Mayhem vocalist Dead, the not aforementioned murder of a gay man in Lillehammer in 1992 by Emperor drummer Bård G. “Faust” Eithun (a one-time member of Thorns and currently in the thrash act Blood Tsunami and the lyricist for Zyklon), the dozens of church burnings perpetrated by various individuals between 1992 and 1996 (the cover of Burzum’s Aske EP is a photo of the torched Fantoft stave church), the grave desecrations, the obsession with Satanism that veered into racism and fascism among the more extreme crews, and the generally attendant ghoulishness (after Dead killed himself, the surviving members of Mayhem supposedly made necklaces out of his teeth and bones), are all essential to the Norwegian mythology upon which subsequent black-metal mythologies may (or may not) be based.[2] But at what point does a myth—even if it’s based on a real event—begin to more resemble a convenient fiction (or worse, an empty caricature), utilized by music writers and fans and the musicians themselves, to create easy cohesion and a sense of purpose? Are mythologies essential to the playing of “authentic” black-metal music? Is cohesion?
*

A common mistake made by the uninitiated listener is to conflate death metal and black metal. I’ve been at a few parties or dinners or whatever where someone has asked me to describe the difference between the two. To answer involves me trying to explain a blast beat, followed by vocal impressions of a death-metal vocalist (low, deep, guttural growling) vs. a black-metal vocalist (usually higher, wispy, wraithlike, and screeched). Admittedly, sometimes it can be like splitting hairs. Black metal’s gone through various shifts, but generally speaking, the guitars buzz, the drums are quick, the vocals shrieking, ghostly, and anguished. The early work had a particularly eerie, lo-fi sound. As the scene developed, and younger musicians mastered their instruments, the structures grew more complex. Black metal is generally not as straight-up technical as death; it’s usually more classically symphonic. (Of course, there are always exceptions, such as the early Floridian death-metal crew Morbid Angel, who created complex, epically sublime death constructions.)

Death metal started out in the States, Germany, and the UK, and was also a force early on in South America and Sweden. Carving out a space for black metal put Norway on the map musically. When fledgling black metal first appeared underground in the late ’80s, death metal was the dominant extreme metal mode. In fact, there was plenty of crossover between the scenes: for example, the Norwegian black-metal duo Darkthrone started out as a death-metal band. The difference between Darkthrone’s 1990 album Soulside Journey and 1992’s A Blaze in the Northern Sky elegantly illustrates the tipping point at which ex–death-metal bands embraced black metal’s more sinister visual aesthetic and primitive sound. There are exceptions, but in general, the death-metal musicians of that period eschewed black metal’s sartorial pageantry for basic dude-ish tracksuits and sneakers.

The British metal band Venom’s 1982 album Black Metal (and its grunting title track: “Black is the night, metal we fight / Power amps set to explode / Energy screams magic and dreams / Satan records their first note,” etc.) coined the term “black metal,” even though they were technically a more formative blend of doomy proto-thrash and speed metal (their “Satanic” image, though more of the theatrical stage-ready Mötley Crüe sort, was also essential). The First Wave of black metal (the aforementioned Venom along with the Danish band Mercyful Fate fronted by King Diamond, Sweden’s Bathory, and Switzerland’s Hellhammer, who later became Celtic Frost) influenced the future sound of black metal by laying down the general aesthetic and sonic template. Bathory’s lo-fidelity recordings, Satanic lyrics, and grim vocal style were especially important. Euronymous took his name from Hellhammer’s “Eurynomos” (and it’s pretty obvious where current Mayhem drummer Hellhammer scored his moniker).
The Second Wave of black metal, initiated by Aarseth and his Norwegian cohorts, technically began in the late ’80s after Mayhem set the mood with their Pure Fucking Armageddon demo (1986) and the Deathcrush EP (1987), but didn’t really flourish until the early ’90s.[3] It was the Second Wave that introduced corpse paint, weapons, and shadowy horror-film photos. Norway established and mastered the black-metal image—low-lit, highly ambient photographs of the dead-looking musicians standing in a cavernous basement or wintry Norwegian forest.
Today’s international black-metal scene, which to my ears is strongest in France, Eastern Europe, Canada, and the United States, could be seen as the Third Wave. Though there’s no clear date, you could say it started in the mid-’90s, when bands began upping their production values and, in some cases—like the Norwegian band Dimmu Borgir—heading toward a more arena-ready (and filling) sound.

But I focused earlier on the Second Wave because that period is most helpful when trying to explain the black metal coming out of the United States—or USBM, as some folks call it—because it’s impossible to understand USBM without touching on this pervasive mythology. Also, for all the attention Norway’s black metal scene has received since the early- to mid-’90s, Norway hasn’t been producing the best black metal in recent years. The majority of the older bands are no longer making as intense, grim, or fucked-up music as you can find elsewhere—as you can find, for example, in the U.S.

For a long time, the majority of black metal emerging from the States was seen as a joke. As recently as two years ago, I remember talking with European black-metal artists who snorted when I asked them about it. That’s part of what I like about American black metal—its scruffy underdog nature. More compelling, though, is the music itself, its inventiveness and eccentricity and, most importantly, the feeling that it hasn’t crested or stagnated.[4]

No one agrees exactly on the genesis or roots of USBM. New York’s Profanatica, formed in 1990 by three former members of the death-metal band Incantation, is often cited by other black-metal musicians as a seminal USBM band. Their death-tinged sound is raw, hissing, and lo-fi, and they have song titles like “Raping of Angels” and “Final Hour of Christ.” They broke up in 1992.[5] Another of the first American black-metal bands of note is San Francisco’s Von, a guttural, minimalist, especially scrappy, tiny-sounding crew who formed in 1989. They received early international props when Vikernes wore one of their shirts during an interview/murder trial session and contributed to their mythology when he was asked to spell the band’s name and he replied, “Victory, Orgasm, Nazi.”[6]

Another important early USBM group, Judas Iscariot, the project of Andrew Harris (a.k.a. Egyptian-inspired Akhenaten), focused on nihilistic, anti-Christian, and anti-capitalist themes, and laid down a smoother, often slower, atmospheric, and more depressive template that’s been picked up by various current one-man USBM acts. Harris spread USBM further abroad than most early practitioners, gaining respect from European fans. More philosophical than some of the other early USBM acts, he has a song titled “Nietzsche,” and formed the band in 1992 in DeKalb, Illinois, initially under the name Heidegger. He kept the project going until 2002, after which he retired from music.[7]

However, it’s the current crop of American black-metal bands that have really found a voice. These USBM bands, hailing from vastly different cultures and geographies, have managed to latch on to different sounds without diluting their defining brutality (and beauty). The 2008 record Massive Conspiracy Against All Life by California-based Jef Whitehead (a.k.a. Wrest, of one-man band Leviathan) sees an intense blend of warped atmospherics, death riffs, huge drums, and a warbling, at times throaty, Eastern-tinged howl—it’s like returning in ways to the early sounds of Profanatica or Judas Iscariot, but layering it fathomlessly with all the developments that have happened since.

Then there’s the chaotic punch-drunk tenor of Bahimiron’s especially witchy, overlapping, blown-out vocalisms. Another Texas band, Averse Sefira, infuses a personal cosmology and occultism into their pummeling, full-band black metal. Then there are those like the rawer Chicago black-metal duo Cult of Daath, whose dual vocalizing hits with more of a death-metal growl. If My Bloody Valentine was a black-metal band, they might sound like the “eco-fascist,” tongue-in-cheek tricksters Velvet Cacoon (who recently told me they moved to Prague to live the lives of decadent Satanists, but it’s hard to tell if they were fucking with me). Buffalo one-man band Wrath of the Weak talks about the importance of the western New York landscape; his music sounds like a blizzard. Olympia, Washington trio Wolves in the Throne Room focus on a back-to-nature lifestyle and perform psychedelic shoe-gaze black metal, anchored here and there by a folky, ethereal female singer who cuts the harshness of the black-metal vocals in a Jarboe/Swans style. The Chicago group Nachtmystium, fronted by Blake Judd, shifted from their early black-by-the-numbers sounds to a psychedelic, Floydian form of post–black metal.[8]

Another aspect of USBM is the crossover between straight-up free-noise: New York’s Dominick Fernow, of the one-man power electronics project Prurient, performs in the black-metal duo Ash Pool, and avant-garde guitarist Mick Barr of Orthrelm sings and plays guitar in the New York–based black-metal band Krallice.

Maybe the biggest name in USBM, though not the most interesting, is Scott Conner, a.k.a. Malefic, who records as Xasthur. Sticking to the icy, candelabra-lit feel of Burzum or Judas Iscariot, he tosses additional claustrophobic layers into the fire. His most interesting accessory is his voice—he comes off like the ghost of a strangulated raven.

Southern Lord, a label run by Greg Anderson of Sunn O))), has helped certain American black-metal bands cross into indie-rock realms. These are the bigger names like Xasthur, Leviathan, and Leviathan’s other project, Lurker of Chalice. Most interesting and strange for such a solitary genre is Twilight, a sort of USBM supergroup made up of Xasthur, Leviathan, Nachtmystium, and Krieg—though they hate the term “supergroup” and its rock-and-roll ramifications.
Supergroups are, of course, very American.

All that said, the problem with claiming USBM as a genre is that you’ll find a lot of the musicians who practice it denying that the genre exists. Of course, this is a common reaction most artists have when a pigeonholing takes place. But especially in the case of black metal, to claim a genre and therefore genre tropes and overlaps of sound and influence is to claim a cultural uniformity to our country that is geographically impossible. Many of the participants see USBM as a marketing term—again, the outsiders who make up the black-metal genre inherently reject such sloganeering.

You could say one of the biggest influences exerted by the early Norwegians on USBM might be an anxiety surrounding the need to have a mythology under cultural circumstances that prevent it. For instance, how important is it that there is no mythological “bloody night” for USBM, no Varg vs. Euronymous drama to mark its dark impact on the world? Does this make the music any less authentic by comparison, or vapid, or poseury?

In some regards, USBM emerged as a reaction to and against Norwegian black metal, similar to the way Mayhem and company originally rejected, and tried to find something more extreme and underground than the death-metal scene. In the brutal, noisier strains of USBM, where the real-life coefficients of church burnings and murders aren’t as integral to the music, the sound itself has become harsher and more death-like. It’s more private and less theatrical. (Some of the best—for instance the aforementioned Wrest of Leviathan, and Lurker of Chalice—are Pynchon-like when it comes to publicity.) It feels more punk. The music’s also drawing from a greater array of influences.[9]

And, as Blake Judd of Nachtmystium told me: “I just feel that those bands are marketed for what has happened outside of the music, not so much involving the music. Like ‘Oh, church burning and murder and [Gorgoroth vocalist] Gaahl kills or tortures guys,’ but the last Gorgoroth album was weak as shit. Who cares what he does, if he’s a criminal? There’s guys selling crack in Chicago that are scarier to me than that guy.”

Perhaps there’s no need for a gory mythology when we have the daily reality. We live in a place, unlike Norway, by and large, where actual killing is happening both domestically and abroad, to Americans or perpetrated by Americans. Is it possible, then, that actual death—and destruction of buildings and whole countries—could be seen, in the current political context, as less radical than simply dreaming about it?

Those who view USBM as inauthentic tend to do so because America seems an unlikely place for the icy, grim strains of black metal to flourish. But as the U.S. dollar continues its nosedive, our black-metal impulses become validated. We’ve become a nation of scrappy, lo-fi underdogs. Have you ever tried to buy a dinner in Norway (one of the wealthiest countries in the world) with converted U.S. currency? When I’ve been there, I can only afford to eat in convenience stores. So much of the history of Norwegian black metal is just that—history. While Americans are often accused of lacking a history, we more than compensate for that lack with our bleak view of the future.

Continue to our excerpt of this article’s companion piece,“A Brief Oral History of U.S. Black Metal” »
__________

At this point, the only remaining original Mayhem member is bassist Necrobutcher. Mayhem’s current vocalist, the Hungarian Attila Csihar, who’d previously recorded the classic 1994 album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas with the band, has collaborated with Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’Malley on sound pieces for Banks Violette sculptural installations at Team and Gladstone galleries, etc.

Most influential in molding recent thoughts about the Norwegian scene is Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground, by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind. Part oral history, part tabloid, and definitely pushing the soap-opera angle over the music itself, it includes crime-scene photos of the bloody bodies and torched churches. Published in 1998, the book is in its second printing and is reportedly being adapted for film. Supposedly, the White Stripes’ Jack White wanted to play the part of the murdered Aarseth. The book takes its name from a group of six Florida teenagers, calling themselves the Lords of Chaos, who went on a crime spree from April 12 to April 30, 1996, in Fort Myers, burning, exploding, robbing, car-jacking, and generally terrorizing the area. (They wrote a manifesto titled “Declaration of War: Formal Introduction of Lords of Chaos,” which outlined their crimes, warning folks to “be prepared for destruction of biblical proportions, for this is the coming of a NEW GOD, whose fiery hand shall lay waste to the populace.”) The wilding culminated in the shotgun murder of their high school band director, Mark Schwebes, after he’d caught them outside their school with materials—including canned peaches—they’d intended to use to vandalize it. Key members of the group were arrested a few days later. The Lords of Chaos are the subject of Someone Has to Die Tonight, a true-crime book by Jim Greenhill. Their leader, Kevin Foster, a.k.a. “God,” was into Timothy McVeigh, not black metal.

The focus of this piece so far has been on Norway, but Swedish bands like Marduk and Dissection, and the Finnish band Beherit, are also essential to the development of black metal. Not to be outdone by their Norwegian colleagues, Dissection vocalist/guitarist Jon Nödtveidt was imprisoned in 1998 for helping to kill a gay man and killed himself in 2006.

Some people say that the introduction of upfront synthesizers led to the end of the Second Wave, but it’s more likely that the original Second Wave bands just lost steam.

Original member Paul Ledney reformed the group in 2001 with two new members. He’s also managed to continue his longstanding one-man black-metal band Havohej.

Von existed during a time when the West Coast was inundated with thrash metal (see early Metallica, Megadeth, Overkill). They’ve exerted an international influence: The Swedish black-metal band Watain named themselves after a Von song. Vikernes also helped distribute Von’s Satanic Blood demo (the album came out in 1992).

Other early groups include Absu (who have remained active), Demoncy (formed in 1989 by Profanitica guitarist Ixithra), the aforementioned Havohej (Jehovah backwards), Black Witchery, the now-defunct racialist-leaning Grand Belial’s Key (and the related, still-active death-metal act Arghoslent), Black Funeral, Crucifier, Acheron, Demonic Christ, and Goatlord. In 2004, Demoncy went on the “USBM Attack 2004” European tour with the NJ one-man band Krieg. The San Francisco progressive black-metal group Weakling, who released Dead as Dreams on tUMULt in 2000, is time and again cited as an entranceway for younger participants in the scene.

In ’07 they signed to the larger label Century Media and released Assassins: Black Meddle, Pt. 1 in June ’08. The title Black Meddle is a play on Pink Floyd and black metal. Says vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Blake Judd, “The ‘Black Meddle’ thing is a number of inside jokes. Mainly, the whole Floyd comparison… it’s a shot at their album Meddle, but at the same time… the word meddle carries its own meaning. So it’s a bit of a joke on us ‘meddling’ with black metal. Nice that it can be a total Floyd hark and a smart-ass joke at the same time.”

As Neill Jameson, a.k.a. Imperial of Krieg, put it: “We were one of the first geographical groups to really tie in non–black metal inspiration, like my covers of the Velvet Underground/The Stooges, etc., Leviathan/Lurker of Chalice’s Joy Division and Black Flag influences and covers, Nachtmystium’s interest in psychedelics and more blues-based ideas, etc.”

Brandon Stosuy blogs at Stereogum and writes a metal column at Pitchfork. “Formulas Fatal To The Flesh,” his essay for Matthew Barney’s exhibition at Sammlung Goetz this past fall, was named after a Morbid Angel album, though he doesn’t think the gallery realized it. He’s currently at work on a book-length oral history of non-Scandinavian black metal.

First and Foremost

2008-11-09T10:01:00.000-08:00

DIMINISHMENT (Noun)
1. a. To make smaller or less or to cause to appear so.
b. To detract from the authority, reputation, or prestige of.
c. To detract from the authority, reputation of good and normal, so that only the horrors and utter darkness is realized and felt by the music evoking dread, mystery and despair through the movements of each piece.

A Brief Biography:

DIMINISHMENT was formed in mid 2008 in the Tri-state Area USA, and as a 4 piece set out to record an black metal masterwork in the old school tradition; entitled “Brimstone Demise.” Which is due to be completed the very beginning of 2009.

DIMINISHMENT Consists of: Heretic on Death Vocals (Earlier in Noktorn 95-01, Angelus Infernus 01 -04, Phasmatis 98-03, What Weapons Bring War 03-08 whom Released Ep and Albums on Ferox, UK, Ancient Records, USA.) Ixion on Black Metal Vocals (earlier in NatterVrede 03-08 as Vocalist which released several EP’s, and albums in US, and compilation on Soyuz Records, Russia.) Cathaoir on guitars (Earlier in Noktorn 92-01, Phasmatis 95-03, NatterVrede 03-08 as guitarist whom released Eps, Albums on Ferox Inc, UK, Ancient Records USA, and Soyuz Records Russia.) Tichondrius (earlier as Bassist/ Vocalist in Tyrant, Ipsissimus whom released Eps, and Albums.) ,All whom have received reviews and along with constant radio play worldwide in the underground.

DIMINISHMENT is first and foremost a studio band/project whom is currently and actively searching for a label for their upcoming release entitled “Brimstone Demise.” Diminishment also may play live once a live lineup has been arranged.