"So mom, what do you want to do today".
"I want to sing in your band".
"But mom, it's an extreme metal band"
"I can handle that, I've been screaming a lot at you when you were a naughty little kid, remember?".

This could be the story behind grindcore band Grindmother, formed out of a Canadian mom-son duo plus the latter's Corrupt Leaders band mate Tyson Apex on drums.  It sure is a weird sight to see but the 68 years old Grindmother has a damn brutal troath. Check it out... In 2017 they'll be hitting the road. I really hope they'll make it to Europe one day. 

Band names have been a source of speculation since the very beginning. In many interviews, the question "where does the band name come from? What does it mean" appears. Besides, many bands prefer a name in their own language or even better, a local dialect. That results in tongue-twisters like "Paracoccidioidomicosisproctitissarcomucosis" (a Mexican grindcore band) or "Archaeopteryx Ultraavantgarda" (a krautrock band).

I've been fascinated with band names since I got obsessed with music. I've seen a lot of weird, unexplainable and unpronouncable names in my life. And, since I'm a writer for a music magazine, I thought it would be a good idea to create a series dedicated to the wonderful art of naming your band. In these series we translate, speculate, remember, look up and sometimes even ask the band about it.

For those who wonder: the logo on the shirt in the picture above says "Hljómsveitin Nafn", which, according to Google Translate is Icelandic for "band name".

Let's kick of with the very band that inspired me to start writing these series, Belgian blackened sludge horde Alkerdeel. You know, the guys with the farting demon on the cover who blasted everyone's mind at the most recent edition of Desertfest Antwerp (read). 

Alkerdeel is one of those bands that searched through their own dialect to find their name. They were looking for a strong sounding word with a special kind of meaning, something that would fit their filthy, raunchy sound. Eventually, they ended up naming themselves Alkerdeel, which is "Zomergems" for "shit car", something like this:

A few days ago, Wagner sent in his review for the new album by Dutch black metal horde Tarnkappe (read). Later that day, a friend of mine read it and tried to find a meaning for the band name. We googled a bit, eventually coming across the German version of Wikipedia.

Apparently, the word "tarnkappe" translates as "cloak of invisibility". I know, maybe not as surprising or shocking as "shit car" but still, it has something mythical and it's an excellent word for a black metal band. Besides, I'm quite enjoying the album as well.

Two of the most iconic bands in the world in their respective genre have one thing in common, they're thieves. Metallica was actually one of two possible names for a metal magazine, written and printed by a friend of Lars. Lars adviced to go with "Metal Mania" because he thought "Metallica" would be a good name for this new band he just started, at least better than "Blitzer".

A similar story with synthpop pioneers Depeche Mode, who stole their name from a French fashion magazine. The name pretty much translates as "fashion news". But, stolen or not, when Dava Gahan entered the band, everything changed for the people who called their previous bands No Romance in China, Norman & the Worms, French Look & Composition of Sound

This Belgian doom metal band has been one of thé revelations in 2015. Personally, I'm eagerly awaiting their upcoming album and a few gigs in support of it. But where does their name come from? 
​
Well, for this, we have to reach our bibles. Bathsheba is also called "daughter of the oath". She was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and afterward of David, by whom she gave birth to Solomon, who succeeded David as king.

Apparently, her story is more lustful and exciting than "50 Shades Of Grey". It's a tale of adultery, punishment and revenge. But you can read all about that here.

Another story:

​Bathsheba Sherman was the evil spectre of an 1800's devil worshipper, and was the main antagonist of the 2013 movie The Conjuring, based on the "true" story of the Haunting in Harrisville, Rhode Island. Read more about that here.

Of course, un-biblical and only vaguely interested in movies as I am, for me there's only one Bathsheba, and that one sounds like this:

According to the story, the band's name simply comes from a letter shoved into the mailbox at the house the band was rehearsing. They were brainstorming for a decent name when the letter came in, addressed to "The Residents". So the brainstorm was over,and the band could go on making this weird but fascinating legacy.

In a 1992 interview guitarist Andy Cairns admitted that it was a chance design when he was working on band's first record sleeve. Working with Letraset transfers, Cairns misaligned the band's name, and used the "?" icon to fill the space to the right. "And then we thought, well maybe we can bluff our way through when people start reading into it".

We end this first edition of "What's in a bandname" with three projects from Merchants Of Air writers. Why? Well, a bunch of reasons. First: I know these stories by heart so I don't have to look things up, which is welcome since I got some other stuff to do. Second, we deserve a little attention too. Third: it makes this blog varied and we love variation. So here we go.

Today, my music is no longer angry and spiteful, no longer harsh noise (although - and here's a premiere for you - there is something noisy coming up) but the name remains. It's good name.

Serge

The world of dance music has been stealing (or 'borrowing') from the pop and rock scene for ages. Just think about some of those horrible, soulless dance versions of songs like 'Sweet Child O'Mine' (by Milk Inc), 'Billy Jean' (by Crew 7) or Britney's mind numbing adaptation of 'I Love Rock 'n Roll' which was already a cover to begin with. Well, rockers and metalheads sure know a thing or two about remaking old songs as well, often with quite interesting results. Here are fifteen electronic songs, turned into rock and metal anthems. 

We kick things off with a band that has dedicated two entire albums covering eighties new wave and electro songs. Out of these 'Werk 80' albums, we picked Visage's 'Fade To Grey', initially a dreamy electronic pop song, now turned into an absolute dark dancefloor filler. Once starting out as a death metal band, Atrocity has been going to a lot of changes throughout the years, this cover project being just one of the many incarnations, but a damn good one if you ask me.

Suicide, the duo of Alan Vega and Martin Rev recorded this song way back in 1977 with primitive electronics and drum machines. This, and other songs, made them responsible for an entire wave of industrial and noise music. Enter industrial metal horde Bloodstar, who recorded a harsh cover version for their album 'Anytime Anywhere' on a compilation by Roadrunner Records. It's actually this song, that started my fascination for metal covers.

Good ol' Rammstein and their shenanigans. The first song I heard them cover was one by the Ramones, and I remember thinking "I hope they never do that again". But, Rammstein never listens to me so they went on covering other stuff, including this awesome version of Kraftwerk's 'Das Modell'. Speaking about dancefloor fillers... By the way, don't mind the video, it's not the official one. In fact, YouTube muted the music on the official video. Weird asses...

Hah, you were expecting fifteen metal songs, weren't you? But I never said that, and besides, I can't go through this list without paying my respects to "the man in black".  His greatest cover of all time was probably Nine Inch Nails' 'Hurt' but since that's not really an electronic song, I decided to go with 'Personal Jesus' from Depeche Mode. To be honest, I think Cash made an absolute classic of this one, one I like more than the original.

Of course, we have to include this ugly dude in this article. Although Marilyn Manson has never been very high on my favorites list, this song is a smasher. Originally recorded and performed by Eurythmics, 'Sweet Dreams' has been getting a lot of people on their feet, regardless of the genre they usually listen to. Well, perhaps some people still prefer the original version over Manson's creepy, somewhat over-the-top performance.

A friend sent me this one, a metalcore version of The Prodigy's 'Omen'. Although I prefer the original, it isn't hard to see why a metal band would cover this hit. After all, it is already a pretty damn heavy tune, perfectly suited to throw in some distorted guitars . A little research brought me to Polish band Messa, who play "rock 'n core". All fine by me since this is quite a nice cover version.

Nadja's cover album is an amazing piece of work which includes some of the greatest covers I've ever heard. My favorite one on that album is Slayer's (Dead Skin Mask' but for this list I have to go with the megahit by Norwegian synthpop act A-Ha. Aidan Baker  and Leah Buckareff surely turned this song into an immersive whirlpool of drones, much like we're used to form Nadja.

Another one of my favorite covers comes from American "dead pop" band Orgy who added their industrial metal over New Order's megahit 'Blue Monday'. This cover version too had been a constant at parties, at least the parties I went to and dj'ed at over the years. It's actually still one of my all time favorite covers.

English extremists Cradle Of Filth have been no strangers to covers, but when this appeared on their 'Thornography' album, I looked at my speakers in sheer disbelief. Not only because the original is a simple synthpop song, but mostly because Dani and co turned it into something filthy, nasty and quite sexy. I never liked the original and I'm not going to say that this is my favorite Cradle Of Filth track but still worth mentioning here.

Of course, the punk rock scene has been barking out cover versions ever since pop songs became silly enough to make punk rock covers of them. Hell, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes thrive on that sort of things but this blasting gem by punk heroes Offspring shouldn't go unnoticed in this list. Not that is a prime example of musical ingenuity but hey, I prefer an Offspring moshpit over an Aqua dancefloor anytime.

Belgian metal act Manic Movement recorded this blasting version of Anne Clark's 'Our Darkness' for their 2001 album 'Future Dreaming Self'. I didn't know that before I saw them at Graspop a year later but I did know and love the original. So when it started slamming through the speakers, I was ecstatic and it kept going heavier and heavier. Maybe you can even see me in the audience on this video. I had long hair and wore a black t-shirt, shouldn't be that hard to spot me, right?

This English band seems to promote themselves as a "wedding-band" but they also play parties and festivals. On their YouTube channel, they published all kinds of cover songs, mostly with a tongue-in-cheek folk rock atmosphere or, in this case, tuning the whole thing in a joyful reggae tune. If Mister Kanish proves anything, it's the fact that cover bands can be original and entertaining enough to become something that people want to see. If they're touring and coming over to Belgium, there's a big chance I go see them. It'll be fun.

"Death in Rome is a Neofolk Group covering pop songs", that's pretty much all there is to say about these guys. Mind you, Neofolk usually isn't really overloaded with humor so this one is a bit of a surprise. In my research for this article, I've searched far and wide to find somewhat decent versions of old techno tunes. Apart from a bunch of metal, punk and grindcore songs, there wasn't that much original to find, except for Death In Rome. The bandname is a composition of the bands Death In June and Rome, and why not claim that the 'In' stands for Sol Invictus? Anyway, this is a brilliant cover and they have many more if you're willing to listen.

Several years ago, at a festival in Belgium, I was strolling around the terrain which brought me near the stage where The Dillinger Escape Plan were performing. I didn't really care about the band as I've never really been a fan of math core or whatever it is that these guys play(ed). However, suddenly they kicked of this bloody intense Aphex Twin cover. I was amazed, since I thought it was physically impossible to drum this thing. But look, here it is.

'Der Mussolini' by German electro act DAF is one of the best electronic songs to turn into a pounding metal song, as also proved by Atrocity. Yet, Swiss thrash metallers Coroner beat them to it and released this moshpit inducing piece of music in 1995 on their penultimate album 'Coroner'.  It still is one of my favorite cover versions, although I prefer Coroner's own songs. Still, I secretly hope I get to watch them doing this song live.

Got some more? Comment below!

black metal

Woods of Desolation is a black metal musical project from an unknown musician that creates and records independently his music, with the occasional assistance of other musicians. In his Facebook page, he identifies himself only as “D”, being his current location New South Wales, Australia. In 2014, he released his third full-length, entitled “As the Stars”. Being a major shift from traditional black metal, although he maintains intact the standards and the core of the genre, his musical input diverges radically – in a very positive way – from the common trends of black metal.

With a somewhat subjective and very personal approach, his music can be characterized by a well restrained substratum of guitar layered outlooks, serving as the basis for the rhythm of his songs, with a cold and simple, yet intricate turmoil of resonances harmonious to his solid intakes, with progressive nuances of increasing melodies spiraling into a downturn of dark symphonies. With such a poetical input he could well be considered the greatest highlight of the genre, and a new breath of creativity to this otherwise very predictable kind of music, into the 21st century. Lyrically, contrary to most black metal bands, he does not highlight satanism, but melancholy, solitude and winter. 

As the Stars from the beginning feels very personal and you can almost feel this is a work made by only one musician, inspired by his own personal point of view. This is not only black metal, but a personal view of black metal, inserted in a very artistic and intimate manner, being the final result something you had never seen – or heard – before, in the history of black metal music.   

With an astounding energy and a high inception of originality, revealing a black metal sometimes surprisingly deep-rooted in rock’n’roll, As the Stars will blow your mind away and, yet, it will deliver to its listeners some kind of nostalgia for the classical Norwegian black metal bands, especially if you used to listen to golden era Burzum, and, to a lesser extent, 90’s Mayhem, revealing – not only a somewhat conspicuous and innocuous influence, – but a fidelity to the roots of classical black metal, yet maintaining the solid distinction of a very personal identity. I not only highly recommend this album to fans, like I could give 5.0 from a 5.0 scores card, saying that it is, by far, one of the greatest – if not the best – black metal album I have ever heard in my entire life. 

​Wagner

Recently, I have seen on Youtube the live performance of British extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh, recorded at the 2015 edition of Wacken Open Air Festival. And certainly I can say, for sure, that this is one of the best live performances videos that I have ever seen in entire my life, to this day. The show begins with lead singer Dave Hunt apologizing for their second guitarist not being able to play at the venue, apparently because he was stuck in a delayed flight. As a result, he was forcibly absent from the concert. Nevertheless – my sincere apologies for this supposed second guitarist, but – we haven’t missed him: Anaal Nathrakh performance was a pure fucking cosmic blasting reverberation of resounding magnificence. We simply don’t feel something is missing. Their forty five minutes set was an astounding marvelous spectacle of iconic excellence and sonorous contrivance. I have never seen such a powerful performance before.

When they begin to play their songs, it’s unnecessary to say that hell descends on Earth. And what a magnificent way to describe hell, if this can be done at the sonorous ambivalence of Anaal Nathrakh. Their remarkably peculiar style – which can be exceedingly difficult to describe, and imperiously impossible to categorize, partly because their sound departs from a complex fusion of black and death metal, grindcore and industrial music – is a great conspicuous damnation, forged at the height of the most marvelous, descending and groundbreaking creativity that we could possibly find on the scene, with a sonorous intricacy that perfectly challenges the balance between brutality and harmony.

Their furious music has remarkable elements that summarize together an excessively detailed and gloriously made fusion between brutal heaviness and ascendant poetic melodies, counterbalancing different components into such an extent, that their music really acquires severe and straightforward nuances, that gives to their sound a very peculiar identity, that could be labeled as characteristic of their own.

And besides the music, lead singer Dave Hunt is such a character! A terrific host with great charisma, an astounding sense of leadership and a very powerful breath, he sings his lungs out, giving, with the rest of the band, a performance that deserves the best compliments ever! And all of this reminding you that Dave said at the beginning of the concert that one guitarist was missing! We could never notice that, because this performance was ostentatiously electrifying and amazing. So if you are into Anaal Nathrakh, you should never let this show pass by you unseen! And if you do not know who they are, but are willing to risk a chance, you should see this too. This is certainly a magnificent performance, that I personally consider one of the best that I have ever seen. A great reverberation of energy, concentrated, immolated and dispersed in an extraordinary set of songs, played by a deranged group of amazing and horrifically talented musicians. A remarkable top ten performance, beautifully done, beautifully executed!      


​Wagner               

Well, it's that time of the decade again. The most criticized band in the world is back with a new song and everybody is getting ready to barf out their opinions. I've seen this happen again and again since the black album appeared in 1991. In fact, I was one of them, one of those fuckers who kept on claiming "Metallica have gone soft", but I quickly grew out of that. After a while, I even started liking that particular album and today it's being played often in this household. I guess my opinion changed a bit after I kissed that girl for the first time when we were slow dancing to 'Nothing Else Matters'. It was New Year's Eve and I got to start the year with a new girlfriend, all thanks to that one Metallica song. It didn't last very long by the way. One day she called me to break up with me because I was too nice to her. 

Anyway, after the black album, Metallica released a bunch of albums that made me want to listen to 'Kill 'em All', 'Ride The Lightning', 'Master Of Puppets' and 'And Justice For All' again. 'Load'? Nope, 'Justice'!. 'Relead', even noper, 'Puppets!'. 'Saint-Anger', nopest of nope but still better than that dreadful thing they did with Lou Reed. Not that those were bad albums, not at all. As a fan of rock and metal music, certainly in the new century, you cannot ignore them. There are some great tunes on these full-lengths, even 'Frantic' is quite ok. But you're not going to a high class wine shop to buy Liebfraumilch and you're not listening to Metallica for anything less than 'One', 'Creeping Death', 'Master Of Puppets' or 'Damage Inc'. But, then again, they have already written and recorded those songs.

In 2008, 'Death Magnetic' appeared, an album that completely passed me by. I didn't care anymore, just like I didn't care for anything by Sepultura without Max Cavalera. I guess by now Metallica was quite similar to that girl who dumped me for being too nice, something I used to care about. I think it was 2012 or even later when I finally gave it a go. Again, not a bad album but immediately after 'Death Magnetic' I pushed 'Justice' into my CD player. Still, something told me that 'Death Magnetic' was a step into the right direction, away from commercialism, angry again. It was no 'Master Of Puppets'. It was simply another Metallica album that would have been better if it came directly after the black album. For a lot of fans, Metallica had lost it.

But now there's a song called 'Hard Wired', coming off the upcoming album, and quite frankly, it's a blast. True, the lyrics are somewhat infantile. 'We are so fucked, shit out of luck' are words you'd expect from a beginning band of fifteen-year old kiddos but not from one of the most seasoned and enigmatic bands on the planet, but, as much as I hate to say it, they are absolutely right on the spot. We ARE fucked. This world, this society hasn't gotten any better since James barked out 'back to the front'. In fact, we're in exactly the same shit as when Metallica first formed.

And that's actually how this song sounds to me. It feels like a punky thrash metal song from the early eighties: pissed-off, in-your-face, kicking against the establishment. If this song was on 'Ride The Lightning', it would have been a classic by now, but no, this is the twenty-first century Metallica, the one people love to shit on to get a little attention from across the interwebs. If this song was the new Overkill, Testament or Kreator track, no one would bat an eye, but no, let's quickly post some negative comments about Lars because it's so damn hip to hate Lars. Lars, who fucked up 'Justice' with his moronic vision about the sound of the bass guitar. Lars, one of the most loathed drummers to ever set foot on the stage. Lars, who is responsible for multiple classics in the metal scene and an inspiration for countless of young people to get their butts behind the drum kit. Thàt Lars!

Since the black album, Metallica have been swallowing criticism, and sometimes with good reason too. They shouldn't have said that they recorded 'St Anger' "in the spirit of 'Master Of Puppets'". But this? This rocks and I bet that most of the people who now criticize the song will soon be moshing their limbs off at one of the upcoming Metallica concerts. If anything, this song makes me want to go see them live again. I will probably be buying a ticket if they come back to Belgium and changes are big that I will buy this new album, maybe even a new Metallica t-shirt. I haven't had one in decades.

There seems to be fire again, power, speed, everything you ever liked about Metallica is here, all in just over three minutes. In a way, this is 'Whiplash' all over again, a fierce speed metal track that will soon blast through millions of already tormented speakers, along with a bunch of other possible fan-favorites. I'm damn sure it will blast through mine and this time, I will probably not be playing one of the older albums after this one. I'm not saying that this is going to be the best Metallica album ever, recording that is no longer possible, but it could be one of the best metal albums of 2016 and that's more than good enough for Metallica. They don't have to prove anything anymore but they just did...


​Serge