#prog was not cooperating with me

[wrwnbabo]

A blooper from Nothing Like the Holidays

yeah 😏

[techav]

On Multitasking

Sharing a Computer with Friends

The Motorola 68030 was a decently powerful microprocessor for its day. It is a fully 32-bit processor with 16 general-purpose registers, separate instruction & data caches, memory management unit, 18 addressing modes, over 100 instructions, pipelined architecture, and was available rated up to 50MHz. It was used in computers by Apple, Amiga, NeXT, Sun, Atari, and saw further life embedded in devices such as printers, oscilloscopes, and network switches. It was the kind of microprocessor used for desktop publishing, 3D CAD & animation, photo & video editing, etc.

In short, the 68030 is a microprocessor that can do some serious work. That's part of why I like it so much. It's a real workhorse chip but as far as 32-bit microprocessors go, it's dead simple to build with.

But running a single quick & simple BASIC program hardly seems like an adequate exercise for such a capable chip.

There is a prevailing claim that the 68000 architecture was heavily inspired by that of the PDP-11 or VAX minicomputers — powerhouses of the previous generation of computing. These machines ran entire businesses, at times servicing many simultaneous users. Surely the 68030 with similar capabilities but significantly faster instruction throughput than the decade-older machines would be more than capable of handling such a workload.

As I've mentioned before, one of my end goals for my 68030 projects is to run a proper operating system. Something like System V, BSD, or Linux; a true multi-user system befitting of the 68k's architectural heritage. My programming skills are limited, and getting such a complex project running is still outside my reach. But I am learning, and slowly inching myself closer to that goal.

Recently I built an expansion card for my Wrap030 project to add another four serial ports to it. In the context of the old minicomputers, another serial port means another terminal, which means the ability to serve one more user. My new 4-port serial card should give me the ability to add four new user terminals.

If only I had software capable of doing so.

Excluding symmetric multiprocessing and today's multi-core behemoths, supporting multiple user processes on a single computer processor means dividing time between them. The computer will run one user's program for a little while, then stop and run another user's program for a little while. Do this fast enough and neither user might ever notice that the computer is paying attention to someone else — especially since the computer spends much of its time just waiting for user input.

There are a few ways to accomplish this, but the simplest is to just make sure that every user program is written to cooperate with the others and periodically yield to the next user program ("Cooperative Multitasking"). A good time to do this is whenever the program needs to wait for input from the user or wait for a device to be ready to accept output.

Enhanced BASIC (68k EhBASIC), which I have been running on all of my 68k computer builds, was written in such a way that lends itself well to this sort of cooperative multitasking. It runs a tight loop when waiting for input or output, and while running a BASIC program, it stops at the end of each line to see if the user has pressed Ctrl-C to stop the program. This means that EhBASIC never goes too long without needing to check in with slow I/O devices. All that would needed is a simple kernel to set things up and switch to another user's processes whenever each time one of them is waiting for I/O.

So I set about creating such a minimal multi-user kernel. On startup, it initializes hardware, sets up some data tables for keeping track of what each user program is doing, loads BASIC into RAM, then starts running BASIC for that first user. Whenever a user process needs to read data from or write data to its terminal, it asks the kernel to handle that I/O task for it. The kernel will save the state of the user program to the data table it set up in the beginning, then switch to the next user to let it run until it too asks for assistance with an I/O task.

The kernel works through all user processes round-robin until it loops back around to the first user. After restoring the state of the user's process the kernel will service the I/O task that user process had originally requested, and return to let that user process run for a little while again. So all of the other user processes get their chance to run while one is waiting on data, and each process makes sure to allow the others a chance to run for a while when they are in the middle of running their own program.

I was able to throw together a quick proof of concept using the EASy68K simulator. What followed was days of catching all of the tiny mistakes I made, such as saving register A0 to the memory location reserved for register A1, overwriting the value previously saved for A1 and effectively losing both in the process — an error which resulted in BASIC printing only the first three characters of its startup header followed by a long string of null characters.

Debugging was tricky. I was starting from the bottom. No standard library, no existing structure or frameworks to rely on. The kernel process relied on the very same registers the user programs were using. Any changes to register contents by the kernel would affect the user processes. I ended up adding assembly macros to print short statements and register contents to the kernel console to try to get some insight into what was happening. I was able to track when registers came out of the user context save/restore process different than when they went in to find where I had bugs in that process.

This was a challenging project resulting in nearly a thousand lines of very low-level 68k assembly code, all of which I wrote and rewrote multiple times before figuring everything out. I've written small pieces of assembly code over the years, but none which required such deep dives into the CPU documentation to discern fine details of how the chip operates. I got there eventually though and now I have an 8MHz 68030 homebrew computer with 2MB of RAM that can run four BASIC programs simultaneously.

I'm going to need more terminals.

[cerastes]

Hey Dreamo, Wot kinda music do ya like?

My favorite kinds of music are various forms of jazz (look at Jaco Pastorius' stuff, for example, or The Cinematic Orchestra, brit nu jazz), various forms of metal (I'm a big Dream Theater (especially John Petrucci) kinda guy, that's prog metal, I like Children of Bodom, that's death metal, and can't forget Apocalyptica, symphonic metal, and also let's throw in Rammstein, industrial metal or "neue deutsche härte", and I'm also a pretty big fan of certain dad metal bands like DIO), I like rap as well (I like Nas and Busta Rhymes a bunch), Dark Country (Blues Saraceno is my favorite), old punk rock (like Misfits), and sometimes you just gotta sit down and listen to something that can only be described as "cinematic" music, like E.S. Posthumus.

On a more independent scale, my favorite violinists are "Ayasa" and "IAmDSharp"!

If you asked me what my favorite song is, I think it's a tie between Creed's "With Arms Wide Open" and Alice Cooper's "Feed My Frankenstein". Alice Cooper is an all time favorite of mine because his music can best be described as "halloween rock", but unlike Rob Zombie, who's like a "Friday the 13th" or "Nightmare at Elm Street" kinda halloween music, Alice Cooper is "Scooby Doo and the 13 Ghosts" or "Courage the Cowardly Dog" kinda halloween.

[severalpossiblemusiks]

HELLO i am asking about music but more generally i am asking what sorts of music you really enjoy :}

Oh my goodness you've opened the floodgates.

I'll keep this under the cut cause I suspect this will be a VERY LONG post.

I got started on generic Christian radio music (growing up Christian and all), hymns, and classical music. Since both my parents were children of the 80s, they had a slight affinity for less mainstream artists, and had a fairly extensive vinyl, cassette, and CD collection of numerous Christian, country, and classical music. From this start I developed a deep and unerringly passionate love of your standard classical music greats like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, etc. I also still hold a soft spot for some of the Christian artists I was introduced to as well, such as Michael Card, Larry Norman, John Michael Talbot, David Meece, Michael W. Smith, and some others.

Thanks to my mom being a fan of the glam and hair bands of the day, I was made aware of the hard rock and heavy metal worlds through the Christian bands that figured out they could reach out to people through "the devil's music". Bands like Petra, Stryper, and WhiteHeart. From there I continued to find and discover other Christian rock and metal bands such as Disciple, Theocracy, POD, and Demon Hunter.

It was about this time I started guitar lessons and also found a fascination with the incredibly virtuosic playing of many jazz, flamenco, and classical guitarists such as Django Reinhardt, Paco de Lucia, Al Di Meola, Pepe Romero, Jesse Cook, Narsisco Yepes, and more. This jazz/classical/flamenco connection really fuelled my desire to study music further, bolstered by gradually trying to apply what I learned to other music I was discovering thanks to a near 24/7 addiction to my national public radio station that played music, obviously, 24/7.

From this station I discovered opera, deepened my classical knowledge, found out what indie music was, heard the occasional pop smash hit, started making a list of jazz artists I liked, and heard classic oldies rock and blues.

So it's safe to say I was listening to almost every music style you could name. My guitar teacher was savvy to this, and gave me a push towards prog rock with learning a few songs by Yes and Rush, which lent themselves to my multi-faceted interests as the prog guitarists also drew from numerous musical sources.

Returning to my hard rock/metal interests, my love of bands like Stryper and Theocracy led me down the "who met who" rabbit hole. I browsed the labels of both bands, finding out which artists shared their labels, gave those bands a listen, found guest musicians and singers they collaborated with, and listened to those bands. Theocracy led me down two steps to Avantasia through a band called Impellitteri (the common connection is the singer Rob Rock), which led me to Ayreon through Tobi's guest work on "the Source" album. Of course both those bands being guest musician powerhouses led me to find no end of other bands.

Also I discovered Christian metal bands of more extreme styles, including Mortification, Antestor, Slechtvalk, Tourniquet, Deliverance, Vengeance, and others.

At this point my only way to find a lot of these bands was YouTube, as I had no Spotify and no way in hell half the bands I listened to got any radio airplay over here, so my home page was littered with metal bands from all over, and I was fully immersed in music.

Heading to college, I found very few of my dorm mates shared my musical interests save classical and maybe jazz, and definitely not to the degree I was invested in it. That slowed me down some, but I found a few friends who were open to my weirder interests. One I hooked firmly onto Avantasia and power metal (we initially bonded over a shared appreciation for Alice Cooper), and another just vibed really well with me and we shared band recs. He got me into more stoner metal and heavy blues.

As a music student, my classes were heavily geared towards classical music, and I continued to find new artists to obsess over every class. One teach was quite helpful in giving recs and suggestions, and he also taught the music history class, which was right up my alley, so I over listened to every artists we had to listen to for that class.

Over the course of my degree I also was regularly collecting CDs and finding new artists, so naturally I was always listening to something at any given time.

I took an electronic music course, which was a very formative class for me, as previous to this class I was very much in the opinion that electronic music was not real music (my only exposure to the genre was brostep), and learning the extensive history and culture of electronic music with bands like Kraftwerk and individual artists like Wendy Carlos really gave me an opening into that world.

By the end of my music degree I was still struggling to write music, which remains a goal in my mind, but I had increased my CD collection from a shoebox of maybe 50 in my first year to well over 500, spanning all the genres I have mentioned above and more.

I strongly hold the opinion that "you have a favourite artist in every genre of music, you just have to listen for them". This helps me try to keep an open mind to all music styles and artists, while also allowing myself to dislike artists that seem right up my alley (for example, I heartily dislike tool). So far the only major genre that has eluded me for a favourite artists is rap/hip-hop, but the memetic power of Snoop Dogg is slowly working against that.

Soooooo....

Yeah that's kinda my music life, hopefully it's coherent, and this is why I love dropping music recs, cause it helps keep me discovering and listening to new stuff.

[go-go-devil]

Top 5 autistic headcanons and top 5 aroace headcanons?

TRIPLE A LET'S GOOO!!!

Autism:

Dale Cooper (Twin Peaks): One of the most obviously autistic characters to ever grace television. The allistics just didn't get it probably because he was "too social" or whatever other slight deviation from what's stereotypical in autistic characters

Kris (Deltarune): I genuinely believe Kris is deliberately autistic-coded, mostly due to that "How to Care for a Human" book you find in the library in Chapter 2 but even beyond that all of their described behaviors are SUPER relatable to me as an autistic person (and bring me back to how I felt about it in my youth...)

Daniil Dankovsky & Various Other Characters (Pathologic): Thank you once again for showing me the light in how truly autistic Daniil is at his very core <3 Besides him though I'm also in agreement with the very code of Classic HD that Peter Stamatin and Grace are on the spectrum (tortured savant and death-obsessed weird girl rep respectively), but I would also argue that Yulia Lyuricheva is autistic as well. I mean the woman is described as someone who "sits in the corner and quietly observes others" and invented an entire philosophical theory in an attempt to explain the pattern of random events invisibly triggered by people. That's what we in the business call STEM-influenced autism :)

The Lodger (Knock-Knock): Yet another video game character that is so intensely autistic. Willingly living in isolation, simultaneously longing for and hating the presence of guests in your house, talking to yourself while pacing through the hallways & infodumping about the most niche scientific field imaginable? It's so relatable 🕯

Diane Nguyen (Bojack Horseman): This one maybe doesn't have the most "evidence" compared to the others per say, but I honestly found myself relating to a lot of Diane's personality quirks and struggles AS an autistic person (ex: hating surprises, trouble regulating her emotions/prone to emotional outbursts, having the most specific overly-convoluted Halloween costume ever). With her I think I'm more in the minority for this hc since her other mental illnesses overshadow her autistic traits, plus her's aren't nearly as obvious as Juda's (who as far as I'm concerned IS canonically autistic even if it's not outright stated by the characters)

Aroace:

Patches (Soulsborne Series): There is no fucking way this man has ANY desire for sex and romance. The only hole he's interested in are the enemy-infested ones he can kick you down! Plus I do know of that one famous line he says in Dark Souls 3 which he claims to be "devoid of all worldly wants" so this might as well be canon

Artemy Burakh (Pathologic): I don't care what the shippers think, I just love the idea of Artemy having a narrative revolving around the concept of "love" while being alienated and eventually coming to terms with how he himself doesn't experience this emotion in a socially conventional way. Besides just 'cause he's aroace in my mind doesn't mean he can't form QPR's ;)

Death of the Endless (The Sandman): ABSOLUTE AROACE ICON! She's a being who loves humanity, but keeps a reasonable distance between any individual person due to her role in taking their souls upon their death. Though instead of being all moping and "oh I can never allow myself to truly be close to those I love T_T" she's instead endlessly jovial and enjoys every second of spending time with other humans in a platonic fashion, brief as those seconds are in the grand scheme of her job. If that ain't actually positive aroace rep I don't know what is 🖤

Every Character in Hylics: All of them are aroace. They're functionally immortal clay aliens who probably don't even need to procreate in traditional means to produce new life, and besides they're more interested in prog rock than romance anyway 🌙 🎸🌯

Holden Caulfield (The Catcher in the Rye): A very personal hc for me. Reading that book was one of my earliest instances of me relating to a character for their lack of desire for sex and romance; in particular the whole story about Holden losing his best friend Jane due to her no longer valuing him as a friend and wanting a boyfriend instead, to which he couldn't find himself filling that role. It's just such a vivid portrayal of THE aroace experience of having your platonic connections become "lesser" in the eyes of society, and it really pisses me off that so many contribute this character trait of his as something "he refuses to grow out of" because no it fucking isn't! But then again most analyses of this book are godawful ableist pieces of shit so I'm not exactly surprised there's a lack of meaningful analysis on the main character being sexually deviant alongside his mental disorders

[housewarningparty]

Did you hear the new Coheed and Cambria singles? They just released a music video for The Joke a couple of days ago

"The Joke" has grown on me a little. It probably doesn't help that the first few times I listened was from a radio stream at absolute dogshit quality. I think the fucked up weird descending guitar riff thing that's going on could have been fine like once maybe twice but it's grating at this level. That said, I think this song has some of the wildest bass parts we've ever seen out of Zach Cooper.

Idk it's a weird, weird song. I hope it doesn't indicate what the overall sonic profile of Vaxis 3 is going to be - I liked Vaxis 2 A LOT and I liked some of the experimentation they did there but I don't want to keep leaning really hard into heavy synth stuff indefinitely and I kinda want Claudio to get over the autotune phase. Give me more weird 8 minute prog songs with the most inexplicably catchy hooks anyone's ever heard.

"Deranged" is the best it's ever sounded, though. Iirc Claudio rerecorded some of the vocal parts, overall the sound is much cleaner than the original version. It very much DOES make me wanna go listen to YOTBR every time I hear it though.

[old-habitz-die-hard]

me when i get the obscure prog band autism and not the rainman sheldon cooper smart genius autism

[siberian-khatru]

2 and 5 for the music asks!

2. Who got you into the band you adore now?: Oh gosh lol. My dad got me into Rush, and from there I discovered prog. For example, I found out the the members of Rush (especially Geddy) are/were massive Yes fans, so my very logical conclusion was: Rush good -> They like Yes? -> Listen to Yes? -> YES GOOD!!! YES VERY GOOD!!!

Essentially, I got myself into Yes, but if you wanted to blame a specific person, you could blame my dad. Or Geddy Lee.

5. If you could ham with any band member ever, living or dead, who would it be?: As a bassist, hands down Neil Peart, if I could keep myself acting normal for long enough. Actually, I'd just take all of Rush tbh lol. And Chris, but I'm pretty sure I'd actually pass out lol, or do that scene in Wayne's World where Garth and Wayne are meeting Alice Cooper.

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

Baby Boomer Classics: Electric Seventies 1986 Hard Rock / Blues-Rock / Progressive Rock / Heavy Metal / Southern Rock / Glam Rock

Another superb dispatch here from the California-based compilation label JCI's Baby Boomer Classics series that gathers together a grip of classic rock tunes from the 70s. Here we have a really satisfying road trip mix of stuff that goes a combination of hard, bluesy, proggy, metallic, southern, and glammy 🤘.

Now, ultimately, it's pretty hard for me to pick an absolute favorite among this already mostly well-known dozen, but I've got three especially in mind here, and all of them are by bands who, coincidentally, ended up as one-hit wonders in the US.

So, first, there's "Mississippi Queen," a terrific blues-rockin' piece of southern-styled, heavy and fuzzy proto-metal by a band called Mountain, who, based on both the sound of this song itself and the band's own name, you couldn't be faulted for thinking hailed from somewhere like Appalachia. But get this, folks: this group that played at Woodstock and then delivered this mud-caked hit the following year were actually from none other than Long Island, a locale that is neither remotely southern nor mountainous! Buncha poseurs who ended up making one of the greatest southern rock hits of all time! Uh, excuse me? CCR would like a word!

Next, Mott the Hoople's "All the Young Dudes," a glam rock classic that David Bowie gave to this group so that they'd stay together. Bowie had just released a couple albums of his own and still had plenty of ideas left in his tank to give to other acts, so he started playing parts of this song that he'd fleshed out for one of Mott's members on an acoustic, and the band decided to take it and then smashed it. The super catchy singalong chorus on this one sounds like something Oasis could've spun up about 20 years later, and actually, upon having that thought, I find that they adapted that very chorus for a live performance of "Whatever," which also had some of the Beatles' "Octopus's Garden" in it too:

And lastly, probably the least known and most unique song of this whole bunch: "Hocus Pocus," a song by a prog rock band from The Netherlands called Focus that is largely instrumental, but also incorporates some signature yodeling too. This one's a free-flowing, unorthodoxly crafted rock odyssey of sorts that comes with a solo flute portion as well, and while it's definitely not *obscure*—it was a top-ten hit in the US—I can say that, with the many, many hours I've spent with classic rock radio over the years, that I've definitely never heard it on there before. And as far as instrumental classic rock hits go, this one deserves to be the song that you immediately think of rather than Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein," which is also a great song that's on this comp too. Plus, the version that appears on this record seems to be different than the one that most people are probably familiar with! 👀

Really enjoying this series so far. Don't know how many of these installments are left for me to sift through, but I know there's still a lot left. Gonna be taking it in drips and drabs, though, so stay tuned!

Highlights:

Grand Funk Railroad - "We're an American Band" Manfred Mann's Earth Band - "Blinded by the Light" Black Sabbath - "Paranoid" Gregg Allman - "Midnight Rider" Edgar Winter - "Frankenstein" Mountain - "Mississippi Queen" Santana - "Black Magic Woman" Uriah Heep - "Easy Livin'" Mott the Hoople - "All the Young Dudes" Brownsville Station - "Smokin' in the Boys Room" Alice Cooper - "I'm Eighteen" Focus - "Hocus Pocus"

[eddie-rifff]

about

i have an about on desktop but for those who use exclusively mobile im making this my pinned post.

im twig/twiggy. but most importantly i am chris squire's #1 fan.

previously funky-dracula and others

nonbinary

they/he idfk. idc.

27 yrs old

maryland usa

i look like this

i tag these things

dni

sideblog for funnies

my insta

i really like 70s/80s prog/glam/art rock. perhaps you have gathered this by looking at my blog. fav bands are Yes, Roxy Music, T. Rex, VdGG/Peter Hammill, UK, Sweet, Alice Cooper, King Crimson, Genesis, Sparks, etc. please talk to me about any of them (✿˘ω˘)˘ε˘˶ )

if you know me by my birth name i kindly ask that you refer to me as twig .

update as of nov 2024 changing my tags again lol now it's:

ALL text posts: a beast that can talk

anything not relating to music: pas de musique

[itwas50yearsagotoday]

6/18/23: It was 50 years ago today, June 18th, 1973, Joe Walsh would release his second 'solo' album The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get. His first album was released under the band's name Barnstorm, officially... albeit by this time the record company insisted it be released under his name. Thus, Barnstorm, the band, would break up after the album's release. This record is also notable for containing Walsh's first U.S. Top 40 solo hit 'Rocky Mountain Way', which if you know your Classic Rock, this is kind of a biggie. All jeers aside, the song would peak at #23, propelling Walsh into semi-stardom. But how 'bout the rest of the record? Well it's decent... better than Barnstorm's first record for sure, more focused... alongside 'Rocky' standout songs include 'Midnight Moodies', 'Happy Ways' and 'Days Gone Bye'. The style of the record is somewhat akin to what Alice Cooper was doing, although not quite as heavy... in other words, Walsh was trying (with some success) several different styles at once: Rock, Jazz, Country-Rock, and even a little Prog ('Moodies' and 'Days' especially). It's not some kind of great artistic statement, but I can see why Eagles would be interested in this guy. A decent, slightly above-average record... very good for ol' Joe. Garsh, he's just hard not to like (although I despise 'Life's Been Good', but that's for another blog). Worth at least a listen, even the deep cuts. Also, probably my all-time favorite album title... it's like 'Where's the beef', it just makes me smile.

[tempi-dispari]

New Post has been published on https://www.tempi-dispari.it/2023/03/20/death-ss-nemo-propheta-in-patria/

Death SS: nemo propheta in patria

Cari undergeroundiani, amici, fratelli, comagni di ventura!

Iniziamo questa nuova avventura che vuole provare a ripercorrere attraverso band e personaggi, quello che è stato l’underground, inteso in senso molto ampio, nel nostro paese.

Quindi non tratteremo solo di band metal o hard rock. Tratteremo di quel fenomeno di cultura sotterranea, perché l’underground questo è, che lo ha portato ad essere ciò che oggi è.

Per farlo analizzeremo, nel nostro piccolo, con molta umiltà, consapevoli si non poter fare un lavoro totalmente esauriente ed esaustivo, quei gruppi, quei movimenti e quei personaggi che hanno fatto la storia dell’underground. Il taglio non sarà didascalico (non sarà solo un elenco di biografie e discografie). Lo sforzo è quello di una vera e propria analisi dei fenomeni. Quindi, contestualizzazione storico, culturale, sociale, oltre che strettamente musicale. Perché, secondo me, ogni epoca ha avuto ed ha la propria colonna sonore che deriva da un insieme di fattori.

Tutto ciò con la speranza che ciò che scriveremo servirà alle nuove generazioni, e non solo, per capire il mondo in cui si stanno muovendo, al di là delle etichette.

Ovviamente, tutto con il vostro aiuto.

Così come con i vostri suggerimenti abbiamo deciso di partire dai Death SS. Certamente un faro per la cultura metal oggi giustamente addivenuti a maggior fama.

Buona lettura e, fateci sapere cosa ne pensate.

Contesto storico culturale e politico.

La band di Stefano Silvestri, in arte Steve Sylvester, è nata ufficialmente nel 1977 a Pesaro.

Il decennio degli anni ’70, non solo nel nostro pese, ma in generale, non è stato un periodo né facile né felice. Per noi italiani è stato il periodo degli anni di piombo, del terrorismo, il delitto Moro, contestazioni, stragi. Nel mondo la situazione non era molto diversa. La cultura hyppie travolta dall’eroina, la guerra in Vietnam, i conflitti in medio oriente, la strage dello stadio Olimpico di Monaco, i primordi dell’Aids, la guerra fredda e i primi bagliori dello spauracchio della guerra atomica. Insomma, un bel guazzabuglio di guai.

Musicalmente è invece stato uno dei decenni migliori, almeno per il rock. Sono arrivati alla ribalta i Led Zeppelin, i Deep Purple, il rock si è fatto heavy, si è allargata la scena progressive, Genesis, Jetro Tull, la scuola di Canterbury, i Pink Floyd pubblicano The dark side of the moon. Un crogiuolo di creatività. Per non parlare del fenomeno punk, del glam, dello shock rock di Alice Cooper.

In Italia hanno iniziato a muovere i primi passi moltissimi cantautori che col tempo si sono poi affermati. Chi più chi meno. Dalla, Guccini, Venditti, Battisti. Senza dimenticare la band come Pfm, Le Orme, Banco del mutuo soccorso, Area sul versante prog. Ma non c’era solo melodia ‘pulita’, solare. No, c’erano anche anfratti più scuri, oscuri e misteriosi. Fuori confine possiamo contare i primi dischi dei Black Sabbath e Angel Witch. Entro confine, i Biglietti per l’inferno, Jacula e, appunto, Death SS.

Il mito.

L’essenza della Death SS, secondo me, l’ha espressa moto bene Roberto Negrini, in un articolo intitolato Rock infernale, pubblicato nel periodico Misteri, marzo/aprile 1996. In realtà la descrizione era riferita ai grandi gruppi rock in generale. Ma dal mio punto di vista ben si adatta alla band pesarese:

“Si tratta di un ibridismo tra la studiata provocazione antiborghese e il grido di rivolta di realtà culturali e sociali perseguitate. Sono la rivendicazione di ebbrezza, sesso, piacere, ma anche paura, dolore e morte. Sono la voce della spiritualità dionisiaca, della carnalità omosessuale, dell’estasi lisergica. E anche il confuso, violento risveglio degli aspetti più corrosivi di antiche realtà spirituali combattute dal cristianesimo come i culti tribali, la magia e la stregoneria. II tutto abilmente trasformato in spettacolare gioco di musica e di scena, spesso condito da disincarnata ironia ‘

Gli si può dare torto? Per chi già li conosce, no.

La storia

I Death SS nascono artisticamente nel 1977 dall’incontro del cantante Steve Sylvester (pseudonimo di Stefano Silvestri) con il chitarrista e organista Paul Chain (Paolo Catena). Il nome del gruppo, le cui due “S” derivano dalle iniziali del cantante, non ha originariamente un significato preciso; anni dopo comincerà a essere ufficialmente inteso come abbreviazione di “In Death of Steve Sylvester”. I due fondatori sono uniti dalla passione per il punk e per gruppi come Black Sabbath, Black Widow, Alice Cooper e Kiss. A loro si uniscono in seguito un secondo chitarrista, Claud Galley (Claudio Galeazzi, in seguito anche al basso), il bassista Danny Hughes (Daniele Ugolini) e il batterista Tommy Chaste (Tommaso Castaldi).

Sotto la guida Sylvester/Chain la formazione allestisce i suoi primi live show sul finire degli anni ’70. Lo scenario con cui il gruppo ama apparire di fronte al proprio pubblico e composto da bare scoperchiate, immagini spettrali, croci e teschi, the arrivano a occupare buona parte dello stage. Parte integrante di questa impressionante coreografia sono personaggi horror rappresentati dai protagonisti.

Un vampiro per it cantante Silvester, la morte per Paul Chain, uno zombie per iI secondo chitarrista, una mummia per il bassista di turno e un lupo mannaro per il collega ritmico. Le apparizioni su vinile nei primi anni sono ridotte al minimo. Il brano Terror e presente su Gathered, una compilation curata dal mensile Rockerilla e pubblicata nel 1982, mentre nel 1983 esce l’EP Evil Metal, ritirato dal mercato dopo qualche settimana a causa di alcuni difetti d’incisione. Il gruppo sconta un periodo di declino. Sylvester abbandona la formazione. Lo sostituisce Sanctis Gorham, che pur impegnandosi a fondo non ripristina il fascino malvagio del suo predecessore. Paul Chain abbandona il nome della band, considerata addirittura maledetta.

Infatti un’altra caratteristica peculiare del gruppo è l’interesse verso i temi dell’occulto, del satanismo e dell’orrore mutuato anche dal vasto immaginario prodotto da cinema e letteratura gotica ed applicato “visivamente”, come detto. Peculiarità che farà nascere diverse leggende tra gli estimatori del genere, non proprio positive. Tutte queste particolarità varranno al genere proposto dai Death SS l’appellativo di “horror music” o anche “horror metal”.

Il primo full lenght ufficiale è costituito dalla raccolta di brani suonati dalla prima formazione, The story of Death SS (1977-1984), importante testimonianza dello stato della scena rnetal e hard italiana. Non tutti i brani della raccolta (uscita per l’etichetta di Paul Chain dopo lo split) sono cantati da Sylvester. Alcuni sono eseguiti da Sanctis Ghoram, che sostituì Sylvester tra il 1977 e il 1982.

Nel settembre del 1988 la band riunita riappare quale attrazione principale al VI H.M. Festiva! di Bergamo, con uno Steve Sylvester in forma smagliante. All’esibizione fa seguito il primo vero album registrato dalla band, In death of Steve Silvester, pubblicato in dicembre dalla Metal Master. È un successo. Sulla sua scia i Death SS vincono i rock polls delle riviste specializzate italiane, e il successivo Black Mass diventa l’album indipendente più venduto dell’heavy metal nazionale.

Il disco è puro horror rock, o, se si preferisce horror music, secondo la definizione dello stesso Steve. Con canzoni come Vampire, la monumentale Torror, Zombie, Black Mummy e Werewolf, ci troviamo all’interno di un vero museo degli orrori. Un tributo a quell’horror classico sia letterario sia cinematografico che i Death SS hanno saputo trasporre in musica come pochi altri al mondo. A ciò si aggiunge la cover di Alice Cooper di I Leve The Dead.

Tutte le figure archetipiche horror sono poi trasposte in sede live in maniera molto teatrale, con i componenti della band ognuno truccato come un mostro d film della Hammer. A questo punto per i Death SS si annuncia il salto di qualità. Scritturati dalla Contempo Records, hanno a disposizione Sven Conquest, un esperto produttore della label tedesca Noise, per il missaggio del nuovo album. Heavy Demons, che uscirà il 31 ottobre 1991.

Heavy Demons è forse uno degli album di maggior successo. La copertina già parla chiaro: i cinque membri del gruppo sono ritratti nei costumi classici (il vampiro, la mummia, la morte, il lupo mannaro e lo zombie) e con un trucco scenico di livello cinematografico. Sopra di loro il logo della band. In basso il titolo dell’album in caratteri gotici dorati. Il retro è un marmo tombale su cui sono incisi negli stessi caratteri i titoli delle canzoni. Disco dal booklet curatissimo.

Musicalmente è puro heavy metal. Si alternano brani tirati come Baphomet ad altri più atmosferici come Family Vault, passando per anthem da stadio Heavy Demons dal chorus di grandissima presa, fino al potente singolo Where Have You Gone? Ciliegina sulla torta, la narrazione della leggenda del cinema Oliver Reed nel brano Walpurgisnacht. Questa prima fase della carriera discografica dei Death SS è celebrata on stage e nell’album live del 1992 The cursed concert.

Di questo periodo sono i problemi di distribuzione causati dalla doppia S nel nome sui mercati austriaco e tedesco, in anni di isteria collettiva causata dalla riemersione violenta del fenomeno skinheads. Il live immortalato in questo Cd è di altissima qualità, e quello che succede sui palco è puro shock rock venato di horror. Siamo dalle parti di Alice Cooper, con l’apparato occulto esoterico di King Diamond. In Italia si faceva e si fa horror rock di livello: The cursed concert cancella ogni dubbio.

La copertina nera con una piccola immagine al centro lascia qualche dubbio invece… Sylvester è impegnato con una donna poco vestita. Aprendo il booklet (solo fotografie di scena) si scopre che la donna è nello specifico una suora. Fotogramma per fotogramma si evince la sua storia. Ha cercato di scacciare “il maligno” e invece ne è stata spogliata (per davvero) e posseduta (l’amplesso è mimato in maniera eloquente). Le altre immagini non sono da meno.

Vittime sacrificali più o meno vestite, fumogeni, calici di sangue, letture da libri ignoti, figuri incappucciati. Tutto ha il tono e il sapore dell’orgia mistica crowleyana. Colpisce, stupisce e coinvolge. Il concerto si fonde col rituale, il pubblico è stregato dalle immagini, dalla teatralità e dalla musica (le versioni live dei classici heavy metal sono da manuale). Come show, trucchi e presenza sul palco siamo ai più alti livelli dell’intrattenimento. Per riavere i Death SS in studio passano cinque anni. Nel 1997 esce Do what thou mit, un concept sull’opera di Aleister. Crowley.

Questo contiene altri brani d’effetto come Baron Samedi e Scarlet Woman. Siamo ancora nei solco dell’heavy metal, ma si sente che la band si sta preparando a stupire. È l’anno 2000 e Panic cambia le carte in tavola da tutti i punti di vista, musicale e del look. Ci voleva forse una ventata d’aria fresca e i tempi sono maturi. L’album è heavy, ma con fortissime influenze industrial ed elettroniche. Suoni hi tech si sposano perfettamente con i temi esoterici tipici della band, che raggiungono un elevato livello di maturità. Il disco si apre con un quartetto di citazioni da brivido nel brano Paraphernalia: Anton LaVey, Aleister Crowley, William S. Burroughs, Alejandro Jodorowsky.

Il look cambia con la musica. Addio ai classici mostri, i cinque mutano in guerrieri apocalittici del futuro, autentici road killers che paiono scaturiti da Mad Max. Addio al cimitero. Stavolta la band è in posa in una landa desolata, arsa da un sole post-atomico. L’album é eccezionale, la produzione affidata a Neil Kernon non presenta sbavature e il tutto è impreziosito dalla narrazione in due brani del maestro Alejandro Jodorowsky. Il cambio di immagine avviene nel momento giusto, in quell’anno di paranoia collettiva neomedioevale che fu il Duemila.

Il lavoro successivo, del 2002, conferma la direzione intrapresa dalla band. Humanomalies è un concept sul mondo dei freaks, sorta di attualizzazione di quei circhi di stranezze e abomini di varia umanità che giravano il mondo nel passato. E non a caso, a ribadire da dove si viene e dove si va, contiene la traccia Grand Guignol. L’album si muove su coordinate ancora più elettroniche del precedente e a livello visivo la band resta quasi in secondo piano. Tutto il booklet infatti è un manifesto del circo degli orrori messo in scena e presentato dal gran cerimoniere Steve.

Ogni canzone ha la sua raffigurazione, disegnata in perfetto stile retrò, del freak o dell’abominazione e crudeltà che descrive. Le immagini, nonostante lo stile, sono piuttosto forti. Ancora una volta Io scopo di ricreare una certa atmosfera rileggendola al tempo stesso in chiave musicalmente modernissima è raggiunto in pieno.

Nel 2007 esce The seventh seal, il settimo sigillo ideale della carriera discografica e sorta di completamento del percorso musicale della band, che infatti in questo periodo si mette in pausa. The seventh seal perde un po’ dell’elettronica che stava diventando preponderante e segna un parziale ritorno a sonorità più classicamente metal, anzi, a tratti quasi anni Settanta. Dopo un concerto d’addio al Gods Of Metal (immortalato in un Cd), il singer pubblica l’album The shining darkness con un nuovo progetto, i Sancta Sanctorum, con Thomas Hand Chaste (tra i membri originali dei Death SS), che però si distanzia dalla produzione dei Death SS. Come riferisce lo stesso cantante:

Non troverai tematiche esoteriche o orrorifiche nei testi dei Sancta Sanctorum! Il disco è una

sorta di concept sul pessimismo, sul dolore di vivere, sugli aspetti più oscuri della coscienza umana, sui senso stesso della nostra esistenza. Nessun riferimento quindi a dottrine occulte e letteratura gotica, ma riflessioni “doom” sul destino dell’umanità… Qua e là si possono cogliere anche riferimenti molto vaghi a personaggi dell’attuale politica e della chiesa (ma molto sotto le righe), in altri alla profezia sulla fine del mondo del 2012 (molto di “moda” di questi tempi), ma ho volutamente lasciato molto spazio alla libera interpretazione di chi ascolta.

Il ritorno e gli ultimi anni

Alla fine del 2011 il cantante Steve Sylvester pubblica la sua biografia ufficiale, realizzata in collaborazione con il critico e giornalista Gianni Della Cioppa. Il libro è incentrato principalmente sulla sua infanzia e sul suo ingresso nella prima formazione dei Death SS. Nel 2012 viene annunciato il ritorno sulle scene della band e l’uscita dell’EP The Darkest Night, che viene pubblicato il 21 dicembre 2012 e contiene il singolo omonimo, per il quale è stato realizzato anche un video musicale. Il 14 febbraio 2013 esce un secondo video, per l’inedito Ogre’s Lullaby, composto per la colonna sonora del film Paura 3D dei Manetti Bros.. Entrambi i brani fanno parte del nuovo album Resurrection la cui uscita è avvenuta il 6 giugno 2013.

Il 24 febbraio del 2022 il leader del gruppo, Steve Sylvester, annuncia la fuoriuscita dal gruppo del chitarrista Al De Noble (interpretante lo zombi e in formazione dal 2007), unitamente al bassista Glenn Strange (la mummia, nel gruppo dal 2005) e al batterista Mark Lazarus (il licantropo, unitosi alla band nel 2019 durante il tour di Rock’n Roll Armageddon, in sostituzione di Bozo Wolff), tutti per motivi personali che ormai impedivano ai tre musicisti di dedicarsi sufficientemente ai loro impegni con il progetto Death SS.

Il 4 aprile del 2022 viene pubblicata la prima foto con la formazione rinnovata, che vede affiancare al cantante Steve Sylvester e al tastierista Freddy Delirio i nuovi entrati Ghiulz alla chitarra, Demeter al basso e Unam Talbot alla batteria. La nuova compagine debutta il 15 aprile 2022 in un concerto tenuto presso il Live Club di Trezzo sull’Adda (MI).

Altre attività

Tra tutti i membri che negli anni si sono susseguiti nella band, molti hanno collaborato a dei progetti paralleli (Sancta Sanctorum, Witchfield, W.O.G.U.E. e molti altri) o intrapreso carriere da solisti (Paul Chain, Steve Sylvester, Aldo Polverari, Thomas “Hand” Chaste), alcuni dei quali hanno anche riscosso parziale successo. La band è presente nella colonna sonora del telefilm L’ispettore Coliandro (per il quale hanno fra l’altro composto l’inedita Revived), seguita fiction di Rai 2, e i suoi membri lo sono come attori nella puntata della IV stagione intitolata 666, dove interpretano loro stessi. Hanno inoltre recitato nel film horror Precognizioni (2010).

Conclusione.

Letto tutto ciò, non diventa difficile capire perché i Death SS sono diventati quello che sono. Un faro, un icona nella musica italiana. Anzi, della cultura musicale italiana. Ma come spesso avviene, guardiamo più all’estero che in casa nostra. Moltissimi si scioccano e sono stati scioccati da Marylin Manson e dalla sua iconografia quando noi il nostro ‘anticristo’ lo avevamo già in casa da anni. Ma come si dice: nemo propheta in patria.

Fonti:

Horror rock. La musica delle tenebre è un libro scritto da Alessio Lazzati, Eduardo Vitolo pubblicato da Arcana nella collana Arcana musica

Enciclopedia rock hard & heavy – 2001 – Arcana Edizioni – di B. Riva (a cura di), P. Cossali (a cura di), A. Massara (Traduttore), M. Petrillo (Traduttore), G. Andreotti (Traduttore)

Metallus. Il libro dell’Heavy Metal – Giunti Editore – a cura di Luca Signorelli

Siti

Wikipedia

Cle.ens. lyon.fr

Non solo cultura studenti.it

[severalpossiblemusiks]

1, 7, and 13 for the asks please!

1: What band got you into prog? How did you find them?

I think it was Rush (of course). This is a weird story of how I got into them: I listened to a lot of radio in my younger years, and found a really good station that did classical, jazz, and varying levels of classic rock, adult contemporary, indie bands, etc. On Fridays they used to do in-depth plays and discussions into classic albums, and one day they picked Rush’s “2112”, and explained the sci-fi space opera concept, which was very interesting to a sci-fi/fantasy obsessed younger me. In addition to that, I was reading Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player One”, wherein Rush and “2112” hold a surprising amount of plot importance (not as much in the movie though). On top of that my guitar teacher at the time was a huge Rush fan, so when I mentioned my interest in Rush, he gladly started teaching me “Fly By Night” and regaling me about the band and how good they were. So between those three influences Rush quickly established me into the prog rock side of music (somewhat unconnected from this was my discovery of power and progressive metal, which also gave me a laundry list of band names and artists to listen to and research cause everyone is connected to someone).

7: Song or Album recommendations?

I have many. But in the interests of brevity I’ll do one album and one song, each by a different band.

Album/band: “Mosaic” by Theocracy. This band played a big influence in my discovery of power and prog metal, as the band being overtly Christian allowed me to convince my Christian parents that they were ok to listen to. Even as I’ve expanded my music tastes, this band has always been one I come back to every now and then, and with the release of “Mosaic” their fifth album late last year, I dove back into their music and found them still just as good as when I left them.

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNmepQD4Vqf0en2aBxIXpDyg_PENVqxws

Song: “Starlifter: Fearless Pt. 2” by Crown Lands. This band is to Rush what Greta Van Fleet is to Led Zeppelin. Made up of two Canadians: singer/drummer Cody Bowles, and guitarist/bassist/keyboardist Kevin Comeau, they revive the classic rock and prog style with some modern production values, and do a killer job of it. I think this band will do numbers on progblr here.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JTKOPIGgddg&pp=ygUac3RhcmxpZnRlciBmZWFybGVzcyBwdC4gaWk%3D

13: Which musicians inspire me the most?

Definitely Tobias Sammet and Avantasia. Something about his musicality and lyricism just hits me so hard every time I listen to it.

A few others that sit high on my inspiration list would be Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, The Who, Meat Loaf/Jim Steinman, and a list of various jazz, world, classical, and folk artists.

[tisthenightofthewitch]

Ghost: The secrets of an occult-themed, arena-rocking, heavy-metal band

Tobias Forge was a long way from making-it as a musician. He was living in a one-bedroom apartment in Sweden, and dreamt of playing guitar for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He’d never been a lead singer or anything like that.

“I’d always pictured myself more like a Frusciante-type of musician,” Forge recalls, referring to Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante. “Like, I’m a guitar player but also a backup singer, and just sort of second-fiddle in a band.”

Then, about 15 years ago, Forge started writing a new batch of occult-themed heavy-metal songs on his black Gibson SG guitar, the horn-shaped instrument used by guitarists like AC/DC’s Angus Young and Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi. They were for a new project Forge called Ghost.

Back then he thought, “I’m just gonna write songs that feel intuitive and fun. And Ghost might be a fun little project that I was going to do sometime. One day I’m going to find a singer for this, we can put together a band and maybe this will become a fun hobby.”

Beside writing and recording the music, Forge ended up being the frontman for Ghost too. The songs he created in that small apartment eventually became “Opus Eponymous.” That 2010 debut album made Ghost metal’s buzziest new band. Forge’s eerie, melodic vocals on tracks like “Ritual” made Ghost’s batwing-metal standout from other contemporary groups.

“All the songs on the first record were really written spontaneously,” Forge says. “It was very playful with no expectations, no rules nothing. And after you’ve done one record and if you’ve achieved any form of success, it’s hard to emulate that same thing because of several reasons. That album will always a very special place in my heart. It comes from my old world where I had very little. I had friends and loves and a guitar, but I didn’t have a lot of success.”

Then there was the band’s unique striking look. Onstage with Ghost, Forge performs as Papa Emeritus, a sort of Satanic anti-pope, beneath prosthetics, makeup and costuming. This made him rock’s most mysterious new frontman. Forge’s identity remained a secreted for three album cycles, until 2017. Onstage, Forge is backed by a band of Nameless Ghouls, all wearing identical evil-looking masks and performing incognito. Stage sets for their live shows are designed like an unholy church.

Ghost’s music can sometimes evoke Blue Oyster Cult or Diamond Head. But Forge has been more influenced by KISS and Alice Cooper, rock greats known for putting visuals and songs together.

Ghost’s music, songs and imagery attracted Eddie Munson-type metal-fans and even members of classic bands. Iron Maiden, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses each took Ghost out on tours. Pantera singer Phil Anselmo wore a Ghost T-shirt onstage with his band Down.

Foo Fighters boss Dave Grohl produced and played on “If You Have Ghost,” Ghost’s covers-heavy EP with bitchin’ version of ABBA’s “I’m A Marionette.” The band’s last two albums were mixed by Andy Wallace, the studio legend who mixed Nirvana’s “Nevermind.”

Each of Ghost’s albums has charted higher than the last. Fifth LP “Impera,” debuted at number-two this year, and birthed a pair of number-one rock hits: “Call Me Little Sunshine” and “Hunter’s Moon.”

“Square Hammer,” from 2016, might be the catchiest song ever about sacred coffins. In 2018, Ghost’s single “Cirice,” a prog-metal epic with a video inspired by vintage horror-film “Carrie,” won the band its first Grammy.

By 2019, Ghost was headlining arenas. On a recent afternoon, Forge checks in via phone from one of those arenas, San Diego’s Pechanga Arena, from the band’s current North American tour. (Tour dates at ghost-official.com.) Edited excerpts from our conversation are below.

Tobias, as a singer and musician, what do you love most about performing in arenas?

From a very practical point of view, I love the consistency. We are a very production-heavy band, and playing anything but arenas is tempering with the show.

Even if you’re playing big theaters, which is really cool and really intimate and really nice. But consistency-wise, some of them changed a lot every day. So, whatever people have seen on YouTube, maybe when we came to their city, we couldn’t do X, Y and Z just because of something (at that theater-sized venue) that didn’t allow for that.

There is the occasional rare anomaly in arenas as well. But overall, you’re able to give people the same show. People everywhere pay a very similar price, and when they’re paying for something they expect, I want them to have that.

And as a performer, playing in front of a lot of people, I can’t imagine anything more gratifying than to make people happy. Maybe we can turn a bad day or mediocre day into something great. And that’s what it feels like, more often than not, when we’ve played.

The new Ghost album opens up with the one-two of the tracks “Imperium” and “Kaisarion.” They reminded me of early Queen, in that the music’s regal sounding but also thoroughly rocking. What were you going for there?

That is exactly what I tried to do. I wanted to have you a semi philharmonic but made with guitars sort of intro, as in Queen what they did on … What’s that song from the second album? The Brian May song where he composed this fantastic sort of classical piece for guitar?

“Procession.”

There you go. I always like composing an intro for the record, because that means that we’re going to use that in the show later. So, you have like a new intro every time (the band goes on a new tour).

It was actually an old riff that I had and had been playing around with forever. And that’s how a lot of my ideas sort of come to fruition, because I compose all the time. But just because I’ve been composing doesn’t mean that I’m sitting in studio. It means that I go around humming and after a while I hum it into my phone or grab my guitar or piano or something to sort of memorize it. And then I’m just putting it aside as a sort of a seedling. Then when it comes time to make a record, I just pick up all the seedlings and try to plant them and see which grow into big trees.

Onstage with Ghost, you sing with mic in hand, and not playing guitar. As much guitar as you’ve written and recorded for Ghost, do you ever foresee you playing guitar onstage with the band? Like a frontman who also plays guitar on stage. Like Jimi Hendrix did, but heavy-metal.

I don’t know. Right now I don’t feel that is suitable. But if I change my mind in the future, if it feels more natural that way, maybe. But as we progress and as we grow bigger and as time goes on, we need to flex the show with other things.

I wish I was a better piano player, actually. I’m an able sort of keyboard player when it comes to being in the studio and all that, but I’m not very good at playing something from start to finish. Quite an able drummer as well. So, I can sort of jump between several things. And if it was just like one song or something, we could do that, which could be fun.

The drums that open the Ghost song “Stand By Him” off the debut album remind me of the intro on early Motley Crue song “Starry Eyes.” Was that the inspiration?

Uh, yes and no. I mean, ever since I was very little, I’ve loved the two first albums by Motley Crue (“Too Fast For Love” and “Shout At The Devil”). But the two first albums only. And a little bit of “Dr. Feelgood.”

(“Stand By Him”) just felt like a classic (song). I just wanted a steady beat and then the song to start, and that feels like a very power-pop thing too. Motley Crue’s first two albums were very influenced by a lot of Slade and Mott the Hoople and stuff like that. And so it felt more like just a traditional thing to do. But yeah, I’ve listened a lot to a Motley Crue, so maybe it came from there. But at the time, I wasn’t thinking about anything.

Is it true or false Dave Grohl has dressed up as a Nameless Ghoul and performed with Ghost?

I’m gonna have to answer your question just from a very legal point of view, where I just say yes. He has technically put on Ghoul clothes and played drums together with us in a Ghost concept.

How long does it take before a show for you to get into Pap Emeritus mode, with the mask, makeup and costuming and everything?

It’s hard to say. Because on a day like this when we’re playing, it feels like it’s starting very early in the day, and everything is pretty much scripted in order for everything to function. Because I hate to break it to you to kids, but we are not 20-years-old. So, in order for us 40 somethings not to break a leg every show, we have to keep in shape. I’m lapping around the arena right now. And I try to play drums for an hour before the show just to sort of warm up.

If you mean the actual transformation, that takes about 40 minutes to an hour, depending on if you want to stress through it or if you want to sort of do it in a calm getting-into-character way. But I like it like that. I am very habitual, and I have a hard time functioning when things aren’t scheduled, which I’m sure a lot of readers can relate to if you’re somewhat on the spectrum. [Laughs]

There aren’t many rock bands from your era as big as Ghost. Why was Ghost able to breakthrough at a time when pop, R&B and rap acts dominate commercially?

I think there are various reasons. And it all combined in alignment, sort of created the sum our career. But I think our sound and our way of not writing the same record every time, but still having a signature DNA in it has helped. I think it has helped we have consistently tried to bring a show to the people. It defies logic for a lot of bands, I think, to try to expand beyond their means.

But that was aided by the fact that I was the only one that invested and everybody else was paid. [Laughs] If we had people voting on everything, it would not have happened this way. Because I was so determined that, yeah, I want to be what Metallica was in the’ 80s, on the “…And Justice For All” tour. That sort of band or like “Powerslave” with Iron Maiden. That sort of f---ing theater and playing arenas.

And I’ve always been very, very influenced by Pink Floyd and Rolling Stones. As much as I’m a sucker and grew up listening to really obscure, very extreme death-metal, I also have a huge alignment and childhood love with big-ass arena rock.

And in this day and age, especially when rock isn’t the flavor of the day, I think it has behooved us that we’ve sort of moved against the pack. When we were debutantes, it was still that like emo-core going on, and we stood out like a sore thumb.

Somehow, we were lucky enough people started embracing us as well, even though we weren’t part of any major music movement. Maybe there was a murmur about an underground occult-rock thing going on at the time. But that was at such a low level that wouldn’t have affected people in general.

But then a lot of kudos and credit I must give to (Guns N’ Roses bassist) Duff McKagan, (Metallica’s) James Hetfield, Phil Anselmo, Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains and Dave Grohl, of course. All those guys took us on tours. They lifted up the band Ghost, onto their stages and put us in front of a lot of people. Without that, this wouldn’t have happened.

AL.com

[emetkoto]

3 4 20 emetkoto!

just got out of p3s prog and now im extra weepy about them so lucky you!

Most common argument?

well. you know! emet-selch wants k'oto to forsake his friends and stay by his side through the remaining calamities so he can be whole again and they can properly be together :,) in the beginning he wants azem back specifically but as time goes on he just wants k'oto to be strong enough to be by his side as he is, awoken as azem or not…and k'oto wants him to stop his quest to rejoin the shards and try to find a way forward where they can both be happy together…the path of cooperation emet-selch talked about so much, he wanted it so bad </3 they get into it often about this but they hate to argue bc they get so little time to be together alone so they try to shut down the conversation pretty quickly but yknow emet is horribly tempered and not all there so he can't just avoid arguing in the first place :pensive: it usually ends in awkward silence

Favorite non-sexual activity?

emet-selchs little late night adventures! where he just shows up to the pendants and teleports them both somewhere random bc he doesnt wanna be cooped up in the inn room that night…he shows him all sorts of places in the first he didn't know about, and some things that possibly nobody else currently living there knows about! they're nice little dates where emet-selch gives him a little history lesson and they just kinda. vibe <3 if the setting is appropriate maybe dance a bit or nap together…sometimes he gets so carried away he almost forgets to have k'oto back by morning

What do their family/friends think of their relationship?

for a long time, the scions didn't know! k'oto made damn sure they didn't. he saw how untrusting and generally rude they were to emet-selch and just didn't want to risk invoking their wrath and maybe making emet go 'oh you guys suck actually forget this im just gonna do what i do best and oppose you' and also thancred's history with ascians is especially. bad so he knew he would probably get one hell of a beating in the state he was during shb so…..y'shtola did eventually figure it out though. emet-selch liked to douse k'oto in his aether because it's nice and cooling and soothing and it kind of left a nice dark stain all over k'otos bright white aether, which only got more and more obvious as the light grew and grew and she came to him one night and called him out..well it was more like 'hey. i see that. are you alright. you arent humoring him to repay him for saving me are you' kinda thing yknow? ofc he tried to deny it but eventually gave in a bit and told her that yeah he was sleeping with him but it wasnt a big deal yknow!! no feelings no problem just doing what k'oto does!!! and asked her to keep it to herself…and she did! he was really surprised that she kept her word but she did and it made him sort of grow to trust her more…from time to time they would talk and she would check his aether but she never really got into it bc she could tell it was. a touchy subject! but she was basically the only one who Knew for a long time bc she was chill and didn't get angry at him…by the end of 5.0 he trusted her so much with this secret that he called her to his room after the dying gasp to check his aether one more time just to see if anything was left of emet-selch :,)

the rest of the scions never really like. truly got the story from k'oto himself??? at least not until literally the end like after 6.0. obviously things started to fall apart after crown of the immaculate and it became clear that Something was up but it was never entirely obviously exactly WHAT it was yknow. they speculated and such and y'shtola told them to just kinda keep it down and not worry about it and that k'oto would come around in time but they just gotta. let him grieve and not give him a hard time! after 6.0 when everything is done and over with and he got his closure he finally sat everyone down before they went their seperate ways and told them about them

the exarch. kinda knew? since y'know he had a thing for k'oto he occasionally looke din on him with his mirror thing and might have caught him and emet-selch a few times but he tried to resist the urge to constantly keep tabs on him and watch him 24/7 bc he trusts him to make the right choice and also that time emet talked about how much loves sleeping he did kinda chip in like 'hey so did you enjoy the show :)' and poke fun at him and gently threaten to let k'oto know he'd been watching them all to stir shit and also bc thats their alone time bro don't peek!!!! but after 5.0 ofc k'oto kinda started to tell him a little but its hard to talk about and complicated so. he got what k'oto felt like telling him and he was satisfied, just happy that he got anything at all really <3 until after 6.0 like i said above. Estinien was in the same boat too p much, he got a bit of a half assed explanation from k'oto when he got back from the first but didn't pry for anything more until later. wasn't his place really so he didnt bother!

Ardbert uh. well i always forget about ardbert im gonna be real. no hate i love the guy but i am so caught up in the passion and drama and tragedy of emetkoto i always forget that he would very much be there witnessing most of that so ill just say that he Knew but he gave them their space and occasionally stepped in to sit k'oto down and be like 'hey i get it ok. but remember whats at stake and make the right choice alright'……thought of this really sad thing earlier where k'oto didnt plan on the axe killing emet-selch, he wanted to pull his punch and just injure him so he could talk to him and try to work things out one last time but ardbert and everyone else could see that would not work out, emet-selch was so enraged and overtaken by his grief and pain and tempering he likely would have gotten the jump on k'oto and killed him so. even though it was cruel and fucked him up bad. ardbert made sure that axe swung to kill :,) a final push in the right direction, a final sin to add to his list </3 and k'oto. was. devastated obviously! but thats a post for another day

on emet-selch's side….well. i don't think anyone knew! in that one side story it pretty much says straight up that after elidibus woke him up following lahabrea's death, he never spoke to him again before he bit the axe…..in a cruel way it was nice to not have anyone to talk to or keep it from, he loved him openly without any sort of secrecy :,) holding back in public was all for k'otos sake really

[doomedandstoned]

Chrome Ghost Drop Massive New Single, “Where Black Dogs Dream”

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Before us lies the House of Falling Ash, the illustrious, sprawling, dynamic new LP from Sacramento's CHROME GHOST. Propelled by the stout-hearted rhythm section of Jacob Hurst (drums) and Joe Cooper (bass), frontman Jake Kilgore (guitar, synth, vox) takes the listener through a veritable four seasons of moods (interrupted briefly by two interludes). Each song (or "episode," as I prefer to think of it) is so full and brilliant in its use of tone, rhythm, and contrasting sound.

Kilgore's vocals tend towards the clean side of the spectrum, though he can roar like a hellbeast when the situation calls for it (as on the album's first single, "The Furnace"). In spirit, they are forever searching for something more, perhaps here or in the great beyond.

Today, Doomed & Stoned is premiering the second single from 'House of Falling Ash' (2022), the band's third full-length record. The 12-minute song rumbles right out of the gate like a hound trained on the scent of something, for this is indeed "Where Black Dogs Dream." The drumming is captured especially well by sound engineer Patrick Hills at Earthtone.

Compositionally, "Where Black Dogs Dream" plays out like an epic poem, and this means any preconceived ideas you may have about it are soon to be tossed out the window. However they put it together with all its twists and turns, Chrome Ghost are masters of balladic songwriting. I especially dig the vocal harmonies and that voracious low-end is simply undeniable. This ambience really brings the words to life, as well.

We asked Jake Kilgore to give us the inside scoop on the band's latest single, which features Susie McMullan from one of our favorite Bay Area doom acts Brume in the song's wistful second section:

This song had a long and complicated journey to completion. The original seed that became Where Black Dogs Dream came from a long improvised jam between Chrome Ghost and our friend Yseulde during the demo recordings for our last album 'The Diving Bell,' which took place in 2018. There was a particular chord progression that stuck with me and I spent a couple years battling with it before unlocking the ideas that became the latter half of the song. Once we had Susie McMullan of Brume add her vocals to the climactic moments of the track, we knew the deal was sealed.

The first half of the song was another battle in itself. Many different ideas and iterations of those ideas came through on a revolving door; Mastodon-style prog fingerpicking, My Bloody Valentine-style heavy shoegaze, Kyuss-style droning, but nothing would stick until we landed on the riff that you hear on the recording now. We wanted the song to start like a bomb going off, then the extended ambient section by Yseulde would be the dust settling until we slowly start crawling out of the heap with that bass line and end in a triumph of perserverance.

Thematically there are multiple references to the imagery of the album cover in the lyrics, and the song itself being split into two major movements happens to take place on track 3 of 6. This song is a musical and emotional turning point on the record. One that ends with peaceful acceptance with the knowledge that what is to come may be more chaotic and violent than ever.

I've been following Chrome Ghost almost since the start, and this represents some of their finest material to date. Look for House of Falling Ash to release on vinyl via Seeing Red Records on October 28th (pre-order here).

Give ear...

House of Falling Ash by Chrome Ghost

Lyrics

Barren black skies glowing Smoke and ember Cloak the waiting Eyes of lovers

Distant shadows calling O, their broken Half-remembered Cries are long gone

Buried and forgotten I ache to bloom Under fallen ashes And rays of gold

Where is my protector From all corrupt? Ever do I wander No home, no hope No home No hope

The blowing wind carries The song of dogs dreaming And leaving the known To let it all go

To let it all go

SOME BUZZ

Chrome Ghost is a Sacramento based Melodic Doom band formed in 2015 by guitarist and vocalist Jake Kilgore and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Jacob Hurst. Following the release of their first full-length, Choir of the Low Spirits, and their two EP's, Reflection Pool and Shallows, bassist Joe Cooper entered the fold and appeared on their second full-length and much heralded release, 2019's The Diving Bell.

In the turbulent years following the winter of 2019's The Diving Bell release, Chrome Ghost have returned with their latest and most sprawling album, House of Falling Ash. This record sees Jake, Jacob, and Joe re-uniting with their long-standing creative partner and engineer Pat Hills at Earthtone to present an expansive album that covers everything from Doom, Shoegaze, Americana, with inspiration ranging from Philip Glass, Ennio Morricone, Fleetwood Mac, and Boris. Building upon the already vast soundscapes they created on their brilliant sophomore LP, The Diving Bell, the band have reached an even new plateau pushing their brand of sonic dynamics to the very limit. Strap in for the best musical journey of 2022.

Over the past couple of years the band have been fortunate to share the stage with bands like YOB, Helms Alee, Big Business, Whores, Kowloon Walled City, CHRCH, Usnea, and many more. Look for more dates to come.

Follow The Band

Get Their Music