The 2006 release by Romanian folk-inspired black metallers Negura Bunget, titled simply Om, was a landmark for those who heard it. Up and down, the record was praised for its masterful balance of influences, its groundbreaking genre-defiance, and the fact that, where so much “folk metal” is goofy beyond repair, Negura Bunget seemed able to affect a serious and dark atmosphere that was neither laughable nor steeped in black metal cliché (some would argue the two aren’t mutually exclusive).

The story goes that after Om, the central parties responsible for Negura Bunget – namely multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Hupogrammos Disciple’s (real name Edmond Karban), guitarist Sol Faur and drummer Negru (real name Gabriel Mafa) – had a falling out, and the band effectively broke up in 2009, only to be revived by Negru alone, with a new lineup, whose first album together is Vîrstele Pamîntului (Aural Music/Code666). Joining Negru in this new Negura Bunget are guitarists Corb (also vocals and dulcimer) and Spin, bassist/flutist Gadinet, keyboardist Inia Dinia and vocalist/percussionist aGer (real name Ageru Pamîntului), who’s been in the band since 2003 and also handles pan flute and sundry folk instrumentation I’m not even going to pretend to know the first thing about.

In a way, it’s silly to expect this lineup of Negura Bunget to be able to top the majesty of a record like Om, since Vîrstele Pamîntului is more like a band’s first album than it is their fifth – though it should be noted that Negura Bunget’s Maiestrit, which showed up earlier this year, is not a new full-length, but rather a re-recording of 2000 opus Maiastru Sfetnic, so technically speaking this isn’t the first time we’re hearing this new incarnation of the band, just the first time we’re hearing them perform new material. In any case, to think these players will be able on their first outing to stand up to the fully realized vision that was Om is nonsensical. Rather, in listening to Vîrstele Pamîntului, one hopes Negru will be able to get his band to that point again, or even surpass it in terms of style and atmosphere.

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I wasn’t initially going to write a review of the Adrian Belew show I saw the other night at Mexicali Live in Teaneck, NJ (that’s right — a real live music venue I didn’t have to drive to Brooklyn to get to! I didn’t think they existed either), but after talking with The Patient Mrs. sharing some thoughts didn’t seem so out of line. Take it or leave it.

First and foremost, if you don’t know who Adrian Belew is, he’s been playing guitar in King Crimson since the band got back together in 1981, and before that he’d worked with David Bowie and Frank Zappa. He’s also has a more than considerable solo discography. Basically, he’s a genius with a guitar. The name of this tour was “Painting with Guitar,” and Belew was joined on stage by four of his own paintings, a new Yamaha Tenori-on, and a laptop. So yeah, you could call it a one-man show.

He played some Crimson material, “Three of a Perfect Pair” and “The Power to Believe” (unless I’m mistaken), as well as some new, mostly instrumental pieces and a song from his band The Bears, launching at one point into the sitar line from The Beatles‘ “Love You To,” much to the delight of the few who recognized it. In between he stopped to take questions from the nearly all-male audience — hippies and prog nerds of various shapes, sizes, ages and hairlines — which not only served as a welcome break from the overwhelming complexity of the music he was playing, but an education on his equipment, methods and history. He told a story about living with Frank Zappa that I’m sure has been recounted at least 700 times before, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

One of the chief complaints with technical prog (a category Belew might offset being included in by reminding as he did several times from the stage that he can’t read music) is that the music has no soul. Watching Adrian Belew play with an ear-to-ear grin on his face as though he was continually astonished by just how neat the noises he can make with his guitar are, I firmly believe that those crazy loops and mathematically impossible time signatures are just the sounds his soul makes. He displayed every ounce the passion I’ve ever seen anyone play with, and he did it while mopping the floor with damn near the whole planet’s technique. It was something to watch.

Alas, the early show, over by about 9:30PM. Belew wound up taking three Q&A breaks through the set, most of one being dedicated to explaining why his new signature Parker guitar was pretty much the best thing ever, and closed with a long instrumental piece originally written for The Adrian Belew Power Trio, with whom he regularly tours. All in the span of maybe an hour, maybe a little more. And even as he discussed a conversation he’d recently had with Robert Fripp about reforming King Crimson next year for the 30th anniversary of the 1981 lineup, his love of the music came through clearly and honestly, and it was incredible to see and understand that there is a being out there capable of not only achieving that love but of maintaining it across a career spanning more than four decades. I left Mexicali Live smiling and don’t think I could have otherwise even if I’d wanted to.

Note: The song in the video below is called “Europe by Rail,” and it was written using the Tenori-on as a drum machine.

After the stink I made when my first copy of Slayer?s World Painted Blood was stolen out of my mail, a review of the album seems the least I can do since Columbia was kind enough to send over another watermarked copy. Even if the review is about a month late. To whatever bastard took that original, first off, thanks for not ripping it and spreading it online, second, screw you anyway and third, I hope you got as much of a kick as I did out of the medical waste bag the disc came in.

World Painted Blood is Slayer?s 11th full-length studio album, and finds the original Bay Area thrashers working well within their element while adding just enough of the (relatively) unexpected to keep things interesting for themselves and anyone in their fanbase who might want to see them step outside their prescribed formula. The opening title track, for instance, shows some signs that the songwriting might be trying to reach beyond the fast-as-hell riffing and soloing. There?s a surprising amount of melody and the general feel more of a Slayer closing track, especially since at 5:53 it?s the longest song the band has put on a record since the title cut of Seasons in the Abyss in 1990.

If there?s one thing Slayer are at this point, though, it?s aware of what?s expected of them. They are workman metallers in the sense that they deliver what the fans want and offer their progressions almost on the sly. While ?World Painted Blood? is surprising in how up-front it is ideologically and in its actual placement, ?Unit 731? is not much more than an affirmation of Slayer?s influential and long-established methodology. This is the case for several of the cuts throughout, where it?s ?Slayer being Slayer.? ?Snuff,? the catchier, faster third track, does little to innovate, but satisfies on the grounds that it?s got Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King solos, psychotic Dave Lombardo drumming and Tom Araya?s vocals. It?s cookie cutter, but nearly 30 years later, it?s also still pretty badass.

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The below has literally nothing to do with stoner rock or doom, but I was asked to post it and I hate the thought of people showing up to the wrong venue in a big city like Los Angeles to see a show, especially because it’s an experience I’ve had myself. I’ll tell you all about it some other time. For now, this came in via the PR wire:

The US Plague Tour, featuring Marduk, Nachtmystium, Black Anvil, Mantic Ritual, and Merrimack that was scheduled to stop at the Key Club on Friday, December 4th, has been moved, due to the Key Club closing it doors to re-model. The new location for the show is the Salon Royal (Royal Hall) in downtown, located at 8637 South Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90002. Parking is provided, with an entrance through the ?Steel and Lube? entrance.

A statement from Jordan of Church of the 8th Day, the promoters for the show:

?Since everyone has been asking, what and where the Royal Hall is, I wanted to explain, and send something out to clear things up. The Key Club canceled the show, about two weeks ago, leaving us just a few weeks to move it. Since we had two stages? worth of bands booked, it was near impossible to move the show to anywhere in Hollywood, at a reputable club, as everything was already booked. We found a place in downtown, which is a banquet hall, and we are going to build it into a venue from the ground up, with two full stages and great sound, full bar, and a BBQ. There have been numerous events held there, including the Bestial Legion Fest. If you purchased tickets through one of the local bands, your tickets will still be valid at the new venue. If you purchased your tickets through TicketMaster, you should be receiving your refund any day. The Key Club said they will be issuing refunds, but they haven’t been responding to us about the progress of it, so if you’d like to call and find out, go ahead. You can now purchase tickets exclusively through our new ticketing website, 8thDayTix.com. We’re sorry about the confusion, and hope to see everyone there. More information can be found at churchofthe8thday.com.?

I had to throw “the Movie” in that title so as to not confuse it with Ichabod‘s recently reviewed album.

Now, I’m hardly a movie critic, and usually I like to keep this site as on-topic as possible, but I just finished watching the John Cusack-ified film 2012, and I feel compelled to comment on it. No, this isn’t going to be a rail against it in the sense of some long-winded diatribe about how such an ever-lowering common denominator orgy of destruction ultimately devalues our culture as a whole, satisfying only on the level of our basest masochism in a “safe,” “fantasy” context. No, having sat through the entirety of its two and a half hours, I’ll go as far as to praise 2012 for this and this alone: structurally, it is a perfectly written pop song.

If the verses are the love story between Cusack and female lead Amanda Peet (whose on-screen chemistry together was slim-to-nil) and the choruses are the CG end-of-the-world scenes, with flourishes of tertiary characters and government conspiracies to serve as bridges and increase an alleged universal appeal, then right up to the ending, which was so ridiculous as to be insulting — not to mention the imperialist overtones — it had the exact structural soundness of some of the biggest pop hits of all time. No wonder it made $225,000,000 (that’s about 3.75 Euros) its opening weekend.

Only trouble is a pop song says all it has to say in about three minutes and this was 150. C’est la vie. Most pop songs are garbage too. Can’t hold it against them, though. As long as people keep watching, they’ll keep making it, and I by no means exempt myself. Hell, I saw it. Commerce speaks loudest.