Editor’s note: The days of tape-trading are long gone, but that doesn’t mean the bands of yesteryear should be doomed to garage sales and memory boxes. Where I come from, the early 90s were rife with area metal, and though I may have been too young and “grunge” to appreciate them then, I figure it’s time they receive their due. So… from time to time, we’re going to be profiling some of the Midwest’s long-lost metal bands, and helping you rediscover what you might’ve missed.

Ah, Dementox. The name alone brings a smile to my face.

I’m not sure where it originated, but for some reason my friends and I were aware of a dance called The Dementox (something of a cross between the pinwheel spin and plunging the toilet). Whether or not this originated with the band or in our imagination remains to be seen, but as a kid (and as a grown man) I thought it was awesome.

What I didn’t realize at the time, was how great the band was. Amazing riffs, sick vocals, and a classic thrash approach… not bad for a bunch of dudes who were between 17 – 20 at the time:

Dementox was founded in 1989 by brothers Roderick (bass, vox) and John (guitar, vox) Valdez, who were at the time barely even teenagers. The original lineup was rounded out by Chris DelaRosa (guitar), and James Kowalski (drums). This lineup played numerous basements, parties, and talent shows, earning the boys some well-deserved recognition and respect in their local scene. After some serious shaking-up of the band in 1991, the lead guitar position was filled by a ‘new kid in town’, Markus Launsburry, and the drum throne was taken over by Rob Pauly. The new blood allowed the D-TOX crew to escalate their audio-violence with increased speed, ferocity, and absurdity. Rehearsing intensely, throwing out-of-control parties, drinking cheap beer and expensive booze, throwing eggs at innocent pedestrians, and beating the shit out of neo-nazi skins were the ‘way of the walk’ for Dementox (AKA The Screaming Chicken Neck Posse, or SCN).

 

Like a band of hilariously sociopathic brothers, these four pissed off teenagers raged like true metal hellions, and this second incarnation proved to be productive, intense, and volatile. For the next two years, this lineup played shows throughout the region, sharing the stage with acts such as Demented Ted, Broken Hope, Agamas, Num Skull, Prisoner, Jungle Rot, Left Path, Morbid Corpses, Gainsay, Sarcophagus, Jeckyll (NOT Jackyll), Suspiria,Fleshold, Sarcoma, and many others. In 1993, Markus left the band to pursue other musical ventures, and was replaced by John Camella, a shredder from the NYDM scene. While Tom’s playing was exceptional, the band never really gelled again, and despite another year or two of effort, Dementox was essentially inactive by 1994.”

According to guitarist Markus Launsburry:

The demo was recorded on 8-track tape at Curved Air Studio in Crystal Lake, Illinois in December of ‘92 by some dude who’s name I don’t remember. Too bad, ‘cuz he was definitely proficient. All tracks, with the exception of vocals and one or two solos, were recorded live in one take. The super-sick cover art was done long after the fact by one of my best bro’s Putrid… he just loves Dementox so much he insisted on drawing an ‘old school’ cover for it. Hard to say ‘no’ to a wicked talent and yer best bud – and it pretty much sums up the D-TOX vibe – hellish metal and beating the living shit out of the neo-nazi scum who used to plague our turf!”

Markus has gone on to play in a variety of notable bands, including Tub Ring, Nachtmystium & his current project, Avantgarde/Black Metalers Blood of Martyrs (featuring Chris Wozniak (Lair of the Minotaur) on drums, Isamu Sato (Yob) on bass, and Jarboe (of Swans) on vocals).

For more Dementox info and tunes, be sure and check out their myspace page. THRASH ON!

Have A Listen:

Dementox – Playing With Skulls:

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Mark’s Review:

I had high hopes after seeing the preview for Until the Light Takes Us.  Unfortunately, the movie seemed to be a bit too awkward and disjointed to really resonate, and I felt there was more to be told with the story.  The film loosely follows the divergent paths of Varg “Count Grishnackh” Vikernes and Gylve “Fenriz” Nagell, two Black Metal pioneers with different agendas for the genre.  It takes a while, but near the end, we understand that the goal of Black Metal in Norway was always meant to be more of a sociological movement than a “scene”.  It was never meant to attack people, but rather attack and challenge authority and societal norms, but this message and it’s delivery in the movie is very soft.  Along the way we see lots of beautiful shots of Scandinavia, but learn little about the music and it’s growth.

The thing is, most people seeing this movie will be fans of Black Metal, so they will have the basic historical knowledge of the events that led to its infamy in the early 90’s.  So seeing this movie really adds nothing for them.  There is too much focus on these events and not enough connecting them to the music, or explaining the atmosphere that all of this was made possible.  I feel that there was a lot that was left unsaid, and the sudden jump from “creating a new underground movement” to “burning churches and murdering homosexuals” left me saying, “OK, I know that, but why?”  Anyone watching this movie without this background knowledge will be confused and will probably fall back to blaming the usual heavy-metal stereotypes.  There’s no narrative to the movie, and this becomes a problem when we are subjected to some rambling manifestos of people using English as a second language.  It’s not their fault, but in trying to get their point across to the viewer, they stumble for the right terms quite a bit.  In the end, I wanted to know more about Vikernes, a fascinating character that I’m not sure is a genius or insane.

Overall Until the Light Takes Us was a disappointment.  Directors/Producers Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell stylistically attempt to paint Fenriz and Vikernes as romantic leaders of a misunderstood revolution, but they come off more as metal caricatures from an episode of Metalocalypse (especially Frost from Satyricon, who looks like a fool wearing makeup and walking around in the dark).  Anyone who’s looking to learn more about Black Metal’s rise and fall is probably better off reading Lords of Chaos or even see the bonus material for Sam Dunn’s Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey.

Mark’s Rating:

King says: “Ummm… nice makeup?”

Justin’s Review:

If Black Metal is a rebellion against Death Metal, then Until the Light Takes Us could easily be considered the Black Metal equivalent to the modern metal documentary. Lo-Fi, often aimless, yet at times… strangely compelling. Unfortunately, much like the genre it’s trying to uncover, Until the Light Takes Us gets lost in its own gratuitousness.

Now I certainly wasn’t expecting to walk into another rehashing of Black Metal’s most famous cultural documentation, but based solely off the trailer and an interesting article (care of the Onion’s A/V Club), I was excited to see what directors Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell had came up with. From the looks of things… candid interviews with two of BM’s progenitors, a smattering of historical footage, and in the director’s own words:

Not specifically the evolution of black metal, but the re-creation and re-contextualization of media and art and everything in modern culture. We’re really interested in a lot of postmodern theory and ideas, and we see a lot of parallels with black metal and the story of black metal.”

As promising as that sounds, UtLTU ultimately ends up combining fascinating interviews (Varg and Fenriz), with sophomoric commentary (Abbath and Hellhammer), idiotic “happenings” (Frost and supposed “visual artist” Bjarne Melgaard), and a solid 45 minutes of shaky footage of Fenriz walking around and chain smoking. While there certainly is a story to tell, it gets lost somewhere in the shuffle. Or should I say somewheres? Where the film excels in unraveling the mysteries behind Varg and Fenriz (and their diverse perspectives on the the scene itself), it severely lacks in a focused approach. The presentation of random footage and insufficient narrative will easily confuse anyone who isn’t partial to BM’s sordid history; and those who are, will find themselves waiting for the “meat and potatoes” of the film to be served. It’s evident enough that the film tries to make the sad connection between a reactionary genre that was distorted by the media (and its own minions), and the full-blown parody that it’s become today; but it never really drives the point home for either side. While some might argue that’s the whole purpose of a documentary, I tend to prefer documentaries that have purpose to begin with. UtLTU left me unsatisfied, but not clamoring for more.

Though I applaud Aites and Ewell’s commitment to the genre and their film (they did, in fact, move to Norway for several years to shoot this footage), I can’t help but feel that by taking the “artistic” approach with metal’s most infamous scene, they fall into the exact same parody they were attempting to document.

Justin’s Rating:

King says: “Is there anything more annoying than a heavy metal music critic who demands inspired, creative and intelligent cinema? Yes… and his name is Frost.”

“Until the Light Takes Us” Official Trailer:

Editor’s note: Since Mark’s an old man and a new father, he decided to head home for the evening rather than join us at the Empty Bottle. That’s okay… he doesn’t like Revocation that much anyways.

Justin’s Review:

Man, what a night for metal in Chicago. I found myself double-dipping this evening, as this also happened to be the same week that Until the Light Takes Us (review to come) was playing in our fair city, so I knew it’d be a tight squeeze trying to make the concert on time. Sure enough, I walked in right as The Binary Code was moving their gear offstage. Bummer… cause after picking up their album a few weeks ago, I was actually looking forward to seeing how they pulled off their spazzy/melodic hybrid live. Word has it that they were pretty rockin’, so I guess I’ll be checking them out next time they head through.

If you’ve read my previous posts, you’ll know that I’ve become somewhat of a Revocation fanboy, so I was pretty stoked on finally getting the chance to check them out in person. Just as I expected, they slayed. Taking the stage as a four-piece (!), Revocation blasted through a set of new and old alike, showing us Chicagoans that Boston has more to offer than just Converge and clam chowder. The folks at the Empty Bottle took their sweet-ass-time pulling the sound together, but by the time Dave Davidson ripped the solo for Pestilence Reigns, the sonic assault was full-on.

One unfortunate side effect of such sheer awesomeness, is what I like to refer to as the “Bro-Pit.” Your typical Bro-Pit features roughly 5-10 dudes (usually above 250lbs) who love moshing and hate respecting other people’s space. The basic ritual involves a series of bull-rushes, followed by a smattering of drunken hugs. While at times, mildly entertaining to watch, this evening’s Bro-Pit became problematic for anyone within a 20′ radius of the stage. Now I realize that metal + beer = sheer testosterone, but come on guys… if I wanted to know what it felt like to have someone fat and hairy constantly slamming into me, I’d have stayed home and dry-humped a mirror. Regardless of minor annoyances, Revocation definitely brought their A-Game, and I’d highly recommend checking them out when they head through your area next. Believe the hype!

Last up this evening was Hypno5e, who I really knew nothing about, other than that they take a long-ass time setting up their shit. When they finally did hit the stage, the crowd (myself included) was waning. Two songs into Hypno5e’s Soulfly-meets-Isis impression and I was ready to head out. Sorry guys… time to hit Control+Alt+Delete on that Pro Tools rig of yours.

Justin’s Rating:

King says: “Metal as Art indeed… as Revocation are the Michelangelo of the Thrash Renaissance!”

Ed’s Review:

I happened to be checking the Empty Bottle website a few weeks ago and became instantly excited to see that Boston’s Revocation were planning on stopping by our city to play one of EB’s infamous free Mondays! Of course, I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of shape I would be in coming off a two-day annual party thrown by friends and local rockers American Draft known as The Fried Chicken Social (from which I regrettably suffered from some scary spots of memory loss and other mild drunken idiocy… my apologies to those who bore witness to this). But fortunately by Monday I was in top shape and even got a half hour in on the treadmill prior to the show (go me!). This Metalsucks.net sponsored tour also featured another up and coming metal band from New Jersey called The Binary Code, who I was equally excited to see after purchasing their incredible debut album “Suspension of Disbelief“.

The Binary Code took the stage a little after 9:30 and kicked things off nicely with an energetic set of progressive thrash/death metal. For being a relatively new band, these guys definitely know what the hell they are doing. Excellent guitar interplay kind of reminded me of Meshuggah (tech-wise) and Necrophagist (velocity-wise), with a decent and not too overbearing vocalist adding to the heavy and often quite complex vibe going on. The mellow breakdowns are very reminiscent of Cynic for sure, but well written and executed. I can definitely see these guys coming into their own style in the future and blowing plenty of minds along the way…

I really didn’t know what to expect from Revocation, since we’ve all heard some extremely polished records coming out of the thrash revival lately, and sometimes it’s a bit difficult to tell if this type of aggro-thrash can be replicated decently in a live setting or not. Well? This band was AMAZING, mainly due to the very charismatic and hugely entertaining antics of vocalist/guitarist David Davidson. Not only is this guy a complete shredder both in rhythm guitar precision and lead playing, he does it in such an effortless manner that even heavyweights like Gary Holt of Exodus would be more than impressed. The album kick off track “Pestilence Reigns” sounded great, as did the killer “Dismantle The Dictator” which may have given me a bit of temporary but tolerable whiplash. “Anthem of the Betrayed“, probably my favorite track off the new record, sounded even better live… causing an eruption of ridiculous dancing across the floor of the club (I actually got hit square in the chest at one point by the singer of The Binary Code… it’s alright brother, you are forgiven). Most importantly? This band genuinely seemed to be having a good time on stage – which is exactly what thrash metal is all about, right?

Ed’s Rating:

King says: “While the rest of city was watching CSI, I got my brain scrambled by REVOCATION!”

Take a Look: