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Written by snewp
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Thursday, 19 March 2009 20:42 |
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"Possessed by Metal" by: Dexter "Neonblack" Duran My elder brothers were music-minded persons when they were in their teens so, under the influence of my elder brothers, I was exposed early to rock music and along the way I also picked up metal music. As young as grade 4 I was already listening to my brother’s Divine Intervention and Far Beyond Driven tapes. Of course, I did not understand all the words that Tom Araya or Phil Anselmo sang, but there was something about the aggressive, heavy music that I found enthralling. After classes I would sometimes hit up Primerose in Colon, the long gone record bar that sold all the rare metal albums found nowhere else in the city. I was often just ogling over all the metal albums that were there, never buying a single tape because I never had enough money when I was in grade school. Now, after all these years, metal music has always been an integral part of my everyday life and my interest in it has never waned. It goes to say that some things never change, some just grow along with you. The C.E.M.P. (Cebu Extreme Music Prodution) Hellfest has been raging on for 5 years now, although I have only been to the fourth one last year that was held for 2 nights at the now defunct Zzubu Rock Bar in Colon. Hellfest is a gathering of the various bands under the C.E.M.P. roster, all playing for there fans and supporters of the scene. This year Hellfest V was held in Boss Grill last March 14. Though rain interrupted the revelry for a bit, it did not stop the pandemonium that was unleashed upon this night of Hellfest. The annual gig commenced with the new band Tyrant who played black metal. They played covers from the mighty Celtic Frost and other black metal luminaries, and with that I grinned and thought to myself that this was going to be one hell of a night. The next band was Forgotten Knights who played cover songs from Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Megadeth. Things got better and better because you can never go wrong if you’re covering songs from those three bands. After that was the band Mystery ov Death who played death metal and not being not serious about it. If you’ve read my previous endeavor, it was written as “that death metal, good musical talent and a sense of humor do not mix well together” which was an honest mistake and my apologies to Genital Decay. What I really meant was that they do mix well together. Fun is never a hindrance for playing good music. Local legends Astarus played next on a set that was about to be interrupted by the heavy rains that almost got some equipments soaked. I really did think that it would have been so appropriate that they played Slayer’s Raining Blood, since it was raining at the time but unfortunately they did not. This didn’t mean though that the band played a lackluster set, for they tore through their set and fed the eager crowd some metal down their throats and ears. They were followed by another legendary local band Agnas who ripped open their set with a powerful rendition of Slayer’s South of Heaven. After that was the band Comatose who covered Deicide’s Scars of the Crucifix and Slayer’s Angel of Death. If there’s any undisputable way to fire up the crowd, its playing Slayer, Sepultura (Max Cavalera era) or Pantera songs. You can never go wrong with that and everyone in the immediate vicinity will go apesh*t. Demise played afterwards and shredded the hell out of their guitars for the sake of metal. They, along with Comatose, are quickly becoming nationally known bands for there gigs outside of Cebu. Next up was Kasakit and are definitely crowd favorites during the gig. Everyone banged their heads for them and screamed along “WAR FOR TERRITORY!” as they played cover song from Sepultura as well their own compositions. Black metal band Imperial Resistance followed up and was one of my personal favorites. I went ballistic when the opening lines of Venom’s Black Metal were sang and got off of my seat and into the pit. I definitely laid down my soul to the gods of rock n’ roll that night. They were then followed by the quite young-looking band Fallen Angel who instilled terror upon the spectators with a scorching set of death metal madness. Capping the whole gathering was the not-so-serious Embryonic Massacre. This being already at almost 3 am, they still had command of the mosh pit and had everyone breaking their necks to their songs they dubbed as “porn grind”. It looked like it was the most fun set during the whole gig. This band can be brutally heavy and not take themselves too seriously at the same time, which is awesome in my opinion. Before when I first saw a flyer for the previous Hellfest, it conjured up in my mind a monumental event much like Wacken Open Air or Ozzfest. A stage with an open mosh pit in front and lots of band merch booths around. I honestly was a little bit disappointed to read that the venue for it was just Zzubu Rock Bar. But, then again, I enjoyed the hell out of last year and this year’s Hellfest. Hey, everything starts somewhere. I am very certain that in the near future Hellfest would grow into the event that I had imagined. Just give it time, you’ll see. Until then, we’re all gonna have to wait for next year’s Hellfest and ‘til all hell breaks loose again. |
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Last Updated on Sunday, 22 March 2009 20:01 |
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Written by snewp
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Saturday, 28 February 2009 07:06 |
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Gig Review: Enslaving the Masses |
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Written by snewp
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Wednesday, 21 January 2009 10:18 |
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Enslaving The Masses Gig review by Dexter "Neonblack' Duran
Though I am quite sure I’m not really qualified to be called as a metal critic or such because as far as I know being a critic means having no  biases. I lean more towards the black, thrash and industrial metal. So therefore I will just label myself as a person in the audience, a witness to the onslaught, and this essay is just an aficionado’s perspective.
Standing outside Boss Grill in Mango Avenue on a festive Saturday night, I faintly noticed a religious store across of where I stood. It was open. I impishly imagine what the people inside that store, and the hundreds of passers-by, think of the throng of black-clad crowd they see hanging outside of the venue. They are probably either in disgust, fear or wonder what we were all doing there. We, of course, were there for the metal gig that Cebuano metalheads were waiting for. The gig was called Enslaving The Masses, organized by C.E.M.P. and featured a slew of metal bands from the local scene that all varied in style and age.
Things kicked off to good start with a quite new band Cursed Loath covering mostly tracks from Dying Fetus. They were followed by death metal heavyweights Astarus and Stabwounds. Taking the stage next was Blacksmith who covered the mighty Metallica. And proof that the whole crowd were Metallica fanatics, the band hit the intro of Master of Puppets and were met with a loud cheer and metal horns. The crowd even sang word for word during the chorus (talk about enslaving the masses!). Next up was the band Thy Will Be Done, who remind me a lot of Black Dahlia Murder in terms of the non-chalant looks of the band members and the way they play. I assume that’s called as deathcore, though I may be wrong. After them, there was 40 Diaz in all their leather, spikes and corpse paint glory. Ditching the keyboards this time and playing the real, unadulterated black metal. They played their own track (featured in the C.E.M.P. The Reckoning vol. 2 compilation) without keyboards, which translated very well I might add. After them were Demise who were one of the crowd favorites during his gig. The pit was filled with metalheads banging away, screaming for more. And when that familiar drum intro of Slayer’s Raining Blood started, everybody went crazy and rushed the stage to join on the insanity ensuing in the pit. Next to play were local metal scene legends Agnas. After a weary start due to technical difficulties yet again, they gave the crowd a heavy serving of death metal and left heads banging off of everyone’s shoulders. Comatose were next are continued the death metal barrage to the crowd. Next up were the clearly Pantera-fanboys Kremate who do not at all disappoint the legacy of Dimebag Darrell. Playing Pantera cover songs as well as their won compositions, these guys know how to handle the crowd and left everyone screaming for more songs. When you’re already playing 2 or 3 more encore songs you know you’re doing something good. Even Phil Anselmo would probably roar “More!” if ever he was present at that gig. Newly formed band Infernus composed of mostly young guys played next and continued forth the chaos. Next was the band Genital Decay, who proved that death metal, good musical talent and a sense of humor do not mix well together. This doesn’t mean though that the death metal tracks they played were less brutal for it was as fierce as it could be. Capping off the gig was the band El Sentencia, giving the horde who came to the gig what they all paid for: real-heavy-as-f*ck metal.
With dusk only a few more hours away, the crowd began to dissipate. Some stayed outside to converse, take a break, smoke and just commune with fellow metalheads still at the venue while others left to pursue their own agendas for the day. These are the people that compose the metal scene in Cebu. Real people. People from all walks of life. And it is this diversity between us all metalheads is what keeps everything fascinating. Metal is alive here in our little city. Source: Bawit of CEMP |
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Last Updated on Friday, 23 January 2009 23:17 |
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Cebu Mayhem Productions: Sinulog Mayhem Festival |
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Written by snewp
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Saturday, 10 January 2009 22:35 |
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Last Updated on Monday, 12 January 2009 16:31 |
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CEMP: Enslaving the Masses |
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Written by snewp
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Monday, 05 January 2009 12:28 |
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Dark Disciple Vocalist Mat "Sicko" Sargent Takes His Own Life |
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Written by snewp
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Friday, 26 December 2008 14:17 |
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The loss of a good friend, you'll be missed Mat "SICKO" Sargent 1978-2008 Dark Disciple vocalist Mat "Sicko" Sargent has taken his own life at the age of 30. The Baltimore, Maryland based metal band has posted an extensive blog on their MySpace page in regards to this news. Here are some excerpts: "Today is not a good day for me or anyone in the Dark Disciple family, Mat Sargent known to many as "SICKO" or Villain5150 took his life on November 26th 2008, Mat was only 30 years old. For those of us who had the chance to know him and see what kind of person Mat was, it was an honor to say the least, he will be never forgotten for there are way to many good times to remember. Mat join the band late in 2003 after replacing founding member Bones. When we all heard Mat audition the first night the rest of the guys in the band were like where's the hidden tape recorder or the sound effect box. Mat had this gift; he could make his vocals sound like three different people singing almost simultaneously at once. The band was blown away by this and said you're in and we have studio time in a month for our first album. He said really, we said yeah, he said I guess I better start working on it. In one month Mat not only came up with the Albums title ("Unholy Hate Gore") he also change the song titles and wrote the lyrics to 9 songs to help create this raw underground master piece." Read the full article at Dark Disciple's MySpace blog. |
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Written by snewp
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Friday, 26 December 2008 07:39 |
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Welcome metalheads, Our new website is online now. I have decided to change the website for a change. LOL. I'm now using the most sophisticated Content Management System (CMS). If you do have some posters to post on this frontpage just post it in the forums or you can shoot me an email snewp [at] cebumetal [dot] org. And if you are a good writer and want to post some metal articles you can do so. Just email me for more information. Thanks and rock n roll... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All... --snewp |
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