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Features - Column
 Dethroned Emperor #9 Column by Josh Haun | August 9th, 2008
Over the course of three albums, Canada's Wold have continually blurred the lines between scathing black metal and abrasive soundscapes, conjuring an atmosphere that owes as much to noise artists such as Prurient and Merzbow as it does to Darkthrone. Their latest release, Stratification, sees the duo of Fortress Crookedjaw and Obey operating at the peek of their powers, kicking up an unrelenting aural storm of icy distortion, the soundtrack to bare flesh turning to dead, frostbitten black in the grip of their homeland's brutal winter.
Songs such as "Sleigh Ride" paint a picture of winter as a season of death, utterly devoid of mercy. It's as if Wold is taking you away on a frigid journey that can only end in total annihilation mentally, spiritually and physically. The coldness of Wold's sound reminds not only of the savage winter, however, but also of corroded industrial machinery, implying that the natural and the mechanical worlds both have no choice but to concede defeat within Stratification's gelid embrace. This is the sound of black metal and early industrial music being slowly scraped against the foot of an immense, unforgiving glacier.
But what might be the most striking aspect of Stratification is the inherent beauty present amidst the bone-chilling ugliness. There is something maddeningly appealing about the way the myriad textures of each track coalesce to create something that is at once enticing and repulsive, like an ear-punishing lullaby. This idea is instilled further by the poetic, nature-based lyrics, recited in a venomous, malformed rasp, adding even more contrast between allure and disgust.
Wanting to learn more about the method to Wold's madness, I tracked down Obey via e-mail for an in-depth interogation regarding Stratification, the harsh Canadian winter and vestigial appendages.
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SF: Stratification is easily Wold's most accomplished and mesmerizing recording to date. What were the circumstances surrounding its creation?
Obey: Our goal was to create a follow-up to Screech Owl that was worthy of the Wold name; to make a sonic swirling miasma of beautiful and assaulting sound.
SF: The winter season is the key theme running through the entirety of Stratification, creating what is arguably the most fully cohesive album in the Wold discography. How does this tie into the overall concept of Wold? What is it about the season that you find so inspiring?
Obey: Winter is capable of destroying all life. This is the environment we live in 6 months of the year. It can have a profound affect on ones psychology and sense of space. It is almost unavoidable that it will not inform the artist who lives here and his work.
SF: Although Wold is very nature-based thematically, sonically it oftentimes feels like early industrial music gone horribly awry. Is this juxtaposition of the natural world and the mechanical deliberate?
Obey: The naturalist movement of the 19th century was a reaction to the first industrial age, out of the brutal satanic mills came a bucolic response in our time, so called post industrial, industry and nature have merged to give us the computer age where all ages exist at once. Our sound is the struggle of the two past ages, industrial and natural, trying to coexist
SF: Songs such as "Sleigh Ride", "Nine Paths" and "White Winter Wanderer", just to name a few, give the impression of being taken on a journey. Is Stratification ultimately a journey and if so, which is more important, the destination or the odyssey itself?
Obey: No odyssey can begin without a destination. But the arrival signals the closing chapter of the journey. The journey is the verb that unfolds experience on our person. I mean once you've finished listening to the disc you can mediate on it but the experience is over.
SF: Structurally, the songs on Stratification seem more abstract than those found on Screech Owl or LOTMP, which might have something to do with the distinct lack of percussion. What caused Wold's sound to progress in this way on the latest recording?
Obey: Ironically percussion is the bed rock we begin with. We then build upon this foundation melodically and sonically until the percussion is practically atomized.
SF: The artwork for Stratification is extremely intriguing, particularly the ghostly sleigh ride image adorning the cover. How important is visual presentation to Wold and what made you choose this particular image to represent the album? Does the rider in the artwork depict the listener or perhaps the band?
Obey: The art is an attempt to visually unify the overall concept of the piece. It is important that art be total.
SF: Wold is often associated black metal, but in listening to your records there are also elements of harsh noise, ambient and industrial. Do you identify more closely with any one of these genres? Do you care at all about how Wold's music is classified?
Obey: There's no disputing we can be considered a hybrid. We merely use abandoned clichés to try and create something new. When information moves at the speed of light all notions of classification become blurred. New mogrifications are born. Call us what you want; Joyce said "love my label like myself."
SF: Canada's extreme music scene produces some of the most memorable and abrasive bands out there, such as yourselves, Blasphemy, Revenge, Conqueror, etc. What is it about the country that inspires such violent, hateful sounding music?
Obey: Canada is a naturalistic country with winter 5-6 months out of the year. This fact coupled with our polite passive national image can be fodder for quite a pent up reaction.
SF: To my knowledge, Wold has always been a non-touring entity. Would you ever consider playing live? If so, what would the ultimate Wold live experience entail?
Obey: Reproduction of the complex Wold sound would be difficult for just two people to reproduce. We let you create your own happening in your own space with our music.
SF: What is next for Wold? How do you see the band evolving/progressing in the future?
Obey: Speaking for myself. I plan to get a surgeon to remove my vestigial tail and aside from that to be more forgiving of myself.
Wold released Stratification on June 24th through the mightyProfound Lore Records. You can check out MP3s and order the albumdirectly from the label's official website(http://www.profoundlorerecords.com).
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 The Rotted - Get Dead or Die Trying
Last time around, I mentioned that UK deathmetallers Gorerotted had changed their name to The Rotted, following a significant re-tooling of both sound and lineup. Well, I'm happy to report that the makeover has paid off, as the band have delivered their most mature work to date in the form of their fourth album, Get Dead or Die Trying. The band hasn't lost any of the catchiness that made albums like Only Tools and Corpses such a twisted pleasure to listen to, but the overall attack is far more crushing and caustic.
After attempting to re-vamp their sound with somewhat mixed results on 2005's A New Dawn for the Dead, the band seems to have finally hit upon the winning formula by merging their trademark penchant for black humor with a more fully developed, streamlined approach to death metal. As evidenced by brutal, compact tunes like "Kissing You With My Fists," "Angel of Meth," and "Nothin' But a Nosebleed," The Rotted have shed some of the outright silliness of their prior incarnation, but still have a flair for memorable songwriting. Additionally, the band has retained some of the snotty punk rock abandon that first caught my attention, generally sounding like Napalm Death locked in an alcohol-fuelled barbwire death-match with the Sex Pistols.
Although a small part of me does miss the gore-drenched ridiculousness of The Rotted's prior works, Get Dead or Die Trying is for the most part an improvement in just about just about every aspect, from the clean, pulverizing production to the markedly improved musicianship. Elsewhere on this site, I've often lamented the high rate of turnover in the extreme metal scene, but The Rotted are another one of those rare instances where a fluctuating lineup has actually proven to help rather than hinder. Of particular note is the addition of veteran guitarist Gian Pyres (ex-Extreme Noise Terror, Bal-Sagoth, etc.) who forges a solid guitar tandem with Tim Carley that's just as capable of cranking out gnarly, grinding riffs or oddly atmospheric tones such as those found on "A Brief Moment of Regret".
As if all this weren't enough, the album is rounded out by a slightly metal-ized, but for the most part faithful cover version of the main theme from one of my all-time favorite zombie flicks, 28 Days Later. I've always felt that Gorerotted were a horrifically underrated band, and I hope the new direction and killer new album will finally rectify this situation. The Rotted seem poised to put the UK back on the death metal map with Get Dead of Die Trying, and I for one couldn't be happier.
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Toxic Holocaust to release new album
Crusty thrashers Toxic Holocaust are releasing their next album, An Overdose of Death via Relapse records on September 17th. The fine folks at Relapse have been kind enough to provide me with a streaming advance copy, and I can honestly say this sick little slab of blackened, punk-addled pure evil is probably going to go down as one of the year's coolest releases, stomping all over the preponderance of retro-thrash discs that have been clogging the scene of late. You can check out numerous tracks from "An Overdose of Death" at the band's official MySpace page, and the album is up for pre-order at the Relapse Records website. Expect more coverage of this one in the coming weeks.
 Opeth's Watershed impresses, restores faith
Finally, I'd like to take a moment to talk about Opeth's latest album, Watershed. I have to admit, I had lost interest in the band after 2005's Ghost Reveries had failed to insight the levels of technical ecstasy I had experienced listening to previous albums such as My Arms, Your Hearse, Still Life or the bonafide classic Blackwater Park. That said, my longtime loyalty to the band eventually won out and I had no choice but to finally give Watershed a listen. By the time I'd made it through "Coil" and "Heir Apparent," all the things I'd loved about Opeth came flooding back into my consciousness. As time goes on, Opeth only manage to get better at melding the disparate sounds of death metal and 70s rock, creating a sound that is completely their own, often imitated but never, ever equaled. If you're at all like me and made the mistake of writing the band off, Watershed just might be the record that restores your faith.
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Bands or labels interested in news, interviews, or reviews for future installments of Dethroned Emperor, please get in touch: jhaun@sonicfrontiers.net.
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