Panos Agoros

DEPHOSPHORUS "Axiom" available now as a free download!

2011-07-12T08:36:00.005+02:00

Check out the debut of my band DEPHOSPHORUS for free!

If you like what you hear and what you see, please consider ordering the gatefold MLP and/or the t-shirt.

Summer news

2011-06-28T17:46:00.004+02:00

DEPHOSPHORUS "Axiom" gatefold MLP is out now and AMNIS NIHILI "Christological Escalation" 10"EP/digipack MCD will follow shortly! Check out dephosphorus.com and amnisnihili.com for more details.

Metal Hammer#319 (July 2011) is out now. Inlay Horror mag includes a 4-page feature I did with excellent local black metal act RAVENCULT. Make sure you check out their latest album "Morbid Blood" out now on Hell's Headbangers Records!

Hell Comes Home 7"EP subscription club: LAUNCH OFFER \\\ €10.- OFF /// VALID UNTIL MAY 31, 2011

2011-05-15T23:50:00.004+02:00

If you are a vinyl lover you should definitely consider subscribing to this 7"EP club! You can pay in one go or over three months. My band DEPHOSPHORUS will participate sharing a 7"EP with excellent US band GREAT FALLS (feat. ex-members of Playing Enemy, Hemingway, Jesu, Black Noise Cannon). For more info: www.hellcomeshome.com

<< March 2012 consecutively, each subscription will receive two new splits 7-inch vinyl with new and original artwork in the post every month... And because life is good the first package will include an exclusive t-shirt along with a special limited edition box to complete the set.

Volume 1 features: Akaname (AUS/NZ) • Black Sun (UK) • Burning Love (CAN) • Coffinworm (USA) • Dead Elephant (IT) • Dephosphorus (GR) • Dopefight (UK) • Dukatalon (ISR) • Fight Amp (USA) • Fistula (USA) • The Fucking Wrath (USA) • Great Falls (USA) • Kowloon Walled City (USA) • Lesbian (USA) • Mose Giganticus (USA) • Pyramido (SWE) • Rabbits (USA) • Suma (SWE) • The Swan King (USA) • Tellusian (SWE) • Thou (USA) • Throat (FIN) • Ultraphallus (BE) • Union Of Sleep (DE)

In short your subscription includes:

24 exclusive and unreleased songs from 24 bands
• 12 splits 7-inch vinyl in a special limited edition box
• Digital coupons of high quality mp3’s (320 kbps) with each vinyl
• An exclusive t-shirt
• Original artwork & design by Kuba Sokolski>>>

DEPHOSPHORUS

2010-09-24T18:19:00.002+03:00

Hailz!

the time has come for you to check out my new band DEPHOSPHORUS!

AMNIS NIHILI

2010-08-04T12:54:00.002+03:00

Hail!

check out "Christological Escalation" the first online sample of my new project AMNIS NIHILI.

If you have a myspace page add us!

piss

P.

KOMMPOUND!

2010-05-03T10:47:00.001+03:00

"Alphatitan", Split w/HELLBOY 106

New blog of mine

2010-03-26T17:44:00.002+02:00

Yeah check this new blog of mine if you're into BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY 2 and video games in general: http://fieldoperative.wordpress.com.

A RETRO KICK (part#1)

2010-02-05T14:24:00.009+02:00

A couple of years back, we played a gig with STRAIGHTHATE and support was provided by Mantas' project VOIDHEAD. A friend of his helped him out on the guitars, Helm from LOCUST LEAVES, who's also a great comic artist. I had a short chat with the dude, we also talked about computers a little bit. I don't remember how/why I mentionned the AMIGA and he told me that I could grab one for a reasonable amount of money from the eBay. This totally rang a bell...

A little bit of a background. When i was a kid at the 80's I was constantly fantacizing about home computers, reading magazines and getting to use them a bit at friends' homes. The home budget was tight though and didn't allow the purchase of one. When I finally convinced my parents to buy me and my brothers one, my choices were either the Atari ST (512 or 1024) or the Amiga 500... BUT the colleagues of my father gave him the fucked up advice to better get us a PC compatible, which was a more "serious" machine. And this is what happened! So instead of the outstanding multimedia capabilities of the ST and the Amiga, we ended up with the COMMODORE COLT, a PC XT compatible with glorious CGA graphics (4 colors at a time!!!) and two 5.25", low-densitey (360kb) floppy drives. Oh well, I can't really complain, because using MS-DOS and trying to get the most of out of this piece of hardware (I was so proud when I discovered a secret/undocumented key combination which was one of the earlist forms of overclocking, making the machine run at 9.54 Mhz instead of the standard 4.77Mhz and turbo 7.16Mhz CPU frequencies!!!), made me realize that messing around with computers was what i wanted to do for a living.

To get back to this post, owning an Atari ST or an Amiga, was a repressed urge that has been awaken by the chat with Helm. So I ordered one from eBay for a cool price but without the original box and manuals. In order to save cash, I chose the lowest shipping option, so this made an eternity to arrive, the Amiga which I should have had almost 20 years ago as a teenager, sailing across the seven seas from Australia. When I mentionned this to komrade and fellow retro-maniak Tsamashi Toyo he was like "Why the fuck do you need an Amiga, where you can make old games/software work though an emulator?". I couldn't provide a reasonnable answer, except that "You know me man. I have a collector's soul". "Παλιατζής" would be the proper term in greek.

When it finally got in Athens, I made a research on how to connect to a modern TV set, I plugged to my LCD TV and then I realized that it had the most weird power plug. I tried to get an adaptor, but somehow regular australian-european power adaptors didn't work. I had to cut the power cable and connect the wires into a local "Suko" power plug. But I am a lazy motherfucker and I kept postponing that for maybe 2 years.

2 days ago I grabbed my tools and did it! I connected it through the A520 mod and a composite cable to my LCD monitor but the image is crap. So right now I am trying to figure out what needs to be done. I just ordered a VGA adaptor but I think that it will do it only for the Workbench and not for the games. Do I need a scandoubler/flickerfixer? My friend Dimitris X. just got me the number of an Amiga enthusiast and I will give him a call later this afternoon.

RANDOM PICS FROM MY MOBILE

2010-02-02T15:42:00.004+02:00

The Playstation 3 has been hacked?

2010-01-25T11:19:00.002+02:00

Geohot, the dude who hacked the iPhone, has reportedly hacked the PS3, supposed to be unhackable until now... Check out his blog for some juicy details: http://geohotps3.blogspot.com

Kommpound live@Kinky Kong in Athens 21/06/09

2010-01-04T15:58:00.002+02:00

KOMMPOUND LIVE ANNOUNCED!

2009-05-30T17:16:00.008+03:00

NOISE/AMBIENT SPECIAL FORCES LIVE

sabbath20jun200999 @ KINKY KONG/Athens:

KOMMPOUND

NAΦΘALYN

(feat. Mantas: Voidhead, Dephosphorus)

LUNAR MIASMA

(ex-Red Needled Sea)

More details soon.

PLAYLIST, COD4:MW (Xbox 360) anti-cheater patch, “Noise vs. Subversive Computing”

2009-05-01T14:07:00.002+03:00

PLAYLIST

SUFFOCATION "Blood Oath"

SLAYER "Seasons In The Abyss"

AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED "Agorapocalypse" (they should be paying me royalties for stealing my last name!)

ROYKSOPP "Junior"

GUNS N'ROSES "Use Your Illusion I&II"

O.S.T. "Wipeout Pure"

Cheaters have stormed COD4:MW for the XBox 360 this last couple of weeks! A new patch is going to fix this. Read more about it at http://tigertelevision.blogspot.com/2009/04/call-of-duty-4-modern-warfare-anti.html

As per KOMMPOUND, latest outing is going to be the track "Softmod Exploit" plus the "Black Box Secrets" text about Xbox hacking, part of the “Noise vs. Subversive Computing” USB stick compilation, an international premiere by my komrade Pascal Cretain. Here goes the press release.

COMPUTATIONALLY INFEASIBLE RECORDS 001

“Noise vs. Subversive Computing”

This is the “Noise vs. Subversive Computing” Project: A Collaborative release split between Noise/Experimental Artists and Subversive Technologists/Computer Hackers. Ten representatives from each camp were asked to contribute a piece of work which could be anything at all: an audio track, a drawing, a written passage, software, video, combination of all that, or anything else that can be converted to binary. The Noisicians had “Subversive Computing” as their central theme, and the Technologists worked with “Noise”.

This is the outcome:

NOISE:

0. BBBlood (UK) - Bicep Venoms Gut Virus [AUDIO]
1. Config.sys (DE) - Bit Bucket [AUDIO]
2. Family Battle Snake (DE) – Black Hat [AUDIO]
3. Francisco Lopez (ES) – Untitled 223 [AUDIO]
4. GEN 26 (SI) - Untitled [AUDIO]
5. Hellboy106 (GR) - stgzknmhtrka [IMAGE+AUDIO]
6. ILIOS (GR) - 4000 ĉevaloj kriegas Mi ami Vi [AUDIO]
7. KOMMPOUND (GR) - Softmod Exploit [AUDIO+WORDS]
8. La Jacquerie (IT) – Re: If you're angry don’t [AUDIO]
9. Sarah's Charity (DK) - Colour of Clarity [AUDIO]

SUBVERSIVE COMPUTING:

0. Ach3n0r (GR) - Noise Steganography [SOFTWARE]
1. Ashrae tosh & KaOS (BE/DK) - Netglitch [AUDIO+WORDS]
2. E (US) - Sifting through the Noise [WORDS]
3. EK (UK) - Rainbow [AUDIO]
4. G0rg0g0l (GR) - Gorgogoogle: Web, Search, Noise [SOFTWARE]
5. Gorrrrgar (RO) - My kind of Shithole [PHOTOGRAPHY MATRIX+WORDS]
6. Jazra Khaleed (GR) - Noise [POEM]
7. Pascal Cretain (DK) - Information Pollution [VIDEO]
8. Rodrigo Marcos (UK) - MySQL Sounds [VIDEO+SOFTWARE]
9. Stelios Douskos (US) - LawyerFish [SOFTWARE]

The merger is truly fascinating; explosive to say the least. The radical thinkers at work in here have the momentum, the mindset and the technical skills to crash Adaptive Firewalls, defy traditional definitions of music, “hack” live performance semantics and bypass Intrusion Detection Systems.

Only this is not Cyberspace. We are subtly injecting polymorphic shellcode into your reality, brainwashing you with white noise and reverse engineering your obsolete modus operandi.

Alas; you can’t pull the plug.

“Noise vs. Subversive Computing” out 01.06.2009
Limited release of 256 Numbered Copies in 1GB USB Stick format
Contact Pascal Cretain (pascal.cretain [at] gmail.com) for Ordering Information

TIGER TELEVISION!

2009-02-22T13:21:00.001+02:00

Hey check my latest project, the TIGER TELEVISION bogzine! If you like it please spread the word, and leave feedback!

THE TIGER TV SESSIONS#2: THE END (interview 2004)

2009-01-15T21:27:00.008+02:00

THE TIGER TV SESSIONS#2: 2004 interview with...

THE END

The End Complete

Heavy musical aggression.Discordant rhythms and riffs.Emotions and passion from within.Unique technique and fast forward thinking.How can a band draw all these elements to the canvas of the heavy music?Andrew Hercules (Guitar) explains us the way...

• The new album is brilliant.How did it come so aggressive?
I think that’s just our style,in reference to our first album i think the arrangement style was harder hitting and you can feel it.We wanted a more together feel for this album and part of that was coming together with all instruments to really drive some of the finer intricacies in the music home.I think that focus directly translates into ‘in your face’ rock ‘n’ roll.

• Your previous effort was shocking.Although its little duration as an album one could see that this band had a lot to give.Your comments.
Excuse the cliche but it’s quality versus quantity ,a lot of bands put music on the album just for the sake of having another song or more playing time for the industry,we never think like that,we want everything on our albums to be well thought out and quality.If you want filler there’s a million other bands for music fans to listen to.

• How much did shows help The End from their start?Is The End a live band?
Shows are everything.The album is really just a 2-dimensional snapshot of what our band really is.I think you learn the most from bands when watching them live.That is our strongest element as a band,i believe that to be true for any really good band.

• How can you remember all these riffs and moderation changes?
A song is a song and either you know the way it goes or you don’t.It’s not hard to remember.For instance if your name was 30 letters long instead of 6 would you have any problem remembering it?I doubt it.Our songs are the same way.We’de be complete idiots if they weren’t.As for the writing process ,i’ll just say that it takes time and high standards and expectations.

• How difficult is for The End to record material?
Not any more difficult than any other band.There our songs and we know how to play’em so it’s not that difficult for us,but we work with talented producers as well and making sure the tones are captured as we want is the challenge.Playing the songs is the easy part of us,knowing the studio and being able to use it to its fullest in a very finite amount of time is quite difficult.

• Do you really write so distinct music or it’s just the fact that you are Canadians so it’s justified?(Just joking!)
Canada is certainly unique,just look at the map!!!We also have some of the finest acts in the brutal music business.We love being Canadian and we are products of enviroment like everyone else.It feels amazing to add to the reputation of the Canadian extreme.

• What happened to Tyler the previous singer?He was more close to the Minakakis school of voice but Aaron is also brilliant.
Tyler was one of those people that needs to do his own thing.The End is five people coming together to make a new whole.Tyler didn’t exactly fit in to that,so although we got along great and he was a talented singer it couldn’t last.He has a different musical project now.Aaron on the other hand completes the unit and the balance which is really important in a creative work enviroment:Balance.Figure it out.

• How much do you get ratty when the others compare you to the Dillinger Escape Plan?
When someone makes that comparison we think one of two things:Either Dillinger is either the only newer style heavy music band they have ever heard.Or that they haven’t really listened to us at all.Put the albums side by side and show me the similarities ,yes we both have guitar and drums and distortion,but the rhuthms and the riffs are totally different ,but to the untrained ear who knows what we sound like.

• Your inspirations start from King Crimson and end with Atheist and more progressive stuff.Do you agree with that version?
Definitely we have an infinite amount of respect for those bands that pushed themselves playing and writing and ultimately created something different and new something unique.It is that kind of passion that we definitely draw form in our band and in our lives.

• What happened to all these groups that play this schizophrenic jazzy hardcore?Is there a competition for who is playing faster and better or is it something that comes from within?
I think a lot of musicians are bored with the standard song.The verse chorus verse.The typical solo.For aspiring players there is a lot that can be done within that style.I don’t think most of the bands are trying to fit to the mould necessarily ,but they are discovering different aspects of their instruments and abilities call it jazzy hardcore.I call it aggressive musical passion.

• The packaging for ‘Within Dividia’ is superb.Which idea was all of this?
The Dividia lived and died,we only tried to recreate as much of their world as possible.All creative edit goes to the Dividia who perished in flames and relative obscurity for being misunderstood.

• Do lyrics mean a lot for you although more of thesemusic fans take notice to music first?Is there a pity for the band or do you care more for the music?
The music and lyrics are one in the same to us.And so we have the same standards for both good music good ideas.

• Do groups such as Deadguy,Kiss It Goodbye and Cynic reflect you as a group?
A ll the bands you have mentioned have left huge impressions on the heavy music underground and looking at the bands they have influenced it’s almost impossible to say that we don’t have elements of those bands encoded within our music ,but i think people look so often at the ‘obvious’ influences that they fail to see where bands like Nirvana,Godspeed You!Black Emperor,Shotmaker and whole lot of other bands need to be added to our personal list.

• Describe us the greatest The End incident so far.
Last night we were driving 16 hours home from Thunder Boy Ontario and we got pulled over for having almost no working lights and for speeding somehow we didn’t get a ticket for either.Then the cop told us to watch out for ‘moose and shit’ and to ‘crank the tunes’.That’s pretty great as far as i am concerned.

• Would you come to Greece for a show?
We are planning too in November so check the Relapse records site for tour updates and start training physically and mentally.

Interrogation by Thanos Mantas

Photo Credit: W.Gosselin

2004

THE TIGER TV SESSIONS#1:INSISION INTERVIEW 2004 (unreleased in English)

2009-01-15T18:10:00.011+02:00

Back in 2004, we started working with some friends (including Tolis Yovanitis & Mantas) on a ecclectic & diverse music/art webzine which would be called TIGER TV. It never came to fruition though, and since I recently came across the stuff we had rounded up at the time, I will put it online for the sake of documentation. For starters here you go buddy, an old INSISION interview from 2004, unreleased in english

INSISION – Odor Of Sanctity

By Panos Agoros

I love 10”EP’s. The one between INSISION & INVERACITY on almighty Nuclear Winter Rek is one of my faves. The swedes hooked me up immediately (and you can read in the review sektion what I think about INVE). As a matter of fact I believe they’re one of the best things the modern brutal deathmetal scene has to offer. After the chaotik debut “Beneath The Folds Of Flesh”, “Revealed And Worshipped” hammers the nail even further and oh boy does this feel good. This interrogation with vokiller & satanik wordmaster Carl Birath has been initially conducted in Sept.’04 for a Metal Hammer GR feature. This is the uncut/untranslated version.

your new album is more technical than “beneath”. What motivated you to go to that direction?

Carl: first up the songs on R&W are made all together and are all songs made within the same time-span. BTFOF was partly older material mixed with new but main reason for getting more technical is the obvious fact of progression in a band. We found new ways of dealing with the music and this was the outcome.

in what other terms would you say that you have evolved since “Beneath”?

Carl: Well as ‘beneath…’ was mainly old material put together I can say that lyric-wise I have been able to work more with a red line running through the lyrics. We have also grown as persons all of us, been through some tough times but always seemed to walk through it flawless but with some scars to strengthen you.

Is there any lyrical concept for the new album? What is “Ideas Of Revolution” talking about?

Carl:
It’s from a vision I had.
It inspired me to write the pretexts and the lyrics.
Its mainly in the eye of the beholder man…
what do you think its about?

how come that track#4 has only spoken word & some ambient soundscapes? Don’t you think it breaks a little bit the pace of the record?

Carl:
It’s a breather…to catch your breath also it works as a ‘breaker’ and brakes of the album for a few minutes.
It was mainly an idea that came into my mind when recording the album; still I have had these kinds of ideas before. The Words in that track are a compilation of all the pree- texts on the album…. So its in symbioses with the whole feel of the album I guess.
When you read the lyrics of the whole album you will find out.

why has thomas daun left the band? is Marcus Jonsson your new permanent drummer? Who replaced Toob Brynedal on tour & is he doing better?

Carl: Thomas left the band because he lack of dedication to the band. Ha has been playing in some other band that plays some ‘pop-rock-glam’ music and decided to do that instead. For us it was more of a relief really as he had been holding us back for the last year making it hard to rehearse & create new songs etc. so his decision for leaving was very much a mutual decision indeed. I’m not back stabbing him in anyway, he was a good drummer and a cool friend and still is and we are not in any way enemies but insision did not fall just because of him leaving. He has been on his way from the band for a long time now and didn’t contribute much in the end. If your not part of the plan your just luggage so to speak.
Marcus is our new drummer for the moment, but as it looks right now he works very well in the band not only music wise but also on a personal level. Easy to work with, laidback and into this kind of music. Generally he is much Faster and more technical then Thomas, so in fact he is better, which is just splendid and he is also a fast learner. The first thing we are going to do when back home is to start rehearsing new songs that fits his kind of drumming. At this point we have to hold him back from getting all ‘speed-crazy’ on us. None replaced Toob, we just went with Roger instead and it worked out Ok I think, of course you are missing one guitar but its still insision allright.
toob is doing Allright but will not be coming back with us.
… after his drop out of the tour and his interest in the the other band that Thomas is in he had to go as well… We are at this very moment looking for a replacement. Had some hooks out and are at this point going trough which ones to take for a test round. We are in no worries at all…

how was the tour with suffocation? I saw them in the furyfest, they were incredible I guess they were as good in the rest of the shows? In which order did you play with the other support bands & did you like them?

Carl: We did it by Schedule , changing every night. I know from start Insision was supposed to be main Support I don’t know why it fell through but it worked out good anyway I mean everyone got a fair chance to play main support and we had a blast.
The other bands where Disgorge (usa) and Dementor (slovakia) And they where all great guys and we had no problem whatsoever We where riding the same bus as Disgorge and Dementor where having there own Van to travel in so of course we got closer To Disgorge but in the end all was good and we all enjoyed hanging out together.
Suffocation was awesome every night I promise you, bringing their own sound engineer they kicked ass every show on the whole tour. They are also very pleasant and cool to hang out with, all different characters for sure.
If we get a chance we’d be more then glad doing some more shows with them…

Why did you chose to produce the album w/ Mieszko Talarczyk @ Soundlab? What kind of experience was recording with him?

Carl: We decided to Do sound Lab because we head so much good about it and also that Mr Mieszko was a good producer, but also we where willing to try something new. The experience was awesome. Me , Roger and Toob where there all the time and ever worked the nightshift with parts of the solos and vocals Thomas only joined for the drums and Daniel stepped in to do the bass.
It worked very smoothly Mieszko is easy to work with and have lots of good ideas on how to put stuff down to make it good. All in all we had a very good experience and we are actually thinking of returning to Sound lab if possible in the future.

I saw in the studios session gallery a photo in front of an analogue mastering device. Was the mastering done analogically?
Carl: We had an idea of using the Analogue mastering device just to make it sound a bit thicker and less digital and I guess it worked. We transferred the digital down on the Analogue tape recorder and then turned everything around and did it the other way back from analogue to Digital. It compressed the sound a bit and cut of some of the higher peaks and flattened the sound. It was all Mieszkos idea and we liked the outcome of it. The Mastering was made all digital this Analogue thing was just a small part of the process.

how are you doing with wicked world/earache?

carl: We are doing Good. At this time we got full Promotion from them, which is great. I mean if you wanna make some thing out of a record you’d better let ppl know about it, right… !? And w/ this suffocation tour, new record, new Video and new T-shirts coming up we are a 100% promoted which is good. Lots of ppl get to get the insision-experience!

any other swedish deathmetal you’d recommend our readers to check out?

carl : well except for the regular ass kicking bunch, VISCERAL BLEEDING, GOD HATE, SPAWN OF POSSESSION, KAAMOS and IMMERSED IN BLOOD among others we got IMPERIOUS and also you got SEPTIC BREED as newcomers, well worth checking out! (youll find a bunch of cool links at www.insision.com)
Shit man I mean there are a hell of a lot of good brutal stuff coming out of brewing here in Sweden at this point I cant mention all…

did you had the chance to listen to Inveracity’s debut fulllength album & how did you like it?

Carl: Ahhh What the fuck?! I haven’t heard about this? I wanna get my self a copy… No I haven’t heard it so I can’t comment on it… is it any good?

what are your projects for the near future? Any US touring plans?

carl: At this point, now when back home in Sweden after the European tour with the mighty Suffocation we are about to do some smaller gigs and in between we are about to start work on new material… 2 years are a long time to not release something and we are sure not gonna waste any time this time around.
With Marcus behind the drums we can work with some more viscous and more brutal stuff and that is what we are planning at this point… To keep the train rolling. Death metal in absurdum.

words of the end?

Carl: Well, To all you crazy death heads out there and fans of this music and scene remember without you there is no fucking scene at all..
Keep the bloody flag of Death metal high.
Be sure to check out our latest album revealed and worshipped. Feel free to visit the web page http://www.insision.com for more stuff on insision.
Keep it brutal and twisted
Rex Mundi regare
Over and out
/Carl Birath / INSISION 2004

RWAKE INTERVIEW ONLINE @ www.metal-rules.com!

2009-01-14T02:21:00.004+02:00

The RWAKE interview is now online again at http://www.metal-rules.com/zine/content/view/1577/83/

RWAKE INTERVIEW TO BE PUBLISHED ONLINE @ www.metal-rules.com

2008-12-29T21:46:00.002+02:00

Hey,

I just pulled off the RWAKE interview, but it will be online again shortly:extra articles & interviews (unreleased or english version of Metal Hammer Greece articles) of mine will be published at www.metal-rules.com where my longtime komrade & associate back at the time of Chaotik Webzine, Arto Lehtinen writes. I will post a notice when it will be online.

piss

PLAYLIST

2008-12-27T23:22:00.002+02:00

Gridlink - Amber Gray CD

Hayaino Daisuki - Headbanger's Karaoke Club Dangerous Fire CDEP

Guns N'Roses - Chinese Democracy CD

Troublemakers - Express Way 3xLP

Timeghoul - Panaramic Twilight EP 1994

Timeghoul - Tumultuous Travelings (Demo 1992)

Catacomb - The Lurker at the Threshold (Demo 1991)

Rotten Sound - Cycles CD

90's VINTAGE UNDERGROUND DEATHMETAL BLOG, UNRELEASED CONTENT ON YOUR WAY!

2008-12-27T19:37:00.002+02:00

First of all, I wanted to let you know I just discovered an awesome blog with old underground demos. The site is: http://metaldemos666.blogspot.com, tune in! I just downloaded some vintage stuff like CATACOMB (fr), PORTAL (aus), and for those who dont have them already, the TIMEGHOUL demos (the most underrated USDM band the 90’s)!!!

The other thing, is watch out this blog for some cool content to be published very soon:

• RWAKE interview. This was conducted about a year ago about the release of the “Voices Of Omens” album. It was supposed to be published in Metal Hammer Greece, but somehow didn’t make it.

• GREEK SCENE REPORT. This article is a fucked up story and it really pisses me off when I think about it. I want to put it online in order to get over with it once and for all. To make a long story short, I was contacted by TERRORIZER magazine (UK) about a year and half ago in order to produce a greek scene report. Eventually I rounded it up, after a lot of effort and time, and the feedback I got from the magazine was quite enthusiastic. That’s when I was told that there has been a misunderstanding going on, and that a greek black metal scene report was prepared by somebody else. My contact point presented his apologies and proposed me to split the article in two and discard the black metal part. Eventhough I was extremely unhappy with how things turned out I agreed and since then I didn’t have any news from them. Except references to the separate scenes, it contains some mini-features with RAVENCULT, DEAD CONGREGATION, SUN OF NOTHING, FAMILY BATTLE SNAKE, HIBERNATION.

• JON CHANG interview (ex-Discordance Axis, Gridlink, Hayaino Daisuki, “Black Powder|Red Earth” video game). Well I was very excited to do this interview with Jon, because he’s one of my favorite singers/lyricists. A part of it was used for a GRIDLINK feature published in Metal Hammer Greece’s December issue (in greek language of course). A lot was left out, so you’ll be able to dig the entire interview in english. It was cool because two of my passions have been adressed in it: both grindcore and first-person-shooters!

OK, hold on to it.

FRIDAY 19th of Decembah: METAL HAMMER PARTY@GAGARIN 205. 23:00/5e

2008-12-17T17:11:00.001+02:00

FIELD RECORDINGS COMPILATION vol.1 featuring KOMMPOUND is out now

2008-10-22T18:05:00.006+02:00

The "Field Recordings Compilation vol.1" is out now. It was prepared by Algol & Stuzha, released by Species Productions. All hailz to the them!

Full line-up:

Dahlia's Tear (Sweden)
Skadi (Germany)
8m2stereo (Germany)
Dronæment(Germany)
Nightech (Russia)
Stuzha/_Algol_ (Siberia, Russia)
Valerio Orlandini (Italy)
Subinterior (Italy)
KOMMPOUND(Greece)
Doc (Finland)
Jaaportit (Finland)
Megatone (Moldova)

KOMMPOUND contribute with "From Apollo To Jesus-Christ". The specific track is an excerpt of a longer piece of 70 minutes (supposed to be released sooner or later), recorded and mixed back on January 2006, during the sessions who gave birth to the KOMMPOUND entity.
We will soon stock some copies of the compilation through BLAST BEAT MAILMURDER, stay tuned.

COD4:MW GLITCH VIDEOS BY [9/11] CLAN

2008-10-22T17:28:00.007+02:00

These glitch videos have been made by troopers of the [9/11] COD4 Clan that I'm part of. Hail komrades!

PLAYLIST

2008-10-18T16:10:00.001+02:00

-ABHORRENCE "Evoking The Abomination"
-A WILHELM SCREAM "Career Suicide"
-GRIDLINK "Amber Gray"
-TIMEGHOUL "Tumultuous Travellings"

BE THE KING OF STYLE WITH A STRAIGHTHATE T-SHIRT!

2008-10-17T15:15:00.005+02:00

I just realized I forgot to pimp my band's STRAIGHTHATE merchandise!

After popular demand that has been going on for years, we finally got last summer our first t-shirt out. The design has been done by our brother Alex @ Viral Graphics, a fine design kommando on the rise responsible for mindexpanding artwork (records/t-shirts/posters/flyers) done for Nebula, Jucifer, Melvins, as well as for SXH’s “Ethnocide” video-clip.

You might also notice there is a band logo that you havent seen before. It's been done by our friend Tolis Yovanitis back at the time but never been used.

Those are top quality -Fruit of the loom- shirts available in Small, Medium, Large, Girlie sizes.

Cost postpaid in Hellas is 12 euros. Ask for foreign postal rates. WE ACCEPT PAYPAL!

FAR CRY 2 first impressions

2008-10-17T15:12:00.002+02:00

Far Cry was one my favorite games in xbox1 and a technical prowess that has pushed the console’s hardware to its limits.

I have expected FC2 anxiously, especially since FC’s developpers sold the series trademark to Ubisoft and pursued their own career as Crytek, publishing Crysis - available exclusively on PC.

Well I played it for over an hour yesterday on a XBOX360 and my first impressions are excellent:

- it looks fantastic, the graphics are impressive! It definitely raises the bar as per what should we expect of the platform.
- The context, mutant-free and superpower-free is realistic. The fact it happens to Africa makes it even more actual and intense. We all know this shit happens for real there since colonization is officially “over” (yeah right). Tribal wars for diamonds, ruthless mercenaries and arms dealers, poverty and breath-cuttin nature. The game's atmosphere is a winner
- Gameplay is more or less the same than FC1. You have to accomplish objectives though stealth and by carefully planning your attack. The fact that you can chose to fight by day or by night is definitely a must.
- Your character has malaria from the beginning and it only gets worst as the game progresses. Another interesting dimension. FPS’ just got a bit smarter.
- I havent tested multiplayer mode yet. I’ll ke you posted.

CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR multiplayer beta update#2

2008-10-17T15:02:00.000+02:00

Some more impressions:

- gun sound is weak, must be beefed up. Eg. Thompson with suppressor sounds ridiculous!

- music/sound effects are good. There is some tribal-ish stuff tastefully used. Artillery is accompanied by eerie howlings… sweet! The game is supposed to have an overall dark atmosphere, the dark ambient overtones are more than welcome.

- war mode is intense.

- All of the 3 maps offered are excellent for campers (boo) and this can handicape fast-paced matches, especially in war modes.

- I’m still not very excited about it. Apparently the main dish of COD: WW will be the co-op campaign. Multiplayer feels like a COD4 mod…

CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR, first impressions/early review from XBOX360 multiplayer beta

2008-10-14T16:11:00.006+02:00

I was one of the lucky ones to get a key for the XBOX 360 multiplayer beta of "CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR", which is one of the most anticipated video games of the year - not only because it is part of one of the most popular video games series but also because its predecessor CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE was a tremendous, unexpected success (eventhough it was a departure from the WWII theme of the series), especially due to its astonishing multiplayer. Here's my first impressions after ~10hours of game.

-INTRO.
to make a long story short, it's a relatively bug-free beta which gives a good insight to the
multiplayer portion of the game. I started out with COD4 (I played COD2/3 multiplayer almost not at all) and I havent been very impressed or excited. I guess that people like me who started out with COD4 will find COD:WW a nice, satisfying multiplayer game, but will not abandon COD4
(especially if a new map pack becomes available) and will be eagerly anticipating COD5 which
will also be in a modern context and that should be out in Nov. 2009.

-GAMEPLAY.
More or less the same than COD4. Most game modes will remain, there's a return of Capture The Flag as well as War mode, which is between Headquarters and Domination (each team fights for command points, one at a time, once one has been taken everybody fights for the next one).
The reward for consecutive kills without deaths is still here: with 3 kills you get ennemy position recon, with 5 artillery (more or less the same than airstrike but the effect is better - the ground crumbles and shakes and it feels real) and with 7... dogs! It's cool and at least as lethal as helicopter. Except that by shooting dogs you get points (in COD4 you didnt get points for shooting helicopters and that was certainly a shame).

-PERKS.
Basically its the COD4 system with a few minor differences. There's still juggenaut, last stand (except that you can revive somebody fallen if you're quick enough), martyrdome, stopping power plus a couple more like monkey in order to climb trees (not tested here).

-GORE.
That's a plus! You'll get mutilated when bombarded or grenaded, that's certainly very cool.

-WEAPONS.
Evethough the comparison is not relevant, weapons are one of the things that COD4 fans will immediately regret! At least as far as I can tell from the
weapons unlocked till cap level 11 that you can get at the demo, we sorely miss our
MP5/M16/M4/P90/etc! To put it simply it's less satisfying to shoot with (the sounds are less
powerful too). The Thompson, the SMG you start with, is not accurate at all (imagine something
like the Uzi) and its magazine clip empties in a flash. Eventually you will unlock the MP40 with
the double magazine and things will get better. As far as the rifles go, the Gewehr 42 is not
bad, but we all miss automatic rifles and at this point I cannot tell how good will they be.
Many people wondered what will be replacing red dot sight. This is called "APERTURE SIGHT" and it's somehow similar (except it doesnt help with the light), but not something you would get
into a SMG. But as I said we cannot judge until we play the full game and unlock all the bastards. For example we cannot play with one of the most anticipated features: the flamethrower! Bazookas are quite cool and you'll be able to unlock by completing the last rifle challenge rifle-mounted grenades which I heard from other players that they're very cool.

-EXPLOSIVES.
For starters fragmentation grenades dont have any punch and you should definitely not expect the devastating effect they have on COD4. Maybe its because of the technology of the time. You also have molotovs which are slower to launch but spread a little bit more (you're still not able to burn the environment though - e.g. wooden cabins). There's also satchels of explosives - the equivalent of C4 in COD4, which I havent used at all so I cannot tell. We also have the equivalent of stun (very nice effect) and flash grenades.

-MAPS.
There's 3. An industrial complex, a japanese castle, and a seaside village by night. The castle
and the village are pretty cool, i dont like the complex. Graphics are good and they are pretty
big, with a lot of places to camp and different routes to take.

-GRAPHICS.
Well as I said the graphics of the maps are good, especially the castle with the cherry trees or
the moonlight reflecting at the sea (Makin map). As far as the soldiers go, I havent been
impressed. I also dont like the animations when they run, I find it a little bit arcade-like.

-TANKS.
Well, yeah there will be tanks in some of the maps (I think in 4 out of the 14). One out of the 3 maps included here features them, the industrial complex. I think that vehicles in shooters (multiplayer or singleplayer) you either like them or not. I dont. I think it's boring and you lose focus out of the most fun part of it, which is good old infantry combat. I admit it can be amusing in some instances, one drives the tank and shoots the canon, the other is on the turret and fires the machine gun. You can take them out either with another tank or with bazooka's and explosives (anti-tank grenades and explosives).

-ΜΑTCHMAKING.
Almost the only relevant complaint/criticism as far as COD4 goes, was matchmaking. For starters the whole host system is a scandal: I cannot comprehend why should we depend of the host in order to make a good match and be able to do decent kills. The way things should be is that we would all connect to servers... Which is still not the case here. And then, COD4 was pretty good at putting you into the same match as some guys in the states with perfect lines, where you wouldnt stand a chance since they would see you turning around the corner before you (it would also take the double of bullets to take them down, compared to a match with a decent ping). I havent experienced any host disconnects (or maybe just once) but there certainly was lag, especially during the periods of the day when there's more americans in. But at least Treyarch optimized the whole system and gives the possibility to configure the match search. Either you leave the preferences to "DEFAULT" either you chose between "LOCAL" and "LOCALE" which restrich the search to matches with players geographically close. It makes sense and as far as I can tell it works.

-CONCLUSION.

As a comrade pointed out:
a) It would have made more sense if COD:WW was released before COD4. But of course this is hypothetically speaking since Infinity Ward was developping COD4 in a couple of years taking a break from the series, while Treyarch had to round up COD3 in just one year.
b) Guys who started out with COD4 will not like COD:WW better, eventhough eventually they will find it perfectly fun.

Treyarch did a very good job with the COD4 engine and overall I have the impression that COD:WW multiplayer will be solid and fun. It's just the split of the COD series in two (WWII and modern warfare) that is weird and confusing for the fans. And it's somehow not right, but COD:WW will have to suffer from the comparison with its predecessor, eventhough they are not comparable in many instances. If COD:WW multiplayer will have the same overwhelming success than COD4 it's something that we will see (eventhough I doubt a bit). I definitely expect the full game to test in order to make my mind.

METAL HAMMER GREECE CHANGES!

2008-10-14T16:03:00.006+02:00

In case you havent already noticed METAL HAMMER GREECE (#1 metal mag in the country) has been, and is still going, through some changes. Issue#286 (October 2008) is the first proof of this. Check it out and stay tuned for more enhancements!

Check out today's ELEFTHEROS TYPOS (20/9/08)

2008-09-20T13:39:00.000+02:00

Check out today's ELEFTHEROS TYPOS (20/9/08), page 28-29, the artikle about DEIPNOSOFISTES, a klub of fine eaters I'm part of.

STRAIGHTHATE LIVE THURSDAY 22nd May 2008

2008-05-17T13:33:00.003+03:00

LIVE THURSDAY 22nd May 2008 @ UNDERWORLD CLUB (AThens):
STRAIGHTHATE
SOURCE
VOIDWALKER
VIGOUR

Entry costs 8e. It will most probably be the last SXH live for the season. We are gonna play a couple of brand new songs.

STRAIGHTHATE LIVE FRIDAY 25th January 2007

2008-01-09T17:34:00.000+02:00

LIVE @ AN KLUB FFFRIDAY 25jan08

STRAIGHTHATE (death/grind/hardcore - Athens)
FORMIKATION (grindcore - Athens)
PROFANE PRAYER (blackmetal - Lamia)

KOMMPOUND feature @ UMAN MAG, FORGARDUR HELVITIS @ METAL HAMMER GREECE

2008-01-08T22:18:00.000+02:00

From KOMMPOUND myspace blog: "Yeah it is pretty weird I know, but latest issue of greek mainstream mag UMAN has an artikle entitled "HELLENIC VOMIT DOLLS" ("HELLENIC" was supposed to be written with a "K" in the first place). It's about the new lokal noise akts, and KOMMPOUND is documented and praised! Featured as well are our brothers PASCAL CRETAIN, HELLBOY106 & FAMILY BATTLE SNAKE. Check it out, you wont get disappointed - you'll get as a bonus plenty of half-naked chicks. An online preview of the artikle here."
Latest issue of METAL HAMMER GREECE features an interview (+review) with Iceland's finest FORGARDUR HELVITIS.

24th Chaos Communication Congress lecture about console/Xbox360 hacking

2008-01-02T15:34:00.000+02:00

People interested in free thinking, science and hacking are possibly familiar by now with the legendary Chaos Computer Club (CCC). Check out the 24th Chaos Communication Congress's webpage, there were a lot of interesting lectures and workshops in different tech and more diverse science/social fields, from DIY survival after a nuclear war or the uprising of the robots (!), to traditional hacking stuff, protection of the individual privacy and rights in our technological society, etc. There's video and audio recordings of the whole event available that you can download.

I was particularly interested in the "Console & Xbox 360 Hacking Lecture" (an abstract of it here: http://events.ccc.de/congress/2007/Fahrplan/events/2279.en.html). You can watch the video transcript here: http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEAllAlZVuRLhOzpWe.php. It's interesting that they highlight the fact that it's useless that console manufacturers disable their hardware from running Linux/homebrew software, because it's going to be hacked in order to do it anyway. They also stress out that PLAYSTATION 3 comes with the possibility to run Linux and homebrew code embedded, and that is possibly a reason why it hasn't be hacked yet.

KOMMPOUND DEBUT GIG etc

2007-12-15T19:31:00.000+02:00

Hail

-I will be playing with KOMMPOUND for the first time on Friday 21st of December @ MHXANOYRGEIO (Part Of Polytechnic School Of Athens - Patision&Stournari) with CROATAN ENSEMBLE (collaboration between FAMILY BATTLE SNAKE & P.S. STAMPS BACK). The gig is free. There will be projektions and stuff, the live will begin late. The split with HELLBOY 106 is on its way, should be out really soon.

-STRAIGHTHATE are writing new, crushing songs that destroy everything. We're trying to round up a few gigs in Europe for the mid-may, as support to friendly bands. If you can help, please drop a word thanks.

PLAYLIST:
-TUSK "LIFE'S DENIAL" CD
-HELLBOY 106 "SOME PEOPLE MAKE BETTER LOOKING CORPSES THAN OTHERS" CD-R ALBUM ADVANCE
-KK NULL "ATOMIK DISORDER" CD
-BONE THUGS N HARMONY "E 1999 ETERNAL" CD
-BOARDS OF CANADA "THE CAMPFIRE HEADPHASE" LP
-THE RESINDENTS "DUCK STAB/BUSTER&GLEN" 2x3"CD

KOMMPOUND DEBUT RELEASE OUT, MINSK INTERVIEW

2007-10-09T16:17:00.000+02:00

Hail!

first of all, this is something like my homepage. I will keep posting news about my projects + other stuff (possibly).

- "THE EMPATHY AXIS" is the debut release of my ambient/field recordings project KOMMPOUND. It is out now & it is a split with my brother Pascal Cretain. It's a 2x3"CDR & it comes in a deluxe packaging, limited to 128 copies. Get it through BBM or HEAD TO AVOID RECORDINGS.

- As of today, morethansounds.net published an interview I did with the excellent US band MINSK. It's an adaptation of the original article, which has appeared in Metal Hammer Greece a few months ago... Check it out here: http://morethansounds.net/interviews/minsk.htm