Sweltering, Imperial Nile

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did attend the gig of Svart, Ex Deo and Nile, on 10 September 2013, at the Garage, Islington, London.

The band Svart were French but seemed a little untight in tempo for my taste. Many were there to see Ex Deo, who provided a traditional, gutteral, melodic deathish metal, pleasing if unexceptional. There were some neat martial horn themes in the mix. I could not hear the lyrics well but think they were mainly about the Roman army at war. Obviously very disappointing for general effect that they were not in Latin.  Only the singer was in Roman attire.

A most satisfactory visit from the eagles, then; Nile themselves began with no sound in the bass and no fancy dress at all. Their music was more brutal, faster, technical, and difficult to follow. It is at best character-building to listen to a death metal CD all the way through, and likewise this was a set I did not feel ended too soon. Plus, the Garage was extremely hot. So signs off Melachi, by a sweltering Nile!

Battlestar Galactica

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did watch the complete 5 series of Battlestar Galactica, beginning with "33" and ending with "The original mini-series", on Blu-ray disc, instead of Newsnight, finishing in August 2013. I had not previously seen any of the episodes, but began, being advised it was one of the great achievements of television. This may not strictly be correct, because I suppose one would have to include things like "Roots", and the moon landing. But I would say it is the best set of series I have watched. Now, the first series had rather too much of the whining Dr Balthar, and long sections of a group running around on a planet which did not seem to have much to do with anything. I generally found the President annoying and giving the impression of being heavily sedated. In the next series it got better, and finest episodes were the ones involving the Pegasus. There was a lengthy and dull plot arc about people being married to the wrong people. I much preferred the fighting scenes. Likewise, as the final series progressed, and more were revealed as the enemy, it became a little bleaker and depressive. Starbuck was certainly more watchable before she developed her "special destiny". The anchoring presence was the great Commander Adama, and I might watch it all again as a study in his leadership. Very notable as well was the style of the ship - the incessant heavy drinking, intercom telephones with chords, and even open reel tape recorders. I now understand I have to watch "Caprica", "The Plan", "Blood and Chrome", and then something called "Star Trek". Such is the (not very special) destiny of Melachi!

The German Ideology

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being a man of wealth and taste, did read Marx and Engels' The German Ideology (1846), or at least as much of it as is provided in C.J. Arthur's student edition of 1970. In it the authors present the view that the ideologies of an historical period are closely linked to its productive processes, though the relationship seems reciprocal to some degree. These ideologies do, however, become treated as though they are inevitable entities in their own right. Therefore men are alienated from the natural relationships between them, and from the true conditions of their labour. This seems obvious nowadays, but was clearly less so in the mid-nineteenth century. The prose is the usual mixture of the extraordinarily impenetrable peppered with brilliant aphorisms. I did not quite understand the emphasis given on "classes" in the creation of ideologies, except as a necessary precursor for Communism. Furthermore, it is not clear to me what the nature of man would be lacking these controlling ideologies, i.e. either before the division of labour, or after the establishment of Communism. Doubtless more could be written on these topics.... But this is a very interesting, though somewhat difficult,text.

EHG fuzz

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did attend the gig of EyeHateGod (also known, I understand, as EHG), at the Garage, in London on 3 August. There were a fourpiece in black and a man in a blue T-shirt from New Orleans. I wanted to like these guys, as I heard they were a top doomy sludgy band, but I found it difficult to get down to my groove with their odd tempo changes from slow to slightly faster at random intervals, and lack of a nice clear riffing. In fact, they approached the same random fuzziness as Moss, whom I heard a few months ago, though not in such an extreme way. However, due to the density of patrons near the bar, I was entirely sober throughout the whole gig, which may have taken the edge off a little. Maybe I will listen to some of their records and go back another time. These are the decisive words of Melachi!

Call me Edmund: Farewell Symphony

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did read Edmund White's book "The Farewell Symphony" (1997), since I liked the title, finishing it in August 2013. It is the story of a man whose main if not only interest throughout the 1960s-80s appears to be other men, and in large numbers. The author never uses one word when he can compose a nicely balanced paragraph instead, and appears greatly concerned with surface effect, referring to high art, philosophy, foreign languages and cultures as though wandering through a great museum, examining the paintings, identifying their schools, and then forgetting them. Like an American who has just completed a Western Civilization course, in fact. There is, to my mind, little depth of philosophy or even psychology. It is hard to imagine so many people can have lived such disassociated lives. As a consequence, there is no plot and not much intentional structure, and the sections about Italy and Paris should have been left out. There is one joke, on page 5 (of 504), though it is quite a good one. They all die at the end, in rather few pages, and this is quite sad, like Moby Dick.

Capa: Pressing the Button

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did read Blood and Champagne (2002), by Alex Kershaw, a biography of the war photographer Robert Capa. I found it on a charity table in the medieval barn at Coggeshall.  The story told is also eventful enough. Capa was always gambling, drinking, picking up women, or trying to get his head blown off, which he finally did. The book does not contain a single one of his photos, even those which are discussed, which is rather an omission. I will have to get another book with them, I suppose. There is not much technical analysis of his work, though I deduce from comments here and there that he basically got as close as possible and pressed the button. There are no cats in the book. The writing and references are workmanlike; some of the Hungarian names are wrong and he has an odd habit of referring to Hungarian Jews as "Slavic". But I found it a good little read.

Upstairs, downstairs, Surya

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did attend the gig of  Martyr Defiled, We Die Tonight, I'll Stay In Memphis, Black Polaris and Beneath The Wake at the Surya Club, near Islington, London, on 22 June, 2013. The stage is downstairs, and the bar upstairs.  The bands themselves were distinctly hardcore but the sound quality was oddly good. A few dozen studenty people were there, who disappeared upstairs after each band. Eventually I followed to see what was going on. No-one seemed to be drinking very much (at £4 a can), in fact, they were mainly staring at mobile phones. A bit bored, I had the bright idea of staring at my own mobile phone. To my surprise (after six years of ownership) I found there were several games on it, including one about owning a nightclub, though I could not understand the rules.

 "We Die Tonight" were my favourite performers, mainly due to the singer, who did the high and the guttural notes well. The Martyr themselves were fearsomely aggressive, and inspired some hardcore dancing (with karate kick moves), though not from me. I took this picture of one of the earlier groups, I'm not sure who, but then ran out of film. Such is the lot of Melachi.

Das Download 2013

Nu Metal

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being of unsound mind and body, did attend the Download Festival in June 2013. It was not as wet as last year, though a little cold in a tent in the night, being on my own, and with some showers, though warm on Sunday. For Melachi, the festival is a bit of a health farm, as it is difficult to get anything to drink. Other than beer, which barely counts. Anyway, the line-up on paper did not look as interesting as the previous year, having a nu-metal flavour, which I mainly avoided; naturally, I had not previously seen Slip

Old Metal

knot, though I have one of their albums I do not much like. But their show was very impressive and the singer oddly charismatic for someone in a mask. I did not quite follow the point of the strange clown, but if a blank-eyed fellow comes up to me in a bar and says "five, five, five", I now know how to reply! I had not heard anything previously by Bullet for my Valentine, but they played a fine hard rock with striking guitars. Katatonia did their gloomy stuff, followed by Karnivool, strangely similar but with higher sung notes.  Motorhead were unimpressive, badly needing an additional guitarist, and only warming up the crowd in their last two songs. I am not sure why he kept saying they were a rock and roll band, when he then proceeded to play what was obviously heavy metal, or at least very heavy rock; has he not heard Buddy Holly? Iron Maiden had the most striking opening, with the Spitfire flying above, and gave excellent though unimaginative renditions of their hits from the Seventh Son tour; though if they are playing the same set again in London in August I do not think I will run to see it.

Back through time

Back of Turisas tent

A heavy but short set was from Amon Amarth, complete with Viking boat, I will look for a full show from them somewhere. In similar vein, I and many others more dedicated than me could not get into or hear much from the Turisas tent, which was jammed.
 Ghost performed a fine "ritual", and let us respect musicians who can provoke the idle youth to chant in Latin, though the grammar of "ad inferi" worries me, as does the otherwise trouble-free being encouraged to sing "Hail Satan" in broad daylight. It would be brave of them to reference some religion other than the long-suffering Catholics... Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats played unfashionably crushing riffs in the moshing tent, though the only high smoker was man-

Hog Roast

handled out by numerous security. They were followed by Chthonic, with half a dozen Chinese traditional musicians who could just about be heard, as the bass was overblown, though the bassist herself, many remarked, should not be replaced. Most enthusiastic band were Falling with Style with a mad surfing of non-crowds.

And Bauhaus

The best live band was, of course, Rammstein, coupling high concept with great style, crushing themes and pyrotechnics. Though hampered on this occasion by relatively few knowing their lyrics, and even fewer understanding them. Unlike myself, of course; indeed I, Melachi, wearing as usual a mask at these events, in extreme crush had it torn off in their pit, and I retired to the relative rear, after collapsing and missing a few of their numbers. But thereafter I could see rather better, and particularly remember their magnificent burning square cross. Alles gut fur dieses metal Jahr, denn.

Leonskaya

I, Melachi ibn Amillar, being a man of wealth and taste, did attend the recital of E. Leonskaya at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, on 5 June 2013. She played Ravel, Debussy and Brahms. I went as I had heard she had played with Richter. She was very decisive in her performance, with the loud sections rather loud, though without the brightness of an Ashkenazy, and the quiet sections lacking the pellucid quietude and magnetism one might prefer. The piano seemed rather distorted as though it might buzz at some points in the complex chords, and quite loud too; even from the back of the hall. There were a few pleasant encores. I had the impression this was a "they write it, I play it" pianist, but none the worse for that.