#anyone can listen to whatever music they like. its not sacrilegious to hear a religious song if u are not part of that religion its fine

[gingerbreadmonsters]

organ music + writing about vampires is a classic for a reason

[doomedandstoned]

Are You A Bible Basher?

~By Billy Goate~

Art by J. Hannan-Briggs

Words from the Bible,

                      ...riffs from Hell.

This is BIBLE BASHER, a lumbering, sludgey beast of a death-doom band, drawing its fellows from Kurokuma, Archelon, Spaztik Munkey, and a band whose name alone intrigues me enough to spirit them out: Temple of Coke. The debut recording before us is 'Loud Wailing' (2020), just released last month on the Sludgelord Records Label and it's good stuff.

Chances are good that if you're unfamiliar with the band, you're waiting for the other shoe to drop: what's the agenda here? It bears mentioning that "Bible Basher" is an almost uniquely UK term. In the States, we tend to use the more politically acceptable (though still insulting) "Bible Thumper." Getting to the point: a Bible Basher is not someone who subjects the big black book and the pages there to beating, maiming, or otherwise spilling syrup on its Holy Writ nor turning its sacred pages into roll paper for a cheap high.

No, a Bible Basher is someone single-mindedly determined to bash you with their beliefs, clean across the head. You gotta get you on board with the whole worldview, the Last Days manifesto, the 3 steps to this place, the 5 steps to somewhere else, and however many more steps to the sanctuary doors. Usually, this evangelism has all the clumsy subtlety of a Jack Chick tract left on the Gas Station john. Sometimes it gets a bit more intrusive, like a manic street preacher with a megaphone or, more annoying still, a brainwashed politician determined to fence you into their highly selective idea of "God's Will."

All culture warring aside, it might surprise you to learn that I hold a great deal of respect for the Bible and believe it has an important role in developing our understanding of what makes human beings so fundamentally religious. The Bible is just one expression of people's religious and spiritual identity, of course. There have been many volumes written, by the gods it was said, attempting to reconcile the real and the ideal, time and eternity, the drab and the divine.

All fancy preambling aside, I wonder why more bands haven't gotten into the Bible and other sacred/profane lit, you know kinda breathing new life into old words? You have to admit, the concept is fascinating and the medium of expression surprisingly fits the unsparing nature of the content.

Perhaps afraid of appearing sacrilegious or being denounced as a Deicide wannabe, bands have just decided to walk away slowly. That or they don't even know how truly bizarre and sometimes brilliant the Bible can be. True, there are bands like Trouble/The Skull who have adapted Scripture into music, even succeeded in crossing over to a non-religious audience. Hell, The Byrds practically immortalized the words of The Preacher in Ecclesiastes back in '65 with that folk rock classic, 'Turn, Turn, Turn." Bible Basher are definitely onto a thing here.

Regardless of where you find a band called Bible Bash on the meter between "disgusting" and "fucking awesome, dude," they really aren't here to mock Scripture or Christians, not even to pronounce a value judgement. This is an artful attempt at retelling the stories of old, allowing us to gaze upon their vision.

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So Samson Sang

Loud Wailing by Bible Basher

Out of all books, The Bible is perhaps most prized for its collection of ancient stories, many of which become embedded in our collective consciousness over time (if not the unconscious mind itself). The tale of Samson, for instance, is practically universal (Hercules, anyone?). Bible Basher invoke its powerful imagery for this Rage against the Philistines opener. The bulldog gruff of "So Samson Sang" suits the song unexpectedly well. Perhaps the impact is greater because we feel the punch of each word, measured and metered, calculated to leave the most indelible impact.

Simson verslaat de Filistijnen met een ezelskaak (1562) by Cornelis Massijs

Plagued

Loud Wailing by Bible Basher

You'll never hear the anguish of Job expressed with as much weight as you will in "Burning and Blackened," for example. And the death-mongers among us, you'll enjoy the swirling storm of blast beats that "Plagued" stirs up and whips around Egypt, 10 plagues in all it is said. As this topsy-turvy number swarms along, the song feels like it's burrowing itself deeper and deeper into the ground in a crazed hypnotic dirge, as if seeking some relief from this madness of rivers turned to blood and a head full of lice.

Seventh Plague of Egypt (1823) by Martin John

Burning and Blackened

Loud Wailing by Bible Basher

I'm really digging the Middle Eastern vibe of "Burning and Blackened," on the tape's flip side. I could all but feel the cool of dawn and that first burning lick of the sun's rise. As a die-hard doomer, it won't surprise you that I marked this my favorite song of the experience. The way this grand skeleton of chords suffles about had me thinking of Iowa City's Aseethe (I hereby wish an Aseethe-Bible Basher tour upon the world come 2021).

Job and his Friends (1885) by Gustave Dore

Sodom & Gomorrah

Loud Wailing by Bible Basher

By the time we reach "Sodom & Gomorrah," we're battered, basted, and baked, ready for a fine finish to this four-course nosh. The vocals seem harsher than usual this time, but you have to understand that's the prophet divining judgement upon the most infamous twin cities of history (we find out in the interview to follow that there are multiple vocalists).

The whole song's got a nice, chewy groove to it. Plenty of meat on them bones. The lyrics consist of nothing more than the Bible's words, adding as much expressive liberty as death vocals will allow. The thick, smoky atmosphere of this whole song gave me flashbacks to 71TONMAN's "Phobia" and Old Man Gloom's "Procession of the Wounded."

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by Jules-Joseph-Augustin Laurens

If I've any gripe with Loud Wailing, it's the runtime. Okay, yeah, sure, it's appropriate for an EP, but I can't shake the feeling that this is actually more of a teaser for something even grander in scope. Perhaps this is a toe in the water for the band, to see how people respond? Well, it's enough to reassure us that this sound and subject matter is poised to make some mighty big footprints.

Heck, I'd do the whole Bible book by book, if I was in their shoes. 66 in all, right? No problem. Okay, 73 if you're Catholic, 78 if you're Eastern Orthodox. Whatever, bonus editions. Works either way, 'cause you've got a guaranteed record deal and freaks like me to follow you wherever this piper lures. The band can break up from the repetitive bore of the long-ass genealogies in Leviticus and Numbers, but then reunite again to take on Deuteronomy.

All kidding aside, the dramatic potential of this collaboration is unreal. Bible Basher's debut is a promising record that presents tantalizing artistic possibilities (perhaps even with a roving collective of performers). The EP wears well on its own terms with repeated listens and I never found myself disinterested, even for a moment. Loud Wailing is the brutal dawning of a New Age in dirty grunts and dank riffs.

Give ear...

Loud Wailing by Bible Basher

An Interview with Bible Basher

By Billy Goate

Intrigued by this hulking beast shrieking out in my backyard, I had to move in for a closer look. Following is my conversation with band member Joe E. Allen, who most of us know from Kurokuma and gives us insight as to who Bible Basher is and what the band is up to.

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Would you be so kind as to give me some background on the band, how you guys ended up coming together, basically the whole history?

Tich has recorded and helped produce most of the Kurokuma releases up till now, most of which you've heard or written about. Tich mostly makes electronic music and is pretty well known for it, but he was also in a band called Temple of Coke back in the day. Daft music with two guitarists and no bassist. Some big riffs in there.

They stopped doing much after one of the guitarists left Sheffield, but Tich still had a lot of riffs lying around. Obviously, he used to come to a lot of Kurokuma gigs in Sheffield -- and even saw us in Japan -- so he felt like getting back on writing some big guitar stuff and asked me if I'd give him some input. Over the course of a year or so we just reshaped those old riffs and added plenty of new ones and as we progressed it just kept getting bigger and heavier.

What's up with the name? You've got pretty distinct religious themes (love the motto). I come from a strict religious background myself (preacher's kid). What are your own backgrounds relative to the themes you explore?

I've always thought that some of the stories from the Bible, especially the Old Testament would make for perfect concepts in heavy metal. Unrelatedly, one day we were sitting around and Tich said let's call this Bible Basher -- it just came out of nowhere. I agreed, it just seemed to make sense. Here in the UK it's what you get called if you go to church, it's an insult. I had a really Christian upbringing with my dad being a vicar, as well, so was very into all that when I was younger.

Plus I went to a religious school, so I've definitely been called a bible basher quite a bit. It's actually taken me a while to remove that whole paradigm from the way I see reality, but that's another story. Tich wasn't like me in that aspect, but he did go to a religious school, as well. At this point, I think we're both not massive fans of organised religion, but that doesn't mean we're not into philosophy and more celestial concepts. We've both read quite a bit of things like Manly P. Hall and The Kybalion. We didn't wanna make a "statement" on anything with this, though. Just wanted to present it "as is."

I'm sure we'd all love to know how the individual tracks came together. The single on this one was "So Samson Sang," which met with some pretty positive reception.

I know the Bible pretty well and it wasn't too difficult to find concepts for the tracks. "So Samson Sang" was the first one we did. The lyrics are: "With a donkey's jawbone, I made donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone, killed a thousand men." And then "I have slain, heaps on heaps." They were from the book of Judges, when Samson slaughtered loads of Philistines, pretty much taken straight off the page. It was that easy. We got George in to do the vocals, for obvious reasons. We sat on the track for a bit and sent it round a few mates and everyone was like, "This is sick," which made us want to finish up the other tracks, which already were mostly done.

The other three tracks all came together in one night. We basically asked three mates from other bands to come over and figured out concepts for each of them. It was good to get their input and it was pretty collaborative. I think they all enjoyed being given a bit of a brief to work within and we were buzzing to end up with four different vocal styles for each track. So on track 1 you have George from Kurokuma, then on track 2 you have Bing who used to be in a thrash band called Psython and can obviously do the really fast/rhythmic thing and his death growls were just spot on. That track ended up sounding like Pig Destroyer or something to me. Obviously, it's about the ten plagues of Egypt and the fast/swirling nature of the riffs just seemed to fit.

On track three, we have Craig from Archelon and Holy Spider, so I know him pretty well. He did more of a Neurosis style on the track about Job. That one starts off with a zurna, which is a pipe from the Middle East area. There's a spoken word section in the middle, a conversation between God and Satan. I actually only realised what this was when we were going through the Bible for the lyrics.

God calls all his angels together, Satan being one of them, and they get into this conversation where God is saying he likes Job and Satan is saying if his life went to shit, I wonder if he'd still worship you. So God is like, "Okay, go for it." It's stuff like this that fascinates me. I think there's a fairly deep message to be heard in that if you read into it, but most Christians won't. As a text of folkloric wisdom the Bible is pretty meaningful to me, but most Christians don't treat it in that way in my experience.

And then we have the demented squeals of Chris from Spaztik Munkey doing the voice of God on track four which is about Sodom and Gomorrah. It worked out well that the ending riff fit perfectly with the syllables in the phrase "Sodom and Gomorrah."

In general, this release was a right laugh to work on. The songs just came together and it was good for us all to collaborate on something outside of our normal bands. And the response has been mega positive so far. Aaron sold out the first 50 tapes in three days so we're already on the second batch now.

Get Their Music

[themusicenthusiast]

Saturday, April 15th, 2017 – Just Another Line in the Story Your Life Will Tell: A Revived SouthFM Shakes Off the Dust During a Nostalgic Set at Trees

The celebration at Trees on this Saturday night may have centered around Big Story and the release of their debut record, however, there was something else that was every bit as monumental-arguably even more so-going on as well: a legend of the D-FW music scene was returning. A couple years or so out from a fairly vague Facebook post Paco Estrada made hinting at another chapter in SouthFM’s presumably finished book and nothing had happened. No further statements had been made about resurrecting the titan that had become one of North Texas’ elite bands. I don’t think many people thought much of it, especially as they continued to support Estrada’s current endeavors; and while SouthFM may have reunited to perform Swallowing the Pill acoustically last December, by all accounts even that was a one-off thing. Just a reason for the former band mates to join forces on stage one last time before finally leaving it to rest for good. And then came word of this show, SouthFM listed as main support for Big Story, where they promised some classics along with a few new songs. And so it was, ten and a half years after their initial breakup and a few reunion concerts in between, that SouthFM would once again become an active force the music scene. And at the risk of sounding sacrilegious, it did seem appropriate that they would begin their second coming on Easter weekend. With three-fifths of the final lineup returning (Estrada, guitarist Chad Abbott, and bassist Dave Shafer), the two remaining positions were filled by Andrew Pederson, the drummer being a familiar face to anyone who has seen Estrada in the past couple of years, while Cody Sowell picked up the duties of lead guitarist. Trees was packed, to the point it was hard to tell which of the final two bands had the most sets of eyes on them, the spectators cheering when as the lights dimmed shortly after 10:30, eagerly awaiting whatever was to come. “The Wound” clearly set the stage, the instrumental piece tacked on at the end of the third cut from Swallowing the Pill playing over the PA system. It made one feel as if they were listening to the record itself, the opening riffs of “Killing Me” roaring into action as soon as it had concluded.

One of their signature songs and, best of my recollection, the routine closer, was surprisingly moved to start of the set, and while it may have felt a bit odd, it came across as a powerful opener. It immediately had all of the longtime fans enthralled, being the first of many songs that several patrons joyously sung and shouted along with. That feeling of elation wasn’t confined to just the crowd, Estrada being unable to hide the grin on his face, which was all too noticeable even as he sang. “…Your love, you see, is killing me. And I don’t want to waste more time telling you how I feel...” It was as if that, in that moment, it was truly hitting him that he would be performing these songs again, a flood of emotions and memories coming with them, and he was loving it. Those authentic reactions would persist throughout the show. The quintet would prove to be masters of the segue this night, Sowell lightly picking at his guitar as Pederson supplied some gentle percussion for a transition piece that led them into “Push Me Away”. With each passing minute, this new lineup was starting to find their footing and develop their live chemistry, while the original members grew more confident in their performance. Shafer in particular, as the bassist began to thrash around more as they hit the second chorus of that one, really loosening up and getting into it all. Mixed in with the handful of fan favorites they were able to work in to their brief set was a couple new songs, and afterwards, they struck with the first. It was interesting one, and personally, my favorite of the new ones. Interesting in the fact that it so perfectly showcased the songwriter and lyricist that Estrada has evolved into, even transcending where he was at when writing that twelve-year-old record. However, it also felt like a natural progression for SouthFM, fitting nicely within their wheelhouse thanks to some catchy riffs and at times downright brilliant guitar work from Abbott. The robust percussion solidified it as a captivating number. “…Open your eyes. Open your heart,” the first verse concluded, the chorus beginning with, “Only love…” Everything about it embodied positivity and it felt rather inspirational. A couple more classics separated them from the next new number, and there was little doubt that “Surface (Wake Up)” was one of, if not the top song everyone was anxiously waiting to hear. “These are not the words that I would like to be saying to you… And I hope that in the morning you will feel the same way that I do…” several of the spectators chimed in, assisting with the choruses. It was one of those rare and magical moments where you get to see just how closely people identify with a certain song and how much it means to them. In the local scene especially that’s seldom seen, though only reaffirms that “Surface” is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written thanks to the honest sentiments and sheer vulnerability that it captures. “…Can we ever take the chance to see what happens? What we really want we fail to mention…” Another instrumental song from the album bled things into the next song, the delicate sounds of the instruments keeping it concealed for a time. Some haunting notes then rang out as Abbott proceeded to pick at his axe, unmistakably being the opening of “Regret”. Arguably their best song of the night, Shafer was able to provide plenty more backing vocals, accenting Estrada’s voice quite well as they were layered atop one another. That was also the song where Sowell appeared to truly immerse himself in the music. He had no more reservations of making certain he was getting each note right and instead just followed his gut, still nailing his parts as he at times shredded on the guitar. That song alone was quite the display to witness, Estrada taking a deep breath before the bridge, preparing himself for the rapid-fire part. “And kiss me in our darkest hour, kiss me when it’s pouring rain. Kiss me when the full moon begs and when the sun awakes again…” As usual, the emotion and passion he was packing into the lines bled though on his face, which further reminded everyone why he is one of the most talented vocalists there is; while Pederson ensured the song came to a phenomenal close, his drumming sounding more forceful than it had all night. With this 36-minute long set nearing its end, Estrada addressed the crowd, mentioning how excited they were to be there and on the bill, while also quipping that it was the night of “big singers” and shouting out J.R. from Stareview, who had played before them. “Randy’s not that big, though,” he noted, soon recalling when he first met the current frontman of Big Story. “He was a cocky young asshole,” said Estrada, before Shafer began bantering with him, asking him if anything had changed. “Now he’s a grownup cocky asshole,” remarked Estrada, who noted he had asked Randall Stephens if he’d mind him saying that about him. As he spoke, he was fighting against a growing chant of “SOUTHFM!”, the fans declaring their adoration for the band. The other new tune seemed a bit slower at times, adding a decent balance to a set that was otherwise dominated by intense rock tracks, and though it did have some serene moments, it also swelled to become a striking number. And that was when it happened. It was at the second chorus when you saw a shift in the overall demeanor of the musicians as they truly hit their mark and gelled with one another. It finally looked and felt cohesive, as if they were all crucial components of a much larger machine rather than five people each doing their own thing on stage. And with one song left to go, that couldn’t have come at any better time. Given the way the show had started, there seemed only one song capable of bringing the set to a close. Estrada turned his back to the audience, arms folded behind him while some fuzzy notes courtesy of Abbott acted as the segue. After a decent amount of time to build suspense Sowell sprang into action with the exhilarating riff that defines “Vesica Piscis”, a fitting and thrilling end to a show that offered but a brief glimpse of what the iconic Dallas group is still capable of. Thrilling due to its exceptionally high-energy, and fitting because of the holiday weekend, the story making it all too easy to draw some religious connections. “And he said, ‘Son, don’t you know it has to be this way? Your wounds will bring them life.’ And he said, ‘Son, don’t you know it has to be this way? So maybe someday they’ll understand grace.” This wasn’t the SouthFM that was easily in their prime in the final year or so of their existence, nor was it a SouthFM covered in dust and cobwebs, straining to shake it all off. It was something in between the two. Understandably, even after many years together, Estrada, Abbott and Shafer can’t just dive back in and have the same level of chemistry they enjoyed before. Factor in the two new members and the dynamics are completely new; and the only way a strong bond between them can be forged is by getting in the live experience. There’s no substitute for it and that is what will allow them to mesh with one another and eventually become a force to be reckoned with once more. Bearing all that in mind, it was a solid show. Sowell and Pederson did look new to the group, though they played it off as if they at least had a few shows under their belt, each bringing a good bit of energy to the mix to boot. As for the other three, while not to the point of merely relying on muscle memory and the confidence that comes with that just yet, none of them appeared too far away from that. After a few more times on stage it seems reasonable that performing these songs will be back to being second nature for Shafer, Estrada and Abbott. To the die-hard fans this was still akin to a religious experience, the simple act of hearing those five old songs again being euphoric. And that was just scratching the surface, a set clocking in at about half an hour forcing them to cherry-pick what they felt everyone wanted to hear most. They did a great job of that, everyone probably wishing they had heard this or that, though I don’t think anyone felt like they had missed out on anything. It will be fun see how this all unfolds, a new album already in the works, even if it’s only in the formative stages at the moment. Hopefully more shows will follow soon as well, and at least one where they’ll have ample time to delve into their catalog. But for now, it’s just great to know a band like SouthFM is back on the active roster. There aren’t many bands of that caliber anymore, and at least the scene has one more shining star then it did. Stay tuned to their FACEBOOK for news on future shows; and for those whose libraries’ may be lacking some SouthFM, you can download their full discography (for free, if you desire) on BANDCAMP.