Mayhem - Grand Declaration Of War

My recent Sehnsucht review reminded me that I have to touch upon Grand Declaration Of War by Mayhem. Contrary to a lot of Mayhem fans, Grand Declaration is my favourite album from the group. The clinical execution, insane song structures and bizarre techno passages are a hundred thousand million miles away from Deathcrush and the like; the fact that this is even the same band (to a degree) is startling. 

Maniac is not my favourite Mayhem vocalist. In fact, it is quite hard to pick a favourite, as all of them have brought their own dark magic to the proceedings in various different ways. On Grand Declaration Of War, Maniac acts as the perverted ring leader; his surreal, jarring commentary leading the dexterous and intense onslaught with a psychopathic confidence. Meanwhile, Hellhammer Featuring 9000 Triggers lays total and absolute waste to the drum kit. Love him or loathe him, the drumming performance here is nothing short of mind boggling. The guitar work too, is a lot sharper than the barbed wire on the cover art, no doubt, with pure wandering, barbed, terrifying black metal riffage! 

Stand out tracks for me include the erratic "A Time To Die", the bizarre "A Bloodsword and a Colder Sun" (parts one and two!) and "Crystalized Pain in Deconstruction". Whatever your opinion on this experimental album, there can be no doubt that it has pushed the definitions of what can be considered black metal.

Inland Empire (2006)

After devouring the incredible journey that was Twin Peaks: The Return, I went on the hunt for more things Lynch. Inland Empire is probably his most obtuse and difficult film, yet I must admit that I enjoyed it. I won't pretend to you that I had any single fucking clue about what was going on for the majority of the feature, and whilst at times it did come across like a student film (you can thank the use of the Sony PD-150 for that) I was left feeling very unsettled at the conclusion.

Simply put, nobody does dream sequences or dream worlds like David Lynch, and considering this entire film blurs the lines between dream and reality from beginning to end, this is the ultimate expression of that artform. The budget is minuscule, but you will be left questioning what is real, and what it is that really matters, if anything. Laura Dern is excellent, as usual, and there is a pure-Lynchian (sorry to use that term!) scene where she gets stabbed with a screwdriver, and the people around her continue the most morbid conversation, in the most nonchalant way. It is hard to describe, you just have to watch it to see how twisted it is. 

This is a difficult movie, but one that rewards your attention. 

D12 - Fight Music

"Fight Music" is probably one of my favourite singles off the D12 album Devil's Night, as it incorporates a much harder edge to it. When I was a wee lad the rockier guitar parts of this track helped me get into D12, and whilst it turned out that a majority of their songs don't actually sound like this, it helped plant the seed, and after the strength of the "Purple Pills" (or "Hills", as I first heard it) single as well, really cemented my D12 fandom.

I don't wanna perpetuate a 12-year-old-white-girl stereotype, but Eminem's part of this track smokes all of the rest of the band's rhymes, hands down, although Bizarre's lines are pretty funny, and twisted, as per usual. The song also boasted a shit hot production style, the beats being similar to that of Eminem's own Marshall Mathers LP, which came out not long before this. 

You can pick this up for virtually next to nothing off websites such as Discogs, if you are somewhat into collecting this shit. You can also get the D12 album which this is off for pennies on the Amazon Marketplace.

Bizarre - Hannicap Circus

In my many years of D12 / Eminem fandom it never occurred to me that other members of the group might have solo projects. After giving myself the ultimate facepalm, I began hunting down those records. I started with Bizarre, who is by far my favourite member of D12. He's like the Frankie Boyle of rap music. A lot of rappers say shit that gets them shot; Bizarre is so offensive he goes beyond that and just confuses everyone so much that they don't know whether to laugh at him or pop a cap in his ass. (I mean this all in good humour guys...rappers please don't shoot me!)

Despite it's rather inviting title, Hannicap Circus is as nowhere near as offensive as I thought it would be. Sure, the underlying themes of worshipping ganja, taking pills, raping down syndrome girls and having HIV remain, but as a whole Hannicap Circus really didn't offend me. It seems to open up a bit harsh, but then it falls into all the usual ruts and themes of a solo rap record. There the song (or six) about weed, a song about fucking, about love, about someone close who has died, a parody ("Today Was A Bad Day", which is much better than the original-opposite Ice Cube idea) and one or two bangers to finish off with. There is even a song about missing his kids on tour, which for all the arse-rape and sexual innuendo that usually comes with Bizarre, is downright worrying.

To be fair, this is a good hip hop CD. I just know that Bizarre can do a whole lot better than telling me how fat and disgusting his bitch's ass is. Step it up a level, man!

D12 - Shit On You

I always have mixed feelings about D12: the potential with the group was absolutely fantastic; each artist is an excellent rapper in their own right, but if they work together as a group or not is something that has always bugged me. I guess it's the endless "it's Eminem's old band, innit" that pisses me off. The first record shared the load fairly but the second album parodied this yet lived up to it entirely; employing Mr. Mathers as the lead vocal in nearly every song, not to mention on nearly every bastard chorus. But I digress. This is about a single that was released around the time of the first record, and is actually pretty awesome.

The beat comes on like some pretty serious hip hop; a whole level of Immortal-Technique-ganna-fuck-shit-up vibe, but by the time Bizarre hits the mic and Em's chorus of shitting on your family comes in, the hardcore street-beat has lost all seriousness. The B side is the track "Under the Influence" which originally appeared on Eminem's second album, so it's kinda cool to have it here collected under the D12 name. This 12" is deffo for collectors / die-hards only, and offers no real merit to anyone who wasn't a DJ in 2002.