RKF is the black metal jackass in charge of this ezine. When he's not making a fool of himself in public here, he makes a fool of himself in the noise / black metal band Korperschwache. He is formerly the guitarist for Autodidact and a bunch of other bands you never heard of. He is currently hiding in the bushes in Texas, waiting to pee on your leg. He also wants to pole Kate Dillon, not that this has anything to do with DEAD ANGEL. AMANDA is an enigma enshrouded in mystery and wrapped in darkness, sort of like J. R. "Bob" Dobbs, only with bigger breasts. She lives in a shack somewhere in the woods in Canada with a tribe of barely-domesticated panthers, a cistern full of gin, and a large double-barreled shotgun. She is not interested in "getting to know you better." She does, however, accept gifts in the form of toasty socks of an unusual nature. And money. And more bottles of gin. GAFNE ROSTOW is a bitter and dangerous escapee from the original Norwegian "Inner Circle" whose current location cannot be revealed in the interests of national security. He "rewards" those who displease him with fire, death, and dismemberment. The FBI and Interpol refuse to confirm or deny the rumor that he once responded to a passing fool who dared to mock his corpsepaint and many upside-down crosses by cutting the man's head off and posting it on a stick in his front yard. We run his reviews unedited because we are frankly fucking afraid of him. We deeply fear his great and terrible wrath. NEDDAL AYAD is a cranky bastard from the frozen wastes of Canada who plays scorched-earth guitar for the does and knife, please. He has survived fifteen-foot snowdrifts, opening for bad metal bands, and the unfortunate explosion that levelled the Hellfortress Beneath the Ice, so you'd best not even think about getting lippy with him. He enjoys relaxing by setting mimes on fire and directing loud, profane tirades at people who piss him off, which is just about everybody. DILLON TULK is DEAD ANGEL'S Youth of America intern, keepin' it young and keepin' it real. As in real noisy. He's baaaad, man, bad like Shaft but paler and without the sharp threads (how do you think he affords all those obscure cassettes?), so you best not test him! Fortunately, he'd rather love than fight... especially if cute girls are around. When he's not reviewing stuff you never heard of for this ezine or complicating his life, he performs in FERVEUR NOIRE, ASKELA, and other bands. THE DEVIL KITTY is our mascot, demonic fountain of wisdom, and diabolical force of evil who protects us from the rest of the world. Fear him, or else he will heave on you. Then eat you. Then burp.

IF I MAY HAVE YOUR ATTENTION FOR A MOMENT: We'd like to present Timothy the Revelator, head of the labels Dark Holler and Hand/Eye, with a wee message that should be of interest to you: A MESSAGE FROM TIMOTHY THE REVELATOR (Dark Holler, Hand/Eye): [Taken verbatim from the LJ account of Timothy Renner, owner of Dark Holler and Hand/Eye, with permission:] Please help! Radioactive Records UK has just released an illegal pirate needle-drop bootleg CD of an album by the Trees called "The Christ Tree." As you may or may not know, I have been working directly with the band on an official reissue of this album for YEARS now. I spent about 1 year tracking down all of the living members and, in many cases, putting them back in contact with each other for the first time in twenty years. After doing this, I asked permission to reissue "The Christ Tree." The band gave me permission and also gave me a huge box of unreleased reels of music. I spent about another year transferring all of these reels analog-to-digital. Because of the age of the tapes and the fact that they had moved from desert to humid clime and back over the years, I had to have the tapes "baked" before ever playing them. This is a very expensive process, but one that needed to be done to ensure the stability of the tapes. I then had to buy a reel machine. After transferring all of the music, I spent another 6 months or so editing the best parts down to 4 CDs of music, chosen by the band and I as the best of the best. I then paid Dennis Blackham at Skye Mastering to master these CDs - a considerable investment, but Dennis is one of the best in his field and it was worth it. The Trees and I were both thrilled with the results. We are set to release "The Christ Tree" at summer's end. It will be the original album, remastered from original tapes, with bonus tracks and 3 CDs of unreleased material! It has taken the entire resources of my record label and most of the money I have ever made selling my own records, playing shows, etc to get our version ready. It was a risk before this bootleg came out, and now we will have an illegal version to compete with. I have felt, since first hearing the album, that I was meant to reissue this. I figured, if it breaks the label, at least we went out doing something I love and 100% believe in. Dark Holler / Hand/Eye is the ONLY record label that has permission from the Trees to reissue this material. Then we find, just the other day, Radioactive Records UK has released a bootleg CD. "The Christ Tree" was originally released by the band, on their own label. No other individual or organization has any claims to the rights on this recording. Radioactive's CD is illegal, immoral, and will not benefit anyone but Radioactive. Their claims that it is "authentic" or "official" are outright lies. Please DO NOT BUY their records, and especially their version of "The Christ Tree." If you see it pop on on Ebay, please report it as a bootleg. Please inform any retailers/mailorder houses that you see carrying it of the bootleg/illegal status of the Radioactive version, and please tell them that a LEGITIMATE version is just a couple months away. PLEASE help. We must rely on consumers and specialty mailorder houses to do the right thing. The Hendrix estate just won a huge settlement against Radioactive, and we will join another lawsuit against them if we can, but we will have to get in line as they have ripped off countless other bands and labels. Please help in any way you can. Timothy Renner Dark Holler : Hand/Eye MY TURN AGAIN: First off, before I start to drop science, as the mighty Chuck D might say, let's be clear on which Radioactive Records we're talking about, because there are two of them. There is the legitimate Radioactive Records, who have put out legitimate reissues and live albums by Angelfish, Black Grape, Live, Dig, the Ramones, Snowpony, and other major-label bands. Then there is the other Radioactive Records, a UK label devoted to -- according to their site -- "reissuing of the most innovative and highly collectable Psychedelic, Progressive, Garage and Punk albums of the 60's and 70's." The second of these is the one under the microscope here; the other label may be guilty of questionable taste, but I'm pretty sure (given the major-label roster) that they are not only legitimate, but almost certainly the arm of some larger corporate entity like BMI or Sony. The second label, however, is a far shakier and perhaps even illegal venture with over 200 releases by artists that may or may not have known about (or profited from) these releases. That label specializes in the musical equivalent of grave-robbing, and -- regardless of all the nifty albums in their catalog or their self-righteous delusion that they are noble archivists of obscure music when they are really just opportunistic leeches -- their quality is questionable, to say the least. Many of their releases are of the "needle-drop") variety (i.e., copied from an existing vinyl record, complete with pops and skips, and issued with a photo of the original cover or something new and hideous), and at least some of them have been put out without the artist's consent. The label has even "reissued" the obscure 1969 LP by Judy Henske & Jerry Yester, most likely without their knowledge, much less permission. As the Revelator's message indicates, there's already a healthy line of people waiting their turn to sue the label, which is run by a guy crafty enough to set up camp in a part of the world where copyright laws are lax and their enforcement all but nonexistent, and to "reissue" material by people in other countries who almost certainly don't have the resources to pursue a legal claim against someone in a completely different country (assuming they even know they're being ripped off, which I suspect many of the artists in question don't). I have no doubt his use of the name Radioactive Records -- which would almost certainly qualify as trademark infrigement in the US, but apparently the UK laws don't work the same way -- was completely deliberate, conceived as a way to hide in the shadow of a reputable and legitimate label. As the links indicate, this has worked splendidly in the pirate label's favor. If you are a music lover who cares about these things, let's be clear: What the guy behind the label is doing here is nothing more or less than stealing. If you're buying records from this label, you are most likely participating in theft (not to mention buying albums that are quite likely of inconsistent sound quality, to say the least). You may want to keep that in mind when considering whether or not to buy listenables from them. IN OTHER NEWS: Between an absolute avalanche of review submissions, my stereo amplifier threatening to blow up any moment now, and the usual life / schedule hassles, some items have been held over until the next issue. Here's what should show up next time -- sorry for the delay.... Arastoo -- THREE [Isounderscore] Barkley's Barnyard Critters -- MYSTERY TAIL dvd [Load Records] Be Bad / Attack Mode -- split 7" [Divorce Records] Day Without Dawn - s/t [self-released] Diskaholics -- LIVE IN JAPAN VOL. 1 [Load Records] Disembodied Voices -- s/t cd-ep [self-released] Eloine -- SAGEBRUSH / DEIMOS [Stentorian Tapes] Fat Worm of Error -- PREGNANT BABIES PREGNANT WITH PREGNANT BABIES [Load Records] Godyva -- IN GOOD AND EVIL [Razar Ice Records] Impractical Cockpit -- TO BE TREATED [Load Records] Legendary Pink Dots -- YOUR CHILDREN WILL PLACATE YOU FROM PREMATURE GRAVES [ROIR] Lightning Bolt -- HYPERMAGIC MOUNTAIN [Load Records] Mouth of the Architect -- THE TIES THAT BIND [Translation Loss] Mike Pride -- THE ENSEMBLE IS AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE [Public Eyesore] Necropolis -- THE HACKLED RUFF & SHOULDER MAN [Columbus Discount Records] Psychedelic Horseshit -- WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? 7" [Columbus Discount Records] The USA Is A Monster -- WOHAW [Load Records] v/a -- DIE LIKE AN ANIMAL DIES [Divorce Records] Wizardzz -- HIDDEN CITY OF TAURMOND [Load Records] ... plus a couple of goodies from Public Guilt that haven't shown up in the mailbox yet, and I'm sure even more stuff will show between now and then. It already promises to be another hefty issue.... FEED THE DEVIL KITTY'S STEREO: In the meantime, the address to send listenables remains, as always: RKF P.O. BOX 2434 AUSTIN, TX 78768 USA THE ROLL CALL OF THE DEVIL KITTY STILL EXISTS: Yes, it is still possible to secure a place for all eternity in the Devil Kitty's good graces; The Roll Call of the Devil Kitty is still accepting donations. Did you know that you can buy a safe haven for your soul, and remain uneaten in the coming nightmarish apocalypse that will afterwards be known as Ragnarok, or The Great and Terrible Feast of the Heaving Devil Kitty? It's true! If you were ever inclined to demonstrate your love for DEAD ANGEL and save your eternally damned soul in the process, now would be an excellent time to do it. Note that I am still committed to running a totally ad-free site and insuring that the ezine remains completely free of charge, which means I'm not making any $$$ from this, so any financial support that comes my way through the Roll Call of the Devil Kitty is always greatly appreciated. -- RKF 7/9/06