Hi everybody!

The time has come, and Carcharoth's long awaited debut album From The Cavern Come is available for order! If you haven't heard about the album, it features over thirty five minutes of progressive balck/death metal in the vein of Opeth, Ikuinen Kaamos, Agalloch, Ne Obliviscaris, early Ulver and Moonsorrow. With musical and lyrical links that run throughout the course of the album, this is one concept album that should not be missed!

From The Cavern Come features the talents of TIM CHARLES (known for his phenomenal work playing violin and singing with fellow Melbourne metal band NE OBLIVISCARIS (www. myspace. com/neobliviscaris)) who performs a guest violin solo on the title track, and the highly talented SEBASTIAN SIMPSON who performs cello on four out of the five tracks.

There is a teaser available for listening on my myspace, however this is unmastered. Sorry!

To order, simply use Paypal to carcharoth.metal@gmail.com or send well hidden cash to:
Chris Doig
24 Kenny St
Balwyn North 3104
Victoria, Australia

The cost of the this CD is $15AUD for local orders, or $20US, 15 Euro or 10GBP for respective international orders. These include postage. Apologies for the slight price change, I made a mistake with exchange rates!

Don't miss out! This pressing is limited to 100 copies only!

-Chris Doig of Carcharoth

That's right.
First, I will update you on From The Cavern Come because you are all so eager to hear it and have it in your hot little hands!
Now for the next half of the update

Hope you're all doing well.
-Chris Doig of Carcharoth

I'm re-doing The Raven's Cry. I do acknowledge that the first recording was weak, thin and quite one-dimensional. And sloppy. So I've spent all of today tracking new guitars. Better quality recordings, and I've decided to (shock, horror!) layer my guitars so we don't just have one lone guitar. The first one sounded like a soldier in no-man's-land would feel. So now, in the new one, he has company! It won't sound like an ultra-produced metal album, it's still got a lot of black metal in it (although it's far from a black metal album), and I don't think that producing it ultra well would be any good. But in any case, it's better than the rough sound of the first one.

From The Cavern Come, however, is almost entirely done. I'm still waiting on some cello parts and a violin solo. It will be less of an aggressive album and more progressive. Note - the snippet on the myspace player is a very old version and is not exactly an accurate representation of how the album will sound. It's going to be pretty well produced, thick and full sounding. Each guitar is done four times, and done well. Wait and see, you shall see very soon!

And just to get you excited, there's an awesome timpani section.

Probably about time I give you all an update. I (Chris) have been well. Actually that's bullshit, I've been in bed for the last two or three days sick, and dad just got rid of an infection + ingrowing toenail. And then a couple of days before that (Thursday, methinks) I was spewing and hallucinating from drinking too much. But school and exams are over, meaning... life ain't too bad!

Well, Carcharoth. The word that's been at the back of my throat and the action that has been at the edge of my fingertips for quite a while now. So there's the past and the future. Recently, Carcharoth hasn't been doing much. I've started practising for a cover of a Woods of Ypres song (for secret reasons, muhaha). I had an absolute blast auditioning for Ne Obliviscaris, I got to play 'Tapestry of the Starless Abstract' with them (best musical experience of my life!) and then do two original songs (I did 'Broken Burial' and 'From The Cavern Come') with a backing track. It was awesome fun! I bought a nice new reverb unit (well actually it's a Lexicon multi effects rack unit, but being Lexicon, three quarters of it is reverbs and delays!) that should spice up my sound nicely (better, not more like the Spice Girls). That's what has happened. Now to what shall happen!

1. Get a new PC (within the next 2 weeks, hopefully), so that I can begin recording again.
2. Begin recording again. On the way is:
     - A re-recording of The Raven's Cry (I know, the demo was pretty bad quality).
     - A recording of the upcoming album 'From The Cavern Come'. A concept album featuring five songs, with ongoing musical and lyrical themes throughout them. The final track is 'From The Cavern Come' which will undergo serious re-mixing and possibly even re-recording. Depends how it sounds compared to the rest of the tracks, because I still love it! Either way, I'll get rid of those fucking irritating pops and crackles in the long, high distorted guitars.
      - A recording of a NEW EP. As yet untitled, and only three songs are written. They're absolutely ace thoguh, I'll tell ya that!
3. By next week, Carcharoth will (yes, WILL) be rehearsing as a band. No more solo project (although I might still record the previously mentioned stuff solo), bring on the show! Rahul Victor will be the drummer, Callum Woodro will be the guitarist. I, Chris Doig will be the other guitarist and vocalist. I don't want a 'lead guitarist' and a 'rhythm guitarist'. We'll both just be 'guitarists' with around equal loads and equal showtime. Wow, that sounded rather Marxist! Then again he did claim 'Opiate of the masses' so we can't entirely dismiss his theories as babble ;)
Anyway, we wish to have a 30 minute set down by January/February to begin playing live shows next year. Featuring all your favourite songs! (Well, ours). (actually, the ones we can play without fucking up!)

So that's what's on the cards for Carcharoth. Be prepared!

-Chris

P.S. I'm really fucking excited about the new Woods of Ypres album.

Where do I start when it comes to Black Metal?

Start at the beginning. The original black metallers decided to be different, to break away from the over-commercialised death metal movement. Now I think most people would agree, the early Norwegian Black Metal was not that original in terms of the music. Sure, they used shitty production to make it sound different, but the actual musical aspect was pretty basic.

It wasn't really until bands like Burzum, Ulver, Satyricon and Emperor began to break away from the furious, unrelenting, atonal sounds of bands like Darkthrone and Gorgoroth, that Black Metal really began to have any musical integrity. Sure, all of those above bands have gone in their separate ways (which we may or may not like), but we have to give the credit for being the first Black Metal bands to value musical integrity as opposed to image, and continually pushing boundaries.

So early bands used corpse paint, satanic imagery, violence etc to prove a point that they were different. Personally, I think that's retarded. If you're different, prove it by making original music, not original image. Anyway, the point is that their idea was that it was a rebellion against the over-commercialised 'scene'. My question is, why the fuck do so many Black Metal bands these days wear corpse paint and say 'I'm keeping the spirit of the early bands alive'? Corpse paint was never about looking like that, it was about doing something different.

Satanism is another part of Black Metal that I despise. Satan is nothing but a Judeo-Christian ideal. Not to mention that some of the actual beliefs are ridiculously stupid. Now I will freely admit that I am similarly inclined towards Christianity, but that doesn't seem to be so much of a problem in the Black Metal 'scene'. Why not? Because Satanism is nothing but a Black Metal trend.

I'm not a traditionalist, but I would be pretty sure that the original Black Metal musicians would be pretty ashamed to see what their originality has become.

Mid 90s. We begin to see true originality around. In The Nightside Eclipse (Emperor), Bergtatt (Ulver), Filosofem (Burzum), Storm of the Light's Bane (Dissection), Sventevith (Storming Near The Baltic) (Behemoth). All these albums putting true musicality into Black Metal. Of course, we still have bands like the aforementioned Darkthrone and Gorgoroth pumping out the same kind of stuff.

Late 90s. Good albums are popping up here and there.

Now. It's extremely rare that one can find any decent Black Metal. It's either high quality music, but very removed from traditional Mlack Metal (Agalloch, Ikuinen Kaamos, there's nothing wrong with that at all), or it's low quality music trying to as 'Black Metal' as possible. Satanic lyrics and imagery, low quality production (to the point of hardly being able to hear anything at all), fast and furious noise with little or no reference to any muscality whatsoever. I won't name names, but all you have to do is search 'Black Metal' on myspace music and you'll see what I mean.

I think people are missing the point of what it is to be a musician. True music is not about image, it's not about 'pure evil'. I think Chuck Schuldiner summed it up quite nicely - 'To be extreme, so it seems / Is a mental crutch / To cover up for those who are / Completely out of touch'. If your main focus is being extreme and not being musical, you do not deserve to call yourself a musician. Call yourself an 'extreme noise-ist' instead. Black Metal is now a trend, not an art - most of the time. If you like Black Metal styles, write music with Black Metal characteristics.

It's a shame that I like some Black Metal and incorporate some in to my music, because it automatically lumps my music in with the rest of the 'scene'. And yes, it is a 'scene', just like goth and emo and all that shite.

As for my music... well I love the sound of great musical Black Metal. I like it in my music, and I'm not planning on changing it due to the state of the 'scene' today. However I don't need a satanic pseudonym, nor do I need corpsepaint, nor do I need non-musical noise. If people like my music, that should be all that matters. I am an atheist, with profound distaste for theistic religions, however I do believe in doing what is right, based on a strong set of morals. However that is not important in terms of the music. I am Chris Doig, that is all.

Here are a few Black Metal(ish) bands that are currently breaking these trends: Ikuinen Kaamos, Dawn, Frostskadet, Ne Obliviscaris, Negura Bunget, Abyssic Hate, myself.

If you think I'm wrong, I would be interested to hear your opinions, provided they are intelligent. If you are in a Black Metal band, and conform to these trends, I'd be interested to hear why you feel you should.

Support quality music!

-Chris

OK it's round about time I put up my amazing lyrics!
Points to those who can name references I make! And free points to those who can guess what 'In The Deepest Forest' and 'Broken Burial' are about!

2. The Raven's Cry
The raven's cry is a siren
That echoes on the earth
That you should enter here
The path you dare not walk
The path of stone still winding
Through lands unknown by ma

He beckons from the horizon
He beckons from the sea
From the full moon rising
The raven calls to me

Stone
Wind
Fire

Corridors
Of Life
And Desire

The air
Does
Breathe

With voice
That
Haunts

The wolf's howl is of triumph
That filters through the trees
A path of life and death
Of whispers on the breeze
The two cries meet together
In nature's synergy

3. In The Deepest Forest

In the deepest forest
No-one is reborn
In the deepest forest
Evil takes its form

In the deepest forest
Flesh is sealed with fate
In the deepest forest
Life mingles with hate

Every path you wander
Leads to haunting lies
Every path you wander
Is the place where everyone dies

And you hate

Fight lies and fight life
Fight every fear
Light fires that burn bright
For the end is near

Life is what life breeds
The forest is the womb
No sight for our deeds
The forest is our tomb

In the deepest forest
No-one hears you scream
In the deepest forest
They only haunt your dreams

In the deepest forest
Your words are not your own
In the deepest forest
Lives are sent to roam

Every path you wander
Leads to your demise
Every path you wander
Swallowed by your cries

4. Broken Burial

Underground in the roots of the earth
They lie under rock and tree
The spirits of the cursèd ones
Will never be free

Sepulchral forests
Haunted yet so pure
The altars are mountains
Steady and so sure

Neither living nor dead
The cursed linger forever
The place where mortals dread
Escaping the
Broken Burial!

Alone I see so many
Ethereal products of old
Never returning back
Cursed, for their souls are sold

Lucid dreams, yet so real
Living one they'll never find
Existing, not living
The curse is ever present

The underworld has taken them
To where the evil souls are kept
And only he who knows the way
Can enter lest be turned away

In search of answers enter here
The door is lost for those who fear
Those kept beneath the mountain range
Burial broken, not this age

5. The High Pass

The forest trees are speaking
Amidst wind's blow
The path they walk on is of snow

Ten thousand fearsome creatures
Their time to fight
Black evil marching through the night

The visitor leaves no trace
Of the path behind him
They march with demonic pace
Over the high pass

The wolf-mount ahead to guide them
The safest of roads
With machines of death behind them
Over the high pass

Great beasts are hauling
Machines of war
Named of ancient battles, long before

Legions are marching
Above the fields
Beating the iron on their shields

The visitor leaves no trace
Of the path behind him
They march with demonic pace
Over the high pass

The wolf-mount ahead to guide them
The safest of roads
With machines of death behind them
Over the high pass

6. For The Crows

FOR! THE! CROWS!

For the men who hang from the blades of the mill
The wind they ride long after the kill
Carrion birds will feast on the flesh
Atop the evil, cursèd hill

The beaks of scavengers pierce the eyes
As the opened wounds are filled with flies
Life is tapped from the bodily mess
Feasting on the beast of death

Ride, ride the wings
To escape the bitter beings
The crows… reflect
Their faces scarred with yours

Fly!
Fly!
Far
From here 

Rise!
Rise!
Or hang
For the sport of the CARRION

They are scavenging pain from rotting dreams
The wind of the mill would silence your screams
Pecking out chances of second birth
The sound of wings shall cover the earth

Apocalypse comes not with fire and ice
But as human, carrion, feeding off life
Some sit back, what can be done?
Others still wait: thy kingdom come

Humankind is a brutal carrion race
Pecking out the eyes of the deformed face
Shallow words come from those who starve
Torment and evil ride the scars

Capitalize on the bill of sin
As weakened minds they shuffle in
The crow, the dead and the hangman too
Are inside every one of you

7. Cold Winds Blow

The time that I had known
It chilled me to the bone
That time it was my own...

The forest seemed to speak
And all I knew was real
Was thrown to disbelief

So won't you recall
Nothing at all

Cold winds blow
Falling snow

Triumph in the cold
Enter my old

Sorrow in the trees
That you have seen

Forgive my wanderings
Forgive the dark they bring
It is a human thing

Stray off into the blind
The snowfall in your eyes
The desert of the mind

I am prepared to go
Out in the driving snow
I go there on my own

I go without goodbye
It's something I must try
I know that I might die

The story has been told
As now the young are old
Or strayed into the cold

For those who cannot see
This is a purity
This is the way to be

So won't you recall
Nothing at all

Cold winds blow
Falling snow

8. The Sun Has Had Its Day

When you think it's lost
When you think it's through
When you think there's nothing
Left of you

When the forest trees
Shine with summer's light
When the moon is red
Like fire in the night

The sun has had its day
The moon has had its night
And all is red
Like fire in the night

Horizons rise and fall
With the summer wind
And all that's left
Is to give in

When the will to give
Is falling with the leaves
When the rays of light
Are not seen by the trees

When the forest floor
Ceases to be
All that's left
Is a bed of memories

So I'm very excited. Did a slight bit of mixing this morning to try and get a little more definition between the two guitars in 'For The Crows' (they sound brutal now!). This happily marks the completion of the album.

Thus I begin recording all those things I've been wanting to record for ages. My 17m30s song that I wrote in a notebook while travelling around India is my first priority.

Thus I also begin sending the finished CD (unpackaged though) around to various labels, in the hope of getting something happening to get The Raven's Cry around and about, on shelves and in our hot little hands! I could write a rather nice soliloquy about what I believe my part in the music world is, but Ill save that for another time!

I'll keep you posted, and as soon as I can get a nicely packaged version in to your hands, the better!

-Chris