God damn it. It’s been a little while. What started as a month hiatus nearly turned into two, and personal issues and relaxation of direction made me take my sweet time.

But it was worth it. Issue #52 of Maelstrom, which marks our sixth anniversary, contains 100 album reviews, three live reports, and two From the Vault picks.

But the shining highlight of the issue, aside from our latest longevity milestone, must be our interview with Strapping Young Lad drummer Gene Hoglan, the god amongst gods of metal drums. We’ve got some other pretty great interviews with Novembers Doom, Isole and Vesania, too.

Six years, 3,678 album reviews, 234 interviews, 120 live show reports, and hundreds of free CDs and records given out to faithful readers. And I always feel the most nostalgic when I think that when Maelstrom first started, you had to scroll side to side to see the whole thing, and all the information was on one page. And we do it largely for you, our readers. Every time someone happens to read this site and tells me how much he or she appreciates our commitment to tell you all exactly what we think of something, good or bad, and whether you or anyone else agrees with us, makes the whole thing worthwhile. That and working with such a great staff. This is no one-person hobby, and I wouldn’t do it without all the great people that I count on every month.

End of year issues mean Tops of the Year lists. And although I STILL can’t get everyone on the staff to write these up, we’ve still got a pretty good representation. Geek out, my friends.

Larissa Glasser's Top Picks of 2006

In Memory of Larissa Stolarchuk (Strickland), the guitarist for Laughing Hyenas, who died on November 8, 2006.

1) Kampfar – Kvass

One of the best things about writing for Maelstrom is when an item emerges from left field and knocks the plasma out of you. Kampfar meld folk / battle melodies into a perpetually cold, wholly Norsk Darkthrone-y rawness, and yet their work sounds distinctive.

Kvass holds six tracks of excellent black metal hymnals whose simple structure, stripped-down playing technique, and jam-session spontaneity remind me of what was so good about The Velvet Underground (wait . . . whaaaa?). Bear with me, on this, folks — that sort of contrast can be music’s most important ingredient while maintaining metallic influences. Striking that balance is perhaps the most elusive objective of the creative process, but as I stated earlier this year, Kampfar fucking nailed it. They herald their influences without sounding derivative. The songs are just plain addictive. That’s why they’ve topped this list.

2) Voivod - Katorz

For Canadian metal legends Voivod, it is apparently NOT the end. When they returned from playing Ozzfest in 2003, the band went into high creative gear. Guitarist Denis “Piggy” D’Amour, always the consummate professional, apparently recorded such good demos of new Voivod material that when he succumbed to cancer in 2005, drummer Michel “Away” Langevin managed to access Piggy’s laptop recordings, which laid a virtually glitch-free foundation for this album. Throw producer Glen Robinson into the mix (he last worked on Voivod’s breakthrough 1989 CD, Nothingface), and Piggy is THERE, playing right along with his bandmates. All this culminates into a bittersweet, but triumphant listening experience, one of Voivod’s best albums in years.

3) Bonedust - Bonedust

Providence, Rhode Island’s Bonedust have just recently sailed from The Grey Havens, and are no more. But they leave behind their 2006 demo CD, along with wizened petals, dirty dresses, ringing ears, and a fuck load of debris. Pippi Zorzona’s projects will persist, of course: she’s writing an opera in which she plays Death (who else?), and Corleone Records is releasing her old project Throne of Blood.

4) Amon Amarth - Wrath of the Norsemen

Who can resist a three-disc, seven-hour, five-concert film of Amon Amarth, one of the best live metal bands in the history of fire? Mead flows in a torrent with sweat and metal, excellent multi-angle footage and thick sound pummel the audience with admirable conviction, and the Viking horns stay in the air where they belong. If you wish to preview Valhalla, look no further.

5) Leviathan - The Blind Wound

Leviathan’s next full length for the Moribund Cult is due out this summer. This vinyl EP was originally released as a split with Sapthuran on Battle Kommand Records. Wrest plays live, regular drums rather than his V-kit used on previous releases. The five songs contained here are a bit darker and mid-range than his split with Xasthur, but they still carry the signature ferocity and alchemy that makes Leviathan stand out from his peers. My favorite track is “Crushing the Prolapsed Oviducts of Virtue.”

6) Amputator - Amputator

Something’s up with this band. Everything Amputator puts out is so extreme, punishing, and dangerous, I’m left to wonder if they deliberately fuck up their recording process — how do they manage to sound like this? As with teenaged extremity bangers’ (circa 1983) first impressions of Hellhammer, the project does not sound of this world. Amputator goes too far, in the best possible way.

7) Letum - Broken

One of the best dark ambient releases Cold Meat has put out this year. Clanging despair beckons from far down a dark, dripping vortex, and you’re reduced to ashes before you take your seventh step.

8.) Spectral Lore - Spectral Lore

This superb one-man black/folk metal project fuses murk with even darker fire, radiating a regenerative isolation and comforting gloom. Worth seeking out.

9) Deicide - The Stench of Redemption

Talk about a rebirth. Scars of the Crucifix played for me in a loop when it came out — I picked it up the same day I subjected myself to watching “Passion of The Christ.” But The Stench of Redemption heralds a much-improved Deicide. The departure of the Hoffman brothers seemed to be a necessary change for this band, because the energy displayed here is infectious, and the more melodic twin-guitar approach is a surprisingly potent meat injection.

10) Metalocalypse - Season One

“Blacker than the blackest black, times infinity” – Nathan Explosion, lead singer, DethKlok.
- Skwisgaar Skwigelf (world’s fastest guitarist): Taller than a tree.
- Toki Wartooth (world’s second-fastest guitarist): Not a bumblebee.
- William Murderface MURDERface MURDERFACE.
- Pickles (the drummer): Doddly-doo . . . ding-dong, doddly-doodly-doo.
Words to fucking live by.

Mladen Škot’s top 10+1 albums of 2006.

1) Manowar- The Sons Of Odin EP
2) Jotunspor - Gleipnirs Smeder
3) Ihsahn - The Adversary
4) Gorgoroth - Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam
5) Nomans Land - Raven Flight
6) Kermania - Ahnenwerk
7) Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain
8) Striborg - Embittered Darkness/Isle De Morts
9) Keep of Kalessin - Armada
10) Empyrium - A Retrospective
11) Axxis - Paradise in Flames

Alisa Z’s Top Albums of 2006 :

1) Kataklysm - In the Arms of Devastation
2) Enslaved - Ruun
3) Tool - 10,000 Days
4) Sepultura - Dante XXI
5) The Haunted - The Dead Eye
6) I - Between Two Worlds
7) Bloodthorn - Genocide
8) Decapitated - Organic Hallucinosis
9) Tyr - Ragnarok
10) Otargos - Ten-Eyed Nemesis

Pal the Postman’s fave albums of 2006:

1) Hellveto - Zmierzch
2) Xasthur - Subliminal Genocide
3) Ansur - Axiom (official release)
4) Lurker of Chalice - Lurker of Chalice (Southern Lord)
5) Jungle Rot - War Zone

Ignacio Coluccio’s reflections on the best albums of 2006

This year was definitely odd. Overall, not many good albums were released, but those that were good were incredibly good. So, I somehow managed to pick my top 14 albums of the year.

Tokyo Jihen - Adult: I've listened to Adult at least once a day since the day it was released. Still, I don't really know how to describe it. Jazz / pop with a Broadway feeling some times; fast-paced jazz / rock some other times; catchy JPop when it wants to be, and rocking as well. Even if it's a big, big change for Tokyo Jihen when compared to their older album, it's safe to assume that it's their biggest achievement yet and, with nothing even remotely close, the best thing released all year.

Joanna Newsom - Ys: A folkish, indie-ish, classical-ish, Bjork-ish album featuring five of the best compositions I've ever heard, sometimes bordering on the dissonant modernism but mostly of a classical and medieval atmosphere achieved by Newsom's really personal harp playing. Can't say much without going in-depth, but seriously, no matter what kind of music you like, you _will_ like this. Well, unless you hate long songs. Second best album of the year for me.

Amusement Parks on Fire - Out of Angels: If I had to choose the best shoegazer band nowadays, I don't think I would be able to choose between M83 and Amusement Parks on Fire. Yes, it's _that_ good. Out of Angels is not that different from their previous effort, but it's still as creative and fresh.

Blood Freak - Live Fast, Die Young, and Leave a Flesh Eating-Corpse!: my choice for (not so) grind album of the year.

Boris - anything: I'm not even gonna bother selecting their best 2006 release. Everything they recorded this year was worth a 9.9 at least, with Altar being just a little bit under that, but not much.

Catacombs - In the Depths of R'Lyeh: besides some stuff like this new Catacombs and My Dying Bride's comeback, it's safe to say that 2006 sucked for doom. However, In the Depths of R'Lyeh is about as good as funeral doom's most important albums, and that's saying a hell of a lot.

Diablo Swing Orchestra - The Butcher's Ballroom: Metal + Swing + Opera + Classical + every single genre out there (including stuff like flamenco and surf music). Not as spastic as most other attempts at mixing every genre, but instead logical and structured. Unique sound, and incredible album overall.

Ghoul - Splatterthrash: my choice for death album of the year. Catchy, jaw-dropping death/thrash, and surprisingly fun.

Jesu - Silver: Jesu playing drone/post-rock? Yep, and it's pretty damn good too. In fact, about as good as Heartache, and you know that's saying a whole lot.

Los Natas - El Hombre Montaña: Every Los Natas album represents a change. This time, it's a comeback to a more traditional Hawkwind-influenced brand of stoner rock/metal. And the result's as amazing as every single one of their releases.

Malajube - Trompe L'oeil: Catchy, fun, with none of the melodrama that "indie" often implies, Malajube's Trompe L'oeil is pure brilliance. They can even play hip-hop-ish stuff and be good at it.

Microwaves - Contagion Heuristic: Weird, weird, weird and awesome.

None of Us - Further Hangin' Menace: quite an unexpected entry for most, but Further Hangin' Menace is just the perfect mix between actual emo and post-hardcore. Hell, if most of the bands in both genres were as good as this, they probably wouldn't have such a bad reputation.

Scott Reeder - Tunnel Vision Brilliance: Mellow, but not boring. Tunnel Vision Brilliance is probably the best "retro" album of the year.

Solar Anus - Skull Alcoholic: The Complete Solar Anus: amazing Japanese psych rock/stoner metal. It even works for revival purposes for people wondering what the hell happened to the Japanese psych rock scene.

Roberto Martinelli’s Favorite Albums of 2006

Unlike years past, 2006 was not a year in which a single album clearly rose to the top in my mind and heart. There were ones I wanted to be the album of the year, like Martyr’s Feeding the Abscess, but it didn’t quite cut it. But if I think about what single music-related release captured my imagination and gave me the most intense enjoyment, it has to be the Sodom documentary, History of Depravity, Vol. 1. And perhaps Ricochet’s Zarah was the album that turned out to have moved me the most, so perhaps that’s album of the year. Beyond that, here are a bunch of albums in alphabetical order that I thought were either pretty damn great or that I got all excited about.

1. Sodom - Lords of Depravity, vol. 1: The best damn documentary about a metal band you could imagine. I was a casual Sodom fan before seeing the movie, and probably am still a casual fan after, but while I was caught up in the DVD, Sodom was my favorite group ever. The same thing happened to my roomate when I showed it to him. Oh, and the live DVD is also about as great as you can get.

2. Ricochet - Zarah: A Teartown Story: This was the dark horse album that seemed pretty great at first, but snuck up to (huh?) my favorite music album of 2006. Zara is an utterly uncommon prog rock/metal album that features beautiful, rich singing and emotional melodies. And it's a concept album. "Huh?" again.

Anata - The Conductor’s Departure: The vocals are pretty uninteresting, but this group has got one of the most underrated drummers in metal. And the riffs and melodies that he plays under make his chops sound even cooler.

Angra - Aurora Consurgens: It's a far cry from the untoppable triumph that was Temple of Shadows (my far-and-away #1 album of 2004), but a step down for Angra is still better than just about any other power metal band's best album ever.

Dol Ammad - Ocean Dynamics: I'm not sure what it is that makes this self-proclaimed "electronica art metal" project so fucking great: the grandeur of the 11-person choir on vocals, or the unabashed, balls-out gayness of the Euro trash-esque, keyboard-dominated power metal. Probably both. Dol Ammad still sounds like Sarah Brightman on metal. We hope it never changes.

Dream Evil - United: Speaking of gay, only Dol Ammad makes this band's albums pale in comparison on this list. Dream Evil may arguably be the final word in metal cheesiness, but there's something unshakably stirring about the love they profess for metal in every one of their songs. And that singer is to kill for. Every single goddamn chorus on this album will make you stand up. And when a leather-skinned reviewer is compelled to play the same album IMMEDIATELY after hearing it in its entirety, then it's going on the top of the year list, even though part of him feels he should know better. Goddamn it.

Helloween - Walls of Jericho (expanded edition): Helloween's first album is one of this writer's picks for all-time best heavy metal album. EVER. Walls of Jericho was before Helloween changed forever into a much wussier, fruitier (but nonetheless utterly essential) version of the grandfathers of power metal. Anyway, remasters can be a dicey affair --- half of them are worse than the original releases --- but this one thankfully is like hearing an all-new record. You'll be able to pick out stuff you might never have heard in all the previous spins you went through on the original disk.

Isole - Throne of Void: Isole nailed melodic doom with its simple, catchy, forever memorable Throne of Void.

Martyr - Feeding the Abscess: Not as great and enjoyable a technical death album as Warp Zone, but at least the vocals have improved.

Mono - You Are There: As intense a shoegazing, instrumental album as you could want, perhaps because it will also appeal to fans of black and doom metal; yet it's a great album to make out to in a car or fall asleep to.

Rage - Speak of the Dead: I'm still waiting for the other Rage albums that I got off eBay to really click with me. This might be the only one. But the frequently memorable choruses, super drum performance, and godly orchestral suites make this a winner.

Twisted Into Form - Then Comes Affliction to Awaken the Dreamer: Technical metal sluts still go on about Spiral Architect. But there's something not quite right about the record. It's almost as if it's too roughly metal for its intended style. Twisted Into Form fixes all that, putting forth an album that seems rather unnavigable at first, then refreshingly creative, and reveals something more each time you listen to it. Here's refuting proof that you don't need to be like Mike DiSalvo from Cryptopsy to actually sing over insanely shifting, odd-time parts, nor do you have to sing in a power metal band that plays two-note riff choruses to be supremely melodic.

Urna - Sepulchrum: Funeral doom metal is wasted on me. I think I sort of get it, but ultimately, I don't. Like, why can't they just speed up every now and again? How could any drummer stand playing this kind of music for entire songs over entire records? On paper, Urna would definitely seem like something I'd normally pass off to Ignacio, but it's a titanic hit around Maelstrom HQ. It's probably because it's "experimental" BLACK funeral doom. It's like being in a nightmare chasm out of a Lovecraft story, where not only the leviathan beast that is about to surge up from under you is alive, but so is the chasm itself.

Vader - The Art of War: It seemed like the end for Vader. They lost their original, seemingly irreplaceable drummer, and put out a totally tepid album, The Beast, which did nothing but prove that Vader gets itself in big trouble if it tries to do anything but play fast. The Art of War is a bitch slap in the face to the unbelievers. Vader's recharged and more rabid than ever. And who would have thought that a Vader album could work so well because the drums were so artificial sounding?

Vader - Impressions in Blood: Like The Art of War, but an entire album's worth. Fuck, yeah!

And an album that should have made the 2005 list:

Loureiro, Kiko - No Gravity

Saint Jinn’s Top Ten of 2006

1) Daylight Dies - Dismantling Devotion
2) Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
3) Outworld - Outworld
4) Unexpect - In a Flesh Aquarium
5) Doom:VS - Aeternus Vale
6) Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain
7) Amon Amarth - With Oden on Our Side
8) Giant Squid - Metridium Fields
9) Hypocrisy - Virus
10) Moonspell - Memorial

Honorable mention

Katatonia - Brave Murder Day 2006 re-issue

Ryan Loostrom’s favorite albums of 2006 in reverse order

13) Advantage, The - Elf-Titled
12) Kylesa - Time Will Fuse Its Worth
11) Across Tundras - Dark Songs of the Prairie
10) Stolen Babies - There Be Squabbles Ahead
9) Amusement Parks on Fire - Out of Angeles
8) Gorod - Leading Vision
7) Battle of Mice - A Day of Nights
6) Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
5) Red Sparowes - Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun
4) David Gilmour - On an Island
3) Del Rey - A Pyramid For the Living
2) Estradasphere - Palace of Mirrors
1) Devin Townsend Band - Synchestra

Joshua Gottlieb’s Top 50 and more for 2006 and other nonsense

– Why 50? Worked so well last year thought I’d do it again.
– Criteria: doesn’t matter when it was released, if it graced my ears for the first time in 2006 it was eligible.
– Guilty pleasure that’s so guilty it’s innocent: Tigertailz.
– Guilty pleasure runner up: a JRock obsession born out of a long dreamed of, and finally achieved, trip to Japan this past fall.
– The he’s-so-prolific-he-gets-his-own-goddamn-section-award: Aidan Baker and the monster known as Nadja.
– Absolutely Essential Beyond Comprehension: Celtic Frost’s Monotheist. The word “comeback” doesn’t do it justice. Labeling it the metal album of the year is simply an insult. An unfathomably exquisite piece of work that no one could have possibly anticipated the band was capable of creating sixteen years removed from their last release. The finest of their career and the best release of 2006, bar none. Period.

The Top Ten:

1) Celtic Frost – Monotheist
2) Angelic Process, The – Coma Waering
3) Shogun Kunitoki –Tasankokaiku
4) Rosetta – The Galilean Satellites
5) Planes Mistaken for Stars – Mercy
6) Geisha – Mondo Dell’Orrore
7) Reigns – We Lowered A Microphone Into The Ground
8) My Dad Is Dead – A Divided House
9) Ministry – Rio Grande Blood
10) Eluvium – When I Live By The Garden And The Sea.

Eleven to Fifty (in alphabetical order):

Angelo – Reborn
Atavist – S/T
Basinski, William – The Garden Of Brokenness
Basinski, William – Variations For Piano & Tape
Black Happy Day – In The Garden Of Ghosts
Blut Aus Nord – MoRT
Capricorns – Ruder Forms Survive
Chalk, Andrew – Blue Eyes Of The March
Cradle of Filth – Thornography
Craft – Fuck the Universe
Daturah – S/T
Drudkh – Blood in Our Wells
GazettE, The – Filth in the Beauty (CD single)
Giant Drag – Hearts and Unicorns
Gorgoroth - Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam
Jasper Tx – I’ll be Long Gone Before My Light Reaches You
Jesu – Silver
Made Out of Babies – Coward
Made Out of Babies – Trophy
Mannus – On a Lonely Rainy Day
Methadrone – Retrogression
Monument of Urns – The Destroyer of All
Parker Street Cinema – S/T
Ulrich Schnauss – A Strange Isolated Place
Sigur Ros – Saeglopur
Solar Anus - Skull Alcoholic: The Complete Solar Anus
Souvenir’s Young America – S/T
Taint – The Ruin Of Nova Roma
Tides – From Silence
Tigertailz – Banzai!
Tigertailz – Bezerk
Tigertailz – Bezerk 2.0
Transmission 0 – 0
Turn Me on Dead Man – God Bless the Freak
Ufomammut – Lucifer Songs
Verdunkeln – S/T
Wolves in the Throne Room – Diadem of 12 Stars
Worms of Sabnock – Dark Harmonies
Zombie, Rob – Educated Horses
V/A – Walking With Ghosts

The Nadja / Aidan Baker corner for 2006:

Nadja – Bliss Torn From Emptiness
Nadja - Bodycage
Nadja – Corrasion
Nadja – I Have Tasted the Fire Inside Your Mouth
Nadja – Skin Turns to Glass
Nadja – Touched
Nadja – Trembled
Nadja / Fear Falls Burning – We Have Departed The Circle Blissfully (12”)
Nadja / Methadrone – Absorption
Baker, Aidan – Blauserk
Baker, Aidan – Candescence
Baker, Aidan – Dreammares
Baker, Aidan – Dog Fox To Ground
Baker, Aidan – Field Of Drones
Baker, Aidan – An Intricate Course Of Deception
Baker, Aidan – Letters
Baker, Aidan – Oneiromancer
Baker, Aidan – Periodic
Baker, Aidan – Remixes
Baker, Aidan – The Sea Swells A Bit
Baker, Aidan – Threnody One: Lamentation

Brandon Strader’s Top Ten of 2006

1) Rhapsody of Fire - Triumph or Agony
2) Flower Kings, The - Paradox Hotel
3) Dragonland - Astronomy
4) Hammers of Misfortune - The Locust Years
5) Firewind - Allegiance
6) Tenacious D - The Pick of Destiny
7) Unexpect - In a Flesh Aquarium
8) Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies
9) Angra - Aurora Consurgens
10) Estradasphere - Palace of Mirrors

Rick Luna’s tops of 2006 list in alphabetical order

Amorphis - Eclipse
Atheretic - Apocalyptic Nature Fury
Decapitated - Organic Hallucinosis
Dim Mak - Knives Of Ice
Gorod - Leading Vision
Into Eternity - The Scattering of Ashes
Martyr - Feeding the Abscess
Negativa - Negativa
Neglected Fields - Splenetic
Obsidian - Emerging
Solitude Aeturnus - Alone
Suffocation - Suffocation
Textures - Drawing Circles
Vader - Impressions in Blood
Visceral Bleeding - Absorbing the Disarray

Chaim Drishner’s favorite albums of 2006 and why, in alphabetical order:

Aborym - Generator
Because I like the direction and because these guys are never stagnant.

Darkness Eternal - Misanthropic Annihilation
Because this is the epitome of heaviness.

Diable Amoreux - Horns Used for Butting
Because this is just crazy, crazy stuff.

Genghis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth
Because this is the face of wacky grindcore for the new millennium.

Gersch, The - The Gersch
Because this is just great.

MGR - Nova Lux
Because desolation now has its soundtrack.

Merca - Chup Amela
Because we need more traditional doom like this.

Mouth of the Architect - The Ties That Blind
Because this is atmosphere!

Negura Bunget - Om
Because this is purely sublime and transcendental!!!

One Master - Forsaking a Dead World
Because these are the newcomers of the year.

Ruins of Beverast, The - Unlock the shrine (Reliquary of the White Abyss)
Because this is the re-issue of the year.

Sadus - Out for Blood
Because these veterans piss on most new kids on the block.

Thralldom - A Shaman Steering the Vessel of Vastness
Because this is how eeriness sounds.

Wolves in the Throne Room - Diadem of 12 Stars
Because since Weakling's Dead as Dreams, there hasn't been another Weakling.

Matt Smith’s favorite records of 2006

1) Slayer - Christ Illusion
2) Tom Waits - Orphans
3) Impaled Nazarene - Pro Patria Finlandia
4) Cannibal Corpse - Kill
5) Ghostface Killah - Fishscale/More Fish
6) Sepultura - Dante XXI
7) Knut - Terraformer
8) Textures - Drawing Circles

And now, a bit of hate mail, possibly written under the influence of psych meds.

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Miller" <raider_02@hotmail.com>
To: <mladen666@vip.hr>
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 9:11 AM
Subject: [spam?] actual metallectuality

Dude, you are not a metallectual. I know because I invented it and I reserve the right to discriminate against foreigners. By the way, Foreigner isn't metal either, and you'll figure that out in about 10 years when you get the U.S. top 20 from 1979 in your crappy ass little country. In closing, if you use the word metallectual again, you will be sued, and if possible, imprisoned.

Have a nice day, fucker.

Ps Chads a fucker.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mladen" <mladen666@vip.hr>
To: "John Miller" <raider_02@hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 7:22 PM
Subject: Re: [spam?] actual metallectuality

Boy, are we jealous that we live in the USA, haven't actually invented anything, have no tradition whatsoever, we think that "foreigners" are all who aren't Anglo-Saxon, have a crappy president, speak one language (American), and the world hates us. Meanwhile, village idiots from the Balkans have more than 1500 CDs in their album collections. Go ahead, sue me. See if Croatian authorities care. Then ask Bush if he'd like to bomb us for you. Have a nice life and thanks for my first EVER hate mail. Using the word "fucker" does not make you intellectual but a testosterone-driven loser.

P.S. Who's Chad? And who are you?

Mladen Škot

Think THAT’S weird? How about this cryptic bit of emailing:

----Original Message Follows----
From: rodney ahrens <steel999us@yahoo.com>
To: giorgio75@hotmail.com
Subject: Hello....About your Midnight Review.....
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006 23:41:03 -0800 (PST)

Hello Friend,

I very much enjoyed your review of "Sakada",but for a reason you may or may not believe.The guy singing on Sakada is not Midnight at all but a stand in singer named John Oliver who worked with the band shortly before the "breakup" of Crimson Glory.I want you to find a download of the video "The Chant" and look at it closely.You may find this video on e-donkey,morpheus,or many other file sharing programs.Make sure you scan first. Note Midnight's
chest for one thing and the teeth for the other and you will notice some "odd" differences,including how Midnight goes from short to tall.Once you have done so and I have your confidence email me and I will tell you a very dramatic true story.Please keep this under wraps untill we converse more.I chose to speak to you because you are someone I found finally who seems to see through Roadrunners deception.

You take care
M.

Ed's note: I checked out the video and could not see what this guy was on about. Not surprisingly, he did not answer any of my emails. But Midnight's site is pretty awesomely creepy. It was all fun enough to creep my then girlfriend out. Thanks at least for that.

Here's to many more years of Maelstrom.

- Roberto Martinelli