Chips & Beer reviews GRAVE COMMAND

Chips & Beer Magazine has reviewed Grave Command: All Hallowed Hymns HERE.  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Aquarius Records reviews GRAVE COMMAND

Aquarius Records has spilled a bit of proverbial ink on the first UNSEEN FORCES compilation LP Grave Command: All Hallowed Hymns.  ORDER NOW or forever hold your piece:

V/A Grave Command: All Hallowed Hymns (Unseen Forces) picture disc

Not sure what the theme of this compilation is, but it hardly matters, cuz holy shit is it amazing. From the art to the nearly all exclusive tracks, from a weird array of outfits from weirdo Finnish black metal to kosmische synth wranglers! Might as well just give a run down track by track... Ghoul are up first, but instead of their usual brand of metallic mayhem, offer up a creepy ominous pipe organ intro. Yep, just pipe organ, which leads directly into a track by late great eighties Portland true (Christian) metal band Xinr, whose track of Judas Priest style classic metal KILLS, replete with deranged laughter, and badass vox that are weird and warped but so good. Local Sabbath soundalikes Orchid deliver another dose of uncanny Ozzy era Sab worship, and as always, it's a dead ringer for the original, and thus, sounds amazing! Then our favorite fucked up weirdo black metal Finns, Ride For Revenge spew a filthy primitive caveman dirge metal pound, all practice space drums, crumbling distorted guitars, growled demonic vokills, and even when they crank it up to doubletime, it's still a woozy midtempo churn. The A side finishes off with Xander Harris, and some super rad, creepy Carpenter like soundtrack synthscapery, ominous and sinister, totally kick ass retro slasher flick score for sure! The flipside starts off with Grave Violators, who we had never heard before, and who traffic in grinding blackened thrash, with some seriously unhinged vocals. The mighty Deceased are up next with some classic metal menace, brand new, but sounds like it could have been recorded back in the day. Occultation follow, and deliver what might be one of the best tracks here, a sprawling epic of witchy proggy female fronted doom, epic and haunting and heavy, definitely need to hear more! Up next, also new to us Venenum, who kick out some serious progged out metallic Voivodisms, with echo drenched vox and some twisted arrangements, and finally, Danava finish things off, and like Ghoul, forego their usual sounds and finish things off with the perfect outro, all creepy synth horror movie madness. So good. And perfect for Halloween listening. And incredible packaged, garish cartoony cover art, which is also featured on the A side of the picture disc, the B side an even darker creepier drawing, and as things things usually are, quite limited, only 1000 copies.

UNSEEN FORCES 006: GRAVE COMMAND

GRAVE COMMAND
All Hallowed Hymns
V/A Picture Disc LP

UNSEEN FORCES proudly presents GRAVE COMMAND: All Hallowed Hymns, a sepulchral compilation picture disc celebrating the thinning of the veils between the living and the (un)dead that occurs under the hungry Harvest Moon! Limited to 1000 copies and introducing the fantastic artwork of Brian Profilio, GRAVE COMMAND is an eclectic and sinister assemblage of never-before-heard compositions written and recorded specifically for this collection (plus one mandatory killer from the 1984 XINR recordings!) and showcasing some of our most beloved fiends, necromancers, ravagers and revenants pushing themselves far beyond the pale of limitations. Double-sided 33rpm picture disc comes in a beautiful full-color LP jacket sleeve. Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk of Stereophonic. All treats, no tricks.  Featuring:  GHOUL / XINR / ORCHID / RIDE FOR REVENGE / XANDER HARRIS / GRAVE VIOLATORS / DECEASED / OCCULTATION / VENENUM / DANAVA

Paypal to unseenforces666@gmail.com

• $17 ppd US
• $25 ppd Canada
• $29 ppd Mexico
• $31 ppd Rest of the World

European customers are encouraged to order from these distributors:
Clear Spot
High Roller

Invictus
Iron Bonehead
Sepulchral Voice
Svart
Van
Ahdistuksen Aihio

XINR on KBOO Radio!

THIS WEEK! Portland radio station KBOO 90.7 FM will broadcast the XINR interview that was recorded live on stage at East End during the official record release party on Saturday September 15, 2012.  The interview will air at 1am (Pacific Standard Time) Thursday morning (or late Wednesday night, depending on how you look at it) on Heavy Metal Vomit Party.  The show will stream live worldwide here and we will be giving away a copy of the new XINR LP signed by all surviving members.       

(L to R): Kenny Stocks (bass), Paul Dreyer (drums) and Roger DeCarlo (guitar) reunited for the first time in 28 years.  Photo by Chris Hoard 

A somber moment on stage at East End as Roger DeCarlo displays the original flier for the XINR gig scheduled for December 1, 1984 that never happened due to the motorcycle accident that took the lives of Tony Saiz and Shaun Tramel one night earlier.  Photo by Anna Wilson

THE HILLS HAVE EYES

UNSEEN FORCES 005: XINR

XINR
Self Titled
LP

The greatest Pacific Northwest heavy metal band you've never heard now claims its rightful place upon the jeweled throne of TRUE METAL! XINR (ex-sinner) was formed in Portland, Oregon in 1983 and recorded the tracks that comprise this singular posthumous vinyl collection in 1984 after months of rigorous writing and rehearsing. Here is honest denim clad rock with no "die hard" frills and no bullshit image gimmicks, the perfect antidote to modern music's overblown and self-aware pretense. What we have are mid-paced headbangers woven together with a dual guitar attack that recalls K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton as they traded in their bellbottoms for red and black leather. Uncompromising vocals channel the outlaw ethos of Bon Scott and the theatrical enunciation of Alice Cooper while driving the music forward with positive energy and conviction. So what the hell happened? Tragically, vocalist Tony Saiz and guitarist Shaun Tramel were killed in a motorcycle accident en route to their rehearsal room the night before a gig in Portland on November 30th, 1984 and the band understandably never recovered from this devastating loss. In 1985 XINR appeared on the otherwise unremarkable Pacific Metal Project compilation with their defining song Ever Present Angel and then went their separate ways, leaving the unheard demo tracks languishing in obscurity until 2008 when Stormspell Records released a CD to commemorate the anniversary of Tony and Shaun's premature demise. This fully authorized UNSEEN FORCES collection is the first (and only) full length XINR LP to ever appear on vinyl! Eleven powerful and instantly unforgettable 'eavy rockers pressed to white vinyl with lyric sheet and liner notes.  Paypal to unseenforces666@gmail.com

$17 ppd US
$25 ppd Canada
$29 ppd Mexico
$31 ppd Rest of the World
European customers are encouraged to order from HIGH ROLLER RECORDS.

XINR RECORD RELEASE PARTY

We are pleased to announce the official record release party for XINR on Saturday September 15th, 2012 at Portland's EAST END. Original members will be in attendance to provide a Q&A about the band's history and sign records.  Followed by a live performance from very special guests DANAVA!

FAR BEYOND

Test pressings have been approved and the WHITE VINYL release of XINR's long lost masterpiece is soon to be unveiled!  In the meantime, we are pleased to present the opening track Ever Present Angel to get you in the mood for some serious hot rockin'.  UNSEEN FORCES made a pilgrimage to the location at SE 39th and Woodward Street in Portland, Oregon where vocalist Tony Saiz and guitarist Shaun Tramel went down in a motorcycle accident nearly 28 years ago.  Their memory and musical legacy live on...

EVER PRESENT ANGEL

Ordering information coming soon.

NEW DEATHCHARGE INTERVIEW AT CULT NATION

Cult Nation has posted an interview with elusive DEATHCHARGE founder/vocalist Adam Nauseum.

UNSEEN FORCES will be releasing the upcoming DEATHCHARGE 12" in early 2013.  Details soon...

Aquarius Records selects THE LAW as Record of the Week!

Aquarius Records has selected THE LAW None Escape as their esteemed Record of the Week. We are down to our final copies of this amazing reissue LP so if you want to grab a copy before they hit "collector" prices (again)...ORDER NOW!  Here's the review from Aquarius' homepage today:

LAW, THE None Escape (Unseen Forces) LP

Uh, wow! And WTF!? That's what we thought as soon as we got a good look at these, the other day when Tyler from Ajna dropped 'em off at the store. Is this for real? This late 2011 release from the Ajna affiliated, vinyl-only cult metal reissue label Unseen Forces seems tailor made to be of immense aQuarius interest. First off, we, and many of you, are pretty into the whole Father Yod / Ya Ho Wa 13 / Source Family communal '70s psych rock thing. Pretty much everybody here at aQ owns one of those Japanese 13cd God & Hair box sets of Ya Ho Wa recordings, and we just this week hosted an instore event promoting the Source Family documentary currently screening in the SF Film Festival. Also, several of us at aQ (and again, many of you) are keen on obscure '80s old school metal, the more outrageous and over the top, the better. And somehow, unbelievably but awesomely, THE LAW brings those two obsessions together!! You see, the guys in The Law were members of Source Family, followers of Father Yod. Bassist Peter Tobin and singer/lead guitarist Troy Duke at least, had played and recorded with Ya Ho Wa 13. But by the early '80s, they were transitioning from being long haired hippies to being long haired heshers! Gotta change with the times, man. Having formed a garage (more like barn, cuz they lived on a cattle ranch) band, The Law (= Love And Wisdom), in 1979, they decided to make the big step of moving from Hawaii (where the Source Family had been based since the late '70s, and Father Yod had sadly perished in his fatal hang gliding accident) back to LA, now a hotbed of heavy metal activity in the year of 1983! But they brought their interest in esoteric, psychedelic spirituality along with them, into the realm of the heavier-than-thou, glammed-up, Decline Of Western Civilization Part II, Sunset Strip scene, where they rubbed shoulders with the likes of Motley Crue. Theirs was sleazy hard rock with a mystic message, though, all right!! Though that unusual backstory (and the picture of the band on the back of the lp, all done up in macho tight leather and studded belts) would probably have been enough to convince us to buy this, it was listening to the songs on this lp that made us decide, heck, all that AND they totally rule, in the hot rockin' department? Ok, Record Of The Week time. These ten songs include hit single in an alternate universe "Chill The Wine", theme song "Here Comes The Law", and several with either "Baby" or "Love" in their titles, like the dirgey (mostly) ballad "Baby I'm A Mystery", the lyrics to which include the advice: "Sweet child of the fire, the only way to go is higher, higher, higher...". These songs feature plodding riffage, wailing psych guitar solos, commanding vox, low budget sound FX, and (we're just guessing here) an exploding drummer a la Spinal Tap. Unseen Forces' ringleader Dennis Dread sez this slab of "vintage volcanic rock" is for fans of "The Rods, Oz, Blue Cheer, and Buffalo"... sure! And we'd say Dwarr, Cirth Ungol, and Iron Butterfly, too! There's paradoxically party-hardy outsidery-ness to this, The Law bringing in '60s influences (they do "Wild Thing"), astral influences, whatever, so that while it's not quite Ya Ho Wa 13 in spandex, it's sure not your usual corporate Sunset Strip LA '80s hair metal. The power trio's sole, independently released, lp came out in 1983, and failed to become a commercial success despite (or because of) its eccentric charms, but it did eventually become a collectable rarity. This reissue probably will too! Remastered and reissued with the cooperation of The Law's original members, also with help from Source Family historian Isis Aquarian. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl and lovingly packaged. Includes liner notes and lyrics insert. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!! And the label is almost out of 'em, so these may well be the last copies we'll be able to procure. But we still had to make it Record Of The Week, nonetheless. How could we not? None escape The Law!!