Perhaps until now better known as the sculptor whose extraordinary work graced the stage and album covers for bands such as MAYHEM, Spacebrain is set to launch the debut album from his band SUCHTHAUS with a show at his own music venue the Spacebunker in Oslo, Norway, on the 17th December. Whilst the event is a celebration of the release of “The Dark Side and the Bright Side”, it also marks the closure of the unique venue itself, where the audiences mingled and the bands played amongst Spacebrain’s sculptures. Spacebrain himself has now confirmed that he no longer intends to continue with his sculpting, but will instead concentrate on his music and SUCHTHAUS, so this will probably be the last time that his sculptures and stage sets are on display together in one place.
The 14-track album, which comes in at just over 72 minutes in length and is released on Spacebrain’s own label Rollabigone Records on the 17th December, has all the trademarks of Spacebrain’s perspective as a visual artist. He is insistent that the band is given no genre label, and that the tracks bear no names so that the listeners come to them with no preconceptions and can form their own opinions. SUCHTHAUS itself is formed of the nucleus of Spacebrain and Fruen, with a fluid line up that varies as the fancy takes them, whilst the list of guests on the album is as eclectic as the band itself with, amongst others, SKITLIV and former MAYHEM frontman Maniac, MAYHEM drummer Jan Axel Blomberg , CURRENT 93’s David Tibet, Ingvar Magnusson of SKITLIV, Fredrik A. Juell of BURNING RUBBER and BERSERK BASTARDS, and Sibob Jawara who has sung the world-over but has never used a microphone before recording with SUCHTHAUS. It is certainly worth noting that this will be the first time that Maniac and Blomberg appear together on an album since the vocalist quit MAYHEM several years ago. As to which tracks feature which guests, well, the band prefers it if the listeners reach their own conclusions.
Commenting on his decision to move away from sculpting to concentrate of music, Spacebrain had this to say “I’d reached the point where it was becoming impractical for me to continue to work with the metal and other heavy materials that I was using for my sculptures. First of all I’m not as young as I used to be, and the work was physically very taxing, and secondly and probably more importantly, finding premises in Oslo that could house the size of work that I was producing had become virtually impossible. With the building that houses the Spacebunker due for demolition, it was the right time for me to change direction. After all, music and performance has always been an integral part of what I do, and art is art, whatever form it takes, so it’s not as big a leap as it might at first appear”.
“SUCHTHAUS” he continues “is a reflection of our own musical preferences and you can’t therefore squeeze it into some particular genre. Every track on “The Dark Side and the Bright Side” has its own individual character – the atmosphere changing with our mood and the amount of drugs and alcohol we consume while we’re making the sounds, and varies from the very dark to the very bright. Most tracks are an experiment with sounds, and we start each one with no plan or idea of where the piece will lead us. Some tracks are made as a one man project; others have 7-8 contributors. The best way to describe what we do is that instead of making visual sculptures, we try to make sound sculptures, although we do visualize them with the help of videos”. More information about SUCHTHAUS can be found at http://www.myspace.com/suchthaus
Below you can see the official video teaser for “The Dark Side and the Bright Side”
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/suchthaus
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suchthausofficial
SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/suchthaus/
Band Contact and Booking: rene@spacebrain.no
Band Management: https://patriciathomasmanagement.com/
the third release from the Californian one-man project formed in 2006 by M. Rosin, and, according to Rosin himself represents GODHEADSCOPE’s “most complete bridging of modern composition and ambient with art-rock and folk”. The EP will initially be released as a digital download on the 29th November at 
STROSZEK
former DARK FORTRESS guitarist Walter “Crom” Grosse, the new album will be CROM’s sixth release and a follow up to 2008’s critically acclaimed “Vengeance”. Produced by Grosse himself, and engineered by Victor Bullok at the latter’s At The Crypt Studios, the line up on the album comprises Crom on vocals, guitars, bass and choirs, Seraph (DARK FORTRESS, NONEUCLID, REVAMP) on drums and V. Santura (DARK FORTRESS, TRIPTYKON, ex CELTIC FROST) on additional guitars and choirs. Artwork for the album is once again by the noted artist Kris Verwimp, an old friend and collaborator of Grosse’s. Long-time CROM fans may recognise two tracks on the new album. “My Destiny” first appeared on the now much sought-after 2004 Demo, whilst “The Fallen Beauty” featured on the EP of the same name, but both have been re-recorded for “Of Love and Death”. Track listing on “Of Love and Death” as follows:
both albums was, in fact, recorded at the same time, but the songs on “Vengeance” were chosen to reflect the warrior’s point of view, whilst the ones that I wanted to include on “Of Love and Death” were the ones that we could all relate to on a day to day level. I appreciate that fans see CROM as synonymous with the fantasy warrior aspects, and that “Of Love and Death” might come as a bit of a surprise. Maybe we should look at is as the “calm before the storm” of the next album”.
SHINING’s NIKLAS KVARFORTH has joined the list of musicians and bands who will appear at a special Benefit Concert for SLAVIA founder and front man JONAS R. CHRISTIANSEN (ex-DISIPLIN) who is suffering from cancer. The concert, “ALGIR: Støttekonsert for Jonas R. Christiansen”, which will be held at the Garage in Bergen, Norway, on Friday 18th November, has been organised by friends of the musician, who hope to add to the funds already raised to send Christiansen for treatment in Denmark.
“Torturmantra”. As well as guesting on the track for the album, the SHINING front man recently announced that the song was one of the tracks he had chosen for inclusion on his upcoming double CD solo retrospective “Fifteen Years of Absolute Darkness” which is due for release on Spinefarm Records in December, and charts fifteen years of his often controversial musical career.
out of a very busy schedule to come along from Sweden and contribute to everyone’s efforts to help not only one of our fellow musicians, but also a friend to so many on the Bergen scene”.
January kicked off 2011 in what looked like a great way. YNLEBORGAZ was fit and at full power after an enforced rest following knee surgery and once again BLODARV was ready to hit the stage. Dedicated Booking had already booked us two shows, the first of which took place in Copenhagen at Beta and was a more than successful return to live performing for the band – (photo left by Ravna).
BLODARV, GRIMLAIR, NOCTURNAL DEPRESSION, BLACK HATE & ACEDI. The two tracks contributed by BLODARV are both previously unreleased songs written at the same time as the band’s “Civitas Diaboli” album, which was itself released on Self Mutilation Services in 2009. The first track, “Sharpstone Mountain”, is effectively a prelude to the tale recounted in the “Blood Red Rocks” track from “Civitas Diaboli”, whilst the second track, “I Hulernes Rige” is a melancholy acoustic song, which gives our female vocalist SATINAE MA a chance to take the lead on vocals.
it’s turned into something of a Nordic alliance with Norway’s ELENYX, who founded NÅE, and myself being joined on the album by Sweden’s IT (ABRUPTUM, VONDUR, OPTHALAMIA). The album will be called “Heksevind” and ELENYX herself will work on composition, lyrics, and vocals and play various instruments on the album, whilst I will provide vocals and additional lyrics and IT will participate both musically and with written material. The exact details of the collaboration will be known as the work progresses. “Heksevind” will be recorded both at my own HammerArt and Studios on the Danish island of Bornholm and at ELENYX’s own recording facilities in Oslo.
communication between the band and the label, and right now we don’t know exactly when it will be released, but I somehow doubt that will happen this year at this late stage, so you will probably only see this appear in 2012. When it is eventually released, it will be limited to 300 copies, and come with a limited edition shirt and patch. The EP, to be titled “Laesaabobbainjnj”, explores the thousand year old culture of the Danish island of Bornholm which came to an end at the death of Earl Blod Egil, and was subsequently replaced by Christianity. Artwork for the release and the vocal recordings were done at HammerArt & Studios.
PATRICIA THOMAS BAND MANAGEMENT 