Death Metal MusicMusic and Culture on the Edge

The terrorist attacks on Mumbai finally ended yesterday, leaving at least 195 people dead. But already questions are being asked about how the attackers got through to commit mass murder

Salute the oncoming winter solstice with Menace Ruine, that’s my advice…the latest release from this Canadian black metal project is The Die Is Cast (ALIEN8 ALIENCD82), a fatalistic title for a CD decorated with sombre, candle-blackened religious icons from the orthodox church and suggesting that mankind’s destiny is a nightmarish combination of many-headed monsters, headless figures running about aimlessly, and a coldly indifferent angel of salvation hovering over a sickly extinguished sun.

When television or movies takes on a particularly underground art form and tells a story about it, there’s one hell of a risk of getting everything wrong, or just plain looking stupid. That’s even worse when the art is as obsessed with authenticity as underground metal music. Metal has always in desperate fear of “poseurs,” and of the idea that anything with a hint of mainstream acceptance is the mark of “falsehood.” So it would seem that Detroit Metal City is a risky undertaking for its creato

POP.

ROCK, ETC. A2 — Located over wine restaurant Assemblage Actuel, the new club orientates toward live music. A brainchild of Svetlana Surganova, frontwoman of rock band Surganova i Orkestr, A2 aims at some of the best-known bands and fine sound quality. 300-700 rub., free entrance on Mon.-Wed.