None of the various interviews I have in the works are anywhere near ready for posting, so our weekly Göteborg spotlight post won't contain the usual insightful content you've come to expect. Instead I bring you a track from the Black Sun Records 1994 comp "Metal Militia: A tribute to Metallica". Despite featuring a lot of big names from the 90s Gbg metal scene, In Flames, Dark Tranquility, Ceremonial Oath, etc., this collection sucks balls. The only halfway decent track: Snotrocket's cover of "Escape", originally found on my favorite Metallica album "Ride the lightning". The thing is, Snotrocket isn't a real band - it's a pseudonym. Now I know that's Tomas Lindberg (At the Gates, Skitsystem, Disfear, etc.) on vocals, but I have no idea who the rest of the band is. Is it At the Gates trying to avoid contractual obligations? Other Gbg all-stars? No clue. Either way, here's the track for you to enjoy.
Snotrocket - Escape
Blackend Records will be reissuing a couple classic Swedish metal releases in the near future. First up is the debut EP from At the Gates "Gardens of Grief" which has now been remastered and will be out on July 5. Next up is the "Metal Militia" Metallica tribute featuring all sorts of all-stars from the early/mid 90s Göteborg metal scene such as In Flames, Luciferion, Ceremonial Oath, Dark Tranquility and Snotrocket (who sound awfully similar to ATG). I haven't listened to my copy of this thing in years, but it's cool to see that it'll be available once again. That comes out July 26. They are also reissuing the Black Sun Records tribute to Sepultura. It's got your usual suspects such as Impious, Gardenian, Dimension Zero as well as Deathwitch, Swordmaster, Lord Belial, Children of Bodom and more. It comes out September 27. And that's not all, the next albums in line for reissue are the classics "The Burning" and "Eternal Death" from The Crown, from what I think were still their Crown of Thorns days. The former comes out July 5, the latter on September 9. Last, but not least, look for the reissue of "Spiritually Uncontrolled Art" from Liers in Wait. This amazing band featured Kristian Wåhlin and Hans Nilsson from Diabolique/The Great Deceiver following the breakup of pre-At the Gates band Grotesque. There were some other dudes who came and went as well and Christopher Johnsson from Therion did guest vocals on this sole recording. Good stuff. That comes out August 9. As for the future, the label says they'll be doing even more reissues this winter featuring artists like Sacrilege (SWE) and Diabolique, who have always been one of my favorites. More details when I get them.