My Lame Metal Chronology (warning: for inquiring minds only)

Hello nothingness...

I have nothing interesting to post here so I came up with this one. I know its lame. You can always put some comment on the shoutbox at the right hand side of this site, feel free to do so, hehehe, here it is...

Chummy's Cebu Metal Scene Chronology (circa 2005 to the present)

• 10/8/2005-Chummy returns to Cebu shores (fresh out of Cagayan de Oro) after a 5 year absence and the Cebu Metal Scene was forever changed for the better....yah, right, dream on stoopid.
  

• 10/9-3/17/2006-Jams with Orom and attended metal gigs as a way of supporting the scene. Fervently seeking band mates to resurrect AGNAS.
  

• 3/18/2006-Hellfest II @ BBQ.COM, Panagdait, Mabolo
  

Played as AGROM:

Chummy-Bass/Vocals
Jerry Seyer-Guitars
Rico Mediano-Drums

Playing as AGROM (Agnas and Orom combined ala Dragonball Z..hehehe...). With Elmer prematurely going abroad for work and The Fang unable to break the bonds that tied him at that time, Chummy, Jerry and Rico were forced to play impromptu without a vocalist and a 2nd axeman to complete the Orom line-up. All the set list were compromised.

Set list:
1.Greed Killing-Napalm Death
2.Contact Wait Out-Bolt Thrower
3.The Killchain-Bolt Thrower
4.And Here I Die…Satisfied-Grave

Played with BARABAS (black metal from Cagayan de Oro City)

Killoyed Dominguez-Guitar/Vocals
Monyo Pumbo-Drums
Chummy-Bass

During that 5 year absence in the Cebu Metal Scene due to Chummy being assigned to Cagayan de Oro City, he and Malaybalay, Bukidnon metallers Killoyed and Monyo (of Nativescream fame) formed BARABAS and frequently have jamming and drinking sessions at that time. CEMP included Barabas as one of the 3 guest bands outside of Cebu.

Set list:
1.Tales from the Blackened Horde-Enthroned
2.Freezing Moon-Mayhem
3.Funeral Fog-Mayhem
4.Countess Bathory-Venom

• 11/4/2006-Demonociety Anniversary gig @ Boss Grill, Gen. Maxilom, Cebu
  

Played as AGNAS:

Chummy-Bass/Vocals
Jerry Seyer-Guitars
Bluesy Kenny-Guitars
Rico Mediano-Drums

Chummy finaly convinced Jerry, Rico and new metalhead Kenny Bacaltos to join in to form AGNAS version 2.1 (Agnas version 2.0 is with original drummer Chuck who’s flesh was unavailable at that time but his spirit was always willing) and due to time constraints were forced to play a milder thrash oriented set which all the members knew how to play at an instant.

Set list:
1.South of Heaven-Slayer
2.Seasons in the Abyss-Slayer
3.Mandatory Suicide-Slayer
4.Bloodline-Slayer
5.Greed Killing-Napalm Death

• 5/19/2007-Visayan Metal Fest III @ Boss Grill, Gen. Maxilom, Cebu
  

Played as AGNAS:

Chummy-Bass/Vocals
Chuck Tomelden-Drums
Jerry Seyer-Guitars
Bluesy Kenny-Guitars

Agnas version 2.0 finally got to play and took part of one grand metal event.

Set list:
1.Judas-Grave
2.Get A Life-Gorefest
3.From Ignorance to Oblivion-Gorefest
4.Confessions of A Serial Killer-Gorefest
5.Mandatory Suicide-Slayer

Played with OROM:

Elmer Pascual-Vocals
The Fang-Guitars
Jojo the Grind-Drums
Chummy-Bass

Set list:
1.Inside the Wire-Bolt Thrower
2.The Kill Chain-Bolt Thrower
3.Saneless Theory-Benediction
4.Contact Wait Out-Bolt Thrower

• 11/7/2007-Re-recorded “Darkness Cometh” with AGNAS version 2.1 for the CEMP CD compilation. The song was written and recorded by Agnas version 1.1 (Keryll Demeterio, Nel Cellacay, Chuck Tomelden and yours truly) in 1995 at A. Salonga Recording Studio via 8 track analog recording. Due to time constraints and Agnas had no recent compositions to date, were forced yet again to just rerecord an old tune, a simple and still effective solution…hehehe...tnx to Agnas version 1.1 for letting us do so.
  

• 11/10/2007-The Reckoning gig @ Kasadja parking lot, Lahug, Cebu
  

Played as AGNAS:

Chummy-Bass/Vocals
Jerry Seyer-Guitars
Bluesy Kenny-Guitars
Rico Mediano-Drums

The launching of the CEMP CD compilation. Together with other 17 metal bands from Cebu, Bohol, Dumaguete, Bacolod and Iloilo.

Set list:
1.Contact Wait Out-Bolt Thrower
2.The Kill Chain-Bolt Thrower
3.Get A Life-Gorefest
4.From Ignorance to Oblivion-Gorefest
5.Darkness Cometh 2007-self composition

• 11/11/2007 and beyond……….
  

Due to line-up disturbances AGNAS were not able to perform during some of the gigs that were happening in Cebu (i.e. gigs like Mi Ultimo Adios, Night of the Apocalypse, Hellfest III, The Age of Plagues, 7 Angels 7 Plagues, ), though the bands’ name and logo appeared to those gigs promotions, such as flyers, posters and internet pressings and for that, behalf of the other members of the band, I’m terribly sorry and we hope to fulfill our part in the future gigs to come. Nuff said.heheheh

My Anthem for all Eternity

Thanx Sam for luring me into this darkside clip via You Tube and embedding it as a comment on my friendster..hehehehe....

StarWars has been and always will be part of my LIFE. I feel like I'm a closet Darth Vader and for some people, long, long ago in the chatroom far, far, away I've even called myself Dude Vader in honor of Starwars Main Man himself and from this clip its almost a perfect rendition of the Imperial March itself in Death/Black Metal Style. As of this moment I'm researching who's responsible for making such great music. Imperial March is the anthem that tunes around my head most of the time. Its the coolest ever.

Show and Tell: My Desktop

I've read from other blogsites and forums about people showing off what their desktop looks like even to a point of tagging their fellow blogsters to do the same. Somewhat like a chain letter type. Since nobody has tagged me into showing what my desktop looks like, I'm gonna let myself tag myself (loser me...hehehe..). Anyways, a desktop kinda reflects the user and mine's no exception. Mine is somewhat bare and devoid of shortcut icons except for the wallpaper of the good old baphomet sigil (HAIL! the Horned One of Pure Insight and Enlightment) amidst a black canvass, and the recycle bin icon which represents the abyss of final judgement and oblivion to all files and documents under my dominion forever, BWAHAHAAHHA...hehehe..hmmm..sorry about that. Nuff said.

Well, here it is...

I've finally Killed IT!!!

Hello nothingness…

Well, I finally got what I deserved. I’ve finally killed my recently purchased cellphone last 11/2/2007, a mere two weeks..tsk..tsk. My new and doomed Motorola L71. May it rest in peace…..not…hopefully, that is. I opted to return it and have it resuscitated back from the dead to the authorized cellphone shop in Manila (the one here in Cebu told me it’s a level 3 repair…meaning, he doesn’t know how to repair it and its way out of his league). Now I have to pay for the damaged done. From quotations I’ve done from various cellshops, maybe it would cost me around 1,000 to 2,000. I pray for the lesser one, obviously. I have 3 days to know diagnosis and another 3 weeks for the repairs if I give them a go ahead. WTF!! My Stupidity, redefined. Geez. A word of advice, when modding your fone, the only assurance you get is that you get things right the first time and the rest you can leave it to luck, a whole lot of it.

I have been modding (modifying) any cellphone that I happen to have at the moment. From changing the start up and boot up screens, to themes, to changing firmwares and the usual updating and what not. I just like to tinker with it and take it to the limits and see the results of what I just did and hopefully make the fone unique, apart from the rest. I just can’t help doing it, just by knowing the fact that others have done it, why can’t I? With ample amounts of forum reading and research via internet on the how to’s I would gather the courage to muster the undertaking. It’s a satisfying thing really, if one succeeds. It’s a pity to see people having expensive smartphones and multimedia phones and not make full use of its capabilities, they just do text and call and snap some naughty pictures and videos when they could do more to it. All the moddings I did were a modest success and for some reason, this time was not gonna be one of them. Tough luck. I’ve modded many a phone. My Nokia 3230, 6680 and 7710, as well as my Sony-Ericsson Z710i and my favourite to mod, my Motorola V3i and finally the doomed L71 due to my PC froze and I had to restart the s@#$ while I was flashing a new font pack to it (which is a great big NO NO and made me think if I could’ve waited a little longer and maybe it would unfreeze but too late for that now huh, wise guy) just a simple task horribly gone wrong.

And a line from a Twisted Sister song comes to mind….”coz it’s the price we gonna pay and all the games we gotta play, makes me wonder if its worth just to carry on”….nuff said Lee Snider.

A somewhat Mini-Review on Visayan Extreme Underground Vol. 1

Hey nothingness...I'm BACK!!! (yeah, like, someone would care less)

Here's a somewhat mini-review of the CEMP: Visayan Extreme Underground Volume One CD which was sold and launch last Saturday's gig at Kasadja Parking Lot, Lahug Cebu.It is sold at a cheaply reasonable price of Php 80.00, now how cool is that. It was independently produced by the CEMP horde, meaning the normalizing of the audio output and compilation was done by Rico via PC software and Me and Pat did the burning of the CDs,if memory serves me about 80 units were produced and all are sold out as I write this entry. But alas, fret not my cyber friends, you can always contact Jerry (jyrdeath@yahoo.com) or Bawit (bawit_lopez@yahoo.com) and order a copy, they're such terribly nice fellows.

So, to start things off, I'm gonna review it by track because its a various original artist thingee, like you didn't noticed huh...

Track 1-Darkness Cometh 2007 by Agnas

Instant fave of mine (its my band, geez), heheheh,,joking aside. This version we did doesn't come way off from the original back in 1995 (me, mikmik, chuck and nel), its almost a replica or re-recording of an old tune. Same vocaling antics but less powerful than before (I'm getting old at the growling bit), a little updated drumming pattern here and there, a different guitar adlib(kenny can't replicate what Promil baby Mikmik did) and it was digitally recorded unlike the analog 8 track from the original. We were pressed for time and we have no original new material so we submitted this one. Its still a kicker.

Track 2-Dipsomaniac by Astarus

These guys go way back and this song also, theyre part of Cebu's old school death metal like my band is.Heck, Glen is originally from Signos, the pillar of death metal in Cebu. So, we can here from this track oldies but goodies formula of death metal music. Its a good listen. All the essential points covered from heavy guttural vocals to twin lead adlibs and pounding drum attack. Brutal yet nostalgic.

Track 3-Plaguebearer by Comatose

Comatose is the flag bearer of the 3rd wave of deathmetal here in Cebu and with this track it is validated fairly well. It was first released via there Plaguebearer E.P. last September if I'm not mistaken.The vocals reminded me of old Brutal Truth, which is a good thing. I don't know if Moloy or Randy did the vocals, I should soon ask. LD Lee's guitar work is as always superb complementing the drum grinds. The song is somewhat leaning still to old school death metal which I can really say is what the Cebu Scene is like.Unllike Cagayan (gore and grind), Iligan and Davao (Gore and Black Metal).

Track 4-Acolytes in the Altar of Madness by Cookie Monster

This band's reputation is well known here in the visayas and it is a treat that they are part of the compilation. Unfortunate, that they could not take part in the launching last Saturday. The track reminds me of old Hypocrisy with a black metal lace to it via the keyboards and some screechy vocals thrown in from time to time. Nice touch, I'm a black metal fan myself. And they did well in doing a hybrid, blackdeath metal.

Trach 5-Jackhammer Anal Penetration by Demise

Everytime these guys play at gigs, they always end up impressing me and this song is on top of things in the compilation.They come off as Cebu's answer to Cannibal Corpse and they really know how to play theyre craft. Breakneck speed, quick, short and precise, heavy as hell. Can't wait for these guys full release. I'm a fan, can you blame me. hehehe..

Track 6-Demons Creatures by Diskomonyon

Well, I don't know these guys personally and I think I haven't seen how they play live (last Saturday they were the last ones to play at 3:00 A.M. and I already left). This track is a fusion of deathmetal vocals with a little guitar metalcore groove and drumming. Downright heavy vocals. The guitars were kinda muddled by the other instruments though, heaviness not totally achieved. Well, thats just one of those recording gripes. Its still a decent effort. A good listen too.

Track 7-Chronos by Imperial Resistance

Its black metal, as far as I know. Kinda like Darkthrone.Screechy vocals, razor sharp guitars.Its a nice addition to this compilation which consist mostly of death metal tracks. The band hails both from Cebu and Iloilo(and yes you already know that from the back cover of the CD).I haven't seen there set yet live.

Track 8-Brutal Display of Violence by Impostura

MOTHERFUCKER!!! The intro keeps popping thru my head. Really cool track. Nice recording too. Unfortunate also that I wasn't able to see there set last time. They said it was killer. I really like this track, next to track 5. Brutal indeed.

Track 9-Genocide, Fucking Genocide by Irathus

One man band mystery from Iloilo.Black metal to the bone. If you like your metal black, then this one hits it point blank.I wonder how he pulled it all off.This man must be some kinda Promil Baby like Mik-mik. As Bawit told me, Irathus identity is shrouded, he only communicates via email. It would've been cool to get to see this metal virtuoso.

Track 10-Sultera by Kasakit

Cebu's answer to Sepultura. With matching percussions and tribal drumming. Fronted by Enjun, deathmetal posterboy of Cebu who barks and wails like no tomorrow. They're brand of metal is always appreciated during gigs. Theyre a crowd favorite like Comatose and Demise attracting lots of headbangers. By the way there bassist is one cool chick.

Track 11-Souls of the Dead by Mystery ov Death

The heaviest deathmetal vocalist to date in Elmer's (Orom frontman) absence. Guttural like Incantation, like listening to it underground, literally listening to underground music.heheheeh.Kudos to the ever popular Eugene "Happy Birthday".

Track 12-Particles of Hate by Natal Cleft

If you like listening to Chimera or God Forbid or even Hatebreed type of metal then this band is for you. Metalcore. They're a band to take note. One of the bands to make the Cebu Metal Scene diverse. A good addition to this compilation, truly.

Track 13-Slayer's Day by Postmortem

This track is in the vein of trash metal. I've seen there set last time and their guitarist was so into his guitar that in almost all parts without vocals he made a guitar solo. Almost like guitar masturbation, maybe he forgot that he has a bassist and a drummer. I'm not complaining, I just don't get it. heheheh..

Track 14-Legions of Mayhem by Servorum (formerly Onslaughter)

They hail from Bacolod.The original track submitted was so muddled but Rico patch things up and this track is more palpable than the original E.P. release that they did. Pure brutal aggression in every note here especially the drum parts. Unfortunate also that they could not make it last time in the gig. It would have been cool to see them live again with matching black metal like outfits i.e. spikes, inverted cross, fake blood and a little make up.

Track 15-Shadows of the Past by Signos (defunct)

Signos is synonymous with Cebu Deathmetal Scene in the early and late nineties and there names are uttered as legends here. It is befitting to include this track which was released way back in the nineties as a tribute to them, the ones that started it all, the first wave of death metal in Cebu. Sodom Gonzalez and his horde. Shadows of the Past is to a certain point anthemic and all the elements of a great deathmetal tune are present here, its a classic, nuff said.

Track 16-Duel With the Devil by Stallions of the Burning Church

They're Cebu's answer to Iron Maiden and Dream Theater. A band to take notice. There set is by far the coolest to experience. They get better and better everytime. Progressive Metal in this part of the world. A great addition to the Cebu Metal Scene.

Track 17-Reflections by Weeping Candle

The metal masters of Bohol.The submitted track was really muddled and way to low that Rico had to enhance it via PC as much as he could muster. Its as if they recorded it live on tape. But all in all, its a great addition to the compilation making it a true visayan one all points covered.

Track 18-Hopeless by Zantilmo

Finally, the last track is from Zantilmo, one of the bands to emerge from the second wave of deathmetal here in Cebu. They're one of the old school and what is old school is cool to these jaded ears. Last Saturday's gig they played as Kundinado and not Zantilmo but still in the same vien and hope (no pun intended) Zantilmo will be back on the live set soon.

WEll, I think thats about it. Forgive my amatuerish review of sorts. Go and grad a copy and experience it for yourselves and support the Cebu Metal Scene. \m/ \m/

CEMP: The Reckoning, 11/10/2007 pics

Hello nothingness...

Just wanna post some pics of the gig last saturday. Me and the band had fun and it was a blast. Thanx to all who supported and bought the CDs. Metal is alive and well in Cebu. I'm a wee bit late in posting the events here. Been preoccuppied mostly so its only now that I found time to post things about it. But hey, here it goes...


Yours truly, still metal through all these years....hehehe...

Bluesy Kenny finger-bleeding mode...

The Horde...

Bang the head that does not bang...

Agnas in the house...

Cebu Metal Scene: Of Pride and Prejudice

Hello nothingness...

Just wanna share an article published at http://www.eksena.net/ , a website catering on the news and views of the south end of the pinoy music scene. This article was made by Erik a.k.a. Hari Skwatir from the informal interview he made with me, Jerry, Bawit of CEMP and a slew of others who happened to attend the gig last Nov. 3, 2007's "The Rise Ov the Pentagram" produced by Ozzy (Stormblast Productions).

Funny thing is I know the article is well made and many thanks to Erik for putting it together. He interviewed us and made notes and quick doodles in visayan and the article is made in english and I kinda feel that the english importations of the words and things we said on the interview were almost super emphasized, to a point flowery. I'm not complaining. I just feel funny that I can't seem to remember if I actually said some of those things, but I know it had the same thought to it, maybe it was the beer. Hehehehe..CEMP informed me last night that Sunstar Cebu would gladly publish the article tomorrow in line with the gig but only after they find a way to crunch it up their newspapers layout. The deadline was last aftertnoon. Hopefully. Anyway, heres the link...

http://www.eksena.net/main-feature/51/cebu-metal-scene-of-pride-and-prejudice/

...enjoy reading and comments are gladly appreciated here.

The Rise Ov the Pentagram, 11/3/2007 @ Zzubu

Hello nothingness...

I forgot to post this gig that I attended to last saturday organized by Ozzy Productions which featured Manila-based symphonic death band Oremus and Cebuano Fil-Am metalcore band hailing from L.A. (not sure on this) Streets of May (?) and the usual metal horde Cebu has to offer.

The Oremus set was kinda cool, made me wish I brought my digicam with me. They have two female vocalist, the sexy vampiress like was doing the growls (beat me hands down on the death growl part, mine's next to embarrasing) and she pulled it off nicely and the other sexy goth on jeans was doing the operatic female vocals to complement the other. Plus their bassist was ala Sinead O'Connor althought skinnier and more gothic-like. Way to cool band. Sadly I haven't got the dough to buy their indie release CD. I really wanted to. Now I have to find some friend of mine who happen to bought one and maybe copy.

The Streets of May or as they were formerly called Ramini (yes, from that AM radio drama program) set was so tight as usual metalcore bands do. They brought along their own amps and percussions with them along with their crew. Makes you validate that they're really veterans on their kind of music. Their's was a great set and in my opinion was the climax of the event.

During the gig I was mostly downstairs drinking and chitchat with the other CEMP hordes and I only watched the sets of the above mentioned bands and a couple of Cebu-based ones so I can really comment on the other bands that performed. But I know the gig was a success, lots of metalheads joined in and gave their support. Metals back in Cebu and hopefully for the long haul. I'm proud to be a part of it somehow, though little it may seem. \m/

Agnas version 2.1

Hello nothingness...

The band has been busy of late due to us being included in the CEMP compilation CD and gig which will be happening this saturday at Kasadja parking lot as I've mentioned in the previous post. We re-recorded an old composition for the compilation because we don't have any new material to date coz we never had time to sit and write something as a band due to our unstable drum helm. So we do covers mostly and when asked to be part of the compilation we were forced to re-record old material written by the previous members circa 1995 (Keryll Demeterio, Chuck Tomelden, Nel Cellacay and yours truly). I've already made known my intentions and permissions way back, be it in passing and just yesterday evening via text (hehehee... di bah chuck and mik?). We recorded at Edz Guitar Studios and last night mastered the copy at home via PC software and Rico doing the necessarry adjustments to the tracks and retakes were made by Jerry and Kenny on there respective guitar parts. Bless the gods for computers, imagine the possibilities one could do via home recording.

All in all, the final edit will be done today via Rico's PC and hopefully would be publishable tonight for the compilation. By the way, he will also be responsible in normalizing and finalizing the other bands tracks who will be included on the CD. So things will be hectic for him and CEMP production crew coz times running, 2 days more to go before launching gig. Hope everything goes well today. No hitches and bitches.

P.S.

Thanks to Mik-mik, Chuck and Nel for letting us re-use the composition, honestly, our version years ago was more heavy and killer (maybe due to the old school analog track recording), but hey who’s complaining, we (agnas v2.1) are a bit pressed for time now…hehehee…


Agnas returns 10/26/2006


The earliest incarnation of Agnas

My embarrasing take on Nightscourge

Hello nothingness...

Just wanna post something I did this morning. Its my terrible take on our pet project character Nightscourge. Just a rough sketch and inking on a .2 calligraphy pen. You'll be sure to notice the embarrasing colors,  these were done on photoshop. Worse thing is that my PC  monitor is somewhat fickle. It changes color tones ever now and then, I haven't had the luxury and time to have it repaired. I'm not really sure if its the right coloring to apply to this drawing coz I'm viewing it differently. Well, this adds new levels to making the roughs. Helps me make excuses for my terrible lineart. All the more reason and better judgement to letting my buddy do the lineart. Makes me think that I'd be better off doing comicbook scripting and writing than doing the actual drawing. Nuff said... Hey, comments and suggestions are always welcomed.