PRIMORDIAL Frontman Issues Update On Concert DVD, Upcoming 'Spirit' Reissue

Vocalist Alan "Nemtheanga" Averill of Irish dark metal masters PRIMORDIAL has posted a lengthy update on the band's official web site. A few excerpts from his message follow below.

On PRIMORDIAL's forthcoming concert DVD, which was filmed on January 24, 2009 at the Button Factory in Dublin, Ireland:

"The DVD is very near completion. The final audio mix has arrived from Chris [Fielding; NAPALM DEATH, ELECTRIC WIZARD] at Foel [studios in Wales] and it sounds immense.

"The interviews and bonus discs are all more or less finalised.

"It's taken a little longer then we imagined but as many of you know time moves slower in PRIMORDIAL country."

On the upcoming re-release of PRIMORDIAL's 2000 album "Spirit The Earth Aflame":

"The next re-release is 'Spirit The Earth Aflame' so we are going to start working on the artwork for that very soon. The reaction to the first two re-releases has been positive.

"Like I say in the liner notes, we don't ask you to buy them again if you do have them, but they have to be out there for someone to find first time around and if only for our own piece of mind."

On PRIMORDIAL's plans for 2010:

"2010 is going to be an interesting time for the industry, as I discussed in the last blog, but we will continue as ever the way we did in 1991. Rehearsing together, standing around in a dingy room, arguing as always. Right now things sound promising.

"We are working on several new pieces of music. Too early to really give an indication of how they will sound but we want something more organic and rougher again than on 2007's 'To The Nameless Dead'. Let's see how things pan out."

On the current state of underground metal:

"I'm sitting here listening to 'Stillbirth Machine' [the 1993 album from the recently reunited Kansas black/death metal band ORDER FROM CHAOS] and thinking of the first time I heard that album. Exciting times back in the pre-Internet days when everyday could reveal a new gem in the post or a new trading compatriot. Things can, of course, never be the same as they were back in the late '80s or early '90s, but who could say that right now the underground scene isn't in rude health. Every day something new and interesting appears in the mailbox...whether it's GRIFTEGARD, DRUDKH, LORD VICAR, GRAVEYARD, WEAPON or VOMITOR. The gulf between what the underground is coming up with that is true to the original genesis and feeling of metal and what the overground is throwing out has never been starker and clearer. The lines have been well and truly drawn.

"And you know what? There is a groundswell of people moving away from the mainstream. Tired of vacuous, airbrushed pop metal who want something with teeth made by real people with integrity and honesty.

"When did metal become so full of fucking shit? Didn't the big bands in the '80s and '90s belong to us? Huge bands but making some of the most important albums of the time. SLAYER, MAIDEN, PRIEST, DEATH, POSSESSED, SODOM, KREATOR, MEGADETH... the list goes on and on from the '80s. From the '90s, we had the second wave of black metal and death metal at the head of the '90s to seminal doom and doom/death albums... MORBID ANGEL to DARKTHRONE to PARADISE LOST.

"What does the 00s give the mainstream? The horror of corseted Eurovision female-fronted pop stinking like an open sewer from every new rock alchemy dance floor nightmare you ever had, MySpace sports casual death metal for hairdressers and beer bong frat boy jock thrash.

"Where's the anger and the fucking danger? I'll tell you where. In the underground, that's where. Right under your nose and you've no excuse...it's so damn easy these days.

On his involvement with Italy's VOID OF SILENCE:

"On a personal note, it seems my contribution to VOID OF SILENCE has ended. I can only apologize to Riccardo and Ivan on one level but thank them on another. We created one incredible album in 'Human Antithesis'.

"When I think back now, it seems almost foolish to try an re-create that particular atmosphere and I must admit I simply was not feeling like I could relate to the new music like I did before. So should I simply lay down the vocals for the sake of it or move on and keep the memory as it was? I think you know the answer, although I apologize for the length of time it took to reveal itself to me."

PRIMORDIAL reissued its 1998 "Journey's End" album on September 1 in Europe via Metal Blade Records (August 29 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria). This deluxe reissue features the remastered version of "Journey's End" plus a high-quality live recording of the band's December 9, 1999 concert in Lisbon, Portugal. It comes as a double digipak package in a precious black linen slipcase with glossy golden hot foil print, containing a six-page digipak with the original artwork, the two discs and a 16-page booklet with new liner notes and additional photos.

Photo below courtesy of PRIMORDIAL's official web site.