Death Metal: A Documentary

[#454]

[Note: This DVD provides a series of interviews with various death metal artists regarding a variety of subjects. With members of bands like Immolation, Mortician, Suffocation, etc., Bill Zebub of the Grimoire 'Zine did probably his best job with this release, although it is several years old (when it was sent to me I didn't review DVDs). Some of the comic moments with Peter Steele (Carnivore) are the most entertaining, especially the beginning when the interviewer's phone rings and without breaking a beat Peter asks 'Is that your mom?' Hehe... I guess you have to see it to understand the humor. Another bit of unintentional humor is with a guy from Brutal Truth seen in the typo below. Or was it intentional? I'm not sure if this is still available?]

[Above: Advertising postcard]

[Above: Another documentary released by Bill Zebub]

[Note: 'In Vino Veritas' as the famous saying goes, 'In wine there is truth.' In ancient days it was believed that wine was originally a secret of the Gods, but it was stolen and shared with man. The ancients also believed that in moderation it would embue positive qualities like wisdom and insight, but too much of it and the opposite would be true. Indeed, drink too much of it and you'll wish you were dead and be a believer in the ancient stories-that maybe it wasn't meant for man. Well, regardless, here is one of my favorite labels I've come across over the years. 'Santino - Satyricon'.]

[Above: circa 2007)

[Above: label/art variation on different year]

[Above: Circa 2008/2010 - 'Schwarze Katz', or Black Cat. Who could resist such charming imagery?
Besides, you don't have to worry about this cat pissing in your house!]

[Note: On the topic of alcohol... There's nothing like the art of days past. Even beer cans and club soda/mineral water labels had artistic flair. These old steel cans are before my time, with their strange pull tabs and heavy duty bodies. I wonder if anyone out there remembers drinking Zodiac or North Star beer? They must have been very small breweries I would presume? (Zodiac is from Peter Hand Company, Chicaga Illinois, and North Star is from Cold Spring Brewing Company, Minnesota.) It's strange to think that 6,000 years ago they were brewing ale in Ancient Sumeria. They say that up to 50% of their grain crops were used for this purpose. One of their highest deities was a goddess of beer and fertility, her name was Ninkasi.]

[Above: The girl on the picture is meant to be the Goddess 'Psyche.' On the side of the can is a description of the Goddess, whom is seen as a goddess of Purity. Here is the description:
'Psyche was a mortal woman who became a goddess and a heroine in Greek Mythology. She was the daughter of an ancient king and was so extremely beautiful that she aroused the envy of the goddess Venus.
In an effort to eliminate this alluring rival Venus sent her son Cupid (the god of love) down to earth to make Psyche fall in love with a mortal man. Cupid instead, fell in love with her and carried Psyche back to Paradise. This infuriated Venus, who subsequently plotted to torment and possible kill Psyche by diabolically pretending to test the maiden's diligence with four seemingly impossible and dangerous tasks. Thanks to supernatural intervention, Psyche miraculously survived to eventually drink a cup of magical ambrosia (which was probably the closest thing they had to White Rock in those days) presented by Jupiter, chief of the gods and became a goddess.
The story ends in the best Hollywood tradition. Venus gave the couple her blessings and they lived happily ever after.
Over the years the Psyche image has become longer legged, slimmer hipped and streamlined. Today-when purity is so important-she continues to symbolize the constant purity of all White Rock products.']

[Below: The original painting, entitled 'Psyche at Nature's Mirror' was done by a German named Friedrich Paul Thumann (1834-1908).]

[Below: Another picture of Psyche. This masterful image is a painting on canvas from 1798 by Francois Gerard entitled 'Cupid and Psyche'. Click to enlarge.]

[Note: A friend gave us the CDs of the music project UFO Commander. It is strange, minimalistic, ambient music largely dealing with the even stranger topic of the Third Reich space/rocket projects. I can't begin to tell you about the complexity of this topic in detail, so I won't even try. I will brush the subject briefly. The fact is that many of the top people of the space/weapon projects were never found. Indeed many of them 'disappeared.' However, history does leave behind a handful of their 'fingerprints' and their colleagues' work in the well-known V-1 and V-2 rocket programs.
What is lesser known is Germany's other projects. They are steeped in legend and the occult, and much of the information today is downright speculation or lies. We do know that the Germans had extremely sophisticated scientific knowledge. They pioneered many of the technologies we use today. In fact, the Russian and American space programs were both built using captured German scientists, post-war. There is a famous quote that says something like 'There is no such thing as American or Russian space programs, they are German space programs.'
Indeed, there are many strange tales and instances and heaps of records regarding things we will never know about Germany's advanced technologies. Allied fighter and bomber pilots have reported en masse about strange lights and objects over inner Germany during the war, some of which attacked them in maneuvers even the sophisticated German jets of the time were incapable of. Objects that defied science. Some of these the American pilots nicknamed the strange 'crafts' they saw 'Foo Fighters.'

[Below: Newspapers from the time talking about 'Foo Fighters'.]

Rumors persist that the Germans were in contact with an alien race through occult means. Rumors about the famous Thule Society and the VRIL Society invoke the human imagination to distant lengths.
The internet is full of misinformation. So is the media. The fact is that we may never know the answers. We'll be stuck here holding the burned and broken pieces of a puzzle we'll never put together, because too many of the pieces are missing and too much time has passed. So we'll stand, staring up at the stars wondering, as we have done since time immemorial. The heaven's won't give up their secrets so easily.]

[Below: Alleged document blueprints of some of the German crafts.]

[Below: The beautiful 'Maria Orsitsch', the alleged head of the all female VRIL society. The internet is abound with bullshit regarding her.]

[Below: Another photograph of Orsitsch (or perhaps the same photo manipulated?). Her name is sometimes spelled 'Orsic'.]

[Below: Postcard version. Why would this secretive woman have a postcard made of herself? Seems fishy...]

[Below: Here is a version someone Photoshopped.]

[Below: A drawing of the picture above, artist unknown.]

[Below: This photo is associated with the myth of the VRIL society.]

[Below: This photo is associated with the myth of the VRIL society. Here is the original of the photo above. Note how someone has edited the hair of the model above.]

[Below: Here is an FBI document from 1957 only recently declassfied. It talks of an eye witness of a German 'UFO' type craft during WWII.]

[Below: Some bands have caught on to the allure of Vril. This is Odessa - 'Praising For His Return'. Front.]

[Below: Back.]

[Below: This is Werewolf - 'The Order of Vril'.]

[Below: Three of many DVD documentaries regarding the topic]

[Below: Here is a flyer/ordering form which even has a 'Haunebu' (the official name of some of the models of aircraft) themed shirt for sale.
In recent years the topic has entered popular myth/culture]

[Below: Stranger still is this envelope from Germany from 1967 advertising a 'UFO World Congress,' the outline of the 'flying saucer' is clearly that of the 'Haunebu' shown above. I guess the Germans forgot that their Nazi fathers made these mysterious crafts!]

[Above & below: These strange 'stamps' are known as 'fantasies', meaning no government issued these, instead some unknown person dreamed them up and put them on the market. Sometimes fantasies can cause confusion in the collecting world and even experts are unsure if they were really released or not. Mostly these cases of uncertainty are from the last days of war--due to chaos, destruction and the deteriorated conditions of the postal service.]

[Below: 'UFO's-Nazi Secret Weapons', a superb book on the subject, written by Mattern-Friedrich and published by one of the greatest publishers of all time 'Samisdat Publishers LTD.' of Toronto, Canada. This book is undated, but I think it is from the late 1970's. It has tons of rare pictures, diagrams and news clippings.]

[Above and below: front/back cover]

[Below: Rudolf Hess was still alive when this was printed. Samisdat did what they could to help free him, but Hess was eventually murdered in prison by his keepers after spending 46 years innocently imprisoned, much of those years in solitary confinement. One of the greatest tradgedies of the 20th century. Eventually the great man behind Samisdat would himself end up in prison on speech crimes. Be careful what you say in this 'free' world...]