Being a bit of a flying Dutchman myself, this is something I couldn’t refrain from writing about. I’m sure you’ll understand.

Dutch engineers of the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR in Dutch) and The Delft University of Technology have been making a bunch of test runs in the weeks past with their PAL-V, a flying car offering room for two passengers. PAL-V stands for Personal Air and Land Vehicle and the and the nimble looking vehicle has been approved for both air and land use according the company behind it, proving not only the technical feasibility of the design, but also that it’s possible within existing – and let’s be honest, generally designed by safety fetishists – regulations.

Sniff a smelly armpit and scratch your sack. Have a sip from the dead beer you’re still holding in your hand. It’s time to rise and fuckin’ shine people. Smash play on your stereo and bust that hangover with a shot of cheap scotch and burb. Louder please. If that’s what a typical morning looks like for you, I’ll bet you’ll like Burning Hatred too.

Why so stereotypical? Well, because quite frankly my fellow Dutchmen from Burning Hatred are what you’d call the stereotypical Death Metal outfit. Couple of unfit, longhaired guys that are just a bit too old for their trade. Got stuck in time twenty years ago, judging by their fashion statement, and it’s probably the last time they saw a barbershop from the inside too. Or a razorblade. Except the drummer maybe. Drummers are the only band members that ever grow up and have kids. Two daughters probably and they pull dad a little more down into reality. It’s brilliant such stereotypes actually exist.

Why? Because it allows all those other Metalheads who’ve left their head in 1992 to stay right where they are. It’s also fantastic that these chaps can be themselves without caring a hairy rat’s arse about what anyone else thinks. It’s why I love Metal! Anyfuck, Burning Hatred isn’t even that old a band; they started in 2002, did a couple of demos and shit and then had a massive exodus of members. Four out of five members took off, leaving only guitarist Martin to pull the cart. Didn’t take long before he found himself four new band members though, and they quickly set out to do an EP, titled Unleashed, which was released in early 2011. Let’s review!

Heidevolk is definitely doing something right. Their fourth studio record Batavi is to be released next week and the record’s first video is their most professional to date. It’s received a massive load of views already. They’ve also managed to strike a deal with Napalm Records, one of the better and bigger labels in Metal.

When we interviewed one of the band’s two vocalists, Joris Boghtdrincker, last October, he explained to us the meaning behind Batavi. ”The Batavi were a tribe that came to our country around 50 BCE, and settled the area close to where we live. They encountered the mighty Roman Empire on its northernmost fringes on the mainland. By allying with them they effectively created a buffer between Rome and the Germanic tribes. They paid their taxes by supplying the Roman army with warriors, that were sent to various parts of the empire. The fighting and horse riding skills of the Batavians were famed, and they even served as bodyguards to Nero and Tiberius. Eventually they revolted against the empire. Needless to say, their story is very inspiring to us so we decided to do a concept album based on their early history.”

To stay with the current trend of Dutch Black Metal, set yesterday by Niek with Mondvolland, I present you the new video by Duister Maanlicht. It’s the first single from their upcoming album “Hoerenzonen & Heksendochters”, a name, which neatly stays in tune with the other albums put out, bearing titles like “Over Ketters, Heksen en Ander Gespuis” and “Als Zwarte Engelen Sterven”. Although in the past people concluded that Duister Maanlicht was a Christian band, regarding their pseudo-religious lyrical context. However, with the release of this video, they seemed to have put this fable to death:

Duister Maanlicht is not a christian band, even though past lyrics might have misled people. Our goal is the war against female vocals in ‘black’ metal, keyboardblack and folk-influences in black metal.

Clear words, but according to our colleagues at Mauce.nl, I’ve found a more plausible explanation for this change of heart. They mention:

Now they’re back with a whole new line-up: a new singer, a new guitarist, a new drummer and a new bass-player. They have been recording new songs for their upcoming record “Hoerenzonen & Heksendochters” . Which will be released via SneeuwStorm Produkties / Nokternal Hemizphear.

So I think the fact that they have a totally new line-up, without Heidendoder who started the band, more than makes up for this change of direction.

Mond vol land or ’Mouth full of earth’. That’s what that means in Dutch and it’s the name of a Black Metal formation from the hilly forest area called Montferland near Arnhem that, according to legend, was created by a bunch of giants. And indeed, the Dutch are tall people, so who knows, perhaps some early species did munch away on a load of sand and then shat it out somewhere on a big pile and forests started growing. It’s not impossible.

Anyfuck, back to the band, we find that it was formed in 2006 by Martijn and Mickeal, the latter also active as a session member in the Folk Metal group Heidevolk. Currently a four-piece, the band works in Dutch or Dutch dialects and its lyrical content is about the region in which it has its origins. My own roots aren’t far away and it’s an awesome fuckin’ place to sing about! Very recently the band released a three-song EP for promotional purposes that is absolutely delicious. And free too. Kudos to Islander of NCS for pointing me at this.

Sidestepping their Brutal Death Metal roots, Dutch quintet Toxocara have embraced a slightly different angle on their third album AtmosFear. Understandable, given the significant line-up change they underwent, but at least there are some remnants of the older style, now mixed in with some industrial and Tech-Death touches. Their main aims seem to be intensity and speed, both of which they achieve with much aplomb, and display a maturity that can only be gained from each of the members having his own respective bands on the side.

Ignoring the frankly strange title-track intro of children singing, the first proper track Black Widow kicks off nicely with a blazing fury of Technical Death Metal, powered by human drum-machine William Vlierman, who dominates much of the album. An echo of The Monolith Deathcult is present (logically given they share Martijn Moes as guitarist), but they also incorporate elements of Obscura in the solos from Moes and Vince Zwarts, and some tasteful melodic lines.

It’s been a while since I wrote something, but this is mainly due since we had Christmas, I had to work, we had guests over etc. A bloody busy Christmas it was for me. So just to relax, I’ll kickstart my writing with some good old Melodic Death Metal. Although this genre seemed to have somewhat bled to death for me, there are still some gems left alive, which seem to catch my attention from time to time.

One of them is Burial Earth, who are a Netherlandish band (officially abandoning the word Dutch, because it’s stupid), which arose from the ashes of Docile in 2009. In 2010 they released their first demo simply called Demo 2010.

Despite – or perhaps because – I had a 20 hour working day yesterday / this morning, I had plenty of time to listen to music. Just didn’t have any fuckin’ time to write about it, as I was wrestling 1.4 million line Excel docs and PowerPoint files with way too much fuckin’ bullcrap. That wasn’t particularly fun, but one of the main things that kept me going until 4:30 a.m. was fellow Dutch national Christian Olde Wolbers, with his both chugging and catchy jamming which I’d like to share today.

If his name strikes you as familiar, that’s perhaps because he’s been a long but no longer standing member of American Industrial Metal formation Fear Factory, on both bass and guitar duties. On top of that he has worked with Mnemic, Threat Signal, Devin Townsend, God Forbid and many more. Currently he’s involved in Arkaea and Beowülf and he’s the CEO of his own company in goalkeeper’s gloves, Aviata Sports. Summarizing, you could say he’s a busy man.

[Important note: If you think you're having a deja-vu, you're right. We already published this before. However, Joris has agreed to answer an additional batch of questions, following on his earlier answers. We've just updated the interview with this additional content, in which we talked about Batavi, the band's upcoming album. So, if you've already read it, read it again! And yes, what Joris says about trains going to 'the Achterhoek' is true. As a native 'Achterhoeker' I know this from experience.]

You may remember from a while ago that we discussed Heidevolk, a Folk Metal band from my homeland. Specifically we introduced you to the song Nehalennia, found on Uit Oude Grond, the band’s March 2010 released album and their latest to date.

Smart fucker that I am it gave me the idea to contact the band and shoot them some questions. One of two vocalists, Joris Boghtdrincker (Joris “Drinker of Plunk”) replied with some mighty elaborate and interesting answers. We spoke about their roots and motivation, why they sing in Dutch and as a thick juicy cherry on top Joris mentioned the recording stage of their upcoming record, Batavi, is coming to a close.

Admittedly I took this news from NCS (bottom of the post). Shame on me, as a Dutchman and as someone originally from Gelderland, where the Saxons rule, drink beer and rape your women. I should have my skull split by a huge fuckin’ axe, I know.

Folk / Pagan outfit Heidevolk – meaning Heath Folk or Heath People – sings about the history of Gelderland, the region that’s now one of the twelve Dutch provinces, and which was full of tough motherfuckers in (pre-)medieval times. Their stuff is covered with a sauce of ancient Germanic mythology and serves it up in a superbly heroic fashion. The “news” is that they have an album out since we last dealt with with at The Baboon. It’s called Uit Oude Grond (From Old Soil) and came out in March of 2010… Someone bash me with a warhammer please.

Anyfuck, they did a music video for the album’s opening song and that’s what we found at NCS and would like to pass on after the jump.