Fast forward to crimson frost, pt. 1
posted on 12 May 2006 under category History
Last time I discussed this album I left off in the Spring/Summer of 2001, when I was at the point of trying to decide whether to proceed with the fractured, unfocused mess that Crimson Frost was shaping up to be, or whether to press on instead with that damn “Doom Metal” album that had been bugging me for years at that point. As you all know, I was farther along with the doom stuff and so decided to press onward with what would become Monolith to an Abandoned Past, figuring that once that last hurdle was out of the way I’d have nothing set in stone in front of me and could do whatever I want - and being thus unfettered would somehow magically inspire me to get something coherent for Crimson Frost together… 2002 ended up being very unproductive for me, musically; I got one cover song for a Beherit tribute done. I was in the formative stages of Death Beast; I was putting more work into finding bands (mainly UGBM) for UHR; I was really starting up the distro, and then starting BWV. This bled over into 2003, where I got next to nothing done - just the music for one Countess cover for a tribute. Even at the time it was obvious that I was floundering, and then rationalizing it by saying “look at how much OTHER stuff I’m getting done, though…”.
And all through it, every time I tried to pick up that guitar and try to tinker with those little black metal song ideas I had, I’d still get nowhere. But that’s where Aerik came in.
I met Aerik when I became aware of Black Moon Rising and when Aerik became aware of UHR. He appreciated my independent approach to music releases and I liked his raw, swaggering black-n-roll musical stylings and the fact that he didn’t let anyone’s pre-misconceptions about him affect him in the slightest. It was during that 2002-2003 era that UHR signed BMR and we worked out a couple of releases. Aerik was also a big, vocal fan of Rampage, and eventually I confided in him about what I had been through musically. Fortunately, Aerik was sympathetic to my plight and kept suggesting things I try to get out of my rut.
His biggest suggestion never really got voiced, though - nevertheless, I suspected what it was.
I don’t remember how, but I remember almost exactly when - it was December 2003, when I was in the midst of realizing it had been 25 months since a proper Rampage release and nothing was in the hopper. Over the past few months in talking to Aerik I had cleared my head about how my heart really wasn’t into just churning out some black-metal-styled stuff under the Rampage banner, which initially left me completely dumbfounded as to what I should do next. If not that damn black metal album, I had nothing…
…except, of course, someone right there waiting for me to ask him to join the band. In talking, we both realized that we were both talking as if we were each collaborating on what Rampage should be. He always appreciated my musical (instrumental and recording) abilities, and I thought he had a great voice and a unique viewpoint and ability when it came to lyric writing. It just popped out one day that Aerik should sing for Rampage, and that was that.
That led to him agreeing, first, to do the vocals for that Countess cover, and then to everything on the next release, for which he had given me a lot of lyrics.
Another thing I had to get used to was the pace increase. Aerik is a big fan of EPs and shorter albums, because you get the emotion on tape and out there before you have too much time to think about and second-guess it. We talked really quickly and spun out ideas for what would become Displeasures of the Flesh, and it went from figment of the imagination to completed disc in about 3 months. While only one song was truly new, it was the process, and the statement it made about what Rampage is and where it was going, that was the main point behind it, and the fact that it was so well-received was just icing on the cake.
(That one release really changed the way I think about Rampage, but I’ll cover that in detail when I get to covering the Displeasures… EP on this blog.)
Anyway, over the next year, we talked about other ideas, worked on our own projects, but confident that Rampage was now stable, focused, and moving forward. Personally, I was also relieved that my ‘writer’s block’ was gone and invigorated by the forward momentum. Aerik even commented to me once how he felt that he saved Rampage ‘from a career-ending album’, referring to my horribly unfocused attempts to bring Crimson Frost to life. Which is why I thought it weird at first when, towards the end of 2004, he said “Dude, I have a great idea for a new release - CRIMSON FROST.”
To Be Continued…
(It’s a shame we got together at the wrong time, because my time increased just as his decreased, and then the reverse happened. I’m still happy with what we got done together, of course - I just wish I knew at the time that we had a limited window for work and I’d have laid more of this other stuff aside.
Oh well - live and learn.)