Locrian made three New England stops on their current tour making The Alchemy in Providence RI the first up on the list with support from the Cleveland-based composer High Aura’d and A Monolithic Dome featuring members of Elizabeth Colour Wheel of Boston I went into the show kind of blind since I had only been asked to review it maybe 48 hours previous and had no previous knowledge of either of the supporting bands When A Monolithic Dome began at first they had me confused I couldn’t really make heads or tails of what the heck they were up to but by the second song they completely hooked me The only way I could put it into words was to call it freeform experimental sludge and yeah I hate that I just put those descriptors together too so don’t worry Trust me though it would make sense if you were there The riffs were akin to some kind of dirty sludge not unlike something you would hear on the first few albums by (the) Melvins They just land in all the right places and make you grit your teeth and leers by the singer who looked as if at any moment they might break something or punch someone in the face and a drummer who must have had a fight with his drums and was trying to teach them a lesson pure emotion being tenuously held back just by a hair and it felt that at any moment things would just explode then sampled voices brought flashes of a conversation I had with a friend but none of these thoughts kept my attention for long Now this isn’t to say that what I was hearing was like some meditation tape It was simply enjoyable but it was still interesting and kept my attention Locrian is a band I had not kept up with for a very long time I had heard there was a new album (End Terrain The three-piece took the stage with the drummer and screen behind him covered with a digital projection of distorted images and lines The singer  went from ferocious screams to soft vocals all the while producing powerful drones and noise from the synthesizers The root of the music still held a lot of what I remember the band to be about a long time ago but now the music has more of a simplistic quality to it The small crowd enjoyed it all and there were even a couple of “kids” kind of head-banging a bit Their presence on stage was very energetic and the projection added visual noise that was appropriate and complimentary If it was at a bigger venue with massive sound I can only imagine how they would make the walls rattle and black metal wonders Locrian are on tour right now The band decided they wanted to give some of our readers a glimpse into what it looks like when a band like Locrian goes on tour so they wrote up a handful of tour diaries about their time on the road and allow yourself to live vicariously through the band’s adventures It has been many years since we played in Providence technically outside of Providence at Machines with Magnets but we were looking forward to this show because we were picking up the support for the next two nights the new trio out of Elizabeth Color Wheel and our old friend High Aura’d even providing for us some nice local beers and a special request for a nice rye whiskey They even went and dug up a video projector for our visuals and met back up with A Monolithic Dome and John A Monolithic Dome started the night with a blast of sludgy intensity almost like if Eyehategod was on 625 Thrash or something It was a nice surprise from their previous band High Aura’d was beautiful and haunting with samples and processed guitars reverberating through out the set with some room between movements to improvise and take breaths One of the best reconnections was with perhaps one of the most important photographers in America who did the cover for our album The Clearing and it was so exciting to see him and catch up about work I’m reading a few books on tour because I cannot just read one a magical realistic novel by Mario Andrade that is trippy and effecting my dreams with its plays on scale Being on tour is like an ADHD nightmare; you’re constantly responsible for so many things It’s easy to forget something that needs to be done or that needs to be remembered; where you plugged in your charger Where is that cable you lent to the opener I often wake up thinking of things I need to do when I get home check on the van and try and get more sleep Literally every band we know said it’s awful I’m already predisposed to dislike it because of its horrible baseball team this is not OB’Briens itself;everyone there was delightful but Boston as a town for bands is either house shows or massive venues we couldn’t even hope to fill unless we were supporting someone spending the day hanging out in Salem was perfect for our sanity and to gird us for what was to come We visited the Satanic Temple (pretty clowny—kind of like a Spirit Halloween for pentagrams) ate some clams by the water and found an amazing brewery called Notch that had no IPAs – which was heaven Boston is the first city we have never played on this tour 15 years ago to play a noise fest but couldn’t make it work—ironically at O’Briens this was one we had no idea what it would be like outside of what our friends in town told us—which was pretty bleak A Monolithic Dome and High Aura’d were already there; they knew the sound person and the bartender and door person at O’Briens were very kind and upfront But it’s a no frills (no projector) venue—no lights—so it was definitely a head-down and get it done set for us But we had fun and played well for our new friends met a few online fans which is always nice to put faces to the avatars A Monolithic Dome slayed,;High Aura’d lowered the temperature Saw a few of the Have a Nice Life band at the show which was heartening It was nice to play with friends for two nights in a row and have a crew at your back while not in your home town Had a late night falafel down the street from the venue that was pretty killer The other book I am reading on this tour is Jeff Sharlet’s The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War and I was haunted by some of the scenes in the book as we pulled into the sprawling multi-level Motel 6 complex in New Hampshire at 2 a.m The parking lot full of oversized trucks and work vans condensing in the night Families living out of pizza boxes in the hallway the formerly busy parking full of work vehicles and oversize pick-up trucks was empty once surrounded by other vehicles and vans it felt as if we missed something—a rapture of people on a very different schedule than our group of musicians We had to get some equipment repaired and purchased for the show in Portland followed by some good coffee we hit the city found some parking ME did not disappoint; Andre met a woman walking her pig multiple interesting record shops lined the streets and all was right with the world Even the over-crowded touristy harbor area was entertaining a fish market full of oysters lobsters and clams and we found a restaurant with good chowder Geno’s Rock Club is a former porn theatre with perhaps the most interesting set up of any venue we’d been in the floor was slanted toward the stage where once seats probably stood The stage was essentially a tapered box containing the band There was also an epic large projector—perfect for our visuals—and a good sound system This show was probably the biggest surprise John at Contemn Light worked really hard to put together a good diverse bill and there was quite a very solid and engaged turnout First up was Ichorclaw who backed by the more disturbing visuals from Mad God played a haunting synth/noise set that would be home to a classic on Chondritic Sound Imipolex played a dissonant grind with interesting time signatures and atonality that was pretty complex a big black metal trio with a lot of good build ups and atmosphere For our set it felt really solid in the void of our static projections We hung out for a while at the venue and talked to a lot of friends and fans before we went over to our hotel knowing we needed to get some rest before the long drive to Montreal the next morning We work up early to get on the road to Montreal mainly to give ourselves time to cross the border but we picked a small crossing—though we didn’t know how small it would be The drive was beautiful cutting through Maine Dixville Notch) and then to Vermont before the tiny two-lane border crossing it has been almost a decade since we last played in Canada and we know that the crossing has changed since then Both the venues and agents not only disagreed with what was needed to cross with less hassle and the tattooed guard although patient with us realizing counting every shirt and CD would slow down the day and he let us go and wished us a good show After we passed the infamous Starliner Towers The city was covered in flies absorbed in a wind of putrid trash The flies would cover the graffiti on the outdoor walls at Foufounes Electriques shifting in the rotten breeze and suffocating heat We loaded in stepping on carpets of maggots the writhed in the streets This show was our only opener was a special collaborative performance from our long-time friend Eric and his droney guitar project Thisquietarmy with absolute drumming legend Away from Voivod I grew up on Killing Technology” and have seen Voivod multiple times but also know that Away is a restless and creative musician making albums of field-recordings and epic thrash Their set was a gorgeous combination of abstract guitar walls and layers of drums that would mutate in complexity before themselves becoming part of the scree Our set worke;  the crowd was way up with us right at the edge of the stage and very receptive since even though the stage plot was sent over months ago the line of text was corrupted delaying any visuals We hung out for a while at the backyard bar Ate poutine before driving to Eric’s apartment in the Quartier International I watched people stumbling through the vacant streets glimmering their iridescent bodies under the strobing street lamps We slowed down to hear it cry: “They Came from Within.” clogging all of the evacuation routes slowing traffic to a crawl in any last hope to escape the buzzing clouds of insects Every Tim Horton’s was a scene of chaos and horror—Fist fights broke out as everyone tried to escape the oncoming trash war of Montreal Montreal lay beneath a gray halo of flies who had conquered the abandoned city crawling amongst the abandoned campers and extending our trip hours We tend to only drive six hours maximum between shows so having a five-and-a-half-hour drive extend past seven hours was pushing our resolve Some said that it was the fear of the oncoming trash war others said it was the impending invasion of flies the manager of the venue said it was the tempting retreats to cottages at pristine lakes far away from the cities in a provence-wide avoidance of art Eric from Thisquietarmy had acquired a projector for this show Thisquietarmy played a beautiful set of drifting guitar and synth with heavy beats We performed for a small group of survivors and met a few friends who had fought to make it to the venue before we barricaded the doors from the oncoming deluge After we loaded out among the throng of mutant partiers we found Pinata Tacos before beginning our evacuation out of Toronto and into the darkened night Issue 73 featuring Pinhead Gunpowder is available now This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website  Learn more The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) has authorized the devotion linked to the Italian shrine of the "Madonna dello Scoglio" — Our Lady of the Rock — located in Santa Domenica di Placanica The Calabrian diocese of Locri-Gerace made the announcement on July 16 In less than a month, this is the fourth case of apparitions on which the dicastery has officially pronounced itself, since the new norms for investigating supernatural phenomena came into force In a letter dated July 5 and ratified by Pope Francis confirms the nihil obstat pronounced by Bishop Francesco Oliva The Catholic faithful are therefore authorized to make pilgrimages to the shrine and hold spiritual events there Devotion to Our Lady of the Rock was born on the spot where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared in 1968; she asked an 18-year-old peasant boy The former bishop of Locri-Gerace officially recognized this devotion in 2008 to the status of "diocesan shrine" in 2016 Cosimo Fragomeni joined the Franciscan Third Order and now leads the life of a hermit In line with the new norms issued on May 17 for the study of supernatural phenomena in the Catholic Church — apparitions — Bishop Francesco Oliva has asked the DDF to give its opinion it’s up to the former “Holy Office” to give final approval after the diocesan investigation The DDF agrees with the bishop's "positive report.” "No critical or risky elements have emerged [...] there are signs of grace and spiritual conversion," notes the prefect declare "whether the events relating to the spiritual experience in question were supernatural or not.” Nor does it imply "any judgment — either positive or negative — on the lives of the persons involved in this case," the letter states The dicastery recommends that the bishop exercise "constant vigilance so that there may be no manipulation of persons or serious doctrinal errors that could cause scandal or undermine the credibility of the Church." A decree published on the diocesan website allows the faithful to adhere to the devotion of Our Lady of the Rock "with caution," specifying that they "are not obliged to believe in it." Supernatural phenomena even those recognized by the Church and universally popular it declared that the “Lady of All Nations" Marian apparitions were not of supernatural origin Articles like these are sponsored free for every Catholic through the support of generous readers just like you Please make a tax-deductible donation today Help us continue to bring the Gospel to people everywhere through uplifting Catholic news You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed The new book tells the story of a group of pacifists who come together in 1963 to build a bridge across a valley in Locri an area notorious for the ‘Ndrangheta mafia The touch paper is lit when one of the volunteers who has been having affairs with two of the volunteers Has she been murdered or kidnapped for ransom This question remains unanswered for 60 years face the challenges of life in their own countries each badly affected by Isabella’s disappearance The Bridge at Locri is both a mystery and a social history of our times At the London launch our own talented Colin Miller shot a video of the London launch the interview with Mark conducted with a great deal of professionalism by Debroah Arthurs At the London launch Angela provided telling insights into the beautiful region of Calabria The only real element of truth is that Mark was a volunteer at the workcamp in Locri in 1963 and rediscovered the bridge The rest of the book is pure invention and fiction The first time I clapped eyes on Isabella she was pushing a wheelbarrow full of concrete and shouting profanities at Maestro Pedro “Questa è merda!” she exclaimed before switching to flawless English There’s too much water in the mix and not enough sand.” She banged on the wheelbarrow Whether Maestro Pedro completely understood her was not clear Isabella started to push the wheelbarrow for several yards before tipping its contents into an excavated area which would form part of the approach to the bridge Isabella was one of those people you see once and never forget completely at odds with her current environment She was the epitome of classical beauty with a tanned face of perfect symmetry Despite the heat and the dust not a hair seemed out of place late afternoon sun with a sense of bewilderment and fun Despite her glamorous appearance she was obviously well able to push a wheelbarrow around To say that Isabella made an immediate impression on me is a complete understatement It was like being hit by a tidal wave of possibility a country boy straight out of boarding school confronting for the first time the most extraordinary woman I had ever seen It is simply not true to say that people do not fall in love at first sight I was captivated in a way that I’d never imagined I hope you have brought your bloody tea with you She did not wait for an answer before turning to her more heavily built and shirtless companion The rest of us are a bunch of amateurs trying to work it out.” “What’s birra got to do with it?” she asked except you said that we English only think about tea You are a bit ‘forward’ — I think that’s the word — for a young boy You come to Calabria and the first thing you ask for is a beer but let’s say that I am six years more grown up than you.” I studied English at university in Rome and spent a few months in your cold and wet country in a place near London called Bromley.” but I come from a small town called Castle Cary in deepest Somerset.” with a good attempt at mimicking the accent “You seem to have a much better grasp of England than I do.” but I went on holiday for two weeks in Wells — what a lovely cathedral — so I know a tiny bit about your county And I had an English friend who came from Shepton Mallet in Somerset and I stayed with her and her family on one or two occasions and they would take me to the pub to drink cider This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Release date: April 5, 2024 | Profound Lore Records | Bandcamp | Facebook The garbage and waste of humanity blows across highways crumbling in disuse only showing through in streaks of sickly gold and brown Buildings flake paint and concrete like the last pollen desperately fleeing a wilting flower slowly dwindling and growing increasingly resentful of itself there’s a catharsis in knowing that end is near the world will persevere and even flourish in man’s absence and it is one perfectly conjured up by End Terrain Locrian is a band I have a strong but incomplete appreciation for There’s still a number of their albums I need to try out in general and the recent New Catastrophism was a great album I didn’t give enough time But their 2015 album Infinite Dissolution still stands out as one of the best experimental rock albums I’ve ever stumbled across and synth with a bleak subtext of black metal made for a thoroughly arresting listen that has yet to lose its shine when Locrian announced End Terrain as a proper follow up to that specific album Locrian decided this time to craft an album that is much more song-oriented The extended builds of past works are still there some of the songs here are actually downright catchy in their own way and that was never a phrase I would have applied to Locrian in the past the songwriting here tends to be more dense with active than the band has shown before with complex musicianship taking a bigger lead Songs like “Chronoscapes” and “Excarnated Light” in particular feature guitar lines that would almost call to mind math rock There is No World” repeatedly stops and reboots its intensity with start-stop approaches in the back half that demand the listener’s attention Add to that the bipartite structures of “Utopias” and “Black Prisms of Our Dead Age” and the ambient drone of “Umwelt” and “Innenwelt” I daresay the biggest wow factor that End Terrain has going for it is how well every approach the use bolsters the apocalyptic yet soothing atmosphere that ties the album as a whole together be it during the synth fanfare of “Utopias” evoking drab cityscapes the aching despair in the soaring guitar lines of “The World is Gone or the way in which “Black Prisms of Our Dead Age” weaponizes its surprisingly stoner rock mood to paint pictures of barren wastelands “Excarnate Light” and “Chronoscapes” are drenched in a longing bittersweet radiance of synth and driving guitars feeling like acceptance of the approaching end And the way the electronic throb and stabs of feedback that drive “In the Throes of Petrification” dies out to be replace by the surprisingly bright uplifting feeling of “After Extinction” is an emotional punch in the gut and there’s not a moment wasted or out of place to puncture the feeling Locrian has crafted here the performances of the band are pristine throughout The guitar textures in particular are a stand out with multiple earworm riffs woven into many songs while leads redolent of post-rock constantly tug on the heartstrings whether emerging as regal centerpieces of the songwriting or just as an electronic haze breathing life into the rest of the song The drumming is consistently tasteful and impressive and the vocals are absolutely harrowing in true black metal fashion (besides the more hushed melodic singing in the back half of “Utopias”) some part of End Terrain shines brighter and hits harder It’s hard to not just give over to hyperbole Locrian already proved themselves as an excellent band but the sheer catharsis that this album evokes just leaves me stunned and I don’t anticipate many albums hitting me harder this year Time will tell if this actually does end up my favorite Locrian album since I do have some older albums to visit it’s an excellent one they should be proud of I don’t foresee any way this won’t end up somewhere on my AOTY list come December They set out to write a soundtrack to a slow apocalypse and End Terrain damn well succeeds in the finest fashion there’s a comfort in embracing the end despite the pain and website in this browser for the next time I comment Everything Is Noise is here to bring you music that you connect with accessible space to discuss this music in a open-minded community of fans and creators The Everything Is Noise-Newsletter is currently in maintenance Restaurant Quest: Locri Pizzeria in Davisburg MI – Locri Pizzeria on Dixie Highway in Davisburg has the kind of pizza with nice soft dough thick mozzarella cheese that leaves strings when you pull a piece up Locri Pizzeria is located at 10785 Dixie Highway in Davisburg. See their full menu and order easily online at https://locripizzeria.com/ Do you have a suggestion for our OAKLAND COUNTY RESTAURANT QUEST? Join in the conversation on Facebook and leave your recommendations For a city by city list of all reviews  Click HERE. the project is defined by its dramatic roof canopy that features seven peaks — the tallest of which is crowned with a cross positioned in north-west corner of the plot the place of worship is surrounded by a churchyard that allows the building to be seen with great visibility francesco lipari, who founded OFL architecture in 2009 designed the church as a place of ‘moral integration and of hospitality’ where parishioners and the broader community are invited to come together positioned in the north-west corner of the plot the building enters into a dialogue with its context the form of the roof canopy also ensures a degree of thermal comfort with calabria’s temperate climate considered throughout in order to preserve the purity of the design all structural elements are contained within the cladding and continuous façades a system of steel arches and pillars supports the roof canopy while a perimeter ring acts as bracing that stabilizes the entire building enters through the canopy ensuring a consistent level of illumination lining made of fir wood and sound-absorbing surfaces ensure good acoustic performance name: new church san giovanni bosco padre e maestro dei giovani author: francesco lipari (OFL architecture) artist: davide holz liturgist: padre luciano calabrese consultants: arup italia srl (structures giorgio butturini (lighting) video: gabro nicolosi animation: alberto iacona render: francesco lipari location: locri italy client: locri parish church area: 650 sqm / 7,000 sqf year: 2019 result: second place AXOR presents three bathroom concepts that are not merely places of function but destinations in themselves — sanctuaries of style you should use all the creative parts of that studio; it's an instrument in and of itself" - Terence Hannum Take a scroll through the Spotify playlist that Locrian has assembled to accompany their new album Some of the music that was on their mind during the creation of the record might surprise you but the band has been pushing musical boundaries while drawing from that deep well of inspiration since their 2005 inception Each record has been an exercise in experimentation—some droney some more song-oriented—but over the course of their existence the group has continually made an effort to create interesting engaging music that avoids simple classification Locrian has recorded what is arguably their strongest material to date Combining the atmospherics of their early albums with the crushing weight of their more metal recordings drone and ambient music all pour through with layers of electronics synths and guitars entombing the pounding rhythms The record tells a story—sonically through its dynamic ups and downs; lyrically through its Science Fiction-influenced theme which speaks of a tattered Earth torn apart through generations of neglect but the tightly structured songs and experimental nature make it the three-piece's most approachable—and perhaps most ambitious—record yet With the release of End Terrain on the horizon Terence Hannum) took the time to speak to us about the record I've read that some of these songs go back quite a few years when did this material actually start to take form Terence: We had quite a long break after our last tour and essentially some of these things began roughly around that time We would meet up and practice and work on new ideas and demo it for ourselves I think that really put a little pause on everything As soon as we started being able to go back we decided to do New Catastrophism instead I think we also knew it was going to take a little bit more time with these songs to plan and compose so I think that some of them are seven years old—from like a rough jam that we had around an idea to where it is on the album Was New Castrophism sort of a way to dip your toes back in the water after the pandemic we had ideas that would eventually become End Terrain Then everything that happened—we couldn't get into a studio Just about everybody couldn't get into a studio So then when the opportunity came up we were like we should just go in and record something that it is a throwback to early Locrian days but also something like a soundtrack or a mood for what was going on in the world at that particular point "Who's going first?" Someone would do something and then another person would be like I got an idea and I'll put something on top of it." So we just did that for a couple days and we had some studio time booked; Steven showed up and forgot his drums Terence: [Laughs] There are drums on that record there'd be this minimal ambient record with a maximalist End Terrain—what would become End Terrain We knew there was going to be this mirror opposite inversion that we wanted to do that was going to be much more song-structured But it was nice to get in the studio and dip our toes back in and definitely nod to our older fans who'd been around for a while even when we were recording we were talking about End Terrain or the tracks that would become these songs It was in our minds and we were talking about what the next thing would be Steven: We knew that we wanted to do a follow up to Infinite Dissolution but we took it a little bit farther with End Terrain There's a little more going on than I would say any of our other records.  The songs are more dynamic and tightly structured Was there a conscious idea of writing in this style We wanted something that was the complete opposite of New Catastrophism and we wanted to push it and create something that had structure which is a word we apparently tend to overuse [laughs] some of these ideas go back to like 2016 that we've had recorded Even recorded just on an iPhone; just room recordings of like André playing a riff or André and I or Terence—just like little sound snippets tons of ideas that we could just go in and pull There was a lot of improv that went on in the studio as well with this one but there was quite a bit that we just created right there let's just play for ten minutes and be like You all live in different areas of the country now How do you guys write this material being so spread out André was closer to me for the summer and we spent lots of weekends just hammering out where things would be and then we'd send them to Steven and he'd give us some ideas and feedback “We're going to do some kind of noise part as a break here and then we're going to return back to the idea.” I was recording it in my basement or whatever and I would take a snippet and just copy it and we would make little structures about what we would do in the studio We knew we wanted things to be a little more concise compared to New Catastrophism or Ghost Frontiers and I think it really helped us having a map before we went in the studio—even more so than Return to Annihilation or Infinite Dissolution We probably spent more time composing and structuring and having these discussions over emails and Zoom we shouldn't play this this many times; it should be shorter briefer; we should get to it a little bit faster or extend this part Steven: I think we also wanted to show some of our influences a little bit more in this record as well I don't listen to a whole lot of metal—I do but it's mostly older shit like old thrash and some early death metal So we wanted little snippets of that to be in this record If it's a thrash part or a death metal part You would think that something like that could just be a mess you guys went and kind of took the mystery out of it all by posting a Spotify playlist of the stuff that influenced you for End Terrain but can each of you talk about what you were listening to at the time that you think comes through Terence: You didn't pick up on the Grauzone I think there were specific things like M83 and how full and cinematic it is but also I really love that Oregon death metal band Cerebral Rot He has these pitch-shifted guitar solos that I think are really weird and I like the death metal resurgence that's happening I got to see them a few times and I think they're really great but I like that they're trying to do something different and I think that really translates I think I was listening to more early Earache stuff like the first couple Pitchshifter records which is members of Naplam Death and Obituary doing a weird industrial thing I had never heard that until I listened to the playlist Steven: I think it needs a proper reissue because I think it's CD or cassette or digital and I think at the time I was listening to a lot of [The] Cure That's just skimming the top; I listened to a lot of shit It was a whole couple weeks with no Taylor Swift [laughs] André: That playlist was a lot of tracks but we're going to keep adding to them I only put a little kernel of what I was thinking of when we were recording If I were to pick out one of the tracks—the track from Catherine which was this really great Chicago-based shoegaze band that my buddy Neil [Jendon] played in in the early 90s The guitar playing on that track is really cool; they have like three guitar players They released a few really cool albums that I recommend checking out if anyone has the opportunity Other things that I was listening to were like—even on "Chronoscapes," the first track on our album, we were in the studio and we needed a riff so I was like I'll do a fucked up Obituary riff. I wrote this riff that when I listen back to it reminds me of what I would have played in the early 2000s in Break of Dawn The way that I sequenced the guitar playing would have been how I approached it in the early 2000s In Break of Dawn there were two guitar players and that afforded us the opportunity to do different harmonies and stuff and if you listen to "Chronoscapes," it's the only mosh part and then I did this weird modulated delay effect as the second guitar part over that base level part I think with the weird synthesizers and Terence's death metal vocals it turned out really cool the track "Excarnate Light," we started writing that in 2014 in Chicago and at the time I was listening to a lot of Lungfish and a lot of Keith Levene from Public Image Ltd He's just one of the most underrated guitar players in the last 40 years He was like a roadie for Yes and essentially he would warm up and couldn't really play the Yes parts when he would warm up for Steve Howe so he came up with this really interesting style of repetitive guitar playing that I've found to be very influential in how I thought about the music on this album The guitar part for "Excarnate Light" totally morphed into this Eddie Van Halen kind of thing but a repetitive form of Eddie Van Halen with a bunch of delay on it So I would harken back to Lungfish and Keith Levene When I listen to Lungfish I hear Keith Levene's repetitive arpeggios.   André touched on something interesting with that modulated guitar There are tons of layers and sometimes it's difficult to discern what is a guitar and what is a synth There are all these weird tones across the album writing this with as many layers and tracks we wanted it to be like—there's a few breaks Of course I was there so I knew what was the synth or the guitar but I love that we really filled the space sonically where there's just so many different tracks of things I think each track is probably like four to five synth parts Some are atmospheric and some riffs and some harmonies Live it's going to be great to figure that one out André will have an idea and then have another idea and we'll be like How much of a song is written before hand and how much comes together in the studio but still required a lot of massaging in the studio By massaging it was basically us listening back to a base track Terence: And having [producer] J Robbins there “Maybe it should go like this.” Just having that fourth person there that we trusted hearing the idea and seeing the big picture when we're focusing on this tiny moment or vice-versa; we'd be focusing on the big thing and he'd be like "This little thing needs a little bit of work." That did help "After Extinction," the first minute and a half we started it out being instrumental and then we listened back and Terence added some vocals in this new way that he hasn't really done on other records You can understand the lyrics; it's kind of whispered I think for us there's a degree of nimbleness that we can benefit from in the studio because there's only three of us and we're proficient enough at our different instruments and we can pretty effortlessly pull things off.  I used to record with Break of Dawn in Lockport [New York] with Doug Watchmen [Doug White of Watchmen Studios] and it would kind of stink because Lethargy was one of my favorite bands but they would practice down the hallway from Break of Dawn and they would go into Watchmen studios all the time—Lethargy are two of the guys from Mastodon—and they were super technical and I'd go in the studio with my band and Doug would play us new Lethargy tracks "They just came into the studio and they played this four-minute track flawlessly; didn't have to do any overdubs or anything." And we'd always be like I wish that was us." We'd always be practicing all the time and there'd be flubs everywhere our music is not usually very complicated in certain ways I think it might have stressed him out that we'd be like we've got four days in a studio and we need to do most of an album." But then after he experienced working with us—we can work pretty quickly because of our instrumentation and our nimble size Terence: This record we probably had 60-70 percent of each track that was maybe on its way and then we got in the studio and honed it a little bit more Steven: We also did create a few of the tracks right out of the blue in the studio.  With all of the stuff going on in the songs is there ever a concern of it translating into a live environment Terence: That's kind of how it's always been for us I think André brought up a good point because to me what we hear in our heads and how we express them in the studio "This will be interesting live; how am I going to do this thing?" But it's the record Maybe if we were a band that was more road-warriors that really had to think about that So the studio has been to us an instrument It is a documentation of what you're making You're overdubbing and you're having crazy weird effects that you wouldn't normally have I want you to put it on and get into this mood and this atmosphere and this experience and I think the expectations are different It's funny because I used to feel that way like André said about Lethargy—no overdubs Why do you have to be in this fancy studio That's why you have ProTools; you can have 100 guitar tracks you should use all the creative parts of that studio; it's an instrument in and of itself.  Steven: We can't take the studio with us on tour André mentioned not being incredibly complicated but there is definitely an element of complexity that isn't as up front I think "Utopias" starts in 3/4 and then very smoothly shifts into 5/8 Stuff like that sort of slips under the radar Is it a conscious effort or something that just has the right feel I remember reading old interviews with Soundgarden where they talked about not realizing a riff they wrote was in an odd time signature until they started to put the song together.  Terence: That was my favorite beat on the record The beat that happens there is really cool Steven: It's the first thing that came into my head André: One of the new things on this record is that we're expanding more into different time signatures Terence and I wrote in his basement and then Steven came into the studio and did it and I was like that's a really odd time signature." I didn't realize it until then I'd like to explore that more on future albums because it was something fun and interesting for me that I think pushed our sound in a new direction You said the album is telling a story and there is a theme lyrically but there seems to be musical themes that rise and fall throughout the record Terence: I think we've been skirting around it but the funny time signatures and storytelling just goes to that prog thing that like Pink Floyd would do or King Crimson—just having these movements that would appear again later in the album the sounds have to propel you to the next songs and move you through to the end Steven: Even in the studio there was talk of a reoccurring theme Terence: Even André would play a riff and it would be a riff from an older record that he had rethought that we could quote something from a few years ago and mutate it to how we were playing now I have intentionally done that on other albums Just to give you one breadcrumb—the last track on Infinite Dissolution "Heavy Water," has this melodic theme in the track and we intentionally reintroduced that on New Catastrophism on "Incomplete Map of Voids." We've had these themes that are sometimes themes that we repeat within albums and sometimes across albums Even though our style has changed from album to album to some extent we still have these threads that I think help connect the different periods of the band Can you talk a bit about the lyrical theme that runs throughout as well?  the records are about a kind of Sci-fi speculative fiction way looking at the end of the world through environmental catastrophisms This record is kind of repeating our ideas We went about it differently writing the songs which I haven't really done before; I haven't really written from first-person I approached it like I'm a parent and I wanted to make it more personal—the catastrophism was leaving behind this depleted planet for these future generations but more like they shouldn't be mourning the passing of our generations or looking back with any kind of favorable opinion because of what we left them Kind of linking it through [authors] Jeff Vandermeer or Samuel Delany kind of this speculative vision of the future as this dystopian environmental catastrophe It's kind of a continuation of our themes but flipping that perspective to be more about a future parent telling the next generation I think of it as the tradition of Science Fiction—Philip K You're projecting what the potential future could be and that definitely inspires our sounds and inspires the lyrics for me I felt like each song was a little story and then I wrote short fiction that accompanies the record and was definitely thinking about these books I think in the past we've maybe referenced The Crystal World by J.G Ballard or we've had direct references to very specific Science Fiction works like Dahlgren by Samuel Delany But I think that this one we've been building up to it like I wanted it to feel like it was a novel of Science Fiction; you're listening to it.  The story of the music and the lyrics all ends on this ethereal note It's dark but spacey and light at the same time The lyrics are about [that] there's life after extinction Sonically I think it's a cool note to end on Maybe that will be the moment that we reintroduce that theme later somehow The next album is when the Earth explodes and we're just floating through space [laughs] So what comes next; are there live shows coming up Terence: We have some live shows we're working on right now for the summer and there will be some interesting echoes off this record There will be a book on tape that will be coming out Accompanying the record is a little book and the CD will have a PDF of short Science Fiction stories The short stories that accompany each song and there will be an audio book that was composed using AI voices and combinations of real voices and AI voices to make a book on tape Then there will be another release later of field recordings that respond to this that are ambient field recordings of things There's more to this story and it will be coming out shortly and then hopefully we get to play some live shows and start work on some new stuff hopefully get to the UK and Europe at some point in the near future Hopefully work on some new material and start thinking about the next record at some point but we've been working on an upcoming collaboration with another artist that we're fans of End Terrain releases 4/5. Preorder End Terrain here Made it not even halfway through this boring ass interview before I gave up Not sure this interview was long enough… Anywho…Andre is an insufferable douche https://www.metalsucks.net/2014/08/14/metal-yoga-locrians-andre-foisy/ Should've asked Andre about the band "Husk." Releasing a playlist to accompany your album is a mistake You have to associate your creative output with a bunch of better more successful bands to prove that you're worthy of my time Smells like an SEO play at best; shows you have no original ideas at worse it's definitely through taking money from their female partners day job Hai dimenticato la password? Commentare gli articoli di Lamezia Informa Try a different filter or a new search keyword Staying consistent within a body of work such as this would be a tremendous undertaking for anyone let alone a happily married father of two with a full-time job Terence has been working as a college professor of art As daunting as it must be to balance such a wealthy creative life with the responsibilities of work and family Terence seems to hold it together with unparalleled elegance and grace Like only the most disciplined individuals can he makes what would send most of us into an anxiety-riddled state of shock look easy We caught up with Terence to talk about life What did your life look like when you started Locrian I started Locrian with Andre [Foisy] while I was an adjunct professor at a few colleges and universities and a visual artist in Chicago both of us had moved to Chicago for graduate school He went to University of Chicago for Anthropology and I went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for my MFA My wife Erica and I had a band called Unlucky Atlas But it died a natural death and Locrian kind of just took on its own life You are a very active artist in multiple mediums Can you explain and put into context your current projects and most of my work actually centers around music I make abstract collages using audio cassette tape but also peel it off and leaving behind the ferric magnetic dust This interest in audio tape as an art material really did come out of Locrian and [our] use of a lot of analog gear Locrian has a lot of work to do to make it run and we do a lot of it on our own—it may seem like we quiet down but we probably work every day in some small capacity Relapse [their label —ed.] helps out a lot too I also record solo, more kind of minimal synth/vocal drone pieces. Over a year ago I started The Holy Circle with my wife Erica and our friend Nathan Jurgenson on drums There were these tracks I was working on that weren’t quite Locrian Finally, I write, so I tend to write art reviews for a few regional outlets. But I also write fiction and just published my first novella Beneath the Remains. Beneath the Remains is set in the ’90s, and focuses on two brothers who moved to Florida; one goes missing, leaving the youngest to search for him on his BMX. It’s death-metal noir or something. And I have a short story titled “The Hunter” appearing in a horror collection, Turn to Ash I am an Assistant Professor of Art at Stevenson University outside Baltimore me and my faculty are the gateway for freshmen and transfer students for their first year just to get them acclimated to the rigors of our program I’ve been at Stevenson for going on five years But I taught for almost a decade as an adjunct I think the art market was in a different place I had some friends who really did well with art sales I kind of always got offered first and second year courses and realized I liked it; my teaching has improved a lot too that first year can really help your career; whether it’s having a good practice or just realizing maybe you want something else or be more specific What level of responsibility did you have in your career when Locrian started and even once worked staff in a pretty cool Interactive/Gaming Department But I knew I wanted to teach full time and do more with fine art Being an adjunct can be really helpful; you can be more flexible to tour or gig You can have classes taken from you and also just kind of get overlooked and then you just lost a third of your income if a class doesn’t fill; the summers and winter can be a bit brutal So I moved to Baltimore for this professorship at Stevenson University It has made it very challenging to be in Locrian You play in the Holy Circle with your wife is your dynamic when playing music together different from how [your relationship] is in everyday life Is it easier communicating on a creative level because of your deeper connection as a couple Well, I think being in any relationship requires you to be sensitive to your partner’s needs. I knew that Erica really missed playing music and writing after Unlucky Atlas She was able to sing on the last Locrian record but they were on tracks we had essentially finished up So after she finished graduate school and we had our kids—we have two kids; Eliot-Anne is 7 and Edwin is 4—I could tell it was this thing she needed So I had these song sketches that weren’t really solo or Locrian material Nathan heard the tracks we did as demos and offered to drum I think it has honestly made us have a better relationship; we have to communicate differently on something creative and compromise It’s different than sitting down and doing the bills so our relationship has always kind of been in the arts and obsessed with music and art How do you balance the amount of time it takes to fulfill your creative endeavors with your responsibilities at home and at work Making sure everyone knows everything; group e-mails or write in our rider that we get a full soundcheck on tour or before we record Have you ever had to pass over artistic opportunities because of the more practical commitments that come with a career and family we’ve always felt that if one thing didn’t work out I used to stress about it big time when we started and really sweat you realize one show doesn’t make or break anyone You have stay true to your vision and yourself I try and be committed to being a good dad and husband so I know my priorities but also I’ve been playing music for 25 years of my life in different capacities As you continue to gain critical artistic success and your personal how often does one take priority over the other but the beauty of teaching is that there’s a certain expectation that my art practice remains intact but I feel fortunate that they all link up it kind of works with everyone’s schedules and we actually like each other as people and friends I get a few months to really create in my schedule with my job How has the idea of living the life of a creative individual changed over time Do you want different things out of the experience of making music now than you did when you first started there was a sense of the early ’90s music underground I was 12 when I started my first band in 1991 so a fairly obscure heavy band could somehow be on MTV a band I picked up on Geffen versus a tape on Sub Pop or Dischord Or that Morbid Angel’s “Covenant” was huge I thought I was the only person who was into it the context was skewed and kind of abstract a dream to be a performer—it’s a compulsion I’ve realized that a part of who I am is a musician Maybe five years ago I used to pack up all my synths after tour or whatever Snippets are always kind of floating in my head I just try and write it down or record it and decide if it is more something that I’ll bring to Locrian or The Holy Circle or use for a solo thing So I would search out anything on the edges which really opened my mind but also showed me you can do things your own way That it’s a craft—you’re building something and people are really slow to pick up on good things Do you feel like there is a misconception among casual music fans about what the life of a working musician actually is I think it’s on so many levels—from where music comes from how much work in a band it takes to get out sounds you all agree on to just the day in and day out of practicing There are weeks or months where it looks like you do nothing but you’re making something just for you and a few people Or how something you made that is terrible or embarrassing actually taught you a lot about rhythm or melody I mean music should be this thing that is somewhat ineffable but that track or album or live set blew me away Sometimes I love the behind-the-scenes stuff Sometimes amazing things are made by very boring people and amazing people make incredibly boring music Have you ever considered the idea of pursuing music on a full-time basis What circumstances would have to be present in order for you to drop everything and solely concentrate on your bands I think it would take some other financial considerations to work I have a lot of interests—I don’t know if I’d feel fulfilled in that either Considering all of the roadblocks and headaches and it’s surprising or shocking that one day there wasn’t anything and then you made a record Or one day [there were] these people that never saw you—and then for that brief moment you played and you were both They make these different bands all the time ‘When do so-and-so’s parents go to band practice?’ And we explain ‘Not everyone is in a band.’ But on the other hand or who we hang out with in Baltimore—they just have no sense of scale They’re like ‘When is Sia coming over for the BBQ?’ In that sense it’s worth it—for my kids to just think music is this great thing genre-blending band Locrian are continuing their story with their latest album The record comes in the wake of their 2015’s Infinite Dissolution and their experimental 2022 Profound Lore debut End Terrain showcases a leap in the band’s sound and evolution and drummer Steven Hess got together and made a masterpiece “The seeds for End Terrain began after Infinite Dissolution and a global pandemic,” laughs vocalist and synth player Terrence Hannum but more of the challenge of going into the studio and making something from nothing was that we wanted to be more drone and ambient The thought being to make a more minimalist work and then the mirror opposite a more maximalist piece with End Terrain So the writing really began seven years ago but we knew it was going to be a different beast and time I would say that we also wanted to challenge ourselves on the new one: new sounds and it made it easier for me to get together with Terence in Baltimore to hammer out ideas,” adds Foisy We were going for something much more direct than what we did on New Catastrophism.” When it comes to the lyrical themes on this record they explore some concepts that they hadn’t broached before and they’re not afraid to get deep with some of these themes and explore some difficult territory “This whole album had as an undercurrent a lot of territory we haven’t covered yet I decided to have it be more direct and personal while still maintaining our sci-fi inspired approach,” says Hannum “End Terrain is more about mourning and that the legacy I leave behind in the environment is not worth mourning That future generations dwelling amidst the ruins we wasted for them don’t need to remember us and would be better off cursing our legacies because we essentially did nothing to make it better I also wrote a collection of short fiction it will come as a zine in the LP and a PDF digital for the CD It expands on the landscape of the LP offering different characters and documents from the expired future.” the art also fits in with the dystopian vibe of the rest of the record “The cover is by Chris Dorland; he’s an amazing artist I’ve known for maybe 20 years when we lived in Chicago at the same time,” says Hannum “I used to write art reviews and reviewed a show of his that I thought was really interesting but his work took this kind of techno-futuristic turn and is like layers of visual data digitally altered and painted and scraped and repeated like an internet trash heap or something—and I mean that in a positive way Locrian was searching for images to push us towards this maximalism that the cover would be full of visual information—and almost overwhelming—and Chris fit the bill It’s so overwhelming and full of data and textures that seem machine generated or manmade and that slippage is very important to us.” Photo courtesy of Nick Rosendorf and Elena Volkova Wolf Hall novel was transformed into a huge acclaimed six-part drama by the BBC in 2015 with a score by Debbie Wiseman performed by members of the Locrian Ensemble of London which reached #1 in the CD classical charts of UK Now Debbie Wiseman and the Locrian Ensemble team up again to perform selections from her acclaimed score alongside extracts from Wolf Hall and its first sequel Bring Up The Bodies read by Anton Lesser – who played Thomas More in the BBC series one tomorrow Friday 10th of November and a second one on 28th of January a pre-concert talk with Debbie Wiseman will be held (free to ticket-holders When: Friday 10th of November 2017 at 7:00 p.m Tickets: 24 GBP ($ 31 / € 27) – http://thecapitolhorsham.com/whats-on/all-shows/wolf-hall-live/2345 When: Sunday 28th of January 2018 at 8:00 p.m Where: Jim Marshall Auditorium – The Stables (Wavendon Tickets: 25 GBP ($ 33 / € 28)- https://stables.org/event/wolf-hall-live More information: http://www.faneproductions.com/event/wolf-hall-live/ Discover a way to enjoy that music live in SoundTrackFest Here you will find all the information you need to live your favorite Soundtracks and meet the Composers These images tell the story of one of Italy's most powerful mafia families father and reputed clan boss — gunned down on a bicycle during a turf war recently ordered into solitary confinement while serving a 30-year murder sentence battling depression in a prison psychiatric ward Riccardo seemed destined to go the way of his brothers; that's the rule of blood in Calabria's powerful ‘ndrangheta clans But his mother is tired of making prison pilgrimages up and down Italy there's a chance for destiny to be derailed Riccardo became the first of about 20 young men from some of the most notorious crime families ordered by a court into exile This daring tactic by a judge is threatening the ‘ndrangheta by taking away its most precious asset: its sons This southern region of Italy is the dark heartland of the ‘ndrangheta clans now among the world's most dangerous organized crime syndicates eclipsing even the more famous Sicilian Cosa Nostra Here in the forbidding Aspromonte mountains clansmen of decades past kept kidnap victims in chains for months and even years drawing ransoms that funded an international drug-trafficking business the ‘ndrangheta runs a multibillion-dollar narcotics empire and launders money from resorts in Italy to pizzerias in Germany The ‘ndrangheta is built on family relationships and strategic marriages making it highly impervious to turncoats and infiltrators And one of its most important families is the Cordi's Spano's home sits within a compound of clan residences cut off from the outside by a forbidding steel fence The matriarch walks through formal rooms with marble-topped tables and displays of crystal goblets into a spotless kitchen that once hid a secret bunker No precaution is too extreme for a family whose past is writ in blood Riccardo was 1½ when his father became another cadaver in a decades-long feud in Locri between the Cordi' and Cataldo families So many bullets ripped through Cosimo's head that fall day the surgeon who operated on her was gunned down outside the entrance to the Locri hospital as police stormed Spano's kitchen looking for fugitives including Pietro Criaco a clansman on Italy's most wanted list and close family friend They opened a wooden cabinet door under the gray stone counter and came across a trap door complete with electricity and room enough for three men But not long afterward he was captured as he tried to flee across rooftops in a nearby town— wearing pajamas Judge Roberto Di Bella knew all about this violent Cordi' past when he faced Riccardo in court on a July day two years ago He had even sent Riccardo's older brothers to jail as juveniles The day had begun well for the 16-year-old and his family Di Bella declared the boy not guilty of attempted theft and damage to a police car There wasn't enough evidence for a conviction Who would testify against the son of one of Calabria's most notorious ‘ndrangheta families After Di Bella convicted Antonio of a weapons charge in 2002 Antonio dropped his steely facade and confided that he wanted to shed the mantle of budding mafioso But with a widowed mother and Riccardo at home Maybe things could be different for the youngest brother Riccardo was as old as Antonio was when he appeared in Di Bella's courtroom the psychologist who spoke with Riccardo before the ruling observed that the boy showed a "certain resignation to a life marked" by crime Di Bella concluded that removal was the only way to save Riccardo from "an otherwise inescapable destiny." So the seaside stronghold where so many of his kinsmen were slain All she could think was that the state was about to take yet another of her men — her last son — away from her The judge told Spano' to her face that she was incapable of handling her son Riccardo had been staying out late at night hanging around with adults with criminal records "This is an ‘ndrangheta family," he told her "We want to avoid having Riccardo end up in jail Di Bella invoked a law that allows the state to remove minors from parents deemed unable to properly raise them Social workers always seemed to have some excuse not to take Riccardo away from the Cordi' home One happened to have a vacation day; another was sick Riccardo was whisked away to the sleepy hamlet of Roccalumera across the Strait of Messina from Calabria Home was now a facility for troubled youths where nobody cared that Riccardo was a Cordi' Everyone made their own bed and sat down for meals at a communal table he was transferred to a four-bed group home in Messina just in time for the start of the school year He took public buses to a vocational high school in a rough neighborhood a wiry psychologist 11 years older named Enrico Interdonato Interdonato had helped found the Messina chapter of Addiopizzo a group of brave young Sicilians who encourage business owners to rebel against paying systematic "protection" money to Cosa Nostra one of the Cordi' sources of income is shaking down businesses on their turf To help Riccardo begin to comprehend the terrible human toll of organized crime the psychologist took him to commemoration ceremonies for the victims of Cosa Nostra so neither Riccardo nor the families would feel embarrassed or upset If the psychologist acted as a surrogate brother a Messina construction company owner practically became Riccardo's second father Mariano Nicotra recounted what happened when he refused to pay protection money to the neighborhood Mafia boss His daughter was ostracized by schoolmates because Mafia threats made walks too dangerous taciturn Riccardo that few back home even bothered to look for: a normal kid there will always be a job waiting for you at my company he helped out at an after-school center for children from broken homes even though doing something for nothing is an alien concept in the ‘ndrangheta "I had the feeling that he was discovering the child in himself Riccardo surprised everybody by clucking like a hen to make the children laugh Interdonato took Riccardo out for pizza and some beers Riccardo was eventually allowed to visit home every other weekend Each time Interdonato held his breath: Would he return Once he brought nougat for the kids at the center as a Christmas treat He didn't want to wait for his next visit home he would fail probation over a past brawl in Calabria That would give him a rap sheet — a formal entry point into criminal life It took somebody else to make him listen: His mother The ‘ndrangheta mom — who once spurted venom at the judge for taking away her son — had had a change of heart Antonia Spano' crossed the Strait of Messina with a cream cake as a thank-you for Interdonato The after-school center treated him to a birthday cake ringed with strawberries the teenager with the arresting good looks is intent on blowing out the candles Riccardo smiles bashfully at the idea of a career in fashion But it's just as possible that he'll work in a relative's electronics shop after he finishes high school next year It's too soon to judge the success of Di Bella's pilot program; it will take years to see whether a taste of the clean life can separate the ‘ndrangheta's sons from the syndicate and some 200 residents turned out in a town square in Reggio Calabria this summer for a discussion about it The exile approach costs roughly six times less a day than keeping someone in an Italian prison And if it keeps another generation from growing up to be drug kingpins or killers she is overjoyed to have her son home again — but also torn Youth unemployment in Italy's south is staggeringly high and for many youths the only reliable employer is organized crime Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed "Why music?" It comes off like a Philosophy 101 essay question at first the more it causes a volcanic hurl of thought: Why do I love music Why do I care what other people write about it Do I love a song for the story or for itself there is a similar seeking of sound and mind that makes Mueller a sympathetic interviewer When Locrian's André Foisy sent me the finished Q&A via email one day I was not only glad I didn't have to transcribe it but was challenged myself by Mueller's questions to the musicians Murky, malicious, yet often angelic, the members of Chicago-based Locrian make music without genre, masterfully operating in metallic, droning and unexplored realms. And while Locrian has a number of albums under its own name, André Foisy, Terence Hannum and Steven Hess are drawn to collaboration, with Horseback on the excellent New Dominions and now with Mammifer on Bless Them That Curse You formerly of the tectonic-shifting metal band Isis and currently of several bands (Old Man Gloom musical and life partners that find zen in distortion Bless Them That Curse You is available from Profound Lore (CD) and Sige (2xLP) The roots of both bands may be in progressive- and black-metal but the only metal heard throughout are clanging percussion the occasional distortion and Aaron Turner's chest-filling growl "Metis/Amaranthine/The Emperor," Faith Coloccia's stark piano dirges are underscored by strummed acoustic guitar sweeping Mellotron and the mounting electro-gurgles and feedback that eventually take over the side-long track It's heavy music that seeks the affirmation of life through controlled chaos Mueller asked the two groups about how they knitted their sounds together and how they recorded the album while living in different cities Jon Mueller: Bless Them That Curse You combines more elements Each of those elements are interesting in their own right but can you describe your aim in combining these into one project André Foisy (Locrian): We were fans of Mamiffer and we thought that recording together would be fun I knew that both Aaron and Faith were dynamic musicians so I wasn't worried about our styles not working out Terence Hannum (Locrian): It wound up being a very natural process once we all got together Faith Coloccia (Mamiffer): Everything came together We found connections between seemingly disparate sounds and images and unified them into harmonious relationships it was great to collapse personal narrative and meaning into something made for the specific purpose of packaging the recording and keeping in mind the aesthetics and feelings that both bands have created JM: The title of the record implies forgiveness it has these connotations towards a Christian idea of forgiveness but one of its captivating contradictions is that you'd be cursed I think perhaps a part of it was our expectation or at least my expectation that it might not fly with some listeners and the title could preempt any hate the thinking behind this name was to turn a negative into a positive and illustrate finding strength through adversity Sometimes there is a negative internal voice that gets projected onto potential listeners and observers and that voice can be negated by thanking the darkest parts of yourself and others Definitely subverting the Christian meaning and not representing a loss by being cursed What about this particular format is interesting to you rather than other mediums because it gave me the opportunity to communicate feelings that were otherwise very difficult for me to express and all of my visual art is about the music experience sculptural or audio?" Every now and then it is out of balance I am interested in exploring this medium for its social possibilities and for the ways that this medium communicates and an existing template or doorway to manipulate Right now I also have a drive to communicate this way There is the chance of multiplicity of experience and interpretations It is also a good means of exploring new places and meeting new people and learning from these experiences (for example emotional archeology and feeling are all very new to me and I enjoy learning about these new things through the medium of music Alex Barnett (Mamiffer): I don't remember why I started There's the drive to throw something into this trash vortex of everyone's ideas but it also just feels really good to play some weirdo music I believe it's a form of emotional communication for me as with most other humans/musicians dating back 500,000 years (or so) ago From "hit rock on log = danger" to "ctrl T/space/arrow/space in Ableton Live = relax and enjoy my deconstructed droned out rhythms." In my case it's a way of speaking It's also a form of meditation for me — focusing in on something and working with it or stripping it down to its most basic component you can just "not think" and get lost in the moment while your playing One of my earliest musical memories is me playing my father's electric guitar I would sit and try to "play" along to certain records he was listening to probably either The Ventures or Waylon Jennings I would just sit by myself for hours playing that thing I know it was complete racket to everyone who happen to hear me I think subconsciously I got interested in music right around that time in my life but it didn't really kick in until a few years later and it's hard for me to narrow it down to just a few words If there was a way for you to go back in time and ask the six year-old Steven I'm sure he'd give you a much better answer JM: With Mamiffer as collaborators on this release the dynamic of the music reaches further extremes How intentional are those extremes and what about this release made you want to explore them AF: I love that performing with Mamiffer gave us new dynamics to work with I was trying to think about what moments in Locrian's playing are most effective and I thought the same thing about Mamiffer My favorite song is the last one on the album and I love how simple and haunting it is Maybe our compositions would have been more complicated if we would have had more time to think about it Aaron Turner (Mamiffer): Both Mamiffer and Locrian have explored the possibilities of extreme dynamic shifts within their own music so when working together it seemed completely natural to continue with those practices How these movements took shape was almost entirely the result of spontaneous and intuitive interaction with each other and the music itself — one sound or passage would suggest a complementary response or addition There was no division between which group or individual should be relegated to a certain type of sound or mood or instrument and as a result I think our musical personalities and ideas bled into each other and mutated each track in really unexpected ways It seems that in working together we were encouraged to look beyond the boundaries of the music we make on our own and the result was moving even further into complementary I would also add that Randall [Dunn]'s mixing job and highly sensitive ears helped us further carve out the body of each track and emphasize all the shifts and contrasts already sketched out within them and a lot of things to try with the different instruments and studio things So we could push our more quiet elements and pull back on the noise for a more effective timing It really was about restraint in a lot of places JM: Was it challenging to work on the music with a group that lived in a different city How much of the composition occurred at the time of recording AF: We finished most of the recording in Chicago together It would have been nice if we would have been able to mix and master the music together TH: All composing pretty much happened while we were together Or at least it was far enough along to know what had to be done seven people to agree when they're all back in their lives and not in the studio solely focused on the same thing at some point you compromise and know what is best for the album FC: We thought it would be challenging working with people we had never met before The hardest part was mixing without Locrian and having to make creative decisions without them present and waiting around to transfer audio Most of the composition occurred as improvisation in Electrical Audio The basis for one piano composition for "Metis" was written before going into the studio and only presented to the collaboration group on the day we met AB: Maybe everyone else talked a little more before hand but it seemed to me like all of the composition was during the recording "I have an idea for that one," and then just go in there and record an attempt at a take Some of the songs are straight improvisations off a sketch from moments before There was a good energy around being in that studio with a bunch of cool stuff There was also something really nice and cohesive about that group of people It felt like everyone was open to seeing what we were going to make [Recording engineer] Greg Norman fostered that environment He was always ready to go with that onslaught of ideas so the segments with vocals and lyrics stand out even stronger What warrants the need for more direct communication as opposed to the more ambiguous imagery of sound Then when the song takes form I'll say something like "I have an idea here." And then I'll edit the content to fit Or sometimes André will say he hears vocals somewhere and I'll try and fit something in there I do not typically just sit around and write lyrics I tend to hang on to ideas for inspiration; books or poems by other authors Then I start moving things around and adding my perspective FC: My lyrics were written before the studio and not in the abstract ways I am used to communicating emotion through sound abstraction I am comfortable and practiced with abstraction In the process of writing the lyrics and piano part for "Metis" I tried to remain non-goal oriented what is the most important thing about this project to you AF: I'm happy that we had this opportunity to work with some musicians that we highly respect and that we made something really powerful and beautiful and Faith are all really sweet amazing people and I'm glad that we're friends now I'm hoping to make enough money from this album to retire comfortably I always feel as if I don't work well with others and this was such a rewarding experience FC: There were two important things that came out of this project for me: Working with and becoming friends with Locrian I found that I must put myself into text as into the world Learning who to work with and how to work with them was a really great lesson from this whole collaboration experience And it was great to be in Chicago with so many great friends AB: We made this record that is like a weird cave journey but doesn't quite sound like any of our other projects SH: The most important things about this project for me was the process of creating the music There are obstacles and challenges in every recording session but with this particular one there were so many like-minded individuals involved that those obstacles were easily overcome and ideas that worked just seemed to keep coming Recording this material for BTTCY was an amazing learning experience and creating music should most definitely be a learning experience I think the end results says everything — this is a very special record to all of us and I think that can be heard and felt when listening to it and I hope others who hear it get that sense as well Become an NPR sponsor Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker We use cookies to analyze user behavior in order to constantly improve the website for you. Learn more ("Locrian") announced today that it has acquired (the "Acquisition") 832,750 Class A Trust Units from Joseph Mullin and 1,915,500 Class A Trust Units from Walter Coles (collectively the "Sellers") in Akeley Unit Trust (the "Trust") pursuant to securities purchase agreements entered into between Locrian and the Sellers on April 29 The Purchased Units were acquired for an aggregate purchase price of $274.83 and were acquired at a price of $0.0001 per unit Locrian now holds 3,248,250 (45.023%) Class A Trust Units in the Trust and Locrian acquired the Purchased Units for private investment purposes and may increase or decrease its beneficial ownership or control in the Trust as circumstances or market conditions warrant This news release is issued pursuant to National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues. A copy of the early warning report will appear with the Trust's documents on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval at www.sedar.com For further information or to request a copy of the early warning report Ltd.Attention: John-Paul Dau(403) 796-3099 Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of U.S To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87243 SOURCE: Locrian Holdings Pte. Ltd. Sign Up Company Profile Mining and Metals Precious Metals 2015Save this storySaveSave this storySave by Brandon Stosuy Locrian: "An Index of Air" (via SoundCloud) Over the last 10 years, the music made by prolific Chicago/Baltimore trio Locrian has always been tough to categorize: Is it noise? Black metal? Dark ambient? Industrial? Drone? Things get more complicated on their most recent outing, Infinite Dissolution where they manage to be more triumphant and bigger than before (and even a little bit catchy) recorded at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio and produced by Greg Norman (Russian Circles is a concept album about the extinction of the human race but you’ll find yourself pumping your fist as frontman Terence Hannum’s haunting black-metal vocals slither through a mournful Stitched together by woozy instrumentals that feature birds chirping and iron scraping the album marks a new peak for this creatively restless group I spoke to the band about the bleak concepts behind the collection capturing field recordings in ghost towns,the importance of Deafheaven to metal-hybridization 19th-century anti-industrialization tracts and what it means to be a father focused on the apocalypse Pitchfork: Why did you decide to make an album about the end of mankind as we know it which discusses past extinctions on the planet and argues that humans and the Earth are in the midst of a mass extinction event Terence Hannum: We wanted to use what’s actually happening and then gaze into the future and make our own science-fiction story out of it—to think of how we push the Earth to such an extreme with our behavior that it’s pushing back and making our existence impossible Pitchfork: The lyrics read like apocalyptic manifestos I spent a lot of time looking at 19th-century anti-industrialization tracts as well as reading some of the science behind Elizabeth Kolbert’s book That started to set the tone and helped form the vocabulary that the instrumentals needed Pitchfork: What role do the instrumentals play in the story AF: There are layers of meaning behind them A number of the field recordings I used were taken from places that have regenerated from human impact one came from a place that used to be a quarry but that’s since been transformed into a native prairie And Terence used a recording from the top of Monk’s Mound at Cohokia The people that lived there likely destroyed themselves through environmental exploitation Steven Hess: The instrumentals help hold everything together and accentuate the realism of the record “KXL I” includes field recordings and the sounds of amplified metal grating being struck rhythmically I wanted to replicate the sound of someone hearing the bashing or destroying of a pipeline from miles away The field recordings add texture and possibly help transport the listener to a place—either imaginary or real—while they listen to the songs Pitchfork: For an album about the idea of human extinction TH: I think there’s the hope that humanity can continue but I also think that if you love the Earth realizing the main thing that can hurt it will eventually wipe itself out is also a bit of a triumph I wanted the album to have some sort of triumphant feeling since I’m hopeful about the future of humanity The album is deeper than just glorifying the excitement in feelings of terror It’s meant to inspire people to have discussions about themselves how does being a father affect the subject matter of your work TH: It definitely feeds my lyrics and my dedication—I’m trying to say something about this destruction It’s not just three guys playing to be cool Considering how little time I ultimately have I don’t have a lot of optimism for what the world will look like when my kids are adults and a lot of what motivates me is shame that we didn’t stop or shift our behavior Though perhaps kids and teenagers now are way more sophisticated about environmental issues “The album is deeper than just glorifying the excitement in the fear of the end of the world It’s meant to inspire people to have discussions about themselves.” Locrian, from left: Terence Hannum, André Foisy, Steven Hess. Photo by Jimmy Hubbard. Pitchfork: You've refined and shifted your sound over the last decade but did you ever think you'd be writing music this catchy so Steven played some blast beats over it and it got a bit weirder TH: We just always want to challenge ourselves Locrian: "Heavy Water" (via SoundCloud) Pitchfork: Does the crossover of a band like Deafheaven affect you at all TH: It's interesting that there is potential for such a broad audience I’m also fascinated that it can get under the skin of so many who perceive themselves as voices of the metal scene AF: Perhaps the broad appeal of a band like Deafheaven might inspire more general listeners to find our music Maybe a Locrian track would come up on an Internet Deafheaven radio station They could be a gateway band for listeners to discover more challenging music Pitchfork: Even though Terence has moved to Baltimore TH: Chicago is just an important music city and two-thirds of the band live and create there the blight on the edges of the city really inspired us I love my adopted city of Baltimore and its music scene is very different I like how the genres aren’t as important here “Any bands that think of themselves as black metal today are merely an anachronism of an anachronism Photo by Jimmy Hubbard Pitchfork: What does black metal mean to you in 2015? AF: It’s a controversial issue because people identify themselves as black metal, but I don’t identify myself like that and I don’t identify our music as black metal. We’re deeper than that. That golden age of black metal was anachronistic, but the era today that harkens back to that period of black metal imagines that era through a warped reflection. Any bands that think of themselves as black metal today are merely an anachronism of an anachronism, a reflection of a reflection. Pitchfork: If you guys had longer hair, do you think the questions of whether or not you were metal would be moot? SH: We’re metal at heart, but “uncategorizable” or “other” by our appearance, and I’m completely fine with that. AF: We could write a death metal album, and some people would probably still refuse to call us metal. TH: What is metal anyway? I just hope to see a day when Rob Halford, Kerry King, Kirk Windstein, and Phil Anselmo are accepted as metal musicians despite the length of their hair. SaveSave this storySaveFor a band so devoted to endings, the noise metallurgists of Locrian are surprisingly keen with beginnings Relapse Records announced they'd signed the Chicago-and-Baltimore trio but not because Locrian’s electronics-and-effects-driven approach was at odds with the more orthodox heavy metal roster at Relapse; in fact the label’s two decades are dotted by momentous dalliances with experimental music a strategy that worked for a band putting out very limited editions on rather small labels but maybe not one meant for a fringe act now signed to an imprint as large as Relapse Just how many Locrian eight-tracks or singles could and would Relapse actually handle Locrian have only issued three titles-- a re-release of one such short-run record bundled with new material a glacial collaboration with kindred lurkers Mammifer and a beautiful piece with German sound art veteran Christopher Heemann After many consecutive years of several albums Locrian went almost silent-- just not behind the scenes their proper Relapse debut and step into a much bigger spotlight It's an auspicious new phase of their existence: Return to Annihilation is the most provocative and engaging Locrian album to date a brilliant mystery that evades simplistic definitions by turning their historical din and destruction in on itself and In initial interviews for Return to Annihilation Locrian-- multi-instrumentalist André Foisy vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Terrence Hannum and drummer Steven Hess-- spoke about the influence of Genesis on their new work as there was no way the intricate (and sometimes awkward) prog rock of Genesis might have a substantive pull on music so ostensibly moonless and monolithic But Return to Annihilation is intrinsically elusive with twists so compelling and layers so deep that each listen reveals a half-dozen new facets beckoning the listener forward just before the song shifts into a cataclysmic drone Smothering electronics battle with piercing guitars like the phosphorescent coda of a melodramatic post-millenial black metal epic Though this is a triptych of distinct sections blending into one another as a balance of extremes the quaking electronics and plodding guitar of the same piece intimate a hangman’s anthem a steady gaze directed over and over again toward another imminent death while “Exiting the Hall of Vapor and Light” fashions a great defeat and relief seem only to be dissolving through one another The guitars in “Vapor and Light” slink into patterns that don’t resolve they bubble into the sort of ebullient loop that you might hear on a Dustin Wong record; it’s like glimpsing light at the end of a tunnel that’s so big you didn’t even know you were surrounded And “Eternal Return” takes shape around bitterly shouted imprecations and swells of background noise so strong they sometimes threaten to push the ascension off track Return to Annihilation forever demands that you decide for yourself-- or who welcomed migrants to tiny town of Riace The former mayor of an Italian town who revitalised his community by welcoming and integrating migrants has been sentenced to more than 13 years in jail for abetting illegal migration and for “irregularities” in managing the asylum seekers Domenico Lucano, 63, known locally as Mimmo, the former mayor of Riace, a tiny hilltop town in the southern Calabria region, was put under house arrest in 2018 for allegedly abetting illegal immigration, embezzlement, and fraud. According to the magistrates, Lucano had flouted the public tender process by awarding waste collection contracts to two cooperatives that were set up to help migrants look for work. made Riace famous for its much-lauded model of integration as a means of reversing depopulation He was hailed in 2016 by Fortune magazine as one of the world’s 50 greatest leaders having settled more than 500 refugees in Riace and preventing the closure of the local school the former mayor was sentenced to 13 years and two months in jail The ruling came as a shock in Italy It was almost double the seven years and 11 months requested by prosecutors Lucano was also charged for organising “marriages of convenience” after he helped arrange a wedding between a Nigerian woman and Italian man so that the woman, who had been forced into sex work in Naples, could live and work in Italy legally The charge was previously struck down by the supreme court of cassation Protesters voicing their support for Domenico Lucano in 2018 Photograph: Matteo Bazzi/EPA“I have no words I didn’t expect it,’’ Lucano told reporters after the sentence I fought against the mafia; I sided with the last ones And I don’t even have the money to pay the lawyers … today it all ends for me News of the sentence was hailed by Salvini – a fierce opponent of Lucano’s pro-migrant policy – who is standing for the regional council With Lucano also a candidate in a regional election Salvini wrote: “The left is running candidates sentenced to 13 years in prison.” as in Italy sentences become definitive only after two appeals On 23 and 24 April 2025, at the Polo Licealeale Zaleuco - Oliveti - Panetta - Zanotti high school in Locri, an event combining culture, identity and participation will be staged: Creativa, a Festival of Ideas dedicated to the power of stories and the power of sharing. With the aim of transforming local communities into active protagonists of the cultural and social enhancement of the territory, Creativa invites citizens, students, artists, cultural operators and scholars to take part in a participatory and collective journey. At the heart of the project, storytelling as a tool for change: narratives become the voice of communities, a living memory, an opportunity for encounters and a common vision. Creativa is not just an event, but a permanent community workshop, where the word becomes a project and culture intertwines with social innovation. A place for listening and discussion where, step by step, a more conscious, creative and shared future is built. Street viewInterestedMultiple eventsArmonie D'Arte FestivalAug 2, 2024 Last update: Apr 24, 2025 6:00 AMContent owned by the Calabria Region | Tourism and Commerce Department issued under CC-BY License Download OFFICIAL TOURIST INFORMATION SITE © 2022 Calabria Region Tourism and Commerce Department ROME — The ringleader of a gangland style massacre of six people in Germany was convicted Tuesday and sentenced to life in prison for an attack that highlighted the international reach of Italy's Calabrian mafia Giovanni Strangio was one of eight people convicted and given Italy's stiffest sentence for their roles in a violent feud that culminated in the 2007 slayings in the western German city of Duisburg the court clerk's office in the southern city of Locri said Three other people were convicted and sentenced to terms ranging from nine to 12 years as they left a birthday party at an Italian restaurant Prosecutors said the massacre was part of a long-running feud between two clans of the 'ndrangheta organized crime syndicate which is based in the southern Italian region of Calabria The 'ndrangheta is today considered more powerful than the Sicilian Mafia and has become one of the world's biggest cocaine traffickers which pitted the Nirta-Strangio families against the Pelle-Vottari-Romeo families in the tiny town of San Luca cooled from 2000 to 2006 but erupted again when Maria Strangio the wife of one of the presumed heads of the clan was arrested in 2009 in Amsterdam on charges he masterminded and executed the Duisburg massacre in retaliation one of the first known times the 'ndrangheta had exported a vendetta Italian law allows prosecution of crimes that occur in other countries if Italian citizens are the victims Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri welcomed the convictions and said they made clear that the 'ndrangheta has spread its tentacles outside of southern Italy especially economic power," the ANSA news agency quoted Gratteri as saying after the verdicts were read out it is now clear that the 'ndrangheta has left the confines of Calabria and Italy and is strongly rooted elsewhere." a seaside town in Italy’s deep south has long been a hotbed for the Calabrian Mafia which uses threats and violence to extort virtually every business But the 12 young women of the Sporting Locri football club refused to cave in to fear when the club president said he received threats from the mob to shut down the club or else They took a stand and kept playing even when the president himself quit “It’s time to close this Sporting Locri Leave!” read one of the notes left on the car of then-president Ferdinando Armeni When Armeni announced the closure of the club just before Christmas and stepped down as president backed by the mayor and national soccer authorities rallied around the women and kept the team going We stayed united to show that we are here and no one can destroy us and not someone who says we can’t play anymore Last month a new president took over and last week a new coach and training staff were named The Mafia hurts people,” Antonella Sabatino “We stayed united to show that we are here and no one can destroy us and not someone who says we can’t play anymore.” former coach of Sporting Locri futsal team Right: A road sign in Locri perforated by bullets It is not uncommon for Italy’s Mafias to control soccer clubs in their territory as a way to build local consensus and even mask extortion payments as club sponsorships What is unusual is that the Mob would want to shut down a team that is doing well raising doubts about who was sending the threats is in the top level of Italy’s women’s five-on-five league with top players on a salary though most do it out of passion for the game it is much more subtle and effective,” said Pierpaolo Romani author of Criminal Soccer on the Mafia’s role in Italian football Romani said he doubted the Calabrian Mafia The local prosecutor is investigating and the former president has denied that he staged the affair but for the moment the origin of the threats remains a mystery Sporting Locri remains defiant: “This team is one of Locri’s bright spots,” said Sabatino “We’ve received support and solidarity not only from Locri please register for free or log in to your account ROME: Criminal organisations in Italy are distributing food and ordering interest-free lending to the needy to try to extend their influence Italian anti-mafia author Roberto Saviano has warned Italy’s mafia groups are also poised to snatch up struggling businesses as the country -- which is in crisis over the deadly coronavirus pandemic -- awaits European funding to boost its battered economy “If Europe doesn’t intervene soon the multiplication of mafioso money that’s already in Germany Belgium will be unrestrained,“ Saviano told journalists on Thursday best known for his non-fiction book “Gomorrah” about southern Italy’s Camorra clan is an expert on mafia groups and how they have successfully expanded beyond drugs and other illegal activity to worm their way into otherwise legitimate businesses and sectors across the world criminal organisations are providing groceries for the poorest Italians or allowing someone to put their name on a contract as a front for the mafia has been under police protection after receiving death threats following the release of “Gomorrah” which details how the Neapolitan crime syndicate Camorra profits from multiple economic sectors from fashion to waste recycling was later turned into a film and a TV series Saviano’s comments came the same day an opinion piece in Germany’s Die Welt newspaper warned that if Chancellor Angela Merkel did not “stand firm” and resist Italy’s appeals for so-called coronabonds EU finance ministers agreed a 500-billion-euro rescue for European countries hit hard by the coronavirus but put aside the demands from Italy and France for pooled borrowing the mafia is just waiting for a new shower of money from Brussels,“ wrote Die Welt columnist Christoph Schiltz warning against Europe handing out funds with “no limit” and “without any control” The comments published in Die Welt were immediately criticised by Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio who told Rai1 TV the opinion piece was “shameful and unacceptable” Saviano said its premise was “reasonable,“ but misinformed will suddenly find themselves with new mafia-linked partners “It’s not like someone comes in with a gun it’s their financial consultants who at a certain point say with these partners we’ll do our banking’.” “This is having a raided economy,“ Saviano said Saviano warned in an interview with Italian daily La Repubblica that the breadth of economic sectors infiltrated by the various mafias included many of those central to the coronavirus pandemic “Where have they invested the last few decades “That’s how they’ll make money,“ he told the paper Tel: +603-7784 6688      Fax: +603-7785 2625 You will also start receiving the Star's free morning newsletter Giuseppe Bruzzese watches his trial in Locri on charges of “Mafia association.” Judges listen to testimony in the Mafia trial in Locri Prosecutor Antonio De Bernardo in court in Locri He has asked for a 19-year prison term if Canadian Giuseppe Bruzzese is found guilty on Mafia association charges Family members and other spectators watch nervously as Mafia trial unfolds in Locri Handcuffs await prisoners about to testify in the Mafia trial in Locri stands accused of “Mafia association.” Trial of Thunder Bay's Giuseppe Bruzzese for alleged “Mafia association” highlights reach of ’Ndrangheta organized crime clan Trial of Thunder Bay’s Giuseppe Bruzzese for alleged “Mafia association” highlights reach of ’Ndrangheta organized crime clan ITALY—Italian prosecutors are calling for a Thunder Bay man to be sent to prison for 19 years if found guilty of Mafia charges in a trial authorities say highlights the global reach of a secretive organized crime clan from the Calabrian region of southern Italy all the way to northern Ontario is accused of “Mafia association” — a serious crime there which has no comparable offence in Canada — after being caught on secret police recordings meeting with a top crime boss in that country looked relaxed and confident during the proceedings in the sweltering courtroom wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt and smiling from behind the glass wall that separates prisoners from spectators and the battery of lawyers But his trial — and outstanding Italian arrest warrants issued for three other Thunder Bay residents including a successful local businessman — may shed light on the connection between the city and a powerful Mafia organization called the ’Ndrangheta Arrest warrants accuse Thunder Bay men of Mafia links may not seem an obvious base of operations for international organized crime but a joint investigation by the Toronto Star and Radio-Canada/CBC has obtained court records showing what one Italian judge called “amazing implications” about a “parallel existence” of Mafia cells in Thunder Bay Bruzzese was one of four Thunder Bay men named in Italian arrest warrants issued in February 2011 as part of a two-year investigation called Operazione Crimine Also listed in the arrest warrants are Antonio Minnella who runs a real-estate and development firm; a retired welder named Rocco Etreni Minnella denied he has any connection to the Mafia in a telephone interview with the CBC on Thursday Canada does not recognize the crime of “Mafia association” as an extraditable offence in effect putting those three Thunder Bay residents out of the reach of Italian law whose lawyer says he is retired from the construction industry and visits Italy every year had the misfortune of being was outside of Canada at the time of the Crimine crackdown we followed him in Italy and arrested him quickly,” said prosecutor Antonio De Bernardo who is in charge of the case at the tribunal of Locri a Calabrian hotbed of ’Ndrangheta activity said the crime of Mafia association was “unclear.” a man who never committed a crime in Canada a single act of intimidation committed by Bruzzese.” is considered by police to have displaced the better-known Sicilian Mafia as the fastest-rising Italian-based crime organization The Italian allegations derive from a series of meetings and conversations between visiting Canadians and a prominent ’Ndrangheta leader who was eventually jailed for Mafia activity Giuseppe (The Master) Commisso held court inside his basement laundromat in Siderno in 2009 where police were monitoring his activities as part of the Crimine probe Siderno mayor feted in Thunder bay, jailed in Italy Commisso was sentenced to 14 years in prison At a February 2011 hearing in Reggio Calabria before Judge Kate Tassone to determine pretrial detention Bruzzese and the other Thunder Bay men faced charges of holding “important positions” within the ’Ndrangheta which meant “taking the most important decisions giving instructions or imposing other sanctions associated with their subordinates.” Tassone said the allegations of “association with the Mafia” were connected to underworld crimes of firearms and drug trafficking and concluded there was sufficient evidence to order the arrest of Bruzzese and the other men “We have them on audio talking to The Master about activities in Thunder Bay,” prosecutor De Bernardo said in an interview “Anyone who spoke to The Master is a boss or a powerful player.” Growing up in Calabria, afraid of the Mafia Court documents allege Bruzzese attended at least two of the meetings with the ’Ndrangheta leader between July 27 and Aug. 10, 2009. Proceedings against Bruzzese and about a half dozen defendants in the case began several months ago. A verdict is expected by the end of July. With files from Alberto Nerazzini in Locri, Italy. Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Account processing issue - the email address may already exist Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in. Invalid password or account does not exist Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password. An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account. this week's Feature Album on ABC Classic Wiseman returns as composer for the second season of the television series adapting Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy of novels "The distinctive sound of Wolf Hall is all about immediacy and being in the present with these characters," says Wiseman "Drawing on elements from the original Wolf Hall score new themes have been created for our soprano Grace Davidson and our mandolin player and guitarist John Parricelli." "It's been the most thrilling experience composing the score for this production My heartfelt thanks to each and every one of the incomparable musicians - many of whom played on the recording of series 1 - who have brought the score to life with some stunningly beautiful performances." A group of about 50 Maltese students who visited Locri in Calabria three years ago still talk of the "miraculous" intervention by Our Lady which they believe saved them from a horrendous death The students from the secondary boys school in Zurrieq then known by the name of Mons Saydon and the secondary school in Marsa were on an exchange visit to Locri The cultural exchange came about because a school in Locri wanted to twin with another that had a direct connection with the famous 17th century painter Preti spent the last 40 years of his life in Malta and lived in Zurrieq Preti was born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria to visit a small cave turned into a chapel dedicated hewn into the precipitous mountain face 800 metres above sea level is as an important stop in pilgrimage trails Led by teachers Dorianne Briffa and Godwin Borg the students heard Mass at the chapel and took some photos they went to Locri where they visited the Museum of Archaeology and then lunched there someone informed the group that the chapel they had visited had been blocked by a landslide some time after their departure It was main news on the local TV station with the item highlighting the fact that the last visitors to the chapel were a group of Maltese students The landslide had caused a lot of rubble to cascade along the mountain face blocking the chapel completely Although the chapel suffered extensive damage the statue of the Madonna was found intact after the workers cleared a passageway to the place of worship said the miraculous intervention saved him a lot of sleepless nights thought that one way of thanking Our Lady was to present an ex voto to the church at Locri Bombile forms part of the diocese of Locri "So I did a painting of the tremor inside the chapel during the landslide as I imagined it might have looked," Mr Cassar said "I presented the painting to the Bishop of Locri The painting hangs in the church at Locri where the intact statue of the Madonna della Grotta is revered until the chapel is cleaned and restored this episode will make you think again," he said please register for free or log in to your account.