A Fist in the Face of God Presents... The Initiation

This article originally appeared on VICE UK

I first heard Occvlta in the lead up to the very first Live Festival back in 2009, where legend has it Jan, the frontman, basically told the former organizer that they were playing the festival, no questions asked. I was helping out with band interviews for the zine to accompany the festival, but finding Occvlta was tough. Back then they weren't even listed on Encyclopaedia Metallum (Wikipedia for metal-nerds, basically), such was their relative newness.

I eventually tracked them down though, and Jan was the ideal interviewee. His confidence in getting a place at the festival (their first show, if I'm not mistaken, and first-up on the bill of what would be a legendary festival) wasn't unfounded. They fucking slayed.

Then, when VICE's music site Noisey was launched, I traveled to an Occvlta show in three-degree weather in Berlin around December, 2010, to see them desecrate White Trash alongside infernal death-bangers Deathhammer, and 80s Italian speed metallers Fingernails. This performance was captured and features in their Noisey show. Jan had just had his first-born around that time (hey, Grimur!), but as his lady and offspring were out of town for a few days, he put me and a few other beer/weed/sweat-stinking metalheads up in his ludicrously cheap Kreuzberg apartment for a few nights, and the allegiance formed.

Anyway, recent-ish-ly he did a mix for the prestigious Lodown Magazine, which is mostly made up of just weird stuff and no metal, and it reminded me, 'Hey, wasn't he supposed to do a mix for me?' So here it is, all ready to be devoured, below a few words from Jan himself:

Well, this mix—what to say about it. In a way, it's a mirror of the metal I listen to and how I feel at the moment. Which is mostly black and heavy. You'll find obscure stuff and songs you've probably known for ages. I was introduced to a lot of the songs by my brother or my friends, hanging out with cool people and listening to cool music.

"Devil Eyes" and "Princess of the Night" I owe to my brother, Torben; Sapphire, I owe to Tooth [drummer of New York band Natur]; "Lady of Mars" to Marcelo; and Winterhawk I think was originally introduced to me by Henry, but it took a few years until Torben played it—and then BOOM. There you go.

TRACKLIST:

1. Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind (USA) - "Main Title 'The Shining'" [1980]
2. Aura Noir (Norway) - "Towers of Limbs and Fevers (Original Version)" [1994]
3. Mighty Sphincter (USA) - "Ghost Walking" [1985]
4. Isengard (Norway) - "Our Lord Will Come" [1991]
5. Darkthrone (Norway) - "As Flittermice as Satans Spys" [1994]
6. Kringa (Austria) - "Pearly Gates, Abhorrent Ascent (Unreleased)" [2015]
7. Mayhem (Norway) - "Life Eternal" [1994]
8. Mercyful Fate (Denmark) - "Devil Eyes" [1982]
9. Sapphire (England) - "Encounter" [1982]
10. Dark Star (England) - "Lady of Mars" [1981]
11. Saxon (England) - "Princess of the Night" [1981]
12. Winterhawk (USA) - "Free to Live" [1982]

A Fist in the Face of God Presents: The Initiation by Mxnv on Mixcloud

I've also been keeping up my monthly radio show on NTS, where I play the finest in forgotten metal for two hours. The shows are chronicled here, for those not in the know.

See more of Dylan's stuff on his website here.