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Metal Chick of the Month – Jamie Lee Cussigh

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Beware the blade, all Hail the Sacrifice!

As the days get shorter and the nights grow darker and colder, our metal lady of the month of November at The Headbanging Moose definitely had to represent all the heaviness that fills the air in preparation for the coming winter. She’s the epitome of underground heavy music, lending her raw and intuitive bass sound to amazing bands like Sacrifizer and Triumph of Death, always with a badass attitude, while at the same time also venturing through non-extreme lands like with her Coldwave project named Letten 94. Her name is Jamie Lee Cussigh, also known as SlaughterWytch or Dolorès, depending on which band she’s working on at a specific point in time, and she will kick your ass mercilessly with her more than thunderous bass lines.

Half Bulgarian and half Italian, but born in Switzerland (where she currently resides), Jamie nurtures a deep passion for all things heavy music from a very young age. “I started to listen to metal very young, around 11 or 12 years old and the first album I discovered and bought was the Kill Em All by Metallica. I started to play bass at 13.” Also a private music teacher, either online or in person, Jamie went to Conservatoire de Musique de Neuchâtel, in Switzerland, where she perfect her skills as a musician, which is probably one of the reasons why she can fluctuate between styles without any effort, always sounding sharp and in sync with the rest of the band she’s working with.

Her main band or project since 2019 has been undoubtedly Zurich, Switzerland-based Speed/Thrash/Black Metal entity Triumph of Death, Tom Gabriel Fischer aka Tom G Warrior’s personal tribute to his iconic band Hellhammer, with the name of the band being inspired by the infamous title-track of Hellhammer’s 1983 cult demo. The vast body of Hellhammer’s work remained unperformed for years, with Tom’s other bands Triptykon and Celtic Frost only playing a couple of songs here and there, until the inception of Triumph Of Death. Currently formed of the aforementioned Tom Gabriel Warrior on vocals and guitar, our diva Jamie Lee Cussigh on bass, André Mathieu also on the guitar, and Tim Iso Wey on drums, the band has already has played a number of highly acclaimed concerts, such as Hellfest (France), Wacken Open Air (Germany), Party.San (Germany), Brutal Assault (Czech Republic), Psycho Las Vegas (USA), Merry Christless (Poland), Inferno Festival (Norway), Maryland Deathfest (USA), UK Deathfest, and Mexico Metal Fest, among others.

“I was lucky to be contacted by Tom Gabriel Fischer and he gave me this big chance and opportunity. I also take this opportunity to express my gratitude to him. He’s a beautiful person and I’m very thankful to him,” commented Jamie, who also mentioned the release of new material when she joined the project. “It’s a long-term and permanent project. We will release live material (Hellhammer music) and likely eventually even a studio album with our own material in the style of Hellhammer.” Well, after that interview the promise of releasing live material has already become a reality with the release of the amazing live album Resurrection of the Flesh by the end of 2023, recorded during three festival performances in 2023 in Houston (United States), Munich (Germany) and Barroselas (Portugal). Some of the songs became official videos on their official YouTube channel, including the excellent Decapitator and Massacra, but the band also offers live footage from other festivals in their channel like the songs Massacra, Visions of Mortality, Aggressor and The Third of The Storms (Evoked Damnation), from their 2022 concert at Maryland Deathfest, and you can also click HERE to grab your favorite version of their live album.

Apart form Triumph of Death, Jamie can be found as the bassist for a fantastic French Blackened Speed/Thrash Metal band named Sacrifizer, in this case under the moniker SlaughterWytch, having joined the band a little after their inception back in 2017, and having already recorded with them the 2019 EP La Mort Triomphante, and more recently the full-length album Le Diamant de Lucifer, back in 2022, and both can be appreciated in full on Spotify. According to the band, they were “created after a midnight ritual”, and our dauntless SlaughterWytch alongside Sexumer on vocals, NightReaper and H.K.A. on the guitars, and Lethal on drums continues to pave a path of destruction with their only goal being “to spread the mighty words of our lord Lucifer.” I highly recommend a detailed listen at both their 2019 EP and their 2022 album, as both are ass-kicking beasts of blackened thrash, as you can easily see in this incendiary live version of Le Diamant de Lucifer.

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However, don’t think that Jamie is simply blasting the heaviest of sounds all the time with her bass, or that she only loves heavy music, as she has also been part of a very interesting Coldwave project called Letten 94 since 2019, going by the name of Dolorès in this case. “Letten 94 is a project we created with a friend, Freddy Van Ballast. I’m on vocals, bass and soon guitar and he plays synthesizers, samplers, drum machines etc.,” commented Jamie. This Swiss Coldwave duo takes a mental image of Letten (as the disused Letten station in Zurich was the largest open drugs scene in Europe in 1994), and more widely of Europe in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall, as a starting point to try to create electronic music which is sometimes aggressive and syncopated, sometimes dark and mysterious.

Letten 94 is a band that plays music for its own sake, carrying no political message, therefore having a zero-tolerance policy for racism and discrimination, such as discrimination based on gender, ability, or age. This includes all political ideologies that are extremist, totalitarian and/or oppose fundamental human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Hence, you can enjoy Letten 94’s music in their official video for Empty Landscapes, listen to their other songs on Spotify, or click HERE for all things Letten 94. She was also involved with a French Black Metal horde named Myrkvid, playing bass with the band between 2019 and 2020, although she didn’t record anything with them. “The vocalist and guitarist, Myrk, is a friend of mine since a long time ago and he needed a new bass player. I played with them for a year but I decided to leave the band,” she commented, and you can also find her as the bassist for a band named Trauma, again with very few information about her involvement with the band available online, including zero details on when she started playing with them, or if she’s still with them.

As you might have noticed, Jamie has a lot of different influences in music. “At the very beginning of my teenage years I started with Thrash and Speed, and then I discovered Extreme Metal around 14 years old. I’m mostly on Black/Thrash, Black, some old school Death Metal sometimes and some Heavy/Speed but besides Metal I’m a fan of coldwave and post-punk music and it’s also a part of my inspirations. Jazz music too.” Moreover, when asked to list her top five albums of all time, she said that it’s tough to mention only five albums because she loves a lot more than that, but she would try to list some that struck her. Those albums are Blood Fire Death, by Bathory, Envoy of Lucifer, bu Nifelheim; Sister, by In Solitude; Black Metal, by Venom; and Dawnrazor, by Fields of the Nephilim.

In addition, she mentioned a very interesting list of newer bands she enjoys, including Division Speed, Hällas, Flagellant, Whoredom Rife, Blaze of Perdition, Denouncement Pyre, Drab Majesty, Lebanon Hanover, Condor, Hellripper, Antichrist, In Solitude, Saqra’s Cult, Tryptikon, Tragediens Trone, Riot City, Ultra Silvam, Beastmilk, Heresi, Tribulation, Matterhorn, Satan Satyrs, Vulture, Quintessenz, Whiskey Ritual, Warmoon Lord, Midnight and Nocturnal Graves, also saying that live she really enjoys to see Aura Noir, Satan Satyrs, Venom and Midnight. When asked about new or mainstream metal, she said she doesn’t like those labels, as she believes what really matters is to play with (and for) passion before anything else. “When this is the case, everyone who plays with his guts and works hard deserves his success.” And guess what’s the definition of true metal music for Jamie? “You feel it or not!”

Jamie Lee Cussigh’s Official Facebook page
Jamie Lee Cussigh’s Official Instagram
Triumph of Death’s Official Facebook page
Triumph of Death’s Official Instagram
Triumph of Death’s Official YouTube channel
Sacrifizer’s Official Facebook page
Sacrifizer’s Official Instagram
Sacrifizer’s Official YouTube channel

Metal Chick of the Month – Elli Berlin

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Freiheit! Suche ich… Freiheit! Komm ans Licht… Sei mir unendlich!

Even if you don’t understand a single word in German, I bet you’ll fall in love with the talent, the charisma and the energy flowing from our metal chick of this month of September. Owner of a beyond versatile voice, which allows her to deliver from the most serene, cleanest lines to truly demonic growls and roars, German vocalist and alternative model Elli Berlin will rip your heart out and mesmerize your senses with her stunning looks and incendiary performance, showing you why her fantastic Alternative Metal band, which goes by the stylish name of Null Positiv, is on a constant rise in the world of heavy music. After reading more about Elli and listening to her wicked creations, you’ll be absolutely addicted to her voice and to her music, placing Null Positiv among one of your favorite bands of our modern times hands down.

Elli started her career as a vocalist at a young age, more specifically when she was around 13 years old, as she became aware of her skills and capabilities when different people started to approach her and compliment her for her talent. She then went to take singing lessons, starting with classical music and gradually moving on to pop and rock music, making her first recordings in a professional studio, and then forming her first band when she was only 16 years old. Elli said in one of her interviews that was a really hard time for her, with over 150 shows per year, but she’s very thankful for all that as she simply loves her touring life. At first her band only played cover songs, but of course they started writing their own music as time passed by, and although metal music has always been an important part of her life, she only began growling and screaming a few years ago.

It was in 2015 in Lübbenau, a small town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district of Brandenburg, Germany, when Elli began looking for like-minded musicians to join her project and work on powerful, modern metal music, resulting in what is known today as her very entertaining and electrifying band Null Positiv, bringing to our ears an incendiary hybrid of Alternative and Nu Metal with Neue Deutsche Härte. Since their inception a few years ago, Null Positiv have released an array of unique and vibrant albums, including their debut EP Krieger, in 2016, followed by the full-length albums Koma (2017), Amok (2018), and their 2020 brand new opus Independenz (which will be reviewed here at The Headbanging Moose sooner than you can say “Scheiße!”), having also toured extensively with over 100 shows in just a few years, having played with renowned acts the likes of Anthrax, The Raven Age and Life of Agony, while also having in their short but solid career an appearance at the Wacken Open Air Festival in 2017 and an European tour with the iconic band Therion.

Currently comprised of our gorgeous frontwoman Elli Berlin, guitarist Bene Gugerbauer, bassist Manu Altendorfer and drummer Flo Schnablo, Null Positiv got its name from 0+, one of the most common blood types, as Elli herself explained we all share it, we all have it flowing within our veins, being essential to keep us alive and, therefore, becoming a synonym to the general equality all band members believe in. “Furthermore, it also translates to the mindset within the band, lyrically and musically. We believe in telling things how they are, without sugar-coating stuff and digging deep into the sentiments, good or bad, that motivate or prevent people to do things. We do this intending to rouse people, to give the initial spark to start to deal with the problems that we as humanity are facing in modern times,” commented our multi-talented diva.

In addition, Elli and her henchmen are one hundred percent, purely independent from any label or management company, having founded their own label, named Triplebase Records, from which they have released all of their albums. Not only that, Null Positiv also shoot and produce all of their official videos, available through their YouTube channel. For instance, you can see Elli kicking some serious ass with her potent vocals and her ravishing looks in songs such as Freiheit (one of my favorite Null Positiv songs), Turm Der, Trauma, Amok, Kollaps, Koma, Hass, Hoffnung Ist Ein Suesses Gift, Friss Dich Auf, Wo Rauch Ist, Ist Auch Feuer, Unvergessen, Zukunft Ungewiss, and a short and eerie film called Puppets Of Hate. Furthermore, if live performances and everything that surrounds them are your cup of tea, you can also enjoy Elli and the boys blasting insane performances at Rock Am Stück in 2019 and at Near Castle Festival also in 2019, playing the song Labyrinth on a live tour rehearsal in 2019, or go behind the scenes with them during their European tours in 2018 and 2019, during Wacken Open Air in 2017, and during Gefle Metal Festival in 2018. Also, don’t forget to show Elli and her Null Positiv your utmost support by purchasing their music and merch from their official webstore, by streaming all of their insane albums and songs on Spotify and YouTube, and by following them on all social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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Highly influences by several renowned rock and metal acts including Korn, Slipknot, In This Moment, System of a Down, Papa Roach, Marilyn Manson, Linkin Park and Prodigy, among many, many others, as well as obviously by her countrymen Rammstein, Elli mentioned in a recent interview that the first album she’s ever bought was Life is Peachy, the second studio album by American Nu Metal band Korn, released in 1996, saying she deeply loves that album, and complementing by saying she got to know the other aforementioned bands through festivals she used to attend as a fan in her early days, and that nowadays it would be a dream come true to tour with bands the likes of Korn, Rammstein or Arch Enemy, and that her playlist currently includes Slipknot, I Prevail, Korn, Parkway Drive, Asking Alexandria, Infected Rain, Amon Amarth and Arch Enemy. Moreover, you can sense how much all those modern metal bands have influenced her taste and her style by taking a listen at the cover songs she uploaded to her own YouTube channel, like her version for German Neue Deutsche Härte/Medieval Metal band Tanzwut’s Ich bin der Nachtwind, and mainly her gorgeous version for American music duo Simon & Garfunkel’s all-time classic The Sound Of Silence, drawing inspiration not from the original song but from Disturbed’s majestic version released in 2015.

Elli also said that it’s hard for her to choose her favorite song or songs to play live, as she feels that a concert is like one single, big explosion, hitting the stage and then leaving it at the end without “paying attention” to each song played, feeling like one huge energetic track. When asked how she manages to stay healthy while on tour, Elli said that as tours can be lengthy and exhausting, she has to integrate a daily fitness program to them, being very disciplined despite the fact there are tons of parties to attend and have fun. Also, in early 2019 Elli suffered an unfortunate back injury which forced her to take a break for a few months before getting back to touring, and she said that although it was a very difficult time for her, she always got the support from her bandmates. The final result was that not only Elli returned in full force to play with Null Positiv in countries like Switzerland, France, Belgium and Italy, but the band also won an award as best new band at the Mera Luna Festival in 2019.

When questioned about the fact that women still face a lot of sexism both in our everyday life and in the metal community, Elli said that fortunately in her own case she has never experienced any negative experiences like that in her career, complementing by saying that she has always felt very comfortable and welcome in Heavy Metal, a very positive environment where people are united in the name of good music, in her opinion. In addition, when asked about who she considers the most influential women in metal today, her answer included the talented and unrelenting ladies Angela Gossow, Doro and Amy Lee, mainly for their hard work, technical capabilities and their persistence, and let’s say it’s easy to sense their influence on Elli’s vocal style, looks and taste for rock and metal, don’t you agree? Furthermore, besides her career with Null Positiv our dauntless vocalist said that among her hobbies we’ll find things like painting, editing the band’s videos and designing their own attire, saying she’s then an actress, director and alternative model beyond her vocal duties who loves to play with fashion and makeup and, therefore, showing how powerful and dynamic a woman can be.

Among other topics that Elli has already discussed in her career are crowdfunding, politics and social networks, and her opinion on all those subjects proves why she’s been experiencing such high level of success and admiration in the world of heavy music. First of all, when questioned about crowdfunding, she thinks it’s a great idea that gives interested people the direct possibility of influencing the market by supporting the artists, bands or any other projects they like, complementing by saying that as everybody knows the music business can be extremely hard in the beginning, and due to lack of funding many bands cannot put into practice all of their amazing ideas, which is why the band has an option for fans to financially support them directly through their official website (where you can also buy their music and merch). Regarding politics in music, Elli believes music is, and has always been throughout history, a very powerful tool for bringing positive change to the world and problems to the light, saying that writing about political issues is as useful and valuable as writing about human emotions like love, suffering or hate. And last but not least, our unstoppable, multi-talented artist considers social networking a beautiful way to communicate and to keep in touch with her fans, complementing by saying it’s a powerful way to receive love and encouragement and, therefore, to get all strength and inspiration needed to keep moving forward. However, she said people must not be obsessed with it, searching for what truly motivates you, being honest all the time and selective of who you follow. Well, I wonder who would dare to make any negative comments on social media about one of the most talented, promising and hardworking women from the current German rock and metal scene, right?

Elli Berlin’s Official Facebook page
Elli Berlin’s Official Instagram
Elli Berlin’s Official YouTube channel
Null Positiv’s Official Facebook page
Null Positiv’s Official Instagram
Null Positiv’s Official Twitter
Null Positiv’s Official YouTube channel

“I believe that music is, and has been throughout history, a very powerful tool for bringing positive change to the world and problems to the light.” – Elli Berlin