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Not to be contained by their unusual country of origin, South Korea's Oathean deliver a world-class black metal album with their third offering, the vividly named Fading Away Into the Grave of Nothingness. The band's decade-plus experience has clearly paved the way for the compositionally mature, technically accomplished melodic black metal contained herein, and initial offerings such as "Wandering Soul" and "The Origin" quickly set a template that's almost always speed-intensive, but also diverse enough in construction to keep things ever interesting. Copious layers of ambiance-setting synthesizers add yet another dimension to Oathean's songs, but never overwhelm them like the genre's also popular, fully symphonic format. No, this is black metal rooted in more ancient origins -- a fact which is made clear by the standout "From the Depths of Despair" (featuring a classic metal riff to die for, but slightly let down by a rhythmic breakdown halfway through -- hello, Mr. Producer?), the extraordinarily named "A Life of Suffering Craving the Darkness," and the ultra-gothic, female-voiced semi-ballad "Scent of Longing." And for a nice change of pace from the violence towards the end, Oathean give us Westerners a welcome taste of their exotic ethnicity via the delicate, flute-laden closer "Road to..." -- yet another reason to give this fine disc a chance. [The American release of Fading Away Into the Grave of Nothingness by The End Records added two bonus tracks: a live "In Fear With Shiver" and the oddly named "The Money From the Tobacco Pouch."] ~ Ed Rivadavia, All Music Guide
Kazaa chief ordered into court
Australian judge says Nikki Hemming must face cross-examination from recording industry lawyers about her personal assets in wake of court ruling that file-sharing network violated that country's copyright laws.
An Australian court ruled about two months ago that the Kazaa file-sharing network violated copyright laws in Australia.
Today, as recording industry lawyers seek to put a dollar amount on lost music sales because of the free trading of music on Kazaa, the chief executive of Kazaa's parent company must appear in court to face questions about her own assets, according to Web site Australian IT.
An Australian federal judge ordered Nikki Hemming, chief executive of Sydney-based Sharman Networks, to appear in court to face cross-examination from recording industry lawyers about her assets in advance of a damages hearing in the landmark music piracy case.
In September, a federal judge ruled that Kazaa breached copyright and gave its owners two months to prevent piracy on its network, either by shutting down or creating a legal alternative. The ruling is limited to the Australian music market, but has been hailed as precedent-setting by industry advocacy groups worldwide.
At the time, Federal Court Judge Murray Wilcox ordered Kazaa's owners to pay back 90 percent of the record industry's costs in the case.
"These people have crowed for years about the downloads--270 million downloads of somebody else's work each month," Australian record industry spokesman Michael Speck said after the September ruling. "We will ask the court when it comes to damages to reflect the value of the music these people ripped off."
Music industry lawyers had been lobbying the court for months to order Hemming appear in court so they could grill her on her reported sale of her Sydney mansion in March to Sharman's accountant, John Myers, for 2.1 million Australian dollars ($1.55 million). Hemming reportedly continued to live in the house, and industry lawyers alleged that Myers distributed the sale proceeds to Hemming's live-in partner and a Sharman-controlled trust fund in Vanuatu.
In his judgment today, according to Australian IT, Moore said there were "several unusual features" about the sale of Hemming's home, which occurred five days after her lawyers received documents outlining the record industry's case. Moore also noted that Hemming has a stake in the Vanuatu trust to which a portion of the proceeds of the sale of her home were transferred.
Hemming's assets have been frozen by the court since the sale of her home.
Moore also described the company's structure as "opaque" and ordered Hemming to file an affidavit outlining her assets by December 9.
In a statement following the judge's ruling, Sharman Networks said it was disappointed by the ruling.
"We are disappointed with today's hearing since we have fully cooperated and complied with the wishes of the court," a Sharman spokeswoman said. "We will review the orders and consider our options."
The original trial, started when the Australian divisions of Universal, Sony, Warner, and several other Australian labels sued Sharman and its distribution partners for copyright infringement, started in November 2004. A hearing to set damages is expected sometime next year.
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