Steven Transcended (Team)

Name:
Steven Transcended
here you can read all articles written by Steven Transcended

Where from:
Lake Constance region, currently living in Munich, South Germany

Hobbys:
Pretending I’ll finally muck out some old stuff after my next vinyl purchase / hunting for more time slots to read / attending ice hockey matches / dabbling in video games now and then / keeping busy and active to keep the madness at bay

Role:
Author and Co-Editor at Transcended Music Blog

(How) do I know fellow authors from Team Transcended?
I first got in touch with Roman about 20 years ago, when a friend of mine – who also happens to be his cousin – introduced us. From that point on, we would occasionally run into each other at concerts and other places around our area. In a way, we were both part of the same “scene,” if you want to call it that.

Our shared passion for music kept us in touch over the years, even though our lives gradually moved in quite different directions. When Roman later told me about his plans to set up TMB, he eventually asked if I would like to join him on this journey.

As the project grew, I also had the pleasure of getting to know the other great people and authors who joined the odyssey along the way.

Why do I want to write about music?
Want to write about music? Roman made me do it!

First concert ever:
That’s a tough one! As an alternative I want to mention my first attendance at Wacken Open Air in 2002. This experience definetly had a lasting effect on my musical preferences. I was literally overwhelmed by the festival’s insane but always peaceful athmosphere and, of course, the great bands on the billing. We travelled to Wacken by the legendary metal train from Stuttgart and what shall I say…we did not expect the party beeing that hard!

3 best concert impressions:
Amenra – most athmosperically intense live expericence I ever had!
The Dillinger Escape Plan – ridiculously insane live band!
The Black Dahlia Murder – Death Metal never has been so much fun!

Concerts you missed (and you’re mad about it!)
Every year’s Roadburn Festival (NL)! Any ideas how to get an affordable place to sleep there?

Bands you (still) need to see (again)
One band I still haven’t managed to see live is Neurosis. After all these years, I’ve somehow never caught them on stage, and with no guarantee they’ll ever tour again, seeing them live has become an even more urgent item at the very top of my personal to-do list.

First album/ vinyl I bought
I can’t remember the first album I bought, but the first records I got were AC/DC’s High Voltage on cassette, Painkiller by Judas Priest and Live Killers by Queen, both on vinyl. Thanks Mom!

Most precious album (on vinyl) I own
I own a copy of each vinyl pressing of Converge’s Jane Live which was performed and recorded at Roadburn Festival 2016. The classical artwork of Jane Doe was reinterpreted by several artists for the strictly limited editions of this masterpiece (John Baizley, Florian Bertmer, Randy Ortiz, Thomas Hopper, Ashley Rose Couture). Apart from the covers, the vinyl color of each pressing is unique as well.

Additionally, I would like to highlight the remarkable anniversary edition of A Blaze in the Northern Sky, the landmark release by Norwegian Black Metal pioneers Darkthrone.
To mark the album’s 30th anniversary, an exceptionally elaborate collector’s edition has been created. Available exclusively through the Peaceville Records store, the release is strictly limited to 666 hand-numbered copies pressed on clear vinyl. Each copy is signed by Fenriz and Nocturno Culto on paper dating back to the year 1666 – a fittingly arcane detail for one of the most influential records in Black Metal history.
The edition has been redesigned and hand-crafted by Bartek Rogalewicz at Lodge.Black Temple and comes housed in a thick 2 mm hardcover made from handmade black raw paper, incorporating paper sourced from an ancient book from the year 1666. The release itself was hand-printed using a vintage manual woodcut press and finished with custom silver ink mixed with powdered goat horns. A four-page insert featuring the album’s lyrics in an alternate layout completes this unique collector’s artifact.

Most frequently spinned album
The Red Album by Baroness

Albums that impacted me the most
Crack the Skye by Mastodon
Given to the Rising by Neurosis
All We Love We Leave Behind by Converge
Marked for Death by Emma Ruth Rundle
Left Hand Path by Entombed
Blackwater Park by Opeth
The Red Album andThe Blue Album by Baroness
and many more…