Beneath the Massacre (Canada): Incongruous (Prosthetic)

Beneath the Massacre (Canada): Incongruous (Prosthetic)

So, just how much do you like technical, blasting death metal? A lot? No, I mean, a whole lot?! Beneath the Massacre plays something like “spazzoid ADHD warp speed death metal.” If you want to groove, then this is not for you. No grooves, you understand? But if you want to be confused and to be left asking questions, like “What are they doing?!” and “Just how many time changes occur in this song?”, Then, welcome to Beneath the Massacre, spazzoid friends! Fast, technical, puzzling, freak-ish, totally ridiculous and outrageous…and it sounds so good!! I can’t tell you how one song differs from another one because it’s all a big swirling chaos of technicality. Maybe after I will have heard it some 94 times, this will be more memorable. So, what happens when the music ends? I have no idea because I do not remember…like, at all. My slow, old brain is trying to unscramble the tangled wires after this music. This band is ridiculous. This band is annoying. This band is frustrating. Awesome! More confusion, more chaos, more technical wizardry, more, more, more! Bring it! www.myspace.com/btm www.myspace.com/btm

Oakenshield (U.K.): Legacy (Einheit Produktionen)

Oakenshield (U.K.): Legacy (Einheit Produktionen) Oakenshield is violin folk melodies at front, surrounded by folk metal. Also, the violin is often accompanied or takes turns with another folk instrument, could be a flute or something like that, I do not know. At any rate, “Earl Thorfinn” is a prime example of the violin folk spirit, for its memorability. Then again, “Jorvik” has a little bit more a symphonic quality to it, and it’s also a good song. “Clontarf” is a groovy little ditty of violin folk metal growling and clean singing. The music is always midpaced and a bit on the slow side, so that speed is not found here. The not-too-fast, not-too-slow approach gives the violin and flute a major role, and puts it at the center the songs. The folk metal elements are the foundation: the (programmed?) drums and the guitar chug along. There are clean and growled vocals, both work well with the music, which also has a less-pronounced symphonic feel at times. However, Oakenshield wastes very little time in getting to the melodies, which are a tremendously crucial element here. The sing-along objective of Oakenshield is achieved very well. In some ways, this is very typical European folk metal, but if you like those melodies, you’ll enjoy this one-man band Ben Corkhill re-arrangements of traditional melodies. Should be fun for the Viking/folk enthusiasts, as long as people understand that this is a studio thing, since it is a one-man entity. It takes a long time and a lot of dedication to put together an album like this. By the way, I have no knowledge if that “flute” is played by a human being or programmed, given that such information is not really explained at the band’s website. Does that mean that it is a computer program? Could be. Otherwise, why not list the instruments played? www.oakenshield.org

Kvelertak (Norway): Kvelertak (Indie Recordings)

Kvelertak (Norway): Kvelertak (Indie Recordings) What do you get when you combine The Sex Pistols and Thin Lizzy and turn up the intensity, and add raspy/scream/growl vocals? Does that idea sound confusing? Not really, it just sounds like loud classic rock, with punk energy and screamed vocals. What’s really going to make you fall down from your bicycle is the fact that Kvelertak are fantastically successful at this little concoction. It sounds way more interesting than this review makes it appear. The crucial part is that the band wants to make fun, rowdy rock. “Boogie punk scream rock metal,” anyone? Those that prefer their categories of music to be kept clear, might not enjoy the objective of this band. But those who want music to be a good time will appreciate this type of rock. Check out the songs “Sultans of Satan” and “Fossegrim” to hear what the hype is all about. Kvelertak is shameless. Thin Lizzy’s guitar harmonies and melodies, punk guitar riffs and drumming, plus screamed vocals = catchy rock songs. www.myspace.com/kvelertak www.myspace.com/kvelertak

Sektemtum (France): Aut Caesar Aut Nihil (Osmose)

Sektemtum (France): Aut Caesar Aut Nihil (Osmose) The vocalist for Sektemtum is Meyhna’ch, from black metal entity Mütiilation and another person, Six, used to be in black/deathsters Arkhon Infaustus. The sound of Sektemtum is raw, yet clear. The drumming often goes at uptempo speed and sometimes goes into high-speed or blasting, which gives a good, varied level of energy. Not very close to a strict category of “black metal,” yet that is the closest association to be made. The difference is that the speed is not the number one priority, nor are other things like rawness, or heaviness, nor brutality or anything like. Of course, all those things are present. What Sektemtum has going for it as a particularly good quality is their experience, knowledge and feel for writing songs that are effective, that get to the point and that the listener can easily understand. But beware. This has a nasty bite. The vocals are of the tortured-soul kind, the overall sound might not appeal to people who want “studio perfection.” At this level of experience, for a band like Sektemtum, this sound is not an accident, not at all. There is, in fact, a “rocking” quality to the music, which goes along with the black metal guitar work. The music sounds like it is played by people and sounds relatively genuine, without too much studio trickery and overdubbing, compared to the over-processed, clicky and perfect sound that many other bands seem to prefer, like Behemoth, Hate Eternal, Belphegor, etc. The songs are not difficult to remember, but some people will have to get used to the sound. Once that happens, though, a song like “Low Spread” will sound positively “rocking”: simple, upfront and just a good vibe. The title track is another one that’s easy to enjoy. So, is “Conference Catastrophe,” which functions on the basis of less-is-more mentality. Other songs are… just forget the details. You already know what you need to know. www.reverbnation.com/sektemtum www.reverbnation.com/sektemtum

Einherjer (Norway)

Einherjer (Norway): Norrøn (Indie Recordings)
The first song, “Norrøn Kraft”, is some 13 minutes long and it is Einherjer’s way of announcing their return to action in the studio since 2003’s “Blot.” Einherjer is harsh black metal vocals, but with big, easy-to-get-into rhythms and riffs. The song is a midtempo song that explores progressive metal moments and different moods.
This song is also good for finding out who has the patience and endurance to stay around and get all they can from the music. The track is very gratifying and fun, you just have to give it the room necessary to breathe.

Songs like “Naglfar” (5:11) and “Varden Brenne” (6:21) display that Einherjer-ish midpaced, sing-along melodic sensibility. This band utilizes gang-shouted backing vocals a lot. Those vocals may be humming or pirates-on-a-ship group vocals or the collective shouting of particular phrases.
There is also show a rock and roll simplicity of the guitar solos that focus on melody, not technicality.
FYI, the song “Alu Alu Laukar” (2:51) is a super, super ridiculously catchy song. Great for singing along. The song is a cover by Norwegian band Ym:Stammen.
To the point. The album is wonderfully coherent mix of several styles, Einherjer’s “Viking metal” awaits the more adventures listeners. www.einherjer.com

Mass in Comatose (Estonia)

Mass in Comatose (Estonia): Sempiternal Nightmare Industry (Wasteland)
Five songs (23 minutes) of total death metal brutality. Mass in Comatose’s sound has elements of classic death metal music, which they celebrate by making their own brutal songs.
Of course, right now, as always, there are particular trends, be it bands with doing clean/growl singing or be it thrash, but Mass in Comatose just sounds oblivious to that stuff, as the sheer death attack of “Undead Terror of Dominance” demonstrates.
This is not melodic and you would have to search far and wide to find anything “catchy” to hang on to. The band relies on big, fat death metal riffs, speedy and blasting drumming and death metal vocals, like in “Chemical Lobotomy.” Heaviness and sickness is the deal.
Mainly, it is the energy. It is the overall feeling. They want to keep it heavy, keep it low, and keep it friendly towards headbanging and moshing or any type of physical movement on the part of the listener, such as with “Indoctrination.” Heavy riffs that call on the listener to move that neck and those elbows.
If you like death metal, this is very comforting. There’s no funny or stupid joking around, just heaviness. There’s a comfort in the music of a bunch death metal maniacs seeking to find their way to their own creation of the craft that they love. www.estonianmetal.com/bands

interview with Pharaoh (U.S.)

Pharaoh (U.S.)
The guys from Pharaoh understand very well what makes a good metal song. Once you hear the album, it’s clear they are something like scientists of heavy metal songwriting.
“Bury the Light” is their new album and it is quality metal music from beginning to end. The main thing is intelligently constructed, compact and memorable songs that will be appreciated by listeners who demand real talent in the playing and seriously good singing: whether it is Tim Aymar’s singing or Matt Johnsen’s guitars or simply the awesome songs.
If you are picky and demand talent and great songs, you will find that Pharaoh is all those things.
Matt (guitar) explains the band’s take on metal.
www.myspace.com/pharaohmetal
www.facebook.com/Pharaohmetal
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So, “Bury the Light.” Another Pharaoh album. Another display of quality, catchy traditional heavy metal. I was midway through the second listen, when it clicked and then it was on! How do you keep doing this? Are you adding an addictive secret ingredient?
Matt Johnsen: We're very self-critical. Two of the guys in the band were longtime metal journalists who spent many years thinking about what, exactly, makes a metal album good. I guess that kind of introspection has paid off in terms of our songwriting. On the other hand, it makes everything take a long damned time to finish. It's pretty satisfying to write a song, and pretty much anything you make with your own hands is going to appeal to you at some level. The secret is being able to back up and ask, "Yes, it was fun to write and fun to make, but will it be fun for the people who didn't make it?" I think a lot of bands fall into this trap. They write a song, they have fun doing it, they have fun playing it, and so they assume it's a fun song, when it's not. We never make that assumption.

“The Year of the Blizzard” is a hit with this zine! That’s pretty much a perfect song right there. It’s also your longest track. Do you have any insight into the song that you can tell us about? I have to ask, do you agree that that riff that begins at 1:10, after the acoustic part, sounds Rush-inspired? “Temples of Syrinx”, anyone?! Are you offended by the reference? Too cool for Rush?
Ha, no. I didn't write the song (it was Chris Black's baby through and through) but as soon as I heard his demo riffs, I said, "You know, that sounds exactly like Rush." Although, on further reflection, it could also be a Who riff, which is probably where Rush got the idea. But yeah, there's no getting around the fact that this song looks backwards to the 70s for its inspirations, which is new for Pharaoh. It was a blast to record, because I got to use a ton of different guitars to achieve all those textures. I think I used six different guitars throughout the course of this song! And finally, no, we're not too cool for Rush. Rush rules hard.

Tim’s voice has a midrange tone that gives it a melodic appeal. Has he ever taken singing lessons? How old was he when he discovered he could sing?
Tim has taken lessons, and has in fact taught vocal lessons. He has a pretty firm grip on the technicalities of singing. He's also been singing FOREVER. I never heard them (not sure if they ever recorded), but his first band was called Overlord and I think he was in his teens then. I have, however, seen the promo photo, and Tim was an adorable little scamp. Lord knows how he turned out so bad, ha ha!

Did you ever wonder, “How are we going to top (previous album) ‘Be Gone’?” Did you go through a dry spell? How many guitars are playing in a song like “The Spider’s Thread”? Are there four or five guitars going at any one given time, like after the :30 second mark, with those melodies? How many guitars is that? Can two guitar achieve that?
Two guitars cannot achieve that, no. I believe there are five distinct guitar parts there (two rhythm parts and three melody parts) although it might only be two melody parts. It's been a while since I tracked it!
And yes, I wondered how we could top Be Gone. I also wondered how we could top The Longest Night, and I'm sure I'll wonder if we can top Bury the Light. My problem after Be Gone was, "what can I do now that will be different?" and to the extent that I went through a dry spell, it was that I had a hard time coming up with riffs that didn't sound too much like the ones on Be Gone. Eventually, I had to admit that we had come to a sort of plateau with Be Gone, and that to make the SONGS different, I would have to add more textural elements and hope those were enough to compensate for some riffs that were relatively similar to Be Gone riffs. In the end, I think it worked, but I don't think I can do it again, so I'm going to have to come up with some really clever new ideas for the fifth album.

Do you think it’s disingenuous for gore metal bands, who are like 105 years old, to write lyrics about zombies and horror movies clichés? “Hmm, let’s see, I have written literally hundreds of song lyrics about zombies, but I guess I gotta keep selling the same product, unless I wanna get a job at the local factory. OK! Zombies, it is!!” Can people in their mid-40s really be “inspired” or “excited” about zombie lyrics, and zombies and corpses on the cover of their albums?
I think you're mistaken if you think there are any gore grind musicians that DON'T have day jobs! That shit doesn't pay the bills.
Regarding your question, though, there are two possible scenarios, and the one you described is probably the preferable one, the cynical one. Less pleasant is the notion that these 50-year-old men ARE still that emotionally and intellectually invested in zombies and knife rape. You have to wonder, also, whom they envision as the target audience for their lyrics: are they singing to the other 50 year old manchildren, or do they imagine they're singing to the modern equivalent of their pimply teenaged selves, hunched
over back issues of Fangoria listening to Autopsy record in their headphones. Heavy metal was invented and framed as adolescents' music, but over the course of its 40-year run, it has become an adult music almost against its will. I think too many metal musicians who got into this style as teenagers still imagine they're making and selling music for teenagers, when in reality, they're making music for other adults. I have to think the quality of metal lyrics, or at least the sophistication, would increase if that wisdom would sink in en masse. It probably won't, though.

Having said that, how do y’all go about your lyrics. Are they just afterthoughts? And don’t stupid lyrics bring down the work and effort put by the guitar player, bass and drummer into a song? How do you construct your lyrics? Your lyrics tend to be indirect, but still not too weird.
They're an afterthought in the literal sense, as they're almost always written after the music. But, we don't shortchange the lyrics on account of their order in the songwriting process. Personally, I try to write lyrics about things that matter to me, be they political or personal subjects. At the same time, especially when writing political lyrics, I think its important not to instantly date myself with specific references. We can all think of some corny old thrash song that harps on about Ronald Regan or Margaret Thatcher or Mikhail Gorbechev. So, I personally try to write allegorical lyrics that are thinly veiled political screeds that can be read on a more typical "metal" level without drawing back that veil.
"The Wolves" is not about wolves, therefore, but if you don't feel like reading into it, well, it still makes some kind of sense. Everyone in Pharaoh writes lyrics, and I'm sure everyone has their own process and philosophy when it comes to writing, but I think we're a rare group to have four guys who can all write intelligent and meaningful words.

Is “Graveyard of Empires” about the war in Afghanistan? Awesome, job. Pharaoh telling it like it is. Imperialism sucks.
It is about Afghanistan, and while it's about the U.S. today, it could be about the U.S.S.R. 20 years ago, or Great Britain 170 years ago or, probably, China in 40 years. It never fucking ends for that country. I'm pretty strongly anti-war in the general sense, but this engagement specifically was a stupid idea from the start (if not quite as stupid as the war in Iraq. We're on a tear with our foreign policy, as you can tell.) To be honest, though, I wrote the song around the title, because that's a pretty badass heavy metal title, I think you'll agree! The day I needed to start working on those lyrics I saw the phrase used in some editorial, and I was off to the races. Better than calling it "Aukland's Folly", for sure.

Making music in a band that has a cult following is thankless work. No money, no fame, no fancy hotels, no rock star treatment. Just the pleasure of doing what you love. So, why do YOU do this? What drives you inside to make music that only a cult following loves? I’d have you headline Wacken, if I could!
It's not so thankless. It's under-thanked, though, ha ha! Pharaoh does alright. We get great reviews, we sell pretty well, and we don't actually lose money in Pharaoh. We make a little. Not much, but we basically don't lose money. This explains, however, why we don't play live so much.
There are so many bands out there willing and eager to lose money to play, that festivals and booking agents would be stupid to throw too much money away on bands that refused to play for free. It is a bit infuriating when some trendy band-of-the-month who are essentially like Pharaoh, but much worse, gets a lot of attention, but it's a fool's game to worry too much about that sort of thing. We get to write and record records, paid for by someone else, and release them to a world that has at least a reasonable number of people who appreciate the effort. As hobbies go, Pharaoh is pretty fulfilling. That said, if you know someone at Wacken, hook us up!

What do y’all as a band think about the radical idea of recording WITHOUT triggered drums, sound replacement of instruments, looping, vocal programs and other things that “perfect” human performances?
I think those are all noble goals! But, Pharaoh doesn't really live by them. We only have so much money and time available for recording, so some shortcuts are taken here and there. It's best to not be obvious about such things. A lot of bands these days, you can actually hear that they only recorded a riff once, then just copied and pasted it. Drum editing has gotten completely out of hand. And don't get me started onauto-tune (we don't tune Tim at all. I make that sorry bastard get it right on his side of the microphone!). But for Pharaoh to make albums at the level we do without any postproduction trickery would require us to rehearse 5 nights a week for months on end, and we simply can't do that.
If you can't tell when it's all said and done, then it doesn't really matter. Sometimes, it's best to not see how the sausage is made.

What can your listeners do to show support for your band?
Email orders@professorblack.com to inquire about shirts. We have only one design for sale now, but we will have two more in the next couple months.
We are currently scheduled to play the Ragnarokkr fest outside of Chicago on May 18, along with Virgin Steele, Brocas Helm, Voltax, Slauter Xtroyes, and a bunch of other cool bands. We'll also do some east coast shows in the summer, and anyone who wants to see Pharaoh in their remote part of the world need only pony up enough to get us there without us having to break the bank!
Thanks for your support, and for an excellent interview! THE END.

Darkestrah (Kyrgyzstan/Germany): Khagan

Darkestrah (Kyrgyzstan/Germany): Khagan (Osmose)
“Saga of Temudgin” (9:28): Raw, atmospheric, symphonic black metal with high shriek vocals and upfront keyboard landscapes rock out for several minutes. Then there’s a soft/mellow transition. Then symphonic black metal returns at an uptempo (not blasting) speed, that is, until the blasting shows up again. By now, it seems like the song has turned into a fast black metal semi-instrumental number, with a strong symphonic element. This song has some “clear” vocals, but it sounds like an evil monk chanting from the middle of the woods. Good stuff.
“Onon River” (2:58): A simple acoustic, instrumental piece for the total time of duration that is, more than anything, a transition to the next track.
“Khagan” (10:55): This has also several minutes of fast black metal and quiet/mellow transition to midtempo black metal. This type of song, of course, has several moods within it, from heavier, grim moments, to stretches of total speed, and other things in between.
Darkestrah requires patience for the changes in mood and speeds. Not for the casual listener of black metal, since, one would think, the demands of the music weed out those who want instant gratification. The dedicated listener will understand better after repeated listens. www.darkestrah.vze.com
www.myspace.com/officialdarkestrah

www.fuglymaniacs.com new issue, number 29 of Metal Bulletin zine is available to read now as a PDF

www.fuglymaniacs.com new issue, number 29 of Metal Bulletin zine is available to read now as a PDF

Tarvas (Finland)

Tarvas (Finland)These folk metal upstarts were around 16-18 years old, with their EP “Kostoretki,” a very memorable recording.
Now they around 18-20, and they have “Rajan taa” to offer. Still folk-based, but in a more metal direction, more guitar-driven, more headbanging music, Tarvas continues.
It’s somewhat pointless to get too much into categories, though. Tarvas is making some good music and you probably don’t know them, and that’s the problem!
Here’s a little info on Tarvas to get you started.
Otto (guitars, vocals) and Iiro (drums) responded from somewhere in the middle of frozen Finland.
www.myspace.com/tarvasband
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Hello, Tarvas!! What is going on in the city of Jyväskylä for your band? How is your city or town?
It's been quite quiet here for us in Jyväskylä for the past few months. Tarvas has been on a break since our last gig in October, and we are currently looking for a new lead guitarist and writing new songs. The line up has changed a few times: we've had three different bassists and the lead guitarist left because he wasn't interested in playing folk based metal anymore. But there has always been the three founding members: Otto (voc/guit), Jere (synth) and Iiro (drums).

I really like your E.P. “Kostoretki”!! It is very good!! That was your second recording, correct?! How old are you guys? On the Metal Archives picture it looks you are 9-10 or maybe 12.
Yes, Kostoretki was our second recording, but we don't see the first one as a release since we never made CD-copies of it. And we re-recorded the songs for Kostoretki. And the first demo is pure crap.
Currently we are 18-20 years old. The picture is, umm, oldish. In the picture we were something like 15-16... But let's not talk about that infamous photo.
We started Tarvas in the winter of 2009, so we were about 15 back then.

Is this your first band? I hope Tarvas continues for a long time! I We all had some experiences about playing in a group before, but Tarvas is the first actual real thing we've played in. And we hope that we'll continue for a long time as well!

What are the lyrics to your songs, like “Punaisen Auringon Laulu”? I do not speak any Finnish!!
We all write lyrics for our songs. The lyrics are usually metaphorical, and are often influenced by Finnish and scandic mytology and traditions. The themes come from our own lives, or whatever happens to be on the writers mind at the time. Punaisen Auringon Laulu, for example, is about nightmares.

Tell us about the instruments you use. You use, of course, guitars, bass, drums and vocals. Do you use accordions?
In Kostoretki we used jaw harp, melodica, some whistles and a beer bottle (listen to the beginning of Pullo). But most of the odd sounds that can be heard in our records come from the keyboards. We don't use accordions.

What has happened since you recorded “Rajan taa”?
Since we recorded Rajan Taa, in Cygnaeus studio in Jyväskylä, we've done a few gigs and rehearsed some new material. We haven't had too many gigs, though.

Is there one person that writes these songs? You’ve probably heard people say that Tarvas is a “baby Moonsorrow”?
All of us have written songs. Some songs are completed at the rehearsal place, some have been completed alone by whoever had an idea for it. And yes, we've heard us being called "baby Moonsorrow"... Not too much though. We all like the band very much, and it is a compliment to be compared to them. So it really doesn't bother us that much. We think that we also have our own sound, and that we don't rip it all off from somebody else.

Do you think this could be a career for you? What does your mom think about you pursuing a career in music?
We of course hope, that we could make a career out of music, but we don't want to get our hopes too high. We'll do our best and see how far we can get with it. Long tours sound like a lot of fun, it's every rocker’s dream! Our families have been supportive to us throughout the history of Tarvas.

How can they hear your music and get copies? What is your telephone number, so that people can call you in the middle of the night, and scream “Tarvas rules, man!!”?
The best way to contact us is to send us e-mail to tarvasband@hotmail.com, or to like our facebook page at www.facebook.com/TarvasBand. Our music can be heard in facebook and www.myspace.com/tarvasband, and in various other places in the internet.
If you would like to buy our stuff - send mail and we'll ship 'em to you where ever you are! We live in central Finland and if you would like to meet us, just look for us and you may find us... that's not a promise though. ;)

Finally, does “Tarvas” mean “Freezing cold forest” in Finnish? Or Maybe “Tarvas” means, “Please help me, the winter is depressing me”?
The word "Tarvas" translates to "Five metalheads who want to get laid".... seriously, it is old Finnish. The word is not being used anymore, but it means something like moose, elk, or ox. An animal with horns. That's why there's horns in our logo. We're so horny. *badum thss*
Thanks for having interest for our band! THE END.

Zwavelstorm (Belgium)

Zwavelstorm (Belgium): Verdwijn
Frozen dead true tremolo raw black metal recorded perfectly for a very human performance from within a cave or coffin.
The drums sound like drums, the guitars sound like real guitars and the vocalist does not sound perfect, just tortured.
Having heard it more than a few times, at this point, to these ears, this sounds good and horrendous, in a positive sense, vocals included.
Don’t get the wrong impression, though. It’s not total-blasting black metal, and the rawness works well for the slower moments of melancholy, melody…in a raw context.
For those that like metal to be raw and not robotized!
www.myspace.com/zwavelstorm

Haiduk (Canada); Influence (Poland)

Haiduk (Canada): Plagueswept
Although Haiduk is firmly based in the black/death zone, this is different in several good ways.
1. It’s all about the riffs and the hooks. Nice combination of rhythm and melodic hooks and other goodies for a fun listen where you can hear the different guitars working.
Just know that this is not a fancy recording, and it sounds good recorded this way.

2. The mellow/melodic moments stand out for Haiduk and it’s a promising aspect, to keep things heavy, while adding some twisted melodies.
This is a self-release and it sounds pretty raw, though this music works well in this case, actually. Apparently, this is the work of one person. A young metal genius? Don’t know, but a hard-working musician, for sure. Impressive.
More. www.myspace.com/haidukmetal

Influence (Poland): Where Does Your Way Lead To?
Four songs, about 15 minutes.
Considering that this is the band’s first recording, this has a very professional sound, vibe and delivery.
Don’t know much about them and their previous bands, but Influence’s first recording shows a band that has largely arrived at their sound: the straightforward, immediate impact of thrash, with the heaviness and vocals of death metal, within, say, a Vader-Pantera framework.

Having heard this recording some 7 times, I still do not remember many hooks from it, although it’s tight and aggressive, with grooves. Those thrash/mosh heavy parts are essentially the “money riff” for Influence: not complicated, and to the point.
Good job. More attention to the “money riff” will work well in the future, methinks. www.myspace.com/influencepl

Blaspherian (Texas)

Blaspherian (U.S.): Infernal Warriors of Death (Deathgasm)
Just how much heaviness is possible in death metal is what Blaspherian want to find out.
These guitars are tuned to the “thunderstorm” setting, and if they were any heavier, this band might go ahead and bite the bullet and stop using guitars altogether, and just use nothing but bass guitars.
The guitars play one super-heavy-duty thick riff and squeeze everything they can from it.
The vocals are way, way beyond incomprehensible and I’m pretty sure the rest of the band has no idea what growler is saying…maybe he doesn’t know either…he’s just growling as low as it gets ... total death metal.
They have lyrics about being “Sworn to Death and Evil” and “Infernal Warriors of Death,” so the imagery is crafted to fit the massive downtuned chaos.
Of course, this band loves Bolt Thrower and Incantation…that’s the ticket right there.
Some people think death metal is a matter of life and death.
To Blaspherian death metal is more serious than that. www.myspace.com/blaspherian

Azterion (Costa Rica)

Azterion (Costa Rica): Destructural (Negativity Records)
Azterion is mostly concerned with making an overwhelming racket. Noisy stuff.
After a few listens, it still sounds noisy. The total brutality of low, guttural, incomprehensible vocals, and a swirling mess of a guitar wall of terror just abuse the ears. There is a technical/progressive side to the band, but the massive noise makes it difficult to hear that really well.
It’s not sing-along music and it’s not even growl-along music. If you try to bang your head, you might find that it’s difficult to keep up. You’ll be banging your head, and then, they switch the rhythm and you’ll stop and say, “What? What just happened?!”
Plus, they have a sense of humor. They end the recording with a mellow piano piece and the last minute is the sweetest guitar solo!
I don’t care who you are, that’s funny right there. www.myspace.com/azterionband

Godhate (Sweden)

Godhate (Sweden): Equal in the Eyes of Death (Metal Age)
Fans of Behemoth, Vader, Hate and that particular style of death metal, would be the audience for Godhate.
Fast, blasting, gruff vocals and on the constant “brutality” and “death metal attack” mode, for sure.
The lyrics live up to the name of the band and embody the standard points of this style of death metal.
This band want you to form a massive mosh pit wherever they go or whenever you hear the music, whether in your room and on the bus.
Get those other bus riders moshing!
Obviously, you have to like a lot of death metal to like this band. If you consider yourself real “picky,” then move on, there’s nothing to see here. Uptight people need not apply.
Godhate does a good job of bringing the heaviness, blasting and brutality. What else is there to say? C’mon, this is death metal, not classical music we’re talking about.
www.myspace.com/godhate

Arum (Brazil)

Arum (Brazil): Occult Cataclysm- The New Era Rises (Negativity Records)
Don’t let the bullet belts, spikes, corpse paint, and angry-funny faces fool you:
Arum is a talented bunch, despite their image to the contrary.

Hold on, there, …
Is that an acoustic guitar I hear on “The Age of Shadows”?!

Ah, yeah, that’s an acoustic guitar!
The jig is up!
Arum actually has real talent, they can play those guitars all day and all night until the bats wake up and come out to play.
“Lord of Ancient Forest”…yeah, it’s grim, sure…but check out those ridiculously good guitar melodies.
You know what? That’s all you need to know, really. Arum’s music is raw and appropriately ugly…once you get past the ugly part, you will find some beautiful melodies.
Remember: don’t let the ugly fool you, beauty is under the ugly. This is an oldie, but still sounds good. www.myspace.com/arumblackmetal

Vrani Volosa (Bulgaria)

Vrani Volosa (Bulgaria)
A creative and musically ambitious band like Vrani Volosa makes a certain type of metal in which you can hear the black metal base swirling in prog/folk, but it sounds better than that description: it’s definitely memorable and just done very well.
“Pink Floyd goes metal”? Maybe. Regardless, it’s a wonderful album.
High quality, too, of course: “Heresy/Epec”: an album that’s over an hour of music.
The professional guitar twister by the name of Hristo gives an insight into Vrani Volosa. www.myspace.com/vranivolosa

I have enjoyed your album “Heresy” for the high quality of the songs. It seems like you have found a great equilibrium between metal, melody and the atmosphere. How old are these songs? When was your previous album made?
Hello, Mauricio!!! Really great pleasure talking to ya, mate! Well, the early ideas for the “Heresy” album go back to the beginning of 2005 when I started thinking about the follower of our first album “Where The Heart Burns.” At that time we split with our former vocalist Atanas and I was really confused what was going on with the band and I actually decided to change a little bit the musical direction of Vrani Volosa.
Our first album was recorded at the end of 2003 and middle 2004 and was released on a digipack cd by Corvus Records. I think our music at that time was inspired by bands like Bathory, Enslaved and Primordial spiced with some elements in the veins of Pink Floyd, I think we can name it ambient black metal. Most of the songs are very long with repeating melancholic atmospheric themes and we used screaming vocals at that time. So it was kind of difficult process to explore the new musical vision of Vrani Volosa in terms of a second album. The composing started in 2005 and ended in 2007 when we actually started recording sessions for “Heresy”, we got about 30 songs and we had to choose 10-11 tracks that had to stay inside the record. I think the half of the tracks we used were composed in 2005-2006 and the other half in 2007.

How long were you in the studio recording? Where do you record? I like the quality of the sound. It is not too “modern” and “technical” and “computerized,” that’s good.
- Well, we spent about 2 years recording music, not all the time of course, in Set Nitro Studio in our home town Burgas. We had really productive sessions in 2007 and beginning of 2008, then there were problems with the computers in the studio, we lost some recorded material, so we had to wait a while all the technical stuff to be solved and of course we re-recorded the lost material, the mixing also took us a lot of time. I’m not pissed off about delaying our album, I remember those times with so much good, we didn’t feel any pressure, we didn’t have deadlines, so I think “Heresy” is an album of band’s joy of making music, we feel it as a statement and we wanted to finish it some day, to see it released on a cd and of course we were curious about the reactions of the fans.
But we really didn’t want to hurry up! Yeah, the sound is straight in the face, it’s not polished, the guitars sound exactly as we want them to sound in the rehearsal room, breathing and pumping. We used a couple of tube amps, because we wanted to hear the dynamics of playing the guitar, you know, the right hand bombing like hell and few minutes later caressing the strings. I like mostly the sounding of the old bands exactly because of their rough and natural sounding!!!

I do not know too much about your band. How did you arrive at your sound of a metallic combination of Pink Floyd, Rush and black metal?
Hey, Mauricio, I fucking adore these bands you mentioned!!! Well done, hehehe! I don’t know, I just love listening to good old music, I am a fan and I always wanted to make good music for my band, too. It’s so much easier to create if you don’t think of the product, if you don’t think how journalists will name your style. It’s just music. And our music has roots. We all in the band listen to vintage rock music and heavy metal next to the extreme styles, so I think we naturally reached ours now and I think that our future will be even more colorful and varied!
You asked me about mixture of ambient and extreme parts in our songs. If you play any of Metallica and Iron Maiden LPs you can find such moments, varieties, changes of tempos. I think it’s coming from the vintage music as it was not that radio-orientated, but theatrical and dramatic, trying to capture and spread different feelings in the same song. As fans we are coming from that time, so we are strongly influenced by those classic rock and heavy metal records!

What is the history of the song “Sun”? It’s such a fun song! What about your most Pink Floyd-like song, “We Are Not Alone in Our Universe”?
Ok! “Sun” is about preparing for a battle, it’s the sun that you see probably for the last time in your life before you meet your enemies and it’s so purifying, beautiful, squeezing, giving so much strength and belief for good for your families and friends! The first four lines spoken are taken from our classic Peyo Yavorov’s “Exiles” and I strongly recommend you, Mauricio, to read this poem (I know it’s translated into Italian already!)!!! This song is inspired by the feeling to fight for what you love till the last breath, but also it’s a farewell with the beauty of everything you loved, sacrificing your life for it!!!
“We Are Not Alone” is a different story. The concept deals with the pantheon of our age-old culture (the greatness in so many aspects as military success, science for that time!), state and there is a dialogue between the old spirits that remember those times and the nowadays Bulgarians that obviously lost connection with their predecessors. I think this dialogue can be held in most of the countries in Europe, can’t they?! I love the music in “We Are Not Alone” - it’s gloomy, dark, epic, and the grand finale is smashing my face and tears my heart. I wrote the finale introduction when my grandmother was at my place, winter time, we talked a lot about the roots of our family, relevants, etc. I was with my guitar jamming all the time. She died a couple of months later and what she left behind is that tiny melody that twists people attending to our gigs.

You are based in Burgas, Bulgaria, correct? How is the metal scene for you in Bulgaria? Do you play concerts frequently?
Yes, correct! Burgas was the Mecca of metal in Bulgaria! So many bands we had, a jungle of underground metal. I was a teenager when I was attending underground gigs in my home town, to see bands like Necromancer, Biophobia, Diabolism. It was cool, no worries about anything, just metal! I miss those times! Nowadays is cool too, we have a lot of amazing underground metal bands, active, playing in clubs, pubs e.t.c.
You must check out The Revenge Project, Dark Inversion, Shambless, Uhumanity, Dimholt, the new Demonism is awesome too!!! We played a lot last two years, we managed to make a small European tour (at last!!!) and I hope that we can play as much as we can in the near future!

Does your bass player Alex play guitar to write songs, too? He used to be in the death metal band Act of Grotesque?
Yes, Alexander was one of the main songwriters in Act of Grotesque. But he left a couple of years ago, he is a happy father of a son right now and he is deeply concentrated in what we do together in Vrani Volosa. I love to jam with this guy. He’s awesome blues-player and a total High On fire-maniac.

Is Hristo Krasimirov the main songwriter? He is a founding member of the band. What was he doing before 2003?
Yes, all ideas come from my head, for bad and for good. I feel purified when making music and it’s so since day one of Vrani Volosa. That’s the band of my life, it’s everything I wanted to do musically, and it also gives me freedom to be an artist, to share what I feel with my friends and with my music.
Back in the day I used to play with a couple of bands, amongst all of them I can mention Korozy, where I took bass duties for a short period of time. Korozy was big back then in 2001, 2002, we hoped we’d tour Russia, but they took me to the navy and we were forced to go to the army by law and so I quit Korozy and after finishing all my duties to the army, I was free to open my heart with a new musical experience, which I later named Vrani Volosa!

Do you have songs in Bulgarian or only songs in English? What do you think about recording music in Bulgarian?
I think that lyrics should come naturally, so I use every single good idea. I have my own notebook, always a pen with me too and I always write my ideas in this notebook! For me personally it’s not easy to write lyrics at all, I should be in the right mood for it, and most of the time I don’t feel inspired, but sometimes there are events that fire the spark and after a couple of hours spent in writing I find some good lines that could be the lyric of a song! So was the case with “Sun” which is one of the most popular Vrani Volosa-songs and probably because it’s written in Bulgarian. People recognize it on gigs and sing along with the band, which makes me tremble every time! Also “Where The Heart burns” is in Bulgarian and one of my best lyrics! People in Bulgaria love the message in our Bulgarian lyrics and fans in Europe find these songs exotic in a way! It’s strange hehehe!

Do you use the acoustic guitar in all your songs? “All to Ash” certainly has the acoustic guitar, right? By the way, do your band usually just have guitar, bass, vocals and drums?
In “All To Ash” I used a 12-string acoustic guitar, also in the intro of “Sun” I used the same guitar. In the other songs we have electric guitars plugged into tube amps and cabinets and that’s why the whole record is so warm sounding! But I definitely would use an acoustic guitar in our next record too!!! Yes, we use that classic rock n roll scheme having two electric guitars, bass, drums and vocals! Pure energy for me!

Where are the cities and countries where you have found that people show most interest in Vrani Volosa? Have you played in any festivals?
-I love all the places we’ve visited so far! But one of the best gigs we’ve ever had was in a very small town in Serbia, called Apatin (the famous Serbian beer Jelen is brewed there). We played in a small motorcycle club, it was full with maniacs that sang along and had really good time!
Yeah, we played several festivals, the biggest was Spirit Of Burgas 2010 on the Black Sea shore, and the most interesting so far, Fimbul Festival in Furth, Germany. I love German festivals, they are so well organized, you don’t have to think a lot of anything, you just have to find the beer!!!! Heheheheheh!

How can people contact you? What are your future plans?
You can find me in facebook, I answer all fans’ letters, my name is Hristo Krasssimirov. There is also a band page in Facebook, too. I’m not a fan of band web sites, so we don’t have one. In Facebook and MySpace we have a real contact with our fans and that’s a lot more important to me!!!
Our future plans are to tour more in Europe, we have some plans already. Also we have tons of new Vrani-songs that wait to be recorded, so I hope that in 2013 we’ll have a new Vrani Volosa-album!!! www.corvus-records.com
www.myspace.com/corvusrecordsbg
THE END.

check out www.fuglymaniacs.com for metal

www.fuglymaniacs.com

Lords of the Trident

Lords of the Trident (U.S.)
Speaking of Lords for the Trident (Wisconsin), Cannibal Corpse posted on Twitter, “Thy music shall destroy our ears! The crown is thine, Lords!”
The Lords’ next-door neighbor, Manowar, has repeatedly complained to the local authorities, “This band just won’t stop playing that loud metal music at night, when we are trying to rest! It’s too much! This much metal is just ridiculous.”
Judas Priest has declared, “These blokes really ought to stop being so metal. This is just giving everyone else a bad reputation for being less metal, isn’t it?”
Dream Evil left them a message: “Stop it!! You’re too much for the Book of Heavy Metal.”
Suffocation said on Facebook: “Too metal for us.”

Microphone annihilator and leather pants wearer Fang Von Wrathenstein took a break from riding his dragon and thusly he spake to the minions’ questions. www.lordsofthetrident.com
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What is your assessment of your two recorded crusades (“Death or Sandwich” and “Chains on Fire”) of sword and axe-swinging metal? What about live demonstrations of your skills in the Middle Kingdom of Wisconsin?
I’d be tempted to say “so far, so good”, but we know that there will ALWAYS be more battles to fight and unworthy mortals to slay! We feel our albums have been getting better and better as time goes on...”Death or Sandwich” was like an earthquake, “Chains on Fire” was like an atomic bomb...I’m fairly sure the next album we’re working on (with the current working title of “Unite”) will be akin to a global thermonuclear war. We’ve set ourselves a limit of the number of tracks on the album - 10 - although we have MUCH more material than that. So this album will only be filled with the best of the best. And so far, all of the songs that have gotten the green light for this album are catchy as hell. They call songs that get stuck in your head “earworms”. Well, this album will be like some sort of horrible worm colony, where the worms have added lasers to their bodies to infiltrate even the most well-fortified ear.
In terms of our battles in and around Wisconsin, it’s obvious at this point that we are the unchallenged rulers of metal in the Midwest (just as the prophesy foretold). Tales of our battles have traveled far and wide, as have we! Our last gold-plated touring RV broke down after a missile attack, so we’re currently searching for a new means of conveyance, and in the meantime we’re focusing mostly on completing songs for this upcoming album. But we’ve been able to generate quite the horde of minions in and around lower Wisconsin. Madison is so well-fortified by our knights, other metal bands keep quite a wide breadth on their way through. Unless, of course, they’re invited to do battle with us!

Is your legendary anthem “Legions of Hypocrisy” about the “metalcore” scene? How will the Lords execute the emo core breakdown renegades: guillotine, impalement or high-cholesterol hamburgers?
No, unfortunately, but I do like that interpretation! I can’t tell you the number of terrible metalcore bands we’ve had to slay (in front of their own “fans”, even!). And believe it or not, we’ve used all of the execution methods you’ve already outlined, and more! I find the best way to take care of a metalcore band is to rig the stage with a spike pit beforehand. Eventually the crab-core jumping during the breakdowns will loosen the already loose stage floor, and they will fall to their deaths, a la “Mortal Kombat”.

In your aural attack known as “Face of the Enemy” you speak of being persecuted. Then, later on, you composed another tune about “The Enforcer” who lays down the law. Please tell the stories of these two songs and how paranoia is a warrior’s best friend.
The lyrics and story behind “Face of the Enemy” is an interesting one. We were sitting in our practice space, jamming on this new song (which would become “Face of the Enemy”), and Asian Metal liked it SO MUCH, he said “QUICK! Fang! Grab something and read it for the lyrics!” We’ll normally do this when we’re SO excited about a song that we don’t take the time to write out lyrics - we just grab whatever’s available. So I reached over to my computer desk and grabbed the instruction booklet for the 1995 PC game “Angel Devoid: Face of the Enemy” and started reading/singing. I had picked up the game at a goodwill store for $0.15. Now, for you younger readers, back in the day, instruction booklets for video games were HUGE, and normally came with a little mini-novella of the story’s back plot. This one was no exception. The thing I was reading fit SO well, that I decided to ready the whole thing and turn it into lyrics. And thus, Face of the Enemy was born. Go check it out on YouTube!
In terms of The Enforcer, that song is about the slow crawl of souls from purgatory up into heaven. We always envisioned that any souls we sent to the afterlife would have to win one final battle with an enforcer, if you will, before entering in the afterlife. To show their worthiness and all that. So the song was built behind that idea. We’ll test the souls in this life...the ones who aren’t able to stand up to our sonic face melting will have to face THE ENFORCER!

Is the restaurant Medieval Times a place that you frequent in your crusades of pillaging in the Middle Kingdom of Wisconsin and the Frozen Realm of Illinois?
MY GOD that place gives me nostalgia. Reminds me of the good old days when men were men, and horses were cars, and women were also quite manly for some reason. Eating with your hands, watching bloodshed (even if it’s staged)...ah, that brings me back! If I had my way, every chain restaurant would be like that. Imagine Chuck E. Cheese with tiny sets of armor for the kids! And tiny deadly weapons for them to learn the essential skills of combat. I hate to use the word...but...HOW CUTE!

On YouTube there are videos of Lords of the Trident, but in these videos there is not nearly enough fire. Why is no one’s guitar on fire? Shouldn’t a warrior’s microphone be on fire the whole time he conquers the audience?
We can’t give ALL of our surprises away in our videos! Of COURSE we have guitars and microphones that light on fire in our live shows. But hey, if we showed that off ALL the time, there’d be no element of danger to our shows! People would come all slicked up with fire-retardant gel from head to toe, and there’d be no accidental lighting of people on fire. Now how fun would that be? You’ll have to come out to one of our shows to see the real thing. And don’t ruin it by wearing wet towels. We want you nice and dry for our burnin...erm...show. Yeah, that’s it....show....
Also, I’ll have you know, we DO have a video that has fire in EVERY SINGLE SHOT - the music video for “Chains on Fire”. We shot it in an active volcano, so we couldn’t avoid getting fire in there. Lost a lot of good cameramen during that shoot.

In a way three-way fight between Zeus, Satan and Fang Von Wrathenstein, who would be wearing the most leather? Who has the most powerful chariots? Whose horses would fly the fastest across the sky?
Zeus: Nice guy, really into that “electricity” thing. Has a nice fast chariot, but tends to ride it with one hand on the e-brake, so what I’m saying is he’s kind of flinchy, and I wouldn’t want to be his passenger even on a good day of driving. No leather on that guy, just a toga, and TRUST ME - you don’t want to catch him in a gust of wind. Ewww. Zeus, we don’t need to see that again.
Satan: THAT guy knows how to throw a party. Doesn’t really have a chariot, and honestly, usually just wears a nice business suit rather than leather, so I’d go with me winning each of those categories. Two things Satan has me beat on - lawyers, and wine and cheese tastings. You wouldn’t think so, but the devil is a wine SNOB! Makes a lot of sense if you really think about it.
So I’d say I’d probably win on the leather and chariots...possibly even the flying fastest across the sky thing. But I prefer to do it on ground, in a nice Jaguar with spikes and chainsaws on the side. Now THAT’S riding in style.

In the Middle Kingdom of Wisconsin there have been marches by teachers, students and workers fighting for justice. Don’t you think it is time Lords of the Trident joined forces with those masses and show them how to get medieval on the usurpers in the government? What say you, oh Lords?! To the fight!! Raise your swords!!
Every good king knows that his kingdom is built upon the backs of his peasants. You have to be NICE to the people before you slay them - it’s just common sense. But overall, we tend to stay out of the politics of the day. I let my sword do the talking. But I will tell you than many of our strongest knights are affiliated with higher education (after all, a knight has to has brains AND brawn), and are none-too-happy with our current situation. And hey, if they use their precisely-honed battle skills to cause a revolt, well, good on them!

You have lyrics about battles, and other epic things. However, it would be truly epic to write lyrics about brushing your teeth or doing the laundry. There is so much room for fantasy and myth in such topics! The ladies love powerful songs about bodily cleanliness and good personal hygiene!
As anyone in the band will tell you, I am probably the cleanest barbarian you’ll ever meet. If I don’t get a shower after a show, it’s bad news. And I will say that most of my best lyric and song ideas come to me while I’m in the nirvana of a nice, hot, shower. Perhaps I’ll be writing a nice contemplative song about that some day. Or maybe “The Ballad of Folding a Fitted Sheet”. That’s almost harder that facing an ogre in hand-to-hand combat!

Is it true that your next album will be titled: “The Knights Who Say Ni”?! Tell the stories of the holy hand grenade of Antioch!
Actually, the original title was “Knights who say ecky-ecky-ecky-patung-zupow-zwaaaza”, but apparently that’s far too long of a title for iTunes tagging. And who can accurately put that into google? Imagine the misspellings.

By the way, Lords, what does your future hold in this year of 2012? How can the peasants and serfs of Washington State, where I reside, experience your aural attacks of metal unbound? Must we travel to the Middle Kingdom of Wisconsin to witness the metal?
Well, by the end of the year (or hopefully, by the end of the summer) we should be done with our new album, and we’ll be planning our release tour! I understand that many people out there have an issue making the long and arduous journey all the way to the Middle Kingdom, so in the meantime, they may enjoy the metal (through their most stalwart speakers, of course) by going to the most METAL domain on the planet: www.LordsOfTheTrident.com.
Our albums are available through iTunes and Amazon.com, and you can even listen to the whole album for free on our bandcamp site! If you enjoy your metal in the visual format, you can check out our MANY videos on youtube.com, along with our official music videos. We also sell a full-length concert DVD on our main site if you’d rather see the full experience. Just make sure you fortify your computer before visiting these sites...we’ve heard of weaker monitors melting during playback. THE END.

Tormented, Wormrot, Wykked Wytch

Tormented (Sweden): Rotten Death (Listenable)
Name your band Tormented. Name your album “Rotten Death.” Then name your songs, “Drowning in Decaying Flesh,” “Vengeance from Beyond the Grave,” “Blood of the Undead,” Tomb of Corpses,” so and so forth.
Now, record your music to make it sound like it was recorded in a coffin. What do you get?
The result is classic-style death metal, based on the brutality of the grotesque and macabre.
And not a problem to be found anywhere on the whole album: not a single thing to complain about.
Tormented’s music has a way of sounding enjoyable because of the overall feel: there is a genuine attraction to classic death metal; the riffs (despite the horror/graveyard image) are memorable and easy to get into; there are effective guitar solos here. The guitar tone is total death metal buzzsaw and fits the sound very well.
Combine the above elements with very appropriate drumming that is played with feeling for rhythm, and real, genuine death metal growl, and you have death metal that will quickly win you over. When the music stops, in your head you will hear the growling, riffs and drumming. It’s that effective.
Tormented is all about death metal in the classic style. This is not fancy and tech-savy. It’s raw death metal. Now, this is how it’s done! www.myspace.com/fuckingtormented

Wormrot (Singapore): Dirge (Earache)
SONGS: 25 songs; many are between 30 seconds and 1 minute; total running time is some 18 minutes.
LYRICS: bloody cheeky monkey/smartass topics, with titles like “All Go No Emo” and “Semiconscious Godsize Dumbass.”
CREATIVITY: it’s all grind speed and energy.
TALENT: raging, screaming, growling, blasting.
SOUND/PRODUCTION: a tight, loud production; clear, grind sound quality; raw, not too computerized; very appropriate.

Grind insanity for a short period of time and then it’s gone.
Wormrot are a special skills team of grind: they identify their objective and pursue that objective with quick determination. They get it done quickly and then they leave.
Wonderful. Don’t overstay your welcome. Know when to stop.
Twenty-five songs, 18 minutes: good idea.
www.myspace.com/wormrotgrind

Wykked Wytch (U.S.): The Ultimate Deception (Goomba)
SONGS: 8 songs, plus a 1 minute time-eater interlude; 1 cover of “Fade to Black”; total running time is about 46 minutes.
LYRICS: beasts, serpents, decapitation, destroying, animals, etc. Typical “metal” lyrics.
CREATIVITY: probably the soloing or melodies in the songs is the most particular element to the band.
TALENT: fast playing, growling, some clean singing; heavy/typical thrash/modern riffing; the guitar work is the most unique; the growling/screeching is alright (“grim” and “scary”), as is the drumming.
SOUND/PRODUCTION: “modern”: loud, upfront, relying mostly on the loudness to make an impact; can’t hear the bass; just screaming, chugging riffs and drumming.

Loud, screaming obnoxious metal. The most melodic song here, of course, is their “black metal” version of “Fade to Black.”
Overall, the band does a good job of the “modern” thrash/black/death combination. To these ears, while the upfront sound is fine and expected, it’s in the area of coming up with more unique/distinctive guitar riffs for songs as a whole that could be very beneficial. That component would catch listeners’ attention more. So far, this is fine for headbanging, but when the music stops playing, it does not stay with the listener too much. What is your next move, Wykked Witch?! www.wykkedwytch.com

Caliber 666, Feral, Funerus, Inner Fear, Knights of the Fallen Empire, Satanist

Caliber 666 (Sweden): Blood Fueled Chaos (Ibex Moon)
Caliber 666 owns up to the label “Swedish death metal” with gusto.
The guitar tone is straight from the Dismember Book of the Art of Guitar Sound. This band has read that book a lot! Some 42 minutes of music and 10 songs.

Speed. This operates at three different speeds. One is a midpaced, double-bass, doom-ish parts that are meant to be as heavy and dark as can be. In these moments, the band adds some hooks, so that’s it is not boring.
Their fast speed is based on the Incantation Book of Tight, Fast Drumming (when Incantation plays fast). Their third speed is an uptempo style that is conducive to headbanging: not too fast, not too slow, just right for getting a sore neck.

If Dismember and Incantation could write some songs together, they might sound something like this: faster, tighter than Dismember, doomier than Dismember, and maybe as fast as the fast elements of Incantation, but with more hooks, licks than Incantation during the slower parts, so that the “death doom” parts are a bit more spicy or moody.

Caliber 666 is death metal from top to bottom. The growling is definitely low and gruff, and it makes you growl along with them. They want to keep it low, for sure. If Caliber 666 manages to keep it together for more albums, they will get on the radar of the people that like classic death metal. www.myspace.com/caliber666sweden

Feral (Sweden): Dragged to the Altar (Ibex Moon)
Feral sure loves their “death ‘n’ roll.”
Feral focuses on big, downtuned riffs that function on heaviness and simplicity, to achieve their goal of “groove” in every song. Likewise, the drumming is loose and concentrated on a beat, and stays focused on the beat, and not on speed, technicality or double bass attack.
In this sound, the bass guitar is easy to locate: it is the audible low-end that goes with drumming, to create the feeling of heavy, steady rhythm.
The vocals are low, gruff and relatively easy to understand.
The guitar solos have a—as you would have guessed—a rock n roll vibe.
It is not a surprise that Entombed’s “Wolverine Blues” comes up in reference to Feral.
In a way, that might be an immediately positive or negative point for approaching Feral, depending on your tastes. So, if you wanna get your death ‘n’ roll groove on, you know what to do. www.myspace.com/feralswe

Funerus (U.S.): Reduced to Sludge (Ibex Moon)
Funerus goes for, basically, some of the heaviest death metal sounds that they can make with the format of guitar, bass, drums and low growling.
The riffs are often some of the fattest, thickest to be heard in this style. Simplicity and slowness are major factors in the Funerus game plan.
In a way, this is the opposite of fast and technical death metal: the speed is used sparingly, the vocals do not try to be weird and schizophrenic yelling and burping. This is just low growling that does not deviate from the objective of keeping things super heavy.
The guitar player in Funerus is the John McEntee from Incantation, so this shares central components of the style of death metal with doom passages.
Well, about the melody? There is none. This is monolithic, monotonous, just like the doctor ordered. It is fugly, fugly music for heaviness, brutality and simplicity. This does sound like sludge, so we can’t say that we didn’t know!
www.funerus.com


Inner Fear (Czech Republic): First Born Fear
To contrast the energy of black metal with the mood of gothic metal is the objective of Inner Fear.
To do that, they have utilized several main foundations, amongst which are:
1.A black metal vocalist and a gothic metal vocalist. During the moments of clean singing, of course, the feel of the band is melodic, catchy, while during the black metal vocals it’s angrier.
2.Speedy, fast, blasting moments in the context of a symphonic atmosphere, for a lush black/gothic sound.
3.Sharp guitar riffs for the speed, melodic guitar solos, that work in conjunction with keyboards for some different shades of the band’s sound, speeds and moods.
Inner Fear’s album is available for free from the band at the site below or simply go to Facebook.
Inner Fear takes Dimmu Borgir to its logical conclusion? Maybe. But this has a younger energy to it and the gothic moments are more present throughout. www. bandzone.cz/innerfear

Knights of the Fallen Empire (U.S.): The Awakening - Chapter 1
1. This album of traditional heavy metal is a bit more than 50 minutes long and there are 9 full songs.
2. The overall feel of the band tells you that this band has worked hard at the compositions.
3. They have a production that is appropriate for their sound. The band themselves will probably be the first to tell you that this album does not have the big-budget production.
4. If you support bands that ignore all trends and just stick to playing heavy metal with no nonsense, then this band is worthy of checking out.
5. A friend of mine heard this and did not like the vocals. However, if you like traditional, old school heavy metal and you like to support the “little” bands, you could at least check out the band and hear for yourself and decide.
www.knightsofthefallenempire.com

Satanist (U.S.): Sadomasochrist (Negativity Records)
Yup, that’ll do it, for sure. That’s a name, alright.
The lyrics of this band might make King Diamond blush and say, “Now, now, there, chap, you’re getting carried away, aren’t you?”
The music, to make it easy, is black metal. That really doesn’t mean that much though. For one thing, the vocals, while grim and angry and all that, are easy to understand. Enunciation is important to Satanist!
The guitar is several things at once: dissonant, anti-melodic, then catchy and memorable. There is a variety of other background sounds added for atmosphere, too. Sometimes the music sounds deceptively simple.
However, the real surprise may be the musicality of the band, including some ear-candy moments. Check out “Eliphas Levi” for an example.
Hot diggidy dog, Satanist has some nice tunes! www.myspace.com/satanist666

interview with Landmine Marathon

Landmine Marathon (U.S.)
“Gallows,” their fourth album, continues the mission:
Landmine Marathon plays death metal.
Not “technical funky free-form death metal,” not “melodic death metal with clean vocals and a bit of hip hop” and not “death metal with a country twist and pinch of swing.”
No. Just death metal.
This band probably loves Bolt Thrower and Dismember a lot, who knows.
Some 29 minutes of raging death metal growling and in-your-face riffing and drum attack: 8 songs in which Grace Perry growls and screams like crazy.
For some stupid reason, people keep complaining about things this band does not do. Somehow, some people have gotten it in their heads that they should give “advice” to the band: That they should be more melodic, that should not be so “noisy” or that they should include more “variety” into their music.
Well, go listen to bands that do then! What the hell is wrong with people?!
Landmine Marathon plays death metal.
Put this music on and bang your head and growl along or air-drum or air-guitar along. www.landminemarathon.com
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Metal Bulletin zine inquired and Ryan Butler (guitars) responded.
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Congratulations on such a rocking album!! I have been enjoying it. What have y’all been doing? touring, making videos, interviews, street fighting, meditation?!
Haha, thanks! Since the record came out, we did a US/Canadian tour with Warbringer, Lazarus A.D. and Diamond Plate. After the tour, we had to deal with the daunting task of finding a new drummer, as Andy left the band.
After a month or two of searching and auditions, we decided to work with Raul Varela (Impaled, Ghoul, Morbosidad, etc.) and we just played our first show with him Monday night! The show went very well and we are all really excited to be working with him.

What level of success does Landmine Marathon have at this point? Are you able to tour and come out of the tour NOT owing money ? You have been at it since 2004, correct?
Landmine has been a band since the tail end of 2004 and I joined in September of 2006. We're generally at a nice break even point and usually come out of a tour not owing too much money, which is awesome. We all find ways to pay our bills and spend a decent amount of time on the road.

I have noticed that some people keep complaining about how your band is not melodic or “catchy.” Do these people think that you are part of the same trend as Trivium, Bullet for My Valentine and those bands on that magazine Revolver? Is there a misunderstanding there?
I don't know. I see this stuff a lot and it makes me laugh. I think part of it may be that we tend to get a lot of mainstream press and that's what most the kids involved with those mags/blogs/messageboards are exposed to. I, however was raised on a steady diet of Crust/Death Metal/Punk and actual metal and Landmine sounds exactly how I want it to sound. On the other end, we get crusty kids often saying that we sound too clean and polished. Can't win either way.

Did you use to be a hardcore band or something?!! Maybe you have gone on tour with those bands that have those “I-just-got-out-bed” haircuts?!
Um, not that kind of hardcore. No. I spent a lot of time in Grind bands, hardcore bands, and DM bands etc. I've done time in the likes of Unruh, Wellington, North Side Kings, Structure of Lies etc. But, no, my hair has never had the "windswept" look. I'm influenced by Disrupt and Entombed, not Asking Alexandria and The Devil Wears Prada. In fact, there's not really much music in the last 15 years that has even had an influence on anything I write.

You show some different skills on the longer track “Knife from my Sleeve”! Death metal, plus some really heavy moments of “death doom,” then uptempo speeds, a really nice guitar solo, and blasting!! Is that guitar solo your tribute to Entombed’s doom/guitar solo moment in the song “Left Hand Path”?!
We always try and have some Bolt Thrower parts in there, as early on the band was heavily influenced by them. We've come a long way and gotten a little crustier, but we try and keep some of that majestic doom feel they're notorious for. “Left Hand Path” pretty much plays through my head continuously on a daily basis. Man, every interview seems to be about our influences lately! haha. At least you get it.

Are the drums that we hear the real drums that were recorded or are they “enhanced” or “replaced” with a computer program? Metal drums in the 80s and early 90s seem to sound better? Do you decide on your drum sound or someone else, like a producer?
Well, I've produced everything Landmine has ever done. “Wounded” [the 2006 debut] has no sound replacement whatsoever. Just some automation. The kicks on “Gallows” are sound replaced with samples of real drums, but there's not really any Beat Detective work. What he played is what he played. The snare has a sample of Andy's actual snare blended in with his snare mic, but the mic is there. It just helps keep the dynamics steady for blasts, etc. Works better than compression/automation and is sometimes a little quicker and less intrusive than doing full automation. We're not going fully raw, but do like to keep a nod to the old school with our production. There was a lot of sound replacement going on in the 80's that people don't realize.

On your songs, have you done any looping [cut and paste] of the guitars, or are you actually playing the guitars all the way through the songs? Does Grace actually do the chorus every time or is that looped to “save” time and money?
There's no guitar looping unless we had to fix a mistake that we missed. Grace pretty much sang everything, but there were some times where she couldn't sing anymore where we may have pasted a line from a chorus. She spends about three hours on each song. So, it's the real deal.

“Cloaked in Red” is an example of the different vocals that Landmine Marathon uses: a higher, semi-black metal scream (the beginning of the song); and a lower growl (starting at about the 1 minute mark). Is that all Grace? By the way, I like the drum roll that Andy does in this song. The guitar “solo” is really short. Why?
That's actually the only song we wrote before we wrote the record and it was written for a split that never happened. Supposed to just be a short crusty rager. We weren't going to put a solo originally and decided to later.

“Morbidity” closes the album with a midtempo and uptempo pace, with some (maybe?) Bolt Thrower-inspired hooks! I feel like on this song, the double bass sounds weaker, more in the background. Have you noticed this? At any rate, it’s good album closer, before I go back to “Three Snake Leaves” and start it up again!
Hmmm. Should be the same levels on every song! I'd have to open up the sessions and look! I may have automated it down a hair due to there being so much double bass, but I don't think I did. This song is on our list of ones to learn and try live.

Thanks for the interview!!! THE END.

Evil Hedgehog, Hatred, Leproso

Evil Hedgehog (Germany): Rising
Evil Hedgehog plays traditional heavy metal with a heavy-riff style and gruff heavy-metal singing.
This type of heavy metal—due to its heaviness and overall attitude—has the potential to be liked by all those into upfront, rocking heavy metal, but that do not want to hear all that happy-happy, keyboard-ish traditional metal with high singing. These vocals sound like clearly-enunciated semi-growl, but that does sound like singing. The vocals are different, but pretty biker/street metal or burning-throat style.
These six songs are pretty catchy since the guitar, though heavy, it’s not chug-chug, but has hooks or licks in a headbanging style. This guitar work practically demands headbanging or some kind of movement. It’s not look-at-my-flashy-guitar-playing style, but rather c’mon-and-bang-your-head-and-don’t-stand-there-with-your-arms-crossed-acting-like-you-are-too-cool-to-get-into-it style. It’s such a good vibe and one that comes straight out of the book of heavy metal!
All six songs go for uptempo songs that are meant to make a metal person feel good.
www.myspace.com/evilhedgehogrising

Hatred: Sweating the Sickness
Hatred plays thug growl chugging music where the thick-riff (Pantera, Machine Head, Fear Factory, Sepultura (Chaos/Roots) guitar sounds are plentiful, and midpaced drumming that’s meant to be heavy, rather than flashy.
Mosh, punch the wall, kick the curb and slam are the main things this band would probably like the listener to do: they go for a major chugging sound, where things are heavy and basic so that everyone who listens knows that the band wants them in the pit.
The band curses a lot, for the effect of “tough guy” music and so expletives are issued rather often, though maybe not as much as in some rap, etc.
This zine has no further information about this band. A person that this zine knows has said that this band is from Texas, maybe Houston, but we don’t remember for sure. And we can’t locate them on the internet, either, wtf.

Leproso (Illinois, U.S.): Demo 2008 Entre las nubes y la oscuridad
Six songs of “old school, brutal death metal” from this Champaign, Illinois band’s demo: basic-sound quality, guttural vocals, mosh-death riffs and drumming (midpaced) for the heaviness of “brutality.”
According to their myspace, their debut album will be released this year, so keep in mind that this is a demo from January 2008 and it gives only a rough idea of the music.
Leproso is not a blastbeat death metal band, but midptempo-uptempo, mosh-riff centered music. Of the six tracks, three are around the four-minute mark and three close to the eight-minute mark.
Leproso is a bit of a curious beast. Three songs stick to the death metal plan of action: “We play brutal death metal and that’s that.” The other, longer three are also that way, but there are other elements (doom, semi-melody, etc.) that make the songs different from each other.
From their myspace, one can conclude that they have new songs. You might be interested to know that the sound quality on those songs is much better and the songs come across in a clearer fashion. Actually, they have been improving their work and it definitely shows in the tight delivery. While keep it death metal, they have improved the musicianship and songwriting. www.myspace.com/leproso61820

Celestial Immunity, Christian Holocaust, Engaged in Mutilating

Celestial Immunity (Greece): Lost in Shades
Celestial Immunity is not loyal to any particular style, though there are influences and shades of thrash, death, heavy metal, etc. This is the type of band totally not interested in any discussions about staying “true” to this or that genre. Mostly, they practice their craft and if it will mostly sound different to different people: thrashy to some; closer to death, for others; still others will hear the very early Gothenburg rough combination of growling, thrashy riffing and melodic hooks.
At this point in the band’s history, the band uses only growling and no singing, though with this style, it is often the case that such bands begin to feel limited by having only growling. In some of their songs, they have moments where they show a different, more melodic.
“The Dream Fades,” the last song, is their most memorable song. This is where the guitar riffs and hooks go the furthest in creating for Celestial Immunity their sound. The very early days of Gothenburg will come to mind for some, and it’s probably not an accident that the band has channeled their music in such melodic and even semi-melancholic directions, with growling and with a brief spoken vocals moment.
But really, all their songs lean towards that general direction. For example, “Skin” has also those basic components and they like to work them out into a concoction of their own, on their way to taking their metal in directions that no ones knows where. Though the growling might turn off some people, the music itself, while still very energetic and thrashy, it’s not part of the death/black subgenre and can attract a broader interest.
Now, will you give the band a chance and check out their music? They are probably not going to be on U.S. television any time soon, being interviewed by three clueless men asking insipid questions to “stump a trunk” or discussing “all things hard rock and heavy metal” or something like that.
Plus, wouldn’t it be nice to hear an actual new band?
Five songs, 23 minutes.
www.myspace.com/celestialimmunityband

Christian Holocaust (Maine, U.S.): Christian Holocaust
Only those into the super lo-fi, necro, cave, total garage black metal attack will be interested in such a band.
The rest will say that they don’t even know how to play their instruments, that they can’t even keep a beat. Stop reading now, and make a note to self: “Avoid necro black metal band Christian Holocaust.”
OK, those into sloppy, badly recorded and devils-and-demons black metal, please step right through here, where the entrance to the cave of Christian Holocaust is located. This band rolls around in their own ugliness and biblical topics of devils, damnation and death so as to saturate every song their recording (which as already mentioned, has rough demo sound quality) with as much black metal elements so as to drive away those who don’t like black metal.
www.myspace.com/christianholocaust

Engaged In Mutilating (Texas, U.S.): Population: Zero
Whether it is the attraction to ridiculously aggressive, fast music, or the musician’s perspective of hearing dazzling drumming and fast solos; or the desire to hear chaos that in many ways goes against the basic rules of music by hearing anti-lead singer rock star vocals or anti-melodic guitar/drum work.
Whatever the reasons may be, the fact remains that technical, blasting guttural death metal as practiced by Engaged In Mutilating flies in the face of not only the rules of why most people like music (a melody, a chorus, something they remember, a lyric, a voice, etc.) in general, but also against the rules of why many death metallers like death metal itself.
Cannibal Corpse, Death, Obituary, Morbid Angel, etc. all have melodies, catchy riffs that attract people to headbanging, etc.

On the other hand, technical, blasting guttural death metal does not.
For example, listen to this band’s cover of Pestilence’s “Out of the Body” and hear the gulf that separates Pestilence from Engaged In Mutilating: Pestilence’s music sounds very traditional: chorus, melodies, catchy, etc.
Engaged In Mutilating’s own songs, however, are a whole different kind of entity: overwhelming heaviness and blasting speed; completely undecipherable gruff, guttural growling; not memorable guitar riffs because they just pile after another in ridiculously fast succession creating a barrage of complex noise. Nice, indeed!
www.myspace.com/engagedinmutilating

Abyssal Throne, Ancak, Antropofago, Arcanum Inferi

Abyssal Throne (Canada): Abyssal Throne
“Abyssal Permutation” (5:25) is certainly a strong start: a sharp-riff, blast attack death metal to cause an immediate circle pit and headbanging. The low, guttural vocals, the ridiculous blasting drumming and the overall vibe is good. “Sounding the Brazen Horns of War” (4:23) fundamentally settles it: that first song was no accident. There is a seriousness of musical purpose that’s obvious. “Godhead Abolished” (4:47) displays the three keys to their sound: intense, blasting drumming; good, speedy riffs/good soloing; and guttural vocals, with some black metal moments. Therefore, “Perfection Sought through Putrefaction” (5:25) is just further punishment and musical muscle. By this time, you know what to expect, and the band would be ashamed to disappoint give you anything other than what they do best: blasting death metal for those that like their metal fast, intense and aggressive.
This recording sounds pretty good: the band probably would like a bigger-budget recording, but the truth that on here you can already hear the diligence in their delivery. www.myspace.com/abyssalthrone

Ancak (Malaysia): M.A.H.A.
Black metal grind destruction race to the finish.
In the space of six songs (time), Ancak manages to infuse enough throat-abuse shrieking and screaming to satisfy the craving for really noisy, fast, blasting black/death/chaos metal:
Fifteen minutes of very annoying noisy, grindy black metal. It is so annoying you have to go back and play it over and over until you end up trying to scream in even more annoying ways than these psychos when you find yourself in the shower. Now, instead of doing your best S.O.B./Darkthrone/Napalm Death/Nasum/Repulsion/Bathory screaming, Ancak will occupy your brain for a while.
Ancak has achieved true unagi, the perfect state of chaos awareness, to be ready for any attack.
www.myspace.com/ancak

Antropofago (France): Antropofago
They have a song called “Barbecued Baby Back Human Legs.”
In about 12 minutes (four songs) of blasting, violent, savage aural attack Antropofago is universal: if you like straight-ahead brutal, blasting death metal.
Giving the listener an intense experience that is the musical equivalent of a pummeling or making the death metallers at their show feel the music so well in their bones, their brains, their bellies, that have to react in some sort of mosh, headbanging or some movement.
Yes, they have a bit of technical edge, preposterous drumming, a wingnut for a bassist, a mad butcher for a growler, etc., but mostly they do a good job of destroying their instruments until nothing is left but debris.
Sure, Antropofago is a band for blasting death metal enthusiasts. www.myspace.com/antropofagometal

Arcanum Inferi (Italy): V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
1. “Caput Mortuum” (3:25): There is no point in disguising their hunger for the transylvannian black metal: the guitar riffs, the vocals, the drumming, it all says, transylvannian or nothing at all. Forget good production, eclectic sounds. They have found a spot, they will stay there, rain or shine, and just play that lo-fi black metal in their cave.
2. “Obscura Nox ad Inferos” (4:44): The vocals sounds like two grim black metal twins are shrieking into my ears. Just nasty, nasty lo-fi sounds at high speed with circular riffs that seem to repeat over and over seeking the trance of speed.
3. “V.I.T.R.I.O.L.” (5: 28): This song sounds similar to the second song, which sounds similar to the first song: multidimensional this is not. There is only road they travel: the path of raw grimness and unfancy, dirty black metal.
The sound quality is good, but of course, this is no fancy proposition, but strictly corpsepaint-spikes-grimness-and-traditional black metal. For example, the drumming is very much in the transylvannian feel. At this point, Arcanum Inferi is strictly a proposition for the total lo-fi, raw, no-production black metallers.
Three songs, then it’s over. Go back to track one and listen to this demo again.
www.myspace.com/arcanuminferi

Nuclear Beast (Hungary), Siknis (Finland)

Nuclear Beast (Hungary): Promo 09
On the cover a giant monster, denim-jacket, baseball cap-flipped, torn jeans and high-tops shoes wearing thrasher/skater monster vomiting on little people running away from him.
When you hear this band, it is possible you will want to run away. One of the songs is called, “Drink, Fuck, Kill, Satan!” just by the title tells you what level of thinking is going on. It’s the band sort of admitting that their music stays at the loud and obscene area. It’s bunch of drunk people, messing around in the garage, having fun.
Whether it’s fun for other people, that’s not so clear. It’s difficult to figure out what’s going, besides just a “thrash!” garage sound. Anyway, it’s a rehearsal-style recording more than anything.
www.myspace.com/nuclearbeast



Siknis (Finland): Twisted Mind
Murder.
Evisceration,
and a name like this, you can imagine that these people are not right in the head for these three songs (total time of less than twelve minutes).
Just listen to “IQ Less than Zero” for proof.
This is midpaced and it’s not total nonstop blasting, rather they emphasize their songwriting: these three songs do not move at a frantic pace, but a rather midpaced for the “brutality.” The vocals sound like a couple of people screaming and growling at the same time. The growling is pretty low, often accompanied by a higher, shriek vocal style. This approach works for the band and gives them a bit of identity in that respect.
So, it might be a surprise to find out that they have some guitar work that suggest some melodic moments: here and there, you can certainly hear that the guitar work goes for more than just the chugging heaviness: while “melodic”
might give the wrong impression here, but they have created songs with some hooks or ear-friendly moments.
And this makes for a bit of a different combination. And that’s Siknis. This demo is no fancy-schmanzy recording, but you can hear what they are all about.
www.myspace.com/siknisband