Friday, February 15, 2019
Washington state concert calendar, updated February 15, 2019
Thursday, February 14, 2019
Downfall of Gaia
Downfall of Gaia
Ethic of Radical Finitude
Metal Blade Records
Release: 8 February 2019
The duality of the album is very appealing to those listeners that would be willing to allow themselves the pleasure to see what happens when the music goes from grim blasting speed to slower melancholic-melodic moods. The band has dedicated a serious effort to making both sides of the coin be good quality. The fast side has good, subtle melodies that make the music remarkably pleasant. With today’s technology it is possible to have frenzied speeds of grimness, as is often the case here, but make it all sound professional (not homemade/garage recording) and smooth, while retaining the hyper speeds. Sometimes the tremolo picking reworks and elaborates a repeating pattern and make it seem almost hypnotic. The melodies, of course, help to frame the extremity in ways that are surprisingly amenable.
Perhaps a relatively accurate way to get to the melancholic-mellow-melodic side of this album is to say that overriding trait of the music is the continuous, persistent and constant use of notes that evoke various forms of sadness. Once you sign on the dotted line and you say that you do want to dedicate the time to the album, that you want to ride it out and go with it and see where it takes you, then you find the joy in that journey.
It is an ambitious album that works anywhere from melancholy to headbanging moments. It is as if the band were using the principle that an instrument like the guitar can yield music that shares commonalities with an instrument like the piano or cello: the mellow, even relaxing feel, the pensive mood, the somber vibes. The album is 40 minutes long. That’s long enough to present a good, serious challenge, while still maintaining the joy of discovery, and also instigating repeated listens of this gem.
downfallofgaia.bandcamp.com/album/ethic-of-radical-finitude
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
interview: Verminlord (part 2)
interview: Negative Slug
On February 11th, 2019 the Croatian heaviness purveyors Negative Slug struck back with a work that can be only the work of not-so-sane musicians. They lovingly decided to call the 21-minute recording Knee Deep in Raw Sewage. Hip hip hooray! Joy to the world and happiness to everyone! Or maybe not. They call themselves Negative Slug and they think of such deranged titles. What if this publication sends them some questions about what exactly is taking place in the world of Negative Slug in Croatia, and let’s see if we can figure out what is motivating these young people? What if this publication can cheer them up with questions about depression and alienation? Sounds like a recipe for a good time at the O.K. Corral. May the odds be ever in your favor! Let the games begin and may Tom Brady’s luck accompany you in your journey through sludge, friends.
How is the life of a sludgecore band in Zagreb, Croatia in 2019? Do people in your city understand your music or are you too crazy for Zagreb?
Hi to all the readers of Metal Bulletin Zine, my name is Sven and i`m representing sludgecore band Negative Slug from Zageb, Croatia. The life of Slug in the year 2019, it started pretty busy, released one ep at the start of year and yesterday (I`m writing this 12.02.2019.) we have released our brand new record titled “Knee Deep in Raw Sewage”.
Played some gigs (Zagreb, Split, Zadar) and I must say that the response so far if you ask me about the fans that it’s getting better and better, so I think I don’t want to be egoistic or something like that, is that the people in our city/country maybe started to understand our music, if not that then the quality of live performance, but all in all I do think that playing sludge in Croatia is like someone asked you believe it or not type of question so yeah maybe not crazy but something awkward definitely.
Who are the members of Negative Slug in 2019? Did you have the same members when the band began in 2015?
Members of Negative Slug year, 2019 Neven Polsak – Guitar, Marijan Skrin-jar – bass, Marko Balenovic – drums, and myself Sven Polsak – vocals, and we all play on “Inbreed Retard Ep” and on the new album “Knee Deep In Raw Sewage”, 11.02.2019. The lineup in this four years of Negative Slug changed just once when Mario Komin – drums (Bliss Of Corpse last release) was replaced by Marko in the year 2017.
The first song on Inbreed Retard (Self-Humiliation) is a quick heavy rock (part sludge, with a bit of grind) song, but then the second one is more than 12 minutes of noise. It sounds like you are playing a record backwards for 12 minutes, kind of cutting and pasting the same sound for 12 minutes. Was this an experiment done by one member of the band?
The ep “Inbreed Retard” was accidentally made, it wasn’t planned, we had in plan to release just Nun`s Piss (single) before the album, but after we finished with recording, mixing, mastering our mastermind Neven just made a little experiment, he played with new record and has done something like reversing the whole album and we did like it and the same thing he did on our first album “Tumor” in a different way and Turd Gobler ( second song) had to be the last track on our new album, but in the end we decided that its maybe better to put her out to breath on her own and we chose Inbreed Retard (first song from ep) to be just one more song from upcoming album just for fans (if we have some ) just to hear in which direction the bend is going on new record.
Back in 2015 the band released its self-titled recording. It is big sludge raw music in slow motion! What inspired the formation of your band in 2015? Were you in other bands before Negative Slug?
The band on their self-titled release was trio (Neven – Guitar, Vox, Marijan – bass, Mario – drums) I came in a band a little before recording of “Anguish” Ep and on first hand as far as I know the whole thing with the band didn't been take serious at the start and the only thing was just to jam the three of them and make some ugly sludge in vein of the bands we all respect in one way or another, after all if you ever gonna go to our gig our something, we always play some cover songs to pay the tribute to bands that inspired us. At the time musically the inspiration came from the bands like Sabbath, Cathedral, Iron Monkey, El. Wizard, Ramesses, EHG, Grief, Vitus, Old High on Fire, Scum Era Napalm Death, Burning Witch, Fistula, Methdrinker, Entombed, and the bands we play/played before Neg. Slug we all are different styles musically and the list is next: Duskburn, Among The Firs, Sljam, Nina Herr Trio, KlP, GromRitual, K3P, Garbage Display, DR(0)GA, Siroke Ulice, Kiwango.
Then again in 2015 there was another Negative Slug recording called Anguish. Do you record your music together in the house of one member of the band?
At that time I came to the band and in the beginning Negative Slugs first two recordings were recorded in about one session per recording and they were recorded just to be recorded nothing seriously was back then like I said before, it was Neven ideas which he had in his head at that time and then he was the only one behind mix and all and back then we didn’t have some quality equipment to record our self but now in some ways we have to make some improvised studio in our practice space.
How did people in Zagreb react to your album Tumor in 2016? The album is, of course, sludge and it is music of a twisted reality, kind of insane and angry. For you, does your music reflect your own anger or confusion about life in Croatia? For instance, are drugs are a serious problem in Croatia?
Tumor reactions, as I remember they were good, we played first gig for that album with Monolord and have some cool gigs, so it was good and about the album itself it was the reflection of the situations in our life at that time, so yeah anger was present like always when you live in corrupted fucked up from retarded idiots who look just for their interests and unfortunately very beautiful country, then pain on some way, the title itself came when one of our friends got testis cancer, but he got through that now, so yeah the situation or the atmosphere of the album has a little of that on it because the situation was bad and now is even worse, and for the drugs, the government is looking at them, like its medieval times, so yeah for them its evil but alcohol and all the shit they did they have to ask themself why they live then.
Do you think that depression is important as a source of inspiration of Negative Slug? Do you personally feel alienated from society or is this sludge simply the music you play, but it is not necessarily a reflection of your mental state?
Maybe for the atmosphere yes, I don’t fill alienated from society maybe sometimes when you have problems with stupid people who don’t understand anything and in Croatia there are a lot of people who are like that, and this version of sludge is the sludge we always wanted to play in and from my side of watching sometimes is a reflection of my mental state but it’s a good trigger to puke out my anger because all the bullshit I have to get through the day.
Your grandparents and parents grew during Stalinist times in Croatia when it was part of Yugoslavia. But, for you, how do you feel about life in Croatia nowadays?
A lot of our friends and unfortunately a lot of young people moved in better countries so in Croatia there will be like in 10 to 15 years just old people, stupid government and their stupid “UHLJEB” families and me. So it’s very bad to live for young people.
In 2018 Negative Slug had the EP Bliss of Corpse, which has a very grim cover artwork. The sound quality is good and the songs are a filthy, dirty raw sludge. It seems like Negative Slug could be a doom band from New Orleans, U.S.A., actually. I think it is good sludge and maybe fans of Eyehategod and Crowbar would enjoy your music. Did you get some good reviews and some interviews for this recording?
Thanx for kind words , the artwork was done by one of our brothers a very good friend of ours Romario (huge talent) who moved to Ireland, looking for a better life (he did the cover for the new record), my thoughts about our sludge it mashup of everything for every sludge fan if he like that visceral kind sludge we do. Yes, there were some good reviews and I did some interviews at the time when the ep was released even the No Clean Singing site has the premiere of that ep.
Do you plan to play shows in your region of Europe? Croatia is part of the European Union, right? Does this make it easier to play concerts in Western Europe?
The current situations for live shows is that we have played last week two gigs (08. & 09.02.2019. with excellent band and very good people and friends of ours Wizard Of Stone Mountain from Croatia, Split and have talked maybe to book some gigs together to try to play as many shows but it all depend on situations we all have to go through work and all that mambo jambo thing that we all have to deal with in life. We would love to do as many gigs as possible and as far as I saw in countries we have played so far Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Novi Sad, Czech Republic, there were fans from town to town it depended where we were heading but we would love to play as many gigs as possible. Croatia is a part of EU, but it isn’t easier to play concerts in Western Europe because you are from Croatia and you have to do don’t know what just to get the gig, unfortunately and I hope some booking agent who is willing to help Negative Slug to book more shows if someone reading this. :D
What do you want to say to the U.S. fans of sludge about Negative Slug?
To all the Zine readers and sludge music lovers maybe we aren’t the best sludge or inventors of something new in sludge music but if you listen to our songs you will see the visceral structures of sludge combined with other genres that there is some potential and if there ever gonna be some booking agent interested to bring us down to the US, that we would love to do it and we would not disappoint live, so hope you like our sludge and it’s real.
Do you have any other news?
Yes, our new record is out 11.02.2019. Negative Slug, Knee Deep in Raw Sewage, you can download for free the record on our Bandcamp page even Dan (FISTULA) from Patac Records put the album on his Bandcamp label page for to people to hear some new underground bands and we are thankful from him for doing that, so hope you will like the new record to support us and help us somehow to play more shows and we are working on some split release with our buddies from Hungary, Her Highness and on some ep maybe more splits so the future looks good but first promote this new records with as many gigs as possible.
negativeslug.bandcamp.com
Frenzy
Frenzy
Blind Justice
Underground Power Records
release: 4 February 2019
They have a song called “Shred or Die,” and I don’t want to die, so I choose the second option. Now, that’s how you want to party! You bring the apple juice and chocolate milk, Jojo will bring the cookies and the old Savatage records, Z will bring the vegetables to roast on the grill and those Saxon tapes recently found at the store, and I will bring the boombox and the cassette tape with the songs from this Spanish band. I should bring a couple of Van Halen, Priest and Accept titles, too.
The first song by this traditional heavy metal band features some very nice and memorable guitar work in the solos. The singing is good and the song is a power rock anthem, but the solos made me notice. It turns out that it was not an accident. They have the power rock anthems and solos to wake up anyone looking to rock out the classic way.
These Spaniards are apparently obsessed with comic books, but they are even more obsessed with rocking hard from dusk to dawn. Some songs have a bit of the classic rock vibes, some are steel heavy metal anthems and plenty of high screams and guitar solos. The goal is music for a good time and a good time it is. Play it once for a good time and play more times for air guitar wizardry, and you can sing along or pretend to sing along.
The album has a fat drum sound, and the whole album is anthemic and upbeat for party rocking too loud all the time at home and in the car. The production is good, there’s lots of banshee screaming and soloing. By the way, that song I mentioned “Shred or Die”? It’s the last one and it is a shredfest as you would imagine. Very entertaining album.
frenzymetal.bandcamp.com
out now: thrashers HELLNITE
Midnight Terrors is the name of the 2019 album by the band Hellnite on Sliptrick Records. They have the album streaming in a bunch of places if you just go to the link below. Who they are and what they are about is explained in the official information below.
Thrashers HELLNITE are proud to present their debut mosher "Midnight Terrors" out now as of February 12, 2019, via Sliptrick Records. The full length is lyrically a paranormal and sci-fi themed concept album with influences from classic heroes such as Kreator, Slayer, Death along with next-generation thrash and heavy metal such as Havok, Skull Fist. The debut album was written and recorded by founding member, vocalist, and guitarist Paolo Belmar who formed HELLNITE originally in Mexico City in 2010 and has now re-established the band Edmonton, Canada with a live line up consisting of bassist Konnor Miskiman and drummer Ryan Payne.
Belmar adds: “I have been working on 'Midnight Terrors' since 2014 when I lived in Mexico and I think it will be well received from people who are into oldies and classic metal. I’m proud to say that it is something that I made to happen by myself. I want to say thanks to everyone who joined me in this trip and put a piece of effort in order to bring this album to life, Hellnite will live forever AND the next album will be even better (I can’t wait). I hope this album provokes curiosity; my purpose is to catch people’s attention so they can follow the next movements of the band, which are going to be a little bit twisted in comparison with 'Midnight Terrors'."
The album is available from Sliptrick Records along with stream and download on iTunes, Spotify, and all major online retailers.
Phantom Force
sliptrickrecords.com/hellnite/
Booze Control - ATTACK OF THE AXEMEN (Lyric Video)
Booze Control is traditional heavy metal from Germany. Their new album is coming up soon. It will be called Forgotten Lands and it is programmed for February 22nd, 2019 on Gates of Hell Records. Find out more about the band through the official information and look into how to get it at the links below.
On their Gates of Hell Records debut Forgotten Lands, Booze Control continue to evolve into classic metal songsmiths with tracks that adopt a more serious tone than previous efforts. Recorded in October 2017 at Overlodge Recording Studio in Harz Mountains, Germany, with Martin Schnella handling engineering duties, Forgotten Lands finds Booze Control successfully bridging the gap between NWOBHM and old-school American and European metal. The band also parlays more serious lyrical content into songs that are filled with spiraling melodies, driving rhythms and catchy vocal lines from Kuri. The band's songwriting diversity is on display with "Of the Deep" as well as "Attack of the Axeman," songs that peddle an epic flair with a classic metal foundation.
Formed in 2009 in Braunschweig, Germany, Booze Control came together at the spur of the moment when guitarist/vocalist David Kuri, bassist Steffen Kurth and drummer Lauritz "Lord" Jilge, were asked to assemble a band for a local event. The trio quickly gathered in a local rehearsal room to write songs in preparation for the show, thinking all along the band would be short-lived. But, to their surprise, more gigs followed, as did second guitarist Jendrik Seiler. Booze Control started to enjoy their new compositions, which, in comparison to the more technical nature of their previous outfits, was welcome. Soon, their debut EP, Wanted, was released in 2009, followed up by 2011's Don't Touch While Running.
However, leading up to the creation of their 2013 album Heavy Metal, Kuri and Jilge had a revelation while watching Iron Maiden's Beast Over Hammersmith live video. The conviction in which Bruce Dickinson sings, the energy of the band and the charisma they displayed while on stage needed to be followed in Booze Control. Prior, Booze Control was riding the somewhat clichéd boozed-out rock band angle a bit too hard with their first releases. While the songs were there, the delivery wasn't, so the band made a concerted effort to improve their songwriting and stage presentation for Heavy Metal. They succeeded in doing so, setting them on a path for the ensuing 2016 The Lizard Rider album and their latest and first LP for Gates of Hell Records, Forgotten Lands.
Now ten years into their career, Booze Control has already gone well beyond their humble origins and party-time ethos. Booze Control invites you to take part in their continued evolution on Forgotten Lands.
Booze Control - ATTACK OF THE AXEMEN (Lyric Video)
cruzdelsurmusic.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=36&product_id=1895
boozecontrol.bandcamp.com/album/forgotten-lands
Monday, February 11, 2019
Second to Sun is extreme metal from Russia
Below you will find two videos from the Russian band Second to Sun, and also some official information about them. If you like the videos, be sure to listen to the album at the link at the bottom here. A couple of months ago their new album was released. The band works with various aspects of extreme metal, including quite a bit of black metal, but they go to a bunch of other places with their music, actually, that open-minded BM fans may find interesting.
Second To Sun is a metal band from Saint Petersburg, Russia, founded in 2012 by its guitarist Vladimir Lehtinen. Second To Sun concentrate on the musical and creative aspect more and use visual elements on every song (artwork, lyrics, behind the song infos etc.) to give more depth and back story to the music. The band's music contains a blend of metal genres: on the one hand, it has the many rhythmic elements of groove metal; on the other -hand, it continues the legacy of such classic Scandinavian black metal bands as Emperor, Mayhem, and Dakthrone. Such diverse musical roots of the band protrude from Vladimir Lehtinen's songwriting, Gleb Sysoev's soul-crushing vocals and Fedor Borovsky's groovy drum lines. The band releases two versions of each album - the vocal and the instrumental one. Each individual instrumental composition is accompanied by unique artwork and a hefty description of the story the composition tells, which provides a deeper insight into the music, as well as the band's inspiration and creative process. Second To Sun has released released two albums - The First Chapter and The Black, and has now released its third album The Walk.
Second To Sun - We Are Not Alone (Official Music Video)
Second To Sun - New World Order (Guitar Performance by Vladimir Lehtinen)
secondtosun.bandcamp.com/album/the-walk
Sci-Fi Power Metal DIRE PERIL Playthrough For "The Predator" Inspired "Yautja (Hunter Culture)"
DIRE PERIL is a treat for the power metal fanatic. The album is more than an hour long and it checks all the boxes for the style. The great singing, the boatloads of riffs and solos and the memorable songs, it has everything and more. Below you can watch the playthrough video, which is cool and everything, but after that the power metal zealots really should go listen to the complete album at the link here below. Read this official propaganda about the band, but find out for yourself what power metal excellence you have been missing. Don't delay, go bang your head now.
The American power metal band DIRE PERIL, which is a duo that features Jason Ashcraft of Helion Prime and John Yelland of Judicator, now has its debut full length and it follows DIRE PERIL's three previous EP releases Astronomical Minds (2013), Queen of The Galaxy (2014) and Through Time and Space (2015).
Inspired by all manners of science fiction, The Extraterrestrial Compendium bases each one of its 12 songs on classic sci-fi movies including Predator, Total Recall, Starship Troopers, and E.T. and features guest performances by Brittney Slayes (Unleash The Archers) reprising her role as Barbarella for a re-recorded version of Queen of the Galaxy and the mighty Arjen Anthony Luccassen (Ayreon, Star One, The Gentle Storm), who lends his voice and guitar skills to album-closer Journey Beyond the Stars.
"The album takes you on a journey all based on different sci-fi films. From fast aggressive right hand attacks (in style of Iced Earth) to softer acoustic passages", says Ashcraft.
Dire Peril - Yautja (Hunter Culture) - Guitar Playthrough
direperil.bandcamp.com
CONTRARIAN streams a song in anticipation of new album
The prog death metal band Contrarian will have its new album ready for the world in March. While people wait they can hear how the new music will sound by sampling a new track at the link below. Here is the official information coming from the ministry of propaganda for the band.
Rochester (NY) - U.S. progressive Death Metal squad CONTRARIAN will release new album Their Worm Never Dies, March 15, 2019 on Willowtip Records.
A new school of old school death metal. Creating death metal that is authentically new while have a natural memory and understanding of the old. Rooted in early 90's progressive death metal, but with an unrelenting forward thinking approach, CONTRARIAN return with their third full-length release Their Worm Never Dies.
Spearheaded by guitar player Jim Tasikas, alongside George Kollias (Nile) simultaneously handling drum and vocal duties, CONTRARIAN is not a super group, but a unit of like-minded musicians that coincidentally converged on a vision of what a modern death metal band should sound like.
Organic sounding, yet aggressive and melodically complex, Their Worm Never Dies is packed with snake-like Schuldinerian-style riffage and atmospheric variations that will provide a wholly enticing listen to all those willing to take in its eccentricity.
contrarianmetal.bandcamp.com/album/their-worm-never-dies
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Electrocution
Electrocution
Psychonolatry
GoreGorecords
Release: 8 February 2019
Here and there, the album has some brief moments of melody in the guitar solos, but the meat and potatoes of it all is the approach of “chug’em and blast’em all from here to eternity” with death metal. Sometimes the mood slows down just a bit so that you can hear those nasty buck bass lines plucking; sometimes the chugging steps up to the plate and demands all the attention. Presiding over the glorification and exaltation of “modern death metal 2019” is the growling, a mostly low method of animalistic vociferation.
Repeated listens show some subtle details that are pretty cool. The guitar solos make more sense, the chugging becomes more contagious, and the hyperblasting is better understood. The album is not a retro or nostalgic style of death metal but rather the modern, clean-production that pushes the wall of sound as close as possible to the ears of the audience. The band does not want anybody complaining that the loudness is not loud enough. If it’s too loud, you will have to be the one to turn down the volume, not the band. It’s never too loud for this band! Open this door like you open the door in the January cold air in Minnesota: get ready for the blast that you are about to receive. Dedicated die-hard death metal fans of the loudest, fastest, most brutal forms of the genre should be the prime and preferred headbangers that will enjoy the album the most.
It's interesting just how melodic the band could be if they wanted to do it. Some of these solos are sweet and catchy, but just in case you are getting too sentimental, bang bang bang blast blast!!, and they are right back in the moshpit metal mode. They have the skills to go all melodic on you, but let's not get twisted, that's not this Italian band because look at their name: What is it? Do you see it? What is it? Exactly! You can't go sawft if you give this name to your band. You gotta live up to your name. Dive into this brutal blasting death metal and you will discover buckets and buckets, tons!, of fun. The blasting is awesome, the growling is hooray, the riffs are made for headbanging, the bass lines are so foine, and the solos are tasteful, compact and efficient. I have been listening to this album a whole lot and it just gets better and better and better. This album is seven foot tall and you can’t teach that! Rock out, amici and amiche, in low places!
electrocution.bandcamp.com/album/psychonolatry
Powergame
Powergame
Masquerade
release date: January 18th, 2019
Iron Shield Records
This album is loyal to the old-school traditional heavy metal. You can tell that they have a tremendous amount of pride in their honest-to-goodness good ole rowdy-bar rocking heavy metal. It looks like they have no fear of the truth; they want people to hear the music as they would play it live; kind of raw, pretty tough in spirit and keeping it pretty real. The band is saying that they are not robots but people playing their instruments for real and delivering the rock.
The band began in 2012 and this is the second work. In other words, this is new music crafted with the objective of celebrating the legacy and the future of the heavy metal of big riffs, solos and memorable songs. The album sounds inspired by the classics. That’s the whole point, to play classic-style songs that can stay in the memory after the music stops.
People like to celebrate the new. New this, new that, new beeper, new typewriter, new spandex pants, new leg warmers, new 8-track tape, new floppy disk, new El Camino truck, new Members Only jacket, new Swatch, so on and so forth, but this German band prefers to stay with what has proven to work time and again without fail. The old heavy metal always works whether it is 1979 or 1999 or 2019.
Therefore, how about some unpretentious, downhome traditional heavy metal just like your old uncle Steve Harris and Paul Quinn talk about all the time? Cheer up, listen to this album, and tonight we’re going to party like it’s 1979.
powergameheavy.bandcamp.com
interview: Plague Pit
This extreme metal band is totally new to this publication. They released their album Topheth Ablaze this past January. After listening to the band’s approach to their music, this publication sent them some questions to introduce them to U.S. readers. Be sure to listen to the album at the link at the end of the interview.
Plague Pit is based in Dublin, Ireland, right? But, actually, your band is new: formed in 2016 and now you have your debut album: Topheth Ablaze. Who are the members of the band and do you all live in Dublin?
Yes, we’re based in Dublin, Ireland. Plague Pit is a fairly new band, indeed, but we’re seasoned metalheads and have been in a bunch of different bands throughout the past couple of decades. Topheth Ablaze is our first proper album, but we’ve released our first material in 2018, I-MMXVIII, and while we think of it as a demo, it has 8 tracks and is of a similar length to Topheth Ablaze. We prefer to keep the identities of our members private, but yes, we all live in Dublin. I handle guitar and lead vocal duties.
Have you lived in Dublin your whole life? In your opinion, how is Dublin for metal music? In the U.S. young people like deathcore; various forms of doom get attention; so does old-school death metal. What is it like in Dublin for your extreme metal?
No, I haven’t lived all my life in Dublin. Dublin is better for metal than any other city in Ireland, but it’s not great. Ireland doesn’t compare to the US when it comes to alternative culture at all. It’s a very normative and homogenous society. There’s absolutely no coverage of any sort of metal music, be it on the radio, printed or even online press. That being said, the Irish have received Plague Pit very well and we’re thankful for that.
Would you say that your life has been good in Dublin? Would you say that you are hopeful as a person or rather a pessimistic person?
Dublin is all right. I’ve been able to write a lot of music and record two full-length albums here, so I’m not going to complain. I haven’t had any significantly bad experience here that couldn’t have happened anywhere else. I would say I’m more cynical than pessimistic, but I certainly am not a hopeful person.
What is your opinion for recording drums in your music?
Due to the limited amount of capable musicians in our - admittedly small - network, Plague Pit has been a duo for most of its existence. And that has worked to our advantage. I don’t think we’d be able to put out 2 albums in such a short period of time if we were a full group. We don’t use acoustic drums. Not everything you hear is programmed though, we try to keep it as organic as we can, given the circumstances.
Plague Pit also has a bit of a claustrophobic production. Not too clean. It’s raw and dirty. How much of this sound is by design?
On Topheth Ablaze I’d say the final product came out closer to what we had in mind than in our previous effort. Most of the sonic fingerprint of the album is a result of deliberate choices. We have a very limited budget though, so it would be dishonest to say the album sounds exactly like we wanted. I’m not a huge fan of the typical reverb-soaked production of some of the recent Death Metal that got popular, but I understand that for this style to work there needs to be a compromise between clarity and atmosphere. I don’t think our albums sounds as cavernous as say, Portal or Altarage though.
Blasphemy seems like an important part of Plague Pit. Do you agree? We hear that the Catholic Church and religions have covered up many crimes like rape and sexual abuse. How much of this constant news has affected your outlook on life?
I definitely agree. I became a metalhead from a very early age and detached myself from my family and, as a result, from religion, so I wouldn’t say any of the drama involving the Catholic Church has personally affected me in any way. In Ireland they’re still a strong institution, but they’ve been quickly losing support as the results of the last few referendums clearly show. Their continued influence on society, culture and law has caused lasting damage everywhere they’ve settled, though. I’m not willing to cut evangelicals any slack either, because from my experience they tend to be just as bad, if not worse.
Of course, we also see terrorists and governments in the world committing crimes in the name of God. Do these things also color your perspective?
I think terrorism is more a consequence of abject misery and war than religion. Governments using religion to justify whatever it is that they’re doing is just plain dishonesty and has little to do with religious doctrine.
You have some blasphemous song titles. Personally, do you consider yourself a devil worshipper, an atheist, an agnostic or simply irreligious? Do all your lyrics deal with religion?
I worship Slayer. Not all of our lyrics deal with religion. “Mercurial Emanations” and “Gone Astray” from the last album are two examples.
Musically speaking, what inspired the formation of Plague Pit? To me, Plague Pit is death metal that uses both the old-school brutality and also the dissonance that younger bands love. But what type of music did you have in mind?
We’ve been metal fans for a long time and have toyed with the idea of playing together for many years, but circumstances up to the formation of Plague Pit didn’t allow that to happen. I’d say you’re right on the money with the description of our music. Our first release is a bit more retro than Topheth Ablaze, but we’ve retained that old school impetus. Dissonance has been a part of Death Metal since the very early days and I use it in my riffs. I don’t like it when every single section is trying to be more dissonant than the last though, as that tends to lessen the effect and results in muddy, washed-out songs that all sound the same.
How does Plague Pit sound in relation to the metal that made you want to play music?
Slayer and Morbid Angel are by far the bands I’ve listened to the most in my life and I’m still a huge fan of some of their material. They’re absolute classics and I think very few of the bands that came after them managed to captivate me as much. I came across Death and Black Metal very early on and never looked back. I can’t speak for the personal experiences of the other half of Plague Pit, but we have very similar musical tastes. I think Plague Pit is an honest, heartfelt homage to the music we grew up listening. I don’t think we’ll ever hold a candle to Slayer or Morbid Angel, though.
Plague Pit has a lot to say about religion. What about politics? What do you think about the political parties in your country?
As a member of Plague Pit I don’t have anything of value to add to the political debate. As an individual I have very strong political views but I would rather not associate them with my band.
Leaving organized religion and political parties aside, what do you believe happens when you die? Do you think that people that say they believe in the afterlife, are those people crazy and lying?
I have no idea and nobody else does either. It’s difficult for me to entertain the idea of an afterlife, I’ll say that much. I understand the lure of the metaphysical because it comforts people about the unknown, about the end of life. I don’t think everyone who claims to have had a supernatural experience is lying, at least not consciously. I’ve never been convinced by any of those stories though, because out of all the possible reasons for something to happen they have to pick the least likely, most far-fetched of them. People may be biased towards believing in the supernatural rather than being dishonest. I do find it very amusing when people fall for spiritual gurus or any of that paranormal bullshit.
Metal Bulletin Zine is a zine in the United States. What would you like fans of U.S. of extreme metal like death metal to know about Plague Pit?
Some of the absolute best metal in the world has come out of the United States. We’re very thankful to everybody who takes their time to listen to us. Americans make up for a lot of our listener demographics, so we’re very, very thankful for that! And thank you for interviewing Plague Pit!
Do you have any other news that you would like to mention?
Yes. Our first release, I-MMXVIII was released on CD last year by Ablaze Records, from Mexico. We still have some copies left and we’ll be listing them on our Bandcamp. We’ve begun writing new music as well, but it’s early to say when that’s ever coming out. plaguepit.bandcamp.com
Saturday, February 9, 2019
new album by melodic metal singer LANCE KING
Fans of melodic and progressive metal music will be pleased to know that Lance King has a new album coming up in March. Known for quality singing throughout the many albums that have featured his voice, King in 2019 has a lot to offer to the listeners looking for excellence and for songs to sing along to. Below you will find out important official information regarding the release.
Legendary singer Lance King, original voice behind PYRAMAZE, AVIAN, BALANCE OF POWER and GEMINI is releasing his second solo album 'ReProgram' in the style of heavy metal that he has properly labeled as 'Celestial Metal', MARCH 29th is the new release date on Nightmare Records.
We are divided and torn by what we want to do and what we think we should to do. This is the ultimate struggle that every human being deals with during their lifetime. We all have the choice to take the road of conformity and compliance, or we can decide to live life to the fullest. We are often held back from our potential because of the many rules handed down to us, indoctrinated ideals of education, sexuality, gender, family, religion, and career. People are usually tied to these rules on a deep level that often make no sense to them, but they prefer the comfort of feeling like they belong, to the often-lonely freedom of being the ones who live on their own terms. This is the internal and external struggle that Lance King wants to showcase with his music.
"ReProgram' is digitally available on iTunes and Amazon today Feb 1st, Pre-order and get an early "gratis track!"
There is a constant dissonance in our lives, and ReProgram looks to find harmony in the dissonant world that we have created. An album for the seekers of truth, for the ones who carry the fire and never let it die. Think of ReProgram as fuel for the restless soul that constantly pounds within your chest. An aural expression infused in metal and forged out of the promise of freedom. That wild and unapologetic inner-self that never fails to remind you of the passion, the adventure and the journey of life. That human being that wants to break away from the mindless zombie herds following the MEME culture.
An album for the Jedi, for the spiritually charged, for the ones that never fade away. Metal that supercharges the mind and encourages the body.
"The single most powerful thing you can do, is unlearn the limiting beliefs you have accepted as truths in your youth. This frees you from the chains that bind, the chains of the subconscious mind." -- Lance King
Produced by Lance King & Jacob Hansen (Volbeat, Evergrey, Epica, Amaranthe )
Co-Writing Performers:
Kim Olesen - (Anubis Gate)
(Guitars and Keys on 'ReProgram' and 'Technology')
Markus Sigfridsson - (Darkwater/Harmony)
(Guitars and Keys on 'Stand your Ground', 'Limitless', 'Perfect World')
Matt Hodsdon - (Chaos Frame)
(Guitars and Keys on 'Chaotica', 'Reaction Formation', 'Spell of Domestication')
Rich Hinks - (Annihilator / Aeon Zen)
(Bass on all tracks except (*) Guitar, Keys on 'Pointing Fingers', 'A Mind at War', 'Wide Open')
Lance's Featured Friends:
Morten Gade Sørensen (Pyramaze/Anubis Gate) Massive Grooves and Percussion
Fred Columbo (Spheric Universe Experience) (Keys transition between 'Wide Open & Chaotica', solo on 'Spell of Domestication' and 'A Mind at War')
Mattias IA Eklundh (Freak Kitchen) (Guitar solo on 'Wide Open')
Jakob Riis (L Wood Joy) ( *Bass on 'ReProgram' and 'Technology')
LANCE KING - Limitless (Official Lyric Video)
facebook.com/LanceKingVoxOfficial/
Ad Patres
Ad Patres
A Brief Introduction to Human Experiments
XENOKORP
Release: 8 February 2019
This French team is laser focused on tech-death brutality to the max. The drummer probably needed to be hospitalized after he recorded the album, and the vocalist had to go see the throat specialist. The guitarists’ carpal tunnel has worsened considerably after the album, but that’s how it goes when you play as fast as possible and add technicality on top of the speed.
The band has been heading in this direction for years now. Unfortunately, it has been some five years since the hyperblasting superintensity of the previous album Scorn Aesthetics, but the more that things change the more they stay the same, and there is one thing that has not changed. They are still obsessed and consumed by the necessity to take extreme fast, brutal metal to eleven. The songs are as demented as before, but there's a feeling that these songs are more memorable. Of course, it does take a couple of listens to adapt to the hyperspeed, but once you do, it's off to the races, boom, bang, bang and blast.
There is nothing nice here. No so-called catchy melodies nor sugary stuff. It is all ugly all the time up in here. Whatever is the latest technology in recording death metal, and whatever is available to the band, that’s what they use. No apologies, no excuses for putting out a product that is as fast as possible and as brutal as possible. The devoted fans of both tech-death and of fast, blasting death metal have here an album for putting the body into motion in the mosh pit. Let's get physical, you'll want to get physical, Ad Patres can bring out the animal. Fun stuff, for sure.
adpatres.bandcamp.com/album/a-brief-introduction-to-human-experiments
Friday, February 8, 2019
Washington state concert calendar, updated February 8, 2019
Washington state concert calendar, updated February 8, 2019
February 9 Kömmand, Opropos, Overwrought at The Shakedown, Bellingham, WA
February 12 Overkill at High Dive, Seattle, WA
February 12 Born of Osiris, Chelsea Grin, Make Them Suffer, Kingdom of Giants at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
February 14 The Three Tremors, Greyhawk, Skelator at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
February 14 Aethereus, The Odious Construct, Pound, Rat King, ApHelion at Funhouse, Seattle, WA
February 15 Robots of the Ancient World, Grim Earth, Skulldozer at Erebus, Kelso, WA
February 15 I Am Infamy, We Were Giants, Within Sight, No Home, Death of Dysphoria, Nevermind the Damage at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
February 15 Infernal Legion, Infernal Realm,Gravewitch at The Plaid Pig, Tacoma, WA
February 15 Greyhawk, others at The Heavy Metal Brewing Co., Vancouver, WA
February 15, 16 Keep Metal Alive Fest IV: Xoth, Witch Ripper, Gravewitch, Vile Effigy, Nocturnal Mayhem, others at The Charleston, Bremerton, WA
February 16 Hell’s Belles (AC/DC tribute) at 7 Cedars, Sequim, WA
February 16 Endorphins Lost, Black Queen, Great Falls at Highline, Seattle, WA
February 16 MOTU, Effluvia, Overwrought, Shades of Memory at The Plaid Pig, Tacoma, WA
February 16 Oxygen Destroyer, Disease, others at house show, Seattle, WA
February 17 CHRCH, Un, Old Iron at Substation, Seattle, WA
February 17 ApHelion, Gallows Hymn, Overwrought, Speaks in Tongues at Columbia City Theater, Seattle, WA
February 19 Traitors, Angelmaker, Vctms, others at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
February 21 Traitors, Angelmaker, Vctms at The Pin, Spokane, WA
February 22 Soulfly, Unearth, Incite, Skinflint, Rutah at The Pin, Spokane, WA
February 22 Into the Storm, Grim Earth, Maklak, Blightmaker at Substation, Seattle, WA
February 22 Maestus, Ninth Moon Black, Entrail at Cryptatropa, Olympia, WA
February 23 Soulfly, Kataklysm, Incite, Skinflint, Odyssian at Club Sur, Seattle, WA
February 23 Toxic Reign, Oxygen Destroyer, Kömmand, Schmutzhund at The Valley, Tacoma, WA
February 23 Skelator, X Suns, Demonhammer at Screwdriver Bar, Seattle, WA
February 24 Abstracter, Hissing, Foul at Highline, Seattle, WA
February 25 Abstracter, Hissing and Isenordal at The Plaid Pig, Tacoma, WA
February 25 Werthless, Beldam, Dilapidation, Tenrai at Central Saloon, Seattle, WA
February 26 Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Necrot, Blood Incantation at Showbox, Seattle, WA
March 1 Hell’s Belles (AC/DC tribute) at Manette Saloon, Bremerton, WA
March 1 Voidthrone, Beldam, Orator, Izthmi, Noceur at The Plaid Pig, Tacoma, WA
March 1 Conan, Sixes, Usnea, Heiress, STAHV, Witch Ripper, Summoned by Giants, Teepee Creeper, Ray King at Substation, Seattle, WA
March 2 Blood and Thunder, Dilapidation, Odyssian, Opropos at Mirkwood Public House, Arlington, WA
March 2 Hell’s Belles (AC/DC tribute) at Chalet Theatre, Enumclaw, WA
March 3 Steaksauce Mustache, Foes, Pound, Zan at The Pin, Spokane, WA
March 4 Steaksauce Mustache, Foes, Florida Man, Smooth Sailing, Zan at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
March 6 Steaksauce Mustache, Foes, others at The Plaid Pig, Tacoma, WA
March 6 Deterioration, Caustic Wound, Disease, Bummer at Black Lodge, Seattle, WA
March 6 Witchpriest, Namea, Themyscira, Carnotaurus, Darkmysticwoods at The Plaid Pig, Tacoma, WA
March 8 Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin tribute) at Rocko’s, Everett, WA
March 9 Gevurah, Diabolic Oath, Blood Atonement, Plague Bearer at Highline, Seattle, WA
March 9 Avoid, Truth Under Attack, Dead Crown, I Am Infamy, others at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
March 11 Alterbeast, Aethere, Continuum at Funhouse, Seattle, WA
March 12 Cradle of Filth, Wednesday 13, Raven Black at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
March 13 Rivers of Nihil, Entheos, Conjurer, Wolf King, others at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
March 15 Coven 6669, Witchaven, Xoth, Orator at Highline, Seattle, WA
March 16 Space Vacation, Skelator, Hellfire at Funhouse, Seattle, WA
March 16 Within Temptation, In Flames at Showbox, Seattle, WA
March 17 Witchaven, Xoth, Beyond Theory, Toxic Reign at The Plaid Pig, Tacoma, WA
March 18 The Browning, others at The Pin, Spokane, WA
March 19 The Browning, Betraying the Martyrs, Extortionist at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
March 19 Baroness, Deafheaven, Zeal and Ardor at Showbox, Seattle, WA
March 21 Effluvia, World Peace, Bloodstained Concrete, Bummer at The Plaid Pig, Tacoma, WA
March 22 Greyhawk, others at Erebus, Kelso, WA
March 22 Y&T at Club Sur, Seattle, WA
March 22 All That Remains, others at Knitting Factory, Spokane, WA
March 22 Deafheaven, Baroness at Knitting Factory, Spokane, WA
March 24 Metal Yoga at Substation, Seattle, WA
March 25 Prying Free, Simulation Theory, Forever Convicted at Tony V’s, Everett, WA
March 26 Aborted, Cryptopsy, Benighted, Hideous Divinity at Highline, Seattle, WA
March 29 Children of Bodom, Swallow the Sun, Wolfheart, Hollow Cry at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
March 29 Prying Free, 2Klix, Malevolent Breed, Groundfeeder, The Mischief Committee at Funhouse, Seattle, WA
March 31 Uli Jon Roth at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
April 3 Lord of War, Alukah, Discord Curse at Funhouse, Seattle, WA
April 3 Fates Warning, Queensrÿche at Neptune Theatre, Seattle, WA
April 6 Splintered Throne, Sin Circus, others at Tony V’s, Everett, WA
April 12 Anvil at Tony V’s, Everett, WA
April 13 Anvil at Jazzbones, Tacoma, WA
April 13 Tetrachromat, In Rapture, Impurities, Thread the Sky, Rookie Warhead at Funhouse, Seattle, WA
April 13 Hypocrisy, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Aenimus, Orator, Whythre at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
April 13 Washington Deathfest IV Anniversary Show at The Charleston, Bremerton, WA
April 14 Aggression, others at Funhouse, Seattle, WA
April 19 & 20 Washington Deathfest IV at Erebus, Kelso, WA
April 19 Top Knot Fest 2: The Drip, Steaksauce Mustache, others at Southgate Roller Rink, Seattle, WA
April 19 Thor, Leathürbitch, Greyhawk, Solicitor at Highline, Seattle, WA
April 20 Deathbed Confessions, Great Falls, Foes, Florida Man at The Plaid Pig, Tacoma, WA
April 21 Horrendous, Of Feather and Bone, Cavurn at Highline, Seattle, WA
April 23 Enterprise Earth, Lorna Shore, Bodysnatcher, Within Destruction, Imposter of Humanity, Esophageal Deterioration at Funhouse, Seattle, WA
April 23 Psycroptic, Cannabis Corpse, Gorod, Micawber at Club Sur, Seattle, WA
April 26 Massive Scar Era, Siren’s Rain, others at Funhouse, Seattle, WA
April 27 Integrity, Incendiary, Funeral Chic at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
May 14 Inanimate Existence, Aethereus, Pound at Highline, Seattle, WA
May 21 Devastation on the Nation Tour 2019: Dark Funeral, Incantation, Belphegor, Hate, others at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
May 30-June 1 Northwest Terrorfest at Neumos/Highline/Barboza, Seattle, WA
June 7 Plaguebringer, Aethereus, Toxic Reign at The Plaid Pig, Tacoma, WA
June 9 Flotsam and Jetsam, Dead by Wednesday, Coven 6669 at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
June 11 GloryHammer, Aether Realm at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
June 16 School of Rock Bellevue: The Big 4 of Thrash at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
June 21 Judas Priest, Uriah Heep at ShoWare Center, Kent, WA
July 20 Appice Brothers - Drum Wars with Carmine and Vinny Appice at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
September 5 Iron Maiden at Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA
October 2 Kamelot, Sonata Arctica, Battle Beast at Neptune Theatre, Seattle, WA
October 6 Delain, Amorphis, Anneke van Giersbergen at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
October 26 D.R.I. at El Corazón, Seattle, WA
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Tuesday, February 5, 2019
JT Ripper
JT RIPPER - "Gathering of the Insane"
Label: I Hate Records
Release date: 30.11.2018
This German band plays black thrash with lots of old-school 1980s spirit. The single-mindedness of purpose is rather convincing. When you listen to their music you are on a one-way street and with blinders on: a band that knows its strengths and showcases them. They are not trying to be many things to many people, only a band by headbangers for headbangers. After a brief introduction, the album takes off thrashing and blasting song after song until 37 minutes later it is all over.
What do you get out of this album? The band expresses a desire for metal mania. It is proud and stubborn music. It is the desire to play classic-style thrash but to do it in an honorable, respectful way so that it does not come across as a wholesale retro or tribute way. I think that they do a good job of balancing the old and the new, the thrash and the black metal. This is their second album and they are well on their way towards coming into their own with the songs. The future looks bright and I look forward to hearing how the songwriting develops and gets even better. This is a solid album. facebook.com/J.T.Ripper.thrash
interview: Verminlord
Verminlord is a one-person black metal entity in the United States. Starting in 2016 the recordings have kept on coming down the pipeline, including a demo, a few singles, an album, a few EPs, and split. This publication is going to get to the bottom of these developments and figure out for the readers what is going on with all this recording activity through the interrogation of a thousand and one questions. Let’s see what happens.
Metal Archives says Verminlord is based in Seattle. Bandcamp says Los Angeles. Which is right?
VL: Hahahaha yeah, I’m a bit of a nomad. I lived in Seattle for 7 years, then moved to Bangkok for a year and I have been living in Los Angeles since February, 2018.
Where are you from originally and how did you end up in L.A.?
VL: I was born in NYC and moved upstate to near Troy, NY when I was about 5. My earliest memories are my dad playing guitar in our apartment, and him picking up glass at the playground. Upstate New York is really grim, lots of poverty and farmland.
Right out of college I was hired as a 2D game artist/animator, and then later a comic artist, and now I work in film. I was hired to work as a Cinematographer on a web-series for Syfy so I packed my bags and moved to L.A.
When did you begin playing instruments? When would you say that you began as a musician?
VL: Music has always been a part of my life. My father loves folk & bluegrass and is always playing his guitar. My parents forced me to take piano lessons up until middle school. I absolutely loathed it, but I will forever be in their debt for making me learn the fundamentals of music. Luckily right after I quit piano lessons, my friends started a prog/power/death metal band called Epilogue. I wanted to join them and the only instrument that wasn’t already taken was keyboards. We played together for about 5 years and when I went off to college I left the band.
In college I still wanted to write music so I started learning music production and made a bunch of really fucking weird electronic music. Metal was always in my heart, so the songs all sort of sounded like angry video game music. I was even writing music on a gameboy for a while.
After that I was writing music under the moniker Abducted By Sharks which was a cyberpunk industrial project. The music kept getting heavier and heavier until I realized I just want to be writing black metal.
What music did you and your friends like in high school? black and death; metalcore and deathcore; pop punk and alternative? anything else?
VL: My friends were all nerds in high school. We played Dungeons & Dragons, and drove around upstate NY listening to Opeth. I could never have asked for better friends. Like most metalheads in the US my age, I came into metal through the nu-metal movement. Teen years are full of weird emotions and bands like Slipknot and Korn felt right at the time. Upstate NY also had a really healthy hardcore/metal scene. We were on the main circuit for touring bands coming up from NYC. I learned about metal in the most sincere fashion: in the pit.
There are a few deathcore bands I like but over all my tastes tend to lean to Folk Metal, Power Metal, Thrash, and Atmospheric Depressive Black Metal. I listen to a lot of other genres as well, though.
Is this your only musical output?
VL: Verminlord is my current main musical outlet but I’ve been in a dozen other bands. As far as active metal bands go I’m also half of the Murkwytch. Which is currently working on its second release.
I’ve been playing music my whole life. I was in a shitty punk band for a hot second, I played guitar in a Misfits cover band for a while, I wrote all the music (minus guitar) for Abducted By Sharks, and December, 20th, 2010 on the darkest night in 500 years my childhood best friend and I wrote an album in one night. It’s not the best album, but it was a fun night.
How was living in Seattle overall, for you?
VL: Hands down the best part of living in Seattle was the music scene. There were constantly shows all over the city. I worked for a few video game companies while I worked there so I was really stressed out all the time. Luckily, music is my therapy so I was able to funnel that stress into something productive.
Do you remember what you were thinking with your initial ideas for the music of Verminlord?
VL: I won’t name names because they’ve improved a lot but I was really excited for this one black metal band to play and they just kinda... sucked live. I had really fallen in love with the album and they kept stumbling over simple riffs. It was in their failure on stage when I thought to myself “I can play better than that.”
The following weekend I locked myself in my room and wrote the Verminlord Demo. It had been a pretty rough year at that point and the feeling of my hands aching and blistering from speed picking felt incredible. My roommates were supportive at the time but I tried not to record anything at night for their sake hahaha.
Art has always been my therapy. I was going through a divorce and hated my job. I put all that frustration and sadness into the next EP: Anguish. None of the lyrics really deal with what I was actually going through but screamin about skeletons and ancient deities giving you quests into a microphone is fucking cathartic, man.
Did you always mean for Verminlord to be a one-person studio project? What instruments do you play on your recordings? For the atmospheric parts of your music, how do you do that?
VL: Verminlord will always be a solo project. It’s my alter ego. I would love to bring in guest singers or musicians at some point, but the entire process of writing, and recording is my passion and I enjoy doing it alone. I play all the guitar, bass and keys in the recordings. I’m a pretty shitty drummer so I just program all the drums. I hope I get to a point where people won’t know it’s programmed drums hahaha
My DAW of choice is Ableton, and I own a bunch of Plugins from Native Instruments. I compose all the orchestrations as well.
For the atmospheric parts I try to write riffs that are almost meditative and then in production I try to make it sound like I’m playing it in a giant cave of despair.
TO BE CONTINUED
verminlord.bandcamp.com
Iron Fire streams a new song
The new Iron Fire album won't be ready for a little while, but the band already wants people to hear where the music is going in 2019. The band began in the middle of the 1990s and established themselves as a power metal band, but nowadays the music is a bit tougher and rougher around the edges, though still in the field of traditional heavy metal in a general way. Click the link below to hear the new song "Beyond the Void." Below you will find some official information about the new album.
Iron Fire
Beyond The Void
Crime Records
Release: 8 March 2019
Copenhagen (DK) - Danish power metal veterans IRON FIRE will release new album Beyond The Void March 8 on Crime Records. How do you top great power metal albums like Voyage of the Damned and Among the Dead? Well, the answer from IRON FIRE is to keep the focus on songwriting straight, keep the approach real and speak straight from the beating metal heart. Beyond the Void is, therefore, nothing but an honest in your face metal album, filled with blistering power metal songs that meld traditional melodic heavy metal with hard-hitting power trash. This melting pot of heavy metal madness is mixed and mastered by legendary producer Tue Madsen (The Haunted, Dark Tranquillity, Madball etc.). Beyond The Void is an album spanning a musical range from Testament to Judas Priest to Helloween and beyond. Fans of good heavy metal songwriting should give this new creation a spin.
ironfire.bandcamp.com
Monday, February 4, 2019
out now: Der Rote Milan
The black metal band Der Rote Milan (Germany) now has its second album available for streaming at the link below. A relatively new band, according to Metal Archives, which states that the band began in 2015. If you speak/read German you will understand the concepts behind the band's lyrics, but if you speak black metal in general, you will still understand the music very well. Either way, this is an album for black metal fans. Here is the official information about the band.
Der Rote Milan
Moritat
Unholy Conspiracy Deathwork
Release: 1 February 2019
Moritat is the second full-length album by German black metal band DER ROTE MILAN, which tells local stories based on real events during a thirty-year war that took place during the 17th century. A central character is the historical figure Schinderhannes, an outlaw considered by some to be the German Robin Hood. These stories, which take place in the southwestern Germany's Hunsrück region, are connected to the present through themes of freedom, fear, and fighting oneself in the face of death. DER ROTE MILAN continue to play melodic black metal, finding their identity in a combination of vicious blast beats, catchy melodies, and calm, thoughtful moments. The lyrics are performed in German to underscore the local character of the stories. Moritat is a logical progression from the band's first album, Aus der Asche. Both albums were recorded, mixed, and mastered by Markus Stock at Studio E Klangschmiede.
derrotemilan.bandcamp.com/album/moritat
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