Currents
March & April 2010. Currents is published online monthly, printed issues are published sporadically.
Two weeks ago Urfaust played live in Reykjavik. Few minutes after they left the stage news came of volcanic eruptions on Fimmvörðuháls. Coincidence? I think not. We have invoked the godz of doom with our incantantions of malice. Let us rejoice now, relax and let the world fall to ruin. Currents Postholf 666 121 Reykjavik Iceland www.currents‐online.com eyvindur@currents‐online.com
One of Iceland’s youngest Death Metal bands is carrying quite the load on their shoulders when it comes to experience. If properly calculated the years of Death Metal experience these guys have might come close to the half a century mark. The members of Beneath can trace their roots to demigods such as Atrum & Changer and old legends like Sororicide. There aren’t a lot of bands out there with lineage as prestige as Beneath so I felt inclined to ask how it all came together. Beneath the Remains “I guess the origins of Beneath could be traced back to when I left Changer” Gísli, the singer of
Beneath, tells us, “I decided to take some time off and figure out exactly what I wanted to do musically, and shortly after Changer folded I called Jóhann to see if he was interested in forming a new band. He was and that got the ball rolling. The intention was clear from the start, we wanted to play fast death metal.” Fast Death Metal is indeed what the band is all about. One of the bands that regularly popped into my head was Bolt Thrower, not because of similarities in music, but in the similar approach in a way to the music. Both bands remind me of cruising tanks going through the battlefields crushing everything in their way, blowing up everything within their range. Now, Beneath’s music is a bit of a mixture of old meeting new Death Metal. Would you say that the age difference of the members has played a part in the fact that Beneath manage to fill the gap better than most that try to fuse the old with the new? “You're not the first one to say that we mix old and new death metal well together, but
it's not really intentional. It could very well be due to the age difference, we do have very different influences and perhaps our perspective on death metal is different due to that. But I don't think we're only influenced by death metal. Some of us in the band are very much into black metal and all kinds of other music really, metal and otherwise.” True indeed. Gísli, the man on the keyboard on the other end of this interview, was in contact with legends such as Dead and Euronymous back in the day. I am sure if we were to brows through his record collection we might find such gems of yesterday like “Deathcrush”, “Aske” or “The Awakening”. Live Undead Beneath won the first Wacken Metal Battle that was held in Iceland and played live onstage at Wacken Open Air the same year. How did that all go and did it alter in any way your intentions with Beneath? I noticed on your MySpace site that Beneath will be playing the German Death Feast Open Air Festival in June sharing the stage with legends such as Deranged, Grave and the mighty
Sinister. How did that come about? “It was of course a great for us to be the first Icelandic band to play Wacken and the first to represent Iceland in the Wacken Metal Battle. The gig went well and we got good reception. Overall it was a very good experience for us. I wouldn't say that Wacken changed our intentions with the band in any way though. We had already been in contact with the Death Feast guys and that just started with a single email. We contacted them initially for the 2009 edition of the festival and then kept in touch and ended up on the 2010 edition. We're of course very excited about getting to share the stage with those legendary bands and be a part of a purely death metal festival.” Who wouldn’t be? To be on stage with the same people that dug “Tribes of the Moon” up from it’s grave, not bad! However, all the gigs I’ve seen you guys listed for the rest of this year are festival dates. Was this a conscious decision? “No this is just how things have transpired,” Gísli says, “we still have a few things in the works, both here at home and abroad and hopefully something will come out of that. We have already played three gigs this year, two release gigs for our EP and then at the 2010
Wacken Metal Battle as special guests. So we're not only aiming for festivals.” Hollow Empty Void The MCD, “Hollow Empty Void” actually was postponed a bit because of troubles at the pressing plant, which seems to be rather common these days, and only saw the light of day a couple of weeks ago. Four studio tracks and two live tracks, making the tracks in total six for you with a soft spot for math. The MCD was released by a young label based in the United States, Mordbrann Musikk. Some have linked the deal with Mordbrann to the victory of Wacken Metal Battle and the subsequent live performance at WOA but is it really so? “No. we were already in contact with Mordbrann Musikk before our Wacken appearance so that had nothing to do with each other.” Future Weapons I noticed in your bio that Beneath has
already recorded it’s debut album and is looking for a label to release it. Although the “Hollow Empty Void” has just been released have you had any interest in the debut from labels yet? “Yes, that is correct. We finished the recordings in early December and the mixing is done but not the mastering. We haven't really started sending out promo packs yet, we decided to sit on the album a bit until the EP was released and then of course we got a few delays with the release. But now that the EP is out we are starting to focus on finding a good home for the album.” Reykjavik vs. Uppsala How did the co‐operation with Daniel Bergstrand come about? Uppsala, Sweden is a long way from Reykjavik, Iceland. Although Bergstrand handled the mixing was the album itself recorded at the same studio you used for the mini‐album? Sidetracking a bit here but are you familiar with the resurgence of old fashioned Death Metal in Uppsala and have you checked out any of the bands from there? “We just contacted Daniel and he was available
and interested so we just took it from there. I have to say that we are really happy with what he did with the mixes and can't wait to hear the final mastered version. We recorded the guitars, bass and vocals at Fossland Studio again, just as we did with the EP, but we decided to record the drums elsewhere this time. We went to Sundlaugin Studio, that's the studio that Sigur Rós built and finished the drum tracks in a weekend there. I wasn't aware that there was a death metal resurgence specifically in Uppsala, but I would be very interested in checking out any bands from there.” “Hollow Empty Void” is available both from the band and the label. As you should have realized now Beneath are in Iceland while Mordbrann is in the States so choose whichever is closer to you. If you do decide to get in touch with Gísli & Beneath do tell him about your local scene, I know he would appreciate it. beneath.booking@gmail.com www.myspace.com/beneathdeathmetal www.reverbnation.com/beneathmetal www.mordbrannmusikk.com
challenge I was seeking to create extremely tenacious and torrential music inspired by the original alchemy of Heavy Metal, it was evident that ARMOUR came into being.” Fuck the Rules
Many know this band for it’s vulgar stage shows but more people know it for it’s disregard for anything and everything that is holy to the narrow minded. There is something sleazy and diabolical to Armour’s music and Vince Venom is about to bring us head first into the sordid dealings he made with the Devil himself when he forged the Armour he now wealds. “As for any demonic renegade spirit, I have always been attracted to speed, power, fury, darkness, aggression, lust, vengeance, trance, chaos, evil, rebellion and superiority. These things areall present in the true spirit of heavy metal, and thus also in ARMOUR. Along with theobvious
Has anything changed with the motives behind Armour? By the looks of it I’m inclined to think that you made the conscious choice to create Armour as a vehicle not only to create music that you enjoy but also to seehow far you couldtake it. “The motives have remained somewhat the same: To fuck the rules and show the world that we're above all expectations from whining spectators, to manifest Heavy Metal the way it was meant to be and to go as far as our capabilities can take us. There has not yet been a limit for what we can achieve with the band, so everything is looking good.” Infecting the Crypts Finland seems, to outsiders, to be a very Metal‐ inclined country and there have been many examples, Armour included, if I’m not mistaken, of Metal bands breaching the boundaries and
climbing high on your national charts. Is it as Metal‐inclined as one might assume or is the easy access of Metal bands to the country’s top musical charts just another example of the low sale of domestic music? “Yes, Finland is infested with trendy metalheads interested in only the most hip and contemporary phenomenon that verge metal music by some superficial musical aspects. Naturally this misleaded crowd also can give a good basis for us to do our work. Of course the total degeneration of record sales and pop music in general has given us the opportunity to feed as heavy metal vultures on the rotting corpse of decreasing record sales of major artists.” Fist in the Face “As we've seen,” Vince Venom continues, “ARMOUR have for example reached the second place on the official Finnish single charts with our "Can't Resist Your Spell / Hellfire" VINYL single. This of course was a glorious moment and a brutal fist in the face of all the loser wannabes and a clear demonstration of our force and our diehard fans.
Primitive Headbangers Your debut album was released late last year by Primitive Reaction and is now being released by Hell’s Headbangers. Why did you choose to go the dual label route and, more importantly, will there be any touring now with Armour? What does the future of Armour look like? “For maximum impact on different regions it was a natural choice to look for an American label to handle the release of our album there in a proper way. Hell's Headbangers is a brilliant label and one of the best from North America, so it was more than a pleasure to release the album overseas through them. So far there have been no offers for any tours, but hopefully something will appear in the future. As for ARMOUR's future, we now have a new drummer after a long search for a permanent replacement for our original battery‐smasher Jake, and we're slowly starting to prepare new material for possible upcoming releases.
Myspace.com/metalarmour
LOPAPEYSUR LANDI HELVÍTI
I think it’s safe to say that there isn’t a childe of light out there that hasn’t heard or heard of Iceland’s very own prodigies; Sólstafir. Forged in fire & ice some 15 years ago in the loft of a small garage in Seljahverfi, a small section of the infamous Breiðholt. They spent years honing their craft, working on their magick and after years of charging the vessel known as Sólstafir they broke through the boundaries with their masterpiece. Appropriately enough the album, their first for Spikefarm but their second overall, was called
“Masterpiece of Bitterness”. The bitterness got them far and a few years later, after heavy touring, they released “Köld”. There were some differences with “Köld” and “Masterpiece…” and so I wanted to know right away how it felt for the band going from the relative ease of Stokkseyri Rock City, where the previous album was recorded, to the massive Göteborg, Sweden. A Rock City in it’s own right but still unchartered territory for Sólstafir until then. Sólstafir’s very own drummer ov Hell, Pálmason, told Currents a bit about the differences in his view. “The recording procedures are in no way comparable. We recorded “Masterpiece of Bitterness” on our own with the help of our friend Sigurgrímur Ullarpeysa Lopasokkur Jónsson at his home in the small village of Stokkseyri on the south coast of Iceland. “Köld”, on the other hand was recorded in a vintage analogue studio in Göteborg, Sweden, and yes, it was the first time we recorded outside of Iceland.” “Masterpiece of Bitterness” was recorded mostly during weekends over a long period of time, “Köld”, on the other hand, was recorded in 3 weeks, working every single day.” Tours of Duty Sólstafir have spent quite a lot of time since “Masterpiece of Bitterness” was released touring the world. So, would that mean that Spikefarm have been helping them out with tour‐support and is that something that Sólstafir was looking for when they signed with them? “Tour support is a scam ultimately paid for by the band it self, so no that is
not what we are looking for. Good distribution is the most important thing. We want our music to be easily available for the public. We also don’t want the situation to present itself again, like it did on our last tour, that we have only 50 cds to sell on a 30 date tour, selling up in the first 5 dates because the cd was out of print from the label although we had asked them for cds well in advance! And this tour was in support of said album!” Again we return to math. You don’t have to rocket scientist to figure out that with this move, or lack of, the label lost quite a bit of money and the band and the fans missed the chance to get to know each other better. Ritual of Fire As I’ve watched you over the years playing live I’ve noticed that your stage‐show has changed quite a bit. Now the band seems focused on creating somewhat of a ritualistic atmosphere during it’s concerts.
Now that my opinion is out of the way, what is your goal with the live performances of Sólstafir? “Our goal is to put you, the audience into the same trans we are in. Join the ritual!” Scattered Remains Members in different parts of the world. Sólstafir’s members have been roaming the Earth lately but at the same time Sólstafir, as a band, seems to have flourished unlike before when you were all tucked together in Breiðholt ghetto. Is this a clear sign from the godz that Sólstafir can only achieve perfection when the members are as far away from each other as possible? “No, not at all. We are now reaping the harvest of “Köld”, who’s seeds were planted while we still all lived in Reykjavík. Hopefully we will soon again all be living in the same city, as we tend to work slowly, and this is slowing down the process of writing new material even further.” Vinyl Solution The world has screamed for Sólstafir vinyl for many years. Last year a certain German label
announced that they would be issuing Sólstafir vinyl and still nothing exists, except the “Black Death” ep. The godz were furious, as is evident with Haiti & Chili. I ask, as now there are rumbling in Iceland’s own Eyjafjöll; when comes the vinyl version? “I think it is safe to promise that all of our back catalogue will see the light of day on vinyl in 2010!” Icelandic Black Metal “Does it exist?” Pálmason is quick to ask back when ask about his opinion on the subject. “Svartidauði and Carpe Noctem. We’ve got some really, really good but lazy metal bands in most genres. Of course we are isolated from the European metal scenes and the labels over there and it costs money to record and put our albums on your own,
but most of the bands over here should have released albums already. Momentum is not a black metal band anymore, (or never really were, but their predecessor Afsprengi Satans were) but I’m really looking forward to their new album. Svartidauði have also been threatening us with an album for a long time but nothing seems to happen. Black Metal is dead! Long live Black Metal!” Black Metal is indeed dead, it’s rotting carcass floats in the harbor in Reykjavik right next to the concrete abomination of desolation they hav Sólstafir, however, are not dead & “Köld” is something everyone should try, perhaps even with one of Iceland’s main beer brands, “Kaldi”. Solstafir.net
I don’t remember when. I don’t remember it is an honest description of what is actually taking place.” how. I don’t remember why. All I know is that Saturnalia Temple exist. Rising up from Altered States of Minds the ashes Shadowseeds & Kaamos. “As for the songs and our actual live rituals, we are Enter the Temple entering certain mindstates that allow us to “Saturn, the planet, is the heaviest force in become vessels for something else, and this means the universe and the Saturnalia was an that anything, and I mean anything, could happen ecstatic festival celebrated in ancient Rome, on stage, especially musically. We are not about which inverted the whole city. Saturnalia playing the same sets the same way every night. Temple is a musical temple where we are We will rather just open the gates and take off, attempting to invert existence, to rejoice in afterwards is the time to think about what has the upside‐downness of things. In any case, taken place. What is important is the spirit, the
vibration and the energy, not if we play correctly according to the common rules of the sheep, if a song drifts off in a totally unexpected direction, or if someone plays “wrong” I see it as very interesting. This is an art form, and for me that implies total freedom. I think that bands like Hawkwind, Amon Duul II and The Doors really did this in an interesting way. We are taking this into a metal tradition.” Infinite Dark Power “But we believe in a steady discipline of playing together regularly, but I do not see it as rehearsing
– every time we play, it is a 100%. I mean, do you practice to have sex, to eat, to sleep? The concept of immanence is important to us, a feeling of needing nothing; everything we do is an end in itself. We do not believe in doing this because of that, and that because of this. We believe in pure action aimed at the infinite dark power.” Practising the Arts “If you are in this band, you have to accept certain things. It has not been easy to find the proper members. Most of us are practising the arts, but not all of us. Though, on stage, I feel how we are more and more becoming a tight unit, like a black ship aimed for the Adamas Ater. We are now three people, a pyramid, and this works wonders. We will not have a second guitarist, since the Power Trio is the true magical output of the Daemons. So I have
been told.” “Saturnalia Temple is where I allow my musical and magical universe to become united. I’d like to quote Don Juan from the Castaneda books here, when he says that the world is much more mysterious than we may ever believe.” Formats & Variety “We received a lot of interest from labels, and by chance, we were offered different formats. We are happy with all the versions, but they are the same in songs and sound. The vinyl got some different artwork. Well, let’s see what happens. The upcoming album will be released in both CD and LP however.” “The Ajna Offensive will take care of the album on LP and CD in the US. We feel that we have a powerful long‐term relationship with them. It is a real record label, like it should be, one of very few left.” Myspace.com/saturnaliatemple theajnaoffensive.com
Black Magick Metal
“First of all I would like to say, that Argharus is a Lithuanian Black Metal band, which evolved into fully functioning entity somewhere around 2005. The initial start of the band can be dated to the end of 2004, when our guitarist I1 joined the band. By then there were some non‐essential changes, that should not intrigue others. The only stable member/founder from that time is our vocalist 7.”
“First we played/tried to play some primitive, early Armagedda influenced black metal and where gaining our instrument handling skills, when in early 2006 all the work paid off and we prepared our program and material for first‐ever release.” Shining on Watain “First significant co‐operations to the band evolution were the concert in our hometown Siauliai (festival Tvaikas III) and first recording session in professional studio Phoenix in Latvia, plus the later release of split album with Luctus “Sonitus Caeli Ardentis” in 2007. Until the end of the same year Argharus played a line of concerts and signed with our current label Inferna Profundus Records.”
“In summer of 2008 we played our first gig abroad in Estonia, where we warmed up for Watain. All remaining time that year was left for finishing the material for our first full‐length. At the start of 2009 we played some gigs with Swedes Shining, both in Lithuania and Latvia, after which we put final touches on our material, the record session started and line‐up changes were done ‐ Demonas joined Argharus as live/session bass player, so at this point all the formation things were complete and since then we are a fully functioning organism, with everyone doing his own duties.” Good Neighbours It’s quite apparent that Argharus has spent the years since they begun well and worked relentlessly. Ledo Takas has been one of the most well known labels from the Baltic area in this field so how did the deal with them come about? “Frankly speaking we were not planning to release our first songs through LTR at first, but as no foreign labels didn’t want to release a mini cd/record of completely unknown band, so our countrymen LTR offered us to do a split with other Lithuanian band Luctus. The main reason we parted with LTR after just one record is that
our current label Inferna Profundus Records is situated in the same town and from our point of view is more reliable on doing all the promo work, so the band could mainly focus on making and delivering music during performances.” “The Black Metal Front of Siauliai is our quantum in the Lithuanian Black Metal scene as such, and it’s more like a contribution, than organization.” Future Seen Unseen “As I told in earlier question the main reason was the same town we are situated in, and more reliability from the label to the band in doing promo work. We are all satisfied what label is doing for us, and hope the collaboration will last for more than two or three releases. Speaking about our live performances from the very start we decided to exchange publicity to quality. It’s the attitude of the band – better to have four or five bigger concerts
current plans for the future are to fully create material for our second full length album and release it on Inferna Profundus Records while spreading the disease further.”
Inferna-profundus.net
Black Metal Siauliai
during the year than twenty or more small performances, but if speaking about Black Metal oriented gigs, even if it is a small one we are always glad to take a part in such concert. Our
That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die.
It’s been a while since the demo came out through MKP. What’s been happening in the STD camp since then? “The demo was self‐released back in '06, although MKP did help us quite a lot distributing it all over Europe. I'd also like to add that it was not limited to any specific number like I've heard people say.” “In the past 4 years since the tape was released we've been busy making the world a better hell, trying our best to infuse chaos and mayhem with our art. We've played a shitload of gigs and actually just did a show with our good friends of Urfaust a few days ago here in Reykjavík. At the end of their set, a volcanic eruption started in Fimmvörðuháls in southern Iceland as a direct consequence of the performance.” “We've had numerous line‐up changes which were necessary for the Svartidauði organism to grow and blossom into these fleurs du mal which our aim is to harvest, but I can't really be bothered to get into the details since that would a long and a boring story filled with drugs addictions and mental problems.” Violence & Bloodshed Yes, your live shows have become rather infamous for violence, bloodshed and the bleeding from ears. I noticed that during the last gig you played, with Urfaust respectively, none
of that was to be found but instead the band played cloaked in darkness relatively unseen by anyone. The only thing the audience was able to see was the faint brightness from a couple of small, almost spent, candles that were placed on a couple of amplifiers. “One has to wonder if this wasn’t a rather morbid omen, in a way, as Svartidauði played a set at TÞM where no light was to be found. Urfaust entered the stage afterwards playing on a slightly more lit stage and then after the gig volcanic eruptions started at Fimmvörðuháls.” Primordial Forces Summoned Do you reckon this gig of Carpe Noctem, Svartidauði and Urfaust acted as a charger for primordial forces which culminated in a burst just as Urfaust left the stage? “The volcanic eruption was obviously a climatic end to this ritual as the earth started to ejaculate fire, lava and toxins as a direct consequence of our joint forces.” “Our shows have been quite violent and chaotic as you mentioned earlier. Our live rituals are celebrations of Blood, Fire and Death.”
Black Death Urfaust I know Urfaust and Svartidauði have both co‐operated with MKP in the past. Did you get to know the guys through MKP or did you become familiar with Urfaust via other means?‐‐ “Me and Nachtraaf have been in contact for the last 5 years or so and yes it was indeed through MKP and we've talked about bringing them over for a ritual since day one, this was even before they performed live for the first time.” Chilean Death Squadrons You did a deal with the South‐American mafia a while back for the re‐release of the demo on MCD format but it’s been quite a while since that was supposed to be released. Is there any news on that? “Yes, MKP was supposed to re‐release The Temple of Deformation on CD but had to close down shops for reasons I will not discuss here. Few days after we got the
news of the death of MKP we were approached by Aquilus Cruoris from Chile, we had been in contact with Maguistellus for quite a long time back then and we agreed to have him handle the re‐release. As far as I know they CD will be sent to pressing sometime next week. But just as our luck would have had it, Chile and Santiago in particular was demanded as a sacrifice with that earthquake I'm sure everybody knows about. Hopefully this vile abomination will see the death of night soon as it's release is meant to serve as an appendix to a chapter in STD's history that hereby is closed, it is in one respect the burning of a bridge but likewise it presents an opening to new frontiers awaiting to be conquered.” Trinity in Black Indeed Chile was hit pretty hard by the godz of the underworld but one would have to expect more than that to be needed to stop the relentless messiahs of death & destructions. With the MCD out soon, hopefully, you have
CHURCH VANDALISM IN REYKJAVIK
indeed closed two of the three gateways you opened within the temple. I have often said it and I hope it becomes a reality someday but I would like to see a vinyl version of the Temple released. Will is the way, but is there a will with the congregation of Svartidauði to see the trinity fulfilled with a vinyl version some day? “A vinyl version of Temple will be released at some point in the future. We've already had some offers, yet we do not want to release it just yet. We never rush things, like you may have noticed. A wax manifestation of The Temple of Deformation will be announced when the stars are right. We've already had a earthquake and a volcanic eruption linked with us so my guess is that R'lyeh will rise once the vinyl is out.” Lack of Trust Although I don’t want to go into the whole debate of Black Metal vs. Metal festivals, I
would like to know how you feel Svartidauði fits in with the rest of the bands at Eistnaflug? Eistnaflug seems to be one of those events where people come together, drink and be merry, which has always seemed alienating to the Black Metal elitists. “First off, it has never been nor will it ever be our aim with STD to uphold any kind of morals or ethics, not even when it comes the ,,rules of the underground" we are way beyond that. The force behind Svartidauði is a burning ambition and arrogance. Our doctrine is the doctrine of cancer, growth for growths sake without loosing our artistic integrity. We equaly wish to perform at squads, in the sewers as well as Top of the Pops or what have you.” “Secondly there are at least two different ways of looking at a festival like Eistnaflug. On one hand we have, as you said, this element of people coming together to drink and be merry, for tomorrow we might die. But on the other hand Eistnaflug is a celebration of depravity, perversion and filth. More so then any other festival I've witnessed in my time. And what is STD if not a sect of flesh worshiping scum? This will be our
3rd time playing at Eistnaflug and after our last time performing there it became obvious that we are indeed doing something right seeing how people we've never met before where drinking, spitting and vomiting blood on each other and generally acting strange, violent and disgusting. I felt right at home then.” Myspace.com/svartidaudi
scene for a while recording & playing live with other bands, except the vocalist, he has been singing in bands and performing live before but this was his first recording experience.” Seasons in the Abyss “Playing this kind of death metal has been in my mind for a long time before the band so I have been collecting riffs, lyrics and stuff.”
I doubt many of you have heard about Burial Invocation. The band has been one of Turkey’s best kept secrets for a while but recently went public with their first output “Rituals of the Grotesque”. Although the band is pretty young an aura of potential & professionalism surrounds it. What I want to know right away is how the formation of the band came about. Thanks for the words. I think it’s because the members of the band have been in the
“I have been searching for members and it took some time completing the line up. We live in different cities with the drummer, bass player and other guitarist so I travelled to İstanbul where they live, we rehearsed a few times and did the recording after that. Realm of Chaos Would it be accurate to say that the main influences of Burial Invocation is Bolt Thrower and the Swedish Death Metal of the early nineties? You can’t deny the Bolt Thrower
influences, not with the beginning of “Through the Void of Obscurity”. “I think the band is a mix of early death metal. We are heavily influenced by massive Finnish death metal of the early 90’s, old Swedish death metal as you mentioned and of course the masters Autopsy and Incantation from USA, both bands are big influences with all of their material. The sound of some obscure demos of the early death metal era which cannot be captured in any full length have big influence on the band too.” Young & Restless Although Burial Invocation is quite a young band, as I mentioned in the first question, you seem to be rather well connected. Your first release, “Rituals of the Grotesque”, has just been released on MCD through Dark Descent and will soon be released both on tape by Skeleton Plague and on vinyl through Me Saco Un Ojo. How did all these format deals come about & are you enthusiastic vinyl or tape collectors? “We were thinking doing the release in different formats would be good, and after we put our song
online, Dark Descent and Skeleton Plague contacted us for CD and tape releases. Then after some time Me Saco Un Ojo wrote us for doing vinyl, so it was all set.” Small but Deadly Looking over the list of members and their past endeavors it seems obvious to me that there is a healthy scene in Turkey. What active Turkish bands, besides BI of course, would you recommend? Are there any bands in Turkey from the old days that you cherish more than others and find yourself listening to their releases on a regular basis? “There are really good bands in Turkey, especially in the last few years. I can recommend Decimation, Deggial, Sakatat, Godslaying Hellblast, Ultimate Blowup, Bayonet & Ehrimen. All of those are active. Old Obskyre Turkish “There is one record from the old days that I listen to quite frequently, 1993 demo recording “Violate the New Born” from
Deathroom. That obscure band existed between 1987‐1993 and played primitive and raw death metal.” Occult Horror Death The lyrical themes of the band touch familiar subjects; the occult, the undead and horror death. What is it about these subjects that captivates you and urges you to elevate them to others through guttural growls? “Yes, the main lyrical theme is death, which is quite familiar. I see death metal as a continuation of the 70’s scene, which we can see bands write about death and dark subjects with hints of dark and evil riffing in music even back in that time. So with the effects of environmental changes and living conditions which made the youth more desperate and under repression , it evolved into something purely about death, gore and anti‐religion mixed with the influence of horror movies taken it’s toll on the brains of that generation. So death metal is a way to deal with the pressure of ordinary life and letting that out as filthy expression, with influence from various absurd art. That’s because these subjects are captivating for us freaks; and singing
The Future Death What does the future hold for Burial Invocation? Will you continue your cooperation with any of the labels you have worked with so far or will you venture unto new pastures? Would it be likely that the band would be seen touring the neighboring countries in the near future or will you stay close to home?
about death, gore and blasphemy is the reason of the guttural growls, spewing voices and undead shrieks. Oppressed Death Metal What is it like being a Death Metaller in Turkey? The country has always had a reputation of being a very strict and traditional country so I would imagine the sight of longhaired men would not be tolerated to a wide degree in Istanbul.
“It sucks because we can rarely see a really good band playing a gig around here and we don’t have many good record stores and stuff. You are right about the strict and traditional thing, we have a lot of religious people here, but İstanbul is a big city that has all kinds of crazy, fucked up people so long hair isn’t that “extreme” there in most places. But yeah, if you go to an obskyre city in the middle parts or east, people will look at you like you like you have just landed there with a spaceship or something.”
“We are writing new material and we will spend the summer rehearsing for them.” “Yes, we will continue with Dark Descent Records as they have been great, they have signed some quality bands already and we have total confidence in them.” “Surely we don’t want to stay close to home and want to do some gigs around, but right now we want to focus on writing new material and after that, we will see if we get some offers.” Burial Invocation’s debut release is one I recommend to anyone into bands paying homage to the old godz. Myspace.com/burialinvocation
A big load of thanks goes out to the bands that answered my call and sent me information, photos and whatnot to include here! If you want to know more Icelandic bands you can visit my MySpace site and check out some of the bands featured there. Myspace.com/deepcave
GAVIN PORTLAND
While working on this issue I tought I’d include a small report on some of the local bands that are out there and have a release or two under their belts.
These guys are legends in their own right. They recorded at Kurt Ballou’s God City Studios. They have toured through Iceland, England & Germany, playing every shithole they have managed to find. Drawing inspirations from acts like Refused, Breached, Harvey Milk & Slint the guys just released an album through We Deliver the Guts Records. The guys have a couple of records available so check them out if you like the bands that have inspired them. Myspace.com/gavinportland myspace.com/wedelivertheguts
In 2007 five friends came together and formed a progressive hardcore band. The band was named Muck and two years after the fact they released their first EP “Vultures” as well as a demo. During the summer of 2009 they set up for Europe, playing in Danmark and Germany. The band received a lot of praise from the people that bothered getting to their shows and in early in 2010 they started recording their first LP, set for release later this year. Get their “Vultures” EP at myspace.com/muckiceland and get your dose of filthy Icelandic music.
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GAVIN PORTLAND GAVIN PORTLAND
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Born under the blackened sky the band has worked relent‐ lessly since it’s conception overcoming obstacles such as lack of dedication and seeing some members leaving along the line. With their current line‐up, however, they seem to have worked out any glitches and the last two live appearances I witnessed were breathtaking. Atrum went ferousiously through their set without any flaws and were awarded accordingly by the audience. The band are all set to release a mini‐album this month so get in touch with them through myspace.com/atrumiceland
In the five years they’ve been together Carpe Noctem have released a demo, in 2008, and a mini‐album, in 2009. Their debut release, “Myrkraverk”, included underground anthems like “Ég elska að ríða Satan” which took the Icelandic scene by storm. Building on that sensation Carpe Noctem entered Fossland Studios and recorded the four track mini‐album “Carpe Noctem”. With that release the true face of Carpe Noctem was shown and no holds were barred. The mini‐album offers us rather good deathlike Black Metal which show signs of great things to come. In my opinion the members have also managed to pull some of the best corpsepaints I’ve seen in years creating troll‐like appearances during their live sets. Get in touch with them through myspace.com/carpenoctemiceland for their releases.
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In the beginning there was Withered. A band full of young hopefulls dedicated to the cause of furthering extreme Metal. However, things don’t always go as some would like them to and from the ashes of Withered, Atrum emerged.
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The band delivers a lethal dose of technical Death Metal but are known for getting the crowds at their shows all psycked up and creating some of the biggest circle pits seen this side of Reyðarfjörður. In 2007 the band released a promo and an album called “Soul Cremation” and I’m told they are working hard on a new album. Myspace.com/severedcrotch
Eleven years ago drummer Kristján B. Heiðarsson got the idea in his head that he should show others in action how he thought extreme Metal should sound like. The result as we know it is Changer. The years have not gone with ease for Changer and taking the band from a studio‐basted solo project to a fully tuned machine ready for live action hasn’t gone without it’s shares of glitches. The project has been put on ice at least once but today it is more active than before, they say, with a full line up. 2000 January 109, 2001 Inconsistency 2004 Scenes 2006 Breed The Lies myspace.com/changermetal reverbnation.com/changericeland
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The current overlords of Icelandic Death are without a doubt the deadbolts in Severed Crotch. The line‐up reads like a “who’s who” of Icelandic Death Metal with band members from Plastic Gods, Momentum & Bastard amongst others.
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The band describes their music as “umbrageous death metal filled with misanthropy & pessimism”. To me and you that means that the band sounds like Infernal Torment and Akercocke giving each other a whole lot of std’s! myspace.com/gonepostalmetal
myspace.com/momentumtheband Many say that the origins of Momentum can be traced to one of Iceland’s most unknown Black Metal band, Afsprengi Satan. The truth is, however, that Momentum is a medley of what some insiders have described as being the best Iceland has to offer in Icelandic Metal, with that in mind it’s best I let the members of Momentum handle this one. “Having long since conferred knighthood in Iceland as the tightest and hardest working metal band in the metal scene today, Momentum has honored its name and never stopped to rest in their search for a musical identity. With two grandiloquent thematic extended play‐albums under their belt, their soon‐ to‐be released full length album ventures beyond the realm of musical labeling: a realm mirrored in the psychedelic cover art of the front man, and the mixed colors of the ever growing crowd attending their shows. Woodstock or Wacken, Momentum brings the right stuff to the party.”
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Founded three years ago by a pack of might‐ be‐postal workers, Gone Postal have kept themselves busy and released a demo, a split, a full‐length as well appearing on, at least, one compilation.