Endless Disappointment 5 - The Forbidden Popcorn

Endless Disappointment Issue 5- The Forbidden popcorn March 2020

Featuring Misguided life advice Underdark Kurokuma Deus Vermin stories and shit

Howdy everyone.

So we’re on Issue 5; zine-making is not hard by any stretch but I am also a tad lazy so I did largely pan February so I could finally complete Jedi: Fallen Order and sort out a release that we’d been putting for for a bit In the time it has taken to complete this zine and get it out to you all, we’re now knee-deep in Coronavirus /Covid-19 chaos and it’s generally accepted amongst rational folk that it’s an utter shitshow.

I’ve had to cancel 4 shows between starting this issue and subsequently sending it off for print; you may find there are irregularities in the issue as a result of this as some interviews were carried out from the perspective of us not living in a utter shitshow.

You may notice random pictures appear on pages; these were originally meant to be flyers for upcoming shows; they’re all cancelled now so I replaced them with other things, most likely the orginal art behind them tbh.

A shout out to everyone who is feeling the pinch as a result of this; I’m already seeing cases of people losing their jobs and ultimately people losing jobs and businesses is what we’ve spent the last decade trying to avoid.

Anyway, enjoy this month’s issue; it’s no Thrasher, but I did my best given the circumstances.

No Proof-reading // No Mercy

Available now at fhed.bandcamp.com Celestial Sanctuary - S/T EP

Fresh Bolt Thrower worship. Already incredibly low on numbers.

Grief Ritual - Moments of Suffering

Brand new album from Gloucester’s finest. It’s essentially Rudiments of Mutilation by Full of Hell, only a bit slower and better recorded

Grief Ritual - Life is a Phase

Debut EP FFO: Trap Them, Rot in Hell and Minors. They played Bloodstock earlier this year too.

Grim Existence - Expansion of Reality

Gnarly Death Metal with Hardcore Riffs. First new material since 2014. FFO: Entombed, Leeched, Gatecreeper

The Atrocity Exhibit - Extinction Solution 12”

Latest full-length from the elder statesmen of UK Grindcore. FFO: Gets Worse, Wormrot, Human Cull and anything with Blastbeats.

Deus Vermin - Monument of Decay (CD)

Some of the best Death Metal to happen in 2018 and the heaviest stuff out of Leeds in years. FFO: Of Feather and Bone, Tomb Mold and Dragged into Sunlight.

Opium Lord / Churchburn split 7”

Split 7” between Blackened Sludgelords Opium Lord and US Sludge Heavyweights Churchburn

Acrid Pork Smell - Acrid Pork Smell EP

One-off side project featuring former/current members of Extreme Noise Terror, Desecration, The Drowning and Gorgantuan

Moshpits, despite the nature of their contents Are actually quite well constructed Cram it in too tight? It’s not really a pit Have the pit too big and it becomes a shambles Cardiff knows only shambolic pits We open up a huge pit far greater than what is needed for the people involved innocent bystanders get roped in beer spills everywhere the pit becomes slippery it’s like watching rugby being played on an ice rink that’s way too big for them with all the grace of a teenager figuring out foreplay for the first time people fall over it becomes a dogpile and the pit just isn’t fun it’s just the fattest dude flubbering around against smaller dudes in the one situation where being the fattest dude gives you the edge it’s just dumb now you see Leeds they know pit construction they only ever use the exact space required the edges of the pit are robust protecting those who don’t want to mosh whilst containing the ruckus beer gets spilled do people fall over? it’s hard to fall over when there’s not much room to does the pit collapse around it?

Nope do they know how they do it? probably not the same way bees can’t explain how to make a good hive nor Ants make a fine colony it’s just in their nature are Leeds pits some of the best pits in the whole UK? probably

These two pages were going to be dedicated to must-see Wrestling over the next couple of months. Problem is, most of it is being cancelled and quite frankly the prospect of watching an already uninspiring Wrestlemania in an empty studio sounds absolute wank.

So here’s this picture instead

Lifestyle section the zeke workout

Working out is horrific, especially when you forget your earphones and have to listen to whatever terrible house/techno poop is playing on the PA. Or whatever jacked-up playlist the guy plays in the spinclass session.

Suppose you didn’t forget your earphones, suppose say you have a Spotify account and don’t want to trust the shuffle-function but also inherently distrust the workout playlists Spotify shambles together.

Well fear no more, I’ve put together an exercise routine that applies directly to any stint on a cross-trainer/cycle machine. Is it safe? Well I haven’t been injured yet. Is it efficient? Possibly, I always come out of it tired. Is the soundtrack good? You’re damn right it’s good.

Step 1 – Stretch, ain’t nobody straining anything on my watch Step 2 – Get to your nearest Cross-Trainer/Cycle Machine Step 3 - Lineup Hellbender by Zeke Step 4 – Put your cross-trainer or cycle machine into into Manual Mode and set the resistance settings to something that’s doable at the start but will wear on you later on, you want to push yourself but not TOO much.

Step 4 – Follow the track guide over the page.

Track 1 – All the Way – Find your rhythm, get into a moderate place, kind of like a decent warmup

Track 2 – Two Lane Blacktop – Absolutely fucking bolt it, push yourself for 1:38 knowing the next 3 tracks aren’t going to push you too hard

Track 3 – Track 5 – slow it down a bit, make sure to stay well hydrated otherwise the next bit is going to suck.

Track 6 – County Jail – Fucking bolt it, don’t half-arse this one.

Track 7 and Track 8 – Decent enough tracks but give yourself a break, slow it down a bit and keep well hydrated

Track 9 – White Wolf – Rampage, one of the best songs on the album, let your performance reflect this.

Track 10 – AR15 – Drop the pace a smidgen, but not enough to loose momentum

Track 11 – Track 13 – Final stretch, go with the might of a thousand puppies knowing you can chill for the rest of the album

Track 13 to End – It gets a bit weak towards the end, start at an average pace and gradual slow it down as part of your warm down.

stories that happened Whilst you always get people that like to talk about that time they played to more than 50 people (fucking rockstars), the victory is not in the shows that run well, the shows that have a good turnout or have a strong legacy for the future. In fact, these shows are kind of boring, yeah, we’re all happy that someone has played a show they’re 100% happy about,but it hardly makes for a good story.

The fun is where it goes wrong, the shows where some random variable comes out of the blue and collossally ruins everything, the shows where everything goes wrong and you somehow live to do it all again later on, the tours where someone gets the shits or has a run-in with the law, THESE are the stories I like.

I will eventually want people to contribute their own stories, until that time I thought I’d share one of my own. If you have any you wish to submit, drop me an email via worldofshit@live.co.uk. You’ll be doing me a favour, writing is arduous.

When - Summer 2011 (I think) Where - An old man’s pub in Cardiff called The Gower (RIP) A mate of mine put on Rash Decision on; his band were playing too (albeit minus a frontman) and an opening band who I found out years later were called Asylum. It was your standard punx show; a handful of people bought their dogs with them which was nice, there were people drinking cider outside on the sly, you know, typical punx show.

Now, the venue was knee-deep single-pane windows and some stood in the way of whatever an issue before, but I think

in a residential area; only rickety relatively garish 70’s living-room curtains racket was going to happen. There was never that was more out of luck than preparation.

So this opening band, Asylum, came on; I noticed a middle-aged couple storm past the person on doors without even as much as an acknowledgement. Now, either they wanted to hit up the Punk show and not pay, or they wanted to kick off; I’m not one to instinctively judge by appearance, but the middle-aged sweaters and “that’s great but I’d rather hear it from your Manager” hair-do’s suggested they didn’t want to spend a Saturday listening to punk rock.

Anyway, so the wife from this middle-aged couple stood right up close to the frontman and started mouthing some sort of aggressive mutterings to them. I don’t know if any of you can remember that time Middlesbrough midfielder Juninho squared up against David Ginola, but I’ve attached a picture for reference as it kind of looked like that. She tried knocking the mic out of his hand, it didn’t work and they got to the end of the song.

You can probably guess what the deal was; they didn’t like the music so they were compelled to kick off the only way middle-aged people knew how, it was straight out of an 80’s music video I swear. Pretty certain they lead with it being too loud, hypocrites, if they were local for this racket they’re definitely local for the Thursday Night Blues Jam which I swear was marketed to the hearing impaired given how loud they jacked up the PA (pretty certain some guy called Les ran it).

It was at this point where my memory gets hazy, but I definitely remember the lady shouting at the Drummer “Why don’t you just go back to where you came from”, to which he couldn’t really say much other than highlight he lived down the road. This went on for a bit, the husband got involved, a lot of posturing and defending his wife’s honour but he probably just wanted to watch a film in peace and wait for the music to blow over. Out of nowhere, someone in the crowd went off on one against the lady, it was hardly the most articulate tirade but enough to start the lady crying. She then just said she wanted everyone to have a good time and to be respectful, wishful thinking from the lady who started it all.

For those who were there, it’s always a show we can have a joke about.

The couple left. The show went on. The sound did not decrease in volume at all. Also, that opening band I’m pretty certain became Grand Collapse.

Kurokuma Heavy music is bloody wonderful, but a few years back I think the genre reached critical mass within the UK scene and a lot of utter shite started coming out that made me briefly disinterested in the doom/sludge/ stoner genre. Kurokuma, for me, were a saving grace at a time where things felt a bit samey, their blend of sludge and pretty much whatever other genre they wanted to throw in always proving an interesting experience.

Please be aware that this interview took place prior to the travel restrictions; it was during much more positive and upbeat times and I’m not restructing the interview so you’ll just have to read it as if the Friendship/Kurokuma tour went ahead.

This is probably common ground now and most likely comes up in every interview, but for anyone who still thinks of the fighting bear from Tekken, what’s the origins of the name?

It’s good that you reference that cos it means you at least know how to pronounce our name. The amount of people that call us Kurokoma is ridiculous and awful.

Kurokuma Falls is a waterfall in northern Japan near where I used to live. It technically means black bear.

It’s rare you see international relations between bands, how did the relationship with Friendship come about?

We got to tour Japan in 2018 and we ended up playing Hokage in Osaka, which is the venue run by the vocalist of Palm, and I’d been a fan of Friendship for a bit at that point. After we got back to the UK, Holy Spider got offered a date on the Palm and Friendship tour, and through someone’s mismanagement - won’t name any names - I ended up booking the whole UK leg for them. They were really appreciative and they were happy with Kurokuma supporting. It was an amazing 7 days - shows like I’ve never seen before, and I know it left an impression on a lot of people.

Fast forward a bit and Meg from Dreadfest said she wanted Friendship to play her fest in 2020, so I put it to the band and after a lot of back and forth we figured out a way to make it work. I speak Japanese and having been over there in a band helps - the scene is really close knit and they’re all really supportive of one another, so it doesn’t take you long to get to know people, but it’s not the easiest to be initially accepted into that circle. I’m really pleased with how it’s all worked out, especially that this is the second time they’ve done the UK - they’ve not even played the US once yet. We need that channel between the UK and Japan to be open.

FYI - This tour is now cancelled and there is a fundraiser to help Kurokuma and Friendship recoup some of the huge losses they have incurred.

My understanding is that members are heavily involved with Holy Spider Promotions. I’m a sucker for people talking about their local cities, so for those who aren’t aware, what’s the scene like in Sheffield?

Out of Kurokuma it’s technically just me, along with Craig from Archelon and Tez. The scene is the best it’s been in a long time. The people are fucking great on the whole, really supportive and sound in general. Not much bullshit, drama or incest like sometimes happens. Makes us all at Holy Spider happy to see. We have problems with venues closing down all the time but there are some quality places, just enough. And the Lughole - a DIY space - is about to get resurrected, which is big.

Like most promoters, the aim is to make their city as good as it can be musically. What would you consider to be your biggest success so far and what do you think the city needs musically?

We’re just proud to have built something from nothing. Five years ago Craig and me sat in the city centre one afternoon and said we were gonna build it, and it’s kinda hit us this year that we did. Great turnouts to most shows and Doomlines is big every year. There were doom, stoner, sludge gigs before - big up Dan Brown from Rotherham for doing things before then - but I feel we finally made it a regular occasion and now there’s definitely a strong fan-base for it. Things definitely lean in the slow direction musically - we could do with more DM and BM to be honest.

Which bands should we be looking out for from Sheffield?

Blind Monarch, Archelon, Pink Cigs, Awooga, Naisian, Swamp Coffin, Bogwych. Rat Cage, Dead In Latvia, Scum Bastard, Hidden Mothers and Baal as well for the fast right now. I’m not saying I like all these bands but I’m shouting out my mates.

For your upcoming jaunt of Scandinavia you’ve brought along Blind Monarch for one date and Archelon for the other; was this the promoter’s idea or did you lean hard to get some locals out of Sheffield?

This is what I’m talking about. You look at the lineup for Northern Discomfort in Copenhagen; there are five British bands and three of them are from Sheff. It’s great to see. That’s why we’re all out there at the same time, cos of Mads booking us, then everything else fell into place around that. We didn’t even know we were all playing till it was announced.

Your discography so far is largely EPs and singles, are we to expect a full-length anytime soon or do you prefer the freedom that comes with EPs dedicated to certain concepts?

We’re perfectionists in that way and we only wanted to do the album when we felt ready and like we could do it justice, and now we’re ready. It’s getting recorded this summer.

And yeah, doing all the different smaller releases up till now has helped us get to this point. Each one has its own vibe for sure, and we’re glad it happened like that. I will say that the album is the collection of songs that represents our tribal/Latin side, and I know that’s what a lot of people know us for most anyway.

Kurokuma were a key focus of The Doom Doc a few years back, which leaned heavily on the Sheffield scene for a lot of its source material. Everyone pretends like they know how to speak in front of a camera but it’s a lot easier said than done; did you ever get worried about what you said being presented in the wrong way or did you regret anything not being said in the documentary?

Luckily I was involved in the production of the film and spent many a night round the director, Connor’s helping on the edit and script so personally it was pretty easy to get rid of something if I didn’t like it. But I don’t think I said much that I regretted. I have a masters in broadcast journalism so it was good to be able to use those skills to help make the film a success, and from that I’m used to being in front of a camera to be honest.

Looking back at it now, do you think the documentary is a fair representation of the genre and the UK’s output?

It’s hard for me to be objective. I don’t think it gives a completely fair representation but I’m not sure that was the goal either. I think we did a good job of giving an insight into what’s happening, but it is obviously Sheffield and Holy Spider-centric. Making a film is fucking hard.

It’s easy to poke holes in it. We did it on a very small budget and with borrowed equipment while all working jobs, and it features mainly the people we know well. There were certain people we asked to be a part of it and they declined. It kinda sucked when a few people tore into it but that’s what you get sometimes.

Would you change anything?

I think we’d perhaps have picked a different name. It’s a touchy subject for some people. We called it The Doom Doc cos that’s what we’d just been referring to it as amongst ourselves since the start, and it stuck.

But I think for a lot of people that made them go into it thinking we were just talking about doom as a genre. It was more like what’s happening in the UK, Sheffield in particular, when it comes to doom, stoner and sludge. We thought people would perhaps be a bit more flexible with their interpretation of the word, but they weren’t, and I get it. For me these days, doom is shorthand for the three subgenres I’ve just mentioned, and then there are other meanings of the word of course, especially cos the film dealt with mental health to a degree and the doomed-nature of Doomlines when it nearly got cancelled. We learnt a lot throughout the whole process...

Looking a few years down the line, from your personal experiences how have you seen the various scenes around the UK change?

I’ve seen the slow boom come and now it feels like it’s had its day in the spotlight. I went through a phase personally of not wanting to listen to it much because there was so much shit - it’s been everywhere as I think we all know. As a subgenre you don’t need much talent, and it shows in a lot of bands. I don’t like shitting on other bands but I did start to hate it for a while. It feels like the fast stuff is coming back in, at least in Sheffield and with the people I’m surrounded by. It’s all swinging back to the other extreme. It’s great cos I love the fast and somehow it feels like the slow stuff is perhaps going back to its roots as well, or only the really good stuff will get attention.

Hard to say what else has changed... I’ve seen some of the scenes in certain cities grow or fade, and that’s usually down to just one promoter coming or leaving sometimes. Nottingham, especially SOAN, always goes hard, love playing there. Newcastle and the Byker Grave guys kill it as well. When we started Manchester was big and we’re grateful for that being our start, but it feels like things have dropped off there of late.

Leeds has stayed strong for a while. London of course is big, but it feels like it doesn’t have the DIY thing as strong as the North. I wish Birmingham or somewhere in the Midlands was a bit better for underground metal. We’re playing there on the Friendship tour, first time in a while so we’ll see what it’s saying.

I suppose we should talk about your music for a bit. Assuming there’s someone out here who has bought the zine but isn’t familiar with your sounds, describe it, the more ludicrous the better.

Again hard to be objective, but we see it as trippy metal. When we started it was always our goal to make it twisted and exotic rather than by the book. A lot of our stuff is meant to feel like a ritual or an incantation. Another goal was to make people move. We respond to the power inherent in metal and its subgenres but we’re not a nihilistic band, so we wanted to bring a lively energy and flavour to shows. It’s good music to lose yourself in, especially if you’re tripping. Oranssi Pazuzu are a big inspiration because you can’t help but feel psychdelic when you’re listening to them - they take metal and add to it, they’re not bound by anything. From what people say to us after sets, I think we achieved a lot of this, which is fulfilling.

What’s your equipment/backline situation?

Jake uses Orange for his amp and cab. George uses whatever, it changes. It’s more about their pedals. George has a unique setup, especially with the Kaoss Pad. His bass is often more prominent that Jake’s guitar, which is the inverse of the standard situation.

Musically speaking Kurokuma is a broad church in terms of Sludge and Doom, with all sorts of percussion styles and electronic elements finding their way into various recordings whilst still sounding as heavy as an Ox. Are there any other styles that you’d like to throw into the mix one day?

Like I say, right now we’re fully on the Latin thing in terms of writing and feeling that primal energy. Hard to say what will happen in the future - we’ll probably explore other dimensions. We feel next it will be more cosmic in nature but we don’t wanna get ahead of ourselves.

Right, enough questions, storyline. Tell us about the worst show you’ve ever played?

We’re pretty intent on giving the perfect show every time so when we have gear malfunctions or whatever, it’s not enjoyable. When we played with Palm and Friendship in Manchester on that tour the electrics in the building were dodgy and the bass amp wasn’t working for half the set so Jake and me just had to improv some noise shit.

Worst Tour Story Probably nearly getting arrested in Iceland for ganja related crimes on our last night there. Our driver did. We were lucky. I’ll never forget looking at Jake as they pulled us over and said they were gonna search us.

Best ways to kill time when on tour?

Smoke some ganja. Listen to tunes. Crowd source chat up lines from the van and use them on your inbox.

Godzilla Movies. Discuss.

Yeah, we did cover Deeper Undeground and yeah, I did live in Japan but I’m not an expert or anything... But the sample from the start of our cover is from Godzilla 2000, which from what I remember wasn’t best received. The sample is like “Science has run away with itself” “A kaijyuu born by humans.” It definitely fit the song and the lyrics.

Right, let’s wrap up, ambitions for the rest of the year.

We had a few months off last year and all these plans got made. Friendship tour in March, write the last few tracks for the album, Scandinavia tour in April, record the album and do another big tour in another continent, but we can’t announce that yet. Hoping the album will be out before the end of the year. You could say it’s our biggest year yet.

Before Sunn O))) Temples Festival, Bristol, 2015 The Promoter teased at there being Burning Witch material being played

That was a lie

One of the bouncers had a nosebleed mid-set

The set caused severe damage to the PA... and I’m pretty

certain the venue too (I can’t verify that)

Things became a bit of a shitshow after and bands didn’t get paid

The festival came back another year only it didn’t it was cancelled the Monday before the promoter I think works in the Comedy industry now

Underdark Black Metal would be really cool if it wasn’t for the far-right and the fact the genre just needs to calm down a bit; I can probably tolerate it being a serious genre, but the far-right element can just fuck off.

There are a few bands that, whether intended or not, are writing Black Metal that challenges a lot of bullshit within Black Metal. This feature isn’t about them, if you want that go read the output of actual journalists like Astral Noize, whose work calling out Black Metal bullshit is top-grade.

Anyway, Underdark are dead nice and I had a chat with them.

Word on the street is that your band is not named after the subterranean network of tunnels and caverns that frequents many Dungeons and Dragons campaigns and fiction. Explain.

Abi: Wait I thought it was that’s why I joined. Nah as far as I know we took it from Funeral Diner who took it from D&D Dan: Funnily enough no! We were actually going to use ‘Mourning Cloak’ as the actual band name until we discovered another band with the name.

Whilst talking about names Stig (Bass) started talking the Funeral Diner ‘album ‘Into the Underdark’ & we all thought Underdark would make a class name. We found out about the D&D reference not long after we started getting tagged on facebook D&D art pages.

Whilst sitting musically quite comfortably within the Black Metal realm, the genre is quite a broad church (wordplay intended). For those who aren’t familiar with you, to what extent do you relate to the UK Black Metal scene at the moment and how do you think Underdark fits into that?

Abi: I think, especially with the material we’re waiting to drop, Underdark is moving in more intricate and involved directions, especially in terms of how we structure songs. We’re heading in a direction more along the lines of Cult of Luna or even Envy, looking to create a real sense of drama and narrative with our sound.

Dan: Whilst retaining some of the more ‘traditional’ elements of black metal, I think we’re also trying to push ourselves from being pigeonholed in any specific genre or sound. We all take influences from a large variety of stuff, with black metal being a small part of that. So I suppose in relation to black metal, the part we relate to more than anything is the wanting to push boundaries like it’s innovators.

That and we’ve got fucking RIFFS mate.

Whilst the music can be good, there are certain parts of the genre that should probably get in the bin. If you could change anything about the UK’s Black Metal scene what would it be?

Abi: I’d force bands to be more creative and write better songs.

Dan: The free passes to people with shitty ideologies/beliefs everyone seems to be handing out. That or when it goes into an absolute meltdown when aforementioned parties get their show cancelled.

That, and to a certain degree, be more interesting.

Kerrang name-dropped you as part of a piece about resistance to Fascism and Far-Right ideology in Black Metal alongside bands like Dawn Rayd, Neckbeard Deathcamp and others. Was it was always Underdark’s plan to be so politically driven or did the bandmember’s various beliefs mean the band simply evolved that way?

Abi: I just write about stuff that’s on my mind. If it happens that I see an article about something that bugs me, that will likely end up in a song.

Dan: It’s certainly something we’re all fully involved & believe in.

Honestly it wasn’t the plan to be upfront about this when we first got together, and we may not be as upfront or direct as some of our good friends, but as Black metal does come with these associations we didn’t want to be involved in any shape or form.

That and our personal beliefs are all varying degrees of these politics which have evolved over the course of the bands tenure, and I’m glad to say we’d rather scream and shout about these problems than fucking goblins and wolves or some other shite.

Given most people that you come across in bands across the UK resist the idea of Far-Right ideology, be it privately or openly, do you find it peculiar that only a handful of bands are considered as being openly anti-fascist?

Abi: I think it’s largely to do with the specific subgenre - rightly or wrongly black metal has the stink of fascism about it, and to make music in that style it becomes something that should be said just so people are clear. If a grind or crust band was “we’re not racist” people would be all “lol no shit mate” Dan: I can understand that some bands don’t want to tie politics in with their music.

Considering the presence of NSBM, as well the plethora of other Black Metal bands that either leaned towards Far-Right ideology, have you ever had any backlash from Black Metal fans at shows?

Abi: Someone said he thought my shirt was a bit bright once.

Dan: Nothing at shows, if anything when we’ve played straight up Black Metal shows they’ve been some of the best crowds to play though. Only things we’ve had is the odd death threat over facebook & a few odd comments of the usual inventive insults they can muster. Everyone’s an internet hardman these days.

Whilst I don’t necessarily think there’s been an increase of followers of the Far-Right, Right-Wing views have certainly become more prominent and it seems to have attracted people that would typically spend their lives sitting on the fence. Do you ever see the situation changing?

Abi: Yeah, this stuff comes in waves. People will get bored playing at being reactionaries and will go back to whatever else they have going on.

Dan: I think the growth of these followers is a combination of playing on people’s hate & fear, along with being sick of the absolute shower of shit that is British politics at the moment. That and It’s easy to enlist someone in your trail of thought if you give them a scapegoat to blame. Situation-wise I hope so. You read & hear some horrific things about racism/xenophobia more and more, which is why it’s so important to keep standing up & speaking out against this. Unity within our communities is key to making positive changes.

Tactics in counteracting Right-Wing views have also been varied in recent years, some methods being more effective than others. Boycotting certain bands is nothing new, but recently I’ve noticed a few examples people with Right-Wing views being ejected from shows. I don’t relate to these people much at all so have zero investment in their plight, but to what extent do you think such a tactic risks alienating these people to the point there’s no possibility of them re-integrating with the community?

Abi: I think people can be re-integrated. A lot of the time it takes some patience. It’s very cultlike, they program people, so it’s not always possible for a bunch of musicians to pull someone out. I think as artists, our best tactic is to just make really good art. If we make a record that gets people going “oh fuck that’s really good” they’re gonna care more about what we have to say on, say, prison reform.

Dan: In order for these people to re-integrate then I think they have to want/show that they want to change. I believe most people deserve room to grow or to change. The ones that don’t deserve it are usually the ones that refuse to change their behaviours or grow, and thus don’t deserve a second chance.

How do you think the best way is to combat far-right ideology?

Dan: Education. Direct action against groups aiming to spread hate & discourse. Supporting your community in way you can.

Underdark were one of many bands I noticed who wore their heart on their sleeves in the run-up to last year’s election, displaying their disdain to a Tory government more austerity. Ultimately the result wasn’t particularly great, where do you think it went wrong?

Abi: A lot of traditional Labour voters felt betrayed by Labour, simply put. These are the people who voted for Brexit, and it became “the Brexit election”. Labour’s silence on it spoke volumes.

Dan: Brexit was the underlying issue. I think a lot of older labour voters jumped ship due to this, and the whole Corbyn smear campaign must’ve made a large impact as well. I mean people I’ve known for years were calling him a Terrorist sympathiser and repeating all sort of rhetoric you’d find on the front page of the Daily Mail. Whilst I don’t believe that the current system is working or will provide the change we all deserve andneed, I thought the way Labour was going, they was the best out of a bad bunch & a good starting point.

Shame the rest of the general public would rather bring down the executioners axe on themselves than consider any form of change.

There’s a lot of division in the UK at the moment, whether it be a person’s stance on the EU Referendum, ethnicity, age or political inclination. There’s unfortunately always been a degree of tension in the Uk, but this has only increased since the economic crash in 2008. Do you ever see an end to it?

Abi: I think when the supposed economic recovery is felt by people and we’re not all a bad month away from homelessness we might feel less divided, but ultimately the rat race benefits those in power so I guess we’ll see.

Dan: When you’re living hand to mouth every month despite working your arse off, or standing on a knifes edge from homelessness, its easy to harbour resentment at those you perceive to be doing better than you.

Usually I find this misdirected at those in the same predicament, rather than at the ones in power than put said people in this position sadly.

Like I mentioned earlier, only we can make these changes happen.

Right, moving onto more pleasant things. As it stands Cardiff Devils are top of the league in Ice Hockey, knowing you partake of Ice Hockey I want it known that Nottingham Panthers are only 5th ;3 Abi: I’m Mexican, the only time I wanna see ice is in my drinks Dan: Go fuck yourself.

On a more serious note, it’s the same old story for panthers: Start the season coming out the gate strong. By the end of the season you’re eyeing up the bleach under the sink for a new cocktail. That & Cardiff always have a very strong team.

You also partake in HipHop, do you find it bullshit that Method Man never tours with Wu-Tang Clan anymore?

Abi: I love Wu-Tang, but it shouldn’t be forever if Method doesn’t want it to be. I’m not mad that Ozzy stopped touring with Sabbath either, you know?

Dan: I was rather upset about this, but having seen Wu-tang Clan perform Enter the 36 chambers in its entirety on their most recent UK tour, I can confirm that they’re as insane to see as they ever was. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen to date.

GZA – Liquid Swords: Discuss.

Abi: Absolute classic, 11/10 Dan: The best Wu Tang Clan record that isn’t Enter the 36 Chambers.

Absolute god tier music. Been dying to see GZA play this as he’s touring it still, but I’ve heard a lot of negative things about his apparent lacklustre performances. What a shame.

Eventually I’ll have interviewed someone from every part of the UK and this question will be null and void. But not today. Tell me about Nottingham, for I have never been.

Abi: It’s a nice city, very safe & clean. Good place to be a vegan too Dan: Best music scene in the UK by a large margin. Home of the best venue in the UK: Stuck on a Name Studios. Loads of good vegan scran (Big up Prickly Pear!) Host to the best average Ice Hockey team in the UK. Let’s wrap it up in a nice little package. What have you been listening to lately Abi: Lil Uzi Vert, Princess Nokia, Sadistik Dan: Orville Peck, Denzel Curry, Christwvrks, Vomit Forth, Kruelty, END, Holy Fawn, Sanguisugabogg, Freddie Gibbs, Eighteen Visions, Video Nasties

Deus Vermin I caught this band a few years back at a warmup show for the 2nd Dreadfest in Leeds; it had a lasting impression and to me was the closest I got to seeing Dragged into Sunlight without actually seeing Dragged into Sunlight. I even released their album on cassette / cd, my one regret being I didn’t have the funds to release it on vinyl (shout out to Terry at Goatprayer for doing exactly that and doing a bangin’ job of it).

Death Metal fans haven’t picked up on it yet, and too hyped on whatever garbage they’re hyped about Vermin are probably one of the best bands to have of late. Anyway, I had a chat with one of them as me just interviewing mates anyway.

Black Metal fans are to realise that Deus come out of the UK as this zine is largely

For those who aren’t 100% up to speed on Deus Vermin, describe yourself.

We’re an overly loud blackened death metal band from Leeds. So it’s been a lengthy time away for Deus Vermin whilst you’ve had a lineup reshuffle; what have you been doing during the time off? We’ve just been hammering the writing of our album, trying new ideas and really pushing ourselves to make these new songs the best they can be. Being without a vocalist was a massive setback as we knew Adam was going to be a nightmare to replace with his unique approach to this kind of music, but we just dove headfirst into writing until we found the perfect person to bring in.

Prior to the temporary hiatus, Deus Vermin was riding some pretty good momentum, having had your album released on vinyl, as well as shows with Ulcerate and Abyssal. How does it feel to be back in the swing of things?

It’s exciting to be back at it again, especially as we’re feeling rejuvenated with having Bernard in the band and seeing what he’s doing with the new material. It was a bit of an uncertain period immediately after Goatprayer released the vinyl and the Altarage gig with having those shoes to fill as we couldn’t find someone we were 100% with for a while until Bernard approached us and got us going again.

Deus Vermin, as a concept, was around a few years before the first demo came out. How did Deus Vermin come to light?

Our guitarist Chris had the loose idea and had being writing for this band on and off for a few years between other projects. Once he had time and when most of the EP was written he gradually pieced together the members and we ironed out the creases to get ready for recording the demo and playing live.

Deus Vermin aren’t so much dark, as very monochromatic, something I can get behind massively. Where do you draw influence from?

We’re not really influenced are individually, but when pens. We all like different of music so we bring those something decent.

by anyone overall if I’m honest. Obviously we we’re writing we just write and see what haptypes of music and have played different types individual influences together to try make

Your debut full-length, Monument to Decay, was recorded with Tom and Vagrant Recordings, whose work includes the likes of Venom Prison and Dragged into Sunlight. What drew you to using Vagrant given the plethora of amazing studios up North?

There’s so many amazing studios near us but what attracted us to Tom/ Vagrant was that he immediately understood what we were trying to do and we knew from his previous work that we would be in good hands. Over the years we’d been listening to things he’d recorded and we liked how nasty and heavy he could make things so it was a definite no brainer to go to Vagrant.

Your drummer, who played one of my shows in his old band Narayana, is an absolute machine. Proficient drummers are hard come by, do you ever fear that he’ll get poached by another band (or several other bands at the same time).

“Gaz from AFOS” is always being poached. When we started, I believe he was in 6 or 7 bands. He’s always being messaged to do one off gigs and recording projects. The only time we’ll worry is when people eventually clock on to the fact he’s also an amazing guitarist and starts getting hounded for that too.

Deus Vermin’s style fits in nicely with a lot of other heavy bands around the UK at the moment. Who stands out in the UK for you at the moment?

There’s too many bands to mention, but off the top of my head: Calligram, Goblinsmoker, Geist, Moloch, Slimelord, Mastiff, Uir, Knifedoutofexistence, Harrowed, Video Nasties, Hundred Year Old Man, Ashen Bloom, Still, Mere Mortal, Implement, Tides of Sulfur, Lunar Mantra, Greed, Grief Ritual, Underdark, Pijn, Vow and Corrupt Moral Altar to name a few.

Right, so you’ve got the rest of the year ahead of you, what’s the plan for the band?

We’re focussing on finishing off our album and will hopefully be recording it in the coming months and if all goes to plan we’ll be releasing by the end of the year. We’re currently booking a weekender and will hopefully have a few more booked by the end of the year but before all of that we have our first gig back in April at the Yorkshire Riffer

Puzzle time Picture this, it’s WWE in the 2000’s; there’s been a large-scale release massacre of uninspiring WWE talent who are as memorable as they were inspiring. Dare you to go find them.

Behold, some of the most uninspiring World Champions of all time, people who were told to carry the weight of their company on their back and simply were not fit to task. See how many you can guess.