magazine vol 19

These last few months have been a trying time for Metal fans. The death of the Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne, Sam Rivers of Limp Bizkit and Thomas Lindberg of At the Gates have struck as all hard.

However, during these trying times is when we, as fans and human beings remember why this shit means so much too us in the first place. Community, belonging and being a part of something bigger than ourselves.

It's during the hardest of times that we become closer as a species and culture.

Rest in piece to everyone we’ve lost both famous and personnel.

We continue onwards Dave Gilmore Out of Step UK

Afsky is a Danish black metal project founded by Ole Luk in 2015. The name means “disgust” or “aversion” in Danish, reflecting the project’s raw emotional intensity and bleak atmosphere. Afsky combines traditional Scandinavian black metal with folk-inspired melodies and deeply melancholic passages. Ole took some time to have a chat about the band, the new record and their upcoming performance at this years Damnation Festival.

The latest singles have been received very well. How does it feel to get some new music out there that people respond well too?

Hi, and thanks for the interest! It feels great to see that the two new singles have already been listened to so much. As with every release, it’s always exciting to see what people think. I’m personally proud of the new album and feel that I’ve managed to both try new things, keep it alive and exciting, and at the same time stay true to myself/Afsky in the songwriting.

How is the new record shaping up? Would you describe it as a continuation of the previous records or a new chapter entirely?

I clearly see it as a new chapter. I also felt it was time for something new. I wanted plenty of things in there that would be challenging and fun to play. So I slowly started to think of the previous three albums as a kind of trilogy, which concluded with Om hundrede år – with personal lyrics about not living forever, and the fact that nothing is forever. I died on the cover of that record. So something new had to happen. Now I’m trying out a more forwarddriven style on this album.

What are the challenges you face when performing and writing everything yourself?

Luckily, I now have three skilled musicians and good friends with me on stage when we play live. As for the songwriting, the things I sometimes miss – like having someone to spar with – are also what ultimately become my advantage, since I can do whatever I want without compromise. That outweighs everything.

But I do sometimes find it exhausting with all the things that are no longer about writing or playing music. There are endless boring tasks I have to take care of – paying wages and bills, planning and preparing practical things for tours and shows.

A lot of bands love playing live whilst others (particularly in Black Metal) prefer the studio. Where do you fall on the matter?

I love both. I love sitting inside during autumn and winter, when it gets dark early. The days are short, and I can cocoon myself in my apartment, light candles, and write songs all evening and night. That way of working suits me, and I always look forward to autumn. I love summer and being outside, but I always feel a certain calm when autumn arrives and I’m forced indoors. That’s when the big emotions and ideas come to me.

That being said, one of the things I love most in life by now has become touring.

Even if I’ve had to sleep on a floor and wake up with a hangover, I love it. It feels like the crowning moment of all the work I’ve been brewing on for so long. The emotional journey I’ve gone through and the feeling of release when an album comes out – it’s a wonderful cycle in my life.

It’s this interplay, this alternation, that feels complete. I don’t read that many reviews of my releases anymore, but the live reviews I get from people who’ve seen us and then share their experiences with me when I’m standing there selling merch – those mean an incredible amount to me.

You will be touring this October/November are you looking forward to it?

Yes, very much. I also love traveling during this exact time of year. We see a lot of highway, but it doesn’t matter when the landscapes and colors are as beautiful as they are right now.

Stepping out of a tour bus at a rest stop somewhere in Europe might not sound like the dream for many people, but that’s when I truly feel alive.

The band will also be playing the UK Damnation Festival. How do you feel about spreading your music to the Manchester masses?

Are there any bands playing you'd like to see yourself?

I always love spreading my music!

And I look forward to meeting up again with both Spectral Wound and Panzerfaust, bands we’ve toured and played with several times before. That’s one of the great things about playing all over – meeting people you like and having a great evening together, knowing full well you have no idea when your paths will cross again.

AI is seeing increased use in music nowadays even AI art being used for album covers (see Deicide). How do you feel about AI being used so much in music at the moment and what do you think the remedy is?

AI can do many good things. For instance, right now I’m answering in Danish, because it just makes the whole process more fluent, and I can get through several interviews faster when I don’t have to switch my brain into another language than my mother tongue. But yes – that also means I see AI as a tool meant to make human work easier. If AI starts creating our art too, then we might as well have machines live for us. Why even be born then?

We live in a world set up in such a way that everyone has to work to take part, and the more you work, the more you can achieve through capital. I wish there were more equality in general, so that we could collectively implement AI and machines to free us from work that isn’t voluntary, nourishing, or enjoyable. That’s where AI should be used – not to entertain us. Otherwise, it becomes a sad, uniform, and conformist world over time. Faster than we think, even. That’s not a development I want. But humans are already lazy – both physically and mentally – so there’s already a huge danger that this is exactly where we’ll end up.

When we’re fed content and reels from morning to evening, no matter where we are or where we look, our ability to concentrate worsens. It becomes hard to focus, which makes it very easy to fall into the AI trap and let it do our thinking. It’s like a drug addict becoming dependent: the longer you’re away from the normal world, the more real that skewed world feels, until the way out becomes so hard you just give up – even though you know it will eat you alive.

That’s how I see AI in many ways – unless it’s used for mail sorting or other practical tasks that actually free up human time so people can focus on making art, enjoying art, exploring the world.

If there's anything else you'd like to promote feel free to add it here: I’ve made a little interview series in collaboration, which is up on YouTube among other places. It’s not that I reveal any big secrets, but for the first time I’ve tried letting people follow along a bit in my songwriting process – making an album. If anyone is interested, they can check it out on my channel!

Thanks again for your time I really appreciate it.

You’re welcome! And we’re looking forward to coming to England and playing soon!

New Jersey’s Deadguy are the sonic equivalent of a bar fight set to tape — chaotic, violent, and impossible to ignore.

Bursting out of the hardcore underground in 1994, they took the aggression of East Coast hardcore, fed it through jagged noise-rock riffs, and spat out something ugly, angular, and ahead of its time. Now with a new record out the band are more important than ever.

Drummer Dave Rosenberg took some time to have a chat about all things Deadguy!

The bands new record “Near death travel services” recently dropped. How does it feel to get new music out there After so long?

-It’s really great to have new songs to play and a reason to get out and rock. We weren’t super comfortable as a Nostalgia-act so the new material makes it more interesting for us and ideally for anyone who comes to one of our Shows. We all felt like we had unfinished business having not really toured on Fixation so the new record gives us a

The record has been widely praised by critics and fans alike. Was there any trepidation amongst the band about how It would be received?

The band has always been a dichotomy of strong egos mixed with “maybe we suck and no one is telling us” so it’s a huge relief to have people like what we made.

And because we had a little cushion with the recording, which we did over several months, it made it much easier for us to make adjustments to parts and songs. With Fixation we literally Did 1-2 takes of everything and went right to mixing. We did that whole album in a week so with hindsight we all Believe we could have done things differently.

Do you have a favourite track on the record? Personally “New best friend” hits pretty hard!

There are a few that are both fun and difficult to play; Barn Burner has those crazy fills, as does Knife Sharpener are they kinda make me focus a bit more. NBF is a fun one too–any time we can swing a heavy-moshy part I feel like we’ve done our job to keep heavy music interesting I understand Steve Evetts produced NDTS. What made you decide to work with him again?

It was a no-brainer for us to work with Steve as he knew us very well and knew where we needed to head with the sounds and songs. I had been sharing demos with him for about 2 years before we started recording and he helped us figure out what made a DG song vs. Just a song. Plus we all have the shared knowledge of NJ music and metal and now as we’ve gotten older there are all kinds of new and fun stories to tell.

The band reunited in 2021(?)

What was the catalyst for that reunion to happen?

Our friend Bill Saunders did a documentary called Killing Music, which started as a short doc about Fixation and morphed into a whole movie through the pandemic when everyone had too much free time. As part of that he interviewed Albert Mudrian from Decibel who came to us and more or less demanded we play their festival, which was a great catalyst for us to get back to practicing. It was pretty damn stressful though–first show in 20+ years to 3000+ people!

The band will be playing this years Damnation Festival in Manchester. The last time you played was epic! Are you looking forward to it?

Oh yes! We absolutely loved Damnation and this year we’ll be back with a big setlist and maybe some covers to incite mayhem!

Deadguy have been cited by many bands (particularly the Dillinger Escape Plan) for pioneering the ‘Mathcore’ genre. Is that something you acknowledge? How do you feel about helping to create an entire genre of music?

We’re always shocked and appreciative that anyone liked us, so it’s great to be associated with a genre and having created anything. We legitimately had no idea what we were doing then, and barely do now!

Do you think this new era for the band will lead to a more active stage in the bands career? Future records etc?

We’re already working on new material–once you get going it does get a little bit easier. We all have jobs and families etc so there are parameters we have to work within but we’re doing our best to be out and playing as much as we can

Hooded Menace are a Finnish death-doom band formed in 2007 by guitarist and songwriter Lasse Pyykkö.

Drawing heavily on classic horror imagery and old-school death metal, their sound fuses crushingly slow, monolithic riffs with eerie melodies and an atmosphere steeped in dread.

With a new record out now Lasse took some time out to talk to me.

The latest record has been out a for a little while now. How has the response from fans been?

Very good. Pretty awesome actually.

You covered Duran Durans "Save a Prayer" on the album. Not the cover that would come to mind when thinking of HM how did that song come to be? Are you a closet New Romanic fan?

Duran Duran is an old favorite of mine. As a kid, I would secretly borrow my big sister´s Rio-cassette every now then to jam it in my room. I loved that album. You know, I was into heavy metal and I guess I didn’t want her, or anybody else, to know how much I liked that new wave pop band! Duran Duran have stuck with me for all these years and at some point I started to play with an idea of making a Duran Durancover with Hooded Menace - one of those threat or opportunity type of things (laughs). Heavily melancholic Save a Prayer sounded like the best song for us. Actually I was a little hesitant at first because our version sounded almost like a lost track from Paradise Lost´s Icon album or something. But what’s wrong with that? It’s no secret that they are a huge influence to us. It’s kinda funny actually, almost like we covered two bands in one song (laughs)! I think it turned out pretty cool.

Outside of music what other media do you get inspired by?

Horror movies. Also painting and literature, to some degree.

When I heard the name "Hooded Menace" my mind goes to "Skeletor" from the animated show "He-Man" and to Robin Hood. What's the origin for the name?

There's obviously a 1980s death metal influence to your sound, what are your favorite records from that era and why?

Yeah, there’s some ‘80s and early ‘90s death metal in the mix, as well as a lot of classic ‘80s heavy metal influences too. Some of my death metal faves from the ’80s are Leprosy

by Death, Consuming Impulse from Pestilence, Morbid Angel’s Altars for Madness, and so forth. While we are at it, I can just as well list some of my ‘80´s heavy metal favorites, such as, Powerslave from Iron Maiden, Dio’s The Last in Line, Abigail by King Diamond, and the list goes on and on.

I’m not going to go in detail why I like these records so much, but what they do have in common is top notch

The band’s name refers to the Spanish ‘70s horror movie series The Blind Dead. The undead Knights Templars that appear in the series are indeed hooded and menacing. So that’s the story.

I love the artwork you use on your records. How hard is it to find something that helps convey the feeling of a record and are there any artists you would recommend people look up?

Cover art is the fun part in the album making process, but it has its challenges. For Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration me and the artist Wes Benscoter were throwing ideas back and forth for quite a while until the final vision was crystallized. My initial idea was a bit loose and just not there yet, you know. It took some brainstorming but the result is great, I think.

In addition to Wes Benscoter, I’d recommend people to look up guys like Matt “Putrid” Carr, Brad Moore, Marald van Haasteren…There are plenty.

What are the bands touring plans for the rest of 2025 and into 2026? Will to UK get a chance to see the band?

We stopped playing live in 2018, but never say never…I wouldn’t hold my breath for it thought.

Gigging took more than it gave, if you ask me.

AI is seeing increased use in music nowadays even AI art being used for album covers (see Deicide). How do you feel about AI being used so much in music at the moment and what do you think the remedy is?

I think it’s pretty disgusting development. If you use AI in your album artwork, maybe you shouldn’t complain if a record label chooses AI music over yours.

Like Wolfgang Van Halen said somewhere: “AI should be putting mufflers on cars, not doing art for us.” I don’t know about the

If there’s one thing the long time Bloodstock faithful can advise you on in regards to bands, it May very well be this: Don’t underestimate the New Blood stage and what you may find There.

Belfast's very own violence merchants If It Bleeds, Winners of the Belfast leg of Metal 2 The Masses are one such band. The preceding half hour was a no bullshit, no mercy exercise in excessive force. By the end Of IIBs vicious 30 minutes my ears felt like they’ve been dragged down an alley and powerbombed by Jesse Ventura. Every beat down and skank beat is delivered with brutality and Precision in equal measure with frontman Patrick Scanlon delivering every line with a feral Bark on par with the NYHC elite.

By the end of the bulldozing half hour the pit is a blur of spin kicks and two Stepping. They came, they fucked shit up and left everyone grinning like idiots, Pure Belfast style.

Those who weren’t there can easily hear what the fuss is about via their debut EP released in February this year. “We Can Kill It (eyyyyyy)” is thirteen minutes of barely Contained, highly distorted heavy music in its rawest form. Whether you’re a fan of Cro-Mags, Dying Fetus or even all of MLVTDs expansive roster there is something here for You and it’s delivered with an iron fist and a shit eating grin. It’s brutal, it’s fun and it’s no Nonsense. For those not in the know, watch this space. If the exponential rise of contemporaries such As Malevolence are anything to go by, If It Bleeds will be leaving an

When it comes to Grindcore things can go one of two ways. On the one hand you have a serious music scene laced with furious leftist social commentary or alternatively it's just a bunch of unhinged, piss taking bullshit specifically designed to ruffle some feathers.

The whole thing runs musically like Pig Destroyer/Anal Cunt spliced with the humour of Raised by Owls and Footprints in the Custard but more unhinged. To the point where I'm a bit concerned Sam and Russ have Scott Hull tied up somewhere getting him involved with that hush hush thing they do on Thursday evenings.

Weird mental images aside, shit goes hard and doesn't need to take itself seriously.

Driving Music is available to listen to everywhere alongside their grinding cover of Vengaboys. Not even Grindcore is safe from the inevitably of the Vengabus. I mean, when the band name is a direct reference to Bottom, you should be in the know.

It's the Gasman, Eddie

Hailing from Norwich, Vast Slug are parked firmly in the latters camp. The band have been developing a name for themselves in the UKs extreme metal underground, fresh off not only a tour with Glasgow death dealers Scordatura but also dropping their debut LP Driving Music. Driving Music is a 29 minute exercise in raw no bullshit Grindcore laced with lyrical matter such as Chris Benoit's little CTE induced homicide, your boyfriends freakishly small phallus or Philip Schofields reputation as a nonce.

Signs of the Swarm - To Rid Myself of Truth When I first heard Signs Of The Swarm many years ago I was forced to pull my car over to stop and listen to the wonderful Whirlwind of aggression and power presented to me. Now a few albums later the band continue to melt my brain with their heaviness and brutality.

The bands last record "Amongst the Low and Empty" was one of my favourite records of 2023. Keeping the bar high is often a difficult task but one SOTS seem to take in their stride. This album seems to be a more deliberate and focused outing than I was expecting. The bands rage is now laser focused and incredibly visceral as a result. Vocalist David Simonich sings Like a werewolf undergoing unanaesthetised bowel surgery whilst the rest of the band bludgeon their instruments like mating walruses during a thunderstorm.

Each of the guest vocalists on the record add another dimension to the songs they are involved with. A special mention must go to Mr Phil Bozeman of Whitechapel who's crushing roars are yet to be bettered.

Overall 'To Rid Myself of Truth" maintains the high quality of previous releases whilst adding some great new songs for fans to destroy each other in the pit too.

Deftones - Private Music Maybe it's because I'm no longer a constantly Horney teenager and have become a jaded adult rapidly lurching towards the grim spectre of forty. Maybe its because I haven't quite found the right combination of antidepressants and alcohol to silence the voices that make me want to join a cult on an island somewhere. Whatever the reason behind it, Deftones albums don't seem to hit me like they used to.

I kept wanting to call the record "Private Friends" something I'd tell the fat girl in high school lest any of my peers found out about our "dealings". However I digress, is "Private Music" good? Well yes it is! This record is the best Deftones record for my money since "Diamond Eyes" (2010). The band sound invigorated and fresher than they have in years.

Chino's ethereal vocals are as good as ever and the rest of the band pummel and strum as if the last thirty years never happened.

Songs like "Milk of the Madonna" and "Cuthands" stand out from the pack and are sure to become live favourites on the bands next tour. The latter is particularly reminiscent of the bands early days, a most welcome reminder for an ageing Nu metal fan like myself.

In all honesty there is very little wrong at all with this record. However as previously mentioned there is still something missing for me. Perhaps I need a blue haired girl with a noise ring to explain to me why the planets aren't aligning on this one.

Crippling Alcoholism- Camgirl I've always found something hypnotic about the music CA creates. Lying somewhere between a gothic love letter and a serial killers diary "Camgirl" is very much a continuation on the depressing yet beautiful palette the band have created for themselves over the last few years.

At over an hour this latest record could be considered overbearing or padded out.

Perhaps in the hands of a less talented band it would be. The songs flow by wonderfully like a river of disinfectant into an open wound.

Now this is nit picking on my part but the band do occasionally float into mumbling and meandering on one or two songs which is a shame given the awesome lyrical content through out the rest of the album. Part of me wants to shout at the vocalist to speak up and enunciate better.

Overall this adds to the atmosphere of a murderer drunkenly slurring to know one in particular about their latest kills final, desperate moments.

The recent single "Bedrot" is probably my favourite track the band has released and there are many others that are up there with the bands best. The whole record ends with me feeling like I've overheard something I shouldn't have. The inner thoughts of a madman, my own subconscious? Either way its bloody great!

Castle Rat - The Bestiary Sometimes I want to hear songs about Politics, War and the ever changing nature of the human experience. Sometimes I want to hear songs about wizards, Unicorns and Dragons. If you, like me occasionally tire of reality then the latest record from Brooklyn natives Castle Rat is one for you.

The band have expanded upon their brilliant debut (2024 Into the Realm) in every way.

The songs seem tighter and the music has evolved. The lead single "Wizard" is a standout track on the record as is the epic "Crystal Cave".

I've heard other, less handsome reviewers call Castle Rat "Ghost with Tits" these individuals could not be more wrong. Whilst the group have a passing musical similarity with Ghost I would liken them more to bands like Texas riffs masters "The Sword" or my favourite Stoner/Doom amphibians "Froglord". Although I cant argue about the "tits" part.

Front woman Riley Pinkerton has a voice that recalls "Jefferson Airplane" vocalist Grace Slick but with a personality and style that is all her own. The music flows with intent and weight that should really come from a band much more experienced than this.

If the bands first record didn't convince you then it's likely that "The Bestiary" won't change your mind either. If you are one of those people then I feel sorry for you.

Castle Rat are a fantastic group with two very strong albums. A group that's best moments are yet to come. Brilliant Record.